Lord Darth Yoda - Eh, I think you aren't giving the Trade Federation guys enough credit. Remember their army wiped the floor with the Gungans and were only bailed out by a 9 year old blowing up their droid control ship. This is going to be a war. Pravin isn't a tactical genius at the level of a Thrawn. Competant, absolutely. Thrawn-level...nah. I also think its amusing that Pravin has no idea who was actually behind the invasion of Naboo.

bodare2 - It's indeed going to be rather painful for the Ubroran military, fortunately they have four Jedi to back them up. Unfortunately...they are going to be invaded. You make a good point about the Ubrorans having plenty of intel - we'll have to see if Pravin will have a plan in dealing with that. Intelligence advantages can often be used by good commanders *cough* Aurine *cough* to do damage. But the Ubrorans are certainly outgunned.

A/N - So, I'm going to talk in broad strokes about the direction this book is taking. The main event is going to be the war on Ubrora. When I thought about the stories I want to tell during the Clone Wars (when/if we get there), I tended to want to tell stories about fleet battles and small ground battles rather than a campaign. The war on Ubrora is going to be a campaign. Four Jedi and rag tag Ubrorans vs. a legit Trade Federation army. And this time their control ship isn't just going to randomly blow up. It's going to be war. And its going to press every character to the brink. And for once, a character might actually die...

Anyways Please enjoy the next chapter! As always your favourites and follows are appreciated! We are going to start each chapter with a quote, sometimes from Pravin's Journal, and sometimes from more interesting sources...

Chapter 22: Invasion Part One

"Dear Father, today I embark on a journey that will be quite unlike anything I have done so far in my career. Either I will bring an entire planet to heel and be reviled in history as a monster, or I will fail to do so and be regarded as incompetent. Know that despite my ignominious circumstances, I will always try to do as you have taught me. For honor. For family."

-From the Journal of Pravin Ecalt, Opening day of the Invasion of Ubrora

Nara Nalto leaned back in her seat in the passenger side of the speeder that was going to take her and Sascha back to Bontha, once he got out of the refresher, that was. She relaxed, meditating while she had a spare moment. She wondered if she should ask Sascha to take a longer route back to Bontha, as once they got back to the capital, they'd have to do more boring legwork, and she would much rather spend a few more hours talking with her fellow Padawan. Sascha was fun to talk to and be around, he was smart, funny and he always took her opinion seriously, he was a true friend, perhaps her only real friend, she thought with a pang of regret.

Nara knew that it was a good thing that she didn't find him to be good looking, otherwise she might develop feelings for him. He was a decent looking young human she would admit, but she was kind of a speciesist when it came to men she found handsome. More than anything, she wanted to rub lekku with another Togruta, and Sascha for all his positives could never offer that. He was a friend, nothing more. As her thoughts drifted in her meditation, she wondered if Sascha might end up being her Chartak. It was an old Togruta tradition that each Togruta had a hunting partner that they hunted best with, someone who understood you intuitively, and who you wanted by your side while on the toughest hunts. Togruta didn't have soulmates, they had huntmates. Chartak was a term that transcended sex and species and it was a term of endearment and friendship more than anything romantic, and thus a perfectly appropriate term she could bestow on a fellow Jedi.

But to even remotely qualify or to even start the consideration of broaching the topic to Sascha, she'd have to be absolutely sure that he was her Chartak. To do that, they'd have to be in a real fight first. While they fought well together, and were constantly sparring against each other, they still hadn't encountered much adversity together; in fact she'd been in much tougher spots with Master Tiplee. But, even though she was her Master, the degree of connection she had with her Master paled to her connection with Sascha.

Her eyes still closed, she sensed Sascha climbing into the seat next to her and readying the speeder for their trip back. Nara adjusted herself in her seat and settled in for a long ride. Maybe she could find a good music station on the transmitter to listen to on the way back. Sascha liked classical music, she, well, she liked love songs. While the two of them fit together well as friends, their taste in music could not have been further apart.

