"Obi Wan! A ship just appeared from hyperspace!", Ahsoka called into the hallway. Hopefully he had heard her. Ahsoka stared at the alerting instruments in front of her. She was waiting for a ship, yet the alerts made her uncomfortable.
If this wan't Padmé, there would be a lot of trouble. Ahsoka opened the map of the imperial ships. Just now, none of them had been coming close to Mustafar. Ahsoka's eyes flew over the readings hastily. Again, Mustafar was clear.
"It's nothing imperial!", Ahsoka added through the door. "What?", Obi Wan's voice appeared from some distance. Ahsoka sighed and ran outside. It didn't take long until she found Obi Wan with the twins.
"Something non imperial is coming.", she repeated. Obi Wan immediately jumped onto his feet. "What?!" Ahsoka raised her hands in a calming gesture. "Don't worry, we are expecting Padmé to show up. It might be her."
Obi Wan's eyes narrowed. "It might be?", he asked. Ahsoka nodded. "The ship just appeared out of hyper space, it's to far away to determine who it is. I just know that it is definitely not imperial."
"We could just wait and hope it's Padmé.", Obi Wan murmured. Ahsoka nervously played with her fingers. "If it isn't her, we could hide, right?" Obi Wan nodded. "Are you sure it's coming here?" "No.", Ahsoka replied.
"The ship left hyper speed on this side of the planet, I'll check the readings, to see if it's coming closer to the fortress." Obi Wan sighed. "We need to be careful. Anakin isn't here to make up an excuse if we're found."
As Ahsoka turned to walk out the room, a smirk spread on her face. Finally Obi Wan used Anakin's name again. With a lightened mood, Ahsoka marched back to the small control room.
She updated the measurements and studied the instruments. The ship had moved closer to the fortress. With a frown Ahsoka tried to identify the ship. She managed to estimate the size. It appeared to be a regular freighter.
"It's not that bad!", Ahsoka called in Obi Wan's direction. "It's just a single freighter, there couldn't be many." "Great!", he replied. Ahsoka stared at the readings with a frown. "They know where they're going.", she mumbled.
The ship was headed for the fortress without any detours. Why would a non imperial ship come here, if it wasn't Padmé? It simply had to be her. If the ship continued stirring towards the fortress, it would take a minute for it to get there.
"They'll be here in a moment!", Ahsoka yelled. Obi Wan appeared in the door frame. "Already?", he asked full of concern. Ahsoka nodded. "Look at this.", and said and showed at the countless needles and graphs before her.
Obi Wan stepped next to Ahsoka to study the data. His eyes widened. "It's here every moment." Ahsoka raised a brow. "I just said..." She stopped as Obi Wan stormed out of the room. Ahsoka rolled her eyes before following him.
Obi Wan disappeared at the end of the corridor, clearly headed outside. Ahsoka headed for the next window instead. She crouched down to look up high in the sky, quickly making out the ship.
She recognized the typical alderaanian features on the hull. Relief fell from her heart. Probably Organa was safe now, and had provided a ship. Ahsoka spotted Obi Wan that had left the fortress and sprinted towards the landing platform.
With a smirk, she made her way outside as well. She turned her head to throw a last glance to the room in which the twins were. She stopped in her step and turned around to head for them instead.
If it was their mother that was returning, they would get the chance to say goodbye. "Luke, Leia, your mommy is coming back." Immediately, the two were grabbed by excitement.
It had been half a day since she left, and the twins had already grown a bit whiny about their parents disappearance. They began giggling and rushed past Ahsoka, who followed them smirking, making sure they found the way.
It took a couple of seconds before Ahsoka stood next to Obi Wan. The twins were fidgeting impatiently. The alderaanian ship was hovering a few meters over the platform, preparing to land.
Both Ahsoka and Obi Wan had their hands on their lightsaber hilts, in case it wasn't Padmé. A few moments later, the landing ramp lowered to reveal the pretty face of a woman, framed by brown curls. Although, it wasn't Padmé.
Her face seemed familiar, Ahsoka had seen her on holos before. "Breha Organa.", Obi Wan mumbled. Padmé appeared behind her her face lightening as she spotted her children. "Mommy!", Luke called out and waddled towards her.
"Hello you two.", Padmé said and crouched down to enclose them in her arms. "I'm sorry but I have to leave again. We'll be together soon, okay?" Leia's lower lip began quivering. "Stay!", she demanded whiningly.
Padmé smiled sadly. "I'm really sorry, honey. I will miss both of you." With that she pressed her children close to her to then let go softly. "I came here because Anakin wanted one of you to come with me. I don't care which one."
She looked at both Obi Wan and Ahsoka, then at her children, then returned to Breha who was waiting in the ships entrance. "You should go.", Obi Wan said next to Ahsoka. She nodded. "I agree.", she replied.
"You and Anakin need some privacy. Promise me you'll talk to him properly.", she didn't look at Obi Wan when saying it, but could imagine the expression of pain on his face. "I promise.", he said quietly.
"Goodbye, Obi Wan.", Ahsoka said and turned to him. "Take care Ahsoka. And don't forget you're still dead." Ahsoka smirked at him. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." With that she crouched down before the twins.
"You two will listen to Obi Wan, alright?" An evil grin appeared on Leia's face as she looked up to the jedi. Ahsoka chuckled, then hurried towards the ship that was ready to depart.
"When have you seen your parents the last time?", Ahsoka asked. She leaned back in her seat as the ship entered hyper speed. "A bit less than three years ago. I never even told them about the pregnancy." Ahsoka's eyes widened.
"They don't know they're grandparents? That's cruel." Padmé smirked. "Well, they know they have grandkids, just not that there are four instead of two. My sister has children too." Ahsoka shook her head in disapproval.
