Star Wars - Episode 1 Adventures - The Fury of Darth Maul Page 4

  The Bartokk leaped at Maul. Maul brought his foot up fast and caught the Bartokk hard. The Bartokk fell backward and landed on top of the vibro-axes clasped in his own claws. Seconds later, the Bartokk's severed parts were motionless. Maul deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt.

  Running down the murky corridor to the freighter's main cargo hold, he checked his chronometer. He had less than a minute to escape the fortress compound before the thermal detonator exploded. He raced down the freighter's landing ramp and headed straight for his speeder bike. The two Bartokks were still so busy examining Maul's vehicle that they didn't see him running toward them. They stumbled back in surprise as he leaped onto his speeder.

  Before the Bartokks could recover, Maul gunned the repulsorlift engine and shot out of the fortress's landing bay. As Maul zoomed away from the fortress, he checked his chronometer again. In his head, he counted off the final seconds.

  Five... four... three... two...

  Behind him, the entire fortress was wracked by a massive, thunderous explosion. Maul looked over his shoulder to see the fortress lit up like daylight by the incredible blast. Raging fires swept up the three silo-like towers, then one of the towers buckled and fell, smashing down on the Bartokk freighter.

  Although Maul was a bit worried about the fate of C-3PX, he found the sound of the freighter's rupturing hull to be most satisfying.

  Suddenly, a blaster bolt struck the side of Maul's speeder. Maul turned his head to cast a glance over his other shoulder and saw he was being pursued across the sky by the two Bartokks on their repulsorlift skiff. As impossible as it was to conceive, they had escaped the explosion. Flying the skiff across the night sky behind Darth Maul, both Bartokks gripped a set of navigational controls with their lower arms while their upper arms carried bowcasters.

  The blaster bolt that had struck Maul’s speeder had been fired by one of the assassins. The two Bartokks were preparing to fire another volley at the swift speeder when Maul steered through a tight spin and angled back on a collision course for the skiff. The Bartokks veered away from the oncoming speeder, and looped the skiff through the air in pursuit of Maul.

  The Sith's speeder plunged over the upper rim of the canyon and raced down to the canyon floor. Blaster bolts whizzed past his head from behind as the Bartokks tried to get a bead on him. Maul calculated his velocity and the distance between his speeder and the Bartokks' skiff. He accelerated and steered his vehicle closer to the canyon wall. Then he reached for the thermal detonator on his belt, thumbed the detonator's activator switch, and released the metal ball into the

  The detonator met the front end of the Bartokks' skiff. There was a loud explosion, and Maul felt a wave of intense heat at his back. He pulled up on his speeder's controls and blasted away from the canyon wall before any burning debris could touch him. The detonator had not only destroyed the Bartokks and their skiff, but had punched a deep impression into the canyon wall, forming a small crater. Maul flew his speeder down to the canyon floor.

  The Sith Infiltrator was parked exactly where he had left it. As he angled his speeder toward the Infiltrator, he sighted a lone Bartokk guard standing on the ground near the stern of the starship. From the guard's relaxed stance, Maul determined he hadn't seen the approaching speeder. While Maul's left hand gripped the speeder controls, his right hand reached for his lightsaber and activated its blade. As Maul neared the Infiltrator, the guard caught sight of him. Maul leaned hard to the side so that his speeder was practically sideways, then swung his crimson lightsaber. With dazzling speed, the Bartokk dodged the deadly blade and snagged the back of the speeder with his claws. Clinging to the powerful speeder, the Bartokk was yanked from the ground. The Bartokk's weight brought the speeder's tail down, and the vehicle was thrown off balance by the unwelcome passenger.

  The Bartokk was about to attack with his claws when Maul gunned the engine and launched into a steep vertical climb. Maul didn't want to risk damaging his own speeder with his lightsaber, so he quickly deactivated the weapon and returned it to his belt. With his free hand, he reached back over his head and grabbed one of the Bartokk's wrists.

  Maul braked and swung his arm with all his might. The Bartokk was flung from the speeder and into the air. Maul's free hand returned to the speeder's controls and he blasted away from the free-falling Bartokk.

