Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Chapter 6: The Rage of a Sith
When Padme woke up approximately four hours after falling asleep, she found quite a few surprises. First, she was on the sofa and Anakin on the floor, and he was (gasp!) tinkering with the Holovision set, which was on the floor…all over the floor. He'd somehow gotten the set open and pieces of it where laying all over the place!
"What do you think you're doing to my Holovision set?!" she shouted in a mixture of shock and rage.
Anakin jumped. "Padme! I didn't know you were awake."
"How am I supposed to watch HV?!" she roared rising from the sofa. She walked over to Anakin and towered over. "Explain yourself," she spat, glaring down at him, livid with rage. "How dare you destroy it?!"
"Please don't be mad Padme," Anakin cried. "Please! I was only trying to help."
"Trying to help?! TRYING TO HELP?!" Padme was practically shouting.
"Yes," Anakin said in a small voice. He looked close to tears. "You see, I noticed when we were watching it earlier that the Holovision screen was a bit dark. And when I woke up not too long ago, it was even darker, so I decided to open it up to see if I could turn up the resolution and make it brighter. However, when I opened it I discovered that the reason the screen was so dark was because the picture tube was about to blow. I'm fixing it. And now it's all done."
He then proceeded to put the Holovision back together and when he turned it on the screen was much brighter. During this time, Padme cooled down and began to feel ashamed of herself for shouting at the boy.
"I'm sorry Anakin," she said in a small voice, staring at the floor. "It's just that I've been so frustrated about what's been going on with Naboo and the invasion; all those innocent people suffering. I shouldn't have shouted at you. I hope you can forgive me."
Naturally, the part about her being worried about the people on Naboo was simply an excuse she made up. But he bought it.
"It's okay. I shouldn't have opened it without your permission. I was trying to fix it before you woke up, but, I guess it didn't turn out that way." He also addressed the floor as he spoke.
Padme bent down to face Anakin and put out her hand. "Truce?"
Anakin looked at her hand and smiled, sticking out his own and taking hers to shake. "Truce."
She then gave him a hug. "Oh and by the way, how exactly is it that I got on the sofa? I remember falling asleep on the floor and waking up on the sofa. Care to enlighten me?" She of course already knew the answer, but asked anyway to be funny.
Anakin lightly blushed. "I put you up there since I was working on the Holovision. I didn't want you to get in the way. Plus, I thought you should sleep on the sofa instead of the floor. You should have let me sleep on the floor."
"Oh no Anakin. It didn't matter where I slept," she protested.
Suddenly, the front door to Padme's quarters burst open and Sache came running in.
"Milady! I heard shouting and came as soon as I could, but since I was in the shower at the time I couldn't-" She abruptly stopped when she noticed Padme with Anakin.
"Everything's fine Sache. Anakin," she pointed to him, "and I had a misunderstanding, that's all. You may go now."
"Oh, of course milady. I mean Padme." She had quickly corrected herself at Padme's glare and hurriedly left.
Anakin looked a bit confused. "Who was she? And why did she call you 'milady'?"
Baynetta was livid. I will have Sache's head for this.
She tried not to show her anger and simply smiled at Anakin's confusion. "She was one of the other handmaidens, and the reason she called me 'milady' is because-"
"Other handmaidens?" he asked, cutting across her. "You mean you're not the only one?"
"Oh no. The elected Queen or King of Naboo usually has five handmaidens or servants. However, they can have up to ten if they like. It depends. Although the law of Naboo says they can only five…" She trailed off with a thoughtful look before continuing. "Queen Amidala has five handmaidens: myself, Sache – the one you just saw – Rabe, Yame, and Eirtae."
Anakin nodded. "And why did Sache call you milady again?"
Padme considered using a Sith mind trick on him, but she wasn't sure if it'd work or not; after all he was the Chosen One.
"Oh well, she and the other handmaidens call me that sometimes because they kind of idolize me," she explained. "They say I'm such a wonderful person, so beautiful, and that they wished they looked just like me."
Your really flattering yourself now Padme.
"But I basically just try and brush it off. I'm not one who enjoys being the center of attention."
