Nsara gazed at the sky from her comfortable perch in a very large tree. She considered the planet her master had chosen to invade, Naboo. It was very pretty. In comparison, she much preferred it over Coruscant. She wondered about her brother, Maul. He had been sent to Tatooine, she wondered if it was nice there. Probably not, Maul said it was a desert planet. He wouldn't care about beauty anyway. He was too well trained to notice things like that.
Nsara was not well trained. Sidious had no intentions whatsoever of making her a sith. Nsara had to keep wondering why when Sidious took Maul for an apprentice, he had taken her as well. True, they were twins, but they hadn't been told jack about their biological family, so it's not like that was important. She was Force sensitive as well, but not on the level her brother was. She did have her uses, as was apparent from the task she had been given. Mostly, she was stationed on Naboo at the moment in case her brother or master messed up, which was likely. She would never say this to their faces, or even out loud, but for every step forward the two took, it seemed like they took four steps back. Example, they'd invaded the planet, but the queen and the jedi got away and now the news was all over Coruscant. Then they'd traced their location to Tatooine, as they were preparing to leave. Maul had been unable to stop them and now they were heading for Coruscant.
Nsara jumped out of the tree and landed gracefully about thirty feet below. There were some perks to being Force sensitive. Sidious had trained her enough to be a formidable assassin, but her brother had gotten the works. She didn't see Maul making a very good sith lord. He was overabundant in the qualities, and was most bountiful in being overconfident. He had a love of tormenting his enemies and gloating over them. It was going to get him killed one day.
"Nsara! Where are you?" Jaami said as she approached.
"Over here! Head back, I'll be at the palace in a minute!" Nsara answered. She stole another glance at the stars that weren't visible from Coruscant and found the star system that contained her home planet.
Amidala wanted to scream. She wanted to wring the trade federation representative's neck and shove her headress up the other's ass. Most of all, she wanted to remind everyone that there were people dying on her plnet, and give them an example of someone dying by cutting off supreme chancellor Valorum's head. But that wouldn't have been very queen like.
Instead she called for the vote of no confidence in the chancellor. Now, two days later on on the transport back to Naboo, she was doubting her decision. She had a feeling it had been too easy for Palpatine. He seemed awfully manipulative. Now that she wasn't in the same room as him, she suddenly distrusted him in everything he had said. But it was too late for that now. She had to think about her people.
Which was why she needed to use every resource avaiable to her, even if that meant talking to the Gungans. She wasn't particularly fond of the species, though she hated herself for admitting it. No, she wasn't particularly fond of Jar Jar Binks, the only Gungan she'd conversed with. She reminded herself that since the braindead Gungan had gotten himself banished, the rest probably weren't like that. However, if he had been banished, then that threw a monkey wrench into her plan. How the hell was she going to convince the Gungans to help her? With those thoughts in her head, Amidala fell into a fatigue induced dreamless sleep.
Hell froze over and flying pigs were having snow ball fights in its once fiery recesses. The Gungans agreed to help the Naboo. Which, Obi-Wan supposed, was a good thing, even if it did mean having to work with several of them. Racial stereotypes are wrong, he knew that, but it would have been nice talking with creatures that didn't speak basic like toddlers. And the majority of them seemed to have the intellect of toddlers. Once more, he reminded himself that the base of his impression of the species came from Jar Jar. Why had Qui-Gon dragged this thing with them? Well, putting up with him was paying off now. Still, it wasn't smart making him a general.
He watched the army gathering its resources on the field. It was a pitiful display. Did they really think they could hold their own against the trade federation with catapults and shields? Jedi were trained to fight defensively, so he could see how this could be useful against some enemies, but against machines that wouldn't tire and carried very big guns?
Then there were the unfriendly odds in other areas. There was little chance the control ship would be destroyed by the scant fighter pilots, even less chance the queen could capture the vice roy! He already marked this mission as a failure, but would do his best doubtless.
Then they started towards the city.
Maul paced back and forth in the small corridor behind the hanger in the Theed palace. He knew they would come here any minute, that's why he chose there to wait. Then he would finally be able to kill some jedi, something he had been looking forward to his entire life.
In the back of his mind, he felt a tinge of worry for his sister, Nsara. They'd been reunited when he arrived on Naboo, she was postioned in the palace as a healer in case she was needed. There was a chance she would die in the battle. Worse, if she tried to come to his aid. But he pushed those thoughts away. it was weak to grow attached to others. He was trying his hardest to remove all feelings for his sister from his mind, but they had a pretty good bond. The door opene, and he snapped out of his reverie. Nsara would live or die, but he had nothing to do with it. What mattered was the present, and that he pleased his master.
