The entourage descended from the ramp of the ship, first two guards, then a pair of handmaidens, followed by the queen and Anakin, with two more royal guards bringing up the rear.
"Welcome, Queen Amidala. So good of you to join us," the Federation representative, a green skinned Nemodian cloaked in a ceremonial blue robe acknowledged. Beside him, a second Nemodian wearing a red and orange robe eyed the proceedings uneasily, beady red eyes unblinking.
"To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" Padme returned with forced politeness. Whether the representative didn't notice, or simply didn't comment on the tone, Anakin wouldn't know.
"I am Viceroy Tellus, and with me is deputy Viceroy Gunray. It is a pleasure to meet you in person at last, your majesty. Hopefully we will be able to agree on the issue of Naboo's obligations and this unfortunate embargo can end."
"I am surprised by the amount of military force you have brought, Viceroy. Surely maintaining such an army must not be cheap."
"Indeed, it is regrettable the resources that the Federation has had to expend because of your Resistance," the VIceroy lamented genuinely, "but if we allowed a planet, even one as insignificant as yours, to renege on their debts, how can we possibly expect others not to follow suit?"
"It was an unequal treaty and you know it," Padme remarked bitterly, to which the Nemodian shrugged. "You have the power to end the suffering of my people, and yet you would see them starve to death."
"Our society is built on laws, your majesty. Without them, we would fall into anarchy, be little better than savage beasts," the Viceroy replied coolly. "Faith. Faith in the system, it is what ensures compliance. Compliance is what creates stability. Stability in turn creates faith. Such is the cycle that must not be broken, though I can...sympathise with youthful naivety. Far easier to burn down the system than to create something, it is a lesson learned only with experience."
"So you will offer no leniency to the people of Naboo? The death toll is in the hundreds, and yet you refuse to act. Their blood...the blood of innocents, it will be on your hands," Padme challenged. The Nemodian merely shrugged once again.
"Far worse things have been done in the name of stability."
"Of credits, you mean," Padme snapped. The Nemodian gave an offended look, muttering under his breath before gesturing towards a small conference room. "The negotiators will be inside."
"You aren't...staying for the negotiations?"
"Why should I? Time is credits, your majesty. I have other Federation duties to tend to, despite what you might think. That I came to see you in person is a courtesy. But regardless, you are on my ship, surrounded by my security droids. You will come to agree to the Federation's terms, I'm sure."
"Don't try anything untoward, Viceroy. In case you haven't noticed, I am accompanied by a member of the Jedi." The Viceroy took one scrutinous glance at Anakin before chuckling, much to the Jedi's consternation.
"They could only send a padawan? My, my, I must give a few of my friends in the order a substantial raise," the Viceroy laughed condescendingly. "Are you even supposed to be here? I saw no motion granting a Jedi knight to the senate, nor anything from the special commissions."
"I am here on the authority of the high council and the Supreme Chancellor," Anakin replied confidently, causing the Viceroy to hesitate slightly.
"Regardless, I hope to hear of profitable results from the negotiations soon. Afterall, the death toll is mounting, as you say yourself," the Viceroy smiled, before turning around and leavin, followed quickly by his entourage of Nemodians and droids. Padme and Anakin entered the room after exchanging an uneasy glance.
-Break-
"Ugh, that was utterly pointless," Padme ranted, throwing her hands into the air before collapsing onto a chair. Anakin assumed a position behind her, gently kneading her shoulders as she let out a contented mewl. "Those smug bastards were toying with us. They aren't going to loosen their grip!"
"To what end, I wonder," Anakin pondered.
"Perhaps their twisted amusement?"
Anakin ignored her scornful comment, concentrating deeply into the force, trying to tug at elusive echoes. Yet a gentle but firm force resisted him, as though telling him that it wasn't time, misting over his vision wherever he neared any detail in his vision.
"Something's off. You're essentially in their hands, why would they…what are they up to?"
"Well, let's go find out," Padme called. Anakin turned, and realised she was no longer lazing on the chair, but had climbed on top of the desk and was lifting herself up to the ventilation shaft running overhead.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Anakin muttered to himself as he helped her up before leaping with the force and entering the duct, following her. "Do you even know where we're going?"
"Nope," she replied cheerfully. "Now hush, don't want noise tipping us off."
