To turn the enemy's weapon against him
Background: Lord Vader was freed by Darth Sidious and pledged allegiance to him in return. As years pass the plan of the Sith to manipulate the whole Galactic Empire and to eliminate the Jedi advances. The young Senator Padmé feels guilty that she helped Palpatine to acquire extended Emergency Powers and thus joined the Opposition in the Senate. When Order 66 is carried out, Padmé decides to flee the Capital- however there is someone to prevent her escape. Soon Padmé realises that there is a hurt boy behind the monster - will she be able to use this knowledge to manipulate Vader? Or will she surrender to the charming side of the charming Sith?
A/N: I am not a native speaker. Please forgive me my spelling or grammar mistakes. Still I hope you give the story a chance :-)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.
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Democracy drew it's last breath. The Senate had long been in an uproar discussing possible ways to deal with the so called Confederacy of Independent Systems and the war their wish to leave the Galactic Empire brought along. The elected senators of countless worlds held hundreds of pointless speeches without presenting any useful results or solutions. It was true that the opposition party had its' share to exacerbate the conflict, but that was another story. Padmé sighted while watching the smoke rising from the Jedi Temple. The sight frightened the famous female Senator of Naboo. Her mind was fighting its' own war, which let her bad habit of biting her lower lip surface again. "If I hadn't asked or a Vote of No Confidence back then…" the young woman in rich silk robes mumbled to herself. She felt helpless and experienced one of those rare moments in her life, in which she did not know how to react. In the background the excited voice of the Capital's most popular news presenter filled the room, informing the Galaxy about the Jedi's treacherous rebellion and praised the actions of the Chancellor to solve the the issue with the Separatists by sending special forces for their final elimination. Padmé knew that it would only take a few hours before Palpatine initiated a special session of the Senate in order to present the Republic's victory. His ulterior motives were more than clear to the petite Politician and had long resulted in her support of the Opposition inside the Senate, which criticized the Chancellor for the long use of Emergency Powers. Suddenly a resistant knock interrupted Padmé's thoughts: "Milady, we have news that the Jedi Order had been successfully been defeated by Republican Forces and that you are being invited by the Chancellor for an unscheduled session of the Senate" spoke Sabé with concern in her voice. The brown eyed representative of Naboo only nodded and signalized her handmaiden to prepare an escort.
Only little time had passed since the disturbing news had reached the Senators ears, which lead to a swift packing of Padmé's most personal belongings by her handmaiden. "This is the right decision, Padmé! Fly home and think about your next steps" reassured Sabé in a hurry while carrying Padmé's luggage that contained personal documents. The Senator only nodded her assent. It was indeed the right decision to flee the Capital…she needed to get in touch with the other members of the Opposition on neutral grounds as soon as possible to evaluate the new situation- and find an appropriate way to deal with Palpatine's newest idea to do away with democratic principles. In a rush the small group from the blue planet hastened their steps in order to be able to get a ship before the Chancellor closed the airspace. The chaos at the airport indicated that the Naboo were not the only ones hoping for a sudden escape. Spaceships ascended in an uncoordinated manner, people pushed while other non-human species just flew above the heads of the fugitives in order to get into one of the few remaining transport ships. "We need to hurry up if we want to make it in time!" exclaimed Padmé, who had walked graciously until now and decided to start into a sprint. The sound of blasters echoed from afar. "Looks like Palpatine does not want us to leave! Get hold of your blasters!" screamed Padmé to her escort and drew her own weapon from the silver belt around her slim waist while pushing past another group. "There is a chance! I can still see a few ships!" motivated Padmé's pilot whilst checking the back of the group. Only seconds later the Naboo reached one of the ships or rather they claimed a free ship from a group of Cereans with pointing their blasters at the other group. Having climbed the ladder into the inner of the ship, Captain Korra continued his rush to the controlling room and Sabé activated the function of the doors. "We made it!" the handmaiden stated happily after the last slit of the opening closed and turned with a smiling face to Padmé. Later returned the smile carefully and touched the fine arm of her most loyal companion. Moments passed. No, minutes passed without anything happening. The engines were not turned on, the coolers did not start... Somehow the inner voice of Padmé whispered annoyingly that the situation was fishy. "Sabé, you stay here. I'll check on Captain Korra" informed the Senator with creamy skin soothing, even though her right hand was already at her back with fingers around the shaft of her gun.
