Chapter 11
An Unhappy Assignment

Vader scowled furiously at the floor of the liftcar as he and his Master rode it up to the penthouse apartment of some Nabooan Senator that they were supposed to bodyguard. It was stupid, really. He, Vader, was supposed to be the one being guarded; he wasn't supposed to get some assignment where he had to guard someone else. It could be dangerous. But apparently,Obi-Wan had met this particular Senator sometime before, and she would only really tolerate him as opposed to some strange Jedi she'd had no dealings with before.

In fact, it sounded like she didn't even want any Jedi bodyguards. She didn't feel that she was in enough danger to warrant any. Vader was inclined to agree with her. But no one had asked him, and the Council and Supreme Chancellor had overruled her, so she was stuck with them, and they with her.

"Nervous?" Knight Kenobi asked.

"Not at all." Vader sighed.

"Annoyed?" Kenobi wondered.

"Very much so." Vader growled.

"Don't be. This is a very simple assignment. All you need to do is be alert and listen to the Force. I'll take care of anything dangerous, though I doubt we'll encounter much of anything." Kenobi assured him.

"I hope so." Vader frowned. This assignment gave him the feeling of being…exposed somehow. It hadn't even started yet and he already wanted it over yesterday.

"What will probably give you the most trouble is being polite to the Senator and her staff." Kenobi sighed.

"Yeah," Vader admitted, "probably."

Kenobi only sighed again and silence reigned until the lift doors opened. Then a brief moment of mild chaos ensued. A tall, gangly Gungan swaggered over to greet them. A disturbingly familiar Gungan. A Gungan who freaked out at the sight of Obi-Wan.

"Obi?" The Gungan squeaked. "Obi!" He cried again, rushing over to very enthusiastically shake the Jedi's hand. "Meesa so smilin' to be seein' yousa!"

"Hello Jar Jar, it's very good to see you too." Obi-Wan gave a small, polite bow.

Jar Jar? Vader blinked, surprised. Jar Jar as in 'Jar Jar Binks'?

They followed the robed Gungan through the apartment hallway until they came out into a large main room. Two women conversed in quiet tones in the far corner and a dark-skinned man with an eye-patch stood a few feet away from them. Vader also noticed a vaguely familiar blue-and-white astromech plugged into a power outlet along a different wall.

"Senator, lookee lookee! Disa Jedi arriven!" Jar Jar cried cheerfully.

"Master Kenobi!" The prettier woman cried, striding over to them. "It has been far too long."

"It is a pleasure to see you again Milady," Kenobi bowed deeply. "Though I would much prefer to see you under better circumstances."

"Yes, so would I." The smile that had been on her face faded away as her expression turned slightly sour. "Hopefully I won't waste too much of your time. The situation really isn't serious enough to warrant such extreme measures."

"I fear I must disagree with the Senator's assessment of things, Master Jedi." The dark-skinned man with the eye-patch interrupted. "Captain Typho, head of security. I look forward to working with you."

"Thank you Captain," Kenobi bowed slightly to the man. "I assure you Milady, we will do our best to keep you safe. Our presence will be invisible." He promised the Senator.

"I don't need anymore security, I need answers." The Senator huffed. "I want to know who wants to kill me so badly so that I can address the issue!"

'Address the issue?' Vader mentally snorted. Lady, this isn't some ordinary business in the Senate, I seriously doubt you can ask the assassins nicely to leave you alone.

"Please relax Milady. We will do our best and hopefully the situation will work itself out quickly." Kenobi soothed.

"I don't doubt you Obi-Wan," she sighed, "I'm just frustrated."

"Understandable," Kenobi nodded. "Now, Captain, could we go over your current security plans?"

"Of course, this way," the Captain nodded, walking over to a data terminal.

"Stay with the Senator," Kenobi murmured into Vader's ear as he passed him.

Vader swallowed a sigh and nodded. He kept to the wall, out of the Senator's line of sight, and she didn't appear to notice him. He intended to keep it that way. After all, Kenobi had promised that their presence would be 'invisible', so that's what he'd strive to do. It wasn't really all that hard as she seemed to be quite distracted, her mind probably drifting off onto dull government matters.

He rolled his eyes at the thought and then took the opportunity to study the woman. She was very pretty, beautiful even, and surprisingly young. Her long brown curly hair was done up in a somewhat elaborate style entwined with some funky-looking metal hairpiece thing. And she wore long heavy senatorial robes covered in embroidery. Overall, he thought of her as beautiful in a regal, refined sort of way.

Though something about her reminded him of someone else. A lifetime ago, he'd met another Nabooan, a simple Handmaiden named Padmé Naberrie. She'd come into Mos Espa with the Gungan, Jar Jar, the astromech, R2-D2, and the Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, in search of replacement parts for their broken ship.

An angel, he'd called her, because she'd been so pretty and kind. This Senator wasn't like that. She was pretty sure, but this Senator, Padmé Amidala, didn't seem all that kind. She was more concerned about herself and who could ever want to kill her. And she was quite ungrateful towards Kenobi and all his attempts to be considerate and polite. No, these two Nabooan Padmés appeared to be quite different in the personality department.

The other woman in the apartment who had not been introduced came to stand beside the Senator. There was a very superficial resemblance between the two, both being female with brown eyes, dark hair, and pale skin. But up close, side-by-side, the differences between them were very clear.

"My Lady," the woman murmured softly, "evening is approaching. What would you like for dinner?"

"I don't know, Dormé. Why don't you pick the meal tonight, surprise me." Amidala sighed.

"All right then, I shall do my best, my Lady." Dormé bowed and vanished to make the necessary arrangements.

"Thank you Dormé," the Senator murmured after her.

Amidala drew inward once more without her aide as a distraction. Her face fell into a frown and her arms crossed over chest as she thought. Perhaps she considered some up-coming legislation. Maybe she was making up lists of enemies that might want her dead. Or it could be something else entirely. He really didn't know. And he didn't care either.

"Milady?" Kenobi asked, reappearing from his conference with Typho. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she smiled, though it was forced and humorless, "just thinking."

"Please don't worry." Kenobi begged her.

"I cannot help but worry. Whoever wants me dead couldn't have chosen a worse time. If I am killed or driven off Coruscant before the vote on the Military Creation Act is cast I fear for the outcome. With all the unrest in the Republic these days the fear and mistrust that an army would bring could be disastrous." Senator Amidala sighed.

"Hmm," Kenobi mumbled, apparently thinking hard on something. "Who do you think has ordered your death?"

"I can't say for certain, and I have no proof, but…my suspicions lie on Count Dooku. He is the ideological leader of the Separatist Movement and while he claims to seek a peaceful resolution, all his speeches seem to lean towards armed conflict than a more peaceful path." Amidala replied.

If Knight Kenobi said anything in response to that, Vader did not hear it. He didn't even hear all of what the Senator said. His hearing failed him after the words 'Count Dooku' reached his ears. All the blood drained from his face and he went still as death.

Dooku…