“Go on,” Obi-Wan encouraged.
“There was a search, of course,” Bultar continued, “but the ship and the three power gems—now known as the Lost Stars of Nallastia—were never found. The Margrave’s family chose to remain on Nallastia, which is today covered with terraformed jungles. His descendants continue to rule there to this day. And for four millennia, the people of Nallastia and Fondor have searched for the starship, which could be identified by a marking of a divided golden circle. Incredibly, a derelict has turned up that matches the Sun Runner’s description. It was found yesterday, drifting through space, right here in the Tapani sector. We’re heading for it now.”
“Who found it?” Obi-Wan asked.
“At present, that’s unclear,” Bultar admitted. “But from my sources on Fondor as well as Nallastia, I’ve been able to piece together the following details. Yesterday, a Nallastian freighter failed to return from a trip to Esseles. Nallastian authorities contacted the Fondor Space Patrol, which sent a patrol ship to search for the freighter, starting in the area where it should have dropped out of hyperspace. But instead of finding the freighter, the patrol ship found the derelict that fit the Sun Runner’s profile. They tagged the derelict with a salvage buoy, then launched a message droid to give the derelict’s trajectory coordinates to the Director of Space Patrol.”
“Why use a message droid instead of their transceivers?” Obi-Wan inquired.
“It may have been their only option,” Bultar replied. “The message noted that an unknown anomaly was interfering with sensors and transceiver frequencies.”
“Perhaps it was caused by the three power gems you mentioned,” Anakin suggested. “The ones that the Margrave kept on the Sun Runner.”
“Might have kept on the Sun Runner,” Bultar corrected.
“If all these details are true,” Obi-Wan said, “why is it unclear about who discovered the derelict? Sounds to me like it was the space patrol ship’s find.”
“I was getting to that,” Bultar said. “At about the same time, the Director of Fondor Space Patrol received the message droid, Nallastian authorities intercepted a signal from a distress beacon in space. Evidently, the beacon came from the missing freighter and it had been deployed eight hours before the Space Patrol ship launched their message droid. The beacon was transmitting a message that the crew had found the Sun Runner and it also provided coordinate trajectory data. I compared that data with the message droid’s and I extrapolated that the freighter would have crossed the derelict’s path…” She looked to Anakin, waiting to see if he had been paying attention.
“Eight hours before the Space Patrol ship?” Anakin conjectured.
Bultar nodded. “Exactly. Further extrapolation indicates the derelict entered the Tapani sector by way of uncharted space, from Unknown Regions.”
“There are numerous inhabited systems between the Unknown Regions and Fondor,” Obi-Wan noted. “It strikes me as suspicious that no one reported the derelict until yesterday.”
Anakin shook his head. “Forgive me, but I’m not sure I understand.” Facing Bultar, he said, “You’re telling us that the Nallastian freighter may have encountered the derelict first, then deployed a distress beacon. And because of the sensor-disrupting anomaly, the Nallastians did not get the signal until the beacon was beyond the influence of the anomaly?”
“It seems a logical possibility,” Bultar allowed. “As does the notion that the derelict itself is generating the anomaly.”
Obi-Wan asked, “After Fondor and Nallastia authorities received the derelict’s coordinates, what happened next?”
“Fondor sent a salvage hauler, and Nallastia sent a rescue runner. The rescue runner arrived at the derelict first and the salvage hauler just minutes later. To the surprise of the salvagers, there was no sign of the patrol ship—the one that launched the message droid—or the salvage buoy. To sum things up, both Nallastia and Fondor claim the derelict and they have exchanged dangerous accusations of sabotage, theft, and abduction. Meanwhile, the freighter and the patrol ship are still missing.”
Obi-Wan said, “If the derelict is indeed the Sun Runner, I can imagine that the Nallastians would want it because of its historic value, but why is Fondor so determined to make the claim?”
“I suspect Fondor wants to make money off of it,” Bultar answered.
“And you truly believe both worlds are prepared to go to war over this?”
