A failure in planning is a plan for failure.
The Hutt barge rocked gently under their feet as it moved across the plains. It was cold down in this bay but not unbearably so, especially with the servers of the droids whirring away around them. Restraining bolts all removed, and nothing else to do for the moment, Qui-Gon's incorrigible padawan was making minor repairs to the droids as they requested— yet another set of new best friends.
Obi-Wan had also drawn Xanatos, somewhat unwillingly, into helping him.
"Hold this down," Obi-Wan said, pushing Xanatos' hand into place while Obi-Wan braced a foot on the bench to get the leverage to yank off an aftermarket music speaker embedded on one of the droids. If Qui-Gon hadn't known Obi-Wan so well he would have said his padawan was oblivious to the disgusted look Xanatos was giving his now greasy hands.
Qui-Gon had a pang of regret. This was how it was supposed to be; their lineage, together— Xanatos could have snuck Obi-Wan out of the Temple to get into mischief, Obi-Wan could have bothered Xanatos in his new Knight quarters. Well. Xanatos had made his choices. Most of them bad.
Qui-Gon managed to get very patchy reception for his comm, just long enough to contact Tholme. Tholme was irritatingly not surprised by the series of adventures that had ended up with them on a Hutt sail barge, and agreed to keep coordinating things from where he was. The connection didn't last long enough for either of them to know where the hell Qui-Gon was, which was, he supposed, a problem for later.
He had only been able to get the comm to work from a specific spot in the corner, and he returned now to see what kind of chaos Obi-Wan and Xanatos had gotten into.
The blue and white droid Obi-Wan had picked up stayed near his hip, though Obi-Wan had already cleaned it off and replaced one of its sensors. The other droids jostled for their turn next, beeping and whistling.
"How did you know it would work?" Xanatos asked, as Obi-Wan fixed the scomp link on one of the smaller droids.
"It's not that hard; all you have to do is—"
"I mean being nice to the droids so they wouldn't call their masters," Xanatos said. "How did you know that would work?"
"I've told you before," Obi-Wan said. "Everyone wants to be free. And it's not just organic beings." The blue droid— Artoo— beeped, and Obi-Wan bumped it affectionately with a leg. "The Hutts are notoriously cruel to their droids." Obi-Wan slanted a smile at Xanatos. "Maybe you would know these things if you remembered to be nice every once in a while."
Xanatos folded his arms and scowled, but he didn't say anything more.
Qui-Gon stepped forward. "Tholme is holding down the fort," he said. "All that's left to do is wait, I suppose, and hope these Hutts lead us to the others."
"And make sure they don't escape when they get there," Obi-Wan said.
"What makes you want to take on the slavery cartels so badly anyway?" Xanatos asked, nastily on the surface but a little softer beneath, enough to almost surprise Qui-Gon.
Obi-Wan's eyes went a little distant. "A lot of suffering could be prevented in the galaxy," he said. "So much unnecessary pain and hate…" he shook his head. "Did you know that the Jedi took down the Zygerrian Slave Empire?"
"No," Xanatos said.
"It was years ago, when we had more freedom to work outside of the Senate's purview." Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon shared much of the same opinions on the Senate, especially since a prominent senator and several others had been ousted. Obi-Wan shrugged. "But they did it, and very effectively. Not only did they break up the royal family and free the slaves, but then they sent Jedi to help revitalize the economies affected, help refugees… imagine that. A world where all the Jedi did was help people in need."
"That is, more or less, what the Jedi already do," Qui-Gon said.
"What?" Obi-Wan said. "Oh, yes. I know."
Qui-Gon's heart skipped a beat, as it often did when Obi-Wan accidentally implied things about the future that really did not bode well. As usual, he elected to ignore it. "Well, maybe after this is over you can outline some ideas on how to do that in the present day to the Council."
Obi-Wan beamed at him.
The ship pitched forward and then back. They were stopping.
"Showtime," Xanatos said, and stood. "Ow, geddof." He nudged a mouse droid away from him, winding a foot up to kick it until Obi-Wan gave him tooka eyes. Then he just grumbled and pushed the droid further, but gentler.
