Chapter 50: Take It! Take It All!

Between all the different military forces gathering and travel time, we had ten days to wait before the strike forces engaged the enemy. Most of that was on the Coyn forces, which had the furthest to travel. Coruscant was eight days from Naboo if travelling on the royal yacht, so we had two days to kill.

Emphasis on kill.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, re-assigned to Amidala’s protection detail, turned away no fewer than five assassination attempts: a bombing that was detonated by electronic countermeasures while still in the assassin’s hands; a fake Coruscant Police officer with a gun who tried to take out Amidala in the aftermath; a poisoning attempt from a suborned embassy wait-staff member; a sniper attack; and even a remotely piloted vehicle ramming.

And that was just the first day.

Luckily the Ailon Nova Guard had a couple dozen soldiers on the planet who were between contracts and were willing to hire on as bodyguards. Crew-served weapons, snipers, and portable shield generators made a big difference, and the attacks stopped.

The media though were a bit harder to dissuade, and they were going nuts. Amidala was a beautiful young queen facing an evil, alien, faceless mega-corp. She had taken down Valorum. And she was now getting attacked by assassins while being protected by Jedi Knights. It was basically a real life holo-vid.

It really sucked for Jon, Shmi, Anakin and I. I’d been looking forward to seeing the sights on Coruscant, maybe sticking around for a bit and seeing if there was any interesting gear to copy, or excellent individuals’ patterns to acquire for my magical-ship projects. But the situation was just too dangerous.

But finally, thankfully, it was time to leave. In an effort to keep everyone important alive, General Kror kindly offered to loan us his personal transport, a fully tricked out heavy corvette, as escort. Normally, the corvette only went where the general did. But Jon and I had gone over the second day and sparred with some of their office’s off-duty soldiers as a way to get rid of a bit of stress, and ran through their virtual shooting houses a few times. Even with our enchantments on “training with normals” mode, we easily kicked ass, and seriously impressed the Nova Guard who were present or saw recordings.

The loan of the corvette proved prescient, as the ship needed to disable a “rogue” fast courier that was on a collision course with Amidala’s yacht. But we made hyperspace safely.

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Suffice to say, I was fucking ecstatic when Amidala was finally able to declare the Trade Federation a criminal organization and the mercenaries attacked. Five fleets struck simultaneously, the Nova Guard naval ships hitting the Neimoidian worlds while the Coynite forces invested Enarc, and a pair of cruisers with escort squadrons diverted to take out the Lucrehulk droid controller over Naboo.

We arrived just in time for our mercenaries to have established orbital superiority over Naboo, and for Amidala to be able to give an emergency address to the Nabooians, telling them to cooperate with the mercenary Coyn forces who were re-taking the planet.

Over the next hours, reports came in over the holo-net. Cato Neimoidia, Deko Neimoidia, and Koru Neimoidia had been more heavily defended than expected. Fighting was ongoing, and many of their orbital manufactories, ship-building facilities, and habitats were refusing to surrender. Some, where the droids had control, actually scuttled, self-destructing rather than falling into enemy hands.

Still, losses among the Ailon Nova Guard were light, except for in the Deko Neimoidia system where a suicidal ramming attack had critically damaged a heavy cruiser’s engines. Seriously slowed, it hadn’t been able to stay at range and was swarmed by droid fighters. Rather than disengage, the admiral ordered his ships to engage and protect the cruiser. Instead of an extreme-range laser and capital-ship weapon duel, an engagement that the Ailon were well equipped to handily win, it became a short ranged-brawl, exactly the scenario that they wanted to avoid, and losses among the combat fleet were heavy. Still, the transports weren’t damaged, and landing operations were beginning.

Neimoidia itself had surrendered, apparently assuming from the Ailon acting “under Judicial authority” by using Amidala’s codes that this was a general Republican action against the Trade Federation, and thinking themselves doomed.

Closer to home, Enarc had fallen fairly quickly, surrendering after the enemy flag-Lucrehulk was destroyed. Apparently the other Lucrehulk captains were less fanatically loyal, and more interested in saving their own hides. As a result, the Coynite fleet had taken the system with most of its infrastructure intact, and captured three Lucrehulks with most of their complement relatively undamaged. A nice bonus.

While Naboo’s orbit had been taken fairly bloodlessly, the situation on the ground was more complicated. While the infantry made up of B1 droids was dependent on the control ship’s computers for their actions, the tanks were crewed by OOM droids. OOM’s were the predecessor to the B1, with similar physical and mental capabilities. But they were each equipped with their own droid brain, and were thus immune to being knocked out by the lack of a control signal.

When the droid army deactivated, a few tens of thousands of resistance fighters distributed throughout Naboo’s urban areas sparked a general uprising. At the same time, the panicked Gunray ordered all remaining forces, most of which were hovertanks, to converge on the palace and protect him. While most of the six thousand, two hundred and fifty tanks (less a few combat losses) were far too far away to be useful, they did head towards the palace at full speed and fired back more or less indiscriminately if they were attacked en route. Thousands had died as a result.

