Recording V:

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan stood at the holo-transmitter in his room, searching through the Jedi Temple's holo network for his old apprentice's signal. But, as it had been every single time he had checked, there was no connection.

There was another explosion in the distance, but he paid it no mind. With the exception of a handful of Jedi Knights that were on a security rotation, no one was allowed out of the Temple, by decree of the High Jedi Council. The Jedi younglings and padawans who were too young to fight had to be kept safe from the Separatists.

It was his turn off-duty to get some rest. Suddenly, just as he was beginning to nod off from the lack of sleep – as he had been filling his resting hours with trying to get ahold of Anakin to tell him about the mission – the scanners found a match. Contact could now be established on a secure channel.

"Thank the skies!" he muttered, keying in the code that would send his transmission to Anakin.

There was a fizz of static, before the holo network patched him through to the bridge of the Jedi Cruiser Valiancy. Admiral Yularen answered the call.

"General Kenobi," he said in greeting, nodding slightly.

"Admiral," Obi-Wan addressed him respectfully in turn. "I wish to have a word with General Skywalker. Is he off gallivanting somewhere blasting Separatist battle cruisers out of the sky again, or can he have a quick call with an old man?"

Yularen allowed a small smile to crack his indifferent military composure. "He is available, General Kenobi. I'll put him through."

"Thank you."

After a moment, the familiar face of Anakin Skywalker, popularly known as The Hero With No Fear, appeared over the holo. "Old man, huh? That's a new one."

Obi-Wan smiled. He was used to this type of cheek from his former padawan. "And hello to you too, Anakin. But I'm afraid we'll have to save the pleasantries for later. You and the 501st must return to Coruscant immediately."

"Why? We've just started getting the party started her on Koru!" he complained, using the Republic's shortened names for the Neimoidian purse worlds. It was a tactic to prevent confusion between planets when time was of the essence.

"Anakin, listen to me. The Chancellor has been kidnapped." At those words Anakin's eyes widened. At last, a breakthrough. "You and I have been selected by the Jedi Council to get him to safety. And besides," he said, raising an eyebrow, "I'm certain that the 307th and the 293rd are perfectly capable of taking Koru Neimoidia without you."

"All right. I'm on my way. I'll be there within the rotation." Suddenly a mischievous smile appeared on his face. "Oh, and Master?"

"Yes?"

"Don't scrap all the droids without me, okay?"

He chuckled. "I won't, Anakin. I promise you. Kenobi out."

Padme Amidala

After landing the speeder in a nearby alleyway, Padme and Captain Typho crept through the streets past a patrolling droid squadron. She couldn't help but feel angered by such a sight. Coruscant belonged to the Republic; it was not the Droid Army's to walk all over!

Taking care not to be spotted, they darted over to the cover provided by a large and rusted dumpster. The Captain consulted his wrist comm, which he had wired to the HoloNet for the most legitimate sources of information concerning the hostages. The red beacon that he had been following to the last known location of the captive Senators flashed once, then went out.

They had arrived.

She pressed a pair of microbinoculars to her face. The apparent pickup point of the hostages was a Separatist Multi-Troop Transport. The doors were open partway, and, from what she could see, the racks that usually carried the droids had been detached, allowing for a relatively large opening.

"They have at least seven hostages, and about thrice that many droids guarding them," Padme whispered. "I can see Senator Organa, Terr Taneel, Senator Aang, Mon Mothma... And a few others I don't recognize. They're all tied together with binders... We have to get them out of there somehow!"

"Do you have a plan, Milady?" asked Typho, also in a whisper.

"Well, I do have something," she said, taking out her secret weapon. It was a small metal case containing three droid poppers. "They won't affect the Senators, but they will definitely knock out the guards."

"We should be able to knock out about half of them with those droid poppers, and I think that I'll be able to handle the rest." He must have noticed her raised eyebrow, and rephrased immediately. "I mean, we should be able to. But Senator Amidala, are you sure you should be fighting? I cannot risk your life for–"

"Captain, you know me," she said. "I'm an excellent shot. I'll be able to take out those droids as well as anyone. Now shall we?"

He nodded, pulling out a tiny vibroblade that he would be using to cut the Senators free and turning his blaster on. Padme prepped one of her blasters as well, using the other hand to switch on the first droid popper.

As if reaching the end of an unheard countdown, they both jumped out from behind the dumpster and ran towards the transport, firing wildly. She threw the droid popper towards the most concentrated group of battle droids, watching as they were engulfed in the blue semi-sphere that blew their circuits.

She immediately grabbed the second one, shooting down three droids that got too close for comfort before throwing it at another large group. As they went up in blue, she glanced over at Captain Typho. He was holding his own just fine, but...

There were more battle droids coming! One of the droids must have been able to call for reinforcements!

"Captain!" she yelled. "Droids incoming!"

"I'll distract them, milady!" he called back, and he tossed her the vibroblade to free the prisoners. She caught it neatly, then passed him her other blaster. He immediately began to fire at the incoming droids.

She gasped. It looked like two entire platoons!

But that was currently the captain's concern. Right now, she had a job to do: she had to free the hostages.