"Why is there a Blockade?" I asked dad quietly as we stood in his Kom'rk's command bridge, his frown deepened as he stood with his arms crossed in his ceremonial garb.
"Those are Trade Federation ships," he said, nodding toward the Lucrehulk. I nodded sourly, having run afoul of the Trade Federation in the past I knew exactly who they were and what they were all about.
"Great, another business venture. But why Naboo?"
"This isn't a business venture," dad said with a deeper frown, "I need to speak with the Duchess, contact your people and we'll sort this out," he turned around toward the comms deck as I pulled out a secured holocom from my belt. Almost immediately, LT's hologram appeared in my hand without armor.
"Yes, Percy?" thank the Ancestors we had this little gig figured out. Since Maz and dad go back, Ayla and I can act as friends whenever we want.
"Hey, Ayla," I said with a grin, "bit of a situation here, think you can get ahold of Kat? It may be important," the conversation was total Bantha Podo, the only part that was of any note was that last sentence. Everything's good, it may be nothing, it may be important, and it's important I speak with her, all indicate the threat level. This is a level three: stand by within lunar orbit distance of target location. If I had given her a level four, she and the Fist would be at my location in minutes.
With the message sent and after a bit of idle chit-chat later, I finally cut off the Holo and turned to go find dad. Whatever was happening here was bound to be a headache and I only had a blaster and lightsaber.
XXX
"Yes, Duchess, but why did you not see fit to tell me that the Trade Federation was having problems in the middle and outer rims before you sent us on this mission?!" Dad asked heatedly.
"We expected Naboo and the Mid Rim planets to not be a part of these aggressive negotiations, Governor Vizsla, but I can see why you are displeased. The mission will proceed if you can make it to the ground, if that so fails then you may return to Mandalore but not a second sooner. Fail to do so and you will be removed from your position as Governor of Concordia," the Duchess Satine said with beskar in her tone, "is that understood?"
"Yes, Duchess," father said quietly, but underneath the cool exterior, you could see him fuming with rage.
"Excellent," she said, "the Queen has the docket and the plans are being sent to you now. Good day, Governor," the holo flickered off as dad and I both growled.
"She just now sent you the meeting itinerary!? We've known we were due to go to Naboo for nearly a month and we're just now getting the itinerary?"
"Yes," dad growled just as lowly but sagged in relief as he read the datapad in his hands, "thankfully it's just minor negotiations but there's definitely a theme here," he said with a frown.
"And what would that be?" he just passed me the datapad so I could read through it myself. I felt my eyebrows climb higher as I read the pages, "retrieve as many gallons of water as you can, trade water for beskar?!" I asked with a yelp, looking up at dad slightly panicked, "she can't be serious?"
"She is, but she does not know that Concordia will provide beskar but only in its raw form and laden down with other minerals. If the Naboo want Beskar then they can learn to forge it themselves or they can buy it from us for a premium," I relaxed slightly realizing that the docket never said it had to be forged beskar, just to trade the metal.
"And how much beskar will they be trading for their water?"
"Water on Naboo is cheap and fresh," dad said, "I will refuse anything lower than a pound of beskar for two million gallons of fresh water. I am willing to offer them up to three hundred pounds of raw beskar as that is still a rather small amount of the actual ore." I nodded at the idea, three hundred pounds at a rate of two million to one? That would easily hydrate Sundari city for a solid week.
"Yeah, but what else can we offer?" I ask quietly, "We need to offer something better than three hundred pounds of beskar per week to keep the capital alone hydrated."
Dad just sighed, "Naboo doesn't accept weapons, the only ones they use are in the palace and even those are made on world or on their moon. Their Starships are some of the best in the galaxy and the only thing else we have to trade are our services in protecting the Palace with Death Watch and you know why that isn't viable." I just remained silent as the ship moved toward the blockade. Immediately, the holoprojector snapped on to show a Neimodian.
