Chapter Four: The Planet Core
Connan rolled her eyes at the relatively large Gungan sitting on the throne in front of her. He wore a cone-hat with green spirals around it and the largest, fungus-colored robes she had ever seen. His 'tsked' the group of Jedi, spewing spit in all directions with his large mouth.
"Tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk! Yousa cannot bees hair!" He scolded. Connan crossed her arms, glaring at the Gungan. Quai Gon placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly, telling her to ease up.
"I'll handle this, Revan," He murmured. She scoffed, nodding all the same.
"I'll believe it when I see it," She said so no one could hear. "And call me Connan." The Gungan went on.
"Dis army of Mackineeks up dare is new weesong." The Gungan—Boss Nass—sputtered. Connan leaned over to Obi Wan, who stood stiffly on her right.
"You want to explain that one to me?" She asked. She received a push from his elbow.
"I don't know either." He muttered.
"A droid army is about to attack the Naboo. We must warn them." Quai Gon defended himself and the other two Jedi quietly arguing about what the Boss Nass just said. The Boss Nass pointed at Quai Gon.
"Wesa no like da Naboo. Tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk." He told. "Da Naboo tink day so smarty. Day tink day brains so big."
"One of my friends is—was—from Naboo!" Connan argued, smiling at the thought of Bastila. "And her brain wasn't the biggest I've ever seen."
"What she means is," Obi Wan glared menacingly at Connan. "Once the droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you."
"Mesa no tink so. Day not know of uss-en." The Boss Nass shoved his finger into his chest.
"But the Naboo do." Connan countered.
"You and the Naboo form a symbiotic circle." Obi Wan backed her up. "What happens to one of you will affect the other; you must understand this."
"Wesa no carrrre-nn about da Naboo." The Boss Nass shook his head and spit saliva onto everyone in front of him. Connan groaned, stepping backward and into Quai Gon, who held her shoulders. He sighed, brushing a hand through the air.
"Then speed us on our way."
"Wesa gonna speed yous away." The leader Gungan agreed. Connan grinned.
"We could use a transport." She chided, swinging her right hand in the same motion.
"Wesa give yousa una Bongo." Connan's ears perked as she heard Jar Jar "Hmm?" to himself in shock. "Da speediest way to da Naboo 'tis goen through the planet core." The Boss Nass chuckled to himself, putting Connan on-edge.
"Now…go." The Boss Nass waved his hand, signifying they were free to leave.
"Thank you for your help, we leave in peace." Quai Gon bowed and left.
Connan nodded her head and spun around, heading to the exit.
"What's a Bongo?" She and Obi Wan asked simultaneously. They glowered at each other.
"A transport, I hope." Quai Gon answered, smirking.
Jar Jar lurched forward, getting stopped by the two guards at his sides.
"Daysa setten yousa up." He warned. "Goen through da planet core? Bad bombin'." Quai Gon kept walking. "Mmm… any help here would be hot."
This time Quai Gon turned to the Gungan, examining him.
"Master we're short on time." Obi Wan pushed.
"But he did get us here and to a faster transport than walking." Connan sided with Jar Jar.
"We'll need a navigator to get us through the planet's core. This Gungan may be of help." Quai Gon agreed with Connan.
"HK is gonna kill me when I find him; he hates Gungans." Connan turned to the Boss Nass again. "What are you going to do to Jar Jar?"
"Hisen soon to be… pune-ished." The Boss Nass grinned. Jar Jar moaned.
"I saved his life." Quai Gon. "He owes me what you would call a 'life-debt'. Your gods demand that his life now belongs to me."
"Binksssss." Hissed the Boss Nass. "Yousa havena lifeplay with thisen hisen?"
Jar Jar was wise enough not to argue and nodded, murmuring his acknowledgement.
The Boss Nass blubbered angrily, once again spitting saliva everywhere. Connan squealed and hid behind Quai Gon, bracing against his back.
"I hate Gungan spit!" She groaned. Quai Gon laughed.
"Begone with him!" The Boss Nass ordered. Quai Gon bowed and left, Connan following him. The guards unhooked Jar Jar.
"Count me outta dis one. Better dead here, dan dead in da core." He murmured. Connan growled. "Yee gods! What mesa saying?"
