The next morning, Obi-Wan had left to aid Ryloth, who had been taken by the Techno Union. I listened intently to the holonet for days, hoping I wouldn't hear terrible news, but nothing came.
The pain coursing through my body had diminshed to a slight ache that somewhat resembled fatigue. It was incredibly easy to ignore and carry on my daily routine. And now Padmé has returned to the Senate Building from a quick trip to Naboo. I only knew that because Captain Typho had graciously accepted my request and informed me.
I dressed in a simple, long, blue dress reminiscent of the Naboo sky before getting in my speeder and flying to the Senate District. I follow a guard through the halls as he led me up to Padmé's office; however, we are intercepted by Threepio and Senator Organa.
"Miss Cattleya!" Threepio exclaims as he sees me. "It is so good to see you again. I was wondering how long it would take to recover from that terrible business on Geonosis. Personally, I haven't recovered from my head being on a battle droid's body."
I smile politely at him as he rants. "Thank you, Threepio. I've been recovering nicely."
"We'll take it from here," Senator Organa dismisses the guard. The guard bows his head and walks the opposite way. "Senator Amidala informed me of the incident. I assume you're here to see her?" Bail presses the button for the elevator as we reach it. The elevator opens almost immediately and we step into it. "I'd be glad to show you to her office, but I must warn you, we must go discuss a bill."
"Oh, yes, thank you. I'll admit, I haven't missed the meetings," I tell him as the elevator opens once again two floors up.
He laughs a little as we continue down the corridor. "Padmé also told me you have been staying here on Coruscant," he says, his voice smooth and diplomatic.
I nod. "I have. It has been fairly boring, though."
"I can imagine, being stuck in an apartment isn't fun." Bail's robes swish as we turn a corner. "Even when I can't leave Alderaan, I at least have my duties to keep me busy. Are you hoping to continue working for Padmé or have you retired?"
I shake my head. Retirement sounded a little ludicrous. "I think I'm a little too young for retirement, sir."
"Aren't we all?" he asks shrewdly. "Ah, here we are." A short distance in front of us was a door surrounded by the beautiful decorations of the Senate Building. I definitely miss seeing her office, no matter how boring it was when we would spend whole nights there.
"But Senator Organa," Threepio began, stepping in front of the senator from Alderaan, "I am sure Padmé is very busy at the moment. It just wouldn't be-"
Organa cut off the protocol droid. "The situation cannot be delayed. Now stand aside." Threepio complies to his demand and the doors open, allowing us to walk in. Padmé stood in front of her desk as beautiful as ever, the room being lit by the light pouring in from the huge window behind her."I apologize for my abruptness."
"Oh, Senator Organa, how good to see you," she greets awkwardly. Then she notices me by Threepio. "Cattleya, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be resting?"
Her arms were crossed awkwardly behind her back and she was attempting not to look around too much. She is definitely hiding something. "I'm feeling a lot better, so I thought I'd visit and see how you were doing," I tell her honestly while discreetly narrowing my eyes and nonchalantly glancing around the room.
"Thank you, but I'm quite busy," she replies. "What is it, senator?"
"Senator Philo has called a meeting in the lobby before we vote on the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill," he informs her.
"Right, Privacy Invasion Bill," Padmé mutters while glancing down at her desk. I follow her line of sight. For a split moment, I swear I saw a flash of brown, but it was gone as quickly as I saw it.
"We must hurry if we are to stop the vote," Bail continues as he turns around towards the door. Threepio and I make to follow him, but I notice Padmé look down at her desk again and Bail notices me falter. He turns back to Padmé. "Coming, Senator Amidala?"
"O-Of course," she stutters, still eyeing her desk. She reluctantly follows us out of her office. Even as we leave the office she looks back into it before the doors close.
We descend the corridors toward the lobby. "Are you alright, Padmé?" I inquire.
"Yes, yes," she replies absent-mindedly.
"Obviously," I say with a small grin. Anakin was in there, that would be the only reason for her acting this way. "Is it alright if I join you today?"
