The droids draped her in a robe and made her lay on a bed at the side.
When she slowly opened her heterochromic eyes, the Viceroy took a deep breath and approached her.
“Lord Sidious will be making contact in ten minutes. Prepare your excuses for failing to keep the Queen from the clutches of the Jedi.” Gunray admonished.
“You fled while I fought, Neimoidian. Let that be very clear.” Crimos snapped back.
“We shall see…” Gunray snorted and as he started to leave, alarm klaxons sounded across the bridge and corridors of the Saak’ak.
The Trade Federation Viceroy took his comlink and called the new captain who replaced the late Daultay Dofine.
“What is going on?” Gunray demanded.
“Viceroy, a small fleet emerged from hyperspace and started attacking our battleships. They are hailing you!” Captain Feul Atane exclaimed in panic.
“Speak to them, I will be there shortly.” Viceroy Gunray left the medical wing in a hurry.
The Lady Crimos ordered a droid to bring her clothes to the command bridge. Despite the protestations of the medical droids that she should still have to rest, the Dark Jedi went to follow the Viceroy.
* * *
“I do not wish you to think that we are of no manners. I am Clynt Resnon, Chief Executive Officer of the Raltosan Enterprise and recently unanimously voted as the Commanding Officer of the Moviana Patriots. We are here to exact our revenge against you for murdering our founding leaders. We are questing that you just roll over and die like a good grub that you are and save us the trouble of spending ammunitions and risking valuable sentient lives.” Clynt said cheerfully.
“Insolent fool, you dare threaten the mighty Trade Federation?” Viceroy Nute Gunray shouted in anger.
“Ah the grub can speak. That is fortunate! Can the grub also think?” Clynt exclaimed with mirth, his manner was further annoying the Viceroy.
“I do not have time for this. Launch all droid starfighters and concentrate all quad turbolasers on their ships! I want them destroyed!” Gunray ordered.
“He can think after all, albeit in a limiting way only.” Clynt laughed.
The Lady Crimos stepped into the projection field and her presence surprised Clynt.
“Hello Clynt, still the clown that you are. I never would have thought you’d have the brains to head such a business corporation… in fact, I am also surprise to see you got the balls to attack us in the first place.” Crimos purred like a seductive feline.
“Ah, your charms, if one can actually call that charm, won’t work on me, you filthy illiterate witch. Why don’t you return that lightsaber you loaned on Nar Shaddaa and return from digging dirt and getting pregnant by slaves and leave such matter beyond you to those who are actually capable of it?” Clynt shot back.
“Why do I even bother talking to you?” Crimos smiled and winked at him.
Clynt felt something constricting inside his throat and the air begin to be cut off from his lungs.
Crimos released her grip and raised her eyebrow and waited for him to say something.
“Now that is where you are wrong, witch. I am not afraid to die at all. There are many able men and women that will take my place should I perish here. What I think you should start thinking is what will your precious master would do to you if he finds out that the Queen of Naboo has been long gone and got past under your big pointy nose?” Clynt laughed and closed the comm.
Crimos whirled and Force-gripped the Viceroy in his collars and lifted him up in the air.
“What is he talking about? Where is Queen Amidala?” Crimos growled like an enraged rancor.
“I do not know… she got into her starship and flew south… we lost track of her…” Gunray choked and dropped hard on the metal pavement.
“This fleet is a diversion! Find the Queen!” Crimos screamed in rage.
“Atane, get those battleships back on their positions! Tighten the blockade and tell every captain to dispatch all of their droid starfighters! I want the entire planet sealed!” Gunray shouted.
* * *
“Shields up! We are entering the hot zone!” Captain Ric Olié announced.
Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jar-jar Binks stood besides Captain Panaka and Captain Siege Hoff by the cockpit and watch through the transparisteel viewport as the clouds parted to give way to the blackness of space.
“Hail the Fair Chance.” Panaka said.
After a few seconds the image of Clynt Resnon appeared on their monitor, it was also shown simultaneously inside the throne room so the Queen could see what is happening.