It was windowless down here— to get any idea of what was going on outside they'd have to get a better vantage point. Qui-Gon tried to recall the layout of the barge that he'd seen from the outside, and came to the conclusion that they'd probably be all right to take a look.
They opened the same entrance they came in and left though it very carefully. They rounded the ship just in time to narrowly avoid the group of Hutts making their slow way from the decking of the barge and into the snow.
Qui-Gon had little experience with Hutts, but he never saw one run, and usually saw them transporting themselves on some sort of hoverbed or bier held by slaves. Certainly never over so much snow or freezing terrain. That explained how much complaining he heard.
They hid, covered by the curve of the gigantic yacht. There must not have been an indoor shipyard, or at least not one that could be accessed from the ground. Thus, the Hutts hoofing it. Well, whatever Hutts did.
Obi-Wan shivered, breath coming out of his mouth visibly, and Qui-Gon pulled him under the cover of his robe automatically.
"Now what?" Obi-Wan asked from the depths, and Qui-Gon watched as Xanatos resolutely did not smile.
Qui-Gon checked his comm without much hope, and was unsurprised to see it didn't connect with anything. Even back in the slave complex they'd had to find the actual communications room before they could get anything out.
"We should take the speeder back and wait for the Republic forces to arrive," Qui-Gon said. Obi-Wan and Xanatos started to complain. It would still be another day at least before the Republic backup they'd called would get here, even if they were already on their way. "But," Qui-Gon said, and they perked up, "It's probably too cold for that. And too far."
"If we're already here I suppose we might as well go make sure the Hutts won't be taking off anytime soon," Obi-Wan said from within the cloak.
"Indeed," Qui-Gon said, and they followed after the trail the Hutts had left in the snow.
Most of the droids stayed back in the transport or set off determinedly into the snow, but the little blue R2 unit trundled along at Obi-Wan's heels. Obi-Wan did not seem surprised, though he rarely did.
This facility was a lot better hidden than the other, which was designed for large crowds to be able to find; this one was much more like a safe house, made of some kind of white material and half sunken into the snow.
"Stay alert," Qui-Gon advised, and they sidled through one of the side entrances.
The difference in temperature was immediate. Qui-Gon instantly broke out into a sweat, his body trying to adjust to the quick change. If the dome they had been in before was muggy, the artificial atmosphere in this building was absolutely swamp-like, air thick enough to drink and buzzing here and there with hot-weather gnats.
It smelled terrible, which lent credence to the idea that there had been Hutts living there long-term. Xanatos coughed and put a hand over his mouth.
"Have you been here before?" Obi-Wan asked the droid at his feet, which beeped eagerly. "All right, great. Do you know a way through to wherever they keep their transports?"
The droid let out another series of beeps and took off down the hall. Obi-Wan jogged after it unquestioningly.
Obi-Wan looked back to see if they were coming, and for a moment, Qui-Gon would swear he was expecting to see someone else behind him. But then the moment passed and Obi-Wan waved them forward.
The droid led them to a ventilation shaft. He rolled forward, then back, clearly indicating them to go inside.
"I am not going in there," Xanatos said. "I'll get my pants dirty."
R2 beeped.
"What did he say?" Xanatos asked suspiciously.
"Um, nothing," Obi-Wan said.
"Move out of my way," Xanatos said, and pushed his way into the vents.
R2 let out a warbling sound suspiciously like a chortle, and Obi-Wan grinned at him before hopping into the vents himself. Qui-Gon followed after.
The vents were tall enough that the droid was able to roll through them, but that the humans in the party had to resort to crawling on their hands and knees. This was somewhat more difficult for Qui-Gon than for either of the smaller other two.
When he bumped his head for the third time, Xanatos and Obi-Wan turned back to glare at him with eerie synchronicity.
"We're trying to be quiet, Master," Obi-Wan said.
"Is that what we're doing?" Qui-Gon said.
The droid led them through the ductwork. They were very labyrinthine, and Qui-Gon had to admit that they probably wouldn't have found their way through the facility without a guide. Every so often they would see, through a grate, a guard walking the grounds. Obi-Wan stopped an instant before the Force warned Qui-Gon.
