The holoprojection of Senator Palpatine and the Queen-to-be appeared.
Bibble gave a slight nod at Captain Magneta who in turn stood up and strode on the center to face the Senator and the new Queen.
“Our team has acquired an encrypted data from the possession of the assassin. They have decoded it and discovered information about an underground base of the so called Chommell Patriots, under Lieutenant Panaka they sent scouts to confirm this and they have reported a positive I.D. on two of the leaders of the terrorist group namely Alle Vomm and Sheeana Fley. They also spotted an odd looking Gungan and what seems to be a Neimoidian.” Magneta reported.
“Have they identified this…Neimoidian?” Senator Palpatine asked skeptically.
“The scout didn’t get a clear view of the suspected Neimoidian.” Magneta shook his head.
“How about the Gungan? Have you identified him?” Palpatine raised an eyebrow.
“No sir…” Magneta started to say but Captain Olié cleared his throat and they all turn to regard him.
“Yes Captain, you have something to share?” the Queen spoke invitingly.
“Yes Your Highness, Your Excellency.” Captain Olié bowed at the Queen and the Senator then looked at the Governor and Magneta for permission.
Bibble waved a hand for him to continue and Magneta stepped aside to give the floor to the ace pilot who beckoned Artoo Detoo to come with him.
“This R2 Unit has been taken by the Chommell Patriots earlier in Theed.” Ric Olié glanced at Lieutenant Panaka who nodded at the others in confirmation.
“According to this droid’s recording, the Gungan was mentioned by name by the terrorists. They called him Gantu…”
“Gantu Onu Raltos, the Gantu Onu Raltos?” Sio Bibble gasped.
“Yes Governor, we too believed him to have died years ago, apparently he survived and got a new look. But that is not the most alarming news, the scouts are right, this droid as also identified our Neimoidian, one called Hath Monchar.” Olié said.
“Hath Monchar?” Bibble’s eyebrows creased at the unfamiliar name.
“He is the Second-in-Command of Viceroy Nute Gunray.” the Queen supplied.
“Then it is clear now. The threat implied by the Viceroy is about these terrorists who are obviously here to kill the Queen.” Magneta surmised.
“And since their base of operation is destroyed then we have averted this plot. We only now need to apprehend these schemers.” Captain Panaka added.
“The evidences are still circumstantial. It will not be enough to hold on the Senate Court. The Trade Federation can easily disclaim their sanctioning Hath Monchar in scheming with the Chommell Patriots. What else do you have?” Palpatine leveled with them.
“One of the prisoners talked. He mentioned knowing only that they are there to instigate a riot during the coronation. He knows nothing more.” Panaka answered.
“There is one other thing…” Captain Olié started to say.
“But we are not sure of it yet.” Magneta interjected sharply.
“Tell them.” Panaka countered and Magneta shot him a reprimanding look.
“What is it?” the Queen asked.
“Yes Captain, enlighten us about this ‘one other thing.’” The Senator’s gaze was piercing.
Captain Olié leaned down at the astromech and whispered something. Artoo beeped and played a partial of his recording on that scene in the tunnel, he adjust his projection and isolated one black hooded cloaked person standing with Hath Monchar.
The face was hidden in the thick black hood and its shadows. They all thought they detected a hue of red and pair of fiery yellow orbs.
“Who is he?” Sio Bibble inquired.
“What is that?” the Queen scowled.
“The droid only identified his species, a Zabrak. Of his identity we came out empty.” Panaka spoke for Magneta could react.
“He is of no consequences, must be another bounty hunter, you must focus on finding Hath Monchar and those three Chommell rebels.” Palpatine scoffed.
“What if the droid is just being used by the rebels to mislead us?” Magneta implied.
“That’s your job to find out, Captain.” The Queen snapped.
“But of course, Your Highness.” Captain Magneta bowed in submission.
“Find them Captain Magneta and bring them to us.” Palpatine ordered then turn to face the holo of the young Queen. “As for you Your Highness, I believe you should rest now, let the Governor take it from here. I shall see you in the morning, we are now preparing for our trip there.” The Naboo Senator said in finality then turns to give farewell on the others and severed the connection.
