Chapter 95
Muunilinst - Month Twenty Seven, Day Sixteen into Seventeen PEF
Asajj's search was methodical, starting her search of the docking bays with the attendants, showing a holo of her old ship as she went, making little secret of the fact she was searching for it. Vader would undoubtedly follow her and check this very path. She searched the bays, wasting several hours speaking with unhelpful individuals who responded to neither threats, coercions or bribes. Her invested time was rewarded several hours past the sun's setting upon locating the Munn who had bought the derilect that was her old ship .
He had been most forthcoming in giving her Padmé's current description along with the interesting fact that she was not alone. No, not only has she finally fled Vader's clutches, but she'd taken both of the droids with her. While Padmé was skilled at evading capture and notice on her own, having the two droids accompanying her, especially one as notable as the golden translator droid, should make tracking her all the easier. Asajj had kept her conversation with the Munn amicable and he had, after a hundred credits of added persuasion, added Padmé's new alias's name to the pot.
Darra Lam.
Not an alias Asajj was familiar with.
It had taken several more hours of time spent at the local cantinas to turn up a clue in the form of a waitress who remembered an odd woman with a droid dressed in cold weather gear; a golden droid the cloak hadn't been able to hide. While the waitress hadn't had much more information to go on, she had told Asajj of a conversation she'd overheard the strange woman having about locating a ship to purchase. Asajj had researched Padmé's alias, taking half an hour to read through the trail. It was detailed, thorough and exceedingly elegant, which meant it had to have been one of Max's last works. How Padmé had kept it, and Vader had never found it, Asajj didn't know.
According to the background, Darra was a smuggler and, apparently, lacking a ship. Which made perfect sense for her to be searching for one.
Asajj's next stop had been the hall of records, only to find it was closed and secured, told rather spitefully by the guard she'd then threatened that the records were DNA coded to the keeper of the records and their assistants. She would have to come back in the morning to get her information.
Left no choice, she'd continued to search for another two hours before heading back to her ship to take a quick nap. Padmé had evaded her thus far, but Asajj was confident that she wouldn't evade her much longer. With both of the droids at her side, tracking her had become all that much easier. Yet, despite Vader being on their tail, Asajj had no intention of lazing about. Her rest had been a deep meditation for just under an hour.
Morning had then come and sun-up had found Asajj at the hall of records. Just her luck, the same guard was still on duty and refused her entry with a spiteful smile. Returning it coolly, Asajj waited for almost an hour before the guard allowed her access to present her inquiry.
As she was stepping into the hall, Asajj looked left and right, finding the information inquiry desk on the far side of the hall. Widening her senses, acutely aware that Vader would be on her heels very soon, she listened for anything of use.
"-ind a buyer? That thing's a hunk of junk!"
"-not a steal. It's a scam. I'm telling you, it'll be brought before the court before day's end."
"-oodbath I hear; a side sell gone wrong - Avvar didn't stand a chance."
Asajj's head turned on the last tidbit, focusing on the Munn who was speaking quietly with their colleague. She veered to their table. "Good morning."
The two heads separated and the male at the counter straightened. "Good morning, Mistress...?"
With a wave of her hand, Asajj smirked. "You don't need to know my name."
"I don't need to know your name," the Munn agreed, almost mechanically, blinking and then cocking his head. "How may I assist you?"
"I'm supposed to meet Avvar to look at his ship, but he forgot to give me the docking bay number and isn't answering his comms."
The Munn's eyes widened. "Avvar? Avvar Then'syal?"
"That's right."
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this Mistress, but Avvar was killed this morning."
"Really?" Asajj feigned surprise, leaning into the Munn with the Force to add it to her words and get the answer she needed. "That's terrible; his vessel is just what I was looking for. Do you know if there is another seller with the same model?"
"A Sheathipede-class transport shuttle?" The Munn blinked and then checked something on his datapad even as Asajj applied just the slightest touch more of invisible pursuasion. "I'm afraid they're not very common Mistress, especially not with the upgrades Avvar had registered."
"The hyperdrive was of particular interest," Asajj agreed, watching as the Munn nodded, silently cursing her luck. She'd been certain Padmé wouldn't find a ship so quickly. Sheathipede-class transport shuttles were supposed to have been short range. With an upgraded, modified shuttle with who knew what other upgrades, Padmé would be able to go just about anywhere. "Was a new buyer registered? Perhaps I can persuade them to part with it."
"The sale was never completed, Mistress. The ship should still be in the bay, I believe. Docking Bay 672 Level 4. With his untimely passing, the hall of records now holds the deed to the ship. If it meets your liking, we'd be happy to discuss a price."
