Chapter 13 - Into Space

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. We only own Aniya Skywalker and Jaufre (pronounced Jaw-Free) Naberrie. =)

Author's Note: Sorry (not) about the cliffhanger at the end of Aniya's POV. Lol. You'll be waiting for a couple chapters to see the end of the duel. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Aniya Skywalker

Anakin promised Padme that we'll help however we can, and he meant it. So do I. Battle droids are everywhere, shooting with their blasters at anything that dares to move. I can't get rid of this feeling of foreboding. We're pressed up against one side of the hanger right behind Padme, with the Jedi, Jaufre, and a few others. We stand in one of the doorways, taking cover behind the pillars.

Padme signals across the hanger to Captain Panaka where he's standing on the other side with a group of pilots. He signals back, before motioning for everyone to move out to attack.

Qui-Gon leans over to me and my brother. "Once we get inside, Ani, you both find a safe place to hide and stay there," he commands.

"Sure," replies Anakin, nodding. Except I know he doesn't really mean it. I nod too, fear mounting. I'm afraid the Council might have been right, and the creature will be here waiting for us.

"And stay there," Qui-Gon adds, giving us a stern look.

"Be careful," I choke out, fearful that Anakin's suggestion of why we wouldn't be around when my nightmare happens is correct. Qui-Gon did just tell us to hide, after all.

Meanwhile, chaos breaks out. Captain Panaka's group start crossing the hanger, and the droids open fire on them. Padme glances around, then takes off running. Jaufre races after her, his blaster aimed as he fires on the droids as well. Both Jedi draw their lightsabers as the five of us, followed by the other pilots and Artoo, break into a run across the area. Both Jedi deflect a few blaster bolts flying our way. Obi-Wan easily slices through a droid standing right nearby as we reach the hanger.

As the doors slide open, we come face-to-face with even more battle droids. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are in front, deflecting all blaster shots being fired at us. Padme is between the two, with Anakin, Artoo, Jaufre, and I a few feet behind the three of them. Padme and the others start shooting back at the droids.

I sigh, knowing what we have to do now, even though I really don't want to. Anakin and I break away from the main group and run. We duck behind one of the nearby fighters to keep clear of the blaster fire, just as I trip over my own feet and faceplant onto the ground. Ugh.

"Be careful," chides Anakin as I get up and kneel down next to him, trying to avoid being spotted by our attackers. As if in response, a blaster bolt suddenly flies our direction, nearly hitting him in the head. I guess we are still pretty much in plain sight. Sparks rain down around us as another bolt strikes above our heads.

"This is scarier than I thought," I grumble quietly, ducking lower to the ground. Anakin quickly joins me.

"Get to your ships!" Padme calls to the pilots.

"Better find a new hiding place, kids. I'm taking this ship," a pilot calls to us as he climbs into it.

Artoo whistles to us from a nearby, still unoccupied, fighter. Immediately spotting the familiar droid, Anakin and I run to the fighter and climb up the ladder inside. The seat is only made for one person, though, so we're both really cramped.

"These should have been made a bit bigger," comments my brother, scooting over as far as he can and practically crushing himself against the wall to give me as much room as possible without sitting on his lap.

"I know, right?" I grumble, attempting to move over, only to slam my arm into the side. "Ow!" I yelp as a sharp pain radiates through it.

As the other fighters start blasting off, Captain Panaka arrives with another large group of pilots. They take out the remaining droids in the area right before Padme turns to them. "My guess is the Viceroy is in the throne room."

"I agree," Qui-Gon concurs. I push myself up the best I can to try and see them. They're not in our line of sight at the moment. Finally, on their way towards the entrance of the building, they walk right past the fighter we're in.

Anakin scrambles to his feet, as do I, but with a little more difficulty. "Hey, wait for us!" calls Anakin.

"No, Ani. You stay there. Stay where you are," commands Qui-Gon.

"But –" I begin to argue, nearly frantic. It just feels like… it feels like the place in my nightmare is very near. I can't just sit around and wait and watch if he could die.

"Stay in that cockpit," orders Qui-Gon with finality. He won't take any more arguments. Anakin moves to sit back down, with extreme reluctance, but I can't.

"I can't do this," I whisper. "I'll stay right here for now." I want to listen, but I can't just stand there and let him die knowing I could have stopped it but chose not to. Carefully, I slip out my side of the fighter. I can't tear my eyes from the doors they're heading towards, nearly dreading what it might reveal. And sure enough, they slide open to reveal the black-robed figure. My heart nearly stops. It's same one that attacked Qui-Gon on Tatooine. And the same one that is about to kill him unless something changes.

