What If : The Story Retold

Taking the Risk.

As far as the Council had seen of the ex-sith, they doubted she had reason to lie about the Maulian warship docked at the Pyke's homeworld. Having monitored her for the past few days and seen her through with the operation to remove her inhibitor chip, most of the Council were convinced that her heart was in the right place at least, there seemed to be no malicious intent, so why would she have any reason to lie?

Given that Luke's testimony on her behalf had proved to be true thus far, and Luke had always been trustworthy, the Jedi Council decided that they should take the risk and trust her word. If she was correct, the ship was there and they could get their hands on the flight plans, they could actually bring an end to the war - all they needed to do was destroy Maul and the syndicates would crumble.

But given that she was impediment that her information would expire soon and their window of opportunity would soon close, the Council had taken quickly to the Senate to relay its plans. Obviously many of the politicians were skeptical but when the Council had presented the evidence of the medical examination, more were seemingly convinced. They knew that if they delayed any longer, her capture would be in vain, so they decided the risk would be worth it if she was telling the truth.

Luke had been the first to volunteer himself for the Seige on Oba Diah, saying that he had defended the ex-sith up until now and that he would take responsibility should that trust be misplaced. When Mara heard about this, she couldn't deny she was forever grateful for having him on her side, she wondered why she had always been so ignorant of his kindness - only to realise it had probably been due to her implant.

Luke was risking everything and though she had never felt endebted to anyone, she now felt just that, she owed Luke so much.

Seeing as Oba Diah was the homework of one of the most powerful crime syndicate houses, they knew that they couldn't take this mission lightly. If they were to be successful in their task, they needed to have a decent plan of action. Considering the planet had not been within Republic territory for what seemed like forever, there was no detailed blueprints for the city or the palace complex which the Pyke's controlled. It would seem they would have to go in blind, but the ex-sith apprentice had given them the basic run down of the building.

Despite the fact Mara had been moved from one location to the next with Maul, she admitted that she spent the bulk of her childhood on Oba Diah with the Pykes so she had a decent idea of the complex as a whole. In the end, the plan came down to three squads of clone troopers lead by Jedi, each team invading and infiltrating different areas of the Pyke Palace.

Considering this would probably be the most risky operation of the war, they knew they needed to employ some sort of stealth, at least initially (most doubted they could keep up a ruse long enough so most just assumed they would end up abandoning stealth at some point). If a Jedi battalion suddenly spring up on the Pyke's doorstep, alarms would glare and the other syndicates would be there as reinforcements before their mission was complete.

This being the case, the first squad of clones - decidedly lead by Luke - would be disguised as spice traders. According to Mara, there was always a spice shipment delivered like clockwork each week, usually with different crews and different ships. The Pykes had grown cautious of some traders who tried to rip them off, leave an empty or inadequate shipment, take the credits and leave before the Pykes even realised they had been swindled. And so, to make sure no smuggling group had any ideas about double crossing them, they would be escorted along with the shipment into the Palace complex. The shipment would be checked and if it was not exactly as they wanted it, the group would be executed for treason against the syndicate.

That would be how they got their squads through Oba Diahan airspace without causing suspicion and then get their first squad to get deep within the complex without alarm.