For some reason a couple of my chapters had been double-posted and even ended up in the wrong order. Hopefully, this has been corrected by now. Also, Chapter 10 has received a small edit/update, with Amidala visiting a small jedi monastery on Naboo in hopes of recruiting the jedi to join Naboos cause, so check that out if you have the time for it. Anyway, here is chapter 15; enjoy!

THE PROFITABLE PROVIDER, NABOO ORBIT

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi cut their way through the corridors and hallways of the Trade Federation starship, destroying security-droids and killing Federation soldiers as they went. They were unstoppable, their lightsabers cut through metal and flesh alike with equal ease, the Force enhancing their instincts and reflexes until nothing on the ship could withstand them. They eventually had the ships bridge in sight at the far end of a long hallway and doubled their efforts. They left behind them a trail of broken robotic-parts and the severed limbs of soldiers.

Captain Grievous pushed his way through the officers of the bridge and hit the controls to the bridge-security systems. Powerful energy-fields activated at the entrance and three layers of thick blastdoors closed shut to seal off the bridge from the rest of the ship.

Outside the two jedi ran up to the blastdoors and Qui-Gon stabbed his lightsaber into the outer energy-field, trying to overload its powercells. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan kept his master alive by deflecting incoming blasterbolts from Federation troops further down the corridors leading up to the bridge-entrance.

On the bridge, Count Nayron watched the survailance-systems depicting the two jedi right outside the bridge-entrance. "They are coming through!" the neimoidian lord said desperately.

Captain Grievous grunted at the Federation-officers lack of courage. "Not for long" he growled and activated other security-protocols.

Hatches slid open in the ceiling out in the corridors and twinlinked blasters were lowered into view. The resulting barrage aimed at the two jedi was more than the young padawan could handle, the sheer volume of blasterbolts fired at them overwhelming. What was worse was that the turrets were protected by individual energy-fields, absorbing every shot Obi-Wan managed to deflect back at them. Qui-Gon had no choice but to abandon his attempts at overloading the shields protecting the bridge and help his apprentice, simply in order to for the two of them to stay alive.

With Federation troops and security-droids closing in for the kill, Qui-Gon saw that despite the powers of the two jedi, they were about to be overrun. "Deflect the shots at the floor!"

Obi-Wan did not hesitate to do as his master instructed, it was hardly the time to question decisions as a padawan. The incoming fire was directed from the lightsabers down at the floor, ripping it apart in a volcanic erruption of sparks and smoke. It did not take long before the floor collapsed and the two jedi fell through with the wreckage.

XXX XXX

The security-systems protecting the bridge deactivated as soon as Federation troops had secured the corridors outside of the main bridge. Captain Grievous and Count Nayron stepped out, together with Gormbacc and Ugluk, witnessing the destruction left by the attackers. Soldiers and security-droids stood on guard while crew and other droids cleaned up the mess left behind after the combat. Standing on the edge of the large hole in the floor which had allowed the jedi to escape, Captain Sheelal Grievous sneered.

Nayron sighed. "We lost track of them. I have security-droids searching the entire ship, even the ventilation-shafts, but so far we have no sign of the jedi."

Captain Grievous growled. "Find them and kill them!" the kaleesh commanded as he turned, throwing his cloak over his shoulder and walked back onto the bridge.

Gormbacc the Wookie and the gamorrean, Ugluk, growled and grunted orders at the soldiers of fortune under their command, and then hurried to search for the two missing jedi.

On the bridge, Grievous studied the large screens depicting the ongoing initial stages of the invasion of Naboo. "Now" he said, "bring this planet to its knees."

YGGDRAL

Kartarj was a small community surrounded by a couple of farms. A few vehicles, some cattle and three windpowered generators gave the place a feel of being a bonafied colony. In truth, the two-hundred people living here were all decendants of some of the most ruthless criminals the Republic had ever managed to arrest. But despite this, the people of Kartarj seemed like decent, hardworking citizens, plowing their fields, dragging fish out of the river, tending their livestock. Children ran down the streets and played, teenagers flirted and were up to no good as one would expect.

"Come on" Hoyt said and waved at Alanda to follow him as he entered one of the larger buildings of the settlement. Reluctantly, she did as he wanted.

A tan-skinned zabrak sat behind a desk and signed some papers. Alanda was somewhat familiar with zabraks; those initiated into the Jedi Order, having been taken at such a young age, had never recieved the warrior-tattooes that was the zabrak trademark. Outside of the Order, all male zabrak were painted in accordance to their clans markings. But not this zabrak; just like his kin in the Order, he had grown up away from zabrak culture.

"So this is the new enforcer?" the zabrak said, eventually looking up from his paperwork.

