————
DISCLAIMER
The following is a fan-based FICTION
All Installations of Star Wars are owned by Lucasfilm and Disney. All Installations of Dune belong to Herbert Properties, Legendary Entertainment, and Warner Bros. And any other references to other works all belong to their respective authors/companies and whatnot.
Chapter 2:
This wasn't in the script!
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
————
Location: Theed Royal Palace
Year: 32 BBY
Time: 2:02 P.M
Cade's eyes flew open, a sharp, startled gasp tearing from his throat as instinct drove him to sit up. He barely moved an inch before a hard clack rang out behind him. The sound echoed unnaturally loud in the room, metal on metal, stopping him cold.
'What?' He twisted his head as far as he could, heart hammering, and his breath caught. His wrists were locked behind him with a pair of stuncuffs, the dull metallic bands biting into his skin and anchoring him firmly to an ornate table carved with swirling Naboo designs.
"Ah. The young lord of Atreides is awake."
The voice was low and nasal, carrying a smug edge that made Cade's jaw tighten. He looked up.
The throne room was filled with E4 Baron droids and B1 battledroids standing at attention along the walls. Standing at the center of it all were two mottled green-gray Neimoidians.
One wore flowing red and orange robes, the fabric heavy and ceremonial, a large dark blue necklace resting against his chest. A black cloth tiara, traced in red, sat atop his elongated head. Beside him stood another Neimoidian draped in black robes layered over green, crowned with a tall ceremonial hat, his posture rigid and formal.
Cade's eyes narrowed.
"Nute Gunray," he hissed, straining against the cuffs, muscles tensing as he fought the restraints. "You'll pay for this."
"I think you are mistaken, young Atreides," Gunray replied smugly, his red-gold eyes narrowing as his thin lips curled. "Once my battle droids capture the queen and bring her to me, she will sign the treaty. The Senate will have no choice but to accept Federation control over Naboo."
"And where are my men?" Cade demanded, his voice tight with barely contained fury and fear. His eyes flicked around the throne room again. Beyond Gunray, his fellow Neimoidian, and the droids, the chamber was conspicuously empty.
"Ah, yes," Gunray said lazily, waving a hand. "The loyal and brave men of House Atreides." His sneer deepened. "Those who surrendered will join the Naboo in labor camps. The rest…" He paused, eyes glinting. "Were eliminated."
Cade's heart froze, his breath seizing up like a sharp pain in his chest. Just then, however, the large silver doors at the far end of the throne room slid open with a hiss.
A line of battle droids marched in, escorting several captured Royal Naboo Guards, their uniforms scuffed and faces tense. And walking among them, head held high despite the circumstances, was a young Padmé Amidala.
Padmé's eyes locked onto Cade's slightly bruised form. His helmet had been removed, revealing loose brown hair, and his balaclava had been lowered, exposing a young face that was still developing but already handsome.
"Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness," Nute Gunray said, drawing Padmé's attention back to him. "It is time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the Senate."
Before Padmé could respond, a deep feminine voice rang out from the still-open throne room doors.
"Viceroy!"
Standing there, clad in ornate clothing and ceremonial makeup, was a girl disguised as the Queen of Naboo. Behind her stood nearly three dozen Royal Guards, armed handmaidens, and several Winged Shields and Talons.
"Your occupation here has ended!" she shouted.
She raised her blaster pistol and dropped the two B1s guarding the entrance. The guards behind her opened fire immediately after as she dove to the side, blaster bolts flooding into the throne room and cutting down several more droids.
"After her!" Viceroy Nute Gunray shouted, pointing at the false queen.
A dozen and a half B1 battle droids opened fire and began jogging toward her position. Four E-4 Baron droids advanced with slow, heavy steps, their arm-mounted dual repeating blaster cannons unleashing a continuous storm of crimson bolts. Two of the Baron droids, along with six B1s, remained behind with Gunray and Rune Haako.
"This one is a decoy!" Gunray snarled, pointing angrily at Padmé.
Thinking quickly, Padmé moved to the throne itself and pressed one of the concealed controls embedded in the armrest. A hidden compartment slid open, revealing two Q2 hold-out blaster pistols.
