Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars

A Shift in the Force: Chapter Nine: A Daring Choice

AN: I was inspired to write the next chapter for this fic, despite how eager I am to be finished with Sting of the Blade and then onto its sequel and to finish Book Seven of Looking Beyond, so I hope you all enjoy this.

Haha! I haven't written for this fic in months…oops…I've been…busy-ish. I've got an exam next Friday to study for, so this is likely to be the last thing updated before then. I'm not sure when this will be updated again, it's one of those sporadically-updated fics that I have (which is nearly all of them, now that I think about it).

I realized I have a bit of discrepancy with Obi-Wan learning Soresu, as it's said that Qui-Gon's death caused him to abandon his original style to study Soresu instead, but by this time Anakin was already his apprentice…so that'll be fun to write, I'll probably need to check out a few Star Wars books for research…


If there was one thing that must be said, it was that the Naboo had very poor taste in clothing for their royals. Scratchy and uncomfortable seemed to be the consensus that Sabé had reached as Padmé's handmaidens helped her out of the gown of deep purple and into one that appeared to be what one could consider a fighting dress.

How anyone could fight in it, Sabé had yet to see, as it consisted of a long surcoat and skirt made from blast-dampening fabric with a headdress secured on her head with her long hair styled simply. If worse came to worse, Sabé decided, she'd ditch the headdress.

Thankfully, with how thick the layers of the dress were, she could hide her lightsabers without too much difficulty, and that pleased more than she would ever admit.

The plan, on the other hand was rather poorly conceived, and she had told her sister so, multiple times by now, but stubbornness must have been inherited because Padmé was beyond seeing reason and Sabé couldn't help but wish that someone else other than her was playing her decoy. The Gungan were…quite difficult and she could foresee that continuing.

And a vibro-wrench had been thrown in, so to speak, when the Otoh Gunga, the largest underwater city of the Gungan was discovered to be empty, but Jar Jar had been certain that his species hadn't been wiped out, but had moved to a sacred place, which was currently where they were going, before they found themselves with rather fierce Gungan escorts.

Sabé glanced over the guard to her left without a single change in expression, but this might have had more to do with the face paint that hid everything but the soft brown color of her eyes.

A root seemed to appear out of nowhere and Sabé nearly tripped, and would have, if not for the hand that grasped her elbow. Embarrassment flooded through Sabé.

"Thank you, Jedi Kenobi," she said solemnly and the young man inclined his head slightly as he took a few respectful steps back. He had sensed her embarrassment for a brief moment, though he suspected that had more to do with her nearly falling than him keeping her upright.

He was only half-right.

They entered into a clearing that held a swamp and the ruins of what must have been a grand temple at one point in the very distant past, one that had long since crumbled, as a large carved head was half submerged in the swamp, a tree growing around it, and it was on that head that Boss Nass and his council members were perched –in a manner of speaking– with the other Gungan refugees milling about around the swamp.

Bass Nass was a more robust Gungan than Jar Jar and with a deeper voice that was far more difficult to understand.

"Ya Honor," the Gungan who had been escorting them said, with a much clearer speech than Sabé had been expecting, "Queen Amidala of the Naboo."

And Jar Jar bumbled a bit with trying to act respectfully in Boss Nass' presence, thus diverting his attention.

"Jar Jar," he grunted, "yousa payen dis time. Who's da ussen others?"

Sabé stepped forward firmly, her eyes not leaving the Boss Nass' as she spoke in her carefully cultured voice. "I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo," her words echoed in the swamp, "I come before you in peace."

"Ah," Boss Nass said. "Naboo biggens. Yousa bringen da Mackineeks…Dya busten ussen up. Yousa all bombad. Yousa all die'n, mesa tink.

It wasn't the first time that someone had thought it best that Sabé not be alive, and she doubted that it wouldn't be the last. Gungan weren't well known for their associations with the fellow humanoids that lived on the same planet as them.