Another lie.
"Well, it's not hard to see why they idolize you," Anakin said with a blush. "You are very beautiful among other things."
"You are sweet. But I really don't really like it when they call me that," she continued. "I think they're under the illusion that I'm better than them since I've been a handmaiden longer than they have. But I'm really no different than them at all."
Anakin once again nodded and she could tell he bought her story.
I am going to strangle Sache!"So do you want to play a board game or something?" Padme asked, hoping to get the subject off these shaky waters. It's not that she didn't want Anakin to know she was a Queen; she was sure he'd find out eventually, but just not now.
"A what?"
"A board game." She then explained what a board game was and suggested they play City Quest – a game that enables you to build pretend cities and empires. Anakin was quite eager to play once he was told the rules.
They occupied their time with City Quest for the next hour. Surprisingly to Padme, since this was Anakin's first time playing, he won the game. After which, he proceeded to jump up and down and do this interesting war dance. Padme laughed and joined in, showing she was no sore loser.
The front door to her quarters opened yet again and Qui-Gon stepped in, but the occupants inside were too caught up in their dance to notice until he cleared his throat. They both stopped and looked in his direction. Padme was horrified and angry with herself for having Qui-Gon see her this way, dancing around the room, acting like a child. But Anakin was still happy and didn't look upset in the slightest. He ran to the Jedi and started chatting with him about what he'd been up to the past few hours.
"That's nice Ani," Qui-Gon was saying. "I'm glad you've been enjoying yourself."
He glanced at Padme, but she quickly looked the other way.
"I came in to tell you we'll be coming up on Coruscant soon. But I also have a treat for you Ani: I told Captain Olie about you and how you wish to be a pilot when your older. He's invited you into the cockpit to talk about piloting and such."
Anakin's eyes lit up. "Really?! Awesome! I'll see you later Padme, and thanks for everything."
"Your quite welcome Anakin," she said as he left.
Qui-Gon however remained behind. "You're also welcome to come if you like."
"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "I should go meet with the Queen. I never did tell her about Tatooine."
The Jedi Master raised an eyebrow and looked around the quarters. "You know, this is a pretty big place for one small handmaiden."
And before Padme could say anything to defend herself, he left with a wry smile.
Curses, curses, and more curses!Padme stalked out of her own quarters and burst into her handmaidens', livid with rage.
"Where is Sache?!" she demanded upon entrance and gave a snort of disgust at the sight before her.
Rabe, Sache, Yame, and Eirtae were all cuddled up together looking at teen magazines on the front sofa. However at their mistress' entrance, the foursome threw the magazines down and screeched in surprise. Sabe, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair by herself, reading a small book. If anyone didn't know that she – Padme – was the Queen, they surely would've thought that Sabe was. She looked and acted the part well, unlike those other four dipsticks. Sabe had merely looked up from her book quietly.
They all remained silent. The young Sith turned her eyes toward Sache.
"Sache. Come here," she said slowly and quietly, beckoning the girl forward with her finger.
Sache gave a whimper.
"Now," she said once again slowly and quietly.
Sache got up trembling all over.
During her reign as Queen so far, Padme had put an element of fear over her handmaidens, save Sabe. She wasn't like the other four. She was a nice, caring, but very soft-spoken fifteen-year-old girl. The other four handmaidens were the complete opposite. Rabe was eighteen, black haired, and always obsessing about the latest fashion treads; what was in and what was out. Eirtae was seventeen, medium brown haired, and totally boy crazy. She constantly had her head in the clouds, daydreaming about boys sweeping her off her feet and carrying her off to some far away world. Sache was sixteen, auburn haired, and an absolute clumsy slob. Her room back in the palace was a wreck and she was constantly tripping over her feet, so Padme wasn't at all surprised when she tripped on her way approaching her. Her last handmaiden, the blonde haired Yame, was the oldest at nineteen, and extremely arrogant and stuck up. The Queen had fit her five handmaidens into three groups:
Likable: Sabe
Stupid and dumb: Rabe, Sache, and Eirtae
Conceited trash: Yame
She may not have liked the other four, but Yame she held absolute hatred for. Being as Yame was the oldest of the six, and had been a handmaiden the longest, she felt she was better than them all and even talked back to Padme once when she'd asked her to fetch a drink.
