*** Chapter Nineteen ***
For the first few years of Padme's term as a senator, things went as predicted. Many, who were only moderately acquainted with the senate, did not even realize she was a senator, instead assuming she was aid. It was only after a few years of service that Padme survived not one but two different assignation attempts.
The Life and Times of Amidala, the People's Queen, By: Softa Jiane, Oralist and Historian
Luke arrived at the House of Madden. Erickson had briefed him on his way out of the palace, but this planet continued to be beyond what he was able to comprehend, and the House of Madden was no exception. He parked his speeder on the inbound road to House, far enough away to not be noticed by the security guards and close enough that all of the traffic would be exclusively for the House of Madden. There were trees lining the drive and he was able to conceal both the Speeder and himself in the greenery.
He pulled the blaster off of his belt and set it stun. Luke still carried a blaster despite Ben and Yoda who has insisted Jedi only need one weapon, but Luke found that blasters had uses that lightsabers did not, stun was one of them. He did not want to murder an innocent during this task, and he would prefer not to use even the stun feature but for the greater good, he needed to get into the House of Madden undetected.
Luke was hidden for less than 20 minutes when a speeder came down the drive. There was a single male occupant close enough to Luke's size wearing the tale tell steely gray uniform, a contrast to the colorful dress of Naboo. Luke jumped on the back speeder, pulled his blaster and stunned the driver with a single shot. Then, with speed that could only be contributed to force enhanced reflexes, Luke pushed the driver aside and took the pilots seat and directed the speeder to the hiding space in the trees. It took Luke just a few more minutes to tie up the House of Madden employee up and steal his uniform.
He looked down at the employee's badge, the name was Rahul Rafsen, Craft Maintenance Associate. Luke was surprised to see the uniform included a blaster. Surely a civilian maintenance worker didn't need a weapon to perform his job. Luke took the blaster as well, letting it hang on his belt and he tucked both his own blaster and his lightsaber up under his tunic so that it was out of sight.
Luke left the tied-up employee in the borrowed New Republic Speeder, inevtisbly, it would be a third lost speeder during his time on Naboo. He and Leia had each lost one in the Lake Country. Luke would drive the employee's speeder to into the grounds of the House of Madden to avoid as much suspicion as possible.
Luke drove the speeder on to the grounds, flashing his stolen badge at various security check points. If there was any suspicion from the guards, he was easily able to take care of it with some encouragement from the force.
Luke parked the speeder among the hundreds in the lot and then headed in through a back entrance in the House. He pulled his cap down in an attempt in cover his face, finding himself a bit nostalgic for the full coverage provided by stolen Strom Trooper uniforms. It was a lot easier to pretend to be the enemy in such a uniform.
Luke was unsure what he was supposed to be doing but being unrecognized face in such a large place meant that he had nearly free roam of the facilities. He walked through a warehouse of space craft parts, observing and looking interested, every so often a fellow employee in a similar uniform would give him a curt nod. He progressed through the warehouse maintenance bays and while he had successfully snuck into the planet's biggest corporation, he had yet to discovered anything malicious.
Luke was at a loss as what to do until he heard an announcement over the loudspeaker. "All Class Alpha employees, please report to the auditorium, All Class Alpha employees, please report to the auditorium…" the speaker repeated over and over again.
Luke watched as employees put down their work and started the progression to the auditorium. Luke followed suit, he may as well witness the internal presentation, it may yield some hint, however small to what was really going on at the House of Madden.
When Luke got to an almost already crowded auditorium, he took seat in the back, hoping to blend into the crowd. Luke listened to the chatter, a mix of excitement and nerves, but he couldn't get read on what has going on.
"Do you think it's time?" a young woman her early twenties speculated. "She said the call could come any time."
"Yeah, well, I think this is another drill, truthfully, I don't think it's ever going to be time." A man countered back.
Before the conversation could continue, the light dimmed and an instant silence came over the crowd, no one was willing to be the reason they had to wait for whatever this presentation was.
The auditorium was so quite that everyone's head snap to attention when click of a stiletto heals hit the floor of the stage. The stage was so dark that no one could see the occupant progressing across, but by the everyone way sitting around Luke was craning their necks, he was sure everyone knew exactly who this was.
The clicks continued and then with soft bang, a spotlight focused on the single occupant on the stage. The woman was wearing a dress in black and steel gray, form fitting to her slim body. Luke realized this was Rajel Madden, the head of the House of Madden.
She stood on stage without speaking for a few second after the spotlight had found its place. While the crowd already was already quiet, the tension was building, whatever effect she was going for was intentional.
"Class Alpha," She addressed loud and clear, paused half beat and continued, "For the past few months and in some cases the past few years, you have trained, preparing for this day. It is now time. Today, I do not call on you as mere employees, instead I call on you as loyal soldiers, ready to take your place in our version of utopia. The Empire has failed, and the New Republic has proven to be little more than spineless, less competent versions of the same governments that we have been subordinate to for eons and our Queens have always supported such administrations regardless of the support the of people. Now, our opportunity has come to take back not just our beloved of Naboo, but the entire galaxy. As I speak now, top official from the New Republic are on this planet meeting with our disgraceful Queen and we have the opportunity to demonstrate our authority for the false leaders that claim to have our best interest." Rajel Madden paused, waiting for the effect to take hold.
