Several ships, which seemed to blend into the darkness of space thanks to simple visual camouflage, slowly began accelerating toward the giant looming on the horizon.
If the Lucrehulk’s sensors had been functioning normally, they would have been detected the moment they ignited their engines.
However, because of a certain interference, the systems completely ignored their presence.
Each of the eight ships carried a strike team of over a dozen soldiers equipped with heavy blasters, armor, breaching charges, and close-quarters combat gear.
Their mission was simple—to board the ship, seize their assigned sectors, and hold them until the entire vessel was under control.
None of them expected an easy mission.
They knew that if the alarm was raised too early, they might never return.
Every one of them knew that if they died, their family would not be left alone.
Vardis had never broken a promise.
And if they survived…
none of them would ever have to worry about credits for the rest of their lives.
There was no fear in their eyes.
Only determination burned within them.
The ships slowly approached the previously designated hangar.
It was located on the side opposite the planet, so there were no Naboo starfighters or Vulture Droids fighting along their route.
As a result, despite their slow speed, they encountered no obstacles.
When they were only a few hundred meters from the landing zone, the droid Anakin had connected to the system detected their arrival through the hangar’s sensors.
It immediately opened the entrance to its full width.
It was the very same hangar Anakin had flown into earlier.
One transport after another entered the hangar, landing side by side in perfectly designated positions.
Thanks to Anakin’s actions, there were no droids left inside.
Interestingly, no one had yet discovered the destruction he had caused earlier.
Apparently, the battle on the planet’s surface and the fight against the Naboo starfighters had occupied most of the crew’s attention.
Their negligence and lack of competence were truly astonishing.
The plan called for the patrols to be temporarily redirected, yet not a single one even came close to the hangar.
The transports’ ramps opened, and the commandos began disembarking, aiming their weapons while covering one another.
In full combat readiness, they quickly secured every entrance to the hangar.
Seeing no resistance whatsoever, all eight squad commanders nodded in confirmation, and each team moved toward its previously assigned sector.
The three main assault teams—Alpha-1 under the command of Major Kael Draven, Alpha-2 led by Lieutenant Mira Voss, and Alpha-3 commanded by Lieutenant Dren Korr—along with several specialized technicians, advanced toward the bridge, moving through the corridors in complete silence like ghosts.
Beta Squad, commanded by Lieutenant Ren Tarken, headed toward the control node.
Their mission was to secure Anakin and the control node itself.
Delta Squad, commanded by Lieutenant Oris Vel, moved toward the reactor to secure it and prevent any possible attempt to self-destruct the ship.
Echo Squad, commanded by Lieutenant Lira Nox, advanced toward the hangars to prevent the crew from escaping and block any attempt to launch departing craft.
Foxtrot Squad, consisting of two teams and commanded by Lieutenant Gaven Roak, moved toward the security center to seize control of the surveillance systems and the blast doors.
[ANAKIN POV]
When the droid I had connected to the console began beeping, I immediately understood that it was the agreed signal.
The soldiers had begun the operation, and, so far, everything was going even better than we had planned.
A moment later, the droid began transmitting the first reports.
> “All teams have safely left the hangar and are moving toward their designated objectives.”
The next few minutes would determine whether we would succeed or fail.
For the first time in my life, I felt this kind of tension.
I knew for certain that several people would die.
I just didn’t know how many lives we would have to sacrifice for this ship.
Thanks to the internal communication network we had connected to the ship’s systems, I was receiving constant updates on the operation’s progress.
[POV MAJOR KAEL DRAVEN – ALPHA-1]
Major Kael Draven raised a clenched fist.
The entire squad stopped instantly.
A four-man B1 droid patrol emerged from a side corridor ahead of them.
Draven made a brief hand signal.
Four bolts of superheated gas were fired almost simultaneously.
The droids collapsed onto the deck without even managing to transmit an alarm.
“Clear the way.
Keep moving.”
Alpha advanced once more.
There were fewer and fewer corridors separating them from the bridge.
The operation was going almost too smoothly.
[POV LIEUTENANT REN TARKEN – BETA]
Ren Tarken checked the holographic map.
“Two more intersections.”
The soldiers moved quickly, but without rushing.
Every corner was checked twice.
Their mission was unusual.
They had been ordered to protect a single nine-year-old child.
Ren still didn’t understand why Vardis considered that child one of the highest-priority objectives of the entire operation.
But he trusted his commander.
If those were his orders, he intended to carry them out.
[POV LIEUTENANT ORIS VEL – DELTA]
The doors to the reactor section opened without resistance.
More than a dozen Trade Federation technicians turned around in surprise.
“Don’t move!”
Blasters were instantly aimed at the crew.
Not a single technician even attempted to reach for the alarm.
Within seconds, they were all restrained with binding cuffs.
“Reactor secured,” Oris reported.
[POV LIEUTENANT LIRA NOX – ECHO]
Lira carefully peeked around the corner.
The hangar was full.
Dozens of transports.
Hundreds of B1 battle droids.
Several B2s.
Droidekas.
One shot would be enough to unleash absolute chaos.
“Take cover.
We can’t secure this area yet.”
Her soldiers looked at her in surprise.
“We wait.
Not yet.”
[POV LIEUTENANT GAVEN ROAK – FOXTROT]
The first surveillance center fell even faster than the plan had predicted.
Two operators were subdued without a single shot being fired.
The technicians immediately connected their own modules to the consoles.
The monitors began going dark one after another.
“Sector Seven surveillance secured.”
