[Episode 1 Adventure](9)

There were several factory-owned repulsorlift vehicles parked on the tarmac; Hoping to reach: Adi Gallia as. soon as possible, Qui-Gon ran for the vehicles, planning to ride one to the observation tower. As Qui-Gon approached, three - late-model astromech droids rolled out from a transport that was up on blocks. Armed with beamdrills and welding tools, the battered old astromechs emitted a flurry of threatening beeps as they rolled toward Qui-Gon..: Brandishing his lightsaber, the Jedi Master ran: around to the other side of the raised transport.:The astromechs rotated their domed heads and turned back, hoping to corner the running man. As the astromechs moved under the transport, Qui - Gon slashed one of the supporting blocks. The transport teetered and the droids accelerated, trying to reach their target. Qui-Gon launched a well placed kick to the side of the transport. The vehicle toppled off its blocks and crushed the rebellious droids. Qui-Gon deactivated his lightsaber. As he raced to a parked landspeeder, he wondered whether Obi-Wan, Vel Ardox, and.Noro Zak were still battling droids or if they had gained access to the factory. He jumped into a landspeeder, strapped himself in, gunned the engines, and raced for the observation tower. He would make every effort to reprogram the droids or shut them down. As he neared the tower, Qui-Gon topped the inertial dampers, but the landspeeder wouldn’t slow down He pumped the inertial dampers again to no effect, then reached for the emergency lever. When the lever failed, he unbuckled his safety harness and leaped from the landspeeder. A split second after he hit the tarmac and rol1ed, he heard the speeder crash into the tower’s foundation. The Jedi Master rose from the tarmac and ran past the crashed speeder to the tower’s lift tube. He entered the tube and stated his destination: “Level 19, droid central control.” The lift rose in a powerful rush from ground level. Seconds later; the repulsor field-warning light flashed red and the lift screeched to a halt. Qui-Gon was launched off his feet, smashing into the ceiling’s emergency escape hatch before he fell crashing back to the floor. Rising from the floor, Qui-Gon checked the lift tube console. According to the numerical display, he was trapped between Levels 18 and 19, just shy of his destination. He realized the droids must have tapped into the lift tube computer terminal, and that his destination command alerted them to his exact position.

Reaching up, Qui-Gon opened the emergency excape hatch in the ceiling. Climbing through the hatch, he stepped onto the top of the lift.

Qui-Gon looked up into the cylinchical tube shaft and sow the sealed doors for Level 19. Suddenly, s whirring motor sounded from above. A shaft maintenance droid, clinging to the walls by its magnetic treads, rapidly descended from the upper levels of the lift tube. Aiming his disrupter at Qui-Gon, the droid prepared to fire. Qui-Gon activated his lightsaber and threw it up into the air in a graceful spin. The lightsaber’s blade sliced through the droid’s left side, separating it from its treads and throwing it off balance. As the lightsaber fell back to Qui-Gon,, he caught it by the handle, then swiftly drove the blade through the doors to Level 19, carving a broad hole. Qui-Gon dove through the smoldering metal hole just as the rest of the dismembered droid came crashing down from above,. slamming into the roof of the lift. The lift plunged down the tube, ‘ carrying the ruined droid all the way to the bottom. Rising to his feet, Qui-Gon heard the explosive impact as the lift struck the ground level; nineteen stories down. A fireball erupted, and Qui-Gon jumped out of the way. Level 19 was filled with sophisticated computers but appeared to be devoid of any saboteurs or droids. Qui-Gon headed into the central droid control room and passed a window that offered a view of the starship factory at the other side of the spaceport. Across the tarmac droids poured out of the factory and advanced toward the observatian tower. There were over a hundred of them of various sizes, all brandishing weapons and lethal tools. Every droid at Trinkatta starships was coming after him. In only a matter of minutes, they would reach Level 19. Qui-Gon turned his attention to the interior of the control room. While. searching for the main terminal that regulated all of the factory’s droids, Qui-Gon stepped into a detention center. The detention center was a long corridor that ended in a large black metal wall. Five cells lined the right wall and another five cells were built into the left. Instead of having sealed metal doors; each cell was viewable through a transparent energy field. From where Qui-Gon stood, he couldn’t see directly inside any of the cells. He moved cautiously forward to inspect them. Much to his amazement, he saw the same view in each cell: Adi Gallia’s motionless body. Qui-Gon realized nine of the cells contained holographic projections, decoys to delay any rescue attempt.