Distraction: Chapter Seventeen

"I can't believe the Emperor had clones made of Anakin as well."

Padme had taken the copilot's seat. We were both dripping wet but wanted to get our trip to Dagobah settled before taking care of ourselves.

"Nothing the man does surprises me anymore. If you can call him a man. Monster may be a better word." I'd never spoken a truer statement.

She had begun mapping out the fastest route to Dagobah, even though I knew full well it would take at least a day to get there; and that was at light speed.

"When did you know?" she asked while still studying the intergalactic routes. "I mean, how long was it before you started feeling like you didn't fit in – as a Sith?"

As far back as I could remember, come to think about it. "When Anakin and I were sent to Ryloth to stop a coup. Anakin wanted to destroy the entire city, but I didn't feel right about that. I refused to let it happen. I'd heard your voice even before then, but I thought I was losing my mind."

"Maybe you are," she teased, trying to look serious, although the corner of her mouth was twitching as if she were holding back a grin. "This is all just a fantastic illusion. You're still a Sith and I'm…" Her face squeezed tight as if she had just tasted something sour. "I'm sorry. I can't even joke about that. It was all such a nightmare."

"For both of us," I agreed.

She smiled at me then and I couldn't help but notice her eyes. They had lost some of their dullness and there was now some spark to them. Was I the cause? Or was it merely from the excitement of our adventure?

"You enjoyed that back there, didn't you? I had no idea you were such an adrenaline junkie," I teased in return although my motive was purely selfish.

"That charade? I was scared to death! So, no. I wouldn't say I enjoy risking my life, but I've always tried to do what I have to in order to preserve what's right and good in the galaxy, especially when those things are becoming such a rarity."

She had no idea how right she was. I had seen so much evil during my short life as a Sith. It was hard to imagine it now. What was even a harder pill to swallow was that I was responsible for some of it.

I would be hard pressed to live up to her high standards of morality. I wasn't sure if I ever could deserve her.

I kept my sudden despairing thoughts to myself and hid them behind a watery smile. "I bet you made one helluva a senator," I told her honestly.

"I don't know about that," she blushed before looking a little melancholy herself. "Unless you consider being blind a good thing. I can't believe we were all duped into thinking the Chancellor was looking out for us, when he was a Sith Lord all along. All those Jedi he killed. He was even responsible for the invasion of Naboo."

"When you were queen?" I asked her.

"You remember that?"

I hadn't meant to get her hopes up. "I'm sorry, no. I was there not too long ago and read the inscription at the base of your statue. It's an amazing likeness, by the way."

Once again, her cheeks turned pink. "I still can't believe they had that commissioned. What I did wasn't all that special."

"Are you kidding?" I argued against her humility. "You brought together two races who had never had a history of getting along. Not ever. That was an amazing feat in itself."

"My assistant, Dorme, has always admonished me for not accepting compliments very well, so…thank you."

"No thanks necessary, but you're welcome."

Once again her eyes sparkled, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was the cause of it. Was it possible?

"Padme," I spoke softly and she leaned toward me.

"Yes?"

Her lips were moist and parted. I wanted to taste them so badly. What would she do if I tried? Was it what she wanted? I'd always had somewhat of a talent for reading body language and she seemed to be yearning for something.

"Malefic."

The voice coming through our comm was as unwelcome as it was unexpected.

"Oh no," I uttered, looking out the front portal.

"I recognize that voice," Padme said between clenched teeth communications.

I opened communications and hesitated a fraction."Lord Vader. What are you doing all the way out here?"

Padme had risen from her seat and grasped my hand tightly. I wasn't sure why.

"Or should I say – Obi-Wan."

"You can call me Ben," I replied. I knew Anakin well; in any shape or form. I understood his motivations, his thinking, his desires. They all boiled down to the same thing: Power. It was all he craved.

"Traitor is more like it."

"I believe you've got that backwards," I told him. "I'm not the one who's on the wrong side. Not any more."

The channel went silent for a moment and the grip on my hand tightened even more.

"You have something that belongs to me. I want it back."

Padme was enraged. It was written all over her face. She leaned toward the microphone without letting go of my digits – which were starting to go numb as a matter of fact.

"That was always your biggest problem and the main reason I could never be with someone like you," she told him, her words measured and full of anger. "You don't care about anyone but yourself! To you, I was always an object. You only wanted to control me. That's not going to happen. Not then, not now, not ever."

Again, the comm went silent. The boy was many things, but quiet wasn't one of them.

"Very well. Have it your way."

The comm went dead and my mind went on alert.

"Padme, activate our shielding. He's going to attack."

She didn't hesitate or argue with me.

"And get strapped in tight."

The second she'd done as asked and I saw she was secure, I sped the ship up and took a nosedive. Anakin was right on our tail.

A blast from his laser canons ricocheted off our hull. I knew he wouldn't give up this fight until our yacht was destroyed and us along with it. We would have to fight back or gain enough distance from him to make the jump to hyperspeed. In either case, it was going to take some tricky maneuvering. I really did hate to fly.

I banked right and up, and then slowed down dramatically and banked left. Anakin sped right past us and looped around. I knew this ploy. It was a tactic of his to see if the enemy would run or proceed. I had no intentions of running. Not just yet.

I knew enough about this luxury yacht to return fire, which I did. Our efforts didn't hit the mark, but it showed him I wasn't afraid of him. I continued straight on, in a collision course, while laser bolts screamed past us on either side. I shot several bolts, hitting him at least once but he kept coming. We were drawing close enough I could make out his facial features.

"Ben?"

I knew what she was about to say.

"I've got this," I told her confidently. "Trust me."

At the last possible second I pulled back the controls, which lifted us just in time to fly over Anakin's ship and skim its surface. Our ship was bigger and heavier, and the hull was thicker. As the two ships grazed each other, a loud shrieking of metal was heard followed by several banging noises.

Padme looked out her side portal. "We damaged him. There are parts of his ship floating around out there."

"Good," I told her, hoping she was right and that it was his ship and not ours coming apart.

His ship, however, was easier to maneuver as well as being faster, and before I knew it, he had come round about and fired upon us again. This time a warning light on the control panel lit up.

"Hyperdrive engines are damaged," Padme informed me.

"That's it. I've had enough of this," I announced, pulling the heavy ship down. As expected, Anakin followed, firing at us the entire time.

"Kill engines," I said with a sudden idea.

"What? Are you serious?" Padme asked me at the same time she grabbed hold of the switch.

"Hurry."

Without any more argument, she did as I asked. Anakin couldn't have expected that and the result was him slamming into the rear of our ship.

Seeming to understand my idea, Padme restarted the engines and we pulled away to see Anakin's ship floating away. In the direction he was headed, he would eventually be drawn in by Tatooine's gravity.

"This isn't over," he told me over the comm with a voice more angrier than I'd ever heard it.

"Don't answer him. Just let him deal with this loss."

I liked Padme's idea, so all I let him listen to was static.