Nathrrya stood, arms folded across her chest, looking out the window of the conference room of the Trade Federation Battleship, the Saak'ak. Behind her, the two Jedi talked quietly. The starship mechanic in her didn't like what she saw as she'd spent the best part of six years maintaining and modifying her Fury; to her the round doughnut shaped ships weren't worthy to be called warships; they looked more like poorly converted cargo ships.

The irony was that had Nathrrya's force abilities not manifested when they had, she would seriously be considering training as a starship mechanic and engineer. That's what had lead her to practically rebuild her Fury from the inside out as time and money allowed. Outwardly the Violet Rose looked like any other Fury-class ship, if you ignored the violet hue of the normally grey hull. The internal layout was completely different however as herself, Vette, Quinn and Jaesa were the only ones to call the Rose home. She had set about totally reorganising the internal space to better suite their needs. She was very pleased with the result and it made her wonder what had become of her beloved Rose; she supposed she'd never find out.

"I'm still having trouble getting used to the idea that we're working with a Sith." Obi-Wan observed dryly as he looked across the large table to where the Sith in question stood silently looking out the window.

Qui-Gon chuckled "How do you think I feel, Padawan?" he asked "Nathrrya simply doesn't act like any Sith that I am familiar with. I do not know how to react to her."

"Yes, she's flirtatious, playful and fun." Obi-Wan replied with a grin remembering how irreverent she had been acting on the diplomatic ship, now she was acting the calm and serious Jedi or should that be Sith? "Not things you would normally associate with the Sith. This mission will not be boring with her around."

"Indeed, my Padawan. Nathrrya has shattered our perceptions of the Sith and will force us to rethink all we thought we knew. True, the Jedi haven't seen the Sith in almost a thousand years and she comes from a time long before that." Qui-Gon said.

Nathrrya turned to face the Jedi "Done talking about me behind my back yet you two?" she asked a slight smile gracing her lips, a twinkle in her eyes.

"How did...?" Obi-Wan began.

"If you hadn't been I'd be shocked." She replied as a comfortable silence settled over the room.


On the bridge of the Saak'ak stood the Trade Viceroy, Nute Gunray and his lieutenant Daultray Dofine looking stunned and somewhat worried at the news that the protocol droid TC-14 had brought.

"What?!" Nute asked his voice shaking slightly, "What did you say?"

"The Ambassadors are Jedi Knights, I believe." TC-14 replied "There are three of them, two men and a woman. A Master, a Knight and a Padawan I would say."

"I knew it! They were sent to force a settlement, the games up! Blind me, we're done for!" cried Dofine alarmed by the turn of events.

"Stay calm Daultray, I'll wager the Senate isn't aware of the Supreme Chancellor's move here. Go. Distract them until I can contact Lord Sidious." Nute pointed to the door of the bridge.

"Are you brain-dead, sir? I'm not going in there with three Jedi! Send the droid!" Dofine said as he turned to TC-14, who let out a squeaky sigh.


"I have a bad feeling about this." Obi-Wan remarked at last.

"I don't sense anything." Qui-Gon replied as they looked out the window to the planet of Naboo below.

The Padawan considered his words "It's not about the mission, Master, it's something...elsewhere...elusive."

"Don't centre on your anxiety, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs." Qui-Gon lightly admonished.

Obi-Wan frowned "Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future..."

"...but not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan." Qui-Gon tried to explain yet again.

The third member of the group chuckled "You're both right." Nathrrya said slightly amused. "That elusive presence you can sense Obi-Wan is undoubtedly Sidious. I'm more aware of him being what I am." The Sith turned her head to look at the Jedi Padawan "The fact you can sense him at all is impressive. But your Master is right we have to be aware of what's happening right here, right now."

Obi-Wan grinned at Nathrrya "Yes, Master." He said with humour bowing slightly. The Sith simply shook her head and grinned in return.

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow "Did you just call the Sith, friend, Master?" he asked mildly.

