Chapter 36: Extraction on Tatooine
"Zako is a superior technician. You're too rough," 3B3-888 complained about the quality of Katen's maintenance abilities.
"Stop being such a baby, Sarge." Katen shoved 3B3-888's left arm back into its socket. "If you hadn't gotten your ass kicked on Breeka, you wouldn't be in this situation now."
"Wait…you put my arm in backwards!" 3B3-888 complained, "only a moron like you would make such a stupid mistake."
"I wish I'd accidentally mute you," Katen grumbled. 3B3-888 was in a particularly nasty mood. Z23-Y75, TH-1066, 8EX, 5TE, and the other droids that had been defeated and repaired didn't have such a visceral attitude as the B1 battle droid did regarding the situation.
Commander Zako walked into the repair ward. A pair of OX9 worker droids walked in after him. The two labor units were pushing a cart with a scrapped droid lying on it. Zako had gone back to Raxus Prime to retrieve the peculiar droid he had seen lying in the wreckage.
"There you are," 3B3-888 said with anger and frustration in his voice, "I'm standing here in pieces and you're playing with junk protocol droids that have been lying around Raxus Prime for who knows how long!"
"Looks like Ashley's taking care of you," Karl Zako turned to look at the B1 battle droid. The human commander was not his usual self anymore; he had gone for too long without medical attention and ended up losing his left eye completely. Dr. Quartz had replaced it with a cybernetic one.
"And doing a horrible job. You get over here and fix me."
"If she's really that bad then she needs the practice."
"Stop whining," Katen told the B1 battle droid.
"Don't you tell me to stop whining," 3B3-888 turned back to Ashley, "you get blown to pieces in battle and then incorrectly reassembled afterward and see how you feel!"
"OOM-9 didn't whine this much when he was blown to pieces on Abridon." Katen popped the droid's arm back out and put it in correctly.
"OOM-9 was properly reassembled."
"Look, will you just knock it off already?" Katen was becoming upset, "I know I'm out of practice but it's been a while since we've taken this much damage. That Jedi and his clones back on Breeka were tough. But none of that would of happened if Karl hadn't screwed up back on Raxus Prime," Katen pointed accusingly.
"Don't you blame this on me," Zako glared. With his new eye, the commander was able to give quite an imposing stare now. Zako's iris and pupil were now purple. The sclera of his left eye was jet black. Dr. Quartz had made no attempt to try and give Zako a natural looking eye. The commander had the appearance of an evil-looking cyborg, though technically now he was a cyborg.
"Enough of this pointless bickering," Z23-Y75 cut in, "we're all at fault." The command droid had his face cut in half by the Jedi's lightsaber. The droid was lucky his brain was left intact. No one could find where the rest of his face was and Dr. Quartz had fashioned a black-colored replacement.
"No, the Jedi's at fault," Katen grumbled, "not us."
3B3-888 moved his arm around and flexed his fingers. Once he was satisfied that his arm was working properly, he punched Katen in the arm. The sound of 3B3-888's metal fist striking Katen's arm was audible for all to hear, and it was quite clear that 3B3-888 was being rougher than was appropriate.
"Ow," Katen yelped. She gave the B1 battle droid an icy stare, but did nothing to further fuel the fires of their bickering.
OOM-9 was conversing with OOM-8 on the command bridge of the Magna Musai when Dr. Gatling Quartz came to see him.
"General, I need to speak with you."
"What is it, Doctor?"
"A colleague of mine has contacted me. He is interested in the possibility of becoming under your employ."
"Can this wait?" OOM-8 asked, "we are busy at the moment."
"No. My colleague wishes to be collected as soon as possible. He believes that his secret laboratory has been discovered. I know you're busy with repairs to your army, but this will only require a small group."
"Why doesn't he just come to us?" OOM-8 asked.
"He wants you to pack up his lab so he can take it with him," the Skakoan scientist explained.
The two command droids exchanged glances with each other before looking back at the doctor.
"I highly recommend you acquire him," Quartz continued, "that last battle you fought was difficult, but if you recruit my colleague, you will gain a powerful new asset. He has a certain skill set that you will find very interesting…"
"Very well, Doctor. Since you've given him such a glowing recommendation, I'll round up a team and we'll leave at once," OOM-9 declared.
