A/N: Hi everyone! Here's chapter 2, and I hope you enjoy it. For those hoping for a lot of action in this fic, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit. We're doing a slow build-up to that, but I guarantee you'll like the end result. At least, I hope you will. In the meantime, please read, review, and enjoy!
See you next time!
Days before the woman had arrived on Coruscant, Chancellor Palpatine met with a Republic Captain that he had taken an interest in, sensing something in him that was familiar to him. Like they shared the same personality and had the same desires, or at least had the same ends in mind for what happened at the end of the war.
And that was something he could use.
When Captain Tarkin entered his private residence, he could sense the captain was nervous but doing his best not to let it show. He looked at the chancellor, nodding his head in respect before saying, "Chancellor, you asked to see me?"
Palpatine smiled, "Yes, I did. I was wondering if you would be willing to do something for a friend of ours?"
Tarkin immediately understood what he was asking for, "Lord Sidious has a request?"
Palpatine smiled again, but this smile was cold and cruel, "Yes, he does," his voice dropping and growing raspy and frigid for a moment, revealing the danger lurking just beneath the surface.
Tarkin nodded, "What does he need, Chancellor? Ask, and I will do it."
Palpatine said, voice now normal again, "He needs you to bug a Jedi. He wants to know where he goes, what he is doing, who he is meeting with, and what they are saying to each other."
Tarkin was surprised, "How would I accomplish this, Chancellor? I can't just walk up to a Jedi and plant a bug on them. They'll be suspicious and will know something is up. Jedi are many things; stupid isn't one of them."
"And yet they don't know the danger right in front of them," Palpatine said, warning in his voice. Tarkin immediately ducked his head, knowing he had overstepped. Palpatine continued, "And this Jedi Master will be easier to bug than you think. You already spend quite a bit of time with him and will spend even more time with him in the future."
"General Fisto?" Tarkin asked in surprise, "Why would I bug the Jedi I'm assigned to, Chancellor? What has he done?"
"So far, nothing," Palpatine said, "At least, not recently. But years ago, we had an encounter, and while I can't be sure of what he remembers, I don't want to take chances. I want to make sure he can be stopped before he tells the Jedi Council anything, by any means necessary. That encounter makes him less likely to notice he is being bugged and easier to watch. And he won't suspect you; he trusts you as the captain of his fleet. I want to know if he is meeting with someone I have met before. If he is, I need to change my plans. If he isn't, things can continue as planned, and you can have what we discussed. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Chancellor, I understand," Tarkin said, "I will do my best to accomplish this task, but I'm still not sure how to go about this. Bugging a Jedi is no easy feat, even if they aren't suspecting anything. I can't just walk up to Kit Fisto and plant a bug on him. He'll notice right away it's there."
"No, he won't," Palpatine said, "Not if the bug is in something he always carries with him. Like his lightsaber, perhaps?"
Tarkin's eyes widened at the suggestion, but then he was silent for a few moments as he thought over how he would bug a lightsaber. Finally, he looked up and said, "I think I have a way to do this, Chancellor. And the right equipment as well. I just need an opportunity. If it happens in a place with a lot of people and noise, he'll be less likely to notice, as you said."
Palpatine nodded, "He is meeting an informant at a tavern in the underworld tomorrow night. A mutual friend was kind enough to let me know, but that friend won't always know where he is and what he is doing, hence why I want this done. If you do it then, you won't be detected. And underworld taverns are usually crowded and noisy, with the occasional fight. He won't be the wiser."
Tarkin nodded, "It will be done, Lord Sidious," revealing he knew much more than he was letting on to the rest of the Republic, "I will come by after and let you know it is done."
"Good," Palpatine said, "I will be expecting you."
Tarkin bowed his head before leaving Palpatine's apartments. He left the chancellor to sit and plan even more for what came next.
The next night, deep in the underworld, Kit Fisto was indeed meeting with an informant, a Twi'lek, in a rather seedy tavern that felt like the loudest and busiest one in the entire city. It was packed to the brim with all manner of species, and he was hard-pressed to process all the information the Force and his head-tentacles were sending him. In the end, he could only focus on one, but even that was difficult with all the noise around him.
And he had to focus on his informant as well.
They were deep in discussion about the latest goings-on in the criminal underworld, which was already looking for ways to profit from the war, when a mass of people passed too close to the table they were sitting at in the corner of the tavern, laughing and hollering at each other. They were also tripping all over each other. A few crashed into the table and the Jedi, causing a stab of pain to go through his midsection, which he was quick to hide from showing on his face while getting it under control. At the same time, he was quick to help them get upright, and they left with quite a bit more laughing at their friend's misfortune and were soon part of the crowd once more.
Kit turned back to his informant, and they started talking again, not noticing his lightsaber was gone, which was what Tarkin had been hoping for. Out of his officers' uniform and wearing a cloak with his hood up, he was seated at another table out of sight. As he waited, the group that had taken the lightsaber came up. The one pickpocket gave it to him, saying, "Here ya go, where's my money?" as the group disappeared, clearly considering their work done.
"You'll get it when you return it to the Jedi, not before," Tarkin said, picking the lightsaber up from the table and turning it over in his hands for a few moments before he found what he was looking for. As he had left the chancellor's apartments the night before, a droid had met him with the general schematics of a lightsaber. He had spent the day studying them to find the right place to plant a bug. And he had found it. Now, with an actual lightsaber in his hands, he was surprised at how heavy it was.
'Good,' he thought, 'Fisto won't notice a little extra weight, and this bug isn't all that heavy to begin with. And with its own power supply, the lightsaber will power the bug.'
He took out the bug then, and as the pickpocket looked on, he carefully pried a bit of the casing off. He slipped the bug inside, using his tool on the bug so that it would move towards the power cell inside the lightsaber, sending a signal with his receiver to have it attach to the power cell and have a continuous charge. He then withdrew his tool and put the casing back in place. He sat back then and inspected his handiwork. The lightsaber looked no different than before, and there was no sign of anything different about it. Even the weight didn't feel any different.
He nodded to himself; this would work just fine. He turned to the pickpocket then, some lowlife he had found on the streets a few minutes ago desperate for credits and not really caring what he had to do to get some, "Put this back on the Jedi's belt without him noticing, and you'll get an even bigger reward than what I promised, alright? If he sees you or suspects anything, the deals off, understood?"
The Weequay nodded, "Ya got it, he won't know what hit him," walking away with a laugh and taking the lightsaber with him. Tarkin got up then and left a credit for his drink that he hadn't touched, following at a distance as he watched the Weequay.
The alien wandered over to where the Jedi was still talking with his informant, neither drinking anything from what he could see. Kit was watching the crowd now, clearly sensing something was wrong and looking to understand what was happening. Knowing he hadn't been seen by Kit yet, Tarkin also looked around and saw the problem right away. A swoop gang had entered the tavern and clearly wasn't supposed to be there.
