To Change the Galaxy

A/N: To everyone new: Hi! I'm glad you're here! As an FYI, Galaxy is the final story in a trilogy that's getting more AU as it goes. So, I'd recommend either a) reading both To Save the Queen (sorry in advance for the weird commas found in the first few chapters) and To Die for the Republic first, so that you can begin this story without any confusion, b) reading the prologue of Queen, chapter 34 of Republic, and accepting that you're still going to be kinda confused, c) deciding that Galaxy won't be confusing and frustrating but, rather, an exciting chance to utilize your detective skills, or d) finding something else to read, which would be a sad but understandable choice. To everyone who read Republic and/or Queen: Hi guys! I'm so glad you're back! And we've finally reached Galaxy! I'm really excited :)

Disclaimer: George Lucas created the prequels, Disney owns Star Wars, and Sweet Christabel made the completely fantastic cover image.

Prologue:

I was standing in a sea of white, feeling as though I'd found myself in the middle of a canvas that hadn't been painted on yet.

In front of me, sitting on nothing, with their legs dangling off a non-existent ledge, were two little girls with dark hair. They were talking intently to one another, but their words got lost in the whiteness, leaving me to watch a conversation I couldn't hear.

I'd had this dream before, so I didn't bother trying to catch either of the girls' attention. I already knew that none of my attempts would work. I'd also discovered I was absolute rubbish at lip-reading, so I didn't bother with that either. This time, I watched the girls' faces.

The one who was doing most of the talking had an excellent sabacc face. The other girl, the one who was a younger version of me, was almost embarrassingly expressive.

Somewhere along the line, I knew I'd developed an impressive sabacc face of my own. I wouldn't have been chosen as Queen Amidala's decoy if I'd remained so easy to read, after all. However, clearly, my twelve year old self had yet to master the skill. Or possibly even realize that a sabacc face might be useful.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that my twelve-year-old self was broadcasting her feelings loud and clear, her thoughts on the conversation weren't overly helpful. She mostly looked overwhelmed and bewildered. Occasionally, seemingly just for variety, she'd look patently disbelieving or appear to be doing her level best not to burst into hysterics.

All the while, the other girl kept talking calmly. Finally, my younger self started, looking around wildly. Before the other girl could say anything more, my younger self faded away.

The other girl sighed and, this time, I heard her. She turned to face me.

This wasn't the first time this girl had visited me in my dreams. I had dreamt of her when I was ten, twelve, and eighteen. The information she had shared with me in my dreams had saved my life several times over.

And now, almost a decade later, I had been dreaming of her every night for over a month. Every time, she said almost exactly the same thing. She warned me that Naboo was going to be nearly destroyed, that the galaxy was going to tear itself to pieces, and that she was going to burn. Every time, she told me to be prepared because, if I was lucky enough and ready enough, I could stop it all from happening. However, she didn't seem to remember that we'd had basically the same conversation multiple times already. So, she had yet to tell me any useful information about how, exactly, I was meant to stop things from going so horribly wrong. But that was going to change.

"Hello Sabé," said the little girl who burned.

"Hi," I said before cutting straight to the chase. "So, Naboo's going to be destroyed, the galaxy's going to tear itself to pieces, and you're going to burn. Which is terrible. I'm very sorry about all that. However, I have it on good authority that I'm going to be able to prevent some of that from happening. Do you have any ideas how, exactly, I'm going to be able to do that?"

The little girl blinked at me for a moment.

I raised my eyebrows at her in question and waited, trying not to seem too impatient. After all, she was just a kid and she didn't seem to remember any of the other conversations we had. It wasn't her fault this whole situation was a little bit infuriating.

Finally the girl shrugged and said, "Well, you'll have to change the galaxy, obviously."

My mouth fell open. She stared at me pleasantly, as though she hadn't just told me to do the impossible or watch as my planet, my home, was destroyed.

"Change the galaxy?" I demanded, my head whirling. "Oh, is that all? Just change the entire galaxy? Oh, well, then. That should be a piece of cake. No problem at all." Hysteria bubbled up in my stomach. "How in the stars am I supposed to do that?"

The girl's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? Why are you so upset about all this? Changing the galaxy is easy. All you have to do is—"

BEEP.

What was—oh no. No, no, no. I could not wake up. Not now. Not while I still knew nothing!

