Lord Darth Yoda - Yeah Aurine spends way too much time worrying about SaschaxNara. It's especially easy for us to see that because we've had both a Nara and Sascha chapter where they express the fact that they aren't all that attracted to each other (and they are being honest). Sascha and Tyra had a complicated history. Nara and Sascha don't. Not doing much time skipping in this book, you'll actually be able to see how many days have passed since the invasion has begun by reading the opening quote.

Speechbubbleme - Aurine's the Jedi with the plan, now we'll have to see it play out. Thanks for the review, as always :).

A/N - Playing around a lot more with PoV's in this fic - in fact we'll see a new one in this chapter. We still have two more PoV characters to come, as well. One of them will be Tiplee in the next chapter, and another will be...yeah I'm not going to spoil that one. But despite the PoV shifts, I'll try hard to keep the focus on our main characters.

Anyways, all reviews, follows, and favourites are deeply appreciated as always.

Enjoy the next chapter

Chapter 26: Producing a Victory

"Everything seems to be progressing on schedule, despite the strong resistance that the Ubroran Starfighters gave us. I've set up my troops in a solid perimeter and sent out a squad of droids along with an administrator to each city on Ubrora. There has been no opposition so far. Hopefully it will stay that way."

-From the Journal of Pravin Ecalt, two days into of the Invasion of Ubrora

Arslan Ivalice twirled pensively in his chair in the control room of UNN, Ubrora's number one news network. He brought himself to a stop and perused the screens in front of him, evaluating each of them based on a hundred different factors, searching for the information he needed. He thought of himself as an artist of sorts, which is an odd thing for a news producer to believe, but he knows that there is a certain art to the way the news is cut and crafted so that the average person at home can understand it. When it's a live event like this, skilled producers like him drive the narrative as much as the action itself.

Truth be told, Arslan lived for this, the tightly controlled chaos of the newsroom during a crisis, where he was receiving a hundred different reports, analyzing a thousand different broadcasts and determining which ones needed to be seen by the viewers at home. He just wished that this particular crisis was something a little…tamer. Something like a fire at an abandoned power plant, or a farmer's livestock causing a traffic snarl, not a planetary invasion.

Still, it was his job to produce Ubrora's number one news broadcast for UNN and that's what he would do until someone told him to stop. Some wags on planet had opined that with the prevalence of personal broadcasting over the last few years that there wouldn't be the need for news programs like his, that Ubrorans would simply absorb the news from other sources. That was of course, patently ridiculous. People were busy, but they still cared about their planet, and if a broadcast could give them the most important news stories of the day in a half an hour, they were going to tune in.

And tuning in they were. Especially today. With Murgo Boikana, the mayor of Bontha, telling his citizens that they should stay at home and let the emissary of the invading army and their escort march unopposed to the capital building, the ratings for his program were off the charts. Advertisers were furiously ringing the station from their homes, trying to get their advertisements shown on the highest rated program in all of Ubrora's history. Arslan didn't worry about that. He never focused on the commercial side of broadcasting, only on the journalistic side of it. That was a job for someone else.

Arslan's path to UNN had been a straightforward one, he had always wanted to be a reporter, and he worked hard to get here. When he was a youngling, he used to interview his toys, creating a mock news broadcast, 'the news from toytown.' When he got older, he would interview his friends, parents and teachers who would indulge him for a time...until they grew tired of answering his questions. His idol growing up had been Hooby Saib, the most trusted name in news and he had watched every broadcast of his that he could find.

His big break had come when he had happened to be outside of a school when one of it's generators exploded. Confusion and chaos had reigned supreme, but Arslan Ivalice, with his camera broadcasting to the world, had quickly brought updates to the people at home. His personal broadcast that day had been watched by almost half a million Ubrorans, as he interviewed teachers, students and firefighters. He found the stories of heroism, of loss, and of incompetence. And when he interviewed the principal of the school who had made his escape before making sure that he had done everything he could to save his charges, it had been his outraged questions that all of Ubrora had been listening to.

From there his star had risen to the point where after he was finished school he had job offers from every major news network. He had picked UNN, not only because it was number one news network, but because Hooby Saib had recently become the President of the network, and he wanted nothing more than to work with his idol.

