Summary: When Darth Bana fails her master, her only comfort is that he cannot kill her…
Notes: Someone mentioned in a review that Sidious was too nice to Bana, and didn't punish her. While it is true that he does not, equally, Bana does very little to deserve punishment. She also has no desire to repeat the experience…
Last Failure
By Tanydwr
26 BBY, Naboo:
It was rare that the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic had the chance to return to his home planet of Naboo. However, he had managed to secure two weeks in which to visit, ostensibly on conferring with Queen Amidala.
Truly it was Darth Sidious, not Chancellor Palpatine, who was there to see his apprentice Darth Bana. And while the two personas were the same woman, it was most definitely Bana he was interested in speaking to.
She had failed him.
Bana had done so rarely in her time, since she was the secret and thus less active of the Sith Lord's two apprentices. But she knew what the punishment was, and with her position was very foolish to provoke his wrath.
She was constantly in the public eye, and that meant that she would have to go about acting as queen, still feeling the effects of his punishments. Her handmaiden, Sabé, was good at helping her, but not that good.
Every day he wondered at his decision to let Sabé Kaltiere live. She was Force-sensitive, strong enough to be a Jedi, and, he suspected, from Jedi blood. Fortunately, she was also fiercely loyal to her mistress, and her minor healing ability helped his apprentice, as well as her various 'cover-ups' when necessary. Not to mention the impression that the Force gave him. That she would be very useful in the future.
Sidious smiled evilly as his ship touched the landing platform.
Bana would be sorry for failing him.
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Bana knelt before her master in the quiet, private rooms he had been given in the palace. Fear arched up her spine. She rarely failed him, but the times she had had resulted in pain, and her need to fake an accident to use a bacta tank to heal the calcification of her bones from his use of lightning.
"Lady Bana, your failure to stop the plans going through is an unexpected problem for me." Sidious informed her. "But not an irreparable one. However, I have come to expect nothing better than success from you. This failure is… disturbing. Have you an explanation?"
Bana remained silent. Any word now could try a fragile temper.
Her reluctance, however, resulted in his anger. She felt the Force work around her neck, choking the breath from her body. Her hands tried unwillingly to remove the grasp from her throat, to let in oxygen… He flung her into a wall, her wrist breaking with the force, several ribs bruising and cracking.
"Well?"
"I have n-no excuse, m-my lord." She rasped, standing slowly, unable to crawl and place weight on her left wrist.
"You understand that I cannot accept such a dangerous inability to comply with my commands."
She bit her lip. This could not be good.
A scream pierced the air as the Force-created lightning plunged into her body. Every nerve was firing, every synapse bridged, her body contorted in painful positions as she became unable to control her own movement. Her throat became raw as she continued to scream, unwillingly inspiring her despotic master in his torture of her. Her nails scraped at the ceramic tiles of the floor; her body soon became covered in a sheen of cold sweat as she tried to cool her body from the strain.
It stopped suddenly.
Bana collapsed, turning over, her chest heaving as she gasped in air. Her right hand grasped at her throat, feeling like she couldn't speak. A cough saw a spatter of blood hit the ground.
Sidious' vicious eyes looked down on her.
"Apprentice, I am ashamed of you. Can you not handle even such a tiny hint of pain?"
Bana made no response.
"Perhaps I have been too lenient with you. Perhaps you think your public persona can protect you. Amidala, do not try my patience. I can cut you down as easily as Veruna and his corruption." Sidious hissed.
She gave a nod, licking dry lips and swallowing convulsively. "Yes, Master." She rasped.
He was not finished, however. She watched as he brought out a whip known as a Force-whip. Essentially it was a whip made from the same plasma as a lightsaber blade. He did not make it powerful enough to cut through her or even severely damage her.
But, she considered as he rained down blows upon her back, that doesn't stop them from burning like the nine hells of Corellia.
She let out another shriek, and unwillingly grasped her throat. In desperation, she weakly tore a strip from her gown, wadded it, and placed it between her teeth. Each scream was swallowed as she bit down on the fabric instead, clutching her left wrist to the safety of her chest.