“I just spooked them. They have dispatched all of the droid starfighters from all battleships across the blockade. Your side of the outer space would be a bit crowded for a while.” Clynt said the moment the connection was established.
“We are ready for your shell game Clynt.” Panaka said.
“Very good! Let’s get the show started then!” Clynt beamed a smile.
“Looks like a happy man.” Obi-Wan commented.
“Considering the last time I saw him in person he was aiming a blaster rifle at my head and killed two of my Security Officers, yes, the man has sense of humor.” Panaka snorted.
“Youssa no trust him then?” Jar-jar looked at him.
“The same way I don’t trust you.” Panaka held his gaze and as Jar-jar started to move towards him, Panaka finished his sentence, “But you and Clynt share the same enemy as we do so we have to make room for trust, no matter how small.”
“Messa should break youssa big nose, but messa can accept that.” Jar-jar nodded and crossed his arms as they all waited to see what Clynt has in mind for his so called shell game.
Suddenly one of the Corellian corvettes moved in and allowed itself to get hit by the Saak’ak’s turbolaser fire. The ship started to dip and began its plunge to the planet.
“What on the…” Ric Olié gasped.
“Now how ussa that gonna cover oussa escape?” Jar-jar grunted.
“I have no idea, but let’s just watch and see for ourselves.” Qui-Gon said, his mind figuring out what kind of tactic Clynt was planning to do to confuse the Trade Federation.
Nothing seemed to happen and the falling corvette was already burning through the atmosphere to their left.
“Clynt, I don’t think…” Panaka started to say but Obi-Wan exclaimed and pointed at the corvette’s hangar bay.
“Master, look!” Obi-Wan said in excitement.
A number of Nubian Royal Starships like their own ship began pouring out of the crashing corvette. Panaka counted and counted and when the numbers seemed impossible to fit in the corvettes hangar he turned a bewildered and confused look at the others.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes and smiled.
“The corvette is a hollow ship with minimal shielding, steerage and propulsion engines. I also don’t sense any living beings aboard, as well on those starships.” Qui-Gon said.
“Droids!” Obi-Wan exclaimed.
Clynt’s image reappeared chuckling, “My Vengeance Squadron will clear a path for you. Those Nubian starships are fortified with powerful shields and enough firepower to keep the droid starfighters busy. Let’s just say that one of the biggest shareholders of Nubian shipyards owes me big time and I decided to collect that debt, with the help of course of your Theed Palace Space Engineering Corps. But be quick, the Lady Crimos is aboard the Saak’ak and she will not be fooled by this trick.” Clynt said to them.
“I trust you can keep these Neimoidians busy while we’re gone.” Panaka commented.
“We’re businessmen, we know how to stall!” Clynt said.
“Captain, the Vengeance Squadron is dead ahead.” one of the crew announced.
“We’re going in.” Captain Olié said and flew their starship to where a squadron of heavily modified Z-95 Headhunters was making an opening for their starship.
Halfway through the run Captain Olié detected the Saak’ak was slowly turning to bear their
firepower on them.
“Hang on! This is going to be rough!” Olié warned them.
Massive turbolasers lanced out at them and it took all of Ric Olié’s flying skills to avoid those deadly beams of death.
Suddenly from both sides, above and below them, four Nubian Royal Starships came flying and paralleling them. The ships started to turn and switch places and Olié took the hint and joined the mixing of their positions during which they were also avoiding the barrage. After several seconds they all pulled away from each other and the Saak’ak started to fire randomly on every direction.
“It worked!” Panaka exclaimed.
Jar-jar took a seat and strapped himself tight, “Messa no like spaceflight!”
“Just a few more clicks to clear the gravitational well and we’re all set!” Olié muttered as he increased their speed and slowly began to move out from the space battle.
They were one click away from their exit vector when several droid starfighters managed to break through the cordon of the Vengeance Squadron and started to fire on them.
The barrage crippled their shields as two pierced them and hit the starboard deflector shield generator and the hyperdrive conduits on the starship’s belly.
Two flights from Vengeance followed them and engaged the droid starfighters. Artoo Detoo and the other astromech droids climb up the droid lift tube hatch. The astromechs activated their magnetic pads they began to roll down towards the burnt starboard deflector shield generator.
