Sifgia's Quest
Chapter 5 Pod Race of Gloom


The speeder pulled up to the curb, and within a minute, several service droids rolled up, and a protocol droid appeared.

"I am BR-C4, at your service," the protocol droid said. "May I please see your ticket?"

Galanda pulled out the card Chowza had given him.

BR-C4 did a rather comical double-take, and said, "Sir, I'm afraid this is not a ticket. If you do not produce a ticket, I shall be forced to call security."

"I know it's not a ticket," Galanda said. "It's for some one - Vizra."

BR-C4 seemed uncertain. "Sir, if you're a messenger, you'll have to use the messenger's gate. It's located it-"

"I'm not a messenger," Galanda said, starting to get annoyed. Then he thought a moment. "Although, I do have a message. Look, just take that to Vizra, will you? He'll clear it up!"

BR-C4 hesitated for a moment, then turned and started walking into the building. Galanda heard him muttering, "Oh, dear, oh, dear," as he walked away.

"OK, hopefully, Chowza isn't trying to fake us, and pretty soon, we'll be inside- Ozzy, where do you think you're going?"

"Hmm?" Ozlo said, turning around. He walked back the short distance he had traveled. "I was going to place a bet. I just know M'jye Toktor will win today!"

"No betting! We got to get the parts for your droid, remember?"

"Of coarse! And how else will I pay for this? I need to make money!"

Galanda frowned. They knew he had money for the parts.

Ozlo sighed. "Oh, very well."

A moment later, BR-C4 returned, and announced in a slightly unhappy tone, "You may come in." BR-C4 looked at the three of them for a moment, then added, "But I was informed there would only be two. So therefore, only two can come in."

"But he's with us!" Galanda protested.

"If you do not do as I say, I shall be forced to call security," BR-C4 announced. He seemed a bit pleased at that prospect.

"It's alright," Raoht'l said, "I do have my own tickets. If you want, you can join me. I'll be in Luxury Box Four."

"Oh, well, alright, Raoht'l," Galanda said, a bit unhappily. "Well, thanks again. Enjoy the races."

"No, no, thank you. I'd be dead right now if not for you," Raoht'l said, pulling a ticket out of his pocket and giving it to BR-C4.

"I'm sorry sir," BR-C4 said. "I'm helping these gentlemen. I shall call another protocol droid for you."

BR-C4 then turned, and said, "If you'll follow me, sirs."

Galanda and Ozlo followed the droid as it lead them through several corridors. The droid must have radioed before, as it didn't take this long when it confirmed their ‘ticket.' They saw several crowds of people, gathered in various lobbies, and long lines all over.

"Say, I just thought of something!" Galanda suddenly said.

"What now?" Ozlo asked, a little grumpy.

"We could've used Raoht'l's ticket!"

"Wouldn't've gotten us to see this guy, this Vizra," Ozlo pointed out.

"Oh. Yes, that's right. Say, BR-C4, when does the races start?"

"Qualifiers begin in 11 Zells, or one point two hours, standard," the droid said primly.

"We should have a good seat," Galanda said, trying to cheer Ozlo.

"What's the point? No bet, no excitement."

Galanda just gave a large sigh. In a few more minutes, they were down on the track. The crowd of the stadium was behind him, as well as on the other side of the track. Galanda could tell they were talking, and yelling, but with all the pods down here, he couldn't hear anything they said. There was the smell of oil, of ozone, and sweat. Along the stadium were the pits for each pod. In between each pod, there was a tall observation tower.

The droid was apparently used to this. He ignored it all, and walked along the curve of the stadium, until he got to thr fourth pod along the curve. It was a fairly large and fancy pod - the pod of a successful pod racer. There were several maintenance droids going over it. And walking back and forth along side of it was a human, middle-aged, wearing a jump suit. His red hair was dirty, and sticking up in different directions. He was smoking a cigar, and his not very handsome face was screwed up in anger.

"He can't either?!" Galanda heard him yell over the roar of the pods. He then saw he was on a comm unit, talking to some one unseen. "Alright! Alright! Any hope anywhere?! OK, I'll call you back, I may have something here in just a moment."

He snapped the comm unit off, and looked up at Galanda.

"Nope, you're to big," the man said. He glanced at Ozlo, scowled, and looked back at Galanda.

"Why did my brother send you two? I need a pod racer, not more investors!" He yelled at them. He yelled not just out of anger and frustration, but also just to be heard.

"Uh, we're not investors," Galanda explained. "You're brother said you owed him a favor, and you could repay it by helping us."

He looked a little confused, and then said, "Come up with me, we can talk better."

Without waiting, he stepped over to an observation tower. Galanda and Ozlo quickly followed him, and he pressed a button and a ring around the tower rose up. Galanda watched as the ground fell away. At the top, he stepped into a small room at the top of the tower, and closed the door behind them. It was much quieter.

"Now, what did that chowder-head brother of mine say?" he asked, as he poured himself a drink.

"First off, just to make certain, you are Vizra, correct?"

"That's me. Virza DeNorn, pod race owner and racer, about to go bankrupt," he said casually. "Did you want something to drink?"

"No, thanks. It's just that Chowza didn't mention you were his brother. He said you were a friend," Galanda explained.

"I'll have something," Ozlo said.

"Help yourself. Friend, huh? Sounds like Chowza. Well, no matter. I'm afraid in less than an hour, I won't be able to help myself, much less anyone else," Vizra stated, as Ozlo rushed to get a drink for himself.

