Padme's Star Skiff

Mustafar

"Oh, Mistress Padme, Mistress Padme!" C-3PO cried out, his golden arms waving in distress. "What has happened to her, Master Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan Kenobi, his face wet with tears, struggled to blurt out a few coherent words to the protocol droid and his astromech companion, R2D2, "She was attacked. Both of you, please watch over her while I lift off. I need to get her to the medical facility on Polis Massa as quickly as possible."

Kenobi ran to the cockpit, his mind a maelstrom of grief. Was it only a few days ago that he had struck down General Grievous? He had been so hopeful that the long Clone Wars were on the cusp of ending and then the blow had fallen. Sheev Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic, was, in fact, a Sith Lord. When Palpatine ordered the clone soldiers to turn on the Jedi using Order 66, almost all the Jedi had fallen under overwhelming fire. Yes, a few survived, including his apprentice and friend, Anakin Skywalker.

But Anakin was no longer Anakin, but Darth Vader, pledged to serve the new Emperor Palpatine himself. Kenobi had stowed away on Padme Amidala's Star Skiff, confident that Anakin's love would lead him to her husband, and indeed she had. Obi-Wan had listened to the argument between them, as the pregnant Padme sought to pull the young Sith back to the Light Side of the Force. But it had been in vain. When Anakin - when Vader - realized Kenobi was on board Padme's ship, he had turned on the woman who was carrying his child, choking her into unconsciousness.

And now Anakin was dead. Kenobi had fought his brother, his best friend, his apprentice on the fiery planet now receding behind the ship, and Ana - and Vader had fallen to Kenobi's blade. Kenobi had had no choice but stop the young man who had shared joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, for so many years.

He found himself sobbing as he steered the Star Skiff away from Mustafar, out of its gravity well, so he could make the jump to lightspeed.

Oh Anakin!

/

"You are not permitted here!" C-3PO squeaked in distress. "This is the private quarters of Queen Amidala and you are not …"

"Authorization code R698KK," Luke Skywalker said, causing the protocol droid to stop talking mid sentence.

"Yes, sir!" the droid replied cheerfully. "I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations. My facilities are entirely at your service!"

"I didn't know that authorization code was that old," Mara Jade Skywalker mused, tucking a blanket more firmly around the unconscious form of Padme.

"I wasn't sure either," Luke agreed, "but it was worth a shot. R2, run a scan on her vital systems please."

The R2 unit beeped and booped and even extended a warning pincer as Luke walked closer to his Alter mother, but after a few seconds, the little droid obviously decided they were safe people and began scanning his mistress's still form.

"What is going on?" Leia asked worriedly, "she is so pale!"

"That's Mustafar out there," Luke declared, gesturing toward the stark planet of rock and lava in the distance. "This must be just before Polis Massa."

"That's weird," Leia declared. "We've already done Polis Massa twice. If we cut the Force bond between Padme and Vader, Vader will die, which is kind of sad but of course we have to save Padme."

"Yes, we do," Luke agreed somberly. "Maybe since we're a few hours earlier, we can do something right now to help her so she is in better shape when we arrive at Polis Massa. Mara, Leia, try to connect with the babies, will you? I am sure they are kind of freaked out and could use some loving thoughts. I just want to check on something."

He turned to gaze out the back window as he reached out into the Force and a moment later, he staggered in pain.

"Luke!" Mara cried out. "What's wrong."

Luke felt tears fill his eyes as he shook his head, "It's Father. He is in such anguish, such agony, and while he deserves it to some degree, it is still hard to feel it."

"Cut him off," Leia ordered.

"No, I can't do that. There is a good chance he won't survive, and I don't want him to die alone without knowing that someone out there truly loves him."

/

Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, had thought he knew what pain was. He had lost his right hand in a battle against Count Dooku, and been injured in myriad battles and missions. But this ... this was nothing he had ever imagined. The fire was engulfing him, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not quench the clutching, avaricious flames …

There was a sudden surge of tremendous power in the Force, and Darth Vader, furious and fearful and enraged and terrified, reached out to connect to discover an Unknown Being of strange familiarity and shocking power ... and ... and love.

The devouring flames were quenched instantly, and Darth Vader felt as if he had been immersed in an exquisitely comforting ice cold bath.

/

"Who are you?!" Obi-Wan Kenobi yelped in confusion, his hand reaching for his lightsaber. This day just kept getting worse! "How did you get in here? What are you doing?"

The Star Skiff was due to arrive at Polis Massa in 56 minutes and Obi-Wan had come back to hover over Padme, whom he feared would die before they made it to medical help. Given the horrors of the last days, it seemed more likely than not.

But he had stepped into the cabin to discover three unknown individuals in the middle of some kind of obscure medical procedure. A petite, dark haired woman was lying supine, floating in the air next to Padme, with a redheaded woman lifting a bag and tubing to allow blood to flow from the unknown brunette into Padme's pale form. A dark blond male of some thirty years was standing nearest the cabin door, and turned around to face the Jedi Master from Stewjon.

"We mean you and Padme no harm," the young man declared soothingly, even as he dropped the shields which had prevented Kenobi noticing him until now.

Obi-Wan literally reeled back in shock. The young man was Light. Strong. Powerful! So, so so, powerful. Who was this man?