There were voices below.
They stopped to listen, and Qui-Gon got a slightly dizzying look through the gaps of a fan inset into the floor.
The Hutts from the arena were gathered in front of a series of chairs containing another set of much larger Hutts. The stench was so much here that it actually tasted; flies buzzed around and Qui-Gon pressed a hand to his mouth, feeling green.
The younger group of Hutts looked a little like abashed younglings. Hutts, if Qui-Gon remembered correctly, could live a long time, and they never really stopped growing. That meant the big ones were the matriarchs and the patriarchs.
They were speaking in Huttese; Obi-Wan translated softly.
"Our idiot children," one of the elders growled. "All you had to do was not draw attention to the family."
"But it's the first rule of business!" one of the younger protested. "Never miss out on opportunity for a profit. And the slaves were just… there."
"We do not invite other people to the planet with the Summit! You've endangered us all. And we lost many good Hutts."
"Not to mention!" another elder said, "You involved the Jedi! Everyone knows that they fight like mother nexu for their Jeedailetts. And not only did you get good Hutts killed, from good clans, but worse, you let others get caught by the Jedi!"
The young Hutts snivelled. "But—"
"Our profits in the Outer Rim are increasing exponentially," one of the younger said. "The cartel is doing good this season. Why do we need to have a meeting about it—" this set off another round of angry Huttese, too fast for Obi-Wan to translate all at once.
Obi-Wan looked thoughtfully at R2D2. "Can you—" he said, and the droid beeped lowly. Obi-Wan smiled. "Thanks."
"We need to get off this planet before the Jeedai find us," said one of the elders, which was their cue to stop eavesdropping and be on their way.
There was only a little ways more to crawl. The droid tried to lead them directly into the ship bay, but Qui-Gon shook his head.
"A maintenance closet?" he asked. "Or somewhere we can regroup first?"
The droid considered this, dome spinning, then beeped cheerfully and led them onwards into a passage that proved to let out into a small, dusty room that seemed to be used as a locker room in a previous life. Probably the Hutts weren't here often enough to use it.
"There are guards out at the ships," Obi-Wan said. "Trandoshans, I think. Several of them."
Qui-Gon winced. Trandoshans were prolific bounty hunters; strong and fast, a difficult opponent even for a fully-grown Jedi, not to mention a teenage boy and a half-trained dark Jedi who could barely be trusted.
"Artoo could start a fire," Obi-Wan suggested.
"How?" Qui-Gon asked, at the same time that the droid spun in a circle and looked like Obi-Wan had made its year, beeping in far too much glee.
"It would distract the guards, at least for a little while. Somehow I get the sense that you could make a pretty big fire," Xanatos said, to the very obvious flattery of the droid. "If we set charges in the hangar, we can blow all the Hutt ships at once."
Obi-Wan gave him an exasperated look. "Which would also blow the whole compound," he said.
"Which would kill people," Qui-Gon added when Xanatos still didn't appear to see the problem. "Which we prefer not to do unless absolutely necessary."
Xanatos and R2D2 exchanged a look, indicating that they were just indulging the Jedi in this one. "All right, fine," Xanatos said. "So what do we do?"
"We don't need to take out all the ships," Obi-Wan said. "Just the ones capable of transporting several Hutts at once." At their confused looks, he explained, "If there's limited space, the Hutts will spend enough time fighting about who gets to leave that none of them will actually have time to do it. They're too selfish and greedy for anything else."
"I like it," Xanatos said. "Play off their natural weaknesses, make them take each other out."
It didn't seem worth arguing Jedi philosophy at the moment.
"Sabotaging the landing gears and the hydraulics would be the quickest and the quietest," Qui-Gon said.
"Quiet," Obi-Wan said dubiously. "That's us."
The R2 unit rolled out ahead of them, unmolested. The mercenaries left it alone; after all, so far as they knew it had a restraining bolt and was meant to be there.
Qui-Gon knew that Artoo had made it to the other side of the hangar because he heard screams shortly, and started to smell burning motor oil. He didn't want to know.
They swept, Force-fast, out of the locker room, and split off into the hangar.