“Captain Magneta. Have your men search for those rebel leaders. Lieutenant Panaka, I need you back here, I shall discuss with you something before I retire. Captain Olié, have that droid swept for traps and spy tools, I want its validity. Governor, I leave to your hands the task of running Naboo until morning, I’m afraid King Veruna had lapsed into unconsciousness, his wound proved far greater than we thought. That would be all for now. May the Force be with us all.” The young Queen issued her orders clearly and distinctively possible then faded as well, leaving them all in silence.
They all started to leave for their respective tasks, Artoo rolled faithfully beside Ric Olié and the captain regarded him with warmth and mirth. “Well Artoo, I guess you’re stuck with me for a little longer.”
Artoo beeped something a bit of both sarcastic and humorous.
“Hah! Don’t get all big in the head yet, I have feeling that this is just the beginning.” Ric laughed.
Chapter 4: Countdown to Chaos
Hath Monchar was escorted by Alle and Sheeana onto the Gungan bongo and made their way deep under the river while the Naboo squadrons were bombing their cave hideout.
Sheena steered the bongo deeper and deeper until they entered an opening that would take them to the watery core of Naboo.
“This is highly unacceptable! You failed to destroy our files, if those pilots discovered my records the Viceroy will never forgive me for it!” Monchar scolded them from the backseat of the sub.
“Alle, kindly tell our client to shut up or I’ll shoot him alive to the mouth of that Sando aqua monster.” Sheeana growled as she turns to another smaller tunnel to avoid the gargantuan sleeping sea creature.
The Neimoidian slumped on his seat flustered and chagrined but did not speak again.
“You worry too much for your own hide you don’t even think about ours.” Alle said in a low voice, the undertone in his utterance held a tinge of vehemence.
“You are battle hardened people. You can take care of yourselves. I am but a…” Monchar started to say but Sheeana cut him short.
“You are nothing but a cowardly capitalistic prick who just happens to have more money than any of the Chommell Patriots could ever earn in our combined lifetime.”
Hath Monchar glowered but decided not to give a retort.
“The deal was simple right? You give us the funding to disrupt the coronation, make it appear that we are to kill the Queen but not to actually succeed, create enough trouble to mark Naboo as unsafe for off-world traders. Then your Viceroy will do both sides; offer Naboo assistance to rid of us and at the same time try to convince the Queen to sign your treaty. We get paid either way. Did I get that right?” Sheeana asked.
“Yes that is the deal.” The Neimoidian nodded meekly.
“Good, now that we understand each other, we can now go back to work.” Sheeana nodded in satisfaction and shot their sub out of the underwater tunnels and climbed up to the surface.
They emerged on the South Pole archipelago of Naboo, the vast region was practically composed of thousands of islands and islets, scattered marshlands and swamps, shallow and deep lakes, waterfalls, mountain regions from an ancient fractured continent of a long forgotten past of the planet when kaadus and Gungans were indistinguishable from each other.
“Where to?” Monchar asked.
&n
bsp; “Beacon signals over there, fifty clicks beyond that volcano island.” Alle pointed at Mt. Mutakasi, the largest southern volcano of Naboo some five kilometers from where they have resurfaced.
“Let’s get going then.” Sheeana grunted and steered the Gungan sub ahead. It was the first time that all three of them in this untouched frontier of the planet. If not for their respective thoughts on their missions and recent experiences they would have taken time to marvel and appreciate the beauty of the region.
Hath Monchar eyed the passing islands with greedy eyes, his mind racing with computations of probable profits to be gained in such a beautiful place. It is a perfect vacation center for the galaxy. The Trade Federation or he could indeed very much profit here.
Sheeana was silent, allowing the oceanic breeze caress her face and sent her springy copper hair flying behind her like an unmarked pirate flag. Her thoughts wandered on her years on Corellia as a stowaway from Naboo. There she became one of the swiftest pickpockets in Coronet. At the young age of eleven she was already a favorable swoop racer. She practically spent her adolescence move from the Five Brothers. She learned to be a monkey wrench under Feoullessa, a Selonian master mechanic. She mastered the art of piloting from her smuggler mentor Horri, a Drall and member of Black Sun.