"Yes, I believe that I did, Master." Obi-Wan replied with a smirk "How do you think the Trade Viceroy will deal with the Chancellor's demands?"

Qui-Gon shook his head in exasperation "These Federation types are cowards. The negotiations will be short."

The Sith snorted "And because they're cowards it makes them all the easier to manipulate. The Trade Federation wouldn't do something this brazen unless they were sure they could get away with it." Nathrrya turned to the two Jedi "Which means Sidious is helping them, for what possible reason I don't know. But mark my words, Sidious is behind all this." She gestured out the window to where the rest of the blockade fleet could be seen.

All three Force-users turned towards the door of the conference room as it slid open to reveal the TC-14 droid carrying a tray of drinks and food which it placed on the table in the middle of the room.

"Is it their nature to make us wait this long?" asked Obi-Wan as he got himself a drink.

Qui-Gon shook his head "No. I sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as this dispute." He said picking up a drink for himself.

"Sith Lords tend to have that effect on people." Nathrrya observed dryly, sipping her own drink. "Can't possibly imagine why."


On the bridge of the Saak'ak, Nute Gunray, Daultray Dofine, and Rune Haako stood before the hologram of Darth Sidious, a robed figure whose face was obscured by a hood.

"This scheme of yours has failed, Lord Sidious. The blockade is finished! We dare not go against the three Jedi." Dofine cried.

"You seem more worried about the Jedi than you are of me, Dofine. I am amused..." the holographic projection of the Sith said in dark amusement "Viceroy!"

Nute, looking very nervous, and with good reason, stepped forward. "Yes, My lord?"

"I don't want that stunted slime in my sight again. Do you understand?" Sidious barked.

"Yes, My Lord!" Nute said as he turned to give Dofine a fierce look but the man was already rushing off the bridge.

"This turns of events is unfortunate." Sidious said getting back to the matter at hand "We must accelerate our plans, Viceroy. Begin landing your troops."

Nute seemed to hastate a moment before he spoke "Ahh, My Lord, is that, even Legal?" he asked.

"I will make it legal." Sidious said leaving no room for argument

"And, the Jedi?" Nute asked fearing the answer.

"The Chancellor should never have brought them into this. Destroy their ship and dispose of them, immediately." The Sith ordered coldly.

"Ye...Yes, My Lord. As you wish." Nute shuttered realising that for the first time he'd made a deal with the devil himself and he was going to collect his due.


In the conference room the three Force-users all looked at each other before going for their weapons, they had all felt a disturbance in the Force as their diplomatic ship was destroyed and the lives of the crew snuffed out in an instant.

"Our ship has been destroyed." Nathrrya grimly stated.

"Master, gas!" Obi-wan cried seeing the green and no doubt toxic gas starting to fill the room.

All three Force-users took a breath and held it. The two Jedi were, as you would expect, very calm about being almost murdered. The Sith on the other hand was anything but, she was thinking of what painful things she could do to Nute Gunray once she got a hold of him.

Nathrrya didn't like it when people tried to kill her and she liked it even less when they were so underhanded and cowardly about it. The Sith's eyes were a fiery yellow which made her two Jedi companions very nervous as they could feel the Dark Side coming off her in waves. Whatever it was she was about to do the Jedi made sure they were out of the line of fire.

Nathrrya raised her left hand and let loose a powerful force push at the conference room door, unfortunately the TC-14 droid was in the way and it was instantly blasted apart. The wave of force energy slammed into the door which held briefly before it was torn to shreds as the sound of tearing metal could be heard. By luck or the will of the force the squad of battle droids that was on the other side of the door fell victim to the flying shrapnel that had been the conference room door.

Without anything to stop them, the three force users made their way to the bridge with a very angry Sith in the lead.


On the bridge, Nute and Rune looked at each other terrified as they had just seen a squad of battle droids turned to scrap. What had scared the two men the most had been the expression on the female Jedi's face, it had promised one thing, retribution.

"What in blazes was going on down there?" Nute asked uncertain.

