The diplomatic cruiser shuddered under the weight of the laser bursts and ground to a halt. In one of the luxurious lounges the Senators gathered there looked around fearfully. Their guards readied their weapons. The sound of a space battle raged outside, explosions resounding one after the other.
Then the engines shut off.
"We're going to die," one Senator whimpered.
A dark-haired woman sat near him threw him a disgusted look with brown eyes and shifted her posture so she could throw herself into cover if necessary. Blasters fired in the corridors outside and she slid to the end of the couch, away from the main door, one hand going to a concealed blaster. The entirety of the occupants of the room had their attention fixed on the main door.
Rebels burst in through the other two doors, to the left and the right, shouting for surrender. The Senators complied, many shaking in terror as their guards were killed or surrendered. The female Senator kept her eyes straight ahead, locked on the main doors, arms raised.
A moment later there was a flash and a blue lightsaber burned its way through. The pieces were kicked aside and a man emerged from the smoke, lightsaber glowing in a hand that she knew was cybernetic. Plain brown robes flowed around him, his outer cloak discarded. Anakin Skywalker looked over the assembled Senators and smirked before he began issuing orders to his Lieutenants.
The Senators were bustled into lines and searched for weapons. Each of them had a rebel's weapon trained on them.
The noise in the room subsided into almost nothing and Skywalker clipped his lightsaber to his belt again.
"Well," he said clearly. "This is interesting."
None of them deigned to reply to a man they had all condemned time and again as a terrorist and rebel, regardless of his exemplary service during the Clone Wars. Skywalker strode up and down the lines for a moment, one hand outstretched slightly and eyes half-closed, working his way from the front to the back. On the front row he halted in front of the dark-haired woman and grinned.
"Lovely to see you again Senator Amidala," he greeted smoothly.
"I wish I could say the same, Knight Skywalker," she replied, every line of her body hard and her eyes icy.
Commander Vinsotom arched an eyebrow at his commanding officer. It was strange for Skywalker to single Amidala out like this. Of course, Amidala and Skywalker had been good friends in the years before the rise of the Empire, Amidala had been one of Palpatine's greatest critics, and then she had turned coat swiftly, becoming one of Palpatine's most continual, subtle supporters.
The way they were talking to one another was…strange. Almost as if there were two conversations going on at once, a subtle undercurrent that only the two of them understood. He snapped back to focus on the conversation to see that Skywalker had hold of Amidala's wrist and had pulled her out of the lines of Senators, headed towards the left door, not the main door.
"Where are you taking Senator Amidala?" one of Palpatine's toadies masquerading as Senators questioned.
Skywalker barely glanced back as he replied: "The Senator and I have some unfinished business."
Vinsotom barely blinked, used to his commanding officer's eccentricities.
"Unfinished business?" Amidala demanded furiously, trying to pull away from him. "That is not what I would term it!"
Skywalker stopped abruptly, Amidala almost colliding into him. He turned to stare down at her and arched an eyebrow. "How would you term it then milady?" he challenged. "No, wait," he smiled suddenly, a smile that Vinsotom had never seen on his commander's face. "I don't think it requires terminology."
Amidala looked surprised for a moment, and Skywalker took advantage of that, using the wrist he had hold of to pull Amidala closer to him, releasing her wrist as she crashed into him, wrapping that arm around her waist. She tilted her head back to look better into his face, but strangely didn't seem to be pushing away at all. The answer as to why she wasn't fighting him more vehemently was answered when General Skywalker leant down and kissed Senator Amidala full on the mouth. Around the room people gasped in shock.
After less than a minute Skywalker pulled away and Amidala smiled up at him.
"Oh yes," she agreed. "No terminology needed."
Silence fell around the room as she smiled again, a smile that seemed to light up her face from the inside out.
"We need to go," the General reminded her. "You're in Suite 139 right?"
"139," Amidala confirmed, already beginning to walk ahead of him "My luggage is all in there, packed and ready."
"Good," he nodded with satisfaction. "Luke and Leia should have it all."
Amidala halted and turned around slowly, fixing him with an evil eye. Skywalker quailed underneath her gaze. "You brought the twins?" she almost shrieked, advancing on him.
Skywalker took a cautious step backward. "What else was I supposed to do?" he asked. "They're well-trained and…and…and they wanted to come!"
"They're twelve, Anakin" she reminded him.
"Well..."
Amidala threw her arms up in frustration and turned to face the left hand door, which stood next to a turbolift. A turbolift which was active.
The doors slid open and two kids darted out. They were dressed in combat uniform, lightsabers clipped at their waists, and Vinsotom recognized Luke and Leia Skywalker, the infamous Skywalker twins, children of General Skywalker and an unknown mother. They halted briefly, eyes skimming the crowd and then caught sight of Amidala and broke into a run.
"Mama!" Leia Skywalker shrieked, and flung herself into Amidala's arms. She caught her easily, opening her other arm for Luke who slammed into it. Amidala dropped a kiss on each of their heads, leaning her cheek against the brown and then the blonde head.
