8 Chapter 1.3: Plaza Battle

(3rd Person Pov)

(Theed capital, Landing Plaza.)

*Clank* *Clank* *Clink* *Clink*

The slow march of battle droids sounded out as a MTT (Multi Troop Transport) followed behind a line of battle droids. Following slowly behind them were two AAT's (Armored Assault Tanks). The small regiment was marching towards a specific landing zone where a silver ship was about to land.

The group of droids had been assigned by their command droid to the landing zone after receiving orders from Nute Gunray. The group was particularly overkill for a ship filled with only a few people, but after the escape of the Jedi aboard his command ship, the Viceroy wasn't taking any chances.

*Buzz* The hum of the tanks slowed down as they dropped back and guarded the entrance to the plaza, they should only be needed as back up. The MTT moved ahead a few meters before it too stopped and stayed still.

Unless more troops were needed they would stay inactivated and stored. The rest of the droids marched without a word as they gathered in front of the silver ship. Taking design queues from a luxury Naboo cruiser, the main difference was the size of the ship as well as the addition of weapons and bigger engine designs.

*Clank* *Clank* Stopping before the ramp the droids raised their weapons ready for any hostilities. *Psh* *Wrrrnnn* The ramp depressurized and slowly began to lower to the ground as all the droids turned their attention to the person about to walk out.

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack* 3 Pairs of boots walked down the ramp and looked at the droids before them. Spreading out from the line they had formed, on the left was a pale woman wearing armour covered by a brown robe that was open at the front. With grey hair, her eyes flickered red as she scoped the area.

In the middle there was a large man with bandaged hands and long tusks, wearing a bone mask. Wearing intimidating armour he rolled his shoulders getting ready for a fight. Reaching his 3 fingered hand towards his belt; he slowly unclipped the hilt on his hip.

Finally on the right was a dark cloaked woman who was showing off her midriff. Wearing a tight fitting 2 piece dress that showed off her toned arms and abs, just under her dark hood could be seen the dark purple lipstick she wore as well as her brown hair. Hidden deep in the dark hood could be seen two red orbs that held a hint of amusement.

The droids stood still for a second assessing the people before them before moving forwards to subdue and escort their targets. Just as the first one took a step Nadia spoke up, her eyes staring at the entrance to the court yard.

"The tanks are mine." Saying that she raised her hand and focused the force around her, without a sound her body disappeared into thin air as she activated Force Cloak. *Clank Clank* The droids stopped at what just happened and their blasters charged up, pointing in the direction of the missing person.

"Hahahaha." The deep baritone voice of Xalek sounded out as he watched his companion go. Bringing his hilt up, he slowly pressed down. *Snap* *Hiss* A blood red, double bladed Lightsabre flared to life with a burst of energy causing the droids to start firing.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* Their processors registered the weapon of the Jedi as a threat and they started to fire with wild abandon. Jaesa grinned at the incoming fire as she also grabbed her Double Bladed Lightsaber and ignited it. *Snap* *Hiss* A deep purple blade appeared in front of her as they both began to deflect the blaster fire.

The blaster fire was reflected expertly as it crashed into the droids that fired them. *Bang* *Bang* Droids crumpled to the ground as they both began to move forwards. They were leisurely as they walked forwards; they were treating it like a walk in the park.

*Buzz* The sound of the MTT moving forwards reached their ears as it began to deploy more droids. Xalek just laughed louder as he watched more droids appear before him, he lived for battle. Dashing ahead in a burst of speed, he began to slash left and right as he dodge and reflected fire.

Easily fighting his way through a swath of droids, he looked up as he realized that he was surrounded by the yellow battle droids. Grinning to himself, he gathered the force into his hand as he deflected yet another blast, before slamming it into the ground.

*Crack* *Bang* The ground split as it shattered outwards, rubble flying into the droids around him, knocking them to the ground destroyed. Seeing the down figures, he moved onto the next group, but they were running low on numbers as Jaesa was taking care of them.

Off to the side Jaesa lazily blocked another blaster bolt as her red eyes starred at the offending droid. If it could feel emotions it would have felt a shiver down its spine. Because it couldn't, it continued to fire. Lightly gripping the droid she flung it into another group before a small spark came from her outstretched hand.

