The first shuttle landed in the waters just outside Theed.
It had powered down inside the troposphere, gone dark and dead-dropped. It was a Theta class -small, easy to miss in the darkness just before dawn. When the shuttle fell beneath the cover of the treeline on the horizon, it powered back up, lights on, wings extending, and the shielding fields stabilized it in the atmosphere. Its descent was slowed enough to come in for a gentle water-landing, hovering just high enough for the boarding ramp to kiss the surface.
A small platoon of Stormtroopers crept from the shuttle's innards and slipped quietly into the rippling lake. Each wore an aquata breather attached to their helmet's usual filtering system. Their armor itself was lighter than regular infantry armor, to facilitate easier swimming, and colored mud brown and seaweed green to blend in on the planet"s surface. On Naboo, they were nearly invisible.
All sixteen disappeared beneath the waters, and would not be seen again until they emerged on the far shore, rising up from the lake like so many Gungans. They scaled the moss on Theed's walls, their gloves equipped with sharpened fingertips to dig deep into the wet plant life. They made no sound, not even when the topmost trooper sunk his vibroblade into a nearby sentry's under-chin, piercing his brain. Perhaps a gargle of blood, but faint, if any. The trooper caught the Nabooian before he could fall and make a splash, and laid him down and out of sight.
The others vaulted up onto the wall in a quick succession. Some had cache packs on their backs, which they then opened to reveal their dry contents. They assembled their blaster rifles from what was inside; attaching the butt to the stock, the scope to the chamber, and screwing the barrel into place on the forestock. Status LEDs went from red to green. They switched their power settings to kill.
They split up into smaller teams of two - one keeping watch with their blaster rifle at the ready, while the other dispatched sentries along the wall with a well-placed vibroblade, moving behind pillars and fauna for cover. When the high ground was clear, they descended into the Royal Plaza below, using grappling hooks to repel down into the shadowy nooks, in lieu of the bright openness of the stairs.
There was a grid of fortifications near the palace gates; squat, wide enclosures where Theed Security kept various defense consoles. One, for example, operated the particle cannon turrets that protected the palace, but that one was a job for the incoming infantry. It was Fire Wave's duty to get them there first, landed safely. Instead, they made their way east of the palace gates, surrounding a lower quadrant of the defense grid, where the long-range scanning station was housed.
Four troopers flanked every corner, back to back, rifles up. Five were in the back, two facing out on guard, three ready to climb. There were two troopers on either side of the main entrance, and one, dressed in a uniform that he'd stripped off a corpse, rapped on it hard with his bare knuckles.
The peephole slid open, revealing two young, but suspicious eyes. "Yes?"
"I gotta go," the disguised trooper said, doing a little dance. "Real bad."
"No way," the technician's eyes said. "Go use the one in the barracks."
"C'mon, buddy," the trooper whined. "The barracks is way on the other side of the grid." At the rear of the control room, three of his fellow troopers were already climbing. There was a row of awning windows there to let in light. The troopers placed a small device on the pane of each, and the unbreakable glass began to glow orange and melt. "It'll be fast, it's only number one!"
The eyes sighed. "Fine," they said, and started opening the door. "But you'd better not tell anyone else about this-" before the door had fully opened, the two troopers who had been flanking it had rushed in. They muscled the young man back, rifle barrels pressed to both his gut and temple. He glanced backward for help, but the other three troopers had already slithered through the windows like snakes, wasting no time in sticking their vibroblades between his fellow technician's ribs.
"Wouldn't dream of it," the disguised trooper said. "Now, deactivate the long range scanner."
"Do it," another trooper said, "and maybe we'll let you walk out of here in one piece."
"Okay, okay!" The young man did as he was told, trembling as he worked. When the consoles and monitors had gone dark, and the orbital scanner had completely powered down, the troopers executed him anyway. No witnesses, Commander Rex had said. There would be none.
The platoon leader radioed their mission's success to the shuttle they had come down to the planet's surface on, which relayed that same message to the Imperial Cruiser that had birthed it. It didn't take long for the dawning sky to speckle with clustered dwarf stars, growing larger as the Imperial Fleet broke lightspeed and appeared fully in the pink sky, distant but all-too-close. Cruisers loomed overhead so far out they appeared as jagged clouds, ghost-like in their soft formlessness.
Infantry shuttles touched down in the Royal Plaza, still more landed in and outside Theed. Troopers marched down their respective ramps in tight company formation, tank artillery rolling down and out alongside them, turrets swiveling. Covert operations were over, and weapons went hot. Theed woke to the whistle of blasters, and the pop of sparks that came with them. The Imperial army exchanged fire with the particle cannon turrets defending the palace, their rounds as booming thunder. Naboo security took to their speeder tanks, but their light armor did nothing against the computer-guided missile launchers equipped on the Imperial TX fighter tanks. The AAC's raced along, chased by a smoking comet, and then they went up in a blaze.
"Surround the palace," Commander Rex said into their commlinks. His face appeared to each of them in the corner of their vision, grimacing with the exertion of battle. His voice resounded inside their helmets as though he were standing right beside each of them, rather than himself fighting, somewhere in the front lines. "Don't let the queen escape!"