"This is a Trade Federation blockade! Naboo is closed to all access, state your name and business here!"
"I am Pre Vizsla, governor of Concordia, the moon of Mandalore. I was given an assignment by the Duchess Satine Kryze to come to Naboo and engage in diplomatic talks in exchange for their planet's water as Mandalore no longer has a native source."
"Mandalorian!" the Neimodian squealed as he dashed off the holoprojector. I raised my eyebrow from where I was standing and looked at dad as another Neimodian stepped into the frame.
"I am Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation. Perhaps you would consider trading with us, Ambassador?"
"I am unauthorized to do anything of the sort," dad deadpanned back to the arrogant Neimodian.
"Then our business is at an end, Naboo will soon be open to tra-" an explosion cut him off as dad looked up at me sharply. I nodded to him as the Neimodian tried to convince dad that the massive explosion was nothing to worry about. I was already on my way to my room, tapping out a message on the pocket radio I kept to transmit to my team when shit was about to hit the fan. The Strikers should be springing into action as we speak.
The ship started moving out from the blockade, heading back toward wild space as dad played his part of being convinced. I made my way back to the cockpit to see the familiar form of the Fist approaching our position.
"Captain," I said to the man behind the controls.
"Yessir?" The unarmored Death Watch member responded.
"Contact the Five, discreetly as you can. I want this ship at Tatooine, we're going to take the Fist to the surface and see what this invasion is abo-"
"Belay that order," dad said as he strode into the command deck, "we've been given permission to land, I will speak to the queen. I want the Strikers to land along with a complement of Heavies if the queen and her retinue need to be extracted. Understood?" I saluted with my fist across my chest and rushed to the airlock as I felt the Fist couple to the Kom'rk, "go with the Ancestors," I heard dad say as I bolted through the door.
XXX
"Status report," I barked at my Strikers as I stepped on board.
"Planetary communications have been cut off and a fleet has been launched toward the planet, your father's Kom'rk is currently being jammed and two starfighters have been scrambled to escort him to the surface.
"Have we been spotted?"
"Negative, Trident."
"Thank you, LT," I said as I pulled on my helmet, "gather the Strikers and the Heavies, things are going to get real hairy once we get to the surface. We cannot land in the capital as we can assume the Trade Federation has already seized it. We'll have to land outside the city and work our way into the royal palace, but you know as well as I do that we'll have to use the Destroyer's mantra to get away with this."
"Yeah," she said heavily, "you can't kill an idea."
"Not a chance," I said with a grin underneath my helmet, "come on, it's time to make landfall."
"Actually, sir," Captain's voice flickered into my helmet, "it looks like there's only a small garrison in Theed, most of the invasion force… Well, it looks like they've landed on the wrong side of the planet," she was obviously baffled. I blinked once and then twice before responding to that.
"The wrong side of the planet?!" I couldn't help but ask.
"Yes," she said, sounding just as confused as I was, "we probably have a day to work out a strategy to extract the Queen."
"Then I want it done in six hours," I said easily.
"Right away, sir," LT said with her own salute before dashing off to the Fist's command deck. I felt the ship buck underneath me before the inertial dampers kicked in as we darted toward the planet's surface, hopefully to a nice abandoned field.
XXX
"Well, it really is the jewel of the midrim," Golem said more to himself than anyone else as we exited the ship's hanger on our speeder bikes and I couldn't help but agree, especially as I felt like I could run to Theed and keep up with the crew on the speeders. I felt incredible, energized, powerful and I had no idea why.
"We can talk about it later," LT barked as she kicked her bike into gear, the heavies in their own little attack shuttle, "right now we have a queen to get out of here before the bolt brains manage to get her to do their bidding."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, LT," I said into the radio as I pushed my speeder to its top speed, the sound of the gunship humming right behind us. They were under orders to stop five miles outside of the city and to wait for us to return with the queen but there were a pair of Heavies riding in Golem and Oak's speeders. Golem was piloting the gunship.
