Chapter 16 An Old Trick

Jobal embraced her husband when he appeared in the doorway. The twins were sitting quietly in the corner taking turns Force pushing a ball to Gemma. Padme stood off to one side, a blaster pistol in one hand.

"I was worried that you would be captured. That young Jedi said there were droids in the city." Jobal said.

"There are; all over. I managed to sneak past them; I needed to see how you and the babies were and I'm glad to see you, Padme. Have you heard anything of Sola?" Ruwee asked.

"No, we didn't have time before the droids severed the communication link." Jobal answered, sounding worried.

"I hope she and her family will be alright." Ruwee replied.

"We have to believe they will be, Father." Padme told him.

"By the way, I must say I am very impressed with this Zak; what he's doing is very brave." Ruwee said.

"Yes, he's…" Padme began and was interrupted by the noise of a struggle above. "The droids have come."

Leia giggled and Jobal went to her.

"We're going to play a new game, Leia; it's going to be very hard, can you do it?" Jobal asked as she sat down next to her.

Leia nodded. "Yes, Gwammy." She said solemnly.

"Good, now put your hand over your mouth like this." Jobal told her as she demonstrated. "That's it; now be very quiet."

Leia followed suit and, to Jobal's relief, so did Luke and Gemma. Padme inched toward the stairway leading up; the struggle above intensified. She started to climb the steps, and was pulled back by Ruwee.

"Zak told us all to stay down here." He told her.

Gemma started to cry and soon Leia had joined her. Padme went over to them and sat down, cradling Leia in her arms.

"I wan Daddy." She sobbed. "Fine Daddy."

"I know, darling; but Daddy's trying to make it safe for us." Padme said soothingly. "He'll be here soon."

"What 'bout Sackie?" Luke asked.

"Zak is making sure we're safe too. He'll be alright, I promise." Padme assured him.

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Two droids had managed to break through the front doorway, but between Zak's lightsaber and Boba's blaster, both had been dispatched. The problem was that several more followed them in, and soon it was all the boys could do to prevent them from forcing their way farther into the room. They were forced back and the droids began to climb over the wreckage of their own. One managed to get a shot off at Boba but Zak deflected it back, destroying the droid. However, this signaled the others to start shooting as they moved farther into the house. Boba continued to rain blaster fire upon them and Zak did his best to cover the bounty hunter by deflecting the bolts away from him. When they reached to archway near the stairway, Zak decided this was where they would make their stand.

"Move that couch over here to block this doorway." He told Boba.

Without protest or hesitation, Boba holstered his blaster and moved toward it, apparently confident that Zak could and would protect him. He dragged the couch to the doorway and the two of them took cover behind it.

"We can't stay here forever, what do you have in mind next?" Boba asked.

"Just try to hold them back until Master Obi-Wan and Master Anakin destroy their control ship." Zak answered.

"That's not much of a plan; we don't even know if they can do it." Boba replied.

"They will; all we have to do is be patient." Zak said.

"Well, patience is something I have trouble with." Boba answered as he started to sneak around the couch.

"Wait a minute, what are you doing?" Zak asked.

"Ending this." Boba informed him as he edged around the side.

Zak watched for a moment, shook his head and sighed before following him.

"You're going to end up getting both of us killed." He whispered.

"No, I won't." Boba answered confidently as he stood and threw himself at the first droid.

"Uh oh." The droid said.

"Roger, roger." Another responded as it pointed it's rifle at him.

"Boba!" Zak cried as he leaped out from his place and pulled Boba down as a blaster bolt hit the droid Boba had tried to tackle.

"Oh, see what I did!" Boba exclaimed. "That worked out rather well, I think."

He moved out from underneath Zak and made to tackle another. Giving up, Zak activated his lightsaber once again in an attempt to at least try to defend the reckless Boba. The same droid took aim at Boba again as he threw himself on top of another droid, this time succeeding in sending it crashing to the floor. Zak took the head off the droid firing at the bounty hunter, but being momentarily distracted, failed to notice a droid that came up behind him. However, instead of shooting him, it brought the blaster down on Zak's head and Zak dropped to his knees, temporarily stunned, but managing to hold on to his weapon. He took the droid's legs off at the knees before another droid hit him again and he crashed to the ground.