"You know-"
I cut her off before she continues her statement. "I know I'm not your handmaiden, but helping you is a lot more fun than sitting all alone in a small apartment."
She smiles a little and nods. "Glad to have you back in action," she comments.
Finally we reach the lobby. Senators were slowly joining us as Bail Organa spoke. "We cannot allow the Chancellor to move this Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill forward," he argues.
"We are all in agreement then," Senator Philo says. Although it confused me a little since we all just showed up, doors opened behind the senator, revealing what looks like bounty hunters.
The guy in the hat with blue skin lets off two shots of his blaster toward the ceiling as the doors close behind him and his droid who was holding a blaster rifle pointing at us. "Morning, senators," he greets in a raspy voice that sounds somewhat like a voice modulator. "You should all consider yourselves to be in my power." As he spoke, another pair of doors opened behind us. Another alien and a droid like the first walk in. "As long as everybody behaves, this will be quick and painless." Yet another pair of doors slides open, and a female near-human walks in. "Do not be, and it will all be over soon."
The five surround the group, all pointing blasters at us, and still someone tries to be the hero. "I don't know who you think you are," Philo starts, walking up to the leader, "but I, for one, have no intention of listening to this kind of insolence." He then walks right past the bounty hunter. A sense if dread filled me up as the hunter swiftly pulled up his blaster and shot Philo in the back. The senators around me gasp as the dead senator falls to the ground. Everyone should know not to underestimate a bounty hunter.
"Alright, then," the leader says, completely unfazed at shooting a man. "If you'll all gather in the center of this lovely atrium, my coworkers and I will relieve you of any communication devices."
"I see five of them here in the room," Padmé whispers to Bail and I. "If we-"
Organa wasn't going with her line of thinking. "What are you going to do?" he inquires. "It's not like we carry weapons."
"He has a point, Padmé," I concede. "I don't exactly carry a blaster with me anymore, and everyone here is a senator."
Padmé doesn't reply as the leader steps away from the main group, pulling out a holocommunicator. I can't hear much of what he says, but as he speaks the lights in the room turn off. It takes a moment for the emergency lights to turn on.
"Hand over your communication devices, please," the leader instructs, going to each one of us.
Padmé, Bail, and I stand at the back of the group. Padmé leans towards us. "I can't let them search me," she says in slight desperation.
"Why not?" Bail asks.
"I have something they must not find," Padmé vaguely elaborates.
"What is it?" Bail presses.
We are interrupted by the leader of the bounty hunters. "Well, hello there, little lady," he says, looking at Padmé and pointing his blaster at her. He grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him. "And who might you be?"
"I am Padmé Amidala," she introduces with a glare donning her face. "Senator from Naboo. And I demand that you release us immediately. The Galactic Senate will not treat with terrorists."
"You're awful young and pretty to be a senator." He tightens his grip on her something causes the bounty hunter to turn around abruptly and start shooting at a balcony above. I spot someone moving quickly. "Skywalker! After him!" Two follow orders and follow Anakin out of the room. At least I was correct about Padmé's apprehension.
The leader says very little while they're gone, and no one else is shot. Finally, the Weequay returns without the droid. "What happened?" the leader asks. "Where's the droid?"
"The droid's gone," the Weequay hunter answers. "But there's good news. The Jedi's unarmed." That's what Padmé has! She has Anakin's lightsaber. That's what Padmé was hiding behind her back and why she was so reluctant to leave her office.
I look incredulously at Padmé, but she refuses to meet my gaze. "What?" the leader voices.
"He doesn't look like he has his lightsaber," the Weequay taunts.
"Go," the leader orders, talking to the woman. "Bring him back to me." The two leave the room.
"The lightsaber," Padmé whispers to Bail and I, getting his attention. "I've got it."
"What?" Organa asks, not really believing her. She then pulls it out of her sleeve. "Why do you have a Jedi's lightsaber?" If you knew their relationship, senator, then you wouldn't really question it. Although, I would still like to know why he gave it to her.
