Chapter 10: A Crazy Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. It belongs to George Lucas and I am thankful to him for creating such a wonderful story. This fanfiction is written purely for fun, I am not getting paid for writing this!

" … that our worst fears have been realized. Dooku has used an Etydorian quadrant poison. Your only hope is to reason with him", the doctor muttered, averting his eyes. " I'm sorry your majesty".

Padme's face remained calm. " Thank you doctor", she replied. " There would be no way of finding a cure from my blood samples?"

" None your majesty", he answered. " Although poisons of the etydorian quadrant are made from the same formula, an enormous variety of ingredients can be used. Side effects will be nausea, numbness in limbs and a tendency to lose consciousness. I…" the professional tone left his voice. " I wish there was more that I could do…"

" Do not despair doctor", uttered the queen. " I have no intention of giving up so soon".

He bowed and exited from her chambers. Padme turned to the suddenly rather quiet boy sitting next to her.

" Don't worry Ani", she told him. " I have a few ideas. I'd like to talk to your jedi friends".

///

Padme sat in a luxurious chamber before Vader, Leia, Han, Luke, Piett and Chewbacca. She had just finished explaining what had happened to them.

" Because of the urgent nature of this dilemma I request your assistance in recovering the antidote", she told them. " Will you help me, jedi?"

Luke hesitated. As he was the one she believed to be a fully-fledged jedi knight this request had been delivered to him. The boy was uncertain of what to say.

How could he help her? He was just a moisture farmer from an obscure Outer Rim planet! He had barely learned how to fight! This sounded… like madness!

That sounds like Han talking, a voice in his head pointed out. Aren't jedi supposed to help those in need?

Yes, but I'm not a proper jedi! He argued with himself. How can I be expected to do this?

And yet, hadn't he done crazier things than confront a sith lord head on?

He had penetrated the Death Star and rescued Leia from it. He had destroyed the space station in a minuscule one-man ship. Come to think of it, he already had confronted a sith lord head on! He had confronted Vader in Cloud City...

Vader. Luke glanced at his father surreptitiously. Since their arrival Vader had publicly hugged someone. He had cried before the group. He had displayed caring for another being.

Luke tried not to be hurt that that being was not him, the sith lord's son.

Wasn't this proof that the man still had a chance of redemption?

All eyes were on him. He would decide whether they attempted to help out this queen. It was up to him.

What if Vader could be redeemed? What if…?

No Luke, you're being stupid. This is just part of your silly attachment to the idea of having a father that you're still harboring after all these years.

What if…?

See what happened last time. Are you so quick to forget why your right hand is a mockery of flesh and blood?

What if…?

He's not your father. Not really. A father is supposed to protect his son. He's supposed to love his son, not only care about his child's power and what he can gain through his offspring.

But if there's a chance, even the slightest one…

Perhaps he was foolish. Perhaps he was stupid. Yes, it was a crazy dream. But having a father wasn't a dream that he could give up on. If there was a chance to bring out some humanity in Vader…

" Of course we'll help you", Luke spoke up finally with an air of self-assuredness that he did not feel a bit of. " It would be an honor".

///

Five hours later a handmaiden knocked tentatively upon the door of the royal palace's library where the group had holed themselves up in.

" Come in", called the voice of Queen Amidala.

The woman entered and for a moment did not recognize where she was.

The library had once been an enormous, well-lit and comfortable room in which it was easy to find whatever information one desired.

Now it was simply a mess.

Holochips were scattered over a long table. Three holoprojectors were currently in use, all of them displaying multi-colored, slowly revolving maps. Old fashioned books and newer datapads were strewn on every surface available. The group of jedi and Queen Amidala were perched wherever a bit of space was available. This included the tops of chairs and sliding ladders attached to the tall bookshelves.

Queen Amidala was currently seated on a hover trolley usually utilized for the purposed of towing books along behind one. She had a laser pointer in one hand and an old paper map in another. Her hair had not been properly arranged (it was in a simple braid) and she wore no makeup as well as a simple tunic and pants.

Pants! While she was entertaining guests!

It took the handmaiden a moment to recover enough from this impropriety to finally speak.

" Milady, perhaps you would like dinner to be served to you and your guests in here?" she asked. Although the handmaiden wasn't sure if " guests" was the proper word of description for these beings. Visitors, even, was stretching things. They looked like common riffraff to her. Disreputable no-gooders who ought to be deposited in the palace dungeons this instant.

Why was Queen Amidala tolerating the company of such low beings?

Although perhaps they were spies. Spies weren't supposed to look important. If these were spies they were doing excellently at seeming completely unimportant. The handmaiden's less than courteous thoughts were interrupted by Queen Amidala's reply.

" Thank you Dane, that would be lovely".

