A/N- It sure has been a while, hasn't it? I originally wanted to have this chapter done and published by mid to late march but I was finding the writing of this chapter a bit of a drag and a challenge, which resulted in my writing out fresh chapters for some of my other stories whilst taking short breaks from writing this one. It didn't help that I also got back into a couple of things I hadn't done for some time.
Also, thank you to the reviewer who pointed out a plot hole that I had missed. I didn't spot it at the time of writing and publishing it, so thank you for picking up on it. Who knows, I could work it into the story in some way.
I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend and let's get on with the chapter, shall we?
Chapter 14- The Battle of Naboo
Harry found himself sitting on a fallen tree trunk, eating a very light breakfast. His nerves were skyrocketing and he could only think about the upcoming battle and what could happen to him, to his girlfriends, to Sirius. His nerves were getting to him. As he nibbled away at his breakfast, he turned to see Leia coming to sit next to him. "Hey Leia." He greeted quietly.
"Hi Harry." Leia replied. She then sat down and began eating her breakfast. Leia noticed Harry was nibbling away at his breakfast and that it was a light breakfast. "A bit nervous for today?" She asked teasingly and sincerely at the same time.
"Would you think any differently of me if I said I was?" Harry replied with a question of his own.
"No, I wouldn't." Leia replied sincerely. "This isn't the first time I've been nervous about something." She admitted but she refused to elaborate on further. Harry could sense she was still putting up a somewhat tough exterior but chose not to push her on it.
However, there was one thing still on his mind he felt he had to ask. "Did you have that conversation with Anakin, last night?"
Leia sat in silence for a moment before eventually replying to Harry. "I did. I think we both needed it but especially me. It feels like having a massive weight off my chest."
"I'm glad." Harry said happily with a smile. After a few moments, his smile became sadder before disappearing entirely. "If anything were to happen to me, my friends back home wouldn't know what happened to me. Hell, they probably think I'm already dead. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Daphne... I have no idea what they're thinking or doing right now. I just hope they don't overreact or do something unnecessarily crazy."
"Well if anything did happen to you, I know one thing." Leia said softly.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"We would know... and we'd miss you. Our hearts would break." Leia answered, her voice still soft.
"They would..." Padmé said, causing Harry and Leia to turn round to look at her as she walked up to them and sat on the other side of Harry. "We've only known each other for short amount of time and entered a relationship in even less time than that but I don't want you going anywhere. None of you." Padmé then leaned and kissed Harry very intensely. The intense kissing lasted for just over half a minute before Padmé stopped kissing him and turned his head towards Leia. Unwilling to turn down the opportunity, Leia leaned towards Harry and kissed him as intensely as Padmé had. Padmé could feel her heart beating rapidly as she watched Harry and Leia kiss. Then, as their kiss ended, with a heart pounding sensation in her chest, Padmé shuffled over so she sat on Harry's lap, leaned over and kissed Leia. Leia was surprised by the kiss Padmé was giving her but eagerly returned it all the same and even moved over so that she took was on Harry's lap. The three of them were caught in their own little world. The snogging session began to get a bit out of control with the three of them taking turns kissing each other. Harry even became confident enough to begin touching Padmé and Leia at the same time, which they both welcomed.
Before they could get too carried away, they heard the sound of several throats being cleared. The trio turned around as best as they could to see Jaina, Rey, Mara, Sabé and the rest of Padmé's handmaidens watching them with amused or blushing faces. "We're sorry to interrupt but I think we're all in agreement that we can't delay the battle just because your little, and may I say... stimulating, make out session got a little out of control." Harry, Padmé and Leia expected Jaina to say those words, so they were surprised when it was Sabé who made the remark.
"Be grateful Sirius hasn't turned up yet to embarrass..." Rey began, only to trail off. "Never mind..."
The reason for Rey trailing off mid sentence became clear as Sirius began walking past. He was absent-mindedly eating a slice of toast or something similar when he turned his head and saw Rey, Mara, Jaina, Sabé and the other handmaidens standing opposite a dishevelled Harry, Padmé and Leia. He thought he could see blushes on some of the handmaidens and some were definitely breathing more heavily. He tried to avoid making any remarks at his Godson's, his girlfriends' or the handmaidens expense but he needed a way of relieving the tension he was feeling and he couldn't resist being himself. "Well, Harry, I didn't expect you or your new girlfriends to have an exhibitionist kink. I mean, we are right here in the open, where anyone can watch you getting it on." He then turned his attention to Padmé. "And your Highness, I can't believe you're willing to show off to your handmaidens or that they like to be voyeurs." Sirius laughed hard before remarking to himself, "I'd better go before I get killed... Or before I see something I shouldn't." He began walking as fast as he could away from them before any of them could retaliate by pranking or hurting him.
Harry and Jaina, separately but immediately, began contemplating various ways they could get back at Sirius. If a prank war hadn't started before, it had now. It just had to wait for an actual war to be fought before it could start in earnest.
"I think we'd better get ready, hadn't we?" Mara remarked, receiving murmurs of agreement from her new lovers and Padmé's handmaidens. The situation had become very awkward, especially after Sirius' joke and the little group went their separate ways to prepare for the upcoming battle.
After some last minute tinkering with the plan, everyone began making their way to where they needed to be. "Jar Jar, keep yourself safe, okay? I don't want to hear that you got shot by some battle droids or that you injured yourself by falling off something." Harry said to Jar Jar with evident worry.
"Mesa try, 'arry. Mesa try." Jar Jar replied sincerely before Jar Jar went to join with the Gungan Grand Army, which was aiming to pull battle droids away from Theed and other settlements.
"He'll be fine, Harry." Qui-Gon said reassuringly to Harry as the Gungan's prepared for battle.
"I hope so. I know I haven't spent a lot of time with him but still..." Harry replied.
"Come along Harry. The day is long yet." Qui-Gon said as he gestured to the various members of Naboo's resistance movements starting to make their way to Theed. Harry made his way over to a speeder which contained Leia, Jaina, Mara and Rey as well as Saché and another handmaiden called Yané whilst Qui-Gon walked over to a speeder that contained Padmé, Sabé, Captain Panaka, Obi-Wan as well as most of the rest of the handmaidens.
"Come on, Pup. Let's go and face the music, I believe the muggles say." Sirius said as he walked up to Harry. "Those fighters and bombers you were given were regrown last night and are ready to go. Also, I've already told Padmé but Jango has gone on ahead to provide us with up to date intel and set up overwatch positions for when all hell breaks loose."
"I'm assuming Anakin's staying here?" Harry asked as he saw that a small camp remained and that Shmi seemed to be running it.
"No. He's actually with that Ric guy in another speeder. There was no more room with us in this speeder or with Qui-Gon." Sirius said, shocking Harry.
"Okay, two questions. First off, he knows we're about to enter a warzone, right? And is Shmi really alright with this?" Harry asked, his unpleasant surprise clear to his Godfather.
"Yes and no, not really." Sirius admitted. "He was adamant about coming along and Shmi only allowed him to go when we, that is Qui-Gon and I, promised to keep an eye out on him."
"Right..." Harry was doubtful that, in the heat of battle, they'd be able to keep an eye on Anakin. Harry and Sirius then got in the speeder with Leia, Rey, Jaina, Mara, Saché and Yané in it and Rey began piloting it, following Padmé in her speeder. "So those fighters back in the swamp will do a strafing run or two on the battle droids that approach the Gungans and the friends of that pilot before joining the space battle and Jango's mercenary friends are going to provide some kind of cordon around the capital to try and prevent any Federation reinforcements from entering the city from other parts of the planet."
"That's right, Pup. And don't forget about the phoenix tears. We don't have a lot so don't waste them on minor or other non-life threatening injuries." Sirius said as he gave a vial of phoenix tears each to Leia, Rey, Jaina and Mara as well as himself and Harry. He then handed one off to Yané and Saché. "I'm going to give one to Padmé too but that will be it because there'll be no more left to give out. Oh, and don't give them to anyone who's dead." He told Saché and Yané. "They're good but not that good."
"I know Sirius. I wouldn't be here to listen to this lecture without them." Harry pointed out as he subconsciously rubbed the spot on his arm where he'd been stabbed by the Basilisk tooth years earlier.
