I know, it's taken me a while, but I now have the Clone Wars started! I have 7 arcs (4 take place in existing arcs, other 3 are original), planned, and then it angles into Revenge of the Sith and beyond the Clone Wars! With that being said, let's jump into the First Arc, divided into 2 chapters (or episodes, technically), which is my first original arc!
Cyborgs
Tara wakes up in her room, in the Coruscant Palace. She rolls over in the bed and after some time gets up to get ready for the day. She looks at the calendar. It's been 2 months since the events on Geonosis, and her 11th Birthday is in 2 days. She decides that she should go see her parents before they have breakfast together, so she starts running down the corridor towards their room beforehand, passing FK-71 on the way.
"Princess Tara!" the protocol droid says, looking at her running the other way before she stops to face her. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"I was just going to see my mom and dad before we had breakfast together," Tara responds, slightly out of breath.
"Their Majesties aren't here, my lady. They left yesterday afternoon, remember?"
"Oh, right," Tara says, remembering it. "Yeah. Well, then I'll just turn and go towards the dining room, FK-71. Want to come?"
"I can come, Your Highness," The droid responds. "But if you run, I won't be there in time!"
Tara laughs, and starts walking briskly down the hall. Her parents had indeed left yesterday, having been invited on a tour of the Kuat Shipyards, telling Tara, "We can't just decline them, that would be impolite, we'll only be gone for 2 days, we'll be with you for your birthday, we promise you that," running through her head. It wasn't that she didn't believe them, she trusted them to keep their word, it was that it felt weird not being with them. Ever since they adopted her nearly almost 3 years ago, her parents had almost never gone anywhere without her. At least anywhere off of Coruscant.
She ate breakfast by herself, not a common occurrence. She ate quickly though, because she was hoping to speak with her parents before their tour started, as they insisted on making sure she was alright. The first night she had spent at home, she knew her mother checked on her at least 3 times in the middle of the night, and her father had insisted on having more security in place around the palace, citing her abduction and the breakout of war as reasons.
She reached the communications room in the palace, and entered, laying her eyes on the holotable in the center. A protocol droid was in the room as well, it having been against the wall up until she entered. "Princess Tara," it says, bowing its head.
"Sir," Tara responds, "I would like to speak with my parents, on Kuat."
"Yes Miss," it replies as it starts setting up the transmission. "One moment, please."
"Thank you," she replies. She waits until the outgoing transmission is received, then returned. Her parents holographic images appear on screen.
"Hi, mom," Tara says, "Hi, dad."
"Good morning, Tara," G'yaté says. "Or afternoon, for us."
Tara giggles. "When's the tour?"
"Not for another hour, still," Eric answers. "We have time to talk."
"That's good to hear. How long will you be there?"
"We'll be back with you in 2 days, but," G'yaté says, trailing off.
"Mom? Are you not coming back for my birthday?" Tara asks. "You said you would, and I don't know what I would do if you aren't here, I'd get lonely."
"Don't worry, Tara," Eric says, looking at his daughter who is starting to tear up. "You won't be there either."
"W-what?" Tara is caught off guard by this.
"Tara," G'yaté says, looking at her in the eyes, "I know it's been hard, between the Separatists, the war and your abduction, so we thought we'd treat you to something," G'yaté says.
"Is this going to be a surprise or are you telling me what it is?" Tara asks.
Eric laughs. "It wouldn't work to be a surprise. You're too sneaky, you would've found out where it is before we even boarded the ship to go there."
"So we're going somewhere for this?" Tara asks, sounding more excited.
"Yet another reason as to why we wouldn't do well keeping this a secret," G'yaté says, glaring at Eric. "Some of us are bad with keeping them."
Eric stares hard at his wife in response. "Clearly someone forgot who's idea this was."
"Mine definitely."
"Hey! Just because it's your home doesn't mean you came up with it!"
"Sooooooo," Tara says while giggling. "Naboo?"
"Uh, perhaps?" Eric responds.
G'yaté rolls her eyes. "We are visiting some of my family back on Naboo to celebrate your birthday. We'll be there for 5 days at my mother's house. We've had her come over to Coruscant before, but I thought it would be nice to see Naboo, especially for you, not having seen it."
"It always seemed lovely. You had Senator Amidala always talk of how beautiful both the wilderness and the city of Theed is."
"Yes, as an outsider, seeing it for the first time is incredible," Eric says, not having grown up there.
"Besides," G'yaté add, "We discussed this with my mother already and she said she would just love to see her 'little darling angel.'"
Tara laughs. "So are you coming here and picking me up in 2 days or how will this work?"
