Padmé Amidala Naberrie stood there in her cell, a room with grayish white walls, plain, and only a bench for her to sit on.

Ever since the Clone Wars had started two years ago, life had taken on a turn for the worse.

First, Palpatine had been given emergency powers, and then the next year, he had branded the Jedi as traitors to the Republic, saying that they, led by the Jedi Master Mace Windu had attempted to assassinate him. He had then eliminated the Jedi and declared himself the Emperor of the Galaxy.

Soon after the formation of the Empire, he had initiated a series of measures that would make the Empire a humanocentrist state, in other words, a xenophobic regime that cared little for the well being of beings in the galaxy. And worse still, slavery had been made legal, although mostly for aliens, especially wookies. Many wookies had already been enslaved.

And then, there had been an attack on Kamino led by Admiral Rampart.

The Admiral of course had been arrested, and then, in order to replace the clones which were said to have been bred to blindly follow orders, Palpatine had initiated the Stormtrooper program.

So far, as far as she knew, not all legions had been replaced with non-clones, but the process would soon be complete within a matter of months.

And then, something terrible had happened.

Palpatine had declared her to be a traitor for her outspoken statements during the Clone Wars, claiming her to have been a traitor to the Republic, and a supporter of the Jedi who had 'supposedly started the war'.

And Dooku, the new enforcer, had declared that she must be eliminated and had announced a bounty on her head.

She had managed to flee Coruscant and had begun to organize a rebellion to fight the Empire with the help of friends such as Bail Organa of Alderaan, Mon Mothma of Chandrila, Rio Chuchi of Pantora, and Garm Iblis of Corellia.

They had formed a rebel Council, and a few members of the Jedi Order who had survived had joined them.

She had been organizing a rebel cell on Naboo, with the help of Queen Jamillia who was a good friend and supporter of democracy.

So far, she had managed to evade the Empire, until now.

What would become of the galaxy? Of the rebellion, of her friends, family?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

A clone stepped in carrying a briefcase and said, "Lord Vader ordered that this be delivered to you."

With that, he placed it down, and left, shutting the door behind him.

Padmé had absolutely no idea of what was going on.

She went and opened the briefcase, which had no passcode.

And there, inside, were her clothes, some of her senatorial gowns as well as her battlesuits that she had worn, including a white jumpsuit and a red vest, all of which she had managed to take with her when she had been forced to flee.

Only to end up in this cell.

And then, suddenly, she wondered if there was a blaster inside.

She searched the briefcase, but found no weapon.

"Of course," she thought, "How could I be so stupid as to think they'd give a prisoner a blaster."

She was engrossed within her own thoughts that she did not notice the door opening and someone stepping in.

That is, until she heard the breathing sound, "Kihhhhh, ohhhhhhh…."

She looked up, and there stood Darth Vader, but there was something strange about him.

He was holding a tray of food.

He said, "Senator Amidala, your dinner has arrived. And you must eat."

He set the tray down in front of her.

Padmé slowly and warily took the tray and looked at the food on her plate.

It was a roll of bread and some sort of lentil thing which did not look very welcoming.

She asked, "Is this the sort of muck that is served to prisoners?"

Vader answered, "You are a criminal. Be grateful with what you get, and eat, or else die of hunger."

Padmé said, "This could be a trap for all I know."

Vader said, "This food is not poisoned or drugged. That much, I can assure you."

Padmé asked, "Do you normally give other prisoners their meals yourself?"

"No," replied the Sith Lord.

Padmé stared warily at her food.

Eventually, hunger overcame her and she began to devour the food, which didn't seem so disgusting.

Hunger was the real sauce after all.

Padmé looked up at Vader as she was about to put a piece of bread into her mouth and asked, "What do you want of me?"

Vader answered, "You say I want something of you. You are not wrong there. I seek to know the location of the rebel base, and everything you know about the rebellion."

Padmé answered, "I'm sorry, but I have no clue as to what you are referring to."

Vader growled, "Do not play with me Senator. I may be more forgiving than the Emperor, but do not presume me to be lenient with you."

Padmé boldly replied, "I never expected you to be so hospitable either. And by the way, forgiving is not a word to describe you, given your atrocities as a Sith Lord."

Vader crossed his arms across his armored chest and said, "That is irrelevant to what I am asking of you. If only you will provide the location of the rebel base, perhaps I shall consider improving your prison conditions and asking the Emperor to forgive you."

"As if the Emperor would ever forgive me," Padmé retorted, "Either way, I know I'm going to die, so I might as well not tell you anything."

Vader sighed and walked out of the room saying, "We shall see, Amidala, we shall see."