As they approached Theed, Jango's voice came through on the communicators. "Your Highness, the Trade Federation have placed a tank just outside of the main hangar doors. I would presume it's to prevent any escape from the planet."
"Thank you, Mr Fett." Padmé replied as her voice also came through on the communicators. "Are there any volunteers to destroy the tank the bounty hunter just told us about?" She then asked.
Harry almost immediately grabbed a communicator and replied to her. "I'll go. This planet needs every fighter available to take out that control ship and if even a few are taken out before they leave the atmosphere, that can reduce our chances."
Harry felt that Padmé didn't want him to risk his life but he knew that she had to consider the lives of everyone, not just his. "Okay, Harry. You go and do that."
"Pup, is it wise to be doing that?" Sirius asked his Godson.
"Maybe not, but compared to say, facing an entire platoon of those Skull creatures down singlehandedly, then it's certainly a better option." Harry replied slightly sarcastically.
"I take your point." Sirius remarked with a slight chill down his spine. He certainly couldn't argue with Harry's reasoning.
As the convoys of speeders and captured Trade Federation vehicles approached Theed, the tension in the air grew thicker. People had private doubts about the attack but they didn't voice them out loud. Not a word.
Once they got inside the city, everyone made sure that they avoided the battle droid patrols until the attack commenced. Meanwhile, Harry and Sirius, who had decided to accompany his Godson after handing a vial of phoenix tears to Padmé, walked around the buildings near the hangar until they found the tank that was guarding the exit for all the fighters in the hangar. "There it is." Harry said, his focus solely on the tank.
"But it's not alone." Sirius replied, pointing out several pairs of battle droids nearby. The droids were either idly keeping watching or patrolling with little alertness. "Take them out together?" Sirius suggested.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Together." The pair began firing spells at the small group of battle droids. "Diffindo!" "Depulso!" The battle droids were taken by surprise as some found themselves being cut up and others were thrown off the cliff. They were confused but they couldn't see who was attacking them so they could return fire. The battle droids were sitting ducks. Once the battle droids were taken care of, Sirius pointed his wand at the tank and began levitating it into the air. Harry joined in, also helping Sirius levitate the Trade Federation tank into the air, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Harry, help me get this thing over the edge. We don't want them recovering it, do we?" Sirius said to Harry. Harry and Sirius guided the levitating tank over the cliff. "Right, cancel the charm. Let it drop. It may have repulsorlift technology but this thing can't withstand that fall." Sirius cancelled his levitation charm and Harry quickly followed suit. The Trade Federation tank began tumbling into the rocks and shallow river under the cliffs and Harry and Sirius ran to the cliff edge to see the result. It exploded, was ripped apart and shattered into many pieces and the droid crew were thoroughly dismantled in the process.
"I'm glad no living being was in there." Harry remarked as he winced at the fate of the tank.
"Harry, if there had been someone living in there, I'd rather you kill them than them killing you." Sirius said to Harry, causing Harry's eyes to widen. "I'm not saying go and murder everybody, Pup, but there are circumstances where killing might be the only option." Before Harry could ponder or reply to what Sirius had said, Sirius then gave him a tap on the shoulder. "Let's get back to the others. I'd be amazed if the battle droids didn't notice what just happened." Indeed, almost as soon as Sirius finished talking, the pair of them heard the approaching voices of suspicious battle droids. Not wanting to start the battle before they were meant to, Harry and Sirius ran back to the others.
Minutes later, Harry and Sirius re-joined the others and everyone turned their heads towards them. "Is the tank taken care of?" Padmé asked. It was vital to her plan that as many fighters could make it into space as possible.
"It's been taken care of." Harry answered before adding, "It looked painful from where we were standing."
Padmé let out a deep breath she didn't realise that she'd been holding. "Good. Every fighter that is able to get up there is a fighter that can potentially knock out that control ship." She then looked back towards the courtyard near the palace and looked over towards the other side. In the courtyard and the nearby streets were many battle droids and about half a dozen tanks or more. Across the courtyard, Captain Panaka was with another group of Naboo's security personnel and a few of the handmaidens. Padmé and Panaka signalled each other and, on Panaka's side of the courtyard, a speeder with what appeared to be a heavy cannon mounted on top moved into position. It could easily see the Trade Federation tanks and the Trade Federation tanks couldn't easily see the speeder in return. With a single well aimed shot, the speeder fired on the closest Trade Federation tank and it burst into flames, the force of the explosion also forcing a few nearby battle droids off their feet. With that opening shot, the battle of Naboo began.
All hell broke loose. The battle droids immediately reacted by moving towards where the blaster cannon fire had come from and firing back in that direction. Captain Panaka and his group returned fire, focusing all of the battle droids attention on them. With all the droids in the courtyard distracted, Padmé signalled for her group to swing into action. They ran up behind the battle droids, taking down the few that stood in their way as they made their way to the hangar. At the same time, Panaka and some of his group were starting to slip away from the battle droids facing him, moving to re-join the Queen, the Jedi and the two wizards, although that was easier said than done. As the majority of the two groups began to slip towards the hangar, another tank was knocked out by the Naboo speeders and Jango covered the two groups by flying from rooftop to rooftop.
Harry and Sirius shielded Padmé and the others as best as they could, allowing the Jedi and the rest of their companions to go on the attack. They were a few corridors away from the main hangar but, even though the majority of the battle droids had been drawn away from Theed and from the other cities, there was a significant contingent of battle droids in the city and quite a number of them were located in and around the palace. It was easy to get to the hangar though thanks to the combined abilities of Harry, Jaina, Mara, Rey, Sirius, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, making it feel as though it had taken mere seconds to reach the hangar, when in fact it had taken several minutes.
The main hangar doors were shut and they could hear the battle droids inside hastily preparing for a fight. "Artoo, can you open the doors?" Padmé asked the little astromech droid. R2 beeped and whistled as he immediately got to work on opening the door.
As Artoo began making progress on opening the hangar doors, Jaina and Rey felt a chill in the air, the approach of a person steeped in the Dark side of the Force. They looked at each other and around them gravely. Harry noticed the expressions on their faces and knew that something was wrong almost straight away. "I'm not liking the look on either of your faces... What is it?"
"He's coming, right now!" Jaina hissed out urgently.
"Who's coming?" Harry was already dreading what the answer was going to be. His hand tightened around his wand as he anticipated the response.
"The Sith Lord who attacked us on Tatooine." Rey answered.
"Known as Darth Maul. As far as I know, he's here to make sure that the Queen submits to the Trade Federation." Jaina added.
"We'll make sure we're ready then." Qui-Gon said, having overheard Harry, Rey and Jaina. He had expected another encounter after the duel on Tatooine and, judging from what Rey and Jaina had said, it appeared it was imminent.
Artoo whistled and beeped, telling almost everyone that he had opened the door. Harry was still unable to understand Artoo, so Leia translated for him. "Artoo is saying he's got the door open."
"Got it." Harry replied with a quick nod. He pointed his wand towards the hangar as the doors began to open.
Almost as soon as the hangar doors began to open, blaster bolts began to fly in all directions. Harry and Sirius cast all manner of spells from cutting curses to banishing charms and Rey, Jaina, Mara, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were deflecting blaster bolts back towards the battle droids with their lightsabres. Anakin was darting behind cover and, around all of them, blaster bolts whizzed past or exploded on nearby objects, causing sparks to fly. "You okay, Anakin?" Harry asked as the battle droids desperately attempted to hold the hangar.
"Yeah..." Anakin replied, Harry barely able to hear him over the sound of blaster fire.
"Just try to avoid the gunfire as best as you can. We don't want your mother to kill us for letting you get hurt." Harry said to Anakin just before he was barely able to dodge a blaster bolt that flew over his head.
"Get to your ships!" Padmé called out to the pilots fighting alongside her and they began to rush towards the stationary fighters. One was shot and killed instantly as they ran too far ahead of the covering blaster and spell fire but the rest of the pilots made it to their ships. They began streaming out of the hangar even as the fighting in the hangar continued, and because there was no tank near the hangar, none of the fighters were shot down. The solitary fighter that remained in the hangar became occupied by Anakin as he sought cover from the fighting. Elsewhere on Naboo, the pilots flying the donated TIE fighters and bombers had just finished strafing the droid army, destroying several tanks and troop transports, when they received the signal to go and assist the pilots in the Naboo starfighters in the space battle. It was going to be an arduous space battle for the pilots that went to space to destroy the Federation control ship.