"We didn't plan on it," Eric answers. "You're responsible."
"Ooo, that means I can fly the ship, right?" Tara asks, jokingly.
"No, you won't get to fly," G'yaté responds, giving the same joking tone.
"And you won't be alone, you'll have a clone escort."
"I understand," Tara replies. "I would be meeting you there, then?"
"Yes, that's the plan," Eric says.
"When will I leave?"
"We informed Captain Declan that we planned for you to leave tomorrow evening," G'yaté says, "So you had best get packing, Tara. We wouldn't want you to be late."
"Yes, mom. I'll get started."
"Ask FK-71 if you need help, sweetie," G'yaté says.
"I will, mom."
"I love you, Tara," Eric says. "Goodbye for now."
"Bye mom, bye dad," Tara replies. "Love you both. Don't get too bored without me."
G'yaté laughs. "That'll be hard."
Tara laughs as the hologram projections cut out. The protocol droid speaks up, reminding Tara that it was there.
"Transmission ended, Miss. Do you need anything else?"
"No, thank you for helping though."
She turns and leaves the room, heading down the hall towards her own. 'I had best get started packing,' she thought. 'This is going to be great.'
The tactical droid sits in the chair on the bridge of the Separatist frigate. The door opens behind it, and in walks a cyborg, General Grievous. The droid stands up out of the chair.
"Sir," it says, "You have an incoming transmission from Count Dooku."
"Put him through," Grievous responds, in a gruff voice.
As the image of a Dooku appeared, Grievous bowed.
"Yes, my lord?"
"General Grievous," Dooku says. "I have a mission for you?"
"What is the mission?"
"The daughter of the false King and Queen is traveling to Naboo, and I have her ship coordinates, thanks to a very reliable source. You are to intercept the ship there, and take her hostage."
"It will be done, Count."
"I already have a fleet lying near Milagro, that you will rendezvous with after you have taken them. They are on a mission of their own, under similar circumstances. Contact me when you have the girl."
"Yes, Count. I will not fail you."
"For your sake General, I hope that is true. My master Lord Sidious is counting on this to succeed if he wants to achieve his ultimate plan."
The image of Dooku disappears.
"Sir," the tactical droid says, "We have received the ship coordinates from Count Dooku."
"Take us there," Grievous responds, sitting down in his chair as the fleet jumps into hyperspace.
Tara sits in the cabin aboard the Republic Frigate, a Consular-Class Cruiser. She is currently talking to Anakin, him having recently passed the Jedi Trials.
"Congratulations on becoming a Jedi Knight, Anakin," Tara says.
"Thanks, Princess," Anakin responds.
"Anakin," Tara says, sounding slightly annoyed, "I've said it a thousand times, call me Tara."
"Okay, Tayra," Anakin mispronouncing her name.
Tara rolls her eyes. "So did you get our own command yet? Where are you?"
"I'm currently stationed in a fleet near Farstine. Galactic East of Naboo, which I understand you are headed."
"Yes, Anakin. My parents decided that for my birthday, they'd take me there."
"That sounds nice, Naboo is certainly beautiful. Happy birthday, by the way."
"Thanks Anakin, I can't believe its been 3 years now!" She says with a tone of excitement.
"3 years since they said you didn't have a recorded birthday so you asked 'could it be today?'"
Tara giggles. "Well, I didn't want to wait that long, and they did record it as today, so yes."
Anakin laughs.
"Don't get too bored, Anakin."
"I'll try not to. Goodbye, Tara."
"Goodbye, Anakin."
The hologram turns off. Tara gets up, and walks out of the cabin, heading towards the bridge to figure out where they are.
Tara walks onto the bridge, getting addressed by the Captain of the ship.
"Your Highness."
"Captain Maso," she responds. "Everything going well?"
"Yes, Ma'am. We are on schedule and set to arrive at Naboo in 6 hours time."
"That's good to hear."
"Sir," one of the clone pilots says, "We are approaching the hyperspace jump now."
The ship jumps out of hyperspace. "Making adjustments now," the clone pilot adds, with a moment's pause before continuing, "Adjustments made. Jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2-"
His copilot cuts him off. "Negative, negative. Path obstructed. Abort jump."
Tara looks at them with confusion. "What's obstructing the shi-"
The ship lurches hard. Tara falls over onto the ground. "What's going on?" She asks, with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Separatist warships on the radar," the second pilot says. "Looks to be a whole fleet."
"A whole fleet?" Captain Maso asks. "Here?"