"Who are you?" he asked again, this time more meekly. "I don't know you and yet you are clearly well trained in the ways of the Force."

"I'm Luke Skywalker, she's Leia, and she's Mara," the dark blond man explained as he pointed to the relevant women. "We're from the future. Leia and I are the twin children of Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader, and Padme. Mara is my wife."

Kenobi staggered back another step, knocking his head against a wall hard enough to see meteors, "Time travel is impossible."

"No, it isn't," Luke Skywalker said impatiently. "I know it sounds weird and out there, but we have done it many times before. A few years ago, we messed around with a weird artifact in an odd Jedi Temple, and ever since then, we've been hurled into different time lines to fix things up."

"What are you doing to Padme?" Kenobi croaked.

"Giving her some blood," Mara explained. "R2D2 did a scan for us, and she is dangerously dehydrated and anemic, probably not from the attack or anything, but just from running around like a nut trying to save Anakin while carrying nearly full term twins. We hope with the assistance of her daughter's blood, she'll be stronger for the upcoming birth."

"Birth?" Kenobi repeated stupidly.

"Yes," Luke continued gravely. "In our timeline, Padme died after giving birth to us on Polis Massa, but that was because Palpatine was draining her life force to keep Vader alive."

Kenobi jerked and just barely missed smashing his head again, "Vader is dead."

"He's not," Leia declared from her floating position. "I know you think he died, but you should have taken the time to lop him in half, or stick your lightsaber through him, or something. The man is currently smoldering on Mustafar and Palpatine will arrive soon or has arrived already to rescue him. In our timeline, he spent the next twenty plus years tearing around the galaxy destroying everything."

Now Kenobi swayed and Luke grabbed his arm and guided him to a seat. "Rest, Obi-Wan. It's Ok. We'll make sure Padme and the twins both survive this. In one previous trip through time, I cut the bond and Vader died and Padme lived."

"Which is far better than Padme dying and Vader living," Leia averred, "though we don't quite know what will happen this time. Every trip is weird and wonderful in its own way."

"Ugh!" Padme said suddenly, opening her eyes.

"Padme!" Kenobi croaked, staggering to his feet. "Oh, thank the Force!"

"Where am I?" the woman demanded, her hand stroking her enormous belly. "What happened?"

"That's a long story," Mara said soothingly, "but please, don't move yet. We're giving you a blood transfusion because you were anemic and dehydrated."

"Obi-Wan?" Padme cried out as memory returned, her eyes fixed on her friend. "Where is Anakin?"

The Jedi Master's eyes filled with rebellious tears and he shook his head, "Anakin isn't here, Padme."

"Anakin has turned to the Dark Side," Luke explained gravely.

Padme tried to sit up, only to be pushed down gently by the Force, "I ... how could this have happened? I don't understand! And who are you?"

"I'm your son from the future," Luke explained gravely, "and the woman giving you blood is my twin sister, Leia."

Padme's eyes sought Kenobi's, "Obi-Wan, can this be true?"

"I sense no deceit in our visitors," Kenobi admitted, "though I have never heard of such a thing. But all three of our visitors are truly powerful Light Siders and I have never met any of them."

"Plus, you gotta admit I look a lot like Anakin did, except I'm all short like my mother," Luke added.

"Ok, I think that's enough," Mara stated professionally, and proceeded to carefully pull the needle from first Padme's arm, and then Leia's. "How do you feel, Padme?"

"Better," the former queen of Naboo acknowledged, sitting up painfully. "But I still don't understand any of this."

"Well, it is weird and tragic and crazy," Luke observed, walking over to sit on the edge of bed next to his Alter mother. "Anakin fell and became Darth Vader, and the really sad thing is that he did it to try to save you."

Padme's weary eyes filled with tears, "He said as much to me, that his powers would save me. Oh Anakin, as if I would want him to do such a terrible thing ..."

"It is both sad and stupid," Leia contended, "especially since in our timeline, his decision to pledge himself to Palpatine resulted in your death in childbirth."

The Senator from Naboo stroked her slightly aching throat, "His dreams came true then."

"His nightmares, yes," Luke agreed sympathetically. "He lost his mother and he could not bear to lose you, but of course Palpatine is a total sludge and had no intention of letting you live. But don't worry, we'll make sure you survive this time around and the twins as well. Whether we can save Vader is another question."

"Nor is it clear we should," Leia said in a troubled tone. "I mean ..."

"I know," Luke agreed. "But I love him, and ..."

"My toes are tingling!" Mara interrupted, startled. "We don't have as much time as I expected."

The twins exchanged worried glances as their own toes started their familiar buzzing.

"This isn't right!" Luke yelped indignantly. "We need to ..."

"We won't be able to ..." Leia yelled back.

"Obi-Wan," Luke ordered, "once you are on Polis Massa, make sure you and Yoda work on severing the bond between Padme and Anakin so Palpatine can't drain her life force to sustain him ..."

"So Anakin is alive?" Padme asked anxiously.

"For now, yes," Luke replied, his expression grave, "but ..."

Luke vanished, a moment later Leia faded away, and a moment after that, Mara did as well.

Kenobi turned his attention on Padme who was staring in bewilderment at her feet.

"What is wrong, Padme?" he asked worriedly.

"My toes are feeling weird ...," she declared and then she disappeared as well, leaving a gob smacked Jedi Master alone with the two droids.