The Queen's entourage returns. "What do you think, Master Jedi?"

"They're as ready as they'll be in the near future. But it would better to not fight the droids at all."

Amidala nods tightly. "I know. We've gotten word from the resistance that my pilots are being held in the palace. We will free them before confronting the Viceroy, and they will attack the control ship. The Gungans have offered us transport to Theed. We will leave when you are ready."

Obi-Wan groans. "Not the bongo again..."

Qui-Gon pats him on the shoulder. "It's faster and more subtle than approaching by air. And you've already seen all the biggest fish, Padawan."

Anakin feels ready.

The bongo is a submarine that can navigate the network of caves that honeycomb Naboo's unusually porous crust. These caves are often inhabited by large sea creatures, and they catch glimpses of a few on their trip.

They pop up only slightly the worse for wear at the base of a waterfall near Theed. From here, it's a matter of sneaking up the cliffs and into the city, avoiding the droid patrols. The droids are fairly stupid, so this isn't very difficult. If one is quiet enough, it's entirely possible to walk directly behind a group without them noticing. This greatly simplifies setting up ambushes to create a gap in the patrols that will let them sneak into the palace.

Anakin, it turns out, is a bit of a murder prodigy. Just a bit. She has an excellent sense for how ambushes, patrols, and the like work, is very quiet when she wants to be, and is quite enjoying tricking the droids. (She acknowledges sneaking into the palace probably requires a minimum of murder, though. The droids might be dumb but if some of them don't report in that'll be incredibly suspicious.)

They just have to get the timing right. With Jedi, this isn't as difficult as it might otherwise be. They manage to sneak into the palace near the hangar. Elesse takes a moment to stretch her senses, and indicates the whereabouts of the pilots. They're being guarded by a droid platoon, who are easy enough to dispatch from surprise. Then, pilots in tow, it's off to the ships. They're all still mostly ready, but some of the pilots are going to have to act as ground crew, so they won't all be able to be launched.

Anakin's pretty sure she knows how to fly these. And they need as many ships as they can get, and she'll probably be more useful in the air anyways...

...Elesse senses a taint of darkness skulking.

Yes, she agrees, it would be better if Anakin joined the space battle. A blue-and-white astromech volunteers to be her co-pilot, and they can start pre-flight in one of the unused fighters.

Anakin has never actually flown this model but that's never stopped her before.

She gets through pre-flight without any bumps.

Elesse and the others hold off a few waves of droids.

And then, as the wing prepares to launch, a figure in dark robes appears in the doorway. Elesse and Qui-Gon move to the fore, lightsabers glowing green and gold. Obi-Wan starts herding the Queen and the others out the far entrance.

A tangible pulse of hatred bursts from the dark one as he ignites a weapon of his own, a bloody crimson saberstaff.

...Elesse better be okay when Anakin gets back. Or else that dark figure is gonna have a very short future. (This doesn't feel like anger or fear. Just certainty.)

She launches with the other ships, attentive to see if anyone from the ground fires at them. She needs to get this done quickly, she realizes - to get the droids out of the equation and so she can return and maybe help.

It's really not calmness she feels, though. It's a wordless 'help' towards the Force, a vicious certainty her friend won't let her down - or at least that Anakin will be strong enough to protect the people she likes.

There's no ground anti-air fire. Either they weren't expecting this or didn't get anything set up.

Once they get up to orbit, things become a bit more exciting. Swarms of fighters boil out of the Federation's ships. Her droid, which introduced itself as R2-D2, chirrups in alarm. The other pilots start coordinating attack patterns over the comm, searching for the control ship.

She goes drifty, looking for the control ship in the Force.

Probably that one, on the far side. Also, she's about to become the target of three separate missile locks.

Welp.

Splitting her attention between comming people, evasive action, and finding the best path to the control ship is hard - she prioritizes avoiding the missile locks, then only lets people know she's got a feeling but not a confirmation about the control ship's location,and she's going to pursue that lead, when and if she gets clear long enough, and then she's plotting a course for the control ship - she needs to make sure she's not shot down, but she also needs to get it fast - she doesn't focus very strongly on returning fire more than she has to -

There's a lot to keep in mind.

This is fun.

R2 has some concerns about the course Anakin's plotting, but she has a good feeling about it.

Well Anakin's not entirely sure this'll work out, but what's life without a little risk?

She promises she'll be as careful as she can be, though.

She follows her plotted course.

There are some calls close enough to make her droid shriek in alarm, but she does get through. The next obstacle she has to contend with is the strength of the battleship's shields. They're far too strong for her weapons to be able to penetrate on their own.

She evaluates both the possibilities for somehow getting past the shields without just shooting them uselessly and for getting backup to her location.

The rest of the Naboo fighters are mired in dogfights and don't have much chance of breaking free cleanly to help her.

If she could get her entire ship inside the shields, she could shoot the ship apart from the inside. The hangars on the ends of the arms would be most straightforward. Or if she's feeling reckless, she could try skimming the edge of the envelope and wait for it to cycle when the turbolasers fire.

Entire ship inside it is.

Resistance getting inside the hangars will be tough... So will skimming the envelope... But she has a good feeling about the latter, and it seems like it'd be faster.

She tries it.

It is very difficult to get the timing right, to not be sliced in half by the shield closing again or be vaporized by a point-blank burst. Her first attempt doesn't work; neither does her second.

Ugh.

She takes a deep breath and goes for the hangars.

These are much easier to get into. The gap when a fighter exits or re-enters is much more forgiving. She can follow a droid coming back for more torpedoes easily enough, and blast it apart for its troubles, which clears the hangar deck nicely.

Time for mayhem and chaos!

(At least mayhem and chaos directed towards disabling the ship.)

There's lots of opportunities for that.

It would be a good idea launch a pair of missiles down that corridor, on a thirty-second fuse with autonav turned on and no targeting parameters set.