The Phantom Menace Read Online Free PDF Page B

its food skidding toward the edge. The Jedi leapt to their feet in response, lightsabers drawn and activated. The protocol droid backpedaled quickly, arms lifting, muttering its apologies, looking every which way at once.
    “What’s happened?” Obi-Wan asked quickly.
    Qui-Gon hesitated, closed his eyes, and retreated deep within himself. His eyes snapped open. “They’ve destroyed our ship.”
    He glanced around swiftly. It took only a moment for him to detect a faint hissing sound from the vents near the doorway.
    “Gas,” he said to Obi-Wan in warning.
    In the cage beside the door, the birdlike creatures began to drop like stones.
    On the bridge, Nute Gunray and Rune Haako watched through a viewscreen as a squad of battle droids marched into the hallway just outside the conference room in which the Jedi were trapped. On crooked metal legs, they approached the doorway, blasters held at the ready, a hologram of Nute directing them from behind.
    “They must be dead by now, but make certain,” he directed the battle droids, and switched off the hologram.
    The Neimoidians watched closely as the foremost of the battle droids opened the door and stepped back. A cloud of noxious green gas poured from the room, and a solitary figure stumbled into view, arms waving.
    “Excuse me, sirs, I’m so sorry,” TC-14 babbled as it maneuvered through the battle droids, holding aloft its tray of scattered food and spilled drinks.
    In the next instant the Jedi appeared, charging from the room with lightsabers flashing. Qui-Gon’s weapon sent a pair of the battle droids flying in a shower of sparks and metal parts that scattered everywhere. Obi-Wan’s saber deflected blaster fire into several more. He raised his hand, palm outward, and another of the droids went crashing into the wall.
    On the bridge viewscreen, smoke and lingering clouds of green gas obscured everything. Alarms began to sound throughout the battleship, reverberating off its metal skin.
    “What in blazes is going on down there?” Nute Gunray demanded of his associate, eyes wide.
    Rune Haako shook his head doubtfully. There was fear in his orange-red eyes. “You’ve never encountered Jedi Knights before, have you?”
    “Well, no, not exactly, but I don’t see …” The alarms continued to blare, and suddenly Nute Gunray was unabashedly afraid. “Seal off the bridge!” he shouted frantically.
    Rune Haako backed away as the doors to the bridge began to close. His voice was small and went unheard as he whispered to himself, “That won’t be enough.”
    In seconds, the Jedi were standing in the hallway outside the bridge, dispatching the last of the battle droids that stood in their way. An unstoppable force, the two men worked in unison against their adversaries, seemingly able to anticipate every form of attack. Lightsabers flashed and stabbed in brilliant bursts of color. Droids and blasters fell away in broken pieces.
    “I want destroyer droids up here at once!” Nute Gunray screamed, watching as one of the Jedi began cutting through the bridge door with his lightsaber. He felt his throat tighten and his skin begin to crawl. “Close the blast doors! Now!”
    One after another, the blast doors began to shut and seal with hissing sounds. The crew stood transfixed as on the viewscreen the Jedi continued their attack, lightsabers cutting at the massive doors, melting away the steelcrete like soft butter. Mutters of disbelief were heard, and Nute screamed at them to be silent. Sparks showered off the blast door under attack by the Jedi, and a red spot appeared at its center where the larger man plunged his lightsaber into the metal almost up to its hilt.
    The viewscreen suddenly went blank. At the center of the door, the metal began to turn molten and drop away.
    “They’re still coming,” Rune Haako whispered, gathering his robes as he backed away further.
    Viceroy Nute Gunray said nothing in response.
Impossible!
he was thinking.
Impossible!
    Qui-Gon