The chapter title is not a mistake. This really is going to turn into a Rescue and Search. Also let me say I'm glad with the amount of reviews I'm getting, and I'm pretty happy with the good amount of people who have this on their alerts list or favorite stories, though I don't understand why people have it in their favorite stories already because we've not really delved into anything besides the starting point…. Anyway I'm happy with it and not complaining, oh yeah, I kept Jar Jar out because he is annoying, and I figured I really only needed him to point the way to the Gungans should they be needed to fight the battle droids, but I promise you it'll differ from TPM, it'll start to significantly differ in this chapter. Enough note writing, they tend to be too long, I must be brutal and stop myself… right now!
Chapter 6: Rescue and Search
Once the entire group was safely in the shadows of an alley way Anakin turned to speak with the security captain and the queen.
"Is there any accessible ship around here that we can take and outrun the blockade?" Anakin asked, hoping the answer was yes… otherwise, they were simply… well honestly they were screwed if there was no ship that could outrun the blockade, preferably it would also be armed, but the Jedi Padawan doubted that because Nubians were a peaceful people, ever since some great war in their history they'd given up battle, and violence, they did not even really have a planetary army.
"Ship?" repeated the queen. "I will not leave my people to suffer and—"
"Well the fact is if you don't leave they'll force you to sign the treaty to legalize the invasion, then they'll kill you." Padmé cut her off curtly whilst peeking around a corner to ensure no battle droids were—
A shot echoed in the alley way, Padmé deflected the next, leapt out and sliced the two patrolling droids in half before retrieving their weapons and running back into the alley.
"They wouldn't dare." said the security captain. "The Senate would intervene if they killed the queen."
"No they wouldn't!" Anakin snapped irritably, why wouldn't these people listen to him? He was a Jedi! "If the invasion is legalized the Viceroy has control of the planet, he's basically the new self appointed King of Naboo, he could declare that the former queen committed treason for absolutely no reason and have her publicly executed, or he'd just slit her throat quietly and toss her into a lake."
"But—"
"Captain…" Anakin trailed off, not knowing the man's name.
"Panaka."
"Captain Panaka, whether you believe it or not the Senate would not intervene, now my best interest is in protecting Queen Jimila, so I'll ask again, do you have a ship?"
"Yes," Queen Jimila replied. "yes, my own personal transport."
"Is it fast?" Anakin asked.
"Fast?" repeated the queen.
"Can it outrun the blockade?"
"Possibly."
Check, able to run the blockade, now for feature two…
"Is it armed?"
"No." said the queen sadly. "No, we usually take a two fighter escort if we must."
Anakin silently cursed. "Alright, well then, let's move. We need to get off planet as quickly as possible, sooner or later someone's going to figure out those droids should have reported in."
So the group of handmaidens, Jedi Padawans, and now armed security officers as well as the queen they protected traveled through the darkest alleyways, making their way back to the palace. It seemed so far that no one noticed the queen had not been checked in to her designated camp, so far, so good. And it also seemed that droids were only leading their rectangular lines of frightened captives down main roads. Once they were all forced to hide behind garbage disposal bins and other items as a prison group came marching by, the moment they had passed the dark alley, not knowing the queen or her Jedi protectors hid there Anakin had led everyone across the rode stealthily, neither the droids nor their captives looked back, they were all concerned with their own fates and marching… it was like someone else was doing it for them while they mentally prepared themselves for the coming horror they would likely face.
Finally, after about thirty minutes of skulking around, they reached the east side of the palace which housed the hanger bay which was on a steep cliff, overlooking the rest of the sprawling city of Theed. Anakin led they way towards the thick marble walls of the hanger and they all pressed themselves against it.
"What now?" Panaka hissed. He'd been quite irritated with Anakin's lack of a decent plan.
"We go in and steal the ship." Anakin replied snappily. "Shut up, I sense life forms in there as well as droids… follow me."
The Jedi led them across the length of the hangers outside wall and they slipped in through its huge open doors. There indeed were several dozen battle droids apparently guarding a group of captive pilots whose yellow starfighters hung unused it racks on either side of the bay, there was only one ship on the hanger floor, a blindingly silver craft the was so polished Anakin could clearly see his reflection.