Then Gunray ordered the two hundred or so in Theed’s vicinity to occupy all streets leading to the palace, and fire on any advancing concentration of vehicles or people, killing thousands more. Nor was this fire particularly limited in collateral damage; heavy laser cannons, repeating blasters, and missiles all ranked fairly highly in damage output and overpenetration.

Coynite ships in orbit were already using precise space-to-ground laser strikes to destroy any tank in the open, but the damage was done. In response, the surviving tanks were seeking shelter under arches where available, or under roofs by crashing through walls when other cover was not available. The palace, with its wide open spaces, was infested with tens of the tanks, and a few hundred surviving OOM infantry. Gunray meanwhile had taken every Nabooian he could get his claws on, and was holding them hostage.

Over the next few hours, newly arrived Coynite ground forces retook control of Naboo’s surface, fitting many of the deactivated droids with restraint bolts that would de-activate them even if another control ship showed up and destroying the remainder. The palace was under siege, with Coynite armor and infantry holding a tight cordon while nearby civilians were evacuated. A full strike-group was in orbit above the palace to make sure that Gunray couldn’t escape on a shuttle or one of the Nabooian fighters.

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A couple days later, and the situation was much clearer. Gunray was trapped. Royal Naboo Security Force officers assigned to the Palace had gotten into contact with the Coynite mercenaries, and made sure that all approaches in and out were covered. Some secret entrance/exits weren’t actually revealed, but guarded by RNSF officers with borrowed weaponry. Mobile AA was set up, and there was also the fleet overhead.

The only way he was getting out was if we let him out.

I was worried Amidala would do just that. There was just no good way to get the hostages out safely. The Coynite commanders knew it, and told Amidala the truth when she asked. Since many of the prisoners were Amidala’s friends, senior advisors and the like, she was loathe to order an assault.

On the other hand, we’d been ducking Coruscant’s calls for just over a day. Palpatine had been elected and subsequently sworn in as Chancellor. Out of magnanimousness? Foolishness? Some political deal? I didn’t know the reason, but he had ordered my little Proscription, my legal harrying of the Trade Federation, to stop.

Fuck that noise.

I had paid a few billion to media consultants, lawyers, and lobbyists on Coruscant to cover for my actions, and those of my mercenaries during this period. Entire convoys of loot and high value captives from the Neimoidian purse worlds were already en route to Naboo, where they would be subject to Nabooian and Chommell Sector laws; the Federation wouldn’t be getting any of it back. If it was valuable and not bolted down, it was seized. If it was bolted down, it was unbolted. And if it was on a structure that could be towed, well, they towed it.

If I had my way, the Trade Federation prisoners wouldn’t be seeing a Republic court until they’d already been convicted on Naboo, and squeezed for every millicred we could get to take “death by firing squad” off the table and allow a guilty plea for a “life in prison” deal. That way, even if the Republic filed for extradition, if found “not guilty” of their crimes that fell under galactic rather than local jurisdiction, they’d just get shipped back to rot on Naboo.

As it was, a secure report from the Ailon Nova Guard’s intelligence officers that I made sure Amidala didn’t see included some of the “in-flight entertainment” that the Neimoidians were “enjoying”. They seemed to be unable to stop playing games like “the person with the most useful information gets to eat, drink, have a functioning toilet, control their thermostat, sleep, etc.” And man, they were really getting ripped off on those in-flight prices for food and drink – a billion credits for a bag of chips? It was practically robbery! Suffice to say, the Neimoidians, a group of soft business executives used to luxury, were generally being very cooperative.

With any luck, I might even make a profit on this whole endeavor, even after giving the mercenaries their cut of seized assets. If we got access to the Trade Federation’s war-chest, the information required to access their cash reserves, I might make a lot of profit.

But we were operating under Amidala’s authority, and as soon as Amidala officially received the order to cease, she’d have to stop and give the same order to the rest of us. Key word officially. So we had a “handmaiden” playing communications officer, and just straight up lying when asked to pass the encrypted message. Amidala had been “unreachable,” either in the field, or under a comm-jammer, or just not where the officer expected, for a full thirty hours by this point.

To make things better, the “handmaiden” wasn’t; she was a summoned copy of a trained communications officer for a company I owned, dressed up and made up in that thick white makeup like a handmaiden. Since handmaiden identities were kept secret, and they were basically indistinguishable due to their make-up, it was far too easy.

Oh, at first Palpatine would suspect Amidala, but a secret review would show all handmaidens accounted for, and facial recognition would show the suspect handmaiden not matching any of the actual handmaidens’ faces. Putting that makeup onto every female who might be the fake handmaiden was impossible, and the makeup was designed to defeat facial recognition in the first place; there was little chance this could be traced back to me.

It was just terrible that the Trade Federation spy prevented the Chancellor’s orders from reaching Amidala, wasn’t it? Yet so ironic that those very orders were ones that would have stopped the Federation’s destruction!

