Chapter 7
Here it is in the pre-dawn and I woke up feeling a little sick to my stomach. Getting up out of bed I made my way to the refresher, as I walked down the small hallway I kept feeling small cramp in my left side where I was wounded.
Finally getting to the refresher I walked into the room and closing and locking the door. Going over to the sink and looking into the mirror I was shocked to see how red my face is and beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead.
I grabbed on to the edge of the sink when a sharp pain hit me, bending my head downwards over the sink I began to throwing up.
" Great just what I need at this moment." I said to myself as I felt more pain coming from the wound in my side.
Turning on the water I began cleaning up the small mess that I had made, looking around the sink area I saw a small hand towel, grabbing it I put it under the faucet and wetting it with cold water.
Putting the cool towel onto my forehead trying to cool the heat that I was starting to feel.
" Padme are you ok?" Anakin asked as he was tapping on the door.
" Um... yeah... I'm fine." was all I could say as I began to feel really dizzy.
" No you're not Padme so please open up this door, or I'll open it up myself...PADME !" Anakin said as he was starting to get light headed and that's when he knew something was very wrong.
Using the Force Anakin opened the refresher door and walked inside the room. He was only half way in when he saw me laying on the floor.
" Padme!" Anakin called out as he raced over to my side and kneeling down to get a closer look and that's when he realized that I was unconcession.
" Anakin what are you ..." Obi-Wan said at the entrance of the refresher.
" Something is wrong with her Master." Anakin said turning his head towards Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan looked at the young man and he saw that Anakin had total look of panic ion his face, and he also saw tears coming to his eyes.
" Let me see, um... Anakin go to the ship and active the medical droid and also get the bacta capsule ready for her." Obi-Wan said coming up to Anakin and putting his hand on the Padawan's shoulder.
" Master, I can't live with out her." Anakin said cradled me in his arms.
" I know Anakin, so please get up and do what I ask, or we well lose her... great there is an infection the wound." Obi-Wan said as he looked down and noticed that there was a yellow-greenish seepage coming out from the bacta patch.
Anakin got up and took off running out of the refresher.
" Anakin what's wrong?" Shmi asked as he rushed passed her on the way out of the house.
" Mom it's Padme... I have to..." was all he could say before heading out of the house.
Shmi put the knife down and headed for the refresher and saw that the door was wide open and stepping inside the room.
" What is going on ... Oh my ... what happen?" She asked as she saw me laying on the floor and Obi-Wan next to my side wiping the yellow-greenish puss from the wound.
" It seems that the wound is infected and we need to get her to our ship and in the bacta capsule or we are going to lose her." Obi-Wan said looking up at Shmi.
" I thought I cleaned the wound completely out before I stitched her up, so you think it's something else that has caused this?" Shmi asked watching Obi-Wan taking a sample of the puss.
" Yes... I have a feeling that it's some kind of poison... and I believe that the Raider who stabbed her had some kind of poison on the end of his Gaffi stick." Obi-Wan said closing the lid of the small jar that he had found in the cabinet.
" I see... I haven't heard of them ever using any kind of poison... but then again there is very little known about the Tuskin Raiders." Shmi said as she was trying to remember what she knows about the Tuskin Raiders.
" Well it could be something new that they have just figured out." Obi-Wan said before placing a small hand towel onto the wound bending down and picking me up in his arms.
Obi-Wan carried me out of the refresher and down the hallway and into the living room before passing Cliegg and Owen who had just walked into the living room from the kitchen.
" What's happening?" Cliegg asked.
" Padme's wound is infected ... and he believes that it's more than just an infection, Obi-Wan thinks that some how she was poison." Shmi said coming into the living room behind Obi-Wan.
" Poison you say ... you know what one of the hunters told me that him and his son had found a couple of bodies of dragons that had stab wounds and they were oozing yellow-greenish puss." Cliegg said as he remember what is friend was telling him when they went hunting a herd of Dewbacks.