Grabbing one for herself, Padmé took the second pistol and turned to Captain Panaka of the Naboo Royal Guard. "Captain!" she called, tossing him the blaster.
Panaka caught it with ease and immediately targeted the Baron droids. His first two shots struck the nearest one directly in its photoreceptor, sending it crashing into a column before collapsing onto the floor. He pivoted to the second Baron droid, firing three more shots after his first two narrowly missed its photoreceptor, finally landing a clean hit on the third. With only a single blaster bolt left in the pistol's small power pack, Panaka turned and fired over the Viceroy's shoulder, dropping a lone B1.
Padmé hadn't been idle. While Panaka fired, she opened up on the remaining B1s rushing her position, cutting down all five as they advanced under standing orders to keep the queen—and any possible queens—alive.
With the droids neutralized, the five Royal Naboo guards quickly grabbed E-5 blaster rifles from the fallen machines.
"Jam the doors!" Panaka ordered as he slung an E-5 into his hands.
Meanwhile, Padmé knelt beside Cade and examined the stuncuffs securing him to the table. "Who are you?" she asked. "You wear the same armor as the men from House Atreides."
Cade froze, his mind still processing what Gunray had told him. Bragged to him about. The killing of Atreides soldiers, the men that he was responsible for. Even if they treated him harshly and were unsure of his leadership, they followed Cade into battle anyway. And he got them killed for it.
His inner thoughts were interrupted when he felt a few rapid taps on his shoulder. Raising his head, he locked eyes with one Queen Padmé Amidala. "Are you okay? Who are you?"
"Cade Atreides," he grunted as she worked at the controls. "Son of Tyler Atreides. And... I'm fine."
"You're the heir to House Atreides." She said in realization.
"Yeah," Cade replied simply.
"Lotta good that's done me." He whispered harshly under his breath.
"The control mechanism isn't responding," Padmé said, standing and leveling her blaster at the restraints. "I'll have to shoot them off. Don't move."
"Uh—hey—I mean, you could try asking the Viceroy over there—" Cade began.
The blaster cracked, its green bolt striking the stuncuffs dead center and blowing them apart.
"…Or you could just do that," Cade finished with a sigh as he pushed himself to his feet. "Thank you."
Padmé nodded before turning toward the Viceroy and Haako, Cade at her side. "Now, Viceroy," she said firmly, "we will discuss a new treaty."
The Viceroy looked calm—too calm.
Cade's fingers tensed instinctively, his hands curling as he wished for a weapon instead of just his fists. He wanted Gunray dead. The smug smiling son of a bitch who was part of the same organization that had his mother killed. And is the same bug who just bragged about killing the men under his command. Through that rage, Cade could tell, though, that something was wrong. Gunray had a way out of this, or at least the scum thought he did.
"I deeply apologize, Your Highness," Gunray said smoothly, "but I'm afraid you are mistaken."
The massive window behind the throne shattered inward.
Cade reacted on instinct, tackling Padmé out of the way as a heavy shape crashed down where they had been standing moments earlier.
It stood nearly six feet tall, three crab-like legs clacking sharply against the palace floor—a droideka, but unlike any Cade had seen before. Instead of blasters, its arms ended in thick mechanical claws. A thin, light-blue shield flared to life around it as a second grapple droideka landed beside it, both machines charging forward.
One lunged, a claw snapping shut around a guard's E-5 blaster rifle and crushing it in half. Its other claw clamped onto the guard's head with an audible crack before slamming him lifelessly to the floor.
The second grapple droideka rushed another guard, one claw locking around his forearm and wrenching it into an unnatural angle with a brutal snap. The E-5 slipped from the guard's grasp and clattered across the floor. A moment later, the droid seized his head and snapped his neck with a sickening crack.
"Open that door and get Her Highness out of here!" Captain Panaka roared, holding down the trigger of his stolen E-5. Crimson blaster bolts hammered harmlessly against one droideka's shield. Two more guards rushed to his side, their own E-5s pouring a steady tide of blaster bolts into the advancing machines.
The last remaining guard positioned himself at the throne room controls, firing a few hurried shots before slamming his hand down on the panel. The doors hissed open.
