Their escape from the planet's surface went just as well as their visit to the Cantina.
"What was that?" Anakin's cockpit hatch sprung open and he was yelling across the hanger bay at Obi-Wan before he'd even climbed out of his starfighter. "You could have gotten Padmé killed!"
"I was trying," Obi-Wan yanked at his restraining straps, "to save all our hides."
"By risking hers?"
The woosh of a third ship passing through the shields made Anakin turn.
"Anakin. Anakin!" Obi-Wan called after him in exasperation as Anakin made a bolt for the still-landing troop transport.
As soon as it had landed he was leaping up into the sliding back doorway, embracing Padmé in a close and tight hug.
"Would you stop that?" Obi-Wan finally let his temper get the best of him.
Anakin, of course, ignored him. The adrenaline still running through his veins and he was too concerned about the near-miss Padmé had just experienced.
"I'm alright," she was telling him softly, stroking her fingers down his cheeks to get him to look at her and calm down.
He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek to the top of her head.
"I was so worried," he whispered to her privately.
"I'm alright," she assured again.
"The baby can't –"
"The baby's fine too," Padmé cut off that train of thought. She took his hand and pressed it between them.
"She's perfectly fine," Obi-Wan chimed in. "Anakin you need to stop –"
"Stop what, Master?" Anakin turned his angry eyes in Obi-Wan's direction, though his hand remained on their child.
"You are a Jedi," Obi-Wan reminded through gritted teeth.
"They tried to shoot her down," Anakin argued back.
"You will be expelled from the Jedi order!"
That was one particular set of words that had been thrown at Anakin numerous times since he became Obi-Wan's apprentice.
"So?" was the very different answer he seethed back this time.
"Anakin!" both Padmé and Obi-Wan simultaneously shocked had exclaimed his name.
"Fine, expel me. I'll become one of the lost, an Outlaw. Oh wait." He let Padmé go, took a step back and gestured with his arms wide open to the Saviour's hanger bay. "I am an Outlaw! I'm commanding a ship of Outlaws, in a hidden fleet of Outlaws. The galaxy is in the hands of an evil Sith Lord, but by all means, lets keep arguing about my child." He put his hand back to the swelling. "Who hasn't moved in six days."
Obi-Wan did let up momentarily. With a concerned head tilt he confirmed with the Senator "Six days? That doesn't sound good. Should you be seeking help?"
"It's moved," Padmé reassured him. "It just won't move for Anakin."
"Perhaps he needs to calm down," Obi-Wan crossed his arms over his chest. "And be concerned by more important things."
Anakin paused and went silent. Then he turned widening eager eyes to Padmé. "There," he said in soft wonder, moving his other hand to touch the side of her belly as well. His back turned on Obi-Wan and his eyes glittered as he smiled down at Padmé in surprised joy. "I felt that for sure."
Padmé put a hand down to join his, smiling at how eagerly pleased he was.
It moved against his hand for a second time and Anakin brushed his thumb back in wonder. "Do you think that's a little foot?" he guessed at the soft fluttering.
She looked up, buoyed by his so very pleased demeanour when she caught sight of movement over his shoulder, through the open hanger bay doors and out in the space above them. In horrified disbelief she watched one of the Republic's biggest ships, newly painted in Empire grey, fall out of hyperspace and dwarf them in its shadow.
"Obi-Wan's right," she said quietly. "We have more important things to worry about."
"Nothing," he ducked into her sightline to get his point across. "Is more important than our baby."
His hands cupped her belly to prove it and his radiant smile was almost blinding.
Padmé slowly gave his shoulder a push so he was forced to turn and look in the direction she was.
"Not even that?"
The warning claxon of an incoming incursion started blaring in the hanger bay.
"Well, you were right," Obi-Wan too was looking at the enemy ship as it moved into range. "One bar brawl and word got back to Palpatine. I wonder how they got here so quickly. They must have been stationed nearby," he mused.
"They're launching fighters," Anakin observed small dots beginning to appear from the other ship. "We should take them on," he began moving towards his own starfighter mindlessly.
Obi-Wan gave a short sharp "No!"
Anakin stopped briefly, giving him a questioning look.
"We mustn't make the clones fight against one another," he clarified.
