Star Wars 2.0

Episode 4

Chapter 8

"Attention starships of the Republic. Surrender or be destroyed." It was the signal from the Niemoidian fleet that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It had been hiding behind their moon it advanced rapidly on the escort ships that had brought the senate delegation. They had been well armed enough to shake off pirates or some similar raiding party; but they were not prepared for a battle fleet, especially one armed with specialized weapons they had never seen before.

None of the senate vessels resisted. They were outmatched, and it would be futile to try to fight. This outrage would be dealt with by Coruscant. They instead powered down and prepared to be boarded.

On the surface of Oresys, the senators and their entourage were led into a chamber whose doors were sealed all around them. What appeared to be boxes scattered about the edges of the room unfolded into battle droids. Their arms formed into weapons which they had immediately leveled on the senators.

Prelat Fomii ordered his escorts to check everyone for weapons, then announced, "The tour is over, and so is our friendly relationship to the Republic. You are to be our prisoners until we get what we want. Make this difficult and you will be executed immediately."

"This is an outrage!" one of the senators cried out. She had begun to tell them they would never get away with this, but one of the droids shot her dead before she could get another word out. Everyone else gasped in horror, and no one said anything more.

Prince Organa stared indignantly at Fomii, though his shame was toward himself. He had seen that something suspicious was happening, and had done nothing but preserve his own life.

Within the confines of the cramped crate, Anakin and Qui-jin had dodged the slice of the red lightsaber; though Anakin hadn't entirely avoided damage. He had kicked his master away from the blade, and in doing so, had made himself just slow enough to receive a slight cut in the leg before sliding out of the way.

Both Jedis then lit their lightsabers and sliced gaps out of the crate in one motion. The enemy's blade came down on one, then the other in rapid succession. Both parried, and they saw the reason for the speed; the Sith warrior had a lightstaff with the energy blade emanating through both ends. A first glimpse of the fighter revealed that he knew how to use the weapon as well. Every advantage was on his side.

Anakin knew that there was only one thing they could do, though, and he leaped out of the box, using the force to increase his speed and momentum, swinging parries to defend himself on his way out. The bright red blades whirled at him at incredible speed, and he blocked each one. But he didn't see the more dull boot which kicked into his stomach, knocking him halfway across the cargo hold, past the battle droids that had accompanied him and into a pile of containers that tumbled down around him.

The distraction gave Qui-jin an opportunity to escape through his hole and get behind the cloaked figure. As soon as he was solidly on the ground, the Jedi master swung down on his opponent. The Sith lord didn't even have to look; he just swung the saber slightly so the left blade covered the quadrant of his back Qui-jin was trying to slice, and enemy blades met, and crackled.

Looking back, the figure's face was revealed as the hood of his cloak dropped. Qui-jin saw he was a Zabrack with deep red and black lines, and small horns atop a bald head. Most notable were his eyes filled with fire and hatred, as though Qui-jin had personally done him some great evil.

The battle droids closed in on the crates that were obscuring Anakin. He leaped out from them at such a high speed, their laser blasts only trailed behind him. He landed behind a pair of them and sliced them in half. The others fired at him and he deflected their shots back into two of them. The remaining pair he force pushed back into a wall so hard they broke apart.

Having parried Qui-jin's blow with his left blade, the stranger now brought up his right blade from down low. Qui-jin leapt back and landed in a ready pose, studying his opponent. The Sith turned and faced the Jedi, his red staff prepared before him.

Obi-wan came up over a rise to see smoke rising from parts of the city of Theed. Some of the outer buildings had been damaged or even fully knocked down into rubble. The unmistakable sound of blaster fire pierced the air, as did shrieks and screams. Red clouds rose up from streets accompanied by the deep boom of explosions. The city was fully engulfed in an attack.

Obi-wan considered where to go to help. R2D2, latched to the back of the bike and aware of why Obi-wan was stalling, bleeped and blurped a suggestion that they check the palace. "Good idea," Obi-wan said, looking for the tall, jade rooftop. R2 found it, and fed the directions into the bike's navigation system. Obi-wan punched it to full speed, and hurried into the town.

"Full crew accounted for," the Neimoidian lieutenant reported to the admiral as he handed a status pad to her. The crew of the Republic flagship stood before them in the primary entry where people coming on board were typically greeted. It was an irony that wasn't lost on anyone. They had been rounded up after surrendering to the Neimoidian invaders who now controlled the ship.

"Good," the admiral responded. "And all the other ships?"

"Under our control there as well."

"Good, good," the admiral said. Then she said casually, "Throw them all out the air locks."

Everyone stirred, even the Neimoidians. The only ones who remained at attention were the droids who had their weapons firmly fixed on the prisoners. "Admiral," the lieutenant said timidly. "That would…"

The admiral didn't listen. She knew this would be too difficult a task to entrust to anyone with feelings, so she had already prepared the droids for the task. She held up her transponder and pressed a button. All the droids crowded in on the Republic crew, who backed up toward the wall in fear. A couple lashed out and were shot down instantly. A loud, uncertain murmur arose as they were pressed toward their doom.

A loud communication interrupted them. It was the bridge of their own flagship calling. The voice was urgent, almost frantic. "Admiral, we're under attack! Republic capitol ships emerging from hyperspace. We're outnumbered."

The admiral responded in an indignant tone of voice, "Steady yourselves. Use the new weapons…"

She was interrupted by an explosion and some screams on the other end. It sounded severe, and she tried to reach the captain who had called her, but they were not responding. "Ready my shuttle," the captain said. "And kill the captives…"

Before she could finish her thought, the ship rocked suddenly with the sound of booming, and klaxon wails. The admiral thought, are they crazy enough to fire on their own vessels?