There was a change for three blows that felt like they actually cut into her skin – she could feel the cold air on her back, the fabric of the dress torn. She bit down harder on the wad in her mouth, brutally relegating tears until she was in the privacy of her own room. If he had used a real whip, she wasn't going to be able to just hide it. She was going to have to find another way to disguise the injuries. The fabric nearly fell from her mouth as she nearly let out another scream when the plasma-whip hit the bare flesh of her back, the torn skin where blood slowly seeped from the wound.
Palpatine ceased in his torments of her.
"Ah, much better, Apprentice. It is nice to see that your latest failure hasn't robbed you of all your sensibilities. Now listen to me, and listen well."
Those words froze Bana's – and Padmé's – heart. There was sinister promise within them.
"You are my true apprentice, my protégé. I cannot accept anything less than perfection from you. You will be my right-hand when my plans come to fruition – and I must know that you will not fail." He hissed, grabbing her head and yanking it back with locks of dark hair. His dark, cold voice hissed in her ear. "If you fail again, the consequences will be dire… and you will be replaced."
He shoved her head back down, and her body collapsed to the ground under the sudden shift in balance. She stifled a moan of pain.
"I do not wish to replace you. You are a valuable asset. But you can be replaced. Skywalker easily outclasses your strength, if not your skill, and he has maintained a sweet attachment to you. Your death could easily push him towards the Dark Side."
She shuddered at the idea. She had sensed Anakin's strength, and his past as a slave meant he had suffered. Watto had not been bad, but she had sensed a carefully controlled hatred of the owner before him. His turn to darkness would devastate the galaxy, she could sense it.
"Your own maintenance of attachments to your family and friends is charming, apprentice, and, perhaps if we were already in command, permissible. But it leaves you weak. Your little Force-sensitive servant, for example. Too strong for just one of Naboo. A Jedi's by-blow perhaps?" He hissed, using an insulting Naboo phrase used for someone illegitimate.
She wanted to snap that Sabé's father, whoever he was, had married her mother, but that would put both her friend and her parents in more danger.
"You have such affection for her, as much as you do for dear Sola."
Her sister, oh gods, he couldn't mean to hurt Sola! There was no one kinder, or sweeter than her big sister… his own blood! She was his apprentice, her blood didn't protect her from his punishment, but he couldn't mean to harm Sola!
"And of course I would never harm my young cousin. However, you are far closer to dear Miss Kaltiere, she ever knows some of your – our – secrets. She has far less protection. And while it may useful for you to have an aide that can help, those secrets are dangerous for all who hold them."
She wasn't sure who he was talking to now. Bana, his apprentice? Amidala, the Queen? Or Padmé, the vulnerable young woman beneath the two guises? She wanted to throw up – his message was painfully clear. Fail and he would kill Sabé. No doubt he would then go on to the rest of her retinue, and then any others she cared for. Even those she did not. He hammered away at her compassion, but knowing she was at fault for those deaths would only make it worse.
Although she didn't now realise that it could work very well for Palpatine. She would be instrumental in opposing his creation of an army and the beginning of war. A strengthened and stressed sense of compassion would make her acting far more believable.
"Fail again, Bana, and your friend will pay the price, no matter how useful she may be in helping you turn Skywalker, or even Kenobi."
Her head snapped up.
"Oh, yes, Kaltiere's crush on the young Jedi Master is quite charming. And if you obey me, and do not fail again, even she will get her reward for her – and your own – faithful service." He sneered. "If you do not – their deaths will be on your head. Not mine."
Bana gave a single nod of understanding.
"Good girl." Sidious smirked. "Now, I suggest you get back to bed."
She bowed once more and left, shaky on her feet. She didn't know how badly her back and dress were torn from the three lashes where he had reverted to a beautifully-crafted, leather whip.
In the meantime, Bana organised a way to heal her injuries.
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The following day:
Sidious looked up as the HoloNet blared on and smiled.
"…Amidala of the Naboo was attacked and beaten while travelling across the palace grounds last. She remains in the palace infirmary, but is said to be making a good recovery after some time in a bacta tank. The attempted assassin has not been found or identified, but palace security remains wary that this may be another attempt on the young queen's life. Since her brave defeat of the Trade Federation's trade embargo upon her planet six years ago, there have been seven threats upon her life…"
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A/N:
For the people who thought Sidious was too nice to Padmé!
I'm not great with description of torture, so it's very short, but hopefully the mental torment placed upon her is enough to satisfy those bloodthirsty people among you.