『Hit & Run』

After forty-five minutes, Ento's part of the operation began.

"What's that?" An OOM B1-Battle Droid with gold paint on its shoulders and head, pointed its three digit hand off in the distance.

Poking its head out of the repulsor tank, a blue painted battle droid looked in the distance. "Incoming!" The droid was too late to express the danger they were all in.

"Roger, Rog--!"

A proton torpedo came screaming through the air from unknown origin and smashed into the faceplate of the Armored Assault Tank guarding the hangar, exploding. Droids were sent flying in all directions, the majority of them being thrown off the edge by the explosion.

Smoke began to rise up above the City.

Revolt? Panic was seen within the ranks of the droids. Throughout the city, droids began to move as collective units. Their tanks were moving into defensive positions.

They were getting ready for an attack from an unknown, and unseen, force.

Hovering in front of the hangar, Ento gazed over droids which were guarding the ships. If they were unable to be reached, the Naboo Self Defense Forces, or the Royal Security Forces, wouldn't be able to get to them on time.

Though that still depended on the Queen getting the Gungans and spreading out the federation forces. A small look of frustration formed over his lips.

Vaylin's gaze narrowed on the droids. Based on the ones that were seen on holograms from Eternal Empire raids on the Greater Galaxy, the Sith and Jedi of the past had much better designs at their disposal. "Hm..."

"Do you have them?" Dooku asked as he remained standing beside his Padawan, his hands folded behind his back, his left hand holding his right wrist loosely.

Ento was using the force to aid in his targeting of the droids. If he was able to eliminate these droids, the pilots would be able to take to the skies and fight back when they arrived.

However he doubted they would reach the City for quite a while now.

Frowning openly, he brought his thumb down on the joystick's main trigger, the six laser cannons would begin to unleash hellfire. Green bolts of energy crashed with the chassis of several battle droids.

"We're under attack!"

"Where's the enemy!"

"Take cover!"

"Return fire!"

"Roger, roger!"

Shouting took the hangar, but very little could be done against the invisible Star Courier, having already taken out the tank itself. Once the droids had all but been gunned down, Ento increased the starship's altitude.

Bringing the ship around towards the front of the Royal Palace, his eyes narrowed on the Sheathipede-class transport shuttle that was parked in front of it.

"That looks to be the Viceroy's personal shuttle..." Dooku leaned forward as he looked over the brown hull of the Neimoidian shuttle. The vessel was had an upraised stern, bow ramp and a set of four clawfoot landing gears.

Without hesitation, Ento pulled the trigger and fired a torpedo directly at the small vessel, at the same moment the Viceroy was about to come out the front of the Palace.

The explosion engulfed over a dozen droids, killing a handful of Neimoidia who were attempting to board the shuttle at the same time.

Briefly, Ento disengaged the courier's cloaking device and began firing on the droids and tanks which were occupying the city. The tanks couldn't fire at an extreme angle, so he continued to raise his altitude, whilst allowing him the pleasure of hitting defenseless targets.

That was until a number of Vulture droids came screaming past their portbow.

"Blasted!" Ento used evasive maneuvers, avoiding any direct hits as red bolts of cannon fire just missed the cabin by several centimeters.

Vaylin clung to the seat, dropping to one knee as she did so. "That was close!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Ento squealed in his seat, twisting the control stick and narrowly dodging a head on collision with one of the droids. "Oi!"

Dooku remained standing there still, not phased by the erratic maneuvers employed by Ento.

"Reactivating cloak!" Ento announced as he pressed the button on the console, causing the ship to disappear from view just as a few bolts dissipated against the ship's deflector shields.

The Vulture droids stopped firing and began to swarm like hungry locusts. Still continuing to avoid collisions from the blind hostile foes, he withdrew from the battlefield and started heading towards the landers situated in the forests.

He didn't waste anytime as he entered the range of another target, a C-9979 landing craft. The energy of craft was low, indicating that it was currently unshielded. With no hesitation, he fired a torpedo.

Droids looking to the skies were suddenly surprised when a missile rammed straight into the landing ship, causing it to explode outward as it was unloading a tank.

The Debris took out the remaining droids left over.

Just as he didn't waste time, neither did the Vulture droids. They were making their way back towards the explosion. Yet as they arrived, they found nothing but smoldering remains!

They continued to go from area to area, blowing up landing crafts and ambushing mechanized patrols. They weren't any match for a ship armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weapons.

The irony of the fact that the originally ship belonged to their beneficiary was rather hilarious.

However the fun ended when he came across one of the slave camps that had been set up outside of the city limits. His eyes narrowing on the fenced in area, the transports getting ready to take the people off world.

Men, women and children. He could feel their suffering, their agony. The fear of being taken away from their homes forever... It was almost overwhelming at first.

This was not something he understood. The Federation was a member of the Republic right? The Republic didn't have slaves! A frown was clearly across his lips. "What is this...?"

