CITY OF THEED

Queen Amidala could not believe her eyes, watching the icons displayed on the holographic maps and screens. The dot that had been Baroness Veronas submerged transport had vanished, only a mile or so outside of the city. Gone.

Baron Sio wanted to say something, but could not find the words. He knew nothing could comfort the young queen. Indeed, nothing could comfort any of the nabooans present at court at this point in time. Tragedy had taken root on the planet and in their minds, and was not about to let go any time soon.

Amidala moved slowly towards her throne and sat down. Not a tear ran from her eyes, yet those eyes told of the great sorrow that now filled her thoughts and had taken hold of her heart. She studied the people in the courtroom, the officers busy overseeing the skirmishes still taking place, the servants who hurried to arrange so that no state-secrets would fall into enemy hands and the nobles who made preparations for a prolonged occupation. She met the eyes of Baron Sio, the baron still wearing the sot and dirt of combat upon his torn clothes, and nothing needed to be said between the two of them. Both knew that they had lost too much already. All of Naboo had lost.

EMBASSY OF ALDERAAN, CORUSCANT

Duke Bail Organa had served as ambassador of his homeworld for close to six years, at the request of the ruler of Alderaan, Arch-Duke Taryn Kasharyn. Alderaan had for centuries been a rich and fertile world that relied little on imports to survive. Instead, its wealth was traded for luxuaries in return. The last war on Alderaan had taken place during Darth Revans invasion, eight hundred years prior as the Sith Empire anexed the planet, and later, as the newly formed Republic liberated Alderaan from the Sith occupation. Alderaan was a peaceful world, a tranquil world that did not know poverty, nor hardship. A unique planet in a galaxy of suffering.

"You have contacts we need, senator" Organas guest said, sitting as he were in the group of sofas arranged in the middle of the lounge. "I will not lie, we need your help."

Senator Organa turned to face his guest, and sighed briefly before heading over to join Senator Palpatine of Naboo. "I realize you are experiencing a very troubling turn of events, baron" the duke said as he himself sat down. "I will not deny that. And, if the tables were turned, Alderaan would have appreciated Naboos support. This act of aggression by the Federation is a disgusting one, to say the least."

"Then you'll side with us?" Palpatine asked.

"I have yet received word from the archduke" Organa explained, stressing the fact that he himself had no authority to pit Alderaan against the might of the Trade Federation by himself. "But, I have advised that Alderaan sides with Naboo. The decision, however, is not mine I'm afraid."

Palpatine nodded. "I realize that" he said. "I will not pretend that Alderaan is not important to Naboo. Alderaan has close ties to Corellia and you would be a great aid in securing corellian support for our cause."

Organa simply smiled at the corner of his mouth. "Senator Garm Bel Iblis will require more than a plea from Alderaan to take a stand on this subject. Corellian shipyards have many deals signed with the Federation and they will not give them up simply because Naboo is in trouble."

"Perhaps" Palpatine admitted. "But Bel Iblis respects you, senator. More than he respects me or any of my allies in the senate."

Organa nodded with a smile. "He does chose his friends carefully."

"So you see why I am here?" Palpatine said. "I need your help to convince Corellia to side with Naboo. Between Naboo, Falleen and Ryloth, combined with Alderaan and Corellia, we have an alliance of strong and independent systems that together have a powerful voice in the senate. Kashyyyk would join us, and so would many others. Our voice would turn into a roar, senator."

"That tends to happen as soon as you involve the wookies" Organa chuckled and even got a smile from Palpatine. "But I see your point. Though this plan could just as easily backfire."

Palpatine turned serious. "Naboo has no other choice."

Organa could not refute the remark, so he sighed and thought upon his options. "I will speak with the archduke, propose your thoughts on Corellia. We realize that if the Federation gets away with this, it will only be the beginning; we are not ignorant, senator. But if Alderaan is to act on this, it needs prudent planning."

"Of course" Palpatine acknowledged with a nod. "Naboo is in your debt, senator."

NABOO

Trade Federation troops secured the surrendering Naboo forces, rounded up civilians and deployed their soldiers at every strategic location found. Within hours, the entire planet was secured and at the mercy of the Federation. The banners of the Trade Federation replaced the colors of the various households and barony's, and martial-law was instantly put in place across the planet, in every city, town and settlement. And Theed was no exception.

A Federation shuttlecraft was escorted in towards Theed by six Vulture-class fighter-droids, and headed for the magnificent palace of House Amidala. Around the shuttle and its escort, Federation air-units secured the city and its surroundings from above, while on the ground, droids and patrol-vehicles kept the population at bay.