They crawled for what seemed like hours through winding ducts, sometimes having to double back when a duct narrowed too tightly for them to pass through. Anakin was just about to suggest returning to the room when she gave a gasp.
"It's an invasion force!" she whispered with exclamation, finger pointed shakily at the vents. Anakin peered through, and saw thousands upon thousands of droids marching into large troop transports, accompanied by tanks, slope front armour containing three torpedo tubes a flank, though the most prominent feature had to be the massive barrel emanating from the turret.
"There has to be at least a hundred thousand droids in this hangar alone!" Anakin choked out in disbelief. "They're attempting an invasion, no doubt about that. But why...occupying the planet makes no sense."
"Anakin, can we please focus on the fact that my planet is about to be invaded!" Padme whispered angrily. "We need to warn the citizens, try and give them time to evacuate."
"To what avail? Naboo barely has any defense forces. Where can they even evacuate to?"
"I...don't know," Padme broke down, "I...just feel the need to do something! Anything!"
"What we need to do is to take evidence of this and return to Coruscant. An invasion is a step too far, but if no one knows about it, then nothing will happen!"
"Right, I-" they were thrown off their feet by a sudden explosion that rocked the ship, with Padme falling onto Anakin before the two regained their footing. "What was that?"
"I fear we might not want to know the answer," Anakin muttered to himself as he pulled out his comlink. "Pilot, what's the situation?"
"Sir! Thank goodness you answered, the federation are demanding that we surrender ourselves to their custody with the queen, th-" Anakin crushed the comlink in his hand, allowing the pieces to fall before palming Padme's cheek sternly.
"There's nothing we can do for them now, the priority is to get you back to Coruscant, and you need to do exactly as I say, understand?"
"Anakin, we can't just leave the delegation here! They're my people!"
"And your people are also down there on Naboo, counting on you to find a solution to this crisis," Anakin returned heatedly. "We don't have time for this, follow me. We're going back to the ship."
Several secondary explosions rocked the ship, tossing them around in the ventilation shafts, though the bruised duo managed to return to their room. Carefully reaching out with the force, he led Padme by the hand through the corridors, careful to stay out of sight of security droids as they navigated their way back to the hangar.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the two jogged towards the hangar when several security droids appeared, raising their blasters.
"Halt! Surrender immediately!" the battle droid commander ordered. Anakin ignited his blue saber, shielding Padme with his body.
"I'm taking her majesty to Coruscant."
"That...doesn't compute. You're under arrest!" Anakin threw his lightsaber, the blade swinging in an arc and decapitating all of the droids in the immediate vicinity before boomeranging back into his extended hand.
"Come on we need to-" Several torrents appeared out of the side panels, and Anakin threw himself over Padme as red flashes of light erupted from several turrets at once, all aimed towards the ship, causing it to explode violently in a giant fireball. "Kriff!"
Hoisting Padme to her feet, he barked, "Stay behind me!"
Several squads of droids emerged from various side doors of the hangar, causing Anakin to curse as he was forced on the defensive, arcing his lightsaber at impossible speeds to create a protective bubble around himself and Padme. To his surprise, blaster shots began to take out the nearest droids, and while the shots were nowhere near perfect, began to thin down their attackers' numbers. Suddenly, six round objects began rolling on the floor towards them at high speed. Anakin prepared to jump, when they stopped ten meters from the two and unfurled, revealing twin blaster cannons on their arms and covering themselves in a translucent shield dome.
"My blasters aren't doing anything!" Padme yelled worriedly as Anakin grew increasingly strained deflecting the bolts from all sides. Raising his hand, he thrust his hand forward, using the force to throw two of the droids backwards, bowling over several battle droids behind. Grabbing Padme around the waist, he leapt into the air, landing on a maintenance walkway as the battle droids began firing upwards at them.
"With me through here," Anakin barked, dragging Padme through a side door as they emerged in another hangar cell, where there was a single federation shuttle with several droids loading crates off it. Anakin impaled the nearest droid with his lightsaber, using the force to crush several others as Padme took down the remaining few. "Give me your blaster and get on board!"
She tossed him her pistol, which Anakin aimed carefully at the fuel tanks, firing several shots until the mechanism's locks began glowing red and jets of fumes began spewing out. Quickly dashing inside the shuttle, he tapped through the unfamiliar controls, initiating the launch sequence as droids began pouring through the door.
