Cadus stood quietly in the Jedi Council chamber, seated alongside a few Masters in person, others through hologram. It was business as usual. He knew that more than half of the Jedi Masters sitting here had expressed grave doubts about him not finding anything.
They also expressed doubts about Kolar dying in an ambush. He knew that even after Yoda had swayed them to concede and move on, more than a few did not.
Cadus would not share those secrets.
"A grave move this. Behind it, Dooku is." Master Yoda said as the others passed the recent news report around.
"It is during a crucial time. With the recent votes coming up, and Palpatine's growing power...Padme and Bail have been vocal of Palpatine's waxing power, it seems like a plot to draw one of them away." Mace Windu added.
"What about Senator Amidala?" Cadus asked. "She will still need protecting. No doubt she will be going to Naboo."
Yoda turned his gaze his way. "Handle that, you will."
Cadus felt his mood lift a little at Yoda's simple words, this was one assignment he knew that he would truly enjoy, not quite as much as the last one, yet.
"Escort the Senator back to her home planet of Naboo. She'll be safer there. And don't use registered transport. Travel as refugees. Once she is there, she will be able to do something about the current state of affairs and you can give us a report." Windu added.
"What of communications?" Ki Adi Mundi asked.
"They are up and operating, but things are tense." Aalya chimed softly.
"How so?"
"Everything is formal, too formal. Even for Naboo Royalty." Plo Koon added.
Cadus nodded. There would be a few obstacles to such a course of action. "It will be very difficult to get Senator Amidala to leave Coruscant. She is not able to be deterred when she is resolved. Quite the stubborn one."
"Until this issue with Ventress is resolved, our judgment she must respect." Yoda replied.
Cadus nodded.
Padme would not respect their judgement.
He didn't for that matter.
"She cares about these upcoming votes, Master Yoda. She is more concerned with making sure Palpatine doesn't get absolute power and control and that the Jedi do not fall under his control as a military force. He already has the GAR, we do not need him at the top."
"Master Cadus." Windu started.
Cadus's gaze turned into one of ferocity, but Shaak Ti was up, guiding him out of the room.
"They need to understand." Cadus said when he and Shaak Ti were out in the hall.
"You have made Senator Amidala's feelings and your own quite clear. That is why Master Windu bade you to intervene in Padme's hasty actions."
The two started walking down the corridor, Cadus biting back any obscene responses that came to him. Windu just got under his skin, and rightfully so.
"The Jedi Council understands, Master Cadus." Shaak Ti noted. "You must trust in them."
"There may not be a Council. Mace Windu is controlling more and more..."
"Just a little longer, Master Cadus."
"For you, Shaak Ti."
She smiled. "Thank you for your generosity. If Padme were to die or be killed, that would be a death blow to all of us."
Cadus knew that Padme wouldn't be easily convinced to leave the planet before the votes, but in truth, it hardly mattered to him. The important thing was that Naboo was under siege, though there were rumors that 'negotiations' were happening at the moment.
With Obi-Wan off chasing Grievous and Anakin no doubt about to get an assignment, Padme would be his sole responsibility, and that was no small thing to Cadus.
No small thing at all.
She was, after all, his learner.
And, Naboo hung in the balance.
Padme would not be agreeable.
On the bridge of the Executioner Ventress, Neimoidian Viceroy Nute Gunray and his lieutenant, Viri, stood staring at the protocol droid they had sent to gather the most recent report.
The Executioner was a monstrosity of power and destructive ability. The enormity of its destructive power could only be dwarfed by the sheer enormity of its size. The brand new personal warship of Asajj Ventress, presented to her before she began this conquest, was befitting of her. Twenty kilometers in length. With a full crew. A full army. More than trillions of Battle Droids. It easily boasted close to a planet's military destructive might.
Ventress admired the interior of her warship, vaguely watching Nute go about doing his thing.
There was no harm in it.
"What did you just say?" Gunray hissed furiously.