"The question is whether we should try and give it back to A-the Jedi Knight," Padmé replies, almost saying his name. If she said 'Anakin', Bail would be more suspicious than he already is. "Or use it ourselves."
The head bounty hunter shoots the ceiling a few times to get our attention. "Everybody quiet!" he demands. "I've got a call to make." He presses a button on his arm and pulls out his communicator again. He speaks quietly, so we can't hear what he says.
A few minutes later, the doors open again. In walks the two bounty hunters dragging Anakin behind them and a small alien with a strange backpack.
"Young Skywalker," the leader says, kneeling down next to an unconscious Anakin. "Not so impressive without your lightsaber, are you, Jedi." I'm sure you wouldn't be impressive without your blaster. "Toss him in with the others."
They drag him over and throw him to the ground in front of the group. Padmé and I rush forward to see if he's okay. After making a quick call on his communicator, the leader stands in front of us. "Go and get the parting gifts." The Weequay takes something from the strange backpack, and him and the little alien walk around the room placing what look like explosives on the columns.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I whisper to my two favorite senators as I stand back up.
"Well, Mister Chancellor," I hear the leader say nearby. "Thanks to your calm leadership, the crisis has passed. I got what I want, so I'll return your Senate and your senators. Enjoy them, but don't try anything until the sun has set. Understand?" I don't know if the Chancellor replied or not, but that must be the reason for the detonation charges. "We need to get to the landing platform. Is everything ready?"
The small alien says, "Yep, yep."
"Turn on the field." Field? Lazers light up around us, answering my question. "If you so much as breathe on one of these lazers, the whole room will blow up. Senators, Jedi, I bid you all a most respectful farewell." He dips his hat at us and leaves the room with the other bounty hunters, leaving us alone with death lazers and an unconscious Jedi.
Padmé and I sit on either side of Anakin. "Ani, please wake up," she whispers while caressing his face. It's a wonder no one knows their secret.
Slowly, the Jedi Knight opens his blue eyes. "What are you looking so sad about?" he asks weakly, reaching his hand up. I am seriously curious as to how no one knows they're together.
Padmé grabs his hand gently and brings it down quickly before the others notice, glancing at me.
"The bounty hunter said we should just sit here," the Rodian senator says as Anakin, Padmé, and I stand. "I think we should just sit here."
"Well, that's not a very good idea," Anakin tells him. He doesn't start to say anything else, so I do.
"You're still cuffed," I point out, hoping Padmé will take that as a cue to give him his lightsaber.
"Too bad I don't have my lightsaber. That would certainly be helpful." That makes Padmé come to her senses.
She swiftly pulls it out of her sleeve. "You mean this?" she asks nonchalantly. "I found it where you dropped it."
That statement doesn't exactly bring confidence. A Jedi dropping his lightsaber isn't a good thing. Padmé turns the lightsaber on, igniting the blue blade, and cuts his restraints. She then hands him the saber.
Anakin's leadership capabilities return. "Now quickly, we don't have much time," Anakin says. He stabs the floor and runs around us. As he is just about to finish, a beeping is heard from the charges. We drop as the room explodes.
The slab hits the ground hard, throwing everyone on it to the side. My bones ache as I hit the ground hard. The rubble from the room above coats us in dust. I shakly push myself up, my arms shaking as I do. Maybe I should go home.
"Another daring rescue, Master Jedi," Padmé flourishes politely with a grin.
"I do my best, Senator," Anakin replies with a bow.
I walk over slowly. "Get a room," I mutter so only they can hear. "Are you okay, Padmé?"
"I think I should be asking you that," she counters.
I shake my head as we both chuckle. "But seriuosly, get a room. And don't give away your lightsaber, Skywalker." I look pointedly at him.
"Or what?" he asks jokingly. "You're going to tell Obi-Wan?"
"Exactly," I state. He then had the decency to look horrified.
