Avatar of the force Volume I/chapter 1 part 2

 Chapter 1 Part 2 

Padme sat alone in her office at the Senate building lost in thought and anger. Less than an hour ago she had been contacted by the Queen. Obi-Wan had apparently contacted the Queen because of her relationship with Anakin and that had really annoyed her to say the least. Anakin had said to her that the Jedi had a tendency to be single minded about things but what Obi-Wan was doing was ridiculous. First going to her behind Anakin’s back and now going to the Queen because she told him she wouldn’t leave Anakin.

She understood that for a Jedi having any kind of attachment was considered bad as it led them to fall to the Dark Side. But he had not seen Anakin the way she did and he couldn’t understand what it was to feel what they were feeling. Anakin was a part of her just as much as she was a part of him and in truth since his decision to leave the Jedi he seemed at peace. The anger and frustration that was in his eyes when they first met had gone and when Anakin looked at her she could see he was whole and at peace.

What is Obi-Wan so afraid of. She kept asking herself and why couldn’t he let Anakin go if he wanted to go. Contacting the Queen seemed to be the most childish thing Obi-Wan could have done and to Padme it seemed like Obi-Wan was throwing a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his own way. In fact it seemed to her that Anakin and Obi-Wan had both taken a one eighty in terms of personality and she to some extent was finding it amusing. When Anakin first came back into her life he was arrogant and headstrong and she could tell he hated it when things didn’t go the way he wanted them to. Yet Obi-Wan was the complete opposite being calm and thinking things through. Now though Obi-Wan seemed to be the arrogant and headstrong one with a dislike of things that don’t go his way while Anakin had become calm and thoughtful.

Ok she knew the change in Anakin was largely due to what happened to his mother and he had even admitted to almost killing the sand people that took her. That had shocked her to be honest but it was as if the knowledge that he had almost done it had shaken him and made him realise what his anger could do to him. The one thing about that night she didn’t understand though was what had stopped him from killing them because he told her that he had never felt an anger and blind rage like he did when he held his mother in his arms when she died. She had tried to get him to tell her but all he would say was that he was still trying to figure that out himself. Somewhere deep down inside of her though she had this feeling that if he had killed the sand people that it would have been the start of something terrible for him.

But now wasn’t the time for those thoughts as she was still annoyed with Obi-Wan for contacting the Queen. Thankfully the Queen was a friend and this conversation wasn’t being put in her record but there was a price that she and Anakin had to pay. Anakin was still technically a Jedi and because an official request came from the Jedi Order the Queen had no choice but to order her to end her relationship with Anakin. The good news though was that Anakin was in her office with her when the Queen contacted her and for some reason he decided to speak to the Queen himself. He told her that he was leaving the Order even if he wasn’t involved with her and that his decision to leave had nothing to do with her at all. Ok that was a bit of a lie she knew that as Anakin had said that knowing she loved him made his decision easier for him but the main reason stayed the same.

By the end of the conversation the Queen still had to officially tell them to end their relationship since Anakin was still a Jedi at the present time. But what the Queen said after that was what made her the happiest woman in the galaxy. Once Anakin officially left the Jedi Order she would be able to continue her relationship with him without reprisal. The Queen did however point out that some people may not take kindly to a Jedi leaving the Order and becoming involved with a Senator.

Padme for her part believed she could handle anything that the Senate throws at her but both she and Anakin knew that for a while it would be best to keep the nature of their relationship restricted to only a few people. Anakin had said that once he had been out of the Order for a few months they should be able to be more open without reprisal as then people couldn’t blame her for his leaving the Order.

So now here she was Padme Amidala senator of Naboo and now technically single, for all of the next two weeks. She would be going home that evening and getting married in just a few weeks and the thought of that was making her the happiest woman in the Galaxy. The only thing she had left to do was tell her family. Sola’s going to have so much fun. She thought to herself as she remembered how her sister was when Anakin came to the house with her.

“You know Yoda…I was quite surprised as to how your handling Anakin’s decision to leave” A male voice said to Yoda causing him to come out of the deep meditative state he had been in.

Yoda looked around the room and for the first time in decades was surprised by what he saw. There standing a few feet away from him was the semi-transparent glowing form of a Jedi that had died ten years earlier. “Old I must be if seeing dead people I am”

“Now master Yoda we both know that your not old…Your ancient” The man said back with a smile.

“Mmmm…Even in death have any manners you do not” Yoda said back with a small smile of his own. “Seems that right your theories were and that found the pathway to immortality you have…Good to see you it is Qui-Gon”

“It is good to see you as well…Although I have popped in from time to time but kept myself unnoticed…However things have changed and the force itself has sent me on a mission” Qui-Gon stated instantly peaking the interest of the old Jedi Master.

