A/N: Hello everyone! marvellouslystupid or landing, or D. … whatever you want to call me, and welcome to a brand-new story and a brand-new start to this fanfiction account. To returning readers, welcome back, and to new readers… welcome.

This is the first story in a series of fanfiction stories set within the Star Wars universe, starting in the prequel era and going all the way to the sequel trilogy and maybe even into tv shows and possibly original stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Star Wars, all rights go to George Lucas and Disney and whoever else has a hold of Star Wars, but I do own any and all original characters and plot lines.

~8~

Rise - Chapter I. Chased

AVA EROLLISI WAS SURE she'd never grow tired of the seeing the comforting swirling blue vortex of hyperspace, a small wrench held between her teeth as she did some small repairs to the ship. Had it not been for her task at hand, she might have just sat herself in the pilot seat of the Dawn and had her droid wake her up the moment her ship dropped from hyperspace. The Dawn, Ava's ship, was a G9 Rigger-class light freighter she had bought almost six years ago from a Rodian salesman she'd met on her homeworld. It hadn't been a cheap buy, Ava remembered being gobsmacked at how many credits it had cost her to buy the bloody ship, but it had come with an added extra that she was grateful for.

C1-P8 or as Ava preferred to call him, Buddy. She'd found Buddy in a state of disrepair; his battery life had been significantly drained, his paint was scuffed and scratched off and half of his equipment had been sold for scrap or just completely broken. She had made it her first promise to the droid that she was going to fix him up before she did anything, although she truly had no idea at the time how to repair such a droid. C1-P8 had developed a distinct disliking for any lifeform that wasn't a droid and had taken almost a year just to warm up to Ava, and still to this day he preferred to stay on the Dawn than join Ava outside the ship.

She'd supposed it made sense, if Ava's parents had forgotten about her and seemingly sold her limbs and organs for credits, then maybe she'd hate human lifeforms as well… but he was getting better. Their recent mission to the planet of Pasaana had left the poor droid in a colourful state, streaks of green and orange had covered the gold and black design Ava had originally painted on the droid, and she was sure the droid could have thrown a tantrum, zapped a few of the native Aki-Aki and stormed off back to the ship. But no, he sat there like a good droid and tolerated the young Aki-Aki painting his outer shell… only if Ava promised him a very long and very expensive droid spa session when they returned to Coruscant.

So dramatic.

The droid she'd been thinking fondly of rolled into the cockpit, bleeping and chirping up a storm, as he held a datapad in one of his mechanical arms. She wasn't sure what the droid was saying, her binary was average and she could understand the droid on a good day, but with how fast he was talking she was struggling to keep up.

"Slow down Buddy," she crouched down in front of the droid, placing a hand on his dome as a means of comfort, "you're not making any sense."

C1-P8 whined before he slowed down his bleeping and chirping, informing Ava of the inventory of the Dawn. They'd used up almost four cases of supplies, basic essentials and basic tools for whatever race could learn to use, which also meant that their own supply was low. C1-P8 almost wanted to tell Ava that he said they gave the Aki-Aki too much, but he knew his mistress had meant well and was sure she had a plan.

"We're heading for Naboo," Ava informed the droid, almost as if she had heard the droid think to his self about a plan, "We'll restock and then head to Coruscant, yes to give you the spa treatment you desperately want," she added quickly, C1-P8 dome spun in joy.

The ship bleeped in alarm as it neared the end of its hyperjump, Ava quickly settled herself into the pilot seat as C1-P8 rolled up to her side neither of them expecting the sight that they came across. The usual beautiful view of the luscious green and blue planet scape was mostly obscured by multiple large spherical ships that were orbiting the planet.

It was a blockade, Ava realised from experience, but she never expected to encounter something like this in the Mid Rim and especially around Naboo of all planets. Something was wrong, both Ava and C1-P8 could sense that, and immediately the pair began to form a plan.

Ava tried to think where the nearest planet outside of Naboo could be and only two stuck out to her, Kashyyyk and Takodana. Ava had never personally interacted with the Wookie species, she'd seen them at a distance and personally she was frightened of them, so Kashyyyk was defiantly off the table, then she remembered overhearing stories in some cantina's about someone on Takodana offering travellers free lodgings for one night but she wasn't sure where abouts on the planet something like that could be.