"We don't have time for this," Padmé reminded as they all watched the first shot streak out towards the Defiance as it drifted close by. The hull breached and there was a small explosion. "We need to get to Mandalore."
"Right," Obi-Wan headed toward the turbo lift and the bridge so he could issue orders at command.
She caught Anakin's sleeve as he went to follow. "If we're too late getting to Satine –" she hurriedly reminded.
"We won't be." He leaned down, pressed a brief kiss to her lips, and followed after Obi-Wan. "I'll have Captain Rex find you. If we get boarded I don't want you alone today."
His hand brushed the heavy blaster still strapped to her thigh and gave her a meaningful look of 'Use it'. She nodded and left him to make his way to the bridge. She hunted Captain Rex down, suiting up which indicated he also though there was a chance they would be boarded.
"Lady Skywalker," he greeted passively.
"Captain Rex," she greeted, playing along this time.
The two of them made their way to the briefing room – the beginning of a war council. They had the next move to plan.
The fleet had jumped to Hyperspace by the time Anakin and Obi-Wan joined her. The ship's massive crew had started to make repairs to the damaged sections and fighters were being prepared.
Padmé was furiously drafting something.
"What is it?" Anakin asked, appearing at her shoulder.
"The Separatists," she looked up at him in eager anticipation. "We need to bring the Separatists back into the Republic."
His face turned into a scowl. "We need to destroy them, not befriend them."
"The people," she clarified, "the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Not the droid army. They left the Republic because they thought it was corrupt." She turned back to her document and continued typing with a realised "In hindsight, they could see more of the truth than we could."
"Oh," Anakin looked at her in surprise.
"We will need their help, if we're to fully restore democracy."
"I see, and how do you propose to do this? When we're heading out to destroy their army and save Obi-Wan's girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend!" An indignant Obi-Wan piped up from across the room.
Padmé and Anakin both turned to look at him, then shared a knowing private smile. The intimacy of a couple who wanted to see their own happiness on the faces of their friends.
"The Duchess has her part to play too," Padmé said cryptically, "in restoring faith in the Jedi as a neutral peacekeeper."
"I don't like the sound of that," Obi-Wan said warily.
"Perhaps not," Padmé ceded. "But she will see the need and agree. You will too, in time."
"To what?" he prodded.
"Declaring your neutrality in this war by marrying the Duchess. Having a child would help. Quickly, if you can manage it."
Anakin's glove raised to his lips and he was guffawing, trying to be quiet but barely able to restrain his laughter.
"I will not!" Obi-Wan protested.
"You will," Padmé promised with an airy, carefree tone. "Once you see how logical a path it is."
"I've never heard anything more ludicrous," Obi-Wan countered. "Since my old Padawan's plan to be a father, of course."
"An adventure on which you will soon join me, if Padmé gets her way," he tried to say with a straight face. He failed.
Obi-Wan sent him a despairing glare.
"You two need to drop it," he warned. "Satine and I will never –"
"Oh but you will," Padmé turned away from her document and stood up. Anakin at her back in silent but obvious support.
"The galaxy need to see that the Jedi are no one's pawn. Not the Emperor, not the Senate, not for credits or power. The only way to do that is to become neutral. This is impossible to do when you have spent the last three years leading the Republic's armies against the Separatists. When you have advocated occupation of neutral systems such as Mandalore."
"For their protection," Obi-Wan reminded sternly.
"It does not matter," Padmé shook her head. "Anakin and I will not be able to hide our child, it won't be good for the Senate and the Jedi to appear so closely linked. There needs to be balance. There need to be alliances with the Separatists, and with neutral parties."
"There will be alliances," Obi-Wan reassured. "There is no need for them to be matrimonial."
"The people have had enough of words," Padmé warned. "There has been too much deception, too many great battles staged only for show. People now only believe the actions they see. Do you believe that Anakin cares for me?"
"Well you're not hiding it."
"Did you believe that two weeks ago, when you had yet to see it with your own eyes?"
"I rather wish it was two weeks ago and I'd seen nothing with my own eyes," he muttered.
"Nothing has changed between Anakin and I in that time. It's only your perception of it. Appearances are important. Alliances are important. Peace is important."
"It's not the Jedi way," he reminded her softly, not looking to his ex-apprentice's eyes.