He snorted out loud, causing a few of his co-workers to look over in confusion. He ignored them. As president of UNN it should have been Hooby Saib personally overseeing this broadcast, not him. His former idol had decided that he had pressing business to take care of and had left Bontha without so much as informing anyone. It was hard to think of his idol as a coward, but it was pretty clear to Arslan that he was. Perhaps the old legend had simply lost his nerve. This morning, when he had received the call to come in to the station, he had been extraordinarily confused, UNN had many more senior producers than him, and this was the newsday of a lifetime. After it was explained to him that his more senior producers had decided to stay at home, he had raced to the station, and was glad that he had. No matter the situation, he would always do his best to bring the people of Ubrora the news broadcast they deserved.

It had also given him an opportunity to meet the Jedi.

He had been trying to get up to speed on the status of the invasion, when the two youngest of the four Jedi had sauntered into the station, looking unconcerned that they were in the middle of a city that was about to be conquered. They had politely asked the secretary at the front desk to direct them to whomever was in charge, and they had been sent to him, as he was currently the most senior staff member in the studio.

The four Jedi from the moment that they landed had become instant celebrities. There had been something…different about them, something larger than life, something that set them apart from even the usual menagerie of aliens that helped transport the monthly shipments of Thys roots. That had been the perception even before they showed that they could move objects with their mind, and fight with their laser swords like they were the most graceful of dancers. Now they were perceived to be almost like gods, and some had even gone so far as to say that they were here to protect Ubrora in its hour of need. As a journalist trained to report only the facts, Arslan Ivalice could not make that particular leap of faith, but he was certainly glad that they were here right now.

He had been alone in his tiny office, when he got his first good look at the two offworlders. The female, Nara, was striking to see in person, and so very alien with her hollow horns and head-tails. Her colouring, all purples and dark reds with white highlights on her face were something out of a monster movie, even though she was not all that tall or imposing. The male, Sascha, seemed much plainer, whether that was because he was a human and even he had seen many of those, or that he was unremarkable looking he didn't have the experience to say.

After exchanging pleasantries, the Jedi had gotten right to the point, "We need weapons," commented the female, Nara.

"I thought you had your laser swords," he replied.

"We need something a…little more long range than that. A sniper rifle, a hunting rifle, anything at all. We are going to give the droids coming your way a bit of a surprise," said Sascha.

"I'm just a news producer, I don't know where to get weapons like those!"

"We know that," Nara said calmly, "But you can broadcast that we Jedi are looking for such weapons, and you can tell anyone who is willing to donate such weapons where to meet us."

He scratched his chin in a nervous gesture, "I…could, but did you not hear that the mayor told everyone to stay home?"

"So this is your home Arslan?" asked Sascha.

"It…basically is…technically," he stammered.

The human smiled, "It's okay Arslan, we aren't bound by what the mayor says, and neither should you."

The Togruta now smiled, showing teeth, "In fact, we are going to make it quite worth your while."

It hadn't taken long for the Jedi's request for long ranged weaponry to be fulfilled. Arslan himself had conducted a live interview with the two Jedi, who made a plea to anyone with a blaster rifle or hunting rifle to donate to them at the UNN studios and then watch the results at home in safety.

Arslan smiled to himself, he was sure that a massive amount of Ubrorans would now be tuning into UNN. Because only UNN had cameras on board, so to speak, with the Jedi. It had been the Jedi's own idea to have cameras attached to them, and Arslan had been only too happy to comply. It was, by any definition a massive coup for UNN, for now they alone had cameras on the two Jedi, and none of their competitors could match them. To his delight, UNN was trouncing every other news network on planet in the ratings, and the amount of live viewers was reaching record highs.

Now, he watched on his viewscreen as the two Jedi set up their ambush from the rooftop of one of Bontha's outlying warehouses. Both young Jedi were taking their time to get familiar with the ancient, but deadly hunting rifles that a pair of hunters had delivered to the UNN office. The two Jedi had thanked the hunters, asked for operating instructions and then promised that they would return their weapons to them by the end of the day.

