Chapter 11-The Demise of the Indiana Jones

Anakin's head lay content in his wife's lap as he sat on the floor of the cockpit, both of them bathing in the afterglow of their consummation. It was moments like this that he treasured the most, when husband and wife did not need words to enjoy the depths and intricacies of their love for one another. Padme absentmindedly twirled her fingers in her husband's hair, musing over the wonders and horrors that could be created if her old handmaidens ever got their nimble hand on it. She imagined Anakin with a headdress fitting of a Nubian Queen and snorted out loud in laughter. Anakin did not notice her outburst as he was also concentrating his efforts in his own and quite hideous distraction.

"…Jenny, I've got your number…eight six seven five three ooooh nine yeah…" The terrible sound whose origins resonated from his throat resembled something in between the sounds a rancor and a shaak would make. It woke Padme from her stupor and she gave Anakin a harsh little slap.

"Anakin Skywalker! Who's this Jenny girl you are crooning about," she asked jealously.

"Crooning?" Anakin seemed extremely confused at this sudden interrogation.

"Singing!"

"I know what crooning means, Padme. I'm not retarded," retorted Anakin defensively. He paused to gather his memories and then looked up at Padme with an embarrassed and blushing grin. "Really? I was singing?"

"If you can call it that."

"I don't sing! I'm not the singing type."

"Anakin, would I lie to you?" Her eyes wore down his doubt.

"I guess not," he assented. "Was I good?"

"Um," she mentally stalled for time as her fingers nervously fidgeted through Anakin's hair, "what's the nicest way of saying 'no'?"

Anakin was trying to think of a witty response when C-3PO emerged into the cockpit. He bowed politely.

"Master Anakin, Mistress Padme, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but we will be emerging from hyperspace in less than a minute."

"Thanks 3PO," said Anakin as he got up and started to adjust his robes and hair. "Won't want to be scruffy looking in front of the great Senator Mon Mothma, do I?" Padme gave him a disgusted sneer.

"I'm a Senator too, you know."

"Yes angel" he replied, then paused and kissed Padme on the forehead. "But you're also my wife, and you don't appreciate my singing, I mean, alleged, singing abilities." Anakin walked over to his seat and buckled himself down. "Besides, you're not a Senator anymore, technically."

"Neither is Mon Mothma, technically."

"Oh yeah," Anakin grinned in defeat.

Just then the Royal Nubian Cruiser emerged from hyperspace and a startled Anakin barely was able to swerve the ship from crashing into a TIA fighter. He didn't have much of a respite as more Imperial fighters started to swarm around the peculiar looking new arrival.

"Holy Sith, this is interesting timing." Anakin looked around for his droid. "3PO, activate shields immediately!"

"Oh no, I hope Senator Mothma is safe."

"Of course she is. She's got your old handmaiden protecting her, remember?"

"Oh, I hope Sabe's safe."

"They all will be if we have anything to say about it," Anakin proclaimed confidently as he shot his way through the swarm of enemy fighters. As he swerved his way through the frantic space battle he caught sight of several odd looking fighters.

"It's the Freedom Squadron! That means Obi-Wan is here." He reached out mentally to his former master and Padme saw his face immediately pale. "He's in trouble!" Anakin took the com and spoke: "Freedom Squadron, this is Freedom One! Obi-Wan, if you can hear me, reply!"

"Freedom-1, good to have you here. This is Freedom-37. I'm sending you the coordinates of our attack." Anakin glanced down at the map transmitted to him on the screen. "Freedom-2 was supposed to meet up with us at checkpoint 5, but we've haven't caught sight of him yet."

"There he is!" It was Padme who saw the Indiana Jones, a vessel whose shape led it to stand out in the heat of a battle. Padme hadn't been sitting idly either, and she pointed out Obi-Wan's ship as she fired off several shots at the TIA's. "He's being chased by a bunch of Imperials. I wonder why he's not shooting back at them."

"Something's got to be wrong with his weapons." Anakin piloted his ship towards the Indiana Jones while Padme continued to shoot at the enemy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi continued to dodge the TIA's pursuing him, but it took every ounce of his focus to avoid the enemy fire as the Indiana Jones, with its flexible firepower, was not built for actual physical flexibility and maneuverability. R2 frantically tried to restore the shields but the work was coming along slower than the two of them were hoping.

Hearing Anakin's voice on the com was a huge relief, and he thanked the Force that his old Padawan had picked just the right moment to pop in. He couldn't afford the luxury of responding to him though as it would break his concentration on piloting the ship.

R2 chirped happily when their closest pursuer was blasted to pieces by the Skywalkers. Obi-Wan himself breathed a sigh of relief and finally talked into his com.

"About time you got here, Anakin."

"What's this now, Obi-Wan, the eleventh time I've saved you?"

"Tenth. And that incident on Mustafar when you wanted to kill me ought to negate a few of the previous rescues."

Another pursuing TIA exploded. Obi-Wan saw that Anakin was positioning himself behind the squadron of Imperials chasing him and picking them off one by one.

"That's twelve. And don't forget, you intended to kill me first."

A female voice chirped in over the system. "And you snuck on my ship too, without my permission. Now let's leave that incident where it belongs, in the past."

