Search For Lost Jedi

by Ryder Windham

  my arm and locked me up here to die."

  Qui-Gon's eyes went wide. "The droids cut off your arm?!"

  "They were trying to get information out of me," the alien said with a

  sigh. "No big deal. I'm a Kloodavian. The arm'll grow back in a couple of

  days,"

  "What are you doing in here?" Qui-Gon asked.

  "I should be asking you that question!" the Kloodavian snarled. "I'm Boll

  Trinkatta! I own this starship factory! But my droids went berserk and took

  over. I don't know how, but someone must've reprogrammed them! The droids

  brought me down here and left me to die."

  Before Qui-Gon could ask any more questions of Boll Trinkatta, an eight-

  armed maintenance droid rolled out from behind one of the other pillars.

  Hiding out of view, it had waited for the right moment to attack. Each of its

  eight arms wielded a different tool, including a beamdrill, fusioncutter,

  macrofuser, and power prybar. Extending its appendages, the droid accelerated

  on its treads and headed straight for the Jedi Master. When the droid was

  nearly on top of its prey, Qui-Gon leaped aside. Unable to stop in time, the

  droid crashed into the stone wall. Falling back. from the wall; the droid's

  eight arms trailed as it tried to recover its balance and get a position on:

  the attacker. Before the droid could fire its fusion-cutter, Qui-Gon's

  lightsaber blazed and arched through the air, slicing through the droid below

  its eight shoulder joints.

  The droid's head and shoulders tumbled from its body, sending a shower of

  sparks all the way up to the brick ceiling. Crashing to the floor, the droid

  lay motionless. Stepping away from the remains of the fallen droid, Qui-Gon

  approached Trinkatta; who still leaned against the pillar.

  With surprise in his eyes the Kloodsvian remarked, "Only a Jedi moves

  that fast!"

  "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn," the Jedi Master stated. Looking Trinkatta in

  the eyes, Qui-Gon came to the point. "A woman came here to inspect your

  building, he continued, maintaining secrecy ", by not mentioning Adi Gallia's

  name. "You will tell me where I can find her."

  Trinkatta glared at Qui-Gon but did not answer.

  "You're in a lot of trouble, friend," Qui-Gon continued. "I know you're

  selling fifty droid starfighters. I want to know the identity of the buyer.

  Direct me to your factory's central droid control room."

  "I... I don't have to tell you anything!" Trinkatta insisted. Qui-Gon was

  uncertain whether the Kloodavian was arrogant or afraid to answer his

  questions. Relying on the Force, Qui-Gon attempted to make the alien talk.

  "You can tell me everything," Qui-Gon coaxed as he made a waving gesture

  with his hand.

  Trinkatta's reptilian lips drew back into a good - natured smile.

  "Kloodavisns are immune to Jedi mind tricks,". he boasted. "But I'll

  answer your questions if you unchain me."

  "Done," Qui-Gon agreed.. While the Jedi Master set to work on opening the

  lock, careful not to injure the Kloodavian's leg, Trinkatta spoke.

  "I don't know anything about a building inspector. It's possible she was

  captured by my droids after they'd already locked me up,"

  "What about the location of your central droid control room" Qui-Gon

  asked.

  "It's on Level 19 of the observation tower, on the other side of the

  factory's spaceport."

  Working a thin wire into the manacle at Trinkatta's foot, Qui-Gon

  inquired,

  "And who ordered the fifty droid starfighters?" Trinkatta gulped, nervous

  to answer this final question.

  "I... I built them for the Trade Federation;"

  "The Trade Federation ordered these?" Qui-Gon said with surprise. "But

  this planet isn't anywhere near Trade Federation routes. Why did they

  commission you to build droid starfighters?"

  "I don't know why they picked me," Trinkatta admitted. "Every starship

  maker in the galaxy knows the Xi Gharrians have an exclusive contract to build

  droid starfighters for the Trade Federation.. When the Neimoidians told me

  they wanted me to install hyperdrive engines into the fighters, I protested.

