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A Shift in the Force: Chapter Four: Escape from Naboo
AN: Thanks so much for all the positive reviews for this story! I was kind of considering going back to the drawing board when you all gave me such compliments! So thanks for that! I probably would have updated this fanfic yesterday if I hadn't gone out with a couple of my girl-friends. I would apologize, but I had too much fun! Anyways, enjoy the chapter! There is plot in this one!
Talik had to hide herself, her master, and Arthree when she saw the sheer number of droids. It was at that point that she had given up all hope entirely, but luckily, around this time Sabé was beginning to stir.
When Sabé finally awoke, she was quite disoriented; the world around her seemed like a jumble of memories. She frowned slightly, focusing her mind and allowing the memories to fade into the back of her mind, focusing on the present.
"Talik?" she rasped the name of her apprentice who came instantly to her side, having only abandoned it temporarily to keep a look out behind the foliage that she had artfully woven around them.
"Master!" Talik cried in relief. "You're awake!"
Sabé made an attempt to sit up, but pain flared quickly through her stomach and she had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out. She pulled apart the bandages, much to Talik's dismay to reveal her riddled flesh, the embedded metal stained with her blood.
"Ah," she said slowly, "that does present a problem."
Sabé rested her palm on her stomach, closing her eyes and sensing the extent of her injuries. They weren't as bad as they looked, Sabé could tell that from the start. The shrapnel hadn't caught any of her internal organs, which was always a good thing.
"Master, please don't-" Talik started to say when the metal all flew out of her stomach all at once. This time, she could not stifle the small cry of agony. Talik couldn't help but wince at the sound. It was strange to see her master in pain; she had always thought that her master was invincible, despite the fact that she had always had that metal prosthetic as a mark of her weaknesses.
Sabé hissed a breath out from her gritted teeth, exhaling the breath slowly as she attempted to mildly Force-heal the wound, however, in her current state, what she could and couldn't do were quite different.
Her attention wavered and her head tilted upwards at the sounds of trees being broken down in the path of the massive land crafts of the Trade Federation. "Talik," she barked, "go check and see if anything is coming towards us."
"Yes, Master!"
Talik scrambled to her feet to peer out from around the foliage, but she had to lean back suddenly as a chunk of metal flew past her nose. "Holy-!"
Three pairs of eyes turned in her direction and she stared. It was Master's friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn…and a Gungan.
"Padawan Shala," Qui-Gon said, drawing her attention, "where is your master? The Council had received word that you were shot out of the sky by the Trade Federation."
"Um…yes," Talik said in embarrassment, "Master's this way, but she's injure-"
The pair was striding in the direction she had indicated faster than she had time to blink with the Gungan following close behind.
"Master Jinn," Sabé said, wincing slightly, "I suspect you and Obi-Wan were the secondary negotiators?"
"Yes," the master said, kneeling down to rest his palm against her exposed stomach, calling upon the Force. Sabé glanced upwards to meet Obi-Wan's eyes.
"Believe me," she said dryly, "I have looked worse."
Obi-Wan tried not to smile at his old friend. "I can remember…maybe you should try to keep out of trouble, Sabé, you'll live longer."
She snorted as Qui-Gon removed his hand. The wound was not as deep as it was before, but the pain was manageable as Sabé flinched in tying the bandages around her midsection.
"Tell us what happened before you were shot out of the sky," Qui-Gon invited. "Or perhaps that can wait…more droids are probably coming."
"More?!" the Gungan seemed to be a bit thrown through a loop as Obi-Wan easily lifted his brunette friend, much to her annoyance and embarrassment, into his arms.
"You tell Aayla about this and I'll kick your butt in saber training," she warned in his ear. He suppressed a smile as they set off with Arthree at the rear and Talik jogging alongside the older padawan, her master's blades clutched in her fists.
"Exqueez me," the Gungan interrupted, "but da moto grande safe place would be Otoh Gunga. Tis where I grew up...Tis safe city."
"A safe city?" Talik asked in surprise as they all stopped to stare at him, being a bit skeptical at the same time.
"Um-hm!"
"Could you take us there?" Qui-Gon asked with a demanding edge to his voice.
That made the Gungan retract a bit, becoming a little nervous. "Uh," he said, drawing out the syllable, "on second thought, no, not really, no, no."
Irritation flickered through Qui-Gon's eyes as he placed his hands on his hips. "No?" Obi-Wan privately thought that Sabé's was more impressive, but then, she'd been using that look -and the one that involved her crossing her arms and giving him a stare-down- on him and her other friends for years.
Sabe tugged slightly on Obi-Wan's robe, making his head turn towards hers so fast that he almost kissed her, but she didn't seem to notice, miming for him to set her down. He arched an eyebrow at her, to which she gave him a look that told him she was capable of walking without assistance, thank you very much. So he did as she asked.