"Why not?" Galanda asked.

"My driver, M'jye, got himself injured today - today! - and can't drive!" Vizra yelled, half in frustration, half in rage.

"What?" Ozlo sputtered, spilling his drink.

"Yeah, he got into some fight. Over a girl, if you can believe it. And now, I can't get a driver for my life!" Vizra shook his head in disgust. "I've got so much money sunk into this race, I'm doomed."

Galanda's mind raced. "If we can get you a driver, will you help us?"

Over the rim of his cup, Vizra replied, "If you can get me a driver, I'll get you anything you want, no questions asked."

Galanda turned to Ozlo. "Go get Raoht'l, in Luxury Box Four."

"Me? Why me?" Ozlo demanded. "I'm tired. I want to drink this lovely drink, and rest, and maybe watch the races if. . . If. . ."

Galanda frowned. "Ozlo? Ozlo, are you alright."

Vizra started to laugh. "I think your friend isn't used to Koopa Juice."

"What is it?" Galanda demanded.

"It's a stimulant. A natural, strong, stimulant," Vizra explained, laughing.

"What's-going-to-happen-to-me?" Ozlo said, very fast.

"Nothing bad, you'll just be, well, stimulated for a while," Vizra said, then started laughing again.

"Burn it out of your system, Ozlo," Galanda suggested. "Go get Raoht'l - fast!"

With Vizra laughing from his chair, Ozlo went running out, skipping the elevator ring, and sliding down a ladder. Galanda just made out Ozlo hitting the ground running.

*** *** ***

"Move," Sifgia said.

Tran used the Force to speed herself up, and got far enough away from the blast of the missiles that destroyed a section of wall, floor, and ceiling.

Sifgia found herself next to Iinth.

"Very destructive," he said.

One of the destroyer droids turned towards them.

"And very informative. Move," he added.

The two of them dashed off in different directions. Behind them, more floor and wall was destroyed by the droids projectile fire.

"We're going to need moving room!" Iinth yelled. Two more droids targeted his voice. A blur of movement, and more wall was destroyed.

Tran dashed over to Sifgia.

"At this rate, we'll have all the room we need," she said wryly. She spoke quietly, just above a whisper.

"You may have a point," Sifgia agreed in the same voice. "Let's move."

Sifgia dashed across the room. Once there, she yelled at the droids, then dashed off again.

The droids turned to where she was, and fired instantly. More wall and ceiling came crashing down.

Tran ran in the opposite direction, and yelled at the droids, simultaneously with Sifgia. Two other droids turned, and fired. But she was already gone. All that happened, was still more wall and ceiling was destroyed.

Iinth watched them run about, and then saw what they were doing. He moved himself quickly to an exit, and right behind him were Sifgia and Tran.

Shortly outside the room, a great rumbling was heard, and a huge cloud of dust came pouring out.

"Score one for the good guys," Sifgia commented.

Iinth opened his mouth, coughed as dust blew in, and managed to choke out, "Don't count your victories yet. We still have to find the Sphere."

"Which isn't here," Tran pointed out.

"And we have no idea where it is," Iinth added.

"Alright! We'll find it. What a bunch of pessimists!" Sifgia said in mock anger.

Iinth smiled. "Let's try to find-"

Some more rumbling caught his attention. They looked around, fearing the rest of the building had been to weakened, and was about to collapse on them. Tran spotted the real cause first.

"Look. We didn't stop the droids after all."

Tran was pointing back at the room they had just left. Heaving rubble aside, the six Destroyer Droids struggled out of the area, focused on one objective.

"We need more room!" Iinth said unnecessarily.

"Then, let's find some," Sifgia said, as she took off at Jedi speed.

The other two followed her almost instantly. They were already quite some distance down the corridor when the missiles hit where they stood. At a much slower speed, the droids followed them.

*** *** ***

"I don't understand," Raoht'l said through his translator.

"Look," Ozlo said, panting and sweating. "You want to drive a pod, right?"

"Well, yes, I've always-"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Ozlo angrily interrupted. He had explained this, or so he thought, several times already. The first couple of times he talked to fast to be understood, true, but surely by now he'd understand.

"Driving a pod?" Raoht'l said, incredulously. "And whose pod is this I'm suppose to drive?"

"The man we came to see - Vizra!"

"Vizra DeNorn? But I thought he had M'jye driving-"

Ozlo interrupted again. "As I said, he's been injured, and if Vizra doesn't get a driver soon, he'll loose all his money on this race."

Raoht'l nodded. Somewhere along the way, Ozlo wasn't certain when, he hadn't been paying much attention, Raoht'l had put on some sort of breathing mask. It almost covered his whole face, only his eyes were exposed. And his head was wrapped in some dark brown cloth, covering short brown hair on his head.

"It makes more sense when you slow down like that," Raoht'l commented.

Ozlo looked down at the little guy. Was he even a meter tall? And all those clothes-! He looked almost as wide as he was tall in the big jacket, and thick pants he wore. Was he really cold? It felt most uncomfortably hot to Ozlo.

He was about to comment on that, when he heard some one challenging the two of them. It wasn't so much a verbal challenge, as a series of grunts.

Ozlo looked about, and was startled to see a large, porcine biped standing in front of him - with a large, metal axe, no less!