The group looked surprised to see him. He couldn't help but smile as he turned around, flipped off his cloak and ignited his lightsaber. Both ends this time, he thought, sizing up the two jedi. The jedi started theirs as well, while the queen and he entourage ran off. He didn't notice them leave, the battle had begun.
It was easy enough defending himself from the two of them. He was a very talented fighter, Sidious had made sure of this. Even jedi were alloted free time, but sith were not. He spent every hour of every day training. Well, he did take six off to sleep and a few minutes to eat every now and then. Added to that, his opponents were not as great as they could have been. The one he had faced before was getting older, and not accepting it. He was pushing himdelf hard and fighting like a young man, Maul had to fight the urge to laugh. The man was nearing sixty!
They found themselves nearing the power plant. Maul led them out into the catwalks. It would be pointless to continue fighting the two of them at once, he needed to split them up. He found a moment and went for it. The younger one had been pushed onto the edge of the catwalk, so he kicked him. The jedi fell off of the catwalk. Unfortunately, while Maul kicked him, the other one knocked him down as well. Maul landed inches from the apprentice's hands, he was hanging off of the edge. Then he flipped over the edge and called his lightsaber to his hand. Maul was already up with his own lightsaber ready.
They started fighting while the other jedi leaped down to their level. Then Maul and the apprentice made it into a hallway sectioned off by lazer walls. Maul hit the control and the lazer walls went down. He made a dash down the hallway. Unfortunately, he'd broken the controls and now the walls snapped back up. The apprentice was two levels behind him and the master was near the entrance.
Nsara stared at the holo-image of her master. "Master, they're planning something more than this, why would they just send a bunch of Gungans? It's absurd! The queen is naive, but not that naive! She can't think that that would do anything!"
"She is desperate. Stop questioning my orders and return to work. You really need to-" Nsara clicked the device off just before the door to her room opened.
"Nsara, there's an attack on the palace! Most of the droids are off fighting the Gungans, come on, we have to get out there in case we're needed!" Helami shouted excitedly. Nsara smiled.
"I just want to get some herbs together, I'll join you in a minute." Helami dashed out of the room. Nsara shut the door and called up Sidious.
"What was the meaning of that?" He asked angrily. Once more, he was acting like the galaxy revolved around him. She wanted so much to remind him that he was not the emperor yet, just an insignificant senator.
"The royals are attacking the palace. I knew something was up. The Gungans are a distraction. Now we're left with minimal defense. I'm going to go out into battle and fake an injury. Then I can keep my cover. Then I'm going to see if I can help Maul."
"No you are not, you are returning back to this room. I will not have you distracting Maul. Listen to me Nsara, or I will destroy you. I can train another assassin very easily."
The walls were down. Obi-Wan dashed down the hallway, lightsaber ready. The sith lord took a swing at him and he blocked it. They exited the hallway quickly, needing more space to battle. The sith was a furious fighter, and now Obi-Wan was seperated from Qui-Gon. The sith flipped over his head and attacked Obi-Wan from behind. Obi-Wan barely had time to block it.
Obi-Wan rolled to the left and attacked from the side, but the sith anticipated his move and met his blow with a block, then a reverse that burned the right side of Obi-Wan's face. It was only a light burn, it wouldn't cause much damage, but it hurt like hell. Obi-Wan ignored the burn as best he could and made a swipe at the sith's legs. The sith flipped through the air and landed neatly on a pile of crates in the corner. Obi-Wan dashed after the sith, who used the Force to start sending crates after him. Obi-Wan dodged the crates and started hurtling his own after the sith. He wondered when the lazer walls would come down and Qui-Gon would come to his aid. Then one crate penetrated his guard and smashed into his skull.
Obi-Wan was knocked to the ground. Dazed, he slowly climbed to his feet. The sith sent another crate at his knees and he was back on the ground. The sith stood over him and smiled wickedly. Then he dug his blade into Obi-Wan's arm. He took the blade out, insterted the metal end, and started digging it around in circles. Blood started pooling in the hole he had formed. Obi-Wan screamed at the intense pain. He almost forgot he was still holding his own lightsaber. The key word being almost. With a flick of the wrist, he sent his own blade into Maul's knees. Maul and Obi-Wan were both on the ground, twisting furiously and still attacking each other, neither wanting to wait a second to climb to their feet, not that Maul would have been able to. Then the lazer walls came down.
Maul had made a mistake, one not uncommon to himself. He had underestimated the jedi and grown overconfident. And the other one was on his way. He was desperate. And he could sense Nsara's presence nearby. He sent a desperate message along their bond.
SISTER! HELP! I need you Nsara.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, Lucas does and he knows not what I do, and neither do I. There is no profit to be had from these rambling stories. :(