Imperial forces pressed forward, using their artillery to cleave a hole through Naboo's defenses. A battalion marched behind each TX, picking off Theed's security with a flash of red light and a series of shrill screams. Meanwhile, the fighter tanks positioned themselves in range to fire on the turret control console. When a particle cannon destroyed a tank, another would roll forward through the smoke and debris, continuing suppressive fire. Each shot only rocked the console's foundation, the energy rippling useless across plasma shields, but the constant barrage drew the attention of the turrets and allowed a handful of Stormtroopers the time needed to scale the grid, pierce the shields, and saturate the console with grenades. They bounced harmlessly, rolled, came to a stop, and - BOOM! - there was no more defensive turret fire.
Without it, the palace gates opened up to them almost as easily as petals unfurling on a flower. The 501st blasted the heavy, wooden doors off their hinges with sticky explosives. Through the smoke, the red of their blasters crisscrossed the blue of the Royal Guard's from the interior courtyard. Bodies began to fall, and screams rose in throats behind the palace walls.
Something boomed in the distance, and in her half-sleep Gwen thought it to just be thunder. On her homeworld, many dawns were broken with rain, and she almost paid it no mind and fell back to sleep, but then another boom came from somewhere closer, and she heard shouting. Gwen sat up. She was alone in bed, but the spot beside her was still warm, and when she took in her surroundings she saw Ahsoka by the window, hopping on one foot and putting on her last boot. "An attack?"
Ahsoka nodded. Gwen shot out of bed and started to dress. "Imperials?"
"Looks like it," Ahsoka said, buckling her blaster belt. There was urgency in her movements, but she seemed so calm, almost unfazed by the tremble of artillery under their feet. This reaction always struck Gwen as strange, and she had to remind herself that Ahsoka had been in these kinds of situations many times before, during the Clone Wars - too many times, if you asked her. Gwen, however, was sick to her stomach with fear. "I need you to escort the queen to safety."
"What?" Gwen was finishing up lacing her boots. "Where are you going?"
"The younglings," Ahsoka said. "I have to find them..." Before the Stormtroopers do.
Gwen started for the door. "I'll go with you-"
"Gwen, no." Ahsoka grabbed her by the forearm-not painfully tight, but enough to get her attention and spin her around to face her. "The younglings are my responsibility, not yours. I'm counting on you to get Apailana out of here. Use the Stellar Envoy if you have to." Gwen opened her mouth to protest again, but Ahsoka held her gaze. "Please."
"Fine," Gwen said, throwing her hands up in the air. There was no arguing with her when she got like this. "But don't go and get yourself killed, or I'm going to be mad as Malachor at you!"
Ahsoka hugged her. "I won't," she said. "Now, go. They'll break the defense grid soon."
They stepped out into the hall together. The Queen's chambers and the refugee quarters - or wherever the Jedi were - were in opposite directions, and so Ahsoka and Gwen had to immediately part ways. They looked at each other once more - Gwen silently pleading with her eyes, Ahsoka only nodding solemnly, resolutely - and then Ahsoka was gone, sprinting around a curved turn of the corridor, disappearing into the fray.
Dawn was breaking purple through the veranda windows and past the terraces beyond, but the usual quiet of morning was corrupted with near-constant booming that rattled the marble, leaving a faint veil of disturbed dust in the crisp morning air. Gwen heard the unmistakable sound of blaster fire - pew! pew! pew! - louder in the palace corridors, far away but not quite far enough. Sometimes Gwen spotted flashes of it, blistering behind Theed's distant walls, rising in smoke and sparks. Parts of the city were burning.
Other members of the court were in the hall too, Naboo nobility in various states of undress, and there was a panic in the air, like flies that followed a herd of horses. No one even looked at Gwen as she passed them, although she was the only one running toward the palace's inner sanctum. Everyone else seemed to be heading in the direction of the shuttle bays on the lower levels, she reckoned. Luckily, Gwen had landed the Stellar Envoy was away from the other ships, on one of the Queen's priority docking platforms, or someone desperate enough might have gotten the idea to take it.
Gwen found Apailana meeting with her advisors in the audience chamber. The Royal Guard posted at the doors crossed their staffs over the entrance on her approach, but the Queen called to them from inside, "Let the smuggler enter!" and so they did.
She was standing upon the throne platform in only a shift, and her handmaidens were seeing to dressing her in heavy gown made of a silken, hunter green material that shone purple in the light, like a raptors plume. The collar was made of dark, stiff feathers, and her headdress was a sharp, twisted thing comprised of bent deadwood and thorns. Her advisors were visibly uncomfortable with watching her dress, but she showed no sign of herself being perturbed by it. Her makeup was already done; she was white-faced, her lips black, her eyes shadowed in deep purple and lined boldly. "Explain," she said, glaring down at them all, ferocity in her every gesture.
"Your Highness," Captain Palpatis said, "perhaps we should delay this congregation until you are more decent-"
"We've all been caught with our pants down this morning, Captain. You're no more embarrassed by my indecency than I am of your failure." Palpatis shrunk back. "Now, now did this happen?"
Another advisor stepped forward. He was dressed in a different uniform, simpler. Gwen figured him for an engineer of some kind. "Your highness," he said, "last night, a small company of the enemy slipped into Theed unseen. They killed over a dozen of the Royal Guard on watch, and six of my men working in the LDS complex. It would appear that they… persuaded one to shut the system down before they executed him or her. That is how the Imperial fleet was able to enter our atmosphere and land shuttles on the ground without our detection."
