DISCLAIMER: Lets keep it simple, k? All the Star Wars characters mentioned here on out belong to George Lucas. There are a few people, rather minor characters, who come in later who belong to me but I don't care if you use them - just let me know. Thanks!

". . .its something I have to do. Yes, I will do it." "Okay . . ." As the lieutenant tightened the knot around the girl's waist, they heard someone else begin to fire. "You should be able to slip yourself out of this easily," he told her as she slid out of the window. The wind was whipping by her up at that altitude. It made her very nervous as she didn't trust the rope. "Good luck, my friend," Triste said as Sabe leaned back. "Free Naboo!" With that, the girl began to make her way down the wall.

I could almost swear that the rope was going to snap into two pieces and I'd go falling to the patio or - worse yet, beyond the patio. The wind was extremely strong - if I didn't have anything to keep my footing, I'd be pushed to my left because of it. The trip down was uneventful for the most part . . .

About 10 feet from the patio, Sabe saw several powerful bolts of light come flying right above her and hit the wall. "What the . . .?" Looking over towards the source, she saw it was a tank. "FORCE!!!" She looked up to the Lieutenant and noticed he saw the same thing. "Hurry up!!!" By now her heartbeat was getting quicker . . . quicker by the second. If the tank fired again, it'd surely hit the rope - severing it into two. She thought of that too soon because with the tank's next try, it severed the rope. Sabe fell with a scream. When she figured that she'd fall past the patio, she reached out. As luck would have it, she grabbed on the edge. The force of her fall caused her to smack the edge with her chest, kind of knocking the wind out of her.

I was extremely lucky - not only to have survived that, but also not to lose any of my outfit. The mission I was on would have failed, as I could not have kept my disguise of Queen Amidala. I was breathless, but somehow I managed to call for help.

Two men's hands reached from over the patio and grabbed Sabe's arms. She heard a familiar voice call out her name. "Are you all right?" As she was pulled up to the top, she saw Rabe and Eirtae standing there. They immediately came forward and gave their friend a quick hug. The decoy looked in the hall and saw a group of about 15 soldiers. Realizing what they were also there for, she pulled away. "We've got to get to the throne room." "Her Highness has already gone ahead. She could already be there as we speak." Sabe began to move towards the door. "Nothing like the present time to find out, now, is there?"

The group took off running towards the throne room, anticipating everything - including the worst. As they entered into the throne room hallway, Sabe saw that they had taken Padme and her guards prisoner. She got out her blaster and turned back to the guards. "About 6 or 7 of you . . . remain here. The rest of you, come with me!" With that (and fueled by the girl's anger at the whole Trade Federation) she locked her blaster and took off running towards the throne room.

She saw the Queen and a few of Captain Panaka's soldiers surrounded by many droids and . . . the Viceroy. "Viceroy!" she cried out, surprised at how bitter the words came. "Your trade boycott here has ended!!!" She fired her weapon a couple of times, all the while aiming for the Nemoidian and hitting droids instead. She saw that her friend gave her a little subtle smile while she went up to the throne and got the hidden blasters out. The girl took off running before Naboo was freed, however, in an attempt to draw the droids away. As the group was running down the hall, they could hear the Viceroy say, "After her! This one's a decoy."

We continued running, hearing more and more droids join the chase. This was great - by now Padme must've had the throne room under control. We ran into another group of freedom fighters - two of its members we were surprised to see . . .

"Yane! Sache!" The two girls turned around to see Sabe, Eirtae, and Rabe standing there. "You're okay!" There was an emotional reunion as the five handmaidens were back together after many long, grueling, and trying times in the past few weeks. "I'm so glad to see that the plan worked!"

In the midst of the girls' joy, one of the guards broke in. "Girls," he said, "We are not out of this yet!" They turned around and saw droids advancing on them. They all got out their blasters, ducked down behind a pole, and began to fire on the droids. There was a great montage of fire exchanged between the two parties before several droidekas came and surrounded the group of girls and several more surrounded the group of soldiers.

Sabe saw the soldiers put their guns down - they were surrounded. "Waiting for your orders, boss lady," Yane said with a smile. "We'll stand by you until the very end," Sache continued. Sabe nodded and said to the four other handmaidens . . . her sisters, "Our mission as handmaidens has ended - protect Queen Amidala. She has freed Naboo from the Trade Federation. What I want us to do can be viewed in two ways - very stupid, or very brave. Lock and load . . ." Doing as commanded, the five girls locked their blasters and waited for their cue. "Eirtae . . ." The girl smiled as she began the countdown. "3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ."

I was surprised and kind of shocked when the droidekas were destroyed with one hit. When I looked closer, they weren't moving - Neither were the regular droids down the hall. When I realized what had happened, I smiled. Someone destroyed the droid control ship - I found out later it was young Skywalker, the boy we had picked up on Tatooine. We five handmaidens threw ourselves into a group hug - we were finally free. After we got done with our 3 minute celebration, we began to head back to the throne room - that is, until Yane asked about the Jedi . . .

"Rabe? Eirtae?" "Sabe," Eirtae said, "I haven't seen the Jedi since we left the hangar. There was this man, wearing black with a black and red painted face . . ." "Come on," the decoy said, "Our mission may not be done as of yet! We have to go help them!!!" The girls took off running towards the hangar.

Adrenaline was surging through my veins - who was this man Eirtae had told me about? Was he there to hurt Padme? Did Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon need help? I didn't know the answers - I just got to the point where I wanted to find the Jedi, Obi-Wan especially.


We got to the hangar as quickly as possible. My leg was throbbing, but I think all the excitement was deadening the real pain. I didn't see anyone, but I did see the door to the castle's power supply room was open. A feeling of dread washed over me as I ran forward - if anyone had been thrown into the light pillars, they would have been dead in an instant . . .

The five girls came onto the main walkway in the power supply room. "Do you see anyone?" "No, I don't!" "Rabe, you know this room better than anyone. Anything seem out of place?" The girl looked around for a few minutes before she pointed to red disappearing walls in front of them. "There! Those walls are a security mechanism to the trash disintegrator. They are usually behind a wall!" Everyone ran forward; Rabe in the lead, to the walls. The girl entered in a security override code which immediately shut down the walls. Obi-Wan began to walk out, carrying . . . the older Jedi? Sabe ran forward, but when she saw one look which the man gave her, she stopped in place. He walked on by, past the other handmaidens, and headed out of the generator room.

I couldn't believe it - Qui-Gon Jinn was dead. Naboo was freed, yes, but at the expense of a life. I still am forever grateful to him for his sacrifice.

Anyway, I knew that Obi-Wan just felt like someone had ripped a hole in his heart. All the excitement . . . all the adrenaline I felt had just gone away. I took a few steps back towards the girls, unleashing a painful reminder of MY sacrifice for this battle . . .

"OUCH!!!"