There was an argument breaking out between them and a rival gang that was already there, and things were threatening to boil over. Seeing an opportunity, Tarkin smiled and took out his blaster, firing a shot at the feet of the rival gang. The shouting stopped for an instant as both gangs stared in surprise at where the shot had landed, and in the next moment, chaos broke out as the gangs started fighting each other. Fists were flying, and shots were ringing out as others got in on the fight, wanting in on it and generally causing chaos in the tavern. Things had become even crazier, and the barkeep was yelling for the police or someone to break up the fight before there were even more dead bodies on the ground and more blaster marks in the walls.
Tarkin turned to Kit and his informant, seeing that the Jedi was watching the fight but knew not to get involved. One Jedi against that kind of fight didn't stand a chance and would likely worsen things. But the chaos was clearly what the pickpocket was looking for because as everyone started throwing punches, he slipped over to the Jedi's table and waited for Kit and his informant to get up, bumping into the Jedi as he started walking towards the exit and putting his lightsaber back on his belt before walking away with a barely mumbled apology. Kit was none the wiser as he turned to his informant and they quickly left, clearly finished with whatever they had to discuss or at least wanting to discuss it somewhere slightly quieter.
As this was happening, the Weequay found him and said, "Lightsaber's back where it belongs, which isn't the greatest thing if you ask me. Could have sold it for some real money, but I ain't complaining because you said you got real money. Where is it?"
Tarkin smiled, "Right here," before taking out his blaster again and shooting the Weequay in the chest. The alien stared in surprise at him, then slowly doubled over before collapsing to the ground. He joined the collection of bodies already on the floor from the fight that had turned more violent if that was possible.
Tarkin left then, disappearing into the crowds of the underworld before making his way back to the upper levels and heading straight for the chancellor's apartments. He got there, and the chancellor was waiting for him, clearly knowing that he had finished what they had discussed.
Tarkin bowed his head to the chancellor, "It's done, my lord. I was able to bug Kit Fisto's lightsaber, and he wasn't the wiser. I had to employ a pickpocket, but he won't be telling anyone what we have done."
"And why is that?" Palpatine asked, and Tarkin looked up, "As you said, my lord, bar fights are common in the underworld. It stands to reason there would be a few casualties."
The chancellor nodded slowly before saying, "I see," then asked, "But the bug is functioning?"
Tarkin smiled, "Let's find out, shall we?" taking out the receiver for the bug, "The bug I planted does have a limited range, but it's programmed to send what it picks up to this device whenever it is in range of the Republic network and a device that it's accepted as something that can receive its recordings, pre-programmed by myself. The recordings will be heavily encrypted to prevent just anyone from seeing them. The rest of the time, it will save what it records until it is in range again. I patched it into the lightsaber's power supply, so I don't have to worry about charging it or replacing it. It should hold up well underwater as well. It will even record everything happening in a twenty-foot radius as well, including walls and buildings for identification purposes."
"Good," Palpatine said, "Let's see what Kit Fisto is up to," as the receiver hummed to life. Moments later, a hologram appeared of Kit walking along the streets of the underworld, alone, timestamped a few hours before. His cloak was up over his face, and he moved quickly and quietly through the crowd, no one seeming to notice his presence. He turned down a street then and started climbing a set of stairs to a landing dock where speeders waited. He walked onto the one he had taken from the Temple and powered it up, heading up and out of the underworld and back to the Temple, clearly having discovered whatever it was he needed to find out.
The bug stayed active all the way to the Temple, but then the chancellor said, "I think that's enough for now; I've seen all that I need to see," and Tarkin ended the transmission before turning to Palpatine, who was walking over towards his desk. Once there, he sat down and said, "I want you to keep recordings of everything the bug picks up, and I want to see everything it records, do you understand? If he meets with anyone, I want to know about it."
"As you wish, Lord Sidious," Tarkin said, "But it would help if I knew who I was looking for. It would help narrow down what to keep an eye out for. Keywords, like the person's name, can be programmed into the bug and sent to you immediately."
Palpatine scowled, "I don't know the name; otherwise, I would have found this person a long time ago and stopped them from becoming the problem they could be now. But Kit Fisto is the only lead we have, so we must work with that. He will lead us to this person; I know it. He has many secrets that not even the Jedi know, I know this, but I don't know what they are. Yet. For now, keep an eye on him. I want to know if he meets with this person or anyone else and what they say to each other, and I want this person's name. I can destroy them if I can know their name."
"Yes, my lord," Tarkin said, "I will work to find out what I can without raising suspicion."
"Good," Palpatine said, "I will have the rest of my sources and spies working other angles, and hopefully, it will be enough to find out what I want to know. Let me know immediately if something comes up," effectively dismissing the captain.
Tarkin took the hint quickly, bowing his head and leaving the chancellor to his thoughts, which were complicated but committed. He would find out all of Kit Fisto's secrets, no matter what or how long it took.
And then the galaxy would be his.
The clone star fleet is under siege! Dozens of Republic warships have been destroyed in merciless surprise attacks that leave no survivors. Rumors spread of a terrible new Separatist weapon.
In the face of growing fear, the Jedi Council sends Master Plo Koon to hunt down the menace before it strikes again….
Days after Plo Koon was dispatched to hunt down the Separatist weapon tearing Republic ships apart, and a couple weeks after the woman had gone to Rugosa, Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala met in Padmé's office to discuss the weapon. Threepio was out running an errand for Padmé so they could meet privately when they were unexpectedly joined by Kit Fisto. Seeing him enter, and the severe light in his eyes, they immediately stopped what they were talking about and turned to him, Padmé using a control on her desk to lock the door to her office so that no one would disturb them. Once sure they were alone, the two senators turned to Kit, and Bail asked, "What's going on, my friend? What do you need?"
Before Kit could answer, Padmé asked another question, "Where's your lightsaber?" only now noticing that it was gone.
Kit grimaced, "That is part of what I am here to discuss with you," the two senators exchanged a glance before Kit continued, "It's been discovered that my lightsaber has been bugged," making Padmé stare at him in surprise. At the same time, Bail was shocked into silence, and Kit continued, "I don't know when or where this happened and was only recently made aware of it by a friend of ours. She noticed what I did not with my own weapon, but with the help of a spy of hers that was able to find that information in the Separatist network," a self-deprecating smile on his face that was out of place with the anger the two senators could see in his eyes.
