Chapter 3

As the 'soldiers' started to fall, by Jada's reflecting the shots back at the shooters, piles of robotic limbs started to pile up. She was not fighting against humans, but a clan of androids. This did make her feel better about killing them, but at the same time, this development only added to her confusion. Either the Freedom Alliance was secretly creating a new generation of droids to launch an attack on the New Republic, or there was a third party trying to get something started.

The 'soldiers' were starting to grow too big, and she was starting to grow weary. She had to find a way to escape. She waited for the right moment, and when the opportunity came, she reached out with the Force and threw a large chunk of the burning wreckage, which used to be her ship, at the droids. Robotic limbs shattered in all directions as the debris mowed them down.

She turned to run for the back exit out of the docking bay. Right before reaching the door, however, it slid open and the smuggler who was doing business with the bounty hunter was standing there with a blaster in each hand. "Care to move?"

She did as he suggested, allowing him to fire his two blasters at the new set of droids entering the docking bay. His shots never missed their targets, and with two blasters, he was able to drop them like flies. Jada had no idea why he was interjecting himself into this fight, but she could assume that it was more for his well being than hers. She had a bad feeling that she now had another person that she was going to have to keep safe.

"So what made you decide to risk your life when you didn't have to?" Jada asked while deflecting another shot. He knew exactly who he was and what his reputation was like. He never helped anyone unless it was beneficial for himself.

"Call it a momentary lapse of judgment, honey!" Gideon replied. "This exit is no good. We're about to have company."

Jada nearly hissed at being called 'honey', but now was not the time to correct him. The more immediate need was to find a way out of this docking bay. "There's no other way out of here."

"Spoken like a true naïve tourist," Gideon replied. "Every docking bay has a hidden exit used by smugglers to disappear when they're being tracked. You forget, this ain't the republic out here, babe."

"Shut up, and find it already," Jada snapped.

She followed him down the outer corridor of the docking bay. The wall brought them some relief from the enemy fire, but there were large gaps that they had to worry about. Not only that, they were heading in the direction of the droids; it would not take much time at all for them to file into the outer corridor. Luckily, there were a series of cargo crates stacked three high which shielded them from view and, at the same time, narrowed the corridor in half.

Gideon stopped at one of the groups of crates, as Jada could already hear the footsteps of the droids entering the corridor. At the other end of the corridor, she had a clear view of the back door, which was supposedly going to have more droids entering the docking bay at any moment. As Gideon warned, the door did slide open, but there were no droids on the other side of the door, just Ty-Kra' and his two pals.

Reaching out in the Force, she caused the sliding door to shut before they had the chance to enter the outer corridor. As much as she would have liked to go after Ty-Kra', and finish her mission, that was impossible under the current circumstances. Yet, getting through the three Trandoshans would not have been as big as a problem as Gideon made it out to be.

Gideon found a hidden switch, and a door formed on the stack of crates. Those three crates were made to look like real crates to hide this secret smuggler's tunnel. Inside the doorway was a ladder that led below the docking bay. "Down you go."

Jada frowned, and instead of using the ladder, she merely leaped down and softened her landing at the bottom with the Force. Surrounded by pitch black, she reignited her blade and used its radiance to light the way. She was now waiting for Gideon, who had to use the ladder to climb down the ladder. "Now, I know why you come to my help; you wanted me to protect you from the bounty hunters."

"We can argue blame later. We can take this passageway all the way to the docking bay where my ship is."

"And why would I want to go with you on your ship? What makes you think I can't find another way off the planet?"

Gideon shrugged. "Trust me, I'm not excited about having a Jedi onboard my ship either, but you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. You need a ship to get you off this dustbowl, and I need to avoid those three bounty hunters up there."

Jada eyed the smuggler suspiciously. She could not help but sense that there was more to this than he was letting on. There was always a catch with likes of this man. "And you'll take me all the way to Coruscant?"

Gideon walked past her and started making his way down the dark tunnel, forcing her to come along with him. "We can argue destination later, now come on, sweetheart."

Jada joined him at his side, and had to fight the urge to slug him. "Call me that again, and see what happens!"

Gideon smiled wryly. "My, my, looks like I've got a Jedi, here, with a big mouth."

"Excuse me?" The temptation to knock his lights out continued to grow inside of her.

"Meant no offence, honey," Gideon replied. "Just saying, that unlike most Jedi out there, you're a little more ... boisterous. Most Jedi are more the silent types."

"If I ever become silent, you better hope my lightsaber isn't on."

"I'm beginning to like you." Gideon laughed. She had a sharp wit to match his own; there weren't that many women in the world that could stand their grown, no matter how thick he lays it on.

After going through the dark, labyrinth, Gideon had finally brought them to a new set of stairs leading back up to the surface. For several moments, she had to question whether or not he knew where he was going. With no signs and no way of determining where in Mos Eisley they were, the only way through these tunnels, and not get lost, was to know these tunnels by heart.

"This is my docking bay. Before we continue, I have to know one thing. You were here to arrest the bounty hunter and not me, right?"

"Why, do I need to arrest you?" Jada asked. Gideon stood his ground and waited for a direct answer to his question. "Are you serious? You're leaving me to fend for myself if I was here to apprehend you? If it'll make you feel better, I was here for the bounty hunter, not you."

