Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
Author: Ryder Windham
Date: 2000-01-01 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Star Wars; Science Fiction; Fiction; Fantasy; Young Adult; Space; Childrens; Juvenile; War; Adventure
Description: The full story of Anakin Skywalker, from his birth in slavery to his death as the powerful Darth Vader ... told for the first time in its entirety by NYT bestselling Star Wars author Ryder Windham.The full story of Anakin Skywalker, from his birth in slavery to his death as the powerful Darth Vader ... told for the first time in its entirety by NYT bestselling Star Wars author Ryder Windham. Spanning all six Star Wars movie and including the pieces of the story that fill in the gaps, this novel will be a must-have for any Star Wars fan.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Except for the Gungans themselves, the pure Gungan language is almost impossible to understand. Fortunately, most Gungans speak a pidgin dialect of Galactic Basic, but some phrasing may still bewilder the inexperienced outlander. If you are confused by any Gungan words and sentences in this story, try reading them out loud.

Before the planet Naboo’s battle against the Trade Federation, Jar Jar Binks was not very popular with his fellow Gungans. The Gungans were proud of their heritage as noble warriors, and they viewed the ever-clumsy Jar Jar as an embarrassment.

Jar Jar’s bungling behavior made him infamous throughout the underwater city of Otoh Gunga. Whenever an accident occurred there, everyone immediately assumed Jar Jar was responsible — and they were usually right.

Boss Nass, ruler of Otoh Gunga, was well aware of Jar Jar’s bad reputation when he read a petition — signed by over three hundred citizens — to remove Jar Jar to a small, private habitat bubble at the city’s outskirts. After Boss Nass tore up the petition, his Rep Council advised him to send Jar Jar to a military post on Naboo’s surface. Boss Nass quickly vetoed the Reps’ proposal, too.

Boss Nass had little sympathy for Jar Jar, but he knew that sending him away was not a good solution. Jar Jar would only find his way back to Otoh Gunga. So Boss Nass decided to give him something that no one else had ever dared to offer the accident-prone Gungan.

A job.

“Dis job stinksowiff,” Jar Jar Binks muttered to himself. He was working the night shift at the Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility, pushing a dudu-scooper across the cold stone floor of the blackhorned hrumph cage. All fifteen rare hrumphs had left to roam the terraformed savanna outside the cage, but the beasts’ pungent odor hung heavy in the enclosed chamber.

“If mesa no getten lungfulla fresh air, mesa ganna die,” Jar Jar whined. Hoping to bring fresh air into the cage, he pushed back the broad doors of the cage’s janitorial-access hatch. Much to his dismay, the open hatch did little to diminish the cage’s foul stench. Jar Jar went back to work.

Like the rest of Otoh Gunga, the zoological research facility lay in the deep waters of Lake Paonga on the planet Naboo. The city was home to the Gungans, an amphibious species characterized by partially retractable eyestalks, four-fingered hands, and haillu, two long earlobes used for displays of aggression, friendship, and fear. Naboo was also home to a human civilization who shared a name with the planet itself. The Gungans occasionally traded goods with the Naboo, but any meeting required a long journey. The most direct route between Otoh Gunga and the Naboo capital city, Theed, was through a series of underwater passages known as the core. Since the core was also home to menacing sea creatures, the route was not often used.

Besides the physical distance between their cities, the Gungans and Naboo were separated by great cultural differences. The Naboo embraced peace, while the Gungans were warriors. The Gungans were also reluctant to use standard technology, and preferred to work with their planet’s natural resources.

To build Otoh Gunga, the Gungans had employed secret techniques to “grow” their structures and vehicles. The architecture was distinguished by bubbleshaped buildings that were anchored to massive stone pillars on the lake’s floor, and linked by underwater bridges and transport tubes. Hydrostatic membrane fields kept water out of the spacious dwelling bubbles, and special portal zones allowed the Gungans to enter and exit without airlocks. Each bubble was reinforced by organically ornate utanode assembly braces, and contained atmospheric purifiers that radiated a soft, golden haze. From just below the water’s surface, the sprawling city resembled a sunken treasure of gigantic, glowing jewels.

The Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility was a great expanse of linked habitat bubbles that held thousands of exotic creatures from all over Naboo. Air-filled bubbles with terraformed environments housed wild animals from the planet’s surface, while rare sea life thrived in an elaborate chain of enclosed aquariums. Every specimen in the facility had one thing in common: they were all endangered.

Jar Jar tried to clean the chamber floor quickly. The blackhorned hrumphs were due back from their savanna within five minutes, and he was scheduled to clean eight more cages before munchen. Although Jar Jar had a healthy appetite, he wasn’t really looking forward to going to the facility cafeteria. It was always too quiet during the night shift — everyone else had gone home. Granted, the day shift wasn’t much better. No one ever wanted to sit near him anyway.

Jar Jar let out a sigh. Even Captain Tarpals refused to associate with him anymore.

Trying to forget about his current situation, Jar Jar thought about the upcoming Festival of Warriors, the annual competition that united Gungans from all over Naboo. With its parades and parties, the festival was Jar Jar’s favorite event of the year. Unfortunately, the highly anticipated festival was going to be held in the new arena at the bottom of Lake Umberbool. Jar Jar hadn’t been working at the facility long enough to earn a vacation, and his schedule wouldn’t permit him to make the journey to the distant lake. The lonesome Gungan was wondering if Boss Nass might temporarily reassign him to work at the Festival Arena, when his thoughts were interrupted by a loud, bestial snort. Startled, Jar Jar whirled to face the tunnel that led to the savanna.

A single blackhorned hrumph looked back at Jar Jar. The Gungan knew he wasn’t in any danger — hrumphs are herbivores — but he was flustered.

“Hey, what yousa tink yousa doen back hair?” Jar Jar scolded the hrumph. “Yous not due back fer anutter fiven minutes. Goen! Get outta hair!”

The hrumph craned its thick neck to train its small eyes on something behind Jar Jar, then snorted again. Jar Jar turned, following the hrumph’s gaze to see the cage’s janitorial-access hatch.

The hatch was wide open, just as Jar Jar had left it.

A scuffing sound prompted Jar Jar to look back at the hrumph. The beast had extended one of its legs and was dragging its foot back and forth across the floor. Jar Jar wasn’t certain, but he suspected the hrumph was preparing to charge for the open hatch. He tightened his grip on the handle of dudu-scooper. The hrumph let out another loud snort.

Jar Jar laughed nervously. “Why mesa skeered? My smarter den da hrumph,” he said to himself. Then he pointed at the hrumph and commanded, “Stay where yousa is! No moven!” Jar Jar went to shut the access hatch, but he tripped over the dudu-scooper and crashed to the cage floor. “Oop-sie!”

The hrumph moved fast, bounding over Jar Jar and through the open hatch. Jar Jar scrambled to his feet but was too late. The hrumph was already in the janitorial-access tube.

“Oie boie,” Jar Jar muttered, then ran after the fugitive hrumph. Jar Jar was so determined to capture the animal he forgot that other hrumphs would soon be returning to their cage.

He also forgot to shut the access hatch behind him.

Running as fast as he could, Jar Jar pursued the blackhorned hrumph through the access tube. His long ears flopped behind his head.

For a large creature, the hrumph was surprisingly fast. Jar Jar was fairly certain he could catch up with the hrumph, but he didn’t know how he might stop the heavy beast.

“Quit runnen away!” Jar Jar shouted after the hrumph, which only made the animal run faster. Jar Jar watched the hrumph break through the doors that led to the cafeteria. By the time Jar Jar entered the room, the hrumph had knocked over several tables, smashed through another set of doors, and entered the next tube.

Jar Jar sped after the hrumph, then panicked when it rounded a corner and ran into an adjoining tube. Jar Jar loved food, so he was very familiar with the layout around the cafeteria. He knew the adjoining tube ended with a portal zone with direct access to the lake. If he didn’t stop the hrumph before it reached the portal, the animal might break through the bubble enclosing the facility.

And if the hrumph were to leave the bubble, it would drown.

Jar Jar ran faster. As he neared the passage intersection, he heard a loud crash from around the corner. Had the hrumph just burst through the portal? Jar Jar rounded the corner too fast and lost his balance, sending him sprawling into the adjoining passage tube, where he slammed against the wall. Stunned, Jar Jar looked to the end of the passage, where the hrumph lay silent on the floor.

A security light glowed red, indicating the bubble door was locked. Only then did Jar Jar remember the doors were sealed when the facility was closed. Jar Jar got up and examined the fallen beast. The hrumph had run headfirst into the transparent energy field and bounced back into the passage tube. Jar Jar was afraid the poor animal had broken its neck.

Fortunately, hrumphs were sturdy, solid creatures. A loud snort came from the hrumph’s nostrils, and it slowly rose to its feet. It looked at Jar Jar and shook its blackhorned head.

“Hey ho ho,” Jar Jar laughed. “Lucky yousa, numbskull! Reached a dead end, yousa did. Now my ganna bringen yousa back to yousa cage before mesa getten in trouble.” Jar Jar had to admit, if such an accident had to happen, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Since the zoological research facility was closed, no one would know he had accidentally let one of the animals loose.

The Gungan carefully reached out to grab the hrumph by its lowest rack of horns. But just as his hands touched the hrumph, an emergency alarm began wailing: WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!

