AAY IM BACK! I've had stuff to do lately, and so I didn't really prioritize this fic. It's been two weeks but I am BACK, so lets get this show on the road! Today we're visiting Naboo, where a new threat is about to unfold... Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: Blue Shadow Virus

Grace sat in the passenger seat of her ship, actually pleased to be on a mission for once. She was never displeased to do her job and had an enthusiasm that some would scorn, but there were always missions that she enjoyed more. An example would be anything involving her home planet, like this humanitarian mission she was currently on. It was her personal policy to never put her planet above others in need, but an excuse to see her home was always welcome.

She had been asked here by Queen Neeyutnee, who was concerned about the newfound toxicity of the waters near Theed. She had been asked to come and write up a report of the situation and help assess what help they would require from the Senate, as well as help the Queen handle the crisis. She was certainly as capable as Amidala and Jamillia had been, but she was wise enough not to fear outside help.

Threepio was piloting the Nubian ship, its sleek design a show of the artistry embedded in Naboo culture. It reflected the blue and black of hyperspace, speeding towards the Senator's home planet. It was not long before the jump was completed, the ship jolting a tiny bit as it emerged from hyperspace to see the green and blue ball that was Naboo.

Her ship descended through the clouds, advanced tech keeping the viewports from getting condensation on them. The waterfalls of the Palace became clearer as she got closer, reminding her of fond memories of her planet. Finally Threepio piloted the ship into the Palace Hangar, where the Queen, her armed guard and Captain Typho were waiting. After the landing cycle had finished, Grace stood from her seat and walked down the landing ramp, dressed in an outfit made for action.

Her golden protocol droid followed behind her as she approached, both giving Queen Neeyutnee a bow of respect. She nodded to Typho, here for her security, and ignored the rest of the guards. It was not out of disrespect, it was merely out of custom. They would not take offence, and they were honoured to be on the Queen's personal guard. It was simply Naboo Culture.

Neeyutnee offered her arm to Grace, who took it as they began to walk. "I am glad you came on such short notice, Senator. The poisoned water has not yet spread to Theed but we do not know its cause. Gungans have reported their stock dying almost immediately upon drinking it, and we need to get to the bottom of this quickly."

The Senator nodded. "I can check out the site today with Representative Binks, and we'll work from there."

The Queen smiled, her expressions far less guarded than usual. "My thanks, Senator McNally."

Grace was in the front seat of the vehicle, wearing a protective suit and piloting it. Jar Jar was in the seat behind and above her, too far from the controls to do any harm. She liked him, he had a kind heart and did his best, but it never hurt to put measures in place if he was to join her on a mission. He was here because of the relation between this problem and the gungans, who were the main group being affected. It was good to have someone around who could help get their perspective and help fix the problem harming them. It would be rude and unhelpful to only have humans work on a problem that did not yet affect them.

The Senator stopped the vehicle once they had neared the riverbank, and she and her gungan friend hopped out (her with far more grace) and approached the affected water. She kneeled on the riverbank, looking at it closely. It was difficult to see with her protective suit on, but it was best to take precautions. She was so caught up in examining it that she did not notice the gungan woman behind her wielding a spear.

She turned to Jar Jar, who was clearly having trouble seeing the problem in the water. "It looks darker than usual, a little more pigmented-"

She was cut off by the whack from the gungan woman's spear, the blunt end coming down on her back. She was unprepared and almost fell in the water, barely managing to keep out. She rolled away from it quickly, and heard Jar Jar yelp as he, too, was struck. At this point her combat training kicked in, and the human woman jumped to her feet to face the mysterious attacker. She faltered, however, at seeing it was just a scared civilian.

"Stop!" she cried, getting between a cowering Jar Jar and this obvious farmer. "We are not here to hurt you, we want to help!"

The gungan stopped, putting down her spear and stepping back. She looked afraid. "Mesa moy moy sorry," she exclaimed. "Mesa thought you was mechanics!"

Grace tilted her head as best she could in the suit. "I'm sorry… mechanics?"

The gungan nodded enthusiastically. "The ones with the blasters who came by the water! They bombad, very dangerous."

This piqued her interest, and she ignored Jar Jar as he tried to examine the water some more. "Could you tell me more about the mechanics and the water? It will help us fix it."

The woman nodded. "Theysa come once a day. My animals tried to drink the water but it was very bombad, theysa died! It's moy moy scary."

Grace nodded sympathetically. "Could you tell me around when they come by every day? It could help us catch some."

The gungan nodded, and the trio formulated a plan.

Grace crossed her arms, looking down at the tactical droid on the workshop table. Captain Typho and some of his guards had managed to capture it, though it was mangled, and Threepio was there to trick it into giving up secrets on what in the galaxy Separatist droids were doing on Naboo. Jar Jar was here, but he was not paying attention. He was occupied by the scent of a very rare and very delicious bug, on the hunt to find and eat it.

