The three women scurried amongst the shadows of Mos Espa, with Shmi leading the way. They soon found themselves on the doorstep of Watto's shop and paused a moment, catching their breath. Shmi entered a code in the door panel, praying that her memory had served her correctly, and soon the door wooshed open. Dorme stepped forward, but Shmi stopped her with an outstretched arm. "Alarm." Once more, Shmi punched in another code and the silent and invisible alarm system was disabled. "Now we can go in."
The three women searched the small shop diligently and quietly, at least until Dorme knocked over a stack of plastisteel containers that went clanking noisily to the floor. The other women stood glaring at her in complete silence. Padme eventually let out a sigh, relieved that they had not disturbed the small winged owner. The sound of flapping soon drew her attention however to the nearby exit.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Watto pressed a panel on the wall and the shop was immediately illuminated in flickering light. He looked at the two strange-looking women, one of which was halfway disguised as a Twi'lek and the other he recognized from years ago.
"Shmi? What are you doing here?"
Padme was the one who approached the blue hovering Toydarian. "I'm Padme. You may remember me as being with the Jedi who came here and tookAnakin."
Watto squinted his eyes at her before letting out a hiss and then pointed his crooked blue claw in her direction. "You! You and your friends. You nearly cost me my business! I had to sell almost everything I had, including Shmi, just to keep my shop! It was that Jedi. He tricked me!" Watto flapped to a nearby counter and sat himself down upon it. "What are you doing with Shmi?"
Padme mentally crossed all of her fingers. "We need your help."
The Toydarian laughed wickedly. "I'm not going to help you! It's your fault Shmi is no longer my slave!"
"It's not her fault! It was Master Jinn's!"
Watto squinted and hissed toward Dorme, who backed up slightly and slowly started circling around the room. He once more turned his attention to Padme. "That Jedi! I should have killed him when I had the chance."
Padme could barely contain a cynical chuckle at the thought of this small blue creature being any threat to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. "If you don't want the Jedi to return here, I suggest that you help us."
"Not a chance."
It was the last words that Watto spoke before a beam of plastisteel struck his head from behind. Padme glared up at Dorme who stood behind where Watto had previously been sitting, clutching the beam in her hands.
"What! He wasn't cooperating!"
Padme just shook her head at her friend before kneeling down to check on the status of the Toydarian. "Good, he's breathing. Let's get out of here before he comes to."
The women went back to searching frantically. All at once Shmi held up a small device. "I've got it!"
"Come on!" Padme motioned for them to leave the shop.
They ran further down the street, hiding in alleys as much as possible until Shmi asked them to stop, apparently out of breath and weary. "Shmi, we've got to get back to the ship!" Dorme implored the older woman.
"You don't understand," she gasped. "As soon as Jabba finds out I've left, he will detonate the transmitter. We won't make it to the ship."
Padme set a determined look to her face. "Then we'll have to get it out now." She then looked to Dorme who simply nodded and began once more fumbling through the material of her skirt. In a moment, Dorme produced a small leather-encased blade. Padme just shook her head in amazed disbelief at the girl's preparedness.
Padme took the scanner, switched it on, and began moving the device over Shmi's body. It began a rhythmic chiming when centered over the bottom of Shmi's left foot. Padme held out her hand for Dorme's knife, giving Shmi a supportive glance, to which Shmi nodded, and then began the tedious work of removing the transmitter from Shmi's foot. The device was about the size of the tip of her finger and was located just underneath the epidermis of the arch of her foot. Shmi held herself completely still for the duration of the procedure, only occasionally wincing from the pain. Padme finally plucked it loose and held the item up for them to see, but Dorme didn't see a thing. She had passed out five minutes ago at the first sign of Shmi's blood.