C1-P8, on the other hand, began to send out a communication to what he assumed was the capital ship and began to transmit a simple message that demanded that this blockade let them through as they carried valuable supplies that the people of Naboo would need… as decreed by the Galactic Republic. It was all a lie, of course, but C1-P8 had learnt that if you slapped the Galactic Republic into a message, nine times out of ten would they let you through without hesitation.

"Buddy what are you doing?" Ava turned her head to look at her droid, seeing one of his attachments plug itself into the socket below the comm. system, and the droid turned to bleep his plan at her, "you did what?!"

An alarm sounded through the cockpit and C1-P8 had the decency to stop what he was doing to look at Ava in what could only be assumed was confusion. Ava's heart stopped as she looked out of the viewport to see four fighters approaching the Dawn fast and she was sure they weren't about to escort her to planet surface.

"Brace yourself Buddy." Ava quickly turned the control stick to the right as the Dawn quickly began to move out of range of whatever fighters were coming at them.

Red lasers barely missed the Dawn as Ava began to pilot the ship. They were firing at them and the fighters were quicker than the usual pirates she had encountered, she spared a look at the scanner as she saw four red dots fall into a triangle formation behind her ship, pushing the control stick as the ship dived downwards in an attempt to avoid being permanently locked on. "Who are these guys?!" Ava exclaimed, setting her sights on the planet surface, C1-P8 chirped a reply, "just keep holding on."

Two of the fighters flew overhead and positioned themselves directly in Ava's line of sight, and it was here she noticed there was no cockpit. Every ship had a cockpit! Who are these guys?!

"Divert power to forward shields!" Ava barked, tightening her grip as her droid chirped at her in confusion, "just do it!"

C1-P8 quickly rolled to the backwall of the cockpit, plugging into the computer systems as he did as his mistress asked. The fighters opened fire on the ship and so did Ava, the woman wincing slightly as her shields barely were able to protect them, but she managed to take down one of the ships. More fighters were deployed from a nearby ship, the entire console was lit up with red lights as they desperately warned her of the incoming danger… they were gonna die if she didn't think of something.

"Divert all power to the engines," she told the droid, swerving the ship in and out of the barrage of laser fire, C1-P8 hesitantly chirped a question at her, "yes, that includes the rear shields… just do it!"

C1-P8 bleeped something that Ava missed and did as commanded, Ava was slightly thrown back into her chair as the ship suddenly picked up more speed than it usually could. The red alarms lessened slightly as they moved out of immediate range of the fighters, but the fighters were still trying to shoot her down, and with no shields she just hoped that they missed.

C1-P8 rolled up to her side, whining nervously as he watched his mistress keep them relatively safe. He was concerned, he'd ran the statistics and honestly it wasn't looking good for them, she probably knew this, but he trusted her and she trusted him… so maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Maybe the Force will help them, Ava sometimes prayed to the force when things were getting dicey for them or sometimes before she slept or when she was about to leave a planet that she wished she could do more for.

A faint boom echoed around them as the Dawn made its way into Naboo's atmosphere, breaking the sound barrier as they didn't slow. The fighters were still close on their tails, though they still had two gaining on them as Ava tried to think of somewhere to land.

"Buddy, send out a distress call," Ava told him, straightening them out as she kept swerving left and right, "maybe someone from Theed will answer."

C1-P8 plugged himself back into the comm. system and began to send out the standard 'help us we might die in an instant' message to the capital city of Naboo. Queen Amidala might pick up the distress call and send a platoon of fighters to rescue them.

Ava jolted forward as the console sparked, her grip on the controls loosened slightly as a warning appeared on the console. They'd been hit! And one of her engines were failing, aimlessly Ava pressed a few buttons on the console in an attempt to reactivate the engine or at least give it enough power to get them somewhere safe. C1-P8 plugged himself back in again to the computer systems as he attempted to keep power going in the engine, but the readouts weren't looking good and he was sure they'd be dead soon.

The ship creaked this time as another bolt hit the ship, more warning lights flashed on the console and the control stick began to resist her every attempt to keep them level. The Dawn slowly began to plummet towards the swamplands of Naboo at maximum speed, though Ava attempted to pull up slightly so she didn't have an entire tree breach either the hull or viewport of the ship. "Buddy!" she called out, fear easily detected in her voice, "revert whatever power we have left to front shields!"

The droid didn't even question it, the engines shutting off as he moved the power to the forward shields. The fighters pulled back, assuming the Dawn was to be destroyed as it lowered into the treeline until… there was an explosion. They're task was complete and they returned to their leader.