Chapter One: The Rescue
Dec. 2nd, 2012 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianDisclaimer: I own nothing.
The skies of Coruscant blazed with war. From down below, some would have found it beautiful, if in an odd way, the streaks of fire in the amber sky, the faint hum of something that sounded faintly like gnats. From the inside, however, it was a different story entirely. The gnats were fighters and ships of all kinds, in a desperate battle for survival, and in the center of it all were Jedi Knights Padme Naberrie and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The two could not have been more of a study in contrast. While Kenobi's approach to the war had been calmer, really, more controlled and peaceful and almost Jedi-like, Naberrie's approach was more spontaneous and ingenious, finding little details that others would overlook. Finding loopholes and weaknesses; her ability to think on her feet was a perfect contrast to Kenobi's more controlled demeanor. Together, they had managed to crush Separatist forces on so many worlds, though always at heavy prices. Padme knew, for example, even finding ways to blast Separatist ships out of her path, that she had never truly expected something like this to come to pass. Full out war. She, like most denizens of Naboo, was not one for war. She had preferred to negotiate in the past instead of fight, but when the time came, she would fight, no matter what the cost, be what it was.
And sweet Force had there been a cost. Padme had had to bear witness to many good people dying. Steela, for example, in the attempt to take back Onderon. They had saved Onderon, yes, but at the cost of so many good, wonderful people who had their lives ahead of them and honestly, deserved far better lives than anyone could really give them.
Which was one reason, Padme thought, that rescuing Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic, was so important. It wasn't just that he was what Dooku was to the Separatists (to use quite a bad example considering what Dooku had actually done), but it was also the fact that Padme would not, under any circumstances, let any more good people die.
From over her communications system, Obi-Wan's voice sounded with its distinctive Coruscanti accent, a result of being raised in the Republic all his life. "Do you see it?"
"Yeah. Straight ahead. The one crawling with vulture droids."
Of all the opponents they had fought during the Separatist crisis, General Grievous was possibly one of the worst. A hulking beast of pure durasteel, Grievous was responsible for some of the worst of the Separatists' atrocities. Every planet razed, every Jedi massacred, every wanton slaughter -- while there were multiple others who were all too happy to do such things, whether it be out of a misguided sense of following the cause or sheer enjoyment or lust for revenge or blood or anything else, Grievous was perhaps the worst. And to think his durasteel claws had closed around Palpatine --
"You're losing focus." Obi-Wan's voice now, softer. "Don't do that. Concentrate on the here and now, my young Padawan."
"I know, Master." Even now, even though she was a Jedi Knight and he was on the Council (and a very overdue assignment to the Council at that!), he still seemed to not have broken the habit of thinking of her as the headstrong Padawan he had once trained. And to be fair, it wasn't as if she had stopped thinking of him as her Master either. In truth, the two of them hadn't seemed to have gotten tired of referring to one another as Master and Padawan, to say the very least. It seemed to be a reminder, at least in times like this, that no matter how much had changed, this, quite honestly? This was not one of them, and it never really would be.
Padme sighed. "I guess it's just...I never thought this would happen."
"Of course not." Obi-Wan sounded actually quite understanding, Padme thought; for a moment, she thought that he would most certainly say something like, "Well, of course it would, my young Padawan." After all, wonderful and kind as Obi-Wan was, he did have that tendency at times to get self-righteous. It wasn't always a bad thing, especially when he was trying to make a point (not that it always crossed Padme's mind, but sometimes, he wasn't even trying to be self-righteous, really), but it was always quite grating in one way or another.
Still, there was something about it that Padme supposed wasn't too bad. There was something actually quite gentle about it really. Almost as if, "Don't worry, Padawan. I understand." And that, Padme supposed, was a form of solace in one way or another.
Obi-Wan continued. "I doubt anyone was expecting a strike at the heart of the Republic itself, were you?"
"No," Padme said, "I didn't really think -- I mean -- " She hadn't expected the Separatists to be this bold. Assassination attempts on Sabe's life were one thing, but a direct, blatant invasion of the Republic itself and kidnapping the Chancellor before they could so much as formulate a plan...that was worse. That was something none of them had expected -- the Separatists striking before the Jedi could so much as come up with a plan to stop them.
Padme could only conclude that this, right here, right now, was their plan. Get to the vulture droid filled INVISIBLE HAND, rescue Palpatine in the middle of a mad Separatist fleet, and just to finish the job, at least in a sense, find a way to bring Dooku and his comrades to justice -- the last one especially. She also hoped that the last one would at least go off without the metaphorical hitch.
"Exactly," Obi-Wan said, "And the Chancellor was guarded by Shaak Ti and Stass Allie, some of the best Jedi of our age. Master Allie has even taught me a few tricks."
"Yeah. Still..." Padme sighed. "We should have been there. We really should have. Just to save him." It was told that a Jedi should focus on the present, remember the past, and let the future take care of itself. It was hard to do that when the past was pretty much the present, as was the future. The past being the events of Palpatine's capture, and the future being whether they would be on time to find him or not.
Padme only prayed it was the former. Otherwise, they would all be vulnerable.
"Oh. This is bad." Obi-Wan this time, along with some characteristic wryness mixed into his voice. At least her Master was somewhat back to normal. "Ray shields."
Stang. "Let me take care of that." Padme turned her ship to target the places where the ray shield machine was being controlled, before firing. The ray shields went down.
"Well," Obi-Wan said, "Not bad. Very not bad indeed."
Padme smiled. "Now we just have to get into the hangar. Master, are you and Ar One ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be," Obi Wan said, quite wryly, "And by which I mean very much not ready at all, but we'll leap to the challenge anyway."
"That's good." Not necessarily the "not ready" part, but the "ready to do it no matter what" part was quite nice. After all, they were the team. Naberrie and Kenobi. Kenobi and Naberrie. And no matter what happened, they would be ready.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2012-12-03 10:27 am (UTC)And yeah, I love Jedi!Padme as well. :) It helps that she's ridiculously fun to write. :)
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