The next month was a flurry of political maneuvering. The powerful Trade Federation, who supplies Naboo with off-world foodstuffs, technology, and other important things, is demanding to raise the tax on the shipping of these things by exorbitant amounts. We also had the pleasure of introducing two more Handmaidens into our 'circle'. One of them was named Saché Obaro, the other, to my great surprise and pleasure, was Yané.
There were five bedrooms in the handmaiden suite to begin with, but Sabé, Eirtaé and I had organized one of them into a wardrobe room, and the other into a study, so Saché shared a room with Eirtaé and Yané moved in with me. Right after they moved in with us, I finally turned fourteen.
Panaka started training them, so it was still mainly Sabé, Eirtaé and I who attended the Queen for the most part. During this month, I saw as much as I could of Riv, Dek, and Natan, but it was not a lot, and I missed them all dreadfully. I practiced my Martial Arts every day, so much, in fact, that it became more of a reflex on my part, than any conscious effort. I sparred with Lt. Aloian, and beat him on a regular basis. Of course, he beat me a lot too, and once in a while, I would spar with Panaka, who became Captain after Veruna and Danellé's deaths had made Magneta retire to a small house in a village on the outskirts of the Natal Highlands with his wife and two children.
Panaka was obviously pleased with our progress, because one day he called us down to the exercise room. I was confused, and by the looks on the other's faces, I knew I wasn't the only one. Panaka was waiting for us in the exercise room in his uniform. Next to him stood Lt. Aloian and a hover rack with maroon clothes hanging from it.
"Today will be a little different." He said.
By the Force, it was. I soon found myself standing in battle fatigues with the other Handmaidens and Amidala going to a level in the Palace I didn't know existed. The sub-sub basement. By the look on Amidala's face, she didn't know it existed either. The lift doors whooshed open and my mouth dropped open in coordination with Padmé's, Saché's, Yané's, Sabé's and Eirtaé's.
The cavern that the lift opened to was enormous. Four by ten kilometers at least. The ceiling was about a kilometer high, and we stood on part of an intricate series of catwalks. I stepped dumbfoundedly out of the lift and walked to the edge of the catwalk and placed my hands on the thin metal railing to brace myself. The cavern was covered with what seemed to be a recreation of a small Naboo village. Complete with small Park in the center and all. I looked at Panaka slowly, incredulity in my eyes as the others came over and gasps of shock echoed in the room. Panaka's eyes twinkled.
"Nice to know I can still surprise you, ladies."
Padmé started to say something, but decided against it when she saw Aloian standing behind Panaka. The look in her eyes told me that Panaka and her were going to have a long talk about secrets later.
"This way please." Panaka said as he walked down a narrow staircase. "Aloian, activate the droids."
"Yessir." Aloian said with a quick salute as he ran past us and past some other Security and Palace Guards. Panaka talked as we walked down the catwalks.
"You will each be given a blaster with a powerful stun capability. That way, if you accidentally hit another handmaiden..." He grimaced. "See to it that scenario doesn't happen." We nodded and reached ground zero where Aloian and Corporal Janassen waited by a small table at the edge of an "alleyway". On the table were six slender royal pistols. Each of the pistols had the short barrel on and a bulky silver lump was attached to the top of each. Janassen smiled at me and I felt comforted by the older woman's presence.
Panaka, Aloian and Janassen each grabbed two guns and handed them out. I examined my gun. It felt comfortable and familiar in my hand. Sabé caught my eye and struck a dramatic pose. I giggled at Sabé as Eirtaé held hers stiffly and gingerly, holding the gun as far away from her as she could. Padmé was talking quietly to her, gesturing with one empty hand and one hand full of a gun. Saché held hers with confidence and Yané with something less than confidence, but more than Eirtaé's stiffness.