Cade surged to his feet with adrenaline and fear flooding his system. Pulling Padmé up with him, he snatched the dropped E-5 blaster rifle off the floor and shouted, "C'mon—run!"
"The Viceroy's right there—we can't run now!" Padmé cried out as she and Cade burst out of the throne room and straight into five B1s.
"Stand behind me, Your Highness!" The guard shouted, leaping forward. He dropped two of the droids before the remaining B1s returned fire.
Cade raised the E-5 and fired alongside him, inwardly cursing not only his shaky hands but the feel of the blaster as well; it was too light, too cheap, too fragile for his liking. Still, it did the job. Moments later, all five B1s lay scattered across the floor in sparking heaps.
Without slowing, the three of them pushed forward. Cade stopped just long enough to rip one of the fallen B1s' blasters free and shove it into Padmé's hands before urging them onward, searching for the false queen and whatever remained of the Royal Guards and House Atreides forces.
"Shit, what now?" Cade and Padmé heard the guard whisper to himself. "What do I do? I can't protect the queen by myself, and I doubt this kid will be of any help."
Cade frowned at the guard's words, but couldn't deny that they had some validity to them. If he was gonna survive this, then he needed to straighten up and keep his head level. If you made a mistake, then you pivot. And right now, with events not playing out as they did in the movie, it was time to pivot and pivot fast.
"We need to find our men," Cade said as they rounded a corner at a jog. "Once we regroup, then we can try to capture the Viceroy."
"He was right there!" Padmé shot back.
"Yeah—and so were those two droideka variants," Anxiousness bubbling forth turned into anger, causing Cade to snap. "Which, if you couldn't tell, were tearing your guards apart!"
Padmé glared at him but didn't argue further. Instead, she asked, breath still tight, "What even were those? They didn't have blasters like normal droidekas, and their shields looked… wrong. I'm not sure."
Thankfully, Cade's past life as a Star Wars nerd meant he knew exactly what they were. Not to mention Warmaster Moone's relentless drills that made sure he knew every type of droid the Federation had in its arsenal from memory. "They're called grapple droidekas," he said grimly. "Rare these days. The reason their shields were weird is that they're weaker than standard droideka shields. Where standard droidekas specialize in suppressive fire, those things are built for close-quarters melee."
"Then how did they get there? Beyond that window is a sheer cliff face!" Padmé exclaimed, confusion sharp in her voice.
"Did you see those metallic claws they had for hands?" Cade asked.
Padmé shuddered at the memory of those same claws closing around her guards' heads. "Y-Yeah."
"They probably used them to scale the wall and lie in wait," Cade said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you took a starfighter up and looked—there'd be dozens of cracks in the palace stone where they climbed."
Before Padmé could respond, the sharp crack of blaster fire echoed ahead, prompting all three to break into a sprint. They skidded to a halt at an already-open doorway, revealing a long hallway that opened out into a small courtyard beyond.
At its center sat a fountain, surrounded by carefully maintained greenery—an old royal garden meant for quiet reflection. Now it was anything but peaceful. The false queen and her remaining guards were pinned down, facing off against ten B1 battledroids, two E4 Baron droids, and a pair of droidekas.
"There they are!" Padmé said urgently, already moving forward. "We have to help them!"
Cade started after her—then froze.
A massive shadow swept across the hallway floor, racing toward the tall glass windows to their side.
"Your Highness, watch out!" Cade shouted, grabbing Padmé and yanking her backward just as the window exploded inward.
Glass shattered across the floor as a deep voom cut through the air, followed by the unmistakable hiss of a lightsaber.
"No fucking way," Cade muttered, his voice unsteady. "He's not supposed to be here."
Through the settling dust and drifting shards of glass, a double-bladed lightsaber burned to life, its red glow flooding the hallway—even with the afternoon sun pouring in through the ruined window and the tall panes lining the wall.
Standing there with a cruel smirk was a red-and-black-skinned Zabrak, bony horns crowning his bald head. His burning gold eyes, rimmed in red, sent a chill down Cade's spine and raised the hair on his arms. Flowing black robes shifted with the gust of wind pouring in through the shattered window.
Darth Maul.
He began to lift his left hand. Cade knew exactly what was coming—Force choke, or worse—and moved instinctively to put himself between Maul and Padmé. However, he didn't. His feet were frozen solid in pure, unadulterated fear.