"Aniya," Anakin hisses, looking over the edge of the fighter. I don't look at him. Can't. I can't think. I'm too scared to even move or do anything but stay rooted to the spot.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan step to the front of the group. "We'll handle this," Qui-Gon tells everyone. Why didn't they all just shoot at the thing?! How could it defeat all of them if they launch a joint attack?

The creature throws back his hood, revealing his striped face and horned head, as everyone else scatters. The Jedi throw off their outer robes, and the being draws its lightsaber. Red blades spring out of both ends, drawing a startled gasp from me. It's a double-bladed lightsaber. I didn't even realize there was such a thing.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan draw and ignite their own blades. The being jumps at them, lightsaber spinning. Obi-Wan leaps over his head, and the two begin to fight him, one on each side. If not for what I'm certain the end will be, I'd find it completely mesmerizing.

Artoo's sudden beep draws my attention elsewhere. Six huge droids come rolling in and start shooting at Padme and the others.

"Aniya, get back in here!" cries Anakin, sounding nearly panicked.

"I'm staying right here. The fighter will be cover enough," I insist, "There's not room for both of us in there, anyway." In other words, I'm stuck here, even if I wanted to move. Which I don't. I want to run to the fight and do something, anything to save Qui-Gon. Except I'm too scared to move, half because of the droids firing at everyone and half because I know if I go over there and the Dark Warrior sees me, he'll likely kill me.

Thankfully, Anakin is distracted, because if he insisted again, I probably would have listened. My fear is increasing exponentially as the droids that just showed up continue firing at Padme and the others.

"We gotta do something, Artoo!" Anakin tells the droid, attention finally focused on Padme again. Suddenly, the ship turns on and it starts to move. So much for it covering me, I guess! I just hope he gets back over here as soon as those droids are taken care of. I crouch back against the wall, trying to be as invisible as possible, half of me wishing I'd listened and stayed in that fighter. I'd feel much safer. Now if the droids start shooting at me there's nothing I can do.

"All right, thanks, Artoo! Great idea! I'll take over. Let's see…" he trails off. The fighter continues to move forwards, and Anakin finally starts firing at the droids. His aim isn't the greatest, but after a few shots, all the droids are down.

Meanwhile, the Jedi are in a fierce battle with the creature, whatever it is. The battle is starting to move across the hanger now, leaving me a little safer than before. The remaining droids start firing at Anakin's fighter, and thankfully he puts up the shields. All of the sudden, the ship begins to fly forwards before blasting off the ground and straight out of the hangar.

"Anakin!" I shriek, horrified. Except he's not even here to hear it. I'm stuck here. Completely alone. Anakin is going to be out in space in a ship he doesn't know how to control, and Qui-Gon is possibly about to be killed by that creature. How much worse can this get? I moan and slump against the wall. What should I do now? What can I even do now, except stand right here and hope I don't get shot?

My gaze turns across the clearing to where the fighting figures somehow have made their way into the doorway of another building. The Dark Warrior throws something into a control panel nearby, and the door opens. I stare in horror as I instantly recognize the building. The place from my nightmare. And then I don't think. I run towards the doorway.

**w**

Anakin Skywalker

I don't have a clue what happened as we rocket out of the hanger. What did I do? "Oops! Wrong one," I groan as I see the ground growing farther and farther away below us.

"What are you doing?" beeps Artoo.

"I'm not doing anything!" I protest.

"We're going into outer space now," he warns.

"I know. I didn't push anything," I object, still confused as to why we suddenly blasted out of the hanger. I didn't even do anything that should make that happen. Now, I'm really worried about accidentally leaving Aniya behind, completely unprotected. I can only hope she'll be alright down there. I realize I can't take the time to worry about it the moment I spot a huge space battle raging right up ahead. Artoo beeps in concern.

"The Autopilot is searching for what other ships?" I ask in confusion.

He beeps another response.

"There is no manual override, Artoo. You'll have to rewire it or something," I tell him, looking over the controls.

"I'm trying," Artoo replies.

As the fighter continues flying on autopilot, I catch sight of the huge Federation Battleship. Around it, I spy the fighters that took off out of the hanger earlier. Constant laser fire is being exchanged between the sides. "Look!" I call back to Artoo, "There they are! That's where the autopilot is taking us."

The fighter is still on autopilot and flying forwards as another ship suddenly explodes beside me. "This is tense!" I exclaim. My eyes turn back to what's happening in front of us, and I spot a federation ship rapidly approaching us. All my worries of what might be occurring back on Naboo disappear as I realize exactly how dangerous this situation is. I need to completely focus on here if we aren't going to get blown up.