“Oh no!” Jar Jar cried. “Whaten gooie on?!”

While the alarm blared, something in the water outside the portal zone caught Jar Jar’s attention — it was a broad-bellied hohokum, an amphibious creature that was normally found in the swamps of Naboo.

But this was not an ordinary hohokum. It was twice the average size, had unusually long tusks, and appeared to possess an aged wisdom in its sleepy eyes. Despite his limited experience at the facility, Jar Jar recognized the animal as the Great Hohokum, a specimen that was over four centuries old. The Great Hohokum happened to be one of the most important creatures in the facility, second only to the…

“Dwarf opee sea killers!” Jar Jar gasped as he spotted Vink and Nink, the zoo’s famous pair of heavily plated monsters swimming past the portal. The dwarf opee sea killers were less than half the size of their full-size counterparts, their genetic makeup preventing them from growing any larger.

They appeared to be enjoying their freedom. They were followed by an albino dianoga, three broadtailed fanbacks, and a school of jumbo daggerts. All were rare aquatic life-forms. Jar Jar blinked in disbelief, then asked aloud, “How come all dese rarity aquabeasts are outta dare bubbles?”

Jar Jar pressed his face against the transparent portal so he could look toward the aquarium bubbles. But instead of seeing bubbles, he saw only empty utanode assembly braces suspended in the water. Those braces should have been holding the aquarium bubbles.

Jar Jar shrugged his shoulders. As far as he was concerned, his job was to clean up after the animals. For all he knew, someone had moved the aquarium bubbles, or maybe the facility’s director had deliberately released the creatures. Jar Jar figured it was somebody else’s problem, and that the security guards would handle everything if there was any real trouble. Besides, Jar Jar already had his work cut out for him. He still had to get the hrumph back to its cage, and the sooner the better.

It took less than ten minutes for Huff Zinga, Director of the Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility, to identify the culprit responsible for the aquarium disaster. It was a simple matter of deductive reasoning: fourteen of the fifteen blackhorned hrumphs had been found loose in the zoo; two of the hrumphs had stampeded into the control room, smashed into the main bubble computer, and opened the aquarium bubbles. The fifteenth hrumph was found on the hrumph savanna, lazily chewing on some tentacle ferns. Near the grazing hrumph was a sleeping Gungan.

Jar Jar Binks.

Jar Jar had been exhausted after returning the single hrumph to its cage. When a pair of guards roused him from his slumber, he responded, “How wude!”

Rather than turn Jar Jar over to the authorities, the furious Huff Zinga chose to lock him in the hrumph cage for the rest of the day. Then the researchers and caretakers worked round the clock to recover the escaped specimens and replace the lost bubbles. The dwarf opee sea killers and Great Hohokum were still missing, but when the broadtailed fanbacks and jumbo daggerts were found unharmed, Huff Zinga considered celebrating by feeding Jar Jar to the saber-toothed granks. The facility’s director finally decided that death by granks would be too good a fate for the irresponsible janitor, so he had the Gungan Security Force deliver Jar Jar to Boss Nass instead.

Wearing binders, Jar Jar was led by four electropole-wielding Gungan guards to the bubble that contained the High Tower Board Room, where the Rep Council was in session. The heavyset Boss Nass was perched on his elevated seat in the center of a raised balcony.

Boss Nass was surrounded by four Gungan officials known as Reps. One of the Reps was Rep Teers, who was responsible for the power supply that sustained the bubbles in Otoh Gunga. Although the facility’s bubbles had been restored, Rep Teers was embarrassed that they had been so easily ruined in the first place. The sight of Jar Jar Binks filled him with annoyance. Keeping his voice calm, Rep Teers rose, turned to Boss Nass, and said, “Pardon me, Boss, but mesa schedule-ed to speed by bongo to meet wit da bubble engineers at da new arena bubbles in Lake Umberbool.” He’d let Boss Nass deal with Jar Jar.

Boss Nass could tell it was best to let Rep Teers leave, so he nodded his approval. As Rep Teers exited the Board Room, Boss Nass looked down at Jar Jar and frowned. The ruler of Otoh Gunga felt foolish for thinking Jar Jar would be able to work at the zoological research facility. Boss Nass hated feeling foolish, especially in front of his soldiers and Reps.

“Dissen no good, Binks,” Boss Nass bellowed. “Too many yesterdays, mesa let yousa offa da hook. But da charge-es against yous isa berry serius. Yousa bein accuse-ed of letten all da hrumphs loose un causen da aquarium bubbles to goen kerplooie. What yousa havena to spake for youself?”

“Tis all my fault for leavin da hrumph cage hatch open,” Jar Jar answered. “My trow meself upon da mercy of da court. Mesa berry berry sorry.”

“Yousa sorry?” Boss Nass scowled. “Jar Jar, yousa da most sorry-est Gungan in all-n Naboo.”

Jar Jar wasn’t sure how he should respond. He cocked his head to the side as he thought very hard, then said, “All tings considered, it cowdabe worsen.”

“Worsen?!” Boss Nass sputtered. With so many of Naboo’s endangered creatures still on the loose, he didn’t see how things could have been worse. “What yous meanen, cowdabe worsen?!”

“Oh, much worsen!” Jar Jar replied. “Imagin if da hrumphs hada bust-ed up da ’puters dat control-ed da bubbles for da rarity air-breathen mammals. All-n dem air-breathers wowdabe drown-ed. Was kinda lucky only da aquarium bubbles got burst-ed. Also lucky dat nobody got ouch-ed!”

Boss Nass could hardly believe his ears. Granted, the accident could have been much worse if the hrumphs had destroyed the computers that controlled the bubbles for air-breathing specimens, but Boss Nass considered this to be irrelevant. “Da fact remains dat dis axadent no should’ve happened,” he declared. “Tis only outta respict to yousa mutter un fatter dat my no sentence yous to bean pounded.”

Jar Jar’s shoulders sagged, and he looked down at his binders. He always felt sad when anyone reminded him of his mother and father. But at least he wasn’t going to be pounded. He raised his eyestalks to Boss Nass and waited for the ruler’s verdict.

“Jar Jar Binks,” Boss Nass said. “Yousa found guilty of bean a menace to Otoh Gunga. Mese putten yous on probay-shun. If yousa causen any more axadentes in da rest of da year, yousa ganna be banish-ed from Otoh Gunga forever.”

Jar Jar gulped. For any other Gungan, a year was a long time to avoid an accident. For Jar Jar, it was practically impossible. Still, he felt grateful to Boss Nass for giving him one last chance.

“Tanken yousa, Boss Nass, Your Honor,” Jar Jar said with a bow. Thinking the trial was over, Jar Jar raised his manacled wrists and added, “If my ganna be stayen outta trouble, maybee now isa good time for da guards to take offa dese binders?”

“Mesa no finish-ed wit yous, Jar Jar Binks,” Boss Nass said, and he gestured for the four guards to block Jar Jar’s path. Jar Jar hadn’t bathed since his captivity with the hrumphs, so the guards kept their distance. “Becausen of da damage you cause-ed da Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility,” Boss Nass continued, “mese also senten-cen yous to six-munts harsh labor.”

“Harsh labor?!” Jar Jar echoed. He doubted he’d survive six hours of harsh labor, let alone six months. “Even mure harshen den cleanen dudu at da zoo?”

“Far mure harshen,” Boss Nass hissed. “Maxi-harshest, yousa get. Yousa bean taken tooda Quarry.”

The mere mention of the Quarry made Jar Jar tremble. For centuries, the underwater grotto had been nothing more than an isolated place of punishment, located near the edge of the core. There, convicts had hammered large boulders into grains of sand, then molded the sand back into large boulders, then repeated the process over again and again. It was such a horrible punishment the Gungans had created better places for prisoners. The Quarry hadn’t been used for over three generations, but it carried on as the place where Gungan parents would jokingly threaten to send any ill-mannered children.

“But… but…” Jar Jar stammered. “My taut da Quarry was close-ed un abandon-ed.”

“Tis true,” Boss Nass admitted. “But wesa ganna open it just for yousa.”

Jar Jar Binks was escorted by the four guards and Boss Nass to the nearest sub pen, a bubbleshaped docking port for underwater vessels. Commander Wollod, a lean Gungan officer with short whiskers on his upper lip, was waiting. He stood at full attention as Boss Nass approached.

Boss Nass nodded to Wollod and ordered, “Prepare da Grande Army Transport bongo for go-away maxi-fast.”

“No can do da maxi, Boss Nass,” Wollod answered. “Captain Tarpals alritty taken da Army Transport to go searchen for dem escaped beasties.”

Boss Nass snorted. Jar Jar’s accidents tended to have long term effects, and the research facility incident was no exception. “So we no gotta Army bongo,” Boss Nass shrugged. “We taken da Rep heyblibber.”

“Tis too late,” the commander replied. “Rep Teers alritty gone-away in da Rep heyblibber, off-n to inspict da festival arena bubbles at Lake Umberbool. Wesa got only three vessels. Firstest, dare-sa standard tribubble bongo. Secondest, dare-sa militia-camo tribubble bongo. Thirdest, dare-sa yous heyblibber.”

