I'm back and it's been too long. Things have been so stressful in the year 2024. On top of my Pappy dying, I've been worried about my grandmother and trying to cheer her up. My laptop started acting funny and stopped working in the beginning of November and I had to wait until Black Friday deals to order a new one. Then on top of trying to prepare for the holidays, to my embarrassment I got pulled over driving home from work. Turns out my registration had expired which earned me a ticket. So yeah it's been a fun year. But enough about me.

I was half through this chapter when things came up and I lost the drive, but it picked back up and I've been working on it piece by piece almost every night this past November that I even started working on the next chapter. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter. We'll see how the children's rescue goes, and in the past we'll see the after effects of the mine collapse.

Chapter 25

Sabé was tense as she and her friends broke the lock on the back gate. The rain pelted them, soaking through their clothes. The gardens of the Yelnina estate had fared better than the Lasaras' only because they had been built differently. Mounds had been built to elevate the view, and bridges over man-made streams which allowed some of the flood water to drain. Still, the trek was filled with mud and puddles that caused extra seconds of delay.

Seconds that allowed Tessé's security droids to detect them.

Sabé and her friends split and took cover. Sabé pulled Yané behind an antique statue while Saché and Rabé jumped into one of the fountains that had been drained for the winter.

Lasers hit their covers, shattering stone and filling Sabé's nostrils with the smell of burnt stone. She took out her blaster and fired at the security droids. They reminded Sabé of the training droids they to train under back when she first started as a handmaiden, only she knew that instead of the painful stings, these droids' shots would be more lethal.

Yané joined her in firing back, managing to hit one in the eye. The droid sputtered and fell dead to the ground. The next second, Saché and Rabé came out from their hiding spot, firing at its remaining counterparts.

It almost felt like old times to Sabé. The original handmaidens fighting side by side in service to their Queen. Except it wasn't the old times. Eirtaé wasn't there because one of their own had poisoned her, betrayed them, and betrayed their mistress. Sabé had to remind herself of that as much as it hurt. They didn't have time for this.

Ferus' group would be coming in on the east side of the manor. Although Tessé's security would be divided between the two groups, they couldn't delay and risk putting the children's lives in jeopardy.

She took out a droid popper, one of the few she had taken from her family's stock and threw it at the droids.

Pop!

The droids fell in a cluster, allowing Sabé's group to move. They made their way through arches and pillars, getting closer to their destination. They made it in view of the servants' entrance into the manor when another team of droids met them. Sabé ducked and rolled on the ground, never minding the mud, shooting two of the droids down when Rabé grabbed her, hoisting her up behind the wall shrub to avoid blaster fire. There were four left but at this close range, a direct assault was suicidal.

"We need to take them from the side," Rabé told her through the screams of blasterfire. "Do you have any more poppers?"

Sabé reached into her belt, but realized it wasn't there. Alarm filled her as she looked and realized that her belt had come undone and laid in the mud from where she had rolled. Before she could scold herself for her stupidity, the droids reached the turn to their hiding spot. Sabé and Rabé ran, taking cover behind one of the stone pillars as the droids fired upon them. As one of the droids neared, inspiration suddenly hit Sabé. She scooped up a handful of mud and flung it at the droid. Her aim hit it in the eye, blinding it, and allowing Rabé the chance to shoot it down. Sabé took off, making the rest of the droids chase after her. She rounded about a plum tree before shooting at them with her blaster. The blasts grazed their armor, but not penetrating them all the way. She tried running again, but the dark affected her vision, so she did not notice the uneven ground until she slipped and fell.

She was finished.

Pop!

She looked up and saw the droids fizz and shutter as electricity shut down their systems and they fell into the mud. Saché, Yané, and Rabé came and helped her up, Sabé's belt swung over Saché's shoulder.

"Very graceful,"the councillor snarked as she picked Sabé out of the mud.

"We're running out of time. Let's go!" Yané urged them.

They finally made it to the servants' entrance where Rabé bypassed the security system, allowing them to enter the estate. The blueprints they had studied showed them how big the manor was, but seeing it in person was another thing.

Tessé hadn't announced that she had taken in any foster children, so she wouldn't have locked them up where they would have access to a window where people could see. A basement or cellar would be an option, no one but servants would go down there. If Sabé remembered correctly the door to the cellar would be in the kitchen. She and her team pushed their way through the tight quarters, making their way to the kitchen. When they reached it, it was only Sabé's already tense reflexes that made her duck and avoid the laserbolt to her head.

"Down!"

She and her sisters ducked behind counters, shelves, and kitchen equipment to avoid incoming fire. From behind the counter, Sabé dared to take a peek at their new attacker, and recognized the Mandalorian armor.

She wasn't there for the attacks on Padmé before the War, but based on the description of the bounty hunter she had heard of, Sabé was willing to bet that this was Jango Fett's son, Boba Fett. Even though the bounty hunter was in his early teens, he was obviously deadly with his blasters and flamethrower. He nearly singed the top of her head as she ducked from the blast of fire. Sabé's mind raced, trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't get her and her friends killed.

She glanced at her friends, to Yané beside her, to Rabé behind a fridge unit, and Saché behind the wall they had just come from. Then she checked her belt. She had a couple of droid poppers, but it was the flash grenade that grabbed her attention. It was risky, but if the children were in the kitchen cellar, the walls would be thick enough to protect them. Grabbing it, she made eye contact with her sisters, silently communicating her plan. Their eyes widened, Yané's with worry, but they nodded, agreeing with her plan. Sabé triggered the grenade and threw it towards Boba Fett's direction before diving towards Saché's hiding spot to get as much distance as possible. She collided with her sisters behind the wall, and barely managed to cover her head before it went off. Even with her eyes closed, sabé could still see the bright flash go off. Her ears were ringing and her head was pounding. She blindly got up, fumbling with her blaster as she waited for Boba to continue his attack.

