Pace quickens
Daultay Dofine sat in the captains chair of the Saak'ak, his highly honed sense of self preservation going off with the same intensity as he had felt when the Jedi had tried to enter the bridge by cutting through the now replaced blast door. The Gungan army, the revolts in Theed and other cities around the planet the massive ship was orbiting, they were connected... but why, as long as the control ship orbited then the droids would surely bring enough power to bear to crush any resistance... no, there must be a reason. Being the suspicious type, as he had risen though the ranks on his family name and his fair share of backstabbing, he knew when his life was in danger, and for such co-ordination there must be a plan, a plan aimed at the ship he was now on. Daultay looked over the readouts, when a few details caught his eye, many systems were in power save mode, shortsighted credit pinching protocols, this was the middle of an operation, not a time to close wallets over a few hours run-time of systems needed to make sure the op did not fail. Daultay looked at the closest systems operator and ordered all systems brought to full readiness and a sensor sweep run, things were not adding up.
Tey How, the systems operator next to the captains chair looked up from her operations board, the data goggles steaming input overlay the information on top of her vision. She made sure that she heard right and that the captain ordered all equipment online, something that would tank the profit margins if any equipment overtaxed itself and off-lined. She reminded the captain that standard procedures did not call for full equipment activation at any time, and the computer core was already under stress as it was. She was surprised at the captain's yell of hang the expenses and let the auditors sort it out, before tuning out the rant as the captain started spouting about credit pinching accountants that never fought a battle in their lives. Her's not to reason why, she covered her own backside with the logged question, so she did as ordered, and disabled dozens of soft coded lockouts while bringing all systems up to full readiness, though she did keep an eye on the computer cores temperature as it slowly started to creep upwards.
Daultay was halfway though his rant when he felt a sense of vindication bloom in his chest, there, a flight of fighters rising from the surface, if he had not ordered a full readiness and sweep then they might have caught the ship with its credit saving station keeping shield levels. Bah, petty accountants never have tried their mettle against even a simple anti-pirate operation, sure he used his family name to get his first ranks, but he had to prove his own worth... and a few metaphorical daggers in the back of those in his way, to raise it to its present level and keep it. The only flaw was that the droid commander on the ground had tasked his long duration fighter patrols out of the ready spots in the hanger, and their short duration replacements had not had a high priority in getting ready, so they were both not the right type, nor currently ready to engage the fighters at a distance. Daultay could use this to his advantage though, he could draw the flight in and spring a trap of his own, the surprise and minimal lag for the droids to be controlled meant he could have the fighters run off the superior flying skills of the main computer, and make the droids a match to even superior pilots.
Jar Jar moved with frenetic action, the inclusion of the new elements of the Gungans meant that he had not practiced what would happen, so he ran back and forth helping where he could on the line. Where in previous tries it would be a finely honed smooth routine, Binks had to stop and cross over to other actions almost every minute, the effect made anyone looking at him wonder if he was having a seizure at points, and then wondering how he could possibly move so smooth flowing though the crowded soldiers with ease the next moment. The overall effect was weird and surreal, ironically giving hope and spurring the defenders to greater heights of effort, for if clumsy Jar Jar could pull something like that off, they surely they could to. The increased belief of self greatness translated on the battlefield that day into truth, as the Gungans felt less pressure, and more confidence, firming any shaking hands, stilling any panicked eyes, and instilling an esprit de corps that formed into a steel bulwark of resolve that the droid armies would break against like waves on the waters shore as the confidence lead to better aim, more hits, and the stalling of the droid advance. As long as the Gungans held that confidence, then the mere walking droids would never defeat their defended lines, and as long as the lines held, the shield generators would be protected.
OOM-9 ran though calculations, and the numbers were coming out badly. As long as the Gungans hid behind their shield, then no heavy weapons could be brought to bear. With no heavy weapon support, the shield was too well defended to fall. The circular logic ran though the droid processors till a low probability option came up, though loses would be expensive, not taking out that shield generator would be more so. OOM-9 sent the signal, and the CAP droids started to come down from the sky and land, the fighter draft transforming into their secondary mode of ungainly and slow walkers. The stilted looking walking droids lined up by the shield and as one started to slowly push their way though to help their cheaper and smaller droid cousins.
