101

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

101

33 BBY/967 GSC. Naboo Conflict +3 days. Coruscant.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine kept his face straight and grave while internally, he silently seethed as he stared at the massive hologram in the middle of the senate chamber floor showing the new child Queen of his home planet of Naboo as she gave a speech in which she announced Naboo’s secession from the Republic, their joining of the Confederation of Independent Systems, and her condemnation of the Republic Senate for failure to intervene. Around the room, senators quietly talked among themselves as they watched, a few of them even nodding along—the fools.

Naboo was to be the reason the citizens of the Republic needed to justify entering the war! The Senate were to spin their wheels arguing back and forth, giving that imbecile Gunray enough time to move his ships and troops into position. Then he would take Theed and capture Naboo. Give the Nabooian people some time to enjoy living under the metal heels of the Trade Federation’s droid army and present a cold, inhuman threat to the rest of the Republic to rally the citizenry behind when the footage inevitably ‘leaked’ out to the wider galaxy. All to retroactively justify the creation of my clone army and advance the plan to the next stage. But if Naboo is no longer part of the Republic, then no one will care what happens to them.

…We can still salvage this.

We need to disrupt the Confederate response and strong-arm Naboo back into the Republic, before getting the Trade Federation occupation back on track. So, how can we do that?

Humming quietly, he considered for a moment, before a devious smile threatened to break out across his face.

I’ll use the Jedi on one side and Maul on the other.

First, I’ll contact the Jedi and ask them to intervene. Make sure they understand that Naboo cannot be allowed to leave the Republic. Given the eyes on Naboo and the delayed response from the Republic, while the Separatists responded immediately, public opinion is on their side. The Jedi will return the moral high ground to the Republic in the eyes of the public.

This will also have the added benefit of making the entire mess the Jedi’s problem to clean up, in the eyes of the Senate—absolving them of any responsibility or blame. If they fail, it was their fault. If they succeed, it was the Senate’s good judgment to send the Jedi that won the day—allowing them to take the credit. Your failure, our victory.That should entice those sheep into going along with it.

The Jedi won’t be able to resist using the Force to push things in a direction that benefits the Republic. And if she refuses… Maul can eliminate the queen and Naboo will vote in a replacement. The Jedi will obviously attempt to intervene and defend the queen. More dead Jedi is always a good thing. While he’s at it, I’ll have Maul kill whoever the Separatists sent to negotiate and direct their efforts to remove the Trade Federation.

Then, once the queen either agrees or is replaced, I’ll send word to the Viceroy and have him capitulate and agree to a ceasefire. Perhaps even leave Naboo, temporarily. He can take three to six months to muster more forces and move them into a nearby unoccupied system, then send them all in at once and take Naboo in a day, thus putting the plan back on track.

Finally, the broadcast ended and the hologram shut off. He took a few moments to compose himself and think up a proper response, before sending his floating platform out into the center of the room. As the overhead spotlight hit him, he put on his best regretful face and visibly sighed. “My friends, this is troubling news indeed. While it surely pained me to see my home under blockade at the hands of the Trade Federation, there is a process. All member planets of the Republic must adhere to it—even, no, especially when one of their own holds a position of power within this lofty institution, otherwise we would open ourselves up to corruption, favoritism, and all manner of other internal rot. They must give you, the wise men and women of our great Senate, time to properly consider all of the potential ramifications, come to an informed decision, and together vote to decide the fate of our great Republic.”

He thumped his palm against the podium to emphasize his point, letting the Force seep into his voice as he drew them in. “Unfortunately, Queen Amidala is young and inexperienced, and the separatists took advantage of that in her time of need. I do not believe the good people of Naboo would willingly betray the Republic. However, with supplies running low because of the blockade, I could certainly believe that desperate people would accept an offer of help in the moment if it didn’t mean giving the Senate the necessary time it may take to make the right decision. Even if that offer to help came with conditions.”

Taking a moment to look around the room, he put on a grandfatherly smile. “I believe the best move right now is to send someone more experienced to aid the queen in negotiations, and to represent the interests of the Republic. Someone beyond reproach and uninvolved in the petty squabbles of the Trade Federation and Separatists. I propose that we contact the Jedi and request they send someone to negotiate on our behalf. Let us put it to a vote.”

In the end, the result was practically unanimous. With a smile, the Supreme Chancellor placed a holocall to the Jedi Order then and there, in front of the entire Senate, to impress upon the Jedi the expectations of the Senate.