"Is this so, Commander?" Palpatis nodded. "And what is the status of the conflict?"
"Our security forces are engaging the Imperial battalion inside Theed's walls at the southern tip and the Royal Plaza. We've taken heavy infantry and civilian losses. I've dispatched men in AAC-1 speeder tanks, but the enemy has brought heavy artillery, including TX fighter tanks. Our speeders simply can't out-maneuver their missiles. Our particle cannon turrets are holding them back, but"-Palpatis cleared his throat-"reconnaissance reports that they're positioning themselves to engage the grid console with a heavy assault, even as we speak."
"Will it hold, Captain?"
Palpatis hesitated. "I do not think so, my queen."
Apailana pursed her lips. "I see."
"Your Highness," Gwen said, speaking for the first time, "there's no way that Naboo's forces can win this fight. It's hopeless. It's in the best interest of you and your people to withdraw immediately, before the Imperials break through the last of your defenses. My ship is waiting nearby, we can-"
"You would have me abandon my palace, abandon the people of Theed? I will hear nothing of it." Gwen at once saw the childishness in Apailana, the petulance of her objection. Naboo royalty were always so young. "Black-hearted dictators have waged war on our people before, and we will be victorious, as we were then."
Another explosion rocked the palace.
"Queen Apailana, I agree with the smuggler"-Palpatis glanced at Gwen-"I agree with Captain Nahasi. Respectfully, Your Highness, you forget that even Queen Amidala withdrew during the Separatist invasion of Theed." He raised his hands, as if in a position of surrender. "Sometimes the best possible action is retreat; surely you see the wisdom in this? Our N-1 StarFighters have engaged the cruisers blockading the planet. Imperial TIE-fighters are quick and many, but they lack the shielding and firepower that we do. I believe our fleet will be able to hold them off... for a time, but at this rate an orbital bombardment seems inevitable." Palapatis' voice deepened. "My queen, if we are to go, we must go now."
Apailana was silent for a time, considering. Her dark eyes clouded with thought, focusing on everything and nothing at once. Her lips were a tight, black line. Outside, the blaster fire continued, drilling louder and louder into their ears, a kind of war-drum announcing the Empire's coming, insisting that they'd soon be there. Apailana's handmaidens finished dressing her with one final tug of a fastener, and it seemed as though in that moment the queen made her decision. Her black lips parted again. "Smuggler," she said, "you say your ship is nearby?"
"Docking station 14, Your Highness."
"And it is a fast vessel?"
Gwen smiled and puffed like a fish. "Fastest in the galaxy," she said. "It could make it from here to Kessel in 12 parsecs."
"What is it called?" Apailana stepped down off her dais and started toward Gwen, her handmaidens following in a flush and flap of multicolored silks. Her advisors bowed as she drew near.
"The Stellar Envoy."
"A fitting name," Queen Apailana said. "Captain Palapatis, have your finest guard who are not already engaged escort us down to docking bay 14. We will be leaving on the smuggler's"-she looked at Gwen impassively and rephrased her statement-"We will be withdrawing to the countryside on Captain Nahasi's ship, immediately."
"Yes, My Queen," Palapatis said. "But what of the Jedi?"
"Ahsoka went to find them," Gwen said. "She won't be long behind us." She stole a look through the arched windows at the lightening horizon, where - if you looked closely enough - you could still see the vague outline of the Star Destroyers hovering among the misty clouds, and now the faint flashes of cannon fire against the deepening blue sky. Another tremor went through the stone and marble beneath her, and something in Gwen's gut stabbed and twisted. Hurry, Ahsoka... Please.
Ahsoka sprinted down the corridor, her shoes squeaking on its polish. There was a courtyard and garden near the East Wing of the palace. Lined by short walls and hedges, it connected to the Royal Plaza and the main gates with a series of smaller, guarded gates, making it easier to move someone around without them being seen, like a coin under a peddler's cup. That was where Ahsoka had known smuggled refugees to be taken before, and it was her best guess as to where the younglings had been taken, now. It was also damn near on the other side of the palace, and she was drenched in sweat by the time she made it there.
The courtyard appeared abandoned at first glance. Smoke left a gray haze over the flowers and greenery, and there were doming plumes of it just beyond the hedges. Webbed cracks ran through the granite stones, Ahsoka assumed from the artillery tremors. She was about to loose an exasperated sigh when she heard voices around the bend, not too far away. She followed them.
There was a small crowd at one of the inner gates that led toward the Royal Plaza, toward the smoke. The guards had raised their voices high enough to be heard above the blasters, but the person who was speaking to them couldn't have been using an octave much higher than a whisper. They were wearing brown, hooded robes, as were the two on either side of them, and simple tunics beneath. Ahsoka needed only one guess to recognize who they were.
When Ahsoka drew nearer, someone to the left shouted her name, and she was immediately rushed by a small, familiar Rodian. "Hello, Ganodi," Ahsoka said. Katooni was next to join in the hug, coming out from the shrubbery where they were all staying hidden, and Ahsoka smiled and said hello to her, too. The boys hesitated - Zaat, Petra, and Byph - but only for a moment before they piled in next to the girls. The wookie boy was last, and he stomped his hairy foot and gave a little roar. "There's room, Gungi," Ahsoka said, giggling. "C'mon, everyone, make room for Gungi," and they all did.
Zaat looked up at her. "You smell much better now, Ahsoka."