In the hangar, Captain Panaka arrived with those of his group who'd managed to disengage from the battle droids in the courtyard to help Padmé, Harry and the others mop up the remaining droids in the hangar. The droids there were finished. "That all of them?" Sirius asked.
"For now. There's probably more coming this way as speak though." Panaka replied.
"Any idea where this Viceroy is?" Harry then asked. If this Viceroy of the Trade Federation was to be captured, then they'd need to know where he was likely to be.
"My guess is that the Viceroy is in the throne room." Padmé replied to Harry's question.
Saché nodded. "It's where he's been spending most of his time here, aside from the times he's visited some of the prison camps."
"In that case... Red group, Blue Group! Everybody this way!" Captain Panaka ordered. Padmé and Panaka led the combined group in the direction of an exit that Harry presumed was the quickest route to the throne room. He noticed that Rey and Jaina were very uneasy and even Mara was on edge, all three of them were fiddling with their lightsabre hilts.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Anakin said as he noticed everyone leaving without him.
"Anakin, stay where you are. You'll be safe there." Qui-Gon told the restless Anakin. Harry had to agree with Qui-Gon. Anakin would be better off hiding in the stationary spaceship.
"But I..." Anakin began to protest, only for his protests to be immediately shot down by Qui-Gon, Harry and Sirius.
"Stay in that cockpit!" Qui-Gon told Anakin more firmly, brooking no more protests from Anakin.
"I know you don't want to be left out Anakin but I don't want to see you get hurt." Harry said in agreement with Qui-Gon.
"Besides, you wouldn't want your mother to kill any of us if anything happened to you, would you?" Sirius then asked Anakin, earning him an eye roll from Harry as they headed towards the exit.
As the group reached the hangar exit, the doors, which had been closed, began to open, seemingly of their own accord. The group stopped as they saw a dark cloaked person on the other side. It was the same dark cloaked assassin that had attempted to prevent their escape from the desert planet. The one known as Darth Maul.
Harry took in a sharp breath as he looked at the dark assassin and glared at him as he remembered what the Sith Lord had done to him on Tatooine. He was prepared to fire off a spell at the Sith Lord to try and force him back in any way. Before he could though, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan gently pushed their way through the crowd and spoke clearly and firmly, "We'll handle this." He was clearly indicating himself and Obi-Wan.
"So will we!" Rey said indicating herself and Jaina, causing Harry to look at them in shock and worry. Mara also moved to join Jaina and Rey but was gently pushed back by Jaina.
"Why are you pushing me back? I'm coming to help you in this fight." Mara said argumentatively to Jaina.
Jaina shook her head. "I'd love to fight with you more than anything but if anything were to happen to you, I'm not sure I could help you and we could face a massive disaster if you were to suddenly have one of those devastating seizures." Mara had no response to this. "If you were to go with Harry, Padmé and the others, one of them could help you out." Jaina then handed Harry a bag that contained all of Mara's medication. "Harry, take it."
"Are you two sure you want to do this?" Harry very quietly asked Rey and Jaina.
"What choice is there, Harry? Do we allow him the opportunity to try and go kill or kidnap anyone again?" Rey replied. "He badly injured you once already and he tried to take her." She then added, subtly nodding towards Padmé.
Jaina shook her head. "Besides Harry, four Jedi are better than two."
Harry nodded slowly in acceptance. "Take care of yourselves then. And good luck."
Both Rey and Jaina bit their tongues, both tempted to say 'There's no such thing as luck' but knew that Harry, Sirius and their people, wherever they were, did have such a thing as luck. Instead, they subtly kissed Harry on either cheek and turned to face the dark side warrior.
Padmé sensed that this was a fight that they didn't need or want to be involved in. "We'll take the long way." She began leading the group towards an alternative exit located near the fighter exit.
Harry slowly followed, walking somewhat backwards away from the about to commence lightsabre duel, looking with concern at Rey and Jaina. He felt someone gently yet firmly grab his arm. He turned to see who it was and saw it was Leia. "Let's go, Harry. They'll be fine." She said to him reassuringly. "I can feel it." Leia then added, causing Harry to look at her with a wry smile.
As they walked away from the about to begin Lightsabre duel, everyone was forced to duck into cover as a trio of Droidekas rolled into the hangar and immediately fired on them all. A few members of Naboo's security forces were cut down by the slightly explosive blaster fire coming from the rolling death wheels but everyone diligently kept behind cover.
"Blast! I don't have a good shot lined up!" Sirius exclaimed in frustration. "How about you Pup?!"
"Same here. I could fire off a Reducto or a severing charm but I could accidentally hit someone with either of them which I'd rather not." Harry said. He was then forced to hide behind a column as stray blaster bolts struck near him, sparks flying off solid bricks and metal boxes.
Just as frustration with the Droidekas began to set in, something unexpected happened. A single Naboo starfighter began to slowly leave the hangar and fired on the trio of Droidekas. Their shields may have been enough to withstand the blaster fire of the Naboo Security Forces but they failed instantly when they were hit by the blaster cannon fire from the Naboo starfighter. Two were destroyed instantly and the third Droideka panicked slightly before it took was destroyed. "That wasn't who I think it was, was it?" Harry asked Sirius with dread. The pair turned to see where Anakin had been hiding in the stationary fighter and found he was no longer there. He was clearly in the fighter that had destroyed the Droidekas. "Oh..." Harry began.
"...Bugger!" Sirius instinctively finished. "That's not good."
A voice came through on the communicator that was a little inconvenient to put it mildly, "Sirius, Qui-Gon, is my little Annie okay?" It was Shmi.
Sirius was hesitant to reply but knew he had to. "Things here are a little hot right now, Shmi, but Anakin's fine. He's hiding in a starfighter that had no pilot in it." Sirius and Harry both winced as soon as he said that but it technically was correct. They just had to leave out the fact that her son had flown off somewhere in said fighter.
"That's fine, Sirius. Just make sure he listens to instructions as he can be very independent minded and ignore what people tell him to do at times." Shmi said before turning off the call.
"Well we can't do anything for Anakin right now." Sirius said with a frustrated sigh.
Harry reluctantly nodded in agreement. He turned his head back towards the Lightsabre duel and noticed something. Jaina, Rey, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and the Sith Lord were slowly but surely moving away from the door marking the groups' original intended route. Harry thought that if they were patient enough, they could have a potentially easier route to the throne room. Harry glanced over at Padmé and Captain Panaka who were intending to use the alternative route that had been figured out and saw how impatient they were. He knew from very recent experience where impatience could lead. It was partly the reason he and Sirius were here now. "Leia, Mara, Sirius, I've got an idea." The door to Padmé and Panaka's alternative route opened and Harry called to Padmé before she went running through the door. "Padmé! Me, Sirius, Leia and Mara will catch up with you at the throne room!"
Padmé was surprised. "Where are you going?! What are you doing?!"
"Trust me!" Was all that Harry said to Padmé. There was no attempt at explanation. Harry was simply asking her to trust his instincts.
"Okay." Padmé replied with a nod indicating her trust in him before leading the way to the throne room with Captain Panaka, the handmaidens and the Naboo security forces following her.
"Harry... Why are we holding back?" Leia asked. She was clearly confused as to what Harry was thinking
"Look." Harry replied cryptically before nodding in the direction of the Lightsabre duel.
"It's a lightsabre duel. So what?" Mara said. It was clear to Harry that she didn't see what he was seeing.
Sirius did though. "Pup, I'm surprised that Sorting Hat didn't put you in Slytherin or maybe Ravenclaw."
"The Sorting Hat did actually want to put me in Slytherin. I asked it not to." Harry told Sirius.
"Okay, what are we missing?" Leia asked with a slight, confused huff.
Sirius took the liberty to explain what Harry had noticed to both Leia and Mara. "The more those five have been duelling, they've been moving further away from the door which we were originally meant to go through. If the duel gets far away enough from the door, we can dash through unnoticed or at least unharmed."