Sabé barely blinked, maintaining an indifference of sorts, her hands relaxed at her sides as Padmé's captain, guards, and handmaidens tensed behind her, trying not to be distracted by Padmé thinking hard behind her.

"We wish to form an alliance—" Sabé began, only to be interrupted by her sister breaking the ranks to stand in front of her.

"Your Honor," Padmé said and Arthree and Artoo hooted lowly from where they were positioned beside Anakin, as though worried (but Arthree was practically sentient, if you asked Sabé, that is).

"Whosa dis?" Boss Nass demanded with a wave of his large hand in Padmé's general direction.

"I am Queen Amidala," Padmé said, to general shock and Sabé hid her amusement quite well, even if she hadn't been wearing so many layers of face paint. Sabé glanced over to Obi-Wan and she wasn't surprised to see the irritation flashing across his face and the blatant scowl on Talik's. "This is my decoy…my protection…my loyal bodyguard, and my sister."

This time Sabé's blood red lips twisted upwards slightly.

"I am sorry for my deception," Padmé told the clearing, though her eyes did not leave the head Gungan. Sabé could see her plan now; revealing herself would certainly give her an edge, "but under the circumstances it has become necessary to protect myself. Although we do not always agree, Your Honor, our two great societies have always lived in peace...until now."

"Ah…" Bass Nass said in agreement.

"The Trade Federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build. You are in hiding, my people are in camps. If we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever...I ask you to help us...no, I beg you to help us."

And with that said, Padmé fell to her knees, something that indicated great respect across the galaxy, and then Sabé followed, and shortly after, the captain, his troops, the handmaidens and the Jedi.

"We are your humble servants," Padmé said, her head still bowed. "Our fate is in your hands."

For a moment, nothing was said, and all that could be heard were the sounds of the birds in the trees and the wind whistling through the leaves, and then Boss Nass leaned his head back and released a laugh that echoed and reverberated.

"Yousa no tinken yousa greater den da Gungans?" he asked and Padmé gave a slight jerk of the head in agreement. "Mesa like dis. Maybe wesa bein friends."


"Quite an interesting turn of events, Knight Amidala."

Sabé's painted lips curled into another smile as she turned towards Qui-Gon who had spoken in a mild voice while Obi-Wan merely shook his head and Talik scowled.

"I cannot be blamed for my deceit," Sabé pointed out, "as it was the orders of Masters Yoda and Windu that I followed." She dropped a hand to her padawan's shoulder, and Talik's bright eyes fastened on hers. "Sometimes we must put aside what we wish and do what is expected of us."

Talik pursed her lips but she couldn't fault her master's words. "Yes, Master," she said, and then she wrapped her thin arms around Sabé's bulkily clothed waist.

Sabé gave her a smile as she was released, her eyes glancing towards Obi-Wan who was scrutinizing her so intently that she nearly blushed. "What is it?"

"I'm just thinking how uncanny your likeness was to the true queen," Obi-Wan admitted, "with the face paint you wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

This time, her smile showed her pearly teeth and her brown eyes glinted and Obi-Wan forced a smile in reply. Truthfully, it was unnerving how she could play her sister's role so well, but that was yet another reason why she was preferred for espionage missions. Obi-Wan found that he preferred it when he was able to see her face. The face paint created a mask that effortlessly hid her emotions.

"I believe the captain was lamenting that I would have made a perfect decoy queen," Sabé mentioned with a light laugh, "but I am far too attached to my duties as a Jedi."

"We are well aware," Qui-Gon replied with a bit of amusement himself before his face settled into a serious expression. "What concerns me more is your collapse in the Temple."

The white paint between her eyebrows wrinkled as they were brought closer together. "Yes," she said, "I believe the invader was attempting to assuage the amount of intelligence concerning the events of Naboo. If he was able to gather anything, it wasn't very much."

"Are you certain of that?"