Padme left the Jedi behind to deal with the figure armed with the red light saber, and the group with her followed here lead, too soon though sounds of droids were heard coming down the hallway, it was the sound of those dreadful rolling droids. Captain Panaka on hearing the droids donned the bandolier he was given and taking out a pair of grenades armed them and rolled them down the corridor. The rolling forms turned a corner and just rolled past the grenades went off one right after the other. The grenades seemed to do no damage at first, until the droids approached the range where they would unfold, but instead they kept tightly rolled and with a quick dodge the group avoided the path of the rolling droids. The droids continued rolling till they hit a wall, not deviating in their courses in the slightest, with a cacophony of noise the once deadly droids flew apart into piles of inert parts. Panaka looked down at the remaining grenades and a slow smile started to appear on his face, he did not know where the Gammorian got the useful things, but he was going to outfit the royal guard with them once everything got back to normal.
Maul was exhilarated as his blood raced though his veins as he dueled the two Jedi, even with both of them combined they could not touch him, sure their teamwork prevented him from landing any strikes, but this was a combat dance where he controlled the beat. Hearing the timing of the energy baffles hit the moment he was waiting for, he jumped back from the younger one, and forced the older Jedi to keep in contact with him as he backpedaled down the hallway, the timing of the baffles separating the Jedi Master from his apprentice. Maul knew that the Master was old, and that he would tire quickly, too bad he did not have time to savour the fight or he would gladly take apart to older Jedi piece by piece leaving him helpless and despairing.
Obi-Wan raced after his master, knowing that alone the aggressive figure would be more then a match to the older Jedi, beside him matching his pace for pace was the Gammorian Captain, his heavy breathing punctuated by single words indicating his displeasure. When the two runners get trapped by the cycle of the baffles the younger Jedi looked over to the Gammorian who was still breathing heavy. The large Captain waved off his concern, the deep breaths quickly bringing him back to normal, while Gammorians were not celebrated long distance runners, when angry, they were very dangerous over short distances, able to put on bursts of speed that would surprise many. The two nodded to each other and gathered their strength for the next run, and when the barrier dropped they were off neck and neck as fast as they could go.
Qui-Gon was starting to feel his age, the aggressive moves of his opponent had trapped him in a situation where if he let up the pressure for even a moment, he would lose in an instant. This meant that the momentary relief of when the baffle separated them was quiet welcome. Qui-Gon knowing he had a moment went into a quick meditative position, the flow of the force easing his strained body, and calming his emotions, he would need to be calm and collected if he had any hope of holding his own against the angry opponent. Soon enough though it was time for the next round, he rose and activated his light saber and with impeccable timing moved while the field was in the process of shutting down in an effort to keep up the pressure. After a far to short time he felt himself starting to slow, and the figure started to taunt him in an effort to make him loose his focus, he managed to keep his calm, even though he felt his apprentice close, but trapped on the other side of just a single one of those blasted shield walls.
Obi-wan uttered an epithet as the last shield wall activated, the Captain looking far too pale to be helpful as he greedily sucked in air. Obi-wan could feel the force start to draw together in the room in front of him, he was so close, but now trapped until the cycle finished before he could help his master, but by then it might be too late. In his anguish Obi-wan let out a cry of his masters name, angry at himself that he was unable to help in his masters pressing duel.
"Your old man looks like he is in trouble." Captain Aphab did not know much about laser sword fighting, but he could tell that the old Jedi was starting to lose his pep and barely hold the other back.
"He is my Master, not my old man." Obi-wan snapped back, though not denying that his master was in dire straights.
"Right right... I got a plan, it might not work though, just be ready to take advantage of the diversion." The Captain, his breath back for the moment stood up straight.
"Plan? Diversion?" Obi-wan was confused, but hope stirred as he started hearing they cycle start, the shield would be down in a moment, however he could see his master loose his light saber at the moment, leaving him vulnerable.
captain Aphab took in a deep breath, and put his hands around his mouth to make his voice even louder and gave a yell directed at the figure standing over the disarmed Jedi. "OI, YOU FACE PAINTED FREAK, I'SE GOTS WORDS TO HAVE WITH YOU"