Harry smiled slightly. "I'm thinking that this was planned by those Trade Federation guys whoever they are or at least anticipated by them. I'm thinking those battle droids will concentrate on Padmé and either slowing her down or stopping her outright. With some patience, we can get there with them unsuspecting."
"That's not a bad plan." Mara said as she took in Harry's plan. "That is assuming that the battle droids do what you're expecting them to do though. Still... this is something that we should attempt."
The four of them waited for the duel to move on and it seemed to take forever. The Sith Lord called Maul was not only holding his own against Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Rey and Jaina but he was making them struggle. However, because he was badly outnumbered, the Sith Assassin flipped away from strikes from Obi-Wan and Jaina and fell back towards another large door, opening it by throwing an object, the apparent remains of a fallen battle droid, at some door control, breaking it as it opened the large doors. Rey, Jaina, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were able to force the Sith Lord back, away from the hangar and into what seemed to be another facility.
"I think we have our opening." Leia suggested. They were the only ones left in the hangar and Harry, Sirius and Mara were thinking the same as her.
"Let's go then." Mara said, holding her lightsabre and a blaster up cautiously just in case any more battle droids showed up unexpectedly. The four of them ran through the door where Darth Maul had arrived at the hangar and began to make their way to the throne room.
As they made their way through the palace's corridors, Sirius got another call from Shmi. "Sirius, I don't know what the situation is where you are. I'm sure Anakin is okay where he is..." Harry and Sirius winced. "... But I'm not calling about him." Sirius looked confused as to what Shmi wanted to talk to him about but he wasn't left in suspense for very long. "You met this girl called Stella yesterday, right?"
"Yeah... Jaina and I brought her and her brother back to the camp yesterday along with the members of their little resistance group and the survivors of the other night. Why?" Sirius replied. He was unsure about what was going to be said next but he felt that it wasn't anything he was going to want to hear.
"Stella came to me saying she couldn't find her brother and some of their friends. We, with Threepio's help, then had another look around the camp together and there was still no sign of them. We hope they haven't but we think they may have followed you all to the city. We hate to ask but if you can, can you keep an eye out for them?" Shmi asked hesitantly.
Sirius and Harry sighed. "It'll be hard but I'll try to find them." Sirius replied to Shmi.
"I'll help keep an eye out for them as well, Shmi." Harry added.
"Thank you." The call then went dead.
"Bloody hell, I knew that kid was a bit enthusiastic but he's sounding like he's more of a fanatic or extremist at this point. I just hope nothing happens to him before we find him." Sirius said, his frustration evidently increasing.
"Well, if we can get to the throne room quickly enough and force them to surrender, hopefully nothing will." Leia said, voicing her thoughts aloud. The four of them steadily moved through the palace, making sure they ready for potential ambushes as they went.
(Padmé)
Padmé and Captain Panaka had led the handmaidens and the security forces quite a distance through the palace but as they ran through yet another hallway, they were suddenly confronted by a large number of battle droids firing on them from the other end. It was obvious that the element of surprise had been lost as the battle droids in front of them were clearly ready to fight. Padmé shot down several battle droids as the shootout continued but the droids seemed limitless. The other handmaidens also shot down many battle droids between them. Sabé could hear the familiar sound of metal rolling really quickly down the corridor. "Droidekas!" Sabé called out to warn them.
"Hold your ground! We have to keep going forward!" Padmé ordered. They couldn't turn back now as they had made it too far into the palace. Another trio of Destroyer droids got out of their rolling configuration and immediately set up shields. They fired off a few volleys of blaster fire at Padmé and the Naboo security forces. Seconds after they began firing though, they met an explosive end. Padmé looked out of one of the windows and saw Jango Fett flying around with his jetpack, having clearly fired off a rocket at the trio of Droidekas and he began picking off battle droids with his blaster pistols like he was at a shooting range.
Still, even with Jango's assistance, they were going nowhere. There were still seemingly limitless battle droids blocking the way to the throne room. "How are there so many of them?" Sabé asked one of the other handmaidens who was standing next to her.
"We don't have time for this Captain!" Padmé said to Captain Panaka before shooting down another battle droid.
(Rey and Jaina)
The duel was beginning to wear down Rey and Jaina. Neither of them had fought a Sith Lord before in a lightsabre duel. Jaina remembered duelling her friend Zekk on Yavin Four. He'd become a Dark Jedi as a result of the scheming of the Second Imperium and its Shadow Academy but he did turn away from the dark path. Rey on the other hand remembered the handful of occasions where she had duelled Kylo Ren before he returned to the light side of the Force as Ben Solo. And whilst she did fight a Sith Lord in the form of her Grandfather, it was not a fight where both of them were using lightsabres but rather one where she was deflecting his lightning back at him with both her masters' lightsabres. For the both of them, as they realised, their prior experiences, whilst helpful, were not exactly the best preparation for this fight.
Darth Maul knocked Rey and Jaina back slightly and kicked Obi-Wan off the ramp. Obi-Wan fell several levels and landed on another ramp but he slid and almost fell off, dropping his lightsabre and clinging to the ramp in the process. Qui-Gon then knocked Maul off the ramp and the Sith Lord landed on his back a couple of levels below. Qui-Gon followed the Sith Lord down. "I'm going to help Qui-Gon. Jaina, help Obi-Wan up!" Rey said to Jaina.
Jaina nodded and jumped down several levels to where Obi-Wan was. Her landing was more controlled than his though because she hadn't been knocked down like Obi-Wan had. She used the force to pull Obi-Wan up and onto the ramp. Jaina bent down and picked up his lightsabre, handing it to him. "Are you alright?" Jaina asked him, turning her head up towards the duel happening several levels above her.
"I'm alright, Jaina." Obi-Wan replied.
Rey followed Qui-Gon intending to help him out but Darth Maul was unfazed. He kicked Qui-Gon, stunning the master Jedi momentarily and jumped up to his feet. He then turned his attention to Rey. Rey blocked several of his rapid blows but Maul caught Rey's right arm, cutting it just below her elbow and threatening to cut it off entirely, Rey's instincts saving her arm by moving away from the blade. Before Rey could recompose herself, Maul punched her in the side of the head with the outside of his fist, and with another punch with the same part of his hand, sent her tumbling to the level below and causing her to lose grip of her lightsabre. She was sprawled on the ramp below Qui-Gon and Maul and hissed in pain. "Kriffing hell!" She exclaimed, sounding exhausted.
"Rey! Are you okay?!" Jaina called to her as she jumped up to join Rey. Jaina saw the cut on Rey's arm and looked a little alarmed. "Did he almost cut off your arm?!" She asked, her worry evident.
"He tried but I just about got out of the way." Rey replied. She looked at the cut on her arm and whilst it was deeper than the previous cut she'd sustained on her arm, it wasn't as deep as she thought it was going to be. "That isn't looking as bad as I thought it was going to be." Rey then clutched her head in pain as she felt the impact of Maul's punches. "He sure can hit though!"
"Can you still fight? Can you even move?" Jaina asked in worry. She could see the red marks where Maul had punched Rey.
"Yeah, I think so." Rey answered as she managed to get herself onto her knees. She struggled to get to her feet though, which Jaina noticed and she helped her up. Rey wobbled slightly but managed to regain her balance and used the force to pull her lightsabre back towards her and into her hand. "Let's go and take down a Sith Lord." Rey said with absolute determination on her face. Her hair had become a bit of a mess after her fall but her only worry was about Maul and the threat he posed.
Rey and Jaina jumped up back to where they could see Obi-Wan running to catch up with Qui-Gon and Maul. "Come on Rey, we need to catch up!" Jaina said as she began to sprint to catch up to at least Obi-Wan. Rey staggered slightly as she regained her senses but she quickly caught up with Jaina. Qui-Gon and Maul had made it quite some way through a series of laser gates, duelling all the way. The laser gates then began to close automatically and Qui-Gon and Maul were separated by one of the gates. Obi-Wan just about managed to reach the first laser gate but it closed before he could move past it. Seeing that there were massively inconvenient obstacles in their path, Jaina and Rey slowed down and walked up to Obi-Wan. "No way past?" Jaina asked.
"No." Obi-Wan replied simply. He was staring straight ahead to where he could see Qui-Gon kneeling in a meditative state and Maul staring at them all unblinkingly.
