Chapter 8

Coruscant...

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, it's a peaceful day for everyone on Coruscant. But don't be fooled by this good weather as something is brewing that will forever change the galaxy.

A certain vanus assassin was leisurely strolling the streets around the place where Padme Amidala currently resides. He's been doing this matter since they arrived as Corsucant. He was directly tasked on monitoring Padme and eliminate her if she decides to disclose the information regarding the Imperium.

He has been monitoring her every move, every word she spoke, the food she eats, everything about her was already known to the vanus assassin.

This assassin has already predicted the next move she'll take before she even thinks of it. That's how powerful the vanus assassins are.

As per the orders from Terra itself, the assassin has contacted one of the family members of the countless people who died on the space of Naboo due to the Imperium as anticipation of the worst. He got ahold of the information about this man and his brother who's a repair crew on one of the Trade Federarion's ship that blockaded Naboo. He then created a falsified pictures of the body of the brother of the man. In the picture, he used the pictures he managed to obtain by hacking into databases that has records of them. He then created a 3d crime scene with the 3d model based on the noticeable facial and unique features of the brother, like his unusually large eye socket for their species. Once he's finished he printed the picture and a couple more data.

He then ontacted the xeno whose brother was a crew on one of the ships that was destroyed on the blockade of Naboo.

He presented evidences including a falsified picture of the body of his brother. The picture shows the burnt charred body of his "brother". It has the same facial features and it even has the unique characteristics of his brother such as the unusually large eye sockets. The man can't be wrong that this is his brother.

"It's totally sad that he died am I right? But you know who did this to him? " asked the vanus assassin which was disguised as a normal citizen of Coruscant. His voice isn't electronic as he studied the local language of the galaxy to ensure his cover won't be broken. So, he's currently using his organic voice.

"Who is it? I'll kill him! He took my only family left from me!" growled the man as he lunged towards the assassin and clutched his collar.

"Now now you need to be calm! We both lost our loved ones!" shouted back the assassin, acting. This statement was like pouring a cold water to a hot surface as it immediately cooled down the anger that the man is feeling.

"You're right, sorry about that. I'm just angered." said the man as he released the assassin's collar from his clutches as he looked at the pictures again.

"The queen of Naboo, she's the reason your brother and my dad died! We need to extract our revenge!" said the assassin as he fixes his collar.

"Her? That bitch! How did she do it? Why did she do it?" growled the man in anger which made the assassin smile in his heart.

"I don't know how or why did she do it. Someone just contacted me informing me all about this, my reaction is just like you! Luckily he said that he'll help us extract our revenge!" said the assassin completely bullshitting between his tongue with a matching acting so convincing that he can be awarded the Oscar's for best acting.

"Fuck her! Tell me, do you have a plan?" questioned the man tonthe assassin which made the assassin have a triumphant smile.

"Of course, we'll do it like this..."

Days later at the senate hall...

The duo of the assassin and the xeno man sneaked in separately on the venue. The xeno man disguised as a staff. This identity is provided by their "mysterious" helper. The assassin on the other just casually strolled on the venue without a care for the world. He even used the main gate when entering. He did this by creating a fake identity which he uploaded to the senate hall's building. This identity is being a young curious and promising diplomat which one of the delegates brought with them to the hall.

The man has a hidden blaster pistol courtesy of the "mysterious" helper. His job is to pull the trigger to kill Padme, that's the plan, while his companion will give the signal to fire once he created the commotion. He positioned himself near the stage, ready to exact his revenge even if it means his demise.

The senate session is currently raging on.

Senator Palpatine and Padme spoke before the countless galactic delegates present. Padme brought up the matter regarding the illegal blockade of the Trade Federation.

The vanus assassin was attentive to each of her words if she'll go off script and add the existence of the Imperium to the mix. He got ahold of the script by hacking into Padme's home and copying it to his hard drive.

When the speech was finally over the vanus assassin has finally finished his job. for the time being and retreated to the hallway to call someone.