Boss Nass grimaced. He’d wanted the dangerously clumsy Jar Jar to be watched by the four guards in an Army Transport bongo, but the available tribubble bongos were designed to seat only a pilot and two passengers. Boss Nass’s private heyblibber was a vintage luxury bongo that could easily accommodate two dozen soldiers, but he didn’t want to risk any damage to his prized submersible.

“Wesa taken wunna da bongos,” Boss Nass quickly decided.

“Whichen?” Commander Wollod asked.

The militia-camo bongo had the advantage of a weapons system and camouflage colors, but the standard bongo — unencumbered by heavy weaponry — was a faster vessel. “Since yousa ganna be da pilot, Commander Wollod, mesa let-ten yousa choose da bongo.” Boss Nass turned to the lead guard and said, “Give mesa da key to Jar Jar’s binders.”

The four guards exchanged bewildered expressions, then the lead guard cleared his throat. “Maxi-pardon for asking, Boss,” the lead guard said as he handed the key to the ruler of Otoh Gunga, “but whosa ganna watch Jar Jar Binks?”

Boss Nass glared at the manacled prisoner. “Guard-n Binks isa job mesa take-n personal-ly,” Boss Nass declared as he pocketed the key. “My wanna make certain dat dare-sa no axadentes be-tweena hair unda Quarry!”

The Gungan-designed tribubble bongo was fifteen meters long. Propelled by rotating electromotive tentacles, the entire vessel resembled something like a mechanical sea creature. There were three bubble-canopied passenger compartments, one on each wing and one at the nose. The wing compartments were loaded with provisions, and the nose compartment housed the cockpit that seated three Gungans.

Boss Nass was squeezed into the navigator seat. To his left, the sub’s controls were in the capable hands of Commander Wollod, who had brought two weapons: an electropole and a short-barrelled stunner.

Buckled in the single backseat, Jar Jar Binks sat in stunned silence, trying to relax his arms so the binders wouldn’t hurt his wrists. Under any other circumstances, Jar Jar might have enjoyed a ride in a bongo. As things were, he was in a daze. He hadn’t even noticed whether they had left Otoh Gunga in the standard or militia-camo bongo, and he couldn’t tell the difference from inside the vessel.

Jar Jar stared over the shoulders of Wollod and Boss Nass, through the cockpit’s hydrostatic bubble canopy. The sub’s navigational lights cut through the murky water and illuminated the treacherous underwater mountain range that lined the route to the Quarry. Tall columns of twisted aquatic plants were also visible, and they seemed to glide past the bongo as it angled toward a deep chasm.

The bongo’s cockpit bubble worked on the same principle as the portal zones on the habitat bubbles of Otoh Gunga. With relative ease, solid objects could pass back and forth through the cockpit bubble. For a brief moment, Jar Jar considered escaping through the cockpit bubble, but he immediately dismissed the notion. Even if he got away from the sub, he doubted he would survive very long near the perilous region of the core, especially since he was wearing binders.

Nearly an hour had passed since the bongo left Otoh Gunga, and Jar Jar knew the sub was only minutes away from its dreaded destination. Jar Jar wished the research facility incident had never happened, that it was all some terrible dream from which he would soon awake. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. No luck.

A light winked on the bongo’s communications console, followed by a burst of static. “Boss Nass!” a Gungan voice crackled from the comm unit. “Dis is Goodrow Neb Nob at Otoh Gunga Traffic Control. Our sensors detecten a seaquake, five kilometers south-west of yousa position. An underwater storm cowdabe headen yousa way. Yousa advise-ed to take defens-ive cover or combackie to Otoh Gunga immidyet-ly.”

Jar Jar Binks didn’t know how to react to this information. Part of him was glad that his voyage to the Quarry had been interrupted, but the possibility of an underwater storm was scary. Jar Jar moved his secured wrists together as he tightened the safety harness that strapped him to his seat.

Commander Wollod raised a viewscreen that showed a navigational chart of the region. The seaquake zone was in close proximity to the new festival arena in Lake Umberbool. Boss Nass leaned back to the comm unit and said, “Neb Nob! Did yousa senda warning to Rep Teers un da festival arena?”

“Wesa lose comm-talkie wit both da festival arena un da Rep heyblibber,” Neb Nob replied. “Wesa tinker da seaquake mighta knocked out all comm-talkie in dat area.”

Boss Nass looked at Commander Wollod. “Anybody else beside-n Rep Teers on da Rep heyblibber?”

Commander Wollod swallowed hard before he answered. “Da Rep heyblibber’s pilot isa Major Fassa.”

Wollod’s statement was followed by a brief silence. From the backseat, Jar Jar could see Boss Nass’s fingers tighten their grip on the comm unit. Jar Jar had never heard of Major Fassa, but he got the impression that the name brought some distress to Boss Nass.

“Dis pleasure cruise isa now official-ly a rescue mission!” Boss Nass declared as he magnified the viewscreen’s navigational chart. From the bongo’s present position, the most direct route to the festival arena was through the chasm that cut past the entrance to the Quarry. Boss Nass showed the chart to Commander Wollod and announced, “Wesa ganna take da speedest way to Lake Umberbool…”

“Hang on, Boss!” Commander Wollod interrupted. Wollod pointed at a yellow warning light that flashed next to the sub’s navigation sensor field indicator. “Sensors say da storm isa ganna hit big-time.”

“When?” Boss Nass asked. As if in response, a sound like rumbling thunder groaned from the deep and grew louder. Suddenly, a dark wall of rapidly churning water and sand fell over the bongo, sending the vessel tumbling out of control. Commander Wollod pulled back hard on the joystick, but as the bongo rolled, his head struck hard against the communications console. Wollod’s body went limp, and he fell against the joystick.

“Wollod!” Boss Nass shouted. “Straighten out da forward diving plane!”

“Metinks Commander Wollod isa knocked out!” Jar Jar observed from the back seat as he tried to keep his own head from bouncing off the canopy rim. “Looks liken Wollod also bust-ed da comm. Lemme outta dese binders! Wesa gotten swim! Ye guds, wesa ganna get pasted!”

“Shut yousa talkity-trap!” Boss Nass snarled as he tried to push Wollod’s unconscious body off the controls. “Nobody isa getten pasted unless-n mesa say so!”

An alarm began beeping loudly within the cockpit. Unable to see anything but roiling darkness outside the bongo, Jar Jar glanced past the struggling Boss Nass at the oval navigation sensor field indicator. Jar Jar wasn’t very good at reading sensors, but from what little he knew, it looked like the seismic wave was sweeping the bongo into the mountain range.

“Oie boie!” Jar Jar whined. “Dissen ganna be messy!”

Without warning, a rip current slammed down on the bongo’s starboard side, sending the vessel into a dizzying plunge. The hydrostatic field generators let out a mechanical screech as the passengers were tossed within the cramped cockpit. As the bongo headed even faster toward the mountains, only one Gungan remained conscious.

He reached desperately for the controls.

At this point, you can either continue reading this adventure, or you can play your own adventure in the Rescue In the Core Game Book.

To play your own adventure, turn to the first page of the Game Book and follow the directions you find there.

To continue reading this Jedi adventure, turn the page!

Jar Jar Binks couldn’t believe his bad luck. He was in binders, Boss Nass and Commander Wollod were unconscious, and their tribubble bongo was caught in a turbulent underwater storm. Jar Jar couldn’t see anything but mud and sand outside the cockpit, but the submersible vehicle’s sensors indicated the bongo was barreling toward an aquatic mountain range.

Moving his bound wrists from side to side, Jar Jar quickly unbuckled his seat belt and leaned forward, placing himself between the two front seats. He had limited experience with bongos, but he knew the cockpit could eject as an emergency escape pod. Since the sub was rapidly rolling near the mountain, Jar Jar feared he’d only launch the cockpit straight into a wall of rock.

He located what he believed to be the sub’s automatic guidance system and flipped a switch. To Jar Jar’s dismay, the switch made the forward diving plane retract into the sub’s nose, making the bongo roll even faster. With his head bouncing against the cockpit bubble’s hard rim, Jar Jar threw the switch back into place, pushed the navigational controls, and hoped for the best.

The sub continued to roll, and Jar Jar pushed harder on the throttles while turning into the direction of the roll. Miraculously, the bongo righted itself and slowed to a stop. Jar Jar still couldn’t see much outside the cockpit, so he stared at the sub’s sensor monitor. On the sensors, he saw a small image of the sub, hovering between two angular lines. Jar Jar guessed that the sensor indicated that the sub was hovering in an underwater chasm between two high cliffs. A wide ledge jutted out from the cliff face at starboard.

Suddenly, two large objects appeared on the sub’s sensors. Both objects were descending from above. More information flashed on the sensor screen, and Jar Jar realized the objects were mammoth boulders — several times bigger than the bongo — probably knocked from the top of the chasm by the powerful storm.

“Oyi, ye guds!” Jar Jar gasped. With his hands still in binders and his wide eyes on the sensor screen, he pulled back on the controls, trying to steer the bongo under the wide ledge. The bongo slipped under the ledge just as the two boulders crashed into the chasm. Jar Jar closed his eyes and gritted his teeth at the sound of the impact above him.