"The Jedi way will die with your generation, if you do not replenish yourselves quickly."
His eyes darted to her belly and her hand followed.
"We must all do our part," Anakin quietly chimed in, his hand drifting to join Padmé's. "The force is out of balance because there has been so much death and destruction at our hands. You must feel it."
"Yessss," Obi-Wan admitted, leaning back against the tabletop as he followed Anakin's reasoning.
"Now we must restore it. Have love where there was hate. Peace where there was destruction." His final statement was pointed, "Create life to replace those we have ended and the comrades we have lost."
"You're only saying this because it suits yourself and the transgression you've already committed," came one last argument.
"Perhaps," Anakin admitted. "With the baby on the way, my thinking has been changed. It brings hope and light like nothing in my life has before. Everything is different now. Padmé has a political point, marrying Satine will bring stability to the two thousand star systems she speaks for, and the thousands more who would see it as a sign of goodwill. But what she can't tell you is how the veil of the darkside lifts, just a little, when the baby kicks. That I feel the force more strongly after a night sleeping beside her. That there is peace in love. As you have always told me."
"Don't use my own words against me."
"You love her, Obi-Wan," Padmé chimed in. "And she very much loves you. Which is why a woman who has dedicated her life to duty and her people has allowed herself to near the climax of her childbearing years without producing a desperately-needed heir."
"Come on," Anakin coaxed him. "Future Duke of Mandalore?" he teased.
"And end up like Count Dooku?" Obi-Wan was affronted. "No thank you."
"Consort then," Padmé soothed. "Jedi protector. The term does not matter. The partnership does."
"Together you are strong," Anakin encouraged. "You defeated Death Squad."
"And you can help defeat the Emperor," Padmé emphasised.
That quieted him.
"Well, we'll see," we his final word on it.
Padmé and Anakin shared their secret knowing smile again. Then she got back to work, planning. And he moved to the holo to start planning their battle.
"All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations. Exit from hyperspace in one minute," the final countdown began.
Anakin and Padmé stood side-by-side on the Saviour.
"Do you think this will work?" Anakin confirmed one more time.
"I hope so," she confided. "We need more skilled political manoeuvring than I can provide alone. She and I..." she trailed off, incapable of finding the right word.
"Are the same," Anakin said it simply enough. "Pacifists." He stopped looking out the window so he could briefly look at Padmé. "Who are hard as durasteel inside."
Padmé gave him an affectionate smile at the comparison, then they both turned to watch out the window as they reverted to realspace.
The glowing orb that was Mandalore filled their front viewport fast. Their arrival wasn't subtle. They didn't slow down, instead powering through until they were approaching a geosynchronous orbit roughly over the palace. Only then did they reverse thrusters and come to a stop.
"This will be seen as threatening," Padmé worried, looking down onto the vastly populated planet.
"Good," Anakin said quietly. "Then it won't be difficult to get an audience with her highness."
A voice from the cockpit called out over the din. "They're contacting us sir!"
"Let's hear it," Yularen commanded.
"Imperial Army vessel, you have invaded Mandalorian territory. If you do not leave at once this will be taken as an act of war."
"You're up," Anakin looked to Padmé to make this happen.
She approached the com station and looked into the viewscreen. "This is Padmé Amidala, representative of Naboo." Anakin frowned when she didn't use the word 'Senator', didn't use the full title her people had bestowed upon her. Another thing he would have to take back from the Emperor. "I am not the Imperial Army, and we are not here to provoke conflict with Mandalore. Instead we come as allies. I must speak with her highness."
The person on the other end, someone she recognised vaguely as a member of the Duchess's court, paused. Looked to the side with an awkward grimace.
"The Duchess Satine is not – " he fumbled for the right word. "Holding court. She is in mourning."
"Obi-Wan," Padmé whispered softly to the side, sharing a troubled glance with Anakin. He nodded her to go on, they would solve that particular problem shortly.
"Nevertheless," Padmé turned back to the screen. "I must speak with her. Myself and my entourage will make planetfall shortly if we can be assured of our safety. We only want to talk."
The Mandalorian looked away and sighed. "You can try. We won't shoot," he promised. "But I make no guarantees over a meeting with the Duchess. She hasn't emerged in more than a week."