"Approaching Theed quickly, Trident," Oak said from his place in the extraction ship. It was designed to carry a lot of people and be fast. The shuttle was almost as well protected as our zero-G tank while being as fast as the new Actis starfighters we have in the hangar, the only problem with it? It has no weapons whatsoever and is a bitch to fly, only Captain and Oak have managed to get the damn thing off the ground without hurting themselves.
"Golem, you know the plan?"
"Come into the city guns blazing when you give the order, Trident," he said and I could feel his grin, "then let the Heavies loose on the droids."
"Said it in one, Golem," I grinned, "Hotshot, what's your objective?"
"Distractions and explosions," she said and I could almost feel her evil grin.
"Mission objective?"
"Extract the queen," Captain said promptly.
"Secondary?"
"Get her retinue out!" came from Oak.
"Tertiary?"
"Don't interfere with anyone helping with the mission," LT's voice said last.
"Excellent, let's do this," I said, "I'll get the queen. LT and Phantom will be backing me up. Heavies? You guys get those EMP charges set to go and take out as many of those clankers as you can."
"Yessir!" Both of them barked into their newly acquired handheld radios. They may be shit for stealth but every Mando knows how to hide at least a little bit.
"Then let's do this," I said, stopping my bike as we jumped into the air and over the newly built wall.
We started our jog down the street and I couldn't believe there were no battle droids anywhere in sight. I looked back at Phantom and nodded. Immediately, he turned invisible and I just had to shake my head. He may be mute but his chameleon tech was incredible. Unfortunately, he could only make one as the tech to operate the system connected directly to his nervous system and none of us except Phantom were keen to have that tech inserted into us.
LT and I slipped into a shadow and watched Phantom move into the palace from a camera he integrated into his visor. Now, we have a way to hear each other and see what the others see, this is how the team found me when we captured the Actis fighters. I couldn't help but grin as LT and I moved in on his position.
"I will not cooperate," I heard as I landed under the window seal where Phantom was just perched.
"Now, now, your Highness," I heard the irritating voice of Nute Gunray say, "In time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view. Commander?"
"What is the meaning of this?" I heard dad ask and I immediately snapped my eyes over to Phantom's feed one more time to watch as Dad strolled in flanked by battle droids.
"Ah, Governor Vizsla! How good of you to join us!" Gunray said once again, "you will be interred with the good queen here, perhaps your negotiations will flourish there?" he said with a sickening smirk but I held my position. Extracting them from the Throne Room would be hell. "Commander, process them."
"Yes sir!" the robotic voice of the battle droid said, "take them to camp four."
"Roger roger," a group of battle droids said as they surrounded the queen, her retinue, and dad all at once and frog-marched them out of the royal palace.
"Captain to Trident, we have eyes on Jetti. Repeat we have eyes on a pair of Jetti Knights, what are our orders?"
"Shit," I hissed, Jedi here of all places, "where are they, Cap?"
"Enroute to the palace courtyard, potentially to intercept our mark," she said quietly and I hissed again.
"Intercept and inform them of the situation, we'll get the queen and the Vizsla. Trident, over and out," I said as I pressed my fingers to my helmet, growling but also halfway relieved. If those EMPS went off properly then we won't have to put up much of a fight and we can potentially fool the Federation. I tapped my helmet once again as we moved toward the courtyard, "Trident to Hotshot, over."
"Hotshot here, what's the status Trident?"
"Jetti in the area but I have a job for you…"
XXX
With Obi-Wan…
"Master," I said quietly, feeling a shift in the Force.
"I felt it too, Padawan. Lightsaber ready, nothing must interfere with our mission…"
"Yes, master," I said, pulling my lightsaber from my belt. I was about to say something else when a familiar sight dropped from above us with their hands raised but I still lifted my lightsaber.
"What business do you have here, Mandalorian?" Master Qui Gon asked as heatedly as I've ever heard him.
