Chapter 19
"Dispose of the corpse."
Darth Plagueis stares down at the sorry state of his former apprentice, his head now decapitated from his body, his body being unceremoniously wielded and taken away by the droids. It is only a matter of time before they would discover Sheev Palpatine's state, but the Muun will never be trailed back to it legally speaking despite how the Jedi may do otherwise.
He honestly believed Plagueis would have trusted him to allow him to risk a great power, not after the warnings from Vader that have cautioned him, and that have proven to be an advantage for the Dark Lord of the Sith who had managed to not only countered Sidious's betrayal but managed to finally rise to the Sith throne.
"Such a great disappointment."
He lifts up the head of Sidious, noticing the cold grin that is plastered across his face even in death. For what, the Sith Lord, now unopposed, does not know, but he hardly cares. While he doesn't have any intentions to cross Vader has not yet to proven be a liability and could also kill him should he wish.
For a thousand years, the Sith have laid dormant, hidden among the shadows allowing the Jedi to flourish for a time before decaying in complacency and losing sight of themselves.
The battle against light and dark has been going on for millenniums. The Jedi Order has always thrived in numbers whereas the Sith have lacked it since the war of their massacre, meaning that Plagueis would have to amend that for them to stand any chance against the Jedi Order. While he has little doubt Vader would instantly join him like that - given he is likely building his own Order as of now - the Muun would have to assure that he always is a step ahead of Vader.
Admittedly, unlike Sidious, that would be harder. Vader has no temptations to bring back the rule of two nor become a craving madman who speaks of power and deceptions like his former apprentice. If Plagueis ever chose to fight him against all things, Vader would only be victorious and make short work of him given the power he senses from him is unlike anything from ever before.
He would allow Vader to build his own Order with his Acolytes, mainly for having no other choice but with the Jedi being suspicious and anxious about Vader's next move, this will allow Plagueis to rally up a new Sith Order and begin a new movement. Gaining control of the Republic as of now will be all but an impossibility in the face of Hego Damask.
Truth be told, Plagueis is fatigued of hiding away like a rotten creature. The Jedi Order would not stop him and have him conceal his power any longer. Now is the time for him to come put into the opening, not as Hego Damask but as Darth Plagueis.
Sidious was nothing but a martyr, eventually falling victim to his arrogance in believing that he would be able to match the power of Plagueis, meant to lure out the corruption and form the Empire while Plagueis operates from the shadows and bend others to his control. Palpatine's knowledge of politics has always been commendable as well as his connection to the equally powerful Force that could have even rivaled that of the ancient Emperor in due time.
The Sith Grand Plan has been damaged heavily but not completely destroyed.
Whereas Darth Sidious was destroyed, Darth Plagueis still yet lives and he has plans. First, he would have to collect the Sith Holocrons and learn more from them. At one point, he'd allowed his former apprentice to learn from them, simply because he had trusted Sidious into having the same ambitions. Plagueis have foolishly limited himself, a mistake that would never happen again.
Toying with the head in his hand, Darth Plagueis only feels the slightest lamentation. Not because being forced to kill the boy who he had raised since he was very young and morphed to kill his father and his entire family, but because that Plagueis have wasted so much on this boy who he believed would have been the return of the true Sith. If his plans failed, Sidious would have found the true power that may now as well be lost to him forever, but Bane's ways must have corrupted the boy until he became an enemy.
At the very least, the last line of Bane's Order has finally been eliminated, with Plagueis now able to rise to power without having to worry about those who may disagree with his views on the Sith like Sidious and would act just as explosive.
Plagueis releases the head in his grip before walking away, knowing that it is only a matter of time before questions would be raised about Palpatine's sudden disappearance and that the Jedi and local security eventually would find him.
By now, bystanders have already gathered at the crime scene and it is only a matter of time before they track down the head. Many would mistake it for Jedi who didn't want someone to potentially challenge their abilities, damaging their reputation and its organization which has been standing strong for thousands of years.
The Apprentice has lost but his legacy yet continues. Now, it is up to the Master to stand as powerful, to peer for betrayal despite his teachings. His mistake, his belief that he could have been able to kill his Master by convincing him to become drunk, but a great downfall, but despite how the Sith have lost one of its prized champions, they have also gained an advantage over the Jedi Order which could be exploited in time.