"Thank you," Padmé left it at that and closed the com channel.
"Let's go," she began walking toward the turbolift, knowing by the slight swish of a cloak brushing the gleaming floor that her husband was following.
The sound of beeping was accompanied by the First Officer declaring "The Negotiator just dropped out of hyperspace," to the Admiral.
"Tell Obi-Wan we have clearance and to join us on the surface immediately," was Anakin's final instruction just as he was stepping into the turbolift on the way down to the hanger bays.
He and Padmé touched down on Mandalore mere seconds ahead of Obi-Wan's shuttle, and just behind Ahsoka's. Three more of their ships had followed from Tatooine and now joined their carrier group in orbit, with many more to come.
A rather angry looking Prime Minster was waiting to greet them.
"What is the meaning of this invasion?" he demanded.
"It's no invasion," Padmé quickly pacified, taking the lead as both Anakin and Obi-Wan fell into step behind her. Guardians, not leaders. "I must speak with the Duchess."
"Master," Ahsoka came up behind him on quiet feet, falling into old habits as she unobtrusively took in their surroundings and kept her voice low. "Something doesn't feel right here. It's too quiet."
"I agree," Anakin murmured.
"We should investigate," Ahsoka continued to study the abandoned landing platform with sharp eyes.
"Do it, discreetly," Anakin advised. "I stay with Padmé."
"Yes Master," she didn't even realise she had returned to her former self, slipping away as Anakin tuned back in to his wife's conversation with the outraged Prime Minister.
"Not an invasion?!" he squawked in disbelief. "There are four Imperial Cruisers in low orbit above us."
"And more to come," Padmé didn't believe in keeping secrets. "But we're not here to attack, and we are not Imperial. Please, I must speak to Duchess Satine immediately. There is much to be done."
The Prime Minister's eyes narrowed at her.
"Fine," he waved them forward, onto one of the landing transports. "Though I doubt she will grant you an audience. As I mentioned before, she is in mourning."
Padmé shot a pointed look at Obi-Wan over her shoulder. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked distressed as they walked forward onto the rapid ground transport.
"Not for long," Padmé murmured under her breath to Anakin.
His hand touched her back as they took off with a quick jerk and sped through the once lively city. Things were sombre, quiet. People were not out on the streets.
"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asked in confusion.
"The Empire. People are afraid," The Prime Minister explained the deathly silence as they sped through unimpeded. "Duchess Satine is so distraught herself she has not been able to face them, to provide assurance."
Anakin frowned too. The silent emptiness in such a populated metropolis was disturbing, the towering buildings no longer the hive of life he'd come to expect of this city.
They entered the deathly silence of the palace with echoing footsteps. He could feel the suspicious gaze of Satine's personal royal guard, the security staff monitoring their every move through sensors.
A member of the court came forward and bowed solemnly.
"I'm sorry Prime Minister but the Duchess is not receiving anyone today."
"Please," Padmé stepped around the Prime Minister to address the court official directly. "Would you tell her that Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are here to see her. She can refuse us if she wishes but I hope she will welcome our visit."
He bowed and backed away, but she could tell he didn't think their names would evince any change in the Duchess's demeanour.
Satine was in mourning but not brain dead. She had been brought the technical readouts, knew that there was a litany of ships beginning to mass over her capital planet, directly above her palace. Mandalore had no capacity for any war, let alone battling against the full-scale fleet that surrounded them.
All she had were her words. So despite her broken heart, and the aching that tore her apart to think of Obi-Wan's light gone from the universe, she had summoned her aides. Now, her handmaidens were assisting her to dress for the first time in days, so she could meet their envoy. She hadn't been told who it was, only that they claimed not to be Imperial.
Like death she approached the throne room where they had gained admittance, briefly glancing to the security cameras before she entered. Her friend Padmé. Satine startled at the sight of her, knowing that Palpatine had declared her guilty of treason and that a warrant for her arrest was now in force. Satine glanced to her Chief of Security in disbelief.
"Padmé is the one with a fleet of ships?" she confirmed.
"Yes milady," came the sure reply.
Satine's eyes moved back to the monitor to study the small envoy as they milled in her throne room, waiting. Staunchly protective by her side stood Anakin Skywalker.
"A Jedi," she whispered in soft surprise. "I thought they'd all been killed."
