Episode II: The Facade of Amidala (my first fanfic)

Up! I don't know about a post tonight... there's the super-bowl, and I have a midterm tomorrow... and besides that, I'm still sick. It doesn't look like I'll be finishing this fic this weekend, after all...

--Mr. P

 

Ah...a cliffhanger...Can't wait to see what's next.

 

Thanks! I myself wouldn't exactly consider it a (realitve to the rest of the ending) cliffhanger, but... oh, well. I'm feeling a little bit better, after ying in bed for a couple of days, but I don't know when the next post'll be up. Maybe on friday, if I"m feeling better by then.

--Mr. P

 

OK, there'll be a post (maybe 2 if I work at it) tonight! I was working on it yesterday, but had to go to sleep...

--Mr. P

 

The door opened, and the doctor stuck his head out of the sick-room. He had a brown moustache, covered except for a small portion by a green mouth-cover. He also wore the standard orange doctor's uniforms, with tools attached to his belt and tinted goggles on top of his head, while he was on rest duty. It wasn't like he needed all that protection with these two patients, anyway - they were only mildly sick. "They're ready to see you now," he announced, adjusting his smock and glancing out over the long lake that surrounded the city of Aldera, Lake Regir, and saw a group of boats fishing, just like any morning. Bail Organa and Owe Lars shot up out of their respective seats, leaving their reading materials behind in the waiting-room without a thought. Anakin and Amidala followed closely, but gave the ruler of Alderaan and his assistant more than enough room.

Inside the sick room, the light was dim and pale. Everything was sterilized and clean, and Anakin crinkled his nose at the smell. He had always hated the smell of the Healers' Wing at the Temple for its "sick smell" as he'd dubbed it. It didn't look like he'd be going back _there_ anytime soon.

There were only two beds in the room, and all four of them knew them at least cordially. They had been all that Bail and Owen had been able to talk about for hours on end after they had been discovered in the new masses of prisoners found in the foundations of two of the other cities on Alderaan, Genela and Oropha.

"Mrs. Organa, Mrs. Lars, you have visitors to see you now," said the doctor. "If it isn't a problem, I'll excuse myself now." He edged his way towards the door, and slipped out. No one noticed.

"Thank God!" exclaimed Maria Organa, sitting up and adjusting herself. She had short red hair, and high cheekbones. Her hazel eyes penetrated out from her long bangs and seemed to cut through the hair like a pair of lights. "They said they'd killed you! And a hundred other horrible things..."

Bail almost fell down when he missed the chair next to her bed. Owen didn't have that problem with Beru, but his chair was where it was supposed to be. Bail pulled over a chair, and said, "You don't know how glad I am to see you again..." He picked up her hand and kissed it.

"Please, don't," said she. "I'm contagious, you know."

"With what?"

"I'm sick, don't you remember? I can't even pronounce what the doctors say I have. Rhumu - something, I think. Some long word."

"But that was a month and a half ago!" exclaimed Bail, throwing up his hand. "Of course, you've gotten better since I was gone, right?"

"No, of course not. It's not like the Mandalorians treated me for it or anything, do you think?"

"Well... I guess that makes sense, Marie," said Bail, taking a look out the window beside his wife's bed.

* * * * * *

"I hope you don't mind if we sit down?" asked Amidala. She was standing next to Bail, and Anakin was holding her hand.

"Of course, Amidala," said Bail.

Anakin sighed, and sat down. He felt so out of place here. Here were two couples being reunited after seven weeks, and he and Amidala were intruding on them. It just didn't seem right. But now, he wasn't sure what was right and what wasn't. In the past few days, Anakin and Obi-Wan had started laying out the way that they would complete his training, but still - with the Jedi Order, everything had been laid out by the Council and the Code, and everything was clear-cut. Now, with the Bendu, as they called themselves now, a stretch of a word from 'benders', everything was from scratch. They hadn't set anything up, and anything could be changed, and there were no rules. They were coming up with something from nothing, going Rogue. There had been various Rogue Orders across history, the Sith included, but none save the Sith had ever survived more than a few generations, as they competed for force-sensitives to train.

