Master Windu led Depa Barris all the way to Pelek Baw City. Since the dog sled pulled by the Akk Guard hounds could not enter the city—it would plainly tell those smugglers that it belonged to the Korunnai—a Clone Trooper carried Barris on his back as they proceeded.
When they reached the outskirts, they found that the unrest within Pelek Baw City had yet to subside. Gunfire and explosions rang out everywhere in the city.
If Darth Malthael had been here, he would have mockingly told Darth Lilim just how naive her judgment had been—that she could quell the chaos in one night.
Indeed. Before Haruun Kal's dreamscape, these foreign smugglers were so fragile.
"Prepare for combat. The city is extremely chaotic right now." Master Windu had the forty-five Clone Troopers with him raise their weapons and get ready to fight.
Fighting was raging everywhere throughout the city, and several armed gunships were even circling overhead. These gunships were outdated models provided by the Confederacy of Independent Systems—Turbostorm-class gunships that had merely been fitted with compartmentalized shielding, allowing them to resist the spores' erosion to a certain extent.
The Turbostorm-class gunships circled at low altitude, their bright searchlights sweeping across the ground. Some of the smugglers aboard shouted madly as they fired at the streets below. It was impossible to tell whether they had gone insane after falling into the dreamscape or were simply taking the chance to vent.
As soon as they entered the city, their fairly sizable force was spotted. Several smugglers pointed at Master Windu and roared, "He's here! The butcher of the High Ground Liberation Movement!"
They immediately opened fire. Then the gunships in the sky noticed them as well, and one of them flew over.
The Clone Troopers immediately took cover and fired wildly into