Unexpectedly she felt something jolt her through the Force. She sat up with a start, and found that Sascha had adopted a faraway look as well as he sat in the driver's seat. "You felt that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I felt disturbance in the Force."

She concentrated hard, trying to find what had caused such a disturbance, but she was unable to ignore the distress coming from the air base from which they were about to leave. "I think it's coming from the base," she said quietly.

"I don't think that's the only place its coming from…." said Sascha.

Half a world away, two Jedi Knights were doing much the same thing as their Padawans were, trying to deduce why there was a disturbance in the Force on what was a lovely day on Ubrora. Aurine and Tiplee were touring a farm where Thys root was harvested, upon request of President Mollek. While Aurine didn't have a massive amount of experience in dealing with agriculture – she was impressed at how technologically advanced the farm was. All the farm work was actually done by droids, and all the farmer needed to do was monitor the droids and transport the root to Bontha when it was ripe.

But all that was secondary now. She needed to find out why the Force was warning her that something big was happening, and quickly.

Beside her, Tiplee's eyes were closed in concentration. Aurine glanced around, looking around for a more obvious sign of a disturbance. That was when she noticed the anguish in the Force coming from President Mollek and raced towards him. Tiplee followed quickly behind her. The President had just interrupted the tour of this rather impressive farm to take a call on his comlink, and she had thought little of it. Now, clearly something terrible had happened. But what?

When they found President Mollek, he was crouched on the ground, surrounded by aides, seemingly unaware of the mud that now clung to his stately garments. While clearly in distress, nothing seemed to be physically wrong with the Ubroran. Aurine looked at Tiplee, who shrugged fractionally in return. Aurine cleared her throat and spoke at the crowd of Ubrorans, "What is happening? Is President Mollek okay?"

The Ubroran President struggled to his feet, pushing away his aides and turned to face the Jedi, anguish obvious on his features, "Master Jedi, I have received the most dreadful news! We are being invaded!"

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Some Admiral called Vash Varless has given us an ultimatum, either we surrender the planet to him, or he will invade!" wailed Keicho Mollek.

Aurine tried to keep the alarm from her voice, "Are you sure about this? Have you confirmed that the invasion ships are en route?" This had to be some sort of elaborate prank or trick. Who would even attempt a planetary invasion? Who even had the resources to do so?

"Yes, they just launched! I just received confirmation!" The Ubroran supplicated himself in front of the two Jedi, "You must help us! The Jedi are great warriors. Help keep our planet free!"

Aurine's mind reeled, if Keicho was not mistaken, Ubrora was certainly a planet that was ripe for the picking, but it would take significant resources to bring an entire planet to heel. If their mystery opponent had those resources though…Ubrora wouldn't stand a chance. It's army was small and more of a peacekeeping force. It's air corps were…poor to say the least. And, importantly, Ubrora had no allies and because they were not yet a member world of the Republic, they could not get aid from there either.

But Ubrora had been invaded before and had simply bought off its attackers. Maybe they could do the same here...

Tiplee spoke up, "President Mollek, the first thing we should do is get you to safety. Where is the closest military base? From there we can plan our next moves, and see what is going on."

Aurine approved of the Rishati's plan, the more senior Jedi Knight was always unruffled in a crisis, which was one reason she had an ever growing respect for her. One of the President's aides spoke up, "One of the main bases of the Ubroran Defence Force is a bit north of here, which is where the closest place to get an update would be."

Tiplee nodded forcefully, "Then let us go now. We'll ride in the speeder with President Mollek. Everyone else can follow."

As they hustled their group away from the farm and towards the speeders that they had taken to get to this farm. Aurine let one of the President's aide's drive the speeder while she sat in the back with Tiplee and the President. Deciding that she needed more information, Aurine withdrew her comlink and dialed her Padawan. Sascha answered almost immediately, "Master, we have a situation here. There is an fleet en route, and their intentions seem to be hostile."