Connan, shaking her head, caught up with Quai Gon and stood beside him, a smile streaking across her face.
"So," She nudged him playfully. "If I saved your life, would it belong to me?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, chuckling.
"That depends on what you save me from."
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The Bongo was a big blue underwater submarine with tails in the back of the propeller to speed them along quicker. It shot out of the main hold of Gunga City and into the underground darkness.
"Dis is nutsen." Jar Jar argued. He spun his head around to the window and pointed absentmindedly. "Ooh! Gooberfish!"
"So, my little Gungan friend," Connan started off. "Why were you banished?"
"It's a long-o tale-o." Jar Jar began. "Buta small part of it would be mesa… clumsy."
"Clumsy?" Obi Wan repeated. "You were banished because you were clumsy?"
"What, did you spill spitting potion all over the Boss Nass back there?" Connan giggled at her own joke, but Quai Gon shook his head.
"Yousa might'n be sayin dat." Jar Jar shrugged. Connan placed a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Jar Jar went on.
"Mesa caused mabbe one two-y lettle bitty axadentes, huh?" The Gungan glanced at everyone in the Bongo. Connan shivered uneasily, wiping cold sweat off of her brow. "Yud-say boon da gassar, den crashing der bosses' heyblibber, den banished."
"What did he say?" Connan sputtered to Quai Gon. He faced her.
"Are you okay?" He ignored her question and held a hand up to her forehead. She brushed it away gently.
"I'm fine. I just don't like water that much." She answered.
As the Bongo drove along under the water, the feeling of danger swept over her as she sensed something following them. Her Force Precognition kicked in briefly, showing her an enormous fish right behind them. She gasped.
"What?" Obi Wan looked back from the controls.
"Big Gooberfish!" Connan warned, looking back. "Drive!"
It was too late. The Gooberfish's tongue struck the back of the Bongo and stopped it. Quai Gon looked back, his eyes widening at the sight of the fish.
"Wuh-oh!" Jar Jar freaked out. The Gooberfish pulled in its tongue and bit onto the Bongo. "Big Gooberfish! Huge-o teeth!"
Obi Wan fought for control of the Bongo as Connan tried to shout out advice.
"Back up as fast as you can and surprise it, and then rush free! No, no, not like that! That button right there is to open the hatch, you'll kill us all! Hit that button! The one with the big red letters saying 'REVERSE'! You didn't hit it! Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Connan, shut up!" Obi Wan shouted. Connan growled.
"Okay, but it's not my fault if we're soon inside a Gooberfish's stomach." She shrugged.
Quai Gon watched as another fish came out and bit onto the huge Gooberfish so it let go of their ship. He turned around, sighing.
"There's always a bigger fish."
"Mesa tink we goen back now!" Jar Jar pleaded.
"Go back? Why would we do that? We just conquered our first Gooberfish!" Connan smacked Jar Jar on the back, who laughed nervously.
Obi Wan drove the Bongo into a tunnel going deeper into the planet.
For a long time, everyone sat in silence, watching Obi Wan drive. Connan leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes, trying to hold Carth's profile in her mind. It had been a good few weeks since her arrival in the future, and the absence of Carth made it all the worse. She wanted to get back to him and tell his all about the future, inform him of the war she participated in, and the Gungan city under Naboo.
But if she returned to the past, when would it be? If Connan spent a year in the future, would she return a year later in the past, when the Ebon Hawk wasn't on Korriban and Carth thought her dead?
It was Jar Jar who broke Connan out of her horrible theories.
"Where wesa goin?" He asked.
"Don't worry, the Force will guide us." Quai Gon recited. Connan rolled her eyes.
"Ohh, maxi big, da Force." Jar Jar's tone was sarcastic, and made Connan laugh.
"Jar Jar just made points!" She giggled.
"Well, dat smells stinkowiff." He added.
An alarm blared and two lights flashed, bouncing off of Obi Wan's face as he glanced at the problem.
"We're losing power." He said. Connan nodded.
"Oh, no." Jar Jar slumped in his chair. Connan glared at him.
"I'm switching the wires around back here." She informed, pulling a panel loose and cutting wires apart.
