Chapter Two: The Memory
Padmé's eyes were closed. She took deep even breaths. She was calm and content. She wouldn't allow herself to say happy. That word seemed to have been stolen from her five years ago. But at least she allowed herself to be content.
She laid in the small bed in the rented room. She could feel the warm body next to her. Her back against his front. His arm draped along her side and down her stomach. His body curled around hers. She could feel his deep rhythmic breathing of sleep. She kept her eyes closed and focused on that breathing.
Yet the peace was short lived. A klaxon alarm blared through the space station. Padmé jolted up at once. She wasted no time throwing the covers off of her and dashing to the small portview window of her room. Nearby in space floated a star destroyer. TIE fighters were just emerging and swarming toward the station.
She cursed to herself. She grabbed her clothes off the floor and quickly got dressed. She looked over at the figure in the bed, who was now quickly scrambling out of it. He also got dressed. At one point the two glanced at each other at the same time. They both paused, briefly. He gave her nod before the two went back to work.
Rion Jocosal was a human pilot who had served for the Alderaanian Navy when Padmé met him four years ago. He had dark tan skin and long black hair, which usually he wore tied back. He currently had some stubble growing along his face as he hadn't shaved recently. Rion had already slipped into his jumpsuit and was pulling on his boots.
Padmé had finished getting dressed into simple tight pants, shirt, and boots. She ran over to the small desk in the room. A variety of datapads and small holoprojectors laid scattered about. With a sweep of her arm, she swept them all into a bag she picked up off the floor. She turned and saw Rion had finished getting dressed. He had picked up the two blasters on the floor. He threw her one before the two left the room and into the hallway.
Ryx Station shuddered from the attacks of the fighters outside. The klaxon alarm was still blaring and red lights strobed through the hallway. A few other individuals, humans, aliens, and droids, were running through the corridors of the space station along with Padmé and Rion. In the distance Padmé could make out the sounds of blasters.
Yet she didn't falter or look back. She kept her pace running ahead. She did her best to move past those running slower without knocking them over or out of the way. But she knew time was essential. She found the staircase and took the stairs down two at a time. She did not dare to take the lifts in case power was cut to them. After a few flights of stairs she exited the stairwell into another corridor with Rion right behind her.
The corridor here was bustling with activity. Droids and individuals dashed around, but luckily all in the same direction Padmé was headed- towards the hangar. Upon entering the hangar she made her way towards the large ship dock. The ship was moored securely to the station with strong cables on its side. Below the ship, space stretched.
The ship was a CR90 Corvette named the Helios Eclipse. It had been gifted to Padmé, complete with its pilot Rion and crew, from her longtime friend Senator Organa of Alderaan. Padmé and Rion ran up to the loading ramp. A blue female Twi'lek was waiting at the entrance into the ship.
"You're here!" she shouted seeing Padmé and Rion. "Everyone else already made it. You two are the last." The Twi'lek let the two pass before she hit the panels on the loading ramp. The cables holding the ship snapped free and started to coil back into the station's hangar. The Twi'lek went into the ship closing the outside door behind her.
Padmé and Rion continued to the small bridge. Already Rion's crew had everything ready. With the mooring cables free, the ship started to descend into space below them. Padmé positioned herself so she stood directly behind the pilot's chair. She craned her neck up towards the space station as the ship dropped.
Ryx Station was a large space station floating near the crossroads of the Corellian Trade Spine hyperlane and the Sanctuary Pipeline hyperlane. It was modge podge of large ships and stations melded together. It looked more like a hunk of trash than a proper station. However several hundred people occupied the station. It was generally used as a fueling station, but also sported a hotspot for trade.
The proximity to the two hyperspace lanes had made it an ideal place for the Helios Eclipse to stop and refuel. Padmé and Rion had gotten a room to enjoy to some time off the ship. Luckily they managed to refuel and restock the ship before their early departure.
Padmé glanced up through the viewport. The upper part of the station was under heavy fire from various TIE fighters that were swarming the station. Small explosions were seen every few seconds. The Helios was not the only ship leaving Ryx Station. The airspace around the station was filled with fleeing ships. Some were being targeted by the TIE fighters in their attempts to flee.
Someone in the bridge shouted they had the coordinates for hyperspace ready, they just needed to get in position. Rion was piloting the ship lower towards the relatively empty space below them and away from the station. Padmé's eyes were fixed on the station above. Padmé could just make out the star destroyer beyond the station. Suddenly three more star destroyers jumped out of hyperspace. Padmé's breath catch her throat. She knew the middle destroyer was the Devastator.
She knew that was his flagship, and that he would be on it. A sharp chill washed over her. It was the closest she had been to her husband in a long time. She wondered if he stood on the bridge of his ship looking at the Helios as she looked a the Devastator. Yet then the Helios jumped into hyperspace. The familiar blue lines streaked across the viewport as the star destroyers disappeared.
There was a sense of relief from the crew. Padmé quietly left the cockpit and made her way to her private bunk. It was small containing not much else besides a bed and table built into the wall with a small bench to the side. Some drawers built into the other wall were used for storage. She sat on her bed and put her bag and blaster down beside her.