"I'm guessing the who is a common enemy who wants to learn more about our movements and plans?" Bail asked, to which Kit nodded and said, "I believe so, and so we will have to take precautions. I will do my best to leave my lightsaber behind when I can to go to our meetings and here, such as now it is back hidden in my quarters at the Temple, but there may be times when I have to have it with me. When that's the case, we will have to watch what we say even more. I have already informed those that I could of this threat, but I need you to spread the word among the rest of our allies in our plans to let them know. If I am found to be talking to them, it will be hard to explain."
"We'll do so as soon as possible," Padmé promised, while Bail asked, "What else do you need from us?"
Kit smiled, "It actually isn't I that needs something from you today; it's someone else," as one of the side doors in Padmé's office opened that was usually used for staff and droids. Today it was also being used by the woman as she walked in. She looked between them all and nodded a greeting, and then Kit was turning back to the two senators, "The next part of the plan happens tonight, and we will need your help. It's incredibly dangerous. She thinks that we can use the bug in my lightsaber against the one who put it there or at least take a page out of their book, so to speak, and we will do so as best we can."
Bail and Padmé exchanged a glance before Bail said, "Whatever you need us to do, we're happy to help," Padmé nodded firmly, determination in her eyes.
Kit nodded slowly, "Good, we're both grateful. Let me explain what we have in mind, and then any ideas or insights you can give would be appreciated," as the woman walked closer, the door locking behind her once more, hoping the plan the four of them came up with really did work and no one was the wiser.
Her friend had been bugged, and now it was time to return the favor.
Later that night, as Skywalker and Ahsoka searched the ruins of Plo Koon's fleet for any survivors and found Plo Koon and his men, Bail, Padmé, Kit, and the woman all converged on one building on Coruscant. It was the chancellor's apartments, and they were armed with a plan. It wasn't the kind of plan that allowed for mistakes, and they could only hope that none of the Senate guards in the building were aware of them and tried to stop them.
Bail could only guess that the woman wouldn't allow much to get in her way and didn't want to know what she would do to the guards if they tried to stop her. He didn't know much about her, but he was willing to bet she was the kind of person that didn't let much get in her way.
The chancellor wasn't home when they arrived, still at the Senate building leading the Republic and the war effort. So they were able to put their plan into action very quickly. Kit was there, his lightsaber with him, waiting down a side street in case he was needed for a quick getaway, ready to steal a speeder or bike if it was necessary. Padmé and Bail were heading in the front door with essential documents and things that needed the chancellor's attention at his earliest convenience. The woman was nowhere in sight, but they all knew she was there, heading into the apartments by her own means.
As Bail and Padmé began the lift ride to the penthouse, where the chancellor lived, and Kit waited on the street, the woman started her own entrance into the building. Starting from the very bottom of the building, she found the vent she was looking for and crawled inside, replacing the cover as she did so. She started crawling then, navigating the vents and tunnels until she found the one she was looking for, cursing herself silently the entire time for not being slim enough for the job and deciding she needed to stop enjoying those tarts Kit kept bringing her, trying her hardest not to sneeze because of the dust and cobwebs that were everywhere. She didn't even like those tarts, she realized but had been craving them more and more over the last few weeks. She knew that that likely meant only one thing, but now wasn't the time to think about that when there was literal danger everywhere here. She shook her head to get back on topic, reaching out with her senses then, looking for anyone in the area, droid or being, that would alert the guards that she was there. There was no one, and she pushed the vent cover open quietly, sliding out onto the floor before turning and putting the cover back. She then stood and resisted the urge to shake herself to get rid of the dust and cobwebs.
She couldn't leave any clue that she had been there.
She looked up then and oriented herself before heading right, running quickly and lightly up the stairs for the chancellor's study and private quarters. Once at the foyer outside, she looked between the two doors, trying to decide which one she should enter first. Both needed to be bugged, but she felt something shift in the Force in that instant. She turned her attention to it, and instantly her blood chilled.
The chancellor had suddenly returned home.
Bail and Padmé were doing their best to distract him, but it wouldn't be enough very soon. Already she could hear the bells from the lift that signaled they were heading up and coming closer and closer. Seeing she had no choice, she turned to the study and raced inside, diving under the desk just as the two senators and Palpatine arrived at the foyer. She held her breath as she listened outside, trying to hear what they were saying. After a few seconds, she smiled to herself; they were reminiscing about their homeworlds and what they missed about them, as well as exchanging stories about Naboo and Alderaan.
She could relate to that; she missed her home too.
Hearing the chancellor start what promised to be a long-winded story about a chapter of his life, she turned her attention back to what she needed to do, taking out her bugs and hiding one under the desk, coming up from behind the desk to plant a few more around the room before deciding that was enough. She had designed and built these bugs herself; they were invisible to scanners and wouldn't be detected by anything looking for them, and were easily powered by the sun. These bugs recorded what they saw and heard, and so as many angles as possible always gave the best results.
Moments later, she had opened the air vent between the study and Palpatine's private quarters and slipped inside, replacing the one cover as she did so. She wasn't a moment too soon because seconds later, the outside door opened, and the senators and Palpatine walked in. She became even quieter then, moving what felt like inch by inch so that no sound could be heard, and after what felt like years, she was inside the chancellor's private quarters.
Her bugs were quickly placed and set, recording audio only. Then she was opening another vent cover that led down to the first level of the building and lower than that if the plans she had found for the building were to be believed. Then she was sliding in feet first and hoping they were wrong. This building was at least a hundred stories; she didn't want to free fall that far. There was no way she would survive that kind of a fall with her bones intact. She grabbed the cover on the way out, replacing it just as the chancellor opened the door to his private rooms, having convinced the two senators it was time to retire for the night. She held on by her fingertips to the vent cover, listening as he moved about the room before she heard a transmitter come to life. A deep voice that she only just recognized became clear, "Master, we have a situation."
"I am aware of this situation, my apprentice," Palpatine said, "Grievous has failed in keeping our new weapon a secret."
"Yes, my lord," Dooku replied, "He has failed, and now the Republic will dispatch whatever they can to destroy the Malevolence. I was wondering if you had a specific punishment in mind for Grievous, or if I should do something myself?"
Palpatine seemed to smile, "I think there is something he can do with the Malevolence if he is capable. How hard can it be to attack wounded clones?"
The woman listening to the conversation was able to put the pieces together very quickly based on what she knew of the Republic and its fleet, but Dooku clearly did not, "Master?"
"I have the coordinates for a target even Grievous should be able to destroy," Palpatine said, "An undefended target that is treating clones and sending them back out to destroy our droids and our plans. Do you think he can manage to destroy that?"
The smile was easy to hear in Dooku's voice, "Yes, my lord, I think he can manage that. I will let him know what his next target will be."
"Good," Palpatine said, "I will get you the coordinates as soon as I can."