TC-14 was impervious to the look it was given.
"Grievous has taken the entire Utupau system. The Republic has sent Obi Wan Kenobi, Master Jedi, to recapture the system. He is a Jedi Master. I am quite certain of it."
Viri, a flat and round faced, restless sort, wheeled on his companions in dismay. "I knew it! That General is nothing but a mad lunatic who can't look beyond the next battle! The game's up! We're done for!"
Gunray made a placating gesture. "Stay calm. Don't panic. The Senate is completely useless in this task. They will argue and fight among themselves while we take what is ours. Go. While I contact Lord Sidious."
Ventress had remained silent, but a small part of her grew excited.
Tension was building.
"Are you brain-dead? I'm not going anywhere after hearing about that! We need to send an entire fleet of Star Destroyers to that system! Send the droid to contact one of your underlings!"
Ziri waved at TC-14, who bowed and left.
When the protocol droid was gone, Ventress summoned Rune Haako, the third member of their delegation. Ventress drew both her compatriots to a closed, separate space on the bridge where they could be neither seen nor heard by anyone else, and triggered a holographic communication. It took a few moments for the hologram to appear. As it did so, a stoop- shouldered, dark-robed shape appeared, cloaked and hooded so that nothing of its face could be seen.
"What is it?"
Nute Gunray found his throat so dry that for a moment he could not speak. "The Republic has sent Obi Wan Kenobi to the Utupau system."
"Obi Wan? Are you sure?"
Nute Gunray found what little courage he had been able to muster for this moment quickly evaporating. He stared at the black form of the Sith Lord in mesmerized terror.
"The reports came in a little while ago."
"You are certain it is not Anakin Skywalker or Cadus?"
"Yes, lord Sidious."
Unable to endure the silence that followed, Viri charged into the gap, wild-eyed.
"This scheme of yours has failed, Sidious! The blockade is finished before it even began! We dare not to have them send a Master Jedi against us of that caliber, or even stronger than Master Kenobi!"
The dark figure in the hologram turned slightly.
"Are you saying you would rather stand against me or get in my way, Viri? Did you forget that you are in a twenty kilometer warship? 1 am...Displeased. There you sit in a ship with three planets worth of weapons and military power and you dare..."
The hood shifted toward Gunray.
"Viceroy!"
Nute stepped forward quickly.
"Yes, my lord?"
Darth Sidious's voice turned low. "Ventress... "
Ventress called on the force. She grabbed Viri by the windpipe, strangling him slowly. He kicked and bucked, but she held him in place with ease. She smirked, pulling him closer, enjoying his vicious struggles.
Nute's hands were shaking, and he clasped them together to still them. Viri's violent choking shook him to the core.
"My lord?"
"This turn of events is unfortunate, but not fatal. If Obi Wan can be taken out, we will secure our place and victory. We must accelerate our plans, Viceroy. That is all. Begin landing your troops. At once."
Nute glanced quickly at Rune Haako, who was trying his best to disappear.
"Ah, my lord, of course, but...Is that wise?"
"We are at war, Viceroy. Expect a battle. You are taking Naboo, after all. That is why Ventress is with you. The Queens do not submit easily, as you know from experience...Force needs to be used to...Smooth negotiations over."
"Yes, of course." Nute took a quick breath, thankful that he could.
The clicking of Viri's boots hitting off the floor made him sweat.
"And what if they send a Master Jedi? What if Anakin or Cadus are sent here?" Rune Hakko asked.
Darth Sidious seemed to grow darker within his robes, his face lowering further into shadow. "You don't have to worry about them, at least not in that regard."
"I beg your pardon?"
Sidious shifted.
Nute found himself sweating more.
Viri was strangling.
"They are not like other Jedi. They haven't detached themselves. Master Cadus is as ferocious as a Rancor and Anakin is a fierce as the Vaapad. You have to worry about them, still, just not for the same...Reasons as a Jedi like Obi Wan. They will not listen or allow the Council to control them...They do what they believe is right. That is why Ventress is there-she should more than suffice for anyone who is thrown your way. Do not forget you are aboard the Executioner."