"We'll handle this." he said to Panaka and he gestured for Padmé to follow him. The handmaidens, security guards, and queen formed a line behind them, Panaka leading, Jimila behind him and two guards on either side of her, the handmaidens in two rows behind their queen and the rest of the guards stood next to them, at intervals of one, so basically there was a guard standing next to every other handmaiden.
Anakin raised his hand, indicating they should halt as her approached the droid leader.
"State your business." it said in its buzz like, electronic voice. Its comrades replied with their annoying agreement phrase: 'roger, roger'.
"I'm taking these people to Coruscant so we can get permission to kick your skinny droid—"
"Coruscant?" the thing repeated. "Um… wait, that doesn't compute… oh… wait… um, you're under arrest."
Before the droid could so much as cock his blaster rifle Anakin sliced through its neck, the head fell to the floor with a metal clang, and the body followed shortly after. Immediately several security guards ushered the queen and her handmaidens into the silver ship as the droids opened fire, the remaining guard ducked for cover to return, Padmé activated her cerulean lightsaber and stood next to Anakin, carefully, yet at incredible speeds, they deflected blaster bolts away from the boarding handmaidens and into walls, the floor, or other droids. As Anakin's saber rose and fell to meet the deadly bolts of energy his attention flickered to Padmé.
He couldn't help but notice how graceful she was, her style Makashi was the most beautiful of saber techniques, it focused so much on grace and Padmé could wield it so much that it rivaled that of Master Shaak Ti, or Master Dooku… but somehow, to Anakin, Padmé was better then them…. She might not be able to best them in a fight, but she was perfect, much more graceful then either of them could—
SEARING PAIN! Anakin's free hand immediately flew to the source of his agony, his right shoulder, the sleeve of his tunic was ripped and there was a black, cauterized gash in his shoulder, a blaster bolt had nicked it. Padmé gasped as Anakin let out an involuntary grunt of pain, she nearly missed a bolt flying straight for her head.
By this time all the handmaidens were in the ship, and the small confrontation on the hanger floor erupted into a fire fight. Anakin noticed he was not the only one wounded, and several security officers had even died. The Jedi turned to face the droid whose shot had nicked him, he narrowed his eyes at it and flew into the air, tapping into the Force not only to aid him in his jump but also to help him ignore the throbbing pain he felt in his shoulder.
He landed in front of the droid, spun and stabbed it right through its metal chest. Now there was only one left, directly to his right, he pulled his arm back and hurled his lightsaber at it, using the Force to control its path. The cerulean blade spun like a saw, slicing the droid's arm off as it whizzed past at an angle, causing the pathetic machine to lose its weapon. Anakin called his blade back, on its return it stabbed right through the droid like a spear, glowing energy beam, hilt and all, it flipped itself backwards as it neared Anakin and he caught it by the hilt in his left hand, most of his right arm was slightly numb.
The pilots the droids had been holding hostage looked up at their savior uncertainly.
"In the ship!" Anakin snapped at them. "GO!"
The men and women did not wait to be told a second time, they leapt to their booted feet and sprinted inside the silver ship. Anakin followed, as did Padmé and the rest of the guards. As he entered the main sitting room of the ship where several handmaidens and pilots had strapped themselves in Anakin heard the hum of hydraulics as the ramp closed and the unmistakable sound of blaster bolts pummeling the ships hull, luckily they would do no damage, though they might ruin its wonderful polish job.
Anakin burst into the cockpit, Padmé still in wake, the door shut behind him. A man had taken the pilots seat, Anakin recognized him as one of the captives he'd just rescued.
"The names Rick Olé." he said. "I'll be flying you today."
Panaka grunted angrily from the co-pilots seat, Padmé took a seat behind him.
"I'll fly." said Anakin. "I'm about the best pilot in the Order."
"Anakin don't be crazy!" Padmé cried. "You're arm is injured."
She said, and at that she began to examine the wound.