"Wow! A Gamoran! I didn't know there were any out in this sector!" Raoht'l said excitedly.

The Gamoran snorted and grunted, and lowered his axe at them.

"I don't suppose you understand Gamoran, do you?" Ozlo asked hopefully. How he missed Acey!

"Of coarse," Raoht'l said casually. "He's challenging our right to be here, and questioning your ancestry."

"Questioning my-?!" Ozlo almost got upset, but the large axe convinced him to remain calm.

"Maybe if you show him your pass?" Raoht'l suggested.

"Uh, well, I don't really have a pass," Ozlo admitted. "At least, not one he'd recognize."

Ozlo suddenly had an idea. His whole face lit up, which caused the Gamoran to look at him more suspiciously.

"Here you are, my good porcine pal," Ozlo said, producing a scrap of paper for the Gamoran.

The Gamoran took the paper, and looked at it. Upside down. He stuck it to his nose and snuffled, which made Ozlo nervous. But a moment later, the Gamoran handed the paper back, now slightly wet.

"Er, thanks," Ozlo said, holding the paper by its one dry corner. The Gamoran stepped to one side as Ozlo spoke.

The two hurried by the Gamoran, and headed for the pits as fast as they could. Ozlo was quite tired now. That stimulant must have already worn off. Not surprising, considering his metabolism.

"How did you know that would work?" Raoht'l asked as they ran along.

"I didn't," Ozlo huffed. "But I didn't think he was that smart. The Race Masters were undoubtedly relying on their ability to scare and intimidate. When it saw I wasn't intimidated, its tiny brain worked out that I had the proper paperwork."

"Why," Raoht'l said, surprised, "that's pretty clever."

"Thank you," Ozlo said, obviously pleased. "Oh, here's our pit."

On ground level, they found Vizra and Galanda pacing about the pod. They looked up as Ozlo and Raoht'l approached, and Vizra's jaw dropped, and his cigar fell out of his mouth.

"He's perfect!" Vizra yelled loud enough to be heard over the din.

Raoht'l blinked as he approached Vizra. "Perfect for what?"

Vizra stared at him for a moment, then turned to Galanda. "I thought you said he was a pod pilot."

"He is, he's just a little confused. You know, being pulled into the race without any preparations," Galanda elaborated.

"Wait," Raoht'l said, gesturing at the large Pod before him. "You want me to drive that?!"

"Yes," Vizra said in a way that booked no argument.

Raoht'l looked around, and for one terrible moment, Ozlo thought he was going to say, "No."

But he said, "Alright, I just wanted to make certain."

He stepped up to the pod as he took off his jacket. Looking inside the pod, Raoht'l gave a low whistle.

"This is incredible!" He said. "Is that a dilithium accelerator? And a photon tracker? Is that legal?!"

"Yes, yes, and yes," Vizra said. "Glad you're familiar with them, it'll save on explanation time."

"I've heard of them," Raoht'l said, suiting up, "but I've never used them. Well, once, briefly."

"Don't worry about it. Once you use them, you don't forget," Vizra helping Raoht'l into the pod.

Raoht'l more fell into the pod, than get into it. Vizra didn't pause - he tossed the helmet into the pod, ignoring the cry of pain from inside.

Raoht'l raised his head above the lip of the pod, and seemed about to say something ugly. Heading him off, Vizra appeared next to him, going over some finer points on the pod.

Ozlo went over to Galanda and stood next to him. "Are we doing the right thing here?"

Galanda frowned slightly, and said, "I don't feel anything bad."

"Yes," Ozlo agreed, "but do you feel anything good?"

Galanda's silence spoke volumes. Ozlo gave a low groan.

"Boy!" Vizra suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs. A young boy came running over.

Vizra was scribbling on a data pad fiercely, as if he was trying to force his hands to type faster. He asked a few quick questions of Raoht'l, and acted impatient if he didn't respond right away. Finally he thrust the data pad at the boy, and gave him instructions neither Ozlo nor Galanda could hear. The noise in the pits was starting to escalate.

Vizra went to the elevator ring around his Observation Tower, and brought over a flag wrapped around a pole.

"Here," he said. "Take this on the Parade of Contestants. It starts in a few minutes. You line up right over there." He pointed at a group of humans, humanoids, droids, and aliens queuing up to the front of the pits.

Ozlo looked at the flag, turned to Galanda, and said, "You take it."

"Me? Why me?" Galanda demanded.

"I got the driver, you get to wave a flag," Ozlo said simply.

Galanda looked like he was about to complain, then took the flag and walked to the front.

*** *** ***

"We'll do it now," Tar-Vellid said.

"What?" The scientist said, quivering in fear. "But, sir-!"

"No but's!" Tar-Vellid yelled. "Prepare the genetic infuser!"

The scientists all scurried about to obey. All except one. Arz-Dellano knew both his work and Tar-Vellid better than anyone else here. He walked over to him.

"Tar-Vellid," he said quietly. "Are you certain about this?"

"What choice do we have? Those Jedi are here, and soon, the whole Senate will know everything!"

"That may be true," Arz-Dellano said quietly, calmly. "But are you certain this is the best way? We have had a mere seven point two percent success rate."

Tar-Vellid smiled broadly. "And what a success they were! Muscle mass; increased three hundred percent increase! Brain capacity, increased two hundred and fifty percent! Reflexes; one hundred and ninety percent!"

