Chapter III
* Three weeks later *
Mark sat with Ruwee and Darred in front of the holoscreen. The screen flashed with images of some sort of sport. It showed about twenty men wearing armor scrambling across a field in rather chaotic patterns. They seemed to be divided into about five teams of four; each team assigned a different color. All twenty men seemed to push and shove each other out of the way, scrambling for a single black colored ball. It would appear that the objective of the game was to recover the ball before any other team could.
"Good to see that the empire could not put a halt to the quarterball finals." Ruwee said as he reclined. He smiled reminiscently. "I used to be quite a quarterball player in my day."
"You sure were, honey." Jobal said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Where did you play?" Marko asked.
"I played in school and spent quite a few years in the minor league." Ruwee reminisced. "I never got to advance to the professional levels, however. By the time I was twenty six, about your age, I had to retire because of all the injuries I took."
"Did you ever play quarterball, Marko?" Darred asked.
"I..... I don't think so." Marko shook his head. "I used to watch the games all the time, though. Our ship used to intercept the broadcasts, and whenever I wasn't out fighting, I was in the mess watching quarterball with the clones..."
"So you did fight in the clone wars?" Darred replied.
Marko scowled. "I suppose I did." He was beginning to access more and more memories subconsciously.
"Can you remember any battles?"
"I think it was... The-the Haruun Kal Crisis... Some sort of Jedi trouble, I believe." Marko said. "I was a pilot, I believe. Some sort of ace or wing leader or something..."
"What world did you represent, what kind of fighter did you fly?" Ruwee asked. "Corellian? Nabooian? Alderaanian?"
"Neither..." Marko shook his head. His jaw clenched as his glare intensified. He rubbed his temples, struggling to find something other than a blank space within his memory. He finally gave up, "I-I can't remember. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't Nabooian."
"Well, that's unfortunate." Darred said. He joked, "Anything that wasn't an N-1 Royal was just sub par in comparison."
Ruwee shook his head. "But now our beautiful and crafted ships are being replaced with TIE fighters and Victory-Class Star Destroyers. Traditional starfighters, like our N-1 Royals, hold a special place in their own respective cultures. Having them replaced with mass produced, industrialized weapons is... terrible, a mutilation of history and culture."
"You seem to know a lot about such things, Ruwee." Marko noted.
"I'm not a man of war." Ruwee said firmly. "But one would come across such knowledge when they were in the position I was. You see, after I called it quits on quarterball, I became a builder. Later I went back to my education and moved the family to Theed. I then became a Professor of Culture at the university."
Marko nodded. His eyes drifted for a second, from the holoscreen, to the table where Sola and her two children played a board game, then to the computer where Jobal was working. Padmé drifted out of the dining room. Marko locked his eyes on her as she stepped out the door and into the backyard which was bathed with the moonlight. Marko excused himself from the living room and joined her.
"Hey." That was her casual greeting as she watched the fields from the balcony. Marko took a stand next to her as he watched her intensely, his feelings and emotions stewing within him.
"How are you?" Marko replied.
"Thinking. Thinking about what's happening out there." She motioned to the night sky gloomily. "I've been so used to knowing what goes on in Coruscant that now I'm scared because I don't."
It was a lie. She was thinking about Anakin. Memories of him had been permeating throughout her thoughts for the past few days. She could remember him perfectly, ever intimate detail- his scars and injuries, his voice, the disguised symbols of love they used to exchange. She felt hollow within, a hole that Anakin used to fill. She looked at the stranger with a gleam of moonlight in her eyes. Could he fill this hollowness?
"I just learned that I was a pilot in the clone wars."
It was a struggle to smile, but she somehow did. "Another lost memory came back. That's great, Marko."
"I think I also kind of confirmed that I'm not from here."
"How?"
"I never flew an N-1.I can't even remember the ship I flew, but I was sure it wasn't an N-1."
"That doesn't really give much solid proof, now does it?"
"No, but I'm sure I didn't fly for the Corellians either." He grinned. "For all I know, I could have flown for the Mon Calamari."
She chuckled, but his jokes couldn't really cheer her up. The emptiness remained.
"I need to tell you something..." Marko's voice trailed off as he drew closer to the former senator.
"How you feel." It wasn't a question. She knew.
