Chapter 32 - Malevolence

We watch in stunned silence as the ship is pulled into the landing bay of the huge ship. I'm powerless to resist, the controls overridden by the separatist program. The ship floats gently into the bay, and lands quietly on the durasteel floor. I take another breath, watching as droids surround the ship.

What do I do?

I've never really been in this kind of spot. Anakin is more familiar with this sort of thing. He can blow his way out of any situation.

Blow his way out.

My fingers dance over the controls before my brain even registers. 3PO watches me inquisitively, still shaking with fear.

"Come on, I've overloaded the power system," I tell him.

"We're doomed."

We duck out of the ship, unseen by the droids.

"Come on, 3PO," I nag, "hurry."

"Hurrying, my lady. I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

I watch as a tall silver droid boards my ship to inspect it. 3PO wants to move, and get out of here, but I make him hide behind a few crates for a moment so I can see what happens.

The ship explodes, bursting into a ball of flames. I feel a rush of malice, proud that I probably killed the general. Lights blare and alarms wails as a small group of firefighter droids rush over to put the fire out. I'm about to motion for 3PO to go when suddenly the remnants of my ship are shoved back, and the general emerges, bloodthirsty from the wreckage.

"Sound the alarm," he orders. "We have stowaways on board!"

I nod to 3PO now, and he and I take off for the passage behind us. I barely catch my breath as we take sharp turn into a long hallway with a small Comm panel on the wall.

"Pardon me, but might I suggest we keep moving," 3PO frets. "I think I hear battle droids approaching."

"But we also need to contact the fleet." I try combination after combination, trying to find the right frequency. "If I can just get this comm panel working-"

"My lady, I'm afraid I was right."

I huff, and pull the droid along with me, narrowly avoiding the separatist soldiers he spoke of, hiding behind the moving panel on the wall.

"Uh, general," a droid asks.

"What," the general demands, barely moving his head.

"The damage to the hyperdrive was not as bad as we first thought. We should be able to get underway again shortly."

"I must inform Count Dooku. Stay here. Continue the search." He almost growls at the droids following him. "Find the stowaway and bring them to me."

"Roger roger," the droid commander confirms. Grievous marches right past us, and then the battalion passes us themselves, not detecting us. We move back to the comm panel as soon as the droids move on, and I punch in the number. Or at least, what I think is the number.

"I'm almost certain I got it," I tell him. "Now we just have to wait,"

Suddenly, the comm panel beeps, and I'm filled with just a moment of hope. Hastily, I press the button.

"Padmé?" Anakin's voice is soothing, but it carries a fear that I haven't heard in a while.

"Anakin," I gasp, letting out a weight of stress.

"Are you all right," he asks, "Where are you?"

"On the lower levels. I'm fine, but I don't know for how long. Droids are everywhere."

"Obi wan and I are on board, too," Anakin explains.

"What?" My heart sinks. Now he's in danger too. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to get you off this ship." I hear another beep, and he continues to speak, now towards his padawan. "Ahsoka, how can we get to the senator?"

"According to our scans, there seems to be a larger open area in the center of the chute that should be halfway between the two of you." I hear the concern in her voice.

"We're on our way," Anakin says. "Did you hear that, Padmé?"

"I'll be there."

The message cuts out there, and 3PO and I are left with only the sounds of the metal clanking that come from the droids as the move through the halls of the massive ship. We wait a few moments for the directions to be sent to my communicator, before the route is plainly shown in a small blue hologram.

"Follow me."

oOo

"Keep up," I bark at 3PO as he lags behind, "we can't be late this time!"

"I'm moving as fast as I can," the droid complains. "I am not fast."

"Well speed up, or we'll miss our way out of here!"

We're led through the hallways and passages to another section of transport rail jet, with a large open wall that leads to the hallway behind us. My communicator beeps to announce that we've arrived at the correct location.

