Chapter 18 - The Battle of Naboo: Part 2
"This is Bravo Leader," Voraté spoke into her headset as she flipped a toggle to engage the stabilizers. "Everyone check in."
She kept her eyes on the space ahead as her fleet radioed in. The console in front of her displayed the location of each of the ships in her fleet and confirmed that there were thirty-four Naboo starfighters, including her and Pilot Ric Olié. A small number of fighters had managed to evade the hangar cannons and escape the planet's surface, but it should be enough to destroy the Lucrehulk-class droid control ship's transmission network. The control ship loomed in the distance, growing larger as Voraté's fleet approached it.
"Listen up!" Voraté said. "We have to incapacitate this control ship and stop its transmissions down to the planet. Queen Amidala and our Gungan allies are relying on us. We cannot fail," Voraté brought the weapons systems online and rested her thumbs lightly on the triggers in preparation for the upcoming fight. "Engage blaster cannons and focus your fire on the antennas and transmission dishes. Only fire your proton torpedoes if you are sure it will penetrate their deflector shield. We have a limited number of chances."
"Roger, Bravo Leader," Multiple voices replied strongly.
Voraté looked to the droid control ship. They were almost within range. Little flecks peeled off the ship and flew towards them.
"Battle droid starfighters, straight ahead!" Voraté yelled, realizing what they were. "Split up and fly around the ship!"
The chorus of 'Roger, Bravo Leader' was drowned out as they engaged the Trade Federation's legion of starfighters.
Voraté tugged and twisted on the joystick, hurtling her starfighter through the enemy fighters, alternating between targeting them and the highly visible antennas on the control ship surface. She weaved in and out of the crevasses of the control ship, trying to confuse the droid starfighters tailing her and cause them to crash into the control ship or each other. Her heart sank when she saw a yellow Naboo starfighter explode from enemy fire, but she doggedly swallowed her sorrow and commanded her fleet to continue its barrage on the droid control ship.
It soon became clear their blaster cannons and even their proton torpedoes were no match for the ship's deflector shields. They'd only managed to destroy non-essential systems, which were nowhere near the transmission systems.
"The deflector shield is too strong! We'll never get through it!" A panicked pilot's voice rang into Voraté's ears.
"It's too strong around the transmission dishes and antennas." Voraté agreed. She glanced at her console and did a double take when saw a Naboo transmission coming from inside the control ship.
"Who managed to get inside the droid control ship?" Voraté demanded, trying not to sound too excited.
Static sounded and no reply was forthcoming.
"Everyone keep firing on the control ship. Coordinate your attacks on the same location. R5?" Voraté spoke to her astromech droid. It beeped a query in response. "Send out my transmission on all frequencies. We need to make contact with the pilot inside the control ship. Keep the comlink with our fleet open but mute my end of the conversation."
R5 beeped and booped in agreement and then squealed as Voraté was forced to enter a spiral turn and then pull up sharply to avoid getting shot by the two droid starfighters who had targeted her. Voraté smirked in triumph as the fighters crashed into each other. R5 chirped, signaling it was ready to send out her message. Voraté cleared her throat before speaking.
"Pilot within the Federation control ship, please respond."
Voraté continued speaking the phrase over and over again as R5 rotated the frequencies, hoping each time the pilot would respond. She was getting ready to try a different tactic when a crackle sounded over the headset.
"Voraté? Is that you?"
"Anakin!" Voraté's grip on the controls slackened and her shock of hearing Anakin's voice almost made her crash into the deflector shield. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be down on Naboo!"
"Yeah, well, I found a hiding place in this starship, like Qui-Gon told me to do. But then these menacing-looking droids showed up and started attacking Padmé and her people, so I tried to help. I pressed a lot of buttons and I finally found the ship's blaster and destroyed the droids, but the ship was on automatic pilot and it took me up to the battle."
"How did you get into the control ship?" Voraté questioned.
"Artoo managed to override the fighter's autopilot controls and I took control. It's just like podracing!"
Voraté had to smile at Anakin's innocent joy.
"My fighter was hit and we went spinning out of control towards a hangar right under the big sphere. We barely managed to avoid colliding with the droid fighters coming out. We crash-landed in what looks like the main hangar. I can't get the ship started back up. Everything's overheated."
Voraté was caught between an odd mix of wanting to shout out in joy and vomit uncontrollably. It was a miracle to have a pilot inside the control ship, but the thought of the danger her friend was in made her feel sick to her stomach. But there was no time for either of those reactions.
"Anakin, listen closely. I want you to look at your surroundings. What do you see?"
"Um, a lot of droids and droid battle cruisers," Anakin supplied. "It's a really big hangar."
