Speechbubbleme - Yeah, conflict between family members is like the #1 Star Wars story. Gotta fit in thematically!

LordDarthYoda- It's basically the second point - Vash is sending money to Murgo Boikana to be the 'friendly' face of the invasion. Those darn ambitious politicians, they just cannot be trusted!

A/N - So I got paranoid about posting two shorter chapters back to back and tried to add something to the end of this chapter, and I just hated it. So I got rid of it. I do write long chapters, sometimes, but I also think I need to be okay with writing short chapters. More words doesn't always equal more quality. That being said, longer chapters will soon be forthcoming!

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

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 28: Resistance, Part Two

"I wonder though, where were the two young Jedi that destroyed the first contingent of droids sent to Bontha. I do not like it when my enemy's most important assets disappear. I hope they do not reappear, for my sake as much as theirs."

-From the Journal of Pravin Ecalt, Five days in to the Invasion of Ubrora

Bruenor Arkanus sat in his new office in the capital building of Bontha, delighted by how recent events had worked out for him. He had known that attaching his star to Vash Varless, rather than returning to his post in the Trade Federation would work out, and now here he was, in charge of governing an entire city. Sure, Murgo Boikana was still the mayor, in theory. In practice, he had more than a thousand droids at his personal command, and not even the two Jedi who had threatened him could handle that many droids. Yes, life was good for Bruenor Arkanus.

Bruenor was Neimoidian, a species that was generally considered by many to be somewhat repulsive. Not physically, of course, but by reputation. It was unjust, other beings just had a strange way of living their lives, prioritizing things like love and creating achievements. Neimoidians were clearheaded, they knew what the galaxy was really like, and it wasn't their fault that they were misunderstood and thought to be 'greedy.'

His new office would need some redecorating, he decided, as he looked around. it was colourful enough, but it needed to be richer. He would put in a request as soon as this pathetic world capitulated. As soon as Ubrora conceded to the inevitable, that there was no way that they could defend against the military forces arrayed against them, he would finally have a position in life where he could become rich.

He would have to be subtle how he accumulated his wealth, skimming percentages off of things like food exports, but being careful to not draw attention to him. He wasn't worried about Vash Varless, the man was a tyrant and something of a military genius, but he never seemed to pay much attention to the financial side of his growing operation. For that he had him and the other Neimoidians that had saw fit to remain with the Reprisal. Bruenor had seen that his investments had been wise. As long as Vash had money to replace his military losses and buy some of the more expensive toys he wanted, he didn't seem to pay much attention to him. Therefore, he didn't expect things to change now.

Vash had been surprised by his request to become the new governor of this city, but he had been more than happy to acquiesce. For Bruenor, the math was simple, now that he was away from Vash Varless, he would have an easier time accumulating personal wealth, wealth that would get him off this rock and on to a planet more to his liking. And was that not the ultimate goal of life? To collect assets, and accumulate wealth? Life was nasty, brutish and short, so the only rational way to deal with the stark reality was to make your life as comfortable as possible. And they only way to find comfort, was to buy things that made you comfortable.

He reflected back on being assaulted by those two Jedi younglings a few days ago. It made his blood boil just to think about how the Jedi had destroyed his escorts and sent him back to Pravin Ecalt with his tail between his legs. It was so silly, the Jedi had so much power, even those little younglings had no problem dealing with the droids that escorted him, but their Order walked around wearing rags when they could have been dressed in the finest of silks. It was truly sad, an order of beings that could have power, but chose not to use it. Bruenor shrugged, it wasn't his problem, but he would take a certain satisfaction when the four Jedi on planet were killed. Maybe he could ask for one of the Jedi's lightsabers. That would be a good trinket to prove the one thing that he knew for certain.

No one got away with threatening Bruenor Arkanus.

Smiling to himself, Bruenor rose from his chair, a chair that was far too small for his frame, getting a chair that fit him would be one of the first things he would do after he officially moved in. Maybe he could request his ally, the mayor of Bontha to get him a custom made design...

Deep in thought, he moved towards the window of his office on the fifteenth floor, the highest in the capitol building, a building that he would soon call home. As he stared outside at the continuing downpour, he saw a flash of lightning strike one of the nearby buildings. He shook his head, such a pathetic planet, such inclement weather. He would have to ensure that he would spend the minimum amount of time on this backwards outpost and find a world with a more agreeable climate.

