Chapter Eight - Empire
Sabé and Maité arrived in Theed late in the evening. The hangar adjacent to the palace was quiet when they disembarked, but Sabé was happy to see a handful of very welcoming faces when she finally set foot on Naboo again.
"Sabé!" It was Claria that first rushed forward for an embrace.
She hugged her little sister tightly, rocking her back and forth. "Oh, I missed you," she said.
"Me too." Claria pulled away and looked back at her waiting husband with a smile.
Sabé gave a polite smile. "Hello, Ceidron." Claria's husband had always been something of a strange acquaintance for her. Except for Claria, he seemed to keep the rest of the family at arm's length, and since their marriage, Sabé had spent most of her time offworld. She hadn't gotten the chance to really make friends.
"Princess," he nodded in return.
She turned her attention to the final adult in the group more eagerly. "Yvenne." She took care as she hugged her sister-in-law. "You look wonderful," she added, reaching down fondly to touch Yvenne's heavily pregnant belly. "Between you and Padmé, the population of infants in this family is about to burst wide open."
"It shouldn't be much longer," Yvenne said.
"And Sioned!" Sabé crouched down to smile at her little niece. She had her mother's fiery red hair, and she was looking at Sabé with deep suspicion. "I know you don't know me that well yet. I'm your aunt."
Sioned looked between Sabé and Yvenne and Claria with deep concentration. "Daddy's sister. Like Aunt Claria."
"That's right."
"Nice to meet you," the little princess said primly.
Sabé laughed and pulled her into a hug, which seemed to startle the girl.
"And who's this?" she asked, pulling away finally to fix her attention on a forlorn little girl standing near Ciedron.
"This is Larkin," said Claria.
"My daughter," Ceidron added.
Sabé's eyes rose high. "Daughter?" she repeated.
"It's a long story."
"And a very sad one."
"Nice to meet you, Larkin."
Larkin just looked at Sabé without saying anything and then stared at her shoes.
"We'll talk about it later," said Claria.
"All right." Sabé rose to her feet again. She looked between her two sisters. "Where is Richard?"
"He's still in seclusion. He's been waiting for you."
"Me, why?" Sabé asked. Together, they all began walking toward the end of the hangar.
"He's ready to reveal himself to the public again, but he wanted to wait until you were here. For a show of solidarity."
"He wants me standing behind him," Sabé commented wryly.
"That makes two of us."
"Well, I won't be there, that's for sure," muttered Ceidron.
Claria gave him a distressed look and then shot another 'I'll explain later' expression at Sabé.
"Did you receive our communiqué on your journey?"
"About this Klion thing? Yes, I did. It's astonishing. And relieving. When is the press conference?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"I'll need to catch up."
"Captain Barris and Yané can undertake that. They're waiting for you in your receiving room."
"Well, you've thought of everything, I see."
"We've had three days with little else to occupy our minds."
"Well, I'm certain it will be the preferred news story on Naboo for weeks to come."
Obi-Wan was falling. The world seemed to be passing too quickly and too slowly all at once. Dust and rocks and shambles fell all around him. For the first time in a long time, he felt the taste of helpless fear creep into his mind.
The attack had come from below. Cody had fired at him. His
friend. He had just been assassinated. And with no warning, he was fairly certain, that this was his end, with a thousand questions left unanswered, that all fed into one great one.
Why?
He would die without ever knowing.
I'm sorry, Sabé.
And then there was a painful smack of impact, but the void of the beyond did not overcome him. Instead there was only pain, shock, and suffocation. Abruptly, he realized he was surrounded by water.
Not the end quite yet, then.
He began to swim.
"Senator! Senator!"
Padmé rose in alarm from her desk. She'd just been reading an encrypted communiqué from Mon Mothma. "What is it Esmé? Any news from Anakin?"
Anakin had said he was going to end the war. That soon it would all be over. Padmé had felt nothing but unease since his departure. He said that the Jedi were traitors, that the Republic's defenders had become its greatest enemy. Padmé had wrestled since that time, wondering what implications this might have on the plans she'd been making in secret with Mon Mothma and the others. She hadn't told Anakin about what was going on behind the scenes between this select group of senators. She knew he would call it treason. The knowledge of it made her physically ill.