Tara looks in fear out the window as 4 Separatist Frigates are visible. Maso starts giving orders. "Raise the deflector shields, and work on getting the jump to hyperspace. We're not gonna be able to fight them."
The ship lurches again. "2 of the engines aren't online, Sir. And a tractor beam has us."
"Try and fire on the source. We cannot dock with them."
The cannons start firing towards the flagship pulling them in, but ultimately to no avail. The two ships have nearly docked.
Maso turns to face Tara. "Princess, we won't be able to defend them, not with this few of us here compared to them. You need to get into an escape pod."
"What?" Tara responds.
"I'll send one of my men with you, but you need to get off this ship now."
Tara takes a deep breath. "I understand, Captain."
"Thanks, Miss," Maso responds, turning to face one of his men. "Noa, take Princess Tara with you and board an escape pod."
"Yes, sir," Noa answers, then looks down at Tara. "This way, Princess."
The 2 go down the corridor and board an escape pod. It jettisons out from the frigate, but doesn't get very far before a shot from a Separatist ship hits it and the pod's engines power down.
Tara looks at Noa, a lot of fear visible. "What happened?"
"Engines offline. Life systems active. I'll try and fix what I can, Ma'am."
"Please try, Noa," Tara responds, pleadingly. "Please."
Noa doesn't get far into repairing the engines before the pod lurches to the left, towards an open hangar in one of the Separatist Frigates. As the pod lands inside the hangar, Tara begins to panic, seeing droids surround it, ready to fire.
Noa looks over Tara's shoulder, out the window. "I've got to try and fight," he says boldly, picking up his blaster and loading it.
"No," Tara says, trying not to cry. "Don't."
"What?" Noa sounds confused. "Ma'am, these are Separatists. They'll imprison you, and I can't let that happen."
"It'll happen either way," Tara says, grabbing his arm. "I don't want to be alone here, though. Please, surrender."
Noa hesitates before agreeing. "Yes, Princess." He sets the blaster down, and opens the pod door before walking out with his hands up.
"Freeze, clone," one of the droids says to him, stepping closer. Noa stops dead in his tracks.
"There's another inside the pod, Sir," another droid says. "The girl that the General needs."
"Get her out," the commander orders, keeping its blaster on Noa.
"Roger, roger," the droid responds, before shoving Noa out of the way to get Tara out of the pod. It walks out, with a tight grip on her arm. Tara looks ready to cry. Noa sees her look of despair as he is put in binders and roughly forced away.
Tara and Noa find themselves sitting in a cell together, on the head Separatist ship. Noa is laying on the floor, with Tara sitting on the bench, her mind is scrambling. 'What's going to happen to me? What happened to Captain Maso and the others on the ship? What will happen to Noa? When will my parents notice I'm gone? Will they arrive on Naboo and worry when I don't show up? How did the Separatists know where to find me? Will the Republic know where to find me? How long will I be here? Who exactly is abducting me?'
Noa seems more relaxed than Tara. "Miss," he says, seeing her bloodshot eyes. "Are you alright?"
Tara shakes her head. Noa gets up from the floor. "You said you didn't want to be alone, Princess?"
She nods her head. Noa sits down on the bench next to her, his hands on his thighs. Tara takes his hand with her own. "Thank you."
They sit in silence for some time, Noa comforting Tara. After a while, metal footsteps can be heard walking down the hallway. Noa stands up, while Tara inches towards the wall. The door opens to reveal General Grievous, staring hard at Tara as he walks down the steps. "Little girl," he says.
Tara looks at him with fear. His cybernetic body, long metallic limbs with fingers that look more like claws, and feet looking similar to that. The long, black cloak wrapping around his tall, yet stooped structure. The faceplate with yellow eyes glaring out from behind it. "Who-who are you?"
"My name isn't important, girl. After all, nobody from the Republic has heard it or seen me, at least someone who can tell the tale."
Upon saying this, he grabs a Jedi's lightsaber from his waist and activates it, implaing Doa.
Tara screams. Doa looks at her one last time, managing to say, "I'm sorry," before dropping to the ground. Tara leaps toward his body.
"Noa, You're gonna be alright," she pleads. "Please, stay with me. Fight through it."
Grievous grabs her aggressively and shoves her out of the cell into 2 droids. They bind her wrists and take her to the bridge, sobbing all the way.
Tara is thrust onto the bridge by the droids, with Grievous following them. A man, who up until her arrival was facing the window, turns to meet her.
"Princess Tara?"
"Senator Organa?"
"What are you here?" He asks, stepping towards her. "Did General Grievous abduct you?"
"Yes, assuming that cyborg is General Grievous," Tara responds, wincing as Grievous steps towards her.
