Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars
Chapter One
Padme Amidala woke up gasping for air and plagued with bodily tremors. What was happening to her?
Her body was weak, and her movements were clumsy as her mind grappled with the fact that the silence and peace of her eternity was over. A wet and slimy film covered her body and face. Everything was blue. Again she gasped.
"Where-" she began only to cough at the unexpected onslaught of air that she inhaled. Breathing was an involuntary and everyday occurrence but to Padme it felt she had never used her lungs before in her life. Her diaphragm rose and the familiar yet completely foreign action sent a jolt through her system forcing her to cough once more and expel some strange liquid from her body. Her mind was mess as she tried to recall where and how she had come to be there. Confused and disoriented, the longer she was exposed to the air around her, the more her body became wracked with shivers.
Then there was metallic claws lifting her up and out - out of where? She didn't know. Distorted voices and lights bombarded her. Everything was strange and new and too much. Before she had time to process anything, her consciousness faded out into nothing.
The second time Padme woke, she found herself in a plain medical room on a gurney, hooked up to several machines and dressed in a flimsy medical gown. Cautiously she looked around the small room, but aside from some standard medical equipment that she had been hooked up to, her room was very vague and plain. There were no windows and the only door to her room was locked.
Frowning, her eyes once more scanned the room, this time noticing a security camera installed in the far corner.
Padme had no knowledge of how or where she had come to be. The last thing she remembered -
The door to her room abruptly opened to reveal a medical droid followed closely by an Umbaran dressed in an elaborate black gown. Padme shrunk under the woman's white, frosty gaze. There was nothing remotely warm or empathetic in her eyes. Though the woman's race was known for their paleness and lack of hair, she in particular was washed out and papery in an unnatural way with gaunt cheek bones, willowy frame and a severe frown.
"Good you are awake," the Umbaran greeted, while the medical droid advanced on Padme. At the sight of its mechanical clawed hands, Padme shrunk away, unfamiliar with it's model.
"Where am I?" she asked faintly as the droid purposely slowed its advance and explained in a calm voice that they were in an undisclosed medical facility and that it was going to check her vitals and remove her ivy. After its explanation, the Umbaran stepped closer to Padme, earning her attention.
"Who are you?" she asked in the same weary voice.
"I am Sly Moore, and you are in my home," she explained in a clipped voice. Padme's brown eyes studied her suspiciously.
"How did I get here? The last thing I remember..." Her words seemed to intrigue the Umbaran who leaned over her bed intently.
"What do you remember?" she asked and to Padme's dismay pulled a voice recording module out of her robes and activated it. Padme's unease spiked, but she did her best to ignore it.
"I remember Naboo and the Trade Federation," she began slowly as her eyes drifted with the memory. It shouldn't be so hard to recall such recent events but to Padme's confusion she found the memories distant and reluctant to come forward. Frowning, she squinted her eyes.
"There was a tax?" she asked more than said and opened her eyes to find Sly Moore staring so intently at her that Padme immediately closed her eyes again. She was vaguely aware of the medical droid removing her IV and the small bacta patch that was applied to the puncture wound.
"Clearly you need more rest before your memories return," Sly Moore finally suggested and the disappointment in her voice combined with the dismissal was enough for Padme's to renew her efforts.
"No wait!" she shouted and opened her eyes urgently only to find to her horror that the medical droid had advanced on her with an elongated syringe.
"This is a sedative," it explained.
"Please," Padme said, still eyeing the syringe and wondering once more how and why she was in a medical room.
""Well?" Sly Moore prompted impatiently and Padme hurriedly turned to the pale woman and continued.
"The trade rout on Naboo ended. I ended it -"
"Do you know who you are?" Sly Moore interrupted. Padme arched an eyebrow and nodded at the strange question.
"Yes," she ventured but the Umbaran was hardly satisfied.
"Say it. I want to hear you say your name," she commanded. Miffed, Padme could only reply,
"I'm Padme Amidala, Queen of Naboo."
The smile that stretched across Sly Moore's face raised Padme's hackles. Something was not right.
