|
Synopsis:
Shortly after the kidnapping of Jabba the Hutt's
son, Count Dooku and his droid army have occupied the
neutral and peaceful planet of Kiros, a planet colonised
by the Togruta, under the guise of providing protection
for the neighbouring systems from Republic aggression.
Nearly three weeks later, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin
Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano lead the Republic forces
liberating Kiros. As the final battle for the capital
and the planet nears its conclusion, General Kenobi
decides to negotiate for the surrender of the droid
army. The leader of the Separatist army on Kiros,
Commander Ugg, is a Besalisk and has been instructed not
to acquiesce to Republic demands. As Kenobi begins his
negotiations Ugg explains that he has secreted bombs in
critical locations around the city and will detonate
them if Kenobi does not surrender. Listening into
Kenobi's conversation, Anakin and Ahsoka plan to defuse
the bombs if Kenobi can extend his negotiations with Ugg.
Goading Ugg with accusations of cowardice, Kenobi
successfully gets the large Besalisk to fight him in the
"traditional way". Even though Ugg is larger
than Kenobi and has four arms, the fight is really
one-sided as even without his lightsaber, Kenobi still
has the Force to help him. With R2-D2's help, Anakin and
Ahsoka locate the bomb locations and successfully defuse
all but one bomb. In a final attempt to defeat Kenobi,
Ugg activates the bomb trigger, but the only bomb to
explode is the one located next to his own escape ship.
Angered by his own failure, Ugg lunges for Kenobi, but
by deftly sidestepping Ugg, Kenobi is able to lift him
over his shoulder and throw him through the window. Ugg
falls to his death several stories down.
As the Jedi congratulate themselves, they are aware that
they haven't seen a single native inhabitant since the
fighting began, so when Kenobi checks Ugg's transmission
records they discover that Ugg has had several
communications with someone in the Zygerrian system - a
known Separatist area and slave trading centre.
After reporting their findings to Master Yoda, Obi-Wan,
Anakin and Ahsoka are informed that Dooku has begun a
propaganda campaign blaming the Jedi for the destruction
of the Togruta. Revealing the clue of possible Zygerrian
involvement, the three Jedi are instructed to
investigate the possibility of that connection so they
can prove the Jedi's innocence.
Realising that he is chasing slavers, Anakin orders a
full troop recall from the Kiros surface and orders the
Fleet Admiral to set course for the Zygerrian
system. Obi-Wan is quick to reprimand Anakin for
being too hasty and offers an alternative plan: use the Twilight
to capture a Zygerrian ship and so masquerade as slavers
in order to infiltrate Zygerrian space.
Thus the Twilight travels to the asteroid field
that was once the homeworld of Shi'kar, but is now a
lawless region stalked by scavengers, smugglers and
pirates. It is here that they locate the Fate's Hand,
a Zygerrian slaver vessel commanded by a Captain Onyx.
At first, Anakin wants to disable the Fate's Hand's
engines, but Obi-Wan admonishes him for the possible
endangerment of slaves onboard the Fate's Hand
and suggests a more subtle route. Docking with the Fate's
Hand, the Jedi along with a squad of clonetroopers
led by Captain Rex, attempt to bluff their way on board
but are repelled by Onyx and his crew. During the
fire-fight Ahsoka is captured by the slavers while
Anakin, Obi-Wan and Rex are repelled back into the Twilight.
Ahsoka is taken to the Fate's Hand's bridge where
she is secured. However, she is left alone when Onyx and
his crew have to repair the slaver vessel's engines
after Anakin successfully disables the engines to
prevent it escaping. Ahsoka is able to retrieve her
communicator and talks to Obi-Wan who asks Ahsoka if she
can unlock the Fate's Hand's rear airlock so that
he and Anakin can rescue her. Accompanied by
clonetroopers, Obi-Wan and Anakin space-walk from the Twilight
to the Fate's Hand's airlock, which Ahsoka
successfully unlocks using the Force. With the element
of surprise, the two Jedi Knights successfully capture
the Fate's Hand while rescuing Ahsoka and learn
from Onyx that there is going to be a large slave
auction on Zygerria.
Using the captured Fate's Hand, Obi-Wan, Anakin,
Ahsoka and Captain Rex successfully bluff their way
through Zygerria's planetary defence network and land in
the capital city. Disguising themselves as slaver and
slave, Anakin and Ahsoka head towards the auction site
with Rex and Obi-Wan discretely following them as
back-up. However, Ahsoka's cover as a slave is almost
blown when she intervenes to protect a young boy from a
brutal beating by a Zygerrian slaver. Aware that Ahsoka
has committed a social faux pas, Anakin is forced to
perform a Jedi mind-trick on the slaver so that he does
not remember what Ahsoka did. Anakin then dismisses
Ahsoka telling her that being a slave is a state of mind
not just a pretence and until she understands that she
is to return to Obi-Wan and Rex while he continues on to
the auction.