“A mission you say” Yoda asked in confusion.

“Yes…The force has been worried about Anakin…His path had been disrupted so the force has given me the opportunity to fix a mistake I made ten years ago…A mistake that would have destroyed Anakin if he had not decided to leave the Order…Thankfully I was able to force him into having a moment of reflection causing him to re-evaluate some of the choices he has made in his life” Qui-Gon told the old Jedi.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Behind his reason to leave you are…Curious that is as mentioned that he did not” Yoda said.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Qui-Gon smiled again at the old Jedi’s confusion “That’s because he is unaware of my interference…Well for the most part…He did hear me the night his mother died which thankfully stopped him from being touched by the dark side…Well before he’s ready for it at least…My influence with his decision to leave however is purely a subconscious one…I dropped a few random thoughts into his mind here and there and maybe visited him in a dream once” Then Qui-Gon took on an almost sad expression “Ten years ago in my arrogance I made a mistake and it is a mistake that Anakin has been paying for ever since”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Saying you are that the Chosen One Skywalker is not” Yoda asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“No that’s not what I’m saying…What I’m saying is that the force didn’t want Anakin to be a Jedi”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Perhaps tell me what you know you should” Yoda told Qui-Gon who took a seat opposite him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Seven hours, that’s how long Anakin had been stuck in a room as ship after ship was auctioned off. He had spent hours just waiting for the right ship to be auctioned and after seven hours he finally found a ship that would serve his purposes. The ship Anakin needed had to have some very specific capabilities and he almost give up until a ship called the Twilights Knight came up for auction.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The Twilight as Anakin had decided to call it for short was a custom built ship and was over a hundred years old. It had been heavily damaged and would need a lot of work but it had everything he would need. It had a large data storage unit and a decent cargo capacity as well as being designed for long term deep space travel. If the information he had on the Twilight was right a crew of ten could stay in space for up to six months without having to restock their supplies. The fuel capacity on the Twilight was also impressive so he knew that that was one less thing he would need to worry about.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Walking out of the auction house Anakin made his way to his speeder before heading back to the Jedi Temple which was the one place he didn’t really want to go to at the moment because he was still pretty angry at Obi-Wan for going to the Queen behind his and Padme’s back. Truth be told it would take him a long time to forgive his former master for that but he also knew he couldn’t allow his anger to take control. For the next two weeks he had to be careful not to give the council any reason to deny his request to resign. He knew though that he and Obi-Wan would be having a talk the day he leaves because if there was one thing Anakin hated it was being manipulated.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Chancellor Palpatine sat alone in his office reading over a report that had come in from the Jedi Council about who had been assigned where. What was confusing him at the moment was the fact that there was no mention of where Kenobi and Skywalker had been sent. In fact from the reports he had been reading he could only assume that they hadn’t been assigned to a clone unit and that was confusing. So far Kenobi and Skywalker were the only Jedi except for Yoda who had faced off against a Sith and lived to talk about it in centuries so he thought that the Jedi would want someone out there who had fought a Sith. Yet there was nothing on them being assigned to the war and in truth he wanted Skywalker out in the battlefield as it would help his plans for the future.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Having Skywalker protecting Senator Amidala was supposed to conflict the young man but something happened he had not expected. The Senator returned his feelings and he had sensed it the moment he saw the two of them together when they returned from Geonosis. What was infuriating the Dark Lord of the Sith though was that the Darkness that had been growing in the young Jedi had disappeared somehow and he had a feeling that the Senator had something to do with it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">All the darkness in Skywalker had gone and ten years of planning had been ruined by an annoying little Senator and if it takes him a hundred years he would find a way to make her pay.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The question now though was why hadn’t Skywalker been assigned a mission yet and it was something that he needed to know because there was still a chance that the war would infuse the darkness back into the young man’s heart and if that happened then he could still get his hands on potentially the most powerful force user who has ever lived.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But perhaps the Dark Lord of the Sith thought that maybe he could use the Senator to his advantage and when the time was right she would be responsible for Skywalker’s turn to the dark side.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Obi-Wan walked into one of the large hangers at the Jedi Temple and came to a completely stop at what he saw. There in front of him was a starship about fifty meters in length. It wasn’t a design he was familiar with and it was also not a ship used by the Jedi. From what he could tell it looked like a sturdy ship but there was also clear evidence that the ship had been in some kind of battle.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Turning his head to the left he heard