An inflated price, Asajj was willing to bet. She could practically see the numbers spinning in the Munn's mind. "I just might do that. Thank you for your help."
"A pleasure to be of service Mistress."
Asajj turned and exited the hall, headed for the docking bays and the lift that would take her to level four. If she was right, the ship was already long gone, but there might possibly be a clue within the bay. She would need to act fast to track it if it was already gone.
The trip to the bay took some time, just based on the distance, and she wasted almost an hour getting to it. Local authorities were at the bay when she arrived and she was barred from the scene. She tried mind tricks, insisting that she was a buyer for the ship that was in the dock, even going so far as to try and coerce one of the guards with a little harmeless flirting. Nothing worked and she wasted almost two hours getting tidbits of information here and there from casual conversations between the officers, caught at a distance.
It was past noon before she confirmed that the ship was gone, taken by one of the buyers. Two names were banded about; Darra Lam - who had apparently killed the other buyer in self defense according to the security holos, and Darmis Gurth, a Rodian who had apparently wanted the ship and killed Avvar before turning his weapon on Darra. A sell gone bad, indeed. The ship didn't appear to have been damaged in the firefight and Darra had been seen on the holos leading two crates onto the ship - the droids Asajj surmised - before taking off. The price of the ship in physical credits, along with the deed to it, signed over to Darra, had been found on Avvar's body.
Which meant it wasn't stolen, it had simply never been registered to the hall of records.
No chance the authorities would try and stop it for an impound.
Frustrated, but having her answers and now having confirmed that the docking bay would be a dead end, Asajj headed back to her own ship. Her time hadn't been wasted, but it had taken longer than she'd hoped to acquire the information she was looking for. She might not have the exact specifications on Padmé's ship, but she knew how to track a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle; she'd had to do it more than once when Separatist traitors were identified and tried to run. They were relatively slow and unwieldy when unmodified, but Asajj also knew this ship had been modified and if it had a hyper drive, who knew what else this Avvar had done to it.
Reaching her vessel, she immediately contacted the tower for departure clearance even as she spun the engines up. They roared to life as the tower came back with clearance in five mikes. More than enough time to get all of her systems operational. Punching in the base engine signatures of a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle was child's play and Asajj programmed the sensors before buckling in her crash webbing. As soon as the clearance to leave came through, she flipped on the repulsors, taking the ship into the air. Barely clearing the walls of the docking bay, she was roaring into space minutes later, her chrono showing it was now mid-afternoon.
Flipping on her scanners, she searched for the Sheathipede-class transport shuttle's signature, finding it faint, mostly masked, and adjusted, but the base frequency echoed back to her trained ear. Padmé was on a heading for Yaga Minor on a main hyperspace lane. "You're not as savvy as you think, Padmé," Asajj spat to the empty cockpit, venting her anger and reconfirming her promise. "I will find you... and when I do, this ends. One way or another."
Coruscant - Month Twenty Seven, Day Seventeen PEF
"Senator Organa?"
"Yes?" not pausing on his read through of the bill he was getting ready to oppose in the Senate, Bail Organa gave the aide in the doorway only his partial attention. "What is it?"
"A priority message for you, sir."
"Put it there," he gestured to the edge of his desk even as he tapped a specific line about human having increased responsibilities and rights in the bill, making a note to speak on the equality of all citizens in his notes. "Who is it from?"
"It's... coded, sir."
Coded...? Frowning, Bail looked up at the aide standing in the doorway; everyone who would have sent him coded messages was either aware of his current location and knew better than to contact him unless it was an emergency, or on Coruscant with him. "Coded."
"Yes sir," the aide looked uneasy as he placed it on Bail's desk. "We don't have the cipher."
"That will be all," dismissing the aide, Bail waited until his office door was closed to pick up the message. Running a second sweep for espionage devices, he then locked his door, turning the datadisc over and over in his hands, a feeling of unease settling in his stomach. Could it be? Closing the blinds and engaging the privacy mode for his office, Bail settled back into his desk chair. Collecting a holoreader from one drawer, he placed the player on the hard surface. Reaching into his pocket, he extracted a small decryption key. One of three that existed. If his people hadn't been able to break the cypher, it could only come from one of two places and, as unlikely as it seemed, he couldn't help but hope Padmé had finally reached out to him directly for aid. Sliding the disc into the reader, he plugged the decryption key into the data port.
The machine whirred beeped before a green light appeared and Bail swallowed hard.