" Very good your majesty", the woman replied, curtseying and exiting the chamber. She supposed it was none of her business, but one couldn't help but wonder…

///

Admiral Piett couldn't help but consider how singularly peculiar his situation was. What had happened to the stiff imperial admiral and the tyrannous sith commander?

Here the admiral was, his uniform unpressed for the first time in years, utilizing a stack of dangerously wobbling datapads as a chair while the commander was sitting on the rungs of a ladder attempting to balance a plate of food on his lap, eat the food, read sections from the datapads he pulled from the shelf behind him and converse with a young man who happened to be a dangerous rebel criminal.

It was strange how things changed.

" Because of the placement of the old tower, we should be able to penetrate from around here", Queen Amidala continued, motioning with her laser pointer.

She was showing them a map of the dark tower of Naboo's lake district where this Count Dooku had holed himself up in.

The monument was called the " dark tower" because for almost two standard years thousands of prisoners were held in it and often tortured for information by a tyrannous man who had gained control of Naboo. He had kept all who dared to oppose his rule in the tower. This had taken place 500 years ago. The tower had been built by him for this purpose on top of another castle that had once resided on the spot.

The swampy region had been flooded sending this first building into depths of the enormous Lake Varykino. The queen proposed that they enter the remains of this ancient construction in an attempt to penetrate the tower, capture Dooku and gain possession of the antidote.

" Are we all agreed?" she asked finally. " I know that there is a chance of discovery, however last I knew of it this room" she motioned with the laser pointer, " was used for storage purposes only. There shouldn't be too many guards there although there may be some in the ruins".

" I say there's only so much we can figure out here", Han drawled. " It'll come down to the same thing: we need to go there and see if we can get in, and soon".

" Agreed", Padme told him. " I propose starting tomorrow. How does that sound?"

The group agreed. The conversation then turned to other matters.

" How did you and V-Anakin meet your majesty?" Luke asked her, his eyes daring the child sith lord to get out of having this story told.

Padme smiled. " It was on the Outer Rim planet of Tattooine", she replied. " Naboo had been taken over by the Trade Federation and I, in the company of two jedi knights landed on the desert planet to escape and obtain parts for our ship".

" Padme, I don't think…" Vader began.

" It's a nice story Ani!" the queen told him laughingly. " I'm surprised you haven't told everyone it already! They are your friends after all!"

Vader opened his mouth to interject, however Luke cut in. " You landed on Tattooine…?" he prompted.

" Ah, yes", Padme continued. " There Ani brought us to his home to shelter us from a sandstorm. Do you know what the first thing he ever said to me was?"

Vader's eyes widened with horror. " Padme, please", he interrupted worriedly. " I really don't want this story told".

Padme frowned. " Your past shouldn't be a secret Ani!" she told him. " You have nothing to be ashamed of!" Here she resumed her story. " He asked me " Are you an angel?"

Vader buried his face in his hands. That's it, he thought. I have lost all of the respect that Piett might have harbored for me. As long as it doesn't get out…

" Really?" Leia asked dubiously. " He asked you if you were an angel?"

" He did", Padme smiled. " It was a sweet thing to say, wasn't it?" And she turned her affectionate gaze on the mortified sith lord and continued.

" We managed to make a bet with a toydarian to get the parts we needed for our damaged ship from him. The bet depended on Ani's winning a podrace, the Boonta Eve. What he didn't know was that we had bet his freedom on the race as well".

" You bet what?!" Han exclaimed.

Padme looked surprised. " Why, Ani's freedom", she replied. " He was a slave". Her gaze went from one stunned face to another.

" You didn't know?" she asked surprised. " Ani…"

" It's fine", the boy muttered, struggling to control his anger. He had lost control around her one time, he couldn't again! Cracks began to appear on the windows…

" I… I'm sorry", the queen whispered. " You really didn't tell them? Anakin, it's not something to be ashamed of! You didn't have a choice!"

Vader said nothing. His fists were clenched.

" Ahem… this food is excellent", Piett supplied after an awkward pause.

" Oh yes, I was meaning to bring that up!" Padme replied. " It's D'Gutinese gourmet, as you must know Mr. Piett, the D'Gutinese diet consists almost entirely of fish and vegetables pickled in various preserves. They never bake anything".

Piett's eyes widened with horror, shrinking back from the queen's accusatory gaze.

She knows we've been lying to her! He realized.

What will we do?!

A.N.: I'm sorry that this update was later than usual! My school play was going on and I didn't have time to work on this fic. I'll try to update more quickly now that it's over. This is my second longest chapter, though, I hope that makes up for it! Constructive criticism is always appreciated as well as feedback on what you liked so I can keep that up. I am writing fanfiction to improve my writing skills. Thank you to everyone who read and everyone who reviewed!