  The next day, my test pilot vanished! I was afraid if I didn't follow the

  Trade Federation's orders, they'd make me disappear, too."

  "Where are the droid starfighters now?" Qui-Gon asked.

  "I wish I knew!" Trinkatta squawked. "That's what my own malfunctioning

  droids kept asking me when they locked me up. Someone stole al1 fifty

  starfighters. When the Neimoidians find out, they'll kill me!"

  "We'll worry about the Trade Federation later," Qui-Gon remarked as he

  removed the manacle from Trinkatta's leg. "Your droids closed off the

  factory's chimneys and the whole complex is filling up with fumes. If my

  friend is in the building, she'll die unless I can rescue her!"

  "I'd offer to help," Trinkatta moaned, "but I'm no good to you with this

  busted arm of mine." Aiming his beak toward a narrow hallway, he said, "That

  hall leads to the starship assembly room. You can open the chimneys from the

  assembly operations chamber. From there, you'll have to cross the spaceport to

  the observation tower and droid central control. I hope you find your friend."

  "You can't stay here," Qui-Gon said calmly. "If the fumes reach you..."

  "I can take care of myself!" the Kloodavian snapped back. "I have a

  secret tunnel that leads outside the factory. You'd better go while you can!"

  Qui-Gon didn't want to leave Trinkatta behind, but the Kloodavian

  insisted. All his life, Qui-Gon had felt great empathy for all living

  creatures, especially for those who looked like they could use some help;

  Trinkatta may have been small, but Qui - Gon had no doubt that he was a

  strongwilled being; capable of taking care of himself. The fact that Trinkatta

  owned: an entire. starship. factory was proof that he was. a formidable

  character. Qui-Gon ran down the hallway. The sound of his footsteps reached.

  the audio sensors of two factory operations droids at the far end of the hall.

  The two droids stepped. forward. blocking Qui-Gon's entrance to the

  starship assembly room. Both droids had broad upper bodies supported on strong

  but narrow legs. Raising their arms; the menacing droids eagerly clicked their

  maniqulatory claws at Qui-Gon. Hoping to conserve the charge on his

  lightsaber, Qui-Gon's hand darted for his grappling hook. Tugging it from his

  belt, he played out the thin, strong wire and released the hook's claws. With

  a single whipping motion, Qui-Gon threw the hook at the droids' legs. The hook

  caught and circled the droids, snaring. them below their knees. As the droids

  tried stepping out of the tangle,.Gon-Gon pulled hard on the cable. The

  droids.' feet flew out from under them; sending the two automatons smash-. ing

  against the floor.

  Qui-Gon leaped over the fallen droids as they clattered to the floor,

  unable to raise their bulky forms. He entered the starship assembly room and

  found it filled with a haze of smoke. Looking nine stories up to the. ceiling,

  he could barely see the windows that lined the higher levels. Across the room,

  beyond several rows, of starships and repulsorlift vehicles at various stages

 
of construction, Qui-Gon saw the assembly. operations chamber. According to

  Trinkatta, the controls for the factory's chimneys were located in the

  operations chamber. Coughing, Qui-Gon checked his. breather gauge. It was

  nearly depleted. Holding his breath; Qui. - Gon ran across the room. To. his

  dismay, he found the operation chamber's computer circuits had been ripped

  apart. Qui-Gon suspected it was the droids handiwork; an effort to prevent

  anyone. from opening the chimneys. and allowing the smoke to escape. Qui-Gon

  spied an unfinished Marfighter resting: on a nearby conveyer system. The ship

  wasn't ready to fly but its laser cannons appeared to be operational. Still

  holding his breath, Qui-Gon: ran to the starfighter and leaped into the

  cockpit.