33 BBY/967 GSC. Naboo Conflict +3 days. Jedha.

Several members of the Jedi High Council sat in the Council chambers, watching a broadcast from Naboo, with those that couldn’t physically be present connected via holocall. Between them, a hologram of the young Queen Amidala finished up her speech announcing Naboo’s secession from the Republic and joining of the Confederacy.

Shifting in his seat to get more comfortable, Mace frowned as he turned over what they knew and what they suspected, starting with Naboo.

Naboo was one of the highest earning planets in the Mid-Rim and in the top ten for highest earning with the lowest population. They produced plasma that could be used as some of the highest quality and cleanest fuel and ammunition in the galaxy and exported practically all of it out to other Republic worlds—specifically in the Core. Coruscant was one of their largest buyers.

A deal some time ago with the Trade Federation saw the TradeFed installing the machinery necessary to remove plasma from the planet’s core and Naboo was one of their consistently largest earners because of it. Though, from what Mace had read, the deal was heavily lopsided in favor of the TradeFed and they had refused to train the locals on how to handle the equipment, effectively keeping Naboo locked in and dependent on the TradeFed for their fortune while taking most of the money for themselves.

Historical disputes had come and gone between the rulers of Naboo and the TradeFed over turning over control of the extractors and refineries, always with Naboo coming out on the losing side. Now, with the election of the newest monarch, the Trade Federation had decided to blockade Naboo and cut it off from the rest of the Republic’s trade network—blockading a planet whose main export they controlled almost entirely.

They may as well have blockaded themselves.

It was Mace’s personal theory that the Trade Federation intended to use the blockade to force concessions and somehow wrest control of Naboo away from their elected monarchy, essentially taking over the planet in a soft coup. If they got the Republic to force the issue and make it official, there was nothing anyone could really do about it. From there, there were a lot of things they could do with the planet’s plasma—from the more mundane option of simply raising prices, to using it to fuel their war machine in the years to come.

On the other side of the blockade issue was the Senate.

This new Senate was much like the old Senate—composed of old career politicians looking to use their position to advance their career as opposed to for the betterment of the Republic as a whole. In other words, exactly the sort of people you didn’t want in a position of power. Worse still, they were still new. Still looking to prove themselves. Which meant they all had an opinion and all wanted it to be heard and taken into consideration. And since Naboo was the first big issue that had come up in the time since the terror attack that killed the previous Senate, they were all looking to use this to make a name for themselves—and in the process, gumming up the works. They would have been going around in circles about the Naboo situation for months, if not years, before anything actually got done if they were allowed.

Normally, that was the job of the Supreme Chancellor. He was supposed to keep them on task and force a vote. However, there were two issues with that.

Firstly, and the one Mace actually agreed was a legitimate point: Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was a native of Naboo. Stepping in or putting pressure on the rest of the Senate to sway things one way or the other, or even try to force them to stop stalling and hurry up, would technically be showing favoritism. And while Mace could see the case for urging haste here and even agree with it in this instance, someone could always intentionally misinterpret the act—such was the risk of dealing with politicians.

Secondly, if Master Dooku and Knight Mereel were right, then Palpatine was a Sith and his action—or rather inaction—here served a purpose in advancing whatever his end goal was. It was entirely possible that he was dragging his feet intentionally, potentially because he was secretly working with the Trade Federation. Considering they suspected his Sith master to be Hego Damask, of Damask Holdings—one of the largest shareholders in the Trade Federation—it would make sense.

That was a whole other issue to consider, but Mace knew Master Dooku. Master Dooku was one of the most honorable Jedi alive today and his leaving the Order was a loss to them all. He didn’t believe Dooku would lie to them about this, regardless of their disagreements over the Jedi’s role in the galaxy. As for Knight Mereel… Tanya had been the one Palpatine approached on Naboo the first time they met, in what had sounded to Mace’s ears like an attempt to recruit her. The girl was completely straightforward and to the point and had little patience for politicking—likely a large part of why she chaffed under the Jedi Order before leaving, especially with the way the High Council had handled Mundi. Her warning of a potential threat had been genuine—that wasn’t in question. What was, was whether or not Palpatine and Damask were Sith or just dark side cultists.

That led into the issue of the Confederation of Independent Systems. The secessionist faction led by none other than Master Dooku himself, with his former Padawan as his second in command in all but name. Their involvement in the Naboo incident complicated things. It was unexpected. Naboo reaching out to the CIS when the Republic failed to resolve matters in a timely manner was unforeseen, but perhaps it shouldn’t have been. After all, the entire incident just highlighted exactly the failings of the Republic that had led to the formation of the CIS to begin with.