Ahsoka laughed. "So do you," she said. "All of you do."
"Gungi doesn't," Petra said, scrunching up his nose.
"Even Gungi," Ahsoka said, ruffling the wookie's hair. He had buried his face in Ahsoka's pants, but she could hear him purring gently.
"Pardon the intrusion," the shortest of the three Jedi said. Her brown eyes regarded Ahsoka from the round, furry face of an Ewok. "It is good to see you again, General Tano. Although, I wish it were under better circumstances."
"As do I, Master Deeku," Ahsoka said, giving her a small bow at the waist. She then showed the other two Jedi a similar respect. "Master Sagva"-she said to the tall, red-skinned Twi'lek, whose tentacle was coiled protectively around his throat-"Master Skush," she said, and bowed to the Gungan Jedi, who bowed in return, her eyeballs blinking lidlessly. "Thank you for looking after the younglings, and it's just 'Ahsoka', now."
"Wee'sa pleasure," Skush said. "And you'sa always a General to mee'sa."
"General Tano," Sagva said, and then corrected himself: "Ahsoka, we must hurry. I sense the Imperial forces are very near to breaking through the palace defenses."
Deeku's hairs bristled. "I would agree," she said.
"I have a shuttle waiting for us on the other side of the plaza," Ahsoka said. "It's docked on one of the queen's private hangars. If we hurry, we can backtrack through the palace and be there before the Imperials are able to storm the gates."
"With all due respect, Ahsoka," Sagva said, "the fastest route to the other side of the plaza is, in my estimation, through the plaza itself." He pointed to the courtyard gates, where the guards still stood, looking more nervous by the minute.
Ahsoka grimaced. Sagva was right, of course, but so was Deeku; the fighter tanks would likely break through the main gates at any moment. Ahsoka could hear their cannons booming, just beyond the hedges and the walls. "We'll have to move quickly," she said. "If we see the enemy, I don't want you to engage. It's a full retreat, agreed?" The three masters nodded, as did the younglings, who somehow seemed even more solemn. "Where's Ray?"
"The strange-looking droid with an attitude?" Sagva asked. "He's powered down at the guard-post. Sentries caught him trying to remotely hack the defense grid early this morning, before the attack. He shouldn't be much worse for wear."
"Good, we'll pick him up on the way," Ahsoka said, and started to walk. The others followed, their long robes swooshing behind them. The two guards looked at each other wearingly as they approached, and stepped out of their posts to block the Jedi's pass. "Master Skush, would you do the honors?"
"It be mee'sa mui honor," she said, stepping ahead of the group just in time to be met with a sharp call from one of the guards for them to get back. Skush waved her hand and did not stop. "You'sa be letting we'sa pass," she said, and walked right on through.
The guards lowered their staffs and scratched their heads, looking at each other for guidance. "We, uh... sa, be letting you... sa, uh..."
Ahsoka popped her head into the stucco booth mounted at the gate and found Ray lying at the top of a bin of other electronics. It only took her a moment to reset his battery matrix and, when she did, he powered back on in a rush of life. "-understand, my scanners are picking up vessels at less than 200kilometers! Your planetary LDS must be malfunctioning! I-" his red eye rolled up and met Ahsoka's brown ones. "Oh, it's you."
"Sorry, buddy," Ahsoka said. "You were right, though."
"Of course I was," he said, taking to the air again.
"Can you patch my commlink with Gwen?"
There was a whirring noise, and then Ray said, "Done."
"Thanks," Ahsoka said, tapping the receiver in her ear to make sure it was online. "We're heading through the Royal Plaza back to The Stellar Envoy and getting out of here."
"It's about time," Ray grumbled. "We should never have come in the first place."
"Keep low and stay off Imperial scanners, but scout ahead for us, would you? Relay any reconnaissance." Ray took off, floating up and away at a steady pace, his main engines whirring. Ahsoka and the others continued walking toward the plaza, following the hedges. Their path was marked by the shadow of the droid in the sky, bobbing along on the concrete like a child's ball.
Ahsoka tapped her earpiece again, "Gwen, you there?"
"I'm here," Gwen said. "It's good to hear your voice!"
"Yours too," she said. "What's your status?"
"I'm with Apailana and her Royal Guard," Gwen said. Ahsoka could hear a commotion on the commlink; dozens, maybe hundreds of feet, and shouting. "We're in one of the descending corridors, heading to the Envoy, but there's a hold-up at the stairs."
Ahsoka picked up Apailana's voice in the background, loud and regal, Ladies, Noblemen, please! Panic will do nothing, but-"Gwen, we don't have time for this. Can you take another route through the palace? How close are you to the courtyard?"
Gwen said, "Captain, is there another way around?" There was a moment of muttering, and then: "Ahsoka, Palapatis says there's a courtyard stairwell entrance. It should be deserted, but he cautions against going through the Royal Plaza."
"Good," Ahsoka said. "We're heading through the courtyard into the plaza, now. We'll rendezvous there, then cut through to the Eastern side of the palace and back up to the Envoy."
"Ahsoka, isn't this dangerous? The queen-"
"Any more dangerous then leaving her behind?"
"Alright," Gwen said. "I'll see you in ten."
"I can't wait, hon. Ahsoka out."
