Chapter 14
Polis Massa Outpost
Vullen simply stared at Vader, the Dark Lord's request taking him completely off guard. Padmé Amidala Skywalker was a name from the past, a name that everyone at Polis Massa had learned not to react to. It had been almost twenty years since the beautiful, mysterious woman who had once been known as Padmé Amidala Skywalker had simply left the facility, not telling anyone where she was going or why. So why now was Darth Vader looking for information about her? Despite himself, Vullen found himself curious.
"I'm sorry, what name was that?" he asked.
"You heard the name," Vader replied tersely. "And I know you recognized it, your mind is ridiculously easy to read."
Vullen began to grow uneasy under the Dark Lord's scrutiny. How could he deny knowing this woman if Vader could read his very thoughts with seemingly no effort at all?
"Perhaps you could check your databanks," Obi-Wan suggested, subtly using the Force to manipulate the man's mind.
"Yes, why don't I check the databanks," Vullen said, moving to his computer screen at once. He called up the historical files on the computer and watched as a bank of names appeared on the screen.
"I don't see that name in our files," Vullen said. "Do you know how long ago would she have been here?"
"Almost twenty years," Vader said. "She gave birth to twins while she was here, a girl and a boy."
Vullen nodded as he adjusted the perimeters of his search.
"Master Yoda may have removed the records from the databanks," Obi-Wan realized suddenly. "In order to protect her from being found by the emperor."
Vader nodded. "Yes, that is most likely," he said, discouraged by this realization.
"We have a record of twins being born nineteen point eight years ago," Vullen said. "But the name of the mother is not in the files. It appears to have been removed."
"Perfect," Vader growled. So now what??
"Is there anyone here at the facility who might remember these twins?" Obi-Wan asked. "Anyone at all? Even a droid?"
"Well, we could check with the personnel in the maternity ward," Vullen suggested. "They might, but it's been a long time. We have a lot of babies born here. It would be a long shot at best."
"It is better than nothing at all," Vader replied. "Let us proceed."
"Very well," Vullen said, standing up. "Follow me."
"May I ask why this woman is of importance to you, Lord Vader?" Vullen asked timidly. "Is she a criminal? A fugitive of the Empire?"
"No," Vader replied at once. "She is not."
Vullen waited in vain for the Dark Lord to offer more information, but he did not, causing his own curiosity to increase. Vullen's life was not a terribly exciting one; and as such he was not often afforded the opportunity to play a part in a true mystery. This is just like that holovid I watched the other night; he thought excitedly, only this one is real! Who was this mysterious woman that Darth Vader was so bent on finding? What connection did she have to him? And what of the twins she bore? What became of them??
"Here we are," Vullen announced as they stepped through the blast doors leading into the maternity ward. "Let me introduce you to our chief physician here," he added, summoning a female humanoid.
Talanis Deece was not a native of Polis Massa, but had been practicing medicine there for a number of years. She was a stout woman in her early to mid fifties. As she turned to approach the administrator, she was unable to hide the look of fear from her face when she beheld who had accompanied Vullen.
"Dr. Talanis Deece," Vullen said, "We have two most important visitors who need some information," he said. "I am hoping that you might be able to provide them with it."
Deece's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at the administrator, and then back at the Dark Lord. "Oh?" she asked warily. "What sort of information?"
"Information about a woman who gave birth to twins here twenty years ago," Vader said. "A woman by the name of Padmé Amidala Skywalker."
Deece was better at hiding her thoughts from Vader, but only marginally so. She remembered Padmé Skywalker, she remembered the emotional wreck she had been.
"What about her?" Deece asked.
"You remember her?" Obi-Wan asked hopefully.
Deece nodded. "Yes," she replied. "I do," she said, looking warily from one man to the other.
"You will tell us everything you know," Vader demanded, ever the commander.
"If you don't mind," Obi-Wan added, earning a sharp look from Vader.
"I'm not sure I ought to," Deece replied, folding her arms over her ample bosom. "What are you to her that I should tell you anything?"
"Padmé was my wife," Vader replied. "Is that sufficient reason?"
"Your wife?" Deece asked in astonishment. "What do you take me for, some sort of fool? How could she possibly be your wife?"
Vader became enraged and took an intimidating step toward the doctor. "You dare to doubt me?" he asked threateningly. "She was my wife, my soul mate, my very soul!" he declared hotly. "Do not for an instant…"
"Anakin, please," Obi-Wan stepped in. "This isn't going to help."
"Anakin?" Deece asked, looking at Obi-Wan. "Why did you call him that?"
"Because that is his real name," Obi-Wan said, looking at Vader. "Even if he doesn't want to acknowledge it." He turned back to the doctor. "Why do you ask? Have you heard that name before?"
Deece looked at Vader, an expression of shock and incredulity on her face. She nodded. "Yes," she said. "That is the name of the person that Padmé Skywalker kept calling for. None of us knew who it was, but I suppose it makes sense now. She was calling for her husband."