"Do you know how to reconstruct this thing?" Quai Gon asked.
"It's basically the same layout as a Banshee." Connan shrugged. "It can't be that hard."
"Wesa dyin' here!" Jar Jar sobbed.
"Just relax, we're not in trouble yet." Quai Gon said in a soothing tone. Connan shocked herself on a loose cable as she hooked it up to another one.
"What 'yet'?" Jar Jar snapped. "Monsters out dare, leak'n in here. All sink'n and no power? Whena yousa tinkin wesa in trouble?"
"I've rerouted the power loss to the firepower and the entertainment box. You should be able to start it up now." Connan informed Obi Wan. He slapped two cables together and produced a spark, followed by light.
"Oh, the power's back." He grinned. The lights turned on and the four stared a giant eel in the face.
"Ahh! Monster's back!" Jar Jar screamed, jumping backward and landing on Connan. She sputtered and threw him into the front seat.
Obi Wan sped past the eel, trying to out-maneuver it. It sped after them. Jar Jar was having a nervous breakdown, whimpering and flailing his arms about.
"Relax," Quai Gon insisted, pressing the Gungan's shoulder at his power point. Jar Jar went unconscious.
"You over did it. He's totally out of it." Connan shook the Gungan, getting blubbers and a limp tongue from him.
The eel still chased after the ship, biting and snapping at their tail, trying to get a hold of them. Obi Wan reached the opening of the tunnel and encountered another large fish trying to eat them.
"Pull up!" Connan ordered. Obi Wan listened, jerking the controls upward and dodging both fish. The fish at the opening bit into the eel.
Jar Jar was coming-to a little bit, mumbling things like "Horrible," to himself. Quai Gon pointed to a glimmer of light at the surface.
"Head for that outcropping."
-----
The Bongo pulled up to the surface and opened up its hatch, letting fresh air come in. Obi Wan stood up.
"Hmmm, dis'n lovely." Jar Jar complimented.
"This is Naboo, all right." Obi Wan said, glancing around. "But everything's deserted."
Connan examined all the colorful buildings and small huts for any sign of life, but everything was locked shut.
"They're being held captive." She deduced. "We're too late."
"So what's our next move?" Obi Wan questioned.
"Get the Queen out." Quai Gon guided the Bongo to the land and they hopped onto solid ground.
"My favorite way!" Connan checked her lightsabers for any malfunctions. "Let's go."
They found the Queen and her handmaidens being escorted by the battle droids. Connan and the others stood high above them, out of the sensor range.
Connan gawked at the size of the queen. She couldn't have been more then thirteen! Her black, feathered dress and pale face made her seem older, but this queen was only a child.
Connan glanced at the other two Jedi, who were in the process of taking out their lightsabers. She nodded, following suit.
The three Jedi jumped down from the walkway above the battle droids, taking out their lightsabers and crushing the droids easily.
"We should leave the street, Your Highness," Quai Gon insisted.
"Get their weapons." Insisted the main guard. The others around him retrieved the droid's weapons.
Connan frowned. Something was wrong.
"Where's Jar Jar?" She asked. Jar Jar fell off of the walkway, moaning.
"Whoa!" He sputtered. "Yousa guys bombad!"
Out of the street and in a safer spot, Connan addressed who they were.
"We're ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor." She nodded.
"Your negotiations seemed to have failed, Ambassador." Said the tall, bearded man standing protectively in front of the Queen.
"The negotiations never took place." Quai Gon stopped Connan from shooting back an insulting remark. "It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."
"They've knocked out all of our communications." The head guard replied.
"Any transport?" Connan asked.
"In the main hangar, this way." The guard pointed in the correct direction.
As they passed through the palace Connan stopped, feeling a familiar vibration in her Force Sense. She glanced at Quai Gon, who was staring at her with concern. She threw her arm at him.
"You go, get the Queen to the ship, and wait for me there! I've got to find something." She ran off before he could protest.
Connan tuned in her Force, pinpointing the exact location of the thing she was looking for. It was in a closet, right in the front as if it had just been put in. It was shut off, of course, and its red armor was probably very dusty and a little rusted, but it was alive nonetheless. HK-47 resided in the palace, sending out a very small vibration to his master, waiting for her to find him.
