Mutiny

Author's Note: Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay: I find it kind of funny that you thought my sex scene was bit too graphic, I've ironically seen much more graphic material on this site with a lot more sex slang. There will not be smut this chapter, but other stuff instead!

Padmé sat alone in the Exactor contemplating everything that had transpired. Were Vader's words about never having another woman some kind of trick to keep her from misbehaving? She couldn't tell. He wasn't the easiest person to read, she couldn't quite figure him out.

She told him "I love you" and she meant it, she knew she meant it, but was it heat of the moment? She must have said it because of the euphoria, like she was high on a Death Stick, but she knew she meant it…

What could she love about him? That he was handsome? There were dozens of handsome beings all across the galaxy. What had come over her?

Perhaps she didn't love him as he was now? But she could see something in him, beneath the cruelty of Darth Vader there was something else, but what was it?

He is prideful, moody and quick to anger, but beneath that she had glimpsed a generosity, it was most likely excused by his desire to sleep with her, but he'd given her a new arm and leg. He certainly didn't have to do that at all.

But they didn't really have a relationship, she…she just said it because…oh she didn't know, she wasn't one to give into her emotions, but in that moment she had, and it had been wonderful.

Did she even want a relationship with him? What was happening between them was physical attraction, still, what she said to him…

She didn't want to think about him, Darth Vader was the last thing on her mind right now.

It had been two months since that day...

Palpatine had led the invasion of his home planet, the Holonet had covered it up, saying that was a revolt of Gungans and Spice Miners.

Her forces had been decimated, but most of the Imperials had been wiped out. It was a showdown between her and the Emperor. Just the two of them.

Padmé screamed at him.

"You're just a traitor! And traitors, die ignominious deaths, always. All through my life I've always held turncoats in the highest contempt. Don't be so naïve as to think that after all you've done you deserve a fair fight. I'll make your death a quick one!"

"No my dear, you are mistaken, about a great many things," Emperor Palpatine sneered at her.

He gazed at her.

"What will you do? What's the matter Senator? Your dragon stands before you! You're going to defeat me is that right? What do you think your chances are? One in 100? 1,000, 10,000? A million? A billion maybe?"

He ordered the Stormtroopers to shoot her, they opened fire and she managed to find cover, not nearly fast enough, a dozen shots pierced her left arm, rendering it useless.

"I am more than prepared to destroy you, you monster, no matter what the odds are against me!" Padmé retorted.

"What's the matter Senator?" Sheev taunted. "Your dragon is waiting!"

He hurled an electropole at her.

Padmé was breathing hard, her right arm was badly torn up, she could barely move it. A Gungna electropole slammed through her shoulder, drawing blood.

She ripped it out and didn't stop shooting as Stormtrooper after Stormtrooper dropped dead.

"You're bruised and bleeding, your arm hanging by a few strands of meat. What are you going to do? Will you die like a dog? Or on your feet like a man?"

She gripped the remnants of clothing on her arm with her teeth, holding up the other blaster. "You think a cut on my arm can stop me?!"

"Now shut up, and come at me!" Padmé brandished her blasters with what was left of her arms. "Come on! Fight me!"

She tosses the left blaster into the air, catching it so she can get a better grip. "Hurry! Hurry!"

She charged forward, still firing at horrified troopers as she continued shooting them, even badly injured she was still killing them.

She used an ascension gun to pull herself up on top of an AT-AT, everything stopped, just for a moment.

She stood atop an AT-AT looking down at the Emperor.

"How admirable of you," Palpatine smirked.

"Yes, it's time to put an end to this dance!" She set of a remote detonator with her foot and the other AT-AT's exploded, falling on top of the Emperor.

The debris fell around the Emperor, Padmé leapt from atop an AT-AT, opening fire on her former friend and mentor.

"And that's checkmate!" she screamed. He deflected the bolts, but not back at her.

She doesn't even feel pain as his lightsaber slice through her right arm and left leg, her body hit the ground, the shock rocking through what's left of her.

"I believe my dear, you have been checkmated!" he laughed. He deactivated the lightsaber and stretched out his hands. He unleashed a burst of Force lightening.

She screamed, she'd never been in so much pain before. She saw another blaster lying nearby. She tried to crawl over and grab it.

"None of that, Senator, you will pay the price for your lack of vision!" he used the Force to levitate her and suddenly hurled her back into the Gungan shield generator.

