Hey, guys! Sorry it's been a while. Stuff got in the way. I hope you like the chapter!

The underwater facility was like a maze. Anakin was forced to rely on the spy beyond the droid repair room from which they decided to work as a team and blindly trust each other. She seemed to know her way around the base, but it seemed to be going nowhere. Anakin heard an annoying buzzing from his earpiece.

"Anakin...zzzzzzzz...Come i-...zzzzzzzz...Wha-...zzzzzzzz...Can you...zzzzzzzz..."

It seemed to be receiving a slightly clearer signal, which meant one of two things. They were getting closer to the perimeter, or they were only getting closer to the surface. Either way, at least they were making progress. A little bit anyways.

"Commander Skywalker. Senator Qal's negotiations with the Kaminoans will end soon. You need to be on board before he finishes," said Fora, the spy onboard the cargo ship. "I'm having trouble contacting Corusant, is the same thing happening to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, so far you're the only person I've had been able to actually talk to over this thing," he replied. "Can you delay the departure? I ran into some trouble down here."

"I'll do what I can, but I can't guarantee a large time window." She sounded worried. Faint gunshots came into the microphone. "Is everything OK? Why am I hearing blasters?"

Anakin paused, not knowing what to say. "Skywalker out."

Anakin went to investigate the sounds himself. He found two dead clones on the floor on their backs. The woman whom he was with held an additional laser carbine in her left hand and clutched her left elbow with her right hand. She didn't seem to be bleeding severely, but she was clearly in pain. Even if her face wouldn't show it.

"What happened?"

"Well, while you were talking to whoever you were talking to, I was watching our back. Two troopers found us. I took care of them. End of story." She said impatiently, subtlety wincing.

"You can't shoot, now. They clearly hit you in the arm." Anakin said gesturing towards her injury.

"Relax, I'm fine. I can shoot with my other hand. It's not like my arm is broken. Here, take this," she handed him the gun. Anakin took it from her.

"That doesn't excuse the nerve damage." Anakin paused at the sound of uniform footsteps in the distance. "We don't have much time, we need to get out of here."

"You have a ride out of place?" She asked, still clutching her arm.

"Yeah, the closest entrance where the Kaminoans reside above water." Anakin told her. "If you take me to the docking bay where Maul came in, I know the rest of the way."

"Nope, can't. Anywhere near there will be swarming with troopers. It's too risky since they already saw us," she said. Anakin looked discouraged. "But I know another way. Keep up if you can," she smiled at him, briefly glanced at his foot and drew out her pistol.

She ran and Anakin followed with the bulky blaster in hand. Their injuries made them slower than usual, but they managed to keep out of harms way for the time being. She didn't bother to look over her shoulder. Anakin continued following her until they stopped at a hatch in the ceiling above them. Anakin pried the doors open with the Force. It took her a second to figure it out, but when she did she was speechless and looking at him surprised and slightly conflicted. After the doors were successfully opened, Anakin knelt down and locked his fingers together. She already saw hi use the Force, so there was no need to hide it from her any longer.

"Jump up, I'll be right behind you." he assured.

She stood there unsure what to do, but finally stepped onto his palms and flew up the shaft with Anakin's assistance with the Force. He looked up and saw her grip a handle with her right hand and swing down another tube out of Anakin's vision. He pushed hard against the floor (mostly on his uninjured foot) and shot up and grabbed the same handle. Before he followed her down the same path, he used the Force to fix the broken shaft doors just before an army of clones passed under it.

"Down here!" her unaltered voice echoed in the metal pipe. Anakin made eye contact and slid down to land on his feet. He found himself in a room with several sets of clone armor somewhat similar to what she had on before except with a more bulky shape, a window for the face instead of just eyes, and cylindrical tanks mounted on the back. She seemed to be having trouble attaching a wide collar to her armor and two cylindrical tanks she wore on the back of her suit were supported on her by one shoulder like a backpack. Anakin took the collar from her and attached it around her neck himself, as he did this, a mechanical sealing sound occurred. He then lifted her limp arm and slipped it through the other strap. She could barely move it, much less feel anything with.