"I just wanted to know what you think. I mean it's hard to believe that I'm falling in love with someone who-"
"Almost killed you?" Amidala's voice was sick with grief. Something was wrong here. She couldn't stop thinking about Anakin. She heard his voice every time the stranger spoke; saw his face every time she looked at the stranger. It was too soon... It was too soon... This couldn't be happening.
The former senator pulled away. "No..." She said nervously while shaking her head. "I-"
Marko drew back slowly. "I'm sorry, m'lady."
'm'lady'. Anakin's voice came gushing through again. "It's too soon." She said painfully. "I-I can't. I can't fall in love again, at least not this way. Not... not like this."
She left, and the stranger was all alone. Marko sighed and leaned against the balcony railing, watching the moonlight bathed fields in silence.
* The next day *
Padmé worked out in the front of the farmhouse, in the garden she had begun to maintain the past few days. She silently thought about everything- Anakin, Coruscant, Marko, Vader... The situation was painful and dark.
The senate was no longer holding her down. He was not a Jedi, he was not held down by rules against attachment. Yet she could not allow herself to indulge. Why? Why had she turned him down? He was handsome, sweet, attractive and a handful of so many other great qualities and characteristics.
Padmé looked up from her garden. Her thoughts had been interrupted by the buzz of a speeder. She watched closely as the speeder pulled up to her and a single woman emerged from the driver's seat. Padmé recognized this woman, her long brown hair, her intense but contemplative step. The woman's stomach bulged out, round and full as nine months of pregnancy.
"Lana? Lana!" Padmé rushed forward and embraced the woman who had once been her Jedi protector.
"Senator." Lana's tone was as grim as it was burdened.
"When are you due?"
"Any day now."
"Come on, come inside."
* * *
"What happened? What are you doing here?" Padmé asked the Jedi as she handed her a drink. The two women were seated in the second guest room of the farmhouse.
"I have been searching for months. Now I am sure of it- I am the last of the Jedi."
Padmé sighed at this distressing news. "How are you going to take care of them?" Padmé asked as she set her hand on Lana's stomach.
"I don't know." Lana replied. "I know I'd have trouble taking care of one child, and here I am, carrying twins."
Padmé gave the Jedi Consular more tea.
"This is all that's left of their father." Lana placed a lightsaber on the table. It was a double-ended lightsaber. Alan's double-ended lightsaber. "I know I can't do this alone. I suppose that's why I came here. I knew I could trust you."
"Do you ever really miss Alan?"
"Do you ever miss Anakin?"
The senator nodded, point taken. Despite their friendship, there was a heavy darkness that extended from their past. Lana was also engaged in a forbidden relationship, with a fellow Jedi named Alan Dawnstrider. Lana was also there when Anakin fell to the darkside, when Anakin became Darth Vader. She was there when Anakin betrayed and murdered Alan.
"I'm sorry Lana." She felt like apologized for Vader's actions. "I'm so sorry."
"I've had time to grieve, and to move on. Alan reached a Jedi's end and became one with the force. I can feel his presence every time I meditate."
"I'll help you hide your children from the emperor. I'll help you raise them."
"Thank you." The Jedi paused. She reached for a datapad inside of her pack. "Senator Organa told me to deliver this to you."
"Senator Organa is still alive?!"
"Darth Sidious shocked him pretty bad, but it was not enough to kill him. But he is now paralyzed from the waist down."
"Hello?" Marko's voice spread throughout the house. He came to the room where the two women were conversing. "Padmé? Hey, whats going o-"
"Out!" Padmé shouted. It was rather uncharacteristic of the senator to bark orders that way, but she seemed surprised and shocked.
Lana scowled. "What are you doing here?" She looked shocked. "Why... Why couldn't I sense this?"
"Marko, out! Out, now!" Padmé barked.
Marko looked to Padmé, then to the pregnant woman, then to the lightsaber on the table. "But-"
"OUT!"
"I shouldn't have come here." Lana whispered to herself nervously.
Padmé closed the door in Marko's face. The stranger stood dumbly, listening to the two women's voices, blurred and muffled by the door, as they argued.
A/N: For those curious- yes, these original characters presented here are the same Alan and Lana from my other fanfic, "Dark Conspiracy"... odd, I never thought I'd be releasing a story and it's sequel at the same time.