The transmission ended after that, and Palpatine started getting himself ready for bed, leaving the woman in the air duct with a bit of a dilemma. She had to let go of the vent and free fall with no idea how far. It could be a couple of stories or a hundred stories, and she didn't want to think of what would happen if something of her caught on something in the duct on the way down. But at the same time, she knew she had no choice, and so after a deep breath in and out, she slowly let go, free falling.
Any other being would have closed their eyes so that they wouldn't have to know what was coming next. Still, she forced herself to keep her eyes open and her senses sharp. Twenty seconds later, she landed in a crouch, five stories below the chancellor's apartments, thanking her lucky stars the schematics had been wrong. She stayed there, not daring to move for several seconds, until finally, she raised her head and listened closely, listening for any sound that would indicate someone had heard her. After a few minutes, she moved on; no one had noticed her, and she was in the clear.
She crawled through the ducts quickly and silently, ignoring the sounds of everything that wasn't the guards, and finally made it to the ground floor. It wasn't the same duct she had entered from, but it was the one closest to where Kit waited. She slipped out and shut the vent behind her before raising her arm and hitting a button on her comlink.
She then disappeared down the street, pulling her cloak up as she did so to hide her face. No one could know what she looked like.
Not yet.
Kit looked down when he saw that the light on his vambrace comlink was on, then tapped that button before leaving as well. He also pulled his cloak up tighter around himself. He disappeared into the shadows then, hitting another button on his comlink as he did so. His part in this was done, and it was time to leave and get back to the Temple before anyone noticed he was missing. Or worse, his cover ran out of excuses for why he wasn't there.
High above and a few buildings over, a sniper put their rifle away and disappeared into the mess of traffic and speeders that were constantly flying throughout the air of the planet. They had been ready and aimed at the chancellor's apartments, even though they knew that a mere sniper bolt wouldn't have been enough to destroy such an evil, but it would have been a good distraction to help a friend or two escape.
But thankfully, that hadn't been needed, and so they were quick to leave and disappear before anyone thought to come looking for them.
Later the following day, Palpatine reviewed the footage Tarkin had sent him. It didn't reveal much; Kit Fisto had left his lightsaber in the Temple when he left, likely heading for a rendezvous with someone in a place where having a lightsaber could get you into trouble with the vast majority of the population. He had then come back and retrieved his lightsaber, only to go and stand against a building for an hour or so before suddenly leaving, having gotten a signal on his comlink and then sending out one of his own. He had headed straight for the Temple, leaving Palpatine to guess an informant hadn't met him, and he had decided to stop waiting and go home. Tarkin hadn't been able to trace either signal, the bug wasn't designed for that kind of surveillance, and so Palpatine was left wondering what was happening. The bug also wasn't really good at telling where it was. Therefore Palpatine had no idea of knowing where Kit was or what the building he was leaning against was, not knowing Kit had used a specialty scrambler to confuse the locator on the bug so that it couldn't figure out where it was.
The bug hadn't revealed anything of use to him yet, and so he would have to be patient a while longer until he could figure out more of what was happening.
No one could say he wasn't patient.
At the same time Palpatine was reviewing the information from his bug, Bail and Padmé got messages on a secret frequency, having left his apartment together the night before and waiting for hours for any word. There hadn't been, not from the woman or Kit, and so they had no choice but to go to bed and hope for answers in the morning. Now they had their answers, at least one of them. The message was quick and straightforward but clear:
All set.
Seeing those two words caused both senators to tense their spines and firm their resolve, the plan was a go, and there truly was no turning back now. The woman had made it clear they could back out whenever they wanted to, but neither senator would if it meant peace in their galaxy, and neither would their allies. Their allies and friends scattered throughout the galaxy would be getting the message too, and now the more difficult work could begin.
The more dangerous work would begin as well, and hopefully, they were all ready for it.
A deadly weapon, unleashed! The Separatist battleship Malevolence advances unopposed through Republic space, tearing apart any ship that stands in its path.
After a daring rescue and narrow escape, Anakin Skywalker prepares a counterattack on the enemy ship and its diabolical droid commander, General Grievous….
The woman dropped out of hyperspace right beneath the Malevolence. Her spy had supplied her with its current location, and she had decided it was time to pay the ship a little visit. She had arrived just as the ion cannon was fired at the medical ships trying to escape the massive ship and could only watch as the medical ships were blown to pieces by the cannons on the Malevolence. She shook her head; she could never understand why they had attacked the clones so unfairly. They weren't even giving the Republic the chance to fight back. But she knew that war was all about fighting against an opponent as hard as one could, regardless of the state of the opposite side.
But there was no time to think about that; she had to get on board the Malevolence while she could. There was something she needed there, and she had every intention of helping the Republic destroy this ship. She wouldn't be able to do much, and she was limited on where she could go on the ship because of how many droids were on board, but she was sure that she could help.
And so, taking her ship and making sure it was cloaked and the signal scrambled, she headed for the hanger her spy had said would be vacant of ships and droids. It was always locked because it was Dooku's personal hanger, and with him gone, it was empty. It was the perfect place to land her ship and sneak into the Malevolence.
Sure enough, five minutes after she had entered the system and found the ship, she was landing in that hanger. The Malevolence entered hyperspace, heading for its next target to destroy, not even a minute later. And she knew it was the medical station close to Naboo.
Hopefully, the Republic knew it too.
Hopping out of her ship, she signaled her droid to keep her fighter cloaked and hidden. If worst came to worse, he would take her ship and leave and let her find her own way out. He beeped to show he understood, but she could tell he wasn't happy about that idea. She grimaced, she didn't like it either, but the droid was just as important to all of this as she was.
She ran towards the door and opened it, seeing no sign of droids or guards. She ran through and the door shut behind her, heading for the communication center she knew was about as far away from this private hanger as could be. She had to get through the entire ship without being seen or heard. She couldn't afford to let anyone or anything know of her presence just yet, and so she was taking every precaution she could to be invisible.
To that end, she spent the majority of her time hiding, ducking into empty storage rooms or droid recharging stations or small incinerator rooms to hide from patrols and anything else that would sound the alarm. Eventually, she made it to the communication center, listening through the doors for the sound of droids or beings on the other side. There was nothing from what she could hear, but she wasn't about to take the chance there was no one there.
Droids could still move silently despite how clumsy they were, especially the specialty droids like commando droids.
She looked up then, seeing the vents in the wall above the door. She grimaced; it had only been a few days since the crawl through the vents in the chancellor's building, and she wasn't looking forward to this at all.
If she had to guess, she would say that this vent was even smaller than the ones on Coruscant, and she grimaced. She had gotten even bigger in the last few days, and she knew it wasn't just because of the fact she was eating better. But there was no time to think about that now; she had to get into that room. There was nothing else for it, and so she took a deep breath and leaped up, grabbing the vent and using her weight to pull it open. It opened with a clank, and she froze and listened for the sound of running droids. But there was nothing, the droids were busy with other jobs, and she let out a quick breath of relief before jumping up again and into the vent, replacing the cover as she did so. Five minutes of crawling had her looking into the communication center, which was indeed empty.
