Leia stared at Luke as if he turned into a giant spider as Ben stood up and quickly evacuated the cockpit. Ben was well aware of what his grandfather did as Vader and must have been aware of her feelings towards her estranged father. He not only took out the Jedi temple but killed millions in cold blood. He tortured her and Han on a couple of occasions. Not to mention what happened above the Death Star, she didn't like where this was going. There was no such thing as time travel, the fact they were hovering above Coruscant with no Yuuzhan Vong below was proof they were in the past. "How is that possible? How do we get back?"
"I don't know," Luke answered honestly. "Scanning Palpatine with the Force may have been a mistake, he most likely sensed me and may send Anakin…"
"If Anakin comes after us, Luke, it's your fault," Leia pointed out in a slightly irritated tone. "Here's another chance to take out your children again, do me a favor and take them out permanently and do it right this time."
"Leia, Anakin isn't Vader yet," Luke pointed out in a testy tone. "He doesn't have the same darkness I sensed from Vader. I don't want to tell Anakin what he does to us, it'll only hurt him. He's most likely in a fragile mind that is still bendable to either way."
"So telling him off, is a no go," Leia muttered under her breath as Luke nodded in agreement. "What do you plan to do? Track down Yoda and ask him for help?"
"Yes that's the plan," Luke answered honestly as he stared at Leia with a warning expression. "We're going to need help to get back to our time and no matter how tempted you are. Do not track down Padme."
"Don't you want to get to know her?" Leia questioned with a curious tone. "I want to know what she's like, and what she truly saw in Anakin."
"Leia, do you want to be born or not?" Luke challenged in an irked tone causing Leia to think that one over.
On the other hand, she always wondered what it would've been like to be raised by Padme and Anakin, well not Vader, that would've been a disaster. If they don't remember anything from this time period, they would not know what they would be missing out on. "We can't stop Palpatine either, I suppose?" Leia questioned with a frown. "Stopping him means this war comes to a halt early and allows us to be better prepared for the invasion."
"I don't know if it's a good idea, if we can prevent Anakin from falling to the dark side that means you and I won't be separated and raised by Anakin and Padme," Luke pointed out with a frown. "Not unless you truly like being the Princess of Alderaan?"
"If we're raised by Anakin and Padme, we won't know what we missed out on," Leia pointed out with a frown as Luke nodded in agreement. If it wasn't for Artoo having that short circuit a few months ago, they would've never found out who their mother was. All they knew was her first name, Artoo had accidentally played a love hologram from Padme to Anakin. After breaking into the droids memory banks made them realize that Artoo belonged to Anakin during the war. The droid had diagrams to old warships, bases, Jedi fighters, an early version of a Y-wing, enemy fighters and the list went on.
They found a few more love notes between their parents. She began to wonder if the war placed the marriage on rocky ground between them. Like it put her and Han on rocky ground after the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong started. Somehow she and Han managed to pull through. She hoped their families were okay. Mara was flying in an X-wing and Jaina was on her wing when the fighting began. Even Han was using the Falcon to shoot fighters down. "I want to get back to our families."
"Then we don't tell Anakin, anything," Luke pointed out in a painstaking tone.
"Right, tell Anakin nothing," Leia agreed as she realized Luke had a point. If Anakin knew what he did to them in the future truly could emotionally hurt him. She didn't even know what he was like before he was Vader. "What's our first step?" Leia questioned.
"We track down Yoda and ask for his help."
So much for meditating, Anakin thought to himself as he entered the Chancellors office with a frown. He wondered what the Chancellor needed to see him about. Palpatine was standing at the window looking out as Anakin cleared his throat. "You wished to see me, your excellency?"
"Anakin my boy, how are you?" Palpatine questioned with a fatherly smile as Anakin smiled in turn.
"I'm well, your Excellency. I'm curious as to why you have summoned me? I'm on vacation retreat for the next two weeks," Anakin reminded Palpatine with a frown. "And plan to use it for relaxation and sleeping."
"I promise this won't take long," Palpatine promised with a smile. "Of course you need your rest time. I have learned of a plot to spy on the Republic Senate from the enemy. We have yet to learn the identity of these spies, my team is working on it. As soon as we discover who these spies are, I want you to arrest them for questioning."
"Of course, your Excellency," Anakin answered with a frown. He wondered if these were the visitors Yoda predicted to him and he felt very hesitant in arresting them and could not explain as to why. He sensed someone touching his mind earlier, he didn't know who this individual was but he also sensed he should know him at the same time. "Do you know who these spies are?"
"My boy if I knew, I would be able to tell you. Alas, I do not know the names as of yet, as soon as I do, you will need to track them down for me," Palpatine answered in a concerned tone.
After the conversation he just had with Yoda made him a little more wary of Palpatine, he couldn't quite explain why but he suddenly didn't trust the man. "I will be waiting for your call, Your Excellency."
