I'm on the bridge when the holocomm starts flashing. The signal that someone is trying to get a holdall through. I check who the call is from, and when I see that it's from the Jedi Council, I yell over my shoulder,
"Amu (amu - mom)! The Council wants to talk!"
She walks over to me, and plays her hand on my shoulder. I press the button, and Masters Yoda and Windu pop up on the holocomm.
"Ileema, to Naboo you must go. With Knight Skywalker and Obi-Wan. Separatist droids, found there, have been. On their way to you, they are."
"Yes, Master. Leeda and I will be waiting for their arrival."
"May the Force be with you."
"And with you."
By the time uncle Anakin, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka get here, amu (amu - mom) and I are already ready to go. Their LAATs land in The Relentless's hangar and then we're off to Naboo. When we are in Naboo's atmosphere, amu (amu - mom), ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan, uncle Anakin, Ahsoka, and I all load up into one of our LAATs.
We fly over Naboo, and land in the Theed Palace hangar. There are so many ships here. I would love to take some of these for a spin. But we're here for a mission, so I can't. Oh well.
Captain Typho, I think is his name, runs up to us as soon as we exit the LAAT.
"General Kenobi, Anakin, we're so glad…"
"Where's Senator Amidala?"
"She went to look for the lab."
"And you let her go?" uncle Anakin bursts out.
"Senator Padmé can be very hard to stop once she has made up her mind," Goldenrod says.
"Good point. I know what you mean."
Captain Typhoon gestures to the Gungan behind him. "This is Peppi Bow. She was the last person to see them. Padmé sent her here to safety."
"Theysa looking for the sick-maker."
"'They'?" amu (amu - mom) asks.
"Representative Binks was with her."
Artoo beeps and amu (amu - mom) and uncle Anakin turn back to face Ahsoka and I.
"You two, go with the Gungan. See if you can find them."
"You've got it, Master," Ahsoka says.
We walk forward and past Peppi, who follows us. Then we go out of the palace, and follow Peppi to the swamps.
We take of the Gungan's creatures with Peppi, and it's around sunset when we get to the swamp and find aunt Padmé and Representative Binks's ship.
"These the ship belonging to them."
"So where are they?" Ahsoka says. We hop off and Ahoska says. "Their tracks end here."
Suddenly, there's a whirring noise from underneath Peppi. A scope. She is standing on top of it, and Ahsoka and I move around it to avoid being seen while I explain to Pepe what it is.
"Peppi, it's a scope. Don't let them see you."
Ahsoka and crawl around the scope for a few more seconds, before I tackle Peppi off of it, and Ahsoka dives with us into the bushes. We pop up and see that the scope has seen our ride. But aside from that, there's no reason to think anyone is here.
This is Gungan used land after all. So the creatures that the Gungan's herd being around here isn't far fetched. It probably happens quite a bit. After it scans the creature, the scope pops back down into the earth. It must be on a pressure sensor. Impressive, and smart.
I tap in amu's (amu's - mom's) comm frequency and after only one beep she picks up.
"Master, are you there?" Ahsoka asks. Making sure uncle Anakin is there.
"Did you find her?" he asks.
"Negative," I say. "I'm pretty sure she's inside the lab. The whole area is wired with pressure sensors. There's no way to get in without being detected. But 'Soka and I are more than happy to...
"Do not attempt to get inside," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan starts. A map of the lab appears on my holoprojector. "I need you two to detonate a bunker bomb at the south end of the facility," one of the pods lights up red. "It should cause a nice distraction and seal off the bomb area while we come in through the hatches."
"You can count on us," we say together.
"Rex, Kya, and their men will be right behind you, Snips, Lee. They'll have your back."
When amu (amu - mom) notes my look of confusion, she says, "Logan has gone to Kamino to pick up the new shinies, so Kya is the lead at the moment."
I nod to her, and disconnect the call. Looks like I get to blow something up! Elek! (elek - yes)
After night has fallen, the scope comes back up, and Peppi's creature comes back over to us. Perfect. I take the bomb out of my belt and float it over to the south end of the lab. When a scope pops up, I zoom it back towards us. Then I float it forward a little more, and when three scopes come up together, I drop it, saying,
"Now!"
We turn and get away from the explosion. Me in particular. I have no wish to listen to Wish's lecture on avoiding fire and explosions… Again… For the third time this week… And the tenth time this month…
"Meesa come too?" Peppi asks.
"No," Ahsoka says. "Stay here and make sure no one escapes."
We run off, but I hear Peppi say, "Hmmph. Okeyday."
Men from the 501st and 345th repel down into the lab as Ahsoka and I jump down as well. Our lightsabers ignited. When we jump down there, our men and the beskar'ade (beskar'ade - droids) are already engaged in a firefight.
Ahsoka and I block shots, and jump forward to slice into droids and block their shots. From behind me, I can hear running footsteps and ba'vodu (b'avodu - uncle) Rex shouting,
"Forward! Come on!"
