Strangely enough, it was the silence that woke Padme.

She opened her eyes to a dark hospital room, devoid of any beeping or footsteps in the hallway, the constant hum of the overhead lights extinguished. Still half-asleep, her first instinct was one of panic as she hurriedly ran her hands over a sleeping Anakin, afraid that his heart had stopped beating.

"Ani? Ani, can you hear me?" she said fearfully placing her fingers over his neck and checking for a pulse.

"Whuh?" said Anakin sitting up groggily. "Padme, what's wrong?"

"Oh, thank goodness," she said leaning in to embrace him. "I'm sorry, I just woke up and I couldn't hear the heart monitor anymore, I thought- well, actually, I can't hear anything. And the lights won't come on."

"That's so strange," murmured Anakin, rubbing his wife's back soothingly as he cast a glance around the room. "Maybe there was some kind of power outage? Weird that a palace like this doesn't have back-up generators. Hang on," he said as he reached over to grab his comm from the nightstand. "Let me contact Ahsoka and see if she knows anything." Anakin punched in her frequency, frowning as he waited for a response.

"Is she not answering?" asked Padme.

"I think the signal's not getting through," said Anakin, trying the frequency again. "It's like something's jamming it."

"The power's out and something's jamming communications," said Padme warily, "This is usually about the time someone gets a bad feeling."

"Yeah, that would be me," muttered Anakin as fiddled with the communicator. "I wonder—"

Before he could finish, a faint crash echoed from down the hallway. Anakin and Padme looked at each other, eyes wide. "Stay here, and I'll go check it out," Anakin whispered as he painfully pushed himself off the bed.

"Oh no," said Padme firmly as she placed her hands on his chest "You're still very injured and we don't know what's happening. If it's something bad, you aren't in any shape to fight. And," she hissed gesturing to his hospital gown, "You don't even have any pants on."

"Technically, neither do you," said Anakin sulkily as Padme rolled her eyes and wrapped her arm around his waist. She maneuvered them to the closet, settling Anakin on the floor.

"For your information, I can shoot a blaster just fine in either a dress or pants," Padme said as she crouched down and removed a small blaster from her boot. "Now hush, I think I hear someone coming."

Anakin and Padme held their breath behind the closet door as two sets of heavy footsteps entered the room.

"The Jedi's not here," a gruff voice said.

"The bed's not made," another voice, high-pitched and wheezy, responded. "Might still be hiding around here somewhere."

"Does it really matter?" said the first man, sounding bored. "Doesn't matter where he is, he'll be dead soon whether we find him or not. Come on, we still gotta drag the rest of the hostages to the Grand Hall before Vizsla gets upset."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Padme could feel her heart pounding as the footsteps receded from the room, the door whooshing shut behind them. So Vizsla was indeed the mastermind behind all of Satine's troubles of late. But what were they talking about? What were they planning to do to Anakin?

"Padme?" she heard Anakin say next to her in the darkness. She felt his hand reaching out blindly before finding hers. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said a little shakily. "I think they're gone."

Slowly, they crawled out of the closet, huddled on the floor as they waited to make sure they heard no one else in the hallway. Padme eyes kept wandering back to her injured husband, the words of Vizsla's men still bouncing around her mind.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ani?" she asked, fighting to keep the fear out of her voice. "Those men made it sound like it was already a done deal that you would die."

"I don't know what they were talking about," said Anakin shaking his head. "I'm in a little pain but nothing that wouldn't be expected after the stuff with Maul. But the doctors said I'm going to be okay," he said squeezing her hand gently with his prosthetic arm. "So I promise you I'll be okay. We both will be."

"Right," said Padme, doing her best to push the negative thoughts from her head. There was little time to dwell on it now. She stood up cautiously, eyes trained on the door, before pulling Anakin up beside her. "So, what's our next move? We have to help those hostages."

"Well, I'm sure you and that blaster could do a whole lot of damage yourselves," said Anakin, grinning as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "But since I'm not sure how much use I'll be right now, we should probably try to get in contact with Obi-Wan and Satine or Ahsoka. They must have taken over the palace security center if they're able to move this freely throughout the place. If we could get to that room, I might be able to fix whatever's jamming the communications."

"Sounds like a plan," smiled Padme. "But can we please find you some pants first?"

The speeder was still in motion as Obi-Wan and Satine hastily leapt off and raced toward the palace. The great building was shrouded in darkness, and while Mandalorian security forces surrounded the palace, no one moved to enter it.

"Captain Norvik," said Satine as she marched up to the head of the security forces. "What is happening here? Why is no one storming the palace?"

"Duchess, Master Kenobi," said Captain Norvik, looking relieved. "Thank goodness you're alright. The palace has been overrun by unknown assailants. One of the Jedi managed to help a handful of servants escape and sound the alarm, but the assailants have placed snipers on the roof and windows. We've lost two men to their shots already. Our officers inside have either been killed or incapacitated."

"These unknown assailants are attached to a name," said Satine grimly. "They are the brutes who work for Pre Vizsla."

"Where is the Jedi who helped the escapees, Captain Norvik?" asked Obi-Wan before spotting Ahsoka running up to them.

"Master Kenobi! Duchess Satine!" exclaimed Ahsoka. "I'm sorry, I couldn't get to Anakin and Padme, and they've already taken most of the others hostage and I needed to get these people out first and- "

"Peace, Padawan," said Obi-Wan, forcing a calm he did not feel into his words as he placed his hands on Ahsoka's shoulders. "You did the right thing, saving who you could first with the information that you had. Now, can you tell us what happened, from the beginning?"