" Do you think that the Raiders have gotten smart enough to realize that they could use some kind of poison that could take down their enemies." Shmi asked.
" I don't know, but let's just pray that they haven't, because it will be hell for us if they did, because we wouldn't be able to fight against them." Cliegg said going back into the kitchen.
Obi-Wan carefully and with caution crossed the desert yard to where the ship was, just pass the small garage area, while he was walking towards the ship he reached out with the force and sensed where everybody was at that moment, and one of the bodies that he could sense was a very upset Anakin.
" Everything is going to be ok Anakin, go see your mother and tell her that we must be going, but when we finished up this mission we will come back to see her, and while you are doing that I will be watching Padme." Obi-Wan said as he walked passed Anakin and took me to the small medical bay that we have on the ship.
" Hello!" Shmi called out as she stepped onto the ship.
" Mom, Obi-Wan just brought Padme into the medical bay." Anakin said coming to his mom.
" Yes Anakin I know and he believes that she has been poison too, come here sweetie." Shmi said pulling her son into her arms and held him as he began to cry.
" I can't lose her mom, she is my heart, soul and life." Anakin said as he just held onto his mother and cried.
" I know baby, and right now all we can do is wait and see what will happen to her, I can feel that she is a very special person and she is the right person for you not only for your heart but for your soul, and I also believe that you too are her heart and soul, and you both need each other." Shmi said as she let go of Anakin but she held his head in her hands so that way she could see into his eyes.
" We are soul mates and now we can't be without each other." Anakin said moving away from his mother.
" I know how do you feel, ok now the reason why I'm here is to see if you guys want something to eat before you go to where ever your next stop will be on your mission." Shmi said as she looked around the room.
" Um... sure breakfast does sound good, oh have you seen the ship yet?" Anakin asked as he watched his mother look around the room.
" I already have it made so all I have to do is pack it up for you guys, Obi-Wan I was telling Anakin that I have breakfast ready, but before you say a word I'm going to pack it up for you guys so you can have it while you are on your way to where ever you are going to, um... so do you guys want Tea or Caf or maybe both." Shmi said as she watched Obi-Wan take a seat on the small couch.
" Yes that would be great, and to drink I think Caf for me and I'm guessing Anakin will have Tea." Obi-Wan said giving Shmi a very tired but grateful smile.
" Ok, and I will even pack something for Padme whenever she is able to eat and drink something." Shmi said before heading off the ship and back to the house.
" Mom told me that you believe that Padme has been poison?" Anakin said as he stood there running his hand though his hair.
" Yes that is what we believe it to be, at the moment am running a test on the puss that was coming from the wound and to see if it had some poison in it, and I have also took some of her blood too, so that we should know in a couple of hours from now. Well she is now in the bacta capsule." Obi-Wan said closing his eyes and laying his head back against the back of the couch.
" Ok, so why didn't the bacta patch work on her, hello Mr. Lars." Anakin said as Cliegg came up the ramp and walking into the lounge area of the ship.
" Hello, Anakin and please call me Cliegg, here are the drinks that your mother made, wow so this is what a ship looks like." Cliegg said as he looked around the room while he was holding the drink containers that had both had Caf and Tea in them.
" Ok sure, I take it this is your first time on a ship, here let me take one of those containers from you." Anakin said as he came over to Cliegg and took the container that had the Caf in it.
" Thanks, yes this is the first time that I have ever been on a ship." Cliegg said as he followed Anakin to the small kitchen area.
" Really, well if you like I can give you a small tour of the ship if you like." Anakin said opening up the Caf-Tea machine and began pouring the Caf into the machine that held the Caf.
" Sure I would really like that, hey sweetie Anakin here is going to give me a tour of the ship." Cliegg said as Shmi came up to them in the kitchen area.
" That's great, I think that the only place that I have truly seen was the medical bay of the ship, but I too would really like to see the rest of the ship." Shmi said putting the food containers down on the small kitchen counter.