"Fine," Anakin said, wincing as she ran a finger across it. "Just get us out of here!"
"Sure thing." said Rick Olé, seconds later the ship gave a slight jerk and rose into the air, there was a burst of sound from the engines and there they sped off. About five minutes into the air when they were just about three miles away from Theed Rick Olé said something in a very nervous voice right before a high pitched beeping sounded.
"Fighters on our tail."
"How many?" Anakin asked as Padmé pulled out a small medical kit from her belt and began to clean Anakin's wound.
"Four!" said Rick in alarm. "Hold on to your seat, evasive maneuvers!"
The ship suddenly lurched to the left and flew into a death roll as the droid fighters behind them opened fire, red laser bolts lanced past them and flew toward the mountains in the distance. Padmé slid towards Anakin who grabbed her to keep her from being knocked unconscious.
"Damn it." she muttered as she continued to clean his wound, Rick had just banked up steeply. Seconds later Padmé pulled away and deposited the kit back into her pouch.
"That's all I can do for now." she said, though she felt a need to touch his muscular arm again…. "I'll… stitch it up later."
At that moment the ship gave a violent lurch.
"No! Damn!" Rick snapped, at that moment dozens of alarms blared and the ship jolted again, Anakin felt it in his stomach before he noticed it through the view ports. They were losing altitude.
"What?!" he cried to Rick.
"Our hyperdrive generator just blew up… and our engines shorted out."
"Repulsor lifts!" Anakin snapped. "Use the repulsor lifts to glide down."
However at that moment the many lighted controls on the dashboard flashed before dying out, and the lights in the cockpit dimmed before snapping out.
"We've lost all power!" Rick shouted, an edge of fear in his voice as they lost altitude, ten thousand, nine thousand five hundred, nine thousand….
"Pull up!" Anakin cried. However all Rick's efforts were futile, they were headed straight for a forest at the base of a mountain. Seven thousand… six thousand….
Anakin did the only thing he could, he tapped into the Force and attempted to steady the ship, Padmé followed suit, they angled up slightly but they were still losing altitude far too fast, four thousand… three thousand… the tops of the trees were so close now, the fighters were still firing upon then, bolts missed and slammed into the trees spawning tiny fires that were extinguished immediately as the wind from the ship passed by them. One thousand feet, they were nearly on the ground… there were several loud smacking sounds, wood on metal, as the tips of the trees smacked against the underside of the ship. And suddenly the came to a halt as their nose dipped between two trees and hit the trunk of one, denting horribly. Then it was quiet, Anakin glanced up to see the four fighters streaking past above them, and then pulling back, no doubt to return to Theed and report.
Anakin cautiously stood up and stared down at the forest floor, it was still about sixty feet below, any second and they'd fall—
And so they did, the sound of cracking, splintering wood filled their ears, a sensation in their stomach, a loud boom and the sound of crunching durasteel, they were on the forest floor, Anakin was lying flat on his back now, but he was alive, as far as he could tell so was Padmé, Panaka, and Rick, he hoped everyone else had survived the fall, regardless they had to move. It was only a matter of time before the droids came searching.
XxX
Obi-Wan was not sure that the Council particularly enjoyed he and Qui-Gon barging in on their meeting, he was sure that Qui-Gon didn't give the slightest care either way, his former master was clearly worried that something terrible had happened on Naboo, and it wasn't just a mistake or a fluke that neither Anakin nor Padmé had reported in. Obi-Wan felt all of the eyes of the Council members on him and Qui-Gon as they entered the Council Chamber… it was as though they were being x-rayed, and this feeling was more defined when Yoda stared at you. He and his former master gave a quick, respectful bow, and then Qui-Gon immediately spoke, not bothering to waste time on greetings or pleasantries.
"Neither Padawan Skywalker, nor Padawan Naberrie have reported in." said Qui-Gon immediately. "It is now several hours after their scheduled time, and it is nearly time for their next report, still we have no word."
"Mm, concerned for their safety are you, Master Jinn?" asked Yoda sagely.
"Obviously, that's why I've come with all due respect master! And Naboo may be in danger as well."