A rotten disease has been planted on not only the Jedi but Palpatine's title as a Sith while only benefiting the ascension of Darth Plagueis: the true Dark Lord of the Sith.
'What a regrettable lost.'
Anakin Skywalker, meanwhile, is caught up in the midst of a dogfight between Naboo and Federation starfighters. Still struggling to get off autopilot, he avoids engagement with the enemy mostly because his craft is flying in an erratic, evasive manner that takes it out of combat range every time it gets too close for comfort. Fighters are exploding all around him, some so close he can see the pieces as they flew past his canopy.
"Whoo, boy, this is tense!" he breathes as he tries switch after switch on the control panel, the fighter dipping and yawing in response to his unwelcome interference with its operation. But he is learning the control panel, too, his trial-and-error exploration yielding knowledge of what various switches, buttons, and levers did. The downside to all this is that the firing triggers to the laser guns had locked, and try as he might, he cannot find a way to break them free.
He glances up from his search at a loud beep from R2-D2 to find a pair of Federation fighters approaching him head-on.
"Artoo, Artoo, get us off-!"
The astromech Droid overrides the rest of what he is going to say with a series of frantic whistles.
"I've got control?" Anakin exclaims in shock.
He seizes the steering, flips on the power feeds, and jams the thruster bars left. To his surprise and everlasting gratitude, the fighter banks sharply in response, and they shot past the fighters and ride into a new swarm of combatants.
"Yes! I've got control!" Anakin is ecstatic. "You did it, Artoo!"
The Astromech Droid beeps at him through the intercom, a short, abrupt exchange.
Anakin's eyebrows shot up as he read the display. "Go back to Naboo? Forget it! Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit, and that's what I'm gonna do! Now, hang on!"
His enthusiasm overrides his good sense, and he whips his fighter toward the center of the battle. All of his flying instincts kick in, and he is back in the Podraces on Tatooine, a part of his ship, lock in on the intoxicating challenge of winning. Forgotten is his promise to look after Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Padmé; they are too far away for him to think about them now. All that matters is that he finds his way into space, takes command of a starfighter, and is given a chance to live his dream.
An enemy fighter drifts into his sights ahead, warning. "Sit tight, Artoo. I'm gonna blast this guy."
He brings his ship into firing position behind the Trade Federation craft, remembering belatedly that the triggers to his laser guns are locked. Frantically, he searches for the release.
"Which one, Artoo?" he shouts into his helmet. "How do I fire this thing?"
R2-D2 beeps wildly.
"Which one? This one?"
He punches the button the astromech droid indicates, but instead of releasing the firing mechanism, it accelerates the fighter right past the enemy ship.
"Whoa!" Anakin gasps in dismay, noting with a grand of salt that now the Trade Federation fighter is on his tail, maneuvering into firing position against him, forcing him to yank hard on the steering, shooting past the massive Federation battleship, screaming out into the void in a series of evasive actions.
"That wasn't the release!" the boy screams into his intercom. "That was the overdrive!"
R2-D2 whistle a sheepish reply. The enemy fighter is behind them again and closing. Anakin banks his ship hard to the right and brings it back toward the blockade and the swarming fighters. Wrenching the stabilizers in opposite directions, he begins to spin his fighter like a top.
R2-D2 shrieks in despair.
"I know we're in trouble!" Anakin shrieks back. "Just hang on! The way out of this mess is the way we got into it!"
He streaks toward the control station, taking the enemy fighter with him. Laser blasts rip past him, barely missing. He waits for a second longer, until he is so close to the battleship that the emblem of the Trade Federation paint on the bridgework looms like a wall, then engages the reverse thrusters and banks right again.
His fighter nearly stalls, dropping away like a stone for a heart-wrenching moment before stabilizing. The enemy fighter, on the other hand, has no time to respond to the maneuver and rockets past him into the side of the battleship, exploding in a shower of fire and metal parts.
Reengaging the forward thrusters, Anakin wheels the ship about, searching for new enemies. Through his canopy, he sees a handful of Naboo starfighters engaging in attacking the Trade Federation flagship.