Their shuttle zoomed out of the Federation ship with an explosion on their heels. Both Padme and Anakin held in bated breath at they emerged into the firing arcs of the Trade Federation's quad laser turrets. Both let out a sigh of relief as the cannons didn't fire, seemingly still offline from the destruction.
Pushing forward the throttle, Anakin pushed the shuttle forward towards the hyperspace jump point, while Padme dutifully began entering the hyperspace coordinates for Coruscant. Suddenly, the alarms blared as the ship shuddered in protest.
"Kriff! Seems their cannons are back online!" Anakin cursed, quickly eyeing the metrics display and frowning at the thirty percent loss to shield integrity. "We'll never make it to the jump point, hold on."
"Another two barrages like that and we're done for!" Padme warned as Anakin veered the ship in a tight arc, pointing straight towards the Federation ship. Throwing the ship in a spin, the shuttle narrowly avoided another barrage of ships.
"We're flying towards them...why are we flying towards them?" Padme questioned nervously as Anakin yanked the throttle to the left, forcing the ship to narrowly skive past another barrage of laser fire.
"I'm watching the laser fire as it comes. Easier to dodge this way."
"But isn't the objective to run away?"
"Only in theory," Anakin explained through gritted teeth as he dodged another barrage. "You'll be blown to bits with how slow and precise the hyperdrive needs to be. Never jump until you're in a somewhat secure location."
"And what are we doing now?" Padme questioned as Anakin weaved through several barrages. "Their shots are edging far too close for comfort."
"That makes it for both of us," Anakin muttered, tapping into the force as he trusted his instincts to take him out of harm's way, "The one thing we have over the Federation right now is...ah kriff!"
Anakin fired the ship's cannons, blowing up one of the vulture droids shooting forward at them, though had to barrel the ship out of the way of a torrent of fire coming from several more behind, beginning to give chase as their laser cannons peppered the shuttle with laserfire.
"Shields are holding for now, but something needs to happen soon," Padme warned. Anakin put his full focus onto veering along the circumference of the Federation ship. The ship's turrets were unable to angle so far inward, while the droid starfighters were unwilling to damage their own ships, instead shadowing their movement like a bird would its prey.
"I doubt the Federation have enough ships to blockade the entire surface of the planet, once we veer from the ship's surface we're going to try and make a break for it," Anakin explained, taking a breath before yanking the throttle. Immediately, the droid fighters veered off into attack formation, charging towards them, while the laser cannons of the main Trade Federation ship opened fire, red laser beams chasing after the tail of their ship.
As they extended their lead over the droid fighters and gained distance from the Federation battleship, Anakin's white knuckle grip over the controls eased, and he couldn't help a slight chuckle. At Padme's confused look, he gave a shrug. "First time in live combat, not too bad if I say so myself."
"Seems like we're going to make it," Padme smiled, only for a concerned look to emerge as Anakin frowned, turning back to the console as it beeped ominously. "What's that?"
"Kriff, kriff, kriff," Anakin cursed, flipping several switches and deploying electronic countermeasures. "Where are the...not loaded, of course!"
In frustration, he slammed the console, letting out a deep sigh before adopting a determined look. "No, we're going to get out of this. Somehow."
"Anakin...what's going on?"
"They're locking missiles onto us," he replied grimly. "And the flares haven't been loaded."
"Electronic jammers?"
"Damaged beyond repair."
"So what's the plan?"
"Do you believe in a god?"
"Everyone has a god."
"Then pray," Anakin advised resignedly as the alarms on the shuttle blared red, "and brace for impact."
The back of the ship gave a groan, then a shudder, before a large explosion rocked the entire ship, slamming Anakin and Padme forward in their seats. Padme gave a pained groan while Anakin merely grimaced as he flipped several switches, activating the emergency protocols of the ship as they slowly descended towards the planet in a burning wreck. The silence the two enjoyed staring at the swampy surface of the dark side of Naboo sent an eerie chill down both of their spines.
"This side of Naboo...looks different," Anakin mused, his hand reaching out for Padme's.
"The dark side of the planet. It's where...the gungans live," she explained, accepting the implicit offer of taking their minds off the impending crash. At his confused look, she elaborated, "the natives...who were displaced long ago by human settlers. One of my planet's darker secrets."