Then she met a rich businessman name Hego Damask and he took her back to Kardara where she became one of his company bodyguards.
There she met Alle Vomm, a local political activist. She fell in love with him and followed him all the way. They stole millions of credits from the Damask Holdings and use the money to by ships and recruit followers and created the Chommell Patriots ten years ago.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang and when she looked up she saw a flare. She picked up her macrobinoculars and adjusted the range finder. Barely a kilometer from then, standing on the rocky shores was a huge muscular Gungan a massive cannon rifle was slung over his shoulders and was waving at them.
“There’s Gantu. Where’s your bodyguard?” Sheeana asked Monchar.
Before Monchar could answer a thunderous sonic boom reverberated over them and when the three of them looked up they saw a sleek dagger like ship shooting out of the thick dark nimbus clouds far above the horizon to their east.
The moonlight bounced powerfully from the smooth contours of the ship as it zipped past above them and past Mt. Mutakasi.
“Whatever is that bodyguard of yours, he’s good.” Sheeana commented.
A speeder was waiting for them when they reached the shores of Mt. Mutakasi. Gantu sent the bongo on autopilot back to the core with a timed self-destruct then led them to his landspeeder. They sailed past flush rainforests for the next couple of minutes until they finally reached their escape ship, a Trade Federation freighter, a few meters from its side sat the Scimitar. Walking towards them as they approach was the hooded Zabrak.
“We have a slight problem. Your main engines were fried.” the tattooed Zabrak informed them.
“Is the damage substantial?” Gantu asked.
“Nothing she can’t fix.” Darth Maul answered flatly.
“Get me the tools Gantu. I’ll take care of it.” Sheeana brushed past Hath Monchar and Alle Vomm.
Lord Maul addressed the Neimoidian, “My Master has relayed that you proceed when you are able back to Rori, I shall be leaving for the Capital and will rejoin you later this week, after you concluded our business.” the figure hissed and climbed back in his ship.
“How long will this take?” Hath Monchar asked.
“One hour? Give or take a few minutes… who knows.” Alle Vomm started after Sheeana. The Sith Infiltrator flew off and left them, Monchar watched the ship faded before his eyes as the Stygium cloaking device was activated.
* * *
Ric Olié hadn’t slept in two days. The Coronation starts in seven and a half hour, which means he have only three hours’ worth of sleep to spare, not to mention he had to scan the droid for traps and tampering which would take at least half an hour, further reducing his sleep time.
“Well Artoo, let’s get this on shall we?” Ric crouched in front of the droid and unpacked his scanning kit and started attaching wires and other sensor equipments on several parts of the astromech droid.
Artoo moaned an inquiry.
“Relax, I won’t do anything to harm your programming, I’m just gonna check if you have been tampered in the two hours you’ve been down there in that cave.” Ric explained.
Artoo tooted and gave a longer series of hoots and tweets.
“Well that would just be too bad doesn’t it? So far so good, no sign or indication of recent restraining bolt other than the one given to you back here, a faint burnt mark from that bolt-gun attack on you earlier, no permanent harm on that. No recent interface uploads either, hmmm. Deeper diagnostics are now running, that’s the long part. Well, I’ll leave you for a few minutes.”
Artoo beeped an alarm as Ric started to leave him alone on his garage.
Ric turned to smile at the droid, “This is my home, and you are safe here. I’m just going to change. I’ve been wearing this uniform for two days now. I need a bath.”
Artoo moaned in resignation, the last time someone left him alone he ended up getting electrocuted, hauled to an underground cave and was almost crushed by the caving in mountain.
Artoo’s musing was interrupted as a young kid entered the garage, walked past him and straight into the tool shelves and began rummaging there.
Artoo rotated his dome to get a better look at the youngster. A male human probably ten sun cycles old, fair skin, blue eyes and that same curled brown hair of Captain Ric Olié.
The kid found what he was looking for and was about to turn and leave when he finally noticed Artoo.
“You’re not Athree, where is he? Who were you?” the kid asked as he walk closer and sat before the droid, eyeing the myriad of wires attached at him.