There were quite a few ships— Hutts liked showiness. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Xanatos took it by quadrants, the two younger taking the sides while Qui-Gon disabled the ships in the middle.
There was a particular weak spot on ships that were not built for combat. When they were on the ground, and if the ramp was left open, you could fairly easily get to the important wires and hoses that housed the landing gear and the mechanisms to close the door again. Qui-Gon ignited his saber and sliced through all of them in one swoop, leaving no more evidence than an oily smell and a spatter of hydraulic fluids on the ground.
He repeated the process several more times.
Things were going well, up until the moment that they weren't.
A door at the far end of the hangar slid open, and a group of Hutts rushed through, clearly well on their way to escaping. The fire was now down to smoldering remains— they weren't distracted by it for long, unlike the guards, who had been frantically trying to put it out for the past few minutes.
"Get them, you useless skugs!" yelled one of the Hutts, spotting Qui-Gon and Xanatos and pointing. Obi-Wan had vanished into some slip of a shadow just seconds earlier; sensing what was coming, probably. "It's the Jeedai!"
Blast. Qui-Gon darted away, and the Trandoshan guards ran straight for him. Already Qui-Gon could see Xanatos' distinctive red lightsaber flashing— his former padawan was doing fine for now.
A blaster bolt whistled by Qui-Gon's head. Without looking, he blocked it, then two or three more that flew by. A grunt behind him; he'd deflected at least one into the shooter.
Qui-Gon ran, and found himself backed into a corner made up of supply crates and mechanical parts. The Trandoshans had wised up and stopped shooting, and now they were just approaching very slowly and cautiously, with their guns up.
"Do you really want to fight a man with a lightsaber?" Qui-Gon tried.
The mercenaries looked at each other. Then they surged forward towards Qui-Gon as one. One of them had an electrostaff, which was not impossible to fight with a lightsaber but was rather tricky. It got even tricker when you added in a few friends with vibroknives and clubs.
Qui-Gon spun and whirled. The staff was tricky— it brushed by his shoulder and gave him a nasty shock that made the fingers on his non-dominant hand go numb. He dodged a knife next.
The Force warned him, and Qui-Gon, as ever, listened, darting to the side a moment before Obi-Wan dropped down from above. Obi-Wan landed nimbly on his feet and sliced through the electrostaff in one movement.
"You're supposed to go for the regulator," Obi-Wan said cheerfully.
"Brat," Qui-Gon said.
They managed to push several of the Trandoshans away and they tried to run for it again. Xanatos caught up, taking steps backward until he was level with them.
These bodyguards were well-trained, and they didn't seem to care about their fellows getting killed or otherwise injured, just so long as they weren't. A blaster bolt zinged by, then another and another— the quantity over quality style of combat.
A shot nicked Xanatos' arm, and he yelped.
Obi-Wan looked— only to get tackled off to the side by a particularly aggressive mercenary. Everyone was close enough now that lightsabers meant as much chance of running yourself or your companions through as your enemies.
Qui-Gon deactivated his and did what no one expected a Jedi to do in a fight— start throwing punches.
In the distance, he heard the Hutts realize their ships were, for the most part, non operational. He didn't need to know the language to recognize swearing.
Obi-Wan was still wrestling with his Trandoshan. As Qui-Gon watched, Obi-Wan was physically picked up and slammed into the crates that were hemming them in. Qui-Gon winced.
But Xanatos' arm was weakened from being shot, and Obi-Wan could usually take care of himself. Qui-Gon moved to cover Xanatos' side. It was almost, but not quite familiar after all this time apart.
Qui-Gon headbutted a Trandoshan, who fell immediately to the ground, unconscious. Qui-Gon's ribs were definitely bruised, a few minor cuts to his face and one on his back. His hair had come loose from its ponytail.
Still six remaining.
Qui-Gon took a deep breath, centering himself within the eddies of the Force.
There was a loud, shrill beep, almost like a scream. Then, from the depths of the ship bay, R2D2 came hurtling at full speed. They all stopped to watch, fascinated.