When droidekas roll in and start firing, we no longer have the upper hand. After surveying my surroundings, I yell,
"Fall back!"
Ahsoka and I block shots from reaching our men while they retreat, we hop backwards as we do. Eventually, the men get forced behind some sort of wall. A barrier. Ahsoka and I stand in front of them to keep the droids' shots from hitting them.
"We can't hold them," Ahsoka grunts out.
A moment later, something crushes them, and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan is standing on top of them.
"Need some help?" he asks.
Ahsoka and I look at each other and sigh in relief.
"It's good to see you, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle)."
"Things are going well. The lab is secure, and hopefully, Anakin has reached Padmé by now."
When we run into commando droids, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan runs off to the back saying that he's going to get the bombs. Our job is to be the decoys and the distractions. The hard job, in other words.
"We'll keep the droids occupied," I tell him, as a blaster bolt bounces off my purple blade.
Once we get rid of those commando droids, Ahsoka and I start trying to find the others. While we're running, uncle Anakin comes in over comms.
"Leeda, Ahsoka, we've got another situation. Send all the clones to search the facility. We've got a mis…" he trails off because we run almost straight into him.
"Master?" Ahsoka says.
"Uncle Anakin?" I say at the same time as Ahsoka.
"We've got a missing bomb and a trigger-happy mad doctor on the loose."
"Missing bomb? I saw Dr. Vindi give a little droid a bomb."
"You guys split up. Find that droid."
"You heard him. Let's move!" Ahsoka says.
"Uh… Never mind," I say, somebody really should stay with aunt Padmé and Rep. Binks. Well, guess that's my job now.
The three of us run along a hallway, until Rep. Binks apparently smells something, because he stops. So we do too.
"Something smells good in here."
He walks into a room filled with trees, so aunt Padmé and I follow him. This is why I hate working with Jar Jar Binks. He gets into trouble, and then I have to get him out.
I notice a whirring sound beneath a table, and aunt Padmé bends down. She must have heard it too. I lean down, and see a little droid clutching a bomb. Oh boy.
"Hey, there, little guy. How about you hand that over to me?" The droid roars at us, and aunt Padmé along with Rep. Jar Jar startle back. I do to, and then the droid starts running away.
"He's getting away!" aunt Padmé yells.
I put in Ahsoka's comm frequency, and say, "Ahsoka, we found the last bomb. Also, it's getting away. Correction, was getting away, I've got it now."
I correct myself because Rep. Binks grabs it by the foot, which makes it throw the bomb in the air. I catch it with the Force and bring it to myself. It's beeping, definitely activated.
She sighs. "Stay there. I'll get the bomb squad."
The bomb squad from the 212th gets there, and deactivates it just in the nick of time. K'oyacyi.
"Deactivated. Plenty of time to spare."
"Plenty of... ooh." Rep. Binks falls over in a faint. All of us, Ahsoka, aunt Padmé, ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Kya and Rex, along with the 212th boys and I, look at him.
The next minute, Ahsoka's comm beeps.
"Ahsoka, are you there?"
"I'm here, Master. So's Leeda. The bomb has been deactivated. Did you find Vindi?"
"Deactivated as well. Have you seen Padmé?"
I speak up, "She's right next to me. 'Soka and I are okay, too. Thanks for asking."
Ahsoka, our boys, and I are patrolling the hallways when the droid alarm starts to blare. I send two of my boys, Nip and Tuck, to go recheck the bombs. A few moments later, the alarm really starts going. Oh, kriff. A bomb has been blown, Nip and Tuck are probably dead now, and the virus is going to be spread all throughout the lab.
"Virus leak. Get to the safe room. Come on!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex yells.
We start running through the hallways. Doors sealing off as we go. We make it just barely to the safe room, when the doors start closing.
"There's the safe room!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Kya.
"No chance!" one of my troopers yells.
"Hurry! The doors are closing!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex yells.
"Don't worry," Ahsoka and I say, as we hold open the doors. "Get inside, Captains."
When they're all inside, their yelling, "Hurry!"
Before the virus gets over us, I take a deep breath, and hold it. We leap through the door, and they seal right as our feet clear them. I release the breath I was holding, and rub my shoulder. I knocked it against some crates when I landed. My comm then start beeping, it's from amu (amu - mom).
"Leeda, what is going on down there?" she says, as soon as I pick up.
"The droids released the virus, but we managed to seal the lab."
"And Senator Amidala and Representative Binks?"
"We haven't heard from her since the bomb."
"All right. Stay safe."
"We'll do our best."
Racer has been looking at a moniter, and when he says, "No, no, no," ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Rex and Kya, Ahoska, and I all run over to him.
"What is it, Racer?" I ask him.
"Some of the virus got in here. We didn't close the door fast enough."
