Here it is the 49th chapter in this series, I'm currently working trying to find an appropriate finale to this installment. I can assure you however that the third installment will be ready by the end of this month or beginnings of the next one.
LD: I do not own Star Wars
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The next meeting of the delegations after Satine had forced the lead members to reach an agreement went better than anyone could have expected. Both delegations left aside the matter of war reparations and began talking productively without any reason for Satine or the Jedi to intervene or stop any fights, finally it seemed that the peace talks were taking off. Yet Qui Gon sensed something terribly wrong was going to happen. Looking up at Obi Wan, Siri and Caleb he knew they were feeling the imminent danger too. Adding to the feeling, Jango Fett and Bo Katan who had stood normally next to Satine with her Royal Guard hadn't appeared by the meeting today, perhaps because of the reinforcements that they had called from the capital to add security to the Conference. In any case it was worth checking out.
Before he could rise up from his seat to check a very loud alarm sounded throughout the Castle. The four Jedi knights were quick to rise up from their seats and run towards the door with their light sabers ready, while the Royal guards, the Senate Guards and the Magnaguards coordinated themselves to defend the members of the delegation. Exiting the room Qui Gon looked at Caleb and Obi Wan who were about to follow.
"I need the two of you to remain here with the delegation" He said. Looking at Siri he added. "Siri and I will find out what's wrong." he looked at the two royal guards who'd been standing guard outside the door. "You two get inside and block the room." Both nodded and obeyed the Master Jedi as Siri followed Qui Gon through the palace following the Mandalorian protectors who they saw running towards one sector of the Palace. Once they arrived to their destination they found Jango and Bo Katan involved on a shootout with some people dressed on Mandalorian armors. Siri and Qui Gon lit their purple and green lightsabers interrupting the fight.
Seeing the jedi the enemies centered their fire on Qui Gon and Siri who blocked all the blaster shots with their sabers. Once close to them Qui Gon and Siri quickly disarmed their foes and pointed their lightsaber at them. Two of the Mandalorian protectors quickly came and subdued them taking their helmets off.
"This are not members of the Protectors" Jango said confirming what Qui Gon already suspected.
"I guess we know who killed Pars this morning" Bo Katan agreed.
"They killed one of your men this morning?" Siri asked. "Why didn't you sound the alarm then?"
"We increased the Security around the delegates and allowed them proceed with next roud of negotiations trusting to find the intruders." Jango replied defensively. "We discovered them, it seems they arrived with the reinforcements"
One of their enemies smiled. "Not all of us" the man smiled.
"A distraction" Qui Gon and Siri said. Giving them confirmation the alarm sounded again.
"Sir!" Appeared the image of one of the protectors at Jango's com link. "We have enemies on multiples sections of the Palace"
"More intruders dressed as us?" Jango asked and the man nodded.
"And also Confederate commando droids!" The man reported
"What?" Jango asked in desbelief. "This is a separatist attack." The man nodded.
"Dispatch all our men to repel the intruders, contact the Republic troops outside and tell them to keep an eye on the clankers outside"
"Yes sir. But we do have another problem" The man added. "We have a group of droids heading for the throne room and a man with a lightsaber is guiding them!"
"We'll take care of that" Qui Gon said rushing off with Siri. "You take care of the rest."
Even though they didn't like to be bossed around both Jango and Bo Katan nodded letting their subordinate guide them towards the nearest group of droid assaulting the Palace. Qui Gon and Siri remained there with a small group of Mandalorians. Probing with the Force they searched for the Force signature of the Dark Side User, which even though it didn't look like a Sith or like one of the beings they had confronted so far, to Qui Gon he seemed familiar.
"Let's go" He told Siri and the Mandalorian Protectors as they rushed towards the throne room
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Sius advanced through the halls of the Mandalorian Palace slashing at the few guards who dared to stand in his way and followed. The operation had so far run very smoothly, he'd used a mindtrick with the Force to have some clones let them into the Palace and had been able to set up distractions so that the guards were occupied looking for two of his men while the rest placed the droids and waited for his signal. Now a his men and the droids would keep the majority of enemy guards at bay while he advanced and ended the members of the delegation. Blocking the blaster shots of two protectors who were shooting with two pistols each he used the Force and snapped their necks with the Force. So far he wasn't impressed by the fight the Mandalorians were giving him.