Panaka cleared his throat and we turned to look at him. "The objective of this exercise is to survive. You will start on the outskirts of the village and try to make your way to a fountain in the middle of the park. as quickly as you can. Training droids, armed with stun blasters, will be patrolling the streets. As soon as a droid hits you, you will be stunned and officially "dead" for this exercise. Questions?" We shook our heads. "Good. Wait until I give you the signal to start." We nodded again and Panaka, Aloian and Janassen walked up the catwalks to what I presumed to be the control room.
I turned and studied my fellow handmaidens. I was very excited and couldn't wait to do this, and I had to make sure I wasn't the only one. I wasn't. Sabé and Saché wore twin expressions of determination and excitement. Yané looked a little scared, but more than a little excited. She turned and smiled determinedly at me when I caught her eye. Padmé was a mix between determination, excitement and concern. Eirtaé's face was miserable, less than confidant and partially nauseated.
Panaka's voice came over the PA system as we lined up at the white line in the beginning of the ally. Yané was at my right and Sabé was at my left.
"Ready ladies?" We took our running positions.
"Three." I crouched, gun in hand.
"Two." My legs tensed up.
"One." I though my body would explode.
"GO!" My body sprang forward with all the kinetic energy of a tightly repressed coil. Saché and I quickly took the lead. We ran 50 meters to the first intersection. A droid waited on each side. Blue beams splayed everywhere. I dove down and somersaulted foreword, somehow avoiding the stun beams. Saché stayed at my side. Eirtaé got hit in the arm, but, to my surprise, fired back twice before succumbing to the droid's stun beams.
Saché and I twirled around and went back to back, opening fire on either side. Sabé threw herself off a wall and got the droid coming up behind us. Padmé and Yané also went back to back and soon we had three stunned droids. We ran on, leaving Eirtaé with an angry look on her face.
We cautiously approached the next intersection, but nothing waited for us and we ran on. We took a right, still nothing. I felt uneasy. We took a left into an ally and a droid burst through a window. Saché and I hurled our bodies against the walls of the ally as Sabé somersaulted foreword to a kneeling position, firing. Padmé and Yané fired at droid behind us as Saché and I came up behind the droid and opened fire. I saw Padmé fall with a grunt and Yané finish off their droid as ours became immobile.
We hurried on.
We had a couple more skirmishes and lost Yané to an undetected side attack when we had almost reached the park. We had to leave her in front of the 'general store' and continue on. Saché, Sabé and I crouched behind a low outdoor staircase and looked for droids before crossing the 100 meter open expanse to the park. I swept sweat covered hair out of my face and saw no movement, but Saché did.
"There." She murmured to Sabé and I.
"And there." Sabé whispered too, pointing to the opposite side.
"Okay." I said, thinking quickly. "We travel close together. I take right, Saché, left and Sabé, front. Okay?"
They nodded.
"Good. Let's go." We scrambled out from behind the stairs and ran out into the open plaza, blue stun bolts flashed from both sides. I fired furiously back, sweat running down my back and face, wishing I had taken Yané's gun. One droid out as two others came into my view. I fired at them.
Fifty meters.
Blue bolts came from the front and I afforded a quick glance and wished I hadn't. Three droids from the trees. Fired at my two droids. Both went down.
Ten meters.
Sabé fell.
"Sabé!" I yelled. "Sithspawn!" I cursed, turning my attention to the remaining droid in the trees as I grabbed Saché's hand and sprinted into the park. We paused for a moment behind a large bush to catch our breath. I nodded to Saché, who gave me a weary salute in return.
"Ready to go?" She asked.
"Yeah."
We got up and crept quietly through the trees, stopping every once and a while to listen. Five minutes past and we found neither fountain nor droids. Saché led the way and soon she held up a hand to stop, then motioned downward and we both fell into crouches. I moved quietly foreword, next to her and we peered over the bushes together. I saw the fountain.
And the ten droids guarding it.
I gulped. "Oh, shavit." I groaned quietly.
"Ditto." Saché said.
"Wanna rush them?" I asked in a playful tone.