Stray blasts started destroying the astromechs and Artoo hurried to get his job done. R2-A9 was now the only droid left with him and the two frantically worked in tandem to rewire the burnt circuits from the generator and tap power to the other circuits.
Anine got the initial power started to flow and it was left to Artoo to complete the circuit. Artoo beeped to Anine to go ahead. Hesitant to leave his last companion, Anine finally obeyed and started to roll back to the lift tube.
As Anine was about to get inside another stray bolt came and hit him in the left leg. The leg shattered and the droid careened out of the ship and floated in space. The same starfighter swooped above the starship and finished off the doomed astromech.
Artoo saw the droid starfighter blasted his companion and started to make a wide turn to finish him off. Artoo fused the last three wires to the sensor array power line and carefully realigned the wiring to avoid another short circuit.
The power generator went on line and the shimmering semi-transparent blue static shield finally appeared throughout the surface of the Royal Starship. Artoo hurriedly made his way back to the shoot as the droid starfighter primed its cannons to open fire. Artoo got inside and the laser bolt bounced harmlessly from the ship’s shield.
“The shields are up! That little droid did it! Way the go Artoo!” Captain Ric Olié exclaimed in triumph.
“The hyperdrive is badly burnt, we can’t make a long jump, it will overload the circuits and we’ll explode during transit. We can’t risk it.” the co-pilot said gravely.
“Check the star charts. We’ll have to land somewhere to make repairs to the ship. What’s out there?” Qui-Gon Jinn said as Obi-Wan leaned over the co-pilot.
“Here, Master,” Obi-Wan pointed at the star charts, “Tatooine, it’s small, poor and out of the way. It attracts little attention and the Trade Federation has no presence there.”
“How can you be sure?” Panaka asked doubtfully.
“It’s controlled by the Hutts.” Qui-Gon answered.
“The Hutts!” Panaka gasped.
“It’s risky, I know, but we don’t have much of a choice, any farther and we risk either getting blown internally or getting caught.” Obi-Wan justified his decision.
“You can’t take the Royal Highness in there! The Hutts are gangsters and slavers. If they discovered who she was…” Panaka shook his head.
“It would be no different if we landed on a planet in a system controlled by the Trade Federation, except the Hutts aren’t looking for her, which gives us an advantage.” Qui-Gon explained.
“Plus messa have friends there. Messa also knows several people Nym, Sage and Reti knows.” Jar-jar added.
“See?” Obi-Wan grinned at Panaka.
The Captain of the Queen looked the three of them in turn and shook his head as if they were all crazy and let out a long deep sigh of resignation and nodded.
Obi-Wan’s grin grew wider and tapped the shoulder of Captain Olié.
“Set a course to Tatooine.” Panaka finally said.
The Royal Starship of the Queen of Naboo jumped into hyperspace leaving the ragtag fleet of Clynt Resnon and the Trade Federation in a locked battle.
Chapter 33: Desert Heat
Aurra Sing fiddled with one of the lightsabers she got from her Jedi victims on Cato Neimoidia and stopped as Jango Fett and Cradossk arrived and parked their swoop beside hers.
The hybrid bounty huntress regarded the so called survivor of the Galidraan massacre with a mixture of curiosity and distrust. Although they share the same abhorrence against the Jedi as a whole, she felt dubious about the stories she hears about him having killed six Jedi with his bare hands during the Jedi Raid against the Mandalorians.
Cradossk, the old Trandoshan bounty hunter leaned at her side and whispered, “Who’s the kid?”
Aurra Sing looked at where Cradossk was pointing and saw a little human boy talking to a Toydarian. A Hutt in a hoversled eased her way towards them.
“Looks like Gardulla found herself a new pod racer. The boy doesn’t look much though, but given that he’s human, that should say a lot.” Aurra Sing said.
“You got to give him credit. He’s the only human who can race the pod in this rock.” Jango said from behind her.
“What did I just said?” Aurra frowned.