  Now that the Bartokk was out of the picture, Darth Maul landed his speeder next to the Infiltrator. At first, it seemed the Bartokk guard had left the ship untouched. But after Maul returned his speeder to its storage compartment in the Infiltrator's underside cargo hatch, he noticed deep scratches on the aft hatchway. Still, the hatch was sealed, so he assumed the Bartokks had not been able to breach his ship's security system. He opened the aft hatch, entered the Infiltrator, and headed to the bridge. Maul knew if the Bartokk starfighter and twenty-five droid starfighters were traveling through hyperspace by way of the Perlemian Trade Route, they were probably already halfway to Corulag. The Infiltrator was equipped with a Sienar SSDS 11-A hyperdrive, which was more powerful than any of the Bartokk or Trade Federation droid starfighters. Even though the Bartokks had a head start, Maul believed he might actually beat them to the Corulag system.

  After Maul initiated the launching sequence, the Infiltrator lifted off from the canyon floor and blasted into the sky. Barely a minute later, the Infiltrator left Ralltiir's stratosphere and entered space. Maul plotted a course for Corulag and was preparing to make the jump to hyperspace when a warning light flashed. The Infiltrator's computer had detected a malfunction with the hyperdrive motivator. Maul wondered if the Bartokks had tampered with his ship after all, so he ran a complete diagnostic.

  Fortunately, the Infiltrator's automated repair system was quickly able to repair the malfunction. Maul entered the coordinates for Corulag into the navicomputer and activated the hyperdrive. Outside the Infiltrator, the stars appeared to elongate away from the central point of his destination. In the next instant, the distorted starfield was filled with an intense light, and the Infiltrator raced into hyperspace.

  Maul consulted a computer monitor to confirm the hyperdrive motivator was fully operational. But on the surface of the monitor's screen, Maul saw something he had not anticipated: a reflection of something moving behind him. It was a Bartokk. Maul spun in his seat to face the Bartokk. The assassin had managed to infiltrate the Infiltrator, and was already on board when Maul blasted off Ralltiir.

  The Bartokk stowaway stood in front of the aft hatch, clicking his mandibles together as he made a horrid chittering sound. He bent his lean-muscled legs and prepared to spring out at Maul. Maul grabbed hold of his seat with one hand and reached for the control console with the other. He punched a switch and the aft hatch snapped open, causing all the air to race out of the bridge. While Maul clung to his seat, the Bartokk was sucked toward the open hatch. The Bartokk extended his arms and legs and braced himself in the hatchway. As the air tore at his insectoid body, the assassin located a manual emergency switch within the hatch frame and struck it with his lower left arm's elbow. The hatch slammed shut with a violent clang, clipping off one of the Bartokk's toes.

  As air was pumped to repressurize the Infiltrator, Darth Maul leaped from the command console. The last thing he wanted was a fight that might ruin the interior of his starship. He dove across the bridge and activated his lightsaber. The Bartokk raised a blaster and squeezed off three quick shots. Still in mid-leap, Maul swung at the blaster bolts and struck them away. The three bolts slammed back at the unprepared Bartokk. Before the assassin could fire again, Darth Maul was on top of him, slashing his lightsaber with expert precision.

  Still speeding through hyperspace, the Infiltrator entered the Corulag system. The navicomputer automatically deactivated the hyperdrive, and there was a slight shudder as the vessel reentered real-space. Maul conducted a quick sensor scan of the Corulag system. There was no sign of the Bartokk or droid starfighters. As Maul had expected, his more powerful hyperdrive had
managed to beat the enemy ships to Corulag. Through a viewport, Maul saw the planet ten thousand kilometers away. Even though Corulag was located on the lucrative Perlemian Trade Route, it did not look like a remarkable world. However, it was home to several billion citizens and the prestigious Corulag Academy.

  At the Academy, students were trained to become members of the Exploration, Military, and Merchant Services for the Republic. According to the vocabulator-equipped Bartokk, Groodo the Hutt had hired the assassins to destroy Corulag Academy after his son had been denied admission to the institution. The Bartokk also had said that Groodo intended to watch the Academy's destruction from his cruiser.

  Maul activated his sensors and scanned the Corulag system for any orbiting vessels besides unmanned satellites. Only one blip appeared on his sensor screen. As Maul traveled toward the orbiting vessel's location, the Infiltrator's telescopic sensors produced a magnified visual of a medium-sized cruiser. It was decked out with broad fins and large oval viewports, and the hull was painted in vibrant oranges and yellows. In Maul's estimation, such an ugly ship could only be owned by a Hutt.