" Ok, let me finish pouring the Tea into the machine, and if you can could you put the food in the box right there beside you and see that green button, hit it and it will keep the food warm while I give you the tour of the ship." Anakin said as he slowly poured the hot tea into it's side of the machine.
" Ok, but are you sure that I can put the food that belongs to Padme in a cooler." Shmi said putting the two containers into the warmers, but she still held onto the one for Padme.
" Ok you can put it in the cooler that is behind you." Anakin said as he shut the lid of the Caf machine and nodded to the cooler behind his mother.
" The kitchen looks big enough to fix a big dinner or any kind of meals in here." Cliegg said looking around the small kitchen, and dining area.
" Yes it is a full functioning kitchen and we can cook a full dinners that can feed up to six people, if you can follow me we can head into the living area of the ship." Anakin said as he lead his mom and step-father out of the kitchen and into the living area.
" I see you guys are getting a tour of our home away from home." Obi-Wan said getting up from the couch.
" Yes, Anakin is giving us the tour." Cliegg said.
" Ok, well I need to go and do a couple of things before we leave here in about thirty minutes." Obi-Wan said looking over to Anakin and letting him know that they need to be going soon.
Obi-Wan left the small family and headed for his sleeping quarters.
" Ok well as you can tell this is our living area or also called the lounge by some people, here we can watch the holo-net, play games and we even have a small communication center over here, so the next place is where I like to be at the most of the time and that would be the cockpit." Anakin said as he started to lead them to the cockpit.
" You know I remember you used to tell your friends that you were going to be a pilot." Shmi said as she was smiling with pride that Anakin accomplished his dreams.
" Yes, your mom has told me all about some things that you used to do, while you were younger." Cliegg said as they stepped into the cockpit.
" Gee thanks mom, ok on the left side of the cockpit is the pilot's chair and over here on the right is the co-pilot's chair, if you at the consult you can see the communication section, below that is the navigation computer, or Navi-computer for short, and this is the lever that will put us into hyper space. Well that's about it in here so now I will show you the four sleeping quarters that we have on board the ship and the medical bay which is where Padme is right now." Anakin said as he led them to the back of the ship.
Before opening up one of the guest rooms, Anakin stopped in front of the refresher.
" This is our refresher, and it's a nice size for any kind of ship that I have been on." he said opening the door so that way they could see what the refresher looks like on the ship.
" Wow you do have plenty of room to move around in the ship." Shmi said as she saw that it was very roomy.
" Yes it is, ok and here is one of the guest quarters, and there is also a master room which belongs to Padme because the ship belongs to her, and it also has it's own refresher in it too." Anakin said as they walked into the guest room.
" Wow, it's nicely done, so let me guess she too has a bigger bed in the master room." Shmi said as she saw Anakin began to blush.
" Well that's it for the tour, we do have a hull where we store things in, but we would have to go outside to enter it from there." Anakin said as he walked out of the guest room, and the older couple followed him.
" This is a wonderful ship and I can tell that you guys need to get going to the next place on your mission." Shmi said as they came back into the lounge and stopped by the hatch door.
" Yeah, we really do need to get going but we can stop back here when we are done of our mission." Anakin said as he saw tears well up in his mother's eyes.
" Ok, and it's been wonderful to have you here, and it's great to see your friends again, and I'm going to miss you Ani, and you take care not only of yourself but of Padme too, she is a very special girl." Shmi said going to Anakin and giving him a hug and a kiss goodbye.
" I will mom, and you and Cliegg take care too, and tell Owen that we will work on something else when I come back here." Anakin said hugging his mom before going over to Cliegg.
" We will take care and you are always welcome here son." Cliegg said as Anakin surprised him pulling him towards him and giving him a hug.
The elder couple walked off the ship and Anakin closed the hatch door just as Obi-Wan came back into the room.
" Thank you Obi-Wan." Anakin said as he went into the kitchen and grabbing his breakfast and tea before going into the cockpit.
" You're welcome, I figured you needed alone time with them before leaving, for Nal-Hutta." Obi-Wan said glad to have given Anakin time with his family, which he knows they will be coming back here before going back to Coruscant.