The hedge path was a long, winding walkway that coiled itself around the palace exterior, knotting off into concrete meadows for gardens and shrines. Ahsoka ran point, with Sagva and Skush directly behind her. The younglings were cushioned in the middle, some struggling harder to keep up than others-Byph, for example. Ithorians were not much of runners. Master Deeku brought up the rear, mostly because her furry legs were nearly too short to keep their pace at all. "General-Uh, Ahsoka, we really must hurry. I sense we haven't much time to pass through, unprovoked."
"The talking teddy bear is right," Ray-1 said in her comm. "A squad of TX fighter tanks are laying down heavy artillery fire on the defense grid." Ahsoka could hear them, a steady drumming just behind the hedges, a little farther north of their position. "It is a tactical ruse, however. My scans indicate a small platoon of clones climbing the grid itself. They will very likely dismantle it from the inside."
"Ray, how long!?"
"Hard to say, exactly-" PHEEEEEE-PLOOOOM. The sound came from behind the wall, a red burst and a sucking in of light before the flash of white-hot fire and black smoke. An implosion before an explosion. Thermo nukes, Ahsoka thought. A mushroom cloud plumed behind the hedges, almost as if it were leading their way. "Actually, I can say with some exactness: Not long."
"We'sa should be going back," Skush said. "Dees berry bad."
Ahsoka shook her head. "No, we have to keep going," she said. "It will take them a while to bring their full force through the gate. Royal Security will head them off. We still have time."
"I concur," Sagva said. "Going back will bring only failure."
Deeku said only, "I have a bad feeling about this."
They sprinted around one last curve and the path widened out into the Royal Plaza ahead. They could see the marble statues along the perimeter of it, ancient Naboo royalty standing watch over Theed. One of them looked like Queen Amidala, Ahsoka thought, smaller in stature than the other monuments, but more elegantly dressed, and with a singular kindness to her face. Ahsoka didn't remember hearing tell of them ever constructing one. Then again, Ahsoka hadn't been able to attend Padme's funeral. Now isn't the time for these thoughts, Ahsoka told herself.
A formation of security forces awaited the breach in the plaza, some standing behind cover, some stooped in line with the main gate. It was less than she expected there to be, but it would have to do, at least until they were able to—
"Ahsoka!" Gwen bounded down a small staircase set into the side of the palace, shadowed, and almost hidden behind shrubbery. Behind her came Captain Palapatis and a contingent of the Queen's personal guard, all rushing out into the courtyard to meet them. "Funny bumping into you," Gwen said, grinning. "Come to Imperial invasions often?"
Apailana emerged from the darkened hole last, dressed more like a ferocious bird of prey than a queen. "General Tano," she said, very seriously. "I thank you for your continued loyalty and support."
"Thank me after we get out of here," Ahsoka said. "Let's go!"
They started moving again, an even bigger and more ungainly group than they had been separately, with Ahsoka still running at the forefront. They had only crossed a quarter of the plaza when there was a series of rapid booms, these smaller, but closer. Then the main gate-a massive, arched piece of heavy Naboo wood-fell forward and crumbled in a cloud of ash and cinders. The coordinated explosions rattled them, brought them to a halt, and then the blaster fire that sizzled through the smoke made them drop for cover.
"Malachor!" Ahsoka cursed. "Stay low, but keep moving!"
Apailana had sunk behind the same half-pillar that Ahsoka had, her back pressed against it. A gloved hand reached inside her gown and produced a blaster pistol from its layers. "I can not leave these men to die," she said, rising up to take aim on her elbows and fire. Two Stormtroopers sparked and dropped in the smoke.
Ahsoka shouted at her, "Apailana, we don't have time for this!"
The queen's eyes were onyx. "All of us," she said. "Or none."
Ahsoka made a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a growl. "Fine!" She carefully stuck her head out from behind cover so the others could see that she was talking to them. "Deeku, protect the younglings. Sagva, Skush, support the Royal Guard. Hold these troopers back. Gwen, keep moving. Get to the Envoy."
"What!?" Gwen made a face as if to say, Are you crazy!? "Even if I get there, how are you all supposed to board once I do!?"
"We'll figure that part out later," Ahsoka said. "I trust you... now, go!" Ahsoka, Apailana, Captain Palapatis and his guard all broke cover at once, laying down a suppressing fire. Gwen leapt up and ran across the plaza, across the battlefield. Sparks exploded all around her, flames flaring up every few feet. Ahsoka went cold. She's not going to make it...
A trooper shouted, "Jedi!" and Ahsoka looked to see Master Skush and Sagva pressing forward, their lightsabers - both green - flashed in the air, swiping away enemy blaster bolts. The Imperial's main attack focused on them now, instead. Ahsoka turned and spotted Gwen just as she safely disappeared around the curve on the West Side of the Royal Plaza, into the courtyard that would lead her up and into the Queen's hangar bay. Please hurry, Ahsoka thought.
Gwen ran through the courtyard, through the smoke, away from the thundering sounds of blaster fire and artillery. The Royal Palace's West Side was deserted; there weren't even any guards left at the connecting gate posts to stop her, and she figured there would be equally few in the hangar bay. Without anyone to guide her, Gwen was counting on the palace architecture being symmetrical. Her eyes scanned the walls while she ran, searching for a dark, arched entrance; a West Courtyard stairwell, as there had been on the East side of the palace. She found one that was hidden behind a shrub that had begun flowering purple bulbs, and scratched herself on its thorns on the way through.
