Chapter Thirty – A Plot Revealed.
A few hours of flying later, Obi-Wan and Sabé found themselves approaching a small, little-known planet on the Outer Rim. Fett's ship was clearly visible ahead, carefully heading through the planet's surrounding asteroid field.
"Of course, the Outer Rim," Sabé commented sardonically as Obi-Wan brought the ship out of hyperspace. "Where else would a bounty hunter and a clone flee to?"
"True. This is…" he paused to look at the monitor, "Geonosis."
"So," Sabé said, studying their destination. "What do you think we'll get this time? Sleet? Snow? A gale?"
"Try sun," Obi-Wan supplied. "Look at the colour. We might get lucky."
Geonosis shone a dull orange from space, indicating that the weather conditions held promise of being a great improvement on Kamino's.
"Look out," the Jedi said suddenly, "I think we will have been spotted by now."
Sure enough, Fett's ship began following a series of evasive manoeuvres and wasted no time in sending something floating back towards them.
"Seismic charges!" Obi-Wan shouted, steering the ship frantically.
Sabé winced as the charges went off, distributing fragments of asteroid spinning in all directions. Obi-Wan's skilful flying and Jedi reflexes saved them from being crushed, but Fett's ship had vanished.
"Blast. This is why I hate flying," he muttered, dodging shots from Jango, who had sneakily reappeared behind them, guns blazing.
"I thought you only hated flying with Anakin," Sabé said through clenched teeth.
"Yes, with Anakin or while being shot at. Both are bad."
"We've got more trouble," Sabé announced, glancing at her monitor. "There's some kind of missile coming up fast."
"Wonderful."
"It's a tracker. Shields are on full power, but I don't think they're going to help much if we hit it."
"R4," Obi-Wan barked." Get ready to fire the spare part canisters."
They waited until they had come to a large asteroid, then Obi-Wan shouted, "Now," and the bits of metal and repair parts shot out behind them, hitting the missile. It exploded and Obi-Wan set the ship down on the asteroid's surface, thus hiding it from Jango's sensors.
"There. Now we wait until they're gone and then we follow."
"Now I see why you Jedi are so highly regarded," Sabé smiled.
"I should hope so after that," he sighed. "I've never flown so erratically in my life!"
She laughed. "Well if it's any consolation, if I had been flying we'd be dead by now."
"No we wouldn't," he said with certainty.
She frowned. "No?"
"No, because I would have snatched the controls back long before then!"
She swatted at him, but he caught her hand and held it instead. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.
"How long do you think we should wait?"
"A little longer yet," he replied. "Give them time to land."
"What do you reckon Anakin and Padmé are up to?"
"Something calm and quiet, hopefully."
Sabé sighed. "I miss Naboo. Does that sound silly? I never realised how much I took it for granted, but seeing all these other worlds makes me appreciate its beauty and peace."
"You'll see it again soon," Obi-Wan soothed.
"Will I? Not if I'm living on Coruscant."
"I'm not sure it would be worth you staying on Coruscant. Anakin and I are rarely there for long."
She removed her head long enough to glance at him before leaning it back on the comforting support of his shoulder. "You're there more often than you're on Naboo," she argued.
"We'll work something out," he promised, squeezing her hand. They rested there in comfortable silence until Obi-Wan decided it had been long enough.
"Let's go then," Sabé said, sitting up straight again.
The course down to Geonosis was smooth and soon they found themselves flying over a dusty red landscape.
"Oh lovely," Sabé sighed. "A rockier version of Tatooine."
"Cheer up. It should bring back memories of time you spent there under the protection of a handsome Jedi, Your Highness."
"I must've missed that," she teased, shooting him a wink.
Obi-Wan chuckled and turned his attention back to the readouts. "There's a large concentration of Federation ships over there."
"The Trade Federation?" Sabé said in shock. "What are they doing here?"
He shrugged. "Who knows what's been going on in this corner of the Galaxy."
He brought the ship in to land behind a large outcrop of rock and stepped out, glancing around. It was warm, but not unpleasantly so. Sabé welcomed the heat on her skin. Two soakings in the rain on Kamino had left her chilled to the bone. She left her sodden robe behind, as it was doing more harm than good on the warmth factor.
Obi-Wan left instructions with R4 to stay put and headed for the nearest settlement at a brisk walk, Sabé following swiftly. The building stretched up quite high and had many small windows cut into its rocky surface. Like the rest of the landscape, it was a dull red colour. The inside was completely hollowed out to make room for stairs and chambers. It was dark save for the light filtering through the windows.
"It's like being inside a huge insect nest," Sabé whispered.
"It's certainly not welcoming is it?"
