A/N: I made a mistake on the last Author's Note at the bottom of the last chapter. It was meant to be 3 chapters not 2. Well it's 2 now so it doesn't really matter now. Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen: Meeting with Palpatine

The fight continued for what felt like hours. Both sides were equally matched. The Naboo security force troopers fought but many of them were lost in the first rain of battle. It wasn't until a rain of air fire flooded the ground. Within seconds, the ground was littered the corpses of thousands of Super Battle Droids and regular Battle Droids.

Ahsoka rushed to Anakin's side with her lightsabre still ignited. Without a single word being spoken between the pair, Anakin looks up with Ahsoka following his glance.

"Need some assistance?" asked the grinning figure of Shaak Ti.

"Master Ti!" said Ahsoka bowing to her fellow Togruta Jedi.

"Hello Ahsoka." The other Togruta said with a smile. "Master Skywalker, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Another familiar voice asked from behind them.

Shaak Ti got off the ship to reveal a smiling Kit Fisto.

"You owe us... big time." Fisto said winking at Ahsoka.

"Oh yeah. We... I mean I forgot about that." Anakin said looking at Ahsoka who had the biggest smile on her face. By now, Padmé, Sola and Jar-Jar were now at their sides while Captain Rex and Commander Cody assessed the wreckage.

"We'll work something out." Padmé said smiling.

"I'm delighted to be in your company again, milady." Shaak Ti said bowing to Padmé.

Padmé turned to face her with a smile on her face and bowed to the Jedi Master.

Suddenly, Padmé's comlink started to beep. She pulled it out of her pocket and it activated automatically.

"Greetings, Senator Amidala," said the hologram of Palpatine.

"Greetings, Chancellor. How can I be of assistance?" Padmé said keeping her eyes on Palpatine's image. She desperately wanted to exchange looks with her counterparts but knew that Palpatine would catch on pretty quickly to her current state of mind.

"I need to speak with you, Ambassador Naberrie and your Jedi counterparts," Palpatine said in his usual calm tone.

"We're on Naboo at the moment your excellence," Ahsoka put in.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin hissed as he pulled Ahsoka away from the hologram.

The Chancellor turned to face Anakin. "Anakin my dear boy, don't worry about your Padawan she is absolutely fine. Everyone has their own right to speak up." He said kindly.

Anakin nodded. "My apologies sir,"

Anakin had always admired Palpatine since he was a small boy. Ever since his arrival; on Coruscant at the age of 10 Anakin had been quickly befriended by the then Senator of Naboo.

"We'll be there soon, Chancellor." Padmé said with a curt nod of her head.

The hologram faded out and Padmé stuffed it back into her pocket.

"Come aboard. We'll take you back to Coruscant." Kit said helping Shaak Ti back onboard.

"We landed the Grease bucket in the swamps. We should return it to Coruscant." Ahsoka said.

Kit and Shaak Ti looked at each other before turning back to Ahsoka and nodding.

"Very well. May the Force be with you all," Shaak Ti.

The foursome bowed before heading the direction of the Twilight but not before saying goodbye to Jar-Jar and the Clones.

The trip back to Coruscant was full of tension. Everyone was worried about the Chancellor wanted to see them. Somewhere deep down, Padmé knew that Palpatine was corrupted in some way. He had managed to stay in office for longer than he was meant to. Now that was rather odd.

The Twilight touched down on the landing platform outside the Jedi Temple and the foursome hurried out and they headed toward the Senate Apartment Complex.

They reached the doors of Palpatine's office 5 minutes later. If they had of walked all the way it would have taken them 15 minutes but because they ran as fast as their legs could carry them it got them there in over half the time. The foursome looked at each other before Anakin found the courage to knock on the door. They waited a few seconds before Palpatine answered.

"Come in," the elderly Chancellor called.

Anakin and the other exchanged looks before they entered the office.

Sola, being the last one in closed the door behind herself.

"Anakin my dear boy. How are you?" Palpatine said rising to greet the foursome who bowed in respect.

"Fine, sir." Anakin wanted to smile at Padmé but thought better of it.