"So we wait..." Rey said. She didn't know how long they were going to wait so she took the opportunity to patch up her wounds as best as possible, which wasn't easy considering that she'd forgotten to bring any additional medical supplies with her. It was true she could've used the phoenix tears but she remembered what Sirius said about their use, so she was unsure about what to do.
(Harry, Mara, Leia and Sirius)
Harry, Mara, Leia and Sirius were making their way through the elegant hallways of the palace and they were actually speeding up because, as Harry had rightly guessed, most of the battle droids had been sent to block Padmé, Captain Panaka, the handmaidens and the Naboo security forces. That wasn't to say that they faced none but the battle droids in their way were largely either by themselves or in twos and threes. The four of them were slowed though by the mere fact that they kept getting lost in the maze of corridors. "Are we getting closer?" Harry asked.
Leia took out her Idroid device and looked at the holographic map it was projecting. "It's about fifty metres in front of us but we're on the wrong floor."
"Bugger!" Harry exclaimed in frustration whilst Sirius rolled his eyes.
"There are some stairs up but we either need to go back the other way or..." Leia said before trailing off. She did not look like she wanted to say what the alternative was.
"What is it?" Harry said, resigned as to what the answer was.
"We go forward and potentially get caught by the battle droids." Leia answered.
Harry and Sirius looked at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking. "Let's not get into any unnecessary fights." Harry said.
"After all, what was it that ol' yank general said, 'The aim of war is not to die for your country but to make the other fellow die for his.' We go back and take them by surprise." Sirius said.
"I'm fairly sure you're slightly misquoting there, Sirius, and I'm also fairly sure that the language used was a bit more... colourful but I think we get the point." Harry said to Sirius.
Mara was listening but was beginning to feel a dull headache in her head and it was building. She also felt a tightness in her chest. She could even hear the Emperor's voice in her head beginning to come back once more, 'YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!' Mara was so focused on pushing aside the voice of her former Emperor and the pain building in her head and chest that she was starting to lose her concentration.
"Mara, are you alright?" Harry asked with concern as he tapped her on the shoulder.
Mara blinked rapidly and she could see that Harry, Leia and Sirius were looking at her worriedly but she didn't want to admit any weakness to them, especially in battle. "I'm fine." They looked at her disbelievingly. "I'm fine, really. Let's get this over with, shall we?!" She adamantly insisted.
"Fine, let's go." Sirius said. He was going to give Mara the benefit of the doubt but he could see something was wrong with her. Mara could see Harry didn't believe her either as she saw him take out some of her medication, pre-prepared in a syringe, from his rucksack and into one of his pockets. She couldn't blame him or any of them really. It hurt to see that they didn't entirely believe her but it warmed her heart to know that they cared about her.
The four of them of them found a set of stairs to run up. There were some battle droids guarding the stairs but they were taken down quickly. Harry and Leia peered over the top of the stairs, not wanting to get caught off guard. Harry saw nothing and was about to relax slightly but Leia had seen something, or rather, a couple of somethings. She took out a Trade Federation probe droid that was closest to them with four blaster shots and then she took aim at a battle droid a little distance away. It held a sniper rifle, intent on ambushing any unfortunate hostiles trying to find other ways to the throne room, and Leia shot it down with a well aimed blaster shot that went straight through the scope. Harry, Mara and Sirius were astonished by Leia's awareness and marksmanship. "How...?" Sirius asked, unable to form any other words.
"I've had practice..." Leia replied with a sly smirk.
Without further hesitation, the four of them ran towards the throne room. Just before they reached the throne room though, they found themselves surrounded by battle droids and Droidekas. They were clearly pointing their blasters at them. "Drop your weapons." The commander said, clearly distinguished from his subordinates by his yellow markings.
Mara was clearly beginning to suffer from her condition again. "Mara, hold on." Harry said to her, clearly ignoring the battle droid commander. He could also feel himself starting to get a nosebleed and saw the same thing happening to Leia and Sirius.
"I said drop your weapons!" The battle droid commander said much more firmly, almost sounding indignant at having his orders ignored.
"Harry..." Sirius said, clearly worried about Mara and the threat of the battle droids.
"Hang on Sirius." Harry said to his Godfather, gesturing for him to not talk for a second. Harry then turned to the battle droid commander and pointed a finger disapprovingly at him. "We won't drop our weapons but we promise not to use them." Sirius and Leia looked at Harry completely baffled, wondering if he'd gone completely mad. Mara though was in no state to question anything. The voice of her Emperor in her head was getting louder and she felt like she couldn't breathe, almost like she was being suffocated or being drowned by the force. Harry slowly but deftly moved himself behind Mara, subtly gesturing for Sirius and Leia to do the same. He then addressed the battle droids, "You know you lot. I've had enough of fighting these last few weeks, therefore, I'm glad that I won't have to fight you lot." Leia saw Harry take the syringe from his pocket and understood what his plan was for defeating the surrounding battle droids. Question was, would it backfire on him?
Mara couldn't take the feelings of suffocation and drowning anymore. "I can't... I can't hold on any longer!" Mara clutched her head in pain and the area seemed to start shaking violently. The battle droids and Droidekas were confused and alarmed by what was happening and some of them were even being shaken apart. The commander didn't know what to do so it did the only thing that came to its droid mind, "Open fire!" The battle droids and Droidekas aimed at the four of them, intent on killing them but they found themselves unable to fire their weapons. "Uh-oh!" The commander and various other battle droids said as they realised their sudden predicament. Mara was doubling over, clutching her stomach with one hand and her head with another. With a loud cry of pain, she let out what Harry and Leia could only describe as a pulse or wave of intense power, which threw Harry back a few feet and on to his back, and which Harry realised was a manifestation of her force abilities and was clearly tied into her medical condition in some way.
Harry got back up on to his feet even though he was hurting from the impact of landing on his back and the sheer destructive power of Mara's medical episodes. He could see that he had dropped the syringe containing her medication when he was thrown back by Mara's destructive outburst of the force. The waves of Mara's unrestrained force powers were further debilitating Leia, Sirius and himself but he could see worse was being done to the battle droids and Droidekas. Some of the battle droids, those who were closest to Mara and got shaken apart, turned to ashes and the others that were still intact were being ripped apart by the sheer power emanating from Mara, looking like they'd been paper shredded by hand. Harry picked up the syringe off the floor, inserted the needle into Mara's neck and injected its contents into her. The effect was more or less instantaneous. The destructive outburst of Mara's force powers almost instantly dissipated and Mara felt like she could breathe again. She took in a huge lungful of air and then collapsed as everything caught up with her. Harry caught her as she fell to the floor, preventing her from getting hurt any further. "I feel a bit better..." Mara remarked dryly and tiredly after several minutes of just resting in Harry's arms.
Leia crawled towards them and sat alongside them. "I'm sure you are." Leia dryly replied.
Mara chuckled tiredly as she heard Leia's response. She then started to sound increasingly lethargic, "I'm feeling a bit tired."
"Well..." Harry began to reply, taking note of the small wave of destruction around them, "... You did use a lot of power. They sure as hell felt it." Harry expected another dry or sardonic response from Mara but looked down at his lap to see she had passed out. Harry smiled at Mara fondly. He was then brought out of his thoughts when he felt a punch on his arm, "Ow!" It was Leia. "What was that for?"
"You... reckless... messy haired... Nerfherder!" Leia said to him, her tone of voice conflicting between her fondness for Harry and her disapproval of Harry's reckless actions. "That could've so easily have gone wrong."
"Well thank Merlin it didn't then." Harry replied. Harry and Leia stared at each other intensely, almost looking like they were going to do something impulsively and on the spur of the moment but a loud clearing of a throat bought their attention back to the moment.
"You can go and do some snogging later, Pup and Princess. Right now, we've got one last job to do." Sirius said as he got up on to his feet with a little wobble. He tried to open the door to the throne room by pressing a switch next to the door. "Huh?!"
"What is it Sirius?" Harry asked as Leia and himself stood back up, with Harry picking up and carrying Mara bridal style.
"The door seems to be jammed." Sirius answered.
