A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. The real world beckoned me to find a job. I'm having problems. Everywhere wants 2 years experience. Where does one get this elusive 2 years experience if everywhere wants it? Ack.Anyway, onwards.
Chapter Fifty-Five – Old Friend,
Old Enemy.
As she packed her few belongings to leave Alderaan, Sabé let out a deep sigh. She was sorry to leave Bail and Breha and the life she had created on the peaceful planet, but it was time to move on. Saché had decided to stay, having established an occupation for herself as Leia and Winter's governess. Naboo, she had said, had too many memories.
Sabé rifled through the chest in her small bedroom, lifting out various items to take with her. Right at the bottom her fingers brushed over a smooth metal surface. She frowned and tugged the object out. It was Qui-Gon's lightsabre. "Oh yes, of course," she muttered to herself. Having received it from Obi-Wan prior to his going to Mustafar, she had completely forgotten she had it. Being careful not to hit the activation switch, she placed it in her bag.
The former decoy walked through the palace hallways that had become her home, committing to memory her favourite places. She doubted that she would be back again. She said farewell to Leia and Winter, reading them The Little Lost Bantha Cub before putting them to bed. Then she paid a visit to the flowering shrub that marked Padmé's final resting place. Digging an old Nabooian coin out of her pocket, she scrabbled in the earth a little, making a small hole. Looking at the silver engraving of Padmé's profile, she smiled, remembering when she had first seen her friend's head on a coin, so many years ago.
"Rest well, my queen," she whispered, burying a little piece of home.
It was a tearful goodbye for Sabé and Saché. They promised to keep in touch through Beru Lars. Bail and Breha were waiting at the hangar with Obi-Wan. The two ex-handmaidens made their way slowly there, running over last minute things. Then final goodbyes were shared and the Kenobi couple boarded their ship, leaving Alderaan behind.
Palpatine had planted permanent legions of clone troopers on every planet possible, including Naboo. Heavy disguise was needed if Obi-Wan and Sabé were to pass safely through Theed. In a town on Tatooine, Obi-Wan had been able to purchase a fairly realistic Rodian mask and gloves. If the situation hadn't been quite so grave, it would have been rather amusing to see the Jedi Master dressed thus.
As they approached the planet, Sabé disappeared into the fresher, emerging as a blue-skinned Twi'lek. Obi-Wan nodded in approval. She was unrecognisable. "So, we're traders from Tatooine," she said, arranging her dress so that it covered her pregnancy.
"Yes. We bring a shipment of spice for Queen Apailana."
Sabé cast a glance behind her. Boxes of spice sat stacked in one corner of the ship. Bail had provided it for them before they left. "Right."
Obi-Wan piloted the ship down to a hangar close to the palace. A white-armoured clone trooper inspected their cargo and identification. With a little Force-probing from Obi-Wan, the trooper cleared them. Working quickly, they piled the boxes onto a repulsor lift and left the hangar, happy to be out of the way of the troops.
"I didn't like the way that Commander stared at us," Sabé hissed under her breath as they walked.
"I didn't notice anything amiss."
"You don't think he suspected we're human?"
Obi-Wan shook his head, turning to look at her with large, black eyes. "The plan of you translating my Rodese into Basic seems to work well. It gives me a reason for having a slave."
Sabé tossed a fake lekku over her shoulder. "I didn't agree to that when I took my vows."
He gave a short laugh, which seemed strange, as the Rodian façade showed no sign of amusement. By and by they reached the palace. Sabé paused to look up at it, memories of lighter days filling her mind. Then she gave a sigh and followed Obi-Wan up the steps. Inside, the hallways were dotted with the occasional clone trooper, a sight that made Sabé inwardly fume.
They presented the spice to Queen Apailana, who expressed her thanks. Always keen to make new allies, she offered them Nabooian tea in return. If she recognised Sabé, she made no sign of acknowledgement. Seeing as both she and Padmé had been reported dead three years ago, the former palace worker did not expect the Queen to recognise her.
It was difficult and painful for Sabé to spend time in the palace. It was so achingly familiar. She almost expected Padmé to appear around a corner, with Rabé, Eirtaé, Saché and Yané in tow. Now they were all gone. Saché was technically missing presumed dead and Sabé doubted she would ever see 'Sara' again. Eirtaé had escaped off-planet with her husband and son. Rabé and Yané had been killed by the Imperials. Even Dormé and Captain Typho were in hiding somewhere. What had become of Moteé and Ellé, nobody knew. Sabé hoped rather than believed that Ellé had made it off-planet with her sister's family.
When they stood up to leave, the promoted General Panaka appeared to escort them. Sabé's heart almost skipped a beat for fear that he would know and expose them, but he merely treated them as the guests they were pretending to be. But as they neared the doors, he reached out and pressed her hand, offering a wink when she turned to regard him. She smiled and he returned it before bowing and leaving.