Outside the cockpit, the churned-up sand dropped away, settling down to the lake floor. At first, Jar Jar thought the storm had subsided and the danger was over, but then the sub’s sensors indicated that the two boulders weren’t the only stones that had crashed down from the underwater mountains. The storm had caused a massive avalanche, and the chasm was completely sealed off by many layers of wide, heavy rocks.

Jar Jar was relieved that the avalanche had not reached the sub, but he wasn’t sure how to proceed. There wasn’t any way to use the chasm as a route to the Festival Arena in Lake Umberbool. He looked at the unconscious form of Boss Nass.

“Mesa never tinken mesa say dis, Boss,” Jar Jar muttered, “but mesa surr wish-n yousa come outta da sleepies un do sumptin smarty. What can mesa do? All lock-ed up in dese binders…”

At that moment, Jar Jar remembered the binder key.

Jar Jar dipped both of his hands into Boss Nass’s pocket, retrieved the key, and quickly popped the locking mechanism. He smiled as he massaged his freed wrists and flexed his fingers. Although he was nervous about finding a way out of the chasm, he could hardly wait to get his hands on the bongo’s controls.

With much uncomfortable effort, Jar Jar pulled Commander Wollod out of the pilot seat and transferred him to the backseat. After Wollod was securely belted in. Jar Jar slipped behind the control console and tried to familiarize himself with the various switches and buttons.

Jar Jar tried to calm his panic. He didn’t want to die! He believed the sub was equipped to launch an emergency distress beacon. The beacon could provide tracking information to help Otoh Gunga locate the bongo. The sub’s communications system was damaged, but everything else appeared to be fully operational. The only problem was getting the beacon out of the chasm.

Jar Jar gulped and gazed up through the cockpit to the layers of fallen rocks that closed off the chasm. By sheer luck, he found a small gap between two wide slabs of stone. The gap looked just large enough to allow passage for the emergency distress beacon.

Looking at the control console, Jar Jar tried to locate the button that would launch the beacon. There were dozens of buttons, and almost all of them bore an icon to represent the button’s function. But none of the icons looked anything like an emergency distress beacon. In truth, Jar Jar wasn’t even sure he’d recognize such a beacon if he saw one. Then he noticed five unmarked red buttons. Since they were red, Jar Jar was pretty certain those particular buttons were to be used in an emergency (and this was one!), but he still didn’t know which button might launch the beacon.

Jar Jar’s right hand covered his eyes while his left hand hovered over the red buttons. Preparing to jab a button at random, he wagged his left index finger as he whispered a gibberish countdown he vaguely remembered from childhood: “Ipsee, mipsee, monsee… mope!” At the final word, Jar Jar brought his finger down.

The bongo’s interior was instantly filled by the wail of a loud siren. Jar Jar’s hands flew over his ears, and when he looked down at the red buttons, he realized he had no idea which button he’d pushed. Frantic, Jar Jar tapped at each button.

First, he activated and deactivated a set of flashing emergency lights. Then he increased the volume of the siren, which sent his ears flapping behind his head. He pushed that same button again and the siren stopped. With the siren’s noise still echoing in his skull, Jar Jar mumbled, “Dese buttons isa bad bombin on me noggin!”

Jar Jar braced himself as he pushed another button, then heard a great whoosh as the emergency distress beacon launched from the sub’s belly. He craned his neck to gaze through the cockpit canopy, and watched the globe-shaped beacon rise up through the gap in the rocks and out of the chasm. Jar Jar crossed his fingers, hopeful that Otoh Gunga Traffic Control would soon pick up the beacon’s signal and send out a rescue team.

It was not merely impatience that made it impossible for Jar Jar to wait for a rescue team to come. The more he thought of the many tons of rocks piled over the chasm, the more he imagined the horrors of another avalanche. He also imagined how thankful Boss Nass would be if Jar Jar could deliver the bongo to the festival arena, or if he rescued the Rep heyblibber. Jar Jar would be a hero! He wouldn’t have to go to the Quarry…

Nearly delirious with the idea of a grateful Boss Nass, Jar Jar wondered if he should also try to recover the lost creatures.

Jar Jar looked at Boss Nass and Commander Wollod. Both were still knocked out, but appeared to be breathing steadily. It was as good a time as any to try to find a way out of the chasm.

Testing the controls, Jar Jar increased power to the sub’s navigational lights and scanned the chasm walls. The sub’s lights illuminated a large, jagged entrance to a cavern. Jar Jar checked the navigational charts, and noted that the cavern led to the Quarry. Despite the storm and avalanche, Jar Jar had stumbled upon the entrance of his dreaded destination.

Jar Jar felt a chill race down his back. As a youngster, he had heard all the tales of the Quarry. He believed his instructor had taken some cruel delight in frightening her pupils with stories of the inescapable underwater prison.

Except for the cavern, the charts did not reveal any other access or outlet to the Quarry, but the storm and avalanche had left Jar Jar with limited options. It seemed the only way out of the chasm was to enter the cavern and journey to the Quarry.

Although the bongo’s drive was on hold, the sub was moving slowly through the water, drifting toward the mouth of the cavern. Jar Jar knew that water flowing into the cavern meant the possibility of some kind of current. He decided to sit back and enjoy the ride.

The bongo drifted into the cavern. Jar Jar aimed the sub’s navigational lights down the length of the wide, water-filled cave. The sub was barely twenty meters into the cave when the entire vehicle suddenly lurched hard to the right. Jar Jar suspected the sub’s electromotive drive fins had snagged on something in the cave, and he scanned the darkness behind the sub.

The bongo hadn’t snagged anything at all. In fact, something had snagged the sub.

It was a giant colo claw fish.

Sixty meters in length, the colo claw fish was a fanged, serpentine predator easily distinguished by its distensible jaw, which allowed it to swallow prey larger than its own head. Unless Jar Jar could free the bongo from the colo’s jaws, the monster would tear the sub open and devour everyone inside.

Hoping to speed forward into the cave, Jar Jar grabbed the controls and pushed the throttles, but accidentally shifted into reverse drive. Jar Jar was surprised when the bongo backed up with a sudden burst of speed, but the colo claw fish was even more surprised. The monster’s head whipped sideways as it was pushed back, smacking hard against the cavern wall.

Jar Jar threw the bongo into forward drive and the sub sped away, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake. Behind him, the colo braced itself against the wall and pushed off, swimming fast after the bongo. The colo rammed its head against the side of the unarmed submersible, and Jar Jar pulled hard to the right to prevent the bongo from crashing into the cavern wall. Jar Jar tried to fight off his growing sense of panic, then gave up and screamed. He didn’t care whether Boss Nass or Commander Wollod woke up and heard him. He just wanted to get out of the cavern.

All of a sudden, the cavern ascended at a sharp angle. Jar Jar pulled back on the controls and the sub shot upward. The colo claw fish wasn’t so lucky, and slammed facefirst into the cavern floor. If Jar Jar hadn’t been screaming the whole time, he might have shouted for joy.

Jar Jar realized the colo had ended its pursuit of the bongo, and he caught his breath. The sub continued to rise up along the cavern’s inclined floor. Strangely, the water level began to drop until it only reached halfway up the cavern walls, then the cavern leveled off. They were now above sea level. The bongo rose to float at the water’s surface, and the top of the sub nearly touched the cavern’s ceiling. Still safe within the cockpit, Jar Jar saw that the sub was now floating down a rapid river within the cavern. The current became faster, and Jar Jar heard a loud surge of water flowing up ahead. At last, he found the source of the strong current.

It was a waterfall. And Jar Jar was headed straight over the edge.

Jar Jar quickly studied the bongo control console again. He wished everything wasn’t happening so fast so he could take the time to figure out the function of each switch and dial. He also wished there was a switch, saying:

IF YOUSA GOEN OVER WATERFALL,

PUSH DIS SWITCH!

Obviously, there wasn’t. Jar Jar was about to close his eyes and start pushing buttons again when he located the control lever for the sub’s hydrostatic field generator. He had a hunch that if he could increase energy to the generator, it would strengthen the water-repelling power of the field.

Jar Jar threw the lever just as the bongo sailed over the edge of the waterfall. For a moment, the cockpit bubble glowed intensely. Then the sub plummeted downward. Jar Jar covered his eyes.

There was a mighty splash, and the sub descended into a deep pool. Incredibly, the hydrostatic fields held the entire, vessel together. Jar Jar glanced at the bongo’s sensors to learn the waterfall had emptied into a pool that was located in an immense, air-filled, subterranean chamber.

The sub traveled quickly to the bottom of the pool, which was lined by twelve drain vents. Although the drains were easily over a hundred years old, they remained fully functional, drawing water out of the pool before it could overflow from the waterfall’s discharge. Each drain vent was only the size of a small viewport, and prevented any avenue of escape for a full-grown Gungan, or a tribubble bongo.

The drain vents tugged at the bongo from all sides, sending the vehicle into a dizzying spin at the bottom of the pool. Jar Jar knew that unless he could immediately bring the bongo to the surface of the pool, the vessel would be pulled apart by powerful suction from the opposing drains.

He pulled back on the controls, but the bongo remained at the bottom of the pool. Jar Jar wondered why the bongo wouldn’t rise, then saw a warning light flash on the console. The sub’s buoyancy chambers had filled to capacity, and the water was weighing the sub down. Fortunately, the buoyancy control switch was also flashing. With the flip of the switch, Jar Jar emptied the chambers and the sub instantly began to rise.