"I could try to hotwire the controls so they'll open the door... Unless you have a way of opening the doors?" Leia said as she moved towards the switch.
"As it so happens, Leia, we do." Harry remarked with a bright smile. "Sirius is going to have to be the one to do it though. My hands aren't exactly free at the moment." Harry then gestured to the unconscious Mara in his arms. He then looked at Sirius and the two nodded at each other.
Leia then gently grabbed Mara's lightsabre and saw Harry looking at her curiously. "We could use this in an emergency. Besides we're not leaving Mara defenceless." Leia said before pointing out Mara's multiple blasters.
Harry nodded and they prepared to enter the throne room, unsure of what was going to await them.
(Rey and Jaina)
Rey, Jaina and Obi-Wan watched nervously and grimly as they observed the fight between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul from behind the last laser gate, unable to intervene. Qui-Gon had been fighting with a ferocity that not even Obi-Wan had seen before. Still though, Maul appeared to be more than prepared for the increased aggression from the Jedi Master and was able to block Qui-Gon's strikes. Qui-Gon, sensing his attacks weren't breaking through the Sith Lord's defence, momentarily stepped back to figure out a way to get past Maul's defence. Maul immediately went back on the attack, giving Qui-Gon no time to think. Qui-Gon defended as best as he could but, as he tried to counter the Sith Lord, Darth Maul struck him in the chin with his lightsabre hilt, stunning him. Maul then stabbed Qui-Gon in his midsection. "NOOOO!" Obi-Wan shouted with his horror clear to Rey and Jaina as they also watched with horror. Darth Maul withdrew his lightsabre from Qui-Gon's torso and the Jedi Master slumped to the floor and turned towards Rey, Jaina and Obi-Wan. He saw the looks of horror, anguish and anger on their faces and Rey almost thought she could see a sly smirk on the Sith Lord's face.
Rey was shaking and she only stopped shaking when she felt her hand being held. She looked and saw it was Jaina holding it. "We're in this together. We'll get through this." Jaina knew what history said about these events but she was aware that, right now, she couldn't say what would happen with herself and Rey but she had to believe in the best possible outcome.
"Ready to take down this Sith Lord?" Rey asked. She knew the same as Jaina. That they weren't supposed to be here but if they could make things better, then there could be a better future and they could help make that happen.
"About as ready as I'll ever be." Jaina answered. She then shivered slightly, almost as though she'd come to a realisation. "Rey...I'm scared." She reluctantly admitted before elaborating. "I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of surviving, getting to the end of all this and finding myself all alone. That everyone I know and love is gone. I've already lost my family and friends once already."
Rey squeezed Jaina's hand, knowing what she was talking about. Jaina had lost virtually everyone she'd known because she'd been brought back in time and whilst there was Leia and Mara, who she recognised, they weren't the same as the ones she'd known in her time. Rey felt the same way to some extent. She'd lost her parents, her adopted family and after she'd been brought back in time, she'd also lost her friends. Still, she had confidence in her new lovers. "Jaina, I don't think we'll be losing anyone else easily anytime soon. I believe in them. I believe in us." Jaina smiled, appreciating Rey's words and her confidence.
Some time passed and the resumption of the fight seemed close. They could see Qui-Gon barely clinging to life and Maul was waiting patiently for them to attack once the laser gate deactivated again. Rey and Jaina turned their heads slightly towards each other. They nodded, turned back to face the Sith Lord and activated their lightsabres. Obi-Wan followed suit a moment later and Maul then also activated his dual-bladed lightsabre. A second or so later, the last laser gate deactivated and the duel resumed, Obi-Wan rushed towards his opponent in a righteous rage, followed by Rey and Jaina.
The three Jedi attacked the Sith Lord relentlessly, not allowing him a chance to go on the attack, hoping to wear him down. Jaina knocked the Sith Lord back before Obi-Wan cut his lightsabre in half and kicked him down. Maul barely escaped a flurry of strikes from Rey and Obi-Wan as he jumped up off the floor to stand back up. The three of them had hoped to wear out Maul but all that happened was that they were being worn out instead. Maul moved quickly, making sure his back was to the now reactivated laser gates. His focus was on Obi-Wan, believing him to be the most dangerous and most experienced of the three Jedi still standing. His expert blocking of Rey and Jaina was almost like it was an afterthought. He sensed that they were potentially powerful and dangerous opponents but he had noticed throughout the fight that whilst they had some experience fighting against other lightsabre users, they were less experienced and he acted accordingly. Deftly, he blocked the three Jedi and then he blocked a potentially deadly swing from Obi-Wan. He was able to hold Obi-Wan in a lightsabre lock and, letting go of his lightsabre with one hand, Maul aggressively force pushed Rey and Jaina away from him, slamming them hard against the wall. With Rey and Jaina momentarily out of action, Darth Maul was able to force push Obi-Wan into the shaft that dominated the area of the facility they were currently in. Obi-Wan was able to cling on to a pipe or nozzle but he had dropped his lightsabre on the floor now above him. Maul believing that Rey and Jaina were no threat at that moment, moved to the edge of the shaft, looked at Obi-Wan menacingly then kicked Obi-Wan's lightsabre down the shaft.
Rey and Jaina recovered and saw Maul standing over the edge of the shaft. They both knew that neither of them could take him on by themselves. "Together?" Rey asked Jaina with a tired smile.
"Together!" Jaina agreed. The pair attempted to charge at the Sith Lord whilst he was focused on Obi-Wan. Unfortunately, he was much more alert than they had believed. He ducked and jumped out of the way of their swings and immediately went on the counterattack. Rey and Jaina were outmatched without either Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan able to assist. Jaina swung her lightsabre towards the upper half of Maul's chest but the Sith Lord ducked out of the way of the strike and swung his lightsabre towards Jaina, cutting deeply into the calf of her left leg. She barely stopped a subsequent blow from cutting off most of her right leg, although she still got slightly wounded there. "Argh!"
Rey kicked Maul in the face, stunning him for a moment. She then attended to Jaina. "Are you okay?" She asked Jaina, the pair of them backing away slightly from the Sith Lord.
"I'll be fine if we can put him under pressure." Jaina said, and before Rey could ask what she meant, she elaborated. "Rey, I know you don't want to use that power but we need every trick we can use to beat him."
Rey immediately understood what Jaina was saying. "No! We can't! What if I fall to the dark side using it?"
Jaina understood Rey's fears and apprehensions about using the powers of the dark side. It was a slippery slope that could lead to very dark places after all. Nevertheless, she had faith in Rey. "Rey, you won't fall to the dark side!"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because I believe in you!"
The pair came under renewed attack from Maul. He swung wildly yet purposefully at them, straining their concentration and their defences. Maul was unrelenting and even more so as his anger and frustration became obvious. Rey and Jaina managed to get Maul caught in a lightsabre and he was unable to break it. As the lightsabre lock carried on, Rey's own anger built up, mirroring that of the Sith Lord but hers was more of a righteous anger whereas his was formed out of hatred, fear and learned pain. One of her hands let go of her lightsabre and, bending her arm at the elbow, unleashed a torrent of force lightning at the Sith Lord. Maul, not expecting a Jedi to unleash such an attack, was caught completely by surprise. He crouched and spasmed in pain whilst Rey and Jaina took a step back. Then, Jaina force pushed away from them and Rey ceased her attack with the force lightning as he landed on his back on the floor above Obi-Wan in the bottomless shaft.
Maul stood up, still twitching from the force lightning attack. "That power..." He turned to face Rey and Jaina. "I did not expect a power born of such anger to be used by a Jedi. It feels familiar though." Maul remembered his Sith training and realised why it felt so familiar and his face showed his realisation. "It felt familiar because it is similar or the same as my master's." He looked back down to see Obi-Wan still clinging on to the pipe or hose in the shaft.
Darth Maul smiled then reached out with a hand and Rey and Jaina heard creaking metal above them. They looked up and behind them to see something being torn off the wall. It began flying towards, not them, but towards Obi-Wan. "No!" Rey and Jaina said at the same time and they reached out with the force to stop the unidentified object from slamming into Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan then leapt out of the shaft, force pulling Qui-Gon's lightsabre towards him at the same time. Maul was caught by surprise again and, this time, it cost him dearly. Obi-Wan flipped over the Sith Lord and landed behind him before swinging at him with a vengeance. A spurting mist of blood as well as a gasp from the Sith Lord indicated that Obi-Wan's strike had found its mark. Maul fell backwards into the seemingly bottomless shaft and, with Obi-Wan, Rey and Jaina watching his descent, his body split in two with his legs and the part of his torso below his waist coming away from the rest of him. The fight against the Sith Lord was over.