The man who has his blaster pistol all ready to fire was confused on why he didn't get the signal to fire from his companion. He then received a call from his friend and he immediately answers it questioning where's the signal.

"Can I fire now?" hisses the man on the phone.

"Come to this location, something happened" said the assassin with distress in his voice which made the man immediately stunned and rushed to the location given to him.

After the speech was over it was quickly resisted by a senator claiming that there's no evidence that backs up this claim of her and it all are lies formulated to defame the Trade Federation.

The senator presented an idea that they create a commission to investigate regarding the truth of the matter. This suggestion was almost immediately supported by another senator. The current chancellor, Chancellor Valorum tried to silence the two senators but was instead interrupted by vice chancellor Amedda. He consulted with Amedda regarding this matter and asked Padme if she would defer the motion and allow the commission to proceed.

Padme answered that she won't defer and that she's not elected by her people just to see them suffer.

Her boiling point has finally been reached and her patience broke like a twig. Due to the rampant corruption and inefficiency of the republic Padme shocked the senate by moving a suggestion of vote of no confidence under the leadership of the current chancellor.

This suggestion caused a massive uproar on the senate as many senators wanted to proceed directly to the voting.

While this whole thing was happening, the man met with the vanus assassin on the place the assassin sent him. When he reached the place he was confused on why is there no one in there. He slowly unholsters his pistol as his caution reaches the highest.

He then sees a figure on the horizon slowly walking to him. He manages to figure out who's the one walking on the horizon. He relaxes his whole body as he asks the assassin on why he did not give the signal.

"You scared me there. Why you didn't give the signal? I could've killed her and then we would've our revenge!" said the man visibly annoyed. The assassin slowly drops his disguise and smiles at the man.

"Because it's not needed." said the assassin as he finally reveals his whole true figure which shocked the man speechless.

"Thank you for serving the Imperium and the Emperor but your use has now expired filthy xeno." said the assassin in hate as he pulled out a silenced laspistol and fired towards the head of the man directly killing him. The man didn't even have time to register what happened as his whole head was blown apart by the laspistol.

The assassin just scoffed in hate as he sprayed a dissolving agent to the body of the man to directly erase it. The assassin left the scene and reported back to Terra.

After sometime, the body of the man has long since turned into vapor, never to be seen again.

...

It only took hours for the whole debacle to end and it resulted on the current chancellor's removal from position.

Sheev Palpatine was totally ecstatic with how the whole event played out. It all directly proceeded just how he planned. From the blockade to the removal of Valorum, it's almost perfect except for a couple of miscalculations and unstable factors.

Palpatine suggested Padme to stay on Coruscant for the moment probably to facilitate an easier assassination but this suggestion was defied by Padme as she decided that her fate belongs with that of her people.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan met with the Jedi council once again after the initial report about the sith by Qui-Gon, the testing of Anakin's midi-chlorians, and them reporting the existence of the Imperium to the council which was shocked when he narrated everything he saw.

Right now, the Jedi council will give its verdict on whether they'll have the young Anakin Skywalker be admitted to the order.

The verdict came out and it stated that Anakin is not accepted to the order because of his advance age. The council also ordered for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to go back to Naboo and escort the Padme and also to shed what little light they can shed to bring the existence of the mysterious assassin to light. Another order was also given to the two jedis. They're ordered to investigate the Imperium or what's left of the Imperium on the Naboo together with the countless deaths they felt through the force.

The two jedis, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan explained that the deaths are directly related to the Imperium as the two suddenly thought of a grave a scene where the Imperium commits massacres on the local Gungan population. They shared their suspicions to the council which was shocked. The council originally treated the Imperium as xenophobes yes, but they didn't think they would commit such grave atrocities of massacring a whole species as they originally believed that they still have kindness left in their hearts.

Because of this, the council expressed the importance of finding everything they could find regarding that of the Imperium almost more than the sith.

The two jedis bid their farewell and left for Naboo together with Padme and company.Anakin was left on the building of the jedi.