"Alanda Barro" Hoyt said as he introduced the young woman. "Former padawan-learner."

The zabrak seemed pleased at this. "I am Hallon Sÿlt" he said and got out of his chair and walked over to shake the womans hand. "Welcome to Kartarj, the oldest still standing sanctuary on Yggdral. I hope you will come to appreciate our company."

"I hope so to" Alanda said, managing a smile.

"Hallon is our mayor" Hoyt explained. "Or the closest thing to it, atleast."

"The people have my trust" the zabrak explained further. "They trust me to judge, to take charge, to negotiate. Alot of things. It has worked out pretty well so far."

Alanda sat down and studied the spartan office. "So if things are working out here, I take it we will be doing our job elsewhere most of the time?"

Hoyt smiled and nodded. "Spot on, Rejection. There are seven smaller villages around here. The furthest one away is three days travel with a rover. The closest is an hour away by foot. They all rely on us to tend the peace, to uphold the law."

"And what law is that?" Alanda sounded just as skeptical as she felt.

Hallon Sÿlt sat down on the corner of his desk. "The law a place like this requires" was his simple answer. "There are gangs out there, in the wilderness. Savages, rapists, murderers... Molesters and cannibals... Evil men and women that survive by killing and looting. This is a prison-world and the people who live here are prisoners. Nine out of ten convicts living on this world will kill you without hesitating. So we make our own laws, we stick by them and do what ever we need to do to keep our families and our children safe. I realize that Jedi are not allowed to have families, so you can never understand what it means to protect your own child..."

Alandas burning eyes cut Hallon off in mid-sentence, her gaze alone striking at the heart of the zabraks soul. Even Hoyt noticed it, or rather, he was unable to not notice.

"You don't know me" Alanda said, her voice cold and bitter. "You don't know."

INVASION OF NABOO

Major Ric Olié was squadron leader for Bravo Wing of 3rd Division. The entire division was up in the air in the skies above the city of Theed, struggling against overwhelming odds to keep the invaders at bay. Theed itself was protected by several interlocking force-fields that were being submitted to a relentless barrage from the Federation ships in orbit. Major Olié came up behind a Federation Y-wing with his Royal-class N2 Starfighter and unloaded a salvo of bright green blasterbolts at the enemy fightercraft, rupturing its starboard engine and forcing it to crash into the citys protective shielding.

"This is Bravo Leader" Ric said over the command frequency. "Federation fighter-bombers are flying low to get under the energy-shields."

Colonel Temuera, commanding officer for 3rd Division, acknowledged the information. "They want to take out the citys shields-generators" he said while avoiding crashing into three fighter-droids. "Bravo Wing, make sure it doesn't happen. The city will not survive if the shields fail."

"Copy, Division Leader" Ric replied. "Bravo Wing, form up on Bravo Leader."

"Right with you, boss" came the response over Bravo Wings frequency.

"Take us in, Bravo Leader."

Ric Olié barrel-rolled, looped and then took his fighter into a steep dive, the rest of his Wing gathering around him as he went and soon enough they had all joined formation and were flying low over the trees, speeding to intercept the Federation fighters intent on breaching Theeds shields.

"Ignore the Vulture droids" Ric instructed his squadron as he took them through the whirlwind of dogfights, "We want the fighter-bombers. Stay focused and stay on target."

Bravo Wing engaged a swarm of Federation fighters flying low over the villages and farms just outside of Theed. Both formations broke up as they intermingled, individual fightercraft engaging one another in fierce duels to the death. Major Ric Olié spotted two Y-wings and a fighter-droid flying low along one of the rivers leading into the city and realized they would reach the force-fields weakest point within moments. Bravo Leader and his wingman took chase and opened fire as soon as their targets came within range. The fighter-droid veered off in a tight turn and flew off in a wide arch.

"Ignore the droid, Bravo One" Ric ordered. "Stay on target."

"Copy, Red Leader" his wingman replied.

The two Y-wings protected their rear with turret-fire, forcing the two chasing naboo fighters to perform continueous evasive maneuvers, making it hard for Bravo Leader and Bravo One to land any damaging salvos of their own.

Bravo One glanced over his shoulder and spotted the Vulture-class fighter-droid coming back around up behind him and Bravo Leader.

"Vulture at Mark Six, coming in fast" Bravo One reported.

Bravo One went up behind Bravo Leader and protected Ric from taking fire from behind, allowing him to fully concentrate on gunning down the two Y-wings. Eventually, one of the two Federation fighter-bombers had taken enough damage to be forced to crash into the river, the giant splash becoming a wall that Ric Olié had no chance to evade. He had no chance but to fly straight through, wrestling with controls to keep his fighter from ending up in the river aswell.