He didn't.

Sabé blinked, and her eyes watered from the smoke and spots she saw until they adjusted. As her sisters picked themselves up, Sabé dared a peek back into the kitchen. She pulled out her thermal goggles she had packed in case, and tried searching for Fett's heat signature. There was no sign of him in the kitchen, so she helped the other handmaidens who were recovering from their own disorientations. Once back on their feet, they made their way through the kitchen with Sabé leading, keeping an eye out for Fett. She hoped that the grenade had injured him, but figured that was asking too much.

They turned the corner where she believed the door to the cellar was when they found Fett.

Sabé must have blacked out because the next thing she knew, she was waking up on the ground with Yané looking down at her in worry. She heard the sound of fighting, and looked to see Rabé with her arms around Fett's neck and her legs locked around his torso, and Saché wrestling to pull the knife from his hands as they brought him to the ground. Sabé watched Fett's kicks slow before he fell limped in Rabé's hold, and Saché pried the blade from his hands.

"Toughest fourteen-year-old I ever fought," Saché huffed as she pushed the bounty hunter off Rabé and helped her up.

Yané helped Sabé up, the latter ignoring the pounding in her head as well as the embarrassment of getting the drop by someone much younger. "Let's keep moving."

They found the cellar door and made their way down. The first thing they noticed once they reached the bottom was the water beginning to flood the floor. Sabé could feel her heart in her throat, praying that her hunch of where the children were was wrong.

"Mimé! Zinyé!" Yané called for her children, taking the lead as they searched the cellar. They called for Yané's twins and little Cortin as they splashed their way through the flooding cellar. The water wasn't high yet, but Sabé knew it was only a matter of time. The cellar was enormous. Tessé would have hidden the children where they couldn't get out and nobody could hear them. So deeper and deeper they went. The water went above their ankles. Sabé's worry grew. Were the children down in this flooded cellar? Or were they wrong and Tessé had hidden them somewhere else in her estate? They could be anywhere, trapped, freezing, and scared.

They had reached what had to be the bottom of the cellar where the water reached their knees now when the dimmed lights turned off, plunging them into darkness. Sabé could feel her heart racing as her hands fumbled in her belt for her glowrod. When they finally found it, Sabé switched it on at the same time her sisters switched theirs. Down here in the dark, Sabé's nerves were heightened. She could hear the sound of the rushing water coming from the small cellar windows above their heads.

Yané called out to her children again and that's when Sabé heard it. It was so faint and muffled by the rushing water, she almost couldn't hear it but she did. It was the faint cry of a child crying out for its mother.

"This way!" She trudged through the water, flicking her light to the sides in hopes of finding the door the children were hiding behind.

Yané cried out for her children again, and they all paused, listening for a response over the rushing water.

"Right here!" Sabé realized, reaching one of the doors. She could hear the children crying out on the other side, but the door had a passcode lock. Warning the children to back away from the door, she blasted the lock, and pushed the door open against the rising water.

Yané pushed past Sabé, splashing her way to her children.

Sabé, Rabé, and Saché peered into the room, flashing their glowrods on the scene.

It was a small room that was probably used to store canned goods, judging from the shelves sabé could make out in the dim light. However, it had obviously been emptied enough to fit a cot barely big enough to fit the three wet and scared children shivering just above the waterline.

"Mommy!" The two girls cried out, jumping into Yané's embrace as soon as she reached them. Both the twins and their mother cried as they held one another, happy and relieved to be reunited.

In the meanwhile, the other three women turned to the frightened boy on the cot wrapped in a damp blanket. Rabé approached him carefully as one would a frightened baby voorpack. "Hello, is your name Cortin?"

The boy looked up, and Sabé lowered her glowrod so as not to blind him. She could see him nodding.

Rabé made the introductions. "I'm Rabé, and these are my friends Saché, Sabé, and Mimé and Zinyé's mother Yané. We're friends of your… your Aunt Moteé."

With Moteé's revelation, and the arrests of her cousins, the people who had been raising Cortin, everyone had agreed to let Moteé reveal the truth to the little boy.

The boy seemed to perk up at the mention of his "aunt". "Aunt Moteé is here?" he asked, his skin so pale and his lips beginning to turn blue, it frightened Sabé.

Rabé nodded, smiling at him. "She is. She's upstairs looking for you, but first we gotta get you out of this water and into something nice and dry for you."

The little boy agreed, not hesitating to throw off his blanket, and let himself be picked up and carried by Rabé. With the children found, Sabé knew it was time to make their escape, and began to lead their group back out of the flooded cellars.

000{{*}}000

Since she called in Fett, Tessé had two of her guards come into her office to help watch Anakin and Padmé as well as provide additional security. During that time Anakin could sense the young woman's anger and fear growing, and knew it wouldn't be long before she did something irrational. When that happened, Anakin did not want his wife to be caught in the crossfire. The two guards kept their blasters pointed at Anakin and Padmé's backs, and Tessé had taken out her own hand blaster out of her desk, and was currently keeping it trained on their faces while she waited by the comm to hear from Boba and her security. That's when they heard what Anakin recognized as the sound of a grenade going off.

After that, so many things happened at once.

He felt the startlement of the men behind them, and saw Tessé reach for her commlink.