"He recognised you," Obi-Wan stated once they were outside. "How?"
"Well, I suppose he was quite used to seeing me in face paint. Although admittedly not blue."
Seeing an old friend safe cheered Sabé up considerably. She even stopped complaining about the baby's kicks, much to Obi-Wan's delight. He was somewhat tired of making excuse replies like, "If she has strong legs perhaps she'll be a dancer."
The next point of call was the Naberrie home, something that sobered Sabé once more. She had found, whilst clearing out Padmé's few possessions, the amulet that she had worn before Anakin had given her the japor snippet. She remembered wearing it herself, during her time as decoy.
I'll wear it again when our planet is free, Padmé had said. What a pathetically short time the freedom had lasted.
They trudged up the steps and Obi-Wan rang the door chimes. Presently Jobal answered it. Her hair had more grey steaks than Sabé remembered. "Yes? May I help you?"
Quickly glancing about, Sabé saw that the street was practically empty, but she was still cautious. Saying nothing, she reached out a hand.
Jobal took it, confused, and looked down at the amulet the Twi'lek woman had left in her palm. She recognised it at once. Looking back up at the Twi'lek, she met a pair of familiar brown eyes. Her niece's eyes. "Gods," she whispered.
"May we come in?" Sabé asked.
Sitting in the lounge with Jobal, Ruwee, Sola and Darred, Sabé and Obi-Wan explained reasons for their disguises and their reasons for being there. Many tears were shed as they told the story. They said that Padmé had died from a sudden illness, which was as close to the truth as they could get.
"Maré told us that there were children," Ruwee began.
"Yes," Sabé said cryptically. "We can't tell you anything about them other than the fact that they're safe. I'm sorry, but it's for security reasons."
Sola nodded, sniffing. "We understand."
It was a short and painful visit to the Naberries. On the way to Maré's home, Sabé stopped on a bridge over the River Solleu. Leaning her elbows on the railing she gazed out across the vast expanse of forest visible where the waterfall disappeared over the cliff face.
Obi-Wan studied her face. Aware of the passing citizens he offered his concerned "Are you alright?" in Huttese.
She glanced at him. "Yes," she replied in the same tongue. "This river eventually leads down to another waterfall in a place where all the rivers of Naboo flow to waterfalls that meet in a lake. The Senator told me once that she and your former apprentice had a picnic on the field there. I think she would like for her necklace to rest in a place she loved." She had been careful not to use Padmé and Anakin's names in public.
Obi-Wan nodded, watching as she retrieved the japor snippet from her pocket and let it drop into the swiftly flowing river. As they walked away from the bridge, Obi-Wan enquired where she had learned Huttese. He had used it on the off chance that she would understand.
"I learnt it at school," she told him. "And I had a recap class during my handmaiden training."
"So little?" he said. "That explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Your appalling accent."
She resisted the urge to swipe at him, knowing it would not be appropriate for a slave. "It's not a language I use very often," she justified.
"That's no excuse for murdering it."
"Everyone's a critic," she muttered, avoiding the gaze of one of her mother's friends, who appeared to be out for a walk.
They reached Maré's home safely and the older woman was saddened to hear of Padmé's passing. Between them, Obi-Wan and Sabé told the story of how she had just faded away and explained why Saché had remained on Alderaan. Then they told her about Sabé's pregnancy, something that caused Maré to leap to her feet and embrace them both. Obi-Wan then went on to explain that he had to leave for a few days, during which she would have her daughter back. This piece of news was well received and Sabé donned a different disguise, realising that she couldn't spend the time in the blue paint. She went into the fresher a Twi'lek and came out a robed and veiled nun.
"A sister of the Gods," she told Obi-Wan. "Handy if you need to hide your face."
"Yes," he replied, "but hardly suitable for me."
"The Rodian disguise is very effective," Maré reassured.
"I'm glad I thought of this," Sabé said, glancing in the mirror. "It hides the bump."
"Good," Obi-Wan mused. "The less people that know about it the better."
The following day, Obi-Wan departed on his quest. He and Sabé had shared a private goodbye at the house, as neither she nor Maré would be accompanying him to the hangar.
"Be careful, my love," Sabé said, moving out of his arms enough to kiss him.
"And you. All three of you."
"Were you including Mother, or are you implying I'm carrying twins?"
"I meant your Mother."
She smiled and placed a hand on his cheek. "I hope you find what you seek."
"So do I. I promise, I'll be as quick as I can." He leaned in to press his lips to hers once more before drawing away.
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Lieutenant Commander Cody of Stormtrooper Squad 1138 was uncharacteristically pleased.