Ric Olie's voice comes over the intercom. "Bravo Three! Go for the central bridge!"
"Copy, Bravo Leader," comes the response.
A squad of four fighters plummets toward the battleship, lasers firing, but the big ship's deflector shields turn the attack aside effortlessly. Two of the fighters are hit by cannon fire and explode into ash. The remaining two break off the attack.
"Their shields are too strong!" one of the surviving pilots shouts angrily. "We'll never get through!"
Anakin, in the meantime, is under attack once more. Another Federation fighter finds him and is giving chase. The boy jams the thruster bars forward and speeds down the hull of the flagship, twisting and turning through its channels and around its tangle of protrusions, laser fire ricocheting past in a constant stream.
"I know this isn't Podracing!" Anakin snaps at R2-D2, as the astromech droid beeps reprovingly at him. But in his heart, it feels as if it is. A fierce glee rushes through him as he whips the Naboo fighter along the length of the battleship. The speed and the quickness of the battle feed into him in a rush of adrenaline. He would not have been anywhere else in the world!
But this time his luck run out. As he nears the ship's tail, a laser blast strikes his fighter with a solid blow, knocking it into a stomach-lurching spin. R2-D2 screams anew, and Anakin fight desperately to regain control.
"Great gobs of bantha poodoo!" the boy hisses, fighting to stabilize his stricken craft.
He is hurtling directly toward the hull, and he pulls back on the thruster bars, cutting power and drifting into a long slide. He regains control too late to turn back and points the ship toward a giant opening at the battleship's center. Cannon fire whips all about him as the droids controlling the flagship's guns try to bring him down, but he is past them in a microsecond, rocketing into the battleship's cavernous main hangar. Reverse thrusters on full power, dodging transports, tanks, fighters, and stacks of supplies, he struggles to keep his fighter airborne as he looks for a place to land.
R2-D2 is beeping wildly. "I'm trying to stop!" Anakin shouts in reply. "Whoa! Whoa! I'm trying!"
The Naboo fighter strikes the decking and bounces, reverse thrusters powering up to stop the craft. A bulkhead looms ahead, blocking the way. Anakin brings the fighter down on the decking with a bone-jarring thud and holds it there, skidding down the rampway in a screech of metal. The fighter slows and does a half-turn and comes to an unsteady halt. The power drive stalls and then fails completely.
R2-D2 whistle in relief.
"All right, all right!" Anakin gasps, nodding to himself. "We're down. Let's get the engines started again and get out of here!"
He ducks down to adjust the feeders to the fuel lines, checking the control panel indicators worriedly. "Lights are all red, Artoo. Everything's overheated."
He is working on the coolants when R2-D2 beep suddenly in a warning. The boy pops his head over the edge of the cockpit and looks out into the hangar.
"Oh, oh," he mutters softly.
Dozens of battle droids are approaching across the hangar floor, weapons raised menacingly. Their only escape route is blocked.
Nute Gunray stands with Rune Haako and four members of the Trade Federation Occupation Council as the man who came to be known as Vader is meditating on all things. Humans have always been unnatural to the Viceroy of the Trade Federation but the fact that the man is meditating when his battle droids can match in here any time and kill them all. Though, that possibility is extremely unlikely especially given the fact that the man can still be listening.
He catches himself in surprise. It is the Queen, without her makeup and ornate robes, stripped of her symbols of office and now wearing a uniform of a guard of all things. She looks even younger than she did in ceremonial garb, but her eyes and that cold gaze are unmistakable.
He glances at Rune Haako and sees the same confusion mirrored in his associate's face.
"Your Highness," he greets her as she walks up to him. "I have to admit that I never knew you were the fighter."
"Viceroy," she replies, confirming his conclusion as to her identity. "Your droid forces are compromised and your entire fleet would soon follow. Please make it easier for us and surrender now."
The Viceroy chuckles despite how much the situation appears to be at a lost now. "Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness. The rabble army you sent against us south of the city has been crushed and those in the palace would soon follow. The Jedi are being dealt with elsewhere. And you are my captive despite how you are wielding a blaster currently."
"Am I?" she asks quietly.