Sabé's eyes darkened slightly and Talik could practically sense the affront rolling off her. "Quite certain," she said, her words clipped. "Come, Talik, we must speak with Padmé and the captain to assist them in their plan."

Talik squeezed past the two male Jedi to join her master only to come to a stop a short bit away as Sabé knelt so that they were eye-level.

"I wanted to tell you," Sabé told her, "but the masters thought it would be best if the Jedi returning with Queen Amidala were kept in the dark…you understand, don't you?"

"Yes, Master," Talik said, bowing her head slightly.

"But I was glad to see how you behaved in my seeming absence," Sabé added, "perhaps your first assignment without me will come sooner than your other year-mates."

Talik positively beamed at the compliment. "Really?"

She was still years away from such an assignment, still only at the tender age of ten. Sabé's own had started when she was sixteen, which meant, if Talik was lucky, she would begin at fourteen or fifteen. It was ingrained in Jedi when they were only Initiates of how they should behave in the presence of others, whether or not their master was by their side, and while Talik and her master were separately well known for their sharp tongues and wits, they both were capable to portraying a great deal of respect towards those who sometimes did not deserve it.

"Really," Sabé promised as she stood once more. "Now, why don't you go and keep an eye on the astromechs and Anakin…he's looking a bit out of sorts."

Talik glanced back to where the Tatooinian boy was standing, glancing around nervously. He clearly hadn't been anywhere with so much lush greenery before and it was a bit of culture-shock when one who had lived on a desert planet came to Naboo (Coruscant didn't particularly count, considering that it didn't have much of a climate unless one traveled down to the planet's surface, and that wasn't recommended).

"Are you alright?" she asked him as she approached him, Sabé moving off to have words with her younger sister who smiled at her, grasping at her arm as if to convey her thanks for what her eldest sister had done for her and then she joined them in speaking in low tones.

"Fine," Anakin said, blinking a few times to right himself, "I just wasn't expecting…you know, Padmé to be a queen."

Talik hummed in agreement. "She reminds me a lot of Master," she said, "but Master can play a queen very well." Padmé and Sabé walked in a similar purposeful way, but Sabé was far more graceful with so many years of 'saber-training under her belt and they spoke similarly.

Anakin laughed. "I wouldn't've guessed it was Miss Sabé…she was just like the queen I met on Coruscant."

"That's what Master is so good at," Talik said, wrinkling her nose slightly, "that's why Aayla –she's another Jedi, a Twi'lek like me– says she's at the top of the Order's list for infiltration and information-passing."

"Really?" Anakin asked with a bit of awe, his eyes moving to where the disguised Jedi was gesturing to a hologram.

Sabé Amidala was so very different from the girl he remembered from his dreams.

"Is this the best time to meditate, Master?"

Sabé was sitting on top of the mossy giant stone head, her eyes closed and her mind focused.

"My dear Padawan," Sabé said, "one day you will learn that there is never a bad time to meditate."

"Even if there's going to be a battle soon?" Talik asked.

"Especially if there's going to be a battle," Sabé agreed, "heightened emotions can lead to mistakes, and we cannot afford mistakes."

"Will I be with you this time?" Talik asked eagerly.

"You will be," Sabé said, not even opening her eyes, breathing in and out slowly. "And you will be the only Jedi accompanying me."

"Why's that?" Talik asked, her brow wrinkling in confusion. "What are Obi-Wan and Master Qui-Gon going to be doing?"

"They will be protecting Padmé," Sabé said, her eyes opening as she leapt lightly to the ground, not even jostling the headdress fixed on her head. If Sabé had had her way, she would be back in her dark cloak and jerkin, the rosy quality of her cheeks clear to see, and her brown braids hanging around her face.

But she would maintain the façade of the decoy queen, as she had maintained countless other covers.

"Master?"

Talik's curious gaze turned on her and Sabé met them. "Yes, Talik?"