"Agreed, Padme. After, we have more pressing issues here, which involves me saving your life. Why aren't you shooting back at the TIA's, by the way?"

Obi-Wan silently berated himself for being outnumbered by the Skywalkers. "My shields are down, and my weapons systems were damaged. Seriously, thank the Force you two arrived when you did."

The Nubian continue to lessen the distance and the enemies between itself and the Indiana Jones, but now the enemy had caught on to the new arrival and a group of TIA's came in pursuit of Anakin and Padme. Anakin did his best to evade their fire but he couldn't afford to lose his focus on Obi-Wan's predators and let them take out the undefended ship.

"Freedom Squadron, this is Freedom-1. I've got a bunch of Imps trailing me. Can anyone lend us a hand here?"

"Freedom-1, this is Freedom 20. I see you on my screen."

Anakin saw a Corellian Cruiser fly to the rescue. That's odd. I don't remember one of those in the Squadron. He identified it as the YP-1500 model. It was sleeker than most of its relatives in the YP make and had a manned rotating cannon on the bottom. Must be a new recruit.

The Corellian ship easily disposed of the TIA's chasing Anakin with firepower from both the cruiser's main missiles as well as the cannon. One last TIA remained however, and Freedom-20 was having trouble targeting it. Seeing this, Anakin put the Nubian in a barrel roll, to Padme's dismay and nausea. The ship spun wildly and forced the TIA to pursue an erratic course to follow its prey. Once it was within sight of the YP's cannon, two shots rang out accurately and hit their target.

"Nice shot, Wedge," shouted Freedom-20 into his intercom. "Keep it up and you'll be a captain before you know it!"

The three ships continued their course towards the Invictus, with Anakin and the Corellian covering Obi-Wan's Indiana Jones.

"Okay, R2's got the shields back up again, but he says the weapons are damaged beyond repair. The enemy fire bounced off the missile silo, saving our lives, but we've got no firepower now."

"Hmmm." Anakin studied Obi-Wan's plan of attack and he liked it. It was bold, risky, and it had a one in a million chance of succeeding had it been executed by ordinary pilots. But they weren't ordinary pilots. "Freedom Squadron report your status."

"This is Freedom-19. Most of us have already regrouped at checkpoint five. We've broken through enemy defense lines and are engaged in fire against the Invictus."

Obi-Wan: "Are you inflicting any significant damage?"

"We're targeting their weapons systems with success but we haven't been able to do any damage to the ship's mainframe."

"Good job, Freedom-19. Keep at it, we'll be joining you momentarily." Obi-wan switched to a private com with Anakin. "Anakin, without firepower I'm useless to this mission." He did not enjoy admitting that to his old Padawan.

"Don't despair Obi-Wan. Do you have anything of value on that old thing?"

"A few robes."

"Robes can be replaced. Besides, you need a change of wardrobe anyway. What about escape pods."

"There's a manual pod at the rear of the ship. Anakin, where are you going with this," asked Obi-Wan suspiciously.

"Well, Master, I don't think you lack firepower. On the contrary, your entire ship is basically a giant missile."

"What? You're asking me to sacrifice the Indiana Jones, Anakin. This is the first ship that I've actually enjoyed flying."

"The Mon Calamarians can make you another one, Obi-Wan. Besides, what about that whole no attachments rule?"

Obi-Wan was incredulous. "Oh, I don't believe this! I...you have plenty of attachments!"

"Well Master," said Anakin sheepishly, "I hate to pull this card, but I am Chosen One."

The Nubian flanked the Mon Calamarian, covering the empty vessel as the two ships head straight towards of the looming specter of the Invictus. The Corellian had departed, covering Obi-Wan and R2's escape pod on its way back to the Protector.

Padme walked back into the cockpit, her face still pale. She sat down warily in the co-pilot's seat. "Now I know why Obi-Wan never lets you drive."

"Look out, nine o'clock," alerted Anakin and Padme fired a shot just in time to a TIA that was threatening the Indiana Jones. "Good shot…hey, my piloting skills saved your planet."

"Doesn't R2-D2 deserve some credit too. If it weren't for his Nubian craftsmanship I doubt that I would have a husband right now."

"Eh, R2 might've been the muscle, but I was the brains." Anakin nonchalantly pulled ahead of the Indian Jones and started aiming at the cannons of the Invictus, now increasing in size at an exponential rate.

"How things have changed…," remarked Padme as she braced herself for impact. I' m going to die, she thought as the Nubian charged straight for the bridge of the Invictus.

The impact never came.

"What's that supposed to mean," asked Anakin as he pulled up sharply at the very last minute, barely avoiding a collision with the Star Destroyer. Padme could not respond as her throat felt like it was situated closer to her bowels. Anakin seemed unaffected as he casually looked back at the Indiana Jones, on auto-pilot, slamming into the command center of the Invictus. The resulting explosion separated the bridge from the rest of the ship. "And just one step closer to saving another planet," he proclaimed proudly.

Padme did not share his joy. As soon as the ship was level she ran off, barely making it to the 'fresher.

Again, sorry about the long pause in between updates. The story is winding down (approx. 5 chapters left I'd say) and I promise that I will try to update more frequently.