Marvel x Star Wars: Avengers in the Clone Wars

"My lady, are you absolutely certain that the intelligence provided by Chancellor Palpatine is reliable?" C-3PO asked with obvious anxiety, his golden protocol droid frame reflecting his nervous state.

Padmé glanced at her companion and nodded with conviction. "Yes, Threepio. The leadership of the Banking Clan secretly contacted him through back channels." She managed a hopeful smile. "If they're genuinely willing to withdraw from the Separatist Alliance, it could significantly shorten this war and spare countless lives from further suffering. Even if there's only a one percent chance of success, we have to try."

"We are approaching the designated coordinates for the Banking Clan rendezvous," the pilot reported to Padmé from the cockpit.

Padmé had envisioned encountering a vast and prosperous Banking Clan fleet, with elegant diplomatic vessels carrying high-ranking executives ready to negotiate. Instead—

"Oh my!" C-3PO cried out in horror.

The reality was starkly different. At the coordinates Palpatine had provided, there was nothing but empty space and the burning wreckage of massive starships drifting like metallic ghosts.

"This—this can't be right!" Padmé stammered in equal shock and growing alarm. "That's a Separatist battleship!"

Aboard the Malevolence, Padmé's unexpected arrival had been detected by the ship's sensors and immediately reported to General Grievous. "Sir, we are detecting a small civilian craft approaching our forward section."

"Excellent," Grievous said with sinister satisfaction, his mechanical voice carrying obvious malice. "We now have our hostage."

Padmé's pilot pulled hard on the controls, barely avoiding a collision with the massive enemy warship looming before them, and immediately began transmitting distress signals on all Republic frequencies.

"Mayday, mayday," Padmé called frantically over the communication system. "This is Senator Padmé Amidala. I have inadvertently entered the defensive perimeter of an enemy battleship. Are there any Republic forces in this sector?"

On the Republic command ship, Ahsoka, who had been monitoring communications traffic near the Malevolence, received this unexpected distress transmission.

"Master," she called to Anakin with urgency, "I'm receiving a distress signal from near the enemy vessel. It's coming from the ship that just dropped out of hyperspace."

"Enemy reinforcements?" Anakin asked with immediate tactical concern.

Ahsoka shook her head quickly. "No, Master. The vessel appears to be a Naboo diplomatic transport."

Anakin suddenly realized the worst-case scenario and quickly issued orders: "All ships, cease fire immediately!"

Steve muttered to himself with growing understanding, "Naboo? Isn't that Senator Amidala's homeworld? The woman we helped during the invasion?"

"What is a civilian doing in the middle of an active combat zone?" Obi-Wan demanded with obvious frustration.

"We're receiving their distress transmission now," Ahsoka reported.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Senator Padmé Amidala requesting immediate assistance from any Republic forces in range!"

The distress call came through again, and Anakin felt his blood turn to ice. He stepped away from the others and activated his personal communicator to establish a private channel with Padmé.

"Padmé, what are you doing out here?" Anakin asked with barely controlled worry and fear.

"I was sent here on a diplomatic mission," Padmé replied, her voice tense but determined. "The Chancellor informed me that the Banking Clan wanted to negotiate secretly with the Republic. I came here hoping to persuade them to leave the Confederacy and help end this war more quickly."

"You need to get out of there immediately!" Anakin said, his voice rising with panic.

Padmé was beginning to realize something was terribly wrong when her ship suddenly shook violently under some external force. She asked C-3PO nervously, "Have we been hit by enemy fire?"

"I'm afraid... it's considerably worse than that, my lady."

"Padmé, what's happening?" Anakin asked desperately, while the other commanders gathered around him with growing concern.

"I've been caught in a tractor beam and pulled into the Separatist battleship," Padmé replied with grim realization. "It appears they knew I was coming here. I cannot allow myself to become a bargaining chip for the Separatists to use against you. Anakin, you must ignore my situation and continue your attack. You have to destroy this ship!"

Anakin couldn't bear the thought of his wife dying, and said urgently, "Admiral Yularen, order all ships to cease fire immediately."

The Admiral nodded with bitter understanding. This crisis had occurred just when the Malevolence was finally within their grasp.

"What are our options now?" Steve asked Anakin with genuine concern.

Anakin clenched his fists in silent frustration, unable to formulate an immediate answer. He couldn't ignore Padmé's safety and continue the attack with full force, but he also couldn't accept simply allowing the Malevolence and Grievous to escape unpunished. The clone troopers who had died in this engagement deserved better than that.

Padmé understood at this point that this had been an elaborate trap designed specifically to target her and Anakin, and she slammed her fist against the control console in anger and self-recrimination.

On the bridge of the Malevolence, Grievous received the welcome news that the Republic Star Destroyers had ceased their bombardment.

Grievous's mood immediately improved dramatically. With Padmé as his hostage, the Jedi would be forced to halt their attack, giving his repair crews sufficient time to restore the hyperdrive systems. He issued new orders: "Have the maintenance teams continue emergency repairs on the hyperdrive. It must be operational immediately!"

