The Dangerous Rescue

"The more we fit, the more she'll take, if we're lucky!" Cholly

  exclaimed. "Don't put them in that way, Tup, you're taking up too much

  room."

  "Woosh, I'm doing the best I can."

  Adi sighed. "This is taking too long." She thumped on the top of the

  panel. "Hurry it up!" she shouted.

  "Yes, yes, we're hurrying. Only a few minutes more," Cholly called.

  Obi-Wan closed his eyes. Why was he always asked to be patient at the

  moment he was jumping out of his skin? Every second of delay was

  frustrating.

  Adi spoke quietly. "Knowing Qui-Gon, I am sure that he has his own

  plan, Obi-Wan. We are not his only means of rescue."

  "I am sure that he does as well," Obi-Wan said, grateful for Adi's

  words of reassurance.

  "There is just one thing that troubles me," Adi murmured. "I only

  hope his plan does not collide with ours."

  CHAPTER 3

  For days, while he was stuck in the vapor-filled chamber, all Qui-Gon

  had wanted to do was get out and stretch his muscles. Thanks to his

  Padawan, he had been released from the chamber. But now, when he finally

  had his freedom, he found himself in an even tighter space - a ventilation

  shaft.

  Jenna Zan Arbor had sealed herself into the room where she held the

  other prisoner. It had been a wise move. She knew that Qui-Gon would not

  dare to break in. She knew he would not gamble with the other being's life.

  He could not use Obi-Wan's lightsaber to get through the door. He

  could not take any aggressive action. With a sensor in his body and one in

  the other prisoner's, both of them could be dead in an instant.

  He would have to use stealth. He had found the ventilation shaft that

  ran through the ceiling. He had been crawling for what felt like a long

  time. He could not make a sound to alert her, and he had to be mindful of

  his direction as well. The various shafts were a maze. But if he was

  careful, he could wind up in the ceiling over Zan Arbor's head.

  What then? Qui-Gon wondered. He could drop down on her from above.

  But what if the trigger for the sensor was concealed in her clothing? Even

  if it were somewhere on a console, could he persuade her to disable the

  sensors? Could he believe her if she said she had?

  He didn't know the answers to those questions. But he could not wait

  outside the door, wondering what was going on inside.

  He spied a vent ahead and carefully moved toward it. He lowered his

  face and peered through.

  He was over the lab at last. He saw the top of Zan Arbor's head. The

  same kind of transparent chamber he had been kept in was in the middle of

  the room. It was filled with a cloudy gas, so he could not see the

  occupant.

  Zan Arbor paced back and forth with short, quick steps. He recognized

  the angry movement. Something else had gone wrong.

  "Do not think you can fool me," Zan Arbor said furiously. "I know you

  are willing yourself to die. You refuse to access the Force. I will not let

  that happen!" She strode over to a bank of equipment. "You want to die?"

  she asked shrilly. "Then know what it feels like to die!"

  She turned an indicator knob. Qui-Gon did not know what she was

  doing. He could only imagine. Zan Arbor's goal was to break down the

  essential elements of the Force into something she could measure and

  control. Qui-Gon knew firsthand how ruthless she could be if her subject

  did not cooperate.

  Hold on, he urged the prisoner silently.

  She switched off the dial. "Well? Are you still so interested in

  dying? Now show me the Force!" Qui-Gon saw her send a sharp gaze to a

  chronometer to check the time. She was under some kind of pressure. Why?

  "All right, then. If I cannot use you, you are just a liability. But

  I'll take all your blood before you die, just for being so uncooperative."

  Her hand went for the dial again. It was time to act. Qui-Gon eased

  out Obi-Wan's lightsaber in one swift, practiced movement and reared back

  to kick through the vent.

  But he checked himself just in time as an indicator buzzed and Zan

  Arbor hesitated. She pressed the communication button.

  A voice blared, "Droid shipment."

  "It's about time," she snarled.

  She whirled and stalked from the room without another word. Qui-Gon

  settled back on his haunches, thinking. He could not release the prisoner

  until he knew that Zan Arbor was immobilized and unable to kill him. But

  any delay could seal his doom completely.

  He was more trapped in his freedom than he'd been as a prisoner. What

  should he do?

  CHAPTER 4

  The gravsled ride was smooth while they were outside, but Cholly,

  Weez, and Tup had trouble maneuvering the craft through the narrow hallways

  of the lab. Each time Weez slammed into a wall, Obi-Wan, Astri, and Adi

  were thrown against one another, and the droids rattled noisily overhead.

  "That's enough!" Obi-Wan recognized Zan Arbor's commanding tone.