"Capain?" questioned the Brunette slowly making her way to the control room. She received no answer or any other reaction. "Kriff…" exhalated the Naboo woman and mentally prepared to fight. As Padmé reached the control room she made a gruesome fund: Blood. There was so much blood. On the window, on the control unit and the floor- hardly any spot was left unsoiled. The breath stuck in Padmé's throat. "Oh no…" she whispered with panic in her voice. "Who is there?" asked the young Senator having regained her voice. Rather I should ask what is here…nobody chooses such a barbaric way to kill someone? Alarmed the Senator inhaled, trying to spot the assailant. But it was too late, she had already been spotted by the aggressor. Padmé could feel a presence behind her back. How did he come behind me? Abruptly the delicate Senator turned around, pointing her blaster at the shape behind her. "What have you done, you monster!" the ex-Queen of Naboo's voice echoed through the wide Cockpit. "I am so sorry, Senator!" exclaimed a rather terrified looking Sabé trying to hide her personal connection to the mistress. The back of her slender neck was in the grip of a black glove and Padmé held no doubts that the hand behind the fabric belonged to the monster. Padmé hesitated searching for a way to save her handmaiden and left her gun pointed at the assailants head.
"Senator Amidala, lower your gun" instructed the manly voice of the monster, whose face was hidden behind a thick black clock. "Why would I do that? So that you can kill us all like you did with Captain Korra?" confronted the woman belligerent, whilst trying to hide her fear. "If I had wanted to execute you Senator, I would have done so by now" answered the stranger as if he was stating the obvious. "I am here to escort you back to the Senate, I believe you received an invitation…" continued the monster with Sabé in his deathly grip spitting the last words of his sentence. So it was Palpatine's doing…however was that surprising? Padmé gulped wavering, fixating the face behind the cloak. But there was nothing she could really make out, she only saw the hint of a chin. The person behind the fabric was definitive humanoid. "Release my handmaiden and I will go to the Senate" stated Padmé glancing at the eyes of her struggling friend.
"We do not negotiate with each other, Senator" destroyed the humanoid in disguise Padmés plans. The air was tense. Padmé was concentrating playing all possibilities of freeing Sabé trough. Unfortunately none of the possibilities Padmé came up with delivered far from satisfactory results. The Senator dropped her weapon to the ground attempting to maintain her composure: "Fine. Now release the woman. There is no need for her to die."
Only now the monster reacted and a glimpse of yellow under the hood was revealed. The sight let a chill run down Padmé's spine. What kind of being was this monster? But right now was not the time to think about this…Sabé was much more important. Watching every little movement of the assailant behind the longhaired handmaiden, Padmé tried to look confident and relaxed. She submitted to the monsters terms, so it did not have any reason to cause harm to her servant. However the more seconds passed by, the less sure Padmè was with her assumption that her surrender had saved Sabé. As the fingers of the unknown figure seemed to tighten around Sabé's neck and her eyes widened, Padmé could not keep her cool any longer: "STOP THIS! I will go with you." Padmé's voice was shaking while pleaing, however her intentions were pure. She did not see the point to let her best friend die for her. She had just grown too attached to Sabé over the years… As Padmé's cry reached the captor's ear, it suddenly stopped it's action. Without another world the monster shoved the Sabé against a wall, which lead her to fall to the ground. Padmé rushed by her friend's side, still not believing that Palpatine's man had released her handmaiden. "Oh Padmé, I am so sorry" whimpered the shocked Naboo, being just as surprised as the Senator herself. "Shush…Everything is alright" whispered the Brunette back to her dear companion and hugged the Sabé's body, that was dripping with sweat.
"Senator" growled the manly voice interrupting the scene. Immediately the Naboo with thick curls that were bound to a firm knot stood up, leaving her handmaiden behind. Without saying any other word, Padmé started to follow the monster. She did not understand the situation. Everything seemed surreal as well as irrational. Captain Korra was dead. Her escape had failed and now she had to go to the Senate… But for what exactly? And more importantly: how was she able to save Sabé? Not finding any satisfying answers to the questions Padmé started to concentrate on the person in front of her again. Who was this monster? What was it capable of doing? How come Palapatine had never used this death tool before?
The beast walked slowly ahead of the Senator, only stopping at the entrance of the ship. Padmé waited for the cloaked to step to the wall with the switch for the door, but the monster did not even seem to think of moving to the direction of the switch. Instead, the gloved hand appeared behind the thick black fabric again, pointing at said direction. In an instant the door opened and Padmé just realised that the being in front of her was a force-user. Is he a Jedi? How come he is on Palpatine's side?
"Ah there you are Lord Vader!" exclaimed a rather hectic member of the Galactic Forces. "We could not find the Senator in any of the ships" conveyed the man behind the white armour his bad news. The Senator in the back only blinked in confusion. So the monster was called Lord Vader...it was suprising to the elegantly dressed Naboo that she had never heard of the skillfull assailant infront of her. "You are useless commander" spit Lord Vader with venom in his voice. Hearing the message the soldier backed away, but it was too late. With a simple slit of a red light saber the body of the man was slaughtered. The Captain was not even able to make a sound before his decease. The Brunette stood there in shock, feeling the fear running through her limbs. Without sparing the dead body a second glance Vader continued his way and Padmé instinctively knew she had to follow. What kind of man murdered his own men? Why had Vader listened to her plea, when he apparently lacked any empathy? There was only one thing Padmé knew for sure: Lord Vader was a dangerous and unpredictable monster.