That the CIS had jumped on this opportunity wasn’t surprising at all. Naboo was currently in the media spotlight, being hotly debated in the Senate. Coming in to render aid here showed that the Confederacy were willing to take immediate, decisive action where the Republic were not. And of course, possessing Naboo as a member state meant they got all of the advantages the Republic currently got in the form of exclusive access to their plasma. Except with them running the Trade Federation out, it would mean they could renegotiate a better deal for Naboo, a very lucrative deal for themselves, and everyone involved would come out happier for it—everyone except the Republic, that is.

The Senate can’t let this stand. I imagine we’ll be receiving a call from them within the next day or two, begging us to handle the situation. However, with former members of the Order involved, things are complicated. It’s very likely that Dooku is taking the Naboo conflict seriously. Which means either he’s there himself, or he sent Tanya.

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Either way, with a Jedi on the opposing side, that removes our negotiators’ ability to use the Force to… nudge negotiations along the correct path. And then there’s the general hostility among some of the other Jedi for those that have left the Order. A poor choice here may result in another Pong Krell incident, which we don’t need. That limits who we can send.

Around Mace, the Council chambers hadn’t been silent. Arguments had already started up about what to do as the younger or more reactionary among their number expressed their opinions.

All of that was put on hold as the holocom rang with an incoming call from the Senate. Mace glanced at Yoda, who raised an eyebrow before nodding. Yoda tapped a button on the arm of his chair.

The hologram that came up was a composite of the inside of the Senate chamber—with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in the center standing at his full height and the senators in their platforms orbiting him up to waist height. The man gave a genial smile that, now that Mace suspected he was a Sith, just made his skin crawl.

“Chancellor,” Yoda greeted with a nod. “For what purpose have you called?”

“Grand Master Yoda,” the Chancellor nodded back. Looking around, his smile widened. “We’ve caught the High Council in session, it seems. Very fortunate. There is a matter of grave importance I must discuss with you. Have you seen the recent news out of Naboo?”

“We saw the broadcast, Chancellor,” Mace confirmed. “Troubling news indeed.”

“Quite,” the old human nodded. “It is the opinion of the Senate that issue between the Trade Federation and Naboo must be resolved by the Republic, and that Naboo not be allowed to join the Separatists in leaving the Republic.”

“And how do you intend to see that done? It seems that the queen of Naboo has made her choice,” Yaddle pointed out.

The Chancellor sighed, his expression turning saddened and disappointed. “Yes. I fear that in her desperation, she has acted hastily and made a mistake. One the Separatists intend to capitalize on. We took a vote and the result was nearly unanimous. We urge the Jedi to send someone to negotiate peace between Naboo and the Trade Federation, and to find a way to undo what was so rashly done. Otherwise, this brings us another step closer to an inevitable war with the Separatists. We cannot allow them to undermine Our Democracy in the way they have. If Naboo remains in their control, we must accelerate our timetable for bringing a resolution to this conflict and bringing the Mid- and Outer Rim back under Republic control. And I’m sure no one likes the prospect of a war with both the Trade Federation and Confederacy at the same time.”

There were looks exchanged around the High Council chambers as the Masters there radiated silent discomfort. All of them were acutely aware of the possibility that the conflict they were expecting could break out any day now—and in fact, may have already begun on Naboo.

Finally, Grand Master Yoda broke the silence. “Send someone to negotiate, we shall.”

“Excellent!” the Chancellor beamed a smile. “Who did you have in mind? Master Windu? Master Koon? Or perhaps you intend to go yourself, Master Yoda?”

“Mmm…” Yoda hummed, rubbing his chin. “Master Jinn.”

Mace could feel the discontent from the other High Council members ripple in the Force, but thankfully none of them said anything—not in front of the Senate, anyway. It was a good choice, in Mace’s opinion. Qui-Gon was a former Padawan of Dooku and he and his own Padawan Obi-Wan were on good terms with Dooku and Tanya. Master Koon was probably the next best option in his opinion—but either Dooku or Tanya were less likely to be quite as on guard if it were Qui-Gon.

“Master Qui-Gon is a good choice,” Mace agreed, visibly throwing his support behind Yoda to present a united front for the Senate.

“Good, good. Have him keep us up to date on the situation. We expect an update as soon as he arrives on Naboo,” the Chancellor ordered. “I bid you all good day.”