"Ok, what else?" Voraté gently encouraged as she vaulted over the side of the toroidal ship and blasted apart some fighters who were targeting her people.
"There's this big metal hourglass-shaped thing down one of the corridors."
Voraté grinned. "That's a reactor unit. And since you flew into a hangar directly below the control ship's core, it must be the main reactor. Anakin, if you can destroy that, the droid army will collapse."
"My ship is overheated though," Anakin fearfully reminded her.
"I'll help you…" Voraté gasped as droid fighters popped up around her and barraged her with a hailstorm of blaster fire. She forced her ship into a steep dive and twisted around up into the inner ring of the ship. R5 highlighted their locations on the targeting scanner so she could return fire.
"Voraté!" Anakin's panicked voice resonated through her headset. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Ani," Voraté tried to calm her breathing after that intense stunt. "It's a little chaotic out here. Have Artoo switch the ship's power to the backup and vent the engines. When a green light starts flashing on the console, tell him to stop venting and immediately switch back to the main power."
"Ok, hang on a second," Anakin's comlink went silent.
Voraté waited with bated breath as the minutes dragged on.
-oOoOoOo-
Sabé charged up the third flight of stairs and fired her blasters at the battle droids guarding the staircase to the throne room floor. They hadn't come across any droids on the first couple of floors, but the Viceroy must have gotten wind they had broken into the palace. There was a contingent of battle droids between them and their destination and they were sending a barrage of blaster fire their way.
"Take cover!" Sabé shouted, dragging Padmé and Rabé with her behind the large pillars decorating the halls. "Return fire!"
"We don't have time for this," Padmé griped, a furrow between her eyebrows.
Sabé continued firing her blasters, trying to think of an alternate route to the throne room. Unfortunately, the nearest secret entrance was in front of them in the droid's territory and they couldn't afford to backtrack, lest they come across another battalion of droids and become trapped. Sabé turned to Padmé to give her the bad news and caught sight of the windows behind her on the other side of the hall.
"The windows," Sabé said, lost in thought as a new idea gripped her.
"What about them?" Rabé dodged a shot as it whistled past her black curls. She returned fire with a vicious expression on her face.
"We can use the grappling hook setting on our blasters and pull ourselves up to the next floor." Sabé didn't wait for a response and called out for the guards near the window to cover their eyes before blasting the window open.
"How are we going to get over there?" Padmé asked, gauging the distance and the rate the battle droids were firing at them. "There are still too many of them."
"She's right," said Starré as she shot a few droids and ducked down. "Even if I… ahhh!" She cried out in pain and clutched at her midsection.
"Mom!" Sabé reached out to her, searching for the wound. "Where were you hit?"
"Nowhere," Starré reassured them as she took in heaving breaths, closing her eyes in concentration. After a few moments, she lifted her hand from her midriff to reveal no wound whatsoever, much to the ladies' bewilderment. "I was saying that even if I used my lightsaber, I won't be able to deflect all their shots."
"Damn," Sabé muttered. "We'll have to…"
The droids ceased fire and the ladies shared confused looks.
"Good job… Sabé?" Rabé asked.
Sabé shook her head. She hadn't done anything.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" called out a high-pitched feminine voice from the droid's side of the hall. "You can't avoid your fate, Queen Amidala."
Sabé peeked around the column. A tall, blonde, green-skinned woman dressed in black was standing amongst the droids. She must be the third Sith warrior her father had warned them about.
"It's the last Sith," Sabé quietly told the ladies.
"I'll take care of her," Starré began to rise, but Sabé tugged her mother back down.
"No, if anyone but the Queen walks out, she'll command the droids to open fire. If this devolves into a firefight again, it'll take us ages to reach the Viceroy," Sabé bit her lip. "I'll have to show myself."
"You can't take that risk," Padmé hissed at her.
"Yes, I can," Sabé retorted though she was touched by Padmé's concern. "This is why I'm the decoy Queen," Sabé hushed the protests Padmé, Rabé, and Starré tried to make. "It'll be a diversion. I'll walk out to distract her and you'll make your way over to the open window. Take Rabé, Panaka, and half the guards and scale the walls. My mother and I will take care of the Sith warrior and the droids."
"I don't think it's wise to split up," Padmé made a last-ditch attempt to reason with Sabé.
"Give up, Amidala," said the Sith woman mockingly. "You need not watch your people be killed needlessly."
Sabé ignored the woman's taunt and gripped Padmé's hand. "As long as they think Queen Amidala is down here, they'll focus all their firepower on this floor and leave the Viceroy vulnerable," Sabé tugged out an extra comlink from her belt and gave it to Padmé. The young Queen had lost hers during a battle on the second floor. "Buzz me if you run into any trouble."
