Child of War

The Mission

I balanced in the rafters of the warehouse. One of the workers passed by underneath me. I shot my cable, hooking his waist, and jumped to the ground.

As I slid down, the cable dragged the worker into the ceiling. I retracted my cable and he fell, screaming. I used the Force to stop his descent and make him lose consciousness. At the same time a knocked over some crates to make it sound like he had hit the ground. Carefully, I placed him among the scattered boxes. I walked out from behind the pile of crates.

Bane shot the last worker and led Master Kenobi, Twazzi, and Lord Tyranus, or Count Dooku, into the warehouse. We stood around a box and Bane briefed us on the mission.

I would breach security and station myself on the inside of the ray shield that would create a dome over the stage.

Bane set a device on the crate and six holograms of Naboo royal guards appeared before us.

I stepped into the hologram, which detached from the device and seemed to fuse around me.
Grabbing the device that told me where to go, I followed the others out of the warehouse.
————
A guard stopped me at the gate. "What's your identification number?"

I raised my hand and waved two fingers in front of the guards eyes. "You don't need my identification number."

The guard stiffened. "I don't need your identification number." He walked away and I made my way into the palace and to the stage. I stood next to one of the shield generators.

A security detail guided the Chancellor and Masters Windu and Skywalker onto the stage. They were followed by Ahsoka, Senator Padme Amidala, and more guards.

When the Chancellor sat down, they raised the ray shield. The Chancellor rose to give his speech.

I stood at attention, waiting for the action to start.

The Parwan appeared near the opposite generator.

"Skywalker, the shield generator!" Master Windu shouted.

I jumped into action as the chaos ensued. I grabbed Master Windu and tackled him to the ground. My disguise disappeared.

"Lianna?" He struggled under my grip.

"Trust me." I punched him in the face, knocking him out. I watched Embo and the Twazzi disguise the Chancellor as a guard and make the Twazzi look like the Chancellor.

I followed the Neimoidian who started dragging the disguised Chancellor away. I jumped onto the speeder driven by Eval. "Are you trying to leave without me?"

"Fantas! Stay at your post." Bane commanded.

"It seems like the others have things well in hand." I stood my ground.

Bane looked over my shoulder and nodded.

The Parwan grabbed me from behind. Its tentacles electrocuted me.

I managed to pull out my blaster and stun him, but the speeder was too far away by then. I ran to find a speeder and plowed into Master Kenobi. "Bane and Eval got away."

Master Kenobi grabbed a speeder bike and I hopped on the back. We rode out of the hangar.
We made it to the rendezvous point not long after Bane and Eval.

"Hardeen, you're not supposed to be here yet." Bane seemed to ignore me.

"I didn't want to get double-crossed and left behind again." He fingered his blaster.

"We've all been double-crossed. Dooku's a no-show." Bane brandished his blaster as he spoke. "I guess we'll have to ransom the Chancellor ourselves."

Master Kenobi pulled out his blaster. "The Chancellor's coming with me." He went for Bane and I ended up toe-to-toe with Eval.

The Phindian managed to throw me backwards.

My helmet rolled away. I kicked Eval's legs out from under him and stood, aiming my blaster at his head.

His eyes widened. "You're..."

"A teenager?" I finished. "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner."

Masters Windu and Skywalker approached on a speeder.

Master Windu patted Master Kenobi on the back. "Well done, Obiwan."

"Kenobi, I should've known," Bane shouted his threats as a guard led him away.

Master Windu placed a hand on my shoulder. "I think some congratulations are in order. You did well."

"Thanks," I met his gaze, "But right now, all I want to do is get back into my own clothes and talk to Jarris."