As he moved back to his desk, preparing to conclude a successful day, the backlight of his datapad revealed something that chilled his blood.

He was not alone in this room.

But as soon as he saw the reflection of something or someone behind him, it was gone. Buenor stood from his chair, shakily, as if his legs were unable to support his weight now, "Who is there?" he asked into the room.

Silence answered him.

Despite the fact that the room was fully lit, there was enough unexplored nooks and closets and such that someone could have hid here, he realized. The droids had swept this room before he had claimed this room for his own, but droids were known to miss things.

He used his comlink to contact the droids that he had left patrolling the capitol building, "Get in here and search my room again. I think there is someone here!" He turned off his comlink before he could hear the repetitive reply of "roger, roger."

In what was the longest thirty seconds of his life, he stood unmoving as he waited for the droids to reach his room. When they entered, he breathed a sigh of relief, now he would be safe, he would get the droids to escort him to his new room and stand guard for him throughout the night, after all, he was important now. "Get started on sweeping the room, find if there is anyone here," he commanded the spindly beige droids.

"Yes, sir," replied the nasally voice of the battle droids.

The droids clanked across the room, inspecting the various closets, corners and compartments that dotted the room. As the droids scrutinized each opening, he began to feel silly, after all, he was sure that it was impossible that anyone could have gotten into this room. As the droids came towards the outfacing window, he was considering if perhaps this planet's atmosphere was causing him to lose his sanity when he heard something from a far corner.

"Looking for us?" said a young, confident female voice that came from one of the alcoves nearest the window. Suddenly, two beams of light sprang into existence and two robed figures emerged from the darkened corner of the room. He could have sworn that there hadn't been enough room for one person, let alone two people, but he had been wrong. The droids seemed to be equally surprised, as they fell to the two attackers in a matter of seconds, only a couple of droids got off a shot at all. Stunned, it took him a long while to process who the two beings in his room were.

"The…J-J-Jedi!" he stammered.

The little Togruta, her face lit up from the excitement of battle smiled at him, showing off her sharp, predatory teeth, "Hey, he remembers us!" she exclaimed happily.

Bruenor snatched at his comlink, yelling for more reinforcements to come and save him.

"Oh good, Sascha he's calling for more droids!"

"Excellent, those first droids didn't give us much of a challenge at all," replied the male human, his brown eyes showing off amusement at Bruenor's predicament.

Why weren't the Jedi scared? The droids weren't great unless they had overwhelming numbers, but there were lots of them between his office and the first floor, more than enough to deal with these brash Jedi. The two of them swept around the room looking for more droids, and completely ignored him.

His comlink buzzed, he activated it to hear the nasally voice of a battle droid, "uh, sir, the turbolifts are damaged, we can't get to your floor."

He closed his eyes, he should have known that the Jedi wouldn't go down easily, he should have known that they would want him, after all he was Bruenor Arkanus, and he was important.

Sascha, Nara and their complaining guest knocked on the door of a nondescript house in the outskirts of Bontha. "Where are you taking me!" their Neimodian demanded.

"Well, you helped invade the Ubroran homeworld, I think we'll turn you over to some Ubrorans," she said. The Neimodian's eyes widened as he realized how much trouble that he was in. Nara didn't exactly have a high opinion of Niemoidians to begin with and this candidate wasn't exactly improving their stock.

"I can make you rich, get you off this planet," said the Neimodian.

"Sascha, is our guest really trying to bribe a Jedi?" she asked.

"I'm almost insulted that he even tried," replied Sascha, deadpan.

"You don't want to be rich...whats wrong with you two?"

Nara was formulating a response when Lirri Boikana answered the door with an inviting smile, "I see you brought a guest."

"I heard it was tradition on Ubrora to bring a present whenever you visit someone's house," Sascha joked.

Nara smiled, it had been a simple thing to scale the side of the capital building, and gain access via an open window. At that point all they had to do was memorize the pathways that the droids guarding the building took, and then when the opportunity arose, sabotage the turbolifts to make their escape easy. It had mostly been Sascha's plan, but he had let her take the lead in executing the plan, she was stealthier and generally speaking a better fighter. She and Sascha were a finding that they indeed were a good team.