But here, he felt intruding in on these people's lives. He had considered quietly slipping out like the doctor had, to let them stay in peace. He didn't know these people - may

 

Yea! Posts! UP!

 

It is interesting to note that in these next two posts, I introduce a number of things that are not of the first draft of this story, but are from the new version that I am editing at this time for a repost. I will point them out now, so you don't get confused. They deal mostly with Bail. I think I didn't forget any.

*Bail Organa is a Prince, not a Viceroy.
*Bail Organa is of the Royal Family of Alderaan, and his father was Prince Escobar, killed in the escape from Alderaan (we see him alive in the new version of the story).
*During the period when Sabe' was killed by Vader, thinking it was Amidala (you know, the begining of the story), Ami was in the middle of her re-election as Queen of the Naboo.

--Mr. P

**********

Cos Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, liked this.

He sat in his chair behind the podium, ready to project his well-prepared speech to the thousands before him in the Common Plaza in the city of Aldera. Situated around the great fountain that was in the center of the Common Plaza, it was a clearing in the small forest of buildings, a place where people came to shop, to eat, to enjoy themselves. At least they _had_, before the days of the Occupation. Now, banners flew, and people sat on the grass, and on the benches, and on the sidewalks, and in the wide streets which had been cleaned especially for the occasion. People had brought lawn-chairs, and blankets, almost like it was a festival. It wasn't every day that one got to see the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic give a speech.

But now, it was the place of his speech, and he was ready. He wasn't sure if everyone else was. With him, on the elevated platform where the podium was, sat a large number of people. There was the Jedi Council, and Bail Organa, Owen Lars and their wives, a group of senators, with whom he sat, the members of the Alderaanian Parliament that were still alive, and on the far opposite side of the platform from the Council, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker, heroes of the liberation. Everyone sat in the morning sun, talking among themselves, discussing the latest of everything. Behind the Chancellor stood two red-clad members of his Guard, protecting him from any assassination attempt. Around the whole plaza, more guards were hidden, ready to die for the Chancellor if anyone tried anything.

But the Chancellor was troubled. He knew what he had to do; they were Sidious' orders. But he didn't really want to. They were not outlined in any script of his speech, but he knew his speech by heart. The breakthrough had come in from Intelligence just a few hours before he had left Coruscant, and it had not had time to be formally incorporated into his speech. His speech-writers did not know it was to be thrown at the people - actually, they did not even know it yet. But soon, a great portion of the Galaxy would know, as his speech was broadcasted across the Republic. He readied himself, and the Prince, Bail Organa, came forward to the podium.

"I come before you this day as a Prince!" said Organa through the microphones. His words echoed through the plaza. A great cheer went through the crowd. "As most of you already know, my father... did not survive the escape from Alderaan while it was being invaded. You can be assured that my father, King Escobar, will receive formal funeral that befits what he did for our planet. Yet now, we are without leader. But we do have a leader in the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Chancellor Palpatine. He has orchestrated the government in a way not seen for a great many years, to lead us through this time of struggle.

"I would like to ask the Supreme Chancellor to come forward and deliver his speech to you, and the rest of the Republic."

The Chancellor got up from his seat with little effort, and walked forward to the podium, as the Prince of Alderaan stepped down and took his seat next to his wife and Owen Lars. He adjusted the some ten or twelve microphones poised before him, and lowered the amount of feedback he was receiving. He adjusted his papers, and g

 

**********

"I don't like this," said Bail. He walked along the walkway through the Central Park of Aldera, watching people relax on the benches and eat. A flock of pigeons, a bird native to Alderaan, flew overhead, and Bail moved out of the way. "I don't like this at all."

"Neither do I," mumbled Anakin, eating his sandwich. He sat down on a bench near the fountain at the center of the park, and Bail sat next to him. "The Chancellor throwing accusations left and right - most of them at the jedi - I don't like it. The jedi never would do anything like that, it's against their code. And I never received word of any 'plan' while I was with them."

"I don't know. I just don't know anymore. Things are moving too fast, and nothing is ever not changing. I just want out of this war."

"Me too. It's strangling the Republic, and we'll run out of credits eventually. They can't keep cloning without money and resources. Why can't we just make a treaty and conform to an armistice? There's only so many armies that they can make, send out and kill before people get restless."

