ESCAPE
Shasta glued herself to the alleyway wall and stayed low as she shimmied closer to the edge. She paused right outside the street and held her breath as battle droids marched past her. Once they were gone, she peeked out and saw that they were escorting Queen Amidala, her handmaidens, and a few high-ranking people. Shasta glanced up at the balcony the Jedi were sneaking across and made eye contact with them. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan looked like they were about to jump down and take out the droids, but Shasta quickly signaled for them to stay put.
Sucking in a deep breath, Shasta stood up and walked boldly out onto the streets. "Hello there," she called out to the droids and immediately got their attention.
"Hey, you. You're not supposed to be here," One of the battle droids said while pointing at her.
"Neither are you." Quickly, Shasta reached around back to her lightwhip and ignited it. She spun her body around and sliced all eight of the battle droids in half using the momentum. Her attack was so quick that the droids kept moving for half a second before falling apart and deactivating. Once they were down, she put her whip back and looked up at the stunned Jedi. "You can come down now."
"That was your plan?" Obi-Wan said while jumping down from the balcony beside his master. "Get up and greet them?"
"Why are you complaining? Droids don't know how to deal…" Shasta looked back to the balcony and saw Jar Jar climbing around the banister like he was trying to get down. He slipped on the smooth stone though and ended up falling all the way down to the floor. "Droids…don't know how to deal with a bold enemy. It's not in their programing."
"Regardless. Good work, Shasta," Qui-Gon said before addressing the queen. "We should leave the streets, your highness," he instructed everyone.
Shasta pointed to the weapons that the droids dropped. "You lot. Grab their weapons." She ordered the guards who were taken captive as well.
While the guards quickly grabbed the weapons, the rest of the group moved into the alleyway that Shasta first came out of. This way, they wouldn't stick out and grab anyone else's attention.
Once everyone was inside, Qui-Gon stopped to face them. "We're the Ambassadors, for the Supreme Chancellor," he introduced.
"Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador," Sio Bibble, the governor of Naboo said.
"The negotiations never took place. It's urgent that we make contact with the republic."
Captain Panaka stepped forth. "They've knocked out all our communications."
"Do you have transports?" Qui-Gon asked.
Panaka made a motion with his head in the direction. "In the main hangar. This way," he said and began to lead them towards the hangar.
Qui-Gon was about to follow after them when he heard rough and labored breathing behind him. He turned around to see Shasta leaning against a wall, taking shallow breaths. Her throat looked inflamed and scratched too, due to her reaching up and grasping at it with her trembling hands.
Qui-Gon's usually relaxed face immediately turned serious. "Shasta, are you alright?" he asked while putting a hand on her shoulder.
Shasta blinked. "What?" She took a deep breath before pushing herself off the wall, trying to stand up straight. "Yeah. I'm fine."
Qui-Gon moved his hand from her shoulder to her neck, trying to get a sense of her temperature and heartbeat. She wasn't hot, but her heartbeat was relatively high. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Just…" She moved her hand up and pushed him away. "I'm just a little tired. That's all," she said to him much more firmly.
Qui-Gon tightened his jaw and took a step back to evaluate her. She was a little paler than before, but her breathing had calmed down in the moments they had to themselves. Or at least that's what Shasta was trying to make it appear. "Alright, but try and take it easy. We're almost off Naboo."
Shasta bit down on her lips and nodded her head sheepishly. She spun around and began jogging after the group with Qui-Gon right behind her.
The group huddled up close to the hangar doors and peeked into the room. There were several Naboo spacecrafts inside and their pilots, but they were all being guarded by multiple battle droids. More than what they could handle.
"There are too many of them," Captain Panaka said.
Shasta responded to that by reaching around back to her lightwhip and holding it firmly in her hands. "I like those odds," she said eagerly, already itching to get out there and test those odds she enjoyed jumping into.
Qui-Gon patted Shasta's shoulder and nodded. "It won't be a problem." He turned to face the queen. "Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."
Queen Amidala responded to him in a calm but flat voice. "Thank you, Ambassador, but my place is here with my people."
"They will kill you if you stay."
"They wouldn't dare," Bibble protested.
"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal. They can't afford to kill her," Captain Panaka explained.
Shasta cocked a brow and looked back at them. "Is that what their game is? Something ain't right. There has to be more then what we're seeing."
Qui-Gon agreed. "She's right. There is no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."
"Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us ... Senator Palpatine will need your help," Bibble said.
"Either choice presents great danger," Queen Amidala speculated while glancing at her loyal handmaidens.
"We are brave, Your Highness." One of her handmaidens said softly to her.
"If you are to leave, Your Highness, it must be now," Qui-Gon said.
"Then, I will plead our case to the Senate. Be careful, governor," she said to Bibble, who would be staying behind with others.
Shasta and the Jedi headed inside the hangar first, with the rest following close behind. They already had the ship they needed that could get them off Naboo. A sleek and shining chrome spacecraft that was more than fast enough. The only problem was that it was guarded by multiple battle droids who had noticed them.
"We need to free those pilots." Panaka pointed to the pilots who were being held captive.
"I got this," Shasta said, heading over to the pilots and droids.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan walked up to the group of battle droids guarding the chrome ship.
"Halt," one of the droids said.
"We're Ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor, and I'm taking these people to Coruscant," Qui-Gon said.
"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked.
"To Coruscant."
"Coruscant!? Ahh, that doesn't compute. ... Ahh, wait! ... Ahh, you're under arrest-" His words fell short when Shasta's purple lightwhip came from out of nowhere and chopped off all the heads of the droids.
"Never mind that! Just go!" Shasta called out. She turned back to the battle droids guarding the pilots and cracked her whip. She spun the dangerous weapon around and dismantled all the droids in a single blow. "Get inside now! I'll cover all of you!"
The pilots didn't waste time getting up and running to the chrome spacecraft. The rest of the battle droids began to fire at them, but Shasta intercepted their blasts by swinging her whip out in front and catching the bolts. Standing her ground in front of the ship, she cracked her whip before spinning it back and forth at high speed, creating a purple dome around herself. Although her moves looked erratic, they were all calculated and precise, catching the blaster bolts and reflecting them back at the droids. It was such a graceful display that it nearly made the Jedi stop what they were doing to stare in awe.
"In! Get in now!" Qui-Gon said and ushered his Padawan inside. The only ones who were left were him and Shasta. "Shasta, come on!" he shouted while jumping aboard the ship.
During her fury, Shasta looked back at him and nodded. She advanced onto the remaining droids and spun her weapon around, slicing them all to pieces. Before they could even hit the floor, Shasta retracted her weapon and ran inside. The ship soon took off from the hangar and headed outside the planet, where they knew the blockade was waiting.
Author's Note:
I had to! I had to do the "hello there" meme Shasta version! I saw the opportunity, and I took it. Funny, because that wasn't her original line when I first wrote this chapter. She was supposed to say "Hello, boys," but like I said…I saw the opportunity and changed it!
Anyway, I do hope you're all enjoying Shasta's story. This has been a long project for me, and I'm super excited to show you what I've been planning. I'll even be tackling The Clone Wars. So be on the look at for that! Hope to see you all here next time.