Typho finished the removal of the tactical droid's visual processors, rendering it unable to tell it was in Republic hands. With that done he revived it, and it came to life almost immediately.

"What is going on?" It asked in its monotone voice. "Why can I not see?"

This was where Threepio came in. He stepped over nervously, and Grace urged him on. "You, er, malfunctioned," stuttered the protocol droid. Grace glared at him and he straightened up. "Why were you found at that river?"

The droid's head turned confusedly. "I was there on orders. Why must you know?"

Typho raised an eyebrow at the golden droid, who would be sweating buckets if he was organic. "It is, uh, protocol. What were you doing to the river?"

The tactical droid stopped spinning its head. "This is highly irregular. The chances you are deceiving me are-"

It did not get to finish its sentence, because a loud crash from across the workshop reached everyone's ears, and the rows of shelves began to crash down to the floor. They toppled like dominoes, and only Grace's quick thinking kept her and Threepio from being squashed. Everyone else was able to get out of the way on time, but the tactical droid was not as lucky, and it was destroyed. There was silence so thick not even a lightsaber could cut through it, and then all eyes turned to a very guilty-looking Jar Jar, who held an astromech dome in one hand and a bug in the other. He swallowed the latter very quickly and looked like he wanted to sink into the floor.

"Oopsie-day," he muttered, looking down guiltily.

The Senator decided she should be the one to reprimand him; she was by far the nieces one to the gungan and they would hold off if she scolded him first. "Jar Jar," she asked exasperatedly, "what were you doing?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, dropping the droid dome with a clang. "Mesa wanted the blue-shelled bug, Senator. Theysa rare, only found in the muddy swamps with deysa big trees!"

She paused for a moment, puzzled. "Jar Jar, where did you get that bug from?"

"From theesa Seppie droid, Grace!"

She turned to Captain Typho, realization written on his face. "So that means…" he began, the Senator clearly thinking the same thing, "that the droid is from that area! We know where the Separatists are hiding. But something about this is worrying."

She tilted her head. "What?"

"Something large is clearly at work here, far worse than a poisoned river. We need to call the Jedi."

She smirked. "I know just the Jedi for the job."

Ahsoka stood behind her Master as he walked out of the ship, Obi-Wan already having descended the ramp. Senator McNally, the Queen, and their guards were already waiting. A separate transport held the clone troopers required for this type of mission, but it was not landing in this hangar. They had all been briefed already, so that was not necessary as the Jedi strode over to the politicians.

Anakin inclined his head towards his wife. "Senator."

"Master Jedi."

He then bowed to Queen Neeyutnee. "Your highness."

He knew his padawan bowed to both without having to look, and had already seen Obi-Wan show his respect. He wished he could wink at Grace, but now was a bad time to flirt. He had to be professional, but when had that ever been his strong suit? He was forced to pretend he was not taking in how good that outfit looked on her, tight pants and a form-fitting long sleeve top with a stylish vest. He appreciated her fashionable wardrobe and its hidden practical elements, though he hated that she required such protection.

"You are aware of the intel gathered by our reconnaissance teams, correct?" asked the Queen.

Obi-Wan took the lead. "Yes, your highness. We have examined the scan of the base and the locations of the entrances you provided, as well as all the extra schematics extracted from the tactical droid. We have formulated a plan to infiltrate the Separatist base, but due to the unknown nature of this threat we will be taking Senator McNally and Representative Binks with us."

This was the Knight's least favourite part of the plan. The chance of putting Grace in any danger was something he had vowed to avoid at all costs. She was the closest thing to his heart, the best part of his life. If she ever got hurt he would tear the galaxy apart to get revenge and help her recover. These were not thoughts he should have, but he had stopped policing his thoughts about her long ago. Besides, he knew she didn't mind his protective nature.

The Queen nodded. "Thank you, Master Jedi. You have my permission to proceed with your mission."

Anakin was crouched behind a tree, Ahsoka, Grace and Jar Jar spread out amongst the trees behind him. They were all clad in protective suits in case the same toxins in the river were abundant in this secret base, and they all hoped Obi-Wan's distraction was working. He had stormed the main entrance with all the clones brought on this mission, and hopefully that would distract all the droids while the tiny group figured out what was going on.

Reaching into the Force, he lifted a small rock and dropped it on the opposite side of the clearing. The cameras that routinely checked the area were alerted, and they all faced the source of the sensors being disturbed. With them distracted, he was able to trigger the mechanism that opened the base, dirt and leaves falling away as a hatch slid aside. The cameras were not programmed to be alarmed by the base working as usual, so they went back into a dormant state. Now came the difficult part of entry.