Esmé shook her head in answer to Padmé's question. "No, my lady. There has been no news of him. But the other Jedi—it's all over the holo feed, my lady. All the smoke yesterday, the rumors. The Jedi—" she gulped. "they staged a mass coup against the Chancellor. It's suspected they joined with the Separatists, and—"
Padmé sucked in a breath. So whatever was happening, it was happening fast. In their last meeting, Bail had expressed his belief that the Jedi might be sympathetic to their concerns. She couldn't help but conclude that the Jedi 'rebellion' seemed in keeping with such a speculation. The Jedi hadn't approved of the Chancellor's behavior either.
But Anakin did.
She closed her eyes while Esmé continued talking.
"They've tried to assassinate the Chancellor. He's called an emergency session of the Senate."
"Prepare my gown and my shuttle. I will be there directly."
"Yes, my lady." Esmé bowed out of the room, and Sabé immediately headed for the nearest communications terminal.
"Connect me to Prince Organa, please."
Richard awoke feeling nervous, yet strangely peaceful for the first time in a long time. Now that the heart of the Klion organization had been discovered and rooted out, he could finally devote his full energies to being a proper King of Naboo. At such a high cost to his personal life, he was anxious to devote himself to his work again.
As he was finishing up with his wardrobe, there was a furious pounding on the door.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
An aide was waiting on the other side. "Is it the queen?" Richard asked.
The young man blinked in surprise. "No, not yet. It's— Coruscant. The Chancellor—" he swallowed.
"What about him?"
"You must come."
Sabé, Claria, Yvenne, and to his surprise, several members of the Council, were waiting for him in the lobby of the conference center.
"Your Majesty," said Governor Bibble, rising to his wobbly legs. "It is good to see you alive. Imagine our surprise when we heard the news."
"Thank you, Governor," Richard said, accepting his enthusiastic greeting with genuine fondness. The other Councilors seemed to have a variety of reactions to seeing Richard. Some looked pleased, some looked cautious, some looked disgruntled. One of them was missing.
"I take it this press conference has something to do with Lady Dayan's arrest, Your Majesty?" asked Maia Daris pointedly.
"Yes, Councilor. But I'm more interested to know why I was called here so urgently to a press conference of my own making. Madon suggested something to do with the Capital?"
Sabé stepped forward with a grim face. "This message was broadcast from Coruscant on all frequencies. All of the planet knows. Your press conference is going to be much different than you expected, Richard."
She pressed the key to activate the holo screen and turned up the volume. Then she stepped back and they all watched the news feed together.
The feed showed a recording of the Senate chamber, a familiar sight to Richard. He'd been there a few times himself, and of course every Naboo knew by heart the defiant demand of young Queen Amidala that the Senate take action to liberate their besieged planet.
What was less familiar was the strange, cloaked figure standing in the Chancellor's place.
"Is that Palpatine?" Richard asked in wonder.
"Yes."
Palpatine spoke, and his voice seemed as transformed as his face. "My fellow citizens, I am grieved to tell you this evening of a reprehensible act within these hallowed halls, at traitorous rebellion against the very core of our beloved sovereignty."
He went on to elaborate that the Jedi had united in secret against the forces of the Republic in an attempt to bring an end to the Chancellor's control of the Republic.
"That doesn't make any sense at all," Richard said, looking at Sabé in conclusion. She only shook her head with a dark expression and gestured back to the recording.
"Out of the ashes of this betrayal, however, rises a new era of benefit for the Republic. General Grievous is dead, and the Separatist leaders have been rooted out and destroyed. The war is at an end."
Richard's eyes widened. That much should have been good news. Why, then, did Sabé look as though her heart had been ripped from her?
"The attempt on my life," Palpatine croaked slowly, "has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger. The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning.
In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten-thousand years."
The entire Senate burst into heady applause. Richard looked at his sister and understood. "By the Force," he whispered. "This is—"
"Unimaginable. I didn't dare to think he would go that far." She turned off the feed and then turned away, disgusted. "And yet, now I can't help but wonder if it was inevitable."
Silence fell.