"Keeping people from Luke and Leia could classify as an atrocity. They are too wonderful." Padmé grinned. "Most of the time, yes. Then sometimes, they have too much of their father in them." Ahsoka chuckled. "I noticed that.", she said.
"My parents will meet them soon enough. I will tell them then." Ahsoka arched a brow. "Will Anakin and the twins come to Naboo as well?" Padmé shrugged. "For now it appears so. He thought about framing all of their deaths to leave."
Ahsoka nodded. "That seems like a solution for this mess. Finally, he will lose his twisted connection to the Emperor." Padmé had to smile again. This was exactly what she wished for. She wished for Anakin to be free again.
Ahsoka frowned deeply. "Padmé... you know that there is a lot of darkness in him. It will take time until he is truly free from the Emperor's influence." Padmé's eyes widened in surprise, as Ahsoka read her mind effortlessly.
"Your emotions are very passionate.", she added quietly. "I know him, Ahsoka. He will fight and defeat that darkness. Hiding his insides from the Emperor all the time has made that fight harder for him." Ahsoka sighed.
"I'm so sorry for you. What you endured is horrible. I know you wish to have to have him back, and you will. And if you stick with him, it's sure he will make it out of the dark. Thinking he killed you is what kept him there."
Padmé did not reply. "He was in pain.", she whispered. Ahsoka nodded. "In agony. Physically almost as much as mentally." Padmé squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on pushing her feelings away.
"But now, you are here for him. And so are the twins. When Sidious told him they were alive, a wave went through the force not even he was able to conceal." Ahsoka smirked at Padmé encouragingly. "He always knew you were alive."
Padmé looked at Ahsoka in bewilderment. "What?", she asked, Ahsoka's words making no sense to her. "He just didn't know that he knew." "You are making absolutely no sense.", Padmé said, confused.
"He felt you subconsciously, but he didn't no what the feeling meant. Who knows how things would have turned out if you had actually died. He said it was that feeling that kept him from killing me. I guess you saved my life."
The corners of Padmé's mouth twitched. "That's good to know." Breha appeared in the frame. "i just received a message from Bail. He and Vader are done on Alderaan. The soldiers are leaving the planet again."
Breha sat down next to Padmé. "Anakin will take care of the rest.", Padmé said. "He will tell the Emperor that it was you, and that you were executed on Alderaan." Breha nodded slowly, the coughed the lump out of her throat.
"I thought I would lose my husband when the destroyer appeared. I thought he would die on that day." Padmé frowned sadly. "Losing a husband is not pleasant, Breha. I'm glad you didn't go through that." Breha sighed shakily.
"What if the Emperor finds out about it all? We will all die miserably." Padmé put her hand on Breha's arm gently. "Don't even consider that, Breha. It will drive you crazy. It's easier to assume that everything is fine." Breha nodded slightly.
"I will try.", she murmured. Padmé gave her a last smile before standing up to look over Ahsoka's shoulder. "How long?", she asked. "Three to four hours, until we can land." Padmé sighed and headed for the exit. "I'll catch up to some sleep."
"The signal will be traceable to this communicator of you wife now." Organa nodded with a quivering jaw. Vader's mind was flooded with the doubt and pain that Organa send through the force. He set down the device before him.
"Be careful from now on. If you make another mistake like this, it will be over for good." Organa nodded again. "And that's it? You will just go." Vader sighed. "Yes. I will. And you will keep a low profile.", he snarled.
With that he returned to the table, he had put his mask onto earlier. He savored a couple of seconds in which he could breathe properly before the respirator made him feel like he was suffocating once again.
"Don't report to the rebellion right away. Your connection will be supervised for a while, to ensure that your wife really was the traitor. Don't worry they will learn of your survival anyway."
Organa frowned, then gasped in shock as he realized what Vader was saying. "You know where they are." Vader shrugged. "Not exactly. I could easily find out, but I don't have reason to do so. For now, we have formed an... agreement."
Organa snorted. His mind was obviously not able to follow everything it had taken in in the last hours. "That's a bizarre image. Lord Vader, out of all people, an ally of the rebellion." Vader rolled his eyes under the mask.
"Just stay of out trouble from now on. This will catch the Emperor's suspicions already, it would be as good as impossible to protect your life a second time." Organa's amusement disappeared. "I know, i know. I will be on guard."
Vader crossed his arms. "For your sake, I hope that that is true. And also, you should arrange a funeral and a grave for your wife. Not too public, considering she died a traitor. But you are expected to show some sorrow as a widower."
Organa began to shiver. "But there is no corpse.", he managed to say. "Doesn't matter. Keep the coffin closed. I'm sure there will be some undertaker that you can persuade to discretion." "Won't that bring up questions?" Vader shook his head.
"There have been some, that I killed, that had an official funeral. Until now, the corpses have never been shown." Organa's expression of bewilderment only deepened. "For understandable reasons.", Vader added.
As Organa didn't reply, and only stared, Vader turned to the door. "Goodbye, Viceroy.", he said before walking through the passage. His clones had aligned to guard the door. "Retrieving to the flagship.", Vader directed to the captain.
He saluted stiffly before leading the clones into formation. Vader continued to ignore the alderaanian guards as he marched in front of his troops. He mentally prepared himself for a conversation with the Emperor.
He had to ensure all his mind barriers were in place, now more than ever. If the Emperor found out Vader was human again, or worst of all, that Padmé and the others were alive and well, Sidious wouldn't hesitate to slaughter all of them.
Vader reentered the shuttle that would take him and the soldiers back to the executor. As soon as he was there, he was to report back to the Emperor. Vader concentrated on numbing his real emotions so he would be prepared.