"Have you ever encountered a Jedi Knight before, sir?" Rune replied as calmly as he could.

"Well, not exactly, but I don't... Seal off the bridge!" Nute cried panicked.

"That won't be enough, sir." Rune said as the bridge doors slammed shut.

"I want destroyer droids up here at once!" Nute ordered growing desperate.

"We will not survive this." Rune noted grimly fear creeping in to his voice.

"Look, the door!" one of the other crew yelled pointing at the bridge door. A lightsabre could be clearly seen cutting through the metal of the door.

"Close the blast doors!" Nute ordered truly terrified at what he was seeing.

A series of massive blast doors sealed shut but this only served to slow the Jedi down as soon a red molten spot appeared in the middle of the door.

"They're still coming through..." Rune couldn't or wouldn't believe his eyes.

"Impossible! This is impossible!" Nute whimpered.

"Where are those blasted destroyer droids?!" Rune demanded.


"Master, destroyers!" Obi-Wan yelled on seeing half a dozen of the large wheel droids come rolling into view.

"I'd say this mission is well past the negotiation stage." Nathrrya remarked irony in her voice. "Wouldn't you?" she had calmed down some from earlier but she was still highly annoyed at the whole fiasco.

"Indeed." Qui-Gon replied as they started deflecting blaster bolts back at the six heavy droids. "They have shield generators." He noted a worried tone to his voice. It would make it that much harder to dispose of them. What the Jedi Master would witness next would both awe and scare him.

"We don't have time for this!" the Sith cried her eyes turning yellow. Just like that her improved mood vanished in an instant. Nathrrya reached out with the Dark Side and used a powerful Force Crush to turn all six heavy war droids into scrap, their shield generators exploding in a shower of sparks as the droids themselves were crushed to about half their original size.

"That's one way to deal with them." Obi-Wan remarked, glad that Nathrrya was on their side as from what he'd seen so far, she would make quite a fearsome opponent. "Shall we say hello to the Viceroy?" he asked nodding towards the partly melted bridge door.

Nathrrya contemplated the question "As much as I want to inflict severe pain on Nute Gunray it will have to wait. The Viceroy will just send more destroyers after us." She looked toward the Jedi master. "I want to know why. Why destroy our ship and try to kill us? They're up to something and if I were a betting woman I'd say invasion is their next step. You don't bring a fleet this size just for a blockade."

Qui-Gon nodded his agreement "I think you're right Nathrrya. We can't learn anything more here and we should try to contact Naboo."

With that, the three Force-users disappeared down a passageway before more battle droids could impede their progress.


Nathrrya, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan peered through the large vent cover of the service duct they were in. They were looking into a giant hanger bay and had to be careful not to be seen as thousands of battle droids were being loaded into landing craft.

"Battle droids, thousands of them." Qui-Gon said stating the obvious.

"It's an invasion army." Obi-Wan replied "You were right Nathrrya but it makes no sense."

Qui-Gon nodded "It's an odd play for the Trade Federation. We've got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Valorum."

"Then we better split up. Stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet." Nathrrya said slight amusement in her voice for she did find the entire situation amusing in a very twisted way. Here she was, a Sith indirectly working for the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. The irony!

Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon with an ironic smile "You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations were short."

All three Force-users chuckled at that before they split up to sneak aboard separate landing craft.


Nathrrya ran through an unfamiliar landscape that was part forest and part swampy grassland, she looked back over her shoulder in time to see one of the monstrous droid troop transports, emerging from the mist. The local wildlife had the right idea as they began to run past her in panic.

Time to get a move on, she thought, using the force to enhance her speed. Up ahead of her she could see an odd, frog-like Gungan. From what Qui-Gon had said, they were not seen much as the Gungans kept to themselves; due to some sort of feud with the Naboo humans apparently. So, what in the Force was it doing here?

Jar Jar was foraging for his supper again but after being banished from the main Gungan city he really didn't have much choice. He looked up when he realised that he could hear running footsteps, lots of them. Jar Jar was shocked to see many of the local wildlife and one human female coming towards him but what truly terrified the Gungan was what was behind them. A huge metal thing was rushing towards him and all he could do was stare at it, mouth agape.