"Well we also believe Naboo could be in danger." said Mace Windu unexpectedly. "We are getting unconfirmed reports that all of their communications are down, they may have been jammed, and they have forcefully entered, and are occupying Theed, possibly other major cities."
"Well if the situation is that serious Padmé and Anakin will need back up and extraction." said Obi-Wan.
"And we will need to confirm the situation." Qui-Gon added, convinced Mace would give them permission to go and find their Padawans.
"No." the Jedi Master said, however.
"What?" Qui-Gon asked automatically.
"The situation is already out of hand." Mace explained. "Sending Jedi there would probably be taken as a declaration of war, we can't afford to escalate the situation any higher."
"Capable Anakin and Padmé are." Yoda added. "See this through, and return safely they will."
"THEY COULD BE KILLED!" Obi-Wan shouted angrily, didn't Yoda understand.
"As they could have been on many missions." Yoda retorted wisely, and not unkindly. "Capable they are, see this through they will."
Qui-Gon shook his head angrily.
"If that is all masters I will be leaving." he said. Turning on his heel he stormed out, Obi-Wan in his wake, the moment the door slammed shut behind him he turned to face his former apprentice.
"If they want the invasion legalized they must force the queen to agree, we'll have to get Anakin, Padmé, and the queen off of Naboo immediately."
XxX
Nute Gunray felt slightly confident as he sat atop the queen's throne in the palace in Theed. The siege had been successful, they now controlled not only Theed but several other key Nubian cities, they had established hold on the planet. Lord Sidious would be pleased with this news… however the bad outweighed the good, the queen had escaped, probably with the Jedi, in her silver star ship which had reportedly crashed in the forest near the base of one of the many mountains just a few miles outside the city, Nute had droids working on it, still….
And then a holopad on legs approached the foot of his throne, the image of Lord Sidious stood atop it, Gunray nearly fainted, having been caught off guard. He had to adjust the settings to it would not automatically accept communications!
"Viceroy," Sidious rasped. "A report, if you please."
"Well, milord, all major cities are in our grasp, Theed has been taken, I'm sitting on the queen's throne as we speak." said Nute, deciding it prudent to give Lord Sidious the good news first.
"Excellent, you've done well Viceroy."
Gunray's jaw twitched… indeed he had done well… for the moment.
"I take it the treaty's been signed?"
"Well… you see Lord Sidious… there… well, you know, I suppose…"
"Out with it Viceroy!"
"There have been… um… complications." said Gunray unsteadily.
"What sort of complications?" Sidious demanded menacingly.
"The… the queen as escaped, but she has crash landed near Theed, we are tracking her!"
"I suggest that, for your sake Viceroy, you find her, and I want that treaty signed." Sidious bit out angrily. Oh… just wait until the really bad news came…. Any second now….
"And what of the Jedi?"
There it was, Nute Gunray audibly gulped.
"They… were not found. We believe they assisted in the queen's escape."
Sidious growled furiously and the windows of the room he was in atop a tower in The Works section of Coruscant shattered. He was infuriated, and he was impressed, not by Gunray, Force no, the day Gunray impressed him would be a day long remembered, and he doubted it would come. No, he was not impressed by the Viceroy, but by the Jedi, they had managed to evade the forces of the Trade Federation this far, he had to find out who they were.
"This is not good at all Gunray!" Sidious growled through gritted teeth. "I see that you are completely helpless in your search, and you've become quite useless on your own."
"My lord—please!
"Let me finish Viceroy! Yes, you've been quite useless on your own, therefore I am sending my apprentice Darth Maul to join you, he will find your lost queen, and Jedi." Sidious said. "Expect his arrival soon."
And with that the Dark Lord of the Sith cut the transmission… Gunray shuddered violently, another Sith… here, in person… at his side. Things were getting out of hand, he never should have agreed to this deal, it caused him only misery, pain, and fear… then again if he hadn't taken the deal he'd probably be dead. All he knew for sure was that the queen would be found and the Jedi would die once the other Sith Lord arrived.
That chapter was killer long! Hope you enjoyed the bits of action, don't forget to comment.