Hi everyone, it's good to be back.
I hope everybody enjoys this chapter. A flashback shows Padmé's escape the night of Order 66, Anakin, Padmé, and the gang try to save the children, and Great-Aunt Lydonia is forced into a terrible dilemma.
Chapter 24
19 bby;
Padmé had Artoo fly them down a good distance from Republica 500 before landing down in an alleyway. Anakin's starfighter would catch a lot of attention Padmé wanted to get out of.
Upon landing, Padmé had untied Threepio while Artoo ejected himself out, and the two Jedi younglings climbed out of the cockpit. Next, Padmé led them out of the alleyway as far away from Anakin's starfighter as possible. Several pedestrians looked at them oddly, especially at Vera and Noor's Jedi robes and Padmé's nightgown peeking from her cloak.
They had to change clothes, and quickly.
Luck came when they found a twenty-four hour store. Padmé ushered her group in, leaving Artoo out to keep watch and signal for trouble.
Padmé picked out two children's outfits that seemed to be Vera and Noor's sizes. She was helping them change in the changing room when she discovered Vera's injury.
The young girl had been limping as they were walking, but Padmé hadn't gotten to look at it until now. The girls told Padmé how they ended up in the hangar to escape in the starfighter in the first place.
Vera loved watching the starfighters fly and couldn't wait till she was old enough to start her flight training. Noor was fascinated with the engines and watching the engineers at work, saying it was like watching puzzles come together. So instead of joining their clanmates for the last evening class, Vera had talked her friend Noor into skipping class to sneak into one of the Temple's hangars. Neither of them had known that their rebellious act would save their lives.
The two girls had been studying the structures of fighters when they had felt the disturbance in the Force. It happened so fast. One minute they had been exploring, the next minute the hangar's doors had opened and Clones started shooting everybody in sight.
Vera and Noor didn't know what to do.
They ran.
Blaster fire flew everywhere as the two younglings dashed for cover which happened to be Master Skywalker's starfighter. Vera had been helping Noor climb into the cockpit when a laser hit the back of her right leg, very close to the back of her knee. The pain had nearly caused Vera to collapse, but Noor had held on to her friend and pulled her into the cockpit. The two girls were small, allowing them to fit in the cockpit built for a male adult human.
They had stayed silent, despite Vera's pain, so scared were they of the Clones finding them. They could only watch in horror as the Clones fired and killed all Jedi in the hangar as well as any technician who tried to help them. When the killing stopped, Vera and Noor's thoughts flooded them. What was going on? Why were the Clones attacking them? Why did they feel weird in the Force? What about their clanmates? Had they been attacked too? How could Vera and Noor get out of here?
The answer to that last question had come in the form of Artoo. Artoo had received orders from his master, Anakin, to take the starfighter and retrieve his mistress, Padmé. The R2 unit had attracted no attention from the Clones and had made his way to the starfighter, inserting himself, and firing the engines. The droid had been surprised to discover his two stowaways, but it was too late to turn them away (even if it was against his programming). The Clones had noticed the starfighter and had begun to fire upon it. With skilled piloting, Artoo flew them out of the Temple and to Padmé's apartment.
Padmé was astonished by the end of the tale. When she looked at Vera's leg she had been even more surprised that the girl had managed to walk so far without passing out. The laserburn had cauterized the wound, but all the walking and movement had caused it to tear and bleed. Vera needed bacta and quickly, otherwise she was going to bleed out.
She was planning to go back out to Threepio who was in charge of their bags for her medkit, when a knock on their changing room door startled all occupants.
"Is everything alright in there ma'am?"
Padmé looked at the girls who looked back at her with terrified eyes. Vera had grown more pale, and Noor was slightly trembling. Padmé herself felt like she was shaking, and that's when she felt the baby inside her move. It was that movement that made Padmé steel herself, reminding herself that she had to be strong for all of them. Taking a risk, Padmé cracked the door open, praying to all her ancestors, Naboo gods, and the Force itself that she wouldn't be recognized. She opened the door to a middle-aged female Twi'lek, the manager of the store most likely judging by her uniform. The Twi'lek looked at her with concern before her eyes widened, seeing the blood down Vera's leg, and Padmé was grateful that the two girls had removed and hidden their outer Jedi robes, leaving them in undershirts.
"Stars above! What happened?" the manager exclaimed, pushing past Padmé and kneeling down to check on Vera.
Padmé had thought of a cover story on their walk in case anyone would ask why a poorly dressed pregnant woman and two children were out at this hour. "My… My husband went too far tonight. Please, do you have a first aid kit?"
"Yes, I do. Hold on sweetie," the manager assured them before heading out to retrieve it. She returned a minute later and helped Padmé clean and patch up Vera's wound.
"Are you hurt too, Darling?" the manager asked Noor.
The younger shook her head, too timid and scared to speak.
"What about you, Hon?" She turned to Padmé.