For the past twenty years, Vader had believed that his heart was incapable of suffering any more torment. Until this very moment.
"She…. was calling for me?" he asked.
Deece looked at him, the change in his tone and demeanor remarkable. "Yes," she said. "She was."
Vader closed his eyes, willing himself to master his emotions. "Tell us what you know," he asked her. "I implore you."
Vullen left his two mysterious visitors with the good doctor, making a mental note to quiz Deece later about her meeting with them.
Deece lead the two men into a small office within the maternity ward. All three sat down, Deece behind a small desk. She was still in a state of shock over learning that Darth Vader was once the man whom Padmé Amidala had loved so desperately. How is it possible he could be the same man? She wondered, staring at the black menace before her. How is it possible that he is capable of anything but murder and cruelty? What happened to him to change him so drastically?
"Padmé was brought here in a mildly concussive state," Deece began. "We examined her, and, for reasons we could not determine, she seemed to be slipping away. None of us could explain it, but we knew that if we didn't act fast the babies she was carrying would not survive. We induced labor immediately. She had a very difficult time, she labored for hours before she was ready to deliver, and was so weak by then that the trauma of giving birth only drove her physical state even lower. Shortly after the twins were born, she started to hemorrhage. We fought to control it, but the tremendous loss of blood caused her to go into hypovolemic shock. The accompanying fever caused her to become delirious, and that is when we first heard the name Anakin," she explained, looking at Vader.
"And this…delirium resulted in a coma?" Vader asked, trying desperately to master his crushing grief and the guilt that accompanied it.
Deece nodded. "That, coupled with the loss of blood," she replied. "We didn't expect her to survive that is why we agreed to allow her friends to take the twins."
"But she did survive," Vader pressed. "She did, didn't she?"
"She remained in a coma for nearly two weeks," Deece continued. "Her vital signs dangerously low the entire time. And then one day she woke up. She stabilized, but she was not the same."
"What do you mean?" Vader demanded.
"I mean that …she had no idea where she was, who she was, what had happened to her," Deece replied. "She had no memory of her life prior to awakening here."
"You mean she suffered brain damage?" Obi-Wan asked with a frown.
"No, not in the way you mean," Dr. Deece replied. "We ran extensive brain scans to determine if she had suffered any brain damage, but they were negative."
Vader felt a surge of relief at hearing this. "So what would explain her memory loss?" he asked, the thought of his beloved angel so changed and lost wrenching at his heart.
"The trauma of what she went through, both physical and emotional," Deece replied. "Sometimes the human mind will block out events that are too painful to deal with, resulting in what we refer to as dissociative amnesia."
"Is it possible to reverse this?" Vader asked hopefully, desperate to find a glimmer of hope in all this tragedy. "If there was no synaptic damage, then surely it must be possible for her to regain her lost memory."
Deece nodded. "Yes, it's possible," she said.
"Have you any idea where Padmé went when she left here?" Obi-Wan asked. "Any idea at all?"
Deece sighed, shaking her head. "No, I'm afraid not," she replied.
Vader was silent as he considered this dire news. Where could she possibly be? How am I ever to find her?
"How did she get off the outpost?" Vader asked. "In the state she was in? Why did you let her leave?" he demanded.
Deece looked at Vader, biting back the response that immediately jumped to her mind. "She was physically stable when she left," she replied. "We could not prevent her from leaving, Lord Vader."
"She had her ship here," Obi-Wan remembered. "She could have gone anywhere."
"Then I will search the galaxy until I find her," Vader averred. "She is out there; I will not stop until I find her."
"You are forgetting something, Anakin," Obi-Wan said. "You are a wanted man now," he reminded him. "Every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. It's not like you can disguise yourself."
"Yes, I am well aware of that," Vader retorted in frustration.
"Perhaps we are in the right place to find a solution to that problem," Kenobi remarked.
"What do you mean?" Vader asked.
"Dr. Deece," Obi-Wan asked. "This facility has a surgical wing, does it not?"
"Yes, yes it does," Deece replied. "Why do you ask?"
"We require their services," Obi-Wan replied, looking at Vader.
Massassi Outpost- Yavin IV
The Rebel Alliance had not evaded the Empire for close to two decades by being careless. Having won a significant victory against the Empire by destroying the Death Star, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the Empire sent an armada to wipe out their base on Yavin IV. Thus, it was time to relocate again.
The members of the Alliance were used to being mobile, accustomed to the enormous amount of work that went into packing up and moving sometimes half way across the galaxy.
Scouts had been sent out mere days after the destruction of the Death Star. Their job was a challenging one: find a new location for the Rebel base. The Empire's territory was enormous, consisting of over one million member worlds and fifty million colonies, protectorates, and governorships throughout the Galaxy, stretching from the borders of the Deep Core to Wild Space. To evade the Empire's notice was not an easy task, and everyone in the Alliance knew that any new hiding place they managed to find was only temporary. Such was the nature of rebellion, and all the members of this rebellion had come to accept this nomadic life as normal, and the price they must pay in order to fight the tyrannical Empire.
