Chapter 27: The Rebel
Padmé glanced around the hangar. It was silent. The bodies of the red guards and the rebels laid unmoving. The twins were hugging her side. Their large eyes also looked around the hangar.
"We must go. We can't linger here too long," Obi-Wan said breaking the silence.
"Were they with you?" Padmé asked unmoving. She turned to face Obi-Wan who was staring at the dead rebels. His eyes seemed distant.
"We needed extra help," Obi-Wan said finally. He looked back over at Padmé and held her gaze. His blue-grey eyes didn't waver. "And we didn't have a whole lot of time. I was able to track your call to this moon, but was unable to narrow down your exact location. I had hoped that upon arriving, I would be able to do so. Vader planned effectively. I couldn't pinpoint you, even with the use of the Force."
Padmé noted Obi-Wan's gaze flickered down to the twins, before he looked back up at her.
"I knew the best way to locate you would be to use Vader. We needed to do something that would cause Vader to personally come back here," Obi-Wan explained.
Obi-Wan's timing wasn't off, Padmé thought to herself. He had planned for Vader to come back. It also accounted for why Vader was acting off earlier.
"Whatever you did, clearly worked," Padmé said a bit dryly.
"So far, yes," Obi-wan said. "We're still not clear yet."
"Did you run into him?" Padmé asked still not moving. "He left to go hunt you down."
"No," Obi-Wan sighed. "This is why we must keep moving. Come."
They walked quietly through the hangar. Padmé eyed the rebels as they passed them. "So who were they?" Padmé whispered.
"Part of the diversion," Obi-Wan replied.
"They fired on me and the twins," Padmé said.
"I am sorry," Obi-Wan said. "We did brief everyone, but that also could have been the cause of them shooting at you. Some of the groups we have working with us would gladly do anything to piss off Vader."
Padmé scowled over at Obi-Wan.
"As I mentioned, we were very short on time," Obi-Wan said. "We didn't have time to vet everyone and we needed additional help."
They had made to the side hallway the rebels had entered through. Obi-Wan looked down at the twins.
"We will be able to move faster if we carry the children," Obi-Wan said.
The twins squeezed Padmé tighter. She looked down at them. They looked up at her. Their eyes were big and round. They were silently pleading with her. They didn't want to be seperated from her.
"It's alright," she said softly as she placed a hand on each child's head. "We need to get someplace safe and fast. Luke? You can be a big boy. Let Obi-Wan carry you. I'll be right here beside you."
Luke whined as he clearly did not like the idea. Obi-Wan smiled. "Come now, Luke," he coaxed. Luke reluctantly let go of his mother and shuffled over to Obi-Wan. With both twins being carried by the adults, they continued down the hall.
"What's the plan?" Padmé asked.
"We will rendezvous with my support group," Obi-Wan explained. "There are in the underground roadways. We have speeders waiting to take us to where our ships are."
"Get to the speeders. Get to the ships. And what about once we're in space? I imagine at least the Devastator is up there," Padmé said.
"I never said this was going to be easy," Obi-Wan said. "We will have to trust in the Force to guide us."
Padmé said nothing. They made their way quietly through the complex's halls. They ran into no one else. No troopers. No guards. Not even droids. It was quietly. There was only the sound of the footsteps and the hum of the building's life support systems. Obi-Wan led them to a stairwell. Padmé was getting tired. The lack of sleep along with the explosion to all the walking and carrying was finally getting to her. However she kept pushing herself. There would be time to rest later.
After going down several stories, they walked out into a small hall. It shortly brought them to a balcony that overlooked a larger hall that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. As Obi-Wan led them to a set of stairs, she saw on the lower floor a group of three speeders with people standing about them. That is when she realized this large hall was actually an underground roadway.
The rebels looked similar to the ones from the hangar, except they seemed more put together. Polished. While they didn't wear uniforms, their colors of their clothing matched. They wore white, brown, blue and black. They were a mix of races and some wore full-face masked helmets and some just wore simple helmets. The group by the speeders straightened up as they saw Padmé and Obi-Wan approach. Two of the rebels walked up to meet them. One was a Zeltron woman with pink skin while the other was a Gran male.
"We were starting to worry," the gran said.
"Here let me take the child from you," the Zeltron woman said. She held out her hands. Padmé hesitated for a moment. She glanced at Obi-Wan who nodded at her. She reluctantly handed over Leia. Leia whined and frowned, but otherwise accepted being handed over. Padmé was greatful. Her arms were heavy and sore. As they walked over to the speeders, she rubbed and massaged her arms.
