Chapter 84

"Well, what do you think?"

Anakin looked up to see Padmé and Leia standing before him. His mouth dropped open when he beheld his daughter, for, thanks to her mother's ministrations, she was the very image of a 20 year old Padmé Amidala.

"Wow," Anakin said softly. "That is….incredible."

Padmé turned and looked at Leia with a smile. "Quite a resemblance, wouldn't you say?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes, it's astounding."

Leia had her hair arranged in an elaborate style much like the ones her mother was well known for and she wore a gown reminiscent of the former Queen of Naboo. It was a perfect disguise.

"Palpatine will be completely fooled," Anakin said. "At least initially."

"Well that's all we need, isn't it?" Leia replied. "Just to get in the door."

Anakin nodded. "Yes," he agreed. "Once we're alone with him, then we will let him in on our little secret."

The door opened and an armored storm trooper entered the room.

"I still can't see a thing in this helmet," he muttered.

Anakin smiled. "You won't have to put up with it for long, Luke," he said. "As Leia said, just long enough to get us in the door."

Luke took the helmet off and set it down. "Good," he said, running a hand through his tousled locks. "The shorter the better."

"I still think you're too short to be a storm trooper," Leia told her brother with a grin.

Luke laughed.

"Am I missing something?" Padmé asked, looking at her children.

Luke and Leia looked at one another. "Well, the first time Leia and I met one another I was dressed like this," Luke explained.

"Why?" Padmé asked.

"He was trying to rescue me," Leia said with a smile. "He did a pretty good job too as a matter of fact."

"Rescue you from whom?" Padmé asked.

"From me," Anakin said, much to Padmé's surprise.

She turned to him. "From you??" she asked. "You…I mean Vader held Leia prisoner?"

"No, he didn't," Leia said before Anakin could reply. "I was being held by Governor Tarkin on board the Death Star, and Darth Vader protected and eventually rescued me," she said, looking at her father with a smile.

Padmé smiled. "You did that?"

Anakin nodded. "I had to," he replied. "I felt a connection with Leia from the moment we met, and did everything I could to help her. Meeting Luke was pure serendipity," he added, looking at Luke.

"It was the will of the Force," Luke said. "That's what I think brought us all together."

"Perhaps you're right, Luke," Anakin replied. "Whatever the reason, I am eternally grateful to the imperial officer who placed the tractor beam on Leia's ship to bring her on board mine," he said, smiling at Leia. "If we had never met, I would have spent the rest of my life in Darkness."

"And I would have spent the rest of mine in that home you found me in, Ani," Padmé put in. Emotions flooded her as she thought all that her family had been through, and what was yet to come. "I wish this was all behind us," she said softly. "I hate the thought of this."

Anakin walked over to her and took her face in his hands. "None of us do, Angel," he told her. "But this confrontation has been coming for a long time, there is no avoiding it. The galaxy will never know peace until Palpatine is dead."

Padmé nodded. "I know that, Ani," she said. "In my mind I know it's necessary, but in my heart…." She stopped as the emotions overwhelmed her.

Anakin pulled her into his arms. "I know," he said softly, stroking her hair. "We will not let him win, Padmé, I promise you."

"I know," she replied. She looked up at him and then at their children. "I have total faith in all of you," she added. "I just love you all so much that the thought of anything happening to you is too much to bear," she explained as tears filled her eyes.

"Don't worry Mom," Leia said, trying her best not to get emotional as well, "I'll make sure nothing happens to either of these two," she said with a smile.

Padmé smiled. "That's reassuring," she said. "And what about you?"

"Don't worry about Leia," Luke assured his mother. "She kicks my butt on a regular basis now," he said.

Padmé had to laugh, loving both her children immensely for their efforts to calm her fears.

"Lord Vader, this is Piett."

Anakin activated his comlink. "Go ahead," he said.

"We've entered the Coruscant System," Piett reported. "And are preparing to revert from hyperspace."

Anakin looked up at his family. "Understood. I'll be right there."

"Looks like our moment of truth is upon us," he said.

Luke and Leia looked at one another, not saying a word.

"I'm going to the bridge," he said. "Are you coming, Angel?"

Padmé nodded. "Yes, I'm coming."

Padmé stood on the bridge of the Executor, watching as the men scrambled to establish a link with the shuttle. Was it only a mere day since that conversation had taken place? How could they all be lost when mere hours ago we had all been so happy together?

"They have to be okay," Ylla said, clasping her hands nervously before her. "They just have to be!"
Padmé shook herself from her reverie to turn to the young woman. She loves my son, she thought. She is just as frightened as me. Walking over to the young woman, Padmé took her hand.

"They will be," She said. "They will destroy the emperor and all will be well, Ylla. It has to be."

"Admiral, look!"

All eyes turned to the screen where the shuttle had appeared at last. It was careening wildly, seemingly out of control, as it rode the shock waves of the massive explosion.

"Tractor beam!" Piett shouted. His men reacted quickly and soon the small craft had been caught in the Executor's invisible grasp.

"Establish contact," Piett ordered next as they watched the shuttle in its fight to keep itself level.

"Unable to raise them, sir," the communications officer replied. "Far too much interference from the explosion on the surface, sir."