*Crack* *Sizzle* Lightning burst forth as she started to overload the droids in her path; it blew outwards crackling over the courtyard, decimating the rest of the droids. A small smirk adorned her face as she took in her handwork, deactivating her lightsaber.

Xalek did the same as the MTT was also disabled. Both stood off and waited for their final companion to finish. They turned towards the entrance to the Plaza as the 2 tanks closed in, their turrets turning towards them.

*Buzz* they floated just above the ground as they made their way closer, before stopping abruptly. In front of the two tanks the silver haired Nadia appeared with both eyes closed. Holding her hands out towards the huge vehicles she stopped them in their tracks.

With the new target in front of them, their turrets turned towards her and started to charge. Slowly clenching her hand, the one facing the tank on the left, the barrel of the turret crunched under an unseen pressure, making the weapon useless.

Undeterred the other tank continued to charge, but with a wave of her hand the barrel was now pointing at the other. Before it could be stopped. *Pow* The attacked tank crashed to the ground before exploding in an explosion of red and orange.

Opening her eyes to look at the tank that was just downed, a smile of satisfaction came to Nadia's face before she looked at the remaining tank. The barrel turned back towards her as it charged up. Keeping the smirk on her face, her eyes turned a deeper shade of red as she pushed her powers.

Motioning with both hands she raised them in the air as the tank started to float higher and higher into the sky. Tilting from the unexpected height, it tilted to the right before her hands started to close. *Groan* *Clank* The metal casing of the tank started to groan under pressure as it fell in on itself.

*Groan* *GROAN!!!* *Bang* Spending then next 30 seconds, the tank crumpled into itself as Nadia crushed it like a can. Finally breaking under pressure the crumpled form fell to the ground and exploded. A small amount of sweat rolled down her head as she turned her back and walked back to her companions.

The relieved and content smile on her face, showed the amount of stress she just relieved. Finished with their handwork, they all walked up the ramp to report their success and findings. Behind them, all that was left was a destroyed court yard that looked like it had just been in a war.

Droids littered the ground among the scorch marks and burnt ground.

*******************

(Aboard the Phantom)

Mace felt a headache coming on as new information was presented to him. Vette after landing the ship had been helping Ayillh, slicing into the galactic holonet that had been found just before they landed. It was slow progress as communication was being blocked by the Trade federation fleet in orbit.

If it wasn't for the advanced communication tech that the ship held, it would have been impossible to get anything. Just 2 minutes ago a new piece of information had unsettled him greatly, and that didn't happen a lot.

Ayillh had been reviewing the sensor data from when they were in orbit when she had discovered that the stars hadn't been in the right place. Having the most up to date maps in the galaxy, that was always updated; finding out that nearly all their charts were off wasn't good.

Mace's mind had gone into overdrive as he tried to connect the dots so far and come up with what situation they were in. Nadia, Jaesa and Xalek had left the ship to deal with the forces outside and would call for back up if needed, the rest of the crew minus Vette and Ayillh were ready to fight at any time.

It had been decided that only 3 of them would leave and fight, not to show their hand before it was necessary. Blizz and Ashara were a bit disappointed, but they could have some fun later. Lost in thought he was roused from his thoughts as Vette and Ayillh came towards him.

From the frowns on their face and turbulent emotions, something was defiantly wrong. Ayillh looked around the room for a second to see if anyone else was in the central hub, before motioning towards the meeting room.

Not saying another word they all moved towards the room and closed the door. *Hiss* Turning to look at the sober women, he crossed his arms. "What do you have?" Vette moved over to one of the chairs in the room and flopped down, there was a vacant look in her eyes.

Ayillh spoke in her place. "You remember how I mentioned every star is out of place." Mace nodded his head slowly. "Yessss." In his mind he steeled himself, as he felt something bad was about to happen. At that point even Ayillh had to sit down at one of the chairs. That was when Mace knew something very bad had happened.

She struggled as she spoke. "The stars have moved because of orbital drift." Her head dropped down as Mace started to process the words. He couldn't help but speak out as it started to register. "But orbital drift...." He couldn't finish the sentence as Vette burst out in anger.