"What do we do now?"
Richard sat down. In an instant, everything he'd been hoping for Naboo's future crumbled like loose sand. This was so far beyond any challenge a Naboo sovereign had faced in the history of the planet.
"What can we do?" he asked.
"We only have two choices. We either fight, or we fall in line." Maia Daris stepped forward. "Which will it be?"
Richard looked up. "No matter what I do, this is going to divide the people."
"Palpatine is Naboo. If we resist him, it will make a very strong statement," said Sabé.
"And he will punish us strongly for it. He has control of the clone army. An army that Padmé was so fiercely against," he added.
"Padmé would never capitulate on this point," Sabé pressed.
"Padmé is not queen anymore," he snapped back. "This is my lot, and I will do as I see fit, Sabé. I will not be the puppet to my sister's example. And anyway, she never did anything recklessly."
"Has she contacted us?" asked Claria quietly.
"Not yet. Communications in and out of Coruscant have been almost impossible."
Richard stood to his feet. "We will comply, for now. There isn't any other safe outlet. If the people hate me for it, then so be it. At least they'll be alive. Today is not a day for rebellion."
Most of the Councilors looked approving at these words. Claria looked distressed, and Sabé highly disappointed. Yvenne stepped over and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"How much time until the press conference?" Richard asked.
"Just over an hour, my lord."
"Good. I'm calling my own emergency session. Councilors, if you'll join me?"
That morning, Ceidron had awoken early. He wanted to be far, far away from the palace during Richard's press conference. He had disappeared into the darkest, seediest bar he knew of, in the part of the city where terrorists with a pedigree like a Klion were certainly not going to be bothering him. It was the sort of place where a Correllian brandy was always readily available, even before working hours.
He was nursing just such a beverage when the bartender called for silence and played back a wide broadcast message from Coruscant.
After he watched it, Ceidron ordered an entire bottle.
"Maybe it's a good thing you died, Jessa," he said into his glass. "At least you weren't here to see this."
A little while later, he paid his sizeable tab and left the bar, heading for the central plaza in Theed where a crowd was gathering to watch the announced press conference. Ceidron figured he was probably the only person in the crowd who knew that Richard would be returning from the dead ahead of time. Now, however, he was more curious what his brother-in-law would have to say on the matter of the Galactic Empire.
He found a comfortable shadow and hid as deeply inside as the milling crowd would allow. He crossed his arms, and waited. There was a subdued quality to the crowd. People were frightened, and as far as they knew, they had no clear leadership to look to.
At the appointed time, the broadcast was prompt. The royal insignia displayed, then flickered to a feed of a podium surrounded by journalists and members of the government. Richard's press secretary stepped up to the podium and a suspenseful hush fell over the waiting crowd.
"People of Naboo, it is my great pleasure to introduce, his Majesty King Richard Naberrie."
Ceidron could have used a baton to conduct the gasp that followed. On the holo feed, the journalists were jumping up and down and most of the rest of the audience looked positively stunned, talking to each other in close, frantic conversations.
Richard waited, holding up a hand for silence, until the initial shock finally wore down enough that he could be heard.
"My fellow citizens of Naboo," he began. "I must first and foremost apologize. I have deceived you all in a deliberate fabrication of my death."
Another burst of loud murmuring. This time Richard pressed forcefully through it in order to bring it more quickly to a halt. "It is my hope," he said, "then when you understand my reasons for this farce, you will forgive me, though I make no apology for the fact that, due to this action on my part, Naboo is safer than it was."
He quickly ran through a brief summary of the Klions, their mission and their history with the royal family. He gave a few names of some of the ringleaders that had been arrested. He made no mention of Jessa, not even anonymously. When he reached the more triumphant parts of the tale, there was enthusiastic applause from the people in the crowd. Ceidron did not join in.
Finally, Richard put his hands on either side of the podium and sighed deeply. "All of this was to be the central focus of this morning's broadcast," he finally said. "But as you know, we find ourselves at a much greater crossroads.
"Beset by unrest from within and without, the Congressional Council and I have voted almost unanimously that the following measures will be taken for the safety of the Naboo."
