Chapter 10: Sidious' Plan

"Padmé! I'm home." Anakin called out as he stepped into the apartment. He was home a bit later than usual because he thought he had found the dark presence Masters Kenobi and Yoda had asked for his help in locating. Unfortunately, the presence had eluded detection once again.

Anakin was surprised that Padmé did not greet him, so he called out to her once more, "Padmé!" He then walked into the kitchen area and when he only spotted the droids in there he questioned them.

"3P0, do you know where Padmé is?"

"No, Master Anakin, she did send a note earlier stating she would be a few minutes late. She had some work to do."

"When did she leave the message?" Anakin asked curiously.

"Boop beep beep." R2D2 replied.

"Two hours ago!" Anakin said with some surprise. He checked the chrono and realized that she was more than a few minutes late; she was over an hour late. However, it was possible that she was very busy on her first day back at the Senate, so this did not concern him. She had probably just lost track of the time. "I will go send her a message reminding her of the time, don't bother starting dinner you two, I think Padmé and I will go out tonight."

"Very well, Master Anakin." C3P0 stated.

Anakin then made his way to a far wall in the kitchen area where a small comm. system was housed. He punched in the necessary code to reach Padmé's office and waited for her to answer. However, Anakin received no answer.

Growing more concerned, Anakin called upon the Force to search out Padmé's Force presence. For a minute, he was relieved when he could feel her faintly in the Force. He tried to stretch out his feelings to pinpoint where she was, but before he could do this Padmé's Force presence suddenly disappeared.

"Padmé!" Anakin yelled as his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. The sudden loss of Padmé's Force presence made him feel like his world had just collapsed. Trying to regain his composure he quickly closed his eyes and scanned the Force for her frantically. Behind him, C3P0 and R2D2 were making their way toward him.

"Master Anakin, Master Anakin, oh dear! Is there something that you need?" C3P0 said in a panicked tone as he approached his fallen master.


Padmé awoke sharply when she felt a pinch to her left forearm. Her head ached terribly and she was unsure of where she was. The last thing she could remember she had been packing up her belongings before she left her office for the day.

She opened her eyes groggily, but found that her vision was blurred and it was difficult to see anything. It was difficult to tell, but based on the faint outlines of the objects in the room, she could tell that she was no longer in her office and was sprawled out on the floor. "Anakin?" She called out weakly.

She felt another pinch to her arm and looked to her left, although she still could not see very well she could see the outline of a droid poking a needle into her arm. Padmé screamed and tried to move away, but found she could not use her limbs. Padmé continued to scream, as she was helpless to evade the droid who was injecting her arm. She started to sob when she felt some sort of liquid being injected into her arm.

"Ah Senator, you are awake." Padmé heard the voice of a man standing above her.

She looked up in the direction of the voice, but because her vision was still blurry, she could not see who it was. However, this did not matter, she recognized the voice. "Bail? What… What is going on? Help me, please! I cannot see."

"Your eyesight will return in time. An aftereffect of the drug used to subdue you. I had to find something that would not harm Skywalker's child." Bail stated coolly, Padmé thought it sounded like another darker voice was speaking with him. "You are being injected with ysalamiri serum, it will prevent your husband or any other Jedi from locating either you or his child."

"My baby." Padmé cried out in anguish.

"Is perfectly fine, I assure you. I have use for your child, it will not be harmed." Bail chuckled lightly, and Padmé could hear a cackle echo along the walls.

"Why…why are you doing this?" Padmé stated trying to hold back a sob of anguish.

"Because your husband betrayed me."

"Anakin has never betrayed you. Bail, tell me what is going on?" This time Padmé did hear a cackle and it was not in Bail's voice. It was another voice, one she thought she would never hear again. "Sidious." Padmé whispered in shock and she tried to fight her binding once more.

She could hear Sidious cackle once more, but this time it was disguised by the laughter coming from Bail. "You can quit struggling Senator, I assure you my Force bonds will hold." It was Bail's voice that spoke to her.

"What have you done to Bail?" Padmé spoke frantically.

"Nothing, he is perfectly fine, I am just borrowing him for the moment." Sidious spoke through Bail once more.

"For the moment?"

"Yes, until Skywalker's child is born."

Padmé's eyes grew wide with shock, as she yelled, "No, not my baby!"

"Yes, once the child is born, I shall kill you. With your death, Skywalker will be destroyed. Then, for his betrayal I will have Bail and Breha raise the child until it is old enough for me to take over. I will regain the Empire that Skywalker destroyed. Your child will give rise to the Sith Order once more." Sidious cackled maliciously as he finished.

"No, you monster! Bail, please! You have to fight him. Fight him!" Padmé screamed.

"Silence!" Sidious spoke through Bail once more. "Organa is too weak to fight me. From now on Senator, you will no longer speak unless spoken to and for every time you speak out of turn I will make your child suffer once they are born."

Tears fell from Padmé's eyes, but she remained silent.

"Good." She heard Bail say under Sidious' influence. "Now if you excuse me, I have some legislation to draft. Good evening, Senator." With his final farewell, Bail left Padmé lying on the floor.

Unable to move and her vision still blurred, Padmé no longer held back her sobs and began to cry once more. Hoping that she was not heard, she made a soft plea of, "Please Anakin, help," wishing that he would find her before it was too late.