Chapter Two: New Home
I'm going to die.
There was simply no way she was going to make it out of this one. She sat stiffly in the passenger seat of Lord Vader's speeder, streaking across the sky at alarming speeds. But what made it worse than the simple speed was the fact that he seemed to be doing his very best to try and cause an accident of spectacular proportions. He would get very close to one speeder, before ducking down or swerving at the last minute to pass them by. Next he would jump over someone else to get in front, not even looking back while the other drivers would slam on their brakes out of sheer surprise. Did this creature have a death wish?
Without her leave, Padmé gripped the sides of the speeder until her knuckles turned white. She didn't notice how she began to curl up in her seat, bringing her knees up slightly as though to protect herself should they crash – as if it would help. It was the most unnerving thing she'd ever had to do, riding as a passenger in Lord Vader's speeder with him at the helm. All she could think about were what the headlines would say once they discovered the wrecked speeder and her twisted, mutilated corpse, burned to a char and pasted to the side of some building or walkway.
At last they cleared traffic as they came to the private airspace near the military base where she would be staying. Unfortunately, Vader didn't slow down, but instead seemed to speed up as they came closer and closer to the approaching building. Padmé alternated between staring out at the looming building and Vader as they sped up. Could he not see in that helmet of his? Surely that was the only reason for this madness?
When they were almost to the hanger entrance of the base, Padmé couldn't hold her tongue anymore. She'd been literally biting it the entire ride over to stop herself from screaming, but now she just couldn't stop herself. "Slow down!" she cried, bringing her knees all the way up to her chest.
It was with the utmost horror that Padmé watched as the Sith turned his head towards her to stare instead of watching what he was doing. She paled and could see the fear written across her face reflected in the eyes of his helmet. She couldn't look away from him and they stared at one another in silence, the only sound his breathing and the growling of the engine. Again, Padmé wondered what the headlines would say when they found her dead and burned after crashing into the side of the Imperial Military Base with the Dark Lord himself beside her. For many years to come it would surely be a great mystery as to why Senator Amidala had been riding along in Lord Vader's speeder. With her luck, however, Vader would probably survive and only she'd be killed. Maybe that was the Emperor's evil plot all along. Make it look like an accident.
But at the last minute, just before rushing to meet their doom, with impossible speed and precision, all the while with not turning back to look at what he was doing, the Sith dropped the speeder down and began hitting the brakes while pressing the controls to get ready for their landing. The senator gasped as they just missed hitting the top of the hanger bay entrance. Her eyes closed on their own accord, but she could feel the speeder slowing down until, blessedly, it came to a hard stop which lurched her forward in her seat. When she managed to peel open her eyes again, she found Lord Vader still staring at her, appearing completely unfazed.
She was shaking, but honestly, Padme didn't care. She was just glad that she was alive and not pasted to the side of the base. She stared back at Vader, who seemed frozen, his respirator still hissing steadily, even as her own breath came out in short little gasps. Padmé had never been afraid of flying before, but Force, she was when it came to this creature! She had never known anyone could fly like that before. Was this just some sort of strange torture? To scare the shit out of someone to get them to slip? The idea had merit.
It took several moments before the senator could pry her hands off of the side arm rests and flex them a few times to restore circulation. When she was able to detach herself from the speeder, she turned to look back at Vader only to find that he had gotten out of the speeder and was stalking across the hanger towards the lift door. Momentarily stunned by his rudeness— no one having treated her like this since before she was Queen of Naboo— Padmé scrambled out of the speeder. Thankful there was a ladder by her side of the door and she wasn't shaking so bad that she couldn't walk. Once down, she literally ran after the Sith, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
She made it to his side just before the door to the lift closed. He was apparently impatient to get to wherever they were going. She panted for a moment, still messing with her hair, before scowling up at the creature in black. He towered over her and did not look at her again. His breathing continued to be the only communication between them that filled their awkward ride up into the living quarters of the base. She just hoped now that she wasn't going to be put into some prison, though she wouldn't exactly put it past this creature. He was known for his torture and not for his house parties. Briefly she wondered if she was the first person to ever come here as Vader's 'guest' not in chains.