"To extract the Vizsla and the Queen, and we're getting paid handsomely to do it," the female voice said from under the helmet.
"I thought the Mandalorians were peaceful after the revolution," I sneered slightly only to be cut off by master Qui Gon.
"We have no species or bloodline—so we can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us. We're more than just a people or an army. We're a culture. We're an idea. And you can't kill ideas," the woman said, sending a chill down my spine, "the words of one of our most revered leaders. And you'd best to remember it, Jetti. Do not interfere with what is about to happen or we will be forced to use force against you." I stayed stone-faced, not believing that they could really hurt us - but master looked troubled.
"And you believe you can defeat us?" The woman remained silent as she turned to look down at the courtyard where the queen was surrounded by battle droids and marched up the plaza.
"Master we have to help her!" I said as the useless Gungan finally made his appearance known.
"Whosa you!?" the only response he got was a blaster bolt to the face. I could only stare at the smoking blaster and the corpse laying on the ground with shock.
"You killed him!" I barked at the woman who had turned to watch the procession in silence.
"He was a liability and I was ordered to deal with him, so I did," she said coldly even as a pulse of blue light washed over the courtyard as twenty Mandalorian soldiers fell to the ground to surround the queen.
"Queen Amidala, Governor Vizsla, I am Trident," a warrior in a black bodysuit under dark grey, almost black armor decorated with a much richer blue paint than the rest of his fellows said, 'the leader,' I thought to myself, only a bit nervously. "We have an extraction vehicle prepared for you and the battle droids leading to it have been disabled but we must hurry," he said confidently.
"The Royal hanger is closer," the queen argued back but the Mandalorian cut her argument off as the other warriors started a march in the direction the battle droids had already been taking them.
"It is but it is also full of Battle droids and being closely monitored, although we have an idea to get around that," the leader said as he looked up to where we were standing, "Captain," he called up.
"The Jetti are right here, Trident," the woman called back down.
"And that blasted Gungan?" he bit out.
"Dealt with," I couldn't help but gawk at the cold efficiency of these people. I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice master Qui Gon moving toward me until he was right at my side.
"Look at his hip, Padawan, tell me what you see," he whispered and my eyes locked on the man's belt and widened at the familiar shapes. 'Where in the Galaxy did he get lightsabers!?' Was my only thought before the Mandalorian jumped off the bridge and fell in step with the group.
The man at the head of the column looked up at us and called: "Well Jetti, are you going to join us or stand there staring?"
I looked at master Qui Gon who could only nod in resignation to jump off the bridge, which we did.
"Get the Droid's weapons!" I heard a voice call out and saw it was only the captain of the guard speaking to his soldiers about the fallen battle droids.
"Yessir!" The men said and promptly fell in with the Mandalorians to create an even larger perimeter around the Queen.
"Alright, people," the Head Mandalorian said, "hold the line!" Immediately, the sound of engines could be heard and a pair of ships sailed directly toward our position.
XXX
With Percy…
"Good job, Golem," I said into my radio as I watched the gunship cover our rear as the escape shuttle landed in front of us, I turned back to the Queen, her Retinue, and father, "load up! Go, go, go!" I said, waving them into the shuttle.
"We must make contact with the Republic," the older Jedi said before he too boarded the shuttle.
"Our communications have been disabled," an older man with a mustache said to the Jetti Padawab standing there like an idiot and his master on the shuttle, "you'll have to get off-planet!"
"And it looks like we're your only hope of that, Auretti," I growled to the Padwan while prodding him toward the shuttle none too kindly. He scowled slightly and got on the ship anyway as the queen and a single one of her handmaidens stood there defiantly.
"This is my planet," the queen said, not as confident as she probably thought she was, "I refuse to leave my people!"
"You have to live for your people," I said with my visor facing the handmaiden who I know is the actual queen, "they can't kill you if you're off-world."