The homing beacon aboard the Techno Union ship provided Obi-wan Jakoby with a unique opportunity. Now the Jedi could track OOM-9's movements and decide when to strike. Of course, there was the assumption that the particular Techno Union ship being tracked stayed with the rest of the fleet. General Jakoby thought it would.
The homing beacon had shown that the ship, and presumably the rest of the fleet, had gone to the Zalost system.
"The Zalost system?" Ace studied the information provided on the readouts. "That's in the middle of nowhere."
"It is a known Separatist system," Klo Toon stated.
"So why don't we attack?" Ace asked. "We should strike them while they're reeling from the last battle."
"No," Jakoby answered. The Jedi knew Ace had the mind of an elite commando, but the clone was no strategist. "We already know the Zalost system is a threat to the Republic. We must be patient and wait for the homing beacon to reveal the unknown to us. That is when we will strike."
"Understood, Sir."
"Look," Klo Toon exclaimed, "the ship is moving out of the system. The computer puts their projected path to the…. planet Tatooine…"
"What are they going there for?" Ace asked, "the Seppies and the Hutts aren't exactly friendly with one another."
"You see," Jakoby smiled, "a little patience pays off. Captain, set a course for Tatooine."
"Right away, General."
The Techno Union ship the Pestilence dropped out of hyperspace above Tatooine. The Pestilence was on its own, no other ships of the 8th Fleet accompanied it. A team of battle droids and worker droids was hastily assembled and left immediately. OOM-9 had other things to worry about and wanted this over as quickly as possible.
The ship cut through the cloudless sky and touched down on Tatooine at the coordinates Dr. Quartz had specified. They had landed at a tall mountain ending in a plateau, there wasn't much room for the massive starship, but it managed the landing.
The CIS troops started piling out, General OOM-9 and Dr. Quartz at the front of the pack. The scalding hot air made no difference to OOM-9 and the other droids, though Katen and Zako were visibly agitated by the new environment. If the heat bothered Dr. Quartz, no one could tell.
"It's so hot," Zako complained.
"But it's a dry heat," Katen chided.
"Shut up."
"Both of you be quiet," OOM-9 told the two humans.
The group approached the massive doorway to the sole building sitting on the mountain.
"No one here to greet us?" Katen asked, "I thought he knew we were coming."
A TT-8L gatekeeper droid popped out of its hidden socket in the wall and warbled in an alien language. The TT-8L was little more than a droid eye mounted on a stalk that jutted out from the wall.
"You know who we are," Dr. Quartz took and few steps forward and angrily pointed at the droid, "how many other Skakoans could possibly be wandering around this dust ball of a planet."
The droid laughed and receded back into its socket. With the droid gone, the doors began to open. It was shadowy and hard to see inside.
A tall figure emerged from the darkness. An Ithorian dressed in black clothes with dull red trim.
"Doctor Destroyer," Dr. Quartz addressed the Ithorian.
"Doctor Gatling Quartz, how good to see you again," the Ithorian said, "how have things been?"
"Good. Very good. And this is…"
"General OOM-9," Dr. Destroyer stated before Quartz could finish. "I have heard a lot about you. It was not easy information to come across, however. You are surprisingly obscure in the Galaxy. Considering your success, one would think you would be more well-known, even for a droid."
"True," OOM-9 answered, "but I can use my obscurity to my advantage. My opponents rarely know what they are dealing with until it's too late."
"Yes, you are very clever."
"Care to explain your sudden need to abandon your base?"
"I believe that the Hutts may have figured out that I am here. That, and the local savages have finally built up the courage to finally try and expel me from the area. I apologize for my abrupt request, I hope you did not have to travel too far."
"It is not a problem, Doctor," OOM-9 said, "but I recommend we start loading your equipment onto my ship immediately if you wish to avoid the possibility of confrontation."
"Yes, excellent advice. If you would follow me."
OOM-9, Dr. Quartz, SSA-719 and a herd of OX9 and SRT droids started filing into the brown building. Zako, Katen, 3B3-888, DSD-08 and the battle droids stood guard outside.