When the lift stopped and the door slid open, Padmé half expected to find herself in a dark depressing room filled with torture devices and cobwebs, but strangely, that was not the case. Instead she found herself in a pretty normal, if bland, room that was probably a meeting room for generals and the like when they came to make reports to Vader. It was composed of dark greys, blacks, and whites, but overall it was a clean, efficient looking room with a long, black glass table and black leather chairs to fit thirty or perhaps a little more. The walls were rather bare white, with only the large window that over looked the city to relieve the dullness and a picture of the emperor on the opposite wall with a few pictures of ship designs spread out, which actually made the room look bigger somehow, though she didn't know how.
Vader was apparently not interested in showing off this room, however, as he soon began his maddeningly large strides out of the lift and towards the door on the opposite side of the room. Dutifully Padmé followed, not knowing what else she was supposed to do. She was afraid that should she do something wrong, she would get punished sooner. Besides, the longer she was under her own power that meant that she could think and map out possible escape routes. It was her main objective at the moment to memorize all that she could about this place and survive. The information might serve the Alliance one day.
The hallway was designed similarly to the meeting room, plain and clinical like some sort of creepy hospital. It almost looked empty, like no one had moved in yet, truly showing off how new it, and in return the Empire, really was. There were no real pictures anywhere except an occasional of the Emperor, as though it was mandatory to have one every so often, and of course, the Imperial logo.
Vader didn't leave her much time to look around, however, as he swept through the base with frightening speed across the shining white polished floor. Padmé noted how others in the building made sure to clear the way when they saw the Sith coming towards them.
At last, after twisting and turning through hallway after hallway—Padmé suspecting that the Sith was trying to get her lost on purpose— they came to a lift that they took up that finally brought them to what the senator suspected to be Vader's personal wing considering the lack of anyone or anything. There was a large picture window that opened up to a balcony as soon as they stepped out of the lift at one side as if the night life of Coruscant was displayed just for Vader before there were a line of rooms all with unmarked doors. It appeared to be like every other hallway she'd seen thus far, with the exception that there was finally a dead end straight ahead. All the way at the end was a large black door that looked heavily secured. There was no one on this level, not even a droid, and Padmé knew that this had to be their destination. They walked to the middle of the many doors before Vader finally came to a halt.
"You may eat in this room," he pointed with one massive gloved hand towards the left to one of the unmarked doors. "Your room is just there," he pointed to the right. "If you should need anything, ask a droid." As if anticipating its master's word, a golden protocol droid appeared beside the Sith from out of Padmé's supposed room. "Do not attempt to enter that door," Vader pointed to the largest door at the far end. "You would not find it a pleasant experience."
Is he threatening me? she thought uncomfortably.
"You have full freedom of this wing," he continued, surprising the senator greatly. "There are holocams in every room, as well as the rest of the base, and you will be monitored at all times. However," a menacing bite came into his voice. Unconsciously, Padmé recoiled from him. "—you will find that my speeders can only be accessed with my own personal codes and the doors to the lower levels always remained locked and guarded by Storm Troopers. The only way out is through speeder or having the proper identification or pass to get through the check points."
"So I am a prisoner," Padmé muttered with a scowl, not sure how she should feel exactly at the moment.
"If that is how you wish to look at it," Vader replied dispassionately. "Stay out of my way. I do not care much what you do."
As he turned to leave, Padmé suddenly felt a thrill of panic rush through her. "Wait!" For whatever reason, she didn't like the idea of the Sith leaving. At least having Vader there with her she knew where he was and what he was doing which saved her the worry of wondering what he was planning and what he was going to do to her. When the Emperor's Shadow paused, Padmé had to think fast to come up with something reasonable to detain the Sith. Everyone knew of his infamous impatience. "Y-you said that there are holocams everywhere?" It was one of the few things she could still remember from the hasty speech.
"That is correct."
"Even in my room?"
"Correct."
Padmé scowled. "Not in the 'fresher though, surely?"
"Everywhere," Vader replied, sounding almost bored.
"That's unacceptable!" she shrieked, glaring up at him. "I will not have cams there while I'm bathing and changing! That's disgusting and perverted!"
