A Royal Security Officer stood by the entrance to the palace. He had been tasked with making sure that the rich party-goers were escorted safely out of the palace. The last of the guests had left shortly after one standard hour time. He stood oblivious to a figure climbing down behind him draped in a cloak and armed with a staff. The figure slipped into the palace which was in darkness, only lit by the dim lights of the stars through the entrance.
The officer turned around to the sound of the footsteps. Was his mind playing tricks on him? He walked forwards cautiously into the palace. Nothing could have got in, Naboo was a secure world, nobody would wish to harm the royals. He heard the rather loud footsteps again and saw a shadow dart across a hallway.
"Hello?" he asked before pulling out his blaster in defence, "Show yourself!"
He heard the footsteps one last time before a blade sliced through his neck. No time was left to scream for help. The figure darted through the palace using surprise attacks on all the guards on his journey towards the quarters of the royal family.
Captain Krooda walked to the entrance of the palace, Lieutenant Hyeti should have finished his shift on duty by now but had not returned to the security headquarters.
"Lieutenant?" Krooda asked to no reply before continuing to say to himself, "He must have finished his shift early."
A shadow was visible from around the corner though as Krooda lay one had on his blaster.
"Lieutenant Hyeti, don't be playing tricks on me."
Krooda drew his blaster to the figure of a teenage girl.
"Just me Captain!" Sadie eased Krooda's worry.
"Oh, Lady Trensel," Krooda replied, "My bad, I'm sorry. Why are you here?"
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a short walk around the palace," Sadie answered his question, "I'm too busy thinking about Johann."
Several figures became visible from around the buildings leading up to the palace.
"Who are you?" Krooda asked pulling out his blaster.
"I'm here to collect a bounty," the leading figure clad in black armour like his followers stated as he pulled out a knife.
The clad soldiers ran towards them opening fire with their blaster rifles as Sadie scrambled for cover as Krooda supplied her with covering fire before also leaping behind a pillar.
"Who are these people?" Sadie asked.
"He said that he was a bounty hunter, we need to lock down the palace!" Krooda shouted over the firing.
A guard entered Ali and Elisa's bed quarters as they both lay awoke from the sound of firing.
"Your highness, we have put the palace on lockdown and there is no risk of danger," the guard told them.
"Great, I trust your word," Ali replied as they both tried to settle back to sleep.
The figure continually caught the innocent protectors of the palace off-guard. Guards were slaughtered quicker than any could send out a distress call.
"Captain!" a panicked voice came from Krooda's comlink as he pulled it out, "This is the shipyards, we are under attack, repeat we are under atta- argh!
The skies were filled with various types of starfighters which laid out bombing runs of Theed's key facilities.
"This is Captain Krooda," Krooda said to the open military frequency, "All flight crew to their stations, we need to regain air superiority."
The attackers were getting closer to the palace as Krooda's one man army stood helpless against the invaders.
"Hey, you could lend me that blaster, you look in need of help!" Sadie shouted over the firing from behind the pillar as she pointed to the second pistol on Krooda's belt.
Krooda threw the pistol towards Sadie as he shifted around the pillar to avoid the enemy fire. Sadie caught it and loaded it as she turned her head around the pillar. She quickly shot one attacker in the head and another in the leg.
"Good shot!"
The war in the air was failing, the Naboo's ageing N-1 Starfighters proved weak against the superior attackers. An N-1 Starfighter crashed amidst the burning buildings sending a cloud of smoke and flames to engulf a row of homes.
Ali lay restless, he could think of nothing but the several mysterious events of recent times and how they all could link together. But who could have done this? He tried resting his eyes and slowly began to drift off.
The figure approached the quarters of Ali and Elisa silently slaughtering the guards and entering the large complex. He slipped through an open door which lay directly straight ahead from the entrance to the palace's main hallways. He pulled out a sniper rifle and loaded it. Then he pointed it directly at the sleeping Elisa at point blank range. He prepared to pull his finger back on the trigger. A lightsaber began to move from across the room. It began as a light shake and became a rapid projectile which met a spinning Ali Skywalker who leaped in the air and used a massive force kick to launch the figure fifty metres back into the hallways.
He ignited his lightsaber as he ran at the figure as Elisa awoke and pulled out her comlink to call Matty.
"Hello, Ali Skywalker, I've been waiting to meet you, our long awaited meeting has come at last," the figure pulled down his cloak to reveal a tall Kaleesh warrior, "You will call me Rees but only for a few minutes because after that you will call nobody anything."
"I don't think so, this palace is on lockdown, you're not getting out," Ali replied as Rees pulled out an electrostaff.
"But I got in, so I will find a way out!" Rees shouted as he swung his staff at Ali who met it with a rapid, swinging strike of his lightsaber as they sparred down the hallway.
The helpless citizens of Theed didn't stand a chance. Only two defenders stood in Rees' attackers' way and the war in the air was lost as the last starfighter came crashing into the Solleu River.
Sadie had killed four of the attackers but still thirty remained on the offensive. Krooda did not believe they were going to win. The security officer had learned about his father's sacrifice to save King Ghatts at the Battle of Kafrene almost sixteen years ago. His father, Sivus Krooda has been an Admiral aboard the cruiser which rammed the Ring of Kafrene. He needed to make a drastic move to hold off these invaders. Krooda dived out from the pillar and launched a thermal detonator at the attackers causing them to split. But in the process of his absence of cover, he was shot.
Sadie dived out and pulled him behind the pillar again. Krooda was not majorly injured but a blaster shot to his arm had caused the pain he received. Sadie attempted to rearm the blaster but there was no energy left in the store. The attackers edged closer and closer.
Rees used hard strikes to knock Ali back although the Jedi had almost perfect blade technique and therefore an almost impenetrable defence. Rees took Ali off guard smashing the hilt of his lightsaber with the tip of his electrostaff causing it to be sent flying down the hallway. Ali dived backwards to avoid the strikes by the electrostaff lunging for his head.
The battle for Theed seemed lost but out of the cloud, Sadie spotted something and pointed it to Krooda. One of the attacking starfighters had been shot down and was spiralling to its fate. Then they saw it and Krooda told Sadie,
"It's the Resistance!"