However, Count Dooku, the head of the Separatist armies, sent his Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress and the infamous bounty hunter Durge to secure the antidote as well. The factory was manned by Skakoans wearing pressurized suits, which Durge used to cause a massive explosion which engulfed and killed Master Ven'nari. The massive explosion made the complex unstable, and Master Diath was lost to the lava after being smothered with lava pouring down from the unstable ceiling. Antilles took retribution by holding Durge back while Kenobi and Fay pursued Ventress. Durge overpowered the Jedi and tossed him into the rising lava.
Fay and Kenobi confronted Ventress and retrieved the antidote. As they attempted to escape the sinking complex, Ventress recovered and impaled Fay through the back with her twin lightsabers before retreating in Durge's ship. During her final moments, Fay granted Kenobi the last of her energy, giving him the ability to escape the sinking complex in time with the antidote.
When word reached the Jedi of the massacre on Ohma-D'un, orders went out to locate the source of the chemical weapon. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had seen first-hand the devastation wrought on the Gungan colony, investigated this new threat, and learned of a secret Separatist chemical plant on the lava world of Queyta. Kenobi was met there by four nomadic Jedi Masters; Knol Ven'nari, Nico Diath, Fay, and Jon Antilles—considered to be some of the greatest Masters of the Order, and legends, all.
Durge attacks the Jedi
Although Obi-Wan felt he was out of his league in the presence of such legendary Masters, Fay assured him his experience of the swamp gas would prove invaluable in their mission. The Jedi quickly located the chemical plant: a mobile facility riding the lava flow. Infiltrating the base, the Jedi met a lot of battle droids, and pressure-suited Skakoan sentries and workers. All too soon, a far more potent threat presented itself, in the forms of Separatist Commander Asajj Ventress and the Gen'Dai mercenary Durge.
The battle for the antidote began when Durge fired upon the Skakoan workers, his blasts breaching their pressure suits and causing a huge explosion in the plant. Master Ven'nari used her Force powers to absorb the fireball's energy, at the cost of her own life. Jon Antilles confronted Ventress as she attempted to reach the antidote, but fell when Durge destroyed the bridge he was standing on.
Though Antilles survived his fall, Nico Diath was not so lucky. Ventress weakened the ceiling supports above him, sending molten lava raining down onto the Jedi Master. He toppled from the walkway into the lava below. Antilles launched an attack on Durge, but the hulking Gen'Dai proved stronger. Antilles was thrown into the lava, though he managed to melt the regenerative thug's arms before he died.
Now the only survivors of the Jedi strike team, Obi-Wan and Fay confronted Ventress, the latter sending shards of metal flying into the Dark Jedi. Ventress fell, but regained her strength while Durge distracted the Jedi. An explosion sent Fay spinning to the ground, where Asajj impaled the Jedi Master on her twin lightsaber blades.
Despite the destruction they had caused, Ventress and Durge did not kill Obi-Wan, though Ventress vowed to kill him the next time they met. Fay lent the weakening Obi-Wan the last of her fading strength to make a leap to safe ground with the antidote.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, injured and distraught, managed to fly his Jedi starfighter back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant with the antidote. However, the incident had left him disoriented and he crashed his starfighter into the landing platform during the landing, nearly killing his apprentice Anakin Skywalker and Master Mace Windu.
Kenobi was quickly rushed to medical aid, and eventually made a full recovery. A memorial service for the four fallen Jedi. Kenobi passed on the tale of their sacrifice to those attending the memorial, and expressed his distraught over the death of Fay. Master Windu assured Kenobi that through her sacrifice, she had saved millions of innocent lives.
The victims of the Mission to Queyta.
Unfortunately, the Galactic Republic had not seen the last of the deadly swamp gas. Unknown to Obi-Wan, a second laboratory had been established on the far side of Queyta, and loaded its creations aboard the science vessel Gahenna. This vessel would roam the galaxy for the next two years, modifying the swamp gas weapon to become the Trihexalophine1138 toxin that devastated Honoghr.
The Jedi mission to recover the antidote from Queyta was first depicted in Republic 53. The New Essential Chronology would later give the proper name of "Mission to Queyta" to the event.
- The Official Star Wars Fact File102
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Scrapbook
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Clone Wars Campaign Guide