Jedi Quest 1: The Way of the Apprentice

Chapter Seven

The Padawans had just left the med center when Obi-Wan contacted Anakin. They had remained to make sure that the Radnoran father would be all right. They had questioned the family, but no one knew the raiders. They had arrived out of nowhere. Other families in the neighborhood had been hit, too, so they'd been worried that they would be attacked. But there was no way to defend themselves against the prototype droids.

The four Padawans paused on the outside of the med center.

Suddenly, they felt very alone.

"I spend half my time impatient to be a Jedi Knight,"

Darra said finally. "Now all I want is to be a Padawan. I wish Soara were here." She reached into the pocket of Tru's tunic and withdrew the bag of candy he kept there. She popped a piece of figda in her mouth and chewed furiously.

"We'll do fine," Anakin said confidently.

"No stress," Ferus agreed. The expression in his dark eyes was serene. "Among all of us, we've been on enough missions to handle this."

"How should we start?" Tru asked. "Did they want all of us to go on safety patrols? Or should one team coordinate with Galen on the evacuation?"

"Obi-Wan didn't say," Anakin answered. "But if you ask me, safety patrols won't accomplish much if we don't flush out the raiders."

"Hold it," Ferus said. "That would be overstepping our instructions."

"We've received no clear directions," Anakin pointed out.

"The communication cut out. We know our first priority is the safety of the citizens, and we can't possibly accomplish that with safety patrols alone."

"You don't know that for sure," Ferus said.

Darra looked from Anakin to Ferus. "Excuse me. I don't want to interrupt, but I just wanted to point out that there are two other Padawans here. Do we get a vote?"

"Sure you get a vote," Anakin said. "As long as you agree with me." He smiled to let her know he was kidding.

"What do you have in mind?" Tru asked Anakin. "Let's discuss the plan first, then vote on it."

"It would be much more fun to stand here arguing," Darra said.

"I say we split into teams," Anakin said. "One team can conduct safety patrols. The other can work on finding the headquarters of the raiders." He knew very well that he wasn't going to be on the team conducting safety patrols. He and Tru would go after the raiders.

"How?" Ferus asked. "We don't have the resources to comb the whole city."

"We don't have to. I have an idea," Anakin declared. "Even a Prototype Droid would have a homing device. All we have to do is take one of the droids we deactivated and tap into it."

"Do you know how to do that?" Darra asked.

"Sure," Anakin replied.

"It can't be that easy," Darra said.

Anakin grinned. "I didn't say it was easy. I said I could do it."

"Hold on a second," Tru said. "These are Battle Droids.

Most likely they undergo an automatic memory wipe if they are captured or deactivated."

"There isn't a memory wipe that I can't get around,"

Anakin said confidently. "The homing device is coded into the main sensor suite. I can find it. If we revive a droid, it will lead us straight to the headquarters."

Darra shrugged. "It's worth a try."

Tru nodded. "All right. I say we go after the headquarters."

"Then it's decided," Ferus said. "Though I don't think we should split into teams. If Anakin is successful and we do find the headquarters, no doubt there will be more of those Prototype Droids. Too many for one team to handle."

Privately, Anakin thought that he and Tru could handle the droids, but he nodded. "All right." Obi-Wan had given him a warning that he must cooperate, respecting Jedi values.

Anakin took that seriously.

They headed back to the Radnoran family home. The fallen droids still littered the grounds. Anakin found one that was mostly intact. It had lost its arms and its artillery control panel had fused, but the main sensor suite wasn't too badly damaged.

Anakin removed his utility kit from his belt and went to work. He opened the sensor suite panel. Tru bent over to look.

"Standard, except for those circuits," he said, pointing.

"I remember seeing a manual regarding the OOM-9 Battle Droid. This looks similar."

Anakin was grateful for Tru's photographic memory. Some of the circuitry was new to him. He pointed to a tightly packed array of multicolored wires by the sensory input cable. "Do you remember which wire goes with what?"

"The green are for locomotion. The white connect to artillery devices. See how they fused and shorted? The blue are for passive-mode sensors. And I think these cables here are part of the signal receiver assembly."

"I bet the homing device is connected somehow," Anakin murmured.

"It's a good place to start," Tru agreed.

Darra seemed interested in their progress, but Anakin could feel Ferus's impatience behind him. He tried to screen it out as he worked.

"I've got it!" Anakin said at last. "I reconnected the homing device to the locomotion sensor through the sensory plug-in. If I turn it on, the droid should head back to its origin point."

"Let's give it a try," Tru said.

"Remind me to get you guys the next time my cornlink malfunctions," Darra said. "You'd probably rebuild it into a cargo lifter."

"We'll have to move fast to keep the droid in sight,"

Ferus said. "Is everyone ready?"

When he saw everyone nod, Anakin switched on the droid.

They stepped back as it beeped and checked circuits. Then suddenly it wheeled around and fired its repulsorlift engines, taking off down the boulevard.

The four Padawans had to race to keep it in sight. They flew down the streets of the city, occasionally Force- jumping past obstacles. They quickly passed through the neighborhood of fine homes, raced through a commercial district, and then found themselves outside a small warehouse. The droid hovered outside for a moment, its head rotating. The Padawans dived behind a wall.

They watched as the droid accessed a control panel hidden behind what appeared to be a sheer wall. A door slid open, and the droid disappeared inside.

Anakin leaped forward and shoved his lightsaber hilt between the closing door and its frame. The door stayed open a fraction. With Tru, Ferus, and Darra, he pushed it open the rest of the way. The Padawans slid inside.

It was a gloomy interior. At first they could see or hear little. Anakin concentrated. He detected the sound of voices. He motioned to the others. When their eyes had adjusted to the light a few moments later, they could see that the warehouse was full of items they could only assume were stolen. Rich tapestries and rugs were rolled and rested against the walls. Silver and intricate metalwork objects were stacked on shelves. Anakin saw gold peggats and aurodium ingots heaped in a corner. Durasteel bins were no doubt filled with more valuables.

The voices were coming from around the corner. It was the raiders.

The Padawans crept closer. Now they could make out words.

"The bloc between Evermore and Acadi is first. Then from Acadi to Montwin. We can easily clear out the two blocs using what we have."

"Sure we can clear them, but where will we put our stash?

We need more storage."

"That's one problem I'm happy to have."

The sound of soft laughter came to the Padawans.

"They'd better come through on their promise to move all this stuff — "

The voice broke off as an insistent beep began to sound.

It played through several coded sequences.

Anakin heard the sound of chairs scraping. "It's the droid," someone said in a low tone. "That's the activation signal for tampering. Someone might be here." The voices fell silent. Anakin could just make out a whisper of movement, and then stillness.

"Activation signal for tampering?" Darra whispered.

Anakin and Tru exchanged a look. "I guess it's in case the homing device is activated by someone other than the programmer," Anakin explained.

"Easy, you said," Darra whispered. "What should we do now?"

"Defend ourselves!" Anakin exclaimed as the raiders suddenly raced around the corner, blasters in hand.