Obi-Wan grabbed his food and Caf too before going into the cockpit with them and sitting down in the co-pilot's chair.
" I'm glad you told my mother where we are going, because it would only make her worry even more about me." Anakin said opening up the food container and saw that it was his mother's famous pancakes, eggs and Nerf sausage.
" Yeah I'm glad too, you know who we are going to be seeing, and if it makes you feel better you can stay with the ship that is if you want too." Obi-Wan said as he too opened up his food container.
" I understand what you are saying Master and Padme had said the same thing, but I think I'll go with you the both of you, because it's time that I show that Hutt that she was never truly my master and that am a free person." Anakin said as he started up the engines and the ship begins to lift up and Anakin flies them up and out of Tatooine's atmosphere.
" Ok the coordinates are in the Navi-computer and we should be ready for hyper space in about ten seconds." Obi-Wan said as he pushed the enter button on the Navi-computer.
" Ok nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one hyper space here we come." Anakin said as he pulled the hyperspace lever and the stars in front of the them begins to blur as they enter the hyperspace.
" Now it's time to just sit back and enjoy my mom's cooking." Anakin said sitting back and began to eat his breakfast.
" Man your mom is a great cook, these pancakes are so light and fluffily and the fruit is so very sweet." Obi-Wan said taking a bite of his pancakes.
" The fruit comes from her fruit tree that she has growing. She makes the best pies with these fruits too, I wonder how Padme is doing?" Anakin asked finishing up his pancakes.
" Yeah your mom's pie was very great, while you and Padme had gone into town your mom, Cliegg and I had some pie; Padme is sleeping while she is soaking in the bacta capsule and it was a bacterial virus that she has and it starts out as puss before it starts eating the flesh around the wound and if it isn't treated death will follow, and thank goodness we have caught it in time too, I think that's why the patch didn't work and also it was an old patch too; so I'll see you in a couple of hours." Obi-Wan said getting up and headed out of the cockpit.
Anakin sat there and finished his breakfast then getting up from the chair he left the cockpit. Going into the kitchen area he put his container in the washer before heading for the medical bay.
" Master Skywalker, if you came to see how Mistress is doing all I can say is that she is doing a lot better, and the bacteria has slowed down in growth and it's dying, so by the time we get to Nal-Hutta she should be better." the medical droid said as Anakin came into the room.
" That's great to hear, would it be ok if I stay right here beside her?" Anakin said as he looked over to the bed.
" Yes you can, but as a doctor I do suggest that you too get some rest." the droid said as Anakin went over to the bacta capsule and pulled the chair over to the bed so he could sit down beside me.
Once he was sitting down in the chair he began to doze off and then finally falling into a deep sleep.
Four hours later I was woken up the sound of a loud beeping alarm coming from some where in the ship.
" Damn, some one needs to shut up that computer." Anakin mumbles in his sleep.
I just smiled and gently sat up, but only felt a slight twinge of pain in my side, I also noticed that the wound in my side was now closed.
I slowly got out of the bed and slowly made my way to the cockpit.
" Padme you look a lot better than you did earlier this morning, here let me give you a hand to the cockpit." Obi-Wan said as he came up to my side.
" Thanks Obi-Wan, I do feel a lot better, there is still a small pain, but I do believe its the muscle." I said as we walked into the cockpit.
" That is good to know, and yes there will be some small amount of pain when a muscle is hurt and has to heal. Well are you ready for this?" Obi-Wan said taking the Co-Pilot seat.
" Yeah I know about those type of wounds and it takes just a little more time to heal, hey sleepy head." I said as Anakin came into the cockpit, he motion for Obi-Wan to stay were he was, and he sat down the passenger's seat.
" Yeah whatever, hey you look better Padme; oh great we're here." Anakin said as he notice that we were coming out of hyper space and Nal-Hutta was looming in front of us.