Palpatine already knew about the Jedi Knight's marriage to Senator Amidala only it didn't come from Anakin or Padmé themselves. It had come from Padmé's former head of security and Typho's uncle, Panaka. See, after Anakin and Padmé had married secretly on Naboo, Panaka had become suspicious and decided to go through the marriage records in the Naboo archives only to find Anakin and Padmé's marriage certificate. Not knowing what to do with his information, he had gone and told Palpatine who promised to keep the information to himself. Palpatine however had other ideas with what to do with the information he had been given.

"Senator Amidala. Good to see you again." Palpatine said bowing his head to the Senator. Padmé bowed back.

"Who might these young ladies be?" Palpatine asked looking from Ahsoka and Sola. He had met Ahsoka before but he didn't know her name or have any desire for her to talk to him.

"I am Sola Naberrie. Queen Neeyutnee's most trusted advisor."Sola said introducing herself to the Chancellor before turning her gaze over to Padmé who rolled her eyes in disgust at her sister's overconfidence.

"I'm Ahsoka Tano. Anakin's Padawan." Ahsoka said in a nervous tone.

"So you are Ahsoka. The Jedi council say that you are one of their brightest students. You also referred to your master by his name, correct? Only Jedi Knights refer to their former masters by their names." Palpatine said in a tone that could have been labelled as sly or slightly disconcerting.

Ahsoka gulped and went to stand at her master's side. Of course she wasn't at all scared. But she did feel rather uncomfortable in the presence of the man who ran the Republic.

"If you two ladies don't mind, I would like to speak to just Master Skywalker and Senator Amidala." Palpatine said in a clam tone.

Ahsoka had experience with tense people. She dealt with Anakin's tones all the time She and Sola stood their ground. Whatever Palpatine wanted to talk to them about, surely he could say it in front of them too.

"Leave us. Now." Palpatine said still keeping his tone calm. He knew that Ahsoka had been taught very well by Anakin. He was a Sith lord. How could he not that?

"Ahsoka, go." Anakin urged. Deep down he didn't want Ahsoka and Sola to leave the room but to keep the peace he had to follow the Chancellor's orders.

Ahsoka nodded to Anakin and Padmé before leading Sola out of the room. Sola didn't budge.

"Milady, please." Ahsoka said urgently.

Sola took a few more steps before looking over her shoulder to take one last look at Padmé and Anakin before following Ahsoka out of the office.

"Why did you call us here, Chancellor?" Anakin asked.

Outside the office, Sola gently closed the door before turning to Ahsoka.

"What?" the Padawan asked.

Sola crossed her arms before speaking up. "Don't you think it's a bit odd that Palpatine would call all of us up to his office only wanting to speak to Anakin and Padmé?"

Ahsoka hadn't had thought of it that why. Then she recalled another meeting with Palpatine that saw her waiting outside this very office.

"Yeah that is rather odd. It's happened to me before."

Sola's eyes widened. "Go on."

Ahsoka explained what had happened the last time she had met with Palpatine.

"Hmm... You don't think this has anything to with him wanting to find out about their you-know-what, do you?" Sola asked.

"Maybe. There's only one way to find out." Ahsoka said as she wedged the door open a tiny bit so they could hear what was happening.

"So what do you think this will achieve master Jedi?" Palpatine asked Anakin.

Ahsoka and Sola looked at each other before listening to more of the conversation.

"More safety for Naboo, Chancellor." Padmé said when the words couldn't escape his mouth quicker enough.

"Very well. I will see what I can do." Palpatine said with curt nod of his head. "You are excused."

Anakin and Padmé quickly headed for the door. While Ahsoka quickly closed before exchanging looks with Sola. A few seconds later, Anakin with Padmé in tow opened the door. Ahsoka and Sola stepped back to make it look not so obvious that they had been eavesdropping.

"How did you go?"Ahsoka asked.

"Well, he agreed to make the security stronger on Naboo." Padmé said with a smile.

Ahsoka and Sola sighed with relief. Padmé and Anakin smiled back knowing that their mission was a success. They walked back to Padmé's apartment in silence. Ahsoka and Sola exchanged looks unaware of what was going to happen next.

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