Feeling the last hope that she had that there was just as massive misunderstanding die off, she asked a delaying question as she tried to her mind around this new reality, "Fleet disposition?"

"Uh, it looks like a Lucrehulk class Capital ship and assorted tenders, the fleet are deploying droid fighters and landing craft as we speak. Estimated time of arrival is about fifteen minutes."

"Former Trade Federation military?"

"That would be my guess, Master." He hesitated, "What are your orders Master? We could try to get to the Emerald Dream from Bontha and go get help from the Senate or Jedi Council, or we could help the Ubrorans defend their planet. But we kind of need a decision now."

"Or we could do nothing, this isn't a Republic world," interjected Nara through the comlink.

"Jedi defend the defenceless," Sascha retorted. "And I don't think whoever is invading is just going to let us go, anyway."

Despite their relative youth, the Padawans were both hitting on important topics. Jedi were defenders of the Republic, not random unaligned planets like Ubrora. Defending the weak and defenceless was also written into the Jedi ethos, but she didn't want to get into a war just to defend a planet.

Aurine wasn't out of ideas yet, "How about sending a message for help? Balmorra is relatively close – I'm sure we could negotiate a deal to use their defence force to defend Ubrora."

"Interplanetary communications are down," reported Nara. "It was the first thing that we noticed. We thought it might have been a storm, but then we saw the ships arrive and well…I think its clear we are being jammed."

She turned to Tiplee beside her, and shrugged – a gesture that said, 'I'm out of ideas.'

Tiplee however, wasn't, "I think we need to try diplomacy. Can we get in contact with this Vash Varless?"

"I can open a channel to their flagship, Masters," replied Sascha.

"Do it, Padawan," commanded Tiplee.

After a short wait and some static, a gravelly male voice came through the comlink, "This is Vash Varless aboard Reprisal. To whom am I speaking?"

"This is Jedi Knight Tiplee. I am with President of Ubrora Keicho Mollek. We have your ships on our scanners. Please indicate your intentions."

The voice laughed, "Jedi, I will take this planet and do with it what I will. If you surrender now, I will allow you Jedi free transit back to Republic space. As you aware this is not your fight, Ubrora is not a Republic world. But if you interfere..." Vash trailed off and let the threat go unspoken.

The Ubroran President leaned over and spoke into the comlink, "Admiral Varless, this is President Mollek, if it is money that you want, we can give you that. Our planet is peaceful, we don't want war."

Another laugh, "War is upon you, President, whether you want it or not. If you wish to surrender, I suggest you do it quickly, my forces are almost to your planet, and I cannot undo the damage that they will do. For the good of your planet, surrender."

"What are your terms?"

"Unconditional," replied Admiral Varless.

Aurine watched President Mollek closely during the time Vash Varless was talking, and while she didn't have the most respect for the President, he did not seem to shirk from the harsh words from the invader. In her mind that was a point in his favour. "I will never surrender my planet," President Mollek replied with steel in his voice.

"Then keep my suite in the Presidential building warm, Mollek."

There was a burst of static and then after a short pause, she heard Sascha's voice again, "Uh, the transmission has been ended."

"So much for diplomacy," said Nara quietly.

There was a moment of absolute silence from everyone. President Mollek turned to the two Jedi Knights, "Master Jedi, will you help us defend our planet from this aggression?"

"I don't see how we have a choice, President Mollek," Tiplee said, a twinge of regret in her voice. Neither Jedi Knight truly understood what they were getting into, but with their ability to get off planet limited, there did not seem to be much choice in the matter. Besides, Sascha was right – defending the week was what Jedi did.

The President nodded nervously, "Good, then I commission both of you as Generals in the Ubroran Defence Force and place you in charge of the Ubroran combined forces. You can give your apprentices whatever rank you think they need."