However, Maul simply didn't have the time. A ferocious shout rang out from outside, snapping Maul's attention away just as a tan-robed blur slammed into him. Maul barely raised his double-bladed lightsaber in time. The clash was violent and immediate, red and blue blades colliding in a rapid storm of motion. The young man's reddish-brown hair caught the sunlight as he drove Maul back step by step.
"We need to get out of here—now," Cade urged, forcing his feet to move now that the oppressive gaze of Darth Maul was no longer on him. Herding Padmé and the guard away from the hall, he glanced back one last time to observe the sheer intensity of their fight. There was no universe where he wanted to be anywhere near an enraged Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul.
Tearing his gaze away, he turned—and froze.
Nine B1s stood directly in front of him.
Acting on pure adrenaline, Cade snapped his E-5 up and fired three quick shots. One droid jerked and collapsed, but the others responded instantly. Red blaster bolts tore through the doorway, forcing Cade to dive hard to his right as the first shots burned into the stone where he'd been standing.
"Move!" he shouted.
The guard lunged left, flattening himself against the wall beside the doorway, while Padmé ducked the opposite direction. Cade slid in beside her, back to the stone, the three of them split along the doorway's edges as blaster fire streaked through the open center.
Bolts snapped past the threshold in rapid bursts, scorching the floor and doorframe, but none of them stepped back into the open.
They waited—listening, breathing, counting the gaps between shots.
"What do we do?!" Padmé asked, her voice tight with fear.
They were losing, and she knew it. Her starfighters were either already gone or about to be. Half an hour had already passed since the hangar was secured, yet the droids were still active. Panaka was probably dead. Most of the Royal Palace Guard likely were too. And if this kept up, Sabé, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and thousands of her people would follow.
Cade swore under his breath.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Padmé and Panaka were meant to lock the Viceroy in the throne room and force new terms. Anakin was supposed to have destroyed the control ship by now. Obi-Wan was supposed to be dueling Maul in the plasma reactors—not here.
Leaning out just enough to fire, Cade squeezed the trigger of his E-5—
Click.
His stomach dropped.
Pulling his arm back, Cade aimed the blaster at the floor, drawing a confused look from Padmé. "What are you—"
She didn't get to finish. The blaster clicked, dry and useless.
Cade stared at it for half a second before rage took over. He slammed the weapon down hard, the cheap casing splitting apart as it struck the stone, components skittering across the floor. Reaching behind his back, he felt a flicker of relief as his hand closed around the familiar grip of his kukri. He yanked it free and thumbed the activation switch. The blade came alive in his hand, vibrating with a low, angry hum.
"Stupid fucking ROB," he muttered under his breath. "This would be so much easier with a system. But nooo. Can't be special like every other reincarnated protagonist, can I? Yeah sure I get born into a wealthy ass family but what's the point of that if one dies and the other abandons me!" Harsh pants left his mouth as a film of rage began to cloud his mind.
Padmé was staring at him now, fear plain on her face. Cade met her eyes and gave a short, firm nod. "Guard."
The guard, who had been casting uneasy glances at his own E-5, snapped his attention to Cade. Their eyes locked.
"I'll carve us a path," Cade said evenly. "You get Her Highness out of here. Link up with any friendlies you can. Try to get her off-world—because at this point, this might already be a lost cause."
"What? It can't be!" Padmé cried, shock and anger breaking through at once. "All of my people—!"
Cade took a deep breath, steadying himself. When he looked back at her, the expression on his face made her falter. There was no panic there. No bravado. Just a flat, resolute calm—like a man who had already accepted how this ended.
"I understand, Your Highness. I really do," he said. "But the guards, Panaka, my men—they've already given their lives to see you safe and your mission completed. If you stay, all of that means nothing."
His brow tightened, anger slipping into his voice. "Their lives will have been wasted. Is that what you want?"
"No—! Of course not!"
"Then fight," Cade said. "Live. And get off this planet alive."
He nodded once toward the guard. "I may not be your queen, but I hope you understand the logic in my words—and follow my orders."
The guard hesitated only a moment before nodding.
He turned back toward the doorway, kukri in hand, and braced himself to charge—
"No."