The way she speaks the words is unnerving. There is something challenging in the way she says them as if she is daring him to disagree.
"Yes, you are." He presses ahead, wondering suddenly if he misses something. His face lifts. "It is time for you to put an end to the pointless debate you instigated in the Republic Senate. Sign the treaty now."
"Your occupation here is over," the other taller lady growls, snapping her blaster up and coming to the side of her fellow lady. "You would surrender or we would die."
For a moment Nute Gunray is stunned he cannot make himself move. He is awed by the white similarity between the Queen and the lady alongside her.
Rune Haako is also bemused. What if he has been talking to a decoy the whole time?
They didn't have long to dwell.
The battle droids enter and aim their blasters all around them, appearing as if they are about to shoot. The Viceroy grins, feeling the swell of victory rising as well as given the Jedi doesn't appear to notice his droids.
Now, it is the time to deal with the insolent Jedi and Naboo would be in their hands.
"Kill the Jedi!" Gunray growls, knowing that this one would pose quite a challenge as he has wiped out an entire droid battalion and other platoons.
The droids register their orders before pointing their blasters at the meditating form of the meditating man. Vader stands back up to his leg and begins dispatching the droids, swerving through their forces in seconds, and chopping down the other's heads clear off.
He is cutting furiously through metal after metal before returning to a figure in the shadows, the lightsaber whooshing off with a snap-hiss. Shadows appear to wrap around him, illuminating him in darkness for all to see. What has once been a meditating man is nothing more than a silhouette of the form, the lightsaber hilt grasps tightly in the masked man's grip, ostensibly disappearing though it is crystal clear that the shadow is still there.
"Like the Queen said," Vader announces, walking up to the Viceroy and glaring at him with such power behind his stare, "your occupation here has ended. Your forces have been overwhelmed, and you are impossibly outnumbered."
"This changes nothing!" Gunray growls. "There are too few of you. It won't be long before hundreds of destroyer droids break in here to rescue us."
Even before he finishes, there is the sound of heavy wheels in the entryway, then of metal bodies unfolding. The Viceroy permits himself a satisfied smile. "You see, Your Highness? Rescue is already at hand."
Droidekas enter and fire at them when the Jedi simply flicks his hand, raising them into the air and crushing them into pieces. The sounds of their explosions only further the doubt within the Viceroy's heart but he is not willing to surrender. Sidious would have his head if Gunray proves to be a failure and he would have to stand trial which is something that is not going to happen.
"Your reinforcements have been disabled, Viceroy," the Jedi taunts. He seizes him with his gloved hand, not killing him but intimidating him and restraining him. "You have lost. You will agree to the bargains of the Queen. You will confess your crimes to the Senate or," he leans in, whispering to the point where others in the room can barely register what he's saying, "I will kill you. Am I understood?"
For the first time, Nute Gunray is genuinely terrified. Jedi are conjectured to be peacekeepers and ones who would defend all life instead of threatening or claiming them. The way of the Jedi is supposedly the way of wisdom and patience, backed by swift and decisive action when necessary. Yet, now, he is seeing one who is the opposite of everything that had been claimed by those across the galaxy. And if he is a Sith, why would he be helping the Naboo? Darth Sidious had reasoned that the Sith is on the side of the Trade Federation, but unless he had been betrayed; that means this one must be rebelling from the Jedi and Sith.
He didn't have long to dwell as the Queen's impassive face is in his sight next, her stern face not lessening, not even slightly.
"Please, Vader, I would prefer him alive." Despite this, Vader didn't listen, bringing him closer to him, his crimson orbs sending deep fear through the heart of the Neimoidian. While she is intent in sparing him, the Queen's hard look didn't cease. "We will negotiate a new treaty, Viceroy. And you will sign it."
And suddenly, a new treaty sounds smarter.
When Anakin Skywalker gets a look at the number of battle droids surrounding his starfighter, he ducks back out of sight again at once. If it has been at all possible, he would have vanished into the ship's fuselage and willed them both right through the hangar floor to a safer haven.
"This is not good," he tells himself softly.
Sweat beads on his forehead as he tries to decide what to do. He is just a boy, but he has experience with being in tight places and has a cool head when it comes to dealing with trouble.