Up the stairs and into the main corridor, Gwen found herself alone in a palace of ghosts. Smoke hung heavy in the air, refracting the sunlight from the veranda windows. It was desolately quiet, save for the sounds of the battle below, echoing hollowly in the marble halls. It felt like she was in a dream, something just on the brink of being a nightmare, but still vague with the haze of sleep. She ran, her footfalls adding to the echoes.
Gwen was in Corridor A, the Noble Corridor, as it was called. It spiraled up and around the palace exterior, giving the best view of the city of Theed beyond – on good days, anyway. It also had the most convenient access to amenities, like the royal suites where Ahsoka and she had been staying, or private courtyard entrances, or – and this was most important to Gwen – isolated hangar bays. There was a locked door blocking Gwen's path to Hangar Bay 2, and first Gwen tried using the security console next to it. She pulled up entry logs and could see that the mechanics had finished their work on the ship, just as Palapatis had promised, and she pumped her fist in gratitude. The door would still not open, however, and Gwen tried bypassing the security protocols, muttering, "I wish Ray was here right about now." When that failed, she simply pulled out her pistol and blasted it. The console sparked out and then went dark. That felt better, anyway. That's how she was used to opening doors.
There was a hydraulic hiss, and the door slid up and opened for her. On the other side, there was the long stretch of walkway that connected the circular landing pad to the palace. The Stellar Envoy sat perched on it, sleeping undisturbed above the unrest below. It was caught in a beam of sunlight that made its battered hull gleam just a little, and Gwen almost teared up at the sight of it. "Alright, baby," she said, running toward it. The loading ramp was already down, as though The Envoy were waiting for her. "Let's get Ahsoka and get out of here!"
A blaster bolt went off at her feet. "Not so fast," she heard a voice say, amplified by some speaker system. There was a whoosh of air, and Gwen turned to see a small ship rising up from below the landing pad. It was a Firespray-31 patrol and attack craft, but Gwen could already tell that it had been customized into some kind of metal monstrosity. The engines didn't oscillate correctly, not how that class of engine should have, anyway. Everything about the ship stunk of a bounty hunter. "I don't remember giving you permission to take off, smuggler," the voice said. It sounded young, even amplified as it was. Gwen's hand tightened on her blaster's grip.
"Don't even think about it."
Gwen made a run for it.
The smoke was clearing, revealing a push from the troopers to move through the open gate, but they were bottlenecked. Queen Apailana shouted commands at the Royal Security, and blaster fire held the Imperials at bay. Master Skush, between deflecting bolts, would lift her hand and send them sprawling back, tumbling over each other. Sagva moved around the field, unpinning any guard taking too much fire. Ahsoka was starting to think they had the tactical advantage, until a artillery shell from Theed rocked the defensive wall, and a TX Fighter Tank rolled through the debris into the plaza. More troopers swarmed out of the hole around it.
Apailana was on her feet before Ahsoka could stop her, running for cover closer to the breach. "To me, to me!" Captain Palapatis and her guard followed. "Get this machination off my lawn!"
Captain Palapatis shouted, "For Naboo! For the queen!" and then he charged the tank with a live grenade blinking in his hand. His men followed, firing blasters, swinging staffs. They struck hard and fast, but the tank's cannons were too heavy; cover was reduced to rubble in moments, and a lifeless Palapatis was blown away in a downpour of rock and gravel. His body landed hard, bounced, and smoked. His men did not stand much longer.
"Ahsoka," Master Deeku said, breaking her shocked daze, "now might be a good time for... a more elegant kind of weapon."
It felt like it had been a long, long time in a galaxy far, far away since she'd last needed one, but Master Deeku was right, she couldn't hide anymore. Too much depended on her.
Ahsoka pressed a finger to her comm. "Ray, are you online?" I am. "Good," she said. "RPG the package, on me." And then she was up running, racing toward the queen. Blaster bolts sizzled all around her. Up above the battlefield, Ray-1 opened a cannon barrel on his back, calculated trajectory, and fired. Something loosed from him, propelled by fire, smoking. It arched high in the air, the propellant end puttering out and breaking away, but the package spiraling down toward the field, toward the tank, where Ahsoka - her eyes now closed - pushed off on a piece of rubble, flipped, caught it in midair, and ignited her lightsaber. Hot, blue light pulsed in her hands. PHOOOOOOOOOM. PHOOOOOOOOOM. She landed effortlessly behind the tank's cannon and sliced it clean off. "Ray," Ahsoka said, "find Gwen."
"Get the Jedi!" The Imperials surrounding the tank fired their blasters at her, but those were immediately deflected, two or three bolts taking down the very troopers who had shot them. The rest were easily toppled with a push from the force, giving Ahsoka plenty of time to drag her lightsaber through the tank's roof and rip out its pilot. He was discarded like space trash.
Blaster fire exploded behind Gwen at every step. She was halfway down the walkway, making a B-Line for The Stellar Envoy's loading ramp. Her only hope was that she could get inside and get the shields up before that attack craft did too much damage to the outer hull. Whoever was piloting the craft must have seen that plan coming. They stopped firing at her and fired at the loading ramp instead, just as she neared it. Gwen was blown back and landed hard on her back. Her first thought after she shook off the ringing in her skull was to check The Envoy. The ramp was singed, but not much worse for wear. "I told you," the voice said. "Not so fast."
