Chapter 9 Crippling the Air Corps
Dav was helping Talme out of the trainer when Anakin, with Zak in tow, reached them.
"I'm sorry, sir, I don't know what happened; suddenly we had no throttle control and com." Dav informed him.
"I know what happened, Dav, and it wasn't your fault. Someone cut the cables on both of these trainers." Anakin replied. "Now we have to check every fighter here; we don't know how many others have been sabotaged."
"Sabotage? Who would do that?" Dav asked.
"I don't know; but I intend to find out. What's worse is someone here is leaking this to the holo-net." Anakin answered.
"What? Why would someone do that?" Dav wondered.
"Well, I don't know that either, but when we find who ever is behind this, I'll be sure to ask him." Anakin told him.
Anakin pulled the control panel off Dav's trainer and without being told, Zak reached it to find the loose cables.
"What are you doing?" Talme asked as she peered over Anakin's shoulder.
"Seeing if your cables were cut like mine were." Anakin explained.
"But we had control and com when we landed; it must have been a short or something." She replied.
"No, you had those because Master Kenobi, Zak here, and I helped you." Anakin answered.
"Helped us? How is that possible?" Talme asked.
"If you knew Captain Skywalker, you wouldn't ask that." Dav said. "Master Kenobi is a Jedi; and Captain Skywalker used to be one. They can do some pretty amazing things."
"But reattaching cables on an airborne ship from the ground sounds a little far fetched to me." Talme replied skeptically.
"The Force is a powerful ally, Talme." Anakin added. "That's what brought you down safely."
"Here they are." Zak said as he presented the questionable cables to Anakin. "I think these were cut too."
Anakin had only to glance at the ends of the cables to see that Zak was right.
He handed the cables to Dav, "I have a feeling that when we check the rest of the fleet here, we will find this same thing." He speculated.
"If these cables were cut, then how did we land?" Talme asked mystified.
"Master Anakin told you; we're Jedi, we used the Force." Zak answered.
Talme merely shook her head in disbelief; it was impossible for her to believe in something she could not see or touch.
"Then there's nothing left to do but check all the fighters here." Dav concluded.
"Yes, and I want you to get started on that right away." Anakin ordered.
"But, sir, what are you going to be doing?" Dav asked.
"I'll help you get started, but I need to get home. My wife was very upset about what happened; she watched the whole thing on the holo-net." Anakin explained; he was also concerned about Obi-Wan, but kept that to himself.
"I understand that, sir; but I really think…" Dav began.
"I trust you to check all these ships, Dav; as long I show what to look for, I think you and Killian should be able to handle it." Anakin said, cutting him off. "I want to get home and I don't think I owe you any more explanation than that."
"Yes, sir." The chastised Dav replied.
Inside the hanger, there was complete silence as everyone listened to the broadcast on the holo-net concerning the two near disasters with the Air Corps trainers.
"…careless maintenance it sounds like to me." The reporter said.
"Yes, and it nearly cost the lives of four people; one of them a twelve year old boy." The second one replied.
"Well, they will probably cover this up by saying that it was a deliberate act." The first reporter speculated.
"No doubt; they will want to cover for themselves. I don't think we'll ever hear the whole truth." The second reporter answered.
"Probably not; in fact, I'd be surprised if we even hear any more about it." Number one said.
"Turn that poodu off." Anakin finally said with disgust. "If I ever find out how they intercepted my distress call…"
"Well, whoever did it got just what he wanted." Obi-Wan answered as Vaan cut the broadcast.
"What would that be, Master Kenobi?" Vaan asked.
"To disgrace the Air Corps." Anakin replied. "Obi-Wan is right; I don't know how we can clear this up now."
"Only by finding out who's responsible and making him confess to the whole thing." Obi-Wan told him.
"Well, that won't be easy; we have nothing to go on." Dav said.
"Nothing is ever easy, Lieutenant; but it can be done." Killian answered. "There are only a few of us who have had access to those birds in the past couple of days; it should not be hard to find out who's behind this."
"The Chief is right, Dav; it won't take long to find him, the hard part will be getting him to admit what he's done." Anakin added.
"Well, I think we can narrow it down to being someone with a small hand." Obi-Wan said.
