Chapter 20 - The Battle of Naboo: Part 4
"Kriff!" Sabé screamed as the Sith's lightsaber came down hard onto her wrists.
Unbidden, energy and emotion exploded out of her and everyone around her went flying backward. The windows shattered throughout the hall and droids were obliterated as they smashed into the walls. The fighting halted and the only sounds to be heard were the tinkling of glass shards on the floor, a quarterstaff banging against the ground, and Sabé's enraged yelling.
"Ahhhh! Son of a kriffing f…" Sabé shrieked as she rubbed her hands and wrists vigorously to regain feeling back in them after the beating they'd just sustained. "That hurt!" She screeched in fury and swiped her quarterstaff up from where it lay at her feet.
"How…?" gasped the Sith warrior as she got to her feet, shock etched on her face.
"Songsteel threaded uniform," Sabé held up her gloved hand and hissed as it twinged in discomfort. It must be sprained.
"No, not that," The Sith warrior sprang up and reactivated her lightsaber. "You used the Force. Queen Amidala isn't Force-sensitive, let alone a Force user."
Oops. Sabé winced. Their ruse had been discovered.
"I heard rumors that Nubian royalty employs decoys, but it seems the stories are true. You're not the real Queen," Sircoyan's eyes shone with glee and she pointed her lightsaber at Sabé. "Which means before I track down the real Queen, I can chop off your hands and your head." She advanced on Sabé, twirling her lightsaber in a deadly whirl.
Sabé twitched as movement flared above her head. Her mother leaped over her and landed in front of her in a defensive stance.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Starré said and used the Force to throw the Sith onto her back.
Sabé cursed as a buzz vibrated at her waist. Padmé was in trouble.
"Mom, Padmé needs me," whispered Sabé as she deactivated her staff and put it back on her waist.
"Go help her. Take the main stairs," Starré directed.
Sabé paused as she caught a glint of overwhelming sadness and panic in her mother's eyes.
"Mom? What's wrong?" she asked as a pit settled in her stomach. She could sense something was wrong.
"Later," Starré insisted. A determined look set on her face as Sircoyan screeched with rage and charged at them. "Go aid Padmé. I have something to do after I dispatch this bitch. I'll join you as soon as I can."
Starré watched in disapproval as the unhinged Sith warrior approached before taking out her lightsaber and activating a crimson red beam of energy. Sabé looked at the beam with mild surprise before jumping into action and shouting for her security officers to follow her. They mobilized and charged up the steps after her. Sabé accepted the blaster one of them handed her.
"NO!" Sircoyan hollered.
Sounds of a lightsaber battle commenced and Sabé smiled as she reached the next floor. Sircoyan was no match for her mother. Starré Rhydater had been a Jedi Knight for over two hundred years and she'd become even more powerful and experienced in the last seventeen years. The untried Sith wouldn't last long against her.
The buzz came again at her hip and Sabé focused on her new mission: to save Padmé, Rabé, and their squad from whatever danger they were facing. Sabé ran down the hall and paused at the bend that led to the throne room. She peeked around the corner, taking care not to let her headdress be seen. The hall was devoid of droids and she had a clear view of the throne room. Padmé, Rabé, Panaka, and their fighters were cornered in the room by battle droids. She didn't see any droidekas, thankfully. The Federation Viceroy and his second-in-command were speaking to Padmé in gloating tones that floated down the hallway.
Sabé whispered to her guards. "They've captured the Queen and brought her to the throne room. There are about twenty droids guarding them. We need to cause a diversion. Follow my lead and do not kill the Viceroy."
They sidled down the hallway, unnoticed by the droids and Neimoidians who were entirely focused on the tiny Naboo group in front of them. As Sabé's group drew closer, they could hear the Viceroy's words to Padmé.
"Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness," said the Viceroy in a silky tone. "Time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the Senate."
Sabé raced out of the shadow of the pillars and strode purposefully up to the throne room entrance. The pitter-patter of the group's feet echoed quietly after her.
"Viceroy!"
Everyone in the throne room turned at her strident call, looking at her in surprise, especially the Neimoidians.
Sabé made her tone as commanding and regal as possible. She had to convince the Viceroy she was the real Queen.
"Your occupation of our planet has ended!" She took aim with her blaster and blew apart two droids by the Viceroy.
Sabé moved to the right, striding quickly down the hall. Her security officers fired some rounds into the chamber, purposefully aiming at the droids, before following her.
Sabé beamed in triumph as she heard the Viceroy's words reverberate down the hall after her.