The Dark Lord took a menacing step forward, and only then did Padmé truly remember her position. She had no room to argue, and yet here she was. She never really was good at keeping quiet. "A droid will be monitoring your activities. I neither have the time nor the inclination to watch you, Senator," he spat. Padmé wasn't sure, but she believed she was more insulted than relieved.
"That doesn't mean that one of the other servants or personnel won't walk into the observation room for a show," she snapped, posting her hands on her hips. Where she kept getting this audacity from, she'd never know. Maybe someday she'd live long enough to regret it.
"There is no one else here in my personal wing, Senator," Vader snapped, his patience having finally come to an end. Padmé could literally feel it. "I keep only droids."
Her own anger stalled. "Oh."
Well, she really shouldn't be that surprise. After all, no one knew what Vader really was. Rumor had it that he was probably just a droid himself, though Padmé was more prone to think that he might be some sort of cyborg. How else was it that he was able to possess Force powers? Droids couldn't have the Force, only living things. And they didn't need a respirator either. But that still didn't clear up the question of what sort of species the Sith was. He was so tall that most believed he couldn't be human despite all of the Emperor's pro-human campaigns. Vader was probably just a puppet in that, too. But the Emperor, although he didn't come right out and say it, seemed to be making an orderly galaxy for humans. Would Vader really follow Palpatine if he wasn't human?
But she could think on that later. At the moment, Padmé found herself face to chest plate with the Sith, and she couldn't bring herself to stare into his masked visage. What was he hiding under there? Was he some sort of species that couldn't handle the oxygen environment and the common atmosphere, or had he been in some sort of accident? She didn't know and at the moment she didn't care. All she wanted to do was get out of here and go back to her apartment.
"How long will I be staying here?" she asked quietly.
"As long as need be."
"And how long is that?" she pushed, staring down at her reflection from the floor.
Padmé was shocked when a gloved hand came to rest under her chin, forcing her to look up. She was disgusted, terrified, and furious that the Sith dare touch her, but what could she do? Darth Vader could kill her with a thought and he was certainly bigger and stronger than her besides. If he wanted to touch her, he would, and it sickened Padmé to think about.
"If you are a good little girl," Vader rumbled, "perhaps only several years. If not, then expect forever."
"Forever?!" The senator stepped back, out of his touch, appalled. "Y-you can't keep me locked away here forever! I have work to do! I-I didn't even do anything! When the senate finds ou—"
"Don't take me for a fool!" Vader's sudden explosion of anger caught the senator off guard, and she was once again reminded of at whose mercy she found herself under. "We both know that you're hiding your involvement in the Rebel Alliance, and the moment you slip," he lowered his voice into a deathly calm, stabbing a finger out at her, "you will be dragged to the prison to be interrogated, and I'll see to it personally how long it takes before you scream."
Once more without her leave, Padmé shivered in dread and she couldn't stop shaking. Vader was dispassionate towards her plight, however, and turned to stalk away down the hall and into the room that he had instructed her not to go. She didn't dare follow, didn't dare speak up again. She'd pushed her luck as far as it went today. Even she knew that. Part of staying alive here meant knowing just how far she could press the Sith, and it was apparently not very far.
Tears suddenly burned her eyes, but Padmé refused to let them fall. There were stories on Naboo about ancient days when young virgins had to be sacrificed to evil monsters, spirited away to their lairs, never to be seen or heard from again. No one had ever bothered to write about what happened to those poor girls once they entered the demon's liar. It was assumed that they were tortured before killed and devoured. Looking around, in this dark place, where she was beginning to feel the evil permeating the air, Padmé couldn't help but believe that she would find out just how the virgins' stories ended even after the books had closed.
She was about to just sit down on the floor and try not to hyperventilate, when the golden protocol droid that had remained silent came shuffling forward in front of her. "Hello, milady," it said in an oddly precocious manner. "I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations."
It was so polite, so academic sounding that Padmé could do little but blink. "Hi."
"And who might you be, milady?"
