Darth Maul knelt by the transmission platform, his weight triggered the send signal and within almost a second the larger image spoke.
“Lord Maul you have done well. I have a new task for you. I need you to find several items of great value to me. She will provide you with the details and she will take over our agenda with those stunted charlatans. Once you have collected everything in that list meet with me on Korriban.” his master commanded.
“She?” Maul frowned but the transmission has already ended and emerging from the darkness before him was a strange woman yet seemingly familiar.
“Lord Maul, I should start to get used to that title.” her soft melodious voice froze the Zabrak from where he was kneeling. The familiarity of it shocked him to disbelief.
“You…” Maul gasped. She was humanoid and her beauty was beyond compare, at least as far as Maul knows of the opposite sex, which was narrow. Her goddess like beauty was marred only with a distinctive scar at the left corner of her bloody red lips. Her tattoos on her arms and legs were similar to his, her supple pearly white skin were a stark contrast to the hardly noticeable battle hardened muscles underneath.
She wore a dark Sith robe and at her waist were a pair of ancient looking lightsabers with no activation button. She was heterochromia, her left eye is of icy blue and her right eye is fiery red. She has this perceptible canine that constantly peeks through her closed little mouth, one of the only evident signs of her Cathar origin aside from her sharp claws.
“Sarc! It can’t be, you… you’re dead. When I returned to Dathomir, Mother Talzin told me, the Nightsisters blamed me for your death …” Maul finally managed to say.
“You will now address me as the Lady Sarc Crimos, Lord Maul. Skinny Sarc is dead! She fell when that bull attacked her and her friends. She died when the only person she ever trusted naively abandoned her and broke a promise. A promise that he will take her with him away from the cruel ways of the Nightsisters.” she snarled bitterly at him.
Maul slowly got up and started to walk towards her but she stopped him with her accusing gaze.
“Hold back your questions my old friend, now is not the time for answers. Here is the list,” Sarc tossed him a datacard, “There are twelve items there in a form of riddles, the location of each is also within the riddles. Obtain the wrong one and our Master will be very disappointed.”
Maul ignored her and rushed to engulf her on a tight embrace.
She allowed him that much but shortly she slowly pushed him back.
“You are to learn the ways of the Sith, Lord Maul, this will only distract you. Focus!” she slapped him hard he tasted blood. Her deadly sharp claws had made its mark on his left cheek.
“You are right… Lady Crimos.” Maul finally said stiffly.
“I will now go to Naboo to finish off their new queen and make sure that our Neimoidian allies will do things as they are told.” She said to him.
“The Jedi will be there at the coronation.” Maul said.
“Better then. I have been itching to kill Jedi.” She grinned.
“You don’t understand, those will not be mere Jedi Knights, those are the Jedi Council.” Maul warned her.
“You doubt my skills?” the Lady Crimos narrowed her heterochromatic eyes at him.
Darth Maul stepped back as her lightsabers floated up to her hands and was ignited. One was blue and the other red, a match to her eyes.
Before Maul could speak she swung her blades at him. Maul snarled and leaped back a few meters away and took out his double lightsaber. Crimson beams hissed out from each end and the Zabrak began spinning it.
“This is not the same as our broadsword sparring.” Maul hissed.
“I know. You never won against me anyways.” the Lady Crimos snarled.
“This time I will.” Maul charged and the Lady Crimos sprang to meet him in mid-air.
Chapter 6: Morning Fireworks
“Artoo, can you contact our pilots out there?” Siege asked his partner as he prepares their trek down the mountain into the swamps below toward the enemy battleship.
Artoo moaned a negative, the ion storm above are still preventing him to reach the others.
“Very well, just loop the hailing signal and have it re-transmitted to my comlink the moment someone answers back. Remember to keep the frequency on our squadron channel only. We wouldn’t want the Trade Federation combing down the entire moon for us.” Siege said as he made one last check on the equipments in his backpack, belt and pockets.
