110

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

110

33 BBY/967 GSC. Naboo Conflict +71 days. Naboo.

Standing on the bridge of the Redoubt, Padme looked at the fishbowl display showing the space above Naboo as seen from the ship’s cameras and sensors. Debris from destroyed Trade Federation vessels filled the space, much of it on course to rain down over Naboo and burn up in atmosphere over the coming days, weeks, and months. The bigger pieces in higher orbits were being towed off and aligned to await disassembly by CIS scavenger ships. As she understood it, they were going to set up a temporary space dock and use it to tear them down and reclaim what materials they could.

This is a mess, she sighed quietly. And the physical debris field around the planet, along with the debris that survived reentry and would litter Naboo’s surface, were just the beginning. Things had apparently gotten worse while she was away on Coruscant.

To be fair, she couldn’t and didn’t blame Tanya for what happened with the gungans. It wasn’t her fault that those two ships crashed into the surface and destroyed Otoh Gunga. Nor was it her fault that the destruction of their capital city provoked the gungans to war, at the urging of their elders—those veterans and survivors of the last war with Naboo seeing the disaster as an attack and responding as such. And it wasn’t as though Tanya could just let the gungans get away with executing her people, allow them to wander around the combat zone, or actively try to fight or sabotage Padme’s own people.

But the reports she had read…

Tanya and Allaya hunting down alleged gungan terrorist cells and eliminating them. Luring a gungan army between the CIS and TF lines, pinning them down, and letting the gungans and TradeFed whittle each other down before crushing both. Allowing her people to form an armed militia and patrol Theed—who then proceeded to capture multiple gungans attempting to breach and sabotage the city then execute them very publicly.

If it was happening anywhere else, to anyone else, under even slightly different circumstances, Padme would think an enemy force had occupied the planet and were subjugating its people.

As it stood, however… Padme could only really be grateful. Certainly, the destruction hurt to see. And she didn’t want another war with the gungans during her reign. But she couldn’t control their enemies’ actions. She could only work to the best of her own ability and ask for help when that wasn’t enough, to protect her people and see that they prospered.

And on that front, Tanya had excelled. She had done everything Padme asked of her and more. So far, not even a single Nabooian had died from enemy action on Tanya’s watch. Padme couldn’t ask for more. Even if, in the privacy of her own mind, she wished the end result hadn’t been so… violent.

But that is the paradox, isn’t it? In order to protect the peace we have, we must resort to violence. I simply chose someone better at it.

“Are you ready to go, your highness?” Master Qui-Gon asked as he stepped onto the bridge.

“Yes, in just a moment.” Padme turned as Tanya brushed past her, moving to sit in the captain’s seat. Looking to the red woman, she asked, “You’re not coming?”

Tanya shook her head. “I’ll be up here another month at least, as we make sure the Trade Federation aren’t sending more reinforcements. I need to be here to respond immediately to any attacks. My men on the ground are pulling back to Theed to reinforce it against any potential gungan incursion. I have ships coming to collect the droids and we’ll have those moved off planet soon. If you need me, call and I can be on the surface relatively quickly, but my people there should be able to take care of practically any problem that arises.”

“What about the parade and—”

Tanya cut her off, “That would be declaring victory before it’s assured. If we do it now and the Trade Federation attack again, you’ll look like an idiot and I’ll look incompetent.”

Padme sucked in a breath. “Yes, I don’t want that,” she murmured. “I already have enough issues to deal with, without adding such a blatant failure on top of them. Very well. I’ll see you in a month, then? Contact me when you believe it’s safe to hold the parade and other events.”

“I will,” Tanya confirmed. Looking to Master Qui-Gon, she added, “I’m sending Asajj and Allaya. They’ll be spending time with Jaster, but one of them will also be guarding Padme at all times. At least until we’re sure the TradeFed aren’t coming back, the gungan situation progresses beyond random attacks, and we’re sure that her own people aren’t going to try to usurp her again. Would you mind working them in with Anakin and Obi, as you can?”

Master Qui-Gon smiled. “Of course. It will be fun for everyone.”

“I think your idea of fun and theirs may differ,” Padme murmured, remembering what Asajj had told her about artillery fire and trench shovels. “And speaking of the gungan situation, how do you believe we should handle it?”