As OOM-9's group walked they started to pass the standard lab equipment any mad scientist would own. The silver light provided by the lamps and machinery contrasted with the dingy brown floor. The Ithorian's PK worker droids were already busy packing things away. There were also several different kinds of animals locked in cages. If the lab stank, no one in the group could tell: Dr. Quartz was locked up in his pressure suit, the battle droids lacked olfactory sensors, and Dr. Destroyer was likely used to any such smells if they indeed infested the area.
"What exactly do you do here, Doctor?" OOM-9 asked.
"I create. I destroy. I work to provide the Galaxy with entertainment," Dr. Destroyer said, "but most importantly, I'm working to save all life in the Galaxy. I believe with your help, I stand a better chance of success."
OOM-9 was annoyed at Dr. Destroyer's rather cryptically poetic answer. But of course there was also the chance that the Ithorian was being literal.
Outside the laboratory, the military drones of OOM-9's group were bored. Since combat was highly unlikely, Katen and Zako were just milling about in their officer uniforms rather than their combat armor. It was midday and the skies were clear, if any enemies approached the CIS would easily spot them.
"I see the savages down there," Katen peered at the Sand People gathering below through a pair of electrobinoculars. The CIS was far too high up for the Sand People to actually start attacking them.
"Let me see," 3B3-888 swiped the electrobinoculars from Katen. The B1 battle droid was still in a sour mood, and had been throwing the blunt of his malice at Katen for having momentarily reassembled him incorrectly.
"You're welcome," Katen huffed as she let the droid have a look. When it was clear that 3B3-888 was not going to acknowledge her, Katen left the grumpy B1 battle droid and went over to where Commander Zako and DSD-08 were conversing.
"Well, I can see what we can do about that," Zako said to the dwarf spider droid.
DSD-08 beeped back, but Katen only partly understood what he was saying. The pair were conversing half through normal speech and half through the Separatist Droid Network, leaving Katen to only catch part of what DSD-08 had said.
"What's going on?" Katen asked, "you boys trying to keep me out of the conversation?"
"No…" Zako said, "it's just practice, to make sure everything is working properly," the officer poked at the side of his head three times. Zako's new cybernetic eye gave him a minor connection to the Separatist Droid Network. The human officer could now wirelessly send and receive messages with other CIS droids without talking and without the need of extra communication equipment.
"Well stop it. I wanna know what you guys are talking about," Katen demanded.
"DSD-08 was just asking if we could try and install Battlefront to his memory core."
"Oh… I heard that game was good," Katen said.
"Of course you did, you heard it from me!" Zako said, "I preordered it and got it the first day it came out! What do you think I've been doing in my free time?"
"Oh yeah… I forgot."
"What is with you today, Ashley?"
"3B3-888 is being so mean to me."
"You did put his arm in wrong."
"So? It's not like I didn't immediately fix the problem."
"He's just having a bad day. I think most of us are."
"Aircraft approaching, I can't tell if they're ours or not," 3B3-888 informed the others as he observed a group of distant specs with his electrobinoculars.
"All right, I'll call it in to OOM-9," Zako said.
It only took OOM-9 a moment to exit the lab and return to his troops.
"All right, prepare to attack," OOM-9 ordered. Katen waved three dwarf spider droids to their assigned defensive positions on the mesa. Zako picked out an E-5s sniper rifle to use. His new cybernetic eye could link up with the sniper rifle and he could use it without any additional targeting equipment. The E-5s model was made specifically for battle droids, and the human CIS snipers that used them had to also use special targeting goggles to link them up with the rifles, but Zako had no need for the extra equipment now.
"What if its one of ours?" 3B3-888 asked.
"We have no reinforcements scheduled for this time and they're not reporting in. They must be hostiles," OOM-9 explained to his subordinate.
"Come on boys, get into position," Katen urged a group of crab droids that was moving slower than she would have liked.
"You were right, General. Eight Republic gunships, four infantry carriers and four vehicle carriers," 3B3-888 could make out the ships now.
It was a small attack group, but it was originally meant to scout the enemy, not engage. The Republic did not realize that the Pestilence had come to Tatooine all by itself. Inside one of the LAAT/i gunships was General Jakoby.