"Why can't you fetch your own stupid drink," she'd said. "I may be your handmaiden, but I'm not your slave. And besides, what if I don't want to fetch your stupid drink, huh? Ever think about that before you start ordering people around."
One kick in the mouth from the Sith apprentice had shut her up, and yes she did fetch Padme her drink.
The element of fear she'd placed over her handmaidens was by ordering them around and making them do her bidding. And if they didn't do it the way she liked, or were too slow about it, she kicked, punched, slapped or threw something at them. She got that sense of arrogant control from her father, and always enjoyed telling him about the different things she did to keep the handmaidens under her thumb.
By now Sache was standing in front of her, still trembling. Padme looked at her a moment in disgust and punched her to the floor. The other four either gasped or shrieked.
"You stupid, idiotic girl Sache! What did you think you were doing calling me 'milady' in front of Anakin?"
"I didn't know he was in there," Sache whimpered.
"Liar!" Padme screeched, kicking her. "It's not the fact that you didn't address me as a fellow handmaiden, it's also the point that you just burst into my quarters without so much as knocking." She lowered her voice somewhat. "I am a Queen, and you girls will do well to treat me like one. No respect whatsoever. I would think that you girls would be a little more grateful. I took you in out of a life of normality and have given you the food off my royal table, purely out of the goodness of my gift giving heart."
"You only took us in because you needed handmaidens," Yame said, flipping her hair this way and that. "All of Naboo's Queens and Kings before you hired their handmaidens and servants from New Republic Universities."
"SILENCE!!" Padme shouted. "You will address me as Queen, Mistress, Miss, or Milady."
Eirtae slowly raised her hand in the air, as though asking to speak. "Please, Queen Amidala, may I say something?"
Padme merely glared at her, with her arms crossed, clicking her tongue, and tapping her foot impatiently. When Eirtae didn't say anything, the Queen threw her hands in the air and said in a heated tone, "By all means Eirtae, speak!"
"Oh well, um, thank you your highness. I um, forgive me but I'm a little confused. At first you told us to address you as a fellow handmaiden, and now you're asking us to address you as a Queen. Which one do you wish us to address you as?"
"Your highness," she quickly added.
"I'm not even going to answer that question," Baynetta spat. "Surely your not that dumb Eirtae."
Yame rose to a stand with her hands on her hips. "Oh so I see," she made a mock bow, "your highness. You're allowed to burst into our quarters, but we can't burst into yours. You stuck up conceited little brat. You can take that trash your chattering about and shove it up your-"
"Burn in hell you stupendous blonde haired-"
"Hey! Is everything alright in here?"
Padme whipped around to find Captain Panaka standing in the doorway. "Yes," she said, willing herself to calm down. "Yes," she repeated. "Everything is just fine Captain."
"Well good, because we've arrived."
"Excellent," and answering the captain's unsaid question before he asked it added, "Sabe and I will be swooping back once we get to Five Hundred Republica to meet Senator Palpatine."
"Of course milady," he said and bowed himself out the room.
Padme turned back to her handmaidens and glared. "You will act like true Naboo handmaidens!" she commanded. "Not pitifully stupid and ridiculous dipsticks. March!"
Sabe went first with Padme and the other four flanking her. They, along with everyone else on board, left behind the ship and Padme breathed the cool Coruscant air once more. It was wonderful to be back. As much as she liked Naboo, she preferred Crouscant. It was as her father called it, "The City that never sleeps."
It was generally agreed that Coruscant was the most important world in the Galaxy. At various times, it was the capital of the galaxy once housing the Old Republic and now the New Galactic Republic. A large number of the galaxy's trade routes went through Coruscant, making it one of the richest worlds in the Galaxy. The actual planet-wide city of Coruscant was formerly known as Republic City during the Old Republic's rule, currently being known as Galactic City under the New Galactic Republic.