Obi-Wan then deactivated his master's lightsabre and ran towards him. He kneeled on the floor and cradled his fallen master. Qui-Gon was still alive, but only just, and he appeared to be approaching his end. "It's too late... It's..."
"No!" Obi-Wan replied, distraught at the thought of losing his master.
Rey and Jaina knelt alongside them. They looked at the stab wound in Qui-Gon's torso and looked for the vials of phoenix tears on their persons, having not forgotten what Sirius said about them. "Let's hope these work as well as Sirius and Harry say they do." Rey said as she got her vial of phoenix tears out.
Jaina had got hers out first though. "Let's try mine first." She said.
"What are those?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Phoenix tears. Remember Coruscant?" Jaina replied as she reminded Obi-Wan of what happened on Coruscant. Obi-Wan nodded. "Can we clear the area around the wound? I don't want an accident to happen which means we can't heal him." Rey and Obi-Wan nodded and pulled the slightly burnt Jedi robes away from the wound. Jaina then took the cover off the vial of phoenix tears and slowly dropped the phoenix tears onto Qui-Gon's wound, not wanting to waste any of the valuable, magical liquid. "Come on, work!"
Rey watched with concern. "Is it going to work, Jaina?!"
(Padmé)
Padmé, Captain Panaka and the security force soldiers accompanying them had been captured after breaking away from the battle by climbing out of a shot out window, ascending up a level then running through more corridors before being surrounded by battle droids and Droidekas mere meters from the throne room. It was unfortunate but she knew that there were more surprises that the Trade Federation did not know about. As it was, Captain Panaka, the security personnel and herself were being marched into the throne room. What she didn't like at all was the lack of information about the whereabouts of Harry, her other girlfriends and Jango.
She found herself standing before Nute Gunray, his right hand man and four other high ranking members of the Trade Federation. "Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness. It is time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the Senate." Over by another set of doors, which were clearly shut, Padmé could see cracks running down the walls.
"Viceroy..." Everyone turned to the source of the voice and Padmé saw it was Sabé. "... Your occupation here has ended." Sabé and some of the soldiers accompanying her shot down some of the droids in the throne room before running down a nearby corridor.
"After her." Nute Gunray ordered, pointing towards Sabé and the soldiers accompanying her. "This one is a decoy." Half a dozen battle droids began to pursue Sabé. Padmé could tell that Nute Gunray believed Sabé was the real Queen and thought that she was the fake. It was a mark of success for the decoy program as far as she was concerned.
Padmé slumped down on her throne and pressed a button that opened a concealed panel in her desk, revealing two small blaster pistols. She grabbed them. "Captain!" She tossed him one of the pistols and they began firing on the remaining battle droids in the room.
The battle droids were swiftly dealt with by the Queen and Captain Panaka, who shot at the battle droids faster than they could react. "Jam the doors!" Captain Panaka ordered the other security soldiers in the throne room. They picked up the fallen battle droids' blasters and closed any open doors.
Padmé thought she could hear movement behind one or two of the corners in the throne room but she ignored it. She instead focused on the Viceroy of the Trade Federation directly in front of her. "Now Viceroy, we will discuss a new treaty."
Nute Gunray looked like he was smirking, which unsettled Padmé. "No, I don't think we will." He then revealed a small remote with a blinking red light. "There are more droids outside those doors." Nute Gunray said as he gestured towards the doors near the cracked walls.
Padmé, Panaka and the other guards readied themselves for an onslaught of battle droids and possibly even Droidekas as the doors began to open. Padmé, Panaka and the security personnel breathed a sigh of relief when they saw who came through the doors although they were alarmed by the amount of blood on each of them. "Someone asked for backup. Though maybe not the backup they were expecting." Harry quipped as he, Sirius and Leia walked into the throne room with Harry clearly carrying an unconscious Mara. Sirius and Leia pointed their wand and blaster at the Trade Federation officials and Harry went to put Mara down. He did consider laying her on the desk but saw the throne and decided that it would probably be more comfortable for her. He would apologise to Padmé later for doing so without asking her.
"You're hurt!" Padmé said. She could see how exhausted they were too in addition to how bloody and injured they looked.
"We'll be fine." Harry replied.
"I would be more worried about the health of those battle droids out there." Leia added with a little smirk. She then turned around and saw the cracks in the wall surrounding the door. "I'm surprised there wasn't more damage than that." Leia then muttered to herself as she thought the damage would've been more widespread.
"It's going to take more than a few piles of scrap to stop us." Harry confidently said.
"You have no idea how much we wanted to hear that." An unseen voice said out of the blue. It sounded both human and robotic.
"Who are you?" Sirius said, pointing his wand in the direction of the voice. The same direction where Padmé thought she had heard movement.
"We don't have names. We are soldiers. We act as one." The voice replied. Over a dozen of the same type of cyborgs as the ones that were seen in Larenka-Pané then emerged acrobatically from behind the corners and even off the ceiling where they had been largely unnoticed.
"Ah good. That Diath didn't leave me without assistance." Nute Gunray said hopefully. His hopes were immediately dashed however by the cyborg soldiers.
"You're on your own, you pathetic worm. We're only here for one person." The apparent leader of the cyborg soldiers said to the Trade Federation Viceroy. They then pointed their weapon at Harry, followed by its subordinates following suit, "You...will come with us!"
Padmé and Leia immediately moved in front of Harry. "You're not taking him anywhere!" Padmé said to the cyborg soldiers defiantly.
"You'll have to go through us to get him." Leia added, equally as defiant as Padmé. She momentarily holding her hand before letting go again.
"It matters little what you want. We shall get our target." The lead cyborg soldier said. They nodded and the lead cyborg soldier's subordinates charged at Harry, Padmé and Leia. They moved so quickly, so acrobatically and with such coordination that Harry, Padmé, Leia, Sirius, Captain Panaka and the other security soldiers were finding it incredibly hard to get a solid hit on the cyborg soldiers. Even at point blank range, the cyborg soldiers were able to easily dodge the majority of the spells and blaster shots directed their way. They reached Padmé and Leia just as one of the cyborg soldiers fell to a concentrated volley of blaster and spell fire. The cyborg soldier leader pushed Leia out of the way, sending her tumbling to the floor and causing her to drop her blaster. Then, they held Padmé very tightly by the wrists until she was forced to drop her blaster pistol, after which they then picked her up by the collar of her outfit and slammed her into the floor. Padmé cried out in pain and was left writhing on the floor.
Two of the cyborg soldiers broke away from their comrades and leaped towards Sirius. Sirius was able to destroy one of them but he was then knocked down by a kick to the head from the surviving one. The surviving one of the pair then got shot and killed by Captain Panaka. The cyborg soldier killed by Captain Panaka then fell on top of Sirius, leaving him unable to help until he got the corpse off of himself.
The cyborg soldier leader reached Harry and kicked him towards the nearest window. "Take him to the ship. Diath is waiting to take him to the Boss. You don't have to- aargh!" The Cyborg leader said before screaming in pain mid sentence. They looked down to see a purple lightsabre running through their body. They collapsed, dead, and the lightsabre destroyed more of the cyborg soldier leader as they collapsed.
Leia had recovered and instinctually activated Mara's lightsabre. She stabbed the cyborg soldier leader as she turned on the lightsabre whilst still on the floor. Leia then got up and cut down another couple of cyborg soldiers who were nearby. Another cyborg soldier heard the distinctive sound of a lightsabre and turned to see Leia cutting down its comrades. It charged at her and attempted to kick her to the ground, which Leia barely dodged. Leia retaliated and inflicted deep cuts into the cyborg soldier's arms and chest, killing it.