  His fingers flew over the vessel's weapon system as he aimed the laser

  cannons far the high ceiling. Qui-Gon pulled the triggers and the cannons

  fired, launching a powerful blast of coherent lights at the ceiling. The laser

  bolts punched through the roof in a fiery explosion. The upper beams ruptured

  and fell. Qui-Gon leaped out of the starfighter and dove for cover into a

  grease pit. A split second later, the starfighter was crushed by a huge chunk

  of falling plastoid. Looking up from the grease pit, Qui-Gon saw he had

  created a-wide hole in the ceiling. His view of the Esseles sky was obscured

  by rising smoke as the fumes lifted through the hole and out of the factory.

  As the smoke cleared, Qui-Gon scanned the area, looking for any sign of Adi

  Gallia. The Jedi Master sensed Adi had been in this room earlier. Not trusting

  his eyes, Qui-Gon closed them and opened his mind to the Force. A picture

  formed in Qui-Gon's mind. He glimpsed Adi Gallia lying very still in a

  chamber. She's near, Qui-Gon suddenly knew. Only... she's high above ground...

  somewhere;..

  Turning his head, Gon-Gon opened his eyes to find he was looking through

  a window that offered a view of the factory's spaceport from the assembly

  room. At the far side of the spaceport; the observation tower loomed over the

  landing bay; The tower! Qui-Gon suddenly knew he would find, Adi Gallia there.

  Twenty stories tall, the tower was a new structure built on top of an ancient

  stone foundation. The first seventeen stories rose from the ground as a four-

  sided obelisk that supported an inverted dome lined with transparisteel

  windows that housed the three-story observation levels. Five plastoid landing

  decks jutted out from the inverted dome, adding to the tower's crude

  resemblance to a gigantic, machinelike flower. Gon-Gon surveyed the tower and

  noticed a vehicle resting on the tower's uppermost landing deck. The vehicle

  hadn't been there when the Jedi had arrived at the factory. It was a bizarre

  two seat skyhopper, a fast repulsorlift vehicle designed to fly above the

  ground. Qui-Gon didn't recognize the model. Remembering that Trinkatta's

  central droid control room was on Level 19 of the tower, Qui-Gon thought the

  presence of an alien skyhopper seemed too great a coincidence. He suspected

  the parked skyhopper belonged to saboteurs, villains intent on taking over

  Trinkatta's factory by reprogramming his droids from the tower. Realizing that

  Adi Gallia might be at the mercy of an unknown enemy, Qui-Gon ran for the exit

  to the spaceport. He prayed he would find. her alive.

  There were several factory-owned repulsorlift vehicles parked on the

  tarmac; Hoping to reach: Adi Gallia as. soon as possible, Qui-Gon ran for the

  vehicles, planning to ride one to the observation tower. As Qui-Gon

  approached, three - late-model astromech droids rolled out from a transport

  that was up on blocks. Armed with beamdrills and welding tools, the battered

  old astromechs emitted a flurry of threatening beeps as they rolled toward

  Qui-Gon..: Brandishing his lightsaber, the Jedi Master ran: around to the

  other side of the raised transport.:The astromechs rotated their domed heads

  and turned back, hoping to corner the running man. As the astromechs moved

  under the transport, Qui - Gon slashed one of the supporting blocks. The

  transport teetered and the droids accelerated, trying to reach their target.

  Qui-Gon launched a well placed kick to the side of the transport. The

  vehicle toppled off its blocks and crushed the rebellious droids. Qui-Gon

  deactivated his lightsaber. As he raced to a parked landspeeder, he wondered

  whether Obi-Wan, Vel Ardox, and.Noro Zak were still battling droids or if they

  had gained access to the factory. He jumped into a landspeeder, strapped

  himself in, gunned the engines, and raced for the observation tower. He would

  make every effort to reprogram the droids or shut them down. As he neared the

  tower, Qui-Gon topped the inertial dampers, but the landspeeder wouldn't slow

  down He pumped the inertial dampers again to no effect, then reached for the

  emergency lever. When the lever failed, he unbuckled his safety harness and

  leaped from the landspeeder. A split second after he hit the tarmac and

  rol1ed, he heard the speeder crash into the tower's foundation.