  Suddenly, the Infiltrator's hyperwave warning light began to pulsate. Twenty-six starfighters were about to exit hyperspace in Maul's proximity. Maul activated the Infiltrator's cloaking device, and the invisibility shields came on-line. Just as his starship vanished, twenty-five droid starfighters and a single Bartokk starfighter entered real- space.

  The fighters zipped in fast, then their sub-light engines took over and they decelerated to a relatively slow crawl. The droid starfighters were all in flight mode, with their wings retracted to maintain a sleek profile. Flying behind them, the six-winged Bartokk starfighter controlled each of their flight paths. Since the Bartokks took up most of the available space within their starfighter, Maul assumed they had a compact droid central control computer on board.

  Darth Sidious's orders had been clear: Maul could not allow the Bartokks to use the Trade Federation droid starfighters to assault Corulag Academy. If the Trade Federation were to be blamed for an attack on Corulag, it would draw unwanted attention to the Trade Federation in that sector, and possibly affect Darth Sidious' plans for the future.

  Maul was contemplating the best way to defeat the starfighter armada when the Bartokks' ship approached his position. Since the Infiltrator was in cloak mode, Maul pulled back so the Bartokks would not collide with his starship. Their starfighter passed so close to the invisible Infiltrator that Maul could look through their fighter's triangular viewports and see the Bartokk pilot, gunner, and tailgunner seated back-to-back-to-back within.

  Suddenly, the Bartokks were illuminated by a bright flashing warning light in the cockpit, and all three assassins turned their insectoid heads to peer out the viewports in Maul's direction. Maul had been so confident in the Infiltrator's cloaking device, he had forgotten about the Bartokks' sophisticated sensors. Now they knew where he was. Before Maul could react, the Bartokk starfighter swung away from the Infiltrator and all twenty-five droid starfighters turned toward his cloaked ship. Despite the Infiltrator's invisibility, all the starfighters had locked onto his position. The droid starfighters' wings snapped into attack mode, revealing their lethal blaster cannons.

  Maul quickly took the data card he'd retrieved from the Bartokk freighter and inserted it into a computer port. The Infiltrator's computer analyzed the Bartokk's sensor information, and immediately transmitted a jamming signal to knock out the Bartokk starfighter's crystal gravitational trap sensor. Before the droid starfighters could fire a single shot, the Infiltrator had vanished from the Bartokk starfighter's sensors. The droid starfighters began swerving through space on an erratic course. They appeared to be out of control, but Maul knew better.

  The Bartokks were piloting the droid starfighters by remote control, steering them on a weaving course in an effort to locate Maul's ship by way of a direct collision. Maul accessed the data that had been supplied by Darth Sidious. With the flick of a switch, Maul seized control of the droid starfighters. The Sith Lord targeted the Bartokk starfighter, and all twenty-five droid starfighters rotated in space and aimed their cannons at the six-winged fighter craft. Maul imagined the three Bartokks were more than startled. By Bartokk standards, it was possible they were even scared.

  In a desperate effort to evade certain death, the Bartokk starfighter turned and sped away from Corulag. The Bartokk tailgunner fired a steady stream of energy bolts in the starfighter's wake, aiming at nothing he could see, but hoping he would hit his invisible enemy.

  Leaving the droid starfighters behind, the cloaked Infiltrator pursued the Bartokks' fleeing ship. Maul poured on the speed, dodging the Bartokk tailgunner’s random assault. The Infiltrator was armed with six low-profile laser cannons, and Maul directed all of them to fire at the Bartokks' ship. The first two blasts punched a hole in the Bartokk starfighter's deflector shields. Blasts three and four hammered through their particle shields. The last two shots connected directly with the starfighter's hull. With their shields down, the Bartokks didn't have a chance.

  As their starfighter erupted in a great fireball, Darth Maul angled the Infiltrator back toward Corulag. During Maul's battle with the Bartokks, the red-and-yellow cruiser had remained in orbit around Corulag. Although Maul still wasn't certain the cruiser belonged to Groodo the Hutt, he decided it was time to find out. With the Infiltrator still in full cloak mode, Maul flew toward the orbital cruiser. When he had drawn within firing range, he transmitted an emergency hail to the brightly painted vessel.

  "Come in, Groodo," Maul uttered into his ship- to-ship comm unit.