The twins were placed in the back seat of a speeder side by side. After putting Luke down, Obi-Wan had moved to huddle with a few of the rebels. A few of the other rebels were jumping into the driver seats of the speeders and starting them up. A few stood around examining their blasters. A few eyed Padmé. She didn't recognize any of these rebels.
A hush fell over the group as the sound of screeching metal echoed through the roadway's halls. All eyes were focused down the hall. Padmé heard the sounds of blasters being lifted into shooting position. Someone whispered, "It's time to go." Slowly the group started to load into the speeders, but Padmé didn't. Her eyes were still focused down the hall towards the sound. She had to see this, for she knew what was coming.
She didn't see him enter the second-floor walkway. The same one Padmé and Obi-Wan had entered the roadway on. He was just suddenly there. A dark black shadow and blazing golden eyes. His face was twisted in anger. Vader had paused only for a moment. She knew the moment his eyes fell on her. She could feel the temperature drop. When they met again, what was she going to say to him?
A hand grabbed her and pulled her into the speeder. Red blaster shots started firing at Vader, who blocked them with his red lightsaber. The speeders sped off down the hallway, leaving Vader behind. Padmé wondered how much of a headstart they had on him. How long until he got himself a speeder? She finally turned around and looked for her children. They were not in the same speeder as her. She was in the middle speeder. The children were in the right one, and Obi-Wan in the left.
She settled down into the seat of the speeder. Her hands gripped the skirt of her dress. She twisted the fabric. She repeated Obi-Wan's plan in her head: Get to the speeders. Get to the ships. Get to space. Get away. This was going to work. She was going to get her children and herself away from Vader. Then she could worry about Anakin.
The underground roadway continued on. They passed several intersections and ramps leading upward. Finally the speeders slowed and turned on to a ramp. Padmé looked over at the right speeder and caught the sight of the twins' heads. They appeared to be safe and calm for now. The speeders pulled into a large garage. Other speeders were parked there. There were more rebels standing around. Padmé noticed the pile of white stormtroopers in a corner. She briefly caught a sign saying the hangar was a short distance away.
The speeders pulled to a stop, and the rebels started jumping out at once. Padmé saw two rebels pick the twins up. She herself got out of her speeder. As she was walking over to the twins, that was when the Imperial speeders showed up filled with troopers. They had cannons mounted to their speeders. At once the cannons let loose on the rebels that weren't near the speeders. Weren't near Padmé or the children. But green stun blaster shots did start coming towards her.
A rebel grabbed her arm and pulled her. The group was running towards the hallway that led towards the hangar. The troopers were spilling from the speeders chasing after them. Padmé's head whipped back to the troopers and then back to watch where she was going. The hallway branched into three different hallways, and the rebels went all three directions. Padmé was pulled down right one.
Padmé's side was hurting. Her muscles were cramping. This was getting to be too much. She needed to rest and soon. The rebel pulled her up a flight a stairs and they went through a doorway into a small hangar. They paused and Padmé stood there panting and heaving as she glanced around the hangar. There was no ships. No shuttles. Nothing. The hangar was empty. There weren't any other rebels. Just her and the one who had dragged her here.
"What's- where's the ships?" she asked between deep breaths.
The rebel was wearing a helmet that completely hid his face. He reached up and pulled his helmet off. As he did so, Padmé realized it was a two part helmet. There was still a part that covered his mouth. The helmet came completely off and the rebel tossed it to the side.
"Hello Padmé," the rebel said. His voice had come through a vocoder in the lower part of his helmet.
Padmé stared open mouthed at the man in front of her. "Rion?" she asked.
It was him. The last time she had seen him . . . she had to think. Was it in his cell? Right before Vader killed off the rest of her crew? No it wasn't. He had shown her a holo of him. He was in a coma, but he had prosthetics. She glanced down to his hand and foot. They were covered by gloves and boots, but clearly there. She did notice one hand was missing a finger. The glove had been sewn shut over the empty digit.
He looked well, but there were clear signs of his imprisonment. His tan skin was still an off-color. He looked thin. There were bags under his blood-shot eyes. His long black hair was tied back into ponytail like he used to wear it. There was a stubble beard growing in. His dark eyes seemed a bit lifeless.
"Yes, it's me," Rion replied. Padmé realized he was speaking through the vocoder because . . . because he didn't have a tongue. Vader's voice pierced through her mind, "Cut out the man's tongue. Maybe that will teach my wife to be careful when she speaks." How had she felt guilty about leaving Vader? How had she forgot how cruel he had been as he manipulated her into being whatever he wanted.
"How . . . how?" Padmé found it was the only thing she could ask.