"Slave Camps? Hm..." Dooku narrowed his eyes. "Take out their ship thrusters, don't let their ships take off. If they do, there is no telling if the Naboo can recover them in time."

Nodding, Ento used the controls to line the courier up with the back end of the landed transport and opened fire. The moment he did so, chaos broke out.

Captive naboo began to riot against their droid overseers. Stealing weapons, returning fire. If the starship he was piloting hadn't been there, this fight would've been all for naught.

He continued to fire on the shields of the transport. Their shields were slowly letting up as he increased the frequency and speed of the ship's firing mechanisms.

The thrusters exploded and the droids on the ground began firing on the general area that attack was coming from.

Blasters bolts deflected off the forward shields, some of them leaving little burn marks on the exterior hull plating. The ship could take a beating, that was for sure. Though it still wasn't built for a frontal assault. If there was any tanks in the area, they'd be sitting ducks.

Thankfully the enemies still couldn't see what or who they were firing at.

He reared back, targeting the droids and opening fire again. Thanks to the aid of the force and his natural talent alone, he was able to take out the hostiles without taking on friendly casualties.

As their invisible hero was firing on the droids, the Naboo people cheered and continued to use the fallen droids own weapons against their adversaries.

"It's likely they set up similar camps near the other cities across the planet. If we are unable to shut down the droids, these people from getting taken off world, they'll be sold to the highest bidder." Dooku advised as he dug his fingernails into his wrist lightly.

It was clear the federation had gone too far in its scheme to make a point to the Republic.

"Think it's time to..." Ento narrowed his eyes on a flare which rose above buildings of Naboo Theed. A small grin formed over his lips, "It's time to return to orbit!"

Dooku braced himself this time as the boy would subtly bring the ship to a steep angle as it went to gain altitude with increasing momentum. With the front deflector shield at full power, the starship was going well above its maximum speed of 1,180 kilometers per hour.

Exiting the atmosphere with an extensive heat trail, the ship began to shake, but it held together. As it met with the vacuum of space, Vulture droids were heading towards its general direction.

"They must've detected the ship as it left the surface, evasive maneuvers!" Dooku ordered his apprentice, pointing towards the Battleship.

Nodding, Ento gunned it once more, heading straight for the cargo freighter the Trade Federation had clumsily turned into a battleship.

"Their vessels are not meant for war, their main reactors are exposed once you enter the hangar section. You'll be able to fly in and out, just avoid the interior defenses," Dooku informed, something that he knew due to his previous diplomatic engagements when negotiating with the Trade Federation on behalf of the Senate.

Vaylin furrowed her brows at the Jedi Master's intimate knowledge of the ship, making her rather curious.

"Understood, Master!" Ento went closing in towards the ship which remained unawares of their approach. His eyes traced over the gaping mouth of the main hangar to one of the arms of the massive ship. It reminded him of a giant wrap around neck pillow with a hollowed out inside.

Entering the ship without issue, he uncloaked the vessel, barrel rolling over a landing craft that was taking off. The right unfolded wing scraped the roof until he evened out the courier.

"Staying on target," Ento didn't even glance at the targeting computer which was highlighting all the possible targets they were passing over. "Staying on target..."

Droids barely had time to look up, or turn on their metallic heels, to catch the ship as it screamed through the hangar. Its engines giving their fullest. Vulture droids however were coming in from behind, attempting to catch up.

Hearing the sound of the weapons lock from his targeting computer, he launched the proton torpedo and turned the starship sharply out the open side hangar as its door was closing. The Vulture droids either smashing into the interior walls of the battleship, or ramming into the almost entirely closing door.

That's when he felt it, the expulsion of energy from the ship's main reactor. A chain reaction began to shoot through the battleship, detonating several key systems!

However he didn't slow down. If they were to get caught in that explosion, there was no telling how much damage they'd suffer, or if they'd even survive.

Ento dove the ship in a downward direction from the bottom of the battleship's hull, before facing the planet of Naboo again once he was outside of the estimated blast radius.

The exterior of the ship shook, the explosion above them causing the stable structural integrity to moan. Though excited, he just sat there with his eyes wide with a closed smile across his lips.

Vaylin jumped up and down, "Yes! You did it!" She Pumped her fist while keeping one hand on the back of his seat. "The droids the be shutting down now, right?"

Ento nodded slightly as their ship began to return towards the ship's surface. The battle of Naboo had hardly begun. Deactivated droids surrounded the a shield bubble in the plains of Theed.

Viceroy was surrounded by Royal Security Forces in the Queen's throne room, deactivated droids decorating the floors of the very palace they trapped themselves in.

The world, in a matter of several hours since their arrival, regained its sovereignty from the Trade Federation. The Naboo people were free, the treacherous Viceroy was in shackles... Just in time for a Republic Consular-Class Cruiser to come out of Hyperspace, carrying Jedi Master Qui Gon Jin and his former Padawan Obiwan Kenobi, along with Jar Jar.