She opened the door to the throne room and tore across is in amazing speed. The closet was on the other side of the room, standing like a black, dead thing in the way. Connan drove her lightsaber into it, hearing it crackle and sizzle. It melted down into nothing.
There he stood, his head tucked neatly into his chest and his arms in battle-ready positions, HK-47 looked almost just like he had the day she built him. He had no external problems and she could sense no internal ones. She flicked the back of his neck and his eyes lit up, a bright yellow color.
"HK-47, comply." She stuttered. The droid sprang to life.
"Acknowledgement: HK-47, reporting for duty!" He saluted, staring at his master. "Surprised observation: Master! How delightful to see you again!"
"Run a diagnostic test on yourself, H, and hurry." Connan instructed.
"Acknowledgement: Yes, Master, starting diagnostic. Query: May I ask why the urgency is needed, Master?"
"We're in the Naboo palace four thousand years in the future and we're surrounded by battle droids outside the room. We've got to get to the main hangar." Connan answered.
"Excited interjection: Ooh, goody! I do love a good fight! Indulgement: Master, I have finished the diagnostic. My battery is severely low and won't last more than a few standard minutes. Anguished statement: I do hate parting from you again, Master, but unless you know the whole way to the main hangar, I won't last long enough to get there."
"I don't know the whole way, H, but I know the gist of it. Here, take these. They're newer." She lobbed him two blasters. "Let's get moving."
She and HK-47 made it to the hangar as Quai Gon began slapping down machines with his lightsaber. He caught sight of her.
"We're going to get onto that ship, Connan!" He called to her. She nodded.
"Let's get moving H." She shrugged.
No reply.
"HK?" Still nothing. She looked behind her. HK was standing, with his eyes growing dimmer. "Oh, don't give up on me now, HK." He wasn't answering. "HK-47, answer me now or I'm giving you a room with the Gungan!"
"Statement: I'm…trying…Master…." The droid coughed out the words. Connan growled.
"I've got to get you onto the ship. Move your legs, you bumbling idiot! I've seen gizka who move faster to a given point than you!" The insults encouraged HK, who stepped toward the ship slowly. Connan blocked the shots coming to him. "If you don't move any faster, I'm going to set my Kath Hound on your chest!"
HK-47 began moving faster. His legs made longer strides and his pace quickened. Connan grinned at herself. HK made it onto the ship just as Quai Gon and the others did.
His battery died when the door shut behind Connan. He tumbled onto the floor and whirred off. Connan sighed, patting the scrap of metal on the chest.
"You did great, old friend. You did great." She smirked.
Quai Gon came running into her. He stared down at her with a cocked eyebrow.
"I'm fine." She said, standing herself and HK-47 up. She took out a new battery pack from her backpack. "Just need to turn him on again…." She turned the battery on as quickly as she'd placed it into his chest and HK-47 was alive again.
"Statement: Master, there's someone behind you!" HK held up his blasters warningly.
"Stand down, H. He's a friend. I order you not to attack anyone on this ship. That includes the Gungan." Connan specified, grumbling.
"Surprised interjection: Gungan! Query: Master, you weren't fooling when you said that there was a Gungan on board?"
"No, I wasn't. Now go to the tech bay and stay there. Later you can tell me how you lasted four thousand years without turning to dust." Connan waved the droid off, who turned and left.
"Friend of yours?" Quai Gon asked. Connan smiled.
"One of the best."
Connan and Quai Gon rushed to the cockpit, overlooking the blockade ships try and attack their ship.
"Where's the Queen?" Connan asked.
"She's setting up her chambers as we speak." Said the pilot. The ship shook and an alarm went off. "The shield generator's been hit! We're now deploying droids to fix it."
Connan kept watch over the droids as they one-by-one were blasted into oblivion.
"We're losing droids, fast." Obi Wan stated the obvious.
"If we can't get the shield generator fixed, we'll be sitting ducks." The head guard commented.
"What about that one? He's doing remarkably well." Connan pointed her index finger at the last blue droid attempting to fix the shields.