Cade froze, then staggered slightly as he turned back, eyes wide. "What?"
"I said no," Padmé replied, her voice firm, unyielding. "I will not abandon my people. I understand what you're saying—but I won't give up hope. My pilots will succeed. The Jedi will defeat the Sith. We will capture the Viceroy and secure a new treaty. I refuse to give up. I will stay and fight until we emerge victorious."
Cade stared at her for a long moment, then let out a short, disbelieving chuckle. One which soon turned into a hysterical one. On one hand, he couldn't believe it. But yet, from knowing just what kind of person Padmé was, it also made complete and utter sense.
"Why?" Cade asked. "Why-"
"Because it is not who I am!" She responded firmly and without question. "I am their queen. It is my job to believe in them to get the job done. And even if they don't, I will not abandon my people, my planet to the Viceroy scum and his ilk! I have to have hope!"
Cade sighed. "Hope, huh?" He let out a sardonic chuckle. "Ok then. Fuck it."
If that was her choice, then there was no way he was leaving her. Not only because of what she meant to the future—but because that simply wasn't who he was. Abandoning someone in need wasn't in him. Especially when they refused to give up. And despite how bleak things looked, there was always a chance, no matter how slim.
"But Your Highness," the guard protested, "they outnumber us three to one!"
Cade's lips curled into a sharp grin as he answered before Padmé could. "Then it is an even fight!" Without warning, he surged forward, hope of victory and the desperation for it reignited within him, kukri clenched tight, charging straight through the doorway.
Taking a blaster bolt to the shoulder didn't slow Cade in the slightest. He slammed into the nearest B1, driving it back as his kukri swept across its thin metal neck, slicing clean through. The droid's head clattered away as its body sagged.
Cade caught the falling frame and twisted, the weight dragging at his arms, but he forced it around. With his left hand, he drove the vibrating blade into the B1's back, pinning it, while his right ripped the E-5 from its slack grip.
He surged forward and squeezed the trigger; several blaster bolts struck, dropping another two droids in a burst of sparks. He didn't stop moving. A second squeeze took down the fifth, sixth, and seventh.
The eighth B1 barely had time to react before Cade charged it. He hurled the E-5 aside and leapt, slamming the dead droid's body into it and sending both crashing to the floor. The B1 thrashed, trying to shove the weight off and get its limbs under itself, but Cade was already on top of it.
He tore the kukri free and drove it down into the droid's head.
The B1 jerked once, metal spasming as sparks spat from the wound. Then it went still, its head striking the floor with a hollow clack as the power drained out of it.
Pulling his blade free, Cade rolled backward across the stone floor, blaster bolts scorching the air where his head had been a moment before. He came up on one knee and, without hesitation, snapped his arm forward. The vibro-kukri left his hand in a clean, spinning arc and struck home with pinpoint accuracy, sliding straight into the front of the B1's faceplate.
The droid's E-5 slipped from its fingers and clattered against the floor as the B1 staggered, its limbs twitching out of sync. It swayed for a brief, unstable second before toppling backward and hitting the ground in a lifeless heap.
Cade was already moving. He crossed the short distance, yanked the vibrating blade free, and slid it back into its sheath in one smooth motion before grabbing the droid's E-5 blaster off the floor.
"You're a monster."
The guard's voice made Cade snap around, E-5 coming up on instinct before he lowered it a second later. "Sorry," he said, his rage slowly lessening its hold on him. "You startled me."
The guard stared at him, still trying to process what he'd just seen. "Who trained you? I don't think anyone besides a Trandoshan or a Wookiee could've done that."
Padmé stepped closer, her breathing uneven, a faint flush rising to her face as she looked up at him. Cade was drenched in sweat, brown hair plastered to his forehead, his armor scorched and marked—but still standing. His forest green eyes were sharp, vibrant, alive.
"T-Thank you, Lord Atreides," she said quietly.
Cade laughed, short and surprised, earning a confused look from the guard and an irritated one from Padmé as her cheeks darkened.
"Sorry," he said quickly, waving it off. "Didn't mean it like that. I just haven't been called Lord Atreides in a long time." He shrugged. "It's usually 'young lord' or 'Lord Cade.' Honestly, just call me Cade. I don't really care what people call me anymore."