"I have a prisoner." The droid said.

"Roger, roger." Another answered.

"NO!" Boba screamed as he drew his gun, blasting both droids.

Undeterred, several more approached to take Zak.

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Several droids had broken through the Gungan shield and were attempting to destroy one of the shield generators. The Gungans fought this first wave of droids off and brought up their own weapons, the boombas. Proven to be very affective in the first droid conflict, they now had a new way of releasing them. It had been inspired by Jar Jar Binks' blunder when he had released an entire wagonload of boombas.

"Ready da boombas." Ceel ordered.

A chute, attached to the wagon was lowered and fixed into to place.

"Open da boomba door." Ceel instructed.

The door slid up and one by one, the boombas rolled out of the wagon. Those Gungans stationed at the chute could direct the boombas in the direction they were most needed. Others took smaller boombas and flung them with slings toward the advancing droids. The battle droids were easily destroyed, but the super battle droids were more difficult to deal with. This is where the boomba chute seemed to be most effective and the Gungans were careful to move the chute toward them. The Naboo carried blaster rifles and fired continuously successfully destroying many droids. It seemed to have little effect on the droid army, however; for every droid that they destroyed, ten more appeared to take it's place. The tanks that had bombarded them at the beginning of the battle began to move forward, firing as they came. The droids were intent on destroying the shield generators in order to leave the defenders of Naboo without the protection of the shield, making them completely vulnerable to the guns on the tanks.

"Mesa hope yousa people can destroy dat ship soon." General Ceel told the Naboo general.

"They will." The general informed Ceel.

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Padme could take no more; hearing Boba's cry, she jumped up and ran up the steps before Ruwee could stop her. Blaster in hand, she emerged from the doorway to see the couch blocking the archway and Boba blasting away at every droid he could see. Zak was nowhere in sight. Padme immediately joined him and the two fired at the droids from both directions. Some of the droids paid them little attention, and in an instant, Padme understood why. They were attempting to drag Zak out of the house. She concentrated her fire on those droids; however, as soon as they were destroyed, two more came to take their places.

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With the tri-fighters dispatched, Anakin turned his attention to the Neimoidian Control Ship, Obi-Wan was right with him. Dav and Talme angled toward the other, the Geonosian.

"Captain Skywalker, we have word that a transport of droids was dropped into the city and is attempting to take control. Time is of the essence, you must do this quickly." Lieutenant Vaan said.

"I copy that, Lieutenant. We are closing in now." Anakin answered. "We have to make this quick, Obi-Wan; they're in the city."

"Well, then let's do it, brother." Obi-Wan replied as he followed Anakin to within target range.

The rest of the fleet continued to occupy the vulture droids and tri-fighters to enable the two pairs to accomplish their objective. Anakin and Obi-Wan together targeted the Neimoidian control ship, but it quickly became apparent that they would have no luck penetrating its shields.

"We'll just have to try something else." Anakin said.

"What did you have in mind?" Obi-Wan asked calmly.

"Destroying it from the inside." Anakin answered.

"From the inside? Is that the only way?" Obi-Wan asked in a matter of fact way.

"Unless you have a better idea. I have done this before, you know." Anakin replied.

"Yes, I know. Well you take the lead; after all, you know the way in." Obi-Wan said.

"Tell you what; I'll do this and you wait here." Anakin suggested.

"What; and let you have all the fun? Oh, I don't think so." Obi-Wan objected.

"Funny; I knew were going to say that! Let's do this then and go home." Anakin answered as he angled his fighter to the landing bay, followed closely by Obi-Wan.

"Right with you, brother." Obi-Wan replied.

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On the plain, the situation was becoming desperate. The main shield generator had been destroyed and the ground was littered with the dead and injured of both races. Just when they thought the fight had been lost, the super battles droids stopped in mid step and some of them fell over. A small cheer went up, but the fight was far from over; the Neimoidian battle droids were still active. Most of the boombas had already been deployed, and the combined army had resigned itself to a possible surrender if they had to fight much longer.