"After her! This one's a decoy."
Sabé ran faster and rounded a corner. She took shelter behind one of the wide columns and gestured to her guards to do the same as they waited for the droids to catch up. They only had to wait a few seconds before they could hear the battle droid commander issuing orders in its toneless, artificial voice to hunt them down. As soon as all the droids rounded the corner, Sabé and her fighters opened fire and took down the droid squadron.
"Good work!" Sabé dusted droid debris off her tunic and ran back to the corner, blaster at the ready.
They rounded the bend cautiously and, finding no droids, went back to the throne room entrance. The blast doors had been erected, trapping Padmé, Rabé, Panaka, and their fighters in with the Federation Viceroy, his lieutenant, and several droids.
"Stand guard!" Sabé commanded. "Blasters at the ready!"
The fighters took up position around her and the door, forming a tight double-ringed circle. Sabé lowered her blaster and grabbed her comlink and buzzed Padmé. Tense seconds passed before Padmé's voice sounded over the comlink. Sabé and the guards breathed in relief.
"Everything is under control in here. We've captured the Viceroy and are discussing new terms."
"I'm glad to hear that," Sabé grinned. "We're stationed outside the door."
"Hold on, I'll have an officer let you in."
Sabé gestured for the fighters in the inner ring to train their blasters towards the throne room. On the off-chance Padmé hadn't managed to overpower the Viceroy and his battle droids, Sabé wanted to be prepared to turn the tides.
The blast door shot up and Sabé relaxed as she saw smoking battle droid wreckages. Padmé was sitting on her throne before the cowering Neimoidians and Rabé and Panaka had blasters aimed at them.
"Did you doubt me?" Padmé teased, coming over to hug Sabé as she stepped into the room.
"Never," Sabé returned the one-handed hug. "I was just being cautious."
Padmé chuckled and gestured for one of Sabé's people to re-shut the blast doors.
"Captain, is the new treaty ready?" Padmé called out to Panaka, who resumed his work on a portable datapad and was busily tapping away.
"Yes, Your Highness," Panaka handed over the datapad for Padmé to peruse.
Padmé sat back on her throne, flanked by Sabé and Rabé.
"Good work, Captain," Padmé praised Panaka after reading through the treaty.
She placed the datapad in her lap and signed her name with a stylus. She handed it back to Panaka. He set it before the Viceroy, who was still sporting a frozen, stunned expression. He couldn't believe he'd been defeated by the young queen.
"Viceroy, sign the treaty," Padmé's order brooked no arguments.
The Viceroy gazed warily at the blasters trained on him before he meekly accepted the stylus and added his signature to the treaty.
"Captain, send a copy of the treaty to the Senate. I'm sure they'll be pleased to hear this matter has been resolved," Triumph leaked into Padmé's voice. "Officers, restrain them."
They rushed to obey their Queen but paused as they realized they didn't have any handcuffs or rope at hand.
"Here," Sabé grabbed two cuffs from the pouches on her waist and handed them to the nearest officer. A little overkill since the cuffs were designed for non-friendly Force users, but they would do the trick. The Neimoidians were quickly cuffed and forced to sit in chairs in the corner of the room, watched by five officers.
"Yay! We won!" Rabé's cheer echoed in the throne room. "But how do we know if it's safe to go out?"
"Voraté's fleet should be close to decimating the droid control ship, if they haven't accomplished their mission already," Padmé reasoned. "I guess we wait until all the droids are incapacitated. Captain, can you check on the situation?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Panaka bowed and pulled out his comlink and contacted the resistance leaders who'd stayed in the plaza.
Everyone jumped when blaster shots hit the door, making it vibrate. Sabé closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.
"Droidekas," she reported.
"Finally!" The Viceroy's lieutenant shouted with relief.
A security officer prodded him with the tip of his blaster, urging him to be silent.
Sabé kept her eyes closed and focused, trying to see more so she could report accurate numbers. It felt like there were five of them.
"Your Highness, I'm getting reports from all the resistance leaders!" Panaka walked over to the throne, beaming widely. "The droid army is no longer functioning!"
"The Captain is correct," Sabé said with a smile, opening her eyes. "The droidekas on the other side of the blast doors just deactivated."
"Open the doors," Padmé directed the officers closest to the door.
They hit the panel, revealing five non-responsive droidekas collapsed on their sides.
Sabé, Padmé, and Rabé found themselves starting to beam like children. Sabé let out a giggle and all three of them erupted into cheers and joyous laughter and rushed to embrace each other in a group hug.