"This is where we're supposed to meet them," I sigh. "He's probably late again."

"But we do have company of another sort," 3PO says, lifting a finger to gesture at the droids approaching from the hallway.

"Blast them," the commander droid calls, and they begin to fire, large blue balls of light thrown from the barrels of their blasters.

"Be careful," 3PO nags, "they're using stun rays, which have a much larger-"

"Shut up," I order, shooting them as I push him towards the transport, which will carry us away from the small battalion of battle droids.

I try to catch my breath as we're pushed further and further back.

"Jump," I tell him, narrowly avoiding a few days and pushing him back onto the transport. He falls, screaming, onto the nearest transport, slamming his head and hands against the hard surface of the floor, before sliding off and onto another transport.

I follow him, landing as gently as I can on the transport, and catch a glimpse of Anakin's signature smirk.

"Padmé," he calls, reaching out to me from the transport next to mine. Instinctually, my body remembers that I haven't seen him in a while. I feel a lurch, and I want to go to him.

"Anakin," I call, reaching for him. Suddenly, a bright purple beam of light flies past me, and strikes the track ahead of me. My heart drops, and I know that if I stay on this transport, I will die.

I look down now, calculating how far I'll have to jump to get to him, but it's much too far. I look up again, new fear in my heart. "The bridge is out," I all but scream.

"Jump to me," he calls, reaching his hands out to catch me. "You have to trust me."

I nod, and jump off, feeling the butterflies in my stomach as I leave the earth. But I don't fall, I never feel that moment of dropping. Instead, I'm carried gently through the air, and placed on the ground, where I finally catch my breath. Anakin smiles down at me, proud o f himself.

"Nice catch, I'll go fetch the droid," Obi Wan says, launching himself off from the top of the transport rail towards the automaton, leaving Anakin and I alone.

We watch as Obi Wan disappears, and then the rail jet is thrust into a dark tunnel, closed off to the rest of the ship. I look over at Anakin, and he pulls me into his arms, angling my chin up so it can meet his.

"The things you do to get me alone," he teases, running his hands over my back.

"Stop talking," I smirk, and lean up onto my tiptoes to kiss him. Our lips almost meet when suddenly, Anakin's communicator beeps, and we're ripped apart.

"Anakin, I got separated from your droid," Obi Wan confesses.

"3PO," I gasp, stumbling back out of his arms.

Anakin groans. "Ugh, I'll take care of it." He rolls his eyes, turning back to me. "We'll meet you back at the Twilight."

"No," I tell him. "I over heard Grievous. Their hyperdrive is almost repaired."

"I'm already headed in that direction," Obi wan explains, "so I'll make certain that the hyperdrive stays offline."

The communication disconnects, and Anakin turns to me again. "I'm getting you out of here." His eyes speak louder than he does, and I know he's remembering that day on Geonosis. "R2," he says to his wrist, "I need you to help me find 3PO. He's on the rail-jet." Familiar beeps and whirrs come from the speaker, and Anakin begins to mumble. "I know, I know. He's does. Look, just find him for me, and I'll be there soon."

He smiles at me now, gently kissing my forehead. "Are you coming with me," he asks.

"You can't stop me from it, so yeah, I am."

He sighs, and motions for me to follow him.

oOo

We pass through several hallways, hounded on all sides by droids with small guns. Anakin motions for me to take cover I wait for him to join me, gripping my blaster tightly.

"Obi Wan," Anakin yells into his communicator. "Come in, Obi Wan." I duck out into the hallway, firing at the small battalion following us.

"Anakin," the device says, "I'm afraid grievous is onto us."

"Yup, we noticed," Anakin smirks, almost laughing.

"We'll rendez-vous back at the Twilight. But please-" the transmission cuts out, and Anakin groans.

"Obi wan, come in! Obi wan!"

"What's wrong," I ask.