"For the next year, all prices are frozen, including interest rates. An evening curfew will be established for most civilian activity. More specific details will be forthcoming as we finalize them, but I urge all Naboo to accept and bear with these measures until we are better able to understand how the changes to the galaxy will affect Naboo. At the end of a year, these measures will be readdressed for suspension or continuation, as the ruling body of Naboo deems necessary."
Another, quieter, ripple of conversation passed through the crowd. The people seemed cautious. There were some resentful faces, but most people were grudgingly nodding.
Richard paused and stared at the edge of the podium. Ceidron stood up a little straighter and narrowed his eyes. "The Council has also voted to establish life terms for all elected officials on a planetary level—" he paused "—including the crown."
Ceidron's blood ran cold. The journalists burst into a frenzy of urgent questions, and the people burst into another surprised burst of noise.
"This measure—" Richard said "—will better ensure our stability in the uncertain future. That is all. Good day."
Richard stepped away, leaving a flabbergasted press secretary in his wake. Ceidron stayed resolutely in his corner, arms crossed, glowering.
He couldn't believe that Richard would do this. Debate after debate, countless times over, the rebuttal against Ceidron's disdain of the Naboo monarchy had been that despite appearances, the sovereign hadalways been elected. Naboo was still a democracy.
But no more, apparently.
Within moments of Richard's departure, a thread of applause began from somewhere on the far side, and spread throughout the gathered people like a wildfire. Or a plague, Ceidron thought inwardly, scowling. Most faces were determined, resolute, and proud. Soon the applause lifted into cheers of approval.
Ceidron knew he really should not have been surprised. This was the same people who an hour ago had not known who to turn to for leadership. Now their leader had miraculously emerged and done so with a show of strength. They were not helpless children wandering alone in the night.
More than that, the Naboo loved their Naberries. He knew that much of the population considered themselves to be monarchists, and not proponents of democracy at all. Like it or not, this is what the Naboo thought they wanted, in their heart of hearts. No wonder Richard knew it would be easy.
Most of all, he knew that given a choice between freedom or security, most people would rather be alive, even if it meant they were enslaved. It was a sad truth that the rare idealist would never be able to change. He just wished he hadn't been forced to witness it so intimately twice in one morning.
"Yes, Jessa, if you had to die young, you probably timed it right," he concluded again.
He reached up and wiped away bitter tears from the corners of his eyes. He hadn't even realized they were there until now. Then he looked around and started trying to figure out the best way to get back home. He was a lost soul out of place on this world, but he had a wife, and he had a daughter, and they would both need him.
Sabé didn't know the last time she had been so angry. Her disappointment in Richard's conduct in faking his own death was nothing in comparison to what she was feeling now.
"Richard!" She shouted as soon as they were beyond the sight of the press. She didn't care that the Congressional Council and half the planetary Senate were looking on. They needed a dressing down every bit as much as their king.
Her brother did not stop, so she gathered her skirts and ran until she reached him. She cut him off and blocked his path. He stopped then, and stared over her head.
"How dare you?" she spat, glaring at him with all the forceful anger she could muster. "You just—"
"What, Sabé?" he shot back. "Just what? I just saved our world."
"Hardly. What you did was undermine a democratic legacy that has lasted for over five centurieson this planet."
"Maybe you missed it, Sabé, but that already happened this morning on Coruscant."
"Not by you. Amidala would never have done what you just did out there."
"Then for the sake of Naboo it's a good thing that she is no longer on the throne," he challenged.
She reached up and smacked him.
Richard turned his face at the strike, his jaw clenched. "Do you really think I relished what just happened, Sabé? Do you really think I was just waiting for the chance to seize the throne for all of time? I hate it every bit as much as you do, but to keep our people aliveit is the only way."
"You don't know that. You don't know what's going to happen. The Jedi—"
"—have been slaughtered. They were scattered across the stars and now they will become little more than a legend. Instead, they will send garrisons, and warships, and cruel taskmasters to command them. You know I'm right," he said, cutting her off when she opened her mouth to protest. He looked off into the distance again. "It's the only way he can hope to hold onto this precious new empire of his."
He pushed by her, and she turned, angry and heartbroken, to watch her little brother walk away, hating what he had done and hating him even more for being right.