“Mesa tink mesa getten da hanga dis,” a pleased Jar Jar said to himself.

The sub broke the pool’s surface a short distance away from the waterfall. Jar Jar gazed through the hydrostatic bubble canopy, surveying the subterranean chamber. High, rocky walls led up to a natural vaulted ceiling which supported the weight of many conical stalactites. The stalactites were luminous, and radiated a greenish-yellow light across the chamber. A hydrostatic barrier high above and all around kept out the sea.

Jar Jar had reached the Quarry.

Surprisingly, Jar Jar marveled at the beauty of the Quarry. Besides the stalactites, the chamber was illuminated by the cumulative glow of over a thousand long-leaved, highly prized woosha plants.

The bongo drifted to the edge of the pool, where it came to rest on a narrow beach of fine-grained black sand. A tall, thick-rooted cambylictus tree grew up from the edge of the beach, and the tree’s upper branches shaded the sub from the light of the stalactites. The cambylictus tree was also valued by the Gungans, for its roots had many medicinal properties.

Despite the sub’s rollicking journey through the cavern and Jar Jar’s occasional yelling, both Boss Nass and Commander Wollod remained in a deep slumber. Now that the sub was in a stable environment, Jar Jar did his best to examine them for injuries.

Commander Wollod had a nasty-looking cut on his forehead. Jar Jar couldn’t find a med kit in the cockpit, so he figured he’d look inside the port and starboard cargo compartments. Since the cargo compartments were only accessible from outside the bongo, Jar Jar deactivated the hydrostatic field generator, causing all three bubbles to vanish.

Jar Jar climbed out of the cockpit and found the med kit in the port cargo compartment. He couldn’t believe it, but someone had actually forgotten to put bandages inside. Fortunately, Jar Jar remembered the cambylictus tree, and he tossed the med kit back into the cargo compartment.

Since no one had ever really taken care of Jar Jar, he had learned many tricks to take care of himself. He’d seen Gungan military troops using a cambylictus tree’s bark as both a disinfectant and a bandage. The cambylictus tree’s roots were within reach of the sub, and Jar Jar did not have any difficulty in pulling a long strip of flexible bark from one root. He climbed back into the bongo’s cockpit and placed the strip across Commander Wollod’s forehead.

“Unnnn,” Boss Nass moaned. “Mesa gotta maxi-headache.”

“No moven,” Jar Jar cautioned, keeping his voice low. “Wesa ina Quarry. My afraid dares no go-backie by da way wesa came in.”

Boss Nass slowly opened his eyes, glanced at Wollod’s prone figure, then asked, “Isa he pasted?”

Jar Jar shook his head and answered, “No, hissen just pass-ed out. Both-n yousa need rest. Stay ina sub while my lookie for anutter way outta hair. Mesa combackie soonest possible.”

Boss Nass looked suspciously at Jar Jar. “Yousa no tinken of escapen, isa yousa?” he asked.

“Heh heh heh,” Jar Jar laughed weakly. “Dat’s a good one, Boss. No, mesa just want to hep yousa out.”

Boss Nass didn’t hear Jar Jar’s response. He’d already passed out again.

For the journey to the Quarry, Commander Wollod had brought two weapons: an electropole and a stunner. Jar Jar retrieved both weapons from the bongo and slung the electropole’s carry strap over his shoulder. He checked the stunner and saw it carried a full charge. Jar Jar didn’t know whether he would need the weapons, but he thought it was best to be prepared.

Jar Jar scrambled out of the sub’s cockpit and jumped down to the narrow beach. Under his tough feet, the black sand shifted with a metallic clacking sound, as if it were composed of minuscule ball bearings.

On the bottom hull of the bongo, Jar Jar noticed dozens of ringlike marks. The marks looked like they were caused by suction cups, and Jar Jar was pretty sure a tentacled creature had recently secured itself to the sub. As Jar Jar wondered whether a creature might have entered the Quarry with the bongo, the sand slid out from under his feet, knocking him into the side of the sub. He tried to regain his footing, then saw the sand ripple and rise into a small mound as something worked its way up from the surface. A single eyestalk pushed through the sand and fixed Jar Jar with its ugly gaze.

The eyestalk belonged to a dianoga, also known as “garbage squid.” Dianogas could be found feeding on trash almost anywhere in the galaxy, but this wasn’t an ordinary specimen. It was the rare albino dianoga from the research facility.

Jar Jar stared at the albino dianoga and tried not to move. He had encountered dianogas in the past living in the bottom of Otoh Gunga restaurant dumpsters where Jar Jar sometimes searched for leftover food. Just the sight of an ugly dianoga was typically enough to send Jar Jar fleeing, but since this was the facility’s dianoga, he wanted to catch it.

The Gungan set his stunner to full power.

Suddenly, the carnivorous creature burst up through the beach, revealing seven long, thick white-skinned tentacles. Dianogas usually attacked their prey from below the surface, pulling them down into shallow water or mud, but the albino creature seemed more than prepared to attack Jar Jar out in the open.

Jar Jar raised the stunner and prepared to fire, but one of the dianoga’s tentacles slapped the weapon from his hands. The dianoga coiled its lower tentacles and sprang, launching its body at Jar Jar. It smashed into his chest and drove him down into the sand. Pinned under the creature’s weight, Jar Jar was unable to reach the electropole but could feel it pressed against his back. When the dianoga opened its mouth, the desperate Gungan grabbed a handful of black sand and pushed it down the creature’s throat.

The dianoga made a horrid rasping sound, slowly gulping down the sand. Quickly, Jar Jar rolled away and grabbed the fallen stunner. Just as the dianoga coiled its tentacles to spring again, Jar Jar fired. The single blast caught the dianoga’s midsection, and the shock caused all seven tentacles to extend outwards. Jar Jar released the stunner’s trigger and the dianoga’s tentacles and eyestalk flopped against the beach.

Jar Jar took a cautious step over the limp tentacles and placed a hand on the dianoga’s broad stomach. He found a pulse, and sighed in relief. If Jar Jar had accidentally killed the creature, Director Huff Zinga wouldn’t have been pleased.

Jar Jar scrambled back up into the bongo and found a strong net in the cargo compartment. He returned to the beach, stretched the net out over the sand, and rolled the dianoga inside. As the dianoga’s body shifted, it released a noise similar to a gulliball when deflated of air.

“Phee-yooo!” Jar Jar winced, wishing he had sealed off his nostrils. Looking at the snared dianoga, he commented, “Bad enough yousa maxi-ugly, but even worsen is yousa maxi-gassy.” As Jar Jar tied the net to the bongo’s hull, he hoped the dianoga would be the last creature he encountered in the Quarry.

Leaving the bongo, Jar Jar scanned the subterranean chamber’s rocky walls, searching for a passage that might lead out of the Quarry. High on one wall, a small window was inset just below the chamber’s sloping ceiling. The window was barred, and appeared to have been carved out of the wall itself. Jar Jar wondered if the wall concealed some kind of fortress. Because of the window’s elevation, there didn’t appear to be any way to reach it from the outside. Jar Jar was so frustrated by his predicament that he almost walked past a stoneframed doorway, partially hidden by a long, petrified log and a cluster of glowing woosha plants.

Brushing past the woosha plants, Jar Jar stepped around the log and studied the doorway. The door itself appeared to be made of a single piece of thick wood, designed to slide sideways into the wall. Jar Jar suspected the Quarry’s actual prison was on the other side.

Jar Jar placed his hands on the door and tried pushing it into the wall. When the door didn’t budge, Jar Jar inspected it more closely and found a grime-covered metal locking mechanism that secured the door to the frame. Above the doorway, several rocks had fallen away, leaving a large hole in the wall.

Jar Jar scrambled quickly up to the hole over the doorway. But once he reached the hole, he found it was filled with the green leaves of an orange chak-root plant. Jar Jar looked at the plant’s edible root and decided to clear the way.

“Yumminy!” he mumbled, chomping down on the chak-root while he tore the leaves off and tossed them to the ground. Jar Jar had always enjoyed chak-root, and this one was especially flavorful. He thought if he could find more chak-root, imprisonment in the Quarry might not be so bad.

Licking his lips, Jar Jar crawled through the cleared hole and jumped down into the next chamber. A curved stone wall wrapped around a wide circular floor. Just as Jar Jar had suspected, it was an old fortress. Like the beach area, the fortress’s interior was illuminated by glowing stalactites, but in here the light was dimmed by the presence of thickly layered green vines that dangled from the ceiling to the floor. On the cylindrical wall, numerous wide cracks and dislodged stones indicated an ancient battle within the circular chamber.

The room was also crowded with large, oddly shaped white objects, randomly propped up across the floor. Jar Jar wondered if they were sculptural pieces, perhaps created by former prisoners of the Quarry. Looking past the objects to the far side of the room, he saw an open doorway that led to a low-ceilinged corridor.

He made his way across the chamber, pushing aside the dangling vines while stepping over and around the cumbersome shapes. As he neared the entrance to the corridor, his right foot caught on a loose stone and he stumbled to the floor. Rising from his fallen position, he gazed back into the chamber from a new perspective, and discovered the horrifying truth about the white objects.