Padmé insisted that she was fine, but the manager pointed at the bruises on her arms her nightgown hadn't been able to cover. Padmé hadn't noticed them. They must have come from when she was riding the starfighter and hit her arms while trying to protect her belly. It helped sell her story that she and the girls had run away from an abusive spouse though.
The manager was kind, asking if they needed a ride to the hospital and that's when another strategy hit Padmé. There was a hospital in the neighborhood Bail's apartment was at. Oadmé had planned on taking a public transport, but if Clones were searching for her and any surviving Jedi, it would be awfully risky. At least the manager's offer allowed a safer option.
Padmé and the girls finished getting dressed, the manager refusing any payment Padmé tried to offer her, and gathered Artoo and Threepio before climbing into the manager's speeder. As they drove through traffic, Padmé held the girls close to her. They seemed to relax under her touch if only a little, but they were obviously still scared every time a Clone gunship roared past them, saw a Clone, or were startled by a loud honking speeder. They clung onto Padmé, and Padmé held onto them.
These poor children, Padmé thought. She could only imagine herself in their shoes, and she struggled not to think of the danger Anakin was in. How long ago had that call been? Was he safe? Did he manage to escape? What about the other Jedi?
Padmé was pulled out from her thoughts when the speeder began to slow down. She realized how far they had flown, and were only a few streets from Bail's residence. However, the reason for their slowing down, Padmé discovered in horror, was because a Clone patrol was stopping incoming traffic and searching vehicles.
000{{*}}000
18 bby;
Night had fallen on the city of Theed. The rains hadn't begun to resume just yet, but it wouldn't be much longer.
Everything was in place, yet Anakin felt tense and coiled like a snake. It was too similar to his war days right before the beginning of a battle. There was also the clue Padmé had told Anakin she had found on Vatié's body. That clue Vatié had snatched and hidden that they couldn't find it on her the first time they had examined her body. Anakin felt ashamed that he hadn't been able to find it in the first place, but he had been unable to continue a thorough search of the young woman's body.
He sensed Ferus approach him from behind.
"Everyone's in place," the former Jedi padawan informed Anakin.
Anakin nodded. "Good. everything ready for our getaway?"
"Dormé and Eirtaé have everything we'll need packed in the speeders, and will be ready to depart when needed."
"Good. That's good." Anakin let out a breath. "Now we just wait for Padmé to give the order. Remember to keep an eye on you-know-who during this rescue."
"Don't worry, I will," Ferus promised him.
They fell into silence, staring out the window of the front door as they waited for everyone else to come and they could start the operation. Anakin wasn't sure what to make of this. In their padawan days both of them would deliver snarks to one another until their masters interfered. Of course, that was back before the war, before either of them had married their respective spouses, before the Jedi were outlawed and hunted down to where they faced extinction. Anakin wondered if Ferus was thinking of his husband Roan. Ferus had been the model padawan up until he left the order he had been raised in. Anakin knew that Roan Lands had to be a pretty special being to have captured Ferus' heart and marry in the short time they knew each other. He wondered how Roan was doing, and hoped that for Ferus' sake, Palpatine was keeping Roan alive until Ferus was back in his custody.
He was thinking of asking Ferus more about his husband when Ferus asked him. "What made you and Padmé decide to have a kid?"
Anakin was taken aback by the question. "What?"
There was no accusation or shaming in his voice, merely curiosity as Ferus explained. "You were still a member of the Jedi Order, fighting in the warfront for three years then, and Padmé was a well-known Senator in the spotlight often. Why did you decide to have a baby at such an uncertain time?"
"It's not like we suddenly decided 'Oh hey let's make a baby in the middle of all this poodoo going on around us,'" Anakin sarcastically replied. He took a deep breath to calm himself, not meaning to get as riled as he had. "Padmé and I discussed the concept of having kids around the time we got married. She talked about wanting a family of her own, and I wanted one too, but we knew as long as the war went on that wasn't possible. We were always careful, or at least we thought we were until Padmé found out she was pregnant."
Actually, it was something he and Padmé discussed during their months of exile. Not that they were ungrateful for their miracle twins, but it had always seemed odd. Anakin always used protection and Padmé was on the pill to help regulate her monthly courses. The chances were slim, and they had accepted that something must not have worked and that it was "the Will of the Force".
"So you guys became pregnant by accident," Ferus surmised. "Do you regret it?"
"Absolutely not!" Anakin told him fiercely.
The day Padmé told him she was pregnant was the happiest day of his life. He had nightmares of her dying in childbirth, feared the Jedi Council finding out about them, and then feared what the Sith would do. He almost lost Padmé right after she managed to give birth to the twins. Then they had to go into exile on Tatooine, a place he never wanted to return to until the twins were grown enough to fight the Empire. These six months caring and raising the twins, staying up at night, changing dirty diapers, enduring every tantrum, and the rare use of the Force, Anakin wouldn't trade them for anything. He cherished every moment of Leia's smiles, Luke's giggles, and every time he held both of his children in his arms, safe and content. So yes, he had his fears of Palpatine finding them, but Anakin would never, ever regret their existence.