"So...unfriendlies then," Anakin nearly groaned. Padme merely nodded lamentfully. "Do you trust me?"
"With my life, it seems," she replied jokingly, only to tense up when Anakin gave an unamused smirk. "What are you thinking?"
The ship shuddered as it began its entry into the atmosphere. Anakin pondered for a moment, eyes closed, before humming thoughtfully. "I suppose there won't be a better time, but to admit, I love you."
Padme let out a groan, sighing. Seeing Anakin's hurt expression, she hastened to explain. "No...I love you too, it's just...I wish I hadn't been a coward. So much time lost...so much we could have done…"
"No time like the present," Anakin smiled painfully, something mirrored on her face. Their hands clutched each other as the viewport began to glow a heated yellow. "If you make it and I don't, take my lightsaber, and give it to Satele, will you?"
"Would it be intruding to ask why?"
"We're likely to die soon, no harm in asking," Anakin shrugged. "She was the one who taught me most of the basics while Obi Wan ignored me. It's an old tradition to return a dead Jedi's lightsaber to their first master."
"I see," Padme nodded. "It's...oddly sentimental for the Jedi."
"Most ignore the tradition, it's an old one. But Satele would understand. Seeing as I'm spending my last moments with you, hopefully she'll also have something to remember me by."
The ship shuddered, before violently jerking, causing Anakin to laugh. "Seems like we're now freefalling in two thirds a ship. One last thing, Padme?"
"Anything," she promised.
"Live."
Without waiting for a response, Anakin sunk himself into a trance, ignoring the physical discomfort of the G force pressing against him as the burning wreckage forced itself closer and closer to the swampy marshes below. Using the force, he pushed with his might, slowing the wreckage's descent downwards with an invisible hand, bolstering the air resistance.
Sweat droplets formed all across Anakin's body, his muscles all tensed even as he remained oblivious to Padme's panicked shouting, as he exerted his will, manifesting it the form of resistance against the wreckage's natural acceleration downwards.
The ship's descent began to slow, though Anakin remained completely oblivious, too entranced into the force to realise his surroundings. As they reached the ground, the wreckage plopped into the waters of a marsh, sending columns of water meters into the air before it settled into the murky waters with an uncomfortable gurgle.
Exiting his trance, Anakin immediately felt blood trickling down his nose and his vision pinked. He slowly became aware of his ears ringing, and Padme's face hovering over him as she began wiping away the blood while concernedly talking aloud incomprehensibly. He could only give a sigh of relief that they had survived before falling unconscious.
-Break-
Padme let out a startled cry as Anakin slumped unconscious, slapping him twice on the cheek in a faint attempt to startle him awake. When that failed, she desperately felt for his heartbeat, letting out a relieved sigh when she sensed a faint but stable rhythm.
Gasping as she felt blood begin to pour out of his abdomen, she looked down to see a jagged piece of metal sticking out, and immediately flinched. Steeling her nerves, she held him by the ribs and slowly pulled him out, flinching as Anakin unconsciously let out a protest at the pain.
"Just a bit more," she whispered encouragingly, a blush tainting her cheeks as she felt slightly silly doing so. Yet the words seemed to have the desired effect, with his protests fading, or so she chose to believe. Once he was finally free, she quickly laid him down on a relatively flat surface, applying several bacta patches on both sides of the puncture. The gel bubbled, before sticking to the skin. The effects were nearly instantaneous, as the blood seeping out slowed, allowing Padme to breathe a sigh of relief.
She stripped him of his clothes, blushing once again as she did so, inspecting his body for any further major wounds and thanking every deity in her mind that she found none. Padme couldn't help but notice that he seemed to lean into her touch, something she took more joy than she would care to admit to anyone.
With a fond smile, she shook her head, continuing to apply a shock gel around his head and bacta patches on the various bruises along his arm.
"I'm sorry about this...about everything," she admitted lamentfully, running a finger along a particularly deep cut, likely originating from a jagged piece of equipment. "If only...I hadn't asked you to come along. If only...if only...I don't know. I guess i'm just too much of a coward to admit it to you while you're conscious...I just...I just need to get this off my chest."