'Find a way out of this!' he admonishes himself.
A quick glance at the main and sub-level control panels reveals that all the indicator lights are still red. No help there.
"Artoo," he whispers. "The systems are still overheated. Can you do something?"
Footsteps approach and a metallic droid voice demand, "Where is your pilot?"
R2-D2 beeps bravely in reply.
"You are the pilot?"
The Astromech Droid whistles affirmatively.
There is a confused pause.
"Show me your identification," the Battle Droid commands, reverting to rate.
Anakin hears the sound of switches clicking and circuits kicking in. R2-D2 is still trying to save them. Good old Artoo. The astromech droid beeps softly at Anakin, and the boy sees the system's lights change abruptly from red to green.
"Yes, Artoo!" he hisses in relief. "We're up and running!"
He throws the ignition switches, and the fighter's engines roar to life. Swiftly, he leaps from hiding and takes his place in the pilot's seat, hands reaching for the steering.
The Droid Commander sees him now and brings up its weapon. "Leave the cockpit immediately or we will disable your craft!"
"Not if I can help it!" the boy throws back, reaching for the deflectors. "Shields up!"
Hauling back on the steering, he releases the antigrav lifts. The starfighter rises from the hangar floor, throwing off the Droid Commander, and sending him sprawling in a crumpled heap. The droids under his command begin firing their blasters, the laser beams ricocheting off the fighter's deflectors, angling away in a tangle of bright streamers.
R2-D2 beep wildly.
"The gun locks are off!" Anakin exclaims with a joyful shout. "Now we'll show them!"
He punches in the firing buttons and holds them down, rotating the fighter clockwise above the hangar floor. Laser beams rocket in a pinwheel pattern, scything into the unprotected battle droids, disabling them before they can even think to flee. Anakin is howling with glee, caught up in the exhilaration of finding himself back in control. Lasers firing, he sweeps the hangar floor clean of droids, watching those still distant rush for cover, watching ships and supplies fly apart as the deadly beams cut through them.
Then something moves at the end of a long corridor, no more than a shadow, and deep inside, his instincts kick into high gear, shrieking at him in a frenzy of need. He doesn't know if what he is seeing is a weapon or a machine or something else, and it doesn't matter. He is back in the Podraces, locked in battle with Sebulba, and he can see what no one else can, what is hidden from all others. He reacts without thinking, responding to a voice that spoke to him alone, that whispers always of the future while warding him in the present.
Acting of its own accord, faster than thought, his hand leaves the laser firing buttons and throws a double-hinged switch to the right. Instantly, a pair of torpedoes speed down the corridor in the direction of the shadow. The torpedoes whip past the battle droids, supply stacks, transports, and everything else, and disappears through a broad vent.
The boy groans. "Darn! Missed everything!"
Giving the matter no further thought, he swings the fighter about swiftly and throws the thruster bars forward. The power drive kicks in with a ferocious roar, and the starfighter shot across the hangar deck, scattered droids in every direction, and catapults back out into space, cannon fire from the battleship chasing after it in a stream of deadly white fire.
"Whoa, this is way better than Podracing!" Anakin Skywalker shouts at R2-D2, grinning broadly as he thrust his Naboo fighter back and forth to throw the gunners off.
The astromech droid is beeping and chirping as if he fries all his circuits, but the boy refuses to listen, rolling and banking the starfighter wildly, angling back toward Naboo and away from the control station.
Then a shocking voice comes over the intercom from another of the fighters. "Bravo Leader, what's happening to the control ship?"
In the next instant, a flash of pulsing light sweeps past him. He glances over his shoulder and sees the battleship he escaped wracked by a series of explosions. Huge chunks tear away from the core, hurtling into space.
"It's blowing up from the inside!" the voice on the intercom exclaims.
"Wasn't us, Bravo Two," Ric Olie replies quickly. "We never hit it."
The battleship continues to break apart, the explosions tearing through it, shattering it, engulfing it, and finally consuming it all together in a brilliant ball of light.
Debris flies past the canopy of Anakin's fighter, and the light of the explosions faded to black.
"Look!" Bravo Two breaks the sudden silence anew. "That's one of ours! Gutta the main hold! Must've been him!"