"I've fought battles where I was outnumbered a hundred to one, flown in flights I survived by the skin of my teeth, and cheated death more times than I can count, but no task is as difficult or terrifying as being a parent. You have to protect them, teach them, and be the perfect example to them. It's even harder when you know they're different compared to other children and the challenges they are going to face. But it's also the best thing to happen to you. To me, they give you a reason to continue seeing the beauty in life, to fight for them, and never give in. Even if it seems the galaxy is falling to pieces, your world is already a better place because your kid's in it."
During his speech, he noticed how quiet Ferus was and wondered if he stunned him into silence. Then he noticed Ferus' hand fingering his wedding band around his neck.
"Why do you ask?" Anakin asked more softly.
Ferus stared at the ring in his grasp. "There was a couple that lived on our block. They had a daughter just a few months old. Beautiful red locks, sharp green eyes, and the cutest smile you'd ever seen on a baby with those little dimples. Her name was Shira. Shira Elan Colla. Her parents had fled from Coruscant at the Empire's formation and had settled on Bellassa. One night, Imperialists invaded their home because it was discovered they were secretly spreading anti-Imperial propaganda. Shira's mother tried to run with her, but she had been shot while she was trying to escape. She made it to the alleyway behind mine and Roan's home and hid her behind the garbage bins before she collapsed and the Imperials caught up to her. Roan and I heard the commotion and went out to investigate. That's when we found Shira."
Ferus paused in his tale, and Anakin felt the love and anguish inside him as he tried to control his emotions. "I realized she was Force-sensitive. We couldn't place her in an orphanage in case anyone found her and handed her over to the Empire. Our line of work was too dangerous to keep a child so young, especially one with the Force, so I looked into my contacts and tried to find a couple who we could trust to take care and protect her. It took me several weeks to find one. In the meantime, Roan and I took care of her. Roan fell in love with her, and… so did I. I was terrified of holding her sometimes because I was afraid of dropping her. She would cry, and I would panic, forgetting to use my senses to know if she was hungry, tired, or what. But at night time when I would be up late, she would fall asleep on my chest, and I would feel content. Roan talked about having kids after the war, but me… any wish I had of becoming a father blew away with the death of the Republic and Jedi. I couldn't not resist and neither could I endanger any kid I had. That's actually what Roan and I had argued about on that horrible night. I had finally found a couple to take Shira in, but Roan wanted to keep her. He said we could make it work, that Shira was our family now."
Ferus took a shaky breath, and Anakin noticed the tears threatening to escape his eyes. "I told him he was selfish, and that Shira was better off without us. Our fight got so bad, Shira started crying uncontrollably that I had to get out of there and get a hold of myself. I had walked a good distance when I sensed something was wrong and ran back home, but by the time I got there… it was too late."
By the end of his tale, Ferus was shaking, and the tears leaked, falling down his face.
Anakin was stunned into silence. Kriff, was this what Ferus had been holding in this whole time? Not only had his husband been taken, but a child as well? It felt like water had been dumped upon Anakin, washing his vision to finally see the real Ferus Olin after five years. How did he not fall to the Dark Side? How was he still sane? Anakin felt his emotions in the Force. Anguish, fear, anger, and hate. Yes, even hate. There was a darkness Ferus was trying to fight inside of him, but there was also light. There was love and the hope he would be able to see his family again. It showed how strong Ferus Olin was to Anakin to be able to resist so long. Anakin laid a hand on Ferus' shoulder and squeezed it in comfort.
He felt a wave of gratitude from Ferus, before he felt despair.
A heavy sigh escaped the older man. "Shira is lost. I've… had to come to terms with that these last few months. Even if I still have this faint hope of seeing her again, Sidious will never let her go. And that… that kills me."
Anakin squeezed his shoulder again, his heart going out to Ferus. He couldn't bring himself to imagine Luke or Leia in Shira's place. But still…
"Do you have any idea where Sidious could be keeping her?"
Ferus shook his head. "No, he was very good at keeping his cards close to his chest."
There was a feeling of hopelessness in Ferus that Anakin tried to resist. He wanted to tell Ferus that they would find and rescue Shira, but he had no idea where they would even start their search. Palpatine would have hidden her somewhere Ferus could never reach her, and if Ferus had been unable to find anything on her in the months he spent undercover, what hope did Anakin have? He hated how useless he felt and guilty. Safely hidden on Tatooine where Anakin's own children Luke and Leia while others like them were being snatched away from their families and Force knows what happened to them. He wanted to fight. For children like Luke, Leia, and Shira. Fight so they could live and grow up in a galaxy free from the Sith and never fear for their lives. He remembered the discussion he, Obi-wan, and Master Yoda had all those months ago on Polis Massa before they went their separate ways.
The Fight was done.
They lost.
Now they would go into hiding, bide their time until the moment was right. Anakin hated their decision, but what else could be done? So few Jedi had survived the Purges (that they knew of) and were scattered across the galaxy. The Separatists had been crushed and the Republic turned into an Empire that declared the Jedi traitors. Furthermore, everyone was sick of war. The Jedi couldn't do anything but hide and bide their time.