It exploded.

She screamed as fire burned her clothes, she managed to crawl away, rolling on the grass to dampen the flames, it didn't help much, but she wasn't on fire anymore.

Darth Sidous approached her slowly; he bent down and touched her head.

"Have mercy! Please, please!" she begged him.

"There is no mercy!" he snarled.

He sent another shock of lightening though her body.

"You won't get a martyr's death Senator; I have other uses for you!" He laughed hideously in her ear.

He resumed his barrage of lightening.

Padmé screamed until she passed out and knew no more.

Padmé cursed herself for her own foolishness, she had hoped to bide her time, but then Sidous had murdered Fang Zar, it had incensed her beyond reason.

She'd have to bide her time and wait, no matter how long it took, she would restore the Republic.

But until then she'd have to survive.

Her thoughts turned back to Lord Vader, even if she destroyed the Emperor, she would have to deal with him.

And her feelings for him, she said she loved him, but she didn't love "Darth Vader", it was a shadow and a thought that she loved, the "other" person inside Darth Vader, but she didn't even know who "that" was.

Darth Vader stalked the bridge of the Exactor, his hood kept his men from seeing is face, it was good, he didn't want them to interrupt his meditation.

He had sworn fidelity to her, yes, he knew what he said, was it the throes of passion? He'd never said such things to other females, why did she compel him to say such things? Surely her influence over him couldn't be that strong.

Stars and planets, he'd never felt so good! It was too good, but he had to keep himself under control, he needed to keep up appearances, he told her he had to keep them a secret, but he knew his Master had given her to him as a gift—

"I am your slave; slaves don't have a choice in anything."

A slave. Her words dawned on him, he had replied without thinking. She was his slave.

She'd only consented because he had ordered her to, it wasn't the same as his conquests, she gave him her body for one reason: to survive.

This caused him more emotional distress than he wanted to admit. His Empire condoned slavery. This was not what he had wanted.

She was figuratively kissing his ass, it was something he knew too well, to stay in your master's good graces you had to keep them happy at any cost.

Of course logically, she didn't want him to rape her, he'd mentioned that he could, but she was right, he enjoyed getting females to do what he wanted because he liked having power over people, rape too was a form of power, but he just found it so revolting.

It was because of his beloved mother, for all his childhood, she'd been his only true companion, before he'd been sold to a Muun named Hego Damask II.

The Muun had been kindly to him, freeing him and giving him the finest education money could buy.

But the Muun always denied him something he truly desired: freedom for his mother.

There was always some excuse, some logical reason he did not have nearly enough money or time to free his mother, there was always some distraction for Anakin to keep him too busy to return to Tatooine.

Anakin had often expressed his wish to become a pilot, so Hego had arranged for him to enlist in the Republic Fleet.

Then came the day that Hego had revealed to him an astonishing secret. He was a Sith Lord.

Anakin had admired the Jedi once, but Hego had shown him the truth about them, what hypocrites they were. Guardians of peace who would not free slaves because of the political ramifications; self righteous fools who did not bring justice to others, only following the whims of the corrupt, squabbling Senate.

When Hego had revealed his true name as Darth Plagueis, he had told him that he had not wished him to undergo the normal training of a Sith, that he would pass on his vast knowledge to him, but that he must be kept secret, because Plagueis had another Apprentice that he secretly feared.

He told Anakin that he would be the most powerful Sith in all the galaxy. He had eagerly accepted Apprenticeship, with more power he could do more good for others, he could bend the galaxy to his will.

Darth Sidious was becoming too powerful. Plagueis had given him his true name, Darth Vader, and promised him that together they would rule the galaxy as father and son.

It had not turned out that way, Vader thought angrily, not at all.

Darth Sidious had murdered Plagueis in his sleep, with Vader arriving mere minutes afterwards. He had challenged Sidious, but he had lost, but Darth Sidious had made him a generous offer of Apprenticeship.

Killing Darth Sidous became his only goal. It gave him something to live for.

Over the years, in his Apprenticeship to Sidious, Anakin Skywalker had forgotten about his beloved mother. Darth Vader was consumed with righting the many wrongs of the galaxy; slavery wasn't high on his priority list.

The Senator was…a distraction, but for the moment, he didn't care, he could not force her from his mind, so he would simply meditate on her, and what would become of them once he ruled the galaxy, once it was all his, he could give his mother her freedom and bring peace to the galaxy, making it the way his mother would want it to be.