What they didn't know that a surprise left by the Imperium will shock them to their very core. A little surprise as a first contact gift with the humans of this galaxy which will reach the ears of everyone in all parts of the galaxy. An atrocity so immense it will leave anyone who hears it shivering with fear and peeing their pants.

Naboo space...

On their way to Naboo, the group planned on forming an alliance with the Gungan to go and expel the foreign invaders from their planet as they thought the droid army is currently trapped in Naboo without help from their wiped out fleet. They plan that they'll have a heart to heart talk with the highest position of power holed in Theed from the federation while the army of the gungans will engage the droid army to buy time. There, they'll form an agreement with the federation and finally end the invasion.

The two jedis shares what they felt and their suspicions that the Imperium might have sent an army to cleanse the planet of the droid army and quite possibly the Gungan population too. This caused a everyone to fall into deep thought as they weighed in on their hearts the possibility of this happening.

Jar Jar Binks was having a pale face as he thought about hat the two jedis said. He can't believe that something like that will happen. He refuses to believe.

As they slowly cruised towards the planet of Naboo. They thought of they'll check up on the local Gungan populace first to see their whole situation. Padme still refuses to believe that the mysterious fleet will do such a thing of massacring a whole species. But as she thinks more of it, the more logical is sounds which made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Even with seeing it with my own two eyes I still can't believe everything happened." said Obi-Wan absentmindedly as he looked at the wreckages on space.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

At this point in time they're formulating a plan on how will they capture the planet back from the hands of the Trade Federation.

Ric Olie, their pilot notified them that they're nearing the planet and will enter the stealth mode and head to a city controlled by the Gungans to check on them and also contact them in the process just like as planned.

On their way, they saw the destruction on the cities of Naboo especially on Theed as large rubbles and wreckage sites can be seen even from space. This scene made Padme and her group confused as the federation don't have weapons that has firepower capable of creating such holes, only their fleet which was wiped out.This furthered their suspicions and fear that the Imperium have sent an army to liberate their planet.

As they slowly entered the atmosphere, they didn't notice the presence of another ship. This ship is Darth Maul's ship as he tailed them waiting for the right time to ambush and kill everyone.

As they slowly cruised towards one of the cities of the Gungan they could not help but be confused on a seemingly no activity happening. No bustle, no traffic. As if the whole city jusy experienced an apocalypse.

As they neared the city where the Gungan leader named Boss Nass is living, they saw something that made them lose all the blood on their faces making them pale.

A city...

But this city isn't the same anymore on Jar Jar Binks's memory. In his memory this city is prosperous and bustling. Children running around playing. Merchants conducting trade. Gungan people shopping and being happy.

Now, what stood before him are ruins of a prosperous Gungan city. Buildings destroyed, holes on the ground, smoking wreckages. A scene out of hell for Jar Jar Binks.

He just left for a couple of days now that he's returned he wouldn't be able to return to anything or anyone.

Jar Jar slowly walks at the middle of the road slowly tearing up as he spots his home or what is his home before.

"What happened here?" blurted out Padme as she looked at her surroundings with confusion.

"Impossible! It can't be! I must be dreaming!" growled Jar Jar as he suddenly kneeled on the road as tears flowed out of his eyes. He punched the ground weeping in sadness.

"Master... Is this their doing?" asked Obi-Wan as he finally connected the dots about the great lost of lives that they felt before. Those lives are none other than Gungan lives.

Qui-Gon didn't answer his former padawan as he lightly clenched his fist in anger.

"Come, let's try to find any survivor!" urged Padme as she started to run towards the ruined buildings to find any survivor. The group ran towards the ruined buildings except for Jar Jar which they left there to provide him space.

At the ruined buildings they didn't saw any signs of life nor any dead bodies. The two jedis used force abilities to try and find survivors under rubbles.They even scanned the whole city for any signs of life but they didn't managed to find one. They didn't believed atvall there's no survivor so they helped with rubble clearing. But all are for nought as they didn't managed to find a single survivor nor body. As if everyone just vanished into thin air.

"How could there be no bodies! I refuse to believe that they're all dead!" shouted Padme in desperation as she kicked around the rubbles and flipped pieces of wood.