Tanya frowned. Looking at Master Qui-Gon, she raised an eyebrow and motioned towards him. The older man hummed. “Well, that depends upon the general disposition of the gungans as a whole, I believe. If they have all been whipped into a frenzy by the worst among them, then sending an unarmed diplomat in to attempt to negotiate would be a bad idea. Many… less civilized races have concepts similar to face or reputation that prevent them from making the first approach in any negotiation or from seeking peace, until they’ve been bested in some way and have seen the might of their enemy—and sending someone to negotiate before that point signals your own weakness. I believe that was the mistake Tanya made, of attempting to negotiate and get her people back—they were going to be killed, regardless. If they don’t believe they are dealing with a peer, they will be tyrannical if they negotiate at all. If they believe they are dealing with a superior, they will be cowed into submission and will generally be conciliatory. Such is the way of people who live by the rules of the strong survive and might makes right. Having seen the video of the execution… I would suggest not sending anyone. Wait it out and see what their play is. A gungan army was massed and defeated in the field. Many of their terror cells have been eliminated. They may be willing to reach out and actually talk, soon.”

Padme nodded, then looked to Tanya. “And as the representative from the Confederacy, what is your opinion?”

“Personally, my preference is to do flyovers scanning for heat signatures, confirm any gungan presence, send in men to verify whether they’re civilians or militants, and if they’re militants to blow the shit out of them,” Tanya answered matter of factually. She let that hang for just a moment before continuing, “However, that is my preference as a field commander. As a leader, I would suggest doing as Master Qui-Gon said. We have retaliated for their unprovoked assault against us. We should pull back for now and see how they react, instead of escalating.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Padme nodded slowly.

A smile pulled across Tanya’s lips. “Very reasonable. As reasonable as one can be, when feeding someone rope. Give your enemy as much rope as he would like. Allow him to tie the noose and slip it around his neck. Then do nothing to stop him when he inevitably jumps. That is what we will be doing: giving them enough rope to hang themselves.”

“…That sounds less reasonable,” Padme sighed.

“On the contrary! Our response will be entirely predicated upon the gungans’ own actions. If they defy expectations and act reasonably, then we’ll have no reason to do anything except act reasonably ourselves. However, if they decide to do something foolish, then the consequences that follow will be entirely of their own making and our response will be quite… proportional.”

For some reason, Padme didn’t like the way Tanya said that word. Shaking her head, she said, “Then we’ll see what happens. I’ll contact you if anything comes up.”

Tanya nodded and Padme turned and left, Master Qui-Gon at her side. They made their way to the hangar where they were joined by the others, and from there into Padme’s sleek, silver ship. The trip down to the surface felt like it took ages and Padme was torn between excitement to be home and dread at what she would find when she arrived.

They landed in the hangar of the royal palace and disembarked from the ship. As she stepped off the ship, Padme was met with one of her advisors, who handed her a datapad. “Your highness, welcome back! Here’s the latest. Your approval rating is through the roof—you’re currently scoring higher than the last three administrations combined. Your advisors are requesting a meeting at your earliest convenience…”

Padme nodded, looking over the numbers on the pad. As she did, she noticed Anakin leave her side, a quiet “Whoa!” escaping his lips as he turned and rushed off towards one of her royal starfighters. Padme smiled and met Sabe’s eyes. The handmaiden smiled back and nodded, turning and following Anakin to keep him out of trouble. If the boy wanted to see her ships, she wasn’t going to deny him. They were pretty impressive, after all—as much works of art as war machines.

She had only made it a few steps when there was a cry of alarm from the direction of Anakin. Padme’s head had barely lifted when she heard the sound of multiple lightsabers igniting. “What in the world—?”

“Sith. We’ll handle this,” Master Qui-Gon spoke as a man in black robes and a hood stepped out from behind one of the fighters, holding a squirming Anakin in one hand and a large lightsaber in the other.

The zabrak’s lightsaber lit, the red blade drawing close to Anakin’s face, and Padme felt her heart clench and her blood run cold. “Give me the queen, or the boy dies.”