Arz-Dellano swivelled two eyes to focus on him. "The tests may have been a success, but the subjects died."

"And I may die," Tar-Vellid said with finality. "But I will stop the Jedi before I die, and then my son, Tar-Wathud will continue in my memory!"

"Your son?" Arz-Dellano stared at the Gan being laid out on a table before him. "But he's barely seven cycles old! What can he do?"

"What can he do?" Tar-Vellid repeated, surprised. "He's a Tar, he'll succeed. That's what he can do."

For a moment, the two Gan's had a staring contest. Arz-Dellano flinched first.

"I am ready," Tar-Vellid announced to everyone.

Unhappily, Arz-Dellano prepared to begin the operation.

*** *** ***

"Are they still behind us?" Iinth asked.

"Yes, and not far behind. Although where they store that many missiles, I'll never know," Tran commented.

"Good. Good," Iinth responded.

"Do you have any plans?" Sifgia asked.

"Er, well, vaguely," Iinth admitted. "Mostly I just want to get to an open area, where we could fight."

"Oh, and I thought you meant to bring us here," Sifgia said, almost sounding disappointed.

"Hmm?" Iinth said, puzzled.

Sifgia smiled, and motioned them to follow her. She quickly lead them down a hall-way, and out the door at the end. It lead into a large indoor garden, a good fifty meters on a side. It broadened as it went up, like an inverted pyramid, giving the place a large feel to it.

Sifgia pointed to the higher balconies. "Up there," she instructed.

All three leaped up the twenty meters to the next level of balconies. Just as they did so, three of the Destroyer Droids burst into the garden. The immediately fired a volley of missiles, laying waste to the garden.

"Three for three," Sifgia sent, rather than spoke, to the other two.

As soon as the blasts from the missile attack died down, the three Jedi leaped down to attack. They whipped out their light sabres on the way down, and slashed through the three droids from top to bottom.

All three knew that there would be unused munitions on the droids, and cutting them in half would not be good for the munitions. As soon as they landed, they leaped out of the way, fast as they could.

All three droids started to short out as the two halves fell to the sides, systems short circuited, caught fire, and suddenly and savagely, exploded, ripping a huge hole in the wall. Where once there was a simple door to the garden, there now was a cavernous opening, covering the first five or six storey's.

The Jedi did not stop to congratulate themselves. They gathered at the far side of the garden, and kept in mind the remaining three.

In moments, they arrived. Slowly they surveyed the damage, and scanned the destroyed droids.

The droid in the lead opened his chest, revealing one last row of missiles. The other two raised their arms. Then, the droid fired his missiles, in a wide dispersed pattern, covering the whole garden. At the same time, the other two fired projectiles from the guns mounted on their hands.

The three Jedi could only leap up, to get out of the way of harm. Unfortunately, that also allowed the droids to know exactly where they were. The Jedi landed safely on the balcony above, but were almost immediately fired upon by the droids.

Iinth leaped out over the garden, using the Force to levitate himself in the air, and whirled his light sabre faster than the others had ever seen him. Even though he stood directly in the path of the Destroyer Droids' weapon fire, not a single bullet passed by him. Almost in awe, Sifgia and Tran watched, and he floated in mid-air, moving his light sabre almost faster than they could keep up with. Then they regained their senses, and floated out to him, and helped him deflect the remaining bullets.

Their missiles were gone. Used up. The battle computers decided the best way to defeat Jedi was to pour more destruction at them they could handle. So the droids fired all the weapons they had, almost constantly. Their sound and motion detectors at full power, they would unleash an amazing amount of fire power at anything they heard, or anything that moved. They had been tested against the most powerful mobile ground weapons available. The military had a type of Ground Vehicles, the Didum-class, and it the was most devastating ground weapon the republic had. Tar Industries had sent three of these Didum-class vehicles against one Annihilator Destroyer Droid, and the droid had been successful.

But these were not simple war machines. These were Jedi.

When the droids weapons bank was depleted, they attempted to locate using heat signatures. But the machines themselves were to hot, so they waited for the smoke to clear.

And when it did, they saw three Jedi, floating in air, with their light sabre's out.

If the droids had been programed for emotions, undoubtedly, they would know fear now.

The three Jedi allowed themselves to plummet ground-ward, pushing themselves slightly forward, so they were able to land in front of them, one to a droid. In several quick strokes, the droids fell in pieces onto the ground, smoking.

Before the pieces hit the ground, however, all three Jedi leaped clear of the droids. For within moments after their destruction, all three power packs exploded.

Flicking their light sabres, keeping any hot debris off them, the Jedi surveyed their handiwork.

There were no Annihilators left standing. And no more were to be seen.

"Come on," Iinth said, "we've got to pay a visit to some one."

*** *** ***

"And they're off!" The announcer yelled into his microphone.

The crowd yelled as seventeen pods roared off on the first lap. One pod sputtered and died before crossing the starting line.

"Uh-oh! Looks like Spirg is having engine troubles!" The announcer proclaimed.

The crowd's cheering broke up slightly, as groups laughed at Spirg's trouble, or some yelled curses at him and his pod.

Spirg, for his part, pounded on the control panel for a moment, then hopped out to examine the engines. As he got along side the engines, a sharp crack was heard, and the pod shot off, straight into the base of an observation tower. The pod exploded, and the tower slowly toppled over, its occupants jumping away, trying to roll upon landing.