They arrived at the throne room, the doors were closed. Of course Sius had expected that. Probing with the Force he realized that there were two Jedi waiting for him on the inside, several human guards and the Magnaguards protecting the delegation. Sius smiled as he picked up a commlink and pressed a code, the code for the leader of the Magnaguards.
"Execute Second Mission objective." He ordered with a smile. The Magnaguard didn't respond but the Response didn't make itself wait as he felt the panic on the senators and Guards alike as well as shots probably from the Senate Guards as the Magnaguards turned on them and the delegation. Sius called on the Force and began forcing the door open.
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Obi Wan and Caleb waited for the enemy to burst the door open as suddenly they heard the Senators scream. Turning around they saw the Magnaguards point their weapons, not only their pikes but some blasters as well at the delegates and open fire or attack. The guards and the Jedi reorganized themselves quickly as they charged against the Confederate droids. Obi Wan and Caleb worked hard fighting against a group of the Enemy Guards while the Mandalorian Royal guard and the Senate commandos took care of the rest.
Obi Wan slashed two Magnaguards while Caleb took care of his three attackers, both with swift movements of their lightsabers. They were about to take care of the rest when the door to the throne room fell and several Confederate commando droids entered the room, blasters shooting at both delegations. Quickly probing the minds of the Confederate Delegations he realized they had also fallen into the same trap as the Republic. Without losing a second Obi Wan charged against the commando droid with Caleb following him, there would be time to know what was happening later, right now he had to protect the politicians.
Slashing through the first wave of droids, he noticed a man with a crimson crossguard lightsaber advance on the room. The man also noticed him and sent a powerful Force Lightning attack on his direction which Obi Wan parried with ease. This man was different than the one he had fought on Ryloth yet his Force signature had small similarities. The man's attack was interrupted when Caleb charged at the man with his blue lightsaber putting his attention away from Obi Wan. Obi Wan was about to aid Caleb when his commlink beeped, putting it on sound only he saw it was Commander Wolffe.
"Sir, the Separatist clankers have begun firing on our men. We have destroyed them." Wolffe told him as he too charged against the Dark Sider.
"The confederacy has betrayed us." Obi Wan said through greeted teeth. "Contact Admiral Yularen and tell him to come to Mandalore."
"Yes sir" Wolffe replied cutting the transmission. Just as it happened Obi Wan was sent to the ground by a high kick of the enemy while Caleb continued fighting him. Analyzing the situation, Obi Wan realized that they had it bad. There weren't many Senate commandos or Mandalorian Royal guards left and the Delegation was left mostly unprotected.
Using the Force push to save his padawan just as he was about to be decapitated he signalled the senators.
"Caleb protect them!" Obi Wan ordered the young boy. Who seemed reluctant, however, after watching another Royal Guard Caleb rushed towards the group of droids. His enemy laughed.
"There's nothing you can do Jedi" he said. "I have triumphed."
Instead of replying Obi Wan charged at the enemy again, using the lightsaber to the best of his skills and pushing the enemy to his limits. Seeing an opening on his enemy he slashed on of his arms off but it was revealed to be prosthetic. Growling the enemy pushed him to the ground and was about to finish him when a blaster shot hit him on the back of his shoulder, making him dodge another round.
Obi Wan sighed in relief as he watched Qui Gon and Siri arrived with a group of protectors who made quick work of the droids attacking the delegations. The man took out the Mandalorian helmet he was wearing revealing his golden eyes as his long white hair, it was a man completely consumed by the Dark Side. The man smiled as a group of four protectors approached him with their Blasters levelled.
"You think you have won?" He asked with a voice full of hate. "This is only the beginning" He spat. Blocking all the shots the Mandalorians threw at him he broke the windows that faced the ships with the Force and jumped out. Qui Gon and Caleb rushed to see what he was plotting while Siri tended to Obi Wan.
"It seems he got you good." She told her lover half-jokingly to hide her worry.
"I'm fine." Obi Wan said putting his hand on her face and caressing it.
"He's trying to escape!" Caleb shouted as Siri helped Obi Wan get up and both walked towards the windows. They saw the silverhaired man getting on one of the Separatist shuttles an fly away even after being under heavy fire from the clones.
