The Fall | Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Chapter Thirteen

Alina watched from behind the leafy draped walls of the palace as Padmé and Captain Panaka signaled to each other. Qui-Gon crouched in front of Anakin and Alina "Once we get inside, you two find a safe place to find and stay there" he instructed. The two Skywalkers nodded "Sure" Anakin said. "Stay there" The Jedi knight repeated, giving the two of them a stern look. They nodded again. Satisfied, Qui-Gon stood up again, turning his attention to the Naboo police and guards that began entering on their speeders. One of the speeders launched a rocket that blew up a droid tank. "There they are! There they are!" One of the battle droids said as it and the others began advancing on the guards and police.

Padmé went first, drawing her blaster as she ran out of their spot. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan followed, igniting their lightsabers and deflecting blaster bolts from the droids. Anakin ran after them and Alina was just a little bit behind him. The blast doors of the hangar opened and the droids fired at them as the two Jedi, the Queen, the Skywalkers, R2 and a handful of guards entered the room. The two Jedi deflected the blaster bolts as the Naboo began returning fire. Alina ducked, narrowly avoiding being hit by one of the blaster bolts. "Ani, Lina, find cover" Qui-Gon ordered. "Quick!"

Anakin paused only for a moment to look back at the Jedi knight before running in the direction of a few containers with Alina. "Get to your ships!" Padmé ordered. The two of them watched the battle take place from behind a large square container to avoid getting hit. The pilots began climbing into their ships hurriedly, the Astromechs were already in place. "Ani?!" Alina called when her brother moved from their hiding spot. Glancing at the battle and the first fighter which had just taken off, she ran after her brother who came to a stop at an empty fighter that R2 was attached to.  The two Skywalkers clambered up the steps to the fighter while blaster bolts were heard behind them.

Anakin climbed into the seat of the fighter, moving more to the right to make room for his sister. Seeing as this seat was made for an adult, the two children fit in it though it was a bit of a squeeze. R2 beeped loudly as more and more fighters began to fly out of the hangar until it was nearly empty. The only fighter that remained was the one she and Anakin were in. Alina peeked out the window, watching curiously as the others began to push back against the droids until each and every one that remained in the hanger shot down. Padmé said something to Captain Panaka that neither Anakin nor Alina understood because of the distance between them. "Red group! Blue group! Everybody, this way!" The Captain said, loud enough for them to hear.

"What about us?" Alina asked as they passed by the fighter "Yeah, wait for us!" Anakin called. "Anakin, Alina, stay where you are. You will be safe there" Qui-Gon stated sternly. "But we..." The older Skywalker tried to protest "Stay in that cockpit" The Jedi knight said firmly. Alina huffed, falling back into her seat only to get up again when the doors leading to the palace opened. A single person stood in the doorway dressed in all black. She leaned forward to get a better look, recognising him as the man on the speeder bike from Tatooine.

Everybody stopped in their tracks as the figure slowly raised his head. She still couldn't see much of him but could just make out red and black skin. "We'll handle this" Qui-Gon said as he and Obi-Wan moved forward. The figure removed his hood. He had red skin with black tattoos or was it the other way around? Alina wasn't sure but she recognized him to be a Zabrak by the horns on top of his head. They had gotten a few Zabrak back at Tatooine in the junk shop and other places but none as terrifying as this one. As he removed his black cloak Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon copied him, removing their brown cloaks and dropping them onto the ground.

R2 beeped a warning as some droids that she had never seen before rolled into the hanger, firing at the Naboo "We gotta do something R2!" Anakin said but his sister's attention was fully on the Zabrak. He removed his lightsaber from his belt and held it in a fighting stance. When he turned it on, not one but two sides of the lightsaber turned on. Alina's mouth parted in shock, she didn't know if she was more scared or amazed, maybe both. In response to the Zabrak, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan ignited their own lightsabers. She watched, completely and utterly captivated by the fight that followed. Green lightsaber clashed with one end of the red one while Obi-Wan's blue one clashed with the other end as they engaged the Zabrak in a fearsome duel. Faintly she registered the sound of blaster fire from the other end of the room as well as R2 and Anakin talking beside her.