Over the next few days, Padmé continued to boldly speak out her mind against the Dark Lord. He at one point, brought in an interrogation droid to get her to speak, but the strong woman that she was, she resisted it.

One day, a few hours after one such interrogation session, she whispered, "I wish there were a way out. There has got to be some sort of way out of this."

Little did she know what was about to happen.

A few minutes later, the door suddenly opened, and instead of Darth Vader or a clone or an imperial officer, she saw her astromech droid.

"R2?" Padmé asked, "What's going on?"

R2 beeped in response, and Padmé exclaimed, "You knocked those guards by yourself?! And with just your electric zappers?! Wow, that was smart of you! I guess we can escape from here after all."

R2 beeped an instruction to which Padmé replied, "You're right. The vents may be my best option. I hope you don't mind me climbing on top of you."

Padmé came out of her cell, and as R2 had instructed, she somehow climbed on top of him, and using the blaster of a clone that was lying unconscious nearby (R2 had knocked him out by electrocution), she blasted a hole in a vent and climbed into the ventilation system even as R2 moved away.

Padmé crept through the vents, as carefully as she could, trying not to be loud.

She was met by a fork in the system.

She took the left turn and went further ahead, deciding to come back should it turn out to be a dead end.

She was met by yet another fork and turned right this time.

She went on through the system for sometime and finally got the feeling she was just going around in circles.

And then, she noticed a grate at the bottom and peeped through it.

And then, she saw something interesting.

Right underneath her, was a lavishly decorated room, or rather, not so lavishly decorated.

There was a desk, with a tall black chair, next to a large viewport, and in front of the desk, were a couple of black sofas with a table in between, and of course, pieces of equipment.

And there, standing right in between the desk and the sofas, looking out of the viewport, was Darth Vader.

Padmé could hear his breathing.

And then, suddenly, the dark lord turned and looked at something to his left, and said, "What is it, Captain Tup?"

A panic stricken voice called out, "My Lord, the prisoner, it seems she has escaped. The droid is more capable than we thought. He knocked out the two men watching him and is now loose. We have blockaded all the hangars and the escape pods, but still can't find the senator! I…"

"What?!" Vader cried out and walked out of the room.

Padmé could hear the hissing sound of the doors as they opened for Vader to exit the room, and then closed again.

Padmé could hardly believe it.

She was right above what could be Darth Vader's quarters.

And no one was there.

And then, an idea came to her mind.

If she went in there, she could try and find a weapon, and some intel to take to the rebellion.

On one hand, it seemed to be a tempting idea.

On the other hand, it was too risky.

What if Vader or anyone else, save R2, should enter and apprehend her before she could escape?

Ultimately, she thought, "I'll take the risk."

Something was telling her to go in.

She opened the grate, and carefully lowered herself through, then let go.

Luckily, she was right above the sofa, and she fell on it.

The sofa was very soft, and cushioned her fall.

The ceiling was not too high.

She slowly got up, checked herself for any injuries, and to her relief, found none, although the landing had not been very smooth.

She then started walking around the room, trying to look for clues.

She went to the desk and took a look at it.

She opened one of the drawers, hoping to find something of value, but did not find any.

She opened up more and more drawers that she could find, and at one point, she found something interesting.

A lightsaber.

Padmé did not have the skills needed to wield a lightsaber, but it was still better than nothing. Of course, she already had a blaster, but still.

She picked up the lightsaber and pressed the button.

It revealed, to her surprise, an amethyst blade.

Surprised as she was, she turned it off and set about looking around for more weapons that she could use.

And of course, she did not find any.

And then, she realized that she had spent quite some time.

It wouldn't be long before Vader came back.

Perhaps he was already nearby.

Hesitantly, she moved away from the desk.

And then, she looked out of the viewport to see what was out there.

And of course, she did not see anything of importance.

She was so engrossed in her examinations that she did not notice the snap hiss of the doors opening.

But she did hear something.

"KIHHHHHHHHHH….. OHHHHHHHHHHH… KIHHHHHHHHHH…. OHHHHHHHHH…." from right behind her.

She turned around in shock and to her horror, she saw Darth Vader facing her.

Instinctively, she ignited the blade and attempted to slice through his chest, only for Vader to pull out his lightsaber and ignite it, revealing his crimson red blade, and block her attack.

Vader hissed, "You woman, are no Jedi, and yet you attempt to destroy me, with a Jedi's weapon!"

Padmé pulled back and attempted to stab Vader, but the latter simply swung his blade in an arc with so much force that Padmé's lightsaber was knocked out of her hands.

Padmé took one good look to realize that it was too far away for her to pick up.