Bravo One was torn asunder as the fighter-droid cut the naboo fightercraft apart with a prolonged salvo from its quadlinked blastercannons. Bravo Leader stayed behind the last of the two Y-wings, dodging the incoming fire from its turret while taking potshots himself. Behind him, the fighter-droid closed in, forced to dodge the turret-fire from the Y-wing aswell, as the blaster-bursts missed its intended target of Bravo Leader.

All three fightercraft pushed through the weaker lower grid of Theeds force-fields and shot in over the buildings of the city at full speed. Ric realized that the Y-wing pilot was heading straight for the closest shield-generator array, protecting a fifth of the city under a dome of energy. Bravo Leader, Major Ric Olié, ignored the turret on the Y-wing, taking hit after hit. Ric returned fire, blasting time and time again at the fighter-bomber while it returned fire from its turret. In the end, Ric's blastercannons outgunned the turret and the Y-wing came apart in a ball of fire and pitch black smoke.

Ric turned to head back to the main fighting, but his plans were cut short as a thick hail of bright red blasterbolts engulfed his Royal-class N2 Starfighter and ripped it to pieces. Bravo Leader was forced to eject in order to survive, his fighter crashing into one of Theeds buildings and the entire structure collapsed from the force of impact. Ric's gravchute activated as he was falling, halting his descent to a gentle drop. Overhead, the fighter-droid swept past and then turned back to attack the shield-generator array, and all that Major Olié could do was slowly glide towards the ground. But the fighter-droid was soon enough dealt with by incoming fire from heavily armed guardsmen of House Amidala on the ground that forced the flying droid to crash violently into one of Theeds many streets.

THE PROFITABLE PROVIDER, NABOO ORBIT

"It's an army" Obi-Wan whispered, the two jedi hiding behind stacked crates in the cargoholds of the Federation vessel, Profitable Provider. From their hidden position, they witnessed entire regiments of currently deactivated security-droids, probe-droids, shield-probes and turret-droids being loaded onboard troop-transports and landingcraft.

"Its an invasion-army" Qui-Gon coldly stated. "There is more to this than a simple blockade. An army of this size needs time to assemble, which tells us that this has been planned for some time. The goal never was to place Naboo under blockade. The goal has been to invade from the start."

"We must get word to the High Council" the padawan said, agitated over the fact that the Trade Federation actually had been this brazen. "We must warn the Senate."

Qui-Gon thought hard on the troublesome situation. "Neither of us have the skills to escape this fleet in a ship of our own. We would be shot down in an instant. Our only hope is to find a pilot on Naboo that can take us beyond the Trade Federations signal-inhibitors, that will allow us a clear transmission to Coruscant."

The young apprentice nodded at the reasoning. "So how do we get to the surface, master?"

Qui-Gon pointed at a large shuttle further down the cargo-holds as a full company of Federation soldiers marched up a ramp extending from a gaping hole in its belly.

XXX XXX

R4-P17 waited behind a corner as a squad of security-droids marched on by before moving on and entering the large hangar that currently housed the Radiant VII. Guarded by droids and soldiers, the astrodroid realized it would not be an easy task to get onboard the ship unseen. R4 carefully navigated the hangar by moving from cover to cover, using crates, pipes and loaders to hide its presence from the Federation troops. Eventually, R4 was only ten yards away from the boarding-ramp leading up to the Radiant VII's interior and was plotting the best course of action to enter the ship unnoticed, when all of a sudden a voice interrupted the little droids logic-engine.

"Halt! Who are you?"

R4 turned its head one-eighty degrees and spotted four security-droids walking up towards him from behind. R4 responded and turned his torso in full to face the Federation droids.

"Inventory?" one of the security-droids said, having listened to R4's attempt at a lie. "This hangar is not scheduled for inventory for another three hours."

"Look!" one of the other security-droids said and pointed at R4's chest. "The insigna of the Jedi Order. The astrodroid belongs to the jedi!"

R4 opened a hatch on his belly and activated his fire-supression system, creating a massive cloud of white dust to cover the four droids before him and throw them off guard. R4 made a run for it as the alarm sounded, ramming a security-droid standing in his way and knocking it to the side, and then drove as fast as he could up the ramp. Behind him, all soldiers and droids in the hangar hurried after him. R4 emptied his spare-oil canister behind him as he went, sending more than two dozen droids and Federation soldiers crashing on their heads as they slipped on the slippery surface.

The little droid rushed through the ship and eventually locked itself in in the communications-room, welding the door shut as Federation troops desperately tried to open the hatch from the outside. R4 was quite pleased by its performance and turned around to hook itself up to the ships comm-system, only to find itself face to face with two B1 security-droids together with a neimoidian communications-officer, aiming their blasters at the astromech-droid.