"Thank you, we may now proceed to my shuttle," Gideon said, starting his ascension up the ladder.

Jada turned off her weapon, and followed him up the ladder, disgusted that he was willing to stoop so low. As she climbed, she could sense the danger that was following them through the underground tunnels. She could not tell if they were the three Trandoshans, or if they were these mysterious droids. All she knew was that they were closely being watched. Gideon quietly opened the door and sneaked a peak in both directions. "We're clear."

He stepped into the outer corridor of the new docking bay, proving his word that things were safe for the time being. Despite all the visual evidence, she kept her weapon close as she followed him into the outer corridor. As a Jedi, she never depended on her eyes to warn her of danger; sight was the least dependable of the five senses. She relied on her feelings... her Jedi senses. It never failed her, and has often delivered her and her friends from traps set by their enemies.

"Here's my ship! She's not much to look at, but she's got a long history of outrunning ships ten times her size."

As she entered the main section of the docking port, she was taken aback by what she was seeing. She had not been ready for anything like this. The Force had, once again, led her to another unsettling surprise. "You've got to be joking! It's the Millennium Falcon!"

Gideon's flamboyance had instantly vanished. It was replaced with shock and little fear added into the mix. "Ugg, I end up helping one of the few Jedi, in the galaxy, who WOULD recognize the ship, even after all the work I put into reconstructing her."

Jada had her lightsaber ignited in a blink of the eye and pointed the tip of the blade right at his throat. "You'll tell me how you got this ship, immediately!"

"We can have story time later, honey. If you want off this planet, then get onboard!"

Jada frowned, and gave him a look of disdain as she acquired a new found distrust and dislike for this con artist who considers himself a legitimate smuggler. The fact that he even had the ship told her that he either directly assassinated the Solo's, or knew who did. Her mission may still turn out to be a success, after all. "Very well, but you can now consider yourself under arrest in the name of the New Republic."

Gideon lifted his wrist to his mouth, where he wore a strange looking wrist-communication device. "Hawk, we're gonna have company; lower the ramp, please!"

"Who —"

"You'll see in a moment," he replied, quieting her with a raised hand.

"Greetings, Master Gideon. Did 'Click-click' all go well?" A robotic voice came from the ship.

"Does it ever?"

"I see 'Click-click' it's gone well enough for you to meet a mistress."

"Mistress!" Jada was enraged at the suggestion. Never had she felt so insulted before in her life, and this time it was coming from a ship... the Millennium Falcon none-the-less.

"Just lower the ramp, now!"

As the ramp lowered, the holo-guised droids started filing into the docking bay. She deflected the shots back at them as Gideon leaped onto the lowering lamp, not waiting for it to finish its cycle. As the droids collapsed and their holo-generators failed, she reached out with the Force to rip the robotic head off its shoulders. Once the head was safely in her hands, she ran up the ramp and into the safety of the ship.

Nostalgia immediately washed over her as she entered the ship. She never had gotten the chance to ride on the Millennium Falcon very much, but there were still bitter sweet memories that remained on this old piece of junk. She never imagined she would see this ship again, and now that she has, she could not shake the ghosts of the past.

"Hawk, start the engines. While you're at it, blast those soldiers into oblivion," Gideon ordered as he and ran for the cockpit.

"I 'click-click' see them, but I don't detect their 'click-click' their presence on my monitor."

"That's because their droids," Jada said, throwing the robotic head onto the Dajarik table in the main hold. This was where Chewbacca and, on occasion, Ambassador Solo taught her to play Dejarik; she never could beat either of them. When she was a child, Ambassador Solo even taught her how to play Sabbac, much to the dismay of her mother.

She followed him into the cockpit where he quickly went to work in preparing for take-off. He flew all over the cockpit, flipping switches, pulling levels, and pushing buttons. She was surprised how well he knew the ship, seeing that he had stolen it. She was ready to take the co-pilot seat when she saw the upper body of protocol droid built into the seat. There was no mistaking the golden casing of this droid. "What've you done to Threepeo?"

"Again, stories later! I'm kinda busy trying to save our lives, here!" He said pushing her aside to get to his seat. "Do me a favor, honey, and take the back seat."

"If you call me 'honey' one more time —"

"Not listening, sweatheart," Gideon replied.

The Lower, quad-core, laser cannon came to life as it pivoted towards the invading droids. One blast had enough force to destroy a handful of droids, and throwing a dozen or more of them off their feet. The cannon was meant more for space battles, and was clearly overkill for battle on land. If the soldiers were real, Jada would have had a huge problem with what the ship did. Seeing that they weren't organic beings, she was willing NOT to make an issue out of it.

The ship hovered off its legs and made its way up and out of the docking bay. "Prepare to launch the thrusters," Gideon ordered.

"I got 'click-click' it handled." The voice of the AI came from a speaker in the cockpit, but the protocol droid, built into the co-pilot seat, maneuvered and moved as if he was the one speaking. Jada assumed that the artificial intelligence was built into the ship, and had no real need for the body in the co-pilot seat. The protocol droid was probably only meant for companionship. It said a lot about Gideon's personality and the type of life he lived.

As the ship rose out of the docking bay, the droids were firing everything they had at it, trying to bring it down. The deflector shields proved too strong for their blasters. The ship cleared the docking bay without any problems.

"Hit the thrusters; let's get outta here."