What about the ones who didn't escape? A voice whispered inside Anakin's head. He remembered the Jedi dying around him on that horrible day, and had barely escaped with his life, only to discover a fate worse than death when he was brought to Darth Sidious.
The voice scoffed at him. Some Chosen One you are! How many are dying and suffering because of you? Because you weren't strong enough? Or was it because you still cared about Palpatine?
'No, no," Anakin said inwardly.
Deny all you want, but deep down you still care about that bastard who you saw as a mentor and friend, even if it had all been a lie.
'No!'
"Anakin?"
Anakin was startled from his thoughts and turned to see the concerned gaze of his wife who had joined them. He saw Ferus wipe his eyes and harden his expression.
"Ready?"
Padmé frowned, but nodded her assent. "We're ready. Let's go."
Ferus left to join his group, leaving Anakin and Padmé to begin their approach. They had three children to rescue.
000{{*}}000
Padmé remembered planning for the Battle of Naboo all those years ago when she was Queen. She was fourteen years old, a child in many eyes, but an intelligent one. Her alliance with the Gungans, and her plan to capture the Viceroy, and destroy the droid control ship had been inspired by the battles she had read in history classes during the time of the Old Republic.
Invading Tessé Yelnina's home reminded Padmé how nervous and scared she had been, and the painful knot she had felt as she mentally prepared herself for the moment Panaka would begin his diversion.
Along with the blueprints they had, Eirtaé had also shared what she remembered from visits her family had made to the Yelnina mansion in the past. Sabé would be leading Rabé, Saché, and Yané through the servant's entrance. Ferus would lead Typho, Motée, and Ellé up the balcony viewing the Yelninas' gardens. Padmé and Anakin would walk right up to the front door. Theirs was the most dangerous part of this rescue. While everybody else dealt with the security guards and droids, and searched for the children, Anakin and Padmé would distract Tessé and keep her from calling for help. It was crazy even for Anakin Skywalker, but Padmé had faith in this plan. She also wanted to look into Tessé's eyes, to see for herself how far Moré's sister had fallen.
They made it to the gate when Padmé glanced at her husband. He was tensed, preparing to come between Padmé and any oncoming danger should it arise.
"Ready?"
Anakin nodded. "As I'll ever be."
Padmé pressed the buzzer.
A security droid zoomed out in front of them, pointing its blasters at them. "Halt! Identify yourselves!" it demanded.
Padmé and Anakin both lifted their heads to allow the droid to scan them. A minute later the gate opened and the couple entered the property, only to be stopped by the droid again.
"Halt! I've been ordered to not allow you in until you've been searched. Please wait while my human counterparts search you for any weapons."
It had started to rain already, beginning to soak Padmé and Anakin as two human guards came and searched them. If they were surprised to see Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker on their mistress' doorstep they didn't show it. Anakin and Padmé had left what few possessions they had brought with them in their getaway speeders, carrying only a couple of blasters and Anakin's lightsaber. When the search was done, the guards proceeded to take them inside the manor.
The Yelninas' manor was different compared to the Lasara Home. Instead of the heavy red decor, it was dark stone with paintings that made it seemed more like a museum instead of a home. Padmé hoped that their distraction was working. Where would Tessé hide the children?
The guards led them to what appeared to be a study, and there was Tessé. Padmé had hoped that when she saw Tessé she would find traces of her sister Moré. While she did resemble her deceased sister from her dark hair to her narrow cheekbones, she didn't have that sweet smile and neither did her eyes light up like Padmé remembered Moré possessing. Instead the smug sneer and evil delight in her eyes as Padmé and Anakin were escorted into her study by her guard reminded Padmé of her father Aros. she was dressed in the dark robes of Naboo's Senator, sitting in her desk chair as if she were the Queen of Naboo.
"Well, well this is a surprise. I take it Motée was the one who squealed. Or was it Yané?"
Padmé said nothing. Eventually her glare made Tessé cough uncomfortably.
"Why Tessé?" Padmé demanded. The smugness left Tessé only to be replaced by anger. "You really need to ask that?! For over thirty years my family was among the most powerful here on Naboo. My father would have become Senator after Palpatine if you hadn't destroyed his career."
"Your father accumulated his wealth and power through stealing, bribery, and blackmail, and ruined the lives of any whom he thought a threat. He was extraordinarily lucky not to go to prison for the rest of his life," Padmé counteracted.
Tessé shook her head and chuckled bitterly. "So easy to say for someone who grew up in a loving home with no ties to politics. You think your "acts of mercy" were that? Instead of sending all your political opponents to prison, but simply ruin their career to the point they could never show their faces in public again? Oh, you thought my father was a horrible person then, you have no idea what he became."
Something in Padmé softened as she remembered the stories Moré told her before she died. "I remember what your sister, Moré, told me. He took his anger out on all of you."
"Oh yes Moré. The sister who abandoned her family for her new mistress only to end up dead not even a year into her service."