After all, due to the mistakes she made with Quinlan, Ventress had been punished. But, Dooku had been punished as well. It was clear that while Ventress was battle hungry and a fierce warrior, she could surpass her own limitations if she were to work on the more esoteric arts.
Like Sith sorcery.
This esoteric art she had learned, passed down from Dooku-who received them from Darth Sidious.
Where the past Ventress had been war hardened and ready to plunge...This present Ventress, anew. Having learned from her mistakes...Was just as war hardened, just as ready to plunge, but she had poise. Patience. A better understanding.
Now, she didn't have to use her saber right away and instead could attack the mind of her foe. She could manifest and materialize their worst nightmares. She could make them relive the suppressed memories that would drive them mad and make them bite off fingers.
"Yes, my lord." Nute Gunray answered.
Sidious cut the transmission.
Viri's struggles ceased.
A pair of Droids dragged his body out.
Nute stared at the space it had left behind for a moment, then turned to Haako. Something unsettled in his gut. He felt like death had its claw on him.
He trembled for a brief moment, wiping at the cold sweat.
"Send word to the Droid Commanders and Magnaguards. We will begin advancing our landing. I want all fifty million Droideka to be assembled-they will lead the charge. No one or any place is to be harmed."
This was not a matter of commerce.
It was not a matter of politics.
The Trade Federation was fully justified in attacking a central point of the Republic, the same Republic that had found it fit to impose a tax on trade routes when there was no basis in law for doing so. Nute was thankful they had found an ally to stand with them in this war, to advise them. He hunched his shoulders and made a fuss over straightening his robes to disguise his shaking.
"Do you still wish to speak with Darth Sidious personally, Viceroy?" Ventress asked, voice hissing like a snake.
She had taken pleasure in the whole thing.
If only she had been able to throttle Gunray like she had Viri.
The time would come, but not yet.
"You can handle those...Affairs, unless I am needed." Nute was quick to agree.
He was distracted suddenly by a call from the communications center behind him.
"It's a transmission from the city of Theed on Naboo. It's coming from the palace. Must be the Queen of Naboo herself. What an honor, to what do we which owe..." Rune mockingly lamented.
"Pull it up." Ventress ordered.
Now it begins.
The view screen to the planet flickered to life, and a woman's face appeared. She was mature, beautiful, and serene. Relatively short, measuring only five foot one. She had a round face with a rather large mouth, a narrow chin and pronounced cheeks. Both her hair and eye color were dark brown. She looked aptly regal, just every bit the part of Queen.
"It's Queen Jamillia herself." Rune Haako whispered, just out of view. "She's too perceptive, just like Amidala..."
Nute Gunray nodded, moving closer. "I am having flashbacks of our first time here. When Qui Gon and Obi Wan came aboard our ship...When Queen Amidala stood against us. This woman was with her."
He moved to flank Ventress, where he could be seen by the Queen. Cloaked in her ceremonial robes, Jamillia sat on her throne. An antique, massive chair on a raised dais fronted by a low, flat-surfaced divider. The Queen was surrounded by ten handmaidens, all of them cloaked and hooded in crimson.
Her gaze was steady and direct as it took in the viceroy's image.
Her gaze shifted to Ventress.
"The Trade Federation is pleased you have chosen to come before us, Your Highness. Count Dooku is not present, but I carry his weight and his authority." Ventress began smoothly.
"You will not be so pleased when you hear what 1 have to say, Second in Command of Count Dooku." The queen said curtly.
"Oh?"
"Your invasion and blockade will never happen. Rather it shouldn't have happened."
Nute fought down his shock, regained his composure, and smirked.