It was from Padmé. Or her slicer - the one who had created the cypher. Taking a deep breath, he looked about to ensure he hadn't forgotten any measures to protect against prying eyes. Confident he hadn't, he flicked the message on.
Padmé Amidala Skywalker's image sprang to life... and she looked furious. "Bail. I hope you still have the key to decipher this. I've been Vader's prisoner for the past six months. I've escaped and I need your help. Meet me on Moltok, two days from when you receive this. Landing coordinates are in the encryption. Two days, Bail; you owe me that much. I'll see you then."
The holo stopped, paused on Padmé's grim expression, and Bail couldn't help but study her and compare the last time he'd seen her with her image on the holo. Despite her furious expression, she looked... healthy. Healthier than he'd seen her in a long time. Her cheeks were no longer hollow, her eyes no longer sunken and there looked to be a flush of health about her that had been sorely lacking for months as she'd engaged in Rebel activities and search for her twins. Seeing her restored to health was both a blessing and a curse; a healthy Padmé would be thinking clearly and more determined than ever. That she wanted to meet now, after Vader had been to Alderaan and met Leia, couldn't be a coincidence.
Replaying the holo, he focused on where she wanted to meet him, pulling up a map of the galaxy. Typing in the search, the map shifted and twisted, zeroing in on a planet in the grid L5.
Moltok.
Bail frowned as he read the brief history of the planet, a sense of unease settling about his heart as he did. In the outer rim territories Moltok had been a Separatist planet during the Clone War and was just off the main hyperspace lane between Dantoonine and Coruscant, making it a dangerous place for Padmé to go. More dangerous than most. And if Padmé was trying to escape from Vader, as she'd mentioned, it made it all but near suicidal as the sector it was located in was loyal to the Empire.
If she was spotted...
Believed to be dead, despite the ever present rumors to the contrary, if there was ever proof that Padmé had survived, she would provide a figurehead the Rebels could use to rally behind all the while becoming the most hunted woman in the galaxy. If he could convince her to give up the search for her children. After being Vader's prisoner, perhaps she would be more reasonable and accept that they were safer, hidden away as they were.
He could only hope.
Looking back to the hyperspace lane, he considered his route. The benefit of it being on a main lane would be in the speed of arrival and a quick calculation showed that he could make it there, barely, within her time frame. He would have to delegate his speech to Mon Mothma and select his proxy for the vote. Unplugging the key and secreting it back in his robes with the disc and the slim player, he set about putting his affairs in order as swiftly as possible and flipped off the privacy setting on his office all the while pressing the button that would call his aide.
A minute later a knock on his door sounded and Bail unlocked it from the panel on his desk. "Come in."
The door opened, revealing the same aide as before. "Did you need something, Senator?"
"Contact Senator Mothma and ask her to meet me on Senate landing platform. I will need a shuttle to convey me to my personal hangar."
"You won't be attending the vote, Senator?"
"Something urgent has come up." Bail pushed to his feet, shutting down the last of his tasks on his computer before heading towards the door. "Quickly now; I must speak with Senator Mothma before I leave."
"Yes sir," the aide practically ran to do as bid.
Bail collected his cloak and slung it about his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he looked around his office before striding out into the reception area. His aide was on the holo, speaking with Mon Mothma's aide. "Stress it's urgent."
"Yes, sir!"
With his aide occupied, Bail contacted the senate shuttle himself, heading into the halls where dignitaries, senators and other planetary representatives congregated a discussed the upcoming vote. Moving swiftly, he passed around the various groups, trading pleasantries with those delegates he knew to be of like-mind on the up coming bill, but didn't stop to engage them in further discussion. He knew it would look odd for him to be leaving right before the vote, but he had the best of excuses. Breha, who was currently on route to Dantooine from Alderaan to meet with other mothers and families for a like-minded family retreat, would be passing Moltok just the day before his own arrival there.
He could claim a family emergency and, with everyone knowing of his precocious daughter's tendencies and his wife's uncertain health status on official record, it was the perfect cover. Bail had put aside the needs of his office for his family more than once in the past several years and this would just be another of his eccentricities as a doting father and husband. He planned to use that reputation to his advantage for as long as he could.
Reaching the landing platforms, he was pleasantly surprised to see Mon Mothma striding towards him, her aids scurrying quickly behind her to keep up.
"Senator Organa." Her expression was worried in the professionally polite kind of way that Senators were known to care for one another. Bail could also see true worry in the depths of her gaze. "I received your message. Your aide said it was urgent?"
"My apologies, Senator Mothma. There is a family emergency and I must depart immediately."
