Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation strolled through the halls of Theed's capital building. The royal palace of Naboo was with out compare, save for maybe the Supreme Chancellor's citadel on Coruscant. If there was a flaw in the palace it might be that it was too opulent. Every square centimeter was covered in carvings, tapestries or murals. The atrium of the palace contained a model of the solar system, Naboo's star floated in the center of the atrium, spanning 5 meters in diameter, was made up of fossilized amber, while Naboo itself was made up of sapphires and emeralds. Oddly enough the moon of Nibia, despite having limited resources, was actually constructed out of diamond and platinum, reflecting the ghostly appearance that the moon actually displayed. He could definitely get used to this.
The Neimoidian and his landing party had just set foot down planet side moments ago. They were in sharp contrast to the frail beauty that Naboo exhibited. Nute came down upon Naboo with the ferocious brute strength of the Trade Federation. Dozens of tanks and troop carriers and his legions of battle droids left the citizens of Theed with only a slight glimpse of what was the beginning of the rape and pillaging of their planet. Several Tanks had pulled up into the plaza in front of the capital building. Walking with his platoon of personal B1 battle droid guards he came across a young queen and her captain of the guard.
"I wouldn't reach for those weapons, if I were you," Nute suggested. "It would be far better for you, and your people if you cooperated in a hospitable manner."
Amidala's eyes sent daggers at Nute, he was right of course. They had them surrounded, caught with their pants down. But was it really so easy for the Nubians to be taken by surprise? And with so little warning? She sighed as she was lead back into the chamber where she had left Sabé moments ago. Magob had now taken place atop the podium where the Queen had been sitting, the smug bastard enjoying every minute of it. The rest of the Nubians were rounded up and put in the corner of the chamber. Amidala went over to them, and was relieved to see Sabé was unharmed.
Amidala wished she could say she was shocked when she noticed that Sio wasn't in the group of Nubians who were rounded up. It made sense, here was his chance to get placed on the throne, even if he was just a puppet. Power, even the illusion of power was too great a draw for him to turn down. It also explained why it took so long for the Nubians to realize an invasion fleet had arrived.
"Well it seems all of the pieces have fallen into place," Amidala sneered. "At least we always knew where your loyalties lay Sio."
Sio let out a chuckle, "all you have now is words, I have the power."
"Enough!" Nute roared, "Now is not the time to gloat, we must sign over power to The Trade Federation, and to the new ruler of Naboo: Sio."
"Do not forget about us," Magob chimed in.
"Ah yes, the Nibians also wish to have the Nubians generously donate some of their overabundance of resources, such as water, and those gunganese grains that are so fetching on today's market."
"Those are Gungan controlled resources, we can't give you control over any of that." Amidala pointed out.
"Bah, the gungans, back-water pond scum. They have no say in how this planet is run. The Nubians control the real power." Sio proclaimed.
Amidala's eyes narrowed, Sio for as stupid as he appeared was only half wrong with his statement. The Republic didn't recognize the gungans with their own seat in the Senate, it was shared with the Nubians. Or more correctly, the gungans didn't care, they had never had anyone seek a seat at the senate or any representation, it seemed that they were content with having the Nubians deal with all the galactic affairs, so long as they could grow and sell their crops. So if the Nubians said this is what the gungans wanted, the Republic would have been none the wiser. But the gungan were far more numerous than the Nubians, and wouldn't take this blatant disregard for their welfare laying down.
"Alright let's get down to business," Sio exclaimed. "Sign this treaty and we can all be on our merry way."
Sio had produced a new document, one that no doubt contained all of material to sign power over to himself, and the Trade Federation, as well as the Nibians. He probably had been tweaking it non-stop since it was handed over to him. Doing whatever he wanted. Weaseling himself into as much power as he could muster. He probably didn't realize that this blockade would never end, and that Naboo would for ever be under martial law. The droids don't sleep, they don't eat, they will keep us in line. All comm. traffic will be monitored, and censored, and you could forget about anyone trying to get off planet. The only real loose ends would be the Senator from Naboo, and if these Trade Federation usurpers had any brains he would be in their pocket already.
It wouldn't matter how much power he gave himself he would never be able to exercise it, and who would be able to tell if he did? The Federation might need some time to convince the senate to allow them to maintain such strict control over Naboo, but with civil unrest spreading like wild fire, Amidala was sure they wouldn't need too much prodding. She was left with only one tactic, the same one employed by Magob, all she could do was stall, as soon as she signed the treaty it was over. As long as she waited there would still be hope.
"So," beamed Sio, "shall we get started. My dear Queen Amidala, please sign this treaty."
"No."
"Fine," commented Nute. "Kill her and forge the document, or just sign it yourself it makes no difference to me."