"Really, Your Highness? Why assume the worst? More star systems are turning to us as the days end, there is no need for such hostility. Naboo would make a great addition to the Trade Federation-with our funds and all. You do offer refuge to people and beings leaving the Republic."
"Do not try to use sophistry. There are principles, you are going against many. This will not stand."
"I was not aware your planet was ready to take on such a threat, given that is relatively peaceful and you have no military...What could your Royal Guard do against ten trillion Battle Droids? Fifty million Droideka. A twenty kilometer warship with enough destructive force to obliterate ten star systems? You are in position to be saying the things that you are right now." Ventress said, eyes narrowed.
"You should just hear us out, your Highness. There is no need for things to escalate like they did in the past." Nute said, tone curt.
"The senate will not allow this to happen. I will not allow it to happen. It is a time of war, but you are overstepping your boundaries. This will only lead you to your doom. Amassing such a massive device for destruction will not go unnoticed or untested by everyone in the galaxy. That includes your own allies." She continued, ignoring him resolutely.
"You seem so confident that you have allies. The senate is rampant with corruption. It would not surprise me if someone who wanted power in there set the tables against you." Ventress purred.
"I have one true ally and that is all I need."
"Is that right? I am going to remind you of something..."
Ventress approached the screen, eyes directed on the woman. She could reach out with her mind right now, and take hold on her throat, and cut off all oxygen. She could grab this pompous queen and squeeze the very life out of her, listening to every snap and crack of bone.
Nute wouldn't do this, it wasn't in his nature, he was a tool and nothing more.
"What are you going to remind me of, Second in Command of Dooku?"
Ventress eyed the queen sharply. "I am Sith. Crushing the life out of you...That very thought excites me...Nute Gunray is a businessman, but me...I do business and personal, and I enjoy...Crushing people who resist me."
Nute shivered.
The Queen grimaced, pursing her lips, but she did glare.
"Asajj Ventress...Viceroy...Rune...I take it you all know the outcome of this already, then."
Nute felt a measure of uncertainty take hold. "You overestimate the state of the senate, just as you did in the past. It is worse now than it ever was before! You think of us in a bad light. True, things have happened in the past...But, we all want this war to end, but neither side wants to surrender. Whoever has more star systems will win in the end! It may never end, you joining us could end this!"
Jamillia leaned forward slightly, and Ventress could see the fire in her brown eyes. The defiance. It reminded her of Padme all too well.
The boldness in which Jamillia reminded Ventress as to why she was Queen of Naboo.
Jamillia and Padme-the Bane of the Trade Federation.
United, they brought them down with the help of the Jedi more than a decade ago.
"I have had enough of this posturing, Viceroy. I am aware that you signed an agreement with the supreme chancellor explicitly not to tread another foot on my world after what happened more than two decades ago. The very fact you are around my planet means you are in breach of that and you will suffer the consequences of your actions."
"The whole galaxy is at war and you speak this...Pious, priggish...Nonsense!" Nute roared.
He felt a deep hole open in his waning confidence.
"It does not matter. This in writing. This is a separate issue from the war."
"You must be mistaken. This is not an invasion. Think of it as a business negotiation. A talk for an alliance."
"Alliance?"
"Besides." Rune cut in. "That whole treaty would go into effect if you and other Republic worlds stopped placing heavy taxes on us, which you haven't. The Republic continues to place new tariffs on us! You place heavy taxes on Banking Clans!"
"The same tariffs you are fighting to get rid of and do not pay."
"We do not pay, but our fellows have to! You Republic slime are already trying to take two of our home worlds...Like you say..." Rune's eyes burned with rage. "There are principles."
"Pick and choose."
"Just as all of you queens have done. Just like all of you Republic scum do. Then you sit here and try to act like you are all so righteous." Nute Gunray snarled, though it didn't come out as one.
There was a flicker of anger on the Queen's face as she studied the trio carefully. "Beware, Viceroy. Sophistry will only get you so far. Your wiles only go so far. The Federation has gone too far this time."