He would make Padmé understand, she would join his cause willingly, he would convince her that he would uphold the justice she so admired and then she'd want him of her own free will. She was his in body, she said he had her heart and affections, but he would test that soon enough, but for now, he had other business. He was in search of Jedi on Murkhana; afterwards he would figure out how to deal with Lady Vader.

Padmé gazed out at the stars. She thought aloud, who else was she supposed to talk to?

"We ruin the planets we govern and the people in our care. We slaughter our enemies and sacrifice all our allies. We'll keep killing till there's nothing left but to destroy ourselves. It will never be enough."

That was the Empire in a nutshell, and she had to, as the old phrase goes, "suck it up and deal with it."

She heard the door slide open; she turned to address the person behind her.

Suddenly, she was hit by a storm of blasterfire, she slammed against the wall and slumped down, they didn't stop firing, they ripped through her cape as they filled it full of holes.

"Clear out, we have to secure this floor, then we'll deal with Lord Vader."

Padmé was not one to give into her emotion often, she'd learned to blink them away and ignore them, but not today. Not today of all days was she going to ignore them. She was enraged, Imperial scum wouldn't be the death of her!

She'd never hated these people so much, never felt so much anger, she wanted them dead. The Emperor had sentenced her to this prison; these Storm Commandos were just an extension of Palpatine.

She despised traitors, for all the evils of the Empire; at least some of them were loyal to it, as she had been to the Republic. The Rebellion was loyal to the Old Republic and they had never faltered, but this form of betrayal was disgusting, it wasn't out of a noble cause, they'd done it because they wanted to claw their way to the top. Petty and pathetic, that's all they were.

"Dogs...that was a very good try. However..." she stood to her feet, "...I cannot be killed by dogs. It takes a man in order to kill a monster!"

The commandos looked at her, "Open fire!"

"Hold your tongue, the dead don't speak." She growled at them.

Palpatine had always called her a monster ever since she was put into the armor, now they were going to see it for themselves.

She shot all of them, without hesitation or regret, she wanted nothing more than to decimate the Empire, and they were traitors to their own cause, it wasn't like the Empire was going to give them a free pass, they weren't joining the Rebellion, they just wanted more power for themselves in a twisted attempt to impress the Emperor.

Most of them were dead, except for one; he was sobbing and blubbering as she approached them.

"You're a monster!" he screamed at her.

Padmé looked down on him, "Yes, people keep telling me that. And what does that make you who would stand against me, Soldier? A man? A dog? A monster?"

The panicked Storm Commando raised his blaster pistol to his head and shot himself.

Lady Vader growled in disgust.

Lieutenant Piett raced into the room. He gazed at her.

"Lieutenant Piett, what is happening?" Lady Vader demanded of him.

"It's a mutiny, Lady Vader! They've executed all of the officers and locked down the communications array."

"I see; has Lord Vader been informed?" she asked.

"Yes, he is taking back the bridge as we speak."

"Hold this floor Lieutenant; I'll deal with them myself."

The Storm Commandos outside the door were ready to fire their weapons. The door slid open and they saw Lady Vader step out into the hall. Padmé deliberately moved at a leisurely pace, in measured steps. She walked slowly passed them, like they didn't matter to her at all.

The strike team gasped in horror as they heard a disturbing sound. A sound they never expected to hear.

They could hear a sound, a dreadful sound that made them recoil in horror. It was Lady Vader, laughing derisively at them, mocking their efforts. They knew she was female, but they could sense the hatred in the voice, and it terrified them.

From her body language they could tell she was enjoying their fear. They weren't wrong either.

They opened fire on her without even an order, terrified of her.

Padmé casually turned around and started firing her EGL-3A blaster pistols.

Lord Vader had been watching from further away, he was amused by the Storm Commandos panic; they usually never panicked, even against heavily armed Rebels. But he knew Lady Vader was different.

He could sense something in her that delighted him, as much as she insisted she wasn't like him, he sensed her bloodlust, she wanted to kill Imperial Stormtroopers and this mutiny was giving her the excuse to do it.

He could sense a fierce joy in her, and under her breath mask, he knew she was smiling.

She casually fired behind her as she ran by them, he could see blaster bolts enter their neck and head; she was an excellent shot with a blaster.

