Chapter 14
Fleeing Coruscant

Vader was not happy. Not happy at all. Not that he was usually happy. Happiness, real happiness, had always been a rarity in his life. But at the moment he was as far from being happy as one could be without being enraged beyond measure or mired in endless grief. But, in the language of understatement, which seemed to be the native tongue of the Jedi Order, he was not pleased.

The Jedi Council was a bunch of idiots. While he was gratefully (well, sort of) for their agreement to hide him and keep him safe, he was definitely not grateful for this most recent decision of theirs. They were sending Obi-Wan off on some wild Bantha chase while he was to go with the Senator to Naboo and protect her…alone.

Obi-Wan was supposed to stay with him and protect him. Especially now that Count Dooku seemed to be coming out of the shadows. Obi-Wan was supposed to do all the work on this mission, he was supposed to be the main babysitter for the Senator. Obi-Wan was the Jedi, not him.

But Obi-Wan was ever obedient to the Council's wishes and so he agreed with them. He would go off on his own and discover who wanted the kill Senator Amidala and deal with them. And Vader would take over Obi-Wan's job. He didn't care that Naboo security would be doing the majority of the work. He would still be alone without Obi-Wan for help and protection.

"I do not like this idea of hiding." Amidala snapped as she and Dormé worked to pack a good part of her extensive wardrobe into suitcases. "I would much rather stay here; the vote on the Military Creation Act is only a few days away!" She protested.

"Would you be more amenable to going into hiding after the vote, my Lady?' Dormé asked.

"No," Amidala admitted. "Though I would prefer to cast the vote myself instead of leaving the responsibility to Jar Jar."

"He'll do fine. As you said, the vote is only a few days away so there's no way he can forget which way to vote on the issue." Dormé soothed.

"I'm sure he will," Amidala agreed, "but I'll still worry."

"Please don't, worrying won't help anyone, least of all yourself." Dormé sighed. "Just do us all a favor and try to relax, think of it as a vacation if you like. Captain Typho and I will look after Jar Jar. Everything will be fine."

"Alright, I'll try." Amidala smiled weakly. "Hopefully this 'vacation' won't turn out to be a very long one."

"Yes, hopefully Master Kenobi will have everything taken care of soon." Dormé agreed. "We'll miss you," she added softly.

"And I'll miss you all too." Amidala sighed sadly.

Vader struggled not to groan, sigh, and roll his eyes. Girls…

"Now, let's get you and your bodyguard into your disguises." Dormé smiled and scampered off into another room to fetch the disguises.

The Senator scowled at the mention of disguises (or was it the mention of him as her bodyguard?) and crossed her arms angrily over her chest. Her pose reminded him of a spoiled, sulking brat. Vader couldn't say that he was particularly enthused at the idea of disguises (seeing as he wore one every single day anyway) but it could be worse.

Dormé returned with two bundles in her arms. One she handed to the Senator, the other she gave to him. The Handmaiden then escorted the Senator into the refresher, leaving Vader to change on his own. Sighing he quickly swapped clothes, stuffing his Jedi robes into his old backpack that still held his tools, though his old clothes and Sith lightsaber were no longer in there. He kept his Force senses trained lightly on the women to make sure they didn't unexpectedly reappear and catch him less than fully clothed.

Hefting his backpack over one shoulder after slipping his saber into an outer pocket for easy access, he turned to quickly study his reflection in the Senator's floor-length mirror. The clothes weren't half-bad though they did bear some resemblance to his Jedi robes. His Padawan braid probably didn't help his disguise much either. With a shrug, he sat on the Senator's windowsill and waited for her to come back.

Her clothes weren't all that bad either; he noticed when she stiffly strode back into the room. Sure she had a dorky looking headdress thing, but the dress was decent enough. She probably thought she looked like a scruffy peasant. But that was part of the disguise. They were supposed to be refugees bound for Naboo, not a Senator and Jedi going into hiding.

"There, I can hardly recognize you two." Dormé smiled encouragingly.

"Thank you for your help Dormé." Amidala replied, and then glanced at her wall chronometer. "It's almost time, we should leave."

"Of course, my Lady." Dormé nodded and picked up one of the Senator's two suitcases.

"Come along Artoo," the Senator called as she picked the other suitcase.

Scowling slightly, Vader settled his backpack more securely before following. Why do women insist on bringing so much crap with them everywhere they go? He wondered sourly as he trudged along behind the two women and Astrodroid. They all piled into a speeder piloted by Captain Typho and headed to the meeting place where they would part ways.

Vader slouched as he stood waiting beside Obi-Wan as the Senator said her final goodbyes to her staff. Obi-Wan had already assured him that he would do his best to resolve things quickly and warned him not to do anything without first consulting the Council. Vader readily agreed, not that he was planning on doing anything at all risky on this assignment that would require speaking with the Council.

After a good deal of useless chatting and a few unnecessary tears, Amidala, Dormé, and Typho finally said goodbye. Amidala strained slightly under her suitcase and staggered towards the airbus that would take them to the spaceport and their refugee transport to Naboo. Sighing, Vader lifted her other suitcase and trudged after her. Artoo, it seemed, was coming too, as the astromech rolled into the mostly empty airbus after him.

Once the Senator's luggage was stuffed into the overhead storage, Vader settled into his seat for the half-hour flight to the spaceport. Artoo parked himself next to Vader taking up half of the wide aisle of the airbus and appeared to power down for the ride. The Senator, however, didn't settle down. She fidgeted and squirmed as she sat next to him and he was sorely tempted to snap at her to make her stop. After almost ten minutes, Vader tried conversation as opposed to snapping and smacking to distract her.

"Nervous?" He asked, struggling to be polite.

"No," she lied and he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Maybe a little," she very reluctantly admitted.

"Don't be," Vader snorted, "Master Obi-Wan will have this mess sorted out in no time and then you can come back and go on with your life."

Amidala frowned at him, but did her best to relax and be polite in return. "Have you had many solo assignments?" She asked curiously.

"No," he shrugged, "this'll be my first one."

"Your first one?" She all but squeaked, looking mildly horrified.

"Yes, but not to worry." He replied calmly.

"Not to worry?" She repeated incredulously.

"Yes, not to worry, we're perfectly safe." Vader smirked. "We have Artoo with us."

Artoo whistled cheerfully (obviously not fully powered down) flattered that Vader thought he was so important. Amidala wasn't as cheerful. Her unhappy expression clearly told Vader that she thought he was insane. Vader couldn't possibly care less what she thought of him.

Let her think I'm crazy. If she thinks I'm nuts, she'll leave me alone. And if she leaves me alone, this assignment just might turn out to be bearable…