"How old are you?" the Umbaran suddenly asked. Padme frowned trying to understand what the woman was getting at. Something was very wrong but the questions themselves were harmless.
"I'm fourteen," she ventured.
"Very good. Now please continue with your recollection," she ordered. Padme bristled and momentarily contemplated remaining silent. The woman was very rude and none of her own questions had been answered. The unease combined with the sight of the large syringe the medical droid was holding however was enough to convince her that for the time being she had better cooperate.
"After the agreement dissolved, the Trade Federation invaded Naboo. They wanted me to sign a treaty to legalize their presence on the planet" she continued. To her frustration the memories were still slow in forthcoming.
"There were Jedi - two," she stammered. Her breathing grew hectic and her heart began to speed up as she remembered the chaos of that morning. The Jedi's lightsabers and the battle droids and the pilots that were freed. They had barely escaped with their lives that day. Little by little more and more began to come back to her.
"They helped me escape on one of Naboo's royal starships, but we crashed," she gasped. Beside her, the equipment that monitored her vitals began to beep in warning.
"On - no in a desert. We met Anakin," Padme's words began to jumble. In her mind Anakin's face melded into Obi Wan's. They both had blue eyes. There was a vigil for Qui Gon Jinn whose body was burning - but how could he burn when he was betting on the race? Senator Palpatine was there and so were the gungans, but that couldn't be because during her battle schematic they had agreed to use their army as a diversion against the Trade Federation. There were too many gungans to fit inside the citadel...
The medical droid beside her quickly examined her vitals once more just as she broke out into a cold sweat. Her brown eyes grew wild as she began to hyperventilate.
"She is overexerting herself. Her brain activity is escalating," it explained.
"Was there a malfunction with the Spaarti program?" Sly Moore demanded. The droid was silent for a moment as it continued its scan. Padme tried to swallow but found her mouth was completely dry. Despite her distress, she was oblivious to the severity of the Umbaran's question.
"No. Her consciousness is not rebelling against the donor memory imprints. It is simply trying to assimilate too much at once. She is going into shock," the droid finally explained.
"My Master can't afford another setback. Put her under!" Sly Moore demanded. Frightened now more than ever, Padme held up her hand desperately just as the medical droid turned it's syringe on her.
"No wait!" she cried just as the needle was inserted into her arm.
"I remember!"
Five year old Princess Leia Organa silently crept out of her room. Her father Bail Organa had doubled security once more. It was something that Leia had learned last year that meant another secret meeting was going to take place. It was something that Leia was determined to attend herself.
Glancing anxiously down the corridor, Leia knew she had exactly 34 seconds before the third set of sentries made their rounds. The princess was a very curious child and was prone to all sorts of trouble and mischief when her curiosity was piqued. Leia knew both of her parents went to extra means to keep her distracted; but ever since she had broken the fish tank in her father's office last year and subsequently through boredom had snooped around, the princess had become much more aware of the political danger her parents were putting themselves into.
Despite her limited knowledge, she was proud of them both for their involvement and bravery, but still naive of the danger of the power that the imperial regime possessed. What the princess wanted now more than ever was to be brave by being involved as well.
Hurriedly, she pulled the white hood up over her double braids and made a mad dash for the adjacent door with the infamous ventilation shaft inside. She had dressed carefully tonight in a white gown, knowing that her father's security cameras would have a more difficult time identifying her in the dark.
Once inside the doors, Leia took a cursory glance at the maintenance room she had found herself in. Small and cramped, there was no light to see anything. Thankfully Leia was more than well acquainted with the layout and knew where she could step without bumping her knees on old storage crates or tripping over maintenance tools. Left, and left again, followed by a side step and then ducking beneath and old pipe, the princess smiled in satisfaction once she found herself at the back of the maintenance room and standing next to the palace's oldest, most outdated ventilation shaft. It lead down to the drawing room directly below them where Leia knew the meeting was taking place.
Leia had once asked her mother why there was such a design over the two rooms and Breha had told her that before long before any of them had been born and the new addition had been added onto the palace, the drawing room had onced housed a fireplace and the ventilation shaft had served as a subtle smoke stack. However after the palace's redesign, the fireplace had been removed and the chimney stack had become obsolete.