"Well then, thank you, Cade," Padmé said, her smile returning.
"Of course, your highness," Cade replied, which immediately wiped that smile away.
"That's not fair," she said, prompting a confused look from him. "If I get to call you Cade, then it's only fair that you call me Padmé."
"B-But your highness!" the guard exclaimed behind her, clearly horrified.
"Nope," Padmé said firmly. "It's only fair that, as my savior, he gets to speak to me as an equal. And if he's doing that, then he refers to me by my first name."
Cade smiled. Unbeknownst to him, it was the kind of roguish smirk that made Padmé's cheeks warm. "Well then, Padmé," he said, "as much as I'd love to keep talking, I think it's time we made our exit."
Blaster fire still echoed from the direction Sabé and the remaining Palace Guard were holding, and more troublingly, the clash of lightsabers showed no sign of stopping.
"Yes," Padmé said with a nod. "Let's go."
They rushed down the corridor, all three keeping their heads on a swivel, weapons ready for any droid that might appear.
"Do you know a route that'll take us back to the garden?" Cade asked as they ran.
"Yes! Follow me!" Padmé called, taking a sharp right. Cade and the guard pivoted immediately to keep up.
"The garden is just outside the library," she continued as they moved. "It was built by a previous king. He wanted a place where anyone using the library could step outside and relax—or think. Some people even preferred to read out there instead of inside."
Cade nodded. "So there are two entrances to the library," he said, "and you're leading us to the original one, before the garden was added."
"Yes," Padmé confirmed. "We're almost there. A few more corridors straight ahead, then a left."
All three rounded the corner—only to curse as they spotted several pairs of B1 battle droids and two E4 Baron droids standing guard outside the library, their blasters trained on a small three-man team of Atreides Wing Shields pinned down behind cover.
Without thinking, Cade surged forward. For the first time since he was twelve, he felt a jolt of excitement at the sight of soldiers bearing House Atreides' colors—and Winged Shields, no less. He squeezed the trigger of his E-5 and held it down, crimson bolts lancing out and striking two B1s square in the torso, dropping them where they stood.
He slid in behind a column, chest heaving as he took a brief breath—and then froze.
'Padmé.'
He twisted around, about to shout for her and the guard to follow, only to blink as he came face-to-face with an exhausted Royal Guard and a very angry Queen of Naboo.
"You forgot about me," Padmé said flatly.
"Uh—sorry?" Cade winced, his voice pitching higher than he meant it to.
"Lord Cade!" a Winged Shield shouted, drawing both his attention and Padmé's.
'Thank you,' Cade thought, grateful for the interruption. He turned back toward the fight. "What?!"
"Look!" the Winged Shield called. "The droids—they're deactivated!"
Cade and Padmé stepped out from behind the column, staring at the slumped forms of seven B1s and the two E4 Baron droids, all lifeless and still.
"Holy shit," Cade whispered, stunned. "He did it."
"They did it," Padmé whispered beside him. "They really did it." She said it again, disbelief giving way to joy—then she suddenly turned and threw her arms around Cade. "They did it!"
Cade went bright red, completely unprepared for that. "Uh—uh, yeah!" he laughed, relief and triumph finally breaking through as the weight of the moment hit him. "Wait—it isn't over yet," Cade said suddenly, realization hitting him as he broke away from Padmé and bolted back down the hallway they had come from.
"Cade! Where are you going?" Padmé called after him, confusion clear in her voice.
He slowed just long enough to glance back, determination set hard in his expression. "The Viceroy."
Understanding flashed across Padmé's face. Cade turned to run again—only to stop short as she appeared at his side.
"Then let's go get him," she said, her voice steady. "Together."
Cade stared at her for a heartbeat, stunned, before reality caught up with him. This was Padmé Amidala—the girl who would fall out of a speeding gunship and brush it off like it was nothing, who had stood before the entire Senate at fourteen and demanded justice for her people.
A grin tugged at his lips as he nodded. "Let's go get that son of a bitch."
Padmé smiled back, sharp and resolute.
Without another word, they turned and sprinted toward the throne room.
————
Meanwhile in Space...