"There is only one Techno Union ship. They may try to flee. I want double patrols of Torrent fighters up there," Obi-wan Jakoby told the captain of the Venator star destroyer the Droid Collector.
"Understood, General. Jabba the Hutt is sending ground forces to assist you," the holographic Klo Toon explained to Jakoby.
"Don't worry we'll be able to handle ourselves," Obi-wan Jakoby said to the hologram. The Jedi was not particularly keen on working with the Hutts and their goons.
"Scans indicate a hidden landing platform on the opposite side of the mountain," Captain Toon continued.
"Using the back door isn't going to help us if they know that's where were coming," Jakoby stated. The Jedi activated his imagecaster and a small image of clone commando Ace appeared. Jakoby's four favored clone commandos were riding in a separate gunship from their Jedi leader.
"What are your orders, General?" the elite commando asked.
"Ace, I want you and your squad to take your gunship and go around the back. There is a hidden landing platform on the other side of the mountain. I want you to hit them from behind. We'll keep their attention at us as best we can."
"Yes sir." The small image of the clone commando dissipated.
A loud nearby explosion shook Jakoby's gunship. A dwarf spider droid managed to shoot down one of the LAAT/i gunships.
"Good shot DSD-08!" Katen patted the head of the spider droid, who beeped gleefully in response for being recognized for his accomplishment.
"Put us down near the base of the mountain," Jakoby told the clone pilot, "if we try for the top they are going to blast us all to hell."
The Republic gunships deployed their infantry and walkers on the ground below, still under fire from the droids on the mesa. Despite there being two AT-TEs and two clone scout walkers in the group, the Sand People did not flee. Armed desert skiffs sent by Jabba advanced toward the mountain.
"General," 3B3-888 said, "you're going to love this."
"What is it, Sergeant?"
"It's that Jedi again. The one from Breeka. He's here." 3B3-888 watched as Jakoby deflected incoming blaster fire and led his clones and walkers to the base of the mountain.
"How did he find us?" Katen asked.
"Maybe the Hutts saw us come down to the planet," Zako offered as he fired his sniper rifle.
"He showed up too quickly. One of his clones must have gotten a tracking device on the Pestilence during the previous battle," OOM-9 said.
"Fine with me," 3B3-888 said, "now we can kill that Jedi and be done with it."
"Zako, I am leaving you in command," the droid general said as OX9 worker droids secured the Skg-1 scorpion walker backpack onto OOM-9. "I'm going to take care of that Jedi myself."
OOM-9 knew the last time he had used the Skg-1 walker attachment things hadn't gone so well for him but it was time to give it another try. The four mechanical legs lifted OOM-9 off the ground, and the command droid led a small squad of crab droids, dwarf spider droids, and octuptarra droids down the mountain.
The war cry of the Tusken Raiders rang out. Down below the fight was devolving into a disaster. The Sand People had started attacking both Jabba's thugs and Jakoby's clone troopers.
"This is so much fun!" Katen exclaimed, "we have three different armies to shoot at!"
"Concentrate fire on the skiffs first," Zako ordered as he fired his BAW E-5s sniper rifle.
"You just have to kill the fun don't ya, Karl?" Katen responded.
"Shut up and follow my orders, Ashley!"
The clones made a mad dash for the base of the nearly perfect vertical mountain. "Fire ascension cables!" Jakoby said. Tethered by their lifelines, the clone soldiers started scaling up the mountain, followed by the two AT-TEs and two clone scout walkers. Jakoby even had his own blaster with a cable; he knew he would need it the moment he had ordered the gunship to dive down away from the mountaintop.
"Not that tired old trick again," OOM-9 said as he led his force of dwarf spider droids, crab droids, and octuptarra droids further down the vertical incline. Battle droids, super battle droids, and three dwarf spider droids, led by Zako, supported them from the edge of the mesa. Upon the enemy getting in so close, 3B3-888 handed his electrobinoculars to a waiting PK droid and detached his E-5 blaster from his backpack.
"Destroy those walkers!" OOM-9 said and his multi-legged droids responded by focusing their fire and destroying one of the two AT-TEs. The concentrated fire brought the unfortunate AT-TE tumbling back down the mountain, scraping loose large swaths of dust and rocks as it went plummeting downward.