But Anakin doesn't get far before he is accosted by a
Captain Slego and his squad from the Zygerrian Security
Guard who demand to know who Anakin is and why he is on
Zygerria. Attempting to bluff his way out of trouble,
Anakin explains how he won the Fate's Hand from
Captain Onyx in a game of chance. But Slego knew Onyx
and knows that Onyx would never relinquish the Fate's
Hand to anyone for any reason and attempts to arrest
Anakin. Using the Force, Anakin takes Slego's firearm
and turns it on its previous owner. The standoff is
averted by the arrival of a cam-droid that instructs
Slego and his Guards to stand down and escort Anakin,
now using the moniker Lars Quell, to the High Queen of
Zygerria.
At the Royal Palace, Anakin is introduced to Queen Miraj
who takes a liking to Anakin's arrogant attitude and her
trust in him is increased when he stops an assassination
attempt by one of the Palace's slaves. But, Anakin's
cover is nearly blown when one of the Queen's advisors
informs her that they can find no record for a Lars
Quell. Unsure of Anakin's intentions, Queen Miraj
instructs Anakin that he can stay so long as he can
supply a sample of his merchandise. Meanwhile Obi-Wan,
Rex and Ahsoka are attempting to sneak into the Palace
via the catacombs beneath it when Ahsoka spies Kiros'
Governor, Roshti, inside a cell in the detainment area.
However, after freeing Roshti, they are spotted by
guards and are forced to flee the Palace riding a pair
of large creatures.
Pursued through the streets, Obi-Wan and Roshti are
separated from Ahsoka and Rex and are eventually
captured by Zygerrian Guards. Meanwhile Ahsoka and Rex
successfully evade their pursuers and return to the Fate's
Hand where Anakin contacts his Padawan and tells her
he needs her as his 'slave' once more.
After a change of clothes and securing their weapons
inside R2-D2, Ahsoka and Rex head back to the Royal
Palace, this time Ahsoka pretending to be a Princess Zaa
Vashee, the heiress to the Throne of Shili. Impressed by
this sample, Queen Miraj demands to know Anakin's price
for this slave. To impress her further, Anakin offers
'Princess Zaa' to Queen Miraj as a gift. Gaining her
complete trust, Queen Miraj tells Anakin that he can sit
beside her at the auction.
Meanwhile in the dungeons of the Palace, Slego looks
forward to torturing Obi-Wan.
The auction begins with the arrival of the Separatist
leaders from the Techno Union and the Commerce Guild and
the first "samples" from Togruta are displayed
as specimens representing the eight million beings
presently held in an unknown place of captivity. As the
bidding begins, Anakin, as Lars Quell, discusses with
Queen Miraj the rumours of how the Kiros population were
destroyed by the Jedi in the battle to liberate their
homeworld. Miraj remarks that this was propaganda
generated by Count Dooku to vilify the Republic. The
truth being that every planet conquered by the droid
army faced the same situation as those of Kiros:
enslavement. Queen Miraj and Zygerria will act as
brokers and auctioneers of the enslaved peoples. Further
probing by Anakin reveals that all slaves are processed
in a hidden location, but Miraj would not reveal its
whereabouts.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan Kenobi is brought into the auction
ring as Miraj wants to show the buyers that even a Jedi
can be enslaved and instructs Anakin to whip Obi-Wan
into submission. Reluctantly Anakin takes the whip while
Miraj takes hold of Ahsoka, as the enslaved 'Princess
Zaa'. Obi-Wan instructs Anakin that he must use the
whip, but Anakin has other ideas.
With a clear signal to Rex who initiates a distraction,
Anakin attacks Obi-Wan's captors while R2-D2 dispatches
the hidden lightsabers to Anakin and Obi-Wan. Ahsoka
turns on the Queen force pushing her guard and
retrieving her own lightsaber. However, Ahsoka is still
wears a slave's electric collar and the Queen promptly
stuns the young Padawan with an electric shock. Seeing
his Padawan fall, Anakin attempts to rescue her but once
separated from Obi-Wan, he is overpowered by the
slavers. Meanwhile the battle begins to turn against Rex
and Obi-Wan when the clone captain is knocked down by
the blast from a rocket and they are also captured.
Learning of the auction, Count Dooku is displeased with
Miraj that she overextended her authority in proceeding
with the auction before he had authorised it and via
holocom orders the immediate execution of her Jedi
prisoners. But Miraj has another use for her prisoners.
While Obi-Wan and Rex are transported to the secret
processing plant and Ahsoka is thrown in the palace's
dungeon, Anakin is forced to become Miraj's slave -
forced to obey - otherwise his friends will be killed.