Artoo beeped and told the kid about R2-A3’s demise. At first Artoo was hesitant because the kid might not understand his language but there was no translation pad attached at him at the moment, and since Ric had mentioned that A3 has been with him since his Academy days, Artoo thought it was a possibility that the kid may have some capability to understand him.
Tears slowly formed and streamed from the eyes of the child. He just nodded at him and to Artoo’s surprise, embraced him, in whom the kid let go of his restraint and cried aloud.
Artoo was momentarily stunned, so to speak, all he could think of was to moan assurances to the kid that everything will be alright.
The child held him like that for a few more minutes until he finally let go, returned from his cross-legged sitting position facing him and wipe his face with his sleeves.
“I’m sorry. Poppa said it’s rude to be highly emotional to a stranger if one hasn’t even introduced oneself. I’m Rinn Olié. What’s your name?” Rinn said between fading sobs.
Artoo answered the boy.
“Please to meet you R2-D2. Can I call you Artoo?” the boy smiled.
Artoo beeped an agreement.
“Do you know I’m going to see the new Queen tomorrow, I mean this morning? Poppa said the new Queen wanted to hold a small feast for all the children of the palace employees a couple of hours before the actual Coronation. Isn’t it wonderful?” Rinn exclaimed.
Artoo squeaked a question.
“No King or Queen in the history of Naboo had ever done that before. Anyways, I heard she was so beautiful, maybe not as beautiful as my mother. Although Momma often says that the new Queen is the most beautiful person she had ever seen in her life. I still can’t believe that anyone can be more beautiful than my Momma. Maybe that’s why she’s the Queen, because she’s more beautiful than my Momma.” the kid ranted.
Artoo gave a series of beeps that is an equivalent of an amused chuckle and told Rinn that he hadn’t heard the word ‘beautiful’ mentioned too many times in one speech.
Rinn blushed, “Sorry, I do that when I’m excit
ed.” He said shyly.
Artoo groaned assuring the boy it was alright and he was just amused at him.
“I see you have met my boy here.” Ric emerged from the side door wearing his night robe, behind him strode another human, a head smaller than him, same blue eyes, brown hair but straight and at shoulder length. Artoo surmised she was Captain Olié’s wife.
“Artoo meet Thea, my wife.”
Artoo greeted the woman.
“Please to meet you too Artoo.” Then she called at Rinn, “Back to sleep Rinn, you’ll have plenty of time to fix that little toy of yours after the coronation. Let’s go Rinn.”
“Yes Momma, goodnight Artoo.” Rinn waved and took his mother’s hand and they both kissed Ric before entering the house.
“So, how’s the scan?” Ric crouched and checked the results of the sensors, it came out clean.
“That’s good news then.” Ric nodded in satisfaction and stood up and called someone in his comlink.
“Captain Magneta here.” came out the voice on the other end.
“The droid’s all clear.” Ric reported.
“Very well, I know you haven’t slept for awhile, I’ll send a pilot to take the droid to the governor to analyze that recording in it.” Magneta closed the link.
“You’re going to the governor Artoo, don’t worry, he’s a good man.” Ric smiled and patted his dome and started removing the wires and packing up his portable Mechis G5-X001 droid scanner.
After only a few minutes someone came knocking on the garage gate and Ric spoke to the intercom then opened the blastgate. A younger Naboo pilot in full uniform saluted at his captain. Ric waved a hand indicating Artoo and the newcomer nodded and together they approach him.
“Artoo, this is Lieutenant Hoff Siege, he’s my best wingman and he will accompany you to the governor. I’ll rejoin you both in the morning alright?” Ric explained.
“Hello Artoo. Shall we?” Hoff smiled at the droid.
Artoo was relieved to see that the Lieutenant is also a ‘droid-lover’ and not like that Graf Zapalo. Artoo gave a farewell hoot at Ric as he followed Hoff to his landspeeder.
* * *
It didn’t take long for them to reach the palace and into the austere office of Governor Sio Bibble. The old stout man had a serious but welcoming presence. He was not one to be trifled with but he’s one of those types that can maintain camaraderie and authority at the same time.