Kalana dropped out of the Star Destroyers hold and headed for a hyperspace ring. She quickly docked and entered the coordinates for Naboo. As she entered hyperspace, she hoped no one had seen her leave.

She felt bad about leaving Jenso right after giving him the rank of Jedi Knight. She had accepted him as an apprentice when he was 10. She had only been a Master for a couple years. Jenso had always been exceptionally skilled. Since the war had started he had nearly doubled in strength. She had been considering suggesting he face the trails when they returned to Coruscant from Yavin 4. Now he had achieved his dream, and had the whole thing ruined by her leaving him. She sighed and pushed the thought away. This was more important. Even Jenso would be forced to admit it. Besides, if there were no Jedi Masters serving the Queen, she would need one. She leaned back and entered a deep meditative state.

Several hours later her R4 unit alerted her they were approaching Naboo. She quickly dropped from hyperspace and disengaged the hyperspace ring. Naboo didn't send a challenge or any transmission to her. Worried she pushed the throttle forward and set her s-foils in attack position. She didn't want to fight her allies, but they were acting as they would if a Star Destroyer had just reverted to realspace above them. 3 Naboo starfighters flew towards her. "I mean you no harm." She said into her comlink. They didn't respond, but instead took up positions around her, one behind and one on either side.

"Fly straight forward, do not turn in either direction or we will fire on you." One said over their comlink.

"Understood."

They entered the atmosphere and as soon as her view of the planet appeared she saw a docking bay that had several guns trained on it. "Land on the guarded docking bay." The pilot said. As she did so they continued to circle overhead. She glanced outside, several of Naboo's Royal Guardsmen were surrounding the fighter. She opened the cockpit and slowly stood up.

"Slowly raise your hands." When she had, they said. "Step down from your fighter." She did. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Jedi Master Kalana Sonter. I heard your Queen was harboring fugitive Jedi."

"Can you prove you're a Jedi?"

"I'm carrying a Jedi's lightsaber, what other proof do you want?"

The guard lifted a comlink to his mouth, "We need a Jedi at docking bay 17 immediately." In less then ten minutes a Jedi was there his lightsaber in hand.

"Lower your weapons, she's a Jedi. Welcome to Naboo, Master." He said bowing. "I'll take you to the Queen immediately."

"So the Empire is coming?" Queen Jamillia asked, looking worried.

"Yes. An attack force led by a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Vader."

"How do you know this?" One of the Jedi standing by the Queens throne asked.

"Does it matter how? All we need to know is they are, and that we should prepare our defenses at once.

Captain Panaka spoke up. "We already have. The Courtyard in front of the place has six E-web cannons in it, placed to catch anyone entering the courtyard in a crossfire. They're automatic, so only hitting the guns themselves will disable them. This will force them to attack the flanks where all our forces will be waiting. We have about 200 guardsmen. In with 100 hundred on each flank, not to mention our 20 tanks we can employ, there is no way they can break in."

"And in the event they manage it?"

"We deploy six Jedi to finish off the survivors. Counting you, we have 26 Jedi."

"We're not leading your troops?"

"The Jedi are our surprise weapon."

"I'm afraid not. The Empire knows you're harboring us, your majesty. That's why there sending this Sith."

"Regardless, if he leads his troops, he'll be tired by the time we deploy you. If somehow they manage to get through this also, retreat is our only hope. The Queen, guarded by the remaining 20 Jedi will make a run for the hanger. We'll flee the planet and look for somewhere safe to hide. There is no way they'll be able to stop us."

"I still think you should have Jedi lead your troops, but this might work. In the event we have to flee, I know a place we can go."

"It's settled." The queen replied. "Captain, prepare your men. The Empire could be here at any minute."

Mardici stood at attention in the hanger as did his pilots and marines. The ramp descended from the cargo shuttle and several stormtroopers descended, followed by Darth Vader. Mardici's breath caught at the sight of him. Dressed completely in jet black, and wearing a helmet that appeared to be breathing for him, to say he looked frightening was an understatement. "Lord Vader. Welcome aboard the Victorious."

"From what I hear, Admiral, that is always the case when you fight. The Emperor holds you in high regard." Darth Vader's voice was not metallic like a droids, but it sure wasn't human. It sent a shiver down Mardici's spine.

"Thank you, my Lord." Mardici said, "May I invite you to step aboard my bridge?"

"Yes, but first I would like to watch my troops land, you may give your marines a break. If the Naboo try to board your ship, my troops are more then a match for them."

"Yes, my lord." He turned to his marines. "You heard him." He returned to the bridge and watched the attack force approach his ship. He turned to Jenso, who was breathing hard, sweat was running down his face. "Are you alright."

Jenso shook his head. "Hiding my signature from him is going to be hard, but that's not the problem. I've never felt anything or anyone as powerful as him, not even Master Yoda. Even worse, just because I'm cloaking my signature, doesn't mean I can't sense his, I am almost certain that he's-"his voice drooped to a whisper "-that he's Anakin Skywalker."

"Forgive me, but I don't know who that is."

"I trained with him, his control of the force was incredible. A legend was made of him, it was said he was to fulfill an ancient prophecy among the Jedi. He was The Chosen One. He would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. He destroyed the Jedi! Not the Sith! He didn't bring balance to the Force, he left it in darkness!" he shivered all over. "I thought he was killed in the Temple with all the other Jedi. That the clones had ruined the best chance we had of finally eradicating the Sith forever. This is far worse."

"Jenso, if Darth Vader comes on the bridge and sees you like this, he'll suspect something, go to your cabin, you're on sick leave for the duration of this mission."

"Yes, sir."