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 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