"Master Kenobi's rebel cell saved me," he explained. "They infiltrated the Devastator. They were able to free me and Bail Organa."
She recalled Obi-Wan's plan. "We needed to do something that would cause Vader to personally come back here," he had said. So they had freed Rion and Bail. She recalled Vader's confrontation in the bathroom after he found the stolen com unit. After the rebels had successfully infiltrated Vader's personal ship, most likely the ship he was on, and rescued prisoners, he had come straight to his family fearing they would be taken next. Well, Padmé mused. His fear wasn't misplaced.
"I'm . . . I'm glad they got you free," she said softly. "I'm sorry . . . about it all. About what happened. I truly am."
He tensed up. His face scrunched up into a snarl. His shoulders raised up. She noticed his eyes no longer seemed as lifeless as they had before. There was something in them now. A fire. An anger.
"Sorry?" he asked. "You're sorry? That's all you have to say?"
"What else do you want me to say?" she asked. "I never wanted any of this. I tried to get you free."
A strange laugh came out of his vocoder. "Wonderful job of that," he said darkly.
"You're here, aren't you?" she snapped back. "You're here because I finally got a call out to Obi-Wan. You could still be back on that ship."
"I could be back on my own ship if it weren't for you!" he shouted back. "I wasted so much of my time with you. I thought . . . I thought loved me. I knew you had a hard time getting over whatever happened in your past, but I never imagined you were getting over kriffin Darth Vader. Were you ever going to mention that to me? That was why he was so obsessed with you! Why he chased you non-stop. We all just thought he was obsessed with taking down the rebellion. No. He wanted you. His wife."
"What did you want me to say?" she asked back. "Do you know what people would do with the information? I already bad people hunting me down due to Vader's bounty. I didn't need to add rebels hunting me down over some vendetta to get back at Vader."
"You could have told me!" he shouted. His vocoder got a bit static filled. "You could have trusted me! Our crew! We supported you! In the end you screwed us all over. They're dead. Everyone is dead, because of you!" He pointed a finger at her. "And I've been tortured. Maimed. Jailed. Because of my association with you."
The two glared at each other. A horrible part inside of Padmé, which she swore was in the voice of Vader, whispered at how ungrateful he was. He knew nothing of what she had done for him. What she had done to keep him alive. His situation could be far worse.
"This isn't the time for this," she said. "We have to get to the ship. I need to get back to my children."
An odd laugh came out of his vocoder. "Your little sithspawn," he said darkly.
She glared back at him. "They," she said lowering her voice, "are the ones truly innocent in all of this. I won't see them turned into monsters like their father. Hate me all you want, I deserve it, I won't lie, but do not punish my children."
"Yes they will be better off without their father," Rion said, "Or their mother."
"What?" Padmé asked breathlessly. "What did you just say?" A sharp coldness was making its way up to her heart. She glanced around the hangar. The empty hangar. "What have you done?" she whispered. "What have you done? Where are my children?" Her voice had raised as she continued to talk. She was now shouting. "Where is the ship?"
She turned sharply on her heels back towards the way they had come, but she felt Rion grab her arm.
"They're gone," he said. "Or will be soon."
She whipped her body back at him. Her eyes glared at him.
"They never planned on bringing you along," he said.
"You were a distraction!" she said.
"No, Padmé, you are," he said.
She paused confused at his words. What did that mean? How was she a distraction? She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the knife until a second before it came down on her. She brought her hand up, and the blade went into her hand. She screamed as she pulled her hand away. At once she was clinging her bleeding hand to her chest. She stepped away from Rion who held a bloody knife.
"We're going to have to do better than that to get Vader to run to his little whore," he hissed. He reassured his grip on the knife and charged at Padmé.
At once she thought back to her combat training. She would need all she had to get out of this. There was no way in all nine hells was she letting anyone get away with her children. Padmé grit her teeth and focused on pushing the pain of her hand away. She shifted her footing as Rion lunged at her. She was able to dodge and bring up her good hand into a strike against his back. He stumbled forward. She wasted no time in swinging her leg around in a kick to push him over.
Rion sprawled on to the ground. The knife was still tight in his grip, but Padmé ignored it. She ran to the staircase. She was almost to the door when she let out a small scream as something sharp stung into her right thigh. The pain caused her to fall to her knees. She twisted to see a small dart stuck in her leg. She ripped it out and threw it on the floor. She glanced back to see Rion coming to his feet. A small blaster in his hand. He tossed it to the ground.