  "Just stop! You can unload where you are."

  With a last shuddering lurch, the repulsorlift engine lowered the

  gravsled to the floor.

  "You can see that we only brought you the finest droids," Cholly

  said.

  "These are your finest? I'd hate to see the rest."

  "If you pardon my saying this, this is Simpla12, ma'am," Weez said

  respectfully. "There isn't much choice to be had."

  "I suppose so. Give me the CIP."

  Obi-Wan tensed. The Central Intelligence Processor would program all

  the droids at once. Adi had instructed Cholly to try to program the droids

  himself. Would Zan Arbor allow him to do so?

  "There's the matter of our fee..." Cholly said.

  "Not until I'm sure these droids are operational."

  "I can program them for you, ma'am," Cholly offered. "Part of our

  service. We aim to please!"

  "It pleases me to program them myself. Give me the CIP." Apparently,

  Cholly hesitated, for Zan Arbor snapped, "Now!"

  Adi let out a breath. Obi-Wan knew what she was thinking. It would

  have been easier if they didn't have the droids to contend with.

  They heard a series of beeps and the sound of the droids' movements

  as they were activated.

  "Follow my voice command only," Zan Arbor rapped out. "You will

  surround and protect me. We will be leaving from the launch pad on sublevel

  one in five minutes."

  The droids beeped an affirmative response.

  "Now unload them and I'll pay you the credits," Zan Arbor said to

  Cholly, Weez, and Tup. "Quickly!"

  Overhead, Obi-Wan heard the noise of droids being unharnessed and

  wheeled off the gravsled platform.

  "Watch out, Tup!" Cholly called. "You just - " "I didn't! Weez - "

  "Don't pull that way, push - "

  "Not that way, over here, you idiots!" Zan Arbor shouted.

  "I have it!"

  "No, you don't!"

  "I do!"

  "No, you - "

  A screeching noise and a great crash sent the gravsled shaking.

  "Woosh," Tup said in a small voice. "Guess I didn't."

  "Do it this way, Tup," Cholly shouted.

  "If you didn't shout like that, I wouldn't be so confused," Tup
>
  dithered. "Just let me - - "

  The gravsled rose slightly in the air. There was a crash.

  "Turn off the engine! You're tipping it!" Zan Arbor screamed. "The

  droids are falling - - " "Gibbertz and ham, let me - "

  "Don't touch that!" Cholly and Weez screamed at the same moment.

  It was too late. Tup hit the hidden lever, and the compartment door

  sprang open. Adi, Obi‑Wan, and Siri tumbled out onto the floor. They rolled

  away from the repulsorlift engine as the gravsled hovered a few inches

  above the floor.

  "Jedi!" Zan Arbor screamed.

  Most of the droids had been unloaded, and the Jedi had landed right

  in the midst of them. The gravsled hemmed them in against the wall.

  "Attack!" Zan Arbor shouted, backing away from the gravsled. "Shoot

  to kill!"

  Tup's face went white, and he dropped to the floor. Cholly and Weez

  jumped off the gravsled. The droids wheeled, positioning the blasters built

  in their arms.

  Adi, Obi-Wan, and Siri reached for their lightsabers. Blaster fire

  erupted from every direction. They were caught in a deadly crossfire.

  CHAPTER 5

  Qui-Gon had just decided to go through the vent and rescue the

  prisoner when he heard the sound of blaster fire. That could mean only one

  thing. A Jedi team had arrived.

  With one smooth motion he cut through the shaft with Obi-Wan's

  lightsaber and dropped to the floor. Then he accessed the lab door and

  burst out into the hallway, racing toward the sound.

  He rounded the corner and swept the battle with one glance. The Jedi

  were faced with twenty armed droids. Obi-Wan had no light-saber, just a

  vibroblade. Jenna Zan Arbor stood in the opposite corner, watching. The

  sneer on her face announced that she was confident of victory.

  Qui-Gon watched for a few extra seconds in order to grasp Adi's

  strategy. Even while she mowed down droids, she protected Obi-Wan from the

  worst of the fire. She was using a series of short, fast combinations

  designed to obscure the fact that she was steadily making progress toward

  Jenna Zan Arbor and the hallway to the rest of the lab.

  Obi-Wan was using the vibroblade effectively, but it was no match for

  blaster fire. Qui-Gon decided, even as he leaped, that his job would be to

  protect his Padawan, leaving Adi free to go after Zan Arbor.

  A flash of joyful relief lit Obi-Wan's face as he saw Qui-Gon sail

  toward him. His moment of distraction was smoothly covered by Adi, who in a

  lightning strike took out a droid who aimed a blaster at Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon

  came down, knocking out two droids as he landed and whirling to deflect

  fire from a third. He was surprised to find that although he had succeeded,

  his reaction times were slow. He could not trust his body to move quickly.