She shook her head; some droids were just so stupid it wasn't even funny. But she wasn't complaining and opened the vent and jumped down into the room, replacing the cover again before heading for one of the computers. She looked it over but didn't power it up. She wasn't here for information. She was here for something else.
Something that she only needed to do once.
She looked over her shoulder for a moment, reaching out with the Force to sense where the closest droids were. After a few seconds, she turned back; the nearest ones were a level above her and not something she needed to worry about. She kneeled and quickly opened the panel that housed the inside of the computer, looking over the wires and cables. There were plenty of them, but she only needed one.
She took them all in her hands, sorting through them one by one until she found the one she was looking for. This cable easily fit into her hand and was wrapped in black insulation to keep it from overheating or zapping someone who touched it unprepared. She smiled; this was just what she needed. Her spy was great at getting her the information she needed, most of the time, but this would get her things not even her spy knew or could access without arousing suspicion.
Another glance over her shoulder assured her all was well, and then she was taking out her knife. It easily cut into the insulation, and then she pulled out even more wires from the cable. Of those wires, she chose a red one and cut it in half before stripping an inch of insulation away from both sides. She looked up at the computer then, it was still going, and no alarm had been sounded. She went back to what she was doing, quickly taking out her most recent invention and feeding both wires into it, taping it all back together with black electrical tape and making sure it was firm.
Only then did she turn to the handheld monitor attached to her belt. She pulled it out and quickly accessed it, scrolling to what she was looking for. Moments later, she nodded to herself; the patch was active and collecting all the data passing through it and sending it to her system through transmitter frequencies. It also patched into the Separatist network to send everything passing through it, from battle strategies to communications between Separatist leaders. At the speed it was going, no one would be able to detect it, and there was no way for the Separatists to know what she had done.
Nodding to herself, she quickly covered the….adjustment….she had made with red insulation before putting all the wires back in the cable and using her tape to make it look like nothing had happened. From there, it was the work of only a few minutes to replace the computer covering and clean up what little bit of mess she had made.
She didn't want to give Grievous an excuse to look for her.
Just as she was about to leave, another monitor flashed, and she turned to it, watching as it came to life and a request to send a transmission to the bridge came across the screen. Since there was no one there, she approved the request, making sure that she could hear what was being said as well.
Moments later, Dooku's voice came through, sounding urgent, "General Grievous. I have received intelligence from Lord Sidious. The Republic has launched a small strike force to attack the Malevolence."
Moments later, Grievous' raspy voice came through, not sounding concerned at all, "Let the Republic come. Our ship is unstoppable."
Dooku answered with, "Skywalker is leading the mission. Do not underestimate him."
"Ha! I assure you, Count. If anything, it is Skywalker who will underestimate this ship and its power," Grievous said, effectively ending the conversation. Nothing more came from Dooku, and the transmission ended. However, she still listened as Grievous said to a droid up in the bridge, "Make sure the droids in the communication center down below are still there. There should always be someone there to send transmissions where they need to about this ship."
She didn't hear the droid's response and didn't care because, at that moment, there came the sound of clanking. The clanking of droid feet coming closer and closer. With no time to think about getting away, she only had the option of hiding. She ducked behind a desk and quieted her breathing as much as she could as the door opened, and droids came in, talking amongst themselves. Moments later, they were all seated at their stations, and she was left with a dilemma.
She couldn't reveal herself and couldn't leave, not without the droids noticing.
And so she was left with no other option but to wait and hide, hoping the droids didn't notice her presence.
For the most part, they didn't, and after only half an hour, the signal came that they were about to drop out of hyperspace. Listening to the droids, she felt her heart grow cold; they were getting closer and closer to the medical station. The Republic strike force led by Skywalker didn't stand a chance, not with the defenses already in place onboard the Malevolence.
Nala Se was on that station, helping wounded clones and her mission. There had to be something she could do to save her friend.
Seconds later, an explosion nearby caused everything to shake and caused the droids to fall all over the place and each other. Seeing an opportunity, she took it and raced for the open door as the droids were picking themselves up. She was nothing more than a blur, and the droids weren't able to register she had passed them.
From there, she raced down the hallways and up and down lifts and stairs, heading for the generators that powered the ion cannons. She couldn't do anything to the ship's outside, but maybe she could sabotage the inside.
It was worth a try, and perhaps the Republic would shift its focus towards what it could destroy.
The Malevolence's greatest assets were its ion cannons, but they were also its greatest weakness. A weakness could be exploited and damaged if one knew what to do. And if she timed it right with the Republic using torpedoes or missiles on the ion cannons on the outside, then no one would think the two events were connected.
With the beginnings of a plan in mind, she raced towards the generators, getting there just as Plo Koon was saying, "If we can do enough damage, the weapon may overload when Grievous tries to fire."
She paused for a moment, sensing the indecision from Skywalker. If he disagreed with that plan and kept heading for the bridge, then she would leave and escape while she could. After a few moments, she sensed the indecision change to resolve; he had a plan. That became clear when she sensed the fighters veering away from the bridge and heading for the ion cannons.
After that, it was a race against time. As the fighters got closer and closer to the ion cannon, Grievous got it ready to fire. As this was happening, she raced inside the generator room, which was massive and stretched the ship's width to accommodate the generators and plasma rotors for both cannons, and headed straight for the coolant system that kept them from overheating. Some incorrect commands had the coolant down and the generator's heat too high. Then she was racing out of the room just as the torpedoes started hitting the ion cannon. Alone it wouldn't have been enough to destroy the cannons; Skywalker had lost too many ships for the few he had left to have any effect, but combined with what she had just done to the coolant system and the generators, it was enough to cause them to overload.
Even running as fast as she could, she wasn't fast enough to not feel the shockwave caused by the explosion. It sent her flying into a wall, and then she collapsed down to the ground, lying there for a few seconds to get her bearings. Only then did she try and get up, finding that although she was incredibly sore and felt like she had broken a few bones, nothing was seriously wrong. She stood up fully then, dusting herself off before looking around. The droids she had almost run over in her haste to get away were destroyed and mangled, and so was the ship.
She raced down the hallway, hitting a button on her comlink as she did so. A few seconds later, there was a trill and a beep; her droid had survived and was waiting. She smiled to herself; she was also ready to get off this ship. But then her droid delivered some bad news. The damage to the ship reached all the way back to that hanger, and her ship had been damaged. The droid was making repairs as fast as possible, but the cloaking device was damaged. She sighed when she heard that; it was always something.