Padmé flinched, and that's when Anakin stepped in. "Your sister was a hero! She died trying to free all of you from the Trade Federation."
He was furious. Anakin knew Padmé always blamed herself for all the deaths that happened during that time, believing if she had been stronger and wiser she could have prevented it. Anakin disagreed. Padmé had been strong, wise, and compassionate while the Trade Federation were greedy and didn't care who they hurt.
Tessé looked startled, but Anakin continued. "I'm sorry for what your father put you all through, but that does not excuse your actions. You blackmailed two mothers into doing your bidding and made them harm their friends."
"You call those two mothers?! Ha! One of them isn't really a mother and the other gave up her child the minute he was born."
"They are children, Tessé! Children!" Padmé shouted. Her fury for Motée and Yané was lit. "They are Yané and Motée's children, and you had no right to steal them and threaten their mothers. For what? Intel on what I was doing? So you could secure your position?"
"Do either of you know the price on your heads? Ever since the Emperor declared you both traitors, the prices on your heads is enough to grab every bounty hunter in the galaxy, and since you both came here, the price even doubled, but those of us inside Palpatine's circle were promised something bigger."
"And what's that?" Padmé demanded.
Tessé smiled. "Palpatine really wants that diary of your dead aunt's. He's even willing to wait capturing you both for it."
Padmé had suspected, but hearing it confirmed sent a chill through her.
"What does he want the diary for?" Anakin questioned her.
Tessé answered cryptically. "Old secrets? A lover's momento? All I know is that your aunt had to have left quite the impression on him to go through all this trouble after all this time."
Before either Padmé or Anakin could reply, the comm on the Senator's desk went off. "M-ady-in-ers-in-pstaris-ot-afe. St-ere-end-hel-"
The static call alarmed Tessé who sat up and pressed the comm worriedly. "Captain? Captain!"
This time it was the Skywalkers' turn to be smug.
"Problem?" Padmé asked innocently.
"What did you do?!" Tessé yelled at her.
"You have a lot to learn if you hope to survive in the Senate."
Their plan seemed to be working.
Tessé looked at them furiously before she calmed herself. "Perhaps, but I do know to always have a backup plan."
She pulled out a separate commlink. "Fett, you're up."
She looked at the couple, her smugness returning. "We'll see who wins this."
Padmé and Anakin exchanged a glance, hoping that their friends were up for whatever Tessé had in her pocket.
000{{*}}000
65 bby;
Padmé bit her lip as she studied her notes, her mind going over to what Johena and her mother Madame Wulen had revealed to them earlier that day.
Lord Talstrine had indeed been exploiting his workers. The properties their families lived on come out of the majority of their earnings, leaving just a bare minimum to feed their families. Housing and food were sold at such a high price that the workers wouldn't have enough credit left over for other necessities like clothing, medicine, or books for their children. Nobody could leave either if they owed money to the company. Madame Wulen had a friend who's son tried to leave in order to find a better paying job only to be stopped by Talstrine's men all because he owed the company two thousand credits.
Slavery was outlawed in the Republic, but Padmé had heard stories, whispers mostly, in court about those who kept slaves, most particularly companies like Czerka. The laws on indentured servitude, however, people found ways to twist them. The people here were stuck and starving.
Lady Tonsort and Lady Veruna had met up with Padmé in the guest Talstrine had provided for her and Liné to share their own discoveries.
"I was able to go through some of the files but only briefly. His secretaries were very angsty when I began to look into the incident reports," Tonsort reported.
"What did you find?" Veruna asked from her perch on Padmé's bed.
"It's what I didn't find that concerns me. My witness told me of outbursts and protests his coworkers had made over the years, which should have been recorded in the reports, but the one I'm more worried about is the lack of information on the last mining accident they had three years ago. The only reason I even know about the accident is because my witness reported it to me," Tonsort explained.
"Madame Wulen and Johena mentioned that to me when I was talking to them," Padmé spoke from the windowsill she was sitting on. "The mountain had been shifting since the earthquake they had a few years before until one day it just… broke. A dozen miners were killed."
Tonsort nodded. "Yes. My witness said that the mine had been struggling to find more plasma rocks, and that Talstrine had pushed them into using more drastic measures to mine."
"Drastic how?" Veruna asked.
Tonsort hesitated before answering. "The detonation of charges kind of drastic."
Veruna let out a slew of curses before getting up and pacing angrily. "That kriffing idiot! What the frack was he thinking? Using explosives on an already unstable mine? He knows better, and now twelve people are dead."
Veruna was furious at Talstrine's stupidity or blatant disregard for life, or likely both. Padmé and Tonsort allowed her to stew about it for a couple minutes before the latter turned to the former.
"Did the Wulens tell you anything else?"
"On top of the indentured servitude, the mine accident, and the poor conditions, there were several other topics I could tell they wanted to get into, but then we received word from Johena's son that our guards were beginning to stir and we had to rush back to the restaurant before they fully woke up," Padmé answered.