"I don't understand; how would you know that?" Killian asked.
Anakin smiled; yes, of course, he thought, "Because I couldn't put my hand into the access port in the control panel and it would take more time to open up the maintenance panel. That would take time and someone might notice. This was done very quickly." He explained.
"Then how would they know which cable to cut?" Killian asked.
"They probably did it randomly; I'll just bet that when we check the other fighters, we'll find different cables cut on each one." Obi-Wan answered.
"But who could do it?" Vaan wondered.
"A boy; Zak could do it." Anakin answered.
"What boy? There was only…but I don't think…" Dav trailed off.
"You don't think what, Dav?" Anakin asked.
"Well, it was that new mechanic that you brought on." Dav replied.
"What new mechanic; I didn't bring in a new mechanic." Anakin told him.
"But he said…" Dav started.
"Who?" Anakin asked.
"Kev; he said you recruited him from the Southern base." Dav answered.
"Well, I never did any such thing; I only met him today. Did he bring a boy here?" Anakin wanted to know.
"Yes, he said it was his nephew, I think." Dav replied. "Isn't that what he said, Corporal?"
"That's right; I remember now. He said the kid was interested in learning to fly." Vaan recalled.
"Oh, that's great; you allow a man you hardly know to work on the ships here unsupervised and then let him bring a boy in here? What's the matter with you?" Anakin replied. "That was just plain stupid."
"I'm sorry, sir; he said you knew him. I took him at his word." Dav answered shamefully. "I thought he had your trust."
"Well, you thought wrong." Anakin retorted angrily.
"Alright, Anakin, calm down. It was stupid, but it's done; and now we have to find out where this Kev is before he does any more damage." Obi-Wan said.
It had not dawned on Anakin until Obi-Wan mentioned it that they had not seen Kev since he had talked to him shortly after his near crash. The fact that he was missing incriminated him further.
"When was the last time anyone noticed him?" Anakin asked, and when there was no immediate response, "Anyone?"
"The last time I noticed him was when he was talking to you." Killian finally answered.
"Then it looks as if we have our saboteur; now we just have to find him again." Obi-Wan said.
"Yes, but first we have to find out how many other ships he tampered with." Anakin replied. "I'll contact Padme and tell her we'll be a little later than she expected."
"Then it was sabotage." Padme replied. "Then I think you should stay until you're sure you've found all the damage."
"I'm sorry, Padme; I will be home as soon as I can." Anakin told her apologetically.
"It's alright, Annie. This is something you have to do… that I want you to do. Find out who's behind this."
"Well, I don't intend to do that tonight, my love; I just want to check out the other ships and then we will be home." Anakin promised.
"Is Zak alright?" Padme asked.
"Yes, he's tough, that one; all he's concerned about right now is finding out who did this." Anakin assured her.
"And Obi-Wan? You said he was tired." Padme asked.
"No, he seems fine; it didn't take him long to recover. Don't worry…about any of us." Anakin answered. "And I will see you in maybe a couple hours or so."
"I'll see then." Padme replied as the image faded.
They worked in pairs; removing the maintenance panels of each ship to assess the damage. Zak, Obi-Wan and Anakin worked together; and because Zak could fit his hand into the control panel access, they were able to work more quickly. Two hours later, they concluded that Obi-Wan had predicted correctly, the damage had been random: sometimes the throttle cables, sometimes the pitch and sometimes the lateral controls. In some cases, several systems had been affected, in others there was no damage at all. The cables had not been cut completely through, but just enough for them to break during normal operation of the ships.
"Well, that's it then; this Kev was clever and must be caught before we dare take up another fighter." Anakin said when they had finished.
"Anakin, did it ever occur to you that they crippled the Air Corps for a reason?" Obi-Wan asked.
"But what reason wou…oh, you can't think…" Anakin began.
"Oh, yes, Anakin; why else would they want to leak it to the holo-net?" Obi-Wan replied.
"Then we're running out of time; we have to repair all these fighters." Anakin decided.
"Or we have to make sure the holo-net thinks they're fixed." Zak added.
"Right, Zak; that could work; at least until we find out who wants to attack Naboo." Anakin agreed.