* Three weeks later *
Mark sat with Ruwee and Darred in front of the holoscreen. The screen flashed with images of some sort of sport. It showed about twenty men wearing armor scrambling across a field in rather chaotic patterns. They seemed to be divided into about five teams of four; each team assigned a different color. All twenty men seemed to push and shove each other out of the way, scrambling for a single black colored ball. It would appear that the objective of the game was to recover the ball before any other team could.
"Good to see that the empire could not put a halt to the quarterball finals." Ruwee said as he reclined. He smiled reminiscently. "I used to be quite a quarterball player in my day."
"You sure were, honey." Jobal said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Where did you play?" Marko asked.
"I played in school and spent quite a few years in the minor league." Ruwee reminisced. "I never got to advance to the professional levels, however. By the time I was twenty six, about your age, I had to retire because of all the injuries I took."
"Did you ever play quarterball, Marko?" Darred asked.
"I..... I don't think so." Marko shook his head. "I used to watch the games all the time, though. Our ship used to intercept the broadcasts, and whenever I wasn't out fighting, I was in the mess watching quarterball with the clones..."
"So you did fight in the clone wars?" Darred replied.
Marko scowled. "I suppose I did." He was beginning to access more and more memories subconsciously.
"Can you remember any battles?"
"I think it was... The-the Haruun Kal Crisis... Some sort of Jedi trouble, I believe." Marko said. "I was a pilot, I believe. Some sort of ace or wing leader or something..."
"What world did you represent, what kind of fighter did you fly?" Ruwee asked. "Corellian? Nabooian? Alderaanian?"
"Neither..." Marko shook his head. His jaw clenched as his glare intensified. He rubbed his temples, struggling to find something other than a blank space within his memory. He finally gave up, "I-I can't remember. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't Nabooian."
"Well, that's unfortunate." Darred said. He joked, "Anything that wasn't an N-1 Royal was just sub par in comparison."
Ruwee shook his head. "But now our beautiful and crafted ships are being replaced with TIE fighters and Victory-Class Star Destroyers. Traditional starfighters, like our N-1 Royals, hold a special place in their own respective cultures. Having them replaced with mass produced, industrialized weapons is... terrible, a mutilation of history and culture."
"You seem to know a lot about such things, Ruwee." Marko noted.
"I'm not a man of war." Ruwee said firmly. "But one would come across such knowledge when they were in the position I was. You see, after I called it quits on quarterball, I became a builder. Later I went back to my education and moved the family to Theed. I then became a Professor of Culture at the university."
Marko nodded. His eyes drifted for a second, from the holoscreen, to the table where Sola and her two children played a board game, then to the computer where Jobal was working. Padmé drifted out of the dining room. Marko locked his eyes on her as she stepped out the door and into the backyard which was bathed with the moonlight. Marko excused himself from the living room and joined her.
"Hey." That was her casual greeting as she watched the fields from the balcony. Marko took a stand next to her as he watched her intensely, his feelings and emotions stewing within him.
"How are you?" Marko replied.
"Thinking. Thinking about what's happening out there." She motioned to the night sky gloomily. "I've been so used to knowing what goes on in Coruscant that now I'm scared because I don't."
It was a lie. She was thinking about Anakin. Memories of him had been permeating throughout her thoughts for the past few days. She could remember him perfectly, ever intimate detail- his scars and injuries, his voice, the disguised symbols of love they used to exchange. She felt hollow within, a hole that Anakin used to fill. She looked at the stranger with a gleam of moonlight in her eyes. Could he fill this hollowness?
"I just learned that I was a pilot in the clone wars."
It was a struggle to smile, but she somehow did. "Another lost memory came back. That's great, Marko."
"I think I also kind of confirmed that I'm not from here."
"How?"
"I never flew an N-1.I can't even remember the ship I flew, but I was sure it wasn't an N-1."
"That doesn't really give much solid proof, now does it?"
"No, but I'm sure I didn't fly for the Corellians either." He grinned. "For all I know, I could have flown for the Mon Calamari."
She chuckled, but his jokes couldn't really cheer her up. The emptiness remained.
"I need to tell you something..." Marko's voice trailed off as he drew closer to the former senator.
"How you feel." It wasn't a question. She knew.