Shipmaster Daxton Savage of the HASC Gladius, the first of its class, leaned back in his command chair and let out a relieved breath as the Trade Federation Lucrehulk battleship finally met its end. The massive vessel bloomed into a violent explosion, its hull tearing apart in waves of fluorescent orange and red, streaked with brief flashes of blue as systems failed and structure collapsed and broke apart.
Surviving N-1 starfighters streaked past the Gladius' bridge viewport moments later, banking hard as they descended toward Naboo's atmosphere.
"Wahoo!" one of the crew shouted, the cry sparking laughter and cheers across the bridge. Consoles were slapped, fists raised—celebration rippled through the crew like a released pressure valve.
Daxton allowed it. Just for a moment. There was still far too much left to do.
The universe, however, didn't seem inclined to give them even that.
"Shipmaster," a sensor officer called out, "we've got eight friendly contacts exiting hyperspace!"
Daxton straightened immediately. "Lieutenant, get me in contact with Lord Cade on the ground."
"Sir?"
'Why the hell did I get a bridge full of academy rookies?' Daxton groaned inwardly before snapping, "Get me, Lord Cade. Now."
"Yes, sir!" the lieutenant barked, hands flying across the console.
A soft chime echoed across the bridge. The lieutenant opened his mouth to announce the connection, but stopped as Cade's voice cut in first.
"Shipmaster Savage. What's the situation up there?"
"The Trade Federation battleship is destroyed, milord," Daxton replied crisply. "And we've got friendly forces coming out of hyperspace."
"Reinforcements," Cade said. "Seems my father cares about me after all."
Daxton's brow creased slightly. He knew better. As a personal friend of Cade's father, he knew Tyler hadn't stopped caring—not for a moment. It was the very reason Daxton commanded the Gladius in the first place.
"Have them dispatch a small ground force," Cade continued. "Most of my troops have been…" There was a brief pause. "…killed by the Trade Federation's droids."
Daxton held his voice, allowing a brief moment of silence to pass for the fallen soldiers of House Atreides, before replying, "What's the situation down there, my lord?"
"The Federation's droid forces are shut down and no longer an issue," Cade answered. "The Jedi are dealing with their own problem, and the Queen and I are currently hunting down the Viceroy."
Daxton nodded. "Understood, my lord. I'll relay that to Fleetmaster Acheran." He paused, eyes flicking to the sensor readouts before adding, "I'll have my sensor officers monitor for any ships attempting to leave the surface. The Viceroy won't get away."
The line went silent for a heartbeat before Cade replied, his tone calm, firm, and absolute—leaving no room for debate. "It won't get to that. The Viceroy is mine."
The channel cut.
Almost immediately, the bridge sensors flared as eight ships tore out of hyperspace a few leagues from the Gladius. At their head loomed the massive silhouette of a Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser, its bulk dwarfing the vessels that followed. Three Marauder-class assault corvettes formed a tight escort behind it, with four IPV-1 System Patrol Craft spreading out in a loose screening pattern.
The holotable at the center of the bridge flickered to life, resolving into the blue holographic form of Fleetmaster Acheran, standing roughly eight inches tall. Where Daxton wore a sleek dark-grey officer's dress uniform—badges and ribbons neatly aligned across his chest, a matching naval cap trimmed in white and gold—Acheran appeared in armor similar to that of the Atreides Winged Shields. He stood bald and helmetless, revealing a stern expression and a single cybernetic eye that glowed a sharp, unmistakable green.
"Fleetmaster Acheran," Daxton greeted, giving a short, respectful nod toward the holotable.
"Shipmaster Savage," Acheran replied, returning the gesture with a slight inclination of his head. His cybernetic eye glinted faintly as he added, "What's the situation?"
————
Location: Theed Royal Palace
Year: 32 BBY
Time: 2:34 P.M
"Panaka!" Padmé cried out as she and Cade burst into the throne room.
Padmé made a beeline for the slumped form of Captain Panaka, skidding to her knees beside him, while Cade pivoted in place, sweeping the room with his E-5, finger tight on the trigger. The throne room was silent—too silent. No living enemies remained. Only the bodies of four fallen Naboo Royal Guards, Panaka himself, six scrapped B1s, two destroyed E4 Baron droids, and—surprisingly—one destroyed grapple droideka littered the floor.