The skeleton of a large creature. Jar Jar didn’t know what it was — or used to be. He only knew it had been big.

Jar Jar looked again at the damaged walls, then back at the skeletal remains. He moved his hand over one of the large bones and brushed away a thick layer of dust to discover the bone had been picked clean. Had a furious battle indeed taken place within the fortress? If so, perhaps the large creature had not only lost but had been devoured by another beast.

A beast that might still be alive.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by a low, animalistic grunt. Jar Jar turned around fast to see two broad-shouldered veermoks standing in the low-ceilinged corridor. Normally found in Gungan wasteyards, the black-haired simians had powerful legs and long, claw-tipped arms. Jar Jar doubted they could have accidentally reached the Quarry, and believed the veermoks must have been brought to the prison several generations ago. To his chagrin, the veermoks had survived.

The nearest veermok howled, displaying a mouthful of sharp fangs, then leaped at Jar Jar. The Gungan yelped as he ducked, and the veermok soared over his back. Jar Jar winced at the sound of the veermok smashing headfirst into the wall. As the veermok dropped senselessly to the floor, the second veermok snarled and spat at Jar Jar.

Jar Jar didn’t like to fight, but he knew he couldn’t easily run away from the fierce creature. He activated the stunner, but the veermok dodged the blast and dove between the bones that made up the fallen beast’s rib cage. With fluid grace, the veermok gripped one of the large bones and swung up to the skeleton’s skull. Jar Jar stepped away from the skeleton, trying to get a clear shot at the veermok.

Balancing on the skull, the veermok yanked a large tooth from the skeleton’s jaw bone, then hurled it. Jar Jar tried to duck the oncoming tooth but it struck his right hand, making him fire the stunner into the ceiling.

Although the stunner was merely designed to immobilize targets, its blast carried enough power to dislodge three thick vines from the ceiling. The vines fell down over the skeleton, knocking the veermok from from its perch. The veermok hit the floor in a rolling dive and came up standing. Slightly dazed, it roared at Jar Jar, who took careful aim with the stunner and sqeezed the trigger. But nothing happened.

The stunner’s charge was empty.

“Nutsen!” Jar Jar whimpered.

Jar Jar threw the stunner at the veermok, and the enraged beast snatched it from the air. As the veermok tossed the stunner aside, Jar Jar quickly unslung the electropole from his back, thumbed the shock generator, and threw the pole at the veermok.

The veermok caught the pole’s conductive tip and received a massive jolt. Collapsing to the floor, the creature released the electropole. Jar Jar ran to the electropole, carefully picked it up by the insulated handgrip, and switched off the high-powered current.

Jar Jar took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he had survived a confrontation against two wild veermoks, and he knew that no one else would believe it either. While he gathered up the fallen vines and tied up the two defeated veermoks, Jar Jar wished someone had been around to witness the fight.

He left the two defeated veermoks with the skeleton and entered the corridor. Jar Jar figured other veermoks could be nearby, so he walked quietly. Noting the corridor’s low ceiling, he realized it would have been impossible for a creature as large as the fallen skeleton to have traveled through this particular route. Since the beast couldn’t have squeezed through the stoneframed doorway to the beach either, Jar Jar wondered how the mammoth monster got into the previous chamber. Before he could dwell anymore on the subject, he arrived at an ancient lift tube at the end of the corridor.

The first thing Jar Jar noticed was that the ceiling inside the lift had been smashed in. He looked up through the ruptured ceiling to see a long, metal rail rise into the dark shaft. A level indicator marked with old Gungan letterforms was on the lift wall. According to the level indicator, the lift accessed only three levels: the main level on which Jar Jar stood; a guard post on the upper level: and a detention block on the lower level. Two arrow-shaped buttons indicated up and down.

Jar Jar hoped there might be something in the guard post that revealed a way out of the Quarry. He pressed the up button with his thumb, but the lift didn’t move. Frustrated, Jar Jar pressed the button again. Still, nothing happened.

Then he noticed the antique lift’s service control panel. Opening the panel, Jar Jar found two wires that had been disconnected. He decided to connect the two wires and see if the lift would start.

Jar Jar was nearly blinded by the bright spark that flared as the two wires were crossed. He let go of the wires and jumped up through the lift’s ruptured ceiling.

Gripping the lift rail, Jar Jar shimmied up to the upper level and entered the guard post. Inside, light poured through a barred window. To the left of the window, a large star-shaped bell hung from the ceiling. Jar Jar suspected the bell was part of an old alarm system.

Ducking past the bell, Jar Jar peered through the barred window and viewed the subterranean waterfall, pool, and narrow beach where he had left the tribubble bongo. From his elevated perspective, he realized he was behind the window he had seen earlier. In the distance, the forms of Boss Nass and Commander Wollod were visible, still resting within the bongo.

Slowly turning his head, Jar Jar found an old control console on the other side of the guard post. On the wall above the console, a wordless pictogram illustrated a simple view of the Quarry’s waterfall, pool, beach, and surrounding walls. The pictogram suggested there was a secret cavern behind a stone door, and that the cavern could be reached by raising the water level within the pool.

Jar Jar was ecstatic. If he could raise the pool’s water level and open the stone door, the bongo would rise with the water, enter the secret cavern, and escape the Quarry. All he had to do was figure out how to raise the water level!

Ten levers extended from the console’s enamel surface, on which small Gungan letterforms were barely visible. Jar Jar hoped the letterforms would identify the function for each lever, which might control the secret door and the water level. As Jar Jar stepped away from the window to get a closer look at the console, he accidentally slammed his head against the star-shaped bell.

If his head’s impact against the bell wasn’t enough to disorient Jar Jar, the loud gong practically knocked him off his feet. As his hands reflexively covered his ears, his left knee struck the control console and shattered its enamel surface. When he recovered from the bell, he looked down to see broken enamel littered across the floor.

Even if Jar Jar had the time, he doubted he’d be able to piece together the broken enamel to reassemble the letterforms and learn the function of each lever. He could only hope that at least one lever would help him escape the Quarry. He decided to take a chance and pull a lever.

The first lever made the window’s bars drop down into the sill. Jar Jar pulled the next lever, and heard a loud clang from outside. He ran to the open window and peered down to see what he’d accomplished. To his amazement, the pool’s water level was visibly rising. He realized the lever must have sealed off the pool’s drain vents.

Before Jar Jar could turn from the window and try another lever, a large spydr leaped from the outer wall and through the window. The spydr’s body was twice as large as Jar Jar’s head. Jar Jar shrieked and batted at the spydr, which hissed at him as it tried to claw its way into the guard post. Eyeing the levers, Jar Jar jumped across the room and smacked the lever that controlled the window’s bars.

The bars instantly snapped back up through the sill, and the spydr’s legs poked through the gaps between the bars. Remembering his electropole, Jar Jar unslung the weapon and gave a high-powered jab to one of the spydr’s long hairy legs. The spydr shrieked and scrambled away from the window.

Jar Jar switched off the electropole and reached for the next lever. It was stuck, so he gave it a strong tug. From outside the window, a rumbling sound reached Jar Jar’s ears. Keeping his distance from the barred window, Jar Jar stood on his toes to peer down to the beach, and quickly saw the cause of the rumbling. A large layer of stone was sliding away from the wall over the pool. The lever had opened the gateway to the secret tunnel.

Then Jar Jar noticed the bongo was already drifting away from the beach. He realized that unless he immediately returned to the sub, it might float out through the secret tunnel without him!

Jar Jar ran back to the lift tube shaft, grabbed hold of the lift rail, and slid down to the main level. Exiting the lift, he ran through the corridor that led to the circular chamber. But when he reached the end of the corridor, he discovered that something very unexpected had happened within the chamber.

The circular floor was gone. And so were the two defeated veermoks. Only the vines were still there, dangling down from the high ceiling.

Jar Jar peered over the end of the corridor’s floor. He looked down to see that the chamber’s floor had dropped to the detention block’s level, transforming the chamber into a deep pit. The two defeated veermoks — still bound by the thick vines — remained on the lowered floor along with the giant skeleton. Jar Jar suspected the circular floor was built upon a hydraulic lift mechanism, and that one of the levers in the guard post might have activated the floor’s descent. The ancient Gungans had obviously taken great measures to discourage any escape from the Quarry.

At the bottom of the pit, a high-arched gateway gave access to the lower level. Given the dimensions of the gateway, Jar Jar imagined it was the passage once used by the fallen beast to enter the circular chamber.

Suddenly, dozens of veermoks charged through the gateway. As they hooted and yowled, it occurred to Jar Jar the beast might not have been victim to a single creature; the gigantic monster could have been felled by an attack from a number of savage veermoks.

The sight of the two unconscious veermoks made the others roar in anger. The beasts look up and saw Jar Jar peering over the edge of the corridor floor.

Five large veermoks began to scale the stone wall.

Jar Jar knew he’d have to cross the distance to the door, and fast. He took a step back to get a secure footing, then jumped out over the pit, snaring a vine with his strong hands in an attempt to swing to the doorway. Unfortunately, he’d grabbed a weak vine, and it snapped from the ceiling.