Padmé flew at her, grabbing both the hand holding the blaster, and the hand reaching out for the commlink.

Anakin took advantage of the guards' distraction, using the Force to push them against the wall, and ripping the shelves above their heads. Priceless and heavy antiques fell on top of them, and Anakin knew that they wouldn't pose a threat from the way they collapsed under their weight. He turned to find Padmé holding Tessé down on her desk, the hand that had been holding the blaster twisted behind her back. She bucked and squirmed, but only succeeded in hurting herself if the pained grimaces were anything to go by. Anakin grabbed the commlink she had reached for and crushed it in his metal hand.

"I think it's time for you to meet your other guests, shall we?"

Tessé answered him with a murderous scowl.

They tied her hands behind her back with one of her guard's belts, and as a precaution, tied her unconscious guards with her curtains. During that time, Anakin found his lightsaber and Padmé's blaster. Their next step had Padmé picking Tessé up and pressing her blaster against the younger woman's head. Anakin peered out of the study and into the foyer down below.

Ferus' group was engaged in a firefight with Tessé's security force. Blasterfire marked the walls and floors of the once pristine room, and remnants of a crystal chandelier were scattered on the ground. Smoke was coming from the kitchen, and that's when Anakin saw Sabé's group coming out. Sabé was the only one not carrying a child, and therefore the only one capable of returning fire while Rabé, Saché, and Yané tried to shield the children they had come to rescue. They would have to move quickly before one of them ended up getting killed.

Anakin ignited his lightsaber, deflecting any incoming fire his way as he heard his wife order Tessé into making her men stand down.

"Stop firing!" the woman screeched out.

Just like that, the firing stopped.

Anakin looked at Ferus and Sabé's teams. Both of them battered and soaking wet from the storm outside. The scared children clinging on to their rescuers, until the one in Rabé's arms looked up and saw Moteé on the other side of the room. "Aunt Moteé!"

While the handmaiden rushed over to the little boy, Anakin focused his attention on Tessé's security. "Put down your weapons!"

The men followed his orders, especially when they saw his wife holding their mistress at blasterpoint. The droids were shut down, and the human guards were bound.

"Are there anymore?" Anakin demanded.

Tessé remained defiant, refusing to answer. It took Padmé turning her blaster's safety off to make one of the Yelnina guards scream that there was nobody else. After a sweep Sabé and Ferus confirmed that Boba was gone and that he probably fled once he realized his boss was in no position to pay him. Anakin wouldn't hold his breath. If anything, Fett might try to ambush them later to retrieve the Empire's bounty on all of them.

With the estate secured, and the children they had come to rescue safe in their mothers' arms, it was time to go before some neighbor reported all this commotion. However, there was one thing left to do.

Eirtaé and Dormé were informed of their successful raid, and were on their way to extract them. The group made their way to the Yelninas' garage. Once there, Padmé made her hostage kneel on the ground. Yané and Moteé had taken their children to another section of the garage with Ellé, leaving the others to surround Tessé. Anakin stood by his wife, finally realizing what was going on: that she was going to pass the Naboo Judgement on Tessé Yelnina. The young woman seemed to have realized this as well, and looked up at Padmé with a challenging look even as her fear began to show in her eyes and her form shook.

"What will you do now, Amidala? Kill me like you killed my sister?!"

It was Saché who spoke. Her words firm yet sad. "Your sister made her own choices. She was her own person, and nothing your father did could change that. In the Occupation she saved so many lives, including our own."

"That is why Tessé Yelnina, I pass my sentence on to you," Padmé told her in her Queen voice. "In memory of your sister, I spare your life this time. Our debt to her is repaid, but that does not mean you will go unpunished. You will know the fear you inflicted on Yané and Moteé's children, and every being on the planet will know the person you truly are."

Padmé fired her blaster, and a stun bolt hit Tessé causing her body to collapse on the ground. Next, Padmé, Sabé, and Rabé picked up her body and began to carry it outside. Everybody else followed. They trudged through rain and mud, down the garden path, and to a garden shed. Once Padmé told Anakin of her plan, he unlocked it, and Tessé's unconscious body was dumped on the wet, muddy floor.

Anakin looked at the gardening tools before leaving the shed. "You know she'll cut herself out eventually, right?"

"Maybe," Padmé answered before she blasted the shed lock, preventing anyone from opening it. "But it will be a lot more difficult in the dark with no way out."

Well, Anakin thought, it was not what he would have thought of, and yet he found it poetic. In a way, Padmé had served justice without resorting to killing, even though Anakin felt it was nowhere near what Tessé deserved.

"Let's go."

By the time they made it to the front, Dormé and Eirtaé were there with the speeders. Moteé and Yané were already strapping their kids in.

That's when trouble came back at them.

Through the rain in the dark were fast approaching lights.

Anakin ignited his lightsaber just in time to block incoming blaster fire. He barely heard Sabé screaming to go, or Ferus joining him on the defense. His focus was on the incoming military speeders coming after them.

"Let's go!" Ferus yelled, grabbing Anakin and pulling him into the speeder. Once in, the speeder flew down the streets trying to outrun their pursuers.

That's when Anakin took in all the occupants in his speeder. "Where's Padmé?!"

000{{*}}000

Padmé could feel her heart racing, and her body shaking. Whether that was adrenaline or from her soaked through clothes was up for debate. However, her attention was torn between the road in front, and their pursuers behind them. The rain was still pouring heavily, making it difficult to see in spite of the shields and wipers of the speeder.