"I just wanted to know what you think. I mean it's hard to believe that I'm falling in love with someone who-"
"Almost killed you?" Amidala's voice was sick with grief. Something was wrong here. She couldn't stop thinking about Anakin. She heard his voice every time the stranger spoke; saw his face every time she looked at the stranger. It was too soon... It was too soon... This couldn't be happening.
The former senator pulled away. "No..." She said nervously while shaking her head. "I-"
Marko drew back slowly. "I'm sorry, m'lady."
'm'lady'. Anakin's voice came gushing through again. "It's too soon." She said painfully. "I-I can't. I can't fall in love again, at least not this way. Not... not like this."
She left, and the stranger was all alone. Marko sighed and leaned against the balcony railing, watching the moonlight bathed fields in silence.
* The next day *
Padmé worked out in the front of the farmhouse, in the garden she had begun to maintain the past few days. She silently thought about everything- Anakin, Coruscant, Marko, Vader... The situation was painful and dark.
The senate was no longer holding her down. He was not a Jedi, he was not held down by rules against attachment. Yet she could not allow herself to indulge. Why? Why had she turned him down? He was handsome, sweet, attractive and a handful of so many other great qualities and characteristics.
Padmé looked up from her garden. Her thoughts had been interrupted by the buzz of a speeder. She watched closely as the speeder pulled up to her and a single woman emerged from the driver's seat. Padmé recognized this woman, her long brown hair, her intense but contemplative step. The woman's stomach bulged out, round and full as nine months of pregnancy.
"Lana? Lana!" Padmé rushed forward and embraced the woman who had once been her Jedi protector.
"Senator." Lana's tone was as grim as it was burdened.
"When are you due?"
"Any day now."
"Come on, come inside."
* * *
"What happened? What are you doing here?" Padmé asked the Jedi as she handed her a drink. The two women were seated in the second guest room of the farmhouse.
"I have been searching for months. Now I am sure of it- I am the last of the Jedi."
Padmé sighed at this distressing news. "How are you going to take care of them?" Padmé asked as she set her hand on Lana's stomach.
"I don't know." Lana replied. "I know I'd have trouble taking care of one child, and here I am, carrying twins."
Padmé gave the Jedi Consular more tea.
"This is all that's left of their father." Lana placed a lightsaber on the table. It was a double-ended lightsaber. Alan's double-ended lightsaber. "I know I can't do this alone. I suppose that's why I came here. I knew I could trust you."
"Do you ever really miss Alan?"
"Do you ever miss Anakin?"
The senator nodded, point taken. Despite their friendship, there was a heavy darkness that extended from their past. Lana was also engaged in a forbidden relationship, with a fellow Jedi named Alan Dawnstrider. Lana was also there when Anakin fell to the darkside, when Anakin became Darth Vader. She was there when Anakin betrayed and murdered Alan.
"I'm sorry Lana." She felt like apologized for Vader's actions. "I'm so sorry."
"I've had time to grieve, and to move on. Alan reached a Jedi's end and became one with the force. I can feel his presence every time I meditate."
"I'll help you hide your children from the emperor. I'll help you raise them."
"Thank you." The Jedi paused. She reached for a datapad inside of her pack. "Senator Organa told me to deliver this to you."
"Senator Organa is still alive?!"
"Darth Sidious shocked him pretty bad, but it was not enough to kill him. But he is now paralyzed from the waist down."
"Hello?" Marko's voice spread throughout the house. He came to the room where the two women were conversing. "Padmé? Hey, whats going o-"
"Out!" Padmé shouted. It was rather uncharacteristic of the senator to bark orders that way, but she seemed surprised and shocked.
Lana scowled. "What are you doing here?" She looked shocked. "Why... Why couldn't I sense this?"
"Marko, out! Out, now!" Padmé barked.
Marko looked to Padmé, then to the pregnant woman, then to the lightsaber on the table. "But-"
"OUT!"
"I shouldn't have come here." Lana whispered to herself nervously.
Padmé closed the door in Marko's face. The stranger stood dumbly, listening to the two women's voices, blurred and muffled by the door, as they argued.
A/N: For those curious- yes, these original characters presented here are the same Alan and Lana from my other fanfic, "Dark Conspiracy"... odd, I never thought I'd be releasing a story and it's sequel at the same time.