1. The trial

Ricardo Endivain was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Army. He was from Corellia and had started his career by working for the Trade Federation. Later, he served in the Separatist army during the Clone Wars and when those had been lost, he'd been press-ganged into joining the Empire. That had been four years ago. During those four years he had personally murdered 22 civilians, gave orders for the executions of over 30 more as well as lead troops against the Rebellion in battles that caused another 1000 deaths of Rebel soldiers. He was twice divorced with one child living with his second wife and his Imperial records held three counts of sexual harassment, investigation pending.

As Padmé Naberrie skimmed over the contents of the man's files, a wave of disgust and contempt overcame her. This man seemed to sum up everything she despised. From allying with the Trade Federation that she had fought against for so long to protect her planet, Naboo, to working with the Separatists, not even caring that they lead a war against his own planet of Corellia amongst others; she could already see that he was an unreliable, greedy person. Add to that the accounts of murders of innocents, the worst war crime one could commit as well as the deaths of fellow Rebels, some of which she might have known only further served to rise her anger. And then his disrespect for women as well as his own family, it was just too much. This was a despicable person, a monster worse even then-

Padmé bit her tongue and mentally slapped herself. Still she couldn't stop the short flash of memories. Of children crying and bleeding and begging and dying.

There were no children under Endivain's victims.

Three weeks ago the Corellian had helped two Rebels to escape from Imperial holding cells. They had lead him to their team leader where Endivain had claimed that he wished to leave the Empire and join the Rebellion. His supposed reason was that he could no longer go along with the cruelty of the Empire. Further digging however had revealed that he was to stand trial on Imperial military courts for the rape of a female Imperial officer, a scandal that even if he was not sentenced would cost him his position.

Endivain had offered valuable intel in exchange for protection and a 'second chance'. Padmé had been personally approached by Mon Mothma and asked to be lenient on this criminal. Endivain knew the names of several Imperial spies within their ranks and they really needed to know these.

But Padmé had no intention of just letting this man get away like this. She was one of only five judges in the Rebellion currently on the planet even authorized to set a punishment for such high level war prisoners and she'd be damned if she let the Rebellion become infested with the same corruption and favoritism that had brought the Republic to its knees.

If this had been the courts of Naboo, the prisoner would've been sentenced to a lifetime in prison, which accounted to 25 years.

If this had been Coruscant during the Republic, he would've stayed in prison until he actually died.

If this had been the Empire and he'd been a Rebel soldier surrendering - he'd would've been tortured until he gave them the information they needed and then he'd have been executed without anyone ever learning about his fate.

But this was the Rebellion. They did not execute people. They did not imprison people either, simply because they lacked the facilities. The only means of punishment Padmé had at her disposal was to decide which work Endivain would have to do. If Padmé listened to Mothma, she would sent him to the mechanics or the medical corps or maybe into weapon distribution. He would do a civilians work for the Rebellion, only without getting paid and he'd do that for five or six years after which he'd be a full member of the Rebellion.

Padmé slammed the file shut and stood. She left her room with decisive steps and went into the office behind the door where Endivain, his lawyer, the prosecution as well as seven or eight observers already waited for her.

The office itself was by no means big enough to be called a courtroom. But Endivain had first met them on Alderaan and because nobody wanted to reveal the involvement of any other planets to him in fear that he might be a spy after all, this is where his trial had been held and this is where he would be sentenced. However, Alderaan had no real Rebel base. Any of their activities had to be disguised as regular civilian business. When not involved with the Rebellion, Padmé worked as a private detective together with her former handmaiden Rabé but her real commitment was being a judge for the criminals of the Rebellion.

"Please sit down", Padmé said to the assembled visitors and let her cool gaze pass over all of them. She made out the two little birds that had been sent by Mothma and would undoubtedly go back to her to tell how the trial had gone. Then there were the two soldiers, disguised as policemen, who were flanking the prisoner and would make sure he didn't dare to escape his sentence. The rest of the visitors... Padmé could only guess that they had somehow been wronged by Endivain. They were the victims and they were glaring at him with burning hatred. Some were glaring at Padmé too, daring her to ignore their pain, daring her to let this man go...

"I have come to a decision for this case", Padmé announced once everyone was seated. "The defendant has plead guilty in all accounts but it remains doubtful that his remorse is anything but a sham", she said bitingly. "He will have to prove his loyalty to the cause of the Rebellion as well as his commitment by serving with Black Squadron for fifteen runs as well as serving ten years of public service afterwards."

Her audience looked shocked for a moment. Then whispers started to break out amongst the observers. The two birds began to protest and Endivain's lawyer openly shouted at her:
"Fifteen runs!? My client isn't a foot soldier, let alone a certified pilot! You might as well sign his death warrant!"

Black Squadron was a designation for squadrons made out of criminals or volunteers, lead by a war veteran. They took the most dangerous missions that often had little chance of success and an even smaller chance of getting out alive. Only the most crazy soldiers volunteered for such missions - that or those of them who had lost everything and just looked for an honorable death on the battlefield or a means to drag as many Imperials down with them as they died.

Endivain would have to survive fifteen missions with Black squadron and then do ten years of unpaid work on top of that. It was the harshest punishment Padmé had given out since she'd been appointed as judge but when she was met with the accusations of the lawyer, her gaze wandered over to an older woman and her daughter, who nodded at her in grim satisfaction - and she knew she'd done the right thing.

"My decision is final", she told the lawyer. "If you don't like it, you can call for a revision with a higher court."

The lawyer rolled his eyes. "You are the highest court on Alderaan."

Padmé smiled thinly. At least for the Rebellion, that was true.

"Then I suggest you leave my office now. As you can imagine, I am a busy woman."

