"Senator Amidala," Captain Rex appeared at her shoulder as she watched, transfixed with horror, the Chancellor declaring himself an Emperor.
"I did not think it could get worse than the massacre of the Jedi," she didn't look up. "And now I watch democracy die –" her hand flicked out in a gesture of disgust at her rapturous colleagues. "To thunderous applause."
Captain Rex had no idea how to respond to that and took a step back, his eyes flicking between the flickering projection and the angered woman who watched on.
"Senator Amidala," he began. "We all have a role to play, even the Chancellor."
"And what is my role, Captain?" she spun around. "How does one champion liberty and peace in a dictatorship? Run away on a fully armed battle cruiser with half a battalion of renegade troopers and a disenfranchised Admiral?"
"We're dedicated, not renegade," he corrected her with narrowing eyes. "We defend the Republic and the Senate –"
"Then we have both failed," Padmé interrupted him crossly without even turning to look at him. "Since neither still exist."
"Well we exist," Rex insisted. "And while we're still alive, we live to fight another day."
"For what?"
"Excuse me?"
"Fight for what?" Padmé prodded him to think. "War without purpose is just profiteering."
Rex was a military man and had been since he emerged from the maturation chamber. He didn't need to think about why they fought, it was rote. "We fight for our brothers, for loyalty, for life and for the Republic."
"And I worked for peace and democracy, both of which have been swept away. We shouldn't be fleeing, we should be turning around and capturing the Chancellor."
Rex was getting annoyed now. "Senator Amidala," he tried to remain calm at the ridiculous suggestion.
"Don't! Call me that," her temper was getting the best of her. She grit her teeth and forced out "If there is no Senate, then I am no longer a Senator. Certainly not under Emperor Palaptine's reign." Her face was twisted as she looked on the chamber that had been her life's work. She could only watch the telecast as it metaphorically crumbled to pieces. "I am no longer Senator Amidala," she whispered beneath her breath to herself.
Rex was clearly taken aback by this, paused, and then grinned malevolently. "Fine. Lady Skywalker," he bestowed a completely different title on her. A creative one, one he had just made up all on his own.
Padmé's eyes widened and she looked about ready to explode. "I am not –!"
"Oh aren't you?" Rex knew he had the upper hand. "I've served under General Skywalker for three long years. He's personally commanded 72% of my missions. I know him and I know he doesn't do anything by halves." His next snipe was pointed. "He's your husband isn't he?"
Padmé said nothing.
"Deny it," he goaded her.
She turned away in an angry flight and stormed to the viewport across the room.
"I thought so," Rex said smugly. "Now, Lady Skywalker," he needled. "You're needed on the bridge."
Padmé turned, hissed an annoyed "that seems unlikely unless they're hoping to go into Peace talks and bring a chief negotiator." But she stomped her way past him in the bridge's direction anyway.
Captain Rex couldn't help the amused smile that lit his face.
He followed silently behind her, suffering her angry glare as they took the silent turbo lift together to the command spire.
"Admiral Yularen," she greeted as she stepped out into the bustling heart of the ship.
"Senator Amidala," he turned and greeted her.
Rex popped up from behind her with a chirpy "she doesn't wish to be addressed with that title anymore sir. Said she won't serve under Emperor Palpatine."
A hearty cheer arose from the men in the control cockpits beneath the deck and Padmé looked down in surprise.
"We none of us do, I suppose," Yularen nodded thoughtfully. "Well then –?"
"Ahh, Lady Skywalker seems correct, Sir," Rex offered ever so helpfully with a polite smile.
Padmé shot a death stare at him over her shoulder, the gaze promising severe retribution. His grin became even wider and he smiled, ever so saccharine sweet. She was a diplomat and chose not to press her case at this time. Retribution would come his away.
Right now they had much bigger concerns.
"Very well," Yularen just seemed pleased to have something polite he could address her as. "Milady we've been discussing our legal position."
Padmé crossed the deck, knowing there were many curious dark eyes surreptitiously glancing up to follow her progress to where the Admiral stood with his Captain.
"I think we can agree your position is entirely il-legal, Admiral," she offered her opinion. "Theft, disobeying a direct military order, kidnapping, firing at a public official –"
"We did not –!" the Captain began to protest.