"Oops! Artoo, get us off Autopilot!" I yell, apprehensively.

"I can't do anything. You're in control," he beeps back, equally panicked.

"I've got control?" I ask, slightly surprised. I have no idea how to control a fighter. I've never been in one before, but I can only assume what's what from the looks of it. Flipping a switch, I call back to Artoo, "Okay, let's go left." Turning the controls, the ship spins left.

"Yes, I've got control. You did it, Artoo!" I congratulate him.

"You better go back," Artoo warns me cautiously.

"Go back?" I cry, "Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit, and that's what I'm gonna do. Now c'mon!" We're already out here, so why not do something useful while we're at it? At least it will make this accidental excursion into space worth the effort.

We continue flying forwards, and another enemy fighter comes into view. I reach for the controls to fire at it, but I must have hit the wrong one because suddenly our fighter shoots forwards at tremendous speed, right past it. "Oops! Whoa!" I yelp.

The insane speed isn't the problem – it's that another ship is giving chase. I have no idea how to handle the situation, so I'll just use my experience in Pod racing and hope the idea is the same.

Swerving this way and that, I try to throw him off, but it's not working. I've never done anything even similar to this before, but I do have a lot of experience in flying pods, which is somewhat similar in its own way. "I'll try spinning. That's a good trick," I decide finally and push the controls.

"We have trouble!" screams Artoo desperately as the fighter starts spinning around and around.

"I know we're in trouble! Hang on," I yell back to him, "The way out of this mess is the way we got into it." Meaning we're going to have to go in reverse.

"Push the reverse thrusters," he suggests.

"Which one?" I ask, looking around at the controls. My eyes land on one of them. "This one?" Push it, whispers a voice in the back of my mind. I yank the thruster, and the ship instantly slows way down. The other fighter clearly hadn't been expecting the decrease in speed at all. It speeds past us and slams into the Federation Ship, exploding into millions of pieces.

Artoo whistles a series of panicked beeps at me as another fighter begins chasing us.

"I know, Artoo! This isn't Pod racing!" I reply. It's much more dangerous even though it's far more thrilling. I wish for a moment that Aniya could be with me. I just hope she's safe back on Naboo. Considering the situation there… she might not be. But there's nothing I can do about it now. She was out of the line of fire, though, so she should be fine. If she was hurt, I would probably feel it, so I think she's okay.

The ship behind us starts firing, one of the blasts hitting the fighter. Or not. The damage clearly isn't too bad, but it does send the ship into a mad spin and cause Artoo to start screaming again.

"We're hit!" I exclaim. By the time I've managed to regain control over the fighter, it's zooming into something that looks like it must be the hanger of the Trade Federation's ship. Great. Now what? I carefully maneuver the fighter around all the other ships and obstacles inside the hanger, feeling grateful for all my years of Pod Racing. At least they paid off for this. We're coming to the edge of the hanger.

"We need to stop!" cries Artoo.

"I'm trying to stop! I'm trying to stop!" I insist, hitting the reverse thrusters again. The ship thankfully slows all the way to a stop and lands inside the hanger.

"We can't stay here long. We have to get out of here," Artoo insists worriedly.

"All right! All right! Get the system started," I command. I reach for the control panel again but stop. All the lights on it are red. "Everything's overheated," I inform the droid. Exactly what we need when we're in enemy territory. Hopefully, everything will be working again before we get spotted.

"There's a bunch of battle droids approaching us! We need to take off!" he calls. I glance up to see a whole group of droids rapidly approaching us. They must have seen the ship land and recognized it as an enemy.

"Uh oh. This is not good." I duck back down to avoid being seen. Maybe they will just let us go, which I doubt, or at least be held off long enough for the system to cool off. Glancing at the dashboard, the only thing I can see is red lights. "The systems are still overheated, Artoo," I declare worriedly. Artoo better think of something to hold them off, or we'll both be fried.

"Where's your pilot?" demands the battle droid captain.

"I am," Artoo replies. Smart.

"You're the pilot?" asks the droid. Unlike astromechs, these things don't seem to have a mind whatsoever. Anyone knows that droids can't fly fighters under such circumstances. When not in a battle, yes they can fly, but now, there's no way a droid could fly the ship properly.

"Yes," says Artoo.

"Let me see your identification!" orders the captain. Meanwhile, the lights on the dashboard flash from red to green. I let out a sigh of relief. Time to get out of here.