“Do you see how these mountain ranges seem to be connected with each other and how they surround the rainforest below? See the slopping sides and how similar they are at each other as if they were contours of a giant basin?” Hoff slowly points to Artoo from their left side across the great distances and how the mountains did seem to create an engulfing ring at the edges of the entire forest.
“Adjust your sensors for atmospheric content. This area hints a faint trace of sulfur. I think this was once a volcanic crater hundreds of years ago.” Hoff helped Artoo pick its way through the uneven and sometimes treacherous rocky mountain edges.
The slopping drop of the mountain’s side was craggy and hazardous for Artoo, almost most of the time he was being lifted or carried by Siege who never seem to complain about it, which makes Artoo grateful for the lieutenant.
When the path was too arduous for the pilot to carry Artoo, the little droid uses his side boosters to fly over the rocks, ravines and cracks on the mountain. As the snow recedes, the trees grew thick until they were out of the mountain’s feet and were now laboriously clearing their way through the damp darkening jungle.
Artoo was forced to ‘walk’ in the thick jungle bed, with all the mixture of clay, mud, feces, leaves, twigs and who knows what else, using his wheels results in getting caught on long leaves or veins that get tangled in his three wheeled robotic feet. Siege patiently halts to remove the leaves and veins and slowed his pace to allow Artoo to keep up.
“How close are we now to the swamps?” Siege finally asked after a full hour since they left the cave.
Artoo checked his sensors and beeped a reply.
“Half a click, alright Artoo wait here. Keep your comlink open in case I have to call for you.” Siege said and darted into the foliage before Artoo could even protest.
Artoo moaned silently, his sensors have been detecting fauna the moment they entered the forest and it has been alarmingly increasing and moving towards them. High about the thick canopy of branches and leaves the sunlight barely reaches them, Artoo could hear various cries and noises of insects and avian and tree dweller creatures from above them. Here and there something would startle flying insects. A vicious roar would echo in the distant darkness and would be answered by another on the opposite side.
Artoo checked his internal chronometer. It has been three hours now since Lieutenant Hoff Siege has taken him from Captain Ric Olié’s care which means the coronation starts in four hours. It’ll be eight Standard Time Parts now on Naboo, which means they are running out of time. Artoo was curious to witness the coronation of Queen Amidala and he was no intention of missing it even if he has to fly himself into the Trade Federation’s ship and destroy it on his own just to get the job done quickly. Artoo paused and reprimanded himself that it is such a very irresponsible attitude even for a brand new astromech droid.
Artoo was trying to figure out how they could travel through the swamp faster without him having to use his booster or the lieutenant carrying his heavy bulk when the pilot emerged from where he had left.
“Let’s go!” he smiled.
Artoo followed Hoff into a clearing, before them were the fog, bog, muck and moss infested swamp country of the moon Rori. Down the slope on the water was a raft made out of branches and sticks tied in roots and tough veins.
“This ought to speed us up a little, hop in!” Hoff beckoned him as he boarded his makeshift raft and took a long arm-thick trunk with roots at the tip that would serve as the p
addle.
Artoo whistled and flew onto the raft. Their combined weight held and Hoff started paddling off the bank and into the murky waters, carefully avoiding submerged roots. The fog thickens as they go deeper into the swamp. Their pace was cautiously slow because Hoff has to strain to see ahead through the thick haze and steer off on constant obstacles on their path.
Artoo calculated their distance to the Trade Federation ship and computed that in their current speed they will arrive there in an hour. Siege asked Artoo how long will it take to reach their destination and the astromech answered his every question.
“One hour is too long.” Siege sat in deep thought and resume paddling.
Artoo tried to think of a solution but the lieutenant beat him to it.
“I got an idea!” Hoff grinned like a naughty school boy.
Artoo beeped an inquiry at him.
“Watch and learn Artoo. Watch and learn.” Siege smiled at him. He took his blaster from its holster and fired the cable wire on the farthest tree within the range limit of his line ahead of them. The grappling hook punched into the trunk, Hoff pulled to test its tautness then activated the reverse of the cable wire. Bracing himself and Artoo, their raft began to move faster as the cable wire was reeled in by Hoff’s blaster.