"Thank you," she said attaching the tubes to the collar and grabbed her helmet. "You better put on a suit, too. We're at least a couple hundred feet below the surface."

Anakin took her advice and put on the pressurized armor, oxygen tanks and helmet. The armor didn't quite fit him, but it would have to do. He placed the helmet over his head followed by a sealing sound and faint robotic breathing.

"These suits should have built in comlinks, can you hear me?" she said with a slight change in her voice due to the filtering through the speakers.

"Yeah. Yeah, I hear you. Clear as day," Anakin replied.

"Good. Come on." she gestured for him to follow her.

"Wait, what?"

He followed her, but she wasn't listening. A door sealed she rotated a knob in the wall. The labeled increments of pressure next to them rapidly increasing more and more each time she did this. Both her and Anakin felt the excessive amount of weight on their shoulders, they both struggled against the pressure. "Trust me, if you weren't wearing this equipment, you'd be dead." She pushed a button on the wall but nothing happened. She pushed it again. Still nothing. She repeatedly pushed it impatiently, but with no success. "Sabotaged! We're trapped." she told Anakin.

Something clicked in his mind. "No... we're not," he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Shatter point," he answered.

He bent down and pressed his covered palm on a weaker spot on the clear substance that made up the cube they were standing in. Within a few seconds a large series of cracks grew from the center of his palm made contact with the floor. They continued to grow until he raised his hand and stood up next to her. All that was left was a web of fractures beneath their feet. Anakin outstretched his palm and pushed the shards into the bottomless oceans of Kamino without even coming close to them. The water stayed stationary under them, it didn't move. She looked at him reluctantly, then at the water, then at him. She held out her hand and Anakin took it. They both jumped in the hole and began to swim towards the surface. They looked up at the light pouring in from the surface as they grew closer.

"Joen! Joen! We need a pick up on the surface in two!" Anakin exclaimed to Fora.

"Copy that, Commander. Fora out." Fora replied.

"Who was that?" the other woman asked.

"Our ride." Anakin said in reply.

When they reached the surface, Fora caught sight of them almost immediately. From the rear of the ship, a hidden ramp lowered partially in the water. Anakin used this to his advantage and climbed on with his new friend in tow. They both sat down as they removed their helmets, gasping and coughing at the sudden shift in pressure. She winced in pain and clutched her arm again. A large red stain blossomed from her elbow inside the suit. Anakin quickly took off the pressurized suit and found his normal Jedi robes. He found the outer cloak and ripped off the hem. He removed the heavy duty glove from her hand and pushed up the sleeve to expose her arm. The wound looked like it was burned with acid. Anakin used the fabric and proceeded to tie it around her arm as a tourniquet. "I'm not a medical droid, but that's all I can do for now."

She just sighed as she sat there. "Thank you, uh..."

"Anakin," he finished. "Anakin Skywalker."

"I'm Padmé." She said. "Padmé Lars."

Anakin went to rip another portion of his robe off for his foot. "Nice to survive with you, Padmé." He said.

"Nice to outrun a deadly clone army with you, too Master Jedi." Padmé remarked. Anakin snapped his head towards her in shock. "Don't be surprised, Anakin. I know a Force-user when I see one," she said calmly.

After Anakin bandaged his foot, he heard Obi-Wan's voice again.

"Anakin, what happened? Why aren't you responding?"

"Master! Umm...there was something blocking foreign transmissions within the base."

"Did you run into any trouble while in there?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin paused. "Yes. Quite a bit actually." He briefly made eye contact with Padmé "But the mission was a success." he said in an attempt to change the tone of the conversation.

"I expect a thorough debriefing of it all when you return. Great work, Anakin."

"You're welcome, Master." Anakin answered. "Skywalker out."

Anakin was caught unprepared when the ship entered hyperspace. His body was thrown to the floor next to Padmé who stared at him from her sitting position. She chuckled slightly at the scene. Anakin felt himself blush ever so slightly, but then began to laugh at himself, too. Anakin didn't have many friends outside the Jedi Order, and this friendship was off to a pretty good start considering what the previous couple of hours endured for both of them.

What do you think? Better start than what 'The Phantom Menace' gave us? Did you catch the references? Let me know in the reviews!