An Unthinkable Alliance

Chapter 10

Makeb

Two gamorrreans were standing on the entrance wall to the Hutt palace. That was the endline before the remaining of the mesa. One of them snorked tired. It was at cracking dawn and the two served as a night shift for the Hutt. The surroundings had been silent the entire time it was dark, but suddenly, at the first light, sounds came from the sky. One of them took a look at the sky and what he saw made him squeel. Separatist fighters started flooding the above, with landing crafts approaching the ground threatening. A bomber appeared and shot the two guards before they could think of the situation. In the central Separatist ship that landed, Grievous rose up from his chair.
'Deploy the B1 detachements! After the perimeter is secured, reveal the AAT's!
'Roger roger!
After a couple of minutes, most of the mesa's plains were covered by armies of battledroids marching towards the Hutt palace...

The Throne Room

The central room of the fortress was filled at the time with singers and Bith orchestras. Tabarous was enjoying himself with a couple of drinks when the Gen'dai entered the room.
'Boss, they landed! We are being bombarded by everywhere and an army of battledroids knocks at the entrance!
The Hutt scowled angry.
'Activate ray shields! They can't destroy them!
'Boss, is this the right solution? The power generator is ...
'Do you have any better idea? It will give you enough time to prepare your forces. In the meantime, I want the special suit delivered to the back of my throne!
The Gen'dai gasped surprised.
'As you wish... Boss!
He left the room.
In the slave pens, some levels under the Throne Room, Shaak Ti started hearing the sounds of ground shaking. Qalisha was sleeping and Shaak Ti didn't want to wake her up. But hope started forming... she called for the guard.
'What is happening?
The gamorrean snorked bored and left the room. Shaak Ti sighed annoyed. That was the moment to escape... but how? She was still in a really bad shape. The Jedi didn't know if the Republic or the CIS assaulted the fortress, but she wished the bombardment would destroy the power generators...

Makeb's plains

The ray shields were resisting the siege of the droid tanks. Nothing seemed to damage the walls of the palace. Grievous was exiting his landcraft with his magnaguards at his side. A droid commander rose his hand and saluted his leader.
'Sir, the shields are not giving up! They are still at around 80% power!
Grievous glared at the large entrance.
'Something is powering those shields! Keep bombarding the palace from the skies! Eventually , something will crack up!
'Roger roger!
Grievous returned to looking at the army of battledroids shooting at the ray shields. An idea came into his mind.
'Commander, send word to Captain Dofine to start planetary bombardment on this mesa!
'But sir, it may hit us too!
'I am sure the Neimoidian will manage to hit correctly... or face terrible punishment!
'Yes , sir!