"And people already are, I think. The press is rambling on about the Jedi, and I think they're just about ready to come out of the war. I don't know if you know, but the farmers here were hit the hardest by the Liberation. Everyone else lost something, but they lost _everything_ - their land was utterly destroyed during that trench warfare. All shelled out, and... I don't want to think about it. They haven't been producing much of anything, and how do we expect to feed the population without producing food? Buy it from the Hutts?" He shook his head, and watched the birds congregate around his feet. They wouldn't stop picking at his feet, but he couldn't figure out for the whole world what they found tasty about his shoes.

"I've seen it," said Anakin. "They really need help. We'll give it, of course. And I don't like doing nothing. Maybe it's a result of being a slave for the first nine years of my life, but I like it when I have something to *do*. Perhaps becoming a farmer wouldn't be such a bad idea. They always have something to do, especially now. And Obi-Wan tells me that Owen has always dreamt of becoming a farmer."

"That's all beside the point. You can't really do anything right now because you're planning your wedding, right? When do you plan on having it?"

"A week, we think. There's still a couple of things to put together. Mostly it's keeping the press away. They're real hawks, you know? They won't stop picking at us, like we're a dead carcass. You could preside, if you like."

"Me? No, I can't. Not yet, at least. I'm still a prince of Alderaan, and Princes can't preside at Alderaanian weddings. When I become King, when I get crowned, which will hopefully happen within a month, after everything gets sorted out, I'll be able to - but not now. The Chancellor can; he's still here. How long has it been since the accusations?"

"Two weeks. It seems longer, though. We plan on keeping our wedding short and small, nothing big. Not what you'd expect for a Queen and up-and-coming powerful Jedi, no? Probably only you and your wife, a few senators who Amidala is friends with, the Handmaidens, and Obi-Wan. All of Ami's friends and family had been on Naboo when they had been forced to flee, and didn't come with us. I wonder what they all thought about the white lie that caused all the trouble there."

Bail sighed. "I don't know. I didn't know them, but I can say that the identity problems that Amidala had then were not the only problem that the people had, with the election and all. I *do* know that mudslinging was happening left and right, and it wasn't good. I wonder if what Marie says is true; it would be a horror if those weren't lies."

Anakin paused, and glanced back at the fountain that was creating much noise behind them. A family passed in front of him, a young wife, husband and two children. The husband had black hair, as did the wife. He observed them, going about their routine, the husband and wife talking in slightly accented v

 

Up! OK... there are only three posts left! Woo-hoo! The problem is that... I'll be away for the next two weekends! Yes! Winter convention, here I come!

Anyway, the fact is that this next post is a very hard write, mainly because I know what happens, but have ZERO ideas on how to write it. If anyone wants to help out with the ideas, PM me. You'll just get spoiled for that post. Other than that, I'll be working on the end of the story and the editing of this one. It may take another month to finish this, but it'll be spent editing and trying to come up with ideas for that specific scene... (the other two are super-easy to write, and I'll probably write them before the other)

Have a nice day, and I hope you enjoyed my message...

--Mr. P

 

up... still working... i'm *starting* to get ideas...

--Mr. P

 

Working... getting ideas... editing... working...

Yeah, I'm still here. There won't be any posts this weekend (except perhaps sunday, if I can finish the next post), since I'll be away. Oh, well. I'm working on editing it heavily as well, so that I'll be able to repost an edited version soon after finishing this and starting Star Wars, Episode III: The Chosen.

--Mr. P

 

Up! I'm still working on that post, and editing the fic. It'll probably be up by sunday... I think. No promises, though, you've got to understand.

--Mr. P

 

Up! I was away over the weekend, and didn't get a chance to write it... hopefully, I'll be able to write it, soon! BTW, is anyone still here?

--Mr. P

 

UP! Working...

--Mr. P

 

UP! I'm working on it, and making progress...

--Mr. P

 

Up! working... where did everyone go? I feel very... alone in here...

--Mr. P

 

? Where did you get "Cos" as Palpy's first name, did you make it up? or is it in one of the books/reference guides?

Just curious...

Good posts...very busy...very tired...buhbye

Empress

 

I made it up. I was mad at my math teacher for giving me too much trigonometry homework that night when I wrote the post when I introduced the name, and, well, it all followed from there...

