Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo

Chapter 32

Explosions rocked the palace, and the sound of a ship soring by at high speeds could be heard.

Rune was more tired than afraid as he registered this, sitting up with a frown. That wasn't a vulture droid. He wasn't a mechanic by any means, but he had heard their engines often enough that their noise was distinct to his hearing; Which could only mean that not only had the battle begun, but it had been brought to Theed.

He stood, instinctively masking his limp as he made his way to a window, peering out at the courtyard from the side.

There was a small army of B1 Battle droids out there, maybe a hundred, along with four AATs. More than enough to hold off any force the resistance of Naboo could muster.

If only that was what they were facing.

All the droids were firing blast after blast, all the bolts flying down the main street. It was enough blistering fire to pin and wear at almost any foe.

There before them, in all his dark glory, was Darth Vader. He was walking, just walking towards the droids as if they were no threat at all. And for all their firepower, they weren't. Every bolt, every streak of energy was deflected away by his red lightsaber. As steady as Vader's pace was, Rune could barely perceive the movement of the blade, moving with such precision and speed to intercept every shot that would have hit him.

Hit him, or the Queen trailing in his shadow.

Rune could hardly believe it. Was Darth Vader so powerful, and confident in that power, that he thought he could protect the Queen of Naboo from every attack? It would only take one to kill her, one time he would need to miss.

But Rune soon realized that the one shot needed was a remote, almost improbable occurrence. Vader didn't falter, didn't hesitate, and he didn't miss a single attack aimed for the Queen. How, Rune didn't know, didn't understand. He barely could understand the Jedi and their abilities, let alone a Sith's.

Still, there was one hope left. The closer Vader came to the courtyard, the more accurate the droids would become. And once he got close enough, the AATs could open fire. A lightsaber could not block an AAT's cannon.

Yet, faintly, he wondered, what was the point of this risk? Was this just a way of showing them his might, how outclassed they were? Or was Vader playing at something else?

The AATs took aim, and Vader came to a halt at the entrance of the courtyard. The blaster rifles continued to fire, the tanks opened fire, Vader raised his hand, and...

They stopped.

Rune nearly fell backward in shock, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. But he looked again, and reality had not changed from this impossible sight before him: The rounds of the repulsor tanks' heavy lasers were frozen in midair, like long red neon lights, surrounded by the equally frozen rounds of the blaster rifles. If he didn't know any better, he would have looked at it as some strange artistic display, the streaks of red growing thicker and thicker, held in place by nothing.

Nothing, but the will and power of Darth Vader.

With a swipe of his hand, Vader sent the energy attacks flying back in reverse, like a swarm of hellfire on the battle droids. They were slaughtered in an instant. There were two, maybe three dozen droids left. One of the tanks exploded, two of the others were too badly damaged; only one had not been struck down by its own cannon shot.

If those droids were capable of imitating fear, Rune was sure they would have fled from the sheer devastation of their numbers.

"Sir."

He turned, seeing a battle droid, a command unit at that, with two droidekas. He didn't respond, simply waiting for the machine to explain itself.

"The Viceroy has ordered us to move you to a safer location," the OM droid explained.