I realized I forgot to explain in the previous chapter that Mara Dendron is piloting a Tri-Wing fighter with the cockpit placed in the central ball ( in Episode 3, they were another type of droid-fighter ). I also realized that I have completely forgotten about T7, the small astromech-droid! He was of course by Obi-Wans side during the battle for Geonosis and followed Obi-Wan to Ryloth. Besides that, we also get a glimpse of Palpatines plan; by hiding the future from the Jedi, he begins to manipulate the situation and exploit the need for action and asks of the Jedi to commit more knights to the battles that are being fought. This, of course, is intended to see as many Jedi as possible killed in the war, or even have some of them turn to the Dark Side. Now, onto the story!
Hyperspace:
A heavy shuttle/small freighter is flying through hyperspace. Anakin Skywalker is sitting in meditation in a small cargo-hold, guarded by six heavy battle-droids. The door opens and in steps Baron Gelda and Anakin opens his eyes.
"The famous Skywalker. Hero of the Republic" Gelda says. "Your piloting skills aren't much use to you now, are they."
"About as useful as your title of governor" Anakin counters, "after you were forced to abandon Naboo."
"Naboo will be mine once more, I assure you" Gelda replies.
"Yes" Anakin says. "I sense that you will lead a force to retake the planet. While the Republic is distracted elsewhere. But you have not been told where this other large battle will be held. General Grievous does not trust you."
"Stop reading my thoughts!" Gelda snarls. "Or should I order my men to hurt the queen?!"
"If you hurt her…" Anakin says and gets on his feet.
But Gelda interrupts. "Not so fast! These droids were programmed according to specific orders given by General Grievous. If they suspect that you use any of your abilities to escape or place us in danger, they will not only try and kill you, but they will also kill the queen. And you wont be able to stop them from doing that. So use your Jedi mind-trick, I dare you."
Anakin says nothing, but it is clear that he is not pleased by the situation.
Baron Gelda on the other hand is quite pleased. "So you see, Jedi, you are at my mercy. You will remain here and remain calm. I hope you will enjoy the flight." Smiling, Gelda leaves the cargo-hold.
Amidala sits in a posh compartment, clearly belonging to a noble. Fine food and drink is on a table. Four battle-droids are in the room, along with a butler-droid. Amidala picks up a knife from the table and inspects it.
The butler-droid steps up to Amidala. "I am afraid I must advice your highness to not plan to use the cutlery for weaponry. It is not its intended use. My armed collegues here would not approve at all."
"Thanks for the warning" Amidala says.
"As is my duty, your highness" the butler-droid says.
Baron Gelda enters the chamber and sits down with Amidala. "My lady, I hope the food is to your satisfaction?"
"It is" Amidala says. "The company, however, is not."
"You really should chose your words more carefully, my lady" Gelda says. "After all, I am in charge of your wellbeing."
"You are nothing more than a traitor and a usurper. A vile pile of slime at the bottom of a barrel of stool."
"Charming" Gelda says and pours himself a drink. "You should try the wine, it is excellent. I had hoped we could come to an agreement, my lady. That we could rule Naboo together. You as the rightful queen, and myself as the Confederate governor. It would ensure peace and stability on Naboo. We would enjoy the support of the Confederacy with me as governor, and we would avoid civil-war with you as queen. The only reason I lost control of Naboo was thanks to terrorists and insurgents loyal to you. Should we join forces, Naboo would be more prosperous than ever before. I think it is a deal worth considering."
"You want me to defect to the Confederacy?" Amidala asks.
"Yes" Gelda nods. "For the benefit of our people, my lady."
"And if I refuse?"
Gelda sighs. "My lady, you must understand one thing. There is only one reason you are here; to be used against Skywalker. You have no information we need. You have no army we need. The only use we have of you, is to hurt you to get what we want from Skywalker. But I am offering you a way out. Accept my offer and you wont have to suffer. They wont hurt you if you are one of us. This Jedi, he's not worth it, believe me. Where we are going, it is best to leave him to his own fate."
Amidala gives it a moment of thought. "As your rightful queen, baron Gelda, I respectfully must tell you that your offer is rejected. And once this war is over, you will be charged with high treason for your crimes against the crown and the people of Naboo."
Gelda sighs. "Foolish… as ever."
Ryloth:
Confederate troop-transports and gunships fly in towards a small town in the distance. Obi-Wan and the others peek out from their hiding-places and watch as the Confederate forces bombard the town and deploy troops.
"Well, that option is out of the question" Dex says.
"So where to now?" Yularen wonders.
Obi-Wan looks around. "First priority is to avoid capture. Second is to contact the Republic. We can't stay here for long. We need to move out before we are spotted."
Kenobi then feels something and looks to the skies. A Fury-class Interceptor ( from The Old Republic MMO ) flies towards the town with a fighter escort. As it begins to land, Kenobi retrieves a pair of magnoculars and spies at the Fury as it settles.
The Fury lands and extends its ramp. Several Confederate officers move up and stand in wait. Leaving the Fury are Assaj Ventress and Mara Dendron.