“Enough of that, we’re not here to watch them, this side please.” Cradossk growled cocking his head on the other side of the canyon.
“You started it.” Aurra glared at the Trandoshan and raised her macrobinoculars to look at the outskirts of Mos Espa.
“This should better be worth my time. I still have business elsewhere.” Jango muttered as he placed his helmet back on his head and scanned the horizon.
“Then be elsewhere.” Aurra glared at the dark visor.
Jango Fett seemed to appear more threatening and loomed before her without moving but the hybrid wasn’t fazed at all and met that unseen gaze with her own defiant orbs.
Cradossk snorted at the two and placed his hand over his eyes to cover the glare of the sun and look ahead, he doesn’t need the macrobinoculars and the built-in zoom-in viewfinder in Fett’s helmet. His keen reptilian eyes are still exceptional despite his age.
Ahead of them in the far distance were the largest herds of Banthas he had ever seen gathering in one place.
“Must be the season.” Jango commented, turning away from Aurra Sing to look across the desert.
“Are you sure the Queen will be there?” Cradossk asked.
“The Viceroy’s spy informed him they’re headed off here to make repairs. Mos Espa is the only inhabited region on the side of Tatooine facing the exit vector of any ship coming from the Chommell Sector. This is the only logical place to await them.” Aurra Sing explained.
“I must warn you though that there are two Jedi aboard that starship. There are also those Royal Handmaidens, they may not look much other than just a pretty face but they are formidable fighters or so I’ve heard. There’s also a Gungan there that from what I’ve heard in the Saak’ak’s comm traffic, nearly killed a Dark Jedi, some former agent of the Chommell Patriots.” Aurra Sing added.
“Two Jedi huh? I’m always up for such task.” Jango commented.
“There!” Cradossk pointed a sharp claw on the sky.
Aurra Sing and Jango Fett look up and spotted the gleaming silver chromed starship landing on the outskirts a few hundred meters away to the east from the massive herds of Banthas.
“Remember, we need the
Queen alive and unharmed. The rest are expendables. No disintegrations.” Aurra Sing said as she readied her long projectile rifle.
Cradossk and Jango Fett nodded as they prepare their weapons.
* * *
Viceroy Nute Gunray was pressuring his crew to track the escaped Royal Starship when the holo went active and Darth Sidious’ image appeared before them.
The Lady Sarc Crimos stood before the image of the Sith Lord as the Viceroy hurried to stand beside her.
“Why can’t I reach you Viceroy? Are you avoiding me?” Sidious snarled.
“We were jammed Lord Sidious, we just got the comm up and running again. We are attacked by a small fleet. They were remnants of the Chommell Patriots.” Gunray explained fearfully.
“We are still being attacked.” Crimos muttered.
“What about the Queen? Has she signed my treaty?” Sidious demanded.
“There is a slight delay…” Gunray stammered.
“They escaped.” Crimos said flatly.
“Viceroy, find her! I want that treaty signed!” Lord Sidious growled.
Gunray cowered in terror, “My lord, we have been unable to locate the ship she’s on. We tried to give chase but they were out of our range!”
“Not for a Sith. Viceroy, I am sending you my apprentice Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship.” Darth Sidious said menacingly as another hooded figure emerged standing behind the seated Dark Lord of the Sith.
“Yes, milord.” Viceroy Nute Gunray bowed as the two Sith Lords’ images faded.
“This is getting out of hand.” Gunray muttered to himself and added, “I should never have made this bargain.”
“It’s too late for that.” Crimos smiled and left the bridge.
“Where are you going?” Gunray called her.
“I’m taking my ship for a ride, do some hunting.” Crimos said as she closed the blastdoor behind her.
* * *
Darth Sidious and his apprentice Darth Maul went out of his office to the veranda overlooking the bustling night time of Coruscant.
Darth Maul leaned on the railing with his Master, and spoke, “Tatooine is sparsely populated. The Hutts rules there and the Republic have no presence in that backwater world. If the spy speaks the truth, Master, I will find them quickly and without hindrance.”
Star Wars - Artoo Detoo: Droid of a Kind (Volume 1) Page 28