Richard paused and looked back over his shoulder a little. "Let them remember me with scorn as they remember Amidala with love. For the sake of what I have preserved here today, I am willing to pay that price."
Then he was gone, and shortly after, a very uncomfortable-looking group of statesmen dissipated, heading their various ways.
Sabé ran. She ran, not even knowing where she wanted to go. Her foosteps carried her first to the balcony where she and Richard had used to spend time when they were younger. It was closed off, and she remembered that it had recently been damaged in the attempt on Yvenne's and Sioned's lives. Then she went to the royal suites that Padmé had occupied in her time as queen. They were out of use now, and the site of them did nothing to allay her distress. They reminded her of a time when things had been simpler, when they were all barely more than children, and the universe had been drawn in comfortable lines that separated right from wrong.
By the time she finally descended to the grotto ballroom, it was well past midday, and she was too tired to run anymore. Now she was merely wandering. The vast underground cavern, where Richard and Yvenne had been married, carried for Sabé a more comforting association. It was here that Ben had first embraced her with love.
She went to the edge of the massive cave and sat on the far side, her back against the smoothed wall, her knees drawn up to her chest. For almost two hours she gazed at the waterfalls in the valley below and mourned the past in all its many complexions, wishing she had Ben with her now, desperately afraid that he had died and she would never know.
She was still sitting there when Claria finally found her.
"You need to eat something," her sister said, sitting down beside her.
"How did you find me?"
"Maité was discreetly following you, but she didn't feel comfortable intruding, so she came to me." Claria took a deep breath and joined Sabé in her survey of the landscape. "What a beautiful place," she remarked. "I've always tried not to take it for granted."
"I think there are a lot of things we took for granted," Sabé muttered into her knees.
"Yes." Claria seemed thoughtful, sober. "Do you think he's right? About the warships and garrisons and everything?"
"Yes. Dictatorship does not really require much in the way of finesse or creativity."
"I suppose not." Claria looked over at Sabé. "What can we do?"
"We find a way to resist."
"How?"
"It's only been half a day, Claria. I can hardly tell you." She thought about what Padmé had confided, about the group of concerned senators on Coruscant, and wondered what, if anything, they had discussed toward this most nightmarish end.
Looking at her sister, it was her turn to frown in concern. "You look tired."
"That's because I am. It's been a very eventful few weeks."
Sabé listened as Claria told her about living through the assassination attempts, about Ceidron's former lover Jessa Kennich, the surprise fact of his living daughter, and the grief he was now enduring.
"I am so worried about him, Sabé, and— I'm worried about us. He's never been comfortable here, and now all of this. I'm afraid it might put a wedge between us that I don't know how to bridge."
Sabé reached out her arms and she and Claria fell into a mutual embrace. Claria quietly cried on her shoulder and, for the first time, Sabé let her own silent tears fall. "I'm sorry you've had to go through so much," she said to her sister. We're together now, though. And maybe after her baby is born, Padmé will come home too."
"I hope so."
"I suppose we're not solving anything hiding down here, crying in a cave, are we?"
Claria gave a shaky laugh and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her nose. "No, not really. I should get back and see how Larkin is doing. Maybe Ceidron is back now."
They ascended back up into the palace proper. Sabé took her leave of her little sister and made her way wearily to her quarters. She ordered a dinner to be brought to her privately, and decided that a long, hot bath and an early night's sleep were a good prescription for self-comfort.
She was just beginning to brush out her hair when Maité stepped into the room. "My lady," she said, "there's an encrypted message for you. I don't recognize the source."
Sabé frowned. "I'll take it in here, Maité, thank you."
She put down her brush and pulled up the message console next to her vanity. The message was text only, and Sabé gasped a little when she recognized the data string that served for a source of origin. With trembling fingers, she entered in the passcode. She hadn't used it in a very long time, but it was not the sort of thing she would ever forget.
The message was short, but filled Sabé with a violent joy and terror all in one moment.
I am alive. Meet me at Polis Massa as soon as possible. Tell no one. Padmé is in danger.
~ Ben
A/N: I'll hang my head in shame properly after I post the next chapter.