"Your X-Wings fired at our attackers as we were fleeing Coruscant," Padmé reminded.
"Oh," the Captain remembered. He bucked up to protest "but we were being pursued – it was the only course of action to assure your safety!"
As her anger with Rex dissipated and Padmé started to clam, she nodded in agreement with him. "I know, Captain. And I would not be alive if not for those acts of bravery. But the Emperor will not see it that way."
"We should overthrow the Emperor and restore the Republic!" came a cry to battle from a young lieutenant manning a forward scanning station.
Supportive murmurs began to follow until Padmé raised her voice over the din and reminded "That would be a military coup."
They all shut up.
"And unwise," she emphasised, looking many of them in the eye to make her point before turning back to the bridge officers. "There is no legal precedent for this. Or if there is then it is long before my time. I'm not sure I can help."
"On the contrary," Yularen had perked right up as he studied her thoughtfully. "You're here."
She tilted her head questioningly. "What do you mean, Admiral?"
"Should we try to overthrow the new Emperor, that would be a military coup as you've so helpfully reminded us. But you are an elected representative. If the Senate had the will, could they remove the Emperor and go back to being a Republic?"
Padmé paused, studying the Admiral in an entirely new light. Not just a man of battle then.
She turned her head aside, thinking out loud. "Well, the formation of the Republic itself cannot cease to exist without the agreement of all signatories. That means planets, systems as well as corporations like the Banking Clan. The Chancellor may have succeeded in having himself voted more powers but he cannot actually change the functionary body in law until a Referendum is completed. A representative Senate vote is not enough."
The others looked at her blankly. As she came back to herself and glanced around, she realised she had the attention of every bridge officer but the comprehension of none.
Padmé sighed and summarised "it will take time. And a battle against the Emperor's propaganda machine is not one I'm sure we can win," her face turned into a sad smile as she thought of the whole reason for this state of affairs. "Even with Anakin alongside."
"You're giving up?" Rex prodded her. "Letting democracy die?" he threw her earlier words back at her, quite impressed with himself when he saw he'd raised her ire again. "Is it not something you'd fight for?"
"I will fight until my last breath for it," she promised him. Looked out the window. "What do you have in mind gentlemen?"
"Military strategy is one thing," Admiral Yularen spoke for them all. "Leading, is quite another."
She turned to find his head tilted questioningly in her direction. "I don't understand." Though, she was getting a sick feeling she just might.
"We prevented the death of General Skywalker out of loyalty," the Captain reminded.
"So I've heard many times now," Padmé wanted to move the story on.
Yularen cleared his throat. "The General is," he cleared his throat again, uncomfortable. "A leader of men," he decided on. "An expert on the battle field, with tactics, deception. He's a powerful user of the Force, the most cunning of the Jedi I've served with..." he trailed off.
Padmé saved him any further embarrassment and saved them all lord knew how much more time with his awkward avoidance. "But he has no taste for politics," she was explicit.
"Exactly, milady," the Admiral looked relieved to have her be the one say it.
She met his gaze head on, knowing what he was implying, what she brought to this disaster of a situation that her mightily talented husband didn't. Diplomacy. "And you need someone to guide you through that."
"Not exactly," the ship's Captain looked warily at Rex.
He rolled his eyes and said what the others would not. "We want you to lead us. The men have elected you to be our representative."
"Represent you in what? Lead you into what?" Padmé pressed, trying to make them see they were all stuck in a political no-man's land.
"A better future."
It was the one thing they could say to get her to stop talking. The kind of idealism that pushed her to take the throne, that kept her in the Senate, that inspired her passion for democracy.
It had come out of Captain Rex's mouth – he was more cunning than he let on.
She looked down into the pits and saw those dark eyes studying her again, this time, with shielded hope. Though looked to her for guidance, leadership, that better future.
"I wouldn't know where to begin," she tried to brush it aside, looking away from the expectation so personally placed on her shoulders.
"You know more than everyone else on this ship put together," Rex pressed.
"Consider it," Yularen was a little more diplomatic. "We all need a leader."
Silence fell. The men waited for her answer, Padmé couldn't give one. It stretched into minutes before the young communications Lieutenant broke it.
"Ahh, Lady Skywalker, you had better see this."
