Padmé makes a habit of answering unknown calls on her holoreciever. They are usually advertisements, but her work frequency is public. It allows her to keep abreast of what the people want and hear opinions directly from them.
Still, she's had a stressful day and considers ignoring the call when it comes just moments before she was about to leave her office. But she's known as the people's representative in the Senate, the one who goes out of her way to investigate the way their decisions affect the average citizen and there's a reason she does that. She tiredly walks over to her holoreciever and puts on her best diplomat face. "Senator Amidala's office," she says by way of greeting.
It's Anakin. He stares at her in silence for a moment and then speaks. "Padmé," he says.
Padmé doesn't stop to think. "I'm pregnant," she says.
Anakin looks shocked for a moment. She sees the full range of emotions pass over his face, so she knows that he knows exactly what this means. "That's wonderful," he says. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"It's too early to tell," she says, smiling a little at the thought despite the pressing circumstances. "Ani, what are we going to do?"
She thinks he struggles with his reply. "We're not going to worry about anything," he says quietly.
Padmé can't meet his eyes as she says, "I'm going to say I went to a bank. When they ask."
He's angry. Anakin has always worn his heart on his sleeve, a strange trait for a Jedi but one she had found undeniably attractive. But right now it means she can see every bit of the hurt he feels at that announcement on his flickering blue face. On the one hand, she can't blame him, but on the other, he has to understand that Padmé can't be married to Anakin Skywalker the outlaw any more than she can be married to Anakin Skywalker the Jedi Knight. She's considered it, of course. She could easily claim the child hadn't been concieved until after Anakin had been expelled from the Order, but that would only replace the taboo of having seduced a Jedi with that of having seduced a criminal. One is social suicide; the other is treason.
Deciding to cut him off before he gets started, she quickly says, "Ani, our child can't grow up with a traitor for a father. It wouldn't be fair to them."
Padmé isn't entirely certain whether he's about to start yelling or brooding; either is fairly likely. He opts for yelling. "Oh, so I'm a traitor now?"
"I didn't say that, Ani," Padmé says.
"Yes, you did."
"Treason is what it says on the warrant for your arrest, Anakin," Padmé says sharply. "Which is something that exists because you left." She'd defended him in front of the chancellor and the Jedi Council, but that doesn't mean he doesn't owe her an explanation.
"They were going to -" Anakin stops suddenly, like he's suddenly realized that he doesn't know how his own sentence ends. "I did it for my troops." He pauses. "Do you know what reconditioning is?"
"No," Padmé says.
"Well, neither do I," Anakin says, and his voice shows that he's none too happy about that. "It's some kind of disciplinary threat that's held over their heads, and even they don't really know what it is."
"Surely there are other measures you could have taken," Padmé says. "Do you know how much they're offering for information leading to your arrest? And there's a Republic-issued bounty on your head for a million credits."
"It never bothered you when it was just the Separatists," Anakin snaps.
"It should bother you," Padmé replies.
This is the point at which Anakin normally leaves, or hangs up, or starts guilting her into dropping everything so they can spend some quality time ignoring all their problems together. Surprisingly, he doesn't this time. He stops, takes a moment, and then speaks. "It's in the past, Padmé," he says. "Let's not worry about it. I don't want to fight with you."
"I don't want my child to grow up without a father," Padmé says, certain he's missing the point.
"They won't," Anakin says. He sounds confident. "We'll figure something out. I need your help."
Padmé can see his regret at having to change the subject. Even so, she considers telling him off for it, and insisting he explain to her how they're going to be anything even remotely resembling a family. She doesn't really want to know what he has in mind, though. It's probably reckless and dangerous and she can live for a few more weeks without knowing. "Okay," she says slowly. "What is it?"
"I have about five hundred refugees who need help and no place to drop them off," Anakin says.
"Refugees from what?" Padmé asks.
The answer is supremely unsurprising, if a little unexpected. "A Zygerrian slave processing facility."
"So you set out to rescue slaves without a plan for what to do with them after you rescued them," Padmé says.
"Hey," Anakin says defensively. "I had a plan. I was going to take them back to their home system. But they're mostly from Ryloth."
Unfortunately, he doesn't need to elaborate. Anakin can't go anywhere near Ryloth; it's a hotly contested battleground where both sides will be out to get him and his men. Even if he could, she's heard reports of the people there starving, and there's a fair chance many of them would be killed in the fighting, or captured and sold into slavery again. The former slaves will find little help on their home planet, and more likely than not be a burden on their people who are still there.
Her brief hesitation apparently convinces Anakin that he does need to elaborate, though. "They need help, Padmé. We can't afford to keep them on the fleet and we can't just leave them somewhere."
Padmé sighs. "I'll see what I can do, Ani," she says. "Is this your normal frequency?"