Indeed, Padmé couldn't remember running so fast in her life to make it back into the diner. Luckily, on top of the sleeping tabs, the frozen candied berries and ryoo tea mixed together had caused bad digestion that none of the guards had been able to pay attention where Padmé, Liné, and Gregor were at first. Padmé had a feeling though that they were suspicious as they returned back to Talsteine's mines. She noticed Veruna's angry pacing had slowed and that she was thinking deeply.
"I'm wondering if Talstrine is having secret dealings with the Trade Federation or perhaps Damask Holdings. It would explain his sudden urge to mine plasma as quickly as possible."
"I'd like to go down in the mines tomorrow, and see for myself the production," Tonsort suggested.
Veruna nodded. "Agreed. I'll go with you. Padmé, you, Liné, and Gregor stay up on the surface and keep an eye out on anything suspicious."
"Alright, but will the two of you be alright going down there?" Padmé asked, concerned, remembering the stories Jon used to tell of gas leaks and cave-ins.
Tonsort nodded and reassured her. "We'll be fine. Talstrine would be even dumber than he already is if he were to do me and Eirtaé away down there, and my contact gave me a few names of miners who he says are trustworthy. Hopefully, they will be willing to talk, and we can fix all the problems here."
Padmé had that she was right.
000{{*}}000
Padmé was able to get a better tour of the mine the next day. She also got to see the miners coming into work.
In their uniforms, Padmé was reminded of her brother-in-law Jon. He always came home covered in grime and dust from the mine that never went away no matter how much he bathed or how hard Ryoo washed his clothing. Padmé looked on at the miners, wondering if she could see jon in them, but these men carried a more worn look than her brother-in-law had even on his toughest days. It was as if life had nearly been drained out of them. Some of the men tried to cheer their coworkers up by telling jokes, bringing a few laughs out of them. It brought a smile to Padmé's face.
That's when Veruna and Tonsort both announced to Talstrine that they would like to go down in the mines and see the work in action. Talstrine seemed uncertain, but Veruna managed to persuade him to take them down along with Veta and Xoana. As they put on the safety equipment, Padmé couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.
"Be careful," she told the four women. It had been almost a year since the Plague and since she first came into the Palace. In that year, she had made so many friends, these women among them. Lady Veruna was her mentor. Xoana whom she had studied and worked beside with. Veta who taught her and faced so many trials with her already. Finally, Lady Tonsort who Padmé hadn't known as long, but already admired and respected her dedication and courage. All of them had become her friends and respected allies.
Veta offered her a reassuring smile. "We'll be fine, Padmé. Look after yourself as well as Liné and Gregor. While Talstrine will be with us, his assistant manager Soolen will be up here."
Padmé nodded, accepting the warning.
When they were ready, Padmé watched as Talstrine led Veruna, Tonsort, Veta, and Xoana into the dark depths of the mines.
"Is that the only way in?" she asked Assistant Manager Soolen.
"No. we have another tunnel we use to bring down our heavier equipment. Shall I show you?"
Padmé, Liné, and Gregor followed him to the tunnel entrance where she saw miners drive mining vehicles used to dig deeper into Naboo's crust. She listened and tried to understand as Soolen went on explaining the equipment, how much plasma they're able to mine monthly, and the hard work put into it. Padmé felt whatever nerves she had beginning to fade when a miner approached them. He wasn't covered with dust and grime as the other miners, giving Padmé the impression that he was higher up the chain.
"Sir, may I speak with you?" he asked Soolen.
"Is it important, Donna?" the assistant manager asked through gritted teeth.
"Yes sir. It's…" he pulled out a piece of broken glass.
The assistant manager grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from Padmé and her group. He threw Padmé a clearly fake smile. "One moment, Miss Lydonia."
Padmé watched them as they moved further away. "Gregor, you grew up near a mine. Do you know what that glass is?" she asked him.
Gregor thought for a moment before his eyes widened. "One of my uncles was a safety inspector. If cracks formed they would place mirrors along the cracks to show them when the mine would begin to shift. If they fell that meant-"
"What? What, Gregor?" Liné demanded when he suddenly stopped.
Gregor gulped. "That a cave-in was possible."
Alarm filled Padmé. She looked back at Soolen and Donna, the two of them arguing, and she marched over to them.
"What's going on?!"
Her voice had caused everyone around them to stop and stare at her.
Soolen looked shocked at her outburst. "Miss Lydonia-"
She turned to Donna. "Are you the safety inspector?"
"Y-Yes Ma'am."
"Show me the glass in your hand."
Both men looked scared, but Padmé's tone bordered no argument. Donna took out the piece of glass and handed it to Padmé. She examined it. It was indeed a broken piece off a mirror. She looked back at Donna.
"Do you put mirrors along cracks inside the mine to let you know of a collapse?"
She heard alarmed murmurs.
"Collapse?"
"Is the mine going to collapse?"
Donna looked at his superior before turning back to Padmé. "Yes Miss. As I was trying to tell Assistant Manager Soolen, the cracks have gotten bigger and bigger these past few days."