The bodies just kept falling. She crossed her arms and continued a ceaseless barrage. And they just kept dying. She shot a trooper in the head.

They could see Lord Vader walking towards them. They completely panicked.

Vader started chuckling in perverse pleasure.

"Quinto Team Leader! We're stuck on the top level, please send help! Anything! She's a monster!" He pleaded over the comm. "Headquarters get us the kriff out of here! Oh gods, it's like hell! Dammit, please DAMMIT!"

Storm Commandos ran in a panic as they tried to flee, she shot two more through the back of their heads.

"Come on! Let's go! Move, MOVE!" the Storm Commando squad leader shouted in panic.

She walked slowly towards them; they crowded into the turbolift and hit the "close" button.

They could see Lord Vader a short distance behind her, if he got to them it'd be worse.

"He's coming! Run, RUN!"

Vader decided he would amuse himself, he used the Force to compel one of the Storm Commandos to push the "open" button just as the lift was about to shut.

"What the—what are you doing?!" they shouted. They tried to pull him away, but he kept pushing the button. They resorted to filling him full of blaster bolts until he dropped to the floor, they shoved him out of the door, he looked up, reaching out as he saw Lady Vader staring down at him.

She shot him in the head.

"Shut it, hurry!" the squad leader screamed.

Just as the lift doors were about to shut, Lady Vader stuck the sights of her blaster pistols between the doors, prying them open.

"Open Sesame!" Lady Vader snarled at them.

"Good work, soldiers!" she smirked at them. "Now good night!" she started shooting them as the turbolift doors closed behind her.

She exited the turbolift and saw Captain Shale waiting for her.

"You're starting to bore me, let's cut to the chase. What are you here for?"

"I'm here to take your life, Lady Vader, the Rebels are paying a high price for your head and I'm strapped for Credits, this isn't about the Rebellion, this is about money."

"I get it. There's absolutely no reasoning with you people, which leaves me no choice but to keep killing until there are none of you left standing. Didn't your master's learn anything from the first time I decimated them?

"Decimated them?!"

"Yes, before I was imprisoned in this suit, I was quite good at killing Bucketheads, I still am."

"Well, it'd be worth the money to bring the Rebellion your head!" he fired at her.

They exchanged shots, she somehow took all his fire, apparently, the suit was stronger than he thought. They continued back and forth until he grew bored.

He noticed her breathing seemed labored, she was wearing out.

"I can't stop bleeding, that rifle, it's high powered and pierced my armor. How interesting! You Captain Shale are very amusing!"

She sensed him behind her. "Hi!"

"Are you ready for round two Lady Vader? I'm bet they have a special place for you, in the deepest pits of Hell!"

He heard Lord Vader's voice over a comm., "I'm just pleased that's all, the world would be so boring without idiots like you to amuse me."

"Coming to save your pet monster?" Captain Shale taunted.

"Only a human can destroy a monster! Only a human could dare hope to!" Lady Vader snarled at him.

They exchanged fire again. This time she shot out one of the pipes and smoke got in his eyes.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" She knew this was over because he was finally here.

He fired again in a panic and gazed in horror as all he had hit was another Storm Commando corpse.

Then he saw him standing there as the smoke cleared. Darth Vader. His worst nightmare. The realization hit him; Lady Vader had been stalling him so that Lord Vader could finish him off.

"I want to hear you squeal like a pig!" Darth Vader sneered.

The Sith Lord activated his lightsaber.

"You expect me to squeal? Are you serious? Don't you see what is happening? If only the world were so simple. You really have gone completely SOFT IN THE HEAD!"

He pulled out a Darksaber, one he'd stolen from Vader's lightsaber collection.

He fired several shots at her, he also tried to shoot at Lord Vader, but he used the corpses to block the shots.

"Bantha!" he swore at Padmé as she opened fire on him. He managed to block the shots with the shielding he activated, but it wasn't enough. He still had to contend with Lord Vader.

Lady Vader holstered her blaster pistols and suddenly grabbed another weapon. Captain Shale gasped in horrified shock as she aimed a PLX-1 portable missile launcher and fired it at him.

Captain Shale avoided the missiles barely. "Go to hell!" he raged at her.

There was too much smoke, he couldn't see. He whirled around quickly just as Darth Vader grabbed his arm.

Darth Vader mercilessly crushed his wrist, effortlessly breaking it.

