title: Star Wars : The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
author:  W. Haden Blackman 
description: In light of the ever-expanding saga, the New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels features completely updated entries that cover more than 150 ships, along with brand-new,
zlib_text: Star Wars - Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter  
    
  By Reaves, Michael  
    
  CHAPTER 1  
    
  Space is the perfect place to hide.  
    
  The Neimoidian freighter Saak'ak cruised ponder-ously in the uncharted deeps
  of Wild Space. It displayed its colors proudly, its cloaking device disabled,
  with no fear of detection. Here, parsecs away from the civilized Galactic Core
  and its surrounding systems, it could safely hide in plain sight. Even the
  Neimoidians, those past masters of paranoia, felt secure in the vast endless
  abyss between the disk and one of the spiral arms.  
    
  Yet even here the leaders of the Trade Federation could not entirely let go of
  their natural tendency toward subterfuge. They sought duplicity and guile the
  way a young grub seeks the safety and warmth of its sleeping niche in the
  communal hive. The Saak'ak was a good example of this. It was, to all
  appearances, merely a commercial vessel, its horseshoe shape de-signed to
  carry large amounts of cargo. Not until an unwary enemy had