Before hope could even set a seed in her heart her eyes moved to the third of their party. A ghost. Her heart squeezed tight, then began pounding in great blasts within her chest. Tears rushed to her eyes, clouded her vision.
As best she could in her ceremonial dress she suddenly sprang forward, over-taking her guards and pushing open the doors to the grand throne room herself.
Three sets of eyes turned her way eagerly.
She ran, as hard as she ever had in her life. "Obi," she cried out in agony, now crying too hard to even see. Without a doubt in her heart she flung herself into his arms and let him catch her.
"Satine," he murmured softly.
"You're alive," she somehow managed to say through her gasping sobs, winding her arms around his neck and hugging him in desperation.
"Yes," his hand splayed against her back and then she found him pulling back, cradling the base of her neck with his gentle palm so he could look directly into her eyes. "My Commander had a plan in place to rescue me when it happened, we've been in hiding ever since."
"I thought –"she couldn't finish the sentence as she pressed her fingers into his soft hair, tugged him down and crushed her mouth to his.
Obi-Wan was momentarily surprised but did not recoil. His hand gently moved to caress her shoulder and for the first time in more than fifteen years he kissed her back. Hard. No hesitation, no doubt, no regret. Just unabated hunger.
"Told you," Anakin folded his arms as the scene unfolded before him. Then he looked smugly to Padmé, so pleased to be right. She had clasped her hands together and was holding them to her chest, a beaming smile on her face.
"We should give them some privacy," Padmé turned and headed for one of the grand windows.
"I think our baby would like a playmate," he mused as he followed her with a sauntered stride. He propped himself up against the windowframe and didn't even pretend to look out. "How long do you think it will take them –?"
"Anakin," she hissed softly to get him to stop his highly inappropriate musings.
"What?" he asked indignantly, though a big grin covered his face. They both knew how pleased he was for his master. Now he did turn, looking out the ancient transparisteel as she did to the city beyond. "I don't want them to wait too long, or there will be a big age gap."
Padmé lowered her tone and couldn't help smiling herself. "Let them get a little reacquainted with one another first," she laughed quietly.
Anakin grinned. Watched her as she leant on the windowsill. Reached out his hand and ran the backs of his fingers down her bared neck. The two of them stood there for some time while the rest of the courtroom also found reasons to politely turn away, leaving the lovers to themselves. The soft murmured promises of Obi-Wan and his Duchess continued behind their backs, interspersed with long periods of silence. A quick glance told Anakin the silence meant they were kissing. Passionately.
He darted his eyes back to Padmé. "We don't have all day for them to do this."
She looked to him with a knowing grin. "Don't be so impatient," she chided, reaching up to cover his hand with her own. "We're no different when you come home."
"Yes but we don't do it with a waiting audience," he grumbled.
They said nothing more until, at the ten minute mark he'd had enough. Before Padmé could stop him he cleared his throat, pointedly and loudly. The sound echoed through the massive chamber. She pinched his arm in punishing disapproval but he turned back to the reuniting lovers with determination.
Obi-Wan and the Duchess had their foreheads pressed together. They both turned their faces and nothing more to look towards him.
"Anakin, we're busy here," Obi-Wan reprimanded with the grouchy look his padawan was very familiar with. This time it was partially distracted in a way Anakin had never seen before.
"Meanwhile –" Anakin began only to be interrupted by Padmé stepping around him and cutting him off.
"Unfortunately time is running short," she said more softly. "We came here because we need your help."
"And Obi-Wan has something to ask you," Anakin meaningfully glared at his friend.
"We'll get to that," Padmé gripped Anakin's arm in an unspoken signal to quiet and let her take this one.
The Duchess, who had only had eyes for Obi-Wan until now, caught the movement. Then she truly saw her ally and her eyes widened. She straightened in Obi-Wan's arms. She didn't leave the Jedi's intimate embrace but she did address her friend in surprise.
"Padmé you're pregnant! How wonderful!" Then her knowing blue eyes followed Padmé's hand to where it rested on Anakin's forearm.
Anakin did not move, letting the realisation come upon the Duchess and not flinching under her assessing gaze.
"How can this be?" Satine was stunned into a single short sentence. "I thought the Jedi –?" she looked to Obi-Wan for confirmation of everything she'd believed for so long. "Were forbidden attachments?"