Vinsotom felt his mouth drop open as Padmé Amidala, one of the Senators that the members of the Rebellion most hated, embraced the twins whom the entire Rebellion adored and wished they knew the identity of the mother of such angelic children. Amidala, who was apparently their mother. At least it wasn't just the Rebellion who was completely shocked by this revelation. Many of the Senators, even some of Amidala's own staff, were gaping open-mouthed at their employer and colleague who was standing in a family embrace with the leader of the Rebellion.
"I've missed you!" Amidala exclaimed. "You've got so tall!"
Amidala pushed away from her children and seemed to be examining them closely. "We," she said sternly. "are going to be having words about the two of you persuading your father to allow you to come on a mission."
"We wanted to see you!" Luke protested. "We missed you!"
Vinsotom could almost see Amidala beginning to give way. Then she laughed lightly and ruffled her…son's? hair. "Nice try," she complimented. The boy grinned and ruffled his hair up even more. His twin rolled her eyes at him.
"Can we go now?" she asked.
"Sure," General Skywalker answered, nodding his approval at the children who darted out of the door, lightsabers in hand. Senator Amidala fell into step beside him, drawing a blaster from among her clothing. Skywalker stopped in shock. "Where was that?" he queried. "I didn't sense it."
Amidala paused and looked back, raising an eyebrow as she gathered up her skirts. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Then she disappeared out of the room. The General gaped after her and then shook his head and chuckled fondly. "Same as she always was." He looked round and nodded at Vinsotom, signalling for him to take over, before darting after his family.
Half of the Rebels were standing staring at the direction their Commander had exited, mouths hanging open, when Vinsotom rallied himself and began issuing orders to move the prisoners.
/
Aboard the flagship of the Alliance to Restore the Republic the Rebel High Command gathered. They were looking at a list of all the Senators on the vessel that they had captured.
"Well," Senator Jebel breathed. "Well, well, well. Look. Senator Padmé Amidala was on the ship. The little traitor."
Mon Mothma whipped her head round. "Padmé?" she exclaimed, before her facial expression moved to pondering. "I look forward to talking to her. She changed so swiftly at the end of the Clone Wars, I always thought it was strange, maybe connected to the loss of her child. There were rumours after all that the loss was caused by a Force user."
"How do you mean?" Rieekan asked, looking up from a datapad at the other end of the table.
"There were rumours that Padmé was attacked by an escaping Jedi for her ship," Mon Mothma began, choosing her words carefully. "She was always a friend to them, but she refused because she didn't want to endanger her family. Apparently he then caused some sort of damage to her, maybe choked her, because her baby is thought to have died in her womb. It was nearly full term as well," she hesitated, and then continued. "That sort of trauma to her body might have made her unable to conceive a child again."
There was a moment of silence around the table. Senator Jebel broke it.
"Still that doesn't excuse letting one's personal life affect one's politics," he said pompously.
Murmurs of agreement ran around the group, ignoring the fact that many of the Rebellion had joined for personal reasons, including some of those gathered in High Command.
Jebel swelled slightly with importance and began discoursing on the subject of Senators and their politics. Only a few sentences in the door slid open and Supreme Commander General Anakin Skywalker strode in. To general amazement Padmé Amidala followed him.
Skywalker wore his habitual robes over his armour, lightsaber clipped to his belt. The usual leather thong at his neck was strangely absent, and even stranger his right arm was extended slightly to accommodate Amidala's hand tucked in its crook.
Padmé wore none of the Senatorial gowns that were her most common uniform to the people gathered in the room. Instead she wore Alliance fatigues, the kind proclaiming her to be a member of the intelligence network, Mon noted absently in her shock, with a blaster holstered at her side and a datapad clipped to her belt. The elaborate hairstyle so distinctive to her had been rewoven into a simple braided bun. She smiled around at them, apparently unaware of the high level of animosity towards her.
Rieekan recovered himself first.
"General Skywalker," he greeted politely, nodding his head to Anakin. "And-"
"Banai," Padmé Amidala interjected smoothly where he would have greeted her, letting go of Skywalker's arm and stepping forward. Behind her Skywalker folded his arms and grinned.
"Banai?!" Senator Jebel spluttered. "That's the codename of our most high-ranking spy within the Empire! How did you come by that name?"
Amidala merely raised an eyebrow. "I have known about that codename since long before any of those gathered here, save one," she replied calmly. "It is of General Skywalker's creation in the days as the Republic fell, when it was clear that armed Rebellion was our only option. I took up the name Banai twelve years ago."
"You?" he asked again. "But you, you support Palpatine, you have never spoken a word against him in the Senate, indeed you support him. Such a change from the Clone Wars Senator Amidala. Perhaps to do with the loss of your child?"