When they reached the trunk, Hoff pulled it off, reinserted it on the smaller nozzle of his blaster and shot the tree afar. Throughout their progress Hoff repeated the method until they reached a sharp turn and Artoo informed him that they should go on foot now straight ahead.
Hoff helped Artoo off the raft and together they traversed the remaining kilometer. If not for the thick foliage and the massive trees that blocked the sunlight and the sky above they would have seen the looming globe ship directly in front of them.
A few more minutes and they encountered a clearing littered with crushed and burnt woods, trees and animals. A hundred meters before them stood the globe ship that towered like an obese skyscraper in the middle of the jungle.
Artoo warned him that perimeter sensors were all over the base of the ship and is most probably detecting him right now. Hoff tensed and raised his blaster but Artoo assured him that his heat signature will only register as one of the constant presence of local fauna.
Artoo then asked the big question.
“I go inside, find the power generators and plant these thermal detonators, set the timer and leave.” Hoff said.
Artoo swiveled his dome taking in on the length of the ship then hooted another question.
“That I haven’t figured out yet. I was hoping you’d help me on that part.” Hoff Siege admitted.
If Artoo had eyeballs he would have rolled it by now.
Artoo shushed Hoff and made a quick cursory scan of the perimeter and of the immediate interior of the globe ship. Hoff waited expectantly until Artoo started to lay out the plan he estimated would work better.
Hoff listened intently and made a few questions and suggestions until the two finally agreed on the detailed plan.
At that moment, Lieutenant Siege’s comlink beeped and he answered it.
“Raid Lead, we got your message! We’re going in!” cried out the unmistakable voice of Raid Three, the leader of Moenia Flight exclaimed.
“No wait, listen to me first!” Siege called out and when Raid Three acknowledged, Siege carefully laid out he and Artoo’s plan and warned them of the danger awaiting them in their descent.
“Alright Artoo, let’s do it. Let me know when you’re in.” Siege said to his partner and they parted ways. The lieutenant ran on the east side of the grounded globe ship while Artoo labored his way to its western wall.
Hoff checked his thermal detonators and took three from his pack then gathered momentum and hurled each of the bombs as far as he could to the bulk of the warship. He had set the thermal detonators to explode upon impact. His aim and throw were good and the first bomb exploded on the exposed massive landing claw. The second and third bomb impacted on the lower hull causing enough damage to alert whoever was inside the massive globular Trade Federation battleship.
On the other side of the ship Artoo spotted a ramp lowering down to allow a number of B1 droids riding on STAPs, droidekas and half a squadron of starfighter droids to descend and proceed to the site of explosion and investigate.
Artoo quickly rolled up the ramp after the last B1 droid left. Another number of B1 battle droids milled about the chamber but ignore Artoo thinking he was one of them.
Artoo silently blew a whistle and continued rolling deeper into the labyrinthine complex. He spotted a terminal link up and went straight at it and protruded his scomp link and inserted it on the socket.
The A.I. prompted Artoo of the nature of his inquiry and the astromech informed the computer that he had just came out from his regular memory wipe and wanted to update his mapping systems.
The A.I. processed his request and then allowed him access to the holographic schematics of the entire Lucrehulk-class battleship. Artoo hurriedly downloaded the data and at the same time deftly uploaded a N36 computer virus into the Trade Federation ship’s A.I. The N36 was a special sabotage programming created by the Naboo Royal Engineering technicians, it was designed to be invisible to almost all current anti-virus detection software for at least a full thirty minutes which by the time it can be detected it would already be too late. Within twenty minutes upon infection the virus will render the A.I. and the entire computer grid of the ship unresponsive to manual commands and overrides. It will also ruin the automated functions of the A.I. making it in all terms and description, useless. Unfortunately, it was a one-time program only. Once the astromech droid deploys that virus, the droid can never do the same trick again unless it receives another upload of the same program from NRE, but that too was impossible now because the only person who can program it was dead, Lienn Entarrie, and he left no copy in the NRE database upon his termination.