Grievous then boarded a personal transport and headed for the Malevolence's main hangar bay. He wanted to see the hostage who had turned the tide of this engagement, and during the journey he imagined what rewards he would receive for this strategic victory.

After arriving at the hangar, Grievous proceeded to locate Padmé with several battle droid escorts, anticipating how terrified and helpless she would appear. The thought filled him with sadistic excitement.

But none of the scenarios he had imagined came to pass—because she wasn't there!

"Where is she?" Grievous roared in fury. "Search every compartment of this ship until you find her!"

At that moment, a battle droid reported additional catastrophic news: "General, the hyperdrive systems are experiencing a cascade failure and may self-destruct."

Grievous was so enraged by this series of disasters that he nearly destroyed himself in his mechanical fury.

Padmé was currently hiding in a maintenance alcove within the Malevolence's hangar bay. Observing the furious Grievous and the battle droids running around in frantic confusion, she almost couldn't suppress a laugh. She had overheard the droid's report about the hyperdrive malfunction, and now she focused her thoughts on planning an escape route.

Meanwhile, Anakin took a deep breath to control his frustration and turned away from the bridge.

"Where are you going?" Obi-Wan asked with concern.

"Someone has to rescue her," Anakin replied without looking back.

"I'm going with you," Steve declared firmly.

"Captain Rogers, that's not necessary," Obi-Wan said with genuine appreciation. "You and your team have already done more than enough for us today."

"Obi-Wan, I appreciate your concern, but Senator Amidala helped us when we first arrived in this galaxy," Steve replied with unwavering determination. "I can't just stand by and watch. Besides her role as a senator, she's a civilian in danger. We need to get her out of there as quickly as possible."

Anakin smiled gratefully when he heard Steve's words and said, "Thank you for your support, Steve."

In the hangar bay of the Republic command ship, Sam and Rhodey stood beside several clone pilots, receiving intensive instruction on starship flight operations.

"This control manages the ship's velocity, and this one handles weapon systems..." one of the Shadow Squadron clones explained patiently.

Sam and Rhodey nodded attentively, using their suit's recording systems to document the operational procedures for future reference and study.

Several times, the clone instructor asked them to repeat the steps he had just explained, and he was genuinely pleased to see that both men had memorized all the technical details accurately.

They now possessed basic knowledge of spacecraft operations and harbored hopes of one day piloting a ship back to Earth. Although they understood the operating procedures theoretically, they all recognized that knowing how to do something and actually executing it successfully were entirely different challenges. Despite this reality, the clone pilots were impressed by how quickly they learned and their remarkable progress.

Before the clone instructor could continue his technical briefing, everyone noticed Anakin and Steve approaching their group.

"Sam, Rhodey, could I ask for your assistance?" Anakin requested.

The two men exchanged glances and asked with curiosity, "What's the situation?"

"We're organizing a rescue operation," Steve explained. "Senator Amidala is currently aboard the Malevolence. She's in immediate danger and we need to extract her safely."

"Amidala? The woman we helped back on Naboo?" Sam asked for confirmation.

Steve nodded affirmatively.

"How did she end up on an enemy warship?" Rhodey asked with obvious confusion.

"This appears to have been a carefully orchestrated trap," Anakin said as he led the group toward a particular vessel. The ship he approached was the Twilight, a battered G9 rigger freighter that Anakin and Ahsoka had appropriated during their escape from Teth. Anakin had frequently used this inconspicuous vessel for "unofficial missions" because it would be inappropriate to use Republic-marked ships for certain covert operations, but it would serve perfectly for their current needs.

"We don't know all the details yet, but that's no longer the priority," Anakin said as they walked.

"I assume you've developed a sophisticated plan for rescuing the Senator," Obi-Wan observed.

"Absolutely," Anakin replied with characteristic confidence as they boarded the Twilight.

"But do we have a contingency plan?" Obi-Wan added with concern. "Anakin, we must ensure this rescue operation has the highest possible chance of success."

Anakin shook his head and said with unwavering confidence, "I do have a plan for boarding the Malevolence."

"Really?" Sam asked with interest.

"The enemy's sensor systems are apparently damaged from our previous attack, so we'll approach from behind the Malevolence and dock at their emergency airlock," Anakin explained simply.

"Wait, what?" Rhodey asked in disbelief. "That's your sophisticated plan? Just fly over there openly and hope they don't detect us?"

"Well... essentially, yes, but trust me—nothing will go wrong," Anakin assured them.

"Oh, this plan is absolutely brilliant," Sam said with heavy sarcasm.

"Actually, this isn't the worst plan I've ever heard," Scott agreed with similar irony.

Anakin ignored the sarcastic commentary from Sam and Scott, quickly settling into the pilot's seat and beginning the engine startup sequence. "Let's get moving."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more than 60 chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~