"No!" He screamed as he jumped in front of Amidala and the battle droids.
Damn, she thought, if I could have only been so lucky to be executed. Sio isn't as dumb as he looks.
"We, can't kill her," Sio explained. "You can't forge a Republic document, everyone knows it is impossible, Only she has the access codes to make it official. If we kill her and I sign it over, because I'm next in line, that would just bring a Republic inquiry. No youngster would just up and die, it would be too suspicious. And it is well known through out the sector she has no intentions of gifting her power away. Nope she has to sign it unless you want the Republic fleet to come a knocking."
"As soon as I sign that sheet, I'm as good as dead." Amidala spat, "I'm never signing that document."
"Oh I think you will," Sio smiled villainously. "I know you are the Queen of the People, and all I have to do is squeeze enough and you'll sign them over. You know I have the power. Sign now and you can end it before it starts."
"Screw you." Amidala said, as her foot connected with Sio's gonads.
Sio rolled on the floor and vomited. "Very well, just remember this is all your doing, guards take them away."
Amidala was again thankful for Sio's stupidity, he had been right, she would eventually cave if it meant ending her peoples suffering. Even at the cost of making it look like it had been her fault and painted Sio as a hero, for however short a period that would last. She was just glad he hadn't started executing the staff, if anything happened to Sabé, she didn't think she could forgive herself. She had bought them some time, but she wasn't about to go about congratulating herself. A document signed by her would have to materialize in the next couple of days, or someone in the Republic would be bound to notice something strange occurring at Naboo.
She did something she hardly ever did, she prayed, prayed that everything would work out, and prayed that the Jedi were everything people claimed they were. If not Naboo was doomed.
Sunlight poured into his room, he couldn't resist it any longer. Day had been broken for several hours, he would eventually have to get up and do something. It might as well be now. The tall man with a solid build, boyish face, strong jaw, light brown hair and blue-green eyes stood up in front of his window allowing the light accentuate his features.
It had been a while since Anakin had the day off, he did after all perform two different tasks, he was one the Queen's pilots, as well as a guard. And going off planet was seldom a rarity, not that he minded it. Anakin had always been enchanted by Amidala's beauty, even as kids. Anakin's mother was a handmaiden to Amidala's mother, and so the two children grew up together. He was one of only several other playmates that Amidala had growing up. He saw being a guard as a way of repaying a family that had been so kind to his own in the past. That and she was easy on the eyes, so it wasn't too much of a burden for him to remain on Naboo as a guard.
Though now Amidala hardly took the time to notice him, he often wondered if she remembered him. He assumed she did, but he was like any other of a dozen guards surrounding her. It wasn't like she was singling him out just to ignore him; she hardly talked to any of the other guards either. She had more important people to talk to.
Anakin shook his head, he had barely just begun his day off and he was already thinking about her. He sat down and began to eat his breakfast as he poured over the headlines on the Holo-Net. All it did was suck him back to work. Negotiations this, Republic in strife that, why did I even get up? Anakin stepped out of his of his rotund one story house and on to the cobblestone streets of Theed. It was quiet today, more so than usual. There were always birds singing, or some herder's falumpasets bellowing. Anakin's comm. buzzed, he had been sent a message from Amidala, it read: Help.
Anakin didn't know what was going on, no one looked to be in the streets and it was much too quiet, and now the Queen needed help. He jumped into his speeder and took off in the direction of the capital building. He didn't need to travel too far until he saw what all the noise was about, or rather, the lack of noise. It seemed that battle droids had taken up position around the capital building. He saw AAT and MTTs and even a few Vulture droids in their walking configuration surrounding the plaza in front of the capital building, and setting up a perimeter around Theed.
He took out his electro-binoculars, and zoomed in on one of the AATs, it looked like a Neimoidian Trade Federation Tank. He had no idea what they were doing here, he just knew it wasn't good. The Trade Federation and the Nubian people had never really been on good terms, so he doubted that they were acting as security for the negotiations. Amidala had to still be in the capital building, she certainly was being held hostage. Anakin checked his comm. again, only the one message. He hoped he could get there in time to do some good.
There was no way he could infiltrate the building with a bunch of royal guards, the Battle Droids would acquire them and obliterate them almost instantly. He was going to have to sneak in alone, and make his way towards the queen. He just hoped that he wouldn't get caught before he got too far.
He made had made his way over to the eastern wall of the capital building, with relative ease. It was relatively out of the way, and contained a secret escape, or in this case entrance, door. He stripped the hidden panel off the wall, and began entering the override codes to open the door up. Anakin couldn't believe his luck; he had made it all the way across town, and the plaza with out anyone noticing him. And now he was about to breach the outer wall of the palace.
"Hey you, where are you going?"
So much for luck.