One of the soldiers grabbed the lawyer by the arm when he wanted to protest further. With a snort he turned away and slowly the people started to leave. At the door though, Endivain turned around to her one last time.

"You will regret that, bitch", he hissed at her coldly.

She could see the promise of pain in his eyes then but Padmé merely met his gaze with steely resolve.

Eventually one of the soldiers hit him against the back of his head until he continued moving.

Only when the door was closed did Padmé sit down with a sigh and buried her face in her hands for a moment.

Every time the Rebellion sent her a war criminal, her thoughts tended to drift off. Instead of Endivain, she imagined her husband sitting on that chair. Anakin had been a hero, the savior of the Republic - until he turned on them and committed unspeakable crimes against the Jedi. Of course he hadn't seen it like that. For him the Jedi had been the traitors, trying to assassinate his friend, the Chancellor and the Separatist Council, well, they were the enemy, weren't they?

But that didn't excuse the slaughter of the children. Even today, even after hearing what Obi-Wan had told her about the influence of the Dark side, even now she couldn't understand how he could've done that. He'd been about to become a father himself, how could he possibly hurt those children?

She tried to tell herself that none of it mattered not. Anakin was dead. He'd died on Mustafar shortly after he attacked Padmé. He would never harm any children ever again, least of all her own.

And yet Padmé still felt a sharp pain at the thought of her husband's death. She would never see his smile again or pet his hair. She would never see him tinker at some droid. She would never feel his touch again.

She missed him. She still missed him after five years. On some days, she told herself that Anakin had gone temporally insane. Lack of sleep, stress and this fear of his that she'd die, combined with whatever Force addiction the dark side held must have driven him crazy but if she had only been able to get through to him, if only she could've made him listen, she might've been able to bring him back...

But it was too late now. Obi-Wan had been convinced that Anakin had fallen too far to be brought back and after seeing that he'd choked her while she was pregnant with their child, she could see why he thought that.

And still she missed him.

Padmé's thoughts were interrupted when her comm beeped. It was Rabé, her partner. She did most of the actual private detective work that served as a front for Padmé's real job as well as sometimes did some secretary work for her when she was too busy.

"Rabé, what is it?", she asked her.

"Oh good, the trial is already over. I wasn't too sure", the other woman answered. "I just wanted to remind you that it's nearly five o'clock."

"Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed", Padmé said without much enthusiasm.

"You sound tired. Should I go and pick up the twins for you?"

Padmé hesitated, the offer sounded tempting. But then she sighed. "No, I'll go. You can have the rest of the day free."

"Alright. See you tomorrow."

Padmé ended the call. However she remained sitting for a full five minutes afterwards, gathering her thoughts and her strength. This case had brought unpleasant memories to the surface and she had to , she needed to lock them away before she went to get her children.

Once she had regained her confidence, Padmé left the office and took her small hovercar to drive to the daycare center where Luke and Leia played during the day. It was already ten past five when she arrived. Luke and Leia were sitting at a table in front of the building, eating ice cream. With them was Mrs. Morin, a mother of a daughter a year older then her twins. The children were friends and Mrs. Morin had agreed several times to babysit for the twins. Padmé felt embarrassed when she spotted the woman taking care of her children like that. What would that look like to her?

When Padmé left the hovercar and the twins spotted her, their formerly glum faces lighted up like two bright suns.

"Mama!", Luke shouted and immediately came running towards her, carelessly letting his ice cream fall to the ground as he did so. Padmé actually had to stake a step back, she was hugged so fiercely by the five year old.

Leia did not react as strongly. She did stand up to come to her as well but silently continued to enjoy her ice cream.

"Thank you for looking after them Mrs. Morin", Padmé said.

"It's no problem at all. The children had an exciting day today, I'm sure they have much to tell you", she answered with a smile. Then she bid her goodbye and Padmé ushered the twins into the car.

On the way back to the office, Luke began to tell her all about what they had learned today. He'd heard the story about how the first people discovered space travel and now it was his heartfelt wish to become a pilot one day. Padmé's smile faltered a bit at the reminder of her husband. It didn't mean anything, she tried to tell herself. Last week, Luke had wanted to be a fire fighter and the week before that he wanted to be a mynock hunter.

At that moment, Padmé caught sight of Leia still eating her ice cream in the mirror. The little girl hadn't said a single world on the whole way and Padmé was stuck at the angry scowl on her face. An uncomfortable knot formed in her stomach when she saw it.

"Leia? Is everything alright?", Padmé wanted to know.

"Fine", she said curtly and looked out of the window.

"Leia is angry because Harloth Thane threw flimsy at her during painting hour."

"Harloth is a stupid jerk!", Leia called out with a huff.

"I think you like him", Luke teased her.

Leia glared at him with her mouth wide open for a moment Then she scowled, raised her hand and bashed Luke over his head with her ice cream. Luke screamed in shock when the cold substance hit his forehead and sticky strawberry ice cream was smeared all over his hair.

Padmé hit the brakes when she heard the scream.

"Leia!", she shouted. "What have you done?!"
"He started it!", the girl said immediately glaring at Luke.

"Not true!", Luke complained. "Mama, I have ice cream in my hair!"

"You deserve that!", Leia shouted.

"Enough! Stop arguing at once, that is no way to behave yourselves!"

Luke gaped at her. "But... But she started it!"

"I said enough! I had a really trying day today and you are not helping matters!"
Suddenly the twins' eyes simultaneously went wide.

"Mama, over there!", the shouted in unison, pointing at something ahead.

Padmé turned just in time to see the huge hovertruck approaching her car that had stopped right at a crossroad.

Then came the crash. Then the pain. Then the siren. And then nothing.