The holocall disconnected and the complaints that several of their number wanted to make began only to be summarily ignored as Master Yoda hopped down from his seat and hurried for the door. Mace followed, along with Yaddle. As they walked, Yaddle murmured, “Are we sure we should only send one negotiation team? Perhaps we should send one to mediate between the Trade Federation and Naboo and another to negotiate with the Confederation and Naboo to convince the Confederation to let Naboo out of whatever deal they signed and allow Naboo to rejoin the Republic. We know the CIS is low on Jedi—they may only have one or two present. Splitting the negotiations between two teams simultaneously would force the Jedi on the other side to choose one or the other to be present for, allowing us to act to influence the other parties if they don’t have enough.”

“See through the attempt they will,” Yoda shook his head. “In good faith we must act, if peacefully we are to resolve this situation.”

“Outside of Master Koon, Qui-Gon is the least likely to get on their bad side,” Mace reminded.

Yoda nodded, thumping his cane on the ground for emphasis. “Another incident like Master Pong Krell, need we do not.”

Yaddle considered that for a few moments as they walked. Eventually, she asked, “And how are you expecting this negotiation to go?”

Humming, Yoda mused, “Give up Naboo, the Trade Federation will not. Too many credits involved for them to surrender it easily.”

“And for the same reason, the Confederates want it.”

Mace shook his head. “No. I’m sure the money and fuel are useful, but they’ve already achieved their main goal in helping Naboo. They did what the Republic couldn’t, or wouldn’t. It’s a complete political victory on their part. For the moment, they have the moral high ground in the eyes of the public—and public opinion matters. It can make or break morale, or stop a war before it can even begin.”

Frowning, he added, “Mereel is prideful, but she’s a stickler for rules and laws. If I had to guess, I would say she would allow the negotiations between the Republic, CIS, and Naboo to get to a certain point before making an offer along the lines of an exit clause. Something like the Republic taking up whatever terms the Confederacy have agreed to with Naboo, then betting on the Senate being too stubborn and prideful to actually follow through. Then when they fail to do so and prove her right, it justifies Naboo joining and remaining with the CIS.”

Frowning, Yaddle asked, “You’re suggesting that the problem lies with the Senate?”

Mace snorted quietly. “Suggesting? No. I’m telling you, the Senate is the problem. You can disagree with what they’ve done and how they’ve gone about it, but Dooku and the Confederation are correct in that the Republic have failed to honor their own agreements. Naboo is just the latest example of that. The Senate can’t admit that though. That’s why they’re desperate to get us to fix their problem for them.”

“Our success is theirs. Our failure, our own,” Yoda agreed.

“It seems like a lot is going to be riding on Qui-Gon’s shoulders, then,” Yaddle sighed, and the pair of men nodded.

“Who gets to deliver the bad news?” Mace asked, sending Yoda an amused look.

“Did it last time, I did. Your turn, this time!”

33 BBY/967 GSC. Naboo Conflict +23 days. Hyperspace, approaching Naboo. Aboard the Radiant VII.

“Sir, we’re about to exit hyperspace. But I’m picking up a repeating signal from the hyperspace beacon. Audio only,” Capt. Madakor reported.

Moving to stand behind the captain and co-pilot, Qui-Gon frowned. “Let’s hear it, then.”

The captain nodded, tapping a button to play the message, and a moment later a familiar voice filled the cockpit. “Warning to all approaching vessels: the Naboo system is an active war zone. I repeat, the Naboo system is an active war zone. Unless you have business here or it’s an emergency, I recommend diverting to the Enarc system. All incoming vessels must have their transponder active or risk being fired upon and should expect to be boarded. If you have an emergency, please activate your emergency transponder, lights, or otherwise signal your condition. Trade Federation vessels and smugglers entering the AO will be fired upon. You have been warned.”

“Well, that’s pleasant,” the co-pilot murmured.

“It seems things have devolved since the secession announcement,” Qui-Gon murmured. “Make sure our transponder is on, captain. She means business.”

“Understood. Dropping out of hyperspace in ten,” the captain warned as she checked to make sure they were broadcasting. A few seconds later, the ship shuddered as they exited into real space. Immediately, they were painted with targeting from multiple ships, setting off multiple warnings in the cockpit. Several tense seconds later, the warnings shut off as the vessels targeting them shifted their attention away.

“That was tense!” Obi-Wan chuckled.

“By the Force, just look at it,” co-pilot Williams shook his head, before tapping a few buttons and putting a sensor readout on the screen above the transparisteel viewport.