She paused before letting out a self-depreciating chuckle. "Even unconscious you're still somehow the one helping me. What does that say about me?"
No answer was forthcoming from her unconscious companion, nor was she expecting one. With a sigh, she continued her work, applying more bacta to the wounds, whispering a silent thank you to her father for forcing her on those medical courses.
She let out a hum after finishing patching up what wounds she could, leaving some of the less serious surface cuts lest she run out of bacta later. Resigning herself to the fact that she would do little more for him, she covered him up with an emergency blanket from one of the cabinets, and began sorting through the crates in the back, six large cubic containers. Pressing the button, she unlocked the first one, only to immediately pull out her blaster and fire on instinct upon seeing several battle droids.
However, the droids didn't react, and she let out a sigh of relief as she closed the container, in realisation that they were still deactivated. Far more cautiously, she pried into the second container, to see that there was a small trove of rations, medical supplies and survival equipment. Letting out a sigh of relief, she counted out everything methodically, taking out one of the ration bars, tearing the wrapper, and wolfing it down before continuing her work as her stomach let out a happy gurgle at being fed.
Opening the other crates, Padme closed up the ones that contained battle droids. The only other item of use was a leaking fuel canister. Padme grabbed some heavy duty tape from the survival kit and patched up the puncture, preventing further spillage, before beginning to refill her blaster's depleted reserves.
-Break-
Padme sighed boredly, staring up at the stars while the comms of the wreckage continued to only play interrupted static. Her reverie was interrupted when she heard a light groan from Anakin, and immediately rushed to his side.
His blue eyes opened, looking around panickedly before evident relief showed when he managed to catch sight of her. "How long was I out?"
"Just three hours, by my estimate. I'm surprised you're still up and awake," she admitted. "You were quite injured, I was terrified for you!"
"What, the queen would miss me?" Anakin joked. Padme merely grabbed him by the cheeks and pressed her lips against him. When she moved back later, she couldn't help a snort at his dumbstruck face.
"Does that answer your question, Jedi?" she returned amusedly, before tenderly wrapping him in a hug. "You have no idea how sorry I am...for all this. If I hadn'-"
"Shh," Anakin soothed, running a hand comfortingly across her back, "I'm glad I'm here, because even if I die there's no person I'd rather spend last moments with."
"Not even Satele?" Padme asked curiously, and not without trace of envy. Anakin merely chuckled, shaking his head.
"We're more like brother and sister if anything. But she doesn't understand, can never hope to understand like you can. Her experiences are limited to what she has been allowed in the order, and she still remains clouded by the council's teachings to a degree. There's a naive optimism towards authority that we lack."
"You're starting to sound like a Seperatist," Padme chuckled, before sobering at his serious look. "You truly don't believe in the Republic?"
"You would believer in a system that allows a corporation to invade a member state?" Anakin challenged. "If I am a traitor, let it be to a self-serving political institution rather than my own conviction."
"I...have been having my own doubts about the Republic," Padme admitted, expecting revulsion but instead being surprised at his apathy. If anything, he was commiserating in his expression. Empowered by this, she continued.
"For years, I've believed in the strength and conviction of the electorate. But the reality is that the bureaucracy has become bloated and rotten to the core. Senators more interested in their personal fortunes than representing the systems they are from. Efficacy and results lost to forsaken traditions and convention. I...I…if only there was a better alternative, I would take it without a second thought."
"If only it were that easy," Anakin chuckled, helping her up. "Come, the Federation can easily track the shuttle, and I have no doubt they'll be trying to finish the job. We gotta move, princess."
"I'm a queen," she huffed childishly, but followed his lead as he force pushed the collapsed landing ramp, allowing for swamp water to slowly ebb into the ship. At the sound of ripping, Anakin turned to see Padme had shredded her dress, leaving only an undershirt and short pants. At his incredulous look, she blushed slightly before brushing past him, grabbing some of the supplies and making her way out to the swamp.
Following her out after gathering what he could of the supplies left, Anakin eyed their surroundings. The marshes seemed to stretch out endlessly towards three sides, though to what Anakin guessed was the South, there was a large patch of forest.
"We'll go for the tree cover, that way," Anakin instructed, and the two waded through the marshes, several eyeballs popping out in the distance and observing them, but thankfully not attacking as they finally made it to solid ground.