"I's embarrassing!" The Gungan claimed, "boot... My afrai my've benn banished, my've forgotten. Der Bosses would do terrible tings to me. Terrible tings if my goen back dare."
"Then why bring it up?" Talik snapped in irritation, making her master's grip on her shoulder tighten and earn her a rather sharp look from the young woman.
"Do you hear that?" the older Jedi asked of the Gungan, to which the Gungan nodded. "That is the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way."
"When they find us," Obi-Wan continued, his eyes dancing in the light, making Sabé roll her eyes slightly, "they will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces and blast us into oblivion!"
Sabé bit her lip to hide a smile as the Gungan sputtered before finally agreeing.
She could feel Obi-Wan's worry, much to her annoyance. "Talik and I will remain on land," Sabé decided, as if picking up his thoughts. "We'd be useless in an underwater city in my state." Her eyes flickered to Qui-Gon's and she seemed to pick a thought right out of his head as well. "We'll need to leave by ship…so we will await you in the hanger bay."
Qui-Gon gave a curt nod of agreement, concurring with her line of thought.
"Wait, Obi-Wan!" Sabé called suddenly, unclipping one of her sabers from her belt and tossing it to him, summoning his weapon from his belt faster than he could blink. "Yours will cool down better above land and being with a weapon that works is better than being with a weapon that doesn't." Her coffee eyes shifted to Qui-Gon. "Concur, do you not, Master Jinn?"
His smile was wry at Master Yoda's familiar speech. "I do."
"See you," Sabé added to the three before she placed a firm hand on her padawan's shoulder as the pair followed Arthree in the opposite direction.
"How are we going to reach the hanger bay without being seen by the droid army?" Talik questioned as Arthree beeped in annoyance, not being very pleased by the accumulation of sludge on his wirings and plating.
"Oh there are other ways of entering a city unseen," Sabé said in slight amusement, "if you know where to look."
Why was it that Talik always thought her master was the sort to get into heaps of trouble when she was younger? Of course, Master was one of the most well-behaved knights, so maybe she was a secret prankster…
"Arthree, do you still have that map of Theed that I had you download?"
Arthree beeped an affirmative as a blue hologram flickered into view, powered by the blue button directly below his domed head.
"Theed has a number of passageways hidden throughout the city," Sabé explained, pointing to various locations that Arthree had highlighted. "Most of them were constructed as a way for the citizens to escape from their homes in times of stress, such as wars, but they've been out of use for a few decades, which gives us the advantage."
"How's that?" Talik asked curiously.
Sabé gave her a wink. "It means, no one's going to see us sneaking around underground."
"We wouldn't want that," Talik said dryly.
"You really wouldn't," Sabé said seriously, "Them knowing we're alive would cause problems, seeing as I'm a bit incapacitated at the moment."
"Yes, Master," she said dutifully, her pale eyes glancing over the blueprint, pointing to a point on the map. "So we're here?"
Sabé shook her head, pointing with a metal finger to a different point. "No here...the closest entrance is less than half a mile from here. Come on." Her eyes fastened on Arthree for a moment. "Arthree, use your rocket boosters and hide when you get there, alright?"
He beeped in agreement as they turned away from him.
Talik stuck to her master's side like glue, wary of the woman's injuries, but Sabé never let on that her stomach wound was bothering her. But then, this was Sabé she was talking about, the Jedi had nerves of durasteel, or, at least that was the way it seemed.
The entrance, as it happened, was a vent.
Talik gazed at it with dubious eyes. "It seems a bit…small," she said in a voice that was filled with doubt.
Sabé spared her apprentice a smile as she unscrewed the covering. "A little faith, Padawan. Never judge anything at face value." And then she leapt upwards into the vent, bracing her arms and legs against the side as she slowly made her way up.
Talik sighed, but she followed suit, lest her master got too far ahead and forgot about her (because that had happened once before, much to both of their embarrassments).
The vent actually wasn't as small as Talik had originally thought, and she fit into it with ease. However, she was more concerned for her master who had a larger body mass than her (not that she was fat, or anything, just that she was taller and heavier than Talik because she was older) and she still had her injury.
Crawling up the vent wasn't very comfortable, but there was only one direction to go, so they didn't have much of a choice. Needless to say, Talik was glad when the vent leveled out, because her weight almost made her slip a few times. She was a little more than slightly irritated that Sabé hadn't had that problem, but then, Sabé probably had a lot of practice.
She had heard Knight Kit Fisto talk about her when she was younger, how she was the best at squeezing into tight spaces when they were both Padawans. She got the feeling that the Nautolan was a little jealous of her master and Aayla because they were both very light on their feet, fast to move, and thin enough to hide in places that he couldn't have dreamed of. Talik hid a giggle at that.