Nute chuckled, brushing a finger against his chin. "Your Highness, we would never do anything to plunder your world. You assume too much. If that were the case we could begin an planetary bombardment. We can target all of your major cities and send our Battle Droids in as well."
"Are you making threats?"
Nute didn't back down. He was selfish, but he had formed the Trade Federation with Dooku and the others, just for this purpose. This Queen of Naboo were speaking as if she had a say in the matter. The very thought was amusing. This warship had more than a planet's worth of destructive weapon power.
The Republic had to be vanquished just for this reason. Pompous, arrogant, and unreasonable. The Inner Worlds and Mid Rim thrived, while others had to face depravity and worse. Those who rose above poverty through their own merit had to submit to the Republic.
Disgusting.
The Republic didn't help the Banking Clans or his kind-they amassed their wealth. They rose above poverty. They did what needed to be done in order to just not survive, but to thrive. And, the Republic never offered any assistance-not even the smallest effort.
"If you think you are going to sit here and act like you are in a position of power, which you are not, Queen...I will show you just how grimly outmatched you and your entire planet's worth of military is. Do not try my patience any longer, the fact there have been Queens of this world after Amidala and you, Jamillia, is an insult to all of us Neimoidians!"
"Naboo being strong and active is best for everyone. Republic and Trade Federation. It is like Kashyyk. It is a hub. The Trade Federation would never do anything to harm the world, not anymore. This is a part of the galaxy and it can't be harmed by any means. But, do understand, we have more than enough firepower to wipe out all of your cities and level everything else." Ventress added.
Jamillia shifted ever few seconds, brown eyes narrowing every so often as they remained fixed on the trio-as if she could see the truth they were trying to hide, as if they were made of glass.
"Your wiles...A shame..." She said softly.
"It is a shame you can't see reason, Queen Jamillia. I expected more out of you...You are no different than Queen Amidala." Nute spat.
"I assume she will reason with us...After all, we don't want any innocence getting hurt do we? If we reduce the whole planet to nothing, just think of how much innocence must die..."
Ventress let the threat linger.
The view screen went blank.
Nute Gunray drew a long breath and exhaled slowly, not caring much for how this woman made him feel. He never liked any of the queens of Naboo and it all went back to Queen Amidala and her bold stand against him. That hadn't been fun, and she seen right through him.
"She's right." Rune Haako whispered, flanking him. "The second we put an army on the ground it will...The moment we used this warship-it's bigger than anything the Republic has right now."
Nute lifted one hand to cut him short.
"It is over sixty five thousand feet in length!" Rune roared.
"It's too late now. The so called invasion is under way. Even if we won't be shooting or besieging anything. We will follow through with talks of alliance." Nute snapped.
Rune Haako was silent for a moment.
"Do you think she suspects an attack?"
The Viceroy wheeled away.
Ventress chuckled.
"I don't know, but I don't want to take any chances. We must move quickly to ensure all communications remain as they have been-we don't want to tip off the Jedi this time!" Nute yelled.
Ventress smirked, departing from the cabin space. Fool.
She boarded her starfighter, sabers at her sides, force pulsing through her.
She contacted Padme the second we were here, it's too late. They were actually in contact before, they had anticipated this. Almost as if...Padme had seen...It...Coming...
It was all going according to plan.
But, something uncanny happened.
Traffic clogged the Coruscant sky, flowing slowly about the meandering smoggy haze. The sun was up, giving the sprawling city an amber glow, but many lights were still on, shining behind the windows of the great skyscrapers.
The massive towers of the Republic Executive Building loomed above it all, seeming as if they would reach the very heavens. And that seemed fitting indeed, for inside, even at this early hour, the events and participants took on godlike stature to the trillions of common folk of the Republic.
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine sat behind his desk in his spacious and tasteful office, staring across at his four Jedi Master visitors. Across the room, a pair of red-clad guards flanked the door, imposing, powerful figures, with their great curving helmets and wide, floor-length capes.