Admiral Antilles, who was leading the Republic fleet, had not had much difficulty deducing that the senators' escort vessels had been captured when they began firing on her rescue fleet. How many of the crew were still alive on board she did not know, so she didn't want to destroy those ships. But she did need to take out their weapons. So a wing of fighters were dispatched to neutralize their firing capabilities. Also, the first transports were sent over to retake those ships as quickly as possible.

The larger ships were concentrating on the more powerful Neimoidian vessels. Republic naval high command, and the Jedi Yoda, had guessed correctly and they had come out of hyperspace in higher numbers. However, the enemy was still dangerous, so the fleet moved with caution.

The militia on Theed was doing its best to hold back the raiders, but they were well equipped; more so than one would expect of a band of ruffians. A contingent of them had managed to break through to the palace and were making their way up the levels toward the queen.

In the grand hall before the royal chambers the palace guard made their last stand with what militia remained. Using the cover of large statues and giant pillars, they managed to grind the fight down to a stalemate. Then more militia who had won their skirmishes in other parts of the town began to trickle in behind the invaders. The trappers had become the trapped.

But it wasn't to be for long. The leader with the heavy armor swooped in through a window, flying with his jetpack, passing behind the palace guards. He fired rapid and accurate shots, taking down the soldiers from behind their cover. Some turned to shoot at him and were too late, but in doing so they took themselves out of their cover and the raiders who were pushing forward shot them down. The raider leader then went at the militia coming in behind his troops. As they hid behind cover, he fired his flame thrower, roasting them.

Freed up to push forward, the raiders rushed ahead. The front ones opened the large, decorative doors. There, standing with her personal bodyguard, was the queen. They were lined up behind the throne and surrounding chairs, ready for whomever came in, and they fired, taking a few of the invaders out. It was not to be enough. More came rushing forward like water pouring from a spigot.

But then they began to fall, one after the other, swept up in a glowing blue light that flowed balletic through the room. Terrified screams rang out from the crowd of raiders, and their firing turned to concentrate on something among them. Their shots only seemed to hurt themselves as they bounced back onto the ones who fired.

Soon the crowd of enemies was a mass of bodies on the ground with a single young Jedi standing above them, still posed and pointing away from the queen, waiting for whatever else may come.

The queen stepped toward him and asked, "Who are you, Master Jedi?"

"My name is Obi-wan Kenobi, and I'm here to preserve your ladyship's rule."

"Thank you, Obi-wan Kenobi," she said. Obi-wan looked back at her and gave her a slight smile.

Then suddenly, an unexpected shot fired from out of Obi-wan's view, hitting the lightsaber and knocking it across the floor. Next a wire flew out of nowhere and wrapped around him. Obi-wan tried to pull free, but he was held firm. Then the culprit flew in; the guard with the heavy armor. Behind him, his soldiers rushed up, prepared to take their prize.

"Stay back, Anakin!" Qui-jin shouted. Anakin had fought off the battle droids, but was in no shape to fight a Sith warrior, but he was determined.

Qui-jin had been sparring for the better part of a minute, both opponents searching for an opening of the other. Every time Qui-jin thought he had an opening, the second blade would parry. Every time the Zabrack looked like he would hit Qui-jin, he would leap out of the way. However, his heavy breathing was giving away his exhaustion. Anakin could see this and knew he needed to help. So he once again disobeyed his master, and he rushed at the Sith warrior.

Mawl swept Anakin's lightsaber aside and began to bring the other side across to slice him in half, but it was knocked down by Qui-jin, who quickly sliced at Mawl's head. Mawl went low and swept the ground with his feet. Qui-jin jumped and Anakin swung down. Mawl twisted his staff like a helicopter blade knocking their lightsabers aside as he stood and gave ground.

Anakin and Qui-jin moved in on him, now both in the same direction, united through the force. Mawl shrank down like a trapped animal, his teeth gritting and his eyes flaring. Anakin feinted and Mawl parried a blow that never came, giving Qui-jin an opening to go in. Mawl leaped forward, dodging the blow as he hit Anakin's lightsaber hard enough to knock him off balance. He kicked him where he was wounded, sending Anakin flying backward. He then turned his attention on the other Jedi.

Anakin's pain left him moaning on the ground for longer than he'd have liked. He slowly pulled himself up and relit his lightsaber. He could see the fight continuing on the other side of the room. It wasn't going well for Qui-jin. The Sith warrior had noticed he was wearing out, and was taking advantage of it, hitting harder and harder, not even trying to strike a killing blow, but making Qui-jin use up the last of his energy reserves. Anakin had to get into it.

He rose, but just too late. Mawl had knocked Qui-jin's lightsaber aside, smacked his face with the hilt of his lightsaber, then spun and stabbed him in the stomach. Eyes wide with surprise and horror, Qui-jin fell to the ground, dead.

Admiral Antilles was watching the tactical screen intensely. They were winning the battle and she was thinking through moves to wrap it up. But despite their upper hand, she knew that battles could turn on a dime, so she wanted every step to be right. She had determined the moves and was about to give the order when a loud crash accompanied the shaking of her ship. She started to get out the words, "Damage report…" when another blasted rocked the bridge. She now just called, "Visual!"

The tactical screen changed to what they could see around them. The Niemoidian vessels were far from beaten. Extra sized weapons had risen out of their hulls and were firing long beam weapons at the Republic capitol ships. One of them had been sliced clean through and the two parts were floating in different directions leaving debris and bodies floating between them. The Republic ships were continuing to rain fire down on them, but it was clear that the damage being done to them was less than the damage they were doling out. To make matters worse, droid fighters were swarming up from the planet like a cloud of wasps. It became abundantly clear to Admiral Antilles that the Niemoidians were going to outlast them.