'Data From Dagobah' (Chapter Six)
By Ennon
A/N- Sorry for misspelling the planet's name before but I've corrected it here.
Padmé buried her face between Chewbacca's furry shoulders as he swung, climbed and made quite a few impressive leaps over dizzying gaps in the trees above the Dagobah swamps. As she hugged his chest with her arms and his upper legs with her own legs, she was amazed at how sturdily he carried her and how strong he was.
"We seem to have gone quite a few kilometers from the where the Falcon's perched. How much further?" Padmé asked.
Chewbacca barked a bit eagerly.
"But I don't see anything but a beaver mound by that tree base and. ." Padmé protested as she looked through the scanner binoculars.
Chewbacca nodded a bit.
"Oh, that's where Master Yoda now lives," Padmé gulped seeing Yoda's tiny mud hut for the first time.
Chewbacca barked affirmatively.
"I think we'd both better go down there but you go first. You last saw him on better terms than me," Padmé sighed.
In a few minutes, Chewie had climbed down 200 meters, then about 10 meters above the hut's tiny clearing, he grabbed a large branch, stretched out his large body then jumped to the ground.
"Amazing! I hardly felt even the slightest jar! You sure have sturdy ankles!"Padmé exclaimed as she hugged Chewbacca.
Chewbacca proudly roared.
"Sh-sh! I think we need to be quiet now," Padmé cautioned- with quite a few mixed and strong emotions at seeing Yoda for the first time in almost three years.
"Or else what!" Yoda snapped from behind her.
"Master Yoda!" Padmé gulped.
Chewbacca barked a bit apologetically.
"No, old friend, good is to see you!" Yoda exclaimed to Chewie.
"Hello .. um. ..where . ..?" Padmé started to say- not quite certain how much she wanted to say in front of Chewbacca.
"Yes, old friend is small my home but outside can we recall old times," Yoda proclaimed- as Padmé immediately ran towards the hut and desperately looked inside for a sign of . .. LUKE.
"Master Yoda, I must know. .." Padmé started to ask as she put a small yoyo inside her right palm.
"By what name are you?" Yoda asked.
"It's. .. Maddie Padmala," Padmé gulped- as Yoda looked at her quite intensely and she could see HE knew not to say too much in front of Chewie.
"Famished you look. Old friend, slay a vecto bird for us to dine on could you?" Yoda asked.
Chewbacca barked a bit puzzled.
"Too slow and without a crossbow I am but our guest would find it better than my usual meal,"Yoda explained.
Chewbacca nodded barked, then leaped back into the trees.
"It's not that I don't trust him," Padmé sighed.
"No harm do you want him to come for who you are," Yoda sighed.
"You understand. Luke's been here! Where is he now?" Padmé asked as she brandished the small yoyo.
"Took him here, I did after he was born but quickly he outgrew my home," Yoda half-laughed.
"You used to live in splendor in the Coruscant Jedi Temple," Padmé recalled.
"Splendor, vastness, I valued not. Too soft and vulnerable it made me," Yoda sighed.
"And how vulnerable are you to . . Vader?" Padmé shuddered.
"Too small a spot for him to look," Yoda snapped.
"Master Yoda, is Darth Vader Anakin Skywalker?" Padmé asked.
"Find root herbs for vecto meat, we must," Yoda shrugged as he walked away from his hut started digging into the oozing mud for small roots.
"Master Yoda, I must know. Anakin survived and is now Darth Vader, isn't he?" Padmé groaned.
"Vader he is. Counted not on the Emperor carbo-freezing him at the last moment of his life, I did. Then, at the moment your daughter was born, Anakin I felt be revived and put into that shell called Vader," Yoda groaned.
"So with his own life being revived in such distress, that's why neither he nor the Emperor could sense the twins' births at the same time," Padmé beamed as she started digging with Yoda.
"Well served are you by your insight. The Force was too strong and uncontrolled around Vader and your twins for any of you three or the Emperor to focus, I see now," Yoda explained.
"I shudder to think of what it must have been like for Anakin losing his limbs then getting frozen then encased like that," Padmé groaned while shaking her head.
"Some things, it's better the Force not show us," Yoda nodded in agreement.
A/N- But why should the readers be deprived of seeing a version of how this might have happened so without further ado, I'm interrupting the flow of the story to show my version of how Anakin became Vader.
"It's been six months and everyone considers him dead. The time is right for us to release Lord Vader from carbonite and put him in his suit as we unleashed Darth Maul before him," Palpatine declared- as he got the controls and caused Anakin to be revived and then with a group of medical droids, put Anakin in his carefully designed armor.
"Why can't I see?" Vader asked.
"You're suffering hypernation sickness but your eyesight will return in time," Palpatine replied.
"Why is my voice so much lower than before and why am I breathing this way?" Vader asked.
"The lava destroyed too much of your natural vocal chords and lungs for you to speak and breathe on your own. Arise, Lord Vader!" Palpatine commanded.
Vader/Anakin took a few steps then grabbed a medical droid's pulse monitor in his right gloved hand- crushing it like tin foil.
"I feel. . STRONGER than I've ever felt before!" Vader proclaimed.
"The armor has been designed so that you can carry on my work for over a thousand standard years with only a minimum of replacements and maintance,"Palpatine explained.
"How will I eat and . ."Vader asked.
"You no longer will have any need for conventional foods. Energy packs will maintain your armor with nutrients added for what's left of your human body- and the waste will only need removal once a standard month," Palpatine shrugged
A/N- Come on. Haven't you ever wondered how and if Vader used the bathroom?
"What of Padmé and our. .." Vader asked.
"They're dead. You killed them because she proved to be unsupportive," Palpatine explained.
"What!" Vader asked.