Darth Vader slammed his foot into his kneecap, it shatterd. The screaming started.

"I want to hear it pig! So squeal!" Vader roared.

Vader blocked the blow easily, and then he slammed the lightsaber into the Darksaber hard. Too Hard.

Vader command the Force to shatter the blade and he kept cutting. Through his opponent's hand, slicing through his arm, straight up to his shoulder, he watched as skin and bone peeled away like when one filleted a fish.

He relished the man's screams. Darth Vader grabbed the man by his skull, lifting him off his feet.

"That's checkmate Captain Shale!" Vader snarled. He cupped the trooper's fearful face in his hands, the man had tears streaming down his cheeks, "Now let's deal with the business at hand. I'm obliged to give you a thorough interrogation! You're going to tell me everything you know! Commander Appo, take him away, well, what's left of him!"

Lord Vader approached her saying nothing, suddenly, he unexpectedly bowed before her. Bending his head low, Padmé was stunned; Vader bent his knee before no one save the Emperor.

"My Lord, you have returned," she noted. What else could she say? Was this…a sign of respect?

"At your pleasure, My Lady," he rose to his feet.

Darth Vader glanced at his advisor, she was wounded, he would have to get her to the medcenter in the ship and have the med droids look at her. The suit was damaged and he didn't trust the droids to fix her.

Padmé watched him as he began repairing her iron lung. "Thank you."

He didn't say anything, he just kept repairing her damaged suit. He still had a reputation to uphold.

"The suit can withstand much, but don't become a blaster sponge, the repairs take up too much of my time."

Padmé looked up at as the protocol/torture droid Triple-Zero approached Lord Vader.

"I have good news and bad news about Captain Shale," Triple-Zero informed him.

"Your report?" Darth Vader asked.

"Good news: I have great confidence that I have managed extract to extract all relevant information from Captain Shale. I have the name of his employer and who hired him to mutiny."

"Who is it?" Darth Vader asked.

"Prince Xizor, My Lord," Triple-Zero replied, "I have the amount he paid them and the names of his agents who contacted them, etcetera, etcetera."

"Then dispose of him," Darth Vader ordered.

"I have doubly good news: he's already dead."

"How should Xizor be dealt with?" Vader asked himself. He turned to Padmé.

"You are my advisor," he chuckled softly. "Advise me, what should I do about Black Sun and Xizor?"

"The Emperor would never believe us even if we accused him, we must be patient and civil, he will slip up…eventually. They all do."

"It's true, I'm only biding my time until my Master has taught me all I need to know."

"You would betray him?" Padmé asked, was Vader not the Emperor's loyal enforcer?

"Treachery is the way of the Sith, it always has been, and always will be. Let him do all the messy, oppressive, dirty work it'll take to unite the galaxy— unite it against him. He'll be the most hated man in history. And when the time is right, we'll throw him down."

Padmé let his words sink in. We. He was learning from her. An alliance with the Supreme Commander, she was actually entertaining the idea, there was no way she could possibly openly join the Rebellion, it's not like he was, and they both wanted Sidious dead for different reasons.

"You see. We'll be heroes. The whole galaxy will love us, and we'll rule, together."

Popular rule was not democracy, she knew that, but she knew something she hadn't wanted to admit, the Senate wanted an Emperor, they had grown weary of shouldering all the responsibility themselves, they'd wanted someone to tell them what to do.

Palpatine had simply given them what they wanted.

They couldn't see how horrific dictatorship was because they didn't want to.

Padmé could never see herself as Empress, she'd never aspired to such ambitions, but she remembered with surprise that her people had loved her so much they'd wanted to make her their sole monarch for life.

Democracy wasn't dead, it was asleep.

But could she trade one dictator for another?

Darth Vader was cruel but he wasn't a sadist. He truly believed that what he did, he did for the good of the galaxy.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? When it came to evils he was the lesser of the two.

"You would help me?" she asked.

"The biggest problem in the universe is no one helps each other," Vader told her, "There are very few people I can trust, I will give that to you, but should you ever lie to me, should you ever betray me, I'll make you wish you were dead."

They were both walking contradictions; a champion of democracy had feelings for the enforcer of a dictator. The cruel Supreme Commander who let kindness slip out like a leaky faucet. If the universe was trying to bring them together, the Gods had a sick and twisted sense of humor.