ROYAL PALACE OF HOUSE AMIDALA, CITY OF THEED

In the palace, the nobles followed the battles across the planet on holographic projections. It offered little hope, seeing the futility of it all in numbers and icons. But perhaps more so, witnessing the events taking place in the city of Theed itself was the most depressing and damaging to morale. Every street had seen action and had been shot to bits and pieces, and smoke and flames could be seen all over the city.

Queen Amidala stood by a window, and had her eyes locked on the parts of her city that saw the most of the fighting; explosions errupting, fires burning, smoke rising and blasterbolts filling the air. It was tragic to see the once beautiful city slowly being grinded down to ruins before ones eyes. Amidala barely took note of Captain Panaka and Baron Sio entering court, the men covered in sot and blood and their uniforms torn.

"What news?" Baroness Veruna hastily inquired where she stood next to the tactical holograms.

"My lords, my ladies" the captain began. "We have lost three more city-blocks and the entire theatre district. Thousands are dead and the civilians are fleeing in panic."

"And the eastern shield-generator was destroyed on our way over here" Baron Sio added.

"It is a lost cause" Baron Gelda summed it up.

Baron Sio would not stand such rhetoric. "As long as a single Naboo soldier is holding a blaster, there is still hope!" he growled. "As long as we, the nobility, lead the way and refuse surrender, then there is still hope!"

"We can not hold them" Panaka reluctantly said, his words saturated with exhaustion from the rigors of combat. "I must advice that we evacuate before they have the palace surrounded."

Baron Gelda took a few steps towards his queen. "Please, save your people. Save our world. Order our troops to lay down their weapons, and invite the Trade Federation to talk, so that we may negotiate a peace on equal terms."

"Equal terms?!" Baron Sio could hardly believe what he was hearing. "There will be nothing equal about it if we simply surrender all we have to the Federation. They will take what they want and leave us nothing but rubble and ruin."

Gelda turned around with fire in his eyes. "Then so be it! For I would rather have peace and save our people, than fight a war that will destroy all of Naboo!"

"You will only condemn our people to slavery and most likely even worse!" Baron Sio countered.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!"

Everyone calmed down and turned to their queen, her voice loud and strong despite her young years. She left the window and walked on over to her throne and sat down with a deep sigh. It was clear that she was in contemplation. Eventually, after a full minute of utter silence in the room, she opened her eyes and adressed her council.

"Order our troops to stand down" she said, having everyones compleat attention. "I can not let our people suffer like this, simply because of my own pride and arrogance. Contact the Trade Federation, and inform them that Naboo invites them to talks of truce."

"At once, your majesty" Baron Gelda said and went to make sure the queens orders were properly carried out.

Even though everyone was relieved, including Baron Sio, that the fighting would be over, not one of them could help feeling as if a great mistake had been made. None more so, than the queen herself.

"Baroness Veruna, Steward of House Amidala" the queen then said, and the two women she had adressed walked up to the throne and awaited the queens command. "Baroness Veruna, I will ask of you to ensure that my sister reaches Coruscant to speak on behalf of Naboo, on behalf of us all, before the senate and the chancellor." Amidala then turned to the steward of her household. "Sister, you must join with Senator Palpatine, and have the Republic come to our aid. Make them understand our desperation."

The Steward of House Amidala, Lady Sola Amidala, felt an aching sensation in her heart as she listened to the commands of her queen, her sister. "Your highness... What about you?"

Queen Amidala straightened her back and found a most regal posture upon her throne. "I will remain here, and teach the Federation about Naboo valor."

XXX XXX

Baroness Veruna and Lady Sola Amidala were accompanied by eight guardsmen from the noble household of Veruna, as they left the palace and hurried out onto the palace-docks. The two nobles waited as the bodyguards prepared the water-speeder that belonged to House Veruna, tied as it was to the docks, and as they did they were surprised to notice Baroness Naberrié coming after them, only supported by four of her guardsmen.

"Mother" Lady Sola pleaded. "Please, get back inside."

"The Steward is right, my lady" Baroness Veruna said, "it is not safe out here."

"Thank you, but that is abundantly clear" Baroness Naberrié snarled and then turned to face her daughter. "Sola, remember when you get to Coruscant, that your father served Naboo as her senator and representative for twenty years. He had many friends and made many allies. The name of Amidala is your greatest strength once you reach the Senate. Combine your fathers allies with those of Baron Palpatine, and you will be able to save Naboo."