Spirg stood on the grounds, looking horrified. One of the occupants of the tower, an Alcompi, slowly stood up, and started running towards Spirg, who quickly got over his horror, and started running away. There wasn't much doubt in the outcome: Spirg was unhurt, while the Alcompi was moving on nothing more than adrenaline.

The announcer made comments on the ground chase every once in a while, concentrating mostly on the race itself.

"What a start!" Ozlo said, excited.

"You're enjoying this!" Galanda accused.

"Of coarse! This is part of the fun!" Vizra said, watching his own pod on a portable monitor.

"How's he doing?" Galanda asked, leaning over to look for himself.

"Third," Vizra said admiringly.

"That's good?" Galanda asked.

"All things considered," Vizra said. "He's never done this before. . . In a professional race, I mean. He's not used to the stresses."

"Stresses? You mean. . ." Galanda wasn't sure what he meant, and was trying to find out.

"Well, he doesn't know about my stakes, he didn't make any bets - did he?"

"I don't know, Ozlo, do you know?"

"Hmm? What? I didn't make a bet," he said defensively.

"Not you! Raoht'l!"

"Oh! Uh, I don't know. I didn't see any bet tickets. . ."

"And there goes Vizra's rider! What's his name?" The announcer suddenly cried out.

"N'chenost," the second announcer said helpfully.

"N'chenost just burst into second!" The first announcer continued.

"What's going on?" Ozlo asked, peering into the monitor.

"He just pulled one heck of a trick on DiBorn! Ha! I always hated that guy!" Vizra said happily. "Of course," he added soberly, "this is just the first lap. And the easiest."

"It gets harder?" Galanda asked, surprised. He had only paid marginal attention to pod racing, and knew very little about it.

"Just wait until they have to go through town!" Vizra said. He sounded happy, although Galanda couldn't figure out why.

*** *** ***

"All clear," Sifgia called out.

The three Jedi rushed into the ruins. They decided the sphere must be in the room Sifgia noticed before this battle started. Tar-Vellid seemed strongly inclined to keep them away from that area.

"Is it still there?" Iinth asked.

Sifgia looked at the wall, adjusting the vision of her eyes.

"Something's there," she replied. "I'm still not sure what it is. It might just be some exotic power source - not the sphere."

"It probably isn't. He said they had it. But, it's our only lead," Iinth pointed out.

"True enough," Sifgia agreed. "Let's get through that wall."

"My turn," Tran said, leaping towards the wall. "Any place in particular?"

Sifgia looked closely at the wall. "There, I think," she said, pointing.

Tran, like the others, already had her light sabre out. She carefully slid her blue blade into the wall, and almost instantly, the bricks burned away, revealing a metal wall just behind them.

"This is suspicious," Iinth commented as he turned to guard their rear.

Slowly, Tran cut out a section of wall, and then used the Force to carefully pull it out, into the room they stood in. Mindful of hot, dripping metal, she peered in.

"Is it there?" Sifgia asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Tran said. She looked at the edge of the hole she cut out. It had cooled enough such that no more hot metal dripped, although it was still very hot. "I'll go in."

"We're right behind you," Iinth said.

Tran stepped carefully in, followed by Sifgia, and then Iinth.

"It's - it's just another lab," Tran said disappointedly. "Big though."

Looking around, Tran saw an almost empty room, ten meters on a side, four meters tall. There were two doors out of the room. The only object in the room, was some large tubes.

"What was that power source you saw, or whatever it was?" Iinth asked Tran.

Looking around, Sifgia quickly spotted the source of unusual energy.

"It's those containers, along that wall," she pointed to the far wall.

Iinth looked at the containers, then walked over to them. There were seven of them. They were about three and a half meters tall, black, and rounded on the ends. Lights were at the top of each on. The one on the far right had a red light, while all the others had green. The exteriors were smooth, but a door or panel could be seen in the front of each of them.

"I don't think it's a power generator, more like some sort of containers. They look like cloning tanks," Iinth remarked.

"The one on the end isn't working," Sifgia said, pointing to the one with the red light. "Or, at least, it isn't radiating the same sort of energy."

Iinth felt along the side, and quickly found a latch. He pressed it, and the door popped open. A Dug fell onto the floor in front of them, along with several gallons of some sort of thick liquid. It was deformed. It had at least nine arms, sticking out of it all over. Some places on its body just had hands growing out of it, while other areas had fingers growing out.

Iinth jumped back, and even Tran let out a little gasp of horror. The Dug did not move, however, once it landed on the ground.

Iinth stepped forward, and took a closer look.

"It's dead," he announced.

"Lucky for it," Sifgia murmured.

"And us," Tran added.

"And this liquid," Iinth continued, "it's Bacta fluid. Some one is doing genetic experiments, I think."

"I think that's pretty obvious," Tran said. "They must be using some sort of radiation to cause mutations."

"Perhaps," Iinth said uncertainly. "This seems a bit to controlled to-"

He didn't get a chance to finish. The doors on the other tanks suddenly popped open. Inside each one was a Dug. But none of them were normal. Most notably, instead of the more normal one meter tall, these were all three meters tall.

The first one out, nearest Iinth, had huge crab-like claws where his hands used to be. The second had a series of bony ridges all over his body, and they looked sharp. The third one had long, razor-like claws, and a whip-like tail.

