Disclaimer: Disney owns Star Wars, not me. All the characters and places (except for my OC Analise Joy) belong to them.
"aaaa"-talking out loud."aaaa"-talking through a holo or com. 'aaaaa'-inner thoughts. aaaaa-talking through a Bond
AN: Here it is the first chapter For Edge of War my Attack of the Clones AU! Some lines will be from the the movie, but others will be changed a little to match the tone. Yes to Arbiteramari who left a review asking about Anakin and Padme. They will be getting together. It's kind of funny how both twins went for older people;) Also Arbiteramari I'm sorry I made you cry.
Here we go!
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Prologue
She was no pilot.
At least she was no fighter pilot. She was far more at ease flying her sleek and fast diplomatic shuttle. A miniature of the one she was flying protection duty for.
Silver polished to a high shine. It was seemingly weak protection for the high-ranking personage within. A woman whose voice could be heard over the drums of war calling for cool heads and calm and peace.
Such a voice carrying a message of anti-war, anti-corruption had created a target on the Senator's back. She loathed the protection everyone insisted she have because of the target. Over her objections though it was always forced upon her.
The Senator could fight and limit the protection though. She had fought and won this fight limiting those who traveled with her to the pilot and co-pilot of the ship, a pair of bodyguards, and the two starfighters that flew escort. One of which was her.
When she was flying her shuttle space seemed distant. Further away even as she flew among the stars. In the fighter it looked closer, scarier. It even looked colder than what she had once told a young boy it was.
A boy. He too had flown a Naboo Starfighter. Not as a peaceful guardian on the way to the center of the galactic government. He had flown his fighter into battle.
Fierce, fast, and hot battle. Laser had flown at him with crackling aim. At one point he had been forced to land in the hanger of the droid control ship that hovered in the space over Naboo. Yet he had regarded the deadly battle over the lovely planet as no more dangerous than the podraces he would take part in; racing across the desert as Tuskins took pot-shots at his pod or other racers tried to take him out.
Her thoughts drifted often to the boy. Only he was no longer a boy whose hopes had run high. Now he was a man. A handsome young man strong and tall. A warrior who risked his life to protect others on a regular basis.
It wasn't hard to catch glimpses of him though she had not actually seen him since the ceremony after the Battle of Naboo ten standard years ago. He apperaed often enough on the Holonet News. It seemed that the Jedi were often on the news as they changed their Code and took a more active part in the galaxy.
He would be there, in those slightly fuzzy clips standing behind his Master and Master's Master. The very image of what others thought a Senior Padawan of the Jedi Order should be. Power visibly stirring just below the surface with an outward appearance of peace and calm.
By the young man's side on those newscasts was another Padawan. A young woman who always looked as though she was always trying to hide from the cameras. Her head was kept down, her hood usually up.
Unlike the young man, the young woman was smaller and timid. Not the image of a Senior Padawan, more like that a shy and noble maiden.
The pair stood so close. He always in front and protective of her while their Masters did the talking. Always so loving and gentle with her. As if...It couldn't be, but the Order had changed their rules about relationships, attachments. It could be...Might be...
She shook her head. She couldn't let herself think like that. Even if he felt the same way that she often thought she felt about him, it would be hard to work out such a relationship if not impossible. Their lives and duty pulled them too often in two very separate directions. She could wish, daydream; but in the end she knew it was an impossible wish. An unreachable dream.
"Begin descent to Coruscant. Just like we practiced." The voice broke over her com and she quickly shook any lingering thoughts of him out of her head. She need to be on top of her game.
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Even though it wasn't technically solid ground, she had never been so happier to have something under her feet rather than the metal floor of a starfighter. She stayed close by the ladder long enough to make sure that her astromach had been lowered out of his socket. She smiled as he beeped in binary, happily rocking back and forth on his struts.
Captian Gregar Typho approached her, pulling his helmet off his head. She wondered for a short moment if only having one eye made it harder for him to fly his fighter. She shook her head again and left her helmet on.
The pair turned to face the ship that had landed and lowered it's ramp to allow it's VIP passenger to disembark. Captian Typho chuckled as he turned to his fellow fighter pilot. "Guess there was nothing to worry about."
She nodded, but couldn't relax. The threats against the Senator had been so mean, so cruel and bloodthirsty. Could it really had been that easy for them to travel from Naboo to Coruscant? Could the threats have been nothing more than grandstanding?
Taking a breath she decided that she could relax. The trip could be the easy part...
KAAABOOMMM!
Loud, thunderous, echoing booms.
Hot, searing, bright, fire.
Sharp, stabbing, piercing bolts or metal sheared free from the ship flew through the air.
She and Typho fell to the ground as shock-waves rocked the private landing platform that had been reserved for their use. The astromech chattered and beeped in panic, locking himself down so that he couldn't be knocked over.
Within moments she was on her feet again, running to the remains of the ship. There were three bodies. Two were bodyguards, too far gone for her to help. She know that the pilots inside were dead. Gone forever.
She rolled the third body over. The mangled, broken, bloody mess of a body. A friend near and dear to her. More than a friend. A sister. So alike in looks that they could pass for sisters and dressed similar others could not tell them apart. She yanked the helmet from her head, not caring where it fell as she tossed it away.
"Corde!" Tears filled her eyes.
"I'm so sorry my Lady..." Corde's voice was wheezing, gasping as blood filled her lungs. Life fast leaving her eyes. Corde gave a last little smile. Sad that she had been unable to completely fulfill her duty, but happy that at least her friend and Lady was for the moment safe. The villains had not won this round.
Corde went limp. Life gone. Typho rushed to her side as the platform began to crawl with guards and police.
"My Lady, there's still danger to you here." He rested a brotherly hand on her back, urging her to stand. She felt empty, lost. This shouldn't have happened. Blood smeared her flight suit, but she didn't care.
"I shouldn't have come back."
"This vote is very important. Corde did her duty. Now you must do yours."
Duty. It was starting to become a hated word. Duty was a chain that kept her locked down. That forced others to loose their lives in protecting her. She hated duty. She wish she could run away from it.
But she had never been one to run.
Typho started to move away, nodding to the astromach to follow them. He paused when he realized that she wasn't following him. That she still stood shocked, cold and still next to the body of her friend.
"Senator Amidala!" His sharp tone got her attention and slowly she turned, allowing Typho to hustle her away.
There would be little time to mourn the death of her friend and bodyguard for Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo. She had a job to do. One that needed to be done in order to keep the galaxy at peace.
If only the cost wasn't so high.