His hand slid down her back until his fingers laced with hers. "They are," he confirmed with a squeeze. Then turned his pointed, narrowed eyes on his apprentice until his beloved's gaze followed. "In this, as in many things, Anakin has decided to make up the rules as he goes along."
"For which," Anakin began arrogantly, lowering his hand to once more claim that which was his. "I am married to the woman I love with a baby on the way." He flicked his black glove in Obi-Wan's direction. "I have advised him to take a similar path. You might have to provide some assistance there, he's quite stubborn," he intimately advised the Mandalorian leader.
She turned her tear-filled blue eyes back to Obi-Wan's and they were filled with desperate hope.
"Satine." He said her name with single purpose. A warning, against all the things that would work to keep them from one another.
Her fingers clamped his face and she looked dead-on into his eyes.
"If I am to mourn as your widow a third time then I will be your wife first," she told him with strength and passionate resolve.
Padmé smiled. Anakin grinned. Obi-Wan was shell-shocked but then finally leaned forward and took her mouth in another soft kiss.
"Good," Satine pronounced when he broke away.
"Milady is the need for an heir pressing?" Anakin teased his old master with a single highly inappropriate question to the representative of a long and proud dynasty.
"One day soon, but not today Master Skywalker," she retorted even while Obi-Wan was flushing a deep outraged shade of red behind his beard. "You said you needed my help."
With Obi-Wan's hand tucked firmly into hers the tall wisp of a woman made for her throne.
"Yes," Padmé took over. "We three, a large number of outlawed Jedi and four hundred thousand troopers defected from the Grand Army of the Republic one week ago. In that time the Republic has fallen and a Sith Lord has taken up an Emperorship. We intend to stop him."
"A coup?" Satine asked in surprise as she took her throne.
She let go Obi-Wan's hand but a silent look passed between them. He took up position behind her right shoulder. Body-guard, protector, loyal supporter. The position of her closest confidant and adviser. Looking out over her court, not a part of it.
"Not if we can help it," Padmé seated herself in a chair that was hastily brought forward for the Royal visitor. Anakin preferred to remain standing and took to his own woman's shoulder in a protective stance. On alert, feelings stretched out, hands clasped behind his back with his saber ready to ignite.
Just because they were in the presence of a friend didn't mean he thought they were safe.
"Military might won't solve the problems the Republic has suffered under for so long," Padmé shared.
"I agree," Satine decreed. "Peace is the only way to move forward."
"We're of the same mind there," Padmé smiled knowingly at her friend. "Fear, corruption, favouritism, these are the enemies we must fight against."
Pretending not to hear an annoyed Captain Rex behind her and muttering "why is it always 'peace' with these two?"
The Duchess titled her head. "What do you have in mind? You came here for a reason after all. How can Mandalore assist?"
Every pair of Republic eyes shifted over her shoulder to Obi-Wan. The Duchess too, turned to look at the man she had only just realised returned the love she felt with every fibre of her being.
Obi-Wan cleared his throat, found the words wouldn't come, and cleared his throat again.
"Padmé feels this is a war of propaganda," he began
Rather stupidly, in Anakin's opinion.
"This isn't about Padmé," he piped up, glaring at his friend. Silently telling him to be a man, and admit the feelings he had denied all his life.
"The Emperor certainly thinks she's a key component," Obi-Wan shot back, finding safety in this familiar territory of sparring with Anakin.
"Not in this," Anakin countered.
"You two have said so yourselves!"
"Peace between the Republic, the Separatists and the Neutral systems is key," Padmé took up the reins and steered them back on course. "The Republic Senate must reconcile with the Jedi – "
Anakin's hand reached out to squeeze her shoulder meaningfully, demonstrating just how that reconciliation would be portrayed to the people.
"And the Jedi must be seen to serve the galaxy, not just the whims of the Senate."
Satine slowly turned her gaze from Padmé towards Obi-Wan, understanding everything.
"You want me to stand by your side, to prove the Jedi have no affiliation to the Republic?" she asked carefully, her tone neutral in a way Obi-Wan vastly distrusted.
Making an announcement that stunned the quiet onlookers who had expected Mandalore to remain neutral of everything, including the Jedi.