"What a mess you humans make. I'll need a moment to resolve."
Gwen sat up slowly, coming to a crouch. "Drop your blaster," the voice said. She did, letting it clatter on the walkway beside her. "Now put your hands behind your head and lay down on your stomach." She did this, too. Her hands inched up to her head. Her foot slid back and she lowered her weight, pound by pound, until she was lying flat. "It doesn't matter how long you stall, smuggler. You're about to be the emperor's property. For the right price, that is."
Gwen's head was cocked to the side on the walkway surface, but she could see the attack craft coming in sideways, pointing its laser cannons away from her to do so. There was a hatch on the side that she assumed the bounty hunter meant to collect her from. "Stay very still," the voice told her over the speakers. Gwen knew he could swivel the ship around faster than she would be able to get up. Firespray crafts were fast out of the factory, and this one had been heavily modded and was probably even faster. Her only chance was…
"Almost completed," Ray said over the comm. Gwen could see him now, hovering near the rear of the bounty hunter's ship. An instrument of his was inserted into one of the attack craft's access panels, and Gwen saw it whirring and blinking. "I'm going to deactivate his secondary systems. It won't last long, but it should give you the time you require." Ray sounded all too pleased with himself, and Gwen rued thanking him for it later. "Be ready, mother." That settled it. He only ever called her mother when he was feeling particularly haughty.
The Firespray's hatch slid open just in time for Gwen to watch all the lights on the ship's interior suddenly go dark, replaced with the red glow of the backup power unit. She heard the GOOOOOooooooom of everything being powered down, and even the thrusters dimmed, and the ship lost a few feet of altitude. "Malachor!" the voice said over the speaker system. "What have you—" and then that too lost power, petered out into nothing but static and then silence. Gwen rolled, grabbed her blaster, popped off three shots into the open hatch – singeing something, and sending sparks flying in the cockpit – and then she was up and running.
Gwen made it to The Stellar Envoy and closed the loading ramp just as the attack craft's secondary systems started coming back online, and it roared to life again – almost literally, considering the bounty hunter's obscenities over the PA system. As the ramp closed, Gwen saw Ray shooting past the Firespray, heading toward The Envoy, when the bounty hunter shouted, "Oh, no you don't!" Ray halted in midair, twisting for a moment, and then was sucked back, landing hard against the magnetic junk collector on the Firespray's bow. Gwen watched horrified as Ray slammed into the craft with a metal CLANK and surged with electricity, screaming a moment before finally, mercifully deactivating. "I'm not going home empty handed, smuggler!" The ramp was closed, but Gwen felt blaster fire rock The Envoy. There was no time to mourn.
Gwen raced around the inner corridor to the cockpit, hopping into the pilot seat and flipping on all the flight controls. Not having a co-pilot to reach the toggles on the switchboard slowed her down, and The Stellar Envoy rumbled again. Warning lights went off on the interior, blaring, telling the passengers that the ship was under fire. "I know, I know," Gwen said, almost absentminded, focused more on getting The Envoy up into the air. The thrusters fired on, and the ship lifted, rotating clockwise to face the attack craft. Gwen could see the bounty hunter through the front viewfinder, now. He couldn't have been much older than fourteen. He fired at her again. "Alright, kid," Gwen said, talking mostly to herself, "let's see how you fly."
The Envoy rocketed up, slicing just overhead of the bounty hunter's ship. He gave chase, tearing off after her. Gwen didn't have a co-pilot to man The Envoy's turrets, which left her mostly vulnerable. This left her no choice but to do something stupid. She flew in a corkscrew pattern, up into the sky. It slowed her ascent, but that was on purpose – all part of her very, very bad plan. The Firespray flew in a straight line; it was fast, and its trajectory kept it biting her ankles, just where she wanted it.
When she'd reached a high enough peak, Gwen revved up the thrusters, giving herself a little space between both ships, then yanked the throttle into full stop just long enough to reengage the reverse thrusters only, sending the back-end of the ship straight down. The stern slammed into the side of the Firespray, a giant metal hand swatting a annoying insect, sending it tumbling off into the distance, and then Gwen reignited the main thrusters, using the momentum of the crash to push her hard east, spinning like an arrow.
"I'm coming Ahsoka," she said, sinking the thrusters into the dashboard.
There was a new rush of troopers pouring through the gate and the breaches in the plaza wall. Ahsoka backed away from them slowly, deflecting bolts with her saber. Her back found and pressed against Apailana's, who was firing her pistol in another direction. On both ends of the field, troopers were dropping in a shower of sparks. "It is an honor fighting by your side, Master Jedi," Apailana said. She squeezed her trigger and another trooper fell near the perimeter.
"I'm no master," Ahsoka said, "and I'm definitely no Jedi." Her lightsaber spun in her hands - phoom, phoom, phoom, phoom - and batted four blaster bolts away in rapid succession.
"You could have fooled me," Apailana said, and fired again.
A shadow passed overhead, stretching long and black. Ahsoka thought that it was Gwen at first, coming in for a tight landing or a pickup with The Stellar Envoy, some desperately magnificent piloting maneuver that only Gwen could pull off, but the shadow was too small and oddly shaped, winged and finned. It passed over them until the ship itself flew into Ahsoka's field of vision, and she saw what it really was: A lambda-class shuttle, probably from one of the cruisers in orbit, which meant that the Naboo pilots had already lost their dogfight with the Empire's TIE-fighters.