Slave pens

The room was shaking terribly. Shaak Ti sensed through the Force that no guard was on that level anymore. They were left to die if the place ceiling fell on them. Qalisha was standing scared in a corner of her cell, waiting to be crushed. Then the ground shook again and the power went down. The shields that trapped the slaves faded. Shaak Ti stood up and went quickly to the Kaleesh girl.
'Get up! That's our cue to go!
She glanced at her slowly:
'What? What do you mean?
'We're free! Let's get out of here!
The girl was reluctant to follow her, but when dust started to fall from the ceiling she took Shaak Ti's lead. They started running desperately through empty corridors while dust and small stones were falling from above. They managed to find a staircase after rushing in the gamorrean quarters. They climbed fast and reached the ground level. Two gamorreans were shooting at something at the entrance. One of them heard Shaak Ti and turned around to see them but a shot killed him the next second. The other one was shot immeadiately because of his glance to his dead companion. Sounds came from the hidden corridor. The Jedi hoped it was the Republic that came. Her hopes were crushed when 5 battledroids appeared in the room. They pointed their blasters at them.
'Hands up!
They did as the robots said.
'That's right, pirates! Wait...
One of the droids let the blaster down and pointed his head curiously at Qalisha. The others soon did the same. Something in their programming was going wrong. One of them finally said in a confused tone:
'General... general? Is that you?
'Sir?
Shaak Ti turned to the Kaleesh girl to see in the new light of the room that her warmask was closely resembling the one of General Grievous. And her eyes were almost identical to the dreaded cyborg. Before Qalisha could react, Shaak Ti spoke:
'Maybe the General himself would be interested in seeing us. Would you take us to him?
The droids seemed to think about it, then answered all at the same time:
'Roger roger! We will put him on the holocomunicator, miss...
The commander of the droids revealed a little round device, from which a blue image rose up. The figure of General Grievous appeared, clearly not satisfied. He glared confused at the droids.
'What is it?
'Sir, we have found two slaves.
'So? Get rid of them!
'But sir, one of them looks like you!
'What?
He turned around to see Shaak Ti and Qalisha.
'Oh, hello there, Shaak Ti! I hope you enjoy my rescuing party...
He started laughing. An explosion was heard behind him and his cloak floated above him. He coughed after the dust faded.
'I am relieved to see you, General, actually.
'Oh really? You're amusing! Well, still, you are not the reason these stupid droids called me and didn't shoot you. Who is she?
He analyzed the Kaleesh girl more carefull. His eyes went big after the fast inspection.
'You... that mask...
Grievous seemed to appear affected and fell on his knees. He put his hands on his bald head.
'Sir?
Still in the same position, he ordered the commander promptly:
'I want those two brought to the main hall, now!
He started coughing again and the communications closed.
'Follow us, mistress. We wil escort you to the General.
'Of course.
Shaak Ti started walking behind the droids while talking to Qalisha.
'Who was that droid? Why he seemed so affected by me?
'He is not a droid, child. He is a cyborg, once an organic being , the same as you.
'Really? But why was he so interested in me?
'Don't worry, he has good intentions.
'Are you sure? I've heard bad things about these droids. They are no better than the Republic, always invading and conquering! What do you sense with your powers, Shaak Ti?
She smiled at her in a compassionate manner. The girl was taken aback by the gesture but she managed to smile back confused.
'I sense you won't be a slave anymore, and not alone.
'Wait.
The Kaleesh girl unclasped her large sandy cape and gave her to Shaak Ti.
'You don't look like a Jedi in those clothes. Please accept my cloak as a thanks for guiding me out of this.
Shaak Ti took it and covered herself.
'Don't worry, a Jedi will always helps the people in need.
'Shut up! You are different, and I'm glad.
With that they reached an outside bridge between the Throne Room building and the surrounding walls and quarters. What caught Shaak Ti's eyes was the battle though. The bridge was still a battlefield.
'Take cover, mistress!
The droids hid under a fallen statue and started shooting at some Wequaay pirates defending the entrance. Qalisha saw a blaster on the ground and picked it up.
'Do you know how to use that?
'Are you kidding me? I am as good as my father was!
She charged it and started shooting the pirates, hidding herself from time to time. Eventually , all the enemies were laying shot, dead. The remaining droids stood up and continued their march, oblivious of their pressence. Shaak Ti got up and approached Qalisha:
'You are a good marksman!
'Thanks! It isn't a rare thing for female Kaleesh to be warriors, but I am sure you know the meaning.
Shaak Ti nodded. Both of them were fighters after all, but with different weapons.
'Was your mother a good fighter too?
'She was the best of our tribe! My parents were the leaders of it.
She spoke with pride about the past. Her golden eyes were glittering thinking about some happy moments.
They continued their walk in the Main Hall. In the great room, they found the throne of Tabarous protected by a ray shield. However, what caught Shaak Ti's eyes was the shining armor of Grievous fighting someone in the middle of the room. His glowy white stance was ammplified by the unsual white cloak that he was wearing with the crimson red inside it. The Jedi remembered that cloak... the first time they met, he wore it. It was still a question for her today, why she survived that encounter. Without the ARC-troopers intervetion, she would have surely died on Hypori, but why was she pushed in a wall rather than being cut that day... the answer was still unknown to her but she will find it out eventually...
'Who is he fighting?
Shaak Ti jumped scared by the question. She went so deep into thinking that she forgot her surroundings. She looked confused at Qalisha then at Grievous. The General was fighting with two lightsabers an armored creature that had shields on his arms, ray shields. So he was able to defend himself against the cyborg's flurry of slashes and swings.
'Should we help him?the girl asked uncertain.
'Of course, I will use the force to lift that thing, try shoot it in the head.
'I will try!
Shaak Ti waited for a moment so that the Gen'dai will be too concentrated and finally, he blocked a perilous hit that could have cut his head and gave Shaak Ti the chance to lift him up. Grievous stopped his attack confused . He watched curious as the Gen'dai flew up. Then some blaster shots destroyed his shields and he fell down on his knees. Grievous didn't wait for another chance and sliced the Gen'dai all around in pieces. A disproval sound came from the Throne.
'No! You cheated, Separatist!
Grievous whirled his lightsabers and deactivated them. He turned his head and saw Qalisha and Shaak Ti a few steps away. He looked relieved, but then he remembered the Hutt and returned his atention to him.
'You have lost, Hutt scum! Your puny Pirate Empire is destroyed!
'No! You will die before that will happen! I will do it myself!
'Hahaha... what a laughable assesment! And how do you plan to do that? Behind your shields, coward?
'No! Behold...
He clicked a button and the wall behind him went away revealing a huge robotic body. To everyone's surprise in the room, the Hutt climbed in the robot and took control of it, then closed himself in it. The armored suit then deactivated the ray shields and took a few steps to Grievous. It shook the ground all the times.
'Now fight me! This armor is lightsaber resistant!
Grievous revealed all his four arms and activated his lightsabers.
Shaak Ti whispered something in Qalisha ears and waved her hand. The trick made her leave the room quitely and dissapear back on the bridge. When that was done, she jumped at Grievous side. He looked at her surprised.
'A Kaleesh cloak? What a great sight to behold...
'I will take that as a compliment, General. Now, give me a hilt.
'Oh, I'm afraid I am using all of them.
Shaak Ti frowned upset at him. When Grievous heard the Hutt making another step and poiting his cannons at him, he placed a hilt in her hand and pushed her away. The missiles hit the General right in his face. The Hutt started laughing while looking at all the smoke he created.
'Dead! So weak, droid!
But after the air cleared, he saw Grievous figure, unharmed, though his cloak dissapeared and his armor was full of dust and ashes. Grievous didn't say anything and jumped on the Hutt's armor. He tried impaling it, but the material resisted and he was forced to retreat. Shaak Ti tried to cut the suit's spiderly legs but that didn't work. Tabarous started shooting at Grievous again, but this time, the cyborg was prepared and evaded all of the bullets while returning to Shaak Ti.
'Any ideas, Shaak Ti?
She was surprised to see him ask for tactical advice but answered quickly.
'Yes, we must find his weak spot. Probably a power source which isn't protected. Try destroying that while I get his attention.
'Try not to get hit this time, Jedi!
He dissapeared in the shadows of the room while the Hutt approached her.
'You again, my Jedi Slave? You really want to die?
'You are not capable of that, slug.
'A Jedi that insults! A new addition to my knowledge! A pity I have to kill you!
He pointed his guns at her.
'I enjoyed tormenting you!
He started shooting with his miniguns at maximum capacity. The bullets were coming fast and Shaak Ti barely managed to parry all of them. Her hands were moving so fast that Tabarous could see only a blur. However, he realized none of the hundreds of bullets he shot hit her. He punched angrily the controls and reloaded his cannons that shot Grievous earlier.
'Try to parry this!
He shot missiles at Shaak Ti again and she started running across the door, ducking and dodging explosions. She was already tired and barely ran. She wished Grievous was doing his job. But with that thought, her attention broke and a powerfull hand picked her up. The suit's metallic hand gripped around her slim body and started clenching.
'Hahaha, now you will be crushed by my hand!
Shaak Ti couldn't breath anymore and her body was almost imploding. Then the hand let her down. She fell on the ground but her vision already faded and she fell uncounscious.