"They're jamming us," Anakin sighs. "Come on!" He jumps out in front of me, igniting his lightsaber and mowing down the remaining droids in only a few swings, before looking back at me again. "That might buy us some time."

"I suppose you have a plan," I ask, sarcastically.

"Follow me," he smiles, and I roll my eyes."

oOo

I follow him to the bridge of the ship, and we move into a small elevator, side by side.

"Bit of a tight squeeze," Anakin jokes, wrapping one arm around me and giving me a squeeze. I lean into his shoulder, and breathe his scent. He smells of sweat and dust, but there's also an underlying scent that is utterly Anakin. How I've missed this.

Suddenly, the door opens, and he forces me back into the elevator. I gasp, rushing to pry the door open. It only stays closed for a few seconds, but it's enough time for him to destroy the remaining droids on the bridge without anyone getting hurt.

I shake my head, and smirk. "Ever since I've known you you've been playing with droids."

"I used to put them together," Anakin agrees. "Now, I only take them apart."

I shrug. "So, where do we start?"

"First, we need to get rid of these droids to they won't know we were here. I'm going to Hotwire the ship, and give grievous a little surprise."

"I guess I'll clean up the droids then."

"Thank you," he smiles. Leaning back to look at me. "I love you."

I can't stay mad at him for long, and I cave, kissing him gently on the lips. "I love you too."

"Don't hurt yourself," Anakin requests, his fingers flying over the keys of the console.

I laugh. "Always trying to take care of me when I can take care of myself." I shove the first battle droid into the elevator, huffing as it hits the floor.

Anakin grins. "I always do seem to come rescue you."

I shrug. "Sometimes."

"All the time," he chuckles.

I roll my eyes and stuff on more droid into the elevator, moving to the last one.

"That oughta do it," Anakin smiles, "how's the house cleaning going?"

"Done," I tell him, shoving one last droid into the closet. "Let's get out of here."

He steps into the elevator with me, and we race downwards again. I feel my nerves tingling with excitement.

"I can't remember the last time I did something this exciting."

Anakin grins as we make it to the bottom. The door slides open, and a tall golden droid waits for us as it opens. "3PO," Anakin grins, "what are you doing, don't just stand there! Let's get back to the ship."

We race across the hallway to another elevator, and Anakin punches the correct floor number.

"Fire up the engines, R2," Anakin orders.

"Hold the ship," Obi Wan calls from outside, barely making it on before we descend. He's trailed by several droids firing as many blasts as they can. The elevator door slams shut, and we quickly are taken to the ship. "I'll contact the fleet," Obi Wan announces as he sits down.

"R2, release the docking clamp," Anakin orders, and I feel the ship pulling away. It isn't long before we're followed by a group of vulture droids, firing at us from behind. I feel the ship shudder, and I know they've hit us.

"Time for some clever tricks, Anakin," Obi Wan says, grimly.

Anakin nods. "That's what I was thinking."

I hold on tightly as the ship begins to spin, rolling over. When we finally get level again, Anakin groans.

"You know we have guns," he nags. "We can shoot back any time!"

"I was just about to-"

"I got it," I interrupt, moving to the scope to fire back. I feel a rush with every shot, exploding a few ships.

"Nice shot, senator," Obi Wan smiles.

"Beginner's luck," I say, taking another shot.

"Pardon me, sir," C-3PO interrupts, "but R2's scanner indicates their hyperdrive is activating."

"Don't worry about it," Anakin says.

Obi Wan is incredulous. "What?"

We watch as the enormous ship turns around and faces the nearby moon. It's small, and uninhabited. I smile as I deduce his plan.

Their ship goes into hyperspace, right into the surface of the moon, destroying it.

Obi Wan laughs. "I imagine you had something to do with that?"

"All part of the plan, master," Anakin smirks. I shake my head and begin to laugh. Obi Wan laughs with me, rolling his eyes, his shoulders shuddering. Anakin takes our laughter in stride. "Now let's get you home."