Jar Jar fell only a short distance, landing on the skeleton’s skull. From the wall, three of the climbing veermoks dove at him, and he yelled as he jumped straight up to the hole over the doorway. The veermoks crashed into the skull with such impact that the remains of the skeleton collapsed beneath them. While the veermoks roared at the bottom of the pit, Jar Jar slipped through the hole and out of the fortress.

Jar Jar ran down to the beach. The water level had already risen so high that the bongo was starting to drift toward the secret tunnel. Jar Jar could see the two unconscious Gungans in the cockpit, and the albino dianoga in the net secured to the vessel’s hull.

Jar Jar noticed a series of rocks that poked up through the water, creating a set of stepping-stones that traveled from the shore to the drifting bongo. Hoping to hop from stone to stone and into the bongo’s cockpit, Jar Jar leaped onto the nearest stone. As soon as he landed, the stone dropped into the water, and Jar Jar watched in horror as the other stones shifted. They weren’t stones at all, but the spinal ridges of a subterranean behemoth!

The creature twisted and rose out of the water, turning its wide head to reveal a mouth lined with diamond-sharp teeth. Jar Jar screamed and dove from the monster, splashing down next to the bongo. Moving faster than he’d ever moved in his life, Jar Jar climbed up the side of the bongo, jumped into the cockpit, and tripped into the throttles, accidentally pushing them forward. The bongo tore into the secret tunnel just as the behemoth brought its head down near the tunnel’s entrance.

When Jar Jar realized the behemoth was too large to enter the tunnel, he sighed in relief. He couldn’t believe he’d survived the Quarry. Seconds later, the bongo reached the end of the cavern and entered the clear water of Lake Umberbool.

The bongo glided past a cluster of rocks, and the festival arena came into view. The arena’s central bubble was a gigantic orb, designed to accommodate many thousands of Gungan spectators. The central bubble was surrounded by four large habitat bubbles, each linked to three sub pens. One of the sub pens appeared to be under construction, but Jar Jar noticed the linking transport tube was broken. Jar Jar wondered if the pen had been torn away from the transport tube during the seaquake. Otherwise, the Festival Arena appeared to have held up rather well in the storm.

Suddenly, two shadowy figures angled toward the sub. From the way they moved, Jar Jar could tell they were not vessels but large creatures. As they drew closer, they extended long lures from their heads and flexed broad pectoral fins. Jar Jar recognized them as Vink and Nink, the pair of dwarf opee sea killers from the research facility.

Although Vink and Nink were fearsome in appearance, both were somewhat trained to follow instructions from their researchers. Jar Jar wondered if a verbal command would prompt them to swim back to the research facility. He imagined their freedom could have encouraged them to forget or disobey commands.

Jar Jar found the switch for the bongo’s voice amplifier right next to a switch that released a trawling net. He figured if Vink and Nink didn’t respond to his verbal command, he could try to catch them in the net. He activated the amplifier and said, “Vink un Nink! G’wan home tada zoo!”

Outside the sub, the dwarf opee sea killers slowed down and swam closer to the bongo.

“Yousa hearen mesa?” Jar Jar asked. “Mesa say yousa swim yousaselves back to Otoh Gunga! Huff Zinga surr wowdabe heppy to see yousa.”

Either Vink and Nink didn’t acknowledge Jar Jar as a voice of authority or they didn’t understand a word he said. They began to swim away from the bongo. Jar Jar steered the bongo after the fleeing pair. When he was above them, Jar Jar deployed the trawling net.

The net caught both Vink and Nink, and they didn’t like it one bit. After a brief struggle, they tore free, then swam fast for the bongo.

If they had things their way, Vink and Nink would be munching through the bongo in seconds.

Jar Jar pushed the throttles and accelerated away from the dwarf sea killers. Without any escape plan in his head, Jar Jar headed for the festival arena. As soon as he saw the sub pens, a desperate idea came to him.

He checked to make sure both Commander Wollod and Boss Nass were strapped into their seats. If Jar Jar’s plan worked, Vink and Nink would be trapped within the sub pen. Jar Jar didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he failed.

Vink and Nink were gaining on him fast. Jar Jar steered for one of the Festival Arena’s sub pens and aimed for its eastern portal zone. Nink nearly bit one of the bongo’s rotating electro fins as the sub knifed into the pen. Jar Jar kept up the speed, zooming out of the pool and soaring through the bubble’s pressurized interior. As the bongo splashed down in the pen’s western pool, Jar Jar looked outside the sub pen and saw that the dwarf opee sea killers were about to follow his lead.

Jar Jar edged the bongo closer to the sub pen’s western portal zone. The moment Vink and Nink entered the sub pen through the eastern portal, he gunned the bongo’s engine and launched through the western portal at an odd angle, striking one of the utanode braces as he made the exit. The struck brace triggered an alarm, and the bubble’s emergency system kicked in, sealing off all the portal zones.

Vink and Nink were trapped inside the water-filled sub pen.

Jar Jar steered the bongo to face the sub pen so he could get a good look at the two baby sea killers. Inside the pen, Vink and Nink dove from one pool to the next. For all they knew, they were already back in the research facility.

Jar Jar noticed a light moving back and forth in one of the neighboring sub pen bubbles. As he steered closer to the pen, he saw that the light was a glow rod. The rod was held by a Gungan engineer who gestured at Jar Jar to dock the bongo.

The bongo entered the sub pen’s pressurized interior and rose to the surface. As water flowed off the cockpit’s hydrostatic field, the engineer saw Jar Jar’s two unconscious companions within the bongo, then noticed the albino dianoga secured to the sub’s exterior. Jar Jar climbed through the cockpit bubble and stepped onto the docking platform.

“Isa dat Boss Nass yousa got in dare?” asked the wide-eyed engineer.

“Indeedee,” Jar Jar replied. “Him un Commander Wollod isa wounded. Hep me get dem outta da bongo.”

“Yousa lucky ta get hair!” the engineer remarked as he helped remove the unconscious Gungans from the sub. “Wesa got terrible trouble.”

“Mesa know all about da seaquake,” Jar Jar replied. “Dat why wesa come hair. My afraid all-n yousa engineers get pasted.”

“Wesa okeydey, but some of da bubbles isa taken on water,” answered the engineer. “Mesa was inspictin dis sub pen’s bubble when mesa see yousa catchen Vink un Nink.”

“Yousa know dem?” Jar Jar asked, surprised.

“Doesn’t everybody? Dem’s famous. Some nonoggin burst-ed da zoo bubbles and let Vink un Nink loose. Mesa see yousa caught da albino dianoga, too.”

“Dat’s right,” Jar Jar said as he released the stunned albino dianoga into a garbage bin. Hoping to change the subject from the research facility disaster, he asked, “Did da Rep heyblibber get hair yet?”

“Dat’s da moto terrible trouble,” the engineer replied. “Da heyblibber had just dock-ed inna sub pen when da storm struck! None of uss-n engineers saw what happened, but it lookie like da entire sub pen bubble tore from da moorings.”

“Mesa seen da sub pen’s bust-ed transport tube,” Jar Jar commented. “Nobody got outta da heyblibber?”

The engineer shook his head. “Un since da seaquake knocked out comm-talkie, dare-sa nobody ta call for hep.” The engineer pointed a finger in a direction west of the festival arena. “Wesa tin-ken da sub pen bubble got swept inta da core.”

Jar Jar looked at the unconscious bodies of Commander Wollod and Boss Nass. Although the Gungan engineer didn’t know it, Jar Jar was a criminal at large. Despite the fact that he had safely delivered Wollod and Boss Nass to Lake Umberbool and rescued some creatures, he could imagine that Boss Nass might still send him back to the Quarry. It wasn’t so much that Jar Jar wanted to rescue the Rep heyblibber as he felt he didn’t have anything left to lose. This was his only chance of saving himself from imprisonment.

Before the engineer could protest, Jar Jar hopped back into the battered bongo, started the engine, and steered out of the sub pen.

Leaving the festival arena behind, Jar Jar approached a narrow crevice and steered down into it. The crevice was wide enough to have accomodated the missing sub pen, but Jar Jar wasn’t thinking about the sub pen or the Rep heyblibber anymore. He was thinking that he had just entered the core, and he was wondering if he was crazy. The core’s tunnels and underwater canyons were inhabited by numerous large creatures. Few Gungans had ever entered the core and survived.

“If mesa get outta dis alive,” Jar Jar said to himself, “mesa never ganna get inta trouble again.”

Up ahead, Jar Jar saw a faint glow against the darkness of a sloping mountainous wall. As the bongo drew closer, he saw that the glow came from a sub pen bubble. The bubble appeared to be stuck within a dark formation that jutted out from the wall. The formation partially enveloped the bubble, sealing off the portal zones.

Inside the sub pen bubble, the Rep heyblibber bobbed at an odd angle. Jar Jar could see a Gungan figure moving in the heyblibber’s cockpit, but he couldn’t see whether it was Rep Teers or Major Fassa. Jar Jar didn’t know Major Fassa, but he remembered seeing Rep Teers earlier that morning, back in Otoh Gunga.

As the bongo’s navigational lights traveled above the pinned sub pen, Jar Jar suddenly realized the mountainous wall wasn’t a wall at all.

It was a sando aqua monster.

The monster was huge, and its webbed claws had a firm grip on the sub pen bubble. As Jar Jar contemplated escape, the monster twisted its immense head and focused on the bongo.