Eirtaé was driving as fast as she dared, trying not to crash or for their pursuers to catch them. Padmé was squished in the front between Eirtaé and Sabé while Rabé, Saché, Yané, and Yané's twins were packed in the back. The twins were crying and covering their ears while their mother and the rest of Padmé's handmaidens were firing back at their pursuers.

Padmé turned her attention back to the road to try and help Eirtaé. They were separated from the other speeder, but if they followed the plan they would meet at Lieutenant Panaka's house. Before that happened though they would have to lose their chasers. Padmé tried to remember the geography of her home's capital, which roads, and shortcuts they could use to shake them.

"Turn off here," Padmé pointed to the alley on her right.

Eirtaé swerved to the right, and it was everything Padmé could do to keep herself and Sabé from ramming into Eirtaé without the seatbelts to hold them.

"Now left!"

Eirtaé seemed to have an idea on the route Padmé was having them take. It was the long way and scenic route to Lieutenant Panaka's home from the forest area, down the cliff to the Solleu River. Padmé remembered taking this route several times in her youth. It would be dangerous and difficult flying at night and in this kind of weather, but they stood a better chance going through it than the Imperials chasing after them. The handmaidens ducked back in to avoid the foliage and tree limbs outside the speeder as Eirtaé maneuvered them down the path. The rain lightened under the shade, and Padmé recognized the route, remembering the speeder trail they were approaching.

"Dim the lights and turn off here."

Eirtaé followed her instructions, slowing the speeder as they made their way down the trail hidden by the tree branches before coming to a stop. They listened and watched in the shadows as several units of Stormtroopers flew past them. Once they passed and didn't seem to notice them, all occupants in the speeder let out a sigh of relief. They waited ten minutes before Eirtaé pulled the speeder out of their hiding spot and went down another path through the forest in the opposite direction the Stormtroopers had gone. Padmé sagged in her seat, her adrenaline leaving her, and her exhaustion catching up.

They did it.

They had managed to rescue the children and escape. She hoped that Anakin and the others had been just as lucky and would meet them at Lieutenant Panaka's house. As long as the traitor hadn't informed Captain Panaka of their plans. She wondered if they were the reason those Stormtroopers had surprised them just as they were getting ready to escape, or perhaps Tessé or one of her men had gotten word out, or one of the neighbors had seen something suspicious and reported it. Padmé couldn't know for sure. She reached down into her pocket where the evidence she had on Vatié was. Her hands inclosed on it-

"Are you sure it was wise to let Tessé live?" Sabé's voice jerked Padmé from her thoughts.

She could feel Sabé's eyes on her, and though the speeder's rearview mirror she could see Rabé, Saché, and Yané's eyes on her as well, and even though Eirtaé's eyes were on the road, Padmé could sense the unasked question in her tight posture. The twins had settled down in Yané and Saché's arms, leaving only the sound of the falling rain to fill in the tense silence. Padmé could sense their anger and curiosity to know why she hadn't executed Tessé Yelnina, and she couldn't blame them. Tessé had kidnapped three children, and blackmailed their mothers into harming their friends, Ellé and Eirtaé could have died, and they tried to uncover Padmé's family secrets. Shiraya knows what she'll do now as Senator of Naboo.

"Perhaps not," Padmé admitted. "But I had to do it for Moré."

The handmaidens were silent, remembering with guilt their fallen sister.

Rabé spoke up. "Despite what her father did, Moré loved them even to the end, so I can see why you would spare Tessé for Moré's sake, but… she would have harmed the children, harmed us, and turned you over to the Emperor. Now that she's the Senator, she'll be able to do more harm and get away with it."

Padmé was all too aware of that. By sparing Tessé, any harm she would cause in the future would be on her conscience.

"When she does then justice will be served," Padmé replied firmly. For Moré, Padmé would give Tessé a second chance, but if she spat upon that-

BANG!

SQUEEL!

Padmé felt herself being lifted out of her seat, her view changing as the speeder flipped and tumbled down.

The shields shattered.

There were screams.

Padmé felt like a rag doll in a dryer as she was flung about.

The pain was the last thing she registered before she blacked out.

When she came to, Padmé felt as if she had come from the bad end of the worst bar fight ever. Her head ached, and her right arm hurt like hell, and she was pretty sure one of her ribs was broken. She blinked several times, trying to adjust her eyesight to the dim light coming from the speeder's headlights. She seemed to be lying halfway on the dashboard and halfway on the speeder hood. She registered the warmth coming from the speeder's engine as well as the cold mist hitting her back. She hadn't been wearing her safety belt, Padmé realized. From the way the speeder had tumbled it was a miracle she hadn't been flung out and crushed. When Padmé tried to pick herself up, she realized one of the straps to her pack had caught on one of the levers in the speeder, preventing her from being flung off. She now tried to free herself from it. Pain shot up through her right arm when she tried to move it, so Padmé was forced to use her left hand to unravel the strap to free herself. With that done, she turned to her friends inside the wrecked speeder.

The front seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage. The twins had been strapped into Yané and Saché, protecting them from the same fate as Padmé had gone through. Both women were assessing them for injuries, and other than a few minor cuts and bruises the girls were fine if a little shakened. Yané and saché seemed to be fine as well, except they seemed to have bigger cuts from the shattered glass and blood dripping down their faces. The same seemed to be said for Rabé who had also been strapped in when they crashed. She was holding her head, a groan escaping her.

"Are-Are you guys okay?" Padmé croaked painfully. She definitely broke a rib.

