Chapter Ten
Sarali stood beside the Jedi, merely waiting. She had wanted to take a nap, but Obi-Wan had come over and said that it was not a good idea to, so now she waited, utterly bored.
"They're here!" Anakin yelled, running over to stand by Qui-Gon's side.
"Good. They made it," Padme remarked, looking up to the three speeders that whooshed over to land by the trees near them.
Panaka came over to stand beside the Queen. Almost immediately, Padme asked, "What is the situation?"
"Almost everyone's in camps. A few hundred police and guards have formed an underground resistance. I brought back as many of the leaders as I could," he said. He then turned to look at the Jedi and said, "The Federation Army is much larger than we thought, and much stronger. Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think we can win."
"The battle is a diversion," she said. "The Gungans much draw the droid armies away from the cities. R2," she said.
R2 whistled and projected a hologram onto the hood of the speeder around which they were gathered. It appeared to be a 3-d map of the palace.
"We can enter the city using the secret passage on the waterfall side. Once we get to the main entrance, Captain Panaka will create a diversion. Then, we can enter the palace and capture the Viceroy. Without the Viceroy they will be lost and confused. What do you think Master Jedi?"
"The Viceroy will be well-guarded," Qui-Gon said.
"The difficulty's getting into the throne room. Once we're inside, we shouldn't have a problem," Panaka said.
"With the size of the Trade Federation army, they could easily keep enough droids behind to overwhelm whatever group we send in there," Sarali interrupted.
"And there's a possibility that with this diversion many Gungans will be killed," Qui-Gon said, continuing with the listing of problems.
"Wesa ready to do arsen part," Boss Nass said confidently.
"We have a plan which should immobilize the droid army. We will send what pilots we have to knock out the droid control ship orbiting the planet," Padme continued.
"A well-conceived plan. However, there's great risk. The weapons on your fighters might not penetrate the shields," Qui-Gon said.
"And there's an even bigger danger," Ob-Wan said, "If the Viceroy escapes, Your Highness, he will return with another droid army."
"Well, that is why we must not fail to get the Viceroy. Everything depends on it," the Queen said confidently. Such optimism. She doesn't know how easily this could go wrong.
She was sure, though, so the Gungan army marched out immediately. The Queen's group, in which were the Jedi, Anakin, Sarali, and others, headed out to the city.
ooooooooooooooooooooo
Once they were in the city, Padme signalled their readiness to Panaka. As they did, Qui-Gon turned and bent down to say to Anakin, "Once we get inside, find a safe place to hide and stay there."
"Sure," Anakin said quickly, nodding his head.
"Stay there," Qui-Gon warned again before he stood and looked at the partial human.
"Stay with the Queen," he said to her.
All Sarali did was nod.
Panaka's troops and their security vehicle came around the corner. They all opened fire on the droids while their speeder with weapons shot the tank. All of the droids turned and began to shook at the humans while the humans quickly retreated, drawing the droids away from the entrance.
Quickly, the Queen ran forward with the Jedi, Anakin, and Sarali following. The Jedi deflected the blaster fire away from then and destroyed all two droids that were still near the door. Padme hurried entered a code in the control panel, which opened the doors. The Jedi, Anakin, and Sarali rushed in with the Queen following. Part of Panaka's group followed her inside.
The group hurried down a hallway to the hangar. There, the Jedi stepped in front as the doors opened. Their lightsabers blurred in a fury of action as thy deflected the blaster fire away. Everyone behind them, except for R2 and Anakin returned fire at the same time, hitting droid after droid.
Almost as soon as they were in the hangar, Qui-Gon called to Anakin, "Ani, find cover! Quick!"
"Get to your ships!" the Queen yelled to the pilots. The orange and yellow garbed pilots ran toward the ships, but a couple were shot in the process. Soon enough, ships were flying out of the hangar bay. Now, they had to hope that the ships could knock out the droid control ship.
By this time, Sarali spared very little attention for anyone. She was totally focused on shooting the droids and protecting the Queen. Soon enough, the fighters were gone and the droids were destroyed.
At that point, the group assembled in the middle of the hangar. "My guess is the Viceroy's in the throne room," the Queen said.
Panaka just nodded and called out, "Red group, blue group, everybody this way."
"Hey! Wait for me!" Anakin said. Sarali immediately turned to see him. He was standing in a fighter cockpit.
"Anakin, stay where you are. You'll be safe there," Qui-Gon said.
"But I-" the boy began.
"Stay in that cockpit," he said.
The doors to the hangar opened before anyone touched the controls. On the other side, a single, black shrouded figure stood menacingly, blocking their way. As the group stopped in front of him, his yellow eyes flicked up to look at them and his red and black tattooed face came up menacingly with it.
"We will handle this," Qui-Gon said, stepping through the group to the front.
"We'll take the long way," the Queen said, turning to a different exit.
Sarali followed the Queen, but she glanced back before she was out of sight. The figure's hood was done now, and there were horns on top of his head.
The sound of rolling metal brought her attention back. Three droids rolled in to block their path. They unfolded and drew weapons. Instantly, Sarali fired. She shot one from the side, destroying it. A second later, the other two brought shields up, protecting them from blasters.
Immediately, the group hurried to the pillars for cover and began to shoot back at the droids. They continued this way for a few seconds before another fighter came flying. It shot one droid and smashed one with its wing before flying out to the droid control ship. Sarali looked back to where Anakin was supposed to be. The fighter was gone. That was him!
"Let's go!" Padme yelled, hurrying toward the other exit.
The doors opened, revealing a huge, marble hallway with a high ceiling and large windows spaced evenly down the whole length. They began to run down the hallway, but some droids came in and began to block their way. Quickly, the entire group ran to both sides for cover. Once they were out of sight, they peeked out and began to fire back, destroying droid after droid.
From the other side of the hallway, Sarali heard Padme say to Panaka, "We don't have time for this, Captain."
Quickly, Sarali dodged to the next pillar to avoid the glass as Panaka shot several times at the window she had just been standing beside. "Run!" Panaka commanded.
Sarali was nowhere near the first to the window. The rest of the group was already on the ledge by the time she got there. "Ascension guns!" Panaka said quickly.
Oh, this was bad. She didn't have one. She'd have to stay here, but at least she could cover their escape. Sarali turned back to the droids and quickly picked them off. After all, she had practiced often enough on Tatooine.
Once those droids were gone, Sarali hurried out to the window ledge and looked up. The group was gone. Now what?