Then after they had destroyed what few droids were on the floor of their Neimoidian friend, they simply scaled down the side of the building, floating their captive along with the Force, while all the droids were trying to go up to capture them. Simple, effective, a perfect plan, perfectly executed.

Lirri's modest home had already become the de facto headquarters for the burgeoning resistance movement, and it was currently a scene of barely organized chaos as they led their prisoner into a room that had been specially prepared for him. Joining the two Jedi in the room were Lirri and Arslan, who was in charge of broadcasting this 'interview' with their captured Neimoidian. Arslan would make sure that the major news networks would catch wind of this broadcast and he hoped that many would broadcast at least the highlights of the interview

Lirri, hard faced and legitimately mad, sat across from the Neimodian that was restrained with the Ubroran equivalent of stuncuffs. "State your name for the record," Lirri said in an even tone.

"I will tell you nothing!" the Neimodian declared.

Nara closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on the Neimodian's thoughts. Unsurprisingly he was rather weak willed and his name was in some of the Neimoidian's most easy to access thoughts.

"His name is Bruenor Arkanus," she said.

The Neimodian reacted, "How did you do that!"

Sascha twirled a finger, "We are Jedi, in case you forgot. Telepathy is a pretty standard Jedi trick."

"It will go easier if you just answer the questions," Lirri said not quite calmly. "Then after the war, we can determine what sort of war crimes you are guilty of. Any information you provide us now, I'm sure will be looked upon favourably when we determine your final sentence."

Bruenor looked shocked, and Nara could almost hear him thinking out loud, trying to figure out the best course of action, the best way to save his skin. "I will tell you nothing! You're planet will fall, and each and every one of you will be punished."

Sascha shrugged some water off of his waterlogged cloak, "Well, we tried to let you take the easy way Bruenor, but clearly you've chosen the hard way."

The Neimodian recoiled visibly, almost falling out of his chair. He then pointed a shaking finger at her and Sascha, "They are Jedi, they can't torture me, they have a code," Bruenor Arkanus declared, but Nara could feel his fear.

"We have a code, certainly," she agreed, and gestured to the two Ubrorans, "But do they? You've invaded their world, it's kind of a 'there are no rules' sort of engagement don't you think?"

The threat was a total bluff, she and Sascha could hardly stand by when a being was being hurt. But Bruenor certainly didn't know that, and the serious looks of Lirri and Arslan showed that things could potentially get very unpleasant for poor Bruenor. The Neimoidian looked defiant for a moment before bowing his head in defeat, "I will tell you what I know."

An hour later, after they had exhausted what little Bruenor actually knew about what was facing Ubrora, he was ushered out and allowed given his own personal closet that would be his holding cell for now. As they had planned beforehand, Lirri turned to Arslan as he was the 'camera' as odd as that was to think, and addressed the audience, "You see what kind of creatures you are facing. These are not implacable enemies; Bruenor was plucked from what should have been the safest place in Bontha. The Jedi have promised that they will keep this world free, but they can only do so if we aid them. Every little bit counts, do your part and we will all come through this."

Arslan hit a button and the jewel in the middle of his shirt dimmed, a sign that his broadcast was over, "Good speech," he said with a smile.

Lirri rose immediately, ignoring Arslan, "I have to get to work preparing for tomorrow," she said.

As she exited, Arslan shook his head sadly, "I knew Lirri a bit, before all this happened. She was a carefree spirit. I don't know what happened to her, but she seems like a completely different person now. I overheard her talking to someone, I think it was her brother, about a dream that she had, it seems liked it really affected her." Arslan scratched under his chin, "A lot of people here look up to her, she's young, good looking and from a famous family. But she's…different now."

Nara shared a look with Sascha, both catching the importance of Lirri's dream, as a Force sensitive, even an untrained one, could receive a vision from the Force. Visions were dangerous, they often mislead rather than illuminated, but maybe it could offer a clue as to what had changed Lirri's disposition.

Sascha refocused the discussion, "They look up to you, Arslan," he noted. The Ubroran smiled sadly, "that's because they don't know any better. I'm a behind the scenes guy, always have been always will be. I don't know how to inspire, I can be the 'boss' but I'm hardly a 'rah-rah' leader. Lirri wants to lead from the front, she's always been like that. People respect that."

"I think Sascha and I will need to have a chat with her at some point," she said, eying where Lirri had made her exit. Nara thought that perhaps it might be time for Ubrora to have their first Jedi.