“Yes,” Bultar said. “There is much animosity. The citizens of Fondor view the Nallastians as simple-minded nature lovers, and the Nallastians regard Fondor’s population as the worst kind of industrialists, who would sooner level a forest than plant a tree. Nallastia sends food to Fondor in exchange for protection from the Fondor Space Patrol, but beyond that, they try to avoid each other.”
“Until now,” Anakin noted.
“True,” Bultar said. “The Nallastians are in general a preservationist society—but they will fight to the death to preserve what is theirs. When I learned that the leaders of Fondor and Nallastia were readying armed ships to travel to the site of the derelict, I convinced the leaders they would be wise to allow the Jedi to negotiate the situation.”
“How did you manage that?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I told them that if they could not resolve their differences, I would be forced to turn the entire matter over to the Galactic Senate. They knew if the Senate were involved, a resolution might take years.”
“We’re meeting the leaders at the derelict?” Anakin asked.
Bultar nodded. “Senator Rodd of Fondor and Margravine Quenelle of Nallastia are already waiting for us. All we have to do is figure out a compromise.”
“Over my dead body,” snarled Margravine Quenelle, the ruler of Nallastia, as she smashed her fist on the table.
“That would be convenient,” retorted Senator Rodd of Fondor as he leaned back in his chair and examined the shape of his fingernails.
They were seated at the round table in the Unitive’s salon pod, to which they had been ushered after their respective ships—the Fondor-based salvage hauler and the Nallastian rescue runner—had docked with the Republic cruiser. The three ships, linked by the Unitive’s docking ports, traveled at an apparently safe distance alongside the massive derelict.
Senator Rodd, like the two aides who bracketed him, wore a black uniform that bore an embroidered logo for the starship manufacturer Republic Sienar Systems. Margravine Quenelle and her two guards wore more colorful and exotic apparel. The Margravine’s robes appeared to have been made primarily from the skins of large lizards. Bultar Swan was also seated at the salon pod’s table. Obi-Wan stood a short distance behind Senator Rodd’s chair, and Anakin was similarly positioned behind Margravine Quenelle. No one was smiling.
Bultar took a deep breath, then said, “If we may proceed beyond discussions of salvage rights, I believe we can reach a solution for all concerned.”
“Oh, I’m concerned, all right,” said Senator Rodd. “In approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, the Sun Runner will drift into the Rimma Trade Route, and we could lose our claim. I’m not going to allow such an important relic to be seized by pirates or snapped up by a Kuat Drive Yards salvager. The best plan is to let my team tow the Sun Runner straight back to Fondor.”
“So you can transform it into a commercial facility?” Quenelle spat.
“I never said commercial facility,” Rodd replied. “I said an amusement center. Think of it as an orbital museum of interstellar travel.”
“As I said earlier,” Quenelle grumbled, “over my dead body.”
“Please be reasonable, Margravine,” Rodd said, trying to remain calm. “I mean, you don’t want the Sun Runner to be lost again, either. We can resolve the issue of ownership later.”
“Ownership is not an issue,” Quenelle interjected. “As the direct descendant of Margrave Octan, the Sun Runner is my property. You only want the Sun Runner because you believe it contains the Lost Stars of Nallastia. I assure you, you
are wrong.”
Rodd sneered. “If the legendary power gems are not on the Sun Runner, how do you explain the anomaly in the area that prevents us from using our sensors?”
“I cannot explain the anomaly,” Quenelle answered. “But I know the gems are elsewhere. And as with the Sun Runner, you will never have them.”
Bultar Swan placed her hands on the table and folded them. “The fact that you both agreed to negotiate suggests you desire a resolution instead of a conflict. Let us consider a mutual effort to—”
“Fondor claims the Sun Runner,” Rodd interrupted.
The Margravine glared at the Senator and countered, “It is not yours to claim!”
Bultar Swan looked up from the table to Obi-Wan, and said, “We don’t seem to be making progress.”