"No. I want you to marry me because I love you," Obi-Wan didn't dance around it this time, for the first time declaring to the woman he loved what their futures would hold. "And it no longer serves either of us to be apart. Padmé's propaganda war is a bonus." He lowered his head beside hers and said softly "I would like to be your husband without the entire Imperial Navy set on my destruction."
"Hmmph," the Duchess looked displeased. "You will not bring your war to Mandalore," she warned him.
"Only myself," he quietly assured.
"Though the Separatist fleet is massing not far from here," Anakin chimed in, reminding them all of their true purpose.
"I know," the Duchess surprised them all. "And I know why." She flicked her hand and the chief of Security disappeared, coming back with a holodisk that he quickly handed over to his leader.
She activated it and an image of hundreds of ships appeared, slowly rotating.
"They plan to attack Coruscant," she got straight to the point. "We captured a small party of scouts that had unknowingly landed on the grounds of my Winter Palace. When we analysed their data banks we found a final fail-safe command, for when the Generals had all been destroyed."
Padmé was frowning, watching the ships cluster together in formation though they had no command, no leader. "That makes no sense," she protested. "Why would the Emperor stage an attack on himself, once he'd finally proved to the people that he was all powerful? This can only make him seem weak."
"He didn't," Satine shut off the recording and looked to her with disgust. "It was Dooku. He did it without Palpatine knowing. Those droids carry a lot of useful data once you start unpacking it."
"The apprentice always betrays the Master," Obi-Wan murmured, his fingers disappearing into the short auburn hairs of his beard. "It is the way of the Sith."
The Duchess's fingers reached up and brushed them away. "How attached are you to this beard?" she murmured thoughtfully, stroking along the jawbone beneath with her thumb.
"Quite," he said firmly. He remembered her words from the last time they'd met. That it hid too much of his handsome face.
He may have confessed he loved her. Would be with her. He would not shave off his beard for her. "It stays," he decreed without room for argument.
"We'll see," she said softly and turned back to the other guests.
"We must stop them," Padmé was already getting to her feet.
"They're waiting for the entire fleet," Satine revealed. "Once they're all here they will jump together and attack the capital en masse. From the tactical information we were able to obtain, it looks like there are still a few droid carriers that were beyond the Outer Rim, and did not receive the message of General Grevious' death. These stragglers are who they await."
"So it's possible we could destroy them here, before they move on to Coruscant," Anakin was hopeful, already planning, wondering how long it would take for their own fleet to finish arriving.
"No, that is not possible," the Duchess of Mandalore stood.
"Why?" Anakin demanded.
"You cannot fire a shot in Mandalorian territory."
His jaw set. "The entire droid army is going to attack Coruscant and you won't let us stop them because of some treaty?!" he asked in disbelief.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan warned.
"No master, that's ridiculous! It's politics for no good reason."
"On the contrary, it's for a very good reason," the haughty Duchess snapped back. "We have no army, no weapons here. Politics is the only way we have kept your war from our territory."
"Satine is right," Padmé jumped in. Anakin turned an angry glare on her only to find her soothing reassurance of "as crazy as it may sound."
"People will die if there is a second battle of Coruscant," he warned her.
"We have a head start," she prompted him. "We know they're coming."
"The Imperial Navy doesn't," he retorted. "They're spread across the galaxy, carrying the Emperor's goodwill," he spat the word, knowing that it meant the Republic's own systems were being threatened if they did not fall into line. "And we just laid a trap to get the remainder out of our hair. They're on their way to Tatooine."
"Which means Coruscant will need a saviour. A hero."
She turned to Satine with a cunning smile on her face. "One with no fear."
Anakin stiffened at the words. Knowing what news reporters had taken to calling him.
"Our fleet isn't big enough to take on the entire droid army," Obi-Wan intruded on the women's plans.
"We don't need to be," Anakin said slowly. "The Imperial Navy is spread but a chunk of it will be in the shipyards for repair or orbiting Coruscant."
Padmé's eyes had lit with a passionate fire.
"We'll work together," she said in soft realisation.
"Yes," Anakin affirmed.
"It still won't be enough," Obi-Wan shook his head. "There are too many of them."
Silence fell.
"We don't need to stop them all," Anakin finally decided. "Obi-Wan, do you remember Iago?"