But she couldn't bring herself to be too angry; after all, the Malevolence was severely damaged, and from the looks of things, the Republic wouldn't let it get away so easily, stopping at a window to watch as three Republic cruisers exited hyperspace behind the medical station. She smiled to herself; aside from the damage to her ship, this had been a rather successful mission. Now all she had to do was make the repairs and get away without anyone noticing, and since no one was looking for her, that shouldn't be too hard.
With that thought, she raced away and headed back toward the rear of the ship, ready to make her repairs and get away as quickly as possible; not knowing what was coming next would shake her to the core and make her reconsider asking a friend to put themselves in harm's way so easily for her.
Grievous in retreat! Before the battleship Malevolence could destroy an Outer Rim clone medical base, a Republic strike force, under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, crippled the warship, disabling its dreaded ion cannon.
Now the Jedi relentlessly pursue the Malevolence….
She had been working on her own ship for several hours as the Republic relentlessly kept up their attack on the Malevolence, trying to destroy it before the hyperdrive could be activated and it could retreat to Separatist space where the number of ships would be too much for the Republic. She had done her best to damage the hyperdrive on the way back to her own fighter, but it wouldn't slow the ship down for long. In the end, she had had no choice but to retreat back to the hanger and begin repairs on her ship, trying to get out before the Malevolence either disappeared into hyperspace or the Republic was able to destroy it.
But she knew the ship was too big; it could take everything the Republic threw at it and then some. There was no way to just destroy the ship, at least not from the outside. It had proven it wasn't invincible from the inside, but there wasn't anyone inside the ship who could do more damage.
And there was no way she was going to the bridge to sabotage it.
So that was the state of things for her as she and her droid worked on repairing the starfighter. She had been able to clear the debris off of it, revealing that the reactor was only slightly damaged, but the hyperdrive and cloaking device were worse off than she expected. She had spent the better part of three hours repairing the hyperdrive as the droid repaired the reactor. Finally, they were getting close to finishing those repairs and starting on the cloaking device. The cockpit was undamaged, the reinforced glass of the view screen had protected it, and the life support and all other critical systems were fine. It was just the systems that always took a while to repair, of course. The cloaking device wasn't necessary but wanted, and so it was being worked on last once everything required for an escape was fixed.
At that moment, the explosions caused by the Republic stopped, and she looked up, wondering what was going on. The next instant, she felt a presence in the Force that immediately caused her concern and fear, knowing that the person shouldn't be there.
Padmé had just entered the system, too far away from anything she had any business being near for this to be a coincidence. Which meant it was a trap, likely to force Skywalker to stop the attack on the Malevolence. And it was clearly working. Turning her attention fully to the Force, she listened as Padmé's ship was brought aboard the Malevolence by a tractor beam, and felt Padmé's fear but also her determination not to be used as a pawn.
Minutes later, she sensed Grievous leave the bridge and begin his journey down to the hanger where Padmé's ship had been forced to land. But at the same time, she could feel Padmé decide to make things as difficult as possible for Grievous as she overloaded the power system of her ship and set the engines to destroy themselves, deciding to make her own way on the ship and make it as hard as possible for Grievous to find her.
The woman smiled; despite her fear and Padmé's fear, the senator wasn't going down without a fight and would do her best to get off the ship by herself if she had to. And perhaps she could help Padmé do that. Or at least keep her safe until Skywalker came for her. Of that, she had no doubt about. At least she could keep an eye on Padmé until Skywalker came. And if memory served, Kenobi would come along too just to keep his old Padawan out of trouble.
This would be an excellent opportunity to observe both of them.
Nodding to herself, she turned to her droid and signaled him to keep working on the ship. He beeped in agreement, and she left the hanger, following her sense of where Padmé was as the Jedi began their own approach to the Malevolence. It was the work of only a few minutes to find Padmé in the Force and realize that she was with her droid Threepio, who was complaining all the while. The woman shook her head, she honestly didn't understand the point of protocol droids, but Padmé was fond of this one, so she did her best to tolerate him.
She honestly found astromech droids to be a bit handier in a fight, and she had learned a long time ago to never underestimate them.
Twenty minutes later, she found Padmé, trying to get a comm panel working and get a message to the Republic fleet. At that moment, Threepio noticed approaching droids, and they ducked into a panel that had been shaken loose by one of the many explosions that had been rocking the Malevolence for hours. It wasn't a moment too late because Grievous was there. He was leading the droids but stopped when he heard the comm panel activate, and a droid on the other end of the panel said, "Uh, General?"
"What?" Grievous rasped out, and the droid continued, "The damage to the hyperdrive was not as bad as we first thought. We should be able to get underway again shortly." "
"I must inform Count Dooku. Stay here. Continue the search. Find the stowaway and bring them to me," Grievous said as he turned to one of the droids following him.
"Roger, roger," the droid said before Grievous headed back the way he had come, and the droids continued on, not noticing that their quarry had heard everything they had said. Only after they had disappeared from sight did Padmé and Threepio come out of hiding; Padmé heading straight for the comm panel again, knowing she had to get a message to the Republic so that they could find her. As this was happening, the Jedi were landing at the emergency airlock of the ship and heading inside the ship to find Padmé, giving the woman the chance to watch as Padmé finally got the panel working. After a few minutes of static, Skywalker's voice, with quite a bit of concern, came through, "Padmé!"
"Anakin!" Padmé exclaimed, unable to hide the relief in her voice.
"Are you all right? Where are you?" Skywalker asked.
"On the lower levels. I'm fine, but I don't know for how long. Droids are everywhere," Padmé said as Threepio kept an eye out for approaching droids.
"Obi-Wan and I are on board, too." Skywalker said, and Padmé immediately asked, more than surprised, "What? What are you doing here?"
"We came to get you off this ship," Skywalker replied almost defensively, clearly not expecting such a response, but then turned to the other people listening to the exchange, "Ahsoka, how can we get to the Senator?"
A young voice came through the panel, sounding like she was only about twelve or thirteen, and the woman remembered belatedly that Skywalker had a Padawan, a young Togruta named Ahsoka Tano, "According to our scans, there seems to be a large open area in the center of the ship. It should be halfway between the two of you."
"We're on our way. Did you hear that, Padmé?" Skywalker asked, clearly knowing that Padmé could make it there on her own, but perhaps not off the ship without help.
"I'll be there," Padmé replied before looking down the hallway both ways. She saw the woman briefly but only nodded quickly before running the other way, knowing the woman would keep her safe until she was with the Jedi but would keep herself from being seen by anyone in the process. The woman nodded to herself; that was the plan.
