( 29 BBY )
It had just passed midnight when the Outer Patrols first encountered the intruder. The Palace came alive with activity as the word went out, servants rushing about seeking shelter, and the drumming boots of the House Guard were heard in every corner of the building. The armoury was filled with the sound of metallic clicking as weapons were checked in loaded, and armour being strapped into place.
Tan'ya wasn't surprised to learn that the intruder had been caught by one of the many interlocking and crisscrossing patrols that went up and down the mountainside, but she was surprised to hear that they had a red lightsaber. Practically a signed guarantee that they were a Sith. The Count's family was the obvious target for the assassin, and so the word was put out immediately to evacuate Athemeene, Ideon, and Madalee. The only one of Tan'ya's siblings not present was Kenth who was safe in the New Temple.
Of course Tan'ya was to evacuate as well, but she paused long enough to strap on her armour first. The heavy plates of sacanium steel and plastoid were unfamiliar, but they would be enough to stop a blow or two from a lightsaber. She also grabbed a scattergun. The primitive weapons manufactured in the villages were hopelessly crude, but against the Sith the spray of metal grains had no risk of being deflected back at Tan'ya or her men, who were all similarly arming themselves.
If there had been a better legal option on the Galactic market, Tan'ya would have chosen it, but none existed. If Tan'ya was going to arm her men with better scatterguns in the future, she would need to build the entire industry domestically on Serenno. There just hadn't been time.
Tan'ya cursed, feeling like she never had enough time.
Briefly, she felt her father's concerned mind watching, but he could do nothing for her from where he was on Phindar.
"Call up the Reservists." Tan'ya ordered. "Any base that can get their speeders here in the next five minutes."
Individually, Sith were usually more powerful than Jedi. Though there were exceptions, the successes of the Jedi in the past had been based around their ability to cooperate with each other in large numbers that the Sith could usually only dream of. Maybe If Tan'ya had half a dozen jedi working with her, she'd feel more confident about fighting off this assassin, but she didn't even have Sturn! The useless old fool had left by himself in the middle of the night, mere hours before.
Where he had gone, Tan'ya had no idea, but no one could reach him. This whole thing stank of a conspiracy. If Tan'ya ever got her hands on Sturn again she'd have him shot! As gratifying as that might be, Tan'ya focussed her attention on buying enough time for her mother and siblings to escape.
The Serenno estate had been built during her grandfather Gora's reign, and being the paranoid tyrant that he was, he had constructed a number of escape routes for himself in the event that he was ever betrayed.
Those escape tunnels still existed, some of them exiting far away in the mountain's below, but the one Tan'ya had in mind went to the cliffside where the exit was concealed as just another piece of rock face. Inside was a speeder, and the tunnel wasn't nearly as long as the others, so it would be much easier for Athemeene to bring the children through. Not only that, but because it was Gora's main escape plan, it was filled with traps to frustrate pursuers.
Aware of the threats her family was facing, Tan'ya had made sure the traps in the tunnel were well maintained for just such an occasion as this. The other good thing was it allowed Tan'ya to concentrate her defenses. Most of the House Guard was with her father right now, but the remainder should be plenty to guard the access tunnel and prevent the Sith from pursuing.
"Your Highness, you need to evacuate as well." One of her men said, and Tan'ya hesitated to respond for a brief moment.
Maybe it was just the pampered princess inside of her speaking, but she had to admit that the idea of this intruder forcing her from her home to flee in the dead of night rankled a bit. Still, practicality won out in the end. Tan'ya wasn't a coward, but she did know that historically even a Jedi Knight was hesitant to fight a Sith alone, and she wasn't a Padwan yet.
"Command is yours, Lieutenant Buk." Tan'ya informed the man, and he saluted her, before turning to issue orders.
Turning away, Tan'ya hurried up the tunnel towards her family. In the distance, she could feel the smouldering pyre of the Sith's rage rushing through the Palace halls, trying to sense a way down to their location. It wouldn't be long until he found it, unfortunately.