"Dooku wants you, child," Grievous says, grabbing her arm.
"General Grievous," Organa says sternly, "We are letting her go. You will let her go."
"Don't be so foolish, Senator," Grievous responds, glaring at him. "These are Dooku's orders, orders that we must obey. After all, you signed the treaty to pledge Alderaan's forces to the Separatist Alliance."
"The treaty said nothing about kidnapping children, General. Let. Her. Go."
"That will not happen. You board my ship, and think that you're allowed to give me orders."
"You use my ships in this fleet. I believe I have some power over you, considering you contribute nothing financially."
"I am not in this war for Dooku's politics. I am in this war to serve and kill Jedi, which I have done multiple times." As he says this, he splits the arm not holding onto Tara in half and grabs 2 lightsabers, activating them. "Their own weapons are quite effective against them."
Organa steps back upon Grievous wielding the lightsabers. Grievous chuckles, and deactivates the lightsabers before placing them back on his waist. "Activate the ray shield holder," he orders the tactical droid.
The ray shield holder in the center of the bridge activates, the blue glow emitting from it. Tara shrieks as Grievous forces her into it. Grievous laughs at her expense. Tara starts struggling, but the ray shield holder has her caught where she can barely move herself, being forced to face towards the door to the bridge.
Just then, the sound of a ship emerging from hyperspace is heard. "1 Separatist ship approaching us, Sir," the tactical droid states.
"Have us dock with their flagship," Grievous says.
"Why do we need to dock?" Organa asks.
"We need to make a necessary transfer," Grievous replies. "I will go to meet them. Keep watch on the prisoner."
Grievous leaves the bridge, the door closing behind him. Organa turns to look at Tara, staring into her bloodshot eyes.
"Are you alright, Princess?" He asks her.
"Why are you here, working for him?" She asks in response, not answering his question.
"Your Highness, I," he pauses before continuing, "I don't work for him. He uses my ships for his fleets. He's an agent of Count Dooku, not involved with me."
"So you're helping him?"
"I," he pauses again, feeling trapped by her questions. "I'm not helping him, only the Separatist Alliance against the Republic. He uses my ships, which are nothing compared to the Frigate we're onboard right now."
"He's a monster," Tara says, starting to cry again. "He executed one of my men right in front of me."
"He did what?" Organa asks, his tone rising.
Tara doesn't answer, instead she keeps crying.
"He shouldn't be executing anyone right, let alone right in front of you. You're a child, you shouldn't have to deal with this."
Tara doesn't respond to that. She keeps looking down at the floor, away from him.
"I'm sorry you're here, Your Highness," Organa says, squatting down to look up into her eyes.
"Then let me go," Tara begs quietly.
"I can't let you go, Miss. That would be betraying the Separatists, and that could cost Alderaan dearly."
"But keeping me here would cost me dearly."
Organa sighs. "I'll do what I can to make sure you're treated well. It's the most I can do to help you, and eventually maybe you'll be released back to the Republic."
"Last time, the Jedi had to come rescue me from Geonosis. You weren't there to guarantee stuff then."
"I had already left the planet, as suggested to me by Count Dooku. I'm sorry that had to happen."
"You didn't try to help me when you were there."
Organa sighs, feeling trapped by Tara's point. "I didn't understand the situation at the time we were together."
"You understood it when the droids were forcing me away. You could've done something then."
"What would I have been able to do, Miss? I have nothing compared to anyone else at the dinner, especially Count Dooku."
"You're a part of his council. You could've arranged for my release."
"I," Organa stops. He stays silent.
"Why did you even join the Separatists if you knew what they would do?"
"I didn't know that they would be kidnapping you, Princess Tara. I joined because the Republic is failing the galaxy, and the Supreme Chancellor is taking aggressive steps, lusting for power."
"Doesn't Dooku lust for power?"
"It's not the same."
"How? Don't most of Dooku's allies also lust for power themselves? Viceroy Gunray once took over the planet Naboo for his own gain?"
"I," Organa has to pause and think about his answer. "I don't agree with Viceroy Gunray's acts of greed, along with other members of the Separatist leaders. However, I am in league with them, and Alderaan will be compensated after the war ends, with the Separatists being recognized by the Republic."
"How much of Aldeaan's compensation go to you?"
Organa opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He takes a step away from Tara. She looks up to try and meet his eyes, but he stares hard on the ground. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but there's not much I can do about the situation.
Organa goes to leave the bridge, but the door opens before he gets there, and Grievous walks in, being followed by 2 people. Both Tara and Organa are very surprised when they see who Grievous has with him.