Eventually, they all made it to the ship's center that the woman had passed through several times already. She had ended up taking a different route than Padmé and her droid and was now a level above them, watching the trains run supplies and equipment throughout the ship. She sensed the Jedi were there, looking for Padmé, but just then, there was the sound of laser fire below her. Padmé had been found by droids and was running out of places to retreat to. That became even clearer when the woman heard her tell her droid, "Jump!"
Threepio could only exclaim, "Who? Meeeee?" before he was pushed onto a passing train. But he couldn't stop himself and fell lower onto another train passing by. Padmé, however, made it onto the first train and stayed there before Skywalker jumped onto one next to her. A droid blew out the bridge at that moment, and she was left with no option but to jump to Skywalker, who caught her handily.
Kenobi was watching above and said, "Nice catch! I'll fetch the droid!" before running after the train that had taken Threepio deeper into the ship, the woman having patched into their comms herself when the Jedi had arrived so that she could monitor where they were and avoid them.
Skywalker and Padmé stayed where they were, and the woman was able to watch them for a few minutes from her vantage point before she heard through her comlink, "Anakin, I got separated from your droid."
"Threepio!" Padmé exclaimed, stopping the romantic moment between her and Skywalker dead in its tracks. Skywalker said grudgingly, "I'll take care of it. We'll meet you back at the Twilight," turning to Padmé as he said this, clearly expecting her to agree with going back to the Twilight and waiting.
Hearing the name of their ship caused a bit of recognition in the woman, making her wonder if it was the ship she thought it was, but she forced her attention back to the conversation at hand, especially when she heard Padmé say, "No! We can't leave yet. I overheard Grievous. Their hyperdrive is almost repaired."
Kenobi apparently heard it too because he said, "I'm already headed in that direction. So, I'll make certain that the hyperdrive stays offline," ending the transmission to focus on getting off at the correct stop.
At the same time, Skywalker turned to Padmé and said, "I'm getting you out of here," before activating his comms and asking, "Artoo? I need you to help me find Threepio. He's on the rail jet," R2 could be heard beeping and trilling through the comms, and even the woman had to smile when she heard how the droid felt about his friend, although Skywalker clearly had to agree with his droid if he wanted it to be of any help, "I know. I know. He does. Look, just find him for me, and I'll be there soon."
The transmission ended after that; Skywalker and Padmé getting off at another stop and heading for the bridge to sabotage it, leaving the woman with a bit of a dilemma. She could follow Skywalker and Padmé, even though there was nothing there she wanted to see. Skywalker was skilled with the Force and a lightsaber; she knew there was nothing there for her to learn.
Or she could follow Kenobi and see if there was something new there worth knowing about. He was an unknown to her, someone she hadn't seen fight in a long time, and it would be interesting to see if there was something to be learned there. And it would be interesting to see if he was still the clumsy teenager she had heard he was from an old friend and if he had learned anything new since the last time she'd seen him. In the end, she decided to follow him and see if anything had changed with him. He led her to the hyperdrive, just as she thought he would, but she stayed in the shadows a level above him to watch as he was confronted by Grievous and quite a few droids.
Craning her ears and reaching out with the Force slightly, she was actually able to hear the exchange between them, "Hello there. General Kenobi, did you really think I would leave the hyperdrive unguarded?" Grievous asked as he stood between a few battle droids.
"Anything is possible. You haven't exactly impressed me today," Kenobi said, reaching up and stroking his beard as he said this, clearly not concerned about this situation at all.
Grievous only laughed before saying, "Kill him."
The droids on every side of Kenobi got ready to fire, but Kenobi only smiled and looked around for a moment. Seconds later, he leaped into the air as the droids started firing, landing in between the droidekas. Igniting his lightsaber, he Force-pushed one of the droidekas into the droids walking towards him on the one side, causing all of them to fall off the walkway. The Jedi jumped again over a droideka, this time pushing the other one into another column of droids, all of whom fell off the walkway again. Grievous started shooting at him then, but he used the shield from the last droideka to protect himself before pushing it into Grievous and his crowd of droids.
But Grievous was ready for it and strong enough to stop the droideka dead, slamming it into the ground and out of the way. Kenobi only gave a mock salute and started running, unable to damage the hyperdrive in any way. Grievous and the droids continued shooting as Kenobi reached the door, but the last shot Grievous fired was easily deflected by Kenobi's lightsaber without the Jedi even turning around. The woman smiled to herself at the display, Kenobi had indeed improved since the last time she had seen him and was no longer the clumsy, impulsive teenager she thought he was, and turned her attention back to Grievous, catching the droid next to him say, "That was impressive," at Grievous' near hit.
Grievous clearly didn't think so because he hit the droid and knocked it over before turning to the droids still standing and snarled, "Guard the hyperdrive! I will deal with this Jedi myself."
He left the hyperdrive room then, and the woman decided it was time for her to go as well. She had a feeling that Skywalker had a plan of some kind to disable or destroy the ship, and she didn't want to be there when he attempted it.
She ran then, avoiding the droids as best she could, as well as the Jedi and Padmé, quickly making it back to her own ship. Her droid beeped happily when he saw her, more than willing to get going, and she found she couldn't agree more. She hopped into the cockpit, running checks on everything. All her systems were functioning properly and were ready to go. Even the cloaking device had been patched. It hadn't been repaired, but it should hold up until they were away. The signal scrambler was also fixed, and she was quick to activate it and the cloaking device before taking off. She left the hanger then, flying fast away from the ship before turning around safely off to the side to watch what happened next.
Minutes later, vulture droids took off from the Malevolence, following Grievous as he shot at another ship. Seeing the other ship, the woman was surprised; she knew that ship and had been looking for it for a long time. But there was no way she was going to steal it from the Republic now, and so let it be as she watched the Jedi skillfully avoid being shot to pieces by Grievous and his vulture droids. As she was watching the fight and actually enjoying it slightly, the Republic cruisers started firing at the Malevolence again, clearly having gotten the signal that the Jedi were off the ship and it was safe to continue destroying the ship.
Her droid scanned the ship then and beeped in concern. She looked at her readout and felt some concern as well. The Malevolence's hyperdrive was activating, and they were getting ready to disappear into Separatist space to make repairs. If that happened, it could jeopardize her plans, and she would have to make her presence known to the galaxy sooner than she wanted to. But a few seconds later, she felt confidence from the Twilight. It was still flying steady and fast towards the cruisers, and Skywalker wasn't worried about the Malevolence getting away. Deciding to trust his judgment for the briefest of moments, she turned back to the juggernaut, watching as it started veering towards the dead moon of Antar.
At first, she was confused, but seconds later, the confusion gave way to amusement as the ship headed towards the moon as fast as possible. Minutes later, she was bracing for the shockwave as it crashed into the moon, destroying itself and every droid on it in the process. She shook her head then; Skywalker had hotwired the ship to send it directly into the moon when the droids activated the hyperdrive. That was rather clever of him, and she was smiling as she also plotted a course in hyperdrive and disappeared before Republic scanners could register her presence.