"We did it! We did it!" they screamed, hopping up and down, all decorum thrust to the wind.
Their infectious joy affected the resistance fighters and soon they too were cheering and laughing. The road had been long and riddled with obstacles and sacrifices, but they had risen to the challenge and freed Naboo from the Trade Federation's clutches.
-oOoOoOo-
The corridor of energy beams turned off again and footsteps thundered towards Obi-wan and Qui-Gon. Terrikan dropped to his knees next to them.
"Qui-Gon!" Terrikan's face was stark with shock and disbelief. "Hang on. I've got you."
He urged Obi-wan to lay the injured man flat on the ground before placing his hands over the wound. His brow wrinkled in concentration. Obi-wan gasped as he felt the surge of energy flowing from Terrikan to Qui-Gon, keeping him alive. How the Zabrak was able to do this after sustaining his own life-threatening injury was beyond his comprehension. Qui-Gon weakly protested, trying to shove Terrikan away.
"It's no use, brother," Qui-Gon coughed, his blue eyes dimming. "I can feel my spirit leaving."
"Shut up," Terrikan argued, shaking his head in denial. "I didn't go through hell and come back just for you to die on me before I could make it up to you," He scrunched his eyes closed, still keeping the life-giving energy flowing into Qui-Gon.
"She won't get here in time," Qui-Gon clutched Terrikan's uniform, knowing what his friend was trying to do.
"Don't say that. Rae loves you every bit of much as I do. She'll get here and save you, no matter what she has to do."
"And then what?" Qui-Gon chuckled. "Your bond doesn't work like that."
"I don't know if you heard, but Rae and I are not exactly playing by the rules anymore," Terrikan bantered back, a hint of laughter in his shaky voice.
"I think I surmised that," Qui-Gon smiled. He shifted uncomfortably and grunted in pain.
Obi-wan choked as he felt their bond degrade further and then shatter.
"Stay strong," Terrikan urged, fisting a hand in Qui-Gon's tunic. "She's almost here."
"Stay with us, Qui-Gon," Obi-wan said as tears flowed unchecked down his cheeks. He placed his hands near the wound and also funneled energy into it, mirroring Terrikan's efforts as best he could. They could do this. Obi-wan refused to lose his mentor, the only man in his life who had been a father to him.
Obi-wan and Terrikan kept their efforts to keep Qui-Gon conscious as they waited for Starré to arrive. Qui-Gon kept trying to convince them to stop and let him go, but those were half-hearted attempts. Crashes sounded in the distance and then the energy barriers turned off. Metal creaked and sparks flew as the barriers tried to reactivate and close the corridor, but couldn't. Starré ran into the area, flustered as she searched for them. She lowered her hand and rushed to them. The energy barriers snapped back into the place abnormally quickly.
"I don't know if this is going to work, Qui-Gon," Starré cautioned as she loosened his tunic and moved the fabric away from his neck.
"But we're going to try anyway," Terrikan finished the sentence, Starré nodding fervently in agreement.
"Thank you," Qui-Gon said gratefully, clasping arms with both of them. He gave a comforting nod to Obi-wan.
"Step back, Obi-wan," Starré nudged him away and took his place.
She bent down and locked her jaws on Qui-Gon's neck. Before Obi-wan could ask what she was doing, she'd bitten down. Qui-Gon screamed in agony and a bright glow emanated from them. The golden light grew and encompassed everything before ebbing into nothingness. Obi-wan blinked away the stars in his vision. Had whatever they tried worked? Qui-Gon had dropped into unconsciousness and Starré was examining the wound on his torso, nodding in approval. Obi-wan saw with relief that the ragged wound had closed and the red marks were fading away.
"What in the… is that supposed to be happening?" Terrikan asked nervously, gesturing at Qui-Gon's face.
The Jedi's grey whiskers were darkening to a rich brown, followed by his hair. It seemed to be receding into his head too. Obi-wan's eyebrows raised as the wrinkles on Qui-Gon's forehead smoothed and disappeared. Was he… de-aging?
"No, this isn't normal," Starré placed a hand over his hand and closed her eyes. Her expression darkened and a frown graced her lips. "Our bond was never meant to operate in this fashion with an extra person. It's going awry," She looked up at Obi-wan and Terrikan, devastation causing her brown eyes to fill with sorrow. "I can't stop it."
A/N: Sabé's okay! But Starré's attempt to help Qui-Gon isn't going well. What will happen to Qui-Gon?