After watching him fly away the Jedi turned towards the Delegation, it seemed that not only the guards had fallen but some Senators as well. As the Senators knelt before their fallen colleagues Obi Wan and Qui Gon's eyes scanned the room for Padme and sighed in relief when they found her. However she was kneeling and crying besides someone. The older Jedi Master approached her with concern on his eyes but realized that most of the Republican delegate were alive including Valorum, Organa and Mothma. When he reached her he realized that she wasn't crying because any of them, on the ground with her head laid on Padme's knees was Senator Mina Bonteri and Qui Gon didn't need the Force to tell him that the woman was dead.
Soon the surviving Senators and members of both delegations surrounded the scene as the guards searched for any more threats. Only between Duchess Satine and Mon Mothma could Padme be serparated from his deceased friend.
"They killed one of their own" Vice-Chancellor Valorum spoke, also greatly affected by the attack. "Why? What was the purpose of the attack."
Before anyone could reply Satine picked up her commlink and the hologram of her nephew Corky apppeared before everyone.
"Auntie" He said, his tone urgent and worried but examining the room around him he couldn't help but ask. "What has happened?"
"Some Confederate droids have attacked us" Satine said sadly. "We've had a few casualties."
"Auntie Bo?" The young man asked worriedly.
"She is alright. She is dealing with the remaining intruders young one." Qui Gon replied. "Now what's got you so worried?" Corky looked at Qui Gon for a while until he remembered what he was gonna report."
"Auntie we are under attack! Some confederate and unknown ships have entered our space!" Corky replied.
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Meanwhile on the Space surrounding Mandalore. Mandalorian ships struggled to form a small fleet of patrol ships and fighters around their powerhouse Venator-class assault cruiser to face the incoming enemy fleet. The Mandalorian commander, a man of about fifty years dressed on Mandalorian armor without the helmet, had to admit it was suicide just thinking of going against such a fleet. The enemy had brought some big guns to the the fight, aside from some munificent-class frigates and other Confederate ships, the core or their fleet was formed by ships that hadn't been seen on the galaxy since the Cold War, Harrower-class dreadnoughts and Interdictor-class cruisers, both used by the Sith Empire.
However the commander was not coward and would escape, he would stand and defend his home. He'd been forced to watch helplessly as the Confederacy invaded their world once, he would not let that happen again.
"Have the Fighters and gunships concentrate their fire on the enemy support ships" he told one of the operators who relayed the orders. "Our patrol ships and this ship will focus on the enemy's heavy ships."
And just like that the 2nd battle over Mandalore began. Both fleets exchanged fire and released their fighters as well, the enemy released their fighters a mixture of Confederate ships and ancient sith fighters, the Mandalorian commander supposed that modern variants.
"Sir an enemy ship is coming up from Mandalore and is rejoining their fleet." One of the operators informed him. "Do we destroy it?"
"Leave it alone" The commander replied. The battle was already hard as it was they couldn't lose focus on their main objective. But even if they were fully commited the facts were facts and the facts were that the enemy had superior firepower. After just half an hour of battle the Mandalorian fleet was reduced to half it's size and the enemy had lost only 2 frigates. To make matters worse It seemed they were deploying Forces to the Surface, both in gunships, similar to the Republic LAAT but seemingly a different version and on trade federation landing ships. The Commander closed his eyes, he had failed, his fleet wouldn't resist much longer and there were enemies already landing at the planet.
"Sir!" An operator told him. "Three more ships have entered our space."
"More Confederate Ships?" The commander asked defeatedly.
"No sir!" The operator said with a light smile. "Republican ships Venator-class! They are requesting to speak with you"
The commander looked at the operator and nodded. The image of a Republic Navy officer appeared before him.
"This is Admiral Yularen from the Republica Navy. We've heard you are in need of assistance." The man spoke.
"This is Commander Drumm from the Mandalorian Venator-class assault cruiser. " Madalore's Pride", we appreciate your offer Admiral. We could really use some help."
The Admiral nodded and the transmission was cut just as the Republic Venators formed with the Mandalorian fleet. The commander smiled, suddenly not everything was as lost as they thought. They now had a fighting chance.