Padmé stood a moment, pondering how such a polite device had managed to survive here in the military base and in service to Lord Vader's personal wing, no less. "I'm Senator Amidala," she introduced herself halfheartedly.
"I see, Mistress Amidala," 3PO bowed slightly. "I have been instructed by my master to assist you to the best of my abilities. How might I serve you?"
This was…weird. Anything that belonged to or worked for Lord Vader was not supposed to be this well-mannered. Such droids were programmed to make beings as comfortable as possible, doing any sort of tasks that might be too laborious or bothersome. It just didn't sit right with Padmé that one of Vader's droids was being so gracious. It…just wasn't right. Not here. Not within the most evil place she could think of.
"Umm…" she bit her lip, the tears in her eyes already starting to disappear. "C-could you show me which one is my room?" she asked. "He—Lord Vader—said it was right through here?"
"Oh yes, Mistress Amidala!" the droid exclaimed in apparent delight. "I was ordered to prepare it myself for your use. Please, follow me."
The senator found herself following the golden machine into the room that Vader had only vaguely pointed towards. It was large, she was a bit surprised to see, with no bars on the windows, nor chains laying around. There were no cobwebs and no dust. It was an ordinary, if plain, bedroom. The walls were pure white and the floors were the same clean black from out in the hall. The curtains were a pitch black satin, while there was a matching black bedspread. The bed was actually quite large and comfortable looking with big fluffy pillows. There were black glass side tables and the closet doors were the same black as the floor. Behind another door, she could just make out the 'fresher, designed similarly to the rest of the room. It was all so spotlessly clean and militaristic, being at the same time everything and nothing at all like what Padmé thought the home of Darth Vader would look like.
"Your things were brought by earlier, milady," 3PO explained, still standing beside the door. "I took the liberty of putting them away for you."
"O-okay."
"Is there anything else you desire, milady?"
This was just too unreal. "No. Thank you, Threepio."
The droid bowed slightly before shuffling out the door. "If you should need anything at all, milady, I am yours to command."
And with that, he was gone, leaving Padmé feeling more confused than she ever had been in her life. She plopped down on the bed to find that it was indeed as comfortable as it looked. Unreal.
She was here, in Darth Vader's personal wing within the Imperial Military Base, sitting on a comfortable bed, in a clean and efficient looking bedroom, with free range of the entire upper portion of the base, with her own personal droid to tend to her. This could not be real. This had to be a dream. There was just no way that a Sith Lord would be courteous enough and polite enough to entertain a guest even a fraction as well as what he was now. Especially one that he knew had connections with his enemies. This had to be some sort of trap, to lower her guard. But it wouldn't work. No, she knew how the game was played, and she'd be damned before she let Vader or Palpatine get the better of her.
Lying back on her bed, the senator closed her eyes and just took a moment to breathe and collect herself. She had to think, think of a plan to get out of here, to get back to the Alliance, to get away from Vader. But first, she needed to rest. She'd had a busy day, one filled with too much stress and surprises. After that she could plan. And she would. She just needed to close her eyes…
oOoOoOo
Despite his earlier claims, Vader found himself in the control room attached to his personal chambers, watching the cam in the senator's bedroom. He had listened to the exchange between C-3PO and the senator, and had studied the woman's face extensively. She was wary, skeptical of the considerations being shown to her while a virtual prisoner in his home. Vader wasn't surprised. He would be too if he were in her position. Sidious railed on about the girl's naïve nature and how they could lull her into false security, but the younger Sith couldn't help but be doubtful. The senator was willing to give beings the benefit of the doubt perhaps, but she was not stupid. It was perfectly clear to Vader that the senator was already on to Sidious's plot to get her to drop her guard and make a critical mistake. It didn't take a genius, actually. It made him wonder if his own master was slipping.
This is not going to work, Vader thought as he sat back in his chair. His master was a fool for expecting the girl to just relax and give up all that she knew. While not the most politically minded, Vader still did not understand why his master hadn't just allowed him to torture information out of her. Surely it would be easier than this whole convoluted plan about getting her make a mistake and say the wrong thing or—Force forbid—trust them. The senator had a strong mind, that the Sith could not deny, but it could not stand up to his powers when he was intent on gaining information. Vader had run across Jedi, beings with vast mental training, and torn their minds to shreds within minutes. Senator Amidala didn't stand a chance against him and his torture techniques.