" You do know that you can stay here with the ship if you want too, you really don't have to face Gardulla." I said just as the radio began to crackle and voice came over the radio.
" This is Jedi Cruiser , and we are here to see Gardulla the Hutt." I said to the air controller.
" Hold your pattern while we check with Gardulla about what you are saying is correct." the controller said before the radio went silent.
" Ok holding my flight pattern." I said before their was silence coming back over the radio.
" Jedi Cruiser please proceed to your destination and Her Grace will be waiting for you?" the controller said as he came back on the radio.
" Thank you and Jedi Cruiser out." I said before the com-link went dead.
I began to descend the ship lower into the atmosphere, and I saw the beacon landing on the platform and also waiting for us was a small group of people waiting for us.
" Great a welcoming party, and they don't look to friendly either." Anakin said as I shut the ship down, and he got up from the seat.
" Well let's get this over with." I said getting up and headed out of the cockpit.
Obi-Wan opened the hatch door and we all walked down the ramp together and to the waiting group of people at the bottom of the ramp.
" Welcome to Nal-Hutta and Gardulla is waiting for you so pleas follow me." one of the three men said to us.
We nodded and followed the three guys and went into the huge stone building that Gardulla calls her palace.
" Your Grace there are three Jedi here to see you." the head guard said as we stopped in front of Gardulla.
" Padme it's so good to see you... oh my... I don't believe it, it's my ex-slave Anakin Skywalker; you have grown up so very nicely ... I was hoping that you would be here with your Master Lily... she is five days late with my order." Gardulla said as she licked her lips.
" Well there has been a huge problem with your delivery." I start to say.
" you tell your Master that if she doesn't show up here in the next three days I will put a huge bounty on her head." Gardulla said as she was getting very mad.
" Well like I was trying to tell you that there is a problem about the delivery, and you don't need to put a bounty on her because I'm so sorry to say that she is dead, and every thing that was on her ship was also stolen from the person who killed her." I said as I saw what looks like sadness come across her face.
" I'm sorry to hear about Lily but I wan my money back, and I had four cases of Carunum Spice." she said looking straight a me and gave me a very dirty look, like it was all my fault that her Spice is missing.
" Ok we will give you your money back." I said glaring right back at her, and showing her that I wasn't afraid of her and she can't boss me around.
" Great I paid $ 8, 000 credits all together. And I'm going to give you two weeks to get the money together and deliver it back here, and if I don't get it by the end of the last day then I will put a huge bounty on all three of your heads." Gardulla said looking at all three of us.
" Yes Your Grace we understand and I will make sure that you have your money by then." I said bowing my head.
" Good now you may leave and get the money together starting today." Gardulla said as she waved us away.
We left the palace and headed back to the ship and getting on boarded.
" Well that was easier than I thought it would be, and she did seem really surprise to see you Anakin." I said walking in to the lounge of the ship.
" Really and what else did you sense from her?" Anakin asked as we walked into the cockpit while Obi-Wan shut the hatch and went straight to his quarters.
" That she was really sad to hear about Lily, hey when we get into hyperspace I need to go and lay down for awhile, so you can either stay here or you can join me in my quarters for a very nice long nap." I said starting up the ship.
" A nap sounds very great to me." Anakin said taking my hand and giving it a squeeze.
The ship lifted up and I pulled back on the throttle and we headed for the atmosphere; once we were further out of the planet's orbit I hit the hyperspace and sat there and watched the stars blur in the front of us.
I hit the auto pilot before getting up and headed to my quarters.
" Master, we are going to lay down see you in about two hours." I said as Obi-Wan came out of his quarters.
" Ok have pleasant dreams." he said before going to the lounge and sitting down.
I pulled Anakin into the bedroom, I kissed him before going over to the bed and sitting down on the edge of it.
Anakin sat down too on the other side of the bed and we began taking off our shoes before climbing into the bed and pulling the blanket over us.
Anakin pulled me into his arms and held me as we both fell into a peaceful sleep.
In a few hours we will be back on Corellia.