Three MorningStar-A starfighters appeared on the tail of Captain Siege forcing him to shake off his assailants and lose his quarry.
A turbolaser hit the dome of Siege’s astromech and another fire grazed his accelerator compensator. Hoff’s starfighter started to go out of his control and he fought it and tried to slow it down.
Indicator lights warned him that his astromech’s power core are about to explode. Hoff groaned and punched the ejector for the droid socket. The doomed droid hit the belly of one of the MorningStar-A, and exploded.
Siege suddenly saw the looming surface of the Royal Starship coming in fast on him. “Sithspawn!”
Artoo Detoo and two other droids were at the wing fixing the starboard deflector shield generator. Siege managed to slow and keep his ship on a parallel hover above the Royal Starship.
Artoo Detoo saw the starship and recognized Captain Siege and rolled towards him and sent an inquiry to his comm.
“I lost Arthree, my accelerator compensator is grazed and automatic repairs won’t kick in on that area… I lost steerage.” Siege explained.
The other astromechs started closing on the panel and rolling back into the droid life tube hatch. Artoo Detoo made a decision and positioned himself under the droid socket.
Siege nodded in understanding and activated the clamps and picked up Artoo Detoo. The droid beeped an affirmative as he secured himself on the ship and punched in to the ship’s computers.
The astromech droid then began fixing the accelerator compensator.
“Bravo Lead, permission to join in the fray!” the voice of Lieutenant Gavyn Sykes of Bravo Flight-B suddenly hissed on their open comm channel.
The comm was filled with cheers as the second half of Bravo Squadron began blasting their way through the throng of enemy starfighters.
“We’re on the clear!” Captain Ric Olié finally announced.
“Flight-A, Flight-B, mop up then begin the jump home!” Captain Hoff Siege informed them.
“Copy that Bravo Lead!” Sykes clicked.
Only a few mercenary ships were left and the other Bravo pilots herd them easily to the kill zone. After a few moments the pilots called in and reported that they have destroyed all enemy ships.
The Naboo Royal Starship made the jump to hyperspace as Bravo Squadron regrouped and followed after the Queen’s ship back home.
* * *
A few hours after the Battle of Gonodran a thin overhauled yellow light freighter emerged from hyperspace and started to extract a magnetic tow cable and went on to gather the floating debris and remains of various ships from the recent space battle.
Inside the Zoomer, a Toydarian salvage pilot named Reti turned on his sensors for biological presence while sipping in his Drakmarian beer.
He dropped the collected debris on the landing platform of CAOS so he could sort out the useful parts for re-sell. He landed his ship and was starting to leave when the bio-sensors beeped.
Reti fluttered back to his console and checked the sensors. He marked the coordinates and started to fly his ship to it. As he nears the asteroid where a life form was detected, he primed his light cannons and powered up his shields.
As he made the circle he saw the ruins of a Naboo N1 Starfighter and a sprawled human pilot.
Reti have had dealings with the Naboo so in order to preserve his good standing with his contacts in there, he landed his ship on the asteroid and took the unconscious human aboard his Zoomer.
He examined the ship and saw the busted wing but knowing the schematics of N1s, Reti knew this ship can still be saved.
He towed the ship back to the CAOS landing platform and hurriedly took salvageable parts from the debris and lifted off.
He took the pilot and his ship off of Gonodran and made the jump to the nearest person he knows that could help him on the pilot and his ship.
He emerged on Frycas IV a small sparsely populated world in the Chommell Sector and made contact with Vana Sage.
“Reti, I’m not buying today.” Vana Sage abruptly said as soon as the Toydarian hailed her frequency.
“I’m not selling… yet. I have here a Bravo Squadron pilot shot down on Gonodran. I have his ship in tow and I think it could still be fixed. I need your help.” Reti said.
“What does a Bravo pilot doing that far off from Naboo?” Sage frowned.
“There was a fair number of debris out there fresh from a recent space battle. You’re the former Bravo pilot, you tell me.” Reti snorted.
“Fine, bring him down here. Do you still have that K-64 Kuati Power Core?” Sage asked.
“Yes but…” Reti groaned and heaved a sigh of resignation, “Alright, I’ll give it to you now for this help.”