Obi-Wan led the way through the honeycomb of passages, occasionally pausing to observe goings on in the rooms. When they had managed to make it almost to the top of the structure, Sabé stopped to look through an interior window. Hundreds of feet below, countless legions of battle droids were under construction. For what purpose, Sabé dreaded to think. She exchanged a grim look with Obi-Wan. It looked like the Separatists had a far larger army than they had anticipated. Perhaps an army of the Republic would become a necessity after all.
Obi-Wan placed a hand on her forearm and nodded towards the corridor. Sabé took the hint and came away from the alarming sight. Silently, they made their way back down the tower, only to come to an abrupt halt at the sound of a collection of nearby voices. Obi-Wan pulled her towards the shadows of the structure's support columns, and the two watched as a party of people sauntered by.
Sabé recognised the Neimoidians as one of the many species there and specifically noticed Nute Gunray. She frowned. Following the Battle of Naboo ten years ago he had had several trials in the Senate, but had still managed to retain his title as Viceroy of the Trade Federation.
"What about the Senator from Naboo?" Gunray was saying. "Is she dead yet? I'm not signing your treaty until I have her head on my desk."
A deep-voiced human man replied, "I am a man of my word, Viceroy." She recognised him from the bust in the Jedi Archives as the elusive Count Dooku himself.
When the group disappeared through a nearby doorway Sabé turned to Obi-Wan and whispered, "Can we follow?"
"Absolutely. I want to find out what's going on here."
Taking to the passages once more, they managed to find an area situated high above a large conference chamber. The party they had seen before were seated around the table and discussions were just getting under way.
"As I explained to you earlier," Dooku's voice floated up to them, "I'm quite convinced that 10,000 more systems will rally to our cause with your support, gentlemen."
10,000 more systems to join the Separatist movement? If war broke out, the Republic would be grossly outnumbered, even with an army.
A metallic voice said, "The Techno-Union Army is at your disposal, Count."
Another spoke up, "The Banking Clan will sign your treaty."
"Good. Very good." Dooku sounded highly pleased with himself. "Our friends from the Trade Federation have pledged their support. When their battle droids are combined with yours we shall have an army greater than anything in the Galaxy. The Jedi will be overwhelmed. The Republic will agree to any demands we make."
Sabé heartily wished she could have recorded that little speech to present to the Senate. How Padmé would rage if she heard that. Noiselessly, she and Obi-Wan left their viewpoint and made their way carefully back to the ship.
"What are you going to do now?" she asked, when they had made it safely.
"Report to Coruscant," he said at once, attending to the transmitter.
Sabé nodded and stayed out of the way. When Obi-Wan was in Jedi Master mode it was the best course of action.
"The transmitter's working, but we're not receiving a return signal," he muttered. "Coruscant's too far. R4, can you boost the power?"
The droid made a series of beeps that sounded suspiciously like a negative.
Obi-Wan sighed. "We'll have to try something else."
"Maybe we can contact Anakin on Naboo," Sabé offered. "It's much closer."
"Good idea. R4, relay the signal. Anakin? Anakin, do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi." There was nothing but static. "They're not on Naboo. I'm going to try and widen the range." He turned to Sabé. "I do hope nothing's happened to them."
She nodded. "Me too."
Obi-Wan studied the readouts from the transmitter. "That's Anakin's tracking signal all right, but it's coming from Tatooine. What in the blazes is he doing there? I told him to stay on Naboo."
"As long as Padmé's safe he's not disobeying, Obi-Wan."
"He's disobeying a direct order from me," he growled.
Sabé sighed. She hated it when Jedi were being difficult.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap," he apologised. "I'm just so tired of his arrogant behaviour. We haven't got much time." He moved in front of the holo-projector once more. "Anakin, Anakin do you copy? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
A beeping sound informed them that R2-D2 was recording the message on board the ship on Tatooine. Sabé breathed a sigh of relief. If R2 was with Anakin it meant that Padmé was too. And that meant that she was safe.
"Anakin, my long-range transmitter has been knocked out," Obi-Wan was saying. "Re-transmit this message to Coruscant. I have tracked the bounty hunter, Jango Fett, to the droid foundries in Geonosis. The Trade Federation is to take delivery of a droid army here and it is clear that Viceroy Gunray is behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. The Commerce Guild and the Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku and are forming an-"
His words were cut short by the arrival of two Federation Destroyer Droids.
"Wait, wait!" He flipped on his lightsabre and deflected several shots before being restrained and disarmed.
Sabé had found herself seized by a Geonosian who had crept up behind and surprised her. She was kicking herself for not being on her guard, but it was too late now. She was thrown directly in a cell when they reached the foundries again, but Obi-Wan was taken elsewhere. She banged her fists against the door but it did no good. She let out a short and violent shriek of frustration and sank down on the floor. Her blaster and vibroblade had been taken of course. She had nothing to do but wait.