Iinth quit looking after that, as the crab-clawed one reached for him. He did a backward flip, kicking it in the chest as he did so.

Tran and Sifgia brought their light sabres up to attack.

"No! Wait!" Iinth called from across the room. "We can't kill them!"

"What? Why not?" Sifgia asked.

"They're innocents! We can't hurt innocents!"

"I got news for you, Iinth," Sifgia said, dodging the whip-tail Dug. "Your innocents are trying to kill us!"

"Iinth's right! It's not their fault! Tar-Vellid made them this way!" Tran yelled over the snarling the six altered Dugs were making.

Sifgia seemed about to argue, when a muffled crack drew her attention. Even the Dugs looked off to their left at the noise. She had heard that noise earlier, and knew what it was. She also knew they were in serious trouble.

"Down!" She yelled out.

The others had also realized what the noise was, and were already throwing themselves flat on the floor. Only the Dugs stood there, not sure what to make of their prey falling down.

All this took less than half a second. Before gravity could finish pulling everyone down to the floor, a deafening explosion shook the room. One whole wall vanished in a cloud of rock and dust. Three of the Dugs were killed outright, the others managed to escape with only minor injuries. Whether that was due to luck, or design, Sifgia didn't know, and wasn't about to question.

She raised her head painfully, and saw first one, then another Annihilator droid stride into the room.

"Surrender or die," one of the said indifferently.

"Oh, grud!" Sifgia grumbled, raising herself up painfully. "Somebody down here don't like us!"

*** *** ***

"And at the start of lap three," the announcer proclaimed, "we have Krikul in first, N'chenost still in second, with Sibblow following in third. Then we have Zeeforel, followed closely by Omuur, Vluug and Memmem are fighting for fifth place-"

The second announcer interrupted, saying, "Although why, I don't know!"

Chuckling slightly, the first announcer continued listing the status of the contestants at the start of the third lap.

"I can't believe you were laughing when DiBorn crashed! He could've been killed!" Galanda spoke harshly, in the hopes of getting some sort of shame out of Vizra.

"Why not? He'd of done the same if I crashed!" Vizra said without a hint of sympathy.

Galanda turned away in disgust.

"Hey! At least he's alive!" Vizra said in defense.

"It was a pretty spectacular crash, considering no one got seriously hurt," Ozlo said.

"That may be, but even you didn't laugh," Galanda pointed out.

Ozlo shrugged, and Galanda turned to watch the race.

"Hey, they're going a different way than the last two laps!" Galanda said, surprised.

"Yeah, so?" Vizra said, not trying to hide his annoyance.

"Is every lap going to be different?" Galanda asked defensively.

"Sheesh! What a greenie! Explain to him, will you?" Vizra asked Ozlo.

"Look," Ozlo said, bringing a computer near them online. "Each lap goes through a different section of the surrounding land, with only a few rules. Each lap must have at least six turns, and be at least twenty-six point five kilometers long."

"Wa-hoo!" Vizra suddenly yelled out. "Three hundred and twenty-four point four kilometers per hour!"

"What?" Galanda asked.

"That's Raoht'l's speed," Ozlo said distractedly. "Look at this," he continued, bringing Galanda's attention back to the computer.

"What?"

"Each lap goes through a different type of terrain. This lap goes through the forest, the next goes through the caves, the one following-"

"Caves?!" Galanda asked, shocked.

"Yes, caves. Now the following track goes through the city, and the last lap goes back out into the desert, that way." Ozlo pointed off in the opposite direction the first lap in the desert went.

Galanda shook his head. "Still sounds a little risky."

"That's part of the excitement!" Ozlo said. "Now, watch how our boy does!"

*** *** ***

The three Jedi shook off the blasts, and launched into an attack of their own on the Annihilator's. Since this went contrary to the droids programming - three humans were not suppose to launch an attack on a group of Destroyer Droids - they stood for a while, their battle computers trying to come up with a solution.

The three remaining altered Dugs launched an attack of their own - on everything. One latched onto an Annihilator, and was destroyed almost instantly. Another leaped at Tran's back, but she quickly turned around and kicked it in the chest, sending the Dug sprawling.

Several Annihilator's tried to target the Jedi, but with their slowed down sense of time, they were able to dodge any missile fire, or projectiles, or beam weapons.

Sifgia saw three Annihilator's attempting to flank them. She couldn't reach them with her light sabre before they were behind her. Then she remembered the words of Master Yoda: Size matters not. She took aim with her mind, and gave a push with the Force. All three Destroyer Droids went flying through the air, crashing into the far wall. Unfortunately, one of the altered Dugs was in the way.

Sifgia put the thought aside. She'd worry about what was done here later.

Iinth, remembering the earlier attacks, used his light sabre to block the smaller projectiles that were fired at him. When he was less than a meter away, he leaped up, and forward, swinging his light sabre like a glowing purple scythe. He flipped over the droid, and landed behind it. He paused, staying crouched down, as the droid exploded into thousands of pieces.

Tran went low, using the Force to keep her balance, she virtually glided on her belly across the floor, and whirling her blue light sabre in a horizontal arc, she cut legs off the droids. A quick tumble, and she was out of their landing location.

They were knocking them down two or three at a time. But for every one they knocked down, three seemed to take their place. They leaped about, dodging lasers, missiles, and bullets. And slowly, they tired. From his hiding place, Arz-Dellano looked on. He knew the Jedi were powerful. But he also knew there was a limit to what they could do. Their endurance may be more-than-human, but it was not without limit.