“How generous, now hurry up, I haven’t got all day.” Sage snapped.
Reti set the Zoomer to autopilot and went to check on the still unconscious pilot and crossed his arms as he flapped his leathery wings.
“You owe me a power core.” Reti muttered.
* * *
One month later.
“Did you just see that? That Landing Ship just blew up its fellow C-9979s!” Reti exclaimed as he peered through his macrobinoculars.
“Mutiny?” Nym, a Freeorin pirate frowned.
“More like sabotage to me.” Rhys Dallows shrugged straining his eyes on the distant landing ship.
“Trade Federation battle droids don’t do mutiny nor sabotage. Whatever or whoever is piloting that C-9979 is definitely not friends of the Neimoidians. And any enemy of the Trade Federation is my ally. I’m going in there to make contact.” Vana Sage said from below them and started the engines of her swoop.
“I’m coming with you.” Dallows hurried down after her.
“Messa coming too.” Jar-jar Binks said and swung his repeater blaster cannon over his shoulder and took the reign of his narglatch Snugga.
“Keep your comlink open, we’ll keep watch.” Nym nodded at the three.
Reti crossed his arms and regarded the Freeorin as the others sped their way towards the last landing ship.
Before the Toydarian could speak Nym gasped as he looks through the macrobinoculars.
“The ship just exploded! Wait… I see two STAPs coming out, humans… two of them… in brown robes… uh oh!” the Freeorin exclaimed as he zoomed in the lenses.
“Uh oh what?” Reti frowned.
“They are Jedi.” Nym lowered the macrobinoculars and looked at Reti with mixed feelings.
“Two Jedi is better than no help at all right?” Reti shrugged.
“If you put it that way, yes of course.” Nym conceded.
Chapter 28: Naboo Underground
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi slowed to a stop as they sense several people approaching them.
The Jedi left their STAPs in a low stationary hover and stood apart from each other, lightsaber in their hands.
The first to break out from the dense foliage was a dark skinned human woman on a swoop bike followed by a male human in worn out Naboo pilot uniform also in a swoop bike. As the humans mounted off their bikes another emerged from the bushes, it was a pale skinned Gungan riding a saddled narglatch.
Qui-Gon Jinn nodded as the male step forward.
“Master Qui-Gon Jinn, I was a Bravo pilot under Captain Hoff Siege, I’m Rhys Dallows. I’m not sure you remember me.” The man greeted.
“We could use your help. We need to send a warning to the Queen…” Qui-Gon said but Dallows shook his head.
“Long range communications are down. Trade Federation deployed a number of landing ships on the outlying towns of New Centrif, Vis and Parrlay and destroyed our communications transmitters there. Our short range comlinks can only reach a few dozen kilometers, not enough to reach Theed.” Dallows explained.
“Do you have ships?” Obi-Wan asked.
“We do but we can’t take to the skies right now, we only have few armaments and the sky is teeming with Droid Starfighters.” the woman answered.
“And you are??
?? Qui-Gon asked.
“Vana Sage. Former Bravo pilot as well. This is Jar-jar Binks, our Gungan asset. He was an outcast from Otoh Gunga after having a fight with Captain Tarpals because of some heated debate about tactics, you know, typical male ego stuff. He was also once apprenticed to Gantu, but the lifestyle of the Chommell Patriots is just too much for him so he decided to tag along with us instead.” Sage snorted.
Obi-Wan smiled but Jar-jar Binks loomed before the padawan.
“Youssa see anything funny, Jedi?” the Gungan stared down at Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon interposed and spoke to the Gungan, “These swamps and lakes ran deep through the core and on to Theed right?”
“Yes.” Jar-jar nodded.
“Can you get us a transport from Otoh Gunga? We don’t have much time.” Qui-Gon asked.
“Messa guess messa could but youssa gonna owe me big time! Jar-jar has no love for those stubborn self-centered bozos.” Jar-jar grunted.
“Master Jedi, we really need your help here…” Vana protested.
“Our mission is to make the Viceroy lift his blockade, but since things are different now… very well, I will leave my padawan here to assist you for a short while but he will have to head off to Theed within three days.” Qui-Gon finally relented to Sage.