Artoo checked his internal map of the ship and marked the power generators as his target. Leaving the console, Artoo proceeded to his next step.
On his way to the power generator Artoo spotted a Neimoidian running in escort by several battle droids into a battered Corellian frigate. Artoo’s facial recognition identified the Neimoidian as Hath Monchar. Artoo took a recording of his escape as he sped away just in case it might be needed later.
Artoo found the power generator complex deep in the battleship’s interior and was relieved to see no guards stationed there. Then Artoo halted and re-assessed the situation. His human-like programming in battle tactics warned him that this is a typical set-up for a trap.
Artoo decided to make a cursory scan of the entire chamber for droid signature and he instantly detected three dozens of them hiding from various machineries throughout the power generator complex.
Artoo looked around for something he might find useful when he spotted another console terminal. Another idea came to his oddly creative mind and Artoo went and jack himself into the terminal. He issued a recall order for all battle droids within the chamber and within microseconds the A.I. complied and sent the recall order. The thirty six battle droids and droidekas mechanically moved out of their hiding places and marched out of the chamber passing directly at Artoo and ignoring him at all.
Artoo hooted a goodbye to the marching droids as he hurried towards the lined columns of power generators. One by one Artoo planted the thermal detonators he was carrying and set the detonation to remote.
Once finished, Artoo dashed as fast as he could out of the battleship.
Outside, Lieutenant Hoff Siege manage to snatch a Single Troop Aerial Platform or STAP from one of the B1 Battle droids and were now being chased by a dozen STAP riders.
Siege made a sharp turn barely avoiding a massive branch ahead of him and reached for his comlink and called Artoo.
“Artoo you done yet?” he shouted over the noise of repulsor engine and the blaster bolts whizzing past him.
Artoo hooted a reply at him.
“Good jo
b, meet me back up on the cave, I needed to lose my tails first!” Siege told Artoo.
Artoo chirped an acknowledgement.
The droidekas were also chasing him but they were far behind due to the uneven terrain of the thick jungle plus the constant presence of little swamps throughout the foliage. Above the high canopy of branching leaves Siege could hear the whining engines of droid starfighters circling overhead tracking his STAP’s signal.
Siege still has at least three thermal detonators left. He made a quick glance and saw four of his pursuers gaining. He activated the magnetic brace of his first thermal detonator and threw it behind him. The bomb attached itself to the nearest metal and then detonated taking with it the four battle droids and their STAPs.
Eight was left and he still has two of the bombs. Again he waited until four of the droids were close to each other before throwing out his second bomb. Siege cried out in victory but the last four increased their speed and reached him, paralleling his flight. With two of them on each of his side they flanked him and matched his speed and they all aimed their blaster rifles at him.
“Uh oh.” Siege felt his mind reeled but he still have one trick up his sleeves and he wasted no time and executed it.
The moment the droid raised their rifles he took out his blaster, switched to cable and shoot the first tree that sped past him and as the cable tugged him off his STAP he released the last of his detonator and it attached itself on his STAP and exploded.
The close proximity of the explosion threw Siege off and he was alert enough to let go of the blaster or he would have smashed like an insect on one of the thick trunks of the trees around him. Siege fell on the bushed but the thick leaves and the soft mud cushioned his fall.
Siege reached on his belt to call Artoo but his comlink wasn’t there, it must have fallen off during his stumble. Siege walked the rest of the way and after an hour of making wrong turns and retracing his route he came out of the woods and into the rising slope of the mountain.
Then two droid starfighters came from above and circled around to bear their cannons on him. Siege froze thinking it was his end when the first droid starfighter exploded and as the other one tried to reorient itself on the new threat it too was destroyed.
Star Wars - Artoo Detoo: Droid of a Kind (Volume 1) Page 6