"Yes," Anakin says. "I'll find a way to let you know if it changes."
"All right," she says. "And Ani, be careful."
"I will," he says. "I love you." And then he hangs up.
Padmé sits back down behind her desk, all dreams of leaving for the day banished. She's sure Anakin doesn't quite understand what he's asking, but she still feels a trace of irritation at him. She can't just comm up the nearest system in the habit of accepting refugees and ask them to allow a traitor to the Republic to dock at their ports and drop off five hundred beings. This is a tricky operation. She'll have to choose a system that won't turn Anakin in, as well as one that has the resources necessary to care for the freed slaves. Both are plentiful in the Republic, but both together is essential, and she doesn't have any room for errors.
The first planet she considers and rejects is her own home planet of Naboo. Oh, they would do it. Her people have a great deal of respect for both her and Anakin, and she knows that she hardly has to ask for them to shelter refugees. But the Festival of Lights is rapidly approaching, and the chancellor himself will be there. Not only does she distrust Palpatine, but Republic security forces are already sweeping the planet system for any security threat. Headed, of course, by trusted Naboo security, but it would only take one stray rumor heard by any single Republic security officer to bring the entire operation down on their heads. No, Naboo is not a good choice.
From there the list only grows shorter as she considers planet after planet. The situation on Toydaria is tricky, Alderaan is too close to Coruscant, Pantora is too near Hutt space. And while she trusts the senators and ruling bodies of these planets implicitly, there is a great deal of pressure put on Republic planets to prove their loyalty. The possibility of some government official or other securing his planet's position by turning in a traitor is one she cannot ignore. It is also possible that any one of these governments might refuse to help in order to avoid compromising their own position in the Republic.
Before she knows it, her list is empty. There's no Republic planet that fits all of her qualifications. She sighs, and is about to go through the list again with lower standards when the thought occurs to her that perhaps her answer doesn't lie within the Republic. It carries its own slew of risks, but when loyalty to the Republic is factored out of the equation, a whole world of possibilities opens.
She activates her holoprojector and puts in a call to a familiar frequency. It's answered almost immediately. The woman on the other end smiles at the sight of her. "Ah, Senator Amidala. What a welcome surprise."
Padmé smiles in return. "It's been too long," she says. "It's good to see you, Satine, but I have a favor to ask."
"I fail to see the problem," Obi-Wan says, stroking his beard as he settles back into his seat. The council room is dim in the late evening light, but he can clearly see the faces of his fellow councilmembers.
"You fail to see the problem with Skywalker using the 501st Legion as a private military?" Mace Windu says, eyes serious as he regards Obi-Wan.
"If that was a Republic target, it would have been an act of terrorism," Shaak Ti says.
"It wasn't a Republic target," Obi-Wan points out. He taps on his datapad, bringing up what details they have of the incident. "In fact, not only was the planet Separatist-aligned, it seems to have been a Zygerrian protectorate. I can assure you, what Anakin attacked was not a..." He pauses and swipes to the next page of information. "'Farming colony'."
Nobody misses the derisive emphasis on those words. "What are you saying?" Mace Windu presents the question without malice, a simple request for clarification.
"Zygerria only has one export, Master Windu, and it's not produce," Obi-Wan says.
"Even so, he cannot simply attack non-combative worlds with Republic warships," Plo Koon says. Obi-Wan is disappointed; he'd expected Plo's support in this. "The Separatists are already using this as war propaganda."
Obi-Wan frowns, setting his datapad aside. "Don't we have more urgent concerns than Anakin, who, might I remind the Council, is no longer part of this Order, attacking slavers?"
"Much pressure on the Council was put to expel him," Yoda points out. "Responsible for his actions, the Senate might feel we are."
"This is all conjecture," Mace says. "Our information is patchy. We don't have conclusive evidence it was Skywalker."
"Who else would have Jedi cruisers?" Obi-Wan asks.
"It could be a Separatist trap," Shaak Ti says.
"It doesn't feel like a trap," Obi-Wan says.
"Regardless, we need to get to the bottom if this," Mace says. "Master Kenobi, you need to find Skywalker."
"And arrest him?" Obi-Wan asks.
"And talk to him," Mace says. "Find out what he's been doing and what he plans to do. This mission's off the books." He lifts his own datapad for emphasis. "We don't have enough evidence here to prove it was Skywalker. I have a feeling the Chancellor wants us to react like it is."
"A feeling?" asks Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"Call it a hunch," Windu says. "I don't trust him. I want to see what he does."
Everyone nods slightly. No one present completely trusts the Chancellor, and most everyone is familiar with the unpredictability of the Senate. As the sun sets on Coruscant, the meeting is adjourned and the Jedi Masters rise and go their separate ways.