"You're doing what?"
My son and daughter are not happy about their mother's decision to accompany me back to the Intimidator. Understatement here…they are beside themselves.
"Mother, do you have any idea what you are getting into?" Luke asks.
"Yes Luke," she replies calmly. "I do. Please don't be angry, don't be against this."
"We're not angry," Leia puts in. "Just worried. I know that you love our father, that's obvious to anyone. Luke and I love him too; but those feelings have to be put aside for now. You can't rush into this dangerous situation simply because you can't bear to be parted from him."
Padmé frowns, annoyed with Leia's inference.
"Leia, this isn't just a matter of me pining away for your father," she replies. "Do you think I'm so foolish that I would allow my personal feelings to make a decision of such magnitude?"
"No, I didn't mean to imply that," Leia replies immediately. "I'm just concerned that you are letting your feelings cloud your judgment."
"Leia, your mother has been a politician since she was a child," I put in gently. "She knows how to separate personal feelings from situations requiring tough decisions. Her part in this ruse is an important one." I look at my wife who is watching me with grateful anticipation in her eyes. "She is not coming with me merely to keep me company, she will be vital in keeping the rebellion up to date with what is going on. She will be a liaison, feeding the Alliance vital information. I won't be able to do that once I'm emperor; I will be counting on her to. She has the skills and the experience needed to pull this off, as well as maintain the appearance of being the wife of the emperor."
"The appearance of?" Luke asks. "She is the emperor's wife, Dad. What do you mean?"
"I mean that in order for this new twist in our plan to work, your mother will have to pretend to hate her situation," I tell him. "She must seem to be unwilling to have anything to do with Darth Vader; for if the Imperials suspect that she is there willingly, they will know that I have changed. No woman, even your mother, would willingly live on board a star destroyer with Darth Vader, and the Empire knows this. But if she is there under duress, there because the new emperor is arrogant enough to want to flaunt his beautiful wife to everyone, that is believable."
Padmé looks disturbed by my explanation, for although this was discussed between us earlier, she is still uneasy at the thought of it. "It has to be this way; otherwise it would not be believable," I add, as much for her benefit as the twins.
"So let me get this straight," Han puts in at this point. "You show up with Padmé, tell the Imperial flunkeys that she is your long lost wife who you thought was dead all these years but who was really hiding from you; she pretends to hate you to make it more believable that you are really the bad ass Darth Vader they all know and love. Is that about right?"
"Rather colorfully put," I remark wryly, "but yes, that's exactly it. Anyone who knew Padmé Amidala would know that she would never want anything to do with Vader or the Empire. Her seeming revulsion of Vader will make my portrayal of him more believable."
Luke nods. "I think I understand now," he says slowly. "But I still don't like it. Now not only do we have you to worry about, Dad, but Mother too! This is nuts!"
"It may be nuts, but it's also brilliant," Han counters. "Step back from the situation for a moment and you'll see it. You two are looking at this from the perspective of Padmé's kids; if you try to put that aside, you'll realize that this plan is very good."
"How do you expect us to do that exactly?" pipes up Leia. "We are her kids! We love her! How can you expect us not to worry?"
"No one expects that," Padmé says gently, taking Leia's hand. "You're human; it's natural that you would. But I think Han's point is well taken. Look at if from the point of view of a member of the Alliance, as a rebel; you have to admit that the plan is rather ingenious."
Luke and Leia exchange a look, sensing that they have been outnumbered.
"I will not allow anything to happen to your mother," I tell them. "I promise you that. She will be well protected at all times, even if it seems that we are at odds with one another, we will be working together in this. Try to be supportive of this, children. We both think it will work, and we could use your support."
"It doesn't sound like we have much choice in the matter," Leia replies peevishly. "You two sound like you've already made up your minds no matter what we think."
"Yes, we have," Padmé tells her. I can sense in my wife her mild annoyance at our daughter's petulant attitude. "Your father and I have been through many situations more dangerous than this, Leia. We can handle ourselves."
"Yeah, remember the nexu, Leia?" Han puts in with a grin.
Padmé looks at him in surprise. "You know about that?" she asks him.
Han nods. "Yep. Anakin told us that story. Pretty impressive, Padmé," he says with a smile. "I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself."
"You're right there, Han," I tell him, smiling at Padmé. I turn back to my children. "I know that the two of you don't like this idea, but it is going to be fine, I promise you. When we set out to defeat the Empire all of us knew that it wouldn't be easy, and that it would require some personal sacrifice from all of us. This is where it gets tough; this is where we need you both to be strong so that we can do what we need to do. Can we count on you to stand by us in this? Your support would mean so much to both of us."
Luke and Leia look at one another once more. "You know we will support you both no matter what," Luke tells us.
I smile at him. "Thank you son," I tell him.
Padmé walks over to our children and puts a hand on their faces. "Thank you," she says softly. "I love you both. Please don't worry; this will work, and in no time at all we can all be together again without worrying about plots or war, and concentrate on building a life together as a family."
Luke and Leia nod, and embrace their mother. I hope you're right, Padmé, I reflect. I hope you're right…