Geologically, the planet comprised a molten core with rocky mantle and silicate rock crust. The entire surface of Coruscant had been entirely covered over throughout the thousands of generations of galactic history by sprawling skyscrapers and cities. These skyscrapers dwarfed all the original natural features including mountains and now dry bodies of oceans, which once covered a large proportion of Coruscant's surface. All natural bodies of water had been drained and stored in vast caverns beneath the city as a result of years of overpopulation. The only body of water visible was the Western Sea, with many artificially created islands floating on it, used by tourists on holiday. One of the few pieces of Coruscant's landmass that were left untouched were the Manarai Mountains, twin peaks that stuck out of the ground near the area where Padme's father intended to put his Imperial Palace upon gaining galactic control. Many floating restaurants revolved around the mountains, giving patrons a unique view of the natural wonders. Below the skyscrapers was Coruscant's under city, where sunlight never reached. Artificial lighting illuminated these lower levels and advertisement holograms could be seen everywhere. There were numerous establishments for entertainment, catering to a myriad of alien species. The lowest levels were abandoned to mutants and scavengers.
With no bodies of water available to feed and water its trillion of inhabitants, Coruscant's architects, along with many others from across the Galaxy, worked together to build a self-contained ecosystem in the massive buildings set all over the planet. Polar cap stations also melted ice and distributed water throughout the planet-wide city through a complex series of pipes. Almost everything on the planet, from clothes to packaging to machinery, was recyclable. Another problem for a world like Coruscant was the carbon dioxide and heat energy that its trillion-being population generated each day; so thousands of carbon dioxide reactive atmospheric dampeners were put into place in the upper atmosphere to prevent atmospheric regeneration. Galactic Standard Time was developed on Coruscant and revolved around the hours Crouscant had in a single day, which was 24 hours, with 368 local days in a year.
Coruscant also orbited relatively far from its tiny star Coruscant Prime, ranging from 207 million to 251 million km. Thus Coruscant didn't naturally have a climate suitable for humans. Coruscant's humans countered this by erecting a series of orbital mirrors that reflected the sun's warmth and sun.
Galactic City was divided into several thousand quadrants, with each quadrant subdivided into numbered sectors. Some of these numbered sectors received colloquial names. For example, H-46 was also Sah'c Town, named for the family that owned much of it. Some areas were specifically designated senatorial, governmental, financial (including banking zones), commercial, and residential. Larger areas of the planet were designated for industrial or manufacturing works. The largest of these areas was known colloquially as "The Works". The Works had manufactured spacecraft parts, droids, and building materials at an astonishing rate for hundreds of years, but as construction in space became more efficient, The Works fell in disrepair. It gained the reputation as a hub of high criminal activity and many locals stayed away from it. Another area of Coruscant was CoCo Town (short for "collective commerce"). Many diverse species lived there and and worked in manufacturing.
The Naboo Royal Starship had landed on one of the public Galactic City landing platforms in the senatorial district. A quick glance around showed Padme that both the Supreme Chancellor and Senator Palpatine were there to greet them. After the Jedi, Anakin, and Jar Jar bowed to the Senator and Chancellor Valorum, Sabe stepped forward, soon followed by Padme and the others. It was approximately midday on the planet.
"It's a great gift to see you alive your majesty," Palpatine greeted. "With the communication break down we've been very concerned. I am anxious to hear your report on the situation. Allow me to present Supreme Chancellor Valorum."
Finis Valorum was from the ancient and distinguished line that was the House of Valorum, the longest-lasting political family of the New Republic. He was the third Supreme Chancellor of his family, the first two being his grandfather, Tarsus Valorum from 131-123 NRE, and father Eixes Valorum from 107-99 NRE, (Finis himself was elected in 21 NRE) but was the last of the line as he was not married and had no children. He was about middle aged with short gray hair and a wise face. Nonetheless, Padme didn't like him as he was too much of a democracy lover for her tastes.
Valorum nodded to Sabe. "Welcome, Your Majesty. It's an honor to finally meet you in person."
"Thank you Supreme Chancellor," Sabe replied.
"I'd like to relieve to you how distressed everyone is about your situation," he continued. "I've called an immediate session with the Senate to hear your report."