The remaining AT-TE responded by trying to shoot OOM-9 off the mountain, but the battle droid was able to avoid the attack.
The LAAT gunship flew the opposite side of the mountain to land on a hidden platform. Three shielded droidekas waited for it. Despite the heavy fire, the four clone commandos left the gunship to fight the murderous droids.
"Don't the clankers know they're not supposed to guard hidden entrances?" Kicker whined.
A pair of EMP grenades deprived the droidekas of their personal shields. With their primary defense gone, the three destroyer droids were no match for Kicker's anti-armor attachment.
"Jack, get this door open!" Ace barked.
"Yes sir."
The GAR tirelessly continued up the slant. Obi-wan Jakoby was trying his best to deflect blaster bolts away from himself; though it was difficult using only his shoto lightsaber as his other hand was gripped on the gun that he was using to cable his way up the mountain. Zako continuously sniped at him with his rifle and Katen with her pistol. The double team was too much to handle so Jakoby swung over to the remaining AT-TE and landed on its cockpit. The Jedi abandoned his DC-15 rifle and activated his other lightsaber. The Jedi concentrated on blocking blaster shots as they whizzed toward the walker. Jakoby knew if he lost the other AT-TE the fight would be considerably more difficult for his clones.
OOM-9 drew a lot of fire from the walkers. General Jakoby and his clones had never seen an Skg-1 Scorpion walker backpack before, and it clearly made OOM-9 look like the leader of the droid forces. Though OOM-9 was not an easy target, the four dull gray metal legs could easily scuttle from side to side and avoid the incoming heavy fire from the AT-TE and clone scout walkers. Violet lasers rained down from the guns implanted in the Scorpion walker's claws and tail cannon.
A descending dwarf spider droid and crab droid used their charge shot capability together and managed to shoot the gunner off the AT-TE's main cannon.
The fighters on the mountain continued to attack each other when four STAPs led by Lieutenant KJZ-8267 approached from the side. Cannons firing, the agile craft killed several clones and dislodged a scout walker on their first pass.
The STAPs swung around again, this time firing at the remaining AT-TE. Jakoby deflected the few blaster bolts that came near him, but it was clear that the droids were smart enough to aim at the walker's legs rather than at the Jedi.
The next time the STAPs came around Jakoby managed a mighty Force jump that landed him on KJZ-8267's platform. The two wrestled for a moment, the STAP spinning upward, barely still in the droid's control. Each was trying to knock the other away before the Jedi sent the pilot droid falling.
OOM-9 looked up and managed to snag KJZ-8267 with one of his claws before the pilot droid fell any further.
"Destroy that Jedi! Shoot him down!" OOM-9 yelled.
Jakoby took off with the stolen STAP, heading right up the mountainside. Several of the spider and crab droids tried to blast the Jedi as he zipped by, all the shots missing their mark.
"Here he comes!" Major Katen warned the droids at the top. None of the droids stationed at the top could lock on to Jakoby either. Zako's cybernetic eye focused in on the target, the purple circle making quick jerking movements against on ocean of black. Zako got a lock and fired his sniper rifle. The red beam soared straight and true, striking the STAP's right engine.
Jakoby leaped from the wrecked vehicle, the momentum from the STAP pushed Jakoby's Force leap clear to the top of the mountain and over the heads of the CIS defenders. The Jedi made a clean landing on his feet.
The B1 and B2 battle droids started to turn around to greet the Jedi.
"I'll take care of him," Katen grabbed her electrostaff that had been lying up against a supply crate that hadn't been loaded onto the ship yet.
The droids paused, waiting for Zako to give the final word.
"8EX, 5TE, go help her. Everyone else keep shooting the clones! We have to support the General!"
"The destroyer droids I sent to guard the rear entrance are not reporting in anymore," Captain SSA-719 informed Dr. Destroyer and Dr. Quartz.
"We aren't finished packing up yet," Dr. Quartz told the droid captain.
"I'll go check it out," the security droid unhooked the E-5 rifle from his back, "you four, come with me," SSA-719 told four E4 baron droids.