Great, Aurine thought. She was in command, but she had no idea what kind of force she had at her disposal, nor the disposition of the enemy forces, two things that were pretty much essential in forming any sort of strategy. One thing she did know, was that Ubrora was hilariously outmatched and in deep, deep trouble.

Returning her focus to the present, she said, "Padawan, is there a Starfighter still available for you to fly?"

"Uh, Nara, can you find out?" he said, clearly shooing away his companion to find out the information.

"Is the battle winnable? What did you think of the Ubroran Forces?"

Her apprentice took a moment to think about the scenario, she trusted his tactical insight, she knew from long hours of drilling him on the nature of warfare that he was as good of a tactician as any being his age. "The opposition force has deployed a large screen of droid Starfighters to protect their troop landers. I don't think that we can stop the landing, or even damage the landing craft, but we may be able to give their Starfighters a bloody nose. Then again, I'm not too impressed by the Ubroran military personnel, I don't know what their pilots are like, but I would estimate that they aren't at too high a level of performance. Still…it might be the one chance they get to fight the droid Starfighters while they are busy protecting the landing craft. If we give up the air war…I think we've already lost."

"I agree," said Aurine. As a student of military history, she knew that aerial superiority was one of the most important factors in determining who won a campaign. A Lucrehulk class battleship had a significant number of droid fighters in its arsenal, but possibly not an overwhelming amount. In theory, if they could prevent their attackers from getting air superiority, they might have a chance at defeating the ground army.

Nara's voice returned, "They have one Sarkiss left, it's technically just a training fighter so the shields aren't as good, but otherwise it can fly and fight. The rest are launching as we speak."

"That's our ride if you want us to take it, Master," said Sascha.

Aurine turned to Tiplee, "Do you see another option, Master Tiplee?"

The Rishati shook her head slowly, "I cannot. It seems clear that whoever is behind this invasion will not relent, and I believe it is our duty as Jedi to stop them." Tiplee closed her eyes, "If we have chosen to fight for Ubrora, we must use all resources at our fingertips, including our apprentices."

"You heard her Sascha, I'm commissioning you and Nara as Commanders in the Ubroran Armed Forces, go up there and take out as many of those fighters as you can. But if the battle is unwinnable, you make sure that you get back safely."

"Yes, Master, I'll report back as soon as we land. Where are you going to be?"

"We're taking President Mollek to a secure location and trying to organize the Ubroran army."

"Sounds good, Master. May the Force be with you," said Sascha.

"May the Force be with you, Padawans," she quickly replied, and the line went dead. A shiver raced down her spine and she wondered if she had just sent her apprentice to his death.

"Come on Nara," shouted Sascha as he ran towards the remaining Sarkiss fighter that was currently being prepped by the support staff of Falta Air base.

How can he be so gung-ho for this Nara wondered? She had seen the sheer number of droid fighters that were heading towards the planet, but here he was wanting to race towards them. "Sascha…wait, what are we doing? We should be going to get the Emerald Dream so we can go get help from somewhere. Not taking some 6th rate Starfighter that we've only flown once into combat. This…is insanity."

Sascha broke of his run, turned and took her firmly by both shoulders, then looked directly into her eyes, "Nara, this is what we do. We put ourselves into danger so that others don't have to. We can change the course of an entire planet, right here, today. You were the one that felt that you hadn't accomplished much in your career. Here is your chance make a real difference. Let's go hunting Nara. I need a gunner, and you are the best."

He's right, she realized. She shoved him playfully like she had done probably fifty times before, "Just making sure you are up for this little human."

Sascha knew better than to fall for her false act of bravado, but he just smiled, "I'll fly, you shoot. Sounds good?"

"It sounds crazy, but we are Jedi. We specialize in dealing with crazy."

"Let's go write our names into history, little Togruta."

Nara didn't even bother objecting to Sascha's use of that nickname. Maybe she was getting used to it. Maybe she was just scared out of her mind.