Warning echoed in the Force, causing her to freeze in her movements and force the humor to leak from her as she remembered the situation they were in. She glanced down through the thin grating that was over a staircase through which they could hear voices.
Sabé pressed a finger to her lips, indicating for Talik to remain silent as they listened intently.
"How will you explain this invasion to the Senate?" an older male voice asked, his voice bitter.
That must be the Governor Bibble, Talik thought to her master who inclined her head slightly in agreement.
"The queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize our occupation here. I have assurances that it will be ratified by the Senate."
Talik cast a frown to her master. Who's that?
It must be Nute Gunray, she sent back to her, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation.
Is he strong?
He has strong allies, but he is a coward, Sabé said in an almost blunt manner.
"I will not cooperate."
The voice should have belonged to her younger sister, but Sabé knew instantly that it couldn't be her. The accent that Padmé used as Queen was one that she had modeled slightly after Sabé's when she had been forced in front of HoloCameras. It made her sound much more serious and older than she usually sounded, something that Padmé had used very well.
However, this young woman was not Padmé Amidala (or Naberrie, depending on how you looked at it). Ah, a decoy queen, that explained it. Sabé had heard stories that the queens of Naboo had handmaidens that acted as their doubles in times of crises.
The pair waited for the Neimoidians and the group of humans with their droid guards to disappear down the stairs before dropping out of the vent to land on the steps. Predictably, Talik stumbled, almost falling.
"Are we going after them?" Talik asked, turning to head in that direction.
"No."
"No?" she asked in surprise. "Why not?"
"Because we have to do what we said we would do," Sabé said with finality. "Leave the queen and the others to Master Jinn and Obi-Wan. We need to get to the main hanger."
"Yes, Master."
"We're the ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor," Qui-Gon explained.
"Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador," Governor Bibble said with a bit of bite. "Not even the Jedi that came before you could reason with them."
"The negotiations never took place," Qui-Gon said calmly, ignoring how he believed that Sabé and her apprentice were dead. "It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."
"Unfortunately," Captain Panaka said, stepping forward, "our communications have been knocked out. If you want to speak with the Republic, you will have to do it in person."
Qui-Gon's mouth thinned into a line. "Do you have transports?" They should, seeing as Sabé and Talik went through all the trouble of sneaking around to find the hanger bay.
"In the main hanger, this way."
That was about when they lost the advantage as the alarms began to sound and they rushed to the hanger with Captain Panaka leading them, in time to see three blades fizzing against the blasts from B1 Droid-made blasters, being green, blue, and purple respectively.
"About time!" Sabé yelled back to the group. "Obi-Wan, get your butt over here and help me!"
The auburn-haired Padawan lurched ahead, his violet blade –being actually Sabé's, seeing as she had his- bursting to life as he joined her.
Padmé started slightly under her hood as she watched the three Jedi dueling against the droids. Sabé…Sabé was alive! She was filled with so much relief by her presence that she almost forgot of the situation that they were in. And that boy…Obi-Wan, she thought he was the very same boy that had been with her sister the last time she had seen her, back when she was only six years old. She doubted that two Jedi could have the same name and the same hair color, which was far from likely.
"My god!" Governor Bibble said, startled. "They're still alive! How can that be?"
"Sabé Amidala is a very talented Jedi," Qui-Gon explained patiently.
"Your Highness," the older Jedi had begun to speak once more, drawing Padmé's attention from her sister once more, "under the circumstances I suggest that you come to Coruscant with us."
"Thank you, Ambassador," her faithful decoy, Yané replied with the same certainty that Padmé always used in her regal accent, "but my place is with my people."
"They will kill you if you stay," Qui-Gon said, his voice holding the same certainty that she had.
"They wouldn't dare!" Governor Bibble said aghast, and Padmé allowed her gaze to fall on Sabé's form. She could see what the Jedi had meant by her being talented. Never in all her life could she imagine moving like Sabé did. It was a similar grace to that of a dancer's, having a nearly identical fluidity, but clearly it was a style entirely of her own. Her friend and her apprentice had very different styles compared to it.
Padmé took a sharp intake of breath as a few blaster bolt burned across her arm where she used it to shield her apprentice. The attacks rendered one of her arms useless, but she had two blades and it hardly slowed her down as she sliced the head off the very last droid.
"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion legal. They can't afford to kill her," Captain Panaka said.
Padmé met Yané's eyes and saw the annoyance and irritation reflected there at how they were talking about her right in front of her.
Qui-Gon seemed to be the only one specifically speaking to Yané (being the queen, and all), much to both Padmé and Yané's relief. "There is something else behind all this, Your Highness. There is no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."
Governor Bibble sighed softly as he turned to the queen as well. "Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us ... Senator Palpatine will need your help."
It seemed that they had already chosen what she had to do. Yané felt more irritation, in the defense of the queen.