So why play this game? Was this some sort of test?
Vader scowled at the thought. He didn't like being tested by his master. Not like this. It was insulting and a complete waste of time. Surely he'd proven himself by now? He'd thought destroying the Jedi Order had done that. Surely his master knew that he was a fully-fledged Sith? He had been for years! So why have him dance around the senator, wasting time? It just didn't make sense.
It was clear that after a few minutes the girl was asleep. Only then did Vader relax. He almost smirked when he recalled how frightened she'd been of his driving. It had clearly worn her out. It had not been his aim to scare her, he'd simply been impatient to get back home and get work done, but it was certainly a bonus to watch her shrink into a tiny ball. He hadn't really believed it when he'd seen it, the Great Senator Amidala curled up like an infant. Hilarious. Who would have thought she didn't like flying?
But he could not waste time sitting here when there was work to be done. Especially if his mind was wondering uselessly to such topics as the senator. No, he had work to do. Battle plans to finalize. There was no time for thinking about the tiny woman that was just several doors down.
Standing, Vader stalked out of his chambers, making sure they were locked securely, before he made his way towards the lift. He had orders to give before there were several meetings with generals. When he came to the lower levels, to where the offices were, he searched out his personal assistant. The young man was usually a nervous, fidgety sort of fellow, but he got the job done efficiently, and that was all Vader could have asked for.
"Lieutenant Pilor," he snapped.
Almost instantly the lieutenant seemed to materialize before him, doing his best not to look as terrified as Vader sensed him to be. "My lord."
Turning towards his assistant, the Sith wasted no time before making known his requests. "Lieutenant, I am hosting a special guest in my personal wing," he began, ignoring the surprise that passed over the other man's face. "Senator Amidala of Naboo will be staying with us for an indeterminable amount of time."
"Yes, my lord." Pilor might have been easy to read, but he thankfully was not one that questioned orders or voiced his inner musings. It would be a shame for Vader to lose his temper and kill the man.
"See to it that if she leaves my personal wing that she is monitored and has armed escorts so she does not get into anything she should not."
"Yes, my lord. I shall send notice to all troopers and personnel."
"Good." Vader paused another moment. "And be sure to watch all exit points and my hanger more closely. She is not to leave this base unless I or anyone I give specific permission to takes her."
"Of course, my lord. Is there anything else, Sir?"
Pilor was certainly a rare one. The man was certainly an asset and had thus far only ever managed to annoy Vader every so often. That was better than his last P.A. who met an unfortunate end when he had not done his work adequately, causing Vader's entire schedule to become backed up, wasting his time. This lieutenant was quick, obedient, and intelligent enough to ask all the right questions at all the right times. It was refreshing.
So, Vader thought a moment over the question, before looping his fingers into his belt. "Yes," he said at last. "Be sure that when you alert personnel to her existence, it is understood that her presence must be kept quiet. The Emperor would be most displeased should everyone find out she is staying with us too soon. If any word gets out and I find that it was someone in this building, I will personally see to their punishment. Is that understood?"
The lieutenant lost a shade or two of color, but nodded quickly. "Yes, my lord. I will see to it immediately."
"Good."
Vader turned, leaving his P.A to carry out his orders as he went to his meeting with several generals about the war that had broken out among a few mid-rim worlds. The Sith had never understood rebels, and he could not fathom why they resisted the Empire. Were they so barbaric that they preferred the chaos and uncertainty of governing themselves over the security and order of the Empire?
Animals. All of them.
And so, for the next several hours, Vader turned his full attention towards maintaining and protecting the Empire he and his master had created. Not once did he think back to the woman that was left sleeping in his personal wing, nor of how much his life could change because of her.
Author's Note: If you're curious as to C-3PO or why Vader wears the mask, please be patient. All will be explained.
Also, if there is weird spacing or lack there of, please forgive me. When I upload, the cite apparently likes to mess it up for whatever reason.
Reviews are welcomed and encouraged. Thanks!