"I'm thankful for your support Chancellor," Sabe said with a nod and then turned away with her handmaidens and Palpatine.
As the Senator continued to speak to Sabe as they approached a shuttle that would take them to Five Hundred Republica, Padme turned to see Valorum presently conversing with the Jedi, and Anakin standing in the middle of everything looking confused as to who he should go with. She called to him and beckoned with a hand. But he looked to Qui-Gon first, who also made hand signals to follow the Queen's entourage, before joining them.
They boarded the shuttle and arrived at 500 Republica, an exclusive tower block located in the Ambassadorial Sector that was home to many wealthy citizens including senators and politicians. Upon arriving at Palpatine's luxurious apartment suite in the penthouse of one of the building's towers, Padme switched back to her position as Queen.
Usually the topmost level of the second tower of building was reserved for the Supreme Chancellor solely. However, since Palpatine was extremely wealthy he was able to have this for himself. Padme chuckled at the thought of how he moved into this apartment after his first Senatorial election twenty-one years ago. She, naturally, wasn't alive then, but he'd told her about it. She thought about this as she showered and got dressed in a room Palpatine had made ready for her. In actuality, the room had belonged to her ever since she'd first came to Crouscant as a two year old girl.
Her father had demanded that he move into the elegant suite because we was wealthy and only used to the best. The current Chancellor at the time – Signet Mezzileen, who made a name of himself for ruling as Supreme Chancellor for a lengthy seventy-year rule because of his perpetual favor with the government and its citizens – hadn't lived there as he had his own manor and a medium-sized family to fill it. As such, he had no use for it. The bureaucrats however had said no upright to Palpatine for the sake of the future Chancellor. Mezzileen wouldn't rule forever, and when the time came for a new leader, where was he supposed to live? Palpatine hadn't cared about the future Chancellor, and received his wish through several Sith mind tricks and millions of credits. Padme laughed when her father first told her this.
"After all," he'd said. "It's not like I won't be Chancellor someday, so I'd be living there eventually. Why not sooner?"
Clearing all her mind of all thoughts, Padme left her room and went into Palpatine's artifact-littered sitting chambers. Seating herself down in the middle of the room's only plush couch, she awaited her father's arrival. Her handmaidens flanked behind her and Captain Panaka guarded the door.
As soon as Palpatine entered a few moments later, after complimenting her wardrobe of choice – "Thank you Senator. That's very sweet of you." – he began talking politics.
"There are no scurrilities, only politics. The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, scrawling delegates. There is no interest in the common good. I must be frank your majesty, there is little hope the Senate will act on the invasion."
No surprises there.
"Chancellor Valorum seems to think there is hope," she offered.
Palpatine gave a tired sigh. "If I may say so your majesty, the Chancellor has little real power. He is mired be bassets of accusation and corruption. The bureaucrats are in charge now."
She also sighed. "What options have we?"
"Our best choice would be to push for the elections of a stronger Supreme Chancellor, one who can control the bureaucrats and give us justice."
The Queen inwardly smirked. She knew where Palpatine was going with this.
"You…could call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum," he said with a slight trace of hesitation.
She tried her best to sound surprised. "He has been our strongest supporter."
"Our only other choice would be to submit a plea to the courts."
"We couldn't do that now could we Senator," she thought to him.
"The courts take even longer to decide things than the Senate," she said aloud. "Our people are dying Senator…"
"As if I care," she heard him think to her.
"Play the part Senator," she thought back.
He gave a mental smirk.
"…We must do something quickly to stop the Federation," she continued.
"To be realistic your majesty, I think we're going to have to accept Federation control for the time being," Palpatine stated.
But of course we will.
"That is something I can not do," she softly stated.
There was a moment of silence before the young teen Queen spoke again. "Well Senator, I think I shall go change and get ready for our special session with the Senate. I should be out shortly."
Palpatine smiled. "Of course Your Highness. I saw see you momentarily."
She nodded her head in parting and she and her entourage left the sitting chambers and moved down to her room, or as everyone else knew it, the room she'd be staying in while on Coruscant.