R2 stopped, skidded, and ejected a huge puddle of oil from somewhere within his mechanisms. Most of it got on the Trandoshans, though there was a lot on the floor too.
R2 flicked a lighter open.
"Don't," one of the Trandoshans said nervously.
R2 lowered it towards the floor.
Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.
The flame went closer to the puddle of motor oil.
"Kriff thisss," one hissed, and bolted. The rest followed his example, slipping and sliding, and occasionally swearing.
"Wow," Qui-Gon said, impressed. No wonder Obi-Wan liked the droid— they had the same fondness for destruction. Speaking of which—
"Obi-Wan?"
Qui-Gon turned and saw his padawan slumped against one of the crates. The man he had been fighting was on the ground nearby, clearly dead. Qui-Gon reached Obi-Wan in a few quick strides.
He was alive. Qui-Gon kneeled in front of him, frowning. What had looked from a distance like Obi-Wan's usual freckles instead turned out to be a light dusting of— he sniffed— spice. The crate had been filled with it. It must have broken open.
Obi-Wan was still breathing, shallowly, and apparently deeply unconscious. He must have inhaled a lot of the drugs.
"Hah," Xanatos said, and Qui-Gon almost jumped. He hadn't noticed Xanatos coming up beside him, much less crouching down. "Little spice-head."
Qui-Gon glared, and Xanatos' smirk dropped. "What?"
"Spice overdose," Qui-Gon said. "It has been known to cause vivid flashbacks of the past, and in rare cases, a brief glimpse into the future."
"Oh," Xanatos said. "What about for a kid who's already—?"
Qui-Gon shook his head, unsure. He patted Obi-Wan's cheeks, dislodging some of the spice from his hair. "Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, wake up." Obi-Wan twitched a little, but didn't awaken.
The droid beeped anxiously.
"We don't have time," Xanatos said.
Qui-Gon hated to agree. He stood and pulled Obi-Wan up over his shoulder. His ribs protested— definitely bruised. "Back to the speeder," he said. "R2D2, can you lead us back out to where we left it on the barge? Not the stealthiest route; just the fastest."
The droid beeped an affirmative, spinning its dome worriedly before taking off in the opposite direction. They jogged after it.
Obi-Wan occasionally twitched, but didn't seem to register anything that was happening, or react to Qui-Gon's prodding at their apprenticeship bond in the Force. Of course, it was difficult to get a sense of what Obi-Wan was feeling on a regular day. Qui-Gon released his fears into the Force.
They rounded a corner and encountered a surprised guard, who shot reflexively and was immediately taken down by his own shot and Xanatos' lightsaber.
They ran through the compound, encountering a few guards until they burst out into the freezing air outside the artificial atmosphere. Qui-Gon could see the sail barge in the distance, dishearteningly far but not impossible to reach.
Especially because— yes, Qui-Gon reached out his senses and felt the mercenaries and the Hutts inside readying to make a move.
The ground was tough ice and difficult to traverse at a fast pace, especially while carrying someone, but Qui-Gon called on the Force and his steps were sure. They reached the barge and the droid shot straight up the ramp.
"Get the speeder started?" Qui-Gon asked, and Xanatos nodded shortly before striding inside. They could try to steal the barge, but the amount of time it would take for such a large vehicle to warm up in this atmosphere, not to mention how long it might take just to find the bridge and the controls, not to mention security failsafes…
Qui-Gon put Obi-Wan down so that he was half-standing, enough at least that Qui-Gon could take off his own cloak and wrap it around him. Snowflakes were beading in his hair.
Obi-Wan stirred. Qui-Gon held him upright. "Padawan? Obi-Wan, wake." Obi-Wan pried his eyes open with apparent effort. His pupils were way blown, and he looked very dazed.
"Wha—?" Obi-Wan said. "Hnnuhh?"
Qui-Gon held his chin up. "Padawan, how do you feel? I think you need to start filtering the spice from your blood."
"Um," Obi-Wan said. "Dizzy. Not good. Um." He leaned over and dry-heaved into the snow, reminding Qui-Gon just how little he'd probably had to eat over the last few days. "Sorry, Master."