At the demand, several things happened all at once. Blaster fire rang out as Allaya drew her pistol and fired. The Sith raised his saber and swatted the blast towards Padme as Allaya fired again and again. Padme felt her world narrow down to a blaster bolt coming for her head, only for a yellow lightsaber to catch it and fling it back at the Sith, as Asajj leapt to intercept it, landed, and spun around. Padme’s breath was knocked out of her as the smaller girl hit her in the waist and picked her up bodily over one shoulder, rushing for the exit to the hangar as a series of blue, hexagonal energy shields formed between them and the threat. Stray blaster bolts splashed off the shield, but now Allaya was retreating behind Asajj. A jerk of the redhead’s hand and Anakin yelped as he was dragged quickly across the floor and caught as the redhead put her pistol away and pulled Anakin behind the shield. Then, they were out of the hangar and the door slammed closed behind them as Allaya hit the emergency close and lock button on the panel beside the door.

“Evac route one!” Asajj announced, and Allaya nodded. “Call it in!”

The redhead put away her lightsaber and pulled out her holocom as they rushed down the halls and into a secret passage that would lead to a series of tunnels below the city. “Mayday, mayday! Enemy ambush in the royal hangar! We’re evacing along route one, request pickup, over!”

The halls blurred by after that as the girls ran fast enough to knock the breath out of Padme with every motion of her body hitting Asajj’s shoulder. Then, they were up and out into the sunlight as a Kom’rk transport swooped in overhead. It came down and the rear opened, but it didn’t land. The girls jumped and hauled Padme and Anakin inside, throwing them into jump seats as the hatch closed and the ship accelerated hard enough that Padme felt the force over the inertial dampeners.

“Where are we going?” she finally managed to get out. Turning to Anakin, she asked, “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” the boy shook his head.

“We’re going back to the Redoubt. Master’s orders were explicit. If a Sith enters the field, we’re to evacuate you immediately,” Asajj explained as she pulled off her helmet and caught her breath.

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“But we just got here!” Anakin protested.

“I thought it was safe,” Padme murmured.

Allaya shrugged. “So did we. We didn’t expect a Sith.”

Padme bit her lip as she fretted. “What about Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan? My staff?”

“Those two can handle themselves,” Asajj shook her head.

“Don’t they need your help?” Anakin asked.

“We’d just be in the way.”

“Doubt he’ll kill anyone else. He’s going to be too busy with the Jedi,” Allaya agreed.

Sighing, Padme asked, “When will we know it’s safe to go back?”

The girls traded looks, before shrugging. Allaya answered, “When Master Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan report in. And likely after Master’s had a chance to have a team go over the palace and make sure the Sith didn’t leave any nasty surprises.”

Nasty surprises? Ah. Explosive contingency plans. That could take days.

Sighing quietly, Padme settled in for the flight back in. As she did, Anakin asked, “So, that was a Sith? Who was that guy?”

The hangar’s blast doors slammed shut behind Tanya’s Padawans as they dragged the queen and Anakin away, while the rest of Padme’s servants fled. The last of the blaster bolts hit the blast doors, doing little more than scoring the durasteel. As they did, the Sith turned his rage on Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, holding his lightsaber out and igniting the other end of it, revealing it to be a double-bladed saber.

Qui-Gon mastered his emotions, but the anger was still there, just beneath the surface. That this loathsome creature would threaten a child under his care—the boy he suspected was the Chosen One no less.

No. This Sith couldn’t be allowed to live and potentially go after Anakin again. Whatever happened, the Sith needed to be put down here and now. If Qui-Gon fell here, that would leave Obi-Wan to handle the Sith, and if she fell…

I won’t allow it to happen.

“Master…?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Get behind me Obi-Wan, and be ready.”

“Yes, Master,” the girl nodded, moving into a position that would allow her to quickly move to aid her Master if need be.

Qui-Gon took a breath, then slid into the opening stance for Form II. As he did, his mind briefly turned back to the last time he had seen someone truly fight with a similar weapon, the outcome, and later speaking with the victor herself. A recording he had been shown, of when Master Pong Krell had chosen violence and Tanya put an end to him.

The circle is undefended.

