Seldom Darlin – thanks, I aim to please.

DarthGladiator45 – I'm glad to hear that I'm keeping you on the edge of your seat. I hope I can keep it up.

Penpadme – I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or anything Star Wars related.

PART NINE

The Unmasking

Padme tossed and turned in her bed for most of the night. After returning to the shuttle, she had decided not to tell anybody about her encounter with the mysterious blue being. She realized, once she had returned to her right state of mind, that the story would sound preposterous. She knew that she would have trouble finding a single person who would believe it. Even Sabe, she knew, would think she was crazy if she told her she had met the ghost of a Jedi.

Sighing in exasperation, Padme sat up and tossed her sheets aside. She would obviously get no sleep this night. Then, she turned to the small clock that sat beside her bed. She slightly smiled when she read it: 0600 hours. Her crew was scheduled to begin work in only an hours' time. Slipping into her nightgown, she walked to the fresher adjoined with her quarters and splashed her face with cool water. Though she wasn't hungry, she decided to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. She needed to do something to pass the time; the others wouldn't be up for at least twenty more minutes.

When she arrived in the mess hall, Padme found only the cooks behind the serving counter. After exchanging pleasantries and fetching a less-than-appealing plate of something covered in gravy, she sat down at a small table and absently picked at the meal. Her brush with the spirit earlier in the night still consumed her thoughts. She had so many questions to ask it, so much she wanted to know…she could only hope they would meet again.

"What are you doing up?" a voice spoke up behind her.

Padme glanced back over her shoulder just as Sabe took a seat beside her. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I think I've been spending too much time with you," Sabe quipped. "I never used to get up this early."

Padme smirked at this and continued to pick at her food. Sabe noticed her friends' wandering thoughts and cleared her throat to grab her attention.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You seem a little…distracted."

"I'm just tired," Padme lied.

The two women finished their meals in silence before clearing their trays and leaving to find their crew. They soon after found them gearing up in the assembly area along with their group of worker droids. They were ready to go within a matter of minutes.

Padme's chest tightened as they approached the ancient temple and moved inside. She rigidly led the crew down into the Sith tunnels and made her way towards Darth Vader's tomb. She paused at the doorway, but only briefly. The last thing she wanted to do was show fear in front of her team.

"We have to be careful," she said as she slid on a pair of sterilized gloves. "Remember, this armor is thousands of years old. It could be brittle after all this time."

Padme had been waiting for this moment ever since they had found the Black Knight. She couldn't wait to see what rested beneath the Sith Lord's mask. Reaching for the helmet that sat atop it, she delicately pulled until it came loose. She then gingerly handed it over to Sabe before shifting her focus back to the armor. Taking a deep breath, she began to tug at the mask until it too came loose. Pulling it away, she couldn't contain a gasp as her gaze fell upon the charred face of the Black Knight.

Sabe held a hand up to her mouth in horror. "Padme, what happened to him?"

"I don't know," Padme answered as she lightly ran a finger across the Sith's cheekbone. "Amazing. He has hardly decomposed; look how well preserved his tissue is."

"Amazing is hardly the word I would choose to describe it," Sabe muttered.

"These wounds still look fresh," Padme stated in wonderment. "How can that be? There should be nothing but a skeleton after all these years." Quirking a brow, she continued to study the burnt visage. "Maybe this is the reason he was in the suit. It could have been some kind of life-preservation system."

"Who would want to keep that monster alive?" Sabe questioned in disgust.

"Well, let's get him back to the ship," Padme said, paying no mind to her friends' remark and cautiously handing the mask over to one of the many worker droids. "Take every precaution when transporting him."

Padme took a step back while the droids methodically surrounded the coffin. She was very eager to get the corpse back to the ship where she could study it further…