"Don't be sorry," Qui-Gon said, but he was still holding most of his weight. "Filter out the toxins. I know you know how to do this."
But Obi-Wan wasn't listening, staring out into the distance glassily. Qui-Gon swore quietly. A Jedi could filter out drugs, poisons, all sorts of things— but it was conscious, and it required concentration. That was why it was easy enough to filter out the first drink but it was too late by the fifth.
Qui-Gon shook him. Xanatos emerged from the depths of the sail barge, driving the speeder. He was fairly unsurprised to see the R2 unit along for the ride. "Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, shaking him more. "Do you know where you are right now?"
"Ah," Obi-Wan said. "Orto… Plutonia?" Then he leaned over and threw up again.
"Not quite," Qui-Gon said, and gave into Xanatos' frantic gesturing for him to come and bundled Obi-Wan into the speeder. Qui-Gon climbed into the back with him and settled his padawan against his chest. Unnervingly, Obi-Wan didn't pass out again, just stared blankly ahead.
"So?" Xanatos asked, pointing the speeder the opposite direction and revving it up.
"Medical attention," Qui-Gon said.
"Right," Xanatos said, and gunned the engine forward at full speed. The droid was navigating, Qui-Gon realized with some amusement.
There was the whine of more speeders in the distance. Qui-Gon looked back and saw the guards had rallied, and they were coming after them in more landspeeders like their own. From the looks of things, they were bringing a lot of weaponry with them.
When it rained… Qui-Gon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said.
Obi-Wan startled and tried to sit up. Qui-Gon pushed him back down, gently. "You have to tell the men to get up on the ridge," Obi-Wan said blearily. "They're going to come at us from the valley."
"Don't worry about it," Qui-Gon said. Particularly considering there was no valley and no ridge. "We've got it handled."
"Commander," Obi-Wan protested.
"It's fine," Qui-Gon said, which was when a blaster bolt whistled over their heads. He cleared his throat. "It's fine."
"It would be a lot more fine," Xanatos said from the front, "If you could please get rid of these guys."
"I am a little busy," Qui-Gon said. Another shot flew towards them, and Xanatos had to jerk the speeder to the side to avoid it. The energy blast hit the ground and sprayed hard ice and rock up at them. "That is not a blaster," he added.
"Ground-to-air cannon," Obi-Wan said. "They shot us down. I think Trapper's leg is broken…" he devolved into incoherent mumbling.
"Great," Xanatos said. "Perfect time for him to lose it."
"Shut up," Qui-Gon said, very un Jedi-like, and stood, catching his balance.
There were four speeders coming after them. Two of them were mounted with the cannons they'd just been shot at with, and the other two were packed with a few extra guards, all with handheld blasters or rifles.
Qui-Gon ignited his lightsaber just in time to catch a shot on it and send it back. It hit one of the Trandoshans in the speeders, who fell. Their friends didn't come back for them. The cannon charged up. "Left!" Qui-Gon shouted, and Xanatos swerved just in time for it to miss them; Qui-Gon felt the heat.
Obi-Wan twitched miserably. "Please don't," he said.
One of the speeders was drawing close— Qui-Gon deflected the next shot into the engine instead, which blew up satisfyingly.
The wind whipped past, faster and faster, and ice cold. It made Qui-Gon wish for his robes back. Then Obi-Wan tried to sit up again, cheeks flushed and his hair spiky in every direction, and he was glad he'd thought to give them to his padawan.
"I will take the boy…" Obi-Wan said, his legs twitching, "And watch over him."
"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, "Stay down."
More shots. Qui-Gon ducked, and used his free hand to push Obi-Wan's head down. He went with it, slumping again bonelessly back on the seat.
Another speeder got close, and Qui-Gon deflected a volley of shots. But it was a distraction— for one of the mercenaries to leap into their vehicle, and try to yank the wheel from Xanatos.
Xanatos swore, and leaned to the side, sending them, for a moment, frictionless as the speeder spun. Xanatos elbowed the Trandoshan away, but he hurled himself back at Xanatos, who had to keep at least one hand on the controls.