Roak smiled to himself.
“Let’s hope it stays this way.”
[POV LUCREHULK – BRIDGE]
One of the technicians responsible for monitoring the hangars approached his commanding officer.
“Sir, I’ve got some unusual data.
I’ve been analyzing it for several minutes now, but I still haven’t been able to determine where it came from.”
The commander looked away from the holograms displaying the battle on the planet’s surface and the dogfight in space.
He was clearly irritated at being interrupted at such a moment.
“What is it?”
“One of the lower-level hangars opened for several minutes and then, without any explanation, closed again.
I have no authorization log and no record of any craft landing or departing.”
“Verify it with the droids stationed there.”
The technician swallowed.
“That’s…
exactly the problem, sir.
They’re not responding.”
The commander immediately turned toward him.
“What do you mean, they’re not responding?”
“That’s why I’m reporting it.
There’s a high probability that we’ve suffered a boarding.”
“We also have a problem with the cameras.
I’ve lost all visual feed from Sector Seven.”
Silence fell across the bridge for a brief moment.
“Send battle droid units to confirm whether we’ve actually been boarded and determine who’s behind it.”
The commander looked at the holographic map of the ship.
“Secure the bridge.
Dispatch additional units to the reactor and the primary control systems as well.”
“Have the nearest units report here immediately.”
[POV MAJOR KAEL DRAVEN – ALPHA-1]
With only a dozen meters left before reaching the bridge, Major Kael Draven began to feel an unpleasant sense of foreboding.
The operation had been going far too smoothly.
And it was as if the universe itself had decided to answer his concerns.
The moment the first two scouts cautiously peeked around the corner, they were torn apart by dozens of blaster bolts in a fraction of a second.
The wall behind them glowed from the impacts, and all that remained of the two soldiers were charred bodies.
“Contact!” the major roared.
“Take positions!
Open fire!
Use breaching charges if necessary!
We’ve been compromised!
Either we break through to the bridge, or we’ll be drowned by endless waves of enemies!”
Behind them, the blast door began to close, as if to emphasize that there was no turning back.
There was only one road to survival.
Victory.
[ANAKIN POV]
I noticed that two of the dots on the display suddenly disappeared.
That meant we had our first casualties.
“Damn…”
Soon they would discover that this control node had been compromised and cut me off from the systems.
I might as well use it until the very end.
I looked at R2-D2.
“R2, can you hack into systems?”
“Bee…
beep!”
“Great.
Try to take control of the blast doors and lock as many droids away from the bridge as possible.
Then burn out the systems.
It may be our only chance.”
“Leave only the route for the squad heading toward us and the path leading to the bridge.
Get the positions of our other units from our friend, and try not to trap any of them.”
A few seconds later…
R2-D2 immediately connected to the systems.
Thanks to the high-level access provided by the captured control node, he gained access to the less protected systems responsible for the ship’s blast doors and internal doors without much difficulty.
Moments later, it seemed as though the entire Lucrehulk had come alive.
Hundreds of doors and blast doors began closing simultaneously, sealing off sector after sector throughout the ship.
[POV LUCREHULK – BRIDGE]
Alarms immediately began blaring across the bridge.
“Unauthorized access to the blast door and door control systems!
Attempted access to the sensors and part of the shield systems!
The transmission is originating from one of the control nodes!”
The commander spun toward the technicians.
“Disconnect that control node from the main systems immediately!
And open those blast doors!
Without them, our droids won’t be able to reach the reinforcements!”
The technician frantically scanned the incoming status reports.
“We can’t, sir!
Someone is burning out all the actuators and systems responsible for opening the doors.
Even after disconnecting the control node, most of the blast doors will remain sealed!”
“Send every unit that can still reach that location!”
“The one responsible for this will regret ever being born.”
[ANAKIN POV]
Suddenly, the console lost all power.
Every indicator disappeared, and the display instantly went black.
R2-D2 let out a sharp beep after being hit by a feedback surge and immediately disconnected from the port.
“They’ve cut us off…” I sighed.
“Alright, we’re leaving.
Everything depends on Major Kael now.
There’s nothing more we can do.”
We were just about to leave the control node when I almost collided with a soldier peering inside.
“Greetings.
I’m Lieutenant Ren Tarken, commander of Beta Squad.
I’m responsible for your protection.
Come with us.
My orders are to keep you safe.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Good.
Then let’s head toward the bridge.
R2-D2 left us an open route.
Maybe we’ll still be able to help Major Kael.”
…
Autor note
Let me know how the planning went I definitely burned way too many brain cells mapping this out😵💫.
…
Interesting facts about the Star Wars universe
The Galactic Republic existed for over 25,000 years.
By the time of The Phantom Menace, the Republic had already survived for millennia, making it one of the longest-lasting governments in science fiction.
Hyperspace travel depends on carefully mapped hyperlanes.
Ships usually cannot jump safely through unexplored space because even a tiny collision with a star, planet, or black hole at hyperspace speeds would be catastrophic.
This is why scouts spent centuries charting safe routes across the galaxy.
Most battle droids are intentionally limited.
After numerous historical incidents involving highly independent droids, manufacturers deliberately restricted the intelligence of mass-produced droids.
Regular memory wipes were also performed to prevent them from developing full personalities.
The galaxy contains over one million inhabited worlds.
Despite its enormous size, only a fraction of all star systems are settled.
The Unknown Regions remained largely unexplored because of dangerous hyperspace anomalies, gravity wells, and constantly shifting routes.