Eriadu Trade Summit

The Eriadu Trade Summit was an event proposed by Senator Palpatine in 33 BBY, ostensibly to gather all parties affected by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's proposal to allow the Trade Federation an increase in standing permissible armament in exchange for Galactic Senate taxation of free-trade zones. The Nebula Front, a radical political group that opposed the Trade Federation, was specifically not allowed to attend the event. That decision resulted in the first of two staged 'attempts' on Valorum's life by the spurned Nebula Front's extremist leadership&mdash;the first occurring on Coruscant, and the second, at the Summit itself. The well-publicized event was held on the planet of Eriadu, an important trade world in the Outer Rim.

As it played out, however, the Trade Summit ended in disaster. The majority of the Trade Federation Directorate was assassinated by its own security force in a plan carefully orchestrated by Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, who made the Nebula Front appear responsible for the murders. No consensus was reached regarding the taxation of trade routes, and the Trade Federation was placed under the leadership of Nute Gunray, who would proceed, in protest, to blockade all trade to the planet of Naboo.

History
In 33 BBY increased political pressure was placed on Finis Valorum, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, by the Trade Federation and its political allies regarding his proposal to tax trade routes in the outer systems. In order to discuss Valorum's proposed legislation, the senator from Naboo, Palpatine, suggested that a summit be held on the Outer Rim planet of Eriadu, where the Trade Federation and its delegates could share their ideas on the proposed legislation and debate with their political opponents. The summit was to serve as a platform for all relevant parties to express their viewpoints on the taxation of the outer trade routes; as such, all voting on the matter was postponed until the summit's completion.

The summit itself was held in Seswenna Hall in Eriadu City. Organizations and governments invited to the Summit included the Association of Free Trade Worlds, the Commerce Guild, the Corporate Alliance, the Hutts, the Rights of Sentience League, Senex sector, the Stark Veteran Assembly, the Techno Union, and the Trade Federation. Although the Republic was represented by Valorum personally, many of its member worlds were allowed their own delegations, including Bothawui, Clak'dor VII, Falleen, Malastare, and Sullust. The Nebula Front itself was not invited despite its concerns regarding the Trade Federation, because Valorum believed that it would only grant them unwarranted legitimacy.

The Nebula Front, however, was concerned that the Trade Federation would pass on the additional costs of taxation to those who used their shipping services. Having been denied a voice at the trade summit, the Nebula Front's enigmatic leader Eru Matalis&mdash;known to his allies as Havac (but who, as the Front's former Eriadu-cell leader, was under secret conscription to Eriadu Lieutenant Governor Wilhuff Tarkin in league with higher and darker powers)&mdash;made 'plans' with the mercenary Captain Cohl to assassinate Valorum during the trade summit (a sinister decoy to the real target: the Federation Directorate). The Front's 'official' intent, as propagated by its extremist leader, Havac, was to prevent the new taxation in the hope that the outer worlds could avoid increased shipping costs while the Front continued its campaign of violence against the Trade Federation; a more moderate (and less violent) faction of the Front wished for more temperate means to achieve its goals.

As the Eriadu Summit was essentially a meeting of the Republic and Trade Federation, those organizations were represented by their leaders, the Supreme Chancellor and the Directorate, respectively. However, it was to be a serious mistake; in an act orchestrated by Darth Sidious, security droids assassinated six of the seven Directorate members as the Front's extremist leadership (the founder of its militant wing) created an illusion: Havac staged (for the second time in several weeks) a falsely orchestrated 'attempt' on the life of Valorum, making it look like the Nebula Front (that is, the conglomerate, seemingly united public face of its disparate factions) was responsible.

As a result, the Summit ended prematurely, with nothing resolved. It was a major public relations disaster for both the Jedi who failed to prevent the attacks, and for Valorum himself. Lieutenant Governor Tarkin, complicit in the murders&mdash;having arranged delivery to Seswenna Hall of the rogue 'commander' droid that drove the killing rampage of the Federation's own 'follower' droids&mdash;blocked (or irreparably stalled) all subsequent investigative attempts under the auspices of Eriaduan jurisdiction. The Senate unilaterally passed its new taxation laws anyway, while also passing restrictions on the Chancellor's use of the Judicial Department and Jedi Order. The deaths of his hapless companions allowed Viceroy Nute Gunray to assume direct control of the Trade Federation and order a blockade of Naboo as retaliation against the Republic and Naboo's treacherous senator who had proposed both the summit and taxation. Thus, the Summit's failure set the stage for the blockade and Battle of Naboo.

The Naboo stopover
In a repercussionistic note to this Trade Summit account, Palpatine&mdash;who made a brief Naboo stopover visit at the request of King Ars Veruna on his way to the Eriadu summit from Coruscant&mdash;had already been apprised of the imminent Bando Gora-Gardulla-Black Sun-Veruna plot to kill Hego Damask (Palpatine's master, Darth Plagueis): the self-same nuclear bombardment of the Sojourn-moon that Palpatine himself had orchestrated, unbeknownst to his unwitting pawns. A drunken Veruna gloated amidst a banquet thrown for his dark accomplices (all of whom, it appeared to Palpatine, were in attendance) that the King was now, even as he spoke and the Trade Summit events unfurled, 'ending' his partnership with both Damask and the Trade Federation&mdash;bragging that the senator need not bother about giving any sort of warning to his IBC associate, for he would not be seeing him again. Which is to say, that the nuclear run on Sojourn was, even at that moment, being carried out. But Palpatine/Darth Sidious silently gloried in the sublime ignorance of all about him.

It was only a short time later, amidst the rousing orchestral music that preceded the commencement of the trade summit in Seswenna Hall, that Naboo's senatorial delegate to the Galactic Republic mentioned to a small group of fellow senators also in attendance (one of whom had noticed in Palpatine's rather pensive demeanor a seeming preoccupation) that he'd just learned of King Veruna's sudden abdication of the throne. This gossip-inducing news&mdash;communicated to the senator by Damask himself after Jabba the Hutt had delivered to the Naboo monarch the startling revelation of his bitter enemy's almost-miraculous survival of the murderous Sojourn attack&mdash;defined a watershed event for the future of the galaxy. In the sequence of Eriadu events dealing with the Trade Federation controversy, Veruna's abdication was thus shown to follow on the heels of (for it was directly brought on by) the failed nuclear attempt on Damask's life.

Behind the scenes
The Eriadu Trade Summit featured in the 2001 novel Cloak of Deception, written by James Luceno. The event was later mentioned in Luceno's other novels, Darth Plagueis and Labyrinth of Evil. The summit was also noted in The New Essential Guide to Characters, The New Essential Chronology, and the The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 33 and The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 35.

Appearances

 * Darth Plagueis
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Maul: Lockdown
 * Labyrinth of Evil