Many buildings had collapsed during the battle, many more were burning as a result of the fierce fire-fights that had taken place. Black smoke from both burning buildings and vehicles mixed and reached up towards the skies in long tendrils of sot and ash.

The escort veered off as the shuttle moved in to land on the great courtyard of the Amidalan palace. Settling down, the shuttles boarding-ramp lowered and touched ground, allowing the passengers to disembark and set foot on Naboo soil. Count Nayron was accompanied by command-droid OOM-9, and other officials of the Trade Federation, as he stepped down from the ramp and took a breath of air.

"Aaah" Nayron said with a mocking smile. "Victory."

A neimoidian senior officer, followed by a contigent of droids and soldiers, walked up to Nayron and offered the count a salute. "Sir, we have secured the city and captured the queen."

"Very good, colonel" Nayron nodded. "Where is Captain Grievous?"

"Wounded, sir" the colonel informed. "I believe he lost an arm during the fighting, and is currently being treated by a medical team."

"I want to speak with him as soon as he is able" Nayron instructed before moving on, eager to gloat in the face of the naboo queen about her planet surrending to his forces.

XXX XXX

Security-droids pushed open the large doorway leading to the royal palace court, and Count Nayron walked in with determined strides, accompanied by his retinue of officers and officials. Federation troops had secured the entire chamber, holding all the Naboo nobility at gunpoint, while the naboo troops present had been forced on their knees with hands interlocked behind their heads.

Nayron crossed the court and headed straight for the throne at the far end and the young queen, the naboo regent shielded by a line of eight women, all dressed in black gowns with their faces obscured by veils and intricate make-up; not unlike how the queen herself masked her features. They were the Shadow Maidens, orphan girls who had been trained from infancy to serve the monarch of Naboo in any way required. Loyal to a fault, disciplined and determined.

"Queen Amidala" Count Nayron said with his most commanding tone of voice. "The Trade Federation gladly embraces this opportunity to negotiate a truce and lasting peace between us. And to secure our lasting friendship, I bring to you a treaty offered to Naboo by Viceroy Gunray himself. A most generous offer indeed" the neimodian lord pointed out, as if it actually was.

"Good count" Amidala said and gained everyones attention, "as I told your ambassador earlier, I can not agree to these terms. I do not believe they are fair, or in the best interest of my people."

Nayron chuckled with amusement and the others in his retinue joined in quickly enough. "Of course the conditions are not fair" Nayron eventually said. "You have been conquered, my lady. You have lost a war and you are now facing the demands of the Trade Federation, in its role as victor and conqueror."

Baron Sio could no longer hold his tongue. "This is not a peace-negotiation, this is the theft of an entire planet and its resources!"

Nayron quickly found a response to the accusations. "Please, do not degrade this discussion to theft and resources. Think of your families, your citizens, your future. Sign the treaty and this will all be over, and there will be peace."

Queen Amidala sighed, the situation weighing heavily on her young shoulders. She extended her hand towards Baron Sio and he handed over the datapad containing the proposal offered by the Trade Federation. She looked at it, read it and thought upon it.

"No."

Nayron, having already anticipated his grand victory, was not sure what he actually had heard from the young monarchs lips. "I'm sorry my lady... No?"

Amidala looked at the representatives of the Trade Federation, determination practically glowing in her eyes from the depths of her innermost being. "No, I will not sign this treaty. I will not condemn my people to a life of servitude, exploited by greedy beaurocrats and merchants without scrupels or conscience. I will not surrender Naboo to the Trade Federation. The Republic will liberate us."

"Statistically improbable, your highness" OOM-9 informed, coldly and to the point.

Count Nayron turned to his officers that accompanied him. "Place them all under arrest. The suffering of her people will make the queen change her mind soon enough."

THE PROFITABLE PROVIDER, NABOO ORBIT

The remains of the protocol-droid assigned to The Radiant VII fell to the floor, as it was released from the data-extraction rig. Four service-droids quickly hurried to carry away the torn apart droid, and what was left of it.

"Well?" the neimoidian officer in charge asked. "Anything of worth?"

The interrogation-droid, sitting by the data retrieval and decryption console, studied the screens by its station. "An impressive amount of languages, etiquette, planetary information and information about an incredible number of various dignitaries throughout the Republic and the galaxy."

"Perfect" the neimoidian nodded as she placed her hands on her back. "The dignatary-files should be transmitted to Cato Neimoidia immediately."

"Of course" the interrogation-droid acknowledged.

"Now" the neimoidian said as she walked over to the two last droids to be put through data-extraction. "Which shall we pick next?"