"It takes years! Centuries for such a change to happen!" Mace turned to look at her, as he felt the rage that came from her, but underneath there was a sense of desolation. 'This changes everything.' Alira's voice spoke quietly, before disappearing; her own thoughts all over the place.

Seeing how affected Vette was, Mace slowly walked over and sat down next to her. Taking her hand he looked into her eyes. Vette looked up in to the unwavering eyes of the man she loved and felt a small sense of peace and reassurance in the situation they found themselves in.

By this point Mace had already figured out that an amount of time had passed in the galaxy, an amount that could be greater than 100 years. 100 years was a long time, it could change many things. It could be why the force felt so different.

Thinking about the state of the galaxy and how it felt, the small thought he dreaded couldn't help but rear its head as he thought of the dark side. 'Could the Empire have lost? Did the republic win? Is that why the dark side is so confined? Did they lose in the end?'

A sense of defeat started to well up in the unbreakable Darth of the sith, but as soon as it reared its head he took control of the emotion and squashed it. He needed to be strong right now; he needed to be a leader. Even if the Sith had lost, he was still alive. If he was being honest with himself, it had been a long time that he had been a part of the empire.

He had become the commander of the alliance, stopped the eternal empire from ruling the galaxy and stopped the emperor from wiping out all life. His sense of belonging to the empire had started to fade a long time ago. He only fought for what he wanted, what he loved, want he desired.

'This changes nothing!' Screaming that thought in his head, the resolute expression on his face hardened as different questions appeared. 'How long?'"How long?" Finally speaking out loud after his internal dilemma, he spoke to Vette.

He could see it in her eyes, she knew, she knew how long it had been. Vette looked into his eyes as the knowledge she dreaded came to her lips. "Close to 4 millennia." *Clasp* Mace gripped his hand tightly as he heard the words. 'How could it have been so long?How?'

His voice was husky as he spoke. "Are you sure?" This time Ayillh spoke from the side, her hood down and eyes wary. "By tracking the predicted solo winds and orbital drifting, the computer calculations put it just over 4000 years." Mace closed his eyes.

Vette spoke up this time. "I haven't been able to gather much from the holonet, but mentions of the republic and its systems are rampant." This information truly got to Mace. 'So the republic still stands tall, even after all this time.' "What of the sith?"

Vette shook her head. "From the small pieces I found, the 'Sith' are treated as little more than fairy tales. They were supposedly wiped out 1000 years ago." Mace shook his head. 'How could they fall so far.' Seeming to hesitate for a second, Vette finished what she had to say.

"Even though the sith are apparently long gone myths, there were mentions of the galactic Peace keepers, Jedi, who reside in their temple on the capital, Coruscant." That was the last straw. "Hahaha." Mace started to laugh at the absurdity. 'The Sith had died out 1000 years, ago but the Jedi are still peace keepers of the galaxy. Still kicking strong.'

It almost sounded absurd that they were still so highly regarded, the fact honestly made him angry beyond belief. But he channeled that anger and hid it under his skin. He would unleash it later for maximum effect.

Regaining himself after a few minutes he looked at the two women before him. "Was there anything else?" Vette and Ayillh shook their heads sadly as they waited for him to respond. Mace had to spend some time organizing his thoughts before he could say anything.

Retreating into his thoughts, one thought prevailed over all. 'Why were they here? Why were they taken here? What did the force want with them?!' And as if to answer that desperate plea, the force started to move around him.

His head perked up at the sudden shift in the force as his senses were brought to the center of the Theed capital, where it focused on a certain woman. The queen of the city. The force whispered in his ear as he watched the lady and her entourage. 'Was that why they were there? To kill her?' The force shuddered and pushed back against him. 'So that was a no. To help her?' The force sang happily.

Hearing the reply from the force, Mace was tempted to do the opposite and kill this woman whoever she was, it had dragged them from their time and put them here. He hated it with a passion. But in the end he decided to follow it, for now.

Opening his eyes after conversing with the force he looked at the two people still in the room. He felt Jaesa, Xalek and Nadia return to the ship and knew it was time for everyone to meet, to learn what had happened.

Standing up he looked at Ayillh. "I have a mission for you." Pulling her hood back up, her eyes shinned as she nodded, the determination in his eyes reaffirming her confidence. "What would you have me do?"

Mace began to detail her mission as Vette left the room to gather the others.