In other words, short of Palpatine coming out to Naboo in person we planned to keep going. But I’d taken the time while on Coruscant to summon a few Ravens, and they were keeping an eye on our dear Senator-turned-Chancellor. He had just boarded a Judiciary diplomatic corvette, and left with a small Republic Security Force flotilla. Normally he might have taken a fast courier, but we were reporting intermittent combat and it seemed he didn’t want to risk Trade Federation ships, or our mercenaries, being too trigger happy.

That was good; the flotilla was at best half as fast as a courier. Assuming they all had 2.0 hyperdrive ratings, we had about sixteen days before their arrival.

Which meant I couldn’t wait forever for Amidala to make up her mind. I wanted the actual crisis part of the Naboo Crisis over, and the kangaroo court part of it to begin. Plus, I’d noticed Amidala wasn’t the type of person that did well with sieges, or waiting in general. She wanted action. Whether that action would be letting Gunray off, or storming the palace, I just couldn’t tell.

And, best guess, there were between seven and ten trillion credits in accounts that needed access codes only Gunray could provide. The secondary access method required too many members of the Trade Federation’s Executive Board, and we just hadn’t captured enough.

We’d gotten lucky with Neimoidia’s surrender, but the planet was seen as a shit posting, and thus didn’t have any truly high-ranking personnel present. The Nova Guard did a good job on Cato Neimoidia, taking many high-level executives, including a couple members of the Executive board prisoner, and also snagged computers, personal droids, and physical files. A few top execs might have still been hiding in secret chambers, and a couple transports managed to escape, but it was a fairly clean sweep.

Deko and Koru Neimoidia were decent catches. A reasonable crop of executives, computer network managers and the like from offices and private residences. Enough computers and droids to give a good idea of business dealings. Some research project results, some important sites and the like. But the intense fighting on Deko gave time for more of the most decisive among the most important executives, the sorts with private hyper-capable transports, to flee. Koru’s fighting, while not intense, had left a gap in the blockade with similar results.

In short, we had enough to get a lot out of the Trade Federation, but with Gunray we’d have everything. Or at least, just about everything liquid, and a hell of a lot of the physical assets via control codes for space stations, ships, and droids.

So yeah, I really wanted to capture Gunray. There was just something different about spending pirated legitimately seized credits, versus those gained by selling summoned super-high-value materials.

Which is why I went to Amidala with a plan.

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“So, let Us be clear. Your plan is to walk into Gunray’s clutches as a negotiator, neutralize his bodyguard droids with a covert ion pulse grenade, threaten his life, and obtain a general surrender?” Amidala asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied.

“We doubt you are doing this without some benefit, Mr. Gangari,” she said exasperatedly. “Well, what is it?”

“I’m not sure I should say, Your Majesty, in case things go poorly. But it will happen after he shuts down his droids, and won’t cost Naboo anything.” Specifically, I was going to get those financial access codes by hook or by crook.

She sighed. “Very well. Just try not to do anything that would end with you in front of a court. As satisfying as it might be for Us, it would doubtless be an embarrassment Naboo can ill afford.”

I grinned. “Your Majesty! You’re starting to care about me!”

“We most certainly do not!” she hissed. She really wasn’t, from her emotions. “You are dismissed, Mr. Gangari.”

Minutes later I was on the ground, then approaching the Palace under flag of truce. The droids ordered me to stop. After a lengthy wait, one eventually came up and searched me for weapons, then passed me on. It let me keep my datapad, pen and communicator, as I argued I needed those to be able to negotiate. They were all scanned, but none of them were weaponized, so there was nothing to see. Plus, the “ion charge” was really a spell.

Finally I was led to Gunray, who had appropriated the secondary throne room. Designed for more private audiences, it had thick doors, and windows that looked out into an enclosed courtyard. A couple of Neimoidian lackeys were there as well, along with two dozen OOM’s with blasters. The doors were shut behind me. Between the guards, locking themselves in the relatively cozy room, and the emotions I could sense it was pretty damned obvious that Gunray was panicked, paranoid, and basically losing it.

As soon as the doors were shut he looked at me, glaring. “So, what did you come to say?” he spat.

I lifted my datapad, looked at it, and then activated the “ion charge”. Every bit of unshielded electronics in the room, droids included, shut down, with only my personal pad left working. In a flash, I was next to Gunray, and had him by the throat. His lackeys looked on in horror, one literally wringing his hands. I’d always thought that was just an expression.

“No! No, you can’t!” he choked out in his fear.

“I believe I just did, Viceroy,” I said pleasantly while giving my best crazy-motherfucker smile with psycho-killer eyes. “Now, you have two options. One, you tell me how to disable the droids, and you will stand trial. Two, and this is the option I prefer, I hurt you until you tell me how to disable the droids. And then I flip a coin. Heads, I keep hurting you until our forces clear the building and find us. Tails, I just kill you.” I blasted him with mana-driven mental compulsion, making him pick option one. I wasn’t sure if he was normally strong-minded or not, but either way with the fear and panic in his system it was easy for my spell to take hold.

“Option one! Option one!”

Soon the droids were disabled. Shortly after that, I had all the codes. After the mercenaries took their cut, and I paid a chunk of Naboo’s reconstruction costs, I still profited to the tune of five trillion credits.

Now that is what I would call a successful operation.