"Either choice presents great danger," she said diplomatically, glancing to Padmé once more, "to us all."
Padmé bowed her head, but only barely, speaking in a soft voice, "We are brave, Your Highness."
"If you are to leave, Your Highness," Qui-Gon continued, not wanting to interrupt the monarch, but having to all the same, "it must be now."
"Then, I will plead our case to the Senate," Yané decided for Padmé.
"Master!"
Obi-Wan caught the Nabooan female before she hit the ground, her lightsabers dropping to the ground with an ominous thunk.
"Get on board!" Qui-Gon called to the group as they rushed forward with him holding his green blade aloft, ready for any impending attacks. Obi-Wan hoisted his friend up into his arms, following after them with Talik hot on his heels, holding three lightsaber hilts in her hands.
The medical bay wasn't too hard to find, and luckily, there was always a medical droid ready on the main transports of the Queen.
"Talik, go assist my master," he ordered the younger Padawan, whose face was now closer to mauve than the orchid color that her skin usually was, "I've got Sabé. Go!"
Talik nodded jerkily, dumping the lightsabers that belonged to her master in an empty bucket before launching out of the room as though she was on fire.
Obi-Wan tightened the straps around his unconscious friend so that she wouldn't go sliding off once they made the jump to hyperspace. A mournful beep interrupted him and Obi-Wan looked up to see Sabé's faithful R3 unit. She must have sent him ahead of her…
The astromech was holding out a small container on a two-pronged appendage that could possibly be considered an arm. Obi-Wan took it from him and opened it with a wry smile. Bacta patches. It was times like these that he saw just why Sabé liked the astromech so much.
He pasted a few on her only flesh-covered arm, over the burns from the blaster, before tying a bandage the length of her arm. She made a small noise in her slumber, her eyebrows furrowing slightly when he tightened the bandage over her arm.
"Sorry," he muttered as he lifted the hem of her shirt to see the damage of her stomach once more. The wounds had barely healed, but that was to be expected, after all, she had been moving around since the bandages had been wrapped around her. He privately thought that she was lucky that she hadn't done any more damage to herself since then, well, other than her injuries to her arm.
This time she cried out when he placed a larger patch on the wound. Her eyes fluttered slightly as her body stiffened before going limp once more. He brushed his fingers over her temple and down to her cheek, focusing intently and sighing once he felt the familiar thrum of her Force-signature.
A sudden jerk threw him almost on top of her, which would have been more embarrassing for him than for her, seeing as she was unconscious, but he caught himself at the last possible second.
"Keep an eye on her," he told the astromech who beeped an affirmative, rolling forward so that he was resting close to her side as Obi-Wan raced through the ship to meet his master and Talik in the cockpit.
"What was that?" he demanded.
"The shield-generator's been hit!"
And the droids sent out to fix it weren't doing so well. He had half the mind to suggest.
"Don't even think about it," Talik warned from his side. "Arthree only obeys Master, he won't go out there unless she tells him to, and she isn't really in a state to do so."
Well, she wasn't wrong there. But luckily, it wasn't much of an issue to argue, because the last remaining droid managed to get the shield up and working enough that they flew past the Trade Federation's blockade without too many problems, but then they ran into one of their own.
"We don't have enough power to make it to Coruscant."
"Do we have enough power to make it to any planet that the Trade Federation doesn't have some influence over?" Talik bemoaned, pressing her hands into her face as Obi-Wan scanned through a star chart on one of the spare monitors.
"Actually, we might," he said, drawing all the attention towards him. Obi-Wan disliked the attention, but at the same time, he was grateful that he had mastered himself well enough to not blush at the attention paid to him. Sabé always thought it was "adorable" when he blushed. He still wasn't quite sure how to respond to a comment like that. "Here, Master, Tatooine." His master leaned over his shoulder to look at the planet that was on the screen. "Its small, out of the way, poor…The Trade Federation has no presence there."
Captain Panaka couldn't help but ask in a dubious voice, "How can you be sure?"
It was Qui-Gon who answered him. "It's controlled by the Hutts."
Talik stiffened slightly. Everyone knew about the Hutts, they were a bit notorious. Sabé would never set foot on Tatooine if she could help it, mostly because it confused her. She had gone there once as a Padawan, undercover as a servant girl to the Hutts. Talik knew that the experience hadn't been very pleasant on her part. But she had said that she had sensed something strange on Tatooine, something that she didn't quite understand, even years later.
"You can't take Her Royal Highness there!" Captain Panaka disagreed. "The Hutts are gangsters! If they discovered her-"
"It would be no different than if we landed on a system controlled by the Federation," Qui-Gon interrupted, "except the Hutts aren't looking for her, which gives us an advantage."
Still, Talik couldn't help but feel uneasy. Master Sabé would not approve.
AN: Thanks to you all for reading! PLEASE REVIEW! ;)
