Tiin pressed his point. "I propose that someone in a position of command come aboard and speak with us." The humanoid scoffed. "You must be space happy."
"Then will you allow us to come to the surface and speak with you?" "Do we have a choice in the matter?" "No, not really." "I thought as much," the humanoid said. "How many Jedi are you?" "Seven." "And how many judicials?"
"Perhaps twenty." The humanoid turned to discuss the matter with someone out of view. "As a gesture of good faith, leave one of your cruisers in orbit, along with most of the Judicial force," he replied at last. "Two of our CloakShapes will usher the other cruiser down." Tiin glanced at Yaddle, then Billaba, both of whom nodded. He swung back to the holocam pickup. "We await your escort." "Is there anyone here who feels confident about this?" Vergere asked while the cruiser was descending through the thin clouds that barely masked Asmeru's wrinkled surface. When no one responded to the delicate, feathered Jedi's question, she shook her disproportionately large head. "Just as I feared." Qui-Gon glanced meaningfully at Obi-Wan.
The two of them left the pod and retraced their steps to the cockpit. By the time they arrived, features of the landscape were coming into view: ice- capped mountain ranges; arid plateaus; steep and intricately terraced hillsides, pale-green with crops, climbing above ribbons of racing black water.
"What should we do in the event of trouble, Master?" Obi — Wan asked quietly.
Qui-Gon's gaze didn't leave the cockpit viewport. "In a rainstorm, you try to keep dry by hurrying for shelter. But you get soaked regardless." "It's better to conclude beforehand that you're going to get wet," Obi-Wan said.
Qui-Gon nodded.
The ruins of an ancient city of quarried stone appeared on the horizon- monolithic monuments, rectangular platforms, and stepped pyramids, silhouetted against the sky, as if they were a range of hills. Directly below, enormous geometric shapes and animistic symbols had been etched into the perpetually thirsty ground. The city was bounded by walls made of cyclopean boulders, assembled in the shape of lightning bolts.
Surrounding the ruins spread a maze of primitive dwellings built of mud and sun-baked clay.
Tiny figures could be glimpsed moving along dirt roadways, some of them in wheeled wagons, and others driving herds of long-haired pack animals, as large as banthas. To the north, an expansive lake dotted with rocky islands stretched across the creased terrain like a spill of liquid jet.
"There's the landing area," the pilot said.
She directed Qui-Gon's attention to a large plaza at the center of the ruins, as wide as the hangar arm of a Trade Federation freighter and twice as long. Bordered on all four sides by flat — faced pyramids, the plaza was large enough to accommodate a flotilla of cruisers.
"Prominence, this is Ecliptic" the same female voice said in haste over the cockpit speakers. "Our scanners have detected five unidentified vessels emerging from Asmeru's dark side. House Vandron's Tikiars and Dreadnaughts are leaving orbit." Qui-Gon glanced sharply at the pilot. "It's a trap, Captain.
Order the Ecliptic to get clear." "Ecliptic," the pilot started to say, when a long burst of static issued from the cockpit speakers. Then the female voice returned, her words shot through with alarm.
"'Prominence, they're detonating the mines! We can't maneuver!
Unidentified ships closing. Four starfighters and a Tempest — class gunship." Obi-Wan shot Qui-Gon a wide-eyed look.
"The Hawk-Bat!" "We'll know soon enough." A prolonged screech erupted from the speakers. At the same time, the Prominence began to shudder violently.
"We're being pulled in," the pilot said in astonishment.
She and the copilot began to struggle with the controls.
Qui — Gon pressed his face to the cool transparisteel viewport. A rec tangular opening had appeared in the inclined face of one of the plaza pyramids, revealing the telltale grid of a tractor beam.
"It's a commercial array," Qui-Gon said. "Can we break away?" "We can try," the pilot said.
"We could also end up blowing out the sublight drives," Obi-Wan thought to point out.
The copilot opened a channel to the communications station. "Send a burst transmission to Coruscant, alerting them to our situation." Below, the flat roof of a sprawling building was parting like a curtain. The barrel of a weapon elevated into view.
"Ion cannon," the pilot said through gritted teeth.
Qui-Gon squatted down next to her. "Our visit was clearly anticipated, Captain." Abruptly, she pivoted to the controls that ena4 the salon pod ejection system. "Master, tell your comrades to exit the salon pod. There may yet be a way out of this." Qui-Gon glanced out the viewport. One of the escort Cloak — Shapes had altered vector to move in front of the cruiser. The landing area was directly ahead, only a few kilometers distant. "There are ways, Captain. But not the one you have in mind." "Do as I say," she snapped.
Qui-Gon hesitated, then leaned toward the intercom pickup. "Master Tiin, evacuate the salon pod immediately." "Why, Qui-Gon?" "There's no time to explain. Hurry." The pilot waited for confirmation that the pod was empty.
Then she triggered the pod's separator charges. The cruiser's bow tipped up as the magnoclamps below the cockpit blew, and the pod broke away from the fuselage.
All but immune to the effects of the tractor beam because of its small size, the pod rocketed ahead of the decelerating cruiser, its self-contained jets flaring, but its course dictated by the Prominence's captain.
The pilot of the CloakShape flying point couldn't have known what hit him.
Rammed forcefully in the tail by the pod, the fighter lurched forward, then veered violently to one side.
The pilot tried to correct, but the repulsorlift engine had been fatally damaged, and the small craft was out of control. Belching intermittent puffs of white smoke and a stream of viscous fluids, the CloakShape tipped up onto its right stabilizer, then began a corkscrewing plummet toward the city's central plaza.
The pilot leaned forward to track the fighter, her right hand clenched.
"Stay on target," she urged the fighter. "Stay on target…" The CloakShape slammed nose first into the sloping face of the pyramid that housed the tractor beam, and blew to pieces. Narrowly missed, the grid held for a moment, then sparks began to gambol across the invisible perimeter of its deflector shield.
"That's all we needed!" the pilot said.
She fed full power to the tri-thrusters, and was just starting her climb when the cruiser jerked to a halt, then was released, only to be jerked motionless once more.