"Quick!" I urged the little girl, hurriedly reaching forward to grab her by the shoulders. "What do I have to do? Tell me!"

BEEP.

The world began to shake apart around us.

The little girl looked up at me solemnly. "It's starting."

That was alarmingly new. She'd never said that to me before.

"What's starting? Oh, never mind!" I shook my head and focused on the task at hand. "What do I have to do to save you and Naboo? Please!"

BEEP.

The little girl started fading away. Her shoulders became insubstantial in my hands, but her dark eyes were steady on mine.

"Be prepared, Sabé," she told me, her voice far too serious for her young face. "It's finally starting."

BEEP.

My eyes snapped open, the darkness of my bedroom a stark contrast to the white world of my dreams. My heart thudded a furious tempo in my chest as I gasped for air.

BEEP.

Of all the times for someone to comm me…

Muttering curse words, I rolled over in bed and began running my hand over my bedside table, searching for the comm link.

BEEP.

I fumbled with it for a moment before finally answering.

"Hello?" My voice was still heavy with sleep.

"Sabé?" a panicked voice rang out from my comm link. "Oh, thank the stars! Sabé, I need you to take the job on Coruscant! I know you were thinking of staying on Naboo and I am so sorry for being so selfish, but I can't do this on my own!"

I blinked down at the comm in my hand.

"What?" I recognized the voice. I knew I did.

As the person on the other end of the comm continued to babble a bunch of terrified, indecipherable nonsense at me, I did my best to place the voice.

"Padmé?" I finally asked, bewildered. It sounded like her but I literally could not remember the last time I had heard her sound so frightened. "Is that you?"

"Yes! I'm so sorry. I thought you knew!" On the other end of the comm, Padmé took a deep, ragged, breath.

What could have happened to upset her so much?

"Padmé, are you alright? Are you hurt?" I asked, pushing myself up to a seated position.

Sharp pain lanced down my left leg but I ignored it. My leg hurt quite a bit these days and, right now, Padmé was more important.

"I—no." There was a moment's pause. When she spoke again, her voice was much calmer. "No, no one is hurt. I am so sorry to call you like this but I need help. I need you to take the job on Coruscant instead of the one on Naboo."

I squinted down at the comm link, trying to keep up with her. My poor brain did its best but wasn't quite up to the task. What did the two job offers I'd received have to do with her calling me in the dead of night?

"Okay," I said slowly. "I can probably do that, but is there any particular reason why you need me on Coruscant?"

"I can't do this alone, Sabé! I can't!" A small edge of hysteria reappeared in Padmé's voice. "Oh stars, we're not ready for this. I don't think our timing could have been worse if we tried. Ani's not even here and I don't know the first thing about any of this and I never expected I'd be—" Padmé cut herself off with a small sob.

"Padmé, I need you to breathe, okay?" My grip on the comm link tightened almost painfully, even as I grabbed my cane with my other hand. I was nearly half a galaxy away from her, but I still stood up and began to hunt for my boots.

There was a chance I'd be able to get a ship and fly to Coruscant tonight, if I needed to. But before I started ship-hunting, I needed shoes. "I'm still really confused over here." I tried to sound as calm and comforting as I could. "I'm going to take the job on Coruscant, but I need you to spell out exactly what is going on, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Yes. I—yes." Padmé was now clearly crying on the other end of the line. Trying to suppress the panic that was now surging through me, I shoved my feet into the first pair of shoes I found—a pair of very pretty and very impractical heels that would probably wreak havoc on my leg.

"Deep breaths, Padmé. Deep breaths," I encouraged her as she continued to cry. I readjusted my grip on my cane and, ignoring the sharp pain still going up and down my left leg, I hobbled out of my bedroom and towards the door. The pain wasn't anything unusual but Padmé crying definitely was. I could do my stretches later and buy new shoes once I reached Coruscant. But first, I had to help Padmé.

"Everything is going to be okay," I said. "I'm going to get a ship and fly to Coruscant now, alright? Just take some deep breaths and tell me what's going on, okay?"

"I—I—" Over the comm, I heard Padmé take a couple of very shaky breaths, getting herself back under control. Finally she said, "Sabé, I'm pregnant."

Expected Update Time: February 29th, 2016