"You sure it was a good idea to attach those expensive cameras to a pair of beings that will soon be dead?" opined Eakay Beckhorn.

Arslan tried to conceal a look of distaste. Eakay was one of the best auditory technicians he had ever seen operate, but the man was a hardened cynic at the best of times. "You saw how they fought at the banquet, they might be able to handle the droids," he said as much for himself as for the other reporters and technicians in the room.

"They are going to destroy an entire squad of droids? With their laser swords? The droids will blast them before they even get within range," Eakay said derisively.

"That is what the hunting rifles are for," he reminded his colleague. Truth be told, the laser swords carried by the Jedi did strike him as weapons that were somewhat impractical. How could you ever get to use one when you were confronted by an enemy with a blaster? Ubrorans had fought with similar swords...thousands of years ago, and there was a reason that those blades had gone out of fashion. Ranged weaponry ruled all.

"Whatever," waved Eakay dismissively, "None of this is going to matter after our new glorious leader Vash Varless takes over. Then we'll be reporting the news as he sees it…not that it's stopping EUN from doing that already."

Arslan suppressed a sigh, "What our rivals are doing is not our concern at the moment Eakay."

"Okay, but do you want me to get started on the memorial package that we'll roll over the Jedi die?"

"They aren't dead yet," he insisted, "and if I didn't know any better, it seems like you want them to fail."

Nettled, Eakay settled back into his chair, and turned his attention back to his workstation.

Concealing a smirk, he used his communicator to contact the two Jedi. Sascha answered, "Do you have news for us, Arslan?"

"We've spotted the droids making their way into the city, they should pass right by your position in a few minutes. How you knew what road they would use is beyond me, but I'm glad you did."

"The Force sometimes provides us with the answers we need," Sascha said solemnly.

"The Force and your cameras," Nara added.

"I hope the Force is with you, then," he muttered.

"It usually is," said the slightly muffled voice of Nara.

Arslan wondered what Nara meant by the Force being with them but ignored that for the moment, "Okay, if you would turn on your cameras I'll make sure that Ubrora sees what happens to those droids."

"We'll give you a good show Arslan, we promise," replied Nara.

The Jedi ended the call, immediately afterward, and almost instantaneously, the cameras on the Jedi showed up on his screen. Soon after that the other cameras that the Jedi had laid in the surrounding area of the rooftop that they were waiting on came online as well. He would have a great choice of angles from which he could watch the upcoming fight, he just hoped that the Jedi would come through in the end. At least they seemed confident. Maybe the Jedi did stuff like this all the time.

He took control of the newsroom, his newsroom. He stood from his chair for a moment and rapped his paw against his desk. The noise garnered the attention of everyone in the room. "Okay, I know this is a momentous occasion, but we simply produce the news. Let's do our jobs."

His staff looked at him oddly for a moment and then went back to work. Arslan sighed, that was supposed to have been an inspirational speech. It appeared that no one was inspired though. He put his head down and went to work, using his paw to select a view of the approaching battle droids, marching in pairs of two that surrounded a small transport that appeared to have only one occupant, an ugly looking alien in rich garments. Row upon row of droids…maybe sixty in total. The spindly built beige battle droids were legitimate killing machines, and there was only two Jedi with hunting rifles that opposed them. Quickly, the experienced anchor working to his left described them for those at home, adding an almost unnecessary layer of dramatic tension.

The enemy established to the viewers at home, Arslan switched the view to a camera that was set behind the two Jedi as they lay prone on their chosen rooftop. They had used their brown cloaks to provide them some with camouflage, but it was easy to tell which Jedi was which, only one of them had horns atop their head.

The two Jedi chatted idly back and forth, their discussion picked up by the speakers embedded in the camera, "Leave the Neimoidian, Nara."

"Given their species quote, unquote, bravery, I'm sure our Neimoidian friend will dive for cover the second shots rip out," the Togruta replied sarcastically.

"Have you ever fired something like this Nara?" asked Sascha.

"Nope, haven't even fired a blaster once, I'm a lightsaber only type of girl," the Togruta replied lightly.

Suddenly, the Jedi quieted, their manner professional, adjusting the scopes on their hunting rifles and they eased the barrels of the weapons on to the overhang of the roof. "Droids coming in range," said Nara, her voice betraying a slight thrill of excitement.