  Seconds later, the three-dimensional image of a corpulent Hutt appeared. Although the image was a bit fuzzy, the Hutt's lower lip was moving from side to side, and his thick cheeks looked like they were quite stuffed. Maul realized he had caught the Hutt during a meal.

  "What's the meaning of this interruption?" the Hutt snarled.

  "There won't be any attack on Corulag Academy," Maul stated.

  "What?!" the Hutt sputtered. "I mean... I don't know what you're talking about!"

  "You made a grave error when you ordered the Bartokks to steal from the Trade Federation," Maul responded. "Consider this fair warning: You have thirty seconds to evacuate your cruiser before I destroy it."

  "You dare threaten the mighty Groodo?" the Hutt retorted. "Show yourself!"

  "Twenty seconds," Maul replied.

  "Who are you?" the Hutt demanded. There was not a trace of fear in his response, and he sounded only slightly annoyed.

  Maul switched off the comm unit and signaled the droid starfighters to come in. He commanded them to target the cruiser. At the final second, he commanded them to open fire. Although the Hutt's cruiser had a powerful deflector shield, it had not been engineered to endure the combined firepower of twenty-five starfighters at close range.

  From the Infiltrator, Darth Maul watched as the Hutt's entire cruiser was instantly enveloped in a massive burst of ion-fueled flame. A single emergency life pod managed to blast away from the cruiser's wreckage. Maul focused the Infiltrator's sensors on the pod, and learned that it carried two life-forms. It appeared both Groodo the Hutt and his son had survived the destruction of their cruiser. Since Darth Sidious had specified that the Bartokks’ client should live in fear, Maul allowed the pod to tumble toward Corulag.

  The twenty-five droid starfighters hung like deadly ornaments in space. Although the Jedi had destroyed the other twenty-five, Darth Maul believed his Master, Darth Sidious, would be pleased that half the starfighters had been recovered. Maul considered escorting the starfighters back to Trade Federation space, but he was disturbed by a single detail: C-3PX.

  It was highly unlikely that the droid had survived the devastating explosion on Ralltiir, but Maul didn't like the notion of C-3PX's body being discovered by any enemies. The Sith Lord decided to return to the distant fortress and search the ruins.

  Maul programmed the droid starfighters to fly to a Ne
imoidian base in Trade Federation territory. Responding to his command, all twenty-five droid starfighters angled in the same direction, then fired their engines and zoomed off into hyper- space. After the starfighters had left the Corulag system, Maul plotted a course for Ralltiir. Then he punched the controls for the hyperdrive, and the Infiltrator blasted into hyperspace.

  As he traveled back to Ralltiir, Maul's thoughts turned to Groodo the Hutt. Darth Sidious had been confident that the Bartokks' client would somehow be useful if he were to live in fear of the Trade Federation, but Maul wondered... Are Hutts really afraid of anything?

  The emergency escape pod landed in a dense forest thirty-four kilometers southwest of Curamelle, the capital city of Corulag, and home of Corulag Academy. The pod had crashed down through heavy foliage before setting down between three tall, wide-trunked trees. The pod's hatch slid open and Groodo the Hutt slithered out onto the grass-covered ground, followed by his son. The younger Hutt was considerably smaller than his father, but he was of healthy size for his age.

  Groodo carried a comlink that accessed a HoloNet transceiver in the escape pod. As he punched in a series of numbers to place an intergalactic call, he turned to his son and said, "Don't worry, Boonda. Your old man's going to make everything all right.”

  "Sure, Pop," said Boonda with a shrug. "Whatever you say."

  On Ralltiir, at the site of what had only recently been the Bartokks' fortress, Darth Maul used the Force to lift a heavy boulder from a pile of rubble. Maul had used the Sith Infiltrator's sensors to scan the fortress ruins for any sign of C-3PX. The sensors penetrated deep below the collapsed floors and fallen walls, searching for any trace of metal that might belong to the golden assassin droid.

  Now, Maul found himself sifting through the area of what had been a chamber near the fortress's dungeon. Maul did not watch the boulder as it levitated away through the air, and he ignored the loud thud, eight meters away, that sounded as he released the boulder from his power. The Sith Lord's yellow eyes were fixed on something that rested on the crushed floor, staring at something that had been concealed by the transplanted boulder.