Vader was shocked when the landing ship flew over the landing pad where Padme had just been, and he saw that she and her ship were gone. He couldn't believe that she had turned on him too. He knew though, that he could win her back, and he wouldn't rest until he found her.
"Pilot" Vader said.
"Yes, sir?" The pilot asked.
"I need you to track where Senator Amidalla's ship left to. Don't worry about stopping at the landing platform, we need to find her as soon as possible" Vader said.
"Alright then, sir." The pilot tapped some commands into the command console on the ship. "We are going to head up to the Cruiser now, sir. I have the men on the ship running searches to see if her ship is nearby."
"Good. Tell me when we reach the ship, or when someone has found her." Vader said and then sat into his seat. He closed his eyes and reached out with the force, trying to see if he could detect her anywhere nearby. The dark tendrils of the force scourged the area around the planet and beyond, out into space. He had to find her, or all he sacrificed would have been in vain.
/
Padme lied on a bed inside her ship. She was tired, and heartbroken. Her Ani had turned to the dark side. She didn't want to raise her children around that, and she certainly did not want to be near it either, but she loved him, and could not see her life void of him.
She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling on the ship. "Wait" She thought. "How did I get on the ship, I don't remember coming aboard." She was very confused. The last thing she remembered was... No, she didn't want to think about it. Her Ani would never do such a thing. That couldn't have been what happened. He wouldn't try to kill her. She sat up on the bed and walked to the cockpit.
"Hello, Padme. I am sorry to have left without telling you, but there seemed to have been a malfunction with the shields at the mining complex, and it wasn't safe to stay there." C3PO said. "It was quite the challenge to bring you on board, but I managed to do it, without dropping you too many times."
"Where are we going Threepio?" Padme asked still trying to grasp what happened on Mustafar.
"Master Kenobi left me with a set of coordinates. He told me to take you to Polis Massa in case he did not come back. He never came back, so I took it upon myself to go ahead and leave for the system." C3PO replied.
"Polis Massa? What time will we arrive?" Padme asked.
"We should be arriving in..." C3PO started to say before a range of sirens started to go off. "Oh dear me, i wonder what caused that."
They both looked out the cockpit window to see a large vessel flying towards them. No, it wasn't flying towards them. They were being pulled towards it.
"A tractor beam. Threepio, can you get us out of this?" Padme hurriedly asked. Her eyes filling with dread.
"Miss Padme, the chances of escaping from a tractor beam are seven billion to one. And even if I had the ability I couldn't because of the ships thrusters not being strong enough" C3PO replied.
"Boop Beep Blooo" R2D2 said as he rolled into the cockpit.
"My fault? I don't see how I could be at fault here." C3PO said to R2D2.
"Booot Dooo" R2D2 said back to C3PO,
"I'm an imbecile? You useless.." C3PO started to say.
"Enough!" Padme yelled, cutting off C3PO. "You two are sitting here arguing while someone tries to board us?"
"I apologize Miss Padme, it wont happen again." C3PO said.
"Good. now i need to get a weapon." Padme said. "Artoo, come with me."
The ship drew ever nearer, it was to the point where they would be boarded any second. Padme rushed to find a blaster. She checked all the compartments but couldn't find one. Then she thought about where one might be and went to get it. She ran to the cockpit and checked a drawer beside the pilot's chair. There was a blaster inside. Padme quickly grabbed it and went to turn it on, only to realize that the power pack was empty.
"You have got to be kidding me." Padme yelled, before stopping and staring fearfully at the loading ramp.
The loading ramp slowly opened revealing a group of trandoshans standing outside, holding blasters. The Trandoshan mercenaries walked onto the ship's loading dock, and kept on walking until they reached the cockpit.
"What do we have here?" The lead Trandoshan said. "A protocol droid, a astromech droid, and a senator. It seems we've hit the jack pot."
The trandoshans slowly advanced on Padme and the droids, before Padme was knocked out with the butt of a blaster rifle, and the droids followed them out of the ship. The Trandoshan pirates had finally found something worthwhile, and they knew they would make a load of credits off ransom. Little did they know that a Dark Lord of the Sith was looking for the senator, and that they may have made the biggest mistake of their lives.
/
Vader felt a disturbance in the force, he felt Padme, but she wasn't conscious, he felt as if she was in danger. He searched the force trying to pinpoint where he was feeling it from.
"My Lord." The pilot said.
"What is it?" Vader asked, frustrated that his concentration had been broken.
"My men aboard the ship have located the senator's ship, though it seems it is not alone." The pilot said nervously.
"What do you mean it is not alone?" Vader asked, feeling as if this had something to do with the disturbance he felt.
"It seems to be docked in a Trandoshan vessel. From what we can tell, they are pirates." The pilot replied.
"Pirates?" Vader thought, he was becoming very worried. "How far away are they?"
"About 2 parsecs away." The pilot replied.
"There is no way we could make it in this lander. We will take the cruiser. Call the admiral and tell him to prepare the ship." Vader said.
"Yes, Sir" The pilot said.
Vader was very concerned about the predicament Padme had gotten herself in. He wished he could get there sooner, before any real damage could happen, but he knew he would have to wait. The pirates who kidnapped Padme would pay with their lives.