Ahsoka felt queasy. Something wasn't right, something felt... familiar, but twisted and wrong, like a memory that had been razed to the ground.
The shuttle turned and folded its wings in, landing just outside the plaza. Ahsoka searched her feelings, trying to understand what the spiders crawling inside her skull were. The battle was all but lost, their fate teetering on a precipice, but that wasn't it. It wasn't this battle, not their fate... it was a defeat from long ago, a fate that was already decided. Ahsoka was lost in her own feelings. Maybe if she had been more present, she might have sensed the sniper.
"General Tano, we will need to find different cover if we-"
There was a pop, like a stone skipping on stone. Apailana stopped speaking in mid-command. Ahsoka's eyes widened, sensing what had just happened, but all too late to stop it. Ahsoka spun around, her lightsaber retracting, and caught the Queen's body as it fell backward. "No, no, no..." There was a maw burned into the Queen's chest, the fabric of her dress singed around it. Apailana's eyes had lost their ferocity, now lifeless. "No... No... No..."
"Target is down," someone shouted across the battlefield. Someone else agreed, "Target is down." Just like that, the fighting seemed to stop. It was a kind of ceasefire born of shock of defeat or pleasure in victory. Everyone understood that it was over. Queen Apailana was dead. The Empire had won, and Naboo was lost.
Ahsoka had tears in her eyes when she saw his black shape come through the gate. He stopped to survey the battlefield, breathing loudly, and although she could not see his expression through the polished of his skull-like helmet, Ahsoka could feel the cold detachment coming off him in waves. "Leave no one alive," he said, his voice booming. "Especially the Jedi scum."
Ahsoka felt fury. Her thumb moved to press the ignition on her lightsaber, but the lightsaber was suddenly gone. It had been torn from her grasp, flying across a hundred feet of smoking debris and corpses, landing unceremoniously in Vader's black, gloved hand. He seemed to study it for a moment, and she felt his dispassion break. "Except that one," he said, pointing to her. "Bring that one to me." With that he turned sharply and left, his cape swishing.
Masters Deeku, Sagva, and Skush had backed away from the man in the black helmet, pressing their backs to the younglings in the corner of the courtyard. A circle of troopers tightened on them, like a noose. "RUN," Ahsoka screamed. She tried running herself, but another group of troopers had grabbed her, kicking and flailing. She stomped on their feet and bit one of their arms, but it they were too heavily armored. "KATOONI… BYPH…" she was just shouting their names, now. Ahsoka could see the younglings looking at her, then looking at each other, and as the troopers tightened even further, she saw them silently agree to stand bravely, like Jedi. The five of them ignited their lightsabers - the same ones that Ahsoka had helped them construct, all those years ago – and then the circle of troopers blocked her view totally, and she saw them open fire. Ahsoka's eyes were bleary with tears. "NOOOoooooo!"
Ahsoka's body went limp. The troopers that were holding her were practically dragging her now. "On yer feet, Jedi," one of them said, sounding fed up with her resistance. "Lord Vader wants you—"there was an abrupt and massive WHOOSH behind her, and Ahsoka heard the exhale of hydraulics before the pewpew of someone opening fire on the troopers holding her.
Ahsoka spun around, and there was The Stellar Envoy, hovering fifteen feet off the ground, looking somewhat worse for wear. The loading ramp was lowered, and Gwen was standing at the top of it, blaster in hand, hair wind-swept and unruly. "Ahsoka," she shouted down to her over the sound of the engines, "let's go, c'mon, get in!" Ahsoka leapt, using the force to drive her higher, and she landed practically in Gwen's arms. The loading ramp closed, and Gwen held her tight, but only for a moment. "We have to go."
Commander Tosch stood on the deck of the Imperial Cruiser orbiting Naboo, his hands neatly folded behind his back. He had been in command of that particular vessel during the battle, but now the battle had been won, and they had the dreary duty of blockading the planet. There had not been a ship on their scanners for quite some time, and Commander Tosch had assumed that the 501st had simply not let anyone survive on the planet surface long enough to board one, as was usually the case. He was wrong, however. At approximately 07:00 hours, one of the scanner technicians on the deck alerted him to a ship heading off-world. It was a YT-1300 freighter. "Probably just traders trying to escape the siege," Tosch said. "Fire at will."
DO NOT FIRE UPON THAT SHIP –
"Delay that order," Tosch said, but it was too late.The order having already been given, the weapons technicians flipped what switches were needed, and the cruiser fired its main cannons. The red beams speared off into space, but the freighter was improbably fast, and the attack only grazed its hull; probably causing some discomfort to the passengers, shaking them up, but no major damage to the vessel was made. Tosch breathed a sigh of relief… it was his last.
Commander Tosch began to choke. Slowly, at first, making gagging noises and rasping, but then he went totally silent. His face turned red, then purple, then blue. His feet lifted entirely off the ground, and he floated on the desk, clawing at his own throat. Everyone on deck watched him struggle for what seemed to them like an eternity, saying nothing, doing nothing. Then he went still, hanging in the air slack, lifeless. His body crumbled back down to the metal planks, where he would lay until the med-unit would come and drag him away, to be released into space.
In the distance, the freighter's thrusters burned blue and then were gone.