Everyone in the back answered yes, so Padmé turned her attention to the front. Eirtaé was slumped on the steering, blood coming from a broken nose, but she didn't respond to Padmé's calls. Terrified, Padmé reached to feel her pulse, and was relieved to feel it beating. She then tried to look for Sabé only to find her nowhere in the speeder.

"Sabé!"

She took in their surroundings. The speeder seemed to have crashed several meters from their path, perhaps ten to fifteen. In the dim lights of the speeder's headlights, Padmé could make out the broken foliage of their fall. What had happened? Padmé had a bad feeling about this, and she wanted to get her friends and herself out of this now.

She ordered Yané to check on Eirtaé then asked Rabé for her glowrod. When Padmé came down on the ground, she was relieved to know that her legs and feet hadn't been injured in the crash, but she still had to give herself a minute to catch her breath and let a sense of dizziness pass her.

"Padmé-" Rabé began to protest before Padmé cut her off.

"I'll be fine, Rabé. See if you can contact Anakin and the others."

She had to find Sabé.

She held the glowrod up in her left hand to guide her way through the darkness, cold rain hitting her as her right arm throbbed painfully at her side. There was a good chance she had broken it, and the pain made her want to cry out, but she pushed such thoughts aside. She would worry about it after she found Sabé, and they found a way out of here before any Imperials came back and discovered the wreck.

She remembered the assassination attempt during her reelection. She had been in the middle of her campaign, and for security reasons Panaka would have her and Sabé switch in between places. Until one day they were returning to Theed. It had actually been raining that day as well, Padmé recalled. She remembered sitting in between Rabé and Eirtaé. All the handmaidens wore blue-black robes while Sabé was dressed in a gown of red and orange as Amidala, sitting between Panaka and Yané. Padmé could remember laughing at some joke one of the guards had made, and the next moment an explosion in the back before everything became black. The next time she regained consciousness, Rabé and Eirtaé were hoisting her up, trying to escape their smoke filled transport. The explosion came from a bomb planted in the transport's engines, set to go off by a trigger. They had landed in a swamp not far from a waterfall with rocky terrain. It was theorized that the attack was set to look like a storm accident and the river would wash away all evidence. They had been lucky to have just missed the waterfall and the giant rocks surrounding it, and landed in the muddy spot right between them.

Panaka, Sabé, and Yané had been sitting closest to the explosion, suffering third degree burns and shrapnel that had hit them in multiple areas. All three of them had looked so horrible, so close to death as they waited for help to arrive. On their way to the hospital, Padmé could remember wanting to hold Sabé's hand, but had to stay out of the way as the medics tried to secure the shrapnel in her abdomen to prevent further damage until they could operate on her. Panaka had to be resuscitated twice, and Yané had to have a breathing tube. They all survived the crash, but it had shakened Padmé, reminding her how fragile life was.

This time though, calling for help was dangerous, but if Sabé was still alive she would need a doctor as would the rest of them. Yané could probably do it, but she would need help and tools. There was also the matter of what had caused the crash.

Padmé tried to rack her brain.

How did the speeder rear?

She was trying to remember when her glowrod showed the figure of a body laying a couple of meters from her.

"Sabé!"

She ran to her friend's side, carefully turning her on her back. A moan left Sabé, signaling she was still alive, but unconscious. Padmé held her glowrod to assess Sabé's injuries. She had landed in a muddy patch, preventing any broken bones, but the bad news was the many open cuts Padmé found that ran up her arms and legs from the broken glass, particularly a long one up her right leg. Cuts that were covered in mud and risked infection.

Padmé was unsure if she should risk trying to move Sabé, especially with her bad arm, and called for Rabé or Saché to assist her. Now certain that Sabé was alive and found, Padmé turned to her injured arm. Several expletives she had heard her husband used threatened to escape her, but Padmé bit her lip in pain as she tried to get a look at it. It was pretty much her lower arm, nearly an inch or two from her elbow, she saw what she was certain of was a bit of bone sticking out. She would need help putting it back in place and bandaging it. For now she was trying not to get sick at the sight of it. Thankfully, she heard footsteps behind her.

"I don't think Sabé injured her spine or neck, so I think it's safe if we-" Padmé was cut off when she felt the barrel of a blaster pressed against the back of her head.

"I'm sorry, Padmé"

000{{*}}000

65 bby;

Padmé sighed, setting the datapad in her hands down on the table before running her hands over her face and through her hair. The cafe Liné had brewed was beginning to wear off and the exhaustion she had been fighting for hours was beginning to take over her. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so tired, not even when she would stay up late studying for her Entrance exams. Her eyes burned, her head ached, and even the thought of laying her head down on the wooden table to rest her eyes sounded heavenly, but she could not.

After convincing (coercing) Soolen and his men to stand down, Padmé had immediately returned to their ship to contact the Queen. Once she had appraised her of the situation, Celestine had agreed to send help to her with Luke among them. Before joining politics, Luke had spent several years working with the Relief Movement, and had experience in assisting natural disasters like mine accidents. With Governor Tapalo otherwise occupied with another issue on the other side of the planet, Luke was the next best option. He was able to get in touch with his old contacts in the Relief Movement before joining them to help extract Veruna, Tonsort, Veta, Xoana, and the miners trapped down below.

While Padmé had been contacting the Queen, Liné had taken several miners to the village where everyone had congregated in the town square after they heard the mine explosion to explain the situation. Gregor had also rallied the rest of the miners in checking the equipment to get a better understanding of where to start their rescue. In the end, Padmé, Liné, and Gregor had come up with a plan with Donna and some of the more experienced miners.