"It's probably that they just evacuated, and the let the droid army destroy this city." said Jar Jar who's walking to their position with red eyes but still full of optimism.

"Yes, Jar Jar is right! How can they just suddenly disappear out of thin air!" agreed Padme.

They once again boarded the starship and entered stealth mode as they flew from one city of the Gungan to another. All this time a ship was tailing them closely still trying to find the best opportunity to strike.

As they ventured from city to city all they saw was destruction and ruins left. A city is no more as even villages wasn't spared. With each city they visited Padme is starting to tear up as her expectations are time and time again broken.

As they landed on the last city of the Gungan all they saw was a destroyed and ruined city. At this time Padme finally broke in tears as she didn't believe thst someone will do such a thing of exterminating a whole species.

Jar Jar just have a poker face look with red eyes as he can't really seem to believe he's the last of his kind. Obi-Wan sat near Jar Jar and tried to comfort him. Saying everything will be fine and he can stay with him on Coruscant if he wants.

This comforting made Jar Jar suddenly mad as he finally broke like a brittle twig.

"Be okay? My whole species are dead! How can I be okay!This is all your fault! Yes thisbis all your fault for contacting them!" shouted Jar Jar as he suddenly stood up and threw a punch to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan evades it and tries to calm Jar Jar down.

"Jar Jar listen to me, be calm. The people who did this will be brought to justice I promise!" ensured Obi-Wan as he kept evading the ounches thrown by Jar Jar Binks.

"Brought to justice? Don't kid with me! How can they be brought to justice if even the nation of Padme can't be helped by the republic!" rebutted Jar Jar as he threw a barrage of punches to the jedi. This was all easily evaded by Obi-Wan as he controlled himself from hurting their friend.

The situation is getting out of hand so before anyone would get hurt Qui-Gon stepped in and knocked Jar Jar Binks out with a simple pommel of his lightsaber to the head.

"Thank you master" thanked Obi-Wan as his master saved him.

"I'm certain they're the one who did this atrocity to the Gungan people. But for now, let's visit the capital city of Theed to find their situation there." suggested Qui-Gon with anger which Padme and the rest agreed.

The starship once again entered the stealth mode and flew to the city of Theed. The moment they saw that the city still has inhabitants even though the city is already in ruins made them at least breath a sigh of relief. They landed on the destroyed hangar of the royal palace and there, they saw a large hole on the roof and traces of crashes on the floor. But this scene ensures their beliefs to be true that the Imperium really sent their army to the planet of Naboo.

The moment they disembarked they were greeted by what's left of the royal guards.

"Your highness! You won't believe what just happened!" said a royal guard as he saluted to Padme.

"What happened? Tell us everything. But before that, what's the situation of the city?" instructed Padme to the royal guard.

"Yes! The situation of the city is catastrophic. No food nor clean water for the citizens to consume. We've been living off of what we could find on the wilderness for these past few days.But the power is being restored already. It's just that the destruction left by the one who helped us was catastrophic. The same can be said for other cities that we have contacted but we stilling haven't gotten in touch with the last 2 cities." reported the guard as he lead them to the throne room.

Jar Jar Binks was still unconscious so Ric Olie presented himself to guard him while he's unconscious. The rest sccepted this arrangement and they went inside the royal palace.

"Now, tell me what happened here and who helped you and also where's Captain Panaka?" questioned Padme as her suddenly clenched with the topic of who helped them as they slowly walked to the throne room.

"Captain Panaka died when we're defending the hangar from the droids. Just as your starship took off he was hit by a blaster bolt and died due to injuries." said the guard with a sad tone.

"Is that so... that's unfortunate that he died." said Padme as she paid her respects to the deceased captain of the royal guard.

"Now tell me what happened here and who helped you." ordered Padme wanting to hear for her ears who helped them as they continued to travel the hall towards the throne room together with the two jedis.

Unbeknownst to them, the sith lord has killed the guards on the throne room laying his trap ready. Only awaiting for his prey to step so he can close the nets.