*** *** ***

"I don't believe this!" Vizra cried out.

"What now?" Galanda said, slightly annoyed. It seemed every lap, every turn brought out some cry of amazement from him. The fellow was like a child at a candy store - marveling with each new candy discovered.

"A new track speed record! For both of them! Raoht'l did three hundred and thirty point seven kilometers an hour that time!" Vizra yelled with excitement.

"That means the guy in front is going even faster!" Ozlo said unnecessarily.

"Yeah, yeah!" Vizra said, as if that wasn't so important. "About one kilometer faster. But I think we're going to have a new course record!"

"They're starting the city run now," Galanda commented. "One more lap after this one, and it's over. Which reminds me. . ." Galanda turned to Vizra.

"Huh? What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" Vizra said, trying to ignore the staring Galanda.

"I was just wondering," he said casually. "Do we get the parts for the AC-14 or not?"

"Oh, is that all? I was afraid you were going to ask for a percentage!" Vizra said, visibly relieved. Ozlo was about to say something, as if that was a good idea, now that he mentioned it. But Vizra went on quickly.

"Sure, sure. You can have the parts! I'll take you to my warehouse after the race." Vizra quickly turned back to the race, before Ozlo could follow up.

"Good! Good!" Galanda said. He turned back to the race, putting a pair of binoculars to his eyes. "I just hope Raoht'l can survive this," he added quietly. Tired, the three Jedi regrouped. They could now determine that what at first seemed to be an unlimited supply of these droids, was down to about twenty.

"We can't keep this up!" Tran said, breathing hard.

"We have to!" Sifgia insisted.

"Maybe not," Iinth said. "Take a look up."

The two women looked, and saw the ceiling had fallen, revealing support struts for the floors above.

"OK, what of it?" Sifgia asked.

"Just leap on my word," Iinth said as he scanned to droids.

The droids began to form a tightening circle around them, with seemingly no way out. Iinth reached out, and felt around the droids insides. It took him a few seconds, but he found what he was looking for. The droids closed in tight enough, they stopped shoulder to shoulder.

"Now," Iinth said quietly. He let the women leap first, then reached out, and flipped the switch he looked for earlier. He then leaped up himself.

Much to the droids surprise - if their simple personalities could be said to be surprised - the manual override activated on their missile control. Because of the tight quarters, and greater risk of damaging other Annihilator's, the central computer send the strict order of no missile fire once in close combat. But now, their chest cavity opened, and rack after rack of missiles were fired. They quickly crossed the small circle, and impacted on the droids on the opposite side.

As the three Jedi scrambled to get to one side, a great fireball went up.

*** *** ***

"And they're going into turn four-" The first announcer explained.

"That's the real tricky one," the second announcer interrupted. "Some pod racers call it the Hairpin of Death."

"Whoa! That does sound dangerous! But Krikul is taking it just fine, he's having no troubles. Neither is N'chenost. Both drivers are-"

He suddenly cut off as along side the track, just ahead of the two pod racers, a huge building suddenly exploded from the inside. Windows blew out, chunks of rock were ripped off, and the entire building, all forty storeys, started to tip over dangerously. Almost at the same time the pod racers pulled along side the building, thousands of tonnes of rock came crashing down. Krikul attempted to avoid the rubble, but went to high on the turn, flying right off it. He went high in the air, lost his nerve, and came crashing down. Raoht'l kept his cool a little better. He turned suddenly, and turned the engines off. With a dull thud, he crashed into the rubble. He sat for a moment, relieved, when the other pod racers arrived. Faster than he thought he could, he got out of the pod, just as the next pod racer crashed into his pod.

Galanda had been watching through his binoculars, and had to turn away when the blast occurred. He had noticed it, been drawn to it, and quickly saw it was the Tar Industries building. With a shock, he realized that was where Sifgia, Tran, and Iinth were, when a sudden explosion blinded him momentarily.

"What happened?" He heard Ozlo say.

"I don't know," Vizra said slowly. "Who would do that? It serves no one! Unless," he suddenly added craftily. "Unless it went off early. . ."

"I don't think that's it," Galanda said. "Ozlo, that's the Tar building."

"It is?!" Ozlo and Vizra said simultaneously. Ozlo was shocked, Vizra was only mildly interested.

"Yes," Galanda confirmed. "And I suspect Sifgia's there."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ozlo demanded.

Galanda blinked some of the after-image way. "Alright, let's," he said, and levitated them both down to the ground.

*** *** ***

Raoht'l watched his pod racer burn. It made him sad. It was quite likely he would've won, eventually. But now, he'll never know. He was also sorry about the deaths that this brought about, but there was nothing he could do about that, either.

Then, some rubble moving caught his attention. He looked from his safe location, as the rubble seemed to rise up, and fall aside, as if some one had a personal force field with them. In a moment, three humans - no, wait, one was a Twi'lek - stood up. There was no sign of any force field.

One - he saw it was female, but her blue skin revealed she was not quite human - spoke. "Is that what you planned?"

The male - Raoht'l saw he wasn't human either (zero for three, not good at all) - said, "Not quite, but it seems to have worked."

"Look! The pod race was passing by!" The Twi'lek woman said.

"Great!" The male said, looking very unhappy. Raoht'l noticed he had horns on his head.