  The Jedi Master rose from the tarmac and ran past the crashed speeder to

  the tower's lift tube. He entered the tube and stated his destination: "Level

  19, droid central control." The lift rose in a powerful rush from ground

  level. Seconds later; the repulsor field-warning light flashed red and the

  lift screeched to a halt. Qui-Gon was launched off his feet, smashing into the

  ceiling's emergency escape hatch before he fell crashing back to the floor.

  Rising from the floor, Qui-Gon checked the lift tube console. According to the

  numerical display, he was trapped between Levels 18 and 19, just shy of his

  destination. He realized the droids must have tapped into the lift tube

  computer terminal, and that his destination command alerted them to his exact

  position.

  Reaching up, Qui-Gon opened the emergency excape hatch in the ceiling.

  Climbing through the hatch, he stepped onto the top of the lift.

  Qui-Gon looked up into the cylinchical tube shaft and sow the sealed

  doors for Level 19. Suddenly, s whirring motor sounded from above. A shaft

  maintenance droid, clinging to the walls by its magnetic treads, rapidly

  descended from the upper levels of the lift tube. Aiming his disrupter at Qui-

  Gon, the droid prepared to fire. Qui-Gon activated his lightsaber and threw it

  up into the air in a graceful spin. The lightsaber's blade sliced through the

  droid's left side, separating it from its treads and throwing it off balance.

  As the lightsaber fell back to Qui-Gon,, he caught it by the handle, then

  swiftly drove the blade through the doors to Level 19, carving a broad hole.

  Qui-Gon dove through the smoldering metal hole just as the rest of the

  dismembered droid came crashing down from above,. slamming into the roof of

  the lift. The lift plunged down the tube, ' carrying the ruined droid all the

  way to the bottom. Rising to his feet, Qui-Gon heard the explosive impact as

  the lift struck the ground level; nineteen stories down. A fireball erupted,

  and Qui-Gon jumped out of the way. Level 19 was filled with sophisticated

  computers but appeared to be devoid of any saboteurs or droids. Qui-Gon
headed

  into the central droid control room and passed a window that offered a view of

  the starship factory at the other side of the spaceport. Across the tarmac

  droids poured out of the factory and advanced toward the observatian tower.

  There were over a hundred of them of various sizes, all brandishing

  weapons and lethal tools. Every droid at Trinkatta starships was coming after

  him. In only a matter of minutes, they would reach Level 19. Qui-Gon turned

  his attention to the interior of the control room. While. searching for the

  main terminal that regulated all of the factory's droids, Qui-Gon stepped into

  a detention center. The detention center was a long corridor that ended in a

  large black metal wall. Five cells lined the right wall and another five cells

  were built into the left. Instead of having sealed metal doors; each cell was

  viewable through a transparent energy field. From where Qui-Gon stood, he

  couldn't see directly inside any of the cells. He moved cautiously forward to

  inspect them. Much to his amazement, he saw the same view in each cell: Adi

  Gallia's motionless body. Qui-Gon realized nine of the cells contained

  holographic projections, decoys to delay any rescue attempt.

  In every cell, Master Adi appeared in the same position. She was slumped

  on a metal bed with her multi-tailed headdress spread out under her. Her eyes

  were closed. Her heavy brown robe prevented Qui-Gon from being able to see

  whether or not she was breathing. He yelled her name; trying to wake her. But

  it was no use. A command console was located within the middle of the

  detention center. Qui-Gon eyed the ten unmarked switches on the command

  console, guessing that one of them should deactivate the cells energy shields.

  He cautiously selected a switch and threw it. Without realizing it, he had

  deactivated the holo projectors built into each cell; Suddenly, all of the

  holograms vanished, and only the real Adi Gallia remained. But the energy

  shield remained activated. There were nine switches left and Qui-Gon gave them

  a quick study. He suspected the switches next to the holoprojector switch