In range? They were merely specks on the horizon to him. No one could hit a target from that far away...could they? "What's the world record for longest sniper kill?" he asked.

"I think it's around two kilometers," came a response.

"And how far away are the droids?"

"About a kilometer and a bit, based on our triangulation."

"And what distance are those hunting rifles rated for?"

Someone snorted derisively, "Five hundred meters, if that. No one needs that much distance to bull's eye a Yuna Cat."

"Switch to a first-person shot," he commanded.

Suddenly, the picture on the screen turned to the perspective of Sascha Whitestar, and it seemed like Arslan was staring down the barrel of the rifle himself (the camera was on his shoulder). "With these shots, we bring Ubrora closer to freedom," said Sascha quietly. The two Jedi fired, at what to him seemed like a speck of dust in the distance. In the half-second it took for the laser bolt to traverse the distance, there was a sense of despair in the newsroom. Bontha's last defenders were a pair of teenagers, who were clearly not capable. How could they expect to do anything at such a range?

Then, they saw two droids crumple headless to the ground.

Someone in the newsroom dropped a datapad, and the anchor that had been narrating the whole event went dead silent.

Two headshots.

From a kilometer away.

Suddenly, Arslan had a good feeling about these Jedi apprentices and their complete confidence began to make a little sense. Silently, the two Jedi reset their weapons and fired again. Two more droids dropped, though these shots weren't headshots. It was almost disappointing to see. Again, the Jedi fired completely in unison with the other, and again two more droids dropped. Someone in the newsroom let out a loud 'whoop!' of excitement.

He was embarrassed to find out that it had been him.

The droids picked up their pace, jogging alongside the transport, the alien that had been piloting it was no longer in evidence, Arslan assumed that he or she had dove for cover. The fire from the two apprentices was impressively accurate, it took to the fifth volley for either Jedi to miss.

"Hah, you lose," crowed Nara as she fired off another shot.

"I missed intentionally," claimed Sascha. "I wanted to scare them."

"They are droids, dummy, they don't scare!"

The terrifying thing was that despite the Jedi thinning their numbers one or two at a time, the droids kept coming, and soon enough they entered firing range. As one, the droids raised the matte black blaster rifles that they carried and fired towards where the Jedi's shots were coming from. "Street angle," he commanded, almost too distracted by the enthralling battle to continue producing the broadcast.

The view changed to an angle that saw the droids marching towards the camera, the Jedi firing from overhead, the only thing that the camera could see of the two Jedi were the pair of rifle muzzles that were perched on the ledge above the roof.

The incoming red laser bolts from the droids didn't seem to deter the Jedi at all, they simply kept up their rate of fire even as the bolts dug into the abandoned warehouse that they were currently occupying. Arslan had stopped using his rational mind to try to figure out what the Jedi were doing and appreciated their all-out commitment to their task. They had said they were going to get rid of the droids, and they were.

Eventually though, whatever targeting computer the droids had been installed with allowed them to fire more accurately and the two Padawans had to pull back from their rapidly disintegrating cover. "Switch to Nara's camera," he commanded, and suddenly he was staring at Sascha Whitestar as he inspected a small burn on his forearm.

"That last bolt came so close it actually burned me," he said incredulously, as if it was impossible that a blaster bolt could hit him.

Nara peered over the edge of the rooftop and towards the droids, "Well they are still coming, I say we get revenge for that burn they gave you." Sascha smiled at her, his brown eyes lighting up at the idea of taking it to the enemy.

"Are they insane?" asked Eakay, "They've done a good job at whittling down their numbers, I'll admit that, but there are still like twenty battle droids out there. They should retreat and find another ambush point."

Arslan was no tactician but that did sound like sound advice, he actually half thought that he should use his communicator and try to tell the Jedi as much. "If you have the camera on us Arslan, you might need to switch to a wide angled shot to see what comes next," remarked Nara.

"What comes next?" asked a voice he didn't recognize from inside the newsroom.

He had his suspicions, but was afraid to vocalize them, instead he said, "Use the view from their roof, the one that angles down." His eyes just had enough time to adjust to the new view before he saw the Jedi ignite their blades and drop to the ground just in front of the droids.