Obi-Wan lowers the magnoculars. "Ventress" he says. "We better move. Now."
Obi-Wan and the others leave.
At the town, Confederate troops are rounding up the local twi'lek population without any leniency. A neimoidian officer walks over to Ventress, followed by two clone-troopers escorting an old twi'lek.
"Lady Ventress" the neimoidian says. "The town archon, the highest ranking official for the region. As you requested."
The old twi'lek is pushed in front of Ventress and she eyes him for a moment.
"Survivors of the Republic fleet have landed all over your planet" Ventress says. "Some of them in this region. I need your help to find them. You know the best hiding places. You know who is most likely to give them shelter. You know who is willing to fight alongside them. You will tell me, because you have no other choice."
The twi'lek stands straight. "Ryloth is a proud member of the Republic, and we will not surrender to easily to Confederate scum like yourself. We will fight you!"
Ventress eyes the elder with some contempt. "You're afraid" she says. "Your defiance is a thin layer of pride, covering a swelling mass of fear. Your words have so little meaning."
"Give me a blaster and I will show you the meaning of my words" the twi'lek replies.
Ventress is silent for a moment. She then smiles. "Aaah… now the fear turns to hate. I can feel your anger. Your determination feeds from it. You are ready to kill, or die trying."
Ventress ignites a red lightsaber and impales the old twi'lek through the gut. As the twi'lek stands in pain, Ventress leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek, then turns off her lightsaber and lets the old man fall to the ground, dead.
Ventress turns to the neimoidian officer. "Kill them all. Burn the place to the ground."
Somewhat hesitant, the neimoidian officer says, "Yes, yes of course, my lady."
The Confederate troops take aim and open fire on the civilians, flamethrowers are used on civilians and buildings, vehicles blast structures and civilians as well. Outside of town, as the massacre goes on, Ventress and Dendron walk up on a hill and survey the terrain.
"Find the enemy" Ventress says. "Use whatever means necessary. Find them and kill them."
Dendron glances back at the massacre and then back at Ventress. "As you wish" she says and then leaves Ventress. Ventress looks out over the landscape while the town burns behind her.
Obi-Wan and the others are walking through the wilderness, spotting Confederate ships crossing the skies overhead. After a while, T7 begins to make a lot of noises and Obi-Wan signals everyone to halt.
"What is it?" Dex wonders.
"We are not alone" Obi-Wan says.
The Republic troops take aim all around and within a few seconds, one-hundred twi'lek soldiers make themselves known.
Obi-Wan addresses the locals. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight. And these are men and women of the Republic armed forces. We are not your enemy."
A harsh looking twi'lek approaches Obi-Wan. "Major Cham Syndulla" he says. "Commanding officer of the 53rd Militia. It's good to see that some survived the battle in orbit."
"Unfortunately" Obi-Wan says, "that battle will now continue on your planet. The Confederacy have begun their invasion of Ryloth."
"Yes, I know" Syndulla says. "They have landed troops all over this area. Our best hope is to hit them while they are scattered, before they have time to assemble a solid front."
"Sounds like a good plan, major" Obi-Wan says. "We need to get in touch with the Republic. Do you have any transmitters close-by that we can use?"
Syndulla shakes his head. "The Confederates have jammed all communications and have bombarded most of the transmission-arrays on the surface. I'm sorry, master Jedi. But you are stuck here. I would be lying if I said that we didn't need you to fight the Confederate army."
Obi-Wan looks back at his troops and the wounded Yularen, then back to Syndulla. "I suppose, that until we can secure communications, we have no other choice but to join your forces, major."
Syndulla and Obi-Wan shake hands. "Welcome to the 53rd Militia."
Mustafar:
Geldas shuttle arrives at the volcanic planet and lands on a landing-platform attached to the massive fortress erected here. They are greeted by several troops. Baron Gelda takes point as he and the droids and troops escort Anakin and Amidala inside the base. Walking through the corridors, Amidala glances through a large open door and spots strategical, holographic maps with fleet-movements, surrounded by high ranking Confederate leaders. She gets shoved by clone-troopers to get her moving.
They eventually stop by an elevator and Gelda turns to his prisoners. "This is where you will go separate ways" Gelda says. "Commander Skywalker, if you please."
The elevator-doors open and Anakin steps inside. The doors close and the elevator ascends. Anakin turns to look out a window and gets an impressive view of the volcanic planet. Eventually, the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open and Anakin, a bit cautiously, steps out and finds himself in an impressive and luxurious observation-lounge with a magnificent view of the planets volcanoes and rivers of lava. Anakin soon realize he is not alone as the person waiting for him is none other than Dooku Serenno/Darth Ty'Rahn!
"Welcome, young Skywalker" Ty'Rahn says. "I have been looking forward to this for some time now."
"You've taken an interest in me?" Anakin asks.
"It was foretold that you would be captured" Ty'Rahn explains. "The powers of the Dark Side go far beyond any Jedi ability you could ever learn."
"Is that why you abandoned the Order?" Anakin asks. "Why you betrayed your friends? For power?"