"I fear this vote will bring unnecessary tension and perhaps even enmity and hostility between us. Something that displeases me very much." Palpatine remarked.
"It is unavoidable it seems. The war has taken its toll on all of us. Everyone is tired." replied Mace Windu, a tall and muscular human, bald, with penetrating eyes.
Standing next to the Korun Jedi Master was the even taller Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"And it could unravel the remainder of the Republic. It will be chaos, like before the Republic was founded. Never have I seen the Senators so at odds over any issue."
"Few issues would carry the importance of the Jedi being under the Supreme Chancellor's command. Not to mention the reinstating of Moff and Grand Moff." Jedi Master Plo Koon remarked.
He was a tall, sturdy Kel Dor, his head ridged and ruffled at the sides with dark shadowed eyes and a black mask over the lower portion of his face.
"The Senators are anxious and afraid, and believe that no vote will ever be more important than the ones now before them. More importantly the people not involved in this war are tired and wish for the fighting to stop, by all means it must come to an end. These are uncertain times..."
"And this way or that, much mending must you do. Many enemies, will have, you will." said Master Yoda, the smallest in physical stature, but a Jedi Master who stood tall against anyone in the galaxy.
Yoda's huge eyes blinked slowly and his tremendous ears swiveled subtly, showing, for those who knew him, that he was deep in thought, giving this situation his utmost attention.
"A troubling move this is." he said, and he closed his eyes in contemplation.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold off the vote, my friends. And I fear that delay on this definitive issue might well erode the Republic through attrition. More and more star systems are in ruin or joining the Separatists with the first one being ore prominent thanks to that monster Grievous."
Mace Windu nodded.
He understood the dilemma. He understood too well, in fact. "When the vote is done, and the war ends, and the Jedi choose to go back-"
"I will not let this Republic that has stood for a thousand years be split in two!" Palpatine declared, slamming a fist determinedly on his desk.
Mace Windu held his calm, keeping his rich voice even and controlled. "But if it does, you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers."
Palpatine took a few steadying breaths, trying to digest it all. "Master Yoda."
He waited for the greenish-skinned Jedi to regard him.
"Do you really think it will come to the worst?"
Again Yoda closed his eyes. "We Jedi have served the Force long before the Republic was founded, and we will serve the Force when it is all but dust, as we always have."
"What?" an alarmed Palpatine asked.
"Master Yoda, what do you sense?" Mace Windu prompted.
"Impossible to see, the future is. The dark side clouds everything more than it has before. But this I am sure of..."
He popped open his eyes and stared hard at Palpatine. "Do their duty, the Jedi will. For it is peace we desire, and the Republic stable, is peace."
A brief look of confusion came over the Supreme Chancellor, but before he could begin to respond to Yoda, a hologram appeared on his desk, the image of Dar Wac, one of his aides began speaking.
"The Republic Loyalist committee has arrived, my Lord. They are waiting patiently, for now. But, their boldness does not sit well with me." said Dar Wac, in Huttese.
"Send them in." Palpatine said in basic.
"Having some company?" Windu asked, voice like steel.
"You would be surprised."
Cadus stood at the door separating Padme's bedroom from the next room where he had kept watch the night before. Looking through the room to the window, the pair watched the Coruscant skyline, the endless lines of traffic.
Padme rushed about the bedroom, throwing the luggage together, and from her sharp movements, Cadus knew that it would do him well to keep a fair distance from the upset and angry senator.
As the Jedi had requested, he had intervened to bid Padme to return to Naboo. She was complying, but that did not mean that she was happy about it. With a profound and loud sigh, Padme stood straight, one hand on her lower back, which ached from all the bending.
She sighed again and moved before Cadus
Any levity or sense of calm he felt was washed away a moment later, when Padme addressed him in a tone that reminded him that she was not in the best of moods. "I do not like this idea of hiding away!" She snapped with finality.
