AN: I would love to thank BrentusofGath, my illustrious Master, for beta-ing this and to apologize for the delay in posting. Darth Allergies has fought a relentless battle with my muse but at last she was victorious.

Chapter Twenty-one

Yoda called down for landing instructions as they arrived at the Palace and landed next to the transport that brought Maure and the undercover Jedi to the palace. An armed group of palace guards met them at the bottom of the ramp to escort them to the Throne room. Dita kept her hood over her head and her face in the shadows. The guards were surprised at the assortment of Jedi that came to collect the Queen. A Wookie following a little green creature like the one in the history books that protected Queen Nya so long ago, a female and male human. They recognized the female as being the Queen's daughter by her dress and knew their plan was about to succeed.

"Come to collect the Queen, we have," Yoda announced as they reached the guards. He noticed the smile on the guard's face as he saw Dita.

"I am to escort you to the Throne room where the exchange is to be made," the guard proclaimed.

Yoda and Dita, followed by Skylar and Tanacca were shown down the long elegant hall lined with portraits of past kings and queens. The marble felt cool on Yoda's feet and he remembered the layout of the room where they were headed.

As they approached, two doormen opened the door to the Throne room and bowed as they passed. Yoda heard a gasp as Skylar and Tanacca recognized the man on the throne.

"Killum, see you again so soon, we did not expect. Wondered why you allowed us to take the children, I did," Yoda said, taking the lead in the meeting.

"I have more important things to do than wipe noses," Killum sneered.

"Overthrowing the monarchy of Pyotr, being one," Yoda retorted.

"An illegal monarchy set up to the detriment of the real powers of Pyotr a long time ago. I am just righting a wrong you and your Jedi friends perpetuated on my ancestors when you put Queen Nya, a Jedi, on the throne so you could have control of the Galactic Workers Union," Killum fumed.

"Political power, the Jedi are not seeking," Yoda responded.

"You hide behind the veil of doing good but you want power just as much as the Sith. You are just too afraid to allow the Dark side to guide you," Killum raged. "I, on the other hand, am not." He Force pushed Dita's hood back expecting to see Maure and realized this was not the woman that he saw on Kamino.

"Guard's, get them!" he ordered and jumped to his feet, ignited his lightsaber and charged Dita. Guards started pouring out of the anterooms and in from the halls. Yoda Force pushed them back onto each other and batted a round of blaster bolts back at the ones that were already in the room. Much to Killum's surprise, some of the guards ignited lightsabers and started helping the Jedi.

Maure and Laure burst out from behind the curtained panel behind the throne and bounced over the guards backing Killum and announced, "I think it's me you're looking for," in unison.

He was not happy to be fighting Dita and the royal twins at the same time.

/ I thought you were supposed to be rescuing the Queen./ Dita called through the Force.

/ Favian and Father have that under control, so I decided to join in on the fight./ Maure twirled and batted Killum across the seat of the pants.

/ A hot seat; isn't that a little juvenile?./ Dita scolded Maure.

/ Favian says I can't kill him; revenge leads to the Darkside. So I'll make him wish he never attacked my family/ she responded as she tapped his neck, leaving a tattoo burn on his jugular vein.

/ Maure, would you stop playing; this man is seriously trying to kill us./ Laure warned as she blocked a blow with her lightsaber.

Maure spun and left an identical burn on his other jugular vein. / I am seriously trying to make him wish he never started this./ She parried and sizzled the skin over his heart, showing she was able to kill him but chose not to.

Killum exploded in rage and charged Maure with all his anger boiling in his veins.

"Hey, that's my sister!" Laure warned as she attacked Killum.

"You two are a mess. Let me show you how to deal with a Sith." Dita interceded and took the lead as a group of guards broke in and charged the twins.

Yoda bounced and twirled, striking one, then another and landed in front of the twins. "Be here, you should not. Protect the Queen you were assigned."

"The Queen sent us to help," Laure defended her sister from Yoda's scolding. Laure backed up to Maure and the two fought as a unit, as if they had always been together.

Maure and Yoda's comm-units beeped to signal that the Queen was safely on board Maure's ship and they shared a glance to say it was time to end this. Maure knew she would not be able to kill the man that caused her family so much pain, though feelings of revenge were foremost in her mind. The next wave of guards poured in and the group fought a running battle back down the hall to the ship.

It powered up as they exited the Palace and slowly lifted from the landing pad as one by one the Jedi leapt onto the ramp. The last on board were Dita and Yoda, batting blaster bolts until the ramp enclosed them and the ship disappeared into the night sky.

A space cruiser followed them out of the star system, shooting turbo lasers as Favian dodged back and forth to avoid the blasts. Yoda ran past the fellow Jedi to the cockpit to assist Favian on the weapons. As they exited the star system, Favian called up the nav-computer and punched in the coordinates for Coruscant and jumped into hyper-space.

"I gather things didn't go well with the new government leader," Favian said, turning to Yoda.

"Killum, the Sith, he turned out to be," Yoda said, "but we got the Queen and her family out alive."

oOo

Maure and Laure headed for the room where they felt their Mother's Force presence as soon as they entered the ship. They knew there were enough Jedi there to handle the situation and now they became worried daughters. Queen Nyanna was propped up in the bed, sipping some juice the droid served her when the Princesses burst into the room and bounced onto the bed, bringing a proud smile to her face.

Sven was shocked at the actions of his wife and sister-in-law and scolded them. "Hey, be careful; you'll hurt the Queen."

"Nonsense, my girls couldn't hurt me. How did it go?" Nyanna smiled at her daughters.

"We lost the planet but we saved the Queen," Maure said, trying to put a good light on the situation.

"Yes, you did. It wasn't the first time the planet turned against the monarchy; we survived the last time and at least this time we are all together."

oOo