Padmé recovered slightly from being slammed into the floor and sat up. There was a noticeable sound of glass breaking, which she turned towards. A couple of the cyborg soldiers broke the window that Harry found himself in front of and he was being crowded out by the cyborg soldiers. She could see the security personnel firing cautiously at the cyborg soldiers but saw they didn't dare go all-out on firing on the cyborg soldiers in case they hit Harry. Padmé shot a couple more of the cyborgs in the back to try and help her boyfriend. Harry was unable to retain hold of his wand and it fell on the floor. He tried to use some of the hand to hand combat techniques Mara had taught him but it was clear he was an amateur whilst the cyborg soldiers were comparative experts. Harry was then thrown out of the newly created hole in the window in an almost guided fashion. "Harry!" Padmé and Leia called out at the same time in horror.
A security soldier helped Sirius lift the fallen cyborg soldier off of him. Sirius was then able to sit up just in time to see Harry being thrown out the window. "No!" Sirius said quietly.
For a moment, Padmé, Leia and Sirius stared at the broken window in stunned silence. There was no noise and the remaining cyborg soldiers had absconded with Harry. Then all of a sudden, there was a loud cacophony of gun and blaster fire coming from outside the broken window. A few bullets strayed from whatever fighting was happening and struck the already broken window, breaking it even further. No one was sure of what was going on. After a few minutes, the gun and blaster fire ceased, leaving everyone confused. Had the cyborgs re-entered the palace at a different level and immediately entered into a firefight? Had they been ambushed themselves? Had Harry been able to break away from the cyborg soldiers and grab a blaster? Whatever questions they had were answered a moment later.
Jango Fett came through the broken window with his jetpack and he turned around, looked down and fired a cable down. "If you can come here, we can pull him up. He won't me able to hold on much longer if you don't." Jango said without looking at anyone, especially as his focus was on rescuing someone. Padmé, Leia and Sirius immediately went to help the Mandalorian bounty hunter pull up whoever was holding onto the other end of the cable, heavily suspecting the person who they were pulling up was Harry.
They were proven right moments later as Harry came into view moments later, holding onto the cable with both arms although one arm was holding onto it more gingerly than the other. Harry got back inside the throne room and it was clear he was not doing too well. As soon as he let go of the cable, he collapsed to the ground with a pained groan, which wasn't helped by the apparent injuries to his right arm. "Aah... Bloody hell, this really hurts."
"What happened?" Padmé asked as she gently touched his shoulder. It seemed like it was the wrong thing to do as Harry winced and grunted in pain. "Sorry Harry!"
Jango explained what happened to Harry as far as he knew. "Those things that tried to take him didn't take very good care of him. As far as I could tell, he tumbled down the side of this palace and got caught on some very well concealed cables and ropes. I destroyed the rest of those things... I see you destroyed some of them... when they approached him. I believe he has broken his arm and his collarbone. He will need medical treatment for those." He pointed out the corpses of the cyborg soldiers and the injuries on Harry as he spoke.
"Thank you Mr Fett for saving him... Again." Padmé said gratefully to Jango. Jango didn't say anything but replied to Padmé with a courteous nod.
"It's a shame we don't have Madam Pomfrey around. She could probably get rid of those broken bones and grow you new ones so you'd be as good as new." Sirius remarked half cheekily.
Harry let out a pained laugh. "Oh screw that, Sirius. I'm not going through that again..." Everyone else in the room was confused as to what the pair were talking about. Harry then focused back on the business at hand, "Have we won yet?"
"I've got a feeling we're about to, Pup." Sirius answered optimistically.
Padmé, mostly recovered from the physical injury and emotional whiplash, sensed she had the advantage over the Viceroy of the Trade Federation. "Now Viceroy, as I said a short while ago, we will be discussing a new treaty."
Captain Panaka quietly received a communication from someone and then approached Padmé. "Your Highness, I have just received word that the Trade Federation control ship has been destroyed. The droid armies have been deactivated." Nute Gunray and his followers looked dejected on hearing the news of the Trade Federation's defeat whilst Padmé could barely disguise a grin.
Sirius was happy that, barring a few broken bones, nothing bad had happened to Harry. He then remembered that Stella had asked him to find her brother and some of his friends who were accompanying him. "Harry, I'll be back soon." He said to his godson before turning towards Padmé, Leia, Captain Panaka and the security personnel. "I'll be back shortly. I need to go and find a few kids who want to play soldier." Sirius then ran out of the throne room.
He ran through the maze of corridors, finding plenty of destroyed or deactivated battle droids as he went. He also saw the occasional corpse or two dotted throughout the corridors, having been shot dead by the battle droids during the battle. Sirius was frustrated, feeling like punching a wall when he saw something that brought up grim feelings inside him. The edge of a pool of blood. He cautiously approached and his face fell. "No!" Sirius said quietly to himself and he fell to his knees. Ikané and the friends of his who had followed him to Theed were lying on the floor, dead. They hadn't been killed by the battle droids either. The spent bullet casings all around the corridor, the looks of horror and agony on their faces and the limbs that looked like they'd been aggressively hacked apart were proof of Sirius' suspicions.
(Earlier...)
Ikané and his friends made their way through the palace, intent on destroying the leaders of the Trade Federation and the droid armies of theirs. They had never been to Theed before but they didn't care if they got lost so long as they did what they set out to do. "Ikané, is this really a good idea?" One of the boys accompanying Ikané asked nervously.
"I don't really care if it's a good idea or not, Suruna. They've taken our families, destroyed our homes. We're going to destroy them!" Ikané answered, his rage blinding him to all else. The boy called Suruna and the others kept quiet, not wishing to be an additional target of Ikané's unfiltered rage.
They walked into a corridor and slowly walked through it. About half way through the corridor, the corridor began to get covered in mist. "Mist doesn't form indoors, does it?" One of the boys asked.
"That sounds ridiculous. Mist forms outdoors, not indoors." One of the other boys replied.
"It's weird this." Another said, pointing to the mist around them. "There's none of this mist outside." Indeed, aside from the smoke billowing from destroyed speeders and Trade Federation tanks, the weather was good and pretty clear.
"It could be a battle droid trick. Keep your eyes open." Ikané said. The small group took a few further steps forward and they began to see giant slow moving figures moving into view at either end of the corridor. Their movements looked somewhat sluggish and like they were limping, possibly as a result of injuries.
"Ikané, do we need to be here now? The grown ups are clearly here taking on the Trade Federation." Suruna asked.
"There's something wrong with them!" Ikané said, feeling a chill up his spine. Then Ikané saw glowing green eyes. "Who are you? Where are you from?" He asked loudly. "Are you from Parrlay? Or maybe Kaadara? Did the Trade Federation do something to you?"
The unknown figures heard Ikané and they began to react. They suddenly moved quicker and were not moving with limps. They then suddenly had guns appear in their hands. They let loose a short but intense burst of bullets and Ikané, Suruna and the other boys felt the impacts immediately. Two of the boys were killed instantly and everyone else was wounded. Two of the unknown figures then mysteriously lost their guns and gained bladed weapons. They jumped to right in front of the boys and began swinging and hacking away at them. Ikané screamed in absolute pain as his right arm, the one holding onto his blaster, was torn away from him, being cut above the elbow. Another boy found his throat cut wide open and blood was gushing from it and died moments later, clutching his throat in vain. Others lost legs or hands. The unknown figures wielding the bladed weapons then jumped back to where they'd been and wielded guns again. They began firing on the boys again and the boys were massacred. They stood no chance whatsoever. The firing ceased and the unknown figures examined their victims.
The Skulls immediately recognised that none of the boys they had killed were their main target. Upon their limited recognition of the facts, they left the palace, lifting the mist in the process. Their masters would have more missions for them another day. The only evidence of their presence that remained were the corpses and the bullet casings as they returned to Diath.
...
Up in the throne room, as Sirius saw the aftermath of the murders of Ikané and his friends, Padmé picked up Harry's wand whilst Nute Gunray and the other Trade Federation leaders were taken away from the throne room, planning to give it back to him later once he recovered. Meanwhile, Harry himself sat in pain, trying to rest on the floor, unaware at that that the Skulls had been involved in the battle at all or that they had been after him.
A/N- What did everyone think of the chapter? I wanted the chapter to start with a lighter tone before becoming progressively darker; I hope that came across in the chapter. With the end of this chapter, we're almost at the end of the first arc of this story. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and please review.