"What are they doing?" shouted someone nearby. More than twenty battle droids awaited the two young apprentices and, and they opened fire on them immediately in a torrent of red light.

The two apprentices raced forward, dodging and…deflecting the incoming fire, almost as if they knew it was coming. The entire studio was completely silent, completely in awe of what they were watching as the two apprentices launched themselves into the battle droid formation.

He had seen things today that he thought were impossible, but watching the Jedi dance around their opponents, and dismantling the battle droids with their laser swords was by far the most impossible. The Jedi apprentices were always in motion, taking every opening given to them, always moving to cover the other at the same time. But the most amazing thing was watching them deflect fire that came in at point blank range, and deflect it in such a way that it didn't hit their partner, but deflected back at their opponents. If he hadn't seen it with a camera that he himself had inspected, he would not have believed it. Even Ubroran action movies behaved more realistically than this.

Before long, the droids were a smoking heap on the ground and the two apprentices were unharmed. "Get me a first-person view," he commanded. He was soon obliged and now he was looking from the perspective of Sascha Whitestar as he examined the robe of his friend, "Looks like you got singed there a bit," he said.

"I wouldn't have gotten singed if someone had blocked for me," she responded, pulling her arm away.

"I knew it was going wide," replied Sascha.

"Sure," said the Togruta, rolling her blue eyes dramatically, "You just wanted to be even, you got a burn so I had to have a near miss too."

"What can I say, you know me well, Nara."

In the studio there was some chuckles as his fellow co-workers enjoyed the back and forth between the two friends. On his screen, Arslan watched as the two Jedi sauntered over to where the transport had come to a halt. With an effortless jump, they bounded into the passenger side of the transport, and peered down at the ugly alien that he assumed was a 'Neimoidian.'

Still watching from Sascha's perspective, the young Jedi knelt over the alien, "Do you know who we are?" the human asked.

"J-J-J-Jedi!" stammered the Neimoidian.

"Didn't know there was that many 'J's' in Jedi," Nara observed wryly.

"That's right Neimoidian, we are Jedi," said Sascha calmly.

"What do you want from me?"

The two Jedi smiled, appearing almost sinister for the first time, "I want you to go back to whoever your commander is and tell him that Bontha is under the protection of the Jedi Order," said Sascha.

"Yeah," said Nara, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "And if he wants to capture the city, he's going to have to send a lot more droids. Droids that we will have fun dissembling."

Sascha made a shooing gesture, "Run along now."

The two Jedi jumped down from the transport and after a moment the transport sped out of the city, quite possibly breaking every traffic rule in existence. Fortunately with the streets empty, no one was harmed.

The two Jedi then spoke, not to each other, but to one of the cameras they had previous set up, without needing to be told, the picture on his screen switched so that he could see both young Jedi staring intently at him. "What we said to that Neimoidian, we meant. We are going to stay in Bontha and we will fight for your city," said Nara. "I know that Ubrorans are a peaceful people, but if you want to keep your world free, join us, fight with us. Bontha will only fall if you let it fall. This, we promise you."

The two Jedi turned and started picking up the blaster rifles from the fallen droids. Ignoring that, Arslan stood and started towards the exit. "Arslan…where are you going? asked Eakay.

"We can't just let a pair of teenagers fight and die for our planet," he replied, "it's on us, it's on all of us to keep our city free."

"But you're a producer! You're important! You don't need to do this," he countered, "We have an army for these things."

"If our planet isn't free, I'm not free. I can't live like that. Maybe you can."

Eakay shook his head, "Do what you want Arslan, you've always thought that you're a hero. You are just a producer."

Arlan's shoulders slumped. "You are right. I'm not a hero. No, I'm going to start being a hero, today, by joining the resistance."

"The romantic fools always die first," warned Eakay.

Arslan laughed, a bitter chuckle, "I'd rather be dead than a cynic like you Eakay." He walked out the door, aware that he had just walked away from the job he had worked his whole life to achieve, but knowing deep in his heart that his decision was the correct one. He could always find another job. He could never get another homeworld.