The emergency shaft had been blocked when the mine had exploded, so they would begin work trying to clear it. They had divided the miners to work in shifts to keep the work flowing while also giving them breaks. The villagers helped by assisting the injured and providing meals to keep everyone's strength up.

Finally, after a day and a half of constant working, Luke's group had arrived with many volunteers and heavier equipment. Their arrival had lifted the spirits of everyone, including Padmé when she saw, to her surprise, Sheev among the volunteers. Words could not express how she felt when she saw him, and he came up to hold her in his arms. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Sheev had experience in fixing engines, and had been set to work assisting with the equipment.

With all the extra help, Padmé had finally been able to work on what she and her team had come here for: to investigate the happenings of Lord Talstrine's mines. His office had been locked up and the key given to Padmé after she had forced Soolen to stand down, leaving his files undisturbed. Now that she had the chance, Padmé had gone through them and had been disturbed by what she had found. Theft, coverups, blackmail, and debt, and Shiraya knows what else was hiding in all these files. She thanked the Goddess that the Talstrine family was offplanet and wasn't here to take care of "cleaning" his office; otherwise Padmé wouldn't have the evidence and proof of Talstrine all but owning these poor people here as slaves and abusing them. Celestine and the Royal Council would want to see this. After they found everybody in the mine.

Padmé jumped when she saw the office door open, but relaxed when she realized that it was Sheev. He looked at her with a sheepish expression, and she noticed he was holding a blanket.

"I'd hope to find you asleep, so I could cover you," he admitted.

Padmé felt her heart warm at the gesture. She scooted over for him to sit beside her, glad that Lord Talstrine's recliner was large enough to seat them both. With Sheev sitting next to her, Padmé couldn't help but lay her head against his shoulder. The urge to close her eyes and fall asleep was tempting, but she couldn't. Not yet.

"I need to keep myself distracted, and not think about them trapped down there," she admitted.

Sheev shifted, lifting his arm to wrap around her shoulders, bringing her closer while also rubbing her shoulders. It was so comforting it brought tears to her eyes.

"We've installed the drills, and they're digging right now to clear the shaft and get to the refuge. If they keep at it they'll reach them within a day," Sheev gently informed her.

Padmé shook her head, tears blinding her vision. "It's been two days already. We don't know if they all made it to the refuge, what injuries they may have, if they have enough air, or even if the refuge is even intact!"

Sobbs escaped Padmé, and she buried her face in Sheev's chest as he tried to soothe her.

"Lady Tonsort just had a baby, her third. Lady Veruna has gotten better, focusing on her sobriety. Veta's daughter has just begun preschool, and Xoana is the same age as me! And all the miners down there? They have families worried sick for them. I heard one of them was supposed to retire next week, and another has a baby on the way. It's not fair!"

She sobbed some more, her heart crying out to all the people in this mining town and the injustice of all this.

"I feel like it's happening again," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Sheev asked, perplexed.

"My village. Last year when the plague hit us," Padmé explained. "It happened so suddenly, none of us were prepared for it. I had come home for break, and I was playing ball with Jobal and all the other children. I began to feel light headed, dizzy, and then my head ached like it had been beaten, and then I blacked out. Whenever I came into consciousness I struggled to even breathe. It was a constant battle. I remember warm soup going down my throat, and my mother wiping my brow, but it felt like nothing was working. I felt like I was dying. Then when I finally had the chance to wake up it was to find out my mother had gotten sick taking care of me and died. And not only her, but over a hundred people in my village had died. That was half our population. My sister's husband, our neighbor who traded jams and honey with us, the couple down the street engaged to be married that month, and many of the children my niece went to school with and played with all gone in a cruel twist of fate."

Padmé cried and cried, her tears creating a wet spot on Sheev's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "This situation is too much like last year, and I feel helpless. Like there's nothing I can do."

"Padmé!" Sheev shouted. "You have done something! You forced Soolen and his men to stand down, and now all those people down there, trapped, have a chance at being found alive, and it's all thanks to you."

He ran a hand through her hair and pulled her face back to look into her brown eyes. "You're amazing, Padmé. I've seen you take on stuck up nobles, protect the Queen from assassins, survive everything the corrupt officials in the Royal Court throw at you, and now take on a corrupt plasma mine owner to save lives. You don't know how incredible you are, Padmé Lydonia!"

Padmé was speechless, overwhelmed by Sheev's words that the only way to express herself was pressing her lips to his and kiss him with all her passion. What did she do to deserve him? This arrogant, vexing, and wonderful boy who looked at her as if she was a goddess? That made her smile and laugh, and have fun? She loved him. The thought sent a jolt through her, but Sheev had been returning her kiss with equal passion, so consumed that he hadn't noticed.

Padmé Lydonia loved Sheev Palpatine.

Before she could process that thought, a knock and a cleared throat startled her and Sheev. They separated, flinging themselves on opposite ends of the recliner. Padmé looked up to see the amused expression on Liné's face, and the cold glare Luke shot at Sheev, like a brother who caught the bad boy kissing his little sister.

"Luke, Liné, has something happened?" she asked to get their attention off Sheev.

Liné answered her, unable to hide her amusement. "We were just coming to check up on you and see what progress you've made. It seems you've made some."

Padmé felt her face heating up at the innuendo, and Luke's glare turned into a scowl.

Sheev coughed awkwardly. "I should go check and see if the engineers need me."

He got up and made his way out the door. Luke's eyes followed him until he was out of sight. He and Liné turned back to Padmé and their expressions turned to concern.

"Have you eaten anything, Padmé? Or even slept?" Liné asked, coming over to her and taking the spot Sheev had vacated.

