FROM THE ASHES
Chapter 19
Padme walked in her shame and grief into yet another bank, her blaster held out in front of her. She saw large numbers of customers in line. "Look, it's Senator Amidala, she has indeed gone mad, the reports are true!" Someone yelled. She lowered her face in humiliation. She hated doing this! She loved the people of Naboo, and they had loved and supported her as Queen and as Senator. Gerapaline had hurt them all, and when she tried to stop him, he killed her parents, kidnapped her babies and used them to make her commit these acts.
"I won't do it. Not anymore, not this time." She mumbled into a wired comlink in which Gerapaline gave his instructions.
"You owe me. You are going to rob banks until I get back the fortune I lost because of you and your meddling. You must do it or..."
She heard the babies crying. "Okay! Don't hurt them!" She went ahead and joined in the robbery with the other cronies. As she was leaving, she came face to face with a family, parents, children and an elderly person. Gerapaline, who was monitoring on a vidscreen through a camera in another henchman's hat, saw it.
"Kill them." He ordered.
"NO!" She cried. In the comlink wired to her ear, a blaster clicked, and her babies cried.
"I'll do it, Queenie, you know I will. It is the only way you can save your own babies. Kill them!" For a second, she thought of calling his bluff. Perhaps he wouldn't really kill them. She loved her children very much, but were their lives more valuable than this innocent family? From behind, she heard guards coming. Her accomplices urged her to run. "Shoot your way out!" Gerapaline ordered through her comlink."Kill them or your babies DIE!" Trapped between the crowd and the surging guards, Padme was desparate. She feared for the lives of her babies. Something came over her, and she shot her way out of the bank. She saw several bodies fall in front of her. She didn't even look to see who it was she had killed. Running out of the bank to the getaway speeder, she screamed in Gerapaline's ear. "I hate you!"
By the time Anakin and Obiwan made it to Naboo, she was away from the scene, back at Gerapaline's compound. "Can you sense anything yet?" Obiwan asked. "I'm not getting them."
Anakin closed his eyes and reached out into the force. "I can feel something, but, it's not that strong." He opened his eyes again and looked down at the ground below. "I sense they are alive, but separated. I'm afraid of what that means."
Obiwan searched his feelings. "I think you're right. They must not all be in the same place, but it is still the same general area." They followed their feelings toward the strongest point. Leaving the ship in a safe place and leaving R2 to watch it, they headed toward the compound on foot.
"This looks like the place in the survelience video that Jar Jar sent us." Anakin said. "And I sense a force presence in there. It must be my babies."
"I feel it, too. Let's be careful. I'm sure we will not go in unopposed." Obiwan glanced over at Anakin, steadfastly approaching the building through tall weeds, his lightsaber drawn but not ignited. The look on his face said it all. Anakin was back in action, and just in time. The fear of what was really happening had overcome the fears in his memory. He hoped this would help Anakin's psyche, though if this adventure ended badly, he'd surely become worse.
Padme came to the call of Gerapaline, who was watching a recording of her latest escapade and laughing. "Good job, well done!" He turned to her, still chuckling.
She was unable to force a smile. "Where are my babies!"
"Babies?" He said. "Did you say, babies?" He snapped his fingers and his mother brought Luke to her. "Here he is!" Padme took Luke in her arms, but fear overtook her entire body.
"Where is my Leia?" She cried out.
"Your Leia? She's not yours anymore."
"What have you done with her? Did you kill her, even though you threatened me with her life to commit horrible acts!"
"Did you really ever think I would kill your babies, my foolish Queenie? Oh no, they are far too valuable. Do you know what healthy human babies go for on the black market, especially with the genetics of a beautiful, brilliant Queen and a strong, handsome Jedi?"
"What?"
"That's right, I sold her."
"SOLD!"
"Yes! You were such a good girl to do exactly as I instructed. I now have enough money to fund more of my projects, and I also have the money for your baby." He smiled sarcastically at her.Padme was so upset she could hardly speak.
"You sold my daughter? To who?"
"A very wealthy couple, she will be well cared for. They always dreamed of adopting a baby girl, and I made their dream come true. She will be loved with them."
"But...she's mine! You promised me if I did what you said the babies would be all right!"
"And she is all right! I said I wouldn't kill them, I never said I wouldn't sell them!" He laughed as she broke down and cried, cuddling Luke to her chest. "Best of all, I have succeeded in ruining the reputation of the person who ruined mine- you!" She looked up at him with fire in her eyes.
"I didn't ruin your reputation, you did that to yourself! You've been an evil man as long as I can remember, and my mother said the same thing! You deserved to be stopped!"
"That's your point of view, Queenie. Now you had best hold your tongue.."
"Or else what? You wouldn't kill Luke, he's got to be valuable to you, too."
"And he will be. I have used you for all I can get from you."
"Are you going to kill me now?"
"Kill? No, that is much too good for you. I want to release you back into the wild, to face the disgrace of what you have done!"
"But I didn't do it, it was you who made me!"
"You made your own decisions! No one will ever believe you!"
"What choice did I have, I had to save the lives of my babies! You used me! You lied to me!" She was shouting and shaking. Luke began to cry. She tried to calm him, but it was no use. The old woman came and took him out of the room. Padme lay in a defeated clump on the floor.
"And, my dear, there is one more treat left for you..." Grabbing her by the hair, Gerapaline viciously bent back her head and sprinkled a powder in her face. It burned her eyes terribly. When she opened them, she found she was blind. She cried and rubbed her eyes ferociously.
