V.1-C.63│The First Mission VIII│

Dashing towards the palace Qui-Gon was now aware of multiple presences moving in on the well guarded constructed fortress.

Seemingly calm and collected he makes his way to observe the situation first to get a clear view of the attackers.

What he sees doesn't surprise him all too much but he feels as if there is more to the situation then what is let on. A dark presence can also be felt but he could not identify from which direction it was in so he could only take one step at a time.

'Where did my apprentice go?' Qui-Gon thought to himself. 'I hope he has not gone off to get himself into some trouble again... His mother wouldn't like that.' Qui-Gon catches himself thinking about Shmi.

'Wait, why did I think that?' Shaking off his distracting thoughts he ignites his lightsaber on goes in on the attackers, which were other droids themselves with a few other humans moving in towards the palace entrance.

Gunfire and blaster shots were causing chaos around the palace but there were very minimal casualties.

The only things to suffer were the architecture of the palace and the droids stationed to guard outside and within.

Qui-Gon deflects a blast bolt sent towards himself back towards his attacker, which was a droid. Moving fast, Qui-Gon starts to hack and slash every droid within his way while also being careful to not destroy the droids of Tatooine.

Thankfully there is a distinct marking that could be made out so he would know which is enemy and foe, and he could rely on the Force anyway.

There was no one present but the attackers.

Using the Force, Qui-Gon pushes and pulls various droids and the humanoid attackers. Their weapons now forfeit, they had no where to go and the droids outside were made useless because of being destroyed.

"We surrender!" One of them said.

"Yes we surrender!" The attackers were dropping to their knees while Skywalker droids were surrounding them, lifting them up and taking them away from the area towards another place.

Before they could all go off however, Qui-Gon identified the attackers leader and stopped the droid from taking him away. "Stop, I will be taking this one."

The droid does a salute. "Roger, roger."

The droids take away their prisoners while Qui-Gon is left behind to deal with the leader, to quickly interrogate him then move on and find the Queen. "Now, tell me what you know..."

A few minutes after a small interrogation, Qui-Gon was easily able to identify what was lies and what was truth and knocked the attackers out, then proceeded to restrain him. 'Now to see what is inside.'

Some sounds of gunfire could be heard and every once in a while there was some silence before more sounds were heard. 'I better get a move on then.'

Qui-Gon gets ready to dash inside after noticing that there was nothing else to take care of from outside and the intruders within were probably the last ones to be dealt with. 'Lets hope I get to keep my other hand this time.'

Qui-Gon takes a step into the palace entrance.

[]

Shmi Skywalker was many things, at first she was but a simple girl who was abducted from from her home and moved from her parents, enslaved to the will of others incapable of doing many things because of the things that had happened to her.

This only made her stronger.

Then she was a mother, out of nowhere she now has a child, after that she became the owner of a large corporation that was but a simple and small shop at the beginning. Now it has spread throughout the galaxy.

Recently though she had become a Queen, a position of power she never really wanted but had some experience in leadership to deal with the situation.

Right now, however she was a bit panicked because she had come under attack. She knew her position would lead to events like this and just because she had been prepared does not mean she is ready.

"Shmi! Please come this way, we must evacuate the palace. It would seem that a targeted attempt at your life is at hand." Jira said as she ran in her direction with surprising swiftness for an old lady.

"Ok, just give me a second." Shmi replies seeing the others, Trella, Ann and Tann rush in with blasters within their hands.

She walks over towards a compartment in her room that acts as a hidden storage device holding a weapon with which she could protect herself with. 'I may have minimal training but I have at least got the basics down.'

Shmi had been indirectly influenced by Anakin and as such, she had put some time and effort into educating herself about the use of weapons.

"I am ready." Shmi said.

"Alright, follow us now. We will protect you, well we will at least try to protect you. It would seem for some reason some of the droids have gone offline." Jira replied

Some of the droids were going offline because the attackers were smart enough to think up of some counter measures. One such measure being taken was the use of a small grade E.M.P.

"An E.M.P. perhaps?" Shmi questions as her mind becomes curious about the possibilities.

"That might be right, but let us put this aside and continue this at a later time. We should really get going." Jira replied.

The group then decides to move towards the special area constructed in case of an emergency such as this. A cave like opening is made within the room, it heads underground and is illuminated quite well.

The structure was mechanical in nature, technology at its finest right underneath the Skywalker palace.

"Go on, your highness. Now is not the time to marvel at the mechanics." Trella the youngest of them all calls to Shmi.

"Ok." Jumping down, she lands on a surprisingly soft metal material.

The others jump down after her, also surprised that the landing was quite soft and did not hurt them at all.

After getting over their initial surprise, Jira ordered. "Close the top. We dont want anyone following us down here."

Ann replied. "I am on it." Ann's sister Tann went with her to cover her back.

"Your highness, I believe it is this way." Trella motioned for Shmi to follow her while Jira was already in position to take off once again.

A blast is heard from above and before the twin sisters Ann and Tann were able to seal the hole a force of power stopped it in its place.

"Stop right there." A dark and hate filled voice spoke to the group within the underground tunnels.

[]

Qui-Gon had finally made his way towards Shmi's bedroom and saw the door was destroyed. Entering the room he was able to identify the pathway they had taken and there did not seem to be much damage.

Humming Qui-Gon then thinks to himself. 'I should follow.'

Qui-Gon jumps down while internally thinking. 'Something doesn't feel right.' He turns around looking through the illuminated underground.