"Sir, the surface tension on the shuttle is rising," another crewman announced. "If we don't get them on board soon they'll break apart!"

Padmé and Ylla looked at one another in alarm. "Piett, do something!" Padmé cried.

"Bring them in," Piett commanded. "Carefully now, monitor their hull temperature," he added. He looked back at Padmé and Ylla, doing his best to appear calm. He knew that the tremendous pressure of the tractor beam coupled with the turbulence of the shuttle was a dangerous combination. If they did not get the small craft on board in a matter of moments….well, he did not want to consider what might happen.

"Prepare to receive shuttle," Piett ordered as the shuttle grew closer. "Have you been able to raise them yet?"

"The signal is very weak, sir," the comm. officer replied. "But we have been able to get through."

"Thank the Maker," Padmé sighed.

They listened in silence as the static filled the bridge, and then the voice of Han Solo could be heard faintly. "Repeat – we are breaking up! Get us up there fast….medical team…injuries…do you read?"

"We read you, Shuttle Reliant," the comm. officer replied. "We will have you on board in twenty seconds."

"Have a medical crew meet them in Hangar…" Piett turned back to the comm. officer. "Which hangar, Phelps?"

"Hanger eighteen, sir."

"Medical crew to Hangar eighteen on the double!" Piett ordered. He looked back at Padmé and Ylla. "Ladies, let's go."

Padmé's heart beat double time as she, Ylla and Piett made their way to hangar bay eighteen. The fact that they were alive gave her some comfort; but the urgency with which a medical team had been dispatched to the hangar was alarming. Who was hurt? How serious was it? Would it be too late to help them?

The medical crew had already arrived at the hangar by the time Padmé and the others had reached it. The shuttle had docked and the ramp was lowered. It was all Padmé could do not to run on board the craft herself to see what was going on. But soon enough there was activity, as the passengers started to emerge. Han Solo appeared first, followed by Chewbacca. Padmé watched with breath held for her family to appear. Luke and Leia appeared next, which left only Anakin. Anakin is hurt, she thought with a dull sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. That is who needs the medical crew… Before long the medical crew emerged with Anakin in tow. They had him on a medical gurney and floated him down the ramp into the hangar.

"Ani!" Padmé cried as she rushed over to him. "What is wrong?? What happened to him?"

Luke and Leia met their mother and the three embraced tightly. "Thank the Maker you're both alright," she said. "What happened to your father?"

Leia looked at her mother, tears forming in her eyes. "He wasn't strapped in," she said quietly. "He was the last to board the shuttle, and before he had a chance to get strapped in the palace blew," she stopped as her grief overwhelmed her.

Padmé looked at Luke. "You mean when you the shuttle was being tossed around…that he was…" she stopped as she realized what must have happened and suddenly felt as though she was going to pass out. Luke took her hands, as though trying to give her some of his own strength. "He's going to make it, Mom," he told her. "He's weathered so many storms in his life; he will get through this one too."

Padmé looked into her son's eyes, Anakin's eyes, and though his words said one thing, she could see the fear in them. "Luke," she said softly as the medics left the room with their patient. "I couldn't bear to lose him now," she said as her tears started. "Not again…not now after all we've been through!"

Luke said nothing, but merely held his mother tightly, doing his best to comfort her despite his own tremendous fear.

"Let's follow him," Luke said at last. "And see what the medics have to say."

Padmé nodded, and let her son take her by the hand. They were joined by Han and Leia. As they reached the door, they were met by Ylla.

"Luke!" she cried, throwing her arms around him. "I'm so relieved you're alright!"

Luke returned Ylla's embrace. "We're on our way up to the medical wing," he told her. He pulled back and looked at her. "My father has been seriously injured," he told her quietly.

Ylla's face fell, and she looked at Padmé. "I'm so sorry," she said.

Padmé nodded, doing her best to remain calm. "Come on," she said. "I need to see him."

The five of them headed for the turbo lift and then proceeded to the medical wing.

Upon arriving in the intensive care unit, Padmé had to hold tightly on to her son's hand for support. Anakin had been hooked up to life support as the medics worked frantically to attend to his injuries.

"How is my father?" Luke asked, making Padmé proud with his calm, authoritative tone.

One of the medical droids approached the group. "Lord Vader has sustained massive internal injuries," the droid informed them. "He has several broken bones and has received severe trauma to his head."

"Ani," Padmé gasped as the droid's words hit her with the impact of a laser. She looked at the droid, her large eyes imploring it desperately. "He's….he'll be okay though, won't he?" she asked desperately. "You can help him, can't you?"

"Chances of survival are…"
"Don't tell me chances of survival!!" Padmé shouted angrily. "He is the Chosen One! He survived the fires of Mustafar! You will help him to survive this too!"

The droid was perplexed by the human woman's emotional outburst, and simply returned to his patient. Padmé shook off her son's hand and approached the bed, needing to see him.

"Lady Vader, please," the droid said.

"Don't call me that," she said flatly, the tears streaming down her face. "It's Skywalker, do you understand? He is Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader." She looked down at Anakin's face and took one of his hands. "And he will not leave us, he promised," she said softly. "He promised he'd never leave us again, and I believe him." She looked up at the droids surrounding her. "Help him," she said simply, and then she stepped back and let them do their job.