[Episode 1 Adventure](8)

“I wish I knew!” Trinkatta squawked. “That’s what my own malfunctioning droids kept asking me when they locked me up. Someone stole al1 fifty starfighters. When the Neimoidians find out, they’ll kill me!”

“We’ll worry about the Trade Federation later,” Qui-Gon remarked as he removed the manacle from Trinkatta’s leg. “Your droids closed off the factory’s chimneys and the whole complex is filling up with fumes. If my friend is in the building, she’ll die unless I can rescue her!”

“I’d offer to help,” Trinkatta moaned, “but I’m no good to you with this busted arm of mine.” Aiming his beak toward a narrow hallway, he said, “That hall leads to the starship assembly room. You can open the chimneys from the assembly operations chamber. From there, you’ll have to cross the spaceport to the observation tower and droid central control. I hope you find your friend.”

“You can’t stay here,” Qui-Gon said calmly. “If the fumes reach you…” “I can take care of myself!” the Kloodavian snapped back. “I have a secret tunnel that leads outside the factory. You’d better go while you can!”

Qui-Gon didn’t want to leave Trinkatta behind, but the Kloodavian insisted. All his life, Qui-Gon had felt great empathy for all living creatures, especially for those who looked like they could use some help; Trinkatta may have been small, but Qui - Gon had no doubt that he was a strongwilled being; capable of taking care of himself. The fact that Trinkatta owned: an entire. starship. factory was proof that he was. a formidable character. Qui-Gon ran down the hallway. The sound of his footsteps reached. the audio sensors of two factory operations droids at the far end of the hall. The two droids stepped. forward. blocking Qui-Gon’s entrance to the starship assembly room. Both droids had broad upper bodies supported on strong but narrow legs. Raising their arms; the menacing droids eagerly clicked their maniqulatory claws at Qui-Gon. Hoping to conserve the charge on his lightsaber, Qui-Gon’s hand darted for his grappling hook. Tugging it from his belt, he played out the thin, strong wire and released the hook’s claws. With a single whipping motion, Qui-Gon threw the hook at the droids’ legs. The hook caught and circled the droids, snaring. them below their knees. As the droids tried stepping out of the tangle,.Gon-Gon pulled hard on the cable. The droids.’ feet flew out from under them; sending the two automatons smash-. ing against the floor.

Qui-Gon leaped over the fallen droids as they clattered to the floor, unable to raise their bulky forms. He entered the starship assembly room and found it filled with a haze of smoke. Looking nine stories up to the. ceiling, he could barely see the windows that lined the higher levels. Across the room, beyond several rows, of starships and repulsorlift vehicles at various stages of construction, Qui-Gon saw the assembly. operations chamber. According to Trinkatta, the controls for the factory’s chimneys were located in the operations chamber. Coughing, Qui-Gon checked his. breather gauge. It was nearly depleted. Holding his breath; Qui. - Gon ran across the room. To. his dismay, he found the operation chamber’s computer circuits had been ripped apart. Qui-Gon suspected it was the droids handiwork; an effort to prevent anyone. from opening the chimneys. and allowing the smoke to escape. Qui-Gon spied an unfinished Marfighter resting: on a nearby conveyer system. The ship wasn’t ready to fly but its laser cannons appeared to be operational. Still holding his breath, Qui-Gon: ran to the starfighter and leaped into the cockpit. His fingers flew over the vessel’s weapon system as he aimed the laser cannons far the high ceiling. Qui-Gon pulled the triggers and the cannons fired, launching a powerful blast of coherent lights at the ceiling. The laser bolts punched through the roof in a fiery explosion. The upper beams ruptured and fell. Qui-Gon leaped out of the starfighter and dove for cover into a grease pit. A split second later, the starfighter was crushed by a huge chunk of falling plastoid. Looking up from the grease pit, Qui-Gon saw he had created a-wide hole in the ceiling. His view of the Esseles sky was obscured by rising smoke as the fumes lifted through the hole and out of the factory. As the smoke cleared, Qui-Gon scanned the area, looking for any sign of Adi Gallia. The Jedi Master sensed Adi had been in this room earlier. Not trusting his eyes, Qui-Gon closed them and opened his mind to the Force. A picture formed in Qui-Gon’s mind. He glimpsed Adi Gallia lying very still in a chamber. She’s near, Qui-Gon suddenly knew. Only… she’s high above ground… somewhere;..

Turning his head, Gon-Gon opened his eyes to find he was looking through a window that offered a view of the factory’s spaceport from the assembly room. At the far side of the spaceport; the observation tower loomed over the landing bay; The tower! Qui-Gon suddenly knew he would find, Adi Gallia there. Twenty stories tall, the tower was a new structure built on top of an ancient stone foundation. The first seventeen stories rose from the ground as a four-sided obelisk that supported an inverted dome lined with transparisteel windows that housed the three-story observation levels. Five plastoid landing decks jutted out from the inverted dome, adding to the tower’s crude resemblance to a gigantic, machinelike flower. Gon-Gon surveyed the tower and noticed a vehicle resting on the tower’s uppermost landing deck. The vehicle hadn’t been there when the Jedi had arrived at the factory. It was a bizarre two seat skyhopper, a fast repulsorlift vehicle designed to fly above the ground. Qui-Gon didn’t recognize the model. Remembering that Trinkatta’s central droid control room was on Level 19 of the tower, Qui-Gon thought the presence of an alien skyhopper seemed too great a coincidence. He suspected the parked skyhopper belonged to saboteurs, villains intent on taking over Trinkatta’s factory by reprogramming his droids from the tower. Realizing that Adi Gallia might be at the mercy of an unknown enemy, Qui-Gon ran for the exit to the spaceport. He prayed he would find. her alive.