"It must be serious for you to miss such an important vote."
"It is," stepping towards Mon Mothma, Bail took both of her hands in his and lowered his voice. "Extended family troubles."
Mon Mothma's eyes widened but she nodded, clearly understanding his message as she squeezed his hands tightly. "Be careful, Bail."
"As always, dear friend." raising his voice again, he resumed speaking of business. "I have left instructions for you to vote in my place as my proxy, Senator Mothma, as you and I share similar views on the bill's amendments."
"It is my honor, Senator Organa. Safe journey. I pray your family's emergency passes quickly."
"As do I, Senator Mothma. " He shared a long look with Mon Mothma, his expression and words solemn. He wished nothing more. "As do I."
Angel of Iego - Month Twenty Seven, Day Seventeen PEF
Late afternoon
Vader scanned through the tracking data that had been sent to him via the Exactor, holding his ship at a distance from Muunilinst as he scanned for the trace signals from both Asajj's old ship and her new one. Silently cursing Artoo for his traitorous actions, he also wished the astromech was with him. He could run algorithms better than most, but without his astromech to assist, sifting through the data took an incredible amount of time.
Based on snippets he'd been able to pull from requisition logs and various spaceport tracking signals, Asajj had landed the day before, Padmé ahead of her by several hours. Asajj's ship had departed at mid-day, but Padmé's ship was still on the planet; from what he'd been able to sense, the Force Adept had been alone in her vessel. Vader was confident Padmé had eluded the assassin; there was no public announcement of her revival and subsequent murder - and on a planet like Muunilinst, there would be. Separatist during the war, it was also the place where he'd nearly killed that sniveling senator from Scipio. That Rush Clovis was dead wasn't something he regretted in the slightest.
He shook his head and refocused, scanning once again for any sign that Padmé had been noticed on the planet and again coming up with nothing. He wasn't naïve enough to think his wife would stay with the broken ship she'd stolen to escape, yet a part of him hoped all the same. A part he ruthlessly quashed as he considered more viable options. She was either no longer on the planet, her presence was being kept quiet or she'd gone completely unnoticed.
The latter was unlikely, no matter what skills she'd acquired to blend in - especially with Threepio and Artoo with her. Which also meant the likely hood of her capture being kept quiet was almost nothing. If something had happened to her, both droids were programmed to protect her.
Analyzing Asajj's trajectory, Vader considered his options.
Ventress was a skilled tracker. If she'd left the planet, it stood to reason that she was chasing her prey; that she was following Padmé. Ignoring the planet, he turned the Angel to the hyperspace lane where Asajj's ship's signature was strongest. There was only one option from where he was and that was Yaga Minor. Setting the coordinates, he waited for the nava computer to confirm and then jumped.
Unnamed Sheathipede-class transport shuttle - Month Twenty Seven, Day Seventeen PEF
Late Night
Padmé stretched as she finished inputting the series of micro jumps that would take her to her eventual destination, Moltok. Choosing it hadn't been easy, but at least it was a location Bail should have an easy enough time getting to without much suspicion, despite being in the outer rim.
The route she was choosing to take would jump her from system to system, doubling back to areas where there was enough traffic to prevent an easy tail if she picked one up. It did mean her route to Moltok, which should have been just hours away, would be a couple of days.
Escaping Munnlist had been more dicey than she'd expected and the situation had left a bad taste in her mouth. The Rodian hadn't let her much choice, but she'd hoped to avoid any suspicion or attention.
Fortunately, she'd completed the deal with Avvar before the Rodian had appeared, so the ship was legally Darra's, one less headache to worry about.
The only other good news out of that run-in was that she'd not brought the droid with her in a visible manner. Powered down and in their recharge cycles with portable generators, she's loaded them into crates and had them loaded like cargo; as would be expected of her smuggler self. They were out of the crates now, but back in recharge mode. The portable generators had boosted their power, but not enough to keep them going for long.
Sitting back in the cockpit as she engaged the auto pilot, Padmé considered what she was going to say to Bail.
He had her daughter; had Leia. All this time she'd thought that the twins at least had one another... and they hadn't.
Pulling the holo Vader had created of the twins from her pack, she flicked it on, examining their faces, and making the holo blur as she touched the image.
If Vader was after her, and he no doubt was, he wouldn't rest until she was returned to him; leaving them in hiding, as they currently were, was not an option she'd ever considered before - until now.
"Soon, my darlings," she promised softly, not sure exactly what she was promising beyond safety. Safety she was determined to ensure, no matter the cost. "You'll be safe again very, very soon."