“Master, do you think it’s wise to split up?” Obi-Wan asked.
“These are a resistance group, aid them against the invasion army and it will gain us time to warn and prepare the Queen and Theed. Meet me at the palace in three days.” Qui-Gon said then nodded at Jar-jar.
“Messa warning you, Boss Rugor Nass issa not gonna be pleased to see me back there. Dessa gonna be rough…” Jar-jar muttered as he started to lead Qui-Gon to the lake and dove on the waters.
“Youssa can hold youssa breath?” the Gungan asked.
Qui-Gon nodded and placed the A99 Aquata breather on his mouth and waved at Obi-Wan. The younger Jedi and the two former Bravo pilots watch the older Jedi and the Gungan go underwater.
“What do we do now?” Obi-Wan asked them.
“The main droid army is headed to Harte Secur. We need to get there in time to aid Captain Kael.” Vana Sage answered.
“Let’s go then.” Obi-Wan nodded and stopped as the two took their swoop and the padawan stared eye to eye with Snugga.
“He won’t harm you Jedi…” Sage smiled.
“Obi-Wan.”
“Excuse me?” Sage frowned.
“Obi-Wan. My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The young Jedi said.
“Oh sorry, Obi-Wan, don’t worry about Snugga, she won’t harm you.” Vana assured him again.
Obi-Wan nodded at her and approached the narglatch, Snugga seemed unconcerned and when Obi-Wan mounted her and she didn’t reacted or opposed he finally relaxed.
“Let’s go pick up the others.” Dallows said and rode off.
“Follow us Obi-Wan.” Vana said and sped after Dallows.
“Let’s go Snugga!” Obi-Wan said and the narglatch bounded on a sprint after the two swoop bikes.
* * *
Nym, Reti, Vana Sage, Rhys Dallows and Obi-Wan Kenobi stood at the precipice of the Lagoyan Cliffs overlooking the City of Harte Secur.
Before them a fierce battle was already taking place.
“They’re being overrun!” Vana cried out in alarm.
“Harte Secur has little ground forces, they were unprepared.” Nym shook his head.
“Look, there’s still a few putting up a fight!” Dallows exclaimed.
Obi-Wan took Dallow’s macrobinoculars and took a look, “About twenty to twenty five of them on that low wall, they won’t last long against those numbers of battle droids and AATs coming their way.”
“We have to help at once!” Vana said.
“What weapons and armaments do we have?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Repeater blaster cannons for each of us, a dozen blasters and about ten thermal detonators. I have stacks of power packs on my speeder plus the mounted cannon on my ride.” Nym answered.
“Alright, Vana take Dallows with you and go straight to captain Kael and tell him we’ll try to open a hole for them so they could move to a more defensive position. Nym you provide us cover fire while I draw the attention of those droids.” Kenobi instructed.
“How about me?” Reti frowned at the Jedi.
“Take these thermal detonators and set them on a three minute timer, put one to each of those AATs, make sure the bombs are distributed and spaced wide enough to ensure maximum damages.” Obi-Wan said to the Toydarian.
“What did I do to you to merit a death sentence?” Reti rolled his eyes.
“Hey, I got your back.” Obi-Wan smiled at the Toydarian.
“It’s a good plan as any, let’s get this going!” Dallows said and they all started to make their way down the cliff to Harte Secur.
* * *
Captain Kael and his men were running out of power packs and grenades and still the droid army continues to move forward.
Behind Kael was OOM-14’s droid control program his men managed to steal from the droid commander but the arrival of more droids led by OOM-9 turned the tide of battle and tip it in favor of the Trade Federation.
“Thein, Schele, get that DCP up on the city hall!” Kael ordered.
“We can’t captain, those tanks will feast on us. The stairs are too exposed!” Schele protested.
“Incoming on the east alley!” shouted one of the militia.
Captain Kael crouched towards the soldier to look at what he was talking about. He saw two humans making their way towards them. His soldiers took aim but Kael finally recognized the two and ordered his men to lower their weapon. He waited for the two to reach them before speaking.
“Vana Sage you’re still alive! Rhys Dallows, what are you doing here so far off Theed?” Captain Kael greeted and asked them.