Ahsoka nodded, taking a breath. "I was looking for something to eat in the kitchens. That's when I first felt something was… off. Every palace I've been in, the hours before dinner are the busiest, but the place looked kind of empty. And the people that were there, well, they mostly just looked like they were going through the motions."

"The imposters," sighed Satine. "They had been placed right under our noses."

"Looks like it," said Ahsoka. "It didn't feel right, so I decided to try to find Anakin and Padme, to check in on them. That's when I ran into Elia, one of the kitchen workers," she said gesturing to young woman trembling a few feet away, speaking with an officer. "She was with a few other workers, said they were looking for her supervisor, but that they hadn't been able to find anyone. That's when the lights went out and we were ambushed by some thugs. I just managed to pull them out before they locked the doors and put those snipers on the roof."

"Did you hear anything else, Ahsoka?" asked Obi-Wan anxiously. "About Anakin and Senator Amidala? About an explosion, perhaps?"

"No," said Ahsoka, frowning. "Why do you ask?"

Obi-Wan and Satine exchanged worried glances. "It's Anakin," said Obi-Wan reluctantly. He was loathe to worry Ahsoka with such news about her master so soon after almost losing him, but he couldn't keep something like this from her either. "The doctor who operated on his arm was also one of Viszla's imposters. He placed an explosive in his prosthetic during the surgery."

"What?" exclaimed Ahsoka, horrified. "He'll kill him! And if Padme is with him," she said turning pale, "The blast could kill her too. Why is he doing all this?"

"It's part of a tactic to discredit me and take over Mandalore," said Satine hugging herself. "The food shortage, the attack on the palace, the murder of a Jedi. If Vizsla can show that I'm too weak to take care of my people, to protect my home and those in my care, he can turn the populace against me quite easily." She sighed heavily. "He could tear down everything I've built and the people would love him for it."

"Satine," said Obi-Wan softly, pulling the shaking woman into his arms. He could feel Ahsoka's faint surprise in the Force, felt his own at such at showing such public affection, but it didn't matter. He may have failed to show his support, his love, for her in the past, but Satine had to know that he would stand with her now. And forever, if needed. "We will not allow this monster to take your planet from you. We will save your people and our friends." He laid his forehead against hers, willing Satine to hear his sincerity. "I swear it."

Satine stood silently for a moment, her haggard breathing the only sound disrupting the space between her and Obi-Wan. "I trust you," she said finally, giving him a small, but determined smile. "I trust us."

Obi-Wan returned the smile warmly. "Then let's get started. What are our options?" he asked turning back to Captain Norvik and Ahsoka.

"The biggest problem we have is a lack of information," explained Captain Norvik. "We don't know the size of the force inside, and we don't know the location and number of hostages. I believe that takes any kind of direct attack off the table."

"We have another Jedi and Senator within the building," said Obi-Wan rubbing his beard thoughtfully. "Though I would assume you already tried to contact them, Ahsoka?"

"Comms are jammed," confirmed Ahsoka.

"If we could just find a way to communicate with them, they might be able to send us the information we need," said Satine. "You said Knight Skywalker is quite good with electronics? He might be able to hack into the security systems and access the cameras."

"Indeed," said Obi-Wan. "However, I worry about his condition. And his proximity to Senator Amidala. We need to remove the explosive from his arm, and we need to separate him from Padme, to remove her from the danger."

"Surely Anakin won't object to that once he realizes the danger?" said Satine.

"It's not Anakin we're worried about," said Ahsoka wryly. "It's the Senator. She's not gonna leave his side, danger or not."

"No, I suppose she wouldn't," agreed Satine. "I have no doubt I'd do the same," she said softly as Obi-Wan blushed and Ahsoka looked curiously between them.

"Right," said the Padawan suspiciously. "So, how are we gonna contact them?"

"We're going to walk right through the front door," said Satine, startling the two Jedi.

Obi-Wan looked at her incredulously. "I beg your pardon?"

Satine started to pace, quickly piecing together a plan. "I'm going to ask Vizsla to open negotiations with me. You and Ahsoka will accompany me as my security, though we'll have to find you Mandalorian uniforms. I don't think Vizsla will agree to a Jedi protection detail."

"You wouldn't really consider acquiescing to any of Vizsla's demands, would you?" asked Obi-Wan carefully. When Satine didn't answer immediately, Obi-Wan prompted her worriedly. "Would you?"

"Ideally, I would not," said Satine, suddenly sounding very tired. "We would theoretically only use these negotiations as a way to buy time while Ahsoka sneaks away to find Padme and Anakin. But if the worst comes to pass, I will fight for the lives of those inside, even it means helping Vizsla overthrow me."

"Satine—"

"I will not have their blood on my hands, Master Kenobi," said Satine fiercely. "And I will certainly not let that blood be shed in my own palace. You asked me to trust you," she said looking at him directly in the eyes. "Will you trust me?"

Obi-Wan met her gaze steadily, his answer sure on his lips. "With my life, my dear."

I have moved twice in the past few months, once to a new city, and started a new job so I've gotten very behind with this story! Sorry it's not the greatest chapter after such a long time, but I just really needed to post something to get back in the groove (Real Life, you threw off my groove!)

Thank you so much to everyone who kept commenting and liking, it really inspired me to come back even after leaving things blank for so long! I'm sorry if I'm not able to answer all comments, but please know I read ALL OF THEM. You guys are the best 3