Tan'ya, Athemeene and the House Guard had been trained to shield their minds, but baby Ideon was still too young, and at four years old, Madalees mental control was spotty at best. Ideon's fear in particular was like a beacon in the Force, and clinging to his mother was the only thing keeping him from crying out even now. He might not have been trained in the Force, but Ideon could sense the frightful energy of the Sith as it approached.
No matter what they did or where they hid, the assassin would be able to follow them. Tan'ya wasn't even going to attempt to persuade Athemeene to separate from her own children from her, even if objectively it would be the smarter move.
No, the plan was to get the family to the barracks in the city. Even a fearsome Sith assassin would struggle to fight his way past ten thousand soldiers. Serenno's reservists may not have been the Galaxy's most elite fighting force, but the planet had a large population and there were plenty of men who would be eager to face danger for a chance at better pay.
She passed through the tunnel, doors sealed behind her and turrets hummed to life, until she finally came to the speeder. Her mother and siblings were already inside, ready to go. Not only the two of them, but Vai was there as well. As a charge of the family, she was owed protection even if the assassin wasn't specifically targeting her. Finally, the little dragon Marnaidu was curled up in Madalee's lap, anxiously fluttering its underdeveloped Wings and making distressed chirping sounds.
Despite the luxuriously wide interior of the vehicle, the extra bulk of Tan'ya's armor made it hard for anyone else to sit next to her. There was a few moments delay as the speeder pilot asked over the coms. "Control, can I get confirmation that the skies are clear, over?"
Tan'ya searched with her mind, reaching up the passage to find the attacker, but he was nowhere to be found. The House Guard waiting in the tunnel were just beginning to grow uneasy, expecting to sell their lives for time, but no Sith came down the tunnels towards them.
Confused, Tan'ya brought up the compad in her suit's wrist. She thumbed through the security feed, searching for the Sith, but seeing him nowhere.
Control answered, "Can confirm. No aerial traffic on your flight path. You're free to take off at any time."
"Copy that. Out." The exterior hatch, disguised as just another section of cliff face began to peel back, as the vehicle rose through the air.
A dark shape, moving with impossible speed and agility, dropped down and seemed to leap off nothing at all as it backflipped through the door opening. There was a yell, as one of the House Guards on the exterior platform raised and fired his scattergun, but it was already too late.
Even mid air, the Sith flung out his lightsaber, and it streaked in a red line towards the rising speeder. Tan'ya reached out with the Force to try and bat it aside, but she just wasn't fast enough as the tip of it speared through the windscreen and impaled the driver. Even worse, the dying man must have hit the accelerator as the vehicle surged forward rapidly towards the exit.
Without even thinking, Tan'ya seized everyone inside with her telekinesis, and jumped out the car door, pulling them towards the garage floor. Of course she wasn't trying to hurt them, she didn't pull with all the Force she possessed, but it was more than enough to launch Ideon from his mother's hands, and Madalee who was too small to fit her seat belt slipped out as well, clutching Marmaidu close.
Tan'ya caught both of them, landing on her back and winding herself as she did to protect them from the fall. However Athemeene and Vai were both strapped inside the speeder, and neither of them came free with Tan'ya as the vehicle clipped the edge of the garage door, and spun out with smoke flying from the engine.
Tan'ya watched in helpless horror as the speeder spun out of control to the forest floor below, where it disappeared from view. Finally, there was the sound of a horrific metal scrunch, and Tan'ya felt her mother's mind black out from pain and shock. She was still alive down there, but in dire need of medical help.
Not stopping there, the assassin recalled his lightsaber to him, evading another blast from a scattergun as it flew into his hand. The two children screamed, terrified wails of fear for their mother, even as the Sith streaked towards them.
With her arms underneath both her siblings, Tan'ya had to shrug them off to reach her lightsaber, and that crucial fraction of a second would have cost her life, if one of the House Guard didn't interpose himself between her and the Sith.
...
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