"Oh, nooo!" Jar Jar cried panicked just as the human woman passed him. As she did so, he grabbed onto her for dear life. "Hey, help me! Help me!" he begged.

"Let go!" Nathrrya yelled taken completely by surprise. The Sith stilled, her eyes growing bigger and turning yellow at the same time. Had this... Gungan just try to grope her!? Intentional or not Nathrrya was furious and wanted nothing more than to reach out with the Dark Side and snap his neck. However, the oncoming heavy droid transport was more of a concern. Nathrrya let herself go limp and fell backwards into the swampy grassland bringing the Gungan with her, making sure he was on top. He could protect her after what he'd had tried to do! A few moments later the droid transport passed harmlessly overhead. Nathrrya un-ceremonially shoved the Gungan off her and stood up dusting off her robes as best she could as she watched the massive transport disappear into the mist.

Unfortunately, the Gungan wasn't done with her yet as he suddenly engulfed her in a hug and kissed her, much to the Sith's disgust. "Oyi, mooie-mooie! I luv yous!" Jar Jar cried.

Nathrrya, none to gently Force Pushed the Gungan away and he made a very satisfying thud when he hit a nearby tree. Jar Jar slowly stood up, clearly dazed from his collision.

"Are you brainless? You almost got us killed!" The Sith yelled wiping her face as best she could. "I'm going to need to soak in a bath of disinfectant after this is over." Nathrrya muttered darkly.

"I spake." Jar Jar defended himself though he was becoming wary of the human woman.

"The ability to perform what you call speech does not make you intelligent. Now get out of here!" Nathrrya yelled. "Before I do the galaxy a favour and Force-Choke you to death!" her eyes turning yellow as she spoke.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill the natives." Qui-Gon said as he and Obi-Wan arrived.

The Sith turned to face the two Jedi her shoulders sagging in relief "Finally you two decide to show up. Can you take this pathetic life form off my hands before I end up Force-Choking him?" she asked sweetly "Then again the Gungan gene pool might actually improve if I did." The two Jedi weren't totally convinced that she wasn't being serious.

"I thought you were the one who collected pathetic life forms, Master." Obi-Wan remarked with a smile.

Qui-Gon just rolled his eyes. "Now that we're all together, let's get going, before more of those droids show up."

"Mure? Mure did you spake!?" Jar Jar asked panicked as the three Force-users took off at a run with the Gungan trying to keep up and not falling flat on his face.

"Ex-squeeze me, but da moto grande safe place would be Otoh Gunga. Tis where I grew up...Tis safe city." Jar Jar said making everyone stop suddenly.

"A city did you say?" Qui-Gon asked, Jar Jar nodded his head. "Can you take us there?"

The Gungan tried to look as though he was thinking "Ahhh, will...on second taut...no, not willy."

"No?" Qui-Gon asked raising an eyebrow.

"Issa embarrissing, boot... My afraid my've bean banished. My forgoten der Bosses would do terrible tings to my. Terrible tings if my goen back dare." Jar Jar said wringing his hands.

In the distance, they heard the heavy droid transports and other elements of the droid army.

"Do you hear that?" Qui-Gon asked pointing towards the sounds of the droid army. Jar Jar just nodded his head. "That's the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way..." the Jedi Master explained in his most foreboding voice.

Obi-Wan stepped closer to the Gungan. "When they find us, they will crush us, grind us into little pieces, then blast us into oblivion!" the Padawan said in an equally foreboding voice.

Nathrrya was doing her best not to giggle at the entire exchange as she had a hand over her mouth. Who knew Jedi could be so underhanded? It was rather refreshing.

Jar Jar's eyes went wide with horror "Oh! Yousa point is well seen. Dis way! Hurry!" the Gungan said as he promptly turned and went the wrong way almost hitting a tree. He turned and went the right way deeper into the swamp.