Since his failure to eliminate Obi-Wan Kenobi on Utapah, he had been plotting to correct the error. As a clone, this was not something that he should have been doing, but there had been so much messing around with the gene therapy on Kamino, that more and more clones were acting as individuals. Cody had worked hard tracing Kenobi, still unsure why the task had consumed him so. He knew he had a wife who was expecting a child. When he had discovered this on Alderaan he had almost wished that the Jedi Council hadn't been destroyed, just so he could have the satisfaction of reporting that the flawless Master Kenobi had such a blatant disregard for the rules. But the Council was no more and Cody had found a clear way to get at Kenobi though Sabé.
He had used his transfer to Squad 1138 on Naboo to his advantage. Carefully planting the hints that another Jedi resided on one of Naboo's moons, Cody had laid the trap. Only a holo awaited Kenobi, that would inform him that by the time he was watching it his wife and child would be dead.
Still on duty at the hangar, Cody had watched Kenobi, still in his Rodian disguise, fly away. He hadn't been able to resist asking, "Where's your slave?"
"Sold her," came the Rodese reply. Luckily, Cody had been programmed to understand it, among other languages.
Grinning beneath his helmet, Cody set off to search for the wife. Everything was falling into place.
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Obi-Wan wasn't two hours out of Naboo's atmosphere before he sensed the ripple in the Force that signified his Master's presence.
Obi-Wan.
"Master. I presume you know where I'm going?"
You must turn back. I bring a warning. A trap has been set for you by an old adversary. Sabé is in danger.
Obi-Wan's blood ran cold. "Vader."
No. Not the Dark Lord. Your old Commander.
"Cody? What does he want with Sabé?"
He is using her to get at you. You must go back.
"But what about the other Jedi?"
There is no other Jedi. It was part of Cody's plan.
Obi-Wan reached into the Force, sensing an inevitable path where Sabé was concerned. "I'll set a course back at once."
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In the house at Theed, Sabé was busy turning her luggage upside down in search of an Alderaanian brooch she had bought for Maré. As she tipped a bag up, several items fell out, including the lightsabre that she had forgotten about once again.
Maré, who had been watching from the doorway, approached and picked it up. "Where did this come from?"
"Long story," Sabé said, "but it originally belonged to Obi-Wan's Master. After the attack on the Jedi Temple, he rescued it from his room and gave it to me for safekeeping. We both forgot about it until now." She took it from Maré and clipped it to her belt, where it could hang just out of sight. "I won't forget it again if it's here," she explained. "Then I could finally give it back to him."
Maré smiled at her adopted daughter's dreamy-eyed expression. "You're lucky. He truly does love you. In today's galaxy that's very precious."
Sabé turned to her and gave her mother a quick hug. "I know. But is it possible to love too much?"
"What are you thinking about?" Maré asked, frowning.
Sabé blinked, pushing images of Anakin and Padmé from her mind. "Nothing. It doesn't matter." Sudden tears blurred her vision and she mumbled, "I'm going for a walk."
"Is that really wise, darling? What if someone recognises you?"
"I don't think they will. Not dressed like this. I'll be careful."
"Make sure you are. If you're seen with that lightsabre…"
"I won't be." With that, Sabé slipped out of the door.
She walked slowly through the marketplace, frowning at seeing the familiar with the unpleasant. Clone troopers could be seen here and there, a sight that would always irritate her. She saw several people she recognised and was thankful for the veil that hid her features. Nuns of the Order of the Gods frequently chose to mask their faces in public. Sabé was increasingly glad that she had read so much about them in her youth.
She turned away from the bustling market and headed for a favourite childhood spot; a small park beyond the river. Meandering through the sweet-smelling bushes, she couldn't help reminiscing about times she had come here with Padmé and Sola. Life had been blissfully simple back then. No politics, no hiding, no Empire. Just dolls and ribbons.
A footstep on the other side of the bush made her snap her head round. "Who's there?" she asked, adopting a regional accent.
A hand parted the leaves and a face appeared. It was Panaka. "Still like to come here then?" he asked pleasantly.
"Pardon?"
"Sabé, please. I knew as soon as you headed in here that it was you under that veil."
Sabé glanced around nervously, but there was nobody in sight. Carefully she raised the veil. "Hello, General."
"Good morning." He backed away from the hedge and they met at the end of the path. "It's good to see you. Especially in your natural colour."
Sabé smiled. "It's good to see you too. How did you know it was me?"
"I recognised you yesterday when you were with that Rodian. I was heading to your mother's house and I noticed you walking down the street. I was fairly sure it was you and as soon as you came in here it was obvious."
She laughed. "Still as sharp as ever."
"That's how I manage to be still employed," he said with a wry smile. "Who was the Rodian, by the way?"
"You'll never guess."
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"It was Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"The Jedi? Isn't he dead?"
"No. He escaped."
"That's good to know," the General commented.