Igniting his saber he slowly makes his way through, headed in the direction he can indistinctly feel a pull within the Force.

No sounds could be heard other than the steps he makes when all of a sudden his extra sensory perception picks up a threat.

Dodging and dashing away he see the lightsaber of another person. Standing before him ominously is a Sith, or would be Sith and is cloaked within the energies of the Dark side.

"Well, well, well. Would you look who we have here." His voice is filled with subdued anger, wearing a black robe entirely covering their features. "Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master of the Jedi Order. Your presence here is quite the disruption."

Just like all fights, a discussion has to be had before it began. "Who are you?" Qui-Gon questioned guessing he would not really get an answer.

But it is always better to try anyway.

"Who do you think I am?" The red glow that came from the mans saber should give it away.

"You are a Sith?"

"Perhaps, but I think that is enough talking for now." The man dashes towards Qui-Gon intending to put an end to his life.

Qui-Gon parries the strike before Force pushing the Sith away. Spinning the red saber around, the Sith slowly approaches Qui-Gon whilst trying to intimidate him.

Qui-Gon used the saber form, Form IV, named Ataru.

Given that he was currently only facing off against one opponent, Qui-Gon was at his best condition right now. He had not been in any real intensive battle and his main hand used to hold his lightsaber was actually stronger than his original.

The Sith aggressively attacks, aiming to slice of his metallic hand.

He again parries the blow in a defensive posture but this further decreases his energy, given this form was extremely taxing.

His opponent however was using the most versatile of forms, Form VI, named Niman. Form VI attempted to balance all elements of lightsaber combat, combining the techniques from Forms that came before into a less intensely demanding combat style.

Meaning that it was better if Qui-Gon finished this fight sooner rather than later, considering his opponent would be able to outlast him. Ataru was an aggressive combat form relying on a combination of strength, speed and agility.

Something that Qui-Gon was slowly starting to lose over the years because of age but that didn't mean he was incapable. 'Maybe, I should have taken Anakin's suggestion of using and practicing another lightsaber form.'

Life is all about constant evolution after all.

The Sith continuously tries to be aggressive but his form is flawed because that is not the main way he is supposed to attack.

Qui-Gon sees this and starts to rapidly attack himself, knowing that the nature of his saber techniques should pull through.

The Sith's experience with a saber seemed very untapped, the potential was there but it would need to be more tempered.

Easily Qui-Gon was able to gain the upper hand as the two only dueled through their lightsabers and the Sith was being pushed back.

Deciding to taunt Qui-Gon, the Sith says once he has a moment of reprieve. "Don't you want to know where the Queen is?"

Qui-Gon pauses. "What have you done to her?" For some inexplicable reason a small hint of anger could be heard within Qui-Gon's voice.

Having the distraction he needed, the Sith starts to build up some energy within the Force in anticipation of his escape. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"

Qui-Gon decides to play along, while extending his senses to be at its highest alert. "I would like to know."

"Too bad." The Sith uses an overpowered Force push to throw Qui-Gon across the underground hallways. "I guess we will be seeing each other some other time, oh, and what happened to the Queen. I have no clue, they had escaped from me."

The Sith clicks his tongue. "Stupid, failure." The Sith whispers to himself.

The Sith walks away as Qui-Gon gets up off of the ground. 'Damn.' He thought to himself. 'I have no time to waste, I did not sense any deception within his words which would mean they are safe.'

'It should be safe to assume they escaped, but to where I do not know.' Qui-Gon finished mentally.

Walking off into the opposite direction of his opponent, the Force guides him to his destination. "Oh! Sir Qui-Gon, you are here!" A voice comes from the direction he is going too but it was slightly off like it was a speaker saying it.

Then a doorway opens up on one side of the mechanic tunnel. "Over here." Jira calls out to him.

Walking over he notices that within this small compartment, Ann, Tann, Trella, Jira and Shmi had made themselves at home.

Everything was there, it seemed like some sort of bunker. 'How did they escape that Sith?' Qui-Gon then put his thoughts to life. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yes, we are fine and you?" Shmi answered and questioned.

"I had come across something that clung to the darkness and it would seem like he was after the Queen." Qui-Gon replied.

"Is it dealt with?" Jira questioned.

"No, unfortunately he had managed to escape. For now we need to find out why this attack happened." Qui-Gon said.

"I believe it was the Hutt's idea, why would they give up so easily? It was for this, it would seem." Jira says piecing the puzzle together.

Everyone now in this group were now going to set off back up to the palace because most if not all threats had been dealt with. Walking through the long mechanic hallways Qui-Gon started to wonder just what all of the technology down here was for.

"Say, what is all of this." He questioned.

"It is something my son had designed to help us in rebuilding this place." Shmi did not hide this fact.

"Anakin? This is quite the marvel, it is no wonder Skywalker Industries had been so successful."

Trella with stars in her eyes said. "The Prince is quite amazing." She then continued with a weirdly somewhat downtrodden expression. "If only he could stay here."

"You should not worry too much about Anakin, he is doing just fine with the Jedi." Qui-Gon said.

"Is he? Why is he not here with you then?" Shmi questioned him with a glare.

Qui-Gon wisely decides to keep his mouth shut and not answer. 'Sometimes you just dont respond, especially when responding will only get you in more trouble.'

The group continued to make their way out and everyone was gathering within the palaces throne room. A meeting to discuss the events that had occurred was taking place and strangely enough, Anakin was not present.

Nowhere to be found, Shmi and Qui-Gon were both becoming increasingly worried.