Ch. 5 Rescue
Padme slowly opened her eyes and looked around. It took her a few moments to realize that she was lying in an alley in the streets of Theed. And the streets of Theed had been burned. Padme gasped in horror. Theed was practically destroyed. The city was in ruins. And there was nothing she could do about it. Naboo had fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong.
She stood up and looked around again. There were already signs of the Vong re-shaping Naboo with their own lifeforms. The remains of the buildings and statues were already covered with yorik coral. She looked up at the cliff were Theed Palace had been. It was still there.
But now, it too was covered in multi-colored yorik coral. She pulled out her electrobinoculars and zoomed in on the Palace. She could see that all the statues surrounding the structure had also been converted to yorik coral…and the human faces on the statues had been replaced by the scarified and tattooed faces of Yuuzhan Vong.
Padme put the electrobinoculars down and looked around again. She could hear the sounds of animals in the distance. She looked up into the sky. But instead of clear blue, the skies of Naboo were blood-red.
Naboo had been her home. But now she hated it.
***
Palpatine wearily addressed the Senate. It had been a week since forces were dispatched to Naboo and Kamino. The forces at Naboo under Tarkin had lost and had then been sent to protect Bothawui. But the forces at Kamino were still locked in a deadly siege over the planet against the Vong.
He told the Senate about how Thrawn's forces were doing the best they could, and the usual spiel. "And in conclusion," he said, "I would like to offer condolences to all the people of Naboo. I myself am from Naboo, and I deeply regret-" But before Palpatine could continue, a thud bug flew out from the gallery towards him. Mas Amedda screamed and jumped between Palpatine and the projectile. The thud bug exploded as it hit Mas Amedda's chest. The Chancellor's aide dropped dead onto Palpatine's platform. Palpatine's other aide, Sly Moore, immediately pulled out a shield and placed it over Palpatine as several more thud bugs flew towards him.
Mace and Yoda, who had been watching from a balcony, immediately sprung into action. Mace, igniting his purple lightsaber, asked, "Where is it coming from?!" Yoda closed his eyes and tried to feel every Senator in the room, silently counting them. Then he realized…
"Replaced by a Yuuzhan Vong spy, the Senator from Corellia has!" Mace and Yoda quickly used the Force to leap over onto a nearby floating platform. The Senator in the platform stood back and let the Jedi Masters pilot it towards the platform where the Vong infiltrator was.
As soon as it got close enough, Mace and Yoda leaped onto the Corellian platform and neatly sliced the spy in two. They deactivated their lightsabers and wearily returned them to their belts. The Senate was now in a complete and total uproar that no amount of calming would stop. Mas Amedda was dead. There had been an assassination attempt on the Chancellor. And they had only just discovered that Senator Garm bel Iblis had been killed and replaced by a Yuuzhan Vong spy. This was simply too much for them to handle. Palpatine, just visibly trembling, immediately dismissed the Senate for the rest of the day.
***
Thrawn stood at the window watching the explosions go on outside Harlan City on Kamino. The Republic forces were attempting to fend off yet another attack from the Yuuzhan Vong forces, who were occupying the other half of the planet. He sighed and shook his head. All of his strategies were working perfectly. There was just one problem.
There were too many Yuuzhan Vong out there.
And now, Czulkang Lah had sent an entire worldship to orbit Kamino. And word was that Czulkang Lah had conquered Naboo, dedicated it to the Yun-Yammka, the Yuuzhan Vong god of war, renamed it, and was using it as a temporary headquarters.
Yammka'tar. Yes, that was what they had named it. According to reports from Intelligence head Armand Isard, in their language, "Yammka'tar" meant "Cradle of War." Thrawn shook his head again. It was all so sudden. He had never been so shocked before. From what Palpatine had told him, Naboo was a peaceful planet.
"Commander Thrawn?" asked a voice. Thrawn turned around. It was Colonel Pellaeon. Pellaeon continued, "The Jedi…have a suggestion." He gestured to General Kenobi and General Tachi, who had been standing at the back of the room. They stepped forward and Kenobi said, "I've realized that…we can't hold Kamino any longer." Thrawn frowned, but in his heart, he knew it was true. Kenobi continued, "Therefore, you should evacuate the Kaminoans and then order a full retreat. However, I will stay behind to investigate the Yuuzhan Vong. Perhaps I can find information that may be of use to the Republic."
Thrawn arched his blue-black eyebrows. Even he hadn't expected this. Pellaeon and Tachi also seemed to be taken aback. Suddenly, Tachi spoke up and said, "Then I'll stay too." Now everyone turned to stare at her.
"Siri, you can't stay…" began General Kenobi. Tachi cut him off by saying, "Listen, Obi-Wan. If you're staying, I'm staying too, whether you like it or not."
Thrawn arched his eyebrows again. He and Pellaeon looked at each other before Thrawn cleared his throat and asked, "Colonel Pellaeon, do you plan on joining this little party as well?" Pellaeon jumped and stuttered, "Um…uh, no sir." Thrawn nodded gravely. He didn't like this idea one bit.
"How will you escape?" he asked seriously. Generals Kenobi and Tachi looked at each other before Kenobi looked back at Thrawn and replied, "I thought maybe we could, ah, hijack a coralskipper when we plan to make our escape. Besides, it may provide insight as to how the coralskippers operate."
Thrawn thought over it for a minute. At first he really didn't like it. But the more he thought about it, he realized it was just crazy enough to work.
A slight smile curling the corners of his mouth, he replied, "Then when you escape, rendezvous with my fleet at Bothawui. I'll know it's you because you'll be the only coralskipper in the sky. I'll notify my troops not to fire on you."
Kenobi and Tachi nodded. Thrawn sincerely hoped this plan worked.
***
Obi-Wan and Siri stood side-by-side on the landing pad as the Republic ships took off into the rainy sky. There was only one ship left now. Thrawn and Pellaeon were standing on top of the boarding ramp.
"Are you sure about this?" shouted Thrawn through the rain. "You do realize that this is your last chance to cancel the plan." Obi-Wan looked at Siri. She shook her head. Obi-Wan turned back to Thrawn and shook his head as well. Thrawn considered them for a moment before finally nodding and saying, "May the Force be with you." "And also with you," replied Obi-Wan. Thrawn and Pellaeon turned around into the ship and the ramp pulled up. The doors closed and the ship flew away. When it was finally out of sight, Siri asked, "So, what do we do now?" Obi-Wan smiled and said, "I wish I knew."