The clone commandos had gotten into the rear of the laboratory storage area but were suddenly held up when SSA-719 and his squad of baron droids showed up. Blue and red lasers whipped around the room, many of them finding their intended targets. But the clone commandos and E4 baron droids were both durable and neither group would go down easily.
A few EMP grenades later and the clones were clearing winning the firefight so SSA-719 slipped to the back of the storage room and flipped off the light switch. The clones activated their headlights and the baron droids projected lights from their photoceptors. Able to see all the combatants but not emitting any light himself gave SSA-719 an advantage.
The clones managed to destroy all the baron droids but before they could turn their firearms on the droid captain, the security battle droid released a green, glowing, nexu from its cage. The mutated animal let out its characteristic cry and leaped onto a wall, apparently able to stick to it. The feline monster spit acid from out of its mouth, hitting Tai in the chest. The unfortunate clone quickly tore off his armor before the acid ate through to his flesh. Ace blew up the nexu, spewing acidic blood around the room. SSA-719 cut his losses and ran out of the room, locking the door behind him. Jack carefully made his way about the acid filled room and started to slice into the locked door.
"Suck a lightsaber," Katen hissed at Jakoby.
"I think you'd be better at that," the Jedi retorted.
Jakoby and Katen were evenly matched, though with 8EX and 5TE also shooting at him; Jakoby was slowly having to back away. The problem was that the three Separatist fighters were actually pushing the Jedi toward the entrance to the laboratory. It was still better than pushing the Jedi towards the rear of Zako and 3B3-888's group but Katen knew the Jedi might bolt from the fight and try to cause a mess in the laboratory. Katen would have ordered the door sealed if she could, but the Separatists didn't have any wireless access to the controls and the gatekeeper droid seemed uninterested in helping out.
"General Jakoby, you'll pay for what you did to me on Breeka," 8EX let loose a wrist rocket.
"How do you know my name?"
"Maybe you shouldn't go mouthing off about yourself during battle," Katen thrust her electrostaff forward, "we know who you are."
"Doesn't matter what you know, Ashley Katen. You still can't beat me."
"How do you know my name?"
"I did manage to pry some information out of Commander Zako. That weak-minded f-"
Katen went for a killing blow, cutting short Jakoby's taunting. The Jedi avoided the strike, turned around and bolted for the interior of the laboratory, laughing as he went.
Jakoby ran past several worker droids still carrying equipment out of the building. The Jedi completely ignored them, they weren't important. Obi-wan Jakoby had no idea what the droids were after or what his target was, but he had a very strong feeling he was about to find out.
A split second later and the Jedi had his answer. The human Jedi had come face to face with a Skakoan, an Ithorian, and a security battle droid. Jakoby didn't know who the Ithorian was and didn't care who the security droid was but he had a good idea of the Skakoan's name. Skakoans rarely traveled outside their home system and these particular Separatists had access to some rather unique and deadly weaponry.
"Ah, the infamous Dr. Gatling Quartz. It seems the accusations from Kuat Drive Yards were correct; you are working with the Separatists. The Republic is going to charge you with a few war crimes once I bring you in," Jakoby said with a smug smile on his face.
"The Republic only wishes to charge me with war crimes because I don't design weapons for them," Quartz cleverly replied. "And if the cowards over at Kuat had any sense or courage, they would have abandoned the Republic as well."
"This lab is an affront to morality," Jakoby declared as he looked around.
"I've got your affront to morality right here," Dr. Quartz fired on the Jedi with his gatling gauntlet. Countless green lasers spewed forth at the Jedi, but all were deflected by Jakoby's dual lightsabers.
Jakoby threw himself far to the left, temporarily giving himself some relief from Quartz's surprisingly dangerous weapon. The Jedi burst forward, intending the deprive Quartz of his entire arm, but was caught in the path of red blaster fire and had to change direction again.
"I am your opponent," SSA-719 fired as he ran at the Jedi Weapon Master.
Jakoby was too preoccupied with deflecting all the blaster bolts that SSA-719 was able to run right up and kick Jakoby right under his left knee. Metal against flesh and cartilage did not go well in Jakoby's favor and the Jedi stumbled back, yet was still able to keep deflected all the shots SSA-719 threw at him.
