Star Wars fic: "Queen's Gambit" (21: Blood on the Scales)

[bedlamsbard]

Queen's Gambit (215193 words) by bedlamsbard
Chapters: 22/?
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Dooku (Star Wars), Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Mace Windu, Yoda, Bail Organa, Ahsoka Tano, Quinlan Vos, Barriss Offee, Plo Koon
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Parallel Universes
Series: Part 2 of Ouroboros
Summary:

Civil war threatens the galaxy. Hundreds of star systems have declared their intentions to leave the Republic and form a Confederacy of Independent Systems.

In the hopes of securing a quick peace, the Jedi Council has dispatched two Jedi to capture or kill the leaders of the separatist movement, Queen Amidala of Naboo and her lover, the former Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Into this period of conflict have come four refugees from another universe, fleeing a devastating massacre triggered by the death of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Sith lord Darth Sidious, at the hands of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker…

*

Hundreds of ships appeared against the blackness of space – massive, wedge-shaped star destroyers and attack cruisers, oblong dreadnaughts and star frigates, smaller corvettes and heavy cruisers, and, protected by the capital ships, the assault carriers within whose bellies rested tanks, walkers, gunships, and most importantly, the clone troopers and Jedi Knights waiting to make their assault on the planet’s surface. All of them came out of hyperspace in a matter of seconds, blacking out the stars behind them. It was the largest war fleet that the Galactic Republic had fielded since the days of the Old Republic, the last time that the Republic itself had gone to war.

Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin watched the Naboo Home Fleet scramble to respond from the bridge of the Republic flagship Leviathan. All around him, watch-standers called out reports on the Naboo home defense systems. A nearby orbital platform, its sensor display readings showing its hasty repair after being damaged in the battle with the Trade Federation, got off a burst of laserfire that splattered uselessly across the shields of the nearest star frigate before being destroyed by the ship in question. A pair of Naboo N-1 Viper starfighters, their purpose this far out from the Home Fleet unknown, bent over backwards in their haste to get back to the protection of their capital ships, darting amongst the laserfire leveled at them. One fighter got away; the other exploded in a burst of energy that barely blipped on Tarkin’s screens.

The Republic fleet had come in very close to the planet of Naboo, almost dangerously close. The Home Fleet, spread out along their usual defensive perimeter, had only a few minutes to respond before the Republic fleet could launch gunships full of clone troopers and Jedi Knights; the assault carriers, bulkier and more vulnerable than the small gunships, would hang back until the path had been cleared for them.

“Launch the targeted orbital bombardment,” he ordered, watching as the command was acknowledged. Missiles sped out from the Republic fleet, raining down on Naboo and its occupied moons. It wasn’t the kind of bombardment Tarkin would have preferred, but it would reduce the planetary defense grid to manageable levels so that the invasion force could launch.

“Incoming ordnance!” a watch-stander announced. Leviathan’s shields lit up in front of the viewport as laserfire and missiles rained down on the fleet, the Naboo Home Fleet moving predictably to repulse the Republic fleet. Tarkin felt the ship shudder around him from the impact of the shots.