--Mr. P

 

I'm still here!... i've just been busy with homework, college housing crap, and sick, and I sprained my ankle, amoung other things...

 

Up!!! Love this fic! Been so long since I last read!!!

 

Thanks so much! I just got back from New York... I got a bit written, and *almost* have that post done. Now, if I didn't have an essay due tomorrow, I'd be able to finish this fic tonight...

--Mr. P

 

I'll have those posts up by friday: all *three* of them!

--Mr. P

 

Those posts will be up friday...

for the mean time, TOP!

--Mr. P

 

Top! This fic will be finished being posted up tomorrow... I promise!

--Mr. P

 

The flames licked at the ceiling, yet it did not burn. The ventilation shafts were open, and the Jedi Council did not pay much attention to the mesmerizing view that they had afforded themselves in the Jedi Council Chambers. The smoke rose above the limp body, and Adi Gallia's body began to burn in the fire that raged about her. Eleven bodies stood in the darkening room, and their shadows grew longer as the red sun of Coruscant set near the horizon, hundreds and hundreds of kilometers away.

"I was a friend of Adi Gallia," said one shadow in a deep, projecting voice. He looked down at a small figure next to him propped up on a cane, and in the light of the fire, one could see his dark-skinned face. "If it were not for her on Alderaan... I might not be here."

"I was a friend of Adi Gallia," said another, next to the man who had spoken. He had a tall head, and spoke in soft tones. But now, there was a small edge on it that one could not help but notice. "She was a good friend, and looked at all the sides of an issue before making a decision. All her decisions were well-based."

The Jedi Master with the long neck moved forward a few centimeters, and began to speak about Adi Gallia, his friend.

* * * * * *

"I am a friend of Anakin Skywalker," said Amidala, bowing low. She wore a stunning blue dress lined with jewels - one of the few remaining portions of her old wardrobe - but without the headpiece that had once accompanied it when she was in office as Queen of the Naboo. She glanced up at Obi-Wan Kenobi and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who were overseeing the ceremony. The Chancellor wore dark blue robes with a cape, and Obi-Wan wore the standard Jedi robes. Standing behind Anakin and Amidala were their friends who had accepted the invitation, and came.

They stood in a giant hall of Alderaan, in a chapel. But they were alone, without the thousands who could fit into the grand place. The ceilings were at least ten metres high, and sparkling chandeliers hung from it. The highest portion of the walls was sculpted out of stained glass, ancient stained glass. The light of the mid-day sun streamed through, the colored light catching on suspended dust, creating a festival of light above them. But they did not pay much of their attention to that; their focus was on the here and now, on Anakin and Amidala. Beautiful tapestries fell down upon the ornate walls, and the countless rows of pews made any sound reverberate through the whole chapel, projecting them everywhere. If there was anyone hidden here, they could hear any sound created by anyone.

Anakin shrugged, and adjusted himself. He was, to his own surprise, not all that nervous. He had always imagined that when one got married, they were so nervous, they could barely think. But here he was, braving it like he had never imagined. Perhaps it was the people who were there that made one nervous: their parents, family, friends, comrades... the people who *weren't* here. The list of people who _could_ have been at the ceremony streamed through his mind, and seemed to have no end. But here were only ten people in their presence this day: the three handmaidens, Bail Organa and his wife Marie, Obi-Wan and Palpatine, not to mention the ever-present Jar-Jar Binks and the senators Mon Mothma and Sate Pestage. Anakin looked them over for a moment, and turned his attention to Amidala.

Anakin couldn't believe this was happening. It had been what he had dreamed about, thought about, and even prophesized about for ever since he had met Padmé that fateful day on Tatooine in Watto's shop. His heart ached; he wished that his mother was here: he had always wanted her to be there when he got married, but here he was, without her. A pang of anger reached out at Obi-Wan, who he blamed for her death, though no one knew of this but him.

But Anakin let it slide for now. He adjusted his robe, and said: "I am a friend of Amidala. I have known her for almost eleven years."

"I am a friend of Anakin Skywalker," said Amidala with a smile. "I have known *him* for almost eleven year