Padmé turned to Soolen astonished. "And you've been letting these people down in the mine?!"
"With all due respect, Miss Lydonia, you are no miner. I've worked in these mines for twenty years-"
"Then you should know better than to send your men down in an obviously dangerous mine," Padmé interrupted him, in no mood to listen to his excuses.
"Get them out. Now!"
Something in his voice made the workers move, or perhaps it was the fear they felt for their fellow miners. Before they could do anything however, the ground shook. Padmé struggled to maintain her balance. She grabbed onto Liné and Gregor.
Then BANG!
Rocks and dirt exploded like missiles.
The force sent everybody to the ground. Padmé found herself flung onto the gravel with her companions. She tasted dirt and felt her bad arm aching. Dust was everywhere, making it hard to see through the cloud, but she could hear the moans, the coughs, and cries of names.
Gregor got up, and helped Padmé and Liné up to their feet. The dust was so suffocating that Padmé couldn't help coughing and tried to cover her mouth and nose with her sleeve and tried to see through the cloud. She saw figures of men getting up. The cloud began to clear thanks to the mountain wind, but Padmé felt her heart stop when she saw what it revealed.
Where there had once been a tunnel was now a messy rock pile. The mining vehicle they had been in the middle of transferring was buried.
The mine had collapsed.
Padmé was frozen, ignorant of the chaos going around her.
Lady Veruna.
Xoana.
Veta.
Lady Tonsort.
000{{*}}000
It seemed a blur. Perhaps an hour had passed or just minutes.
Padmé found herself seated on a crate while Liné helped injured miners treat the wounds they had gotten from the collapse, and Gregor helped a group dig the trapped miners' vehicle to rescue the men inside.
She looked and saw Soolen off to the side, speaking to a commlink. She got up and began to approach him. As she neared him she heard the words, "Yes, I will keep it contained."
Contained? Did he mean the collapse of the mine?
"I'll make sure no one leaves," he said before ending his call, and putting his commlink away.
What? Had Padmé's hearing been damaged in the explosion or did she really hear what Soolen just said? She felt confused and angry, but as a Queen's representative, she knew she had to keep a level of professionalism as well. Soolen noticed her and he straightened. That's when Padmé noticed two of Talstrine's guards next to him. She eyed them cautiously before focusing her attention on Soolen.
"What do we do now?"
"Now, we will close down the mine, obviously and cease all work," Soolen answered.
"What about rescue?" Padmé asked impatiently.
"Well, we need to assess the damage to the mine before we mount a rescue," he told her more hesitantly.
It was like pulling teeth out of him. He was nervous and seemed to be hiding something.
"Lord Talstrine took the rest of my company down there. Is there any way we can communicate with them down there?" she tried again. His boss was down there, surely he cared about that.
Soolen seemed to become more agitated. "Assuming they're alive, their best bet would be the refuge which is forty clicks below the surface."
Padmé felt her heart drop. That deep? How far down did Veruna, Tonsort, Veta, and Xoana go? Did they make it to the refuge in time? Or had they been crushed?
Soolen continued. "The refuge was built to sustain fifty people. They'll have food, water, and oxygen."
"How many miners were down there at the time of the collapse?" Padmé asked.
"Over forty, I think.
"Sir," Donna interrupted him, coming to stand beside Padmé.
Padmé looked back, and noticed that the majority of the miners up here on the surface had their eyes on them.
Donna continued. "I've done a head count. Forty- eight of our men were down there when the collapse happened."
Forty-eight!
"The rest of my party and Lord Talstrine all went down there before the collapse. Will all of them be able to fit in the refuge?"
Donna's face looked grim as he answered her. "It will be a tight fit, but it can work. Assuming they all survived and depending on their conditions, they'll have to ration their supplies until we can rescue them."
The way he said 'rescue' worried Padmé. He sounded like he had no hope for that.
She pressed on. "How much supplies do they have?"
Donna didn't answer her, but looked to Soolen. The man looked uncomfortable, as if he swallowed something bad.
"Well?" Padmé asked impatiently.
"Enough for three days."
Three days?!
"Then what are we waiting for? What about the other tunnels? Shafts? Could we start sending rescue teams down and see which of them we could use to abstract them?" Padmé asked in rapid succession.
Soolen looked at her like she was crazy. "Rescue teams?!" he pointed at the collapsed tunnel. "This mine is over three hundred years old. In my twenty years this is the seventh collapse I have seen. Do you know how many we have been able to save? No one!"
Padmé looked at him in surprise disbelief, and she could hear the miners' worried murmurs. Then she felt her anger burning like a blazing inferno. "So we just give up? Leave them all to die?!"
The miners' murmurs became louder and angrier.
"Our friends are down there!"
"My cousin's down there!"
"My brother's down there!"
"My son's down there!" An older man's voice stood out among the rest. Eyes turned to him. Padmé could see, hear, and feel the anguish as he continued. "I lost two of my older sons in the last collapse. My youngest is down there, and you want me to abandon him too?!"