She shot Rex a murderous look – how had he got someone else to use that name? – and warily crossed the floor.
"I've been monitoring holo broadcasts," he informed her, removing a cord from a jack so the sound flooded the room and the corresponding screen filled with the image of Emperor Palpatine.
"My friends," he began. "It has come to my attention that some of the Empire's biggest champions," his voice fell in a way that Padmé knew well. Uh-oh, here came the fake sympathy. "Have been led astray. A small number of our Senators were coerced, at the hands of the Separatists, into signing this petition."
"Oh no," she whispered, her heart dropping. She knew what he was referring to. She'd drafted it, she was the first signatory. And in this new regime she'd probably just bought herself a death sentence.
"A petition of 2,000 so-called Senators. Calling for my immediate removal from power. These Separatist spies,"
"I am not!" Padmé interrupted with a disbelieving squawk.
The broadcast Emperor continued on regardless. "Shall not be allowed to prosper, to continue to spread fear and disunity among our new, glorious Empire. I guarantee you, my people, every single one of them shall be brought to justice for this treason. Starting with their reckless leader, who time and again has prevented this Senate from passing necessary bills that would support our army and help us end the war."
"Uh-oh," she winced away, almost unable to look.
"Who travelled to Separatist worlds multiple times during the embargo."
"No no," she pleaded.
"Senator Padmé Amidala."
Her name was said slowly, filled with the promise of death.
"Will be brought to justice."
"Justice?" Padmé repeated. Then it came out even more disbelieving. "Justice!? I need to be brought to justice?"
"Captain we're coming out of hyperspace," a lackey said quietly to the commanding officer. The Captain turned away, grateful for the opportunity to remove himself from her rising temper. They needed to revert to normal speed, turn the ship, let the Nav computer calculate the next hyperspace jump and get underway again as quickly as possible. The longer they stayed in real space, the longer they were vulnerable to attack. He hurried away to his post to aid his men.
"All I have fought for is democracy! I have begged for peace! I travelled to Separatist systems to negotiate a treaty only to have my friends killed! And I need to be brought to justice?!" she was enraged as she watched false compassion twist on his deceiving face.
The soldiers shared worried looks with one another that she didn't notice.
"You brought war to this galaxy," she accused the holo. "Murdered all the peace keepers. Kept me from my husband. Have put me in this gundark's nest of trouble when I'm eight months pregnant and I need to be brought to justice?!" She was now screaming at the man who had once, long ago, been her mentor.
She spun around and marched towards the front viewport, outraged by the bald-faced hide of him. She was getting to the end of the walkway, her palms spread in anger when they dropped out of hyperspace. Right on top of one behemoth of a Separatist dreadnought.
Every man on the bridge froze in shock at the sight of the ship. The Saviour roared onwards, straight ahead, perilously close to ramming the carrier from behind.
Undaunted she stood firm as it loomed in the viewport, growing every second. "If I'm going to be tried as the leader of a Rebellion, then I'm going to damn well lead one," she hissed to herself then raised her voice.
"Fire all forward laser cannons!"
Lady Skywalker's order resonated in the silent bridge. She turned her chin, looking back over her shoulder in silent question as to why her order hadn't been fulfilled.
The Captain was the first to emerge from stunned silence. "You heard her! Fire all forward laser cannons! Open up the batteries," he started barking orders.
A claxon began ringing, sounding to the entire crew complement across hundreds of decks that they were under attack.
Padmé watched the battle begin with her unimpeded view through the forward windows, not flinching as bursts of red began flying out, seemingly from beneath her feet. No sensors aided her like they did for the men of the bridge crew, but the Saviour was so close they were almost scraping their hull over the droid carrier ship so she could see everything. The Separatist ship started turning, coming about now that it had spotted them. She had the best view and was the first to spot vulture droids beginning to launch from the hangers.
"Scramble pilots, we need star fighters," she murmured without thinking as the blinking red lights and stabbing black exoskeletons started angling straight towards the Saviour's hull.
Yularen repeated her words then barked orders of his own. "Start calculating our next jump to lightspeed. We need this engagement to be as short as possible, we have no shipyards for repairs and nowhere to resupply. We need to get to the General."