She pulled out the blaster that she had stolen from the unconscious clone and fired at him, but Vader simply used his lightsaber to deflect the bolts, causing damage to the walls and to the carpet, before extending his left hand and using the force to snatch the blaster out of her hand and toss it away.

Padmé was cornered.

There was no escape.

She was going to die.

But she would not die a coward.

She cried out, "If you're going to kill me, then do it! Strike down the filthy rebel and be the Empire's hero once more!"

Darth Vader turned off his lightsaber, attached it to his belt, and menacingly moved closer to her.

Padmé ended up backing off, but soon realized that she was being forced into a corner.

Darth Vader snarled, "I heard that your precious astromech droid knocked out two of my men who were guarding him, and then proceeded to help you escape, and now I come in here after a search to find you right here in my own personal quarters!"

Padmé did not say anything.

Vader continued, "Your droid has been apprehended. It is indeed fortunate that he was not near the hangar bays when he was caught, and that captain Tup alerted everyone the moment he discovered your escape."

Padmé asked, "Did you kill any of your men, over failing to guard me?"

Vader replied, "Normally, I would have, but my men of the 501st are quite competent enough. And I do not see them as expendable as the Emperor does."

He then hissed, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, here in this very room."

Padmé suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline through her system and she screamed out, "AS IF YOU WOULDN'T! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER! YOU'RE THE REAL SCUM IN THIS GALAXY, JUST LIKE THE EMPEROR! YOU KNOW, I WONDER SOMETIMES WHAT COULD BE UNDER THAT FEROCIOUS MASK OF THAT MONSTER DARTH VADER, BUT I KNOW THAT WHOEVER IT IS, HE IS BOUND TO BE A HEARTLESS MONSTER! SHOW ME WHO YOU ARE BEFORE YOU KILL ME VADER, I DARE YOU!"

Darth Vader, for a moment, was completely taken aback.

No one had dared to stand up to him like this ever before.

But then, rage flared up in him and his breathing became louder and menacing with anger.

He shouted, "DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU REALLY WANT SO BADLY TO KNOW WHO I AM, WHAT I AM UNDER THIS MASK?"
Padmé yelled, "YES I DO!"

Vader reached up and unlocked the clasps attaching his helmet and mask to the rest of his armored suit, and then pulled it off, to reveal something which stunned Padmé to the core.

For there, right in front of her own eyes, which had been covered by the mask, was a human head, with long sandy blonde hair reaching to the shoulders, yellow eyes which were glowing with rage, and a clean shaven face, all of which, save for the eyes, looked extremely familiar.

And then, Vader shouted in a voice that was clearly not mechanical, "THERE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"

Padmé's mouth opened in utmost shock at this unexpected sight.

And finally, after a few moments, she softly murmured, "Anakin? Is that you?"

Vader suddenly shouted, "Don't, call me that, Padmé Amidala. That name no longer holds any meaning for me!"

Padmé suddenly shouted, "ANAKIN! HOW COULD YOU?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ONE I ONCE CALLED MY ANI?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT SWEET BOY I KNEW ONCE WHO WAS WILLING TO…"

Vader retorted, "That sweetness, any of it, all of it, was all a weakness, and Anakin Skywalker had to die! He was weak, and so I destroyed him!"

Padmé yelled, "WEAK?! HE WAS STRONG! HE SAVED NABOO FROM THE TRADE FEDERATION! HE BLEW UP THE DROID CONTROL SHIP IN A STARFIGHTER WHEN HE WAS ONLY NINE YEARS OLD, AND YOU CALL THAT WEAK?!"

Vader shouted, "ENOUGH OF THIS! DON'T REMIND ME OF SUCH MEMORIES!"

Padmé was not willing to back down.

She shouted, "OBI WAN LOVED YOU SO MUCH! HE CARES FOR YOU SO MUCH! HE TOOK YOU IN AND TRAINED YOU! HOW COULD YOU JOIN THAT MONSTER PALPATINE AND KILL ALL THE JEDI THAT CARED FOR YOU?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN MASTER, YOUR OWN BROTHER? HOW WOULD OBI WAN FEEL? HOW WOULD YOUR MOTHER FEEL?!"

All of a sudden, Vader yelled, "YOU WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING DON'T YOU, YOU INQUISITIVE TRAITOR OF A SENATOR?! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I DID ALL THAT I HAVE DONE?! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I JOINED SIDIOUS? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I JOINED THE DARK SIDE?"

Padme yelled back, "YES I DO!"

And then, Vader yelled, "BECAUSE, THE JEDI KILLED MY MOTHER!"