Chapter 7 - Rescue
Sabé was silent as she, the handmaidens, guards, and Governor Bibble were escorted by the droids and Viceroy Nute Gunray down the palace staircase that led to the main atrium. She and Padmé had agreed beforehand she would remain aloof and as silent as possible to avoid provoking the Neimoidian. But Governor Bibble obviously wasn't thinking clearly because he was harshly questioning the Viceroy.
"How will you explain this invasion to the Senate?" Bibble spat out.
"The Queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize my occupation here," the Viceroy said calmly, as if he invaded peaceful nations every day. "I have assurances it will be ratified by the Senate."
Damn it. Now Sabé had to respond. "I will not cooperate," Her tone was firm, but not antagonizing as Bibble's had been. She kept her chin up and her eyes forward, not giving the Neimoidian the satisfaction of looking at him.
"Now, now, Your Highness," said the Viceroy in a condescending tone. It was obvious he thought of her as a little child. "In time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view."
Exactly what Padmé was afraid of. Sabé stayed silent.
"Commander," Gunray turned to a droid. "Process them."
Well, that didn't sound good.
"Captain, take them to Camp 4."
"Roger, roger."
Sabé and her group were nudged forward by their droid escort. They were led down the main palace steps and into the streets. Fury arose in Sabé as she watched the citizens of Theed being herded by droids, but there was nothing she could do to help them at the moment.
They turned onto a secluded road and Sabé wondered if they could overpower the droids. There were no other droids in the immediate area that could back them up. Sabé held her hand out at the edge of her skirts and prepared to give the signal to the handmaidens to blast the droids apart.
But before she could, two brown blurs dropped from the balcony above them and used bright beams of blue and green to swiftly cut down the droids. They were Jedi, Sabé thought, momentarily stunned. And a Gungan, she added, as she watched the creature flip ungracefully onto an unsuspecting droid. The elder Jedi used his green lightsaber to cut down a few droids before he holstered his weapon and used the Force to send two droids crashing into a wall. He looked rather familiar. The younger Jedi was flashier with his movements, Sabé noted, but he was just as efficient at dispatching the droids.
"We should leave the streets, Your Highness," The older, long-haired Jedi said, gesturing to a nearby alley.
Governor Bibble took Sabé's arm and gently guided her in that direction. Captain Panaka directed the guards to grab the fallen droid's weapons. The group ducked into the shaded alley.
"We're ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor," said the older Jedi.
"Your negotiations seem to have failed, ambassador," Bibble said, glaring at the man.
"The negotiations never took place," The Jedi calmly replied. "It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."
"They've knocked out all our communications," Panaka shook his head.
The Jedi considered this. "Do you have transports?"
Panaka nodded. "In the main hangar, this way."
The group weaved through the streets, avoiding the droid army until they made it to the main hangar where their starships were kept.
"There are too many of them," Panaka said, peering into the hangar filled with battle droids and captured pilots.
"It won't be a problem," The elder Jedi assured him. He turned to Sabé. "Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come with us to Coruscant."
Like hell she was going to leave Naboo to the mercy of the Trade Federation. "Thank you, ambassador, but my place is with my people."
"They will kill you if you stay," he replied bluntly.
Well that got serious quickly. Sabé wondered, would the Trade Federation really try to kill the Queen of Naboo if they couldn't get what they wanted from her?
"They wouldn't dare," Bibble said forcibly.
"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal," Panaka's eyebrows rose incredulously at the Jedi's brash words. "They can't afford to kill her."
"There's something else behind all this. There's no logic in the Federation's move here," the Jedi reasoned. "My feelings tell me they will destroy you."
He had a point, Sabé thought. This invasion was a bold move for the Trade Federation and completely out of character. There was no telling what they might resort to in order to attain what they wanted.
"Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us," Bibble directed at Sabé. "Senator Palpatine will need your help."
He was right too. The Senate wouldn't realize the gravity of Naboo's situation without the Queen to corroborate the story. But this wasn't her decision, it was Padmé's.
"Either choice presents great danger," Sabé said, looking back over her left shoulder where Padmé was. She directed her gaze down at Padmé's hands, awaiting a signal. "To us all."
"We are brave, Your Highness," Padmé responded softly. Her right hand gave a quick signal, unseen by the Jedi, who were to Sabé's right.
Go to Coruscant.
"If you are to leave, Your Highness, it must be now," urged the elder Jedi.
Sabé raised her chin high and responded strongly. "Then I will plead our case to the Senate."
Sabé moved forward to follow the Jedi into the hangar. "Be careful, Governor," she said to Bibble, who looked on sadly.
Bibble had better protect the people of Naboo in the time they were gone. Her worried thoughts went to Saché and her other fellow handmaidens who would be left behind on Naboo. She consoled herself, reasoning they were strong women who could take care of themselves.
"We'll need to free those pilots," Panaka said, pointing at the pilots who were being held hostage.
"I'll deal with that," The younger Jedi subtly headed over to the group.
Sabé refocused her attention and stayed behind the elder Jedi as he made his way to the Queen's J-class Nubian and was bid to stop by a droid commander.
"Halt," It demanded.