"I agree," the old master said, surprising the hell out of me, "if you are beyond the reach of the Federation then we can bring this evidence against the Trade Federation to the Senate. They are well beyond the reach of the laws of the Republic with their actions here," he said as his Padawan turned around to look at him like a fish out of water.
"Master! These people-"
"Are helping the queen and people of Naboo, even if they killed the thrice-damned Gungan," he said with a small frown. I saw dad hold back a chuckle, if it were up to him the damned things would have been exterminated years ago after running into a few on Coruscant, "be silent and let us get to safety."
"Yes, master," the guy had to be in his mid-twenties but he sounded more petulant than any of our children but he boarded the shuttle anyway. The only people not on the Shuttle were the Heavies, myself, and the Queen and Double.
"We'll take the gunship," I said, "it's better defended even if this is faster, take off Oak!" I called and immediately the ship slipped up into the air and blasted away like a blaster bolt.
"Queen Amidala, let's stop playing these double games," I said quietly, addressing the unmade up woman, "I know you want to stay with your people but the Federation is going to make you do whatever they want and you will suffer some sort of horrible accident. There will be a touching funeral, a great turn out, but you'll be dead and Naboo will be much worse off. I suggest you get in the Gunship and make a strategic retreat," I said quietly, I hate talking to her like this but it has to be done.
"Fine," she hissed, getting as close to my helmet as she could "but if my people suffer because of my inaction I will hold you personally responsible," she whipped around with my heavies looking on at me in real shock as Hotshot finally dropped into the courtyard.
"It's done, boss," she said and I could feel the grin in her tone.
"Good, let's get back to the Fist," I said as I clambered into the gunship with Hotshot right on my heels and surprisingly an Astromech droid wheeling itself toward us as fast as it could.
"Artoo? I thought you were in the hanger?" Hotshot asked, genuinely surprised. The little robot squeaked and beeped to its little heart's content as Hotshot just sighed exasperatedly, "fine, Trident needs a new Astromech anyway," she said and I could feel the smirk.
"Hotshot," I growled, "what'd you do to Ceefive?"
"Well, I wasn't about to use my own droid or the Naboo's droids to do what I needed and Ceefive was available, think of this as me replacing the droid!" I just tried to massage my forehead through my helmet, I failed miserably but whatever.
"I liked that droid, Hotshot!" I said as we climbed onto the gunship with the rest of the Heavies and the Queens.
"I'm sorry," the painted one said quietly, "what do you mean and who are you?"
"Hotshot, nice to meet ya," she said, "oh, it was all Trident here's idea," if her helmet wasn't on I knew she'd be sporting her signature evil grin, "We needed a distraction to get off the planet and well, I hope you aren't too attached to that Yacht I found in the hanger because Ceefive stopped transmitting like two seconds ago."
"My yacht!" The unpainted queen yelped, "how did you get it out of the hanger!? The only way to get it to take off is by inputting the Royal codes!"
"Ceefive was," I shot at Hotshot, "a very good hacking droid," I said a bit bitterly as I knelt down in front of the droid in front of me that was beeping excitedly.
"He says that he is too," Hotshot said.
"We'll see about that," I growled but patted the R series on the dome anyway.
"You said you had another ship," the unpainted queen said, "what kind of ship?"
"A Marauder Class corvette, it's fast, heavily armed, and best of all it has a great hanger."
"Why would you need a hanger in a corvette?" She asked, confused.
"Classified, but you'll see when we get there anyway," I said back with a smirk, "speaking of which… Golem! How long until we get back to the ship!?"
"Right now, Trident!" I heard him call back and watched as the doors slid open to reveal the hanger on board the Fist.
"Queen Amidala, welcome aboard the Fist of Mandalore," I waved my hand to the hanger and stepped out of the gunship, watching as a crew moved in to get the speeder bikes out of the area dedicated to holding them.
"Impressive," the unpainted queen said, "Trident, perhaps you would show us to your command deck?"
"Of course, follow me," I said with a grin, not that she could see it.