She stood up but as soon as she did she felt dizzy. She cursed to herself as she realized that dart must have drugged her. She had to get away. She had to get to Luke and Leia and fast. She turned and started to stumble back towards the door and the stairs. Yet she was too slow. Rion caught up to her. He grabbed her hair and pulled her back. She slammed into the ground. Her body hurt and she saw spots swimming in her sight.
Rion was above her with the knife again. For a weird brief moment she wondered why he didn't just shoot her with a blaster, but then a cold realization hit. He was drawing this out. He was trying to get Vader to come.
"Don't do this, Rion," she said. "Vader will kill you the moment he gets here."
He stood over her now. A leg on either side of her. "I know," he said darkly. "I willingly agreed to this if it meant getting my revenge. I have nothing else to live for anyway."
A cold fear ran through her that quickly numbed her to everything. Everything in her yelled at her to run. She brought up her leg and aimed for his legs. She managed to get one good kick in before he stepped away. She attempted to scrambled back up, but found her body sluggish and slow. Rion kicked her back down.
She was a flash of silver as the knife came down. She rolled into his leg, but the knife was able to slice along her back. She opened her mouth to scream but instead she opened her mouth and bit his leg as hard as he could. He let out a weird mechanical scream and he stepped back. She rolled away, but kicked at her. His foot slide across her back and her new cut. The new wound burned and screamed in pain.
She let out an angry scream and fought back the pain. She wasn't going to let him win, but he was coming at her again. The knife held up. She took a deep steadying breath. She needed to time herself right. She hoped, she prayed to all of her gods, her body reacted properly. That her adrenaline was pushing the drugs aside.
The knife came down, aimed right at her core. She brought her hands up and her knees. The knife dug into her thigh. It stung as it dragged through her skin. She kicked him off, but he quickly recovered. The knife was coming for again. She tried to block it, push it to the side with her good hand, but her move was too slow. The knife hit in the side. She could feel it push into one of her ribs.
Then a whole new fear hit her. The baby. The baby inside of her. If that knife had gone lower, it could have hit the baby. A whole new wave of strength came over her. With a scream she pushed herself up and jumped onto Rion. She grabbed at the hand holding the knife, pulling it above both of their heads. The two toppled over with Padmé on top. She was covered in her own blood, which made holding on to him a bit tricky, but she wasn't giving up.
The two fought for control for the blade. He kept trying to bring it down on her, but she was keeping a good grasp on his arm. Keeping that arm still up above them. Her other hand was wrestling with him. She was scratching him. Punching him. Pushing off his other arm. Doing anything she could do to keep him distracted. Then for a very clear moment she got control of his knife. She was able to steer his arm down onto him right into his shoulder. He let out a scream of pain.
He let go of the knife and Padmé grabbed it. She debated if she should attack him. Slice his throat open, but his stupid helmet and vocoder were protecting his neck. So she decided to run. She could feel the heat of her blood coming down her back and her leg. She limped to the door and then down the stairs. She could hear the pants and screams of Rion as he chased her.
She stumbled into the white hallway. Her hands catching the wall to help keep herself steady. She left trails of red along the walls as she pushed herself along. Then she tripped and fell forward. No, she thought. No. No. No! NO! She had to get up. She had to. She had to get to Luke and Leia. She had to protect her unborn child. She had to-
"You!" Rion shouted as he stepped on her foot.
She looked up at him. Blood had stained his shirt from his shoulder wound. Padme's own blood was smeared all over the rest of him from they had wrestled for the knife. "Please, Rion," she pleaded. "My babies." Her good hand still clutched the knife, but her bad hand, covered in blood, wrapped protectively around her stomach. He reached down and easily snatched the knife from her. "Rion," she pleaded again as tears stained her eyes. "Please don't do this. Please."
"This is what you deserve," Rion hissed through his vocoder.
That was when the red lightsaber tore through his chest. Rion looked down in surprise to see the red tip poking through him. He dropped the knife and it clattered to the ground. The lightsaber was pulled out, and Rion was pushed to the ground. Vader stood over Padmé. His lightsaber still in hand. Absolute rage filled his eyes as he glared down at Rion, but as his eyes came to Padmé, they quickly changed.
"Padmé!" Vader shouted. His lightsaber was deactivated. He was kneeling at her side at once. "Padmé!" he cried. His eyes moved over her body. She was covered in blood.
"No," she cried. Tears filled her eyes. "No. You must go. This is a distraction. They're taking the children!"
"Padmé," Vader said softly as his hand came under her shoulders and knees. He carefully picked her up and cradled her to her.
"The children," she cried. "You have to get to them. Please. Please." Her head rested against his chest. She slowly lost consciousness to the sounds of her begging for her children.