"Why not?" Saché deadpanned. "This mission has gone to hell anyway."
We giggled kind of nervously and decided to take out a couple from our hiding spot.
"One." I whispered.
"Two." She said back.
"Three!" We shouted together and opened fire on the droids. Blue stun beams lit up the sky, racing back and forth. Two down, three. Four. I motioned to Saché that I was going to the other side. I crept away to find a better angle. A droid came at me from the side. I dodged backward and found shelter behind a tree. I heard the droid firing and walking closer. I looked around frantically. I was not going to loose this close to the end. I looked up. The tree!
I grabbed the lowest branch and hauled myself up. Climbing faster and faster. The droid stopped firing, confused as to my location and I shot it cleanly. I fired at the other droids from the tree and got their numbers down to three. I climbed down the tree, ready to clean up the remaining droids and feeling extremely.
My legs went numb and I fell to the ground. I twisted around and shot the droid that snuck up on me. I clawed myself into a sitting position and stared at my useless legs bitterly. I didn't hear Saché firing anymore. I heard footsteps, and remembering Sabé, played dead. Something approached me and I sat up quickly and shot it.
Captain Panaka fell away from me, unconscious, with an utterly shocked look on his face. I dropped my gun and clasp both my hands in front of my mouth. I stunned Captain Panaka! Oh, good force. Something escaped my mouth. A giggle. I laughed. I laughed so hard, I never heard the droid sneak up behind me and finish the job.
When I came to, Aloian, Janassen, Yané and Saché were still laughing. Along with half the control room. I ached all over and started stretching when a Palace Guard revived Panaka, who eyed me warily.
"Sorry sir." I said, apologetically, flashing him a quick smile.
"Rabé." Panaka said in a resigned tone. "You give me more gray hairs than all the other Handmaidens, all the Royal Naboo Security Forces, my wife and children combined." Peals of laugher came from Yané, Saché, Aloian and Janassen. He got up slowly and the laughing stopped.
"Okay ladies, here is how you scored. Eirtaé, you were first down, you took two hits, fired twice, hitting the droid both times. 100% accuracy. You have a 475 out of a possible 1000." Eirtaé nodded grimly. "Padmé, second down, took one hit, fired 25 times, missing 7 times. 72% accuracy. You have a 564." Padmé nodded, her mouth set in a thin line. "Yané, third down, took one hit, fired 63 times, missed 19 times, 73% accuracy, you have a 698 ." Yané nodded and shot me a quick smile. "Sabé, fourth down, took one hit, fired 78 times, missed 15 times, you have a 80% accuracy and a 732." Sabé nodded and looked pleased with herself. "Saché. Fifth down, took one shot. You fired 93 times, missing only 12. 87% accuracy. Very good. You have an 811." Saché grinned and looked at the ground shyly. "Rabé. Sixth down, took two shots, fired 103 times, missed 15 times, 85% accuracy, you have a 825." I smiled widely, pleased with my performance.
"Saché and Rabé did very good. Sabé and Yané did about what I had expected." He paused, looked at Padmé and Eirtaé. "I would speak to you two when we are done here." The both nodded, looking to the floor. "Questions?"
I raised my hand. "Excuse me Captain?" He looked at me. "Can we come down here and train whenever we like?"
"Maybe later. For now, let's stick to group activities." He said. I nodded. "Any more questions?" Panaka asked, looking around. Nobody said anything. "Sabé, Rabé, Saché and Yané, you are dismissed."
I stood up and my leg and back muscles protested vehemently. I tottered slowly and stiffly to the lift behind Saché who had her hands bracing her back. Sabé and Yané slung their arms over each other's shoulders and both looked exhausted. We stumbled back to the suite, cleaned up and talked about our failure of the day.
It took us six attempts, but finally we all made it through the village scenario with out anyone "dying". Saché and I made it though the third time, and Sabé joined us the fourth time around. Padmé and Yané came up on the fifth time, and Eirtaé came around last.
~~~