The blue female put her hand on his shoulder, and said, "It's not your fault."

"I should have been more careful," the male said.

The Twi'lek woman began dusting her clothes off. Raoht'l saw then they were all wearing robes. In fact, they were very similar to the robes the Jedi he met was wearing.

Almost as if they heard him speak - and Raoht'l wouldn't be surprised to learn he did - the Jedi and his fat friend appeared. They both seemed to be flying through the air.

"I thought so," he - Galanda, if he remembered correctly - said.

"Oh, hi, Galanda!" The Twi'lek said. Raoht'l felt a burst of pride to see he remembered his name correctly. Then, the fat one was, ah, Ozlo.

"Somehow," Galanda continued talking, "I knew I'd find you three at the heart of this mess."

"Well," the blue female said, "we've been busy trying to find the sphere. What have you and Ozlo been up to?"

Raoht'l felt another burst of pride at his confirmation of the fat person's name.

"Oh, not much," Galanda said casually. "Just trying to get parts for Acey. Did you find the sphere?"

Sphere? What were they talking about? Surely, they don't mean-!

"No, it doesn't seem to be here. I don't know what-"

The blue woman was cut off by a sudden cry, though weak, from the rubble.

As one, four of them moved quickly to source of cry. Raoht'l moved closer, to see what was happening. As he did, he realized the cry sounded like a Gan - they had an odd timber to their voices - and he was calling out for help.

Raoht'l moved in closer, to see if he could help. The others did not notice him, however. He watched as they pulled bricks and stones and other debris off the source of the cry. Raoht'l noticed that sometimes, the debris moved without anyone using their hands.

Finally, they moved aside the last of the debris, and collectively gave a gasp of surprise.

Raoht'l peered between legs, and saw something horrible. It looked like a Gan, but it was five, six, or maybe even seven times normal size. It looked grotesquely obese, with flesh pooling about him, as if he were laying in some great, nearly empty water bag. The Gan could barely move its eyes, and they swiveled about madly, as if looking for something.

"What happened?!" The blue woman cried out.

"Do you know this guy?" Galanda asked.

"Yes," the alien male said. Zabrakian? Yes, he was a Zabrakian.

The Twi'lek female continued for the Zabrakian, "He was the head of Tar industries, Tar-Vellid."

That's Tar-Vellid?! Raoht'l wondered to himself. He had heard of him.

"Kill me."

The voice was so quiet, Raoht'l wasn't certain where it came from. Then he realized it was Tar-Vellid speaking. It had to be.

"Kill you?" The Zabrakian said. "For what you've done, you'll be facing the courts."

"No! Just kill me! I've destroyed everything of importance in my life! My son. . ." Tar-Vellid made an odd gurgling noise, and it took Raoht'l a moment to realize Tar-Vellid was crying.

"Your son was in there?" Galanda asked, shocked.

"Yes!" Tar-Vellid blubbered. "Now kill me."

"You will face the courts, you disgusting-" The blue woman started. But the Zabrakian interrupted her.

"We'll kill you," he said. The others looked shocked. Galanda was about to protest, but he held an arm up to silence him.

"We'll kill you," he repeated. "But you must tell us, what happened to the Sphere of Di'tocht'ka first."

Raoht'l virtually fell over. He almost yelled out. But somehow he held his tongue.

"Th-the Sphere of Di'tocht'ka?" Tar-Vellid mumbled. His face was so bloated, it was hard for him to talk.

"Yes," the Zabrakian said. "The Sphere of Di'tocht'ka. Where is it?"

"And then you'll kill me?" Tar-Vellid blubbered.

"Tell me!" The Zabrakian yelled.

"I don't know!" Tar-Vellid suddenly said. Raoht'l breathed a mental sigh of disappointment.

"All I know are the co-ordinates, for where we sold it. I-I assume it's a planet. . ." Tar-Vellid trailed off, looking hopefully at those around him.

Of them, only the Zabrakian looked like he was ready to kill. The others looked uncertain. No, wait. The blue female seemed ready to kill, as well.

"What are the co-ordinates, then?" The Zabrakian asked, not to unkindly.

Tar-Vellid looked once again at the people around him.

"One," Tar-Vellid paused, as he seemed to have difficulty talking. "One forty-three point seven, six fifty-seven point one, and four twenty-eight point zero."

The odd group around them nodded. Apparently, they had the co-ordinates memorized.

"Now, now kill me!" Tar-Vellid said as fiercely as he could, which wasn't very.

"Oh, don't worry. I imagine you'll die in prison," the Zabrakian said.

"Wh-what?! What do you mean?" Tar-Vellid looked both scared and angry.

"As I promised. We'll kill you." Tar-Vellid blinked hopefully for a moment, then the Zabrakian continued. "We'll turn you into the authorities, and you'll be put in jail for the rest of your life."

With that, the odd little group turned, and left. Raoht'l - for some reason he wasn't to sure about - quickly hid out of sight from them.

Behind them, Tar-Vellid was yelling, demanding that they kill him right now.

The Zabrakian finally stopped, and turned around.

"Jedi do not kill needlessly," he said.

So they were all Jedi! Raoht'l watched them walk away from the destruction. Now, what do they want with the Sphere of Di'tocht'ka?

His eyes narrowed in thought, and soon he was off, repeating the co-ordinates to himself, over and over until he reached his own personal shuttle.


Next Chapter of - Sifgia's Quest


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