Instead of rushing to the attack, Qui-Gon watched their opponent, studying the Sith and looking for an opening. And an opening would come, of that he had no doubt. This Sith was young. Impatient. He felt strong in the Force, certainly, but he wasunseasoned. Too eager to prove himself.Qui-Gon could feel the anger radiating off of him as he slowly twirled his lightsaber. Waiting would only increase his ire and his frustration, leading him to make a mistake, while rushing in would give the Sith the violence he sought.

And so, Qui-Gon waited.

He felt the moment the Sith’s patience snapped. The zabrak man rushed forward and leapt, both hands on his saber as he led with a strike from the right blade of the weapon. Qui-Gon shifted his saber and blocked, not shoving it off because that would only add momentum to the natural followup. Instead, the moment he felt the blade start to pull back, he shifted to his right, blocking the strike from the zabrak’s left blade as the man descended.

Qui-Gon cut off the third swing that would follow by stepping forward and swinging—a single, clean vertical stroke. The Sith, caught out of position, tried to block but there was no time to get either of his blades over to intercept. The double bladed saber was simply too large, too slow compared to a normal saber to maneuver that quickly—one of its major flaws. Ingrained reflex kicked in as the Sith raised the center of the dual saber to block—likely something left over from a time when he practiced with something other than a lightsaber. If they were fighting with solid weapons, it would have worked.

Qui-Gon’s green saber bisected the hilt and carried forward, catching the Zabrak in the head and drawing through and out as Qui-Gon’s swing naturally curved at the end, drawing the lightsaber out at the other man’s right hip.

The Sith’s legs collapsed and he fell, his body falling into two parts. Qui-Gon cast about with his senses, looking around at the same time to make sure that was it, that this was the only danger. When he was sure it was safe, Qui-Gon shut off his lightsaber and Obi-Wan, taking her cue from him, did likewise.

“What now, Master?” Obi-Wan asked, moving around him and nudging the body with the toe of her boot.

Qui-Gon frowned. “Now, we bag up the body and sweep the area for potential threats. Sith like to leave behind surprises for the unwary. After that, I’ll contact the High Council. Would you go find one of the palace guard and request a body bag and a medical transport, to preserve the corpse?”

“Yes, Master,” Obi-Wan agreed, before hurrying off.

Taking out his holocom, Qui-Gon placed a quick call to Tanya, who picked up on the first ring. “Qui-Gon, is everything alright?”

“We’re fine. Is the queen with you?”

“She’s on her way,” Tanya confirmed. “We’ll keep her here overnight, at least until we’ve had a chance to sweep and clear the palace for more surprises. Would you take a picture of the Sith and send it to me?”

“Of course. One moment,” Qui-Gon agreed. Moving his holocom around, he took a quick full body scan of the zabrak man before sending it off. “There. You should have it.”

There was a pause, before she asked, “Red and black coloration?”

Qui-Gon blinked, before frowning. “Yes. How did you know?”

Tanya let out a quiet sigh. “I’ve been having dreams about this particular zabrak off and on for years now.” He could hear the smile as she added, “Maybe now they’ll stop.” She paused for a moment, before asking, “What are you going to tell the Council when you call it in?”

“The truth,” he shrugged. “We will leave soon, to take the body back and bring Anakin before the High Council.”

“Perhaps now they’ll believe that the threat of the Sith is real,” Tanya murmured.

“If this is the Apprentice, then it should be self-evident that the Master exists,” Qui-Gon trailed off, before sighing. A rueful smile pulled at his lips. “But then, when has the High Council ever truly been swayed once their minds have been made up? Perhaps they will try to deny it still, even with the evidence before them.”

“If they won’t believe with an actual body on their hands, then I don’t know what to tell them.”

“Nor do I,” Qui-Gon admitted. Looking up, he spotted Obi-Wan coming with a medical team. “Ah, our cleanup team has arrived.”

“I’ll send some clones to help sweep and clear the palace. Let me know once you feel it’s safe.”

Qui-Gon nodded. “Very well.”