"What do you think I'll be best suited for, when I'm a master, I mean?" Talik asked her.

Sabé smiled kindly down on her apprentice and the Twi'lek grinned reflexively in return. "Something magnificent, I am sure."

"What if I wanted to be a Jedi Guardian, like you?" Talik asked.

"You should only be what you want to be," Sabé told her firmly, kneeling down so that they were eye-level. "Don't be something because of what I am…remember that."

"Yes, Master."

"What else is bothering you?" Sabé asked, resting a hand on her apprentice's shoulder, concern in her eyes. "Are you worried about the battle?"

Talik was half-way through shaking her head when she had to admit –a bit reluctantly– that she was a bit anxious about. "Well, yes, but that's not what I was thinking about," she said. "Why didn't the Council accept Anakin? He's got more midi-chlorians than you!"

"The Council…" Sabé's red-painted lips drew downwards into a frown. She had always disagreed with certain aspects of the Jedi Code, and Anakin's situation with the Council's decision was one that irked her. "The Council believes Anakin is too old to be trained."

"That's not fair," Talik complained, digging the heel of her boot into the mud.

"If there's one thing the Council doesn't like to do, it's make exceptions," Sabé said with a sigh. "They have a very old-fashioned way of thinking."

"Is that why people on the Council don't like you?" Talik asked as Sabé straightened up.

"Only some," Sabé laughed, her eyes twinkling, "but I suppose forward-thinking has never been a part of the Council. Try not to worry too much about Anakin. Things will work out the way they are intended to. Focus on the now."

Talik nodded seriously as Sabé's eyes flashed to where Captain Panaka had rejoined the group, an intense frown on his face.

"Come, let's see what news there is," Sabé said, twitching her fingers in a 'come-hither' gesture, and Talik followed after her to join the Queen of Naboo and her many companions (including two male Jedi, two astromechs, the captain and his men, plus Boss Nass himself). The captain and the guards that had accompanied them from Naboo to Coruscant and back had managed to…reacquisition a few speeders for their use, which would be quite useful, as well as bring back a few more people than they'd left with.

"What is the situation?" Padmé demanded once the captain had given her a respectful bow, much desiring to know the state of her people.

"Almost everyone is in camps, Your Highness," Captain Panaka informed her a bit regretfully and Sabé took note of how her sister's face hardened at the news. And then she remembered that Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie, her mother and father, were still on-planet, along with Padmé's older sister and Sabé's younger, Sola. But Sabé couldn't spare them much thought, unfortunately, that was the way of the Jedi. "A few hundred police and guards have formed an underground movement. I brought as many of the leaders as I could. The Federation Army's also much larger than we thought, and much stronger. Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think we can win."

But Padmé was unswayed and did not waver from her decisions, and Sabé couldn't help but admire the resolve of her fourteen year old sister.

"The battle," Padmé said, "is a diversion. The Gungans must draw the Droid Army away from the cities." Artoo displayed a nearly transparent map from his holographic projector. "We can enter the city using the secret passages on the waterfall side." A trail of red appeared to show that which she had indicated. "Once we get to the main entrance, Captain Panaka will create a diversion, so that we can enter the palace and capture the Viceroy. Without the Viceroy, they will be lost and confused."

"What do you think, Master Jedi?" Padmé asked, speaking more to Qui-Gon than anyone else; as while Sabé may have been a master of another Jedi, she was not deemed a 'Jedi Master'.

"The Viceroy will be well guarded," Qui-Gon said in contemplation.

"The difficulty is getting into the throne room," Captain Panaka said in disagreement. "Once we're inside, we shouldn't have a problem.

Qui-Gon felt the need to point out, glancing to Boss Nass out of the corner of his eye. "There is a possibility with this diversion many Gungans will be killed."

"Wesa ready to do aresa part," Boss Nass said, thumping his chest with one greenish fist.