On the planet Kadavo, the secret Zygerrian slave camp,
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Captain Rex are processed as its
latest inmates. To ensure Obi-Wan's compliance, the
camp's commandant arranges a demonstration of the
futility of insubordination by killing three Togrutan
slaves who would were unwilling to yield to the slavers'
will. The commandant makes it clear to Obi-Wan that it
is not he who would be punished for his indiscretions,
but innocent Togrutans.
Meanwhile somewhere in the Drukarg Highlands on Zygerria,
Queen Miraj has arranged to take payment from some spice
runners. The spice runners have a grudge against the
queen and at the rendezvous the spice runners attack
here and her entourage. Fortunately for the queen,
Anakin Skywalker is amongst her entourage and he quickly
sees off the spice runners without mortality wounding
any of them - claiming that he will not kill for the
queen, merely protect her. After the spice runners flee,
Queen Miraj receives word that Count Dooku has arrived
in-system and requests an immediate audience with her.
As they make their way back to the palace, Miraj offers
Anakin co-rule of Zygerria and the freedom of his
friends if he acquiesces fully to her will and she can
convince Dooku of her plans. Anakin makes no commitment
to her for the time being.
In his spacecraft Dooku is instructed by Darth Sidious
to ensure that Queen Miraj follows their will and if she
wont to remove her expediently. As Dooku approaches the
palace, he dispatches Asajj Ventress to hunt down Ahsoka
Tano and use her a bait to lure Anakin away from the
queen.
Back on Kadavo, Obi-Wan quickly understands that he is
alone amongst the Togrutan slaves as any form of
defiance from him only results in the punishment of the
Togruta.
Anakin realises that with Dooku arriving he does not
have much time left to find Ahsoka and with the queen
busy preparing for the count's arrival he has the
opportunity to wander freely around the palace. Using
the Force he finds her suspended in a bird-cage and
forces her guard to exchange places with his Padawan.
Anakin instructs Ahsoka to find them transport to leave
Zygerria while he plans to return to the queen and
discover Obi-Wan's location.
Miraj meets Dooku in her throne room and the count tells
the queen that he was invited at the request of her
advisor who feared that Miraj's attachment to Anakin was
affecting her reasoning. Angry at the betrayal of her
advisor, Miraj tries to explain to Dooku of her plan to
enslave all of the Jedi, not just Anakin and Skywalker,
but Dooku is uninterested as his plans for all the Jedi
are extermination, not enslavement. When Dooku orders
the immediate execution of Anakin and Obi-Wan, Miraj
lashes out and orders her guards to arrest Dooku. With a
simple Force push Dooku incapacitates Miraj's guards and
begins to strangle the queen with a Force grip. Just
then Anakin appears on the balcony and Force throws
Dooku against the wall. In her dying words Miraj tells
Anakin that Obi-Wan is on Kadavo.
As Dooku recovers Asajj arrives to battle Anakin and in
a great struggle takes one of Asajj's lightsabers and
escapes when Ahsoka arrives flying Dooku's spacecraft.
Worried that Queen Miraj's pre-emptive auctions could
show that Dooku's propaganda regarding the fate of Kiros
was false he orders Asajj to rendezvous with General
Grievous in the Kadavo system and destroy the slave
processing plant.
Inside the slave processing plant,
despair and hopelessness has begun to infect the Togruta
slaves until Obi-Wan reminds them that their home
planet, Kiros, has been liberated from Separatist rule.
With the promise of hope returned to them, the slaves'
attitude to imprisonment changes. The change is noticed
by the camp commandant who summons Obi-Wan and Rex and
blames them for instilling defiance amongst the Togruta.
At that moment, a transport ship arrives carrying Anakin,
Ahsoka and a detachment of clone troopers. Obi-Wan
suggests that the camp commandant surrenders, but the
commandant threatens to purge all the slaves unless the
Jedi and clones surrender. Just as Anakin surrenders,
Asajj Ventress arrives with droid reinforcements but
instead of assisting the slavers, they begin to attack
the processing plant.
Realising he has been betrayed by the Separatists, the
commandant hesitates too long in accepting Anakin's
surrender and Obi-Wan and Rex overpower him and their
guards. Although Obi-Wan stops the purge of the Togruta
by destroying the control console.
Meanwhile, Anakin and the clones focus their firepower
on the droid bombers and are successful in repelling the
attack. Anakin and Ahsoka secure Obi-Wan and Rex's
freedom from the control room but discover that many of
the Togruta slaves are still in danger. Utilising the
transport ship the three Jedi rescue the slaves from
certain death but are attacked by Asajj and her
spaceship. Working together the three Jedi and Rex hold
off Ventress's attacks but just as she is about to
destroy them, Republic reinforcements led by Master Plo
Koon force Asajj to retreat.
The camp commandant and Zygerrian slavers are imprisoned
by the Republic and the processing plant destroyed. The
surviving Togruta slaves are returned to Kiros where the
once peaceful Togruta realise that they must be in a
position to protect themselves and begin training under
the tutelage of clone units. |