CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

It was noon and Luke was still in the same spot that he had been in the entire morning: in the living room, sitting next to Padmé and across from the two Jedi Masters.

It was clear to Luke that Obi-Wan Kenobi spent the whole night in the Jedi Archives reading information on Luke's old master. He had all sorts of materials brought with him to prove it. He told Anakin and Padmé all sorts of facts about Vader when he was president: what he did, where he went, who he talked to… He thought all of it made a difference to how the Socialist Party became what it is today. And to make matters worse, Obi-Wan would look over at Luke every five minutes expecting a nod of approval or something, as if Luke knew everything about Darth Vader from when he was president…

"And that's when Vader appointed Wilhuff Tarkin as the chair of the Socialist Party." Obi-Wan said, finishing his latest piece of information he dug up at about 0300 hours in the morning. "He did it so that he could still control the Socialists through Tarkin, yet he wouldn't be in the spotlight of it all. It's clear that Vader wanted to keep a sense of secrecy. Right, Luke?"

Luke wanted to rip his hair out. He looked at Obi-Wan, trying to remain as calm as possible. "Obviously. If none of you really knew much about him in the first place."

The three adults nodded, not paying much attention to Luke's obvious frustration with the adults' apparent stupidity.

Obi-Wan continued on, "So the important thing to know is that Vader became president just as the Clone Wars broke out. He preached the ideas of socialism to the people until the end of the war, after which he officially formed the party—which was originally supposed to be a Corellian party but soon spread to hundreds of star systems throughout the galaxy. He successfully transformed Corellia and those many other important and influential star systems to live with the idea that the current state of the Republic is corrupt by favoring the rich and leaving everyone else behind. Vader's first term ended a year after the Clone Wars and then he ran again for a second term in which he won by a landslide."

There would have been no harm in just summing it up for us like that in the first place instead of spending four hours retelling Vader's whole presidential life story, Luke thought to himself.

Anakin gave Luke a look, overhearing his thoughts. Luke stared back at him, making it clear he didn't like it when Anakin read his mind. Anakin just looked next to him at Obi-Wan.

"I found something else interesting in my readings last night," Obi-Wan continued.

Padmé nodded at him eagerly, "What is it?"

"Well, just about his marital life." Obi-Wan replied.

Anakin leaned back in his seat, pondering. "Luke, you said Jared and Aria were definitely Vader's children, they just have a different last name."

Luke nodded, "Their mother's."

Obi-Wan looked at his data pad again, "But their mother had the same name as Vader. She was known as Kymberlyana Vader, the First Lady of Corellia."

Luke nodded, "Yes, to the people of Corellia. But her real name was Beatrice Lamar."

Padmé frowned and muttered quietly to herself, "Why does that name seem familiar?"

"And besides," Luke continued, "Kymberlyana is a long name. She usually went by Kym."

Anakin looked across to his wife who seemed to be thinking hard.

Anakin tried to see if he could help her out, "Luke, what else can you tell us about her? Did she do anything significant to help Vader in his attempt to take over the galaxy and ruin our lives?"

"Yeah, she gave birth to Jared and Aria."

"I couldn't find much on what she did," Obi-Wan said, "only that the people of Corellia really loved her and that they were severely distraught when she died."

"How did she die?" Anakin wondered.

"She killed herself," Luke stated. Padmé snapped her head over to Luke, surprised.

"Seriously?" She gasped.

Luke nodded, "However, publicly sh was said to be stabbed by by anti-Socialist terrorists, which only caused the Corellians to hate the anti-Socialists even more. It was a good propaganda technique, I guess."

"Anti-Socialists?" Anakin repeated.

Luke shrugged, "Anyone who isn't a socialist."

"So, Loyalists?"

Luke nodded, "Sure."

Padmé, who was still curious about Vader's wife, asked "Why did she kill herself?"

Luke bit his lip, "Well, it's kind of complicated. I didn't know her, obviously, but people told me she was a really care-free and happy person. She grew up in tough circumstances but she was still able to get herself through school and get a good job. She met Vader when she graduated from medical school at age twenty-one; he was only seventeen. The reason why she had two names was because she wanted to still be able to practice as a doctor even though she was the First Lady. She could be Mrs. Vader and Dr. Lamar at the same time."