Qui-Gon moved to help, but the speeder had taken advantage of their distraction and attached a grappling hook to the side of their vehicle. It pulled them, with a grinding noise as the engines struggled against each other.
Qui-Gon moved his efforts to slicing through the grapple line.
The Trandoshans seemed to have been expecting this— one wrapped an electro-whip around Qui-Gon's wrist while another leaned between the two speeders and tried to yank the lightsaber out of his hand.
They had forgotten he had another perfectly good hand. To their apparent surprise, Qui-Gon let go of his lightsaber, let it drop a little ways, then used the Force to call it back up into his other hand.
In the front, Xanatos seemed to be turning things around. R2D2 used a little taser to shock the Trandoshan, who yelped and let go of Xanatos out of surprise. Xanatos used the freedom to draw his own lightsaber, standing up in a whir of red. He used the Force to keep the controls steady.
Qui-Gon used his saber to slice through the chest of one of his attackers, knock out another, and send the last scrambling away. At the same moment, Xanatos' new friend went tumbling out of the speeder, headless.
Quickly, Qui-Gon sliced the line away from their speeder.
The speeders jerked, and started to pull away from each other. Qui-Gon leaned in, intent on returning to his own speeder, only to feel a yank. One of the Trandoshans had caught his trailing hair and pulled.
Qui-Gon snarled, turned, and shoved the man away with the Force. The man toppled off the edge, leaving the speeder finally unattended. Unfortunately, Qui-Gon was still sort of balanced on that speeder, and when it careened away and impacted with the ground, Qui-Gon almost fell.
But a pair of hands caught the front of his tunic and pulled him back inside.
Qui-Gon tumbled in and caught himself before he crushed his padawan, who was looking at him with surprisingly lucid eyes. "Padawan," Obi-Wan said, "How many times have I told you not to be so reckless?" Then he passed out again.
Xanatos laughed. Qui-Gon felt oddly chastised.
Qui-Gon checked to make sure Obi-Wan was breathing well— could be better, but not too worrying— and climbed into the front seats, squeezing between Xanatos and the droid.
"Now what?" Xanatos said. The two speeders with the cannons were still following them, and seemed content to stay away from their lightsabers, shooting off cannon blasts from far away. Another hit the ground in front of them, and Xanatos wheeled around it.
"I'll let you know," Qui-Gon said.
"That means you have no kriffing idea," Xanatos complained.
"Oh, good," Qui-Gon said. "You remember."
Xanatos grumbled something that definitely would have gotten him in trouble had he still been Qui-Gon's padawan. Qui-Gon suppressed a smile.
Another cannon blast, more ice broken off the ground.
But this time… Qui-Gon craned his head to look backwards. The snow and ice had been blown away, revealing a little of the ground below. The landscape wasn't as solid as he had assumed, made up below of ice caverns and crevasses.
"Hmm," Qui-Gon said. "I now have a plan."
Xanatos had seen the same thing as he had, and Xanatos, for good or for ill, was a very smart man. He didn't need to be told twice.
The speeders drew closer.
Qui-Gon and Xanatos turned, threw out their hands— and pulled the ground out from under their pursuers. Landspeeders were not made to float in midair. They needed solid ground to generate the lift needed underneath them.
The Trandoshans fell.
Qui-Gon didn't see where they landed, but there was a telltale explosion a few seconds later which made him feel a little better about things.
Xanatos smirked. Then he chanced a look back at Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon followed his gaze, and watched his padawan shiver, engulfed in Qui-Gon's cloak. They both frowned.
"This path is too exposed," Xanatos said. "The Hutts will send more. There's no cover out here."
"I know," Qui-Gon said. "We'll have to find somewhere to hunker down and try to contact our allies."
Xanatos gave him a doubting look. "Out here?" As far as the eye could see, there was only snow. Even the arena they'd come from wasn't visible from here, covered by falling snow and the curve of the earth.
"The Force will provide," Qui-Gon said.
The droid beeped. On the navigation screen, it displayed a little map of the area; including a small ice cave hidden some ways off.
Qui-Gon liked to believe the Force could work through droids too.
Chapter header from TCW - 3X08 Evil Plans
Huttese translations:
Jeedai - Jedi