"I…" Padmé rattled her brain trying to remember the last time she had eaten anything. "I had a ration bar, I think. For lunch."

"Padmé," Luke spoke. "I saw you eat that ration bar yesterday. Nobody has seen you since you've come down for that. Have you been up here this whole time reading files?"

"I…" Padmé trailed off as she realized with alarm how long she had been running on nothing but cafe.

Liné felt her forehead. "You feel warm, and your eyes look terrible. You need to take a break and get some sleep, Padmé."

"I can't," Padmé protested as she looked at the files scattered on the table.

Luke began to collect them. "We'll continue your work, and discuss your findings after you get some sleep, and after you've eaten a decent meal," he told her firmly. "Don't worry about any of Soolen's goons coming and stealing them. He's got bigger problems to deal with at the moment."

Liné coaxed Padmé into laying her head down on the recliner, ignoring her protest.

000{{*}}000

Padmé dreamed that she was back home in the mountains of Claines. She was in the vineyard. The grapes hung from their vines, fat and ready to be harvested.

Padmé walked down the path before her, passing workers she recognized who smiled at her as she passed them, picking and depositing the grapes in bushel baskets. She heard laughter and turned her head to see her father several rows from her. He looked happy, healthy, and aware of his surroundings as he laughed with a few other workers. He caught sight of Padmé and waved at her. Padmé waved back, a smile on her face. This was the Papa she remembered.

She continued down her path, until she noticed a woman several paces away. As Padmé came closer to her, the woman's features became clearer, and Padmé recognized her mother Hané Lydonia.

"Mama!"

Her feet picked up and she raced towards her. Her mother was smiling at her, her arms opened to receive Padmé. Yet when Padmé got closer, she sensed something was off. Her mother's smile disappeared, replaced by a deep sadness, her arms dropping, and she turned away, disappearing into the vineyard.

Padmé cried out to her mother, yet when she happened to turn around, she realized that the vineyard was on fire. There was nothing now but fire, ash, and death. She could feel the flames licking at her. Her body was beginning to be consumed, and she cried out.

000{{*}}000

Padmé woke up with a jerk and a cry.

She felt as if she was still on fire, sweat pouring down her skin, she could feel it even under her underclothes. Someone had covered her with a blanket and placed a glass of water on the table where she had left all the files and datapads.

Padmé pushed the blanket off and grabbed the glass, gulping it down, and feeling her heart slow from its fast beating. Once she finished, Padmé got up and headed towards the fresher in Talstrine's office to freshen up. She couldn't do much without her toiletries, but she was able to wet the towels to wipe and clean the sweat off her skin, making her feel better and shake the disturbing dream off. Now freshened, Padmé dared to look at her chrono on her wrist.

She had slept for over twelve hours!

In spite of her nightmare, Padmé did feel a lot better, especially after she had freshened up. She was also startled to realize that she felt hungry, starving. Perhaps a long rest had been what she had needed. Checking her chrono again, she realized that they would be in the middle of eating breakfast. She would go down and grab a bite as well as check on any progress in the rescue. As she was getting ready to step out, Padmé noticed all the files and datapads scattered on the table she had been working on. She cringed at the disorganized mess, especially the empty cups of cafe among them. Perhaps she should straighten them up and take the cups down to wash on her way to breakfast.

She started gathering up the files, the ones saved on datapads and written on flimsi, and tried to organize bills, lists of supplies, and personal backgrounds. It would be enough for Celestine to mount a full investigation on Talstrine, and to at least try to make things right for the people who suffered here. As she placed the files on stacks, Padmé realized that one datapad was missing. It had a series of messages from different companies with offers that Padmé hadn't gotten to go through yet. Where was it? Padmé struggled not to panic as she searched through all the stacked piles, looking under the table, the recliner's cushions, everywhere in the office. She practically tore the office open.

Where could it be?

So consumed with her search, Padmé didn't hear anyone enter the office until they knocked on the door. Padmé jumped with a startled scream, and over her racing heart as she tried to calm herself. It was Gregor who jumped as well, not expecting Padmé's startled reaction, the tray of food in his hands rattled, but not spilled thankfully.

"Sorry," Gregor apologized sheepishly. "Luke and Liné wanted to check on you to make sure you were alright, but were detained by a message from the Queen, so I volunteered to come up instead."

A smile crept on Padmé's face even as she felt an embarrassed flush bloom on her face as well as guilt for the worry she had inadvertently caused her friends, and yet warmth for their thoughtfulness and care.

"I'm sorry too. I was looking for a datapad that seems to have gone missing."

Gregor frowned, placing the breakfast tray on Talstrine's desk. "You're certain?"

"Yes. I had hoped to start with the homebase and work my way through the galactic trade, but there was so much more data than I was expecting I wasn't able to get to it before I laid down last night. There were eight different datapads lying on the table among the flimsi files. Now there are seven," Padmé explained, motioning to the now organized piles.

Gregor's frown deepened in thought. "Perhaps someone came up here and took it? Who all has been up here with you?"

"Sheev, Luke, and Liné as far as I'm aware. Someone else could have come up here while I was sleeping. Did any of Soolen's goons act suspiciously?"

Gregor shook his head to Padmé's disappointment. "We've all been keeping a sharp eye on them. If they're not helping with the heavy lifting, they're too dead tired to get out of their beds."

Padmé sighed. "It's possible Luke or Liné took it to check themselves and just didn't return it."

Gregor agreed. "Come, let's get some food in you."