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"Captain, Dav and I have successfully disabled the Geonosian control ship." Talme informed Anakin.

"Are you in need of assistance?"

"Good work, Talme; Master Kenobi and I have this under control, but we could use a little more cover over

here; we're going inside." Anakin replied.

"I'm sorry, sir, did you say INSIDE?" Talme asked. "What in the galaxy for?"

"The shielding here is too powerful. The only way to destroy it is from the inside." Anakin

answered. "Just cover us when we come out because we will be in a very big hurry."

"Yes, sir." Talme said. "Did you copy that, Dav?"

"Yes; but it sounds like suicide to me." Dav answered.

"I think he knows what he's doing." Talme decided.

"I sure hope so." Dav replied as he followed her toward the other control ship.

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Boba had moved close to Zak and now was in a game of tug-o-war with the battle droids over the young Jedi. Finally, Boba raised his blaster and shot the hand off one droid, the head off another and managed to pull Zak a little way until another droid tried to drag him back. Padme, impeded by the couch in the doorway, could not reach them; climbing over the couch while droids were firing was impossible to do without being shot in the process. Ruwee appeared with another blaster and added his firepower to Padme and Boba's, although Boba's attention was drawn to trying to again free Zak from the battle droids. Zak's first sensation was of being yanked back and forth by his arms and legs. He opened his eyes and looked straight up into Boba's face as the bounty hunter was attempting again to pull Zak from the grasp of the two battle droids each having hold of a leg.

"Hey cut it out." He said as he gave one a kick.

"He's fighting; we must restrain him." The droid announced.

"Roger, roger." The other said and squeezed its hand tighter around Zak's leg.

"Ouch! That hurts; cut it out." Zak said and kicked that droid, this time throwing the Force behind his kick and sending the droid flying into two other droids that were coming through the open door.

"Awesome!" Boba exclaimed as he now renewed his effort to free Zak from the remaining droid.

Ruwee accomplished this for him when he shot the head off the droid. Boba quickly dragged Zak to the relative safety to one side of the couch.

"Thanks." Zak said.

"No thanks needed; it was my fault to begin with. I'm sorry." Boba replied. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I have a hard head, I guess." Zak answered rubbing the top of it where a new bump had formed.

"Zak?" He heard Padme call.

"I'm alright, Lady Padme." Zak assured her. "What are you doing up here, anyway?"

"Helping you; I think you and Boba were outnumbered a little; don't you?" Padme answered.

"I guess so; but Master Obi-Wan…" Zak started.

"Master Obi-Wan would not want you to die either, Zak. Besides, if you died up here, then the droids would come down and take us. I don't think Master Obi-Wan would want that, now would he?" Padme countered.

"No, I suppose not." Zak had to finally admit.

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"Going in." Anakin said.

"I'm still with you, Anakin." Obi-Wan replied.

"The power core should be straight ahead. Unless…" Anakin informed him.

"Unless?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Well, unless they got smart and moved it to a more protected area." Anakin answered.

"Anakin, didn't you think of that before we came in here?" Obi-Wan asked, suddenly sounding a little exasperated.

"Don't worry; I don't think they're that smart." Anakin assured him. "And even if they have, if we do enough damage in here, the ship should start to fall apart."

"Oh, that's good; with us still in it." Obi-Wan replied.

"Nah, we're better pilots than that; this will be easy." Anakin said as he spotted their target. "Stupid Neimoidians; they never moved it."

"They probably thought no one would be stupid enough to do that again." Obi-Wan replied with a little laugh.

"Okay, a torpedo from each of us should do it." Anakin told him as Artoo targeted the power core.

Obi-Wan's R2 unit did the same on his command and both pilots fired the torpedoes simultaneously. The reaction was an instantaneous explosion.

"We overdid it, brother." Obi-Wan said.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Anakin replied as he whipped his fighter into full reverse, barely missing Obi-Wan's as the master reacted a moment late.

Talme was witness to the damage done as the control ship suddenly erupted in flame from the inside. She and Dav held their breath until they spotted two Naboo fighters, flying backwards at a fast clip from the hanger bay.

"Get out of here; all of you. Get out now." Anakin ordered urgently.