Padmé remained perfectly still but Anakin felt her tremor of recognition, shiver at the reference to the world with its thousand moons. The Angels of such famed ethereal beauty. Anakin's once innocent question if she was one of them.
She felt the brush of the Force against her belly and knew he was thinking of it too.
"That boy," Obi-Wan slowly recalled.
"Yes, Jaybo. He had reprogrammed the Separatist's abandoned junk with a macro protocol. Battle droids, vulture droids, droideaks, everything so that they were doing nothing more than waving fans to keep him cool, swinging his hammock, bringing him drinks. The entire set was totally useless."
"Do you think you could do the same?" Obi-Wan followed where he was going with this.
"I don't know. They'd need to power down first, so the new programming would replace the old."
Obi-Wan's chin dropped so he was looking directly into Satine's crystal sharp eyes. "Did the captured droids give you any clue as to when they will all have arrived? When they will jump for Coruscant?"
"A day, perhaps two," the Duchess knew immediately.
"That's not much time. I need to start creating the program," Anakin nodded quickly.
Padmé stood abruptly. "And I need to contact my friends in the Senate. This will be delicate but if we handle it properly then we can turn this assault against Palpatine and end this dictatorship for good."
The eager couple were already moving swiftly for the exit, Captain Rex and his men following behind.
Obi-Wan took a step forward to follow them when a clear melodic voice rang out across the room.
"Obi-Wan," Satine decreed, "Will be staying here tonight."
Their steps paused. Obi-Wan was frozen, with clearly no idea of what to do.
Anakin's face was twisting into a wicked smile.
Padmé gave a firm nod, a quiet "very well. We'll see you in the morning," and resumed her exit.
Her husband followed quickly in her wake but sent a final triumphant smile Obi-Wan's way, as they left his master to the Duchess of Mandalore's tender mercies.
"He is in for a goooood night," Anakin chortled as they stepped onto the rapid ground transport and it shot out from the Royal Palace towards the landing pad.
"Anakin," Padmé warned quietly. She yelped as she was spun into his arms and he leaned down.
Her eyes rolled back in her head and her eyelids fluttered closed as Anakin's mouth pressed to the base of her neck.
"It's an 'I missed you' night," he kissed her there, fingers worming to the centre of her back. "And they are always." His lips touched the centre of her delicate throat. "Good." He moved beneath her ear and opened his mouth, pressing a longer hot kiss. "Nights."
She whimpered, from his mouth and from the illusion to the many 'I missed you' nights of her own. When he came home after a mission and they rarely made it to a bed. That saw them get no sleep. That lasted well into the evening and past the dawn. Even now she could picture her fingers sliding under his clothes, baring him, desperately eager to get to his ripped muscles and firm bronze skin so she could put her mouth on him.
Anakin's darkened eyes were studying her and he leaned down again. Padmé's fingers threaded through his messy hair and pulled him close to her. Their mouths teased briefly, sweet delay to the inevitable while their noses brushed. Then they each pressed forward and kissed, hungry and eager to taste one another while the wind whipped around them, speeding through the terrified city towards their shuttle.
Neither noticed when they arrived, Padmé now totally engulfed in Anakin's cloak and their soft kisses a bubble from the rest of the world.
"General," Captain Rex prompted awkwardly with no response whatsoever.
In fact Anakin's arms seemed to embrace her even more deeply until she disappeared altogether.
"Lady Skywalker," he chided more loudly.
Padmé startled, pulled back the little Anakin would allow and panted for desperate breath.
"This macro protocol, how long will it take to write?" she asked, gazing into her beloved's eyes with unsated and growing desire. Her fingertips trailed the edge of his sharp jaw in contemplation, anticipation, refusing to let him move away from her.
"It can wait an hour. Or two," Anakin promised, his mind incapable of doing anything so complex as reprogramming a fleet of droids until his growing desperation to take her was satisfied.
Padmé nodded eagerly, kissed his jaw, grabbed his hand and escaped from his embrace. She made quickly for the shuttle with her protectors hurrying to catch up.
When they arrived onboard the Saviour ten minutes later Captain Rex was given a final firm order of "Do NOT. Com me," before the General and Lady Skywalker strode meaningfully toward the officer's quarters.