The porridge had a hint of syrup mixed in it, and the biscuits had a thin layer of jam on them, and the cup of blue milk made it the most delicious breakfast she had in a long time. She was so hungry that she had the dishes cleaned of any crumb or drop before she knew it. When Gregor offered her a couple of suras, she immediately accepted them, and began to dig into them. In between bites, Padmé asked how the rescue was going.

"We believe we're getting closer. According to our scanners, if we keep up the pace and don't come upon any thicker stones, we should be able to reach them by nightfall."

That was cutting it close. Nobody knew what the situation really was down there. Some of them could be dead already, or they could have run out of oxygen down there. There were no guarantees.

Padmé turned to Gregor who seemed to be lost in thought. "Gregor," she prodded gently.

He jerked for a moment before he met her gaze. "Your father and uncle were miners. Is it possible for fifty-three people to survive in such conditions?"

Gregor sighed as if he had known she would ask such a question. "It would depend on their health and any injuries they could have gotten in the explosion, but assuming they rallied together and rationed their supplies really, really, carefully, it's possible that they all could still be alive."

Padmé felt a spark of hope followed by a hint of caution. She followed Gregor outside, locking the office door. As far as she was aware, there were only two key cards to unlock Talstrine's office. One of them Soolen had given her when he had been detained, and the other on Talstrine himself when he had taken her party down below. The office and its files should be safe until Padmé returned.

Despite the tense atmosphere outside it felt good to be out in the fresh air. She ran into Johena and several ladies camping right outside the mine's entrance. None of the villagers had been able to leave its gates ever since the collapse happened. Instead they waited to hear updates from Padmé, Luke, or any passing miners. Padmé felt guilty that she had not checked in with any of them since Luke had arrived, so busy had she been from looking into Talstrine's files. Luckily, neither Johena nor any of the other women held it against her. They had heard from the miners how she had forced Soolen and his men to stand down, and get help to try and rescue their loved ones trapped down below, and they all felt great respect and admiration towards Padmé. Without the fear of Soolen and his men overhearing them and punishing them, they had agreed to answer Padmé's questions about their working and living conditions. Padmé recorded it all either writing in her diary she had taken with her or recording it with her comb's listening device. Padmé recorded it all. The working conditions, the rations, outdated appliances and machines in the village, the lack of tools, and healthcare. They had a doctor that Talstrine provided for his workers, but he was too overloaded to care for the family members who didn't work in the mines. Instead, the villagers dealt with an herbalist, a recluse who sold natural remedies, provided stitches, and maybe fixed some minor breaks, but no more. And nobody owned a speeder or could even afford one, except Lord Talstrine and his higher ups. With each reveal, Padmé felt her anger grow hotter and hotter that it threatened to burst. These people were slaves in all but name, and this place was little more than a labor camp. As soon as they rescued everyone, Padmé would be pleased to see Talstrine and all his goons led to cells for this.

Before she knew it, the day passed by quicker than she would have expected. The women fed her lunch with the supplies Luke and his volunteers had brought. Everyone kept busy, either talking to Padmé, setting up cots and stations to treat the survivors when they were rescued, or feeding the miners to keep up their strength.

Finally, the time Gregor had appointed came.

The drills came to a stop.

All was silent, not even the wind whispered.

Padmé was clutching Liné and Johena's hands as she watched the miners try once again to make contact with the refuge.

Then Luke raised his hand, silencing what little noise was being made. That's when Padmé heard it:

Bing! Bing! Bing!

On and on it went, a faint echo.

Padmé felt the spark of hope growing.

"It could be a loose rock banging on the drill," she heard one of the volunteers caution.

"Bring the communicator closer," Luke demanded.

She watched them bring the communicator closer to the drill and tried to make contact again.

Then a hologram sputtered to life.

Padmé gasped.

The figure was beaten up, but she could recognize the figure of Lady Eirtaé Veruna, and if that didn't convince Padmé, hearing her voice did. "All… in the refuge! All… Fifty-three!"

With those few words, the entire atmosphere changed. Cries filled the air.

Cries of joy!

Padmé found herself swept in Johena's arms, tears wetting the younger woman's shoulder.

"They're alive! They're all alive!"

Padmé saw everyone hugging each other, matrons praising and thanking the gods for protecting their sons and husbands, and miners crying as they held each other.

The spark of hope had grown into a raging fire, and Padmé let it sweep through her as her eyes found Luke's and she smiled at him. He returned her smile, happy and relieved.

Now they had to bring everyone back up.

000{{*}}000

Well what do you guys think?

I tried my best for the action scenes in the first part of this chapter, and I didn't trust myself in going into detail with a fight against Boba and doing it justice. This is THE legendary Bounty Hunter in Star Wars, but at this time he's also 13-14 years old. He hasn't reached that level of badass yet, so I hope I'm justified in allowing the handmaidens to get the drop on him.

As for Tessé's punishment, what do you guys think? I don't see Padmé executing someone in cold blood, (at least not yet in this universe) but I don't think she would have let her go without some form of punishment and warning. I still want her to have that level of compassion she's known for.

And as for the speeder crash… I tried to stay accurate to how a real one would go and the chances of surviving such.

The traitor reveals themself.

Finally Aunt Lydonia dealt with the aftermath of the mine collapse and some personal trauma, but it ended with everyone alive with a chance of getting out.

I watched the Skeleton Crew on Disney and it was fun to watch. I loved the 80s/Goonies vibe I felt towards it. What kid doesn't grow up dreaming of going on adventures, fighting pirates, and finding treasure?

I'll try to have the next chapter typed and published ASAP. Thank you all so much and have a Happy New Year!