Obi-Wan stepped away from behind Senator Rodd’s seat and moved to the side of the table where he could face both Rodd and Quenelle. “We all must consider the facts objectively. A derelict emerges from out of nowhere, disrupts sensors and prevents transceiver communication, and may be involved with the disappearance of a Nallastian freighter and a space patrol ship. And despite all outward appearances, we don’t know for a fact that the derelict is the Sun Runner. Is it possible that the missing ships are being hidden within the derelict?”
“You mean, in an internal hangar bay?” Senator Rodd asked.
Obi-Wan nodded. “The derelict is certainly large enough to contain the ships. Margravine, did the original Sun Runner have an internal hangar, perhaps shielded by retractable hull plating?”
“I regret that knowledge has been lost to time,” Quenelle answered.
“In other words, you have no idea,” Rodd sputtered. “But speaking of losing things to time, the derelict is only drifting closer to the Rimma Trade Route. I want to know, right now, this very minute—will the Jedi grant permission for Fondor to salvage it?”
Obi-Wan’s gaze fell to the center of the round table. He said, “I sincerely believe that if time were not such a significant factor, Fondor and Nallastia could have easily resolved this matter without Jedi negotiators.” He raised his eyes and let them travel from Quenelle to Rodd. “But given the circumstances and information presented, there really is only one logical course of action…”
It seemed that everyone in the room was holding his or her breath. Even Anakin, who had remained silent during the entire meeting, had no idea of what his Master was about to say. But before Obi-Wan could issue his judgment, a sudden, lurching sound reverberated through the salon pod.
Then the lights went out, and there was total chaos.
No one in the salon pod knew what had hit them. The moment that the lights went out, it felt as if an invisible hand had suddenly upended the entire cruiser and hurled it sideways across space. Inside the Unitive, anything that wasn’t bolted down went flying. Obi-Wan and Anakin stumbled back and slammed against the walls. Bultar Swan, Margravine Quenelle, and the two Nallastian guards clung to the round table. Senator Rodd and his aides toppled out of their chairs. Then, just as suddenly, the Unitive stabilized and the emergency lights came on. Incredibly, no one appeared to be injured.
“What happened?” Rodd shouted as his aides pulled him up from the floor.
“It felt like we were sideswiped,” said Bultar Swan.
Rodd shot a look at Quenelle and said, “Is this your doing? Some kind of trick to gain what you want?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing!” Quenelle answered indignantly.
Anakin pulled himself up next to the pod’s sensor panel. The pod had been engineered to eject from the cruiser in emergency situations, and had it ejected, the sensors would have displayed the pod’s position in relationship to the Unitive. But the sensors did not display any useful information because they were not working. At all.
“Looks like all systems are disabled,” Anakin said. “Including communications. We can’t even hail the bridge. Did the salon pod eject?”
Obi-Wan scrambled over to the main hatch and visually checked its bolts. Six rectangular yellow panels set around the hatch’s frame indicated that the pod was still secured to the Unitive. Obi-Wan considered throwing the manual switch to eject, then decided against it.
A small octagonal shield was set in the center of the hatch. Obi-Wan slid back the shield to peer through a transparisteel window, which permitted a view into the docking tube that linked the salon pod with the Unitive. Within the docking tube, the Unitive’s captain was approaching the salon pod’s hatch. She saw Obi-Wan through the small window and signaled him to open the hatch. He did.
“What happened?” Obi-Wan asked.
“The derelict’s sublight engine fired, and then it veered out of its trajectory,” Captain Pietrangelo reported. “At the same time, we suddenly had a shipwide power surge. It disabled most of our systems. Engines, sensors, and communications are down. We’re adrift.”
“You saw the derelict’s engine fire?” Anakin asked, surprised.
“Yes, sir,” replied the captain. “That thing was operational.”
“We can only guess who’s controlling it,” Obi-Wan said. “Could you determine its new course?”
“It looked like it was angling for the Fondor system,” Pietrangelo answered. “I tried to launch a message droid to warn Fondor Space Patrol, but I’m afraid the launch activators are fried.”
“What’s my salvage ship’s status?” Senator Rodd asked sharply.
“Still locked on to one of our docking ports, as is the Margravine’s rescue runner,” the captain informed him. “But it seems all three ships were disabled.”