The two remaining astromech-droids turned to look at each other, nervously chirping at oneanother. R4 and the last of The Radiant VII's nine droids assigned to it had for the past few hours witnessed one droid after the other having had its memory-banks, logic-engine and cognitive-core exposed to violent data-spikes and devastating code-breakers. The energy-surges had been so powerful that the droids had burst apart at the joints, lenses had exploded and hatches had blown open.

"The jedi-droid is the prize" the neimoidian said and grinned. "We shall save it for last."

Security-droids moved in and forced the last of the republic vessels astromechs towards the data-extraction rig, the tiny droid whistling and beeping from sheer panic. Soon enough, it was hooked up and secured in place with cables and maglocks. The chambers main screen depicted a rough outline of the droid and the prime functions of its motivator unit.

The female neimoidian simply nodded as she studied the rudimentary data provided so far. "Well now, R3-K1... Let's see what you can provide us with. Begin."

R4 was illuminated by the violent flashes of static lightning caused by the process of braking through the system-integrity matrix of R3-K1, the republic astromech-droid screaming a high-pitched noise as its internal hardware and software was exposed to the unforgiving process of data-extraction.

CITY OF THEED

"Impressive work, count" the holographic image of Viceroy Gunray said in the neimoidian language and applauded. "Most impressive. I never doubted you, cousin. In time, you may very well become viceroy yourself."

"Thank you, my lord. Your praise is, as always, more than enough reward."

The viceroy chuckled. "Then perhaps you have no need of the contract, concerning the distribution of Naboos resources?"

Nayron smiled at the comment. "It does have it's benefits, cousin."

The two of them chuckled in unison.

"Make sure the queen signs the treaty. Until then, Count Nayron."

"Mylord."

The transmission with Cato Neimoidia ended and Nayron, Lo-Ama-Foyor and the other senior officers of the Trade Federation in charge of the invasion of Naboo, were now alone in the court of House Amidalas impressive palace.

"Pockets of resistance still linger" the cerean count said, "but are being rounded up in good order. The entire planet will be secure in a matter of days."

"The blockade no longer fills a purpose" a human economy-officer said, "our vessels are returning to their normal duties; allready seven ships have departed. All according to plan."

Kekkol, the smug pacithhip, slowly rubbed his belly in an odd display of pride and of being too pleased with the current situation. "All spice-production has been secured and the facilities remain intact. My forces performed in accordance with my exceptional instructions, and not a single crate of spice has been lost. As a matter of fact, Naboo spice is already being loaded onto our ships."

"Good work everyone" Nayron smiled and nodded. "Tonight we shall hold a banquette to celebrate our impressive victory here, and rejoice in our flawless efforts."

"Far from flawless, count."

Everyone turned to the far doorway from where the voice that had interrupted them originated. Entering the court was none other than Captain Sheelal Grievous, accompanied by Gormbacc the Wookie and a small retinue of hardened mercenaries. Grievous wounded arm now replaced by a cybernetic one.

Grievous flung his cloak, now burned and torn from combat, over his shoulder in his usual fashion, as he crossed the great court to join the Trade Federation officials. "You still have several loose ends that needs to be dealt with, immediately."

Nayron was not clueless to the situation. "The jedi will not escape us. We have a plan to undermine their efforts. The Senate will work in our favor."

Grievous simply grunted, not trusting politicans or their cloak and dagger mentality. "And what of the queens sister?"

"What of her?" Count Lo-Ama-Foyor wondered, a frown on his face to show his disgust of mercenaries in general.

Gormbacc was the one to answer with a growl, translated by a Federation protocol-droid. "The wookie points out that by hurting the queens sister, the queen will be motivated into signing the treaty" the protocol-droid explained.

Grievous nodded. "Gormbacc is correct. The queens sister is key to ensure total success."

OOM-9 took a step forward. "The queens sister is of no consequence. We have the means of making the queen act as we require. She will brake."

Kekkol grinned confidently. "I do believe our command-droid has a plan already calculated for our young, stubborn queen."

Captain Grievous frowned. "And if the queen would rather die than sign your treaty? What then? However, I find it unlikely that she would sacrifice her own sister."

Nayron was next to voice his thoughts on the matter. "We have their mother. Is that not enough? Surely it would provide us with the same opportunity?"

But Grievous was not so certain. "I would not risk it."

Lo-Ama-Foyor sneered. "Then go find this sister" the cerean grunted. "Take your guns-for-hire and run off into the woods and track her down. You have my blessing, captain."

Nayron nodded. "It could not hurt, I suppose. Captain, you have my permission to retrieve the girl."

Grievous let out a low growl. "At once, count."

The mercenaries left the court immediately, wasting no time as they followed behind Grievous as he walked off with determined strides.