Grace kept silent as she felt Anakin lift her into the air with the Force, concentrating hard to hover her over the entrance. The ground had sensors that would be set off by pressure, and the rock test had confirmed that. That was why they needed to get from outside the sensor range to inside the base without touching the ground. She looked down, and her stomach flipped as she saw it was a long drop down. Swallowing her fear she nodded at her husband, and he dropped her in. She landed with a roll, as she had been taught, and somehow managed not to scream the whole way down. It was not long before Jar Jar, a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet, joined her in the tunnel. Then came Ahsoka, who had jumped by herself, and Anakin brought up the rear.

The tunnel itself was very plain, just metal lining the floor, ceiling, and walls.

"This must have taken a long time to set up," commented Anakin. "This base is huge, made of metal, and somehow they were never detected? Odd."

They chose a direction and started walking, not encountering any droids.

"I guess Master Kenobi's distraction worked," commented Ahsoka.

The group ran down the hallway, heading towards the area they had located with the scans. It was the right dimensions to be some sort of office or laboratory, a good place to look for information and get a lead. Ahsoka led the charge, Anakin taking up the rear as Grace and Jar Jar stuck to the middle of the group. They were the most defenseless, and also the most important, so they had to be protected while inside the laboratory.

After a minute or so of running, which left them all a bit out of breath in the containment suits, they arrived at the marked area. Igniting her lightsaber, the Commander stabbed through the door and began to cut it open. Everyone else watched the hall until they heard the telltale bang of metal slamming onto the ground. After waiting a moment for the melted hole to cool they all clambered inside, looking around at the rows of vials lining the walls. They were full of a blue liquid, and something about them made Anakin feel uneasy.

Jar Jar looked around at everything with wide eyes, but he had the sense to stay in the center of the room in case he was clumsy. Grace walked up to a console on the wall, working furiously to access the information they needed. Aurebesh text flashed up on her screen, and she took a step back. "Whoa."

Anakin was at her side immediately, always the caring husband. "What is it?" He almost called her 'love', but he had enough sense to hold it back, as they were in the presence of others. He was pretty sure his padawan suspected them by now, but Jar Jar could not find out. He would surely blab, even if he did not mean to.

His wife turned to him, concern on her face. "There are files upon files with different number combinations, but they do all have a common denominator: the Blue Shadow virus."

His eyebrows scrunched up, showing his puzzlement. "But that was eliminated centuries ago-"

"I know. But this file says something about remaking it…" She turned to him, terror in her eyes. "Anakin, I think that's what's in the river. That might be what's in these vials!"

Ahsoka walked over, clearly worried. "How do they plan to spread it? Surely these tiny vials aren't a convenient method."

The Senator typed some more, pulling up another file and reading over the document quickly. She zoomed in on a picture, and everyone crowded around her, reading over her shoulder.

"There are bombs… they'll spread it through the whole planet in days. We need to deactivate them!"

Jar Jar whimpered behind them. "Tis very bombad!"

Anakin stood up straight. "Ahsoka and I will go locate and deactivate the bombs. Obi-Wan is occupied right now, so I don't think we can count on him to deal with them. Grace, you need to stay here. It's the safest place for you to be right now."

She crossed her arms, annoyed to have been sidelined, but she better than to argue with him right now. She stayed in her chair, watching the Jedi leave, and continued to scroll through the information being shown to her. There were pages of plans, schematics, a completely overwhelming array of information. The Senator stood from her chair, moving to inspect the vials on the wall. The liquid inside must be the deadly blue shadow virus.

Eventually she noticed a chamber against the wall, small but containing a few apparatuses. She was about to examine it when the sound of clanking feet reached her ears and her eyes opened wide. Without thinking she pushed Jar Jar under the console's desk, hiding him with the chair. He was at least smart enough to stay silent as several droids walked into view, followed by a humanoid in a lab coat. She stepped back in surprise, unarmed in this unfamiliar place in the presence of several droids, but the B-1s had already surrounded her.

Grace knew better than to struggle as her hands were secured behind her back with binders and she was brought before the humanoid, clearly in charge.

"Well well well," he said, coming closer and invading her personal space, "What do we have here?"

Anakin suddenly stopped running, dread coursing through him with a spike of fear. Ahsoka stopped as well, turning to him quizzically.

"You go on ahead," he urged. "Grace is in danger."

End of chapter!

Notes:

-Aaah cliffhanger! Muahahaha

-Slight alteration to the blue shadow virus plotline, but it won't be that different. I'm mainly changing where characters are at points in the story

-Protective Anakin for the win gamers

-Dr Nuvo Vindi is in the house

-sorry this chapter took so long I was busy doing other stuff lol

Tune in next time for chapter 13!