With that, he disconnected the call and put away his holocom. Looking down at the body, his mind turned the short fight over in his mind. All the ways it could have gone differently or ended poorly. If the Sith had chosen to retreat at the last second, to back away after the first strike failed. If he had been like a certain someone Qui-Gon knew, whose sabers were made of songsteel and who used more songsteel to connect them, specifically because it was lightsaber resistant. If Qui-Gon had chosen to pursue and the Sith was smart enough to lure them away and wear them down with a running battle.

If.

The war has gone hot and now we have one Sith dead and two more on the loose. …Perhaps I should spend more time practicing with Obi-Wan and sharpen my skills further.

33 BBY/967 GSC. Naboo Conflict +90 days. Naboo.

Sitting in the back of the speeder with Queen Amidala, I felt my face starting to hurt from smiling so much as I continued to wave.

“How much further?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth.

“Another half hour at this speed,” Padme murmured, her own smile much more natural. “Please endure it just a little longer.”

An annoyed sound escaped my throat, but I left it at that and kept up the professional demeanor. This was Padme’s victory parade and official confirmation of the alliance between Naboo and the Confederacy. I could sit and be photogenic for a few hours if it advanced our goals.

I wished I could wear my helmet for this, but while being the faceless, scary leader of the forces that had come to save Naboo was good for troop morale and intimidating the enemy, I needed a different approach for the citizenry of Naboo. Luckily, I was well-equipped in that area. Being a Zeltron gave me a natural advantage there, and I would use it again.

I could imagine the headlines already, leading with the image of me sitting beside Padme for this little stunt. Looking at it objectively… the pretty young Queen of Naboo sitting next to the beautiful young Mandalore. Both attractive. Both seemingly happy and enthusiastic to be here. Both visibly friendly with each other.

It was the kind of thing the media ate up and that won over hearts and minds. Human nature—and near-human or human-derived nature—was to be more prone to love and trust beautiful people, especially women. There was a reason Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, and not in the opposite direction because she was hideous.

Of course, the entire reason we were here celebrating this now was that my scouts had determined that the Trade Federation had withdrawn from systems along the hyperspace route leading to Naboo. They were pulling back. It could simply be for a reorg to make another attempt with a larger force, but I doubted it. We had cost them too much trying to take Naboo—any sane and reasonable enemy commander would cut their losses at this point.

No one ever said the enemy was either sane or reasonable.

That being said, we were fairly confident that the Trade Federation weren’t coming back. So either the TradeFed members had grown a collective spine and told the Sith ‘no’ after seeing just how much money they were losing on this, or more likely the elder Sith—Hego Damask, whose company Damask Holdings was heavily involved in the Trade Federation—had made the call after the losses here.

So then, the question becomes, if the Sith have given up on Naboo at least in the short term, what is their next goal?

With the defense of Naboo, we had successfully demonstrated that the Confederation of Independent Systems could defend its territory and member states. That we weren’t willing to roll over or give up ground. We were a peer force they weren’t prepared to deal with.

And since none of their ships had managed to get away from Naboo and we had been monitoring comms in and out of the system since we turned the hyperspace comms relay back on, we knew for a fact that if they had sleeper agents on Naboo, those agents weren’t aware of the Kandosii. They had sent a ship in to scout and find out what had happened, but by the time it arrived we had moved the Kandosii back into orbit around Widow, so while they saw our forces here and that their own forces had been annihilated, they hadn’t gotten a sensor reading on the Kandosii. As far as the Trade Federation knew, Naboo had become a black hole where their forces went to die.

Meaning we still had a very big ace in the hole, for the next time they tried something.

They know the rough size of the force sent to defend Naboo. They know the size of their own force sent to take it. Doing the math there, if two of our system defense fleets can obliterate their entire invasion fleet, they aren’t going to try it against any planet where we have forces already in the area. We have a heavier fleet presence in more important areas, so they aren’t going to be able to take our orbital shipyards or other key infrastructure since they’re too heavily defended.

They can also do the math and figure out the time it took us to cross practically half the galaxy to get from Mandalore to Naboo after Padme put in the call. So it stands to reason that if they do try to attack any Confederate planets, they will do so with overwhelming force or not at all. And after the massive loss on Naboo, they can’t afford to lose again. Meaning that whatever they hit next is going to have to be strategically important and an overwhelming victory.