The door was finally cut through and the clone commandos joined with their Jedi general. SSA-719 and Quartz kept firing until the Ithorian suddenly got in their line of fire and they stopped shooting.
General Jakoby didn't know what the foolish Ithorian thought he was doing but he wasn't going to give him time to do it.
Before Jakoby could act with his own attack, violet lightning suddenly erupted from the Ithorian's hands. Jakoby was barely able to bring up his lightsabers to block it in time. The electric blast was so powerful it still managed to knock Jakoby off his feet and send him hurling into his squad of clones.
Captain SSA-719 and the two scientists were quick to flee, the commandos trying to kill them as they ran away.
"What was that?" Kicker got up from the floor.
"Force lightning," Jakoby answered. The Jedi sat on the floor for a second, too tired to get back up right away.
"Do Jedi use such powers?" Jack asked, "I've never seen a Jedi do that in battle before."
"I don't know what he is," Jakoby replied.
"A traitor? A Sith Lord?" Ace offered.
"I don't know. But I didn't detect his presence, nothing at all. I had no idea that Ithorian could use the Force. He must be the one the droids came for; we didn't fight him back on Breeka. We can't let him get away."
"Yes sir!"
SSA-719 and the scientists soon ran into Katen and the super battle droids.
"The Jedi?" Katen asked.
"Is still alive," SSA-719 answered.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go get him!"
"No!" SSA-719 grabbed Katen by the arm. "We don't know how many more enemy reinforcements are coming our way. We need to leave…now."
"Fine."
They turned and continued to leave, passing a gigantic purple mantis still in its cage.
"I apologize that we failed in evacuating all of your property," SSA-719 offered an apology to Dr. Destroyer.
"It's quite alright," the Ithorian open the cage with the Force. The giant bug turned and left down toward where the Jedi and clones were. "The most important data is away on your ship, and that's all that really matters."
The group then ushered the last of the worker droids out of the laboratory and back toward the Pestilence.
Having killed all the clones and walkers, OOM-9 and his team had scaled back up the mountain.
"Where is the Jedi?" OOM-9 demanded.
"Still in the lab, General. We weren't able to kill him," SSA-719 answered.
OOM-9 checked for all the signals of the droids, everyone except for three droidekas and four baron droids were present and accounted for. "Alright, everyone get aboard. We are done here."
"What do we have here…" Jack wondered.
"Looks like we're in for a bug fight," Kicker said with an ounce of glee in his voice.
"Hold your fire," Jakoby hissed at his troopers before they could shoot. The Jedi held out his hand towards the bug and closed his eyes. The colossal mantis seemed to suddenly become enamored by Jakoby's outstretched hand. Its vicious red eyes followed the small human hand. Jakoby made a sweeping motion to pointed further back in the lab where the clones had came from. The purple mantis followed the motion and left the Republic troops in peace.
With the mantis out of the way, the Jedi and his commandos continued their pursuit of the fleeing Separatists.
The CIS troops had all loaded up on the Techno Union ship just as Jakoby and his commandos had left the darkness of the laboratory and were suddenly bathed in the harsh sunlight of Tatooine's twin suns.
"Uh oh…" Tai said.
"Back! Get back to lab!" Jakoby yelled as the ship's engines began to come alive. The Pestilence launched into the air, nearly frying the Jedi and his four clones in the process.
Once it was clear they were still alive, Kicker let out a sigh of frustration.
"They got away again," Tai grumbled.
"Not yet, the Droid Collector may still catch them," Jakoby said. The Jedi didn't sound confident in his statement.
Two OX9 worker droids were removing the Scorpion walker attachment from OOM-9's back when SSA-719 approached to have a word in private.
"General," SSA-719 kept his voice down, though he was loud enough for KJZ-8267 and a few nearby droids to still hear. "I saw the Ithorian use the Force against the enemy Jedi."
"That is interesting. It is a good thing he is on our side. I am going to have a very interesting talk with Dr. Destroyer when we are out of here."
"General," 5TE interrupted, "we have enemy fighters moving to intercept us."
"Man the turrets," OOM-9 commanded.
"They are already ready," the B2 battle droid stated, "they are at your command."
Four V-19 Torrent fighters moved in on the Pestilence as it left Tatooine's atmosphere.