Padmé watched as the red paint marking the top of their own massive hull split open before her, and tiny fighters began spilling out through the crack. The baby kicked and she unthinkingly reached down, placing her hand over what felt like a little foot.
"It's alright," she soothed softly, watching a vulture droid heading straight for the bridge.
"Are our shields raised, Captain?" she asked calmly.
"Raise shields!" the order was frantically called out. The shields glittered momentarily and then strengthened and disappeared from visible light.
She watched their fighters start picking off the vulture droids, though more were being launched by the second.
"Where are we?" she wondered quietly to herself as she looked out at the stars, not seeing any familiar planets. They weren't even within a system. "Dooku and Grevious have been defeated. Whose authority is this ship operating under?"
"Lieutenant," she made her way to the communications pit and knelt down. "See if you can intercept their transmissions. Even if they're encoded take a copy and we'll break it later. We must know who they are and who their leader is."
"Yes Milady," he bobbed his head and started pressing buttons. He hesitated and then looked up at her, worry straining his features. "We're getting some chatter from the Republic-sorry – Empire. They're recalling us, demanding to know why we launched without authorisation."
"Don't answer," she advised, then looked out towards the explosions of droid troopers landing against their hull. "And get ready to encode a transmission to General Skywalker."
The Lieutenant lit at the mention of Anakin and issued a curt "Yes Milady," then hurried back to his work.
She stood up again, took a moment to steady herself then walked forward again to watch.
"Is the jump calculated?" Yularen called out.
"Two more minutes sir."
Padmé's eyes flared, her gaze settling on a laser torch being put to their hull by three crafty destroyers.
"Seal off the mid decks and evacuate all personnel, there are droids about to breach," she warned. The First Officer appeared at her shoulder and followed her pointing finger.
He was speaking into his headset three seconds later and the blaring claxon changed to a general warning to evacuate mid-decks and prepare for an onboard incursion. A blaster was pressed into her hand and she turned.
"Thank you Commander," she nodded at the thoughtfulness of it. The unknown Commander disappeared but Captain Rex materialised by her side, pistols on both hips and his arms folded sternly across his broad chest.
"Are you my bodyguard now?" she turned back to the battle.
"Until General Skywalker can relieve me of the duty personally," Captain Rex confirmed.
Padmé smiled, proud of the unwavering dedication on Anakin's behalf. "I look forward to that moment."
Another small kick and this time she rubbed it with her thumb. A spark in her peripheral vision made her whip her head around.
"Admiral," she called warningly. "A second ship just dropped out of hyperspace."
Another droid carrier. Then a third. And a fourth.
"Where are we?" she asked Rex. "While are they all massing here? They can't have known we were coming."
"No milady," Rex confirmed, looking out over the battle they were now vastly out-gunned. There was no way they could survive against so many. "Only the rendezvous was known. We made the first jump from Coruscant randomly and planned our route in the following few hours. They're not here for us."
"Hows that Nav computer?" Yularen called out again.
"Ready sir!" the Navigator called back.
"All fighters return to ship, all fighters return to ship," the Captain ordered.
Padmé walked back to the communications pit, Captain Rex at her back. When she reached the lieutenant in charge of external communication she knelt. "Record me now, encode it and send the transmission along with our current coordinates to the Defiance the second before we jump."
"Ready," the Lieutenant nodded.
"Master Skywalker," she braced as the ship rocked, a shell perforating the hull and exploding near one of their fuel stores. A moment passed while they steadied and then she hurried to continue. "The Separatist army is massing and we've come under fire. It may be slower than anticipated if we need repairs but we will meet you at the rendezvous point."
She glanced over her shoulder as a burning piece of exploding vulture droid lodged itself in the bridge's bulkhead but didn't cause a hull rupture.
She turned back. "Wait for me," she softly made a private plea to her husband.
That was it. The lieutenant encoded the transmission and Padmé nodded to him. He nodded back.
She returned to the forward window and watched the last of the fighters slip into their belly just as the hanger bay doors met.
"Make the jump!" Yularen called.
The ship's pilot did so and a second later they were streaking into hyperspace. Leaving the massing Separatist army behind. The ship shuddered and they all looked back.
Rex said it in a dry warning that no one else could voice.
"We lost something."