"The loss of my…Oh!" Padmé laughed lightly. "A convenient fiction that allowed me to return to Imperial Centre childless and no longer pregnant, and giving an excellent excuse for my turn against the Jedi. No, Senator Jebel, the children I bore on Empire Day twelve years ago are very much alive. But they could not remain with me for their own safety."
"Their own safety?" Rieekan queried. "And you said children milady?" Almost unconsciously his eyes darted to General Skywalker.
"Yes," Padmé grew sober quickly. "Palpatine is a Sith Lord, as I am sure you are aware. It was one of his adherents that attacked me, leading to my premature labour. The adherent was killed in a fight in the hour after he attacked me by my protector. My children are strong Force-Sensitives. They could never be safe openly under the Empire, they were likely to have been taken to be trained as Sith apprentices. No. They were safer apart from me, as hard as it was."
"How is it that they were Force-Sensitive?" Mon Mothma asked. "As far as I was aware, you yourself are not Force-Sensitive Padme?"
"Force-Sensitive children are as often born to those without the Force, as those with," Padmé answered easily. "But," her eyes darted sideways to the Jedi standing beside her. "In my own case, the children's father is a Force-Sensitive himself. We knew he would be able to keep the children safe from Sidious."
"Where are your partner-"
"Husband," Padmé corrected without blinking,
"Husband," Jebel continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "And children now then Senator? Are they willing to join our cause as you have declared yourself in open rebellion?"
Padmé smiled even wider than before. "My husband is already with the Alliance," she admitted. "My children are on their way up the turbolift now."
She turned slightly, as did the rest of the congregation, to face the doors through which she and Skywalker had entered. Sure enough they slid open within thirty seconds and, again to general amazement, the Skywalker twins darted through. High Command was used to the twins, parented as they were alone by Anakin Skywalker who refused to make any mention of their mother, darting in and out of High Command as they pleased. They understood the importance of secrets, had been trained in keeping them since an early age, and were trusted implicitly by their father.
Now they raced into the room and halted, glancing around. Leia Skywalker caught sight of Padmé Amidala and grinned. "Mama," she called out, dancing over to her. "Me and Luke-"
"Luke and I," Padmé corrected gently.
"Luke and I," Leia amended without pausing. "Have got all your luggage into our rooms, and we found everything you hid."
"Well done darling," Padmé congratulated. "Does Luke have them?"
"Yes Mama," her son supplied, standing beside his father and raising a small bag, full of datachips. Padmé laughed and made her way over to him, heedless of the flabbergasted glances being cast between the members of High Command. Luke placed the bag ceremoniously in her hand and Padmé emptied it out on the table, spilling out a variety of datachips.
"What are they?" Rieekan managed, pointing at the chips spread all over the table.
"Military designs, new battle strategies being developed, new ships being created, bills to pass in the Senate, the new curriculum for the Imperial Academy so we can predict their most likely strategies, plans to weed out Rebel bases, Imperial transponder codes for the next, oh, ten years," Padmé reeled off without looking up, still sorting the little haul of treasure she had absconded with.
"Military designs?" Rieekan queried.
"Transponder codes?" Madine's eyes lit up.
She looked up at them and smiled. Behind her General Skywalker leant over her shoulder, murmuring in her ear, one arm curved over hers, left hands overlapping, the golden rings none had noticed before appearing interlinked. Padmé turned her head slightly, resting her forehead against Skywalker's. He grinned in at her and they kissed gently and swiftly.
Mon Mothma turned her head slightly to the side to hide her smile at the sight of the Skywalkers. The Empire wouldn't know what hit them.
On Imperial Centre Emperor Palpatine looked up from the report of the captured diplomatic escort and nodded to dismiss his subordinates.
Once alone his teeth bared in a snarl. He had been deceived, impossibly, foolishly deceived by Padmé Amidala's façade of loyalty to the Empire, and her story of losing her child. He had foolishly forgotten what Captain Panaka had found. Had forgotten that any woman with whom Anakin Skywalker chose to share his life was likely to be a force in her own right. He had been distracted by the fire that was Skywalker, clearing everything in his path to make new before him. He, Darth Sidious, fulfiller of the Sith's long plan, had missed the quiet force that was Padmé Skywalker, like water, the polar opposite to her husband, winding her way persistently through the Empire, and creating a way slowly, almost imperceptibly, where one could not be forced. Although he feigned arrogance a very real thread of fear ran through his stomach. The Skywalkers together in open rebellion could forge a real threat to his rule.
Two years later with Anakin Skywalker standing over him, blue lightsaber held to his throat, Padmé behind her husband standing guard alongside their children, Sheev Palpatine, Darth Sidious would reflect bitterly on how right he had been, hating that his last thought and sight was of the Jedi's success.
A moment later it all ended.
At least for Darth Sidious.
For Anakin, Padmé, Luke and Leia. Well. Their story was just beginning.
AN:
This is just a little oneshot that I scribbled down one day. I hope you enjoy it.
Please review!
The8thDalmuti