"I'll take this one," OOM-9 relieved a B1 battle droid from his turret. The battle droid general didn't want to miss out on the fun.
"Enemy fighters in range in twelve seconds," a droid voice over the comm system stated.
"Open the viewports," OOM-9 commanded. Several hatches slid open sideways to reveal multiple openings around the hull of the Pestilence. QK-1 gatling turrets now had a view of the surrounding area. QK-1s were powerful six-barreled turrets operated by a hand crank that were recently devised by Dr. Quartz and installed on all of the Hardcell-class ships in the 8th Fleet. Shields prevented the Pestilence's passengers from being sucked into the unforgiving void space.
"Enemy in firing range," the loudspeaker announced.
"Open fire," OOM-9 ordered.
"Break attack formation," the clone pilot Screwball ordered his small squadron. Screwball knew his small patrol squadron wouldn't be enough to take down a Hardcell interstellar transport, but they had to try anyway. For the clone pilots, it was all a waiting game until the Droid Collector could catch up.
The Torrent fighters broke away to different directions, though Screwball tackled the large ship head on, sprayed a few blue lasers across its dull gray hull. Screwball quickly peeled away as a stream of violet lasers tried to track his fighter.
"They're coming in too fast," Katen complained as she failed to successfully target the Torrent that had just sprayed the Pestilence with laser fire.
"Quartz promised me these turrets could track starfighters," OOM-9 turned the hand crack, sending violet death towards another fighter. The fighter escaped OOM-9's wrath but the droid general swung the gun far right and managed to blast one the Torrents to smithereens. Dr. Quartz had certainly delivered on the promise of the turret's power, the V-19 Torrent was destroyed instantly.
"Stay alert, this Hardcell has been upgraded with defensive turrets," Screwball told the two remaining pilots.
"They have turrets all around the main hull," another pilot spoke up, "there's no blind spot unless we…"
"No," Screwball cut in, "if we trail directly behind them they may flash us with their engines. Keep up evasive maneuvers."
"Yes sir."
Another Torrent blew up. This time KJZ-8267 was the killer.
"There's still two more of them out there," Katen said.
"Yes Major, we can count on our own," 3B3-888 replied.
Screwball and his last remaining wingman regrouped in a two-fighter formation and both swooped down for a double team on the Pestilence's fuel cells.
"Shields holding at ninety-two percent," the loudspeaker informed the Pestilence's occupants.
Zako was enjoying himself whether he hit a fighter or not. The violet lasers emanating from his turret forced the two Torrents to break formation, though one of the fighters was unlucky enough to evade Zako's laser fire only to fly right into 3B3-888's stream of death blasts.
With only one left, Katen focused herself, determined to shoot down at least one fighter. She saw her chance and fired, only to miss.
Screwball turned tail and fled for the Droid Collector, which was drawing closer to the Pestilence. The Separatist ship disappeared into hyperspace before the Venator star destroyer could reach it.
From the viewport on the Droid Collector's command bridge, Captain Klo Toon had witnessed the ship's escape. The Kel Dor took a few steps forward and the bridge crew was suddenly silent.
"The General is not going to be happy about this," Toon shook his head. The Kel Dor had a feeling that now they had lost the element of surprise the homing beacon offered, Obi-wan Jakoby would order a direct and immediate attack on whatever planet the Hardcell transport had just fled to.
Author's Note: Commander Zako's new left eye is meant to resemble the eye of the Zako Soldiers from SD Gundam Force. I thought it was appropriate since he is named after them. I tried to foreshadow Zako getting a cybernetic eye back in Chapter 27: The HouseKarl Battle Droids, where the commander was the one assigned to protect Baroness Zada Zincer, and asks her about her cybernetic eye.
The game Battlefront mentioned in this chapter is the in-universe equivalent to the videogame Star Wars: Battlefront.
The purple mantis that appears in this chapter is from the videogame Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The purple mantis certainly does not look like it is a native animal to Tatooine, more likely it is an invasive species. This is similar to Chapter 1 where the acklays are let loose upon Felucia as a result of OOM-9's actions.
I came up with the QK-1 gatling turret on my own, though it was inspired by the AG-2G quad laser cannons on the Millennium Falcon.