"It was for the best. She wouldn't have had you in this condition nor COULD she have- and you have no worries of heirs trying to overthrow our plans," Palpatine shrugged.
"You mean, I can no longer. . .?" Vader asked.
"The suit will give you a NEW kind of virility! You just observed that you've never felt stronger than before. You have no ties of any kind save to me- as far as the Galaxy is concerned," Palpatine smirked.
"So be it! Serving you will be my new freedom," Vader proclaimed.
"Everything's worked according to plan," Palpatine beamed then chortled.
A/N- We now return to our regularly scheduled POV. . .
"So Luke is no longer here? I know he's alive!" Padmé proclaimed.
"Yes, my lady. In you, the Force is strong in terms of instinct rather than control, that's why your children with Anakin will prove to be the Emperor's downfall!" Yoda explained.
"But where's my son? I must see for myself that he's alive- and happy!" Padmé sobbed.
"Promise you must to not reveal his lineage-or his fate I can't reveal while the Emperor rules,"Yoda cautioned.
"I can't tell him I'm his mother!"Padmé gasped.
"No, or with you he'd leave his home and both of you would be doomed to serve or be killed by the Emperor,"Yoda proclaimed.
"I promise you, I'm willing to give up my very life to protect my children from that fate,"Padmé proclaimed with resolution.
Yoda took her hand in both his tiny green ones ,breathed deeply in a near-trance and said nothing for what seemed to be the longest time.
"Your willingness to keep my old friend from Kashyyyk safe proves you have what's needed to keep your twins on the right course even at your own expense. Very well, two years past, Obi-Wan took your son for his upbringing near his family," Yoda explained.
"Tantooine!" Padmé gulped.
"Sh-sh! Nearby, I hear the trees bend from the weight of my old friend from Kashyyyk. Soon, we will eat," Yoda proclaimed as he put his right hand to Padmé's lips who knew Chewbacca was due to return momentarily.
Chewbacca roared outside with a large vecto bird carcass across his shoulders.
"Chewie, I've got all the roots we need so this should be quite the feast," Padmé beamed.
Chewbacca growled in concern.
"Han? I guess you could bring him down here to join us and. ." Padmé pondered.
"No! The fewer who know my home, the better for all. Bring him the remains!" Yoda proclaimed.
After Chewbacca unsuccessfully begged Yoda to reconsider, the three soon roasted the 2-meter wide wingspan vecto bird over an open fire and consumed it with the roots and soup Yoda had been cooking while having a rousing conversation over the haunts Chewbacca and Yoda had visited together over 100 years before. Chewbacca ate most of it but Padmé and Yoda were satisfied with their portions. Just before nightfall, with a half a breast and a whole roasted drumstrick packed in a contrived backpack on Chewbacca's back, Chewie and Padmé took leave of Yoda's hut (that Chewie had only seen the interior of from a window outside) and made their way back to the Millenium Falcon some hours later.
"Where have you two been?" Han asked.
"Chewbacca got hungry," Padmé explained as she and Chewie climbed down the roof hatch.
"I've been here all by myself regenerating the oxygen supplies for hours. Find what you're looking for?" Han asked.
"Not here," Padmé sighed.
Chewbacca eagerly barked about the vecto bird he'd brought Han.
"Oh, yeah, just what I always wanted," Han sneered.
Chewbacca snapped angrily at Han.
"OK, pal! It looks very good. Where did you cook it and where did you get the backpack?" Han asked as he started started to eat the vespo bird drumstick
"Shouldn't we be trying to get out of here- after you wipe your greasy hands?" Padmé asked as she handed Han a towel just before he grabbed the Falcon's controls.
" It's too shaky for me to fire the engines. We'll be shaken from the trees," Han groaned.
Chewbacca eagerly grunted.
"Swamp gas anti-gravity bubbles? That's one of the dumbest. ." Han laughed.
" There's no shortage of those down there and it shouldn't be too long before one comes along to lift the ship off the trees. Then you could fire the engines," Padmé explained.
"I may be young but I wasn't born yesterday. What's next? Gigantic ship eating space worms in asteroid caves?" Han laughed.
Suddenly the ship lurched upward for about half a meter then suddenly dropped back down.
"What the. .!" Han asked.
"With the sunset, the swamp gas is at its peak! Now's the time!" Padmé proclaimed.
Chewbacca growled in agreement.
"OK, I guess it's worth a shot. How long until the next- ?" Han asked right before the Falcon got lifted even higher but more slowly than before.
"Now!" Padmé gulped.
"Chewie! Let's get her out of here!" Han proclaimed as the Falcon was suspended two meters in midair above the branches.
Chewbacca fired the engines at once and the Falcon started to ascend and as they were taking off, Padmé and Chewbacca looked out the window and gave a thumbs-up sign.
"Yeah, we're moving up alright! Told ya, I'd get us out of this!" Han proclaimed as they took off.
Directly on the ground 100 meters below was Yoda who waved to Padmé and Chewbacca as the Falcon took off- knowing that Han was clueless to his existence and his contribution to the Falcon's ascent.
" I think we'll go to. .." Han proclaimed.
"Tantooine! That's where we need to go!" Padmé proclaimed- as she felt the tiny toy yoyo she knew Luke had played with as a baby in her pocket.
Chewbacca growled in protest.
"Well, well! That's more MY kinda place!" Han smirked.
Chewbacca sputtered a growl.
"Chewie, I know it's Outer Rim but if we make the right connections there, we could write our own tickets!" Han smirked.
Chewbacca growled a plea to Padmé.
"Chewie, I agree with what you're saying about it. I don't want to go there either but I MUST," Padmé gulped as she clutched the hidden yoyo.
A/N- Doreen- Glad you're totally lovin' this story and hope this chapter's at least as good for you as the last two!