"No, no.." She continued to cry, but the tears could not wash out all the powder and its damage.
"Now, that's what you get for shutting down my hosptial and rehab center. You will suffer in the darkness as a reminder not to challenge me! It's going to be a pleasure to cap and remove your eyes. Skywalker's and Kenobi's too! I'm going to put their eyes in a jar and save them as my trophy! When that husband of yours and his friend get here, I'll have all three of you where I want you. They are walking into a trap, and you are the bait!"
Using the force to disable the security fence around the compound, as well as one of the back doors, Anakin and Obiwan entered the building. "All too easy." Anakin whispered. "I can't help thinking they let us get in, they want us here." Obiwan stared at Anakin in agreement.
"I sense a trap. We must be careful. Let's split up. They won't be prepared for both of us at different locations."
"Good idea, Master. May the force go with you."
"You too." They split and took separate hallways. Obiwan was surprised at how he seemed to go unapproached or unnoticed. Surely the trap would spring at any moment. He tried to heighten his force sense to feel for it while his eyes searched constantly, his lightsaber waving back and forth. He had no defense to what accosted him. Oozing from cracks in the wall, a gas overcame him. Choking and unable to breathe, he fell to the ground, holding his throat as if he had been force choked. His eyes were bulging as he gasped for air. Suddenly, standing over him in gas masks, were Gerapaline and two backup cronies.
"Take him." He ordered. Obiwan glared at them with scorn, too weak to reach for his lightsaber. Gerapaline sprayed the powder into Obiwan's wide open eyes. It burned and stung terribly, and this combined with his choking made him feel perhaps a quick death by blaster would be a lesser torture. Gerapaline had no such plans. He ordered his cronies to carry the blind, choking Obiwan to another room. "Too bad you came here, Kenobi. I am sure you did not come alone. Where is Skywalker?" There was no response.
Anakin, in another part of the building, sensed his brother in trouble. He also felt Padme near, and sensed Luke- but not Leia. This worried him and made him fear her dead. It so happened in his favor he had chosen the hallway which was used by Gerapaline's mother, and it was where she took the babies back and forth from her room. Because of this, it was left safe. Obiwan had been right, if they had gone together, they'd have gone down together. At least now Anakin had a chance to save them all. A craggy figure came out of the shadows. Anakin readied his lightsaber. He lowered it to his side when he saw it was only a helpless old woman, carrying a baby. She looked stunned to see him. Anakin was stunned to see the baby was Luke! "That's my son, hand him to me!" She looked very frightened and only shook her head as Anakin grabbed Luke from her arms and continued to run, lightsaber ready in the other hand. He heard the old woman calling for help and knew it would not be long before he faced strong opposition.
Inside his head, he could not only sense Obiwan in trouble, he could hear him calling..."Anakin am I reaching you?"
The telepathic message came through strong. "Yes!" His mind sent an answer. "Where are...".
"Anakin listen to me..GET OUT OF HERE! I know you have Luke, take him and go!" His telepathy ordered.
"I won't leave you, Master! I'm coming for you.."
"NO! If you do you will suffer the same fate as me...they gassed me and blinded me."
"Oh no, Master, I must help you! I'm coming!"
"I have trained you well Anakin, and now you must listen to your old teacher. I am here with Padme.."
"She's with you? Is she all right?"
"I'm afraid she can't see either, they got her eyes too. And I regret to inform you they have sold Leia in an illegal adoption." In this telepathic conversation, Obiwan could sense Anakin's weakened state of mind going to terrible places. "Don't go there, hold onto your sanity, you cannot panic, you cannot give up...all of our fates depend on you. You go take Luke to a place of safety, then you may return to help us and stop this evil madman!"
"Yes Master, I will do what I must.I will not desert you or Padme. I promise I will save you and get you back home for treatment. Tell her I have Luke, and we are going to find our Leia!" Obiwan broke contact with Anakin as he hurriedly departed the compound, galloping as fast as his braced knee would allow him back to the ship. He was gone before any of the cronies could catch him.
Inside a cold room, Obiwan was shaking as the effects of the gassing wore off. His eyes burned and he was unable to completely open them. Beside him, Padme was groaning. "I'm here, Padme." He whispered.
"Obiwan, thank you for coming. Didn't Anakin care enough to come? He must hate me so."
"No, he came with me. We split up, and wisely it appears. Padme, listen to me. I spoke to him through force telepathy. He has rescued Luke, and has escaped!"
"Oh Obiwan, I am so happy he got Luke away from here! What is to become of us?"
"Once Luke is secure he is coming back to save us."
"He can't, not alone."
"Perhaps he will get support from somewhere. He is coming back, he's going to save us, he's going to get us to the doctor for our eyes, and he's going to find Leia!" She was crying. He held her close and used the force to calm her, though he was not completely calm himself. "It's going to be all right, Padme."
"Does everyone think I'm a criminal now?" He didn't want to answer. "I'm afraid so, but we can fix that too. Hang on, be strong. We're going to get out of this."
"I'm so sorry, Obiwan..."
Outside the doorway, they heard a scream, a blaster shot, and a body hitting the floor. "You have failed me for the last time, old woman!" Gerapaline cruelly yelled as he shot his own mother. He kicked her body. "She is of no use to me now that the babies are gone. Men, get this mess out of here, and go hunt down Skywalker and that baby!"