“Long story, but right now we need to take you on higher ground. Nym and the Jedi will draw out fire long enough for us to move inside the city hall…” Sage started to explain.
“Whoa, wait, you have Jedi with you?” Kael gasped.
“Please Captain let us talk about this later once we’re inside.” Dallows shook his head.
“Wait for the Jedi…” Sage reminded them.
Captain Kael looked out at the advancing army of OOM-9 when something dropped on one of the tanks and he saw a blue shaft of light swinging and slashing in a blur.
From the lower rock face of the cliff a repeater blaster cannon opened fire at the ranks of battle droids and several AATs.
The tanks and battle droids on the cliff side started to peel off from the main army to engage the single attacker.
Obi-Wan Kenobi wasted no time and leaped towards the separating forces and sliced his way through them before darting back to further cripple the droid army.
OOM-9 and his army were so occupied on dealing with the Jedi and the sniper that they failed to notice a lone winged saboteur placing thermal detonators beneath the repulsor coils of the AATs.
That same moment Captain Kael and the others hurried up into the city hall. Once inside they began fortifying their defenses and raiding their weapons storage.
Captain Kael and his men along with Vana and Rhys has finally finished arming themselves and renewed their fire fight against the army of OOM-9.
Reti and Kenobi finally rejoined them at the same time the thermal detonators started exploding and decimating the invading droid army.
The droid commander took cover and before Captain Kael’s men could cheer a swarm of droid starfighters filled the sky and commenced on bombing the city.
Out on the foot of the cliff, Nym threw down his spent repeater blaster cannon and made a run for his speeder and drove to the city hall.
“Oh no!” Vana Sage groaned in dismay as the other move on the windows to look out at the plaza.
Thirty MMTs and AATs emerged from the forest and were moving towards Harte Secur.
“Captain Kael, we have to leave, Harte Secur is
overrun, there’s nothing more we do here.” Obi-Wan said to the captain.
Vana Sage placed an arm over Captain Kael and nodded at the young Jedi.
“Captain, their next logical stop to get to Theed would be on Spinnaker City, if we hurry now we could still get there ahead of them and set up a defense.” Rhys Dallows said.
Captain Kael finally nodded and stood up, “Let’s all go to Spinnaker.”
* * *
Spinnaker City was the last largest city in the path of OOM-9’s droid army towards Theed.
Captain Kael and his troops got there after an hour and were greeted by the local Security Officers.
“What is going on? We could not raise Theed or any of the other cities. We’ve sent people to Harte Secur and Keren but no one have returned yet.” Captain Jae Sygnus said as they went inside the Spinnaker City Hall.
“The Trade Federation has not just blockaded Naboo but they are also invading it right now. Harte Secur has fallen. Our planetary communications transmitters on New Centrif, Vis and Parrlay have been destroyed. We are all that is left from the defense forces of Harte Secur.” Kael explained gravely.
“Captain Sygnus, we need to know how much people and weapons you have here.” Obi-Wan said.
Captain Sygnus finally noticed the others.
“Sygnus, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight.” Kael introduced him.
“I’m still a padawan, an apprentice.” Obi-Wan corrected and shook the hands of Captain Sygnus.
“Where is your master?” Sygnus asked.
“He went to Otoh Gunga with Jar-jar Binks to acquire a transport to Theed.” Obi-Wan replied.
“How large is the invasion army?” Captain Sygnus inquired.
Captain Sygnus, Captain Kael, Rhys Dallows, Vana Sage, Nym, Reti and Obi-Wan Kenobi spent the next hour in devising a defense for the city and the next hour on setting up defenses all over Spinnaker.
* * *
OOM-9 halted his Command AAT and scanned Spinnaker City ahead of them.
Another ship landed beside the Command AAT and a dark figure leaped out of its cockpit and stood beside the droid commander.
“How’s their defense set up?” the new arrival asked.
“Long range cannons on the towers, one small turbolaser, sixty gun turrets throughout the city walls, about thirty armed landspeeders, an estimate of one hundred security forces and three thousand civilians but those non-combatants are now being evacuated at the back of the city.” OOM-9 enumerated.
“There is one Jedi among them.” the woman smirked.