"The shields are gone." The pilot reported. He took a second glance at the page and gawked. "Wait, it's back! That little droid did it! He bypassed the main power drive! Deflector shields up at maximum."
"There isn't enough power to get to Coruscant." Connan said, examining the power leakage. "The hyperdrive is leaking. Far beyond anything I can fix."
"We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship." Quai Gon crossed his arms.
"Here, Master." Obi Wan pointed. "Tatooine."
"Tatooine?" Connan stared at it. "Well, I'll be. The only settlement is still Anchorhead! What a small universe!"
"It's small, out of the way, poor." Obi Wan went on. "The Trade Federation has no presence there."
"How can you be sure?" The head guard asked.
"If it's anything like it used to be," Connan answered. "It's controlled by the Hutts."
"You can't take her Royal Highness there! The Hutts are gangsters. If they discover her—"
"It would be no different than if we landed on a system controlled by the Federation." Quai Gon countered.
"Except the Hutts aren't looking for her." Connan chided.
"And that gives us the advantage." Quai Gon patted her shoulder.
Another vision hit Connan squarely in the chest and knocked her onto the floor. She saw the same Sith Lord, in hologram form, in front of the viceroys.
"Not for a Sith." He finished saying. Connan raised an eyebrow. Another holographic, black-robed person came into view. "This is my apprentice, Darth Maul."
Connan shivered. She could only see his face, which was covered in black and red ink. She wondered what kind of species he was.
"He will find your lost ship." The hologram disappeared, and Connan was thrown out of the revelation.
Quai Gon was kneeling next to her, checking her pulse, while Obi Wan had a hand covering her forehead and another on her right wrist. She gasped. Quai Gon rested the back of his right hand on her cheek, and she felt the difference in temperature. She must have been freezing, because his hand felt very, very hot. He helped her sit up and rested his knee behind her so she could lean backward.
"Are you okay?" Obi Wan asked. "That's the third time that's happened in about six hours."
"It's alright. Really," She glanced at Obi Wan and Quai Gon's disbelieving expressions. "I'm fine."
"Apparently not, since your temperature is at about 34.56 degrees Celsius." Quai Gon examined. "That's way too low."
"I just need some hot water and maybe a hot rag. It's my Force Precognition; it always seems to kick in at horrible times."
"Force Precognition?" Obi Wan asked. "No one ever has Precognition that powerful."
"Which is why it's such a pain. Whenever something really important happens or when someone significant either to me or in numbers dies, then it starts up and this happens. It gets annoying. Especially when you're in the middle of a Sith battle." Connan attempted to stand, only to be helped up by Quai Gon. "Now, what are we doing?"
"Come with us to the Queen's chambers." Obi Wan helped her walk. "We're going to go discuss the droid that fixed the shields."
-----
"An extremely well-put-together little droid, Your Highness." The head guard said, bowing. The dirty droid cheeped. "Without a doubt, it saved the ship, and our lives."
"It is to be commended. What is its number?" The Queen asked. Connan knelt down and wiped off the dirt from the number.
"R2-D2, Your Majesty." She answered, placing a hand on the droid.
"Thank you, R2-D2." The Queen nodded her head. The droid chirped his pleasure. Connan cleared her throat.
"If it's not too much to ask, I would like to clean up the droid, Your Highness. Droids are my specialty." She bowed her head as R2-D2 announced his agreement.
"Of course." The Queen allowed. "But please allow Padmé to assist you."
One of the handmaidens jumped forward quickly and stood next to Connan. Something was strange about the girl. She was about the same age as the Queen, yet she felt more determined somehow, more headstrong—
More majestic.
"Continue, Captain." The Queen changed the subject.
"Your Highness, with your permission, we're heading for a remote planet called Tatooine." Quai Gon stepped forward. "It's in a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation."
"I don't agree with the Jedi on this." The captain argued.
"You must trust my judgment, Your Highness." Quai Gon ordered. The Queen nodded solemnly, ending the meeting.
"So, Padmé," Connan chided to the little girl. "Let's see if we can't get this small droid fixed up and pretty again, shall we?"
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It only took me 3 hours to do this chapter. I think from now on I'll update this story every Sunday, unless something else is going on. It shouldn't take long at all to get through this story that way. Please review everyone!