"No" Ty'Rahn says. "I left because the Jedi have it in their power to root out corruption and injustice, in the Senate and in the galaxy. If only the Jedi seized control over the Republic. If the Jedi would force peace upon the galaxy, it would endure. But instead, the Jedi sit idly by and look on as greed, corruption and injustice is freely allowed to reign supreme and bring suffering to the entire galaxy. Instead of commanding the Senate, the Jedi settle boring trade-disputes in hopes of maintaining the status-quo."
"Should the Jedi take power, it would be inevitable that the Jedi would become a force of oppression and not of justice" Anakin says. "Power corrupts, Darth Ty'Rahn, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Ty'Rahn chuckles. "I recognize that rhetoric. I have heard it before, believe me. I recognize the words of Yoda when I hear them. Grand Master Yoda, who has sat on the High Council for six hundred years, and through sly cunning has maintained his seat of power, influencing fellow Jedi and senators of the Republic to fuel his own agenda. An agenda that has the Jedi sit idle, accepting gifts of splendor from corrupt politicians, while the galaxy crumbles around them. Too afraid to act! Afraid of the Dark Side!" Ty'Rahn takes a moment to calm himself. "I will take no part in it anymore. There is only one way to ensure law and order in the galaxy, and that is to reshape the Republic and to destroy the Jedi Order. And only through the Dark Side of the Force can this be achieved." Ty'Rahn turns to look at Anakin. "You are aware of its power, Skywalker. You know what you can do when relying on the Dark Side. I was there, remember, when you killed my apprentice; Darth Maul."
( this of course took place in my version of Episode One )
"Your feeble attempts to manipulate me wont work, Darth Ty'Rahn" Anakin says defiantly. "If you think I will turn to the Dark Side, you are a bigger fool than I thought."
"We shall see" Ty'Rahn says.
At this point, a door opens and Amidala is brought into the room; she is strapped to a torture-chair and is guarded by two dozen clone-troopers. A clone-trooper walks over to Anakin and hands him a blaster-pistol.
"It contains a single shot" Ty'Rahn explains and then makes a hand movement.
Amidala is subjected to electrocution through the chair and screams out in pain. Anakin does not know what to do.
"You have a single choice to make" Ty'Rahn says while Amidala screams. "Kill me and end the war, or kill Amidala and save her from her suffering."
Amidala gathers strength through the torture. "Kill him! Kill him and end the war! Please Anakin!"
Anakin does not know what to do, holding the blaster in his hand, he hesitates.
"Will you let her suffer?" Ty'Rahn asks, extends his hand and increases the pain inflicted on Amidala. "I can feel your anger, Skywalker. What does it tell you to do? What will it be, Skywalker? Will you end the war, or save the woman you love?!"
Anakin takes aim and shots a guard standing next to Amidala, and pulls the guards blaster to him with the aid of the Force. All guards open fire and Anakin begins to rely on the Force to pull weapons from them, knocking them together, gunning them down in between. A clone-trooper is thrown at Ty'Rahn and he uses his red lightsaber to strike the body to the side. Anakin makes his way towards Amidala and throws various objects at Ty'Rahn, including more troops, that Ty'Rahn is forced to block or strike out of the way. Anakin uses the Force to push Amidala and the chair back through the door they had come from, then he shots the controls to said door and slides in under it as it closes. Ty'Rahn steps up to the door, uses the Force to lift it and finds only the empty chair in the next room.
The alarm sounds all over the installation and officers and soldiers, both clones and regular troops, hurry to scramble to their posts. Carefully stepping out of hiding, are Anakin and Amidala, both dressed as Confederate officers at this point.
"So what do we do now?" Amidala wonders.
"Find a ship" Anakin says. "We find a ship and get the hell out of here."
"Sounds simple enough" Amidala comments.
"Come on" Anakin says and they start to walk down the corridor.
After a while, Amidala says, "So… You could have killed the supreme leader of the Confederacy, but you chose to save me instead?"
"Don't make me regret that decision" Anakin counters.
"You saved the woman you love" Amidala says and both stop.
Anakin looks at her. "I did" he then says.
"That's why you surrendered on Geonosis?" Amidala says. "To save me."
"What else could I have done?" Anakin says. "I couldn't let you die because of my actions. Not now, not ever."
"Anakin Skywalker" Amidala says with a smile, "I believe you are finally coming out of your shell."
"Let's explore that at a later moment, shall we?" Anakin says and they both move on.
Darth Ty'Rahn enters the command-room of the installation and joins all the other high ranking officials of the Confederacy, including Viceroy Gunray among others.
"What is going on?" Gunray asks.
"Not to worry, viceroy" Ty'Rahn says. "Everything is proceeding as planned. Deploy our forces in accordance with General Grievous strategy. Nothing has changed."
But the viceroy is not pleased. "Then why is the alarm sounding across the entire base?!"
Ty'Rahn is confident however. "Because we need to keep up appearances, viceroy. We have a special guest that must not be allowed to suspect that he is doing precisely what we want him to do."
To be continued...