"We have a plan which should immobilize the droid army," Padmé added. "We will send what pilots we have to knock out the droid control ship which is orbiting the planet. If we can get past their ray-shields, we can sever communication and their droids will be helpless."

"A well-conceived plan," Qui-Gon concurred. "However, there's great risk."

"Yes," Sabé agreed, choosing not to notice how the eyes jumped to her, "it might result that the ray-shields are far too great for the weapons on your fighters."

"And there's an even bigger danger," Obi-Wan said, meeting Padmé's stare evenly. "If the Viceroy escapes, Your Highness, he will return with another droid army."

"That is why we must not fail to get to the Viceroy," Padmé said, her tone not even changing the slightest bit. "Everything depends on it."

Sabé glanced towards Obi-Wan and practically read his mind.

I've got a bad feeling about this.


Sabé didn't much care for blasters, it must be said, but she couldn't deny that they had their uses –not many uses, but uses nonetheless. And she could only use her lightsabers so much, though it wasn't as though the droids could run off screaming that the Queen of Naboo had lightsabers.

Blasters were rather bulky and difficult to hide, but the group assaulting Theed had chosen the sleeker pistol blasters, so that wasn't too cumbersome.

"How many are there?" Talik whispered.

"A fair few," Sabé murmured back, one hand, her metallic fingers closed tightly around one of her lightsabers, while the other held a small blaster.

They were hiding in the shade of one of the carved archways. Sabé –still in the guise of Queen Amidala– was joined with Captain Panaka, Talik, Arthree, and several handmaidens, and guards, waiting for the signal from Padmé on the opposite side of the street.

A figure in a dark maroon cloak stepped out from safety briefly to flash a red light several times towards them, and Captain Panaka responded with his own blue light. They stalled for a brief few moments before the captain made a hand gesture towards his men, signaling for them to come forward with a speeder, shooting off a blast that collided with one the droid tanks that had been milling about in the street of the main plaza, a symbol of the oppressive regime of the Trade Federation.

The blast exploded the tank, causing it to short out and fall heavily to the ground, its ability to hover having been incredibly damaged by the attack.

Unfortunately, this drew blast-fire towards Sabé's group, which was the intention. Most of the droid army was distracted by the Gungan army on grassy plains of Naboo. Sabé's group was intended to be the secondary distraction to give Padmé's group enough time to enter and find and capture the Viceroy while the pilots went off to attempt to shut down the droid control ship.

The problem with the plan was that there were so many uncertainties and it all depended on the capture of the Viceroy, which was yet again another uncertainty. But Sabé would do what was expected of her, joining in on firing on the droids who were only so happy to fire back once it was clear they had a target.

Sabé would later have to admit with a bit of embarrassment that her aim was rather poor, and it was doubtful that she hit more than one of the droids, but she certainly did assist in causing as much of a distraction as possible for Padmé and her group to slip away, first making for the hanger bay where the pilots would branch off.

Talik proved her skill at evading blast-fire with a series of clumsy dodges, but Sabé was not so lucky. The bulkiness of her battle dress and headdress still secure on the top of her head was doing nothing for her in the matter of evasive maneuvers. She scored a graze to her cheek rather early on and a few burns to her surcoat and one blast had clipped her side.

This time she was lucky her arms hadn't been hit; Sabé just couldn't handle the loss of the use of her dominant limbs.

Captain Panaka gave her the nod and she returned the blaster to her hip, calling her second lightsaber to her hand and the dual violet blades flared to life to join Talik's emerald one.

"Two Jedi!" one of the droids squawked like an alert. "Two Jed—!"

Sabé dismembered it neatly before throwing the others back into the wall with a wave of her hand, the Force answering her call.

Hopefully the others' situation was according to plan, but Sabé didn't have time to think about that, she had work to do.

AN: Alright, this time I promise this will be the last thing I update before my exam, and after that, the most likely fics to be updated are Become Something Better and Looking Beyond.

I hope you lot enjoyed this chapter!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!