Chapter Eleven
At the Queen's request, the Jedi Council members were relocated to the Main Conference room of the Temple, located on the first floor, where there would be sufficient equipment for holographic imaging.
Obi-Wan didn't question the need, but as he followed the council and the group of women down to the lower levels of the Temple, he bean to question Padme's demeanor.
He couldn't understand her at all. Sometimes, it was like she was opening up to him. He could've sworn she wanted to smile, but it was like she remembered something, and the emotion was washed away, leaving her face as dull and serene as Master Windu's.
But he was also questioning their reason for coming here. He had hoped she would confide in him before now, but she hadn't -- which for some reason, bothered Obi-Wan more than he thought it should.
The council seated themselves on the lowest level of the comfortable amphitheater while two of the Ruwean women also took a seat, leaving Padmé standing in the middle of the room next to the holographic projector. Obi-Wan sat behind the council, directly in her line of view and focused his attention directly on her when she began to speak.
"I am Queen Amidala of Ruwee. My companions and I have traveled from the Unknown Region in search of a solution to our problem. We discovered Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mobus and witnessed him using the Power. After many discussions with Knight Kenobi, it came to our attention that there were many who had this Power. He informed us you call it the Force, and we were compelled to follow him here in order to meet with you and ask for your consideration in helping us."
Following a slight pause, it was Master Yoda who spoke up, addressing the confident queen. "What help may we offer?"
"It is the Power you possess that we need. We do not have access to it and have been unable to duplicate it."
"Duplicate it?" Mace Windu interrupted. "It's not possible to duplicate midichlorians. You are either born with them or not."
"We understand this, which is why we are here."
Padmé glanced up to Obi-Wan and could see the confusion on his, as well as the other council members' faces and then she nodded to Sabé to summon her assistance.
"The most effective course of explanation would be for me to show you our history. Perhaps then you will be compelled to accept our plea and offer your assistance."
Obi-Wan watched, intrigued, as the queen's assistant withdrew a cable from the enhancement on Padme's arm and then attached it to the holographic viewer in the center of the conference room.
A number of clicks sounded out, Padmé nodded her head, and then seemed to focus inwardly for a moment before she began speaking again.
"What you are about to see are my memories of what happened on Ruwee nearly one-hundred standard years ago. I was five years of age, my sister Sabé was three. The name of the planet was Zoban at that time. We changed the name to Ruwee following the Dark Age. Ruwee was the name of my father, whose engineering and biochemical experiments ultimately saved our lives."
Looks were exchanged between several of the council members, but Masters Yoda and Windu both remained still, their fingers steepled in their laps, while the holovid revealing the history of Padmé Amidala came to life.
Her eyes were closed in concentration as Obi-Wan's eyes followed the scenes playing out in what he assumed was sequential order.
First was a planet, lush with forests and running streams, sloping green hills, and wild animal life. The display swept them over fields of lilac and pale yellow flowers and then zoomed into a city. Gleaming white towers shot up to blue skies, shops teeming with activities along busy cobblestone streets, people of all ages laughing, men selling their wares, children playing. Everyone appeared to be happy and content.
But suddenly the scene changed as a huge building rose up from the ground. Unlike the surrounding architecture, it was located on the outskirts, but cast a shadow upon the city.
The people that Obi-Wan had previously seen - the happy citizens of Ruwee were now scowling, hiding in their homes. The streets were deserted and the bright colors that had hung from the windows and flag poles were gone.
Down gray stone steps they flew to some type of laboratory where a dark-robed man spoke to several men and women dressed in white coats, a small dark-haired girl hiding behind on of the men's legs.
"Hundreds have already died because of your disobience, Mr. Naberrie. " The faceless man was saying and Obi-Wan truly wished the scene would change so that he could see him from the front. Just watching him through Padmé's memories gave the Jedi a sense of dread.
"That does not seem to affect you. But perhaps this will."
The following scenes were darkened alternating with brightened flashes. The horrific memory played itself out while Padmé stood, silent and apparently unmoved.
Obi-Wan saw two beings, one Bothan, one Zabrak drag a girl who appeared about the age of fifteen into the room. Padmé's father tried to wrench himself free to help her, but two more beings all dressed in black held him.
Flashes of screams, bared flesh, and pain, revealed that the young girl had been raped.
Flashes of red light, and a pool of dark blood, revealed that she had also been killed.
An anguished father and a crying daughter cowered beneath the black-robed individual.
"The choice is yours, Mr. Naberrie. Complete your experiments and build the biochemical weapons I have assigned you, or lose your family one by one. You still have a wife, and two daughters, do you not?"
Obi-Wan's brow creased with concern over the lack of emotion showing on the queen's face. The girl who had been raped and killed must have been her older sister, and the small girl holding onto her father was Sabé. They had witnessed it all.
But it was nothing compared to what came next.
The laboratory was shadowed as the workers huddled together, just bits and pieces of their conversation coming across the holographic projection.
"You're insane Ruwee! You're going to get us all killed!"
"I will not stand by and do nothing while they murder and rape our children and destroy our world! We have the knowledge and the technology to do something about it! Are you with me or not?"
The following scenes were confusing as smiling faces once more appeared and two girls ran through fields, their arms full of flowers. But then a loud roar erupted and the vision exploded, revealing a desolate land, void of any living thing, a multitude of corpses both human and animal filling the fields and lining the streets of the once beautiful city, the air filled with purple dust that gathered and piled up against the dark, abandoned buildings.
Slowly, the display faded to black, and the Queen of Ruwee collapsed into her sister's waiting arms.