Quenelle whirled on Rodd and fumed, “I suspect foul play, Senator. I would not be surprised to learn that your patrol ship’s crew has seized the Sun Runner!”
Rodd retorted, “I was about to accuse your freighter crew of the same thing!”
“This is no time for accusations,” Obi-Wan interjected. “Has it occurred to either of you that there could be disastrous consequences if the derelict reaches Fondor or Nallastia—especially if it crashes?”
Margravine Quenelle and Senator Rodd exchanged nervous glances. Collectively, there were more than a million beings on Fondor, Nallastia, and the orbital starship yards. Quenelle turned to the Jedi and implored, “What can we do?”
Bultar Swan said, “We don’t know who is controlling the derelict’s course, but we know they must be stopped. And if there are innocent captives on board, they must be rescued.”
“But how?” Quenelle said. “We’re stranded here!”
Rodd said, “Starfighters.”
“What’s that, Senator?” asked Obi-Wan.
“My salvage ship carries two starfighters,” Rodd said. “A CloakShape Fighter and a Z-95 Headhunter. Since they weren’t in use when the power surged, they won’t be disabled. They might be used to catch up with the derelict.”
Quenelle faced Obi-Wan and asked, “Can you stop the Sun Runner without destroying it?”
“We’ll do our best,” Obi-Wan said. “Now let’s get to those starfighters!”
At this point, you must decide whether to continue reading this adventure, or to play your own adventure in the Hunt the Sun Runner Game Book.
To play your own adventure, turn to the first page of the Game Book and follow the directions you find there.
To continue reading this adventure, turn the page!
The three Jedi led the representatives of Fondor and Nallastia out of the salon pod. They proceeded through the narrow corridors of the Republic cruiser until they reached the docking tube that was connected to Senator Rodd’s salvage ship.
The docking tube’s hatch was locked. Obi-Wan peered through the hatch’s transparisteel window and saw the salvage ship’s navigator on the other side. The navigator looked back, his expression suspicious.
Behind Obi-Wan, Senator Rodd cleared his throat and said, “My crew won’t open the hatch unless I give them the all-clear. If you’ll allow me…”
“That won’t
be necessary,” Obi-Wan said as he gestured with his fingers to the navigator through the window. If the navigator was at all aware that his mind was being manipulated by the Jedi, he did not show any sign of protest. Instead, he smiled and reached for the hatch’s locking bolt. There was a soft click, and the hatch swung open.
“Excuse me,” Senator Rodd said with annoyance, pushing his way past Obi-Wan to be the first one through the hatch. “I’ll show you the way to the starfighters.”
Senator Rodd led the procession down a corridor that was lined with reflective metal, which acted like mirrors to make the closed environment feel more spacious. Anakin was at the end of the group, just behind Margravine Quenelle and her two guards. As Senator Rodd and his aides rounded a corner, the salvage ship’s pilot stepped out of an open doorway to Anakin’s right and bumped into Margravine Quenelle.
At the sight of the Margravine, her guards, and the other unfamiliar figures, the pilot’s eyes went wide with surprise. He had not seen Senator Rodd, and did not know the Nallastians had been allowed on board. Without hesitation, the pilot reached for his holstered blaster pistol and drew it swiftly.
The pilot was surprised when the blaster suddenly vanished from his hand, leaving his fingers aimed at the Margravine. Somehow, the blaster had landed in the grasp of a young man who stood nearby. At first glance, the pilot had assumed the man was one of the Margravine’s guards, but then he noticed the lightsaber that was clipped to the man’s belt. His eyes traveled down the corridor to Bultar Swan and Obi-Wan, who had turned in response to the commotion.
“You’re fast on the draw,” Anakin said to the pilot. “But I’m faster.” He gave the blaster a twirl on his finger.
Obi-Wan threw a stern look at Anakin, then fixed his gaze on the pilot and said, “We’re with Senator Rodd.” Obi-Wan gestured with his fingers and added, “You don’t have to worry about us.”
Star Wars Adventures 001 - Hunt the Sun Runner Page 2