He turned around, grabbed a shovel, and ran until he was right before the collapsed tunnel. He began to dig, saying "not my son, not my son" over and over again.
Padmé felt her heart breaking as she watched him, and other miners tried to stop him. She turned back to Soolen.
The Assistant Manager's expression had softened at the sight of the old miner, but his stubbornness held on. "It may be hard to accept, but it's the truth. Where the refuge is, it took us three hundred years to dig that deep. We don't have the equipment or money to rescue them."
"Then let me contact the Queen," Padmé pleaded with him. "She can send the help we need to rescue them."
"We are a privately owned mine. The government cannot and will not interfere in this," Soolen sighed. He turned away from Padmé and made a gesture to his men.
All of a sudden, blasters were pointed at Padmé and the miners. Cries of alarm were made.
"What are you doing?!" Liné shouted over the chaos.
Padmé couldn't believe it. Was Soolen really going to let everyone down in the mine die, and keep the rest of them quiet by force?
Apparently so.
The men ordered them to back up, and Padmé decided she was through being polite. She ducked under the men, and grabbed Soolen with one hand while using the other to take one of her hair pins out and held it to his throat. After Fayé's death, the handmaidens had given Padmé a special set of hairpins from their collection. Some could be pulled apart to use as lockpicks while the rest were sharpened to be used as weapons. Up until she and Sheev were attacked that one night, Padmé never wore or used them. Now, she was grateful she had started wearing them as well.
Her quick move had taken Soolen by surprise, that all he could do was cry out, "What are you doing?!"
Everyone's eyes were on them, shock in every one of them. Even Liné and Gregor were staring in shock. 'Probably wondering if I lost my mind,' Padmé thought to herself.
Soolen's men pointed their blasters at Padmé, shouting at her to let him go. Padmé would not be deterred.
"Put the blasters down and back off if you want him to live!"
The men hesitated.
Liné pulled out her pistol she had hidden in her skirt, and held it to one of their heads.
Gregor pulled out his own blaster and pointed it at another one of Soolen's men. "You heard her. In the name of Her Highness, Queen Celestine, you are ordered to lay down your weapons. Now!" Gregor ordered.
The men listened, setting their blasters down on the ground.
"The kriff is wrong with you?!" Soolen shouted before Padmé tightened her grip on him, and pressed her hairpin just short of cutting his skin.
"Assistant Manager Soolen, you're a reasonable man. Along with forty-eight miners, you have two of the Queen's representatives, not to mention your own boss Lord Talstrine down there. If word got out that you did nothing to save them, the village people would tear you to pieces before the Queen and Talstrine family got a hold of you. Do you understand?" She could feel Soolen sweating, and he shook his head yes, mindful of the hairpin at his throat. "Good. Here's what we're going to do. First, you are going to help me contact the Queen for help. Second, you will allow these men out to contact their families and let them know what has happened. And third, and most importantly, you are going to help us rescue everyone trapped down there no matter what it takes. Agreed?"
"Y-Yes, My Lady," he stuttered.
"Good." With that she released him, and he stumbled away from her. Padmé turned to her audience who looked at her with wide eyes. "Contact your families. Inform them as well as the families of those down in the mines what has happened then report back here. Until help arrives, we need to inspect the mine, try to contact the survivors, and try to find a safe way to extract them as quickly as possible. Please."
The miners stared at her, and in their faces Padmé saw mixes of emotions: anger with respect, uncertainty with hope, awe yet worry, and many others. After a minute, the miners agreed to Padmé's request and got to work. Once they dispersed, Padmé felt her legs weaken, and the hairpin slipped out of her grasp, and she stumbled. Hands steadied her to sit on an abandoned crate, as it fully dawned on Padmé what she did. She felt like she was shaking as the adrenaline left her. She finally lifted her head and saw the concerned faces of Gregor and Liné.
"Did that really happen? Did I just take a man hostage and blackmailed him at knifepoint?" she gasped out.
Both her friends looked relieved for a moment before nodding.
"Oh Shiraya!" Her head landed in her hands. "What have I done?"
"You might have just saved dozens of lives, some of them our friends," Gregor told her.
Liné lifted Padmé's head and forced her to look into her eyes. "You did what you had to. Soolen's men outnumbered me and Gregor. If you allowed Soolen to shut us up, who knows what would have happened to us. Not to mention Veta, Xoana, Lady Veruna, and Lady Tonsort and everyone down in the mines would be left for dead. At least you made Soolen own up to it, and now they have a chance. You made the right call, and now we hurry to save them before it's too late."
Padmé forced herself up, and allowed Liné and Gregor to lead her back to their ship to contact Celestine. She did the right thing despite how scary it was, but she knew their troubles were far from over now.
000{{*}}000
I hope you all enjoyed that chapter.
Tessé is evil.
Looks like next chapter Ferus and the handmaidens will be taking on Boba Fett.
As for Great-aunt Lydonia I drew inspiration for the mining collapse off of "The 33". The movie is based on the true story of when a mine collapsed in Chile 2010.
Thank you all and have a Happy Valentines Day!