"The Council has ordered an investigation, it won't take Master Obi-Wan long to defeat Grievous or subdue him. Naboo is under a blockade. We should have done this from the beginning. It is better to take the offensive against such threats, to find out the source rather than try to react to the situation."
"And while that happens, I have to hide away."
"That would be most prudent. You are needed on Naboo and I must fill out a report of what is going on, naturally."
Padme gave a little sigh of frustration. "I have been a senator too long not to be here when those votes happen!"
"Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control."
"Nonsense!" Came the roaring response. "Darth Sidious is clearly controlling hundreds of millions, if not billions."
"He uses the dark side."
"He does, true, but that still doesn't explain how he-!"
"The dark side."
"What?"
"Remember the first lesson."
"Fear leads to hatred. Fear is a weapon to be used or something to be purged from the mind, what is your point?"
"Fear, can be inserted." Cadus said calmly, his jaw firm, his eyes strong. "No one may know it is not even their own fear."
Padme paused, looked him over, head to toe, and nodded as she took the sight of him in completely. He could see sincerity on her face as she nodded her agreement, and her tone, too, became one of more respect.
"It is frustrating for me."
Cadus nodded. "I understand, but that is why patience is important."
"So I have to do this?"
"If you don't want Palpatine, the Jedi, Anakin, and anyone else smothering and badgering you..."
Padme sighed, putting a hand on her aching back.
She would smack all of them silly at this point.
"At least now I can be around to train you in application while you study."
"I guess there is that. Hopefully you are a better teacher in person than you are as a hologram."
The industrial sector of Coruscant had perhaps the greatest freight docks in all of the galaxy. It was perhaps, also the largest. With lines of bulky transports coming in at all hours, huge floating cranes and freighters were always ready to meet them and unload the billions of tons of supplies necessary to keep the city-planet alive and running-which long ago had become too populous to support itself through its own resources.
More over-those resources were all destroyed in favor of building a massive planet-scale city.
The efficiency of these docks was nothing short of amazing, and yet the place was still broiled with chaos, and sometimes gridlocked by the sheer number of docking ships, massive transports, carriers, and floating cranes.
This was also a place for living passengers, the peasantry of Coruscant, catching cheap rides on freighters outbound, thousands and thousands of people looking to escape the sheer frenzy that had become the world.
Blended into the noise and chaos, Cadus and Padme walked along, dressed in simple brown and gray tunics and breeches, the garb of peasant refugees. They walked side by side in silence to the shuttle exit as they approached the dock and walkway that would take them to one of the gigantic transports.
"We will end this, quickly." Cadus said, letting some anger in his tone. "Naboo will be free."
"I will be most grateful if that happens, Master Jedi."
"Time to go." Cadus said, striding forward.
"I know." Padme replied, but she didn't seem pleased.
Cadus did not to take it personally. Padme felt that her duty was here. She wasn't thrilled with running off planet-and she wasn't thrilled with having another blockade of her dear homeplanet, not with the memories still fresh of the last invasion and her handmaidens having to...
"Let's end this quickly. Ventress and that scum Nute on Naboo is getting under my skin." Padme almost hissed.
"That is the plan."
Cadus took up the luggage and led the way off the speeder bus, onto a landing. His duty now put him right beside the woman he was training, and he wouldn't be happy if this mission proved a short one. Padme would make rapid progress now.
"Suddenly I'm..."
Padme trailed off as they walked away, heading toward the giant star freighter that would take them to Naboo.
It looked so huge to her.
Ominous.
"Something about this move isn't right." Cadus turned about, taking Padme's gaze with his own. "There is..."
"What deeper or ulterior motive could there be to this?" Padme asked softly, brow gently arched.
Cadus looked at the massive star freighter. "To force a change to come that no one is ready for or wants to happen."
"That could be any number of things."
Cadus shook his head. "This has to do with Naboo in specific..."
Padme frowned.
That narrowed it down.
Too much.