"Sabé…" Padmé whispered, her mouth tight with concern.
"No more discussion. Let's do this," Sabé rose and walked out into the center of the hall, holding both her blasters. She thrust her chin up and addressed the woman haughtily. "Who are you to address me so informally?"
Sabé kept her focus on the green Sith, but she heard Padmé, Rabé, and the guards shuffle past her to the open window. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother had stayed behind the pillar.
"I am Darth Sircoyan," The woman bared her teeth in a wide, triumphant smile. "And you will be nothing more than our puppet queen once you sign the treaty. I will address you as I see fit."
"What makes you think I would ever sign your treaty?" Sabé asked coldly.
The woman pointed behind her. "To save yourself and your people."
Sabé turned her head slightly and saw droidekas rolling up in her peripheral vision. They pointed their weapons at her and the Nubian security officers and volunteers who had stayed behind.
"Like I said, there is no need for violence. End this needless bloodshed and surrender."
The woman waved her arm in a hypnotizing fashion, but it had no effect on Sabé. She did hear one of her fighters start muttering about how surrendering would be the right thing to do before his fellow resistance fighter bonked him on the head. Kriff. Sircoyan was trying to use mind tricks on them! But then Sabé got a brilliant idea. What better way to get close to the woman than to pretend her mind trick worked?
Sabé made a big show of letting doubt flash across her features and looking to her people before letting her blasters fall to the ground. She gestured for her people to stand down while simultaneously moving her hand to her back and signing for her mother to guard the back of their formation against the droidekas.
"I'm glad you agree with my point of view," Sircoyan purred and walked down the steps towards them. "You're making the right decision."
Sabé led her people forward, noticing gladly they had kept a hold of their blasters. She stopped in the middle of the hall, making sure they would be able to duck behind a new set of pillars when the fight resumed. She signaled for them to halt and walked forward the last few steps to come face-to-face with the Sith warrior. As she lowered her hand, she kept it behind her back and quietly unhooked her songsteel quarterstaff.
"You're smaller than I thought you'd be," Sircoyan simpered as she looked down at Sabé's five-foot five-inch figure. She made another wave with her hand. "Follow me. It's about time you signed the treaty."
She turned her back and Sabé chose that moment to strike. She activated her staff to its six-foot length and swung it at the woman's blonde, defenseless head. Sircoyan stiffened and whirled around, meeting the silver staff with a humming red lightsaber.
"It seems I underestimated your ferociousness," The Sith let out a high laugh and threw back her head, making her blonde curls bounce. "I won't make that mistake again."
"You've underestimated the Naboo this entire time," Sabé grinned back. "Don't stop now."
She disengaged and launched into a fight with the Sith. This time around, she actually felt the Force flowing within her and providing her with the energy and insight to defend against the Sith warrior's blows. The women whirled around each other, striking and parrying blows. The air heated as the guards opened fire on the unsuspecting droids, taking them down. Sabé heard the hum of another lightsaber behind her and metal pinging on the floor. Starré was facing the droidekas.
Sabé deflected the blow Sircoyan aimed at her legs and took advantage of the opening she left exposed and drove the blunt point of her staff into the woman's chest. Her green face turned scarlet and she struggled to draw breath.
"You… bitch!" Sircoyan croaked, gasping for air. She recovered quickly and struck again at Sabé, this time aiming for her hands. The woman's cool demeanor disintegrated, her black eyes tinged yellow and shimmering with hatred. "You don't need your hands to sign the treaty! The Senate will accept a verbal acquiescence of Federation control of your puny, insignificant planet!"
Her attacks grew more vicious and powerful. Sabé blocked the ever-increasing frequency of blows, but she knew she couldn't keep it up forever. Her muscles were beginning to tire, her focus was slipping. She may have a vast amount of energy to call upon, but she couldn't concentrate enough to access it. To make matters worse, she was starting to sweat – which meant her face paint would start dripping soon – and her leg was starting to twinge with sharp pains.
"Sabé, focus!" Starré screamed. Her footsteps echoed on the marble floor as she raced towards her.
Sabé shook her head, trying to shake off her fatigue, but it was too late. The Sith warrior took advantage of her slipping concentration and feinted a blow to her side before lunging to the side and chopping her lightsaber at Sabé's hands. Sabé couldn't react to the feint in time and she watched, defenseless, as the red beam landed on her wrists.
A/N: ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ Will Sabé make it through this? Will Anakin be able to restart his starfighter and blow up the control ship?