Terrified, Jar Jar reached out and punched the switch to eject the bongo’s cockpit as an emergency escape pod. It wasn’t a very smart move. The entire cockpit blasted free from the doomed bongo and rose up through the water.

Gazing through the cockpit’s canopy, Jar Jar saw the startled monster let go of the sub pen bubble. As soon the bubble was released, the Rep heyblibber blasted through one of the bubble’s portal zones. Then the cockpit rolled in the water, and Jar Jar saw that the escape pod was headed straight for the sando aqua monster’s head.

Jar Jar shrieked as the monster opened its jaws and inhaled. He felt the escape pod being drawn toward the beast’s mouth. Scrambling out of his seat, he pushed himself through the hydrostatic canopy and into the water. Jar Jar was using all of his strength to swim away from certain death when the sando aqua monster clamped its jaws down on the air-filled escape pod.

The pod exploded in the monster’s mouth, sending air bubbles in all directions. The monster groaned and Jar Jar swam faster, trying to catch up with the fleeing heyblibber. But it was no use.

The enraged sando aqua monster turned its attention to Jar Jar’s swimming form. Just then, Jar Jar saw a creature swim past the back of the sando aqua monster’s head. It was the Great Hohokum, the gentle herbivore who had recently escaped from the research facility.

Jar Jar had no idea why the Great Hohokum would have traveled into the core. Jar Jar’s only thought was that hohokums had powerful fins that made them incredible swimmers. At one time or another, almost every teenage Gungan had tried hitching a ride with a passing hohokum.

The Great Hohokum was following the same path as the Rep heyblibber. Jar Jar waved at the gentle creature and it sighted him. As the sando aqua monster prepared to strike, the Great Hohokum darted for Jar Jar.

The Great Hohokum drew near and Jar Jar caught hold of one of the creature’s long tusks. The sando aqua monster’s claws passed within millimeters of the Great Hohokum’s tail, but it missed just the same.

Jar Jar held on for dear life. Moments later, the Great Hohokum raced through the crevice. As soon as they had entered Lake Umberbool, the Great Hohokum slowed down, apparently confident that the sando aqua monster would not be able to follow them.

Gazing at the festival arena, Jar Jar saw the Rep heyblibber had already reached another sub pen. He hoped that Rep Teers or Major Fassa would tell Boss Nass about how Jar Jar had helped make the sando aqua monster release them.

Jar Jar’s attention was diverted by an army transport submersible that descended from above. Inside the army transport’s main observation bubble, Captain Tarpals stood at the helm, staring out at Jar Jar. Jar Jar realized Captain Tarpals must have intercepted his distress beacon, then proceeded to Lake Umberbool.

Captain Tarpals didn’t look happy.

Floating in the deep water near the Festival Arena, Jar Jar looked at the Great Hohokum’s wise old face. If Jar Jar didn’t know better, he would have sworn the creature was smiling.

At this point, readers who chose to follow the adventure in the Star Wars Adventure Game Book can return to Rescue in the Core.

As far as Captain Tarpals was concerned, Jar Jar Binks was a fugitive from justice. After Tarpals’s Army Transport Sub had docked within the sub pen bubble at the Festival Arena in Lake Umberbool, he immediately placed Jar Jar under arrest. A stickler for details, Tarpals had even fitted Jar Jar Binks with a new set of binders and posted four electropole-wielding guards around the fugitive Gungan. Together, they waited in a chamber outside the arena infirmary.

Jar Jar sat on a chair, facing the standing Tarpals and surrounded by the four guards. “Yousa no listen-n, Cap’n Tarpals!” Jar Jar exclaimed from his seat. “Mesa tellen yousa, mesa sav-ed Boss Nass un Commander Wollod from da Quarry!”

“Mesa hair yousa da firstest time, Jar Jar,” Tarpals said wearily. “Just like mesa hair yousa say dat yousa recovered da missen beasties un rescue-ed da Rep heyblibber.”

Jar Jar lowered his head and sank into the chair. If Captain Tarpals didn’t believe him, Boss Nass probably wouldn’t either. Then Jar Jar remembered the eyewitnesses.

“Ask da bubble engineer!” Jar Jar suggested. “He lookie at mesa bring-n inda dwarf opee sea killers unda albino dianoga. Also ask Rep Teers. Da Rep musta seen mesa make da sando aqua monstair leggo of da sub pen bubble.”

Tarpals sighed. “Dare-sa lotta bubble engineers hair, and all-n dem isa busy. As for Rep Teers, he was knocked out, too. Hisen inda infirmary along wit Boss Nass un Commander Wollod.”

“Den how can yousa explain Vink un Nink ina sub pen?” Jar Jar asked. “Or da dianoga un da Great Hohokum?”

The Captain sighed again. Tarpals himself had found Jar Jar with the Great Hohokum, but for all Tarpals knew, Jar Jar had escaped from the Quarry and was trying to sell the poor creature.

“Waitaminute!” Jar Jar added a bit too loud, making the four guards jump. “Wasn’t dare sum-botty else on da Rep heyblibber? What was da name…? Commander Gasta? Fasta? Naw… Fassa! Dat’s it! Maybe Major Fassa seen mesa fighten da sando aqua monstair?”

Before Captain Tarpals could reply, an old Gungan medic entered the waiting room and approached Tarpals. “Isa yousa Jar Jar Binks?” the medic asked.

One of the four guards started to laugh, then choked it down when he saw Tarpals’s angered gaze.

“Mesa Captain Tarpals,” Tarpals informed the medic. “Isa Boss Nass un da otters ganna be okeydey?”

“Daza all ganna be fine,” the medic answered. “Boss Nass isa done wit da sleepies, un hisen asken to see da brave Jar Jar Binks.”

Jar Jar had never heard the word brave and his own name in the same breath before, but he literally rose to the occasion. Stepping over to Captain Tarpals, he extended his bound wrists, and asked for his binders to be removed.

Tarpals removed the binders and followed Jar Jar and the old medic into the infirmary. There, Boss Nass, Captain Wollod, and Rep Teers rested on three raised gurneys. Wollod and Rep Teers were sedated, but Boss Nass smiled when he saw Jar Jar.

“Come, Jar Jar Binks,” Boss Nass rasped. When Jar Jar had reached Boss Nass’s bedside, the ruler of Otoh Gunga reached up and gripped his right hand. “Mesa remember waken up inda Quarry,” Boss Nass said. “Yousa could’ve leave-ed uss-ens dare, but yousa no leave-ed uss-ens. Mesa berry proud of yousa, Binks.”

“No problem, Boss,” Jar Jar responded. “Mesa know you’da done da same ting for mesa.”

Boss Nass grinned. “Isa dare anyting mesa can do to tank yousa?”

“Hmmm,” Jar Jar said, trying to think of the most incredible reward he could possibly imagine. “Ifn isa possible, mesa wowdabe moto heppy to attend da Festival of Warriors.”

“Isa done deal,” Boss Nass nodded.

Jar Jar beamed. “Also, mabee mesa no gotta go back tada Quarry?”

“Isa done deal, too.”

Jar Jar beamed even brighter. “Also, mabee mesa can go offa da probay-shun?”

Boss Nass laughed, then he shook his head. “No deal dare,” he said firmly. “Yousa ganna stay on probay-shun for a full year.”

Jar Jar shrugged. Two out of three wasn’t bad.

“Dat sounds like a no good deal to mesa,” said a low voice from the entrance to the infirmary. Jar Jar turned to see the speaker, a female Gungan officer of the Grand Army. Her leather uniform was neatly cut, and her long haillu fell down to behind her knees. At the sight of her, Jar Jar felt his throat go dry. She was the most beautiful Gungan he’d ever seen.

“Allow mesa to intro-duce Major Fassa,” Boss Nass intoned.

“Yousa Major Fassa?” Jar Jar exclaimed in bewilderment. When Fassa fixed Jar Jar with an inquisitive gaze, Jar Jar giggled and babbled, “Mesa sorry, but mesa taut Major Fassa wuzza fella.”

Captain Tarpals rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe Jar Jar would make such a foolish comment. Then he watched as Major Fassa walked directly to Jar Jar and said, “Onda heyblibber, inda core, mesa seen yous attack da sando aqua monstair. Mesa sorry mesa no wait for yousa. Mesa taut yousa were pasted. Becausen yousa sav-ed mesa, mesa now yous servaunt. Tis a live-debett.”

Jar Jar couldn’t believe his ears. Not only did Major Fassa think he was courageous, but she had pledged a life debt to him! As every Gungan knew, this was a serious vow.

“Yousa bein hasty, Fassa,” Boss Nass cautioned.

Major Fassa turned her head to face Boss Nass and asked, “Are youssa sayen dat as da Boss or as me uncle?”

“Uncle?” Jar Jar gasped. He looked from Major Fassa to Boss Nass.

“Dat’s right, Binks,” Boss Nass growled. “Major Fassa isa me niece.”

“So tell mesa, brave master,” Major Fassa addressed Jar Jar. “Will yousa be competen inda Festival of Warriors?”

“Oie boie,” Jar Jar whimpered.

With Major Fassa asking, he would have to compete.

NEXT ADVENTURE:

THE FESTIVAL OF WARRIORS!

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