"I'm an ambassador to the Supreme Chancellor and I'm taking these people to Coruscant."
Damn. That was some confidence the Jedi had. Sabé was amused. The droid must be so confused.
"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked, bemused.
"To Coruscant," the Jedi repeated.
"Coruscant, uh… that doesn't compute. Uh, wait, uh… you're under arrest!"
The Jedi's green lightsaber swung out and sliced the droid in half. Sabé didn't wait to see more and quickly swept into the starship, followed by Padmé, Starré, Voraté, Rabé, and the guards. She made her way to the ship's throne room and strapped herself in as the handmaidens did the same. Feet pounded up the ramp and then the ship rumbled and vibrated as it took off. Sabé clutched the throne's arms as the ship shot out of the hangar. It's been some time since she last flew in a starship.
Sabé was just starting to relax when the ship jerked and groaned. They were being shot at! The Trade Federation really didn't want anyone to get past their blockade.
"I hope we have a good pilot," Sabé said grimly as the starship twisted and turned.
"Me too," Voraté muttered.
Rabé had her eyes closed and looked mildly sick as she clung to her seat with both hands.
The ship continued to jerk about and Sabé's muscles screamed as she fought the turbulence to keep herself upright. Then a huge explosion rocked the ship and alarms sounded.
"The shield generator was hit!" Voraté yelled. Blasts continued to rock the ship. "Damn it! Doesn't this pilot know how to avoid blasts? We're sitting ducks without a shield!" Voraté hung on as another blast rocked the ship.
"Ahhhh!" Sabé yelled as another blast nearly threw her out of her seat, despite the seat belt restraints. "Voraté, go fly the kriffing ship!" She ignored Rabé's grumbling complaints about her cursing.
"With pleasure!" Voraté bolted out of her seat, racing for the cockpit.
-oOoOoOo-
Obi-wan held onto the railing in the cockpit as yet another blast jarred the ship, amplified and causing damage without the shield generator. The last hit had jolted the pilot out of his seat and he'd cracked his head against the console. Qui-Gon was kneeling next to him and checking his vitals as a younger pilot tried to take command of the vessel.
Astromech droids were repairing the damaged shield generators as quickly as possible, but they were being taken out by the Trade Federation cannons. The young pilot was staring at the holoscreen, freaking out about how fast they were losing droids as the cannons hit them over and over again. Obi-wan controlled his anger; it wouldn't do to throttle the pilot for losing his cool. That would be hypocritical.
The cockpit doors hissed open and a handmaiden raced in.
"Move, pilot, by order of the Queen," she commanded, tugging on the man's arm.
"Not now, little girl," the pilot said dismissively and a little more than panicked.
The girl removed her hood and grabbed the pilot's opposite arm and the back of his neck. With surprising strength, she forcibly dragged him from the seat and dumped him onto the floor. She took the chair and inputted evasive maneuvers. The ship twisted and turned, creating an even more turbulent atmosphere, but succeeded in evading the blasts. She was good, Obi-wan admitted to himself, but even she couldn't evade the Trade Federation's cannons forever without shields. Then the alarm bells stopped ringing.
The handmaiden exclaimed, "The shield generator is back online! Deflector shields up at maximum," She pressed some buttons on the console to reinitialize the shields and punched the accelerator. They zoomed past the blockade, leaving it far behind them.
The handmaiden rose and turned to the pilot, unaffected by the stares and glares she was receiving. The girl couldn't be more than twelve years old! "I trust you can take it from here, pilot, until your uncle recovers."
"Yes," the pilot grumbled, looking away.
The handmaiden didn't move, staring up at the man.
"I mean, yes, my lady," the pilot corrected himself, bowing to the girl before taking the helm again.
The handmaiden glanced around, meeting the gazes of the Jedi and Captain Panaka with her piercing blue eyes, before calmly raising her hood and strolling out the door. Silence descended on the cockpit, the men stunned at what had just occurred.
"Damage report," Qui-Gon inquired of the pilot, who was busy pretending he hadn't been manhandled and outperformed by a young girl.
"There's not enough power to get us to Coruscant," he said, checking the ship's instruments. "The hyperdrive is leaking."
Obi-wan sat down at a station and started pulling up data on the sectors and nearby habitable planets.
"We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship," Qui-Gon calmly stated.
"Here, master," Obi-wan said, having found the only option in the ship's databanks. "Jatheia, in the Far Xandil Sector. It's small and out of the Trade Federation's reach."
"You can't take Her Royal Highness there!" Captain Panaka said, outraged. "That's the homeworld of the Mercenary Collective! It would be suicide."
"There is no bounty on the Queen's head yet," Qui-Gon reassured the man. "If we are quick and stay below the radar, we will be gone long before anyone knows we were there."
Obi-wan agreed with Qui-Gon's logic, but that was a huge assumption on his part. Landing on the Mercenary Collective's homeworld was an extremely foolish venture, but they were left with very few options. With a leaking hyperdrive, they wouldn't make it very far.
"Let's go tell the Queen," Obi-wan said. She was going to think they were crazy.
A/N: The decoy ruse is working and little Voraté shows she's more than she appears to be, but the starship is still damaged. Where can they go to make repairs?