"In addition to the ground effort, I have already called on our pilots throughout the galaxy and there is a blockade surrounding our planet, protecting us as we do what is necessary to escape the malicious and misinformed New Republic. Unit leaders have already been informed of today's actions and will give you your orders, but I wanted to call you here today first to tell you, that you will be remembered as heroes, the heroes that returned the Galaxy to its own people. Now, go forth and live the stories our grandchildren will tell." The spotlight went out and it was only after the click of Rajel Madden's heel could be heard before the entire auditorium erupted into applause.
The lights clicked on and orderly, more orderly then people had entered, they filed out. Luke, aware that he needed to get back to palace, followed. Whatever plan was going to happen, he was unlikely to get more information and more likely to be able to protect the New Republic Contingent and the Queen.
Once out of the auditorium, people scatter in all directions, presumably taking their place with their units. Luke, in the fray, walked towards the back door he had entered through. Hopeful he could find the stolen speeder and return to the palace. He had made it a decent way to the back door when we heard a familiar voice. "Stop."
Luke kept walking, maybe the person was not talking to him or they'd give up.
"Skywalker," The voice demanded, Luke turned and looked Palak in the face. She was wearing an aqua dress with gold and silver accents. The outfit was a stark contrast to the uniforms worn by the employees swarming around them.
He reached down to the blaster at his belt but then before he brought into the ready position he looked around, there were still hundreds of people hurriedly walking towards their unit. If Luke fired, he'd never get out alive.
"Smart," Palak said, noting is hesitation. "In here," She said, pointing to an office.
Luke followed, reluctantly, but he did not have much choice in the matter.
"How'd you get of the lake country?" Palak asked as she shut the door.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Luke said as pulled his lightsaber out of his tunic.
"You probably want to hear me out before you kill me." Palak nodded toward the lightsaber.
"And why should I do that, you poisoned me and left me for dead." Luke countered, mostly stalling for time, he didn't have a plan and he really did not want to hurt Palak, but with the tools at hand, the options were all or nothing.
"Because I want to help you." Palak voice was soft and earnest, Luke wondered if she was just trying to be believable.
"I have no reason to trust you, you could easily just be feeding me a lie, or stalling for time, or waiting for your…. Your cronies to get here…" Luke spat.
"My mother's Rajel Madden, I… I… don't want to be part of this war, and I don't want this to happen to my world but my mother is so… Oh, you wouldn't understand anyway. You're the son of some legendary Jedi that died a hero. You wouldn't understand the control my mother has over me." Palak stumbled through the words, anxious to tell Luke what was going on, forgetting the composure she had curated during her oralist training.
"Trust me, I get it better than you think." Luke said dryly and then letting any thoughts of Vader pass through his mind unanswered. "Palak, I'm just a bit confused here, you try to kill me and then you tell me you want to help." Luke diverted the conversation back to the subject at hand.
Palak sighed and then said. "Look, I'll I ever wanted to do was tell the stories Naboo, I'd wanted to be an Oralist since I was a little girl when we took a school trip to the Center. My mother had other plans for both my sister and me. So, we came up with a bit of an agreement, I could be an Oralist, but it had to be within the context of helping the cause of the House of Madden." Palak explained.
"I don't understand what you mean, how can being an Oralist help the House of Madden?" Luke questioned.
"How do you distract half a planet from the fact the other half is joining a secret army?" Palak proposed.
Luke shook his head, the Rebellion had been a blunt force effort, he'd never had to think of things in this context before.
"You distract them with fear of something else completely." Palak explained and waited for realization to set in.
"The isolationist? You spread the stories; you started the movement?" Luke questioned, taken aback by the realization.
"I planted the seed by sending people to the center to ask for the stories, but the fire spread quickly. It does not take much to insight fear, especially during war times." Palak explained.
"And the dead Oralist?" Luke asked alarmed.
"As convenient as that was for me, it was a heart attack, caused by nature, age and maybe too many fried dumplings over the years." Palak responded.
"And the attack in the landing pad, the night Leia and I landed?" Luke continued to examine.
"My sister's misguided attempt to start this war a few days early." Palak paused and then before Luke could pick up the conversation, "We could examine horrible things all day, but my mother has still called for a war and you are unlikely to get out of here without my help."
"What exactly are you offering?" Luke questioned.
"A way back to the palace and information. It's not a lot, but it's better than going in blind."
"What's the information?" Luke was curious.
"My mother wants to kill the Queen and she wants to hold the New Republic dignitaries' hostage in order to use them as a barging chip with the New Republic. She wants to start a war with the New Republic." Palak explained.
"and the help, what are you offering?" Luke questioned skeptically, the rational part of his brain, the part he had been allowing to make decisions this far, was telling him to walk away, to take his chances. But then there was something else that was telling him to trust Palak, this was the part of him that he had been suppressing, it was the same part of him that told him to put away the Nav Computer on his X-Wing and "Use the Force" when he made the shot that destroyed the first death star.
"It's not much, but I can help you get to the palace, then you and the New Republic security force can hold back the House of Madden for a while." Palak explained.
"It really isn't much, but I guess I have little choice in the matter." Luke agreed.
"Good, come on then, and put that away." Palak pointed to the lightsaber that was still in his hand. Luke tucked it back under the steel gray tunic.
Palak lead them back out to the hallway, now mostly cleared of the employees scurrying to their positions in the war. Palak lead Luke out to where the speeders were parked.
"Off to the Center Madam Ramy?" A security guard asked as they drove out of the House of Madden Compound.
"Yes sir, there will be a lot to document today and I want to get out before everyone is fully deployed." responded Palak to the officer.
"Good, Good," The Security guard responded nervously as he waved them through.
And just like that, Luke and Palak were headed back into Theeds, Palak to document the war her mother was about to start and Luke to attempt to stop it.