Medical Bay

3 days passed since the siege of Makeb. News across the Holonet spread about the death of the Hutt and the destruction of his Empire, and all at the hands of General Grievous. Even republicans were talking that the cyborg's intervention was fortunate and that he was to be commended. However, being the enemy, they started to fear him even more due to his success. The stalemate the two faction reached was coming to and end and the war was starting to start soon again.
Shaak Ti opened her eyes , gasping for air. She relived her moments being in the Hutt's hand while in her coma. But she started to see the surroundings and recognized that she was in a ship's medical bay. A medical droid appeared.
'Stay calm. You will live.
'Where I am?
'The Invisible Hand of course. You and the other patient were stationed her for the last 3 days.
'Wait, the other patient?
'Yes, a Kaleesh girl. She was present during an explosion that left her in a similar state as yours. But she recovered and woke up one hour ago.
The Kaleesh girl appeared from behind the droid, in a white robe. Shaak Ti realized she was wearing the same thing. She got up and looked at Qalisha.
'Hi!
'Hello! What happened? I told you to go to safety!
'I tried, but some pirates appeared and I started shooting them and a bomber came and...
'Don't worry, the worst has passed. You are safe now.
'Yeah, nice medical bay this ship has. And clothes! These robes are so smooth and beautifull.
'They're just ... nevermind.
She got up from her bed. The droid said:
'The General ordered as soon as you are both ready, to join him on the bridge.
'Alright. Come, Qalisha...
Both of the girls followed the droid and exited the Medical Bay...