So, what is theoretically low risk/high return to the Trade Federation? There must also be low risk of Confederate intervention and preferably at least a week from Mandalore. Naboo and Mandalore are ten sectors apart as the crow flies, closer to fifteen following hyperspace routes, and between twelve and fourteen days depending on hyperdrive speed. That’s a big section of space, even if you cut it in half.

Realistically, the planets with the lowest risk of Confederate intervention were those belonging to the Republic—specifically, one that wasn’t on the fence about leaving the Republic, but which also wasn’t in the Core. Somewhere far enough away from the Core to justify letting it fall. As the Republic had already proven, thanks to Chancellor Palpatine’s intervention, they were perfectly willing to sacrifice a Republic planet to the Trade Federation to justify their war.

But if they weren’t explicitly going for a Republic planet, then the next best target would be another Outer Rim planet. Somewhere out of the way but which could provide something of value to the Trade Federation’s war effort.

Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down? I mused, shaking my head minutely.

The Outer Rim was full of planets that fit the bill. And unfortunately, we couldn’t protect them all. We had to concentrate our efforts on our member states first and foremost. Of course, if an Outer Rim planet asked for aid and offered to join, we would most likely accept—especially if it meant hurting the Trade Federation. We just had to make sure not to spread ourselves too thin.

Then there’s the question of whether we can allow them to succeed, even if it’s not a member planet. The Trade Federation making advances is bad for everyone. However, we don’t have the men or materiel to stymie them at every turn. If their next move must be both a certain victory and important to their overall plan, then it’s certainly a battle we want them to lose.

The lessons of my last life conflicted here.

On the one hand, I didn’t want to let the enemy gain some important foothold, giving them a valuable position or resource. If we could prevent that at little cost to ourselves, we should. Especially since digging them out once they established themselves would be much more difficult than simply preventing it in the first place. That was something I had known and Imperial high command had ignored time and time again, failing to learn the lesson until it was too late and we were spread too thin.

On the other hand, there was the problem of over-extension. Trying to do too much. Responding to every little attack or advancing too far and spreading ourselves too thin, well beyond our supply lines. Losing valuable men and materiel by making the stupid mistake of not knowing when and how to spend them judiciously. Never mind the optics of appearing as an expansionist aggressor, poking our nose in where it wasn’t wanted.

It’s not my problem to solve… but I am close enough to the top, and hopefully with enough power given my position, to sway things one way or the other. The best thing to do at the moment is to wait and see what the Trade Federation do—regardless of how much I dislike being reactive as opposed to proactive.

There was nothing I could do about it at the moment, regardless. Besides, I had other issues to take care of locally, before I could leave Naboo in the hands of the system fleet commander we’d be leaving behind. Namely, the fucking gungans.

I have never disliked an entire people as thoroughly as I disliked the gungans. The closest were the Francois.

…Come to think of it, they shared many traits. Loud. Rude. Obnoxious. Aggressive and violent when they had no right to be, given just how badly they had gotten their shit stomped in. Completely unwilling to see reason. Attempting to dictate terms when they were in no position to.

Don’t tell me I left the frogs of one life behind, only to find another group here.

They were a problem, but thankfully not entirely my problem. Word traveled slowly between the gungans, so some places across the world were still just learning about Otoh Gunga, and with every new settlement, town, or city that learned of it another terror cell was almost guaranteed to form. Those remaining veterans of the last Gungan/Naboo war, or their sons and daughters raised on tales of that war, or even the odd young gungan who felt particularly strongly about the Naboo, all stepping up to fight one after another.

Worse, if we made peace with one city or settlement, their nearest neighbors didn’t hear the news for days and many of them blatantly ignored it. Or they went to those cities we had made peace with and convinced them to call the peace off and rejoin their effort in sending young gungans to die pointlessly. Or they just dismissed what other cities did because those cities weren’t Otoh Gunga. Without Otoh Gunga around to wrangle all of these idiots and impose order, they were still arguing over who was in charge.

I was getting sick and tired of it, honestly.

What I wouldn’t give for a few more accidental orbital Lucrehulk drops on the worst offenders. Or perhaps a good plague. I’d settle for a civil war!

I blinked as the thought occurred, before a genuine smile crossed my lips.

Now there’s an idea…