Just as they made it into tree cover, several droid starfighters flew overhead, their engines buzzing as they dived towards the shuttle, landing on their four pointed legs. Anakin and Padme watched from tree cover as a shuttle descended into the swamp, releasing several battle droids that began to scour the ship.
"Come on, they'll soon figure out that we survived. We need to try and gather as much distance as possible," Anakin urged. Padme nodded in agreement, and they began heading deeper into the forest.
-Break-
"Awark!" a bird cawwed up above as the duo continued to trek through the forest, Anakin in the lead and Padme following.
"You know, we haven't talked about where we stand," Anakin pondered, cutting through several vines with his lightsaber. He could feel instinctively that Padme was giving a shrug even without turning around.
"That is a good question, where do we stand?"
"I...you're not going to make this easy, are you?"
"I'm willing to go as far as you are, Anakin," she sighed. "But you have to set the terms. I know relationships go against the code...against...everything a Jedi is, to be honest. And...I can't in good conscience take that away from you. You need to take the step."
"Is it wrong that I would happily leave the order if you just asked?"
"Love isn't wrong," Padme defended before sighing. "I know you would...and that's what I'm afraid...that I'll make you give up. My conviction to duty has never waivered before...and yet with you, I dream of just jumping on a starship and cruising the galaxy among the stars, like the stories we were told as children..."
"Maybe I'll have to kidnap you one of these days, majesty," Anakin laughed, soon joined by Padme. They continued wading through the forest, discussing meaningless nothings until the sky was growing dark. The duo could sense the eyes watching them, and instinctively moved closer together.
"Any idea what we could be facing?"
"Lots of predators. I just pray we don't face a Nexu, they're known to be particularly viscous. No one that I know of has passed the wall in generations, so we're really blind here."
"Great...Padme...I need you to get behind me slowly," Anakin hissed. He could feel the woman tense, but thankfully she did as he bade, slowly circling behind him as Anakin turned to face a strange insectoid creature, two prongs clicking ominously from its mouth. It had a large bulbous rear, supported on thirty odd legs, and eight pointy hands that fluttered gently in the air. The stench of decomposing flesh wafted from her, as she sniffed the air, while Anakin and Padme stood as still as possible. Suddenly, it clacked excitedly, turning to face straight at them, and a cacophony of clicks echoed in the darkness.
"Padme...run."
The duo immediately sprung into action, struggling through the dense foliage, the clicks behind getting ever closer. Seeing that she was struggling, Anakin grabbed her by the hips, carrying her bridal style and using the force to enhance his speed.
Yet even this was not enough as the insectoids gained meter by meter. As they finally were within visual distance, the duo got their first look at the creatures, Running on six jointed legs, their body stood two meters high, and they had a shell on their back. Several antenna stretched out from their heads, which also contained two pincers for mouths and six beedy black eyes.
With help from the force, Anakin jumped onto a low hanging branch, before vaulting higher up. Down below, he could hear the angry clicks from the creatures as Anakin continued to leap from branch to branch, finally settling down after reaching sufficient height that they could no longer see to the forest floor.
"That was c-" The tree they were on gave a mighty shudder, the only warning had to jump onto a neighbouring one before a haunting snap echoed throughout the forest, and the tree fell down like a puppet with its strings cut, taking down several adjacent as it fell to the forest floor with a thump. From below, confused clacking soon gave way to anger.
"Force, what was that?" Anakin asked out of breath as he vaulted to several distant trees, then again, and again, before settling down and relaxing, setting Padme down beside him and stretching out his tired arms. "Were those the gungan?"
"No," Padme frowned. "My best guess is they're some offshoot of the Conchon, though how they got on Naboo is beyond me."
Taking the straps off her backpack, she pulled out a canteen of water, handing it to Anakin, who greedily gulped down several mouthfuls before handing it back to her. Equally ravenously, she tasted the water as he pulled out a ration bar, breaking it in half and handing one piece to her while swallowing his own in one bite. Leaning against the bark, he looked up to the sky, and couldn't help but admire the beauty of the stars. Seemingly in agreement, she sat in his lap, wrapping his arms around her, before too looking up at the stars.