"Excellent, now I'm sure Padme is awaiting your arrival so I shall not keep you," Palpatine gave a fatherly smile causing a shiver to run up Anakin's back. How did he know about his plans with Padme? Is the Chancellor spying on them?
"Thank you, your excellency," Anakin watched as Palpatine gave a cold smile? Or was it meant to be warm? He quickly left the room not wanting to be in the man's presence anymore. Something seemed off about all of this.
Luke sat down in the pilots' chair as he eyed a giant freighter dropping cargo down into the atmosphere. He remembered Han using this trick more than a few times to sneak onto the planet. He felt it was the best way to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. Ben was sitting in the co-pilots chair and he felt this was a good time to teach Ben this trick. "Okay, let's get this over with."
"Will this work?" Ben questioned in curiosity as Luke nodded.
"Your Uncle uses this trick quite a bit," Luke explained with a tight smile as he approached a cargo freighter getting ready to drop cargo. "The main thing is to keep yourself in the radar shadow. Otherwise, you might be spotted."
"Dad, no one knows we're here," Ben pointed out with a frown as Luke shook his head. "This seems like overkill."
"Palpatine might know, but he doesn't know who to look for, that should work to our advantage," Luke explained as he concentrated on keeping with the cargo. "On the other hand, I have a strong feeling Palpatine will want to find us. It's due to the fact we know he's behind both sides of the Clone War."
"You might have a point," Ben agreed as he watched Luke's moves intently. "I'm thankful I got to know you and mom, unlike you and Aunt Leia and what you had to go through."
"Me too, son," Luke agreed with a slight smile as they entered the atmosphere. He waited to drop below the radar before straightening the ship back out and headed towards the nearest landing pad that smugglers used.
Luke walked down the ramp as he sensed a familiarity to the planet. It looked like nothing had really changed causing him to smile slightly. He glanced at Ben and Leia as they pulled on brown robes. "Keep your lightsaber close by, Ben. You don't want to walk around Coruscant without being unarmed. Especially the area we're in."
"Right dad," Ben agreed with a slight smile as they set out towards someone who was renting speeders as Leia walked up to the man and paid him for the speeder. The man was more than happy to let them have it causing Luke to raise an eyebrow at his twin.
"Leia, what did you do?" Luke questioned in a curious tone.
"I bought the speeder," Leia answered honestly as she climbed into the passenger side. "We don't know how long we're going to be here for."
"I suppose so," Luke agreed as he climbed into the driver's side. "I think the Jedi Temple is our best bet to find Master Yoda."
"The Jedi temple is our next stop," Leia agreed with a slight smile as Luke lifted the speeder off the deck. He wondered if the man sold speeders to smugglers on more then one occasion.
Anakin stepped into Padme's office as she looked up with an apologetic smile causing him to frown. "So, no dinner tonight after all?"
"I'm sorry, Anakin, Bail has asked to see me tonight and tomorrow," Padme apologized causing the frustration he felt earlier return.
"Call him back and tell him no. You and I need to work on spending time alone around each other before the baby comes, not this. I've been away too long as it is, and this is the first time in months we've been able to have time to ourselves," Anakin felt irritation and frustration at the thought that Bail was asked to track down these spies and asked Padme to assist. It just took more time away from him spending more time with Padme. He was almost positive this was what it was about. "Bail is interfering with husband and wife alone time."
"I understand you're frustrated, Anakin," Padme approached him and placed her hands onto his arms. "Bail told me there are spies we need to find and it might explain why the enemy is always two steps ahead of us. Palpatine made the request himself."
Palpatine? Why didn't this surprise him? He was beginning to hate the man more and more. "Did you tell Palpatine we had dinner plans tonight?"
"No, why?" Padme questioned in suspicion as Anakin shook his head.
"He knew," Anakin answered honestly. "I don't know how, but he knew," he hugged Padme to him as he felt her rounded belly press against his. She was pregnant and he still hadn't figured out what to do. "I don't think these are spies."
Padme pulled away from Anakin as she looked up at him with suspicion. "How do you know?"
"Something feels off about this, especially after the conversation I had with Master Yoda, he told me I'm to expect visitors," Anakin answered honestly. He left the part about bringing pain and grievance down on them, even he could not quite explain that part yet. "If I'm right, I want to talk with them first and not hand them over to Palpatine. I can't explain it but… Just trust me on this."
"I trust you," Padme gave a loving smile. "If Bail and I can track them down, I'll let you know and you can question them first."
"Thank you, Angel," Anakin gave a smile as Padme smiled. "Now, let's go to dinner and say blast it to Bail?"
Padme nodded with a smile and kissed Anakin on the cheek. "I can agree to that if you let me and Bail track these spies down tomorrow?"
"Deal," Anakin agreed with a slight smile as he offered his arm to Padme as she weaved her arm into his. "I love you, Padme."
"I love you, Anakin."
Anakin looked into Padme's eyes and felt his love for her wash over him making him feel warm and happy inside. He couldn't wait to meet and hold his baby.
Thanks for the reviews everyone and for reading :)