She concurred wholeheartedly. "And what about you? How is life at the palace?"
"Surprisingly, not much different. Apart from the stormtroopers, of course."
"Stormtroopers?"
He nodded. "That's what the clones are known as now. No doubt something catchy that Palpatine thought up."
"Is the Queen serving the Empire faithfully?" Sabé asked, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Panaka smirked. "Much more faithfully than she would like." He lowered his voice a little. "She has a representative in the Rebel Alliance."
Sabé was pleased to hear that her planet's ruler hadn't resigned herself to Imperial control fully. "Two if you count Saché, I suppose."
"I'm surprised that you're not still serving."
"Bail refused to give me any duties. He said I had done my part and now I was to think of myself and my family."
"Good advice."
She shrugged. "Yes, but it's irritating not to be involved."
Panaka smiled, but the smile vanished as he glanced around them. "Did you hear something?"
Sabé followed his gaze. "No, but this veil is covering my ears."
"I could have sworn I heard something moving."
"A bird?"
A blaster bolt flew towards them, missing Sabé by inches, burning a hole into the hedge behind her instead. Instincts kicking in, Panaka grabbed her arm and pulled her down behind a bush.
"Birds don't have blasters," he said wryly.
"No. Is this bush really going to help?"
"Thin cover is better than no cover."
"True."
Clutching his own blaster, he peered through the leaves to work out who their adversary was. "I think it's a trooper. I can see white armour. Do you have a weapon?"
Sabé mentally kicked herself for leaving her blaster behind. "No." As she moved to look through the leaves, Qui-Gon's lightsabre gently hit against her hip. "Well, actually, sort of." She unclipped it, holding it out. "I'm not sure how much use it's going to be." Before she had finished speaking the baby kicked, as if to remind her not to do anything stupid. "I'm not sure how much use I'm going to be," she added quietly.
"Kenobi!" the clone's voice called out. "And Kenobi junior."
Sabé froze, eyes widening. 'Impossible,' she thought. "What do you want with me?" she replied.
"Your lives. Nothing personal, I'm just trying to fulfil an order."
"Whose order?"
"Oh, it's not an order to kill you, per se. But you're a very good way to get at a certain Jedi survivor."
"He means Obi-Wan," Sabé told Panaka. "What are we going to do?"
Panaka, who had managed to piece together a basic explanation from the trooper's words, once more glanced out to locate him. "He's over in that shrubbery. If I keep firing, can you creep round to him?"
"And do what?"
"Use that thing," he said, gesturing to the lightsabre.
'I must be mad,' she thought, crawling as silently as she could through the undergrowth. It was only when she had managed to get about halfway to the clone's hiding place that she realised she could have remained behind to shoot and sent Panaka on the errand. 'Typical. All the good ideas occur to me when it's too late.'
The clone was so busy trying to fire at Panaka that he failed to notice her until she was close enough to attract his attention by activating the sabre. It's emerald glow lit up her face and gave the clone's armour a strange luminescent light.
"Who are you and what do you want with my husband?" she demanded. Holding the sabre gave her a strange kind of confidence.
"I told you. I was ordered to kill Kenobi in Order 66. I thought I had succeeded, but we never found the body. I knew that that meant he had escaped. I have come to fulfil my orders."
"But why harm me and my child?" she asked.
"You are just a helpful tool." With that he fired another round at her.
Sabé closed her eyes and swung the sabre. A cool but gentle breeze floated around her hands and she felt sure that the weapon's owner was helping her once again. Sure enough she had managed to deflect the bolts. The clone was somewhat taken aback. Sabé used the opportunity to hurry forward, sabre blade moving quickly. "Nobody threatens the life of my daughter," she muttered, bringing the blade down in a smooth arc that split the clone from head to toe.
The two halves fell their separate ways and Sabé stood back, breathing hard. Panaka joined her and looked down at the mess. "That's called overkill."
"He deserved it," she said coldly, switching the weapon off.
Footsteps behind them cause the pair to look round. Obi-Wan was running towards them, clearly having sprinted all the way from the hangar. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I had a message from Qui-Gon warning me that an old enemy of mine was coming for you."
"We met him," Panaka growled.
"What?"
Sabé nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid he's half the man he used to be," she said dryly.
Obi-Wan frowned, then looked behind her and grimaced. "So I see."
"Oh, and this belongs to you." She handed the lightsabre back to the uncharacteristically surprised Jedi Master.
Then they kicked the body into the nearby river and walked out of the garden, nervously keeping an eye out for any other strange behaving clones.
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A/N: My reasons for having Cody make a comeback with his Kenobi-hunt is that I had issues with him being too human in RotS. He seemed the type that would not be satisfied that his had failed to fulfill his duty. Next chapter, Obi-Wan and Sabé return to Tatooine.