But as she disappeared, Obi-Wan Kenobi turned in the direction she had gone for the briefest of moments, sensing something strange but not understanding what it was. Seconds later, he dismissed it; it was likely nothing, and he needed to congratulate his old Padawan on a job well done for destroying the ship with them off of it and not too many risks taken in the process.
A few days later, Padmé was safely back on Coruscant. The chancellor had apologized many times for the false information, saying he had thought the information from the Banking Clan had been confirmed and was reliable. She had accepted his apology and told him that it was not as big a concern as he was making it; she was safe, and the Malevolence had been destroyed. But still, the thought of the woman being on the ship had haunted her as she was heading home. The woman had protected her, she was sure of that, but what she was doing there she didn't completely understand.
As far as she knew, there was nothing the woman could hope to gain from being there, and so it was a mystery she wanted to solve, but something was standing in her way.
And that was the fact there was no way to contact her unless she wanted to be contacted.
Which left Padmé with nothing to do but stand in her office in the Senate, staring out at the night sky and the lights of the city in front of her. She had been doing so for the last half hour, having dismissed Threepio to shut down and recharge, and her staff was out on errands for her. She finally sighed; she wouldn't find any answers standing here and staring at the city before her, and so turned back to her desk, only to jump in surprise to see Kit Fisto there in her office.
She had been so deep in thought she hadn't even heard him come in.
He smiled gently at her, "I apologize, Senator, I didn't mean to startle you. You looked as though you had a lot on your mind, and I didn't want to intrude."
She returned the smile shakily before saying, "It's fine, Master Fisto. I don't think anyone can answer all the questions on my mind, not even you," as she headed for her desk.
He nodded as he settled into a chair in front of her desk, his lightsaber absent, "You want to know why she was on the Malevolence, but not even I know. I also don't know how she got the plans for the ship or what she was planning to do to get off the ship, much less what she did to it while she was there. But I saw the plans for the ship after the fact, and there was no way Master Skywalker could have simply destroyed the ion cannons just by sending torpedoes into them, so she must have done something. But what, I cannot say. Not yet anyway."
Padmé nodded as she sat down as well, "Well, lack of answers is par for the course when dealing with her, so I assume I should get used to it."
Kit looked at her sharply before asking quietly, "Do you want to be used to it, Senator?" when she looked at him in confusion, he added, "I'm a messenger tonight, Senator, with a message straight from our friend. She says that if you would like to pull out and not be part of this Conspiracy, then you may do so, and no one would harbor any ill will towards you for doing so. She would completely understand if you did."
"Seriously?" Padmé asked, "Because of what happened on the Malevolence?" Kit nodded. Padmé shook her head, "No, I don't want to leave just because of the fact I was almost captured. This is war, Master Fisto; it is a risk we are all taking every day."
"Padmé," Kit said softly, catching her by surprise. Kit was nothing if not polite, and for him to use her name meant that it was serious, "She is concerned that this wasn't just an attempt to stop the Republic from destroying the Malevolence. She thinks it was part of something else."
"She thinks it was an attempt to lure her out of hiding or capture her instead?" Padmé asked, and Kit nodded. Padmé thought a moment, allowing Kit to say, "I can understand her concern; it is a reality I must face every day because of what I know. She doesn't want you facing that reality either because if she is right and you are captured, then there is nothing her enemies won't do to you to lure her out of hiding. Believe it or not, she is looking out for you, as best she can."
Padmé stared at her hands in front of her on the desk, deep in thought, but a green hand laying itself gently over hers made her look up into Kit's calm eyes. He only said, "She considers you a close friend; she doesn't want you getting hurt. And neither do I," he stopped for a moment, having to swallow back his emotions and look away for a moment before saying, "You know as much as I do in some regards regarding her, and I don't want you getting hurt because of that. I don't want to lose such a good friend," as he turned back to her, his fear for her easy to see in his large eyes. They were the most expressive part of his face, she had always thought so; one just had to know how to read them.
Padmé smiled slightly when she saw the vulnerability Kit wasn't afraid to show right now, knowing what it meant that he was willing to show it to her, knowing that weakness wasn't something that he could show easily, especially considering what she knew about him. She took his hand in both of hers, squeezing it firmly and making him look at her desperately, wanting her to get out while she had the chance, before saying, "This is what we both promised years ago, Kit, and I will help you as best as I can for as long as I can to see this done. That is the promise I made when I joined this Conspiracy, and nothing and no one is going to stop me. I know the consequences and am prepared for them and will face them with my head held high; I can promise that. I won't let myself be intimidated or stopped."
Kit stared at her for several moments before saying quietly, "You have the heart of a warrior, Padmé, don't let anyone ever tell you differently. Brave and true, loyal and strong, just as I have always thought. Thank you, for convincing me to let you stay. It isn't my choice, it's yours, but I was fully prepared to convince you to back down. But I won't, because you are too strong to let anyone tell you no."
Padmé, unsurprisingly, blushed to have such a compliment given to her by someone who was an actual warrior and had been for much of his life. Kit smiled at her embarrassment before standing and saying, "I must go and return to my fleet. I will let you know if she needs you to do anything in the coming weeks, but I don't think there is. I think she will be doing things in the coming months that won't need as much help from us as we think. All she wants is for us to be ready for whatever she needs, because her requests will range from the odd to the absurd. But Padmé," she looked at him, hearing the gravity and seriousness in his voice, "Be careful, no matter what. I can't guarantee your protection at all, not in the manner of the Conspiracy, as you well know," Padmé nodded at that, knowing that to be true, but then Kit added, "And I can't promise you will come out of this unscathed. There is no guarantee of protection for anyone, not even for me. You will have to be on your guard."
Padmé nodded, "Don't worry, Kit, I will be. Just take care of her, and yourself, and we'll do our best to help you. We are all here if you need us."
Kit stared at her a moment before nodding and smiling, then he turned around. Seconds later, he was gone, out the door and back to the Temple, leaving Padmé to stare at the place where he had been moments ago before standing and going back to the large windows behind her. Kit had left her with a few answered questions but left many more unanswered, and she knew it would be a long wait until she had the answers to what really mattered.
And the fact that not even he could be protected from what might happen was a thought that shook her to the core, but there was nothing that could be done to change that. They were all bound and determined to see this through, and there was no one to change what happened next. Hopefully, they would be given all the answers they needed in due time.
If everyone survived.
Far away, a hand rested on a stomach that was starting to swell, and the life within was sensed and treasured.
How she would go about raising that life while fighting a silent war, she did not know, but she was determined to do her best no matter what.
This child would not have the childhood she had, that she swore to herself.