I purse my lips together, and set my shoulders back. We may be on our way to join the Force, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything to save others from our own fate. So I say,
"We may all be dead men, but we could still stop those droids."
"Don't worry," Ahsoka says. "Master will find a cure for this virus. We're not dead yet."
"Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear…"
"Senator Amidala," Ahsoka says, "we're trapped in the safe room at the end of complex B."
"We'll be right there. Are you contaminated?"
"I'm afraid so," I say as both men from the 501st and the 345th start into coughing fits.
Then men's skin starts to become pale, and I suddenly remember the dream I had a few months ago on Coruscant. This is what it was about. Unfortunately, I didn't see whether we survived or not. Only that not all of us made it. Ahsoka comms aunt Padmé.
"Senator Amidala, where are you?"
"We're right outside your safety room. Can you get the door open?"
The door opens, and aunt Padmé along with Rep. Binks comes in. She walks over to Ahsoka and I and says,
"I'm sorry, Leeda, Ahsoka."
"Don't worry about us, senator," I tell her. "We still have a job to do."
"There aren't very many droids left. We saw some heading toward the south entrance."
Ahsoka and I look at each other, and nod. She says, "As long as we're able, we'll help you destroy those droids before they breach the compound."
Aunt Padmé nods and says, "You take the north corridor, and we'll take the south."
We split up and get to destroying battle droids. Ahsoka and I can't do our acrobatics anymore, but we still block the droids' shots and get to cut them. Or stab them. Disable them in some way! We run into aunt Padmé and her group trying to stop a droid from opening a hatch.
"Stop!" ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Kya yells.
"Don't open that hatch," aunt Padmé says.
"Ha! Too late."
I grab one of ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex's DC-17s and fire two shots up into the tunnel. The blaster bolts ricochet and hit the droid. When it falls to the ground, I give ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex his blaster back.
"Nice shot, Commander," Racer says.
"Thanks. It's been a while since I've used a blaster. Master Obi-Wan says that they're 'uncivilized'."
When we leave that area, we run along the hallway until we run into droidekas. Again. K'oyacyi… (K'oyacyi - cheers)
"This-a help."
"Jar Jar, no."
I don't se what happens, because it's behind me, and I'm a little preoccupied with keeping the droidekas from killing me before this virus does. Though, on second thought, battle is a much less mundane way to die.
We destroy the droidekas before running over to aunt Padmé. Ahsoka yells,
"Senator!"
"Senator," ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex says, "your suit's been compromised."
"I'm so sorry," Ahsoka says.
"Don't blame yourself. These things tend to happen in a war zone."
We leave that battle, and run into two more battle droids. These have almost cut through the hatch.
"There they are."
I run up to the ladder, and summon the one cutting with the Force, slicing them both in half with my lightsaber. When I finish, I have to grab onto the ladder to stop myself from falling. And I'm out of breath.
"Leeda!"
"I'm all right."
After we've made sure that we've gotten all of the battle droids, I patch a comm through to amu (amu - mom). It manages to go through.
"Master, can you hear me?"
"R2, amplify the signal," uncle Anakin orders.
"We destroyed all the battle droids inside the compound, Master. Naboo is safe from further contamination. I repeat. Naboo is safe," after I finish talking, I break into a coughing fit.
"Promise me that no one will ever open this bunker," aunt Padmé says. "Good-bye, Anakin. I…"
After the call to amu (amu - mom), ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan, and uncle Anakin we find a room and hunker down. When one of the boys from the 501st passes to the Force, I can faintly hear aunt Padmé and ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex's conversation.
I walk around through, trying to give the few troopers we have left a fighting chance.
"What a waste."
"With all due respect, Senator. It's what they're born to do."
"I hope that their sacrifice brings us closer to peace."
"It will, Padmé. You must believe that…"
"Ahsoka!"
I look over and see Ahsoka collapse, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Rex catches her though. She and I have been doing the same thing. Giving our men some of our energy. Which is why we've gotten so bad, so fast. The only reason I'm still standing is because of my high midi-chlorian count.
The next to collapse is aunt Padmé, then my ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles), and on my way over to Racer, just like in my vision, I collapse. And am in total blackness.
I wake up to someone brushing hair off my forehead. I groan, and open my eyes. Buir (buir - dad) is the one who did it, and amu looks like she's sleeping in a chair.
"Buir (buir - dad)…" my voice is raspy, but he smiles at me.
"Good to see you still alive, ad'ika (ad'ika - little one). Your amu (amu - mom) commed me a couple of times because Wish said he wasn't sure whether you were going to keep going. I knew you would though. You've always been a verde (verde - warrior, fighter)."
"Vor'e (vor'e - thank you)," I whisper, as my eyes start to close again.
I hear buir (buir - dad) chuckle, and say, "Go on to sleep, Leeda'ika (Leeda'ika - nickname for Leeda). You've more than earned a bit of rest."
"Fear is disease; hope is its only cure." -Unknown