  The days of captivity had taken a worse toll on him than he'd thought.

  Qui-Gon received a sense of satisfaction when he saw Zan Arbor's

  expression turn from smugness to alarm. She knew now that the tide would

  turn against her. With a sharp command, she ordered four droids to surround

  her. Her back was to the wall.

  Qui-Gon accessed the Force to help him overcome his body's weakness.

  He deftly attacked, slashing through the metal bodies of the droids while

  Siri whirled and dived, her lightsaber a blur. The young girl's footwork

  was impeccable. Obi-Wan was hampered by his vibroblade but kept up a steady

  attack, sweat pouring down his face.

  There were only five droids left, excluding the guard around Zan

  Arbor. Qui-Gon did not need to look at Adi for confirmation as he drove the

  droids toward her. They would catch them in a pincer movement.

  Understanding his intent, both Siri and Obi-Wan moved to flank him.

  The plan would have worked perfectly if Tup hadn't chosen that moment

  to make a break for safety. Hearing a slight lull in blaster fire, he

  scrambled out from underneath the hovering gravsled arid dashed toward the

  hallway.

  Unfortunately, he crashed into two droids, driving them back toward

  Obi-Wan. The droids wheeled and raised their arms toward Tup, prepared to

  blast him.

  "G-giberbtz and h-ham!" Tup screamed.

  Obi-Wan was closest. He accessed the Force and leaped, coming down

  with both feet hitting the two droids squarely. The droids wobbled and the

  blaster fire went awry. Obi-Wan landed and swung his vibroblade at the

  first droid. It raised its blaster toward Obi-Wan.

  Qui-Gon reached out a hand to use the Force to send the droid flying.

  Nothing happened. Adi reversed direction to neatly slice the second droid

  in two.

  "Zan Arbor," Siri said tersely.

  Jenna Zan Arbor had taken advantage of the distraction to slip out

  from behind the droids that were guarding her and dash down the hall. She

  was just disappearing into a turbolift.

  "There are stairs," Qui-Gon told Adi. "Second door on the left."

  "Siri and I will follow," Adi told him, already starting off.

  "We'll see to the prisoner," Qui-Gon said, signaling to Obi-Wan.

  He raced down the hallway, his Padawan by his side. They burst into

  the lab. Qui-Gon strode to the cloud-filled chamber and cut through the

  material with Obi-Wan's lightsaber. The transparent material peeled back

  and gas escaped in a vaporous cloud.

  The chamber was empty.

  "We have been fooled," Qui-Gon said quietly. "Maybe Noor R'aya is in

  the other lab," Obi-Wan suggested.

  Qui-Gon looked startled. "Noor R'aya? The prisoner was a Jedi?"

  "Adi thinks so."

  "She said I did not know him, but I was close to him," Qui-Gon

  murmured. "Of course that is so. Every Jedi shares a bond."

  "We should head for the launching pad," Obi-Wan said. "Zan Arbor said

  it is on sub-level one.

  "In that case," Qui-Gon said, "I am sure it is not. Come, Padawan."

  He did not know for certain if he was right, but he had come to know

  the turnings of Zan Arbor's mind, the way she strategized. She would enjoy

  flipping the situation so that the Jedi were in the opposite place of where

  they should be when she made her escape.

  So instead of heading for sub-level one, Qui-Gon headed for the roof.

  He did not trust the turbolift. No doubt she would have sabotaged it.

  He took the stairs, Obi-Wan at his heels.

  They burst out onto the roof just in time to see Jenna Zan Arbor's

  craft rise in the air. They saw the body of Noor R'aya in the seat next to

  her. He was slumped over as if he were too weak to raise his head. She

  smiled and waved a split second before the craft shot into the upper

  atmosphere.

  They had lost her again.

  CHAPTER 6

  Obi-Wan waited while the Jedi medic, Winna Di Uni, attended to Qui-

  Gon. She located the sensor implanted in his bloodstream and carefully

  extracted it. While he waited, Obi-Wan searched the lab and located Qui-

  Gon's light-saber. It was a great pleasure for him to place it back in his

  Master's hands.

  "How is Didi?" Obi-Wan asked Winna.

  She smiled. "On the mend. He is already suggesting better ways to

  prepare his meals."

  Qui-Gon groane
d. "Whatever you do, don't listen to him." Didi's

  abilities as a chef were dismal.

  Winna touched Qui-Gon's shoulder. "You've been through a trauma, Qui-