Breathing in deeply with eyes closed Padmé readied her mind for action. She was behind the Jedi Obi-wan who was focused on the courtyard ahead, lightsaber at the ready. Panaka had brought the party through the secret passageway under the waterfall that he had mentioned in detail back in the ruins.
"The passage is found 40 feet up from the surface of the canyon and leads to the center of the palace. The path then diverges in two directions, one to the throne room which can only be opened from inside, and the other to the small personnel garden for the queen." The passageways were designed to quickly move the Head of the Royal Court out of the palace, in case of an emergency that only a few had knowledge of. The passageway led to the cliff and followed another path down under the waterfall. Across the canyon, there was another passageway that led to a secured refuge with supplies and transportation. Padmé and the others reached this refuge just as night fell and used the two Seraph-class urban landspeeders to cross the canyon floor. They had to be careful of patrols as the federation flew Droid ships overhead, but Master Qui-gon sensed that their presence had still gone unnoticed.
Back at the ruins they had decided to break up into two groups, Captain Panaka, Master Qui-gon and the Gungan Jar Jar would make their way to the Queen's chambers to rescue Queen M'ilia while Padmé and Obi-wan would head to the communications center to make contact with the Republic. Pamdé was furious that she was not accompanying the party to rescue her sister but Panaka stood his ground insisting that the path to the Queen would be much more dangerous than the way to the Communications room and he could not afford to keep Padmé safe while also rescuing the queen. It was also obvious that Obi-wan would need direction through the palace in order to get to the Communications center quickly and this would be assured if Padmé was with him. Knowing that Panaka was right she finally agreed and began to map out the best path from the garden to the communications center in her head.
"On the count of three." Obi-wan said, still looking out into the courtyard. They had made their way through the pass and were now in the garden behind the tool shed. The passageway hidden by a door, shaped as a rock on the back side of the garden opposite the entrance to the palace. Panaka, Qui-gon and Jar Jar made their way left and hid by the gazebo while Obi-wan and Padmé went right, behind the tool shed.
"One." Obi-wan began the countdown to when both parties would simultaneously attack the small band of Droids in the garden. There were three of those destroyer droids that had to be taken out first before their shields engaged. It was her responsibility to shoot the one on her right at the go.
"Two." Padmé's heart raced as her hands trembled clenching the blaster pistol. She repeated all that Panaka had taught her and eased her breathing once more.
"Three!" Padmé turned exposing herself to a clear shot and released four quick shots towards the droid. Two connected, shutting down the droid. She took cover immediately, just in time to see Obi-wan jumped from behind the shed, throwing his lightsaber midway through his aerial cartwheel cutting the second destroyer in two. Panaka had already destroyed the third droid and continued to take down the remaining B1 battle droids. Jar Jar, with his incredibly strong legs had leaped to the balcony above the doorway and with his spear that had some sort of blue energy at its tip, sliced through the four droids standing guard there. Master Qui-gon had already made his way inside and continued the dismantling of the droids.
Padmé stood up and destroyed the last droid in the garden and ran to Obi-wan. With Panaka, Qui-gon and Jar Jar inside heading toward the throne room, it was time for Obi-wan and Padmé to head down through the courtyard and access the servant's hallway.
"This way!" she called, gesturing to Obi-wan. She ran down the courtyard stairs with the Jedi right behind her. The servants boarders were small rooms and hallways that filled the basement of the palace, allowing the servants access to most of the palace without interference with the activities above. One access led to the queen's personal garden. Padmé guided them to that access, input the security code and entered into the palace. Inside, it was completely quiet. Padmé wanted to run through the halls, but Obi-wan had caught her by the arm.
"We must be cautious." He looked around the empty hall "The noise we make will carry far along these solid walls." Looking back at Padmé he added, "and I would like to avoid any attention if we could." Padmé noted and lead them through the maze of halls.
Her hearts beat rang in her ears as they moved from hallway to hallway. Where are they, she thought as they continued on with no sign of servants. Yes things had changed dramatically since the last time she was here but what could the federation want with the servants except to keep the palace running as it normally does? A faint noise broke her concentration. She stopped and looked back at Obi-wan who held his lightsaber at the ready. He looked at her and held his finger up to his mouth and walked in front of her. As the sound grew it was obviously a couple of droids walking the hall with their metal shoes hitting the rock floor. Obi-wan bent low by the corner waiting for the droids to pass. But, just before he was ready to strike, the droids stopped. Padmé froze, her back against the wall close beside Obi-wan. A few moments past with the only occasional beeping sound coming from the droids. The beeping sound changed tones and Obi-wan's face tensed.
"They know we're here." Without further hesitation, the Jedi sprang forward and engaged the ready battle droids. But no matter how prepared the droids could of been they were no match for the quickness and skill of the Jedi. "Hurry!" Obi-wan yelled. Padmé ran ahead of Obi-wan jumping over the Droid remains. "They have alerted the Federation to our presence." Obi-wan said as he ran close behind Padmé.
"What of the others?" Padmé yelled.
"I sense my master is still on the move. He has sensed my change in pace so he should be aware of our situation." Padmé prayed for her sister running as fast as she could through the halls.