Padmé gasped.

Luke just looked up next to him to his mother, "What is it?"

Padmé looked very uncomfortable, "Uh, what kind of doctor did you say she was?"

Luke just stared at her, "I didn't. She was a pediatrician. She actually liked kids, unlike her husband."

Padmé nodded, a little relieved. "Oh, okay."

"But once Vader became president," Luke added, "Beatrice couldn't practice on Corellia any more, she worked on Coruscant, practicing as a specialist here."

Padmé's eyes widened, "And what did she specialize in?"

"Obstetrics."

Anakin and Obi-Wan went on, clearly not seeing anything wrong with this.

"Was Palpatine okay with the fact that Vader was the President of Corellia?" Anakin asked.

Luke nodded, "He was the one that told Vader to do it. I mean, Palpatine had more than one apprentice. I guess he tried recruiting you too. He kept Dooku on the Separatists' side while keeping Vader on the Republic's side. However, he wanted Vader to be a back-up just in case everything else failed. He didn't like being a back-up, which probably fueled his anger towards you."

Anakin digested this information.

"The fact that Palpatine wanted to make you his apprentice really bothered him. He actually stole the Death Star plans from Palpatine and decided to build it on his own without his master's knowledge."

Anakin rubbed his chin, intrigued by this news.

Luke looked out in the direction of the landing platform, watching all the speeders fly by in the Coruscant sky. "But in the end, Palpatine did fail, and it was Vader that succeeded as the Dark Lord of the Sith…"

Obi-Wan pursed his lips. Anakin looked at his wife and then frowned, "What is it Padmé?"

Padmé was just staring at the floor this whole time, not really listening.

"What are you thinking about?" Anakin asked.

Padmé shrugged and looked away, "Nothing much. Just how Darth Vader's wife probably delivered my babies."

Stunned silence. Anakin sat back in his seat, trying to figure out if he was still asleep or not.

"What do you mean Darth Vader's wife delivered your babies?" Obi-Wan asked.

Luke sat back, somewhat amused. "Wow, didn't see that one coming."

"Is that just a really bad coincidence?" Anakin snapped after a moment of thought.

"He probably didn't know you were the father. If he has any connection to this, it's because he wanted me to join the party."

Anakin shook his head, "But why? Why did Vader want Padmé?"

Luke shrugged, "Maybe he saw that Padmé was kind of uncertain about the Republic. I mean, after the war, all the old Separatists became putty in Vader's hands."

"But Padmé wasn't a Separatist," Obi-Wan stated.

Anakin and Padmé just glanced at each other awkwardly.

"What is it?" Obi-Wan asked, watching Padmé and Anakin's silence.

Padmé bit her lip, "Well, I guess I was somewhat uncertain about the Republic…"

Anakin sighed and sat back in his chair.

"Don't get me wrong," Padmé said quickly, "I am definitely not a Separatist! It's just, for the longest time, I always saw Palpatine as my friend…"

Anakin sighed, "We both did."

"And," Padmé continued, "after the Delegation of 2000… I just… I started having doubts. I didn't know which side was right."

Luke nodded, completely understanding what Padmé meant. He knew that Vader worked in sneaky ways. He knew that Vader would want to encourage any doubts Padmé had. It's probably why he became her 'friend' in the first place.

"I asked them," Padmé went on, "the other senators—Bail—to lay low. I asked them not to tell me too much. I didn't want to know," she paused. "I also knew that Mon didn't trust me at first. She probably knew—as did I—that I had my doubts. Perhaps if Palpatine succeeded, things would be much different. Maybe I would have been a Socialist… I don't know."

"I doubt there would even be a Senate if Palpatine succeeded," Anakin said darkly, "let alone a Socialist Party."

Padmé shrugged and repeated, "I don't know."

The four were silent for a moment.

Obi-Wan stood up, "You know, there is still so much for me to research at the Temple."

Anakin stood up with him, "And you're doing this all by yourself?"

Obi-Wan chuckled, "Not at all, the more I find on Vader, the more Jedi become interested and join in on the work. We once made the mistake of a secret Sith almost getting the better of us, we won't let it happen again."