Anakin cringes. He hopes he might get back to the planet unseen, and avoid having to explain to Vader, Qui-Gon, or his mother what he is doing up here. There is no chance of that now.
R2-D2 beeps reprovingly at him. "I know, I know," he mutters wearily, and wonders just how much trouble he has gotten himself into this time.
Blaster shots hammer outside the door of the throne room in the palace at Theed. The women spread out to either side in a defensive stance, preparing a crossfire for the droids. Nute Gunray wants to move out of range, but his hands are already bound in cuffs that keep him there, or else he may be mowed down. So, he stands there with the others of the Trade Council, frozen in place.
Then abruptly, everything goes still. All sound of weapons fire and Droid movement beyond the batter throne room doors cease. The Droids appear to fall limp, but the guards make their way through the throne room where they see that their Queen and her servants have indeed made it through.
"Ma'am, the droid forces are shut down." Captain Panaka looks at the Queen, his dark face uncertain. "What's going on?"
Amidala, her weapon now holstered with Gunray now in cuffs, shakes her head. "Try communications. Activate the viewscreens."
Her head of security moves quickly to do so. All eyes are on him as he slowly brings the outer screens into focus.
"They all been shut down. Every last one of them." Panaka says, his head along with countless others snapping to Vader. "What did you do?"
"Why, Captain, it was not me but the boy," Vader replies, synthesizer full of amusement and smugness. "He has piloted the starfighters and have led a battalion of pilots who are coming onto the planet as we speak. I have foreseen the child doing such a thing."
"The boy?!" Panaka shoots up. "You put the life of a child in risk knowingly! Why?!"
"Simply because I prefer a challenge," Vader replies nonchalantly. "Furthermore, the brute the Jedi fought would have slayed you all. At this rate, you each should be gratified as you were distracted and so was the beast. He would have mowed you down to the last individual." Truthfully, Vader doesn't know if that is the truth, but it is certainly a great possibility.
Padmé shakes her head with a sigh, glaring at Vader as if promising they would have words later before staring softly at her captain.
"Captain," Padmé states sternly but softly, successfully calming him down.
The glare sends Vader's way by the captain and most of the guards followed by Gunray who is vowing vengeance for how he is treated with such insubordination. Vader is not intimidated. Many of Sidious's inquisitors let alone admirals and the Jedi seconds before their deaths have far more menacing glares.
"You will pay for this. You should have stayed out of the equation. I will hunt you down along with Amidala and her servants. Each of your heads will be on my desk."
"You can try," Vader mocks. "You will fail."
The Battle of Naboo has been won once more but there were slightly more deaths as well as changing events.
Though Vader has to admit that the Naboo did well in no small parts due to the Republic, the man knows that there could have been more lives saved had the Republic recognized the threat for what it is now instead of years later.
To think, two Jedi along with a whole Naboo party were able to pull through victory, only highlighting the ignorance of the Council. The Chancellor has secretly assigned Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to handle the negotiations: the senate is against it. Later on, after the return to Coruscant, they are explicitly assigned as protection for the Queen, but the fact that they helped her get off-world in the first place is glossed over. The Senate has to approve large-scale Jedi operations, and seeing as they are refusing to send any aid at all then it would be a major political incident if the Jedi decided to go anyway.
Clashes between the trade leagues and local powers were actually relatively common at that time - Malastare was invaded by the Corporate Alliance only two years before Naboo, and Valorum similarly helped covertly because the senate refused to act.
Interesting enough, there actually were a few other Jedi on Naboo - teenage Padawans Sia-Lan Wezz and Rann I-Kanu, who had been enrolled for a semester at the prestigious Royal House of Learning before the invasion and who formed the Naboo Underground with fellow students.
Vader has to mentally facepalmed at the stupidity of the Council and the Jedi Order as a whole. They thought it wise to send only two Jedi during this entire battle was what could have caused the pause to end badly. On top of this, the Jedi beneath just couldn't get the survivors to safety and come up here to neutralize Gunray.
How the Jedi Order survived for so long is a mystery.
But at the very least, Vader saved Naboo, and now is time for him to save the rest of the galaxy before that burns in flames.