"They've escaped!" Cade shouted, rage surging through him.
Hatred burned hot in his chest—hatred for the Trade Federation, and for Nute Gunray above all others. Cade remembered the Nemodian's visit to Caladan when he had first taken the mantle of Viceroy. Gunray's arrogance, his oily words and false smiles, had left a lasting impression on Cade even as a child—and not a good one. His father had flatly rejected Gunray's attempts to buy the loyalty of House Atreides through trade concessions and military contracts.
It had been Cade's mother who had gone further.
She had openly voiced her distrust of Gunray—of the way he clawed his way into power, of the corruption that followed in his wake. That defiance had drawn his attention. And only months later, a red-and-black assassin droid of Trade Federation make was discovered attempting to flee Caladan… shortly after Cade's pregnant mother was found dead.
Padmé wiped her tears away as she gently closed Captain Panaka's eyes. Her jaw tightened, resolve replacing grief as she rose and retrieved her E-5 from the floor.
"There's a side door over here—it leads to my chambers!" she called out, already moving toward a section of the wall. A simple control panel sat flush against the stone.
Cade's eyes narrowed.
He spotted it immediately—subtle seams in the marble, faint indentations forming the outline of a concealed doorway, and a barely noticeable shift in the stone's coloration. The kind of detail most people would miss unless they knew what they were looking for.
Forcing his anger down, Cade nodded once.
"Smart."
The door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a long hallway beyond. Lying just inside was the deactivated form of the second grapple droideka, its clawed limbs splayed awkwardly across the floor. Not far past it—moving far too slowly for men fleeing for their lives—were Nute Gunray and Rune Haako.
"VICEROY!" Cade roared.
He broke into a sprint, boots pounding against the stone, drawing a sharp look of surprise from Padmé as he surged past her.
"Ah! Young Lord Atre—AHH!" Gunray squealed, the words cut short as Cade slammed into him, driving the Viceroy hard into the floor.
"Shut up, you slug!" Cade snarled, hammering his fist into Gunray's face. The crack echoed down the hall. In one smooth motion, Cade yanked his kukri free and pressed the vibrating blade against the Viceroy's throat. "You have a treaty to sign, you pathetic piece of shit."
"L-Let go of the Viceroy!"
Cade glanced up and to his right, eyes locking onto the unsteady muzzle of an E-5 blaster rifle clenched in Rune Haako's trembling hands. Disdain flashed across Cade's face—followed by a flicker of fear.
Haako's shaking, the terror plain in his wide eyes, the way his whole body seemed on the verge of folding—it disgusted Cade. It reminded him of his past self. Of hesitation. Of weakness. Of a life lived drifting from one safe, meaningless step to the next. Not anymore. In this life, he had sworn to live with purpose, with strength, with resolve. Only the strong survived—whether through power, will, or conviction.
The fear came not from Haako himself, but from the possibility that this coward might still pull the trigger and end everything here.
Thankfully, Cade wasn't alone.
"Put the blaster down!" Padmé shouted.
Haako flinched.
Cade moved instantly.
He lunged, snatching the front of the E-5 and wrenching it aside just a millisecond before it fired. The blaster bolt scorched harmlessly into the wall as Cade ripped the rifle from Haako's grip, sending it clattering across the floor.
Immediately, Padmé surged forward, her smaller frame moving with sudden force as she shoved Haako back and leveled her blaster at his chest.
"Back up."
Cade turned his attention back to Nute Gunray, the Viceroy's face already swelling and smeared with blood. A slow, predatory grin spread across Cade's face as he tightened his grip just enough to remind Gunray of the blade at his throat.
"Well then," Cade said smugly, his tone edged with satisfaction, "let's go rewrite that treaty, shall we?"
————
A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of my fic: Star Wars: House Atreides! Thank you all who commented and for the feedback! I did go back and change the bottom half of the chapter a little bit, but that was all! I answered some of the questions I saw in the chapter comments to the best of my ability. Again, thank you to all who posted actual advice or criticism; it really helps. As long as the criticism is good, that is, and not just shitting on the story without a reason. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll see you later! Peace!