"I will, mother. I swear it."

Baroness Veruna and Lady Sola climbed aboard the water-speeder, and as soon as they had settled, the vehicles engines had it shoot across the water, hovering twelve inch above the surface. Shortly after leaving the docks, the speeder dove into the water and submerged itself to avoid detection, and navigated its way through the canals of Theed until it entered the large rivers and pushed itself against the stream, moving away from the terrible battle.

XXX XXX

At court, the water-speeder could be seen as an icon on the strategic map of Theed as it made its way upstream, along the river of Theelos.

"They have made it past the Federation lines" Baron Sio concluded as he followed the water-speeder on the map. "They made it" he said with a sigh and turned to the queen.

Baroness Padmé Amidala, Queen of Naboo, nearly collapsed as the tension washed away upon hearing the news that her sister had managed to evade the enemy during her escape. Standing over by the windows of her impressive court, overlooking the ruined city, she felt relieved.

Baron Gelda eyed the icon that indicated the progress of Lady Sola and Baroness Verona, and studied the terrain ahead of them. He knew he had to act quickly.

RIVER OF THEELOS

Two elongated Federation shuttles moved in over the river, and flew along it upstream. Both shuttles opened their rear hatches, and soon enough security-droids disembarked in mid-flight, falling into the water and started to sink towards the bottom.

XXX XXX

The submerged vessel that transported Queen Amidalas sister made haste, as it silently cut through the currents of the river of Theelos. Baroness Veruna, whom the speeder belonged to, took her eyes from the viewport and turned to her guest; Lady Sola of House Amidala.

"Your sister will do her duty, as will you, my lady" the baroness said, seeing the troubled features of the young womans face. "If not, Naboo will fall and never be free from the Federations tyranny."

"I know" Lady Sola said with a sigh.

Her heart ached at the thought of leaving her sister behind as the enemy was closing in for the kill. Theed was burning, and it would not be long before Naboo would officially surrender and become occupied by the forces of the Trade Federation. And Lady Sola's sister, Baroness Padmé Amidala, the queen of Naboo, would be a prisoner. A hostage.

"We have readings up ahead!" the pilot of the vessel said, shouting back over his shoulder.

As he did, the other seven guardsmen of House Veruna freed their blaster-pistols and spied out of the view-ports. Lady Sola could feel the tension mounting inside of her chest; fear, fueled with adrenalin, spread throughout her body.

As the water-speeder cut through the currents, it past overhead of some twenty-four security-droids who stood in wait on the bottom of the river. As the Naboo vessel flew in overhead, they all opened fire with their blasters. The submerged vehicle was quickly torn apart, along its entire belly, by the droids devastating barrage from below. In the end, the pilot had no choice but to re-emerge on the surface of the river, as water quickly began flooding the compartments and short-circuiting one system after the other. As soon as they broke the surface, however, they came under fire from eight relentless STAP's that harrassed the water-speeder continuesly. The vehicle was being utterly torn to shreds and soon enough was moving out of control, and eventually found itself violently crashing into several trees growing along the shore of the river.

Baroness Veruna pushed open the top-hatch and instantly returned fire with her own blaster as three STAP's flew in over her head, their own weapons firing at the speeder. Climbing out, she was soon enough followed by the three guardsmen that had survived, along with young Lady Sola, the Steward of House Amidala. Finding cover among the trees, they did their best in fighting off the Federation scout-speeders that moved in, time and time again, on straifing-runs. Eventually, one of the guardsmen got caught in the incoming fire and was killed instantly.

"My lady!" one of the remaining guardsmen said as he turned to Baroness Veruna. "We must get out of here! If we stay, we all die!"

"Droids in the water!" the other guardsman shouted, wounded in his left arm, he fired his blaster with his right hand at the security-droids that were slowly climbing out of the river to finish the job.

The wounded guardsman was killed within moments, as more and more droids appeared in the river; their blasters soon enough finding their target, as the guardsmans muzzle-flash from his discharging weapon told them where to aim.

Baroness Veruna grabbed Lady Sola by the collar and dragged her along with her. "Run!" she commanded. "Run or you die!"