While she did feel relieved to have escaped from the Imperials, to have escaped from him, she was not happy. Crushing guilt washed over her. It was a heavy weight pushing down on her. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She thought about Ryx Station and all the innocents on board as they were gunned down by troopers or TIE fighters all because of her. All because she had stopped at the station.
Every place the Helios Eclipse stopped at was at risk, she knew. They had to stop the ship. They had to refuel and restock supplies. They couldn't last indefinitely in space. Despite knowing the risks, it didn't make it any easier for her. To feel the weight of innocent lives lost bearing down on her.
She opened a drawer in the wall. It was filled with various holoprojectors, datapads, commlinks, and various other miscellaneous devices. She pulled out a holoprojector that was on top and placed it on the table. She flipped it on and she was met with an image of her own face set in a square frame with text above and below it. The Imperial insignia was stamped in the top right corner. It was the bounty poster for her.
It read: Padmé Amidala. Rebel. High-Treason. Terrorist. Wanted Alive-Only. Two Million Credits. By order of the Emperor Darth Vader.
Padmé sighed as turned it off and threw the holoprojector back into the open drawer. She let herself fall back onto the bed. She rolled over to look at the blue streaking lights of hyperspace. Her mind went back to the few seconds of seeing the Devastator and the cold chill that had run over of her. It had been him, she knew it. She prayed that he showed some mercy to innocents of Ryx Station who committed no crime except being in the same spot she was. However, her husband was no longer a merciful man.
Five years ago the Republic and the Jedi Order fell, and Palpatine rose as the emperor of the new Galactic Empire. He named his second in command as Darth Vader, previously known as the Jedi Anakin Skywalker. Skywalker was the celebrated Hero With No Fear and loved by the people. He was the one true Jedi who stayed loyal to the Republic and to the Empire after the Jedi attempted to overthrow the Republic. Skywalker shed his Jedi name and took up the mantle of Darth Vader. He was ruthless in establishing the Empire's rule. Those who defied the Empire were met with swift and unforgiving violence.
Padmé last saw her husband the night he stopped being Anakin Skywalker. The night he personally led his troops to destroy the Jedi Temple and killed all within it. He had come to her that night as she stood on her balcony crying and fearing for the worst for her husband. The Jedi Temple burned in flames in the distance. He held her in her arms, promising everything was going to be better. Then he left. Imperial history says that the first act of Darth Vader was to go to Mustafar and destroy all the Separatist leaders, single handedly ending the war.
The next night after Anakin left, Padmé left to go to Mustafar. Obi-Wan had come to her. Told her terrible things. Told her he may have to kill Anakin. She had to make sure Anakin was safe. Yet she never made it to Mustafar. As she exited hyperspace above the planet a sudden pain erupted through her. She blacked out. She was in and out of consciousness for two months. By the time she fully came to, she was in hiding with Obi-Wan, who had been hiding on her ship. By then the truth was laid horribly bare about what Anakin had become.
One year after the fall of the Republic, Padmé decided to take action. She became a rebel. She used her name and fame as the former Queen and Senator of Naboo. She broadcasted secret speeches across the galaxy preaching the ideas of a fair and just democracy. She gained supporters. Her crew grew. She came into contact with other rebel cells.
They were able to slice into top secret files of the Empire. They would broadcast the crimes of the empire on secret channels of the holonet. They showed the slavery, the genocide, and the torture that was happening in the name of the Empire that the proganada-filled state-run holonet would never run.
Then she just became a large thorn in the Empire's side. She attacked factories, mining operations, shipyards, and supply plants. She would have her slicers hack into officials' schedules and change important meeting times and places so treaties and trade deals would slow or be canceled all together. She would assist local planetside rebellions as she could by getting supplies and aid. While Vader became the symbol of the Empire, Padmé became the symbol of the Rebellion.
And Darth Vader was there. Each success Padmé won, Vader was often behind her to destroy her victories. Those caught listening or watching the secret broadcasts were taken away to never be seen again. A few killed on spot. Towns and cities Padmé helped were bombed, blasted from space by a star destroyer.
None of these crimes were reported to have happened from the Empire. No, it was all the rebels fault. The rebels were the terrorists blowing up towns and factories. It was the rebels fault for a shortage of fuel or clothing that had been rerouted from the civil sector to the military sector. The emperor was only trying to finally unify the galaxy and bring peace after the war.
Then a year ago Vader made his grab for power. He killed Palpatine and took the throne and the galaxy for himself. Overall the people liked this move. It was Darth Vader who had ended the Clone Wars. It was Darth Vader who traveled the galaxy in attempts to bring peace and get rid of the horrible terrorist rebels. Vader was a man of action. Palpatine had simply ruled from his luxurious palace.
Padmé had secretly hoped it would be better. There had to still be good in Anakin. Yet it wasn't to be. Darth Vader continued as he had before with a cruel and heavy grip on the galaxy.