Multiple CIS and TradeFed ships and entire swarms of fighters were engaged in active combat around the planet, trading fire in half a dozen simultaneous skirmishes. The Trade Federation had brought in multiple Lucrehulk-class ships and appeared to be trying to land troops, while the rest of their fleet were trying to defend the Lucrehulks and troop carriers. Meanwhile, the CIS forces were split between a few of their larger ships that had closed in to range for a slugging match, trading turbolaser volleys with the smaller, less heavily armored TradeFed ships that outnumbered them five to one while the the other half of their ships sat outside of volley range, apparently hammering away with a weapon with longer range.

Ah, I see their strategy, Qui-Gon mused after just a few moments of watching.

By splitting their forces like this, the CIS were forcing the TF to choose between risking getting hammered by conventional plasma weaponry or getting hit by what appeared to be a purely physical weapon. Meaning they had to decide if they wanted to run normal anti-plasma shields against the plasma batteries and leave themselves vulnerable to physical attacks and ion weaponry which would fry systems and disable their shields, run anti-physical shields which would leave them open to plasma and ion weapons, or run ray shields which would block both physical and plasma attacks but were much more costly in terms of energy consumption and heat buildup. And every one of those CIS ships mounted a combination of those big main guns—probably railguns, turbolasers, and ion cannon batteries.

Slowly but surely the Confederate forces were working their way through the enemy and all the TradeFed could do was try to delay. The most effective delaying tactic seemed to be to have half their forces screen for the big Lucrehulks and the other half in the rear, outside of turbolaser range, letting astromech droids roll over their hulls patching what damage they could while they constantly maneuvered to try to prevent the CIS ships from getting a good shot with their railguns. When a ship got too damaged, they would have it withdraw to try to repair itself while another replaced it. That is, when the CIS didn’t catch them in the act and focus them down with fire from multiple ships at the same time—which happened about a third of the time. The problem was, the TF had a lot of ships—enough that for the moment, it looked like they could tank the losses.

The CIS were doing likewise as they rotated their forces back and forth, never letting the TradeFed ships damage them enough to disable them. They were also doing something that Qui-Gon had never seen before—in that the ships were rotating along the Z-axis relative to the enemy ships in order to prevent any one area from becoming the focus of too much fire and putting less stress on their shield emitters. And they desperately needed to, because while the TradeFed could eat the losses, even one CIS loss would be a devastating blow given the disparity in numbers.

“We’re being hailed by one of the Trade Federation vessels,” Capt. Madakor announced as something on her panel flashed.

“Go ahead and accept,” Qui-Gon nodded.

The tactical display was replaced with a view of the bridge of one of the Lucrehulks. A neimoidian frowned at them before demanding, “What do you want, Jedi?”

“Greetings, captain. We are here to negotiate peace.”

The neimoidian hesitated for just a moment, before nodding once. “Negotiations are already underway in Theed between the Trade Federation, the Queen of Naboo, and a representative from the Confederation of Independent Systems. Perhaps the Jedi will have more luck than our own negotiator. Please wait while I send word to our other ships.”

“Of course,” Qui-Gon nodded, and the captain disconnected.

The brief silence was interrupted by the sound of another incoming hail. “Another hail, from one of the CIS vessels.”

“It seems we’re popular today, Master,” Obi-Wan mused.

“Put it on.”

This time, the view was of the inside of a Confederate vessel, focused on an armored woman sitting in a command chair. She looked them over, then smiled. “Master Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan. It’s good to see you again. Tanya warned me we should expect visitors from the Order as soon as Padme made the secession broadcast. I’m sure she’ll be happy to learn it’s you the Jedi High Council have sent.”

“Good day, Capt. Keen,” Qui-Gon nodded. “Yes, there was some discussion over who to send. Thankfully, in the end, cooler heads managed to prevail. I take it you’ll clear us to head down to the planet and let them know we’re coming?”

“Of course,” the woman agreed easily. “We picked up your comms with the TradeFed. Forward me whatever course they send you and we’ll make sure we don’t send anything your way. Just be careful when you head down. Make sure your pilot approaches Theed from the ocean facing side. Trade Federation forces have AA set up near the city and I can’t guarantee the droids down there won’t misinterpret an order and ‘accidentally’ fire upon your ship.”

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan exchanged a look, before the Master nodded. “Understood. We’ll come in low from that side.”

“Good luck. Redoubt out.”

As soon as the call disconnected, Obi-Wan spoke up. “It sounds as though they suspect treachery on the part of the Trade Federation.”

“Not at all surprising. Their leaders don’t exactly inspire trust,” Qui-Gon mused, shaking his head. “Take us down as soon as we have a course, captain. We’ll be making final preparations.”

“Yes, sir.”