For Luke, however, this was a totally new experience. Having lived his entire life in the same place, Luke was accustomed to living a very unexciting and often monotonous existence. The excitement of his new life was still very new to him, and he savored every part of it. How much his life had changed in only a matter of weeks! It hardly seemed possible that so much could befall one person in so short a time. Not only had he left Tatooine, for what he hoped forever; but he had also been reunited with the twin sister he never knew he had, and met the father he had believed to be long dead. He knew that having Leia made accepting that their father had become Darth Vader far easier than it would have been had he been forced to carry the burden of his father's fall alone. Leia saw the good man within the Dark Lord, and that was enough to convince Luke that Anakin Skywalker was still alive, even though he was buried under two decades of anger and pain. Somehow we will release him from that anger, Leia had vowed to her brother. Somehow we will bring him back to the Light.
As for Leia, she was accustomed to a life of privilege in the royal household of Alderaan. Although she had been involved with the Rebel Alliance for more than a year now, her involvement had always been from a distance, using her position as a senator and a princess to affect changes that no ordinary citizen could manage. But now, now that she had found her long lost twin brother, she felt that her place was with him and the Rebel Alliance. She had nearly twenty years of catching up to do with Luke, with whom she had already formed a deep bond.
If Leia were completely honest with herself, however, she would have to admit that there was another reason for her decision to stay with the Alliance, and that reason had hazel eyes, a cheeky grin and a cocky attitude. Leia had been courted by many suitors during her teenage years as a princess on Alderaan; powerful men, wealthy men, men looking for political ties with the House of Alderaan; but none of them had held the slightest interest for her. So why does a smuggler with a smart mouth, who drives me crazy most of the time hold such a fascination for me? She asked herself again and again.
"Any news from the scouts?" Luke asked as he joined his sister in the mess hall.
Leia shook her head. "No," she said. "It's still early, though. The Empire has a lot of cleaning up to do."
Luke nodded as he sat down beside Han. "I wonder how the emperor is dealing with Father's defection," he commented.
"I'm sure he has put a huge bounty on his head," Leia replied.
"You can count on it," Han put in. "And it ain't gonna be exactly easy for Vader to hide," he added.
"Yes, I think he realizes that," Leia replied. "Obi-Wan seems to think that they can do something to help him on Polis Massa."
"Help him how?" Luke asked.
"Help him to live without the mask," Leia replied.
"Wait a minute," Han said, "I always thought that he wore that get up just to scare the crap out of people. You mean it's actually functional?"
Leia nodded. "Yes, apparently he had some sort of massive accident many years ago, and cannot live without it," she said. "Obi-Wan didn't go into a lot of details."
"You mean they are going to perform surgery on him to repair the injuries that forced him into having to wear all that?" Luke asked.
"Hopefully, yes," Leia replied. "I really hope they can help him," she added.
Han kept his comments to himself, for once, realizing that, for reasons beyond his comprehension, both of his two friends had accepted the Dark Lord as their father. Obviously they saw something in him that he wasn't capable of seeing, or perhaps unwilling to see.
"I wonder if he's found out anything about our mother," Luke remarked.
Leia was wondering the same thing. "I have an idea," she said. "Let's go to Polis Massa ourselves and see what's going on. I can't stand this waiting not knowing what is happening."
"You mean just take off?" Luke said. "How can we do that?"
"It will be weeks before they have found another suitable planet," Leia said. "The fleet will be leaving Yavin IV in a few days' time. We could take a trip there before we relocate. Aren't you curious to know what's going on, Luke? Can you imagine if they are able to help him? We could see our father's face for the first time!"
"That would be amazing," Luke agreed, trying not to get his hopes up. "But how do you suppose we go there? Can you fly an x-wing?"
Leia turned and looked at Han, a smile on her face.
"Oh no," he said. "You're not getting me involved in this insanity."
"Come on, Han," Luke cajoled. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"I've got plenty of that," Han retorted. "Insanity is something else altogether."
"Fine," Leia said, sighing. "If you won't take us, we'll simply have to find someone who will."
Han could tell when he was being played; having won his beloved Millennium Falcon in a sabaac game, he was well versed in the signs. But there was just something about the high spirited princess that he couldn't say no to, and that really bothered him.
"Alright, alright," he said at last. "I know when I've been outnumbered. Besides, Polis Massa is on the other side of the galaxy from Jabba the Hutt," he reasoned. "And the further away I can get from that pile of filth, the better."
Leia smiled. "Wonderful," she said. "The fleet will be assembling in three days' time. Is that too soon to leave?"
"I'll have her ready to go," Han said. "No worries. Even if I do think you're both nuts."
Luke and Leia merely looked at one another and smiled.