-Break-
Anakin woke to the prodding of the force, and he groggily opened his eyes to see a reptilian beast with six eyes eyeing him hungrily. He placed his lips over Padme's before elbowing her, causing her to startle awake, eyeing him in shock before he tilted his head towards the creature. It was feline like, with a thick fur covering most of its skin, clearly slick with oil. It has two rows of fangs beared, at least a hundred teeth in all, and moved on four nimble legs.
Nodding in understanding, Padme slowly unholstered her blaster, before raising it at the creature and firing several shots. With grace impossible for its size, the creature leapt from branch to branch, nearing the duo. Anakin ignited his lightsaber, standing in front of Padme in a protective stance as the creature neared. It feinted to the left, and only trusting in the force was Anakin able to dodge the swipe of its claws.
Seemingly sensing that she was the easier prey, the creature ignored Anakin, who was struggling to turn on the branch without exerting too much weight, and charged towards Padme, who was petrified for a moment before regaining her wits and yelling, "Jump!"
As Anakin instinctively obeyed and leapt onto another branch, Padme fired a shot downwards to the branch they were resting on before stomping, causing the end to fall off. The creature gave a startled yelp, but clawed onto the bark of the tree, letting a low, angry grown that promised pain as it began clawing its way back up.
"If you have any ideas, I'm all for it," Padme nervously exclaimed as Anakin sent a force push towards the creature, only for it to dodge to the side. Shaking aside his incredulity, Anakin continued to attack the creature with force pushes, slowing its advance and forcing it to dodge constantly, though to his consternation the distance between them continued to, if slowly shrink.
"I have an idea, but you're not going to like it," Anakin mused. Before Padme could protest, he leapt down, lightsaber ignited, straight for the creature. It let out a growl, taking a swipe at him. Instead of dodging, Anakin tanked the blow, hissing in pain as he carved the creature in two while falling, before thrusting his blade into the tree, ignoring his arm's protest as he slowed his descent to a still, and slowly climbed his way back up. By the time he reached Padme, his vision was clouded, and he could feel the poison beginning to work its way to his system.
"You idiot!" she exclaimed, though he could not make out much else as she pulled out a medpack and began tending to his wounds. Trusting her, he slipped into a healing trance, the pain slowly ebbing away as he concentrated, using the force to push the poison out of him.
-Break-
"Lord Sidious," Nute Gunray inclined his head to the hooded figure in the hologram, "the Federation is displeased at the damage to our Lucrehulk battleship. The estimated cost of repair is three hundred seventy million credits, not to mention the compensation that will need to be paid out to the victims' families!"
"Come now, deputy viceroy, your people know best that sacrifice is necessary for victory. Do not worry, you losses will be recompensed and rewarded tenfold when our plans reach completion," the ominous voice assured. Fears assuage, Gunray merely nodded his assent. "Have all the prisoners been accounted for?"
"All but two, milord. Somehow...the queen was able to escape," Gunray answered, before hastily adding at the figure's growing scowl, "but their ship has been shot down. They have nowhere to go."
"Have you found the bodies?"
"Not yet, milord, the droids are still searching through the wreckage. We'll find them soo-" Gunray twisted his neck slightly, struggling for breath, before his hands began clawing at his throat, which somehow constricted unnaturally by an invisible chokehold.
"If there's nobody, then they're not dead!" Sidious growled angrily, before the force disappeared, causing the Nemodian to collapse to the ground wheezing. "Bombard the region."
"Milord, the ships are not in position, we would need to move our ships around the circumference of the planet, and leave the blockade weakened," Gunray protested.
"Then do it," Sidious ordered. "There aren't any fools willing to challenge the Federation for now, and we need to ensure it is kept that way!"
Gunray made to protest, before the residual pain of his throat made him think better of it. With a reluctant bow of his head, he waited for the hooded figure of Sidious to disappear before letting out an annoyed sigh.
Author Note:
Finally finished IBDP! Now just waiting for the results :3. On the bright side, this hopefully means more time to dedicate to writing. Still very new to fanfic writing, and finding that I'm often shedding large amounts of filler when reviewing drafts. Unfortunately this means that I'm writing far less than I expected. Hopefully this means chapters are far more well paced though, do let me know in the comments if I'm going too fast, too slow, or if you have any feedback at all! Engaging with the community is half the fun!
As you can tell, Naboo has been changed deeply from Canon. Anyone want to guess where the Gungans are?