Thankfully for Leia, it served as an excellent instrument for spying. Already she could hear their voices.
"...heard from the Fulcrum Agent yet?" a female voice inquired.
"I'm afraid they're otherwise dispatched," a male voice answered. Leia instantly recognized it as her father, Bail.
"Do you know when they will return?" the first voice asked.
"No. I believe if we want this operation to succeed, we will have to assign another operative to lead the resistance," Bail confessed. Several hums of agreements followed.
"What of Denia? She's been very reliable in the past," a new, quiet male voice asked.
"My sources say that her ship the Resurgence was recently intercepted at an Imperial checkpoint and destroyed. While no survivors were reported I have a team looking into a possible lead," the first female voice intoned, she did not sound very convinced. A somber silence followed.
Itching to know more, Leia quietly pulled out a laser cutter and went about slowly dissolving the screws. She got caught last year doing the exact same thing only she had tried to remove the screws by hand. The noise had alerted her parents to her presence before she had even made it into the ventilation shaft.
She was determined that this time it would be different.
"I can go to Nizon," the quiet male voice said at last.
"You won't be able to get anywhere near the sector with aid and supplies," a new female voice protested. Leia recognized the voice as her mother's, Breha.
"I won't be able to lead a mercy mission I'm afraid, but with Lady Alya's and her friend's assistance, I could reach the sector quietly," the quiet male voice continued.
"That could work," the first female voice allowed.
"You want to sacrifice the guise of aide in order for Alya's sources to smuggle you on planet," Bail clarified.
"But can Nizon go without medical and food supplies? Guise or no, it would help their resistance," Breha mused.
Leia licked her lips just as the last screw dissolved. Prepared this time, she silently caught the metal plated vent and gently set it down and to the side. Fiery brown eyes stared intently at the dark metal tubed entrance in front of her. This was her chance.
"Supplies are important, but Master Ylenic It'kla is a Jedi. His experience and skill in battle is invaluable," the first female voice argued.
Leia paused in the ventilation shaft at the words and sucked in a sharp break. A Jedi!
Her father had told her stories of the Knights of the Old Republic, but after the formation of the Empire, they had all been destroyed. Leia had never thought that she would have the chance to meet one of the noble heroes! Crawling forward, she braced her hand in front of her and automatically leaned forward, only to be met with air.
Too late, she realized her mistake as the momentum of her movements sent her forward and downward where the tube's design went from a horizontal crawl to a vertical descent.
"Did you hear something?"
The princess was aware of the question just before she impacted with the shafts bottom ventilation plate. Unfortunately her weight was too much to support it and before the princess could properly gain her bearings, the metal gave way and she fell abruptly through it and into the drawing room.
"Leia!" Breha's scolding voice immediately shouted.
Blinking up through the dust and debri, Leia was disconcerted to find that her white gown was now caked in a filthy coating of old soot. What a sight she must be, to have landed dead center in a room full of the leading members of the Alderaan's Underground Resistance.
Wide eyed, Leia took in the faces around her. Some faces she recognized: her mother, father, Lady Alya Aldrete, and Hric Dalhney. On the contrary the face of the Caamasi as well as the redheaded and brunette human women were foreign.
All stared at Leia with different looks of curiosity and surprise. Leia tried to meet their gazes evenly. However, once her gaze met Bail Organa's, the princess could help but flinch. With narrowed eyes strained solely at her, he addressed the group,
"I think for the time being this meeting is adjourned."
Author's Note: I am incredibly depressed. This is probably the worst it's been for me in 10+ years. Something horrible happened a few months ago that triggered some very bad memories for me and I can't seem to get out of my pit now. Nightmares, lack of any drive. I feel like I'm walking on jagged glass while somehow just going through the motions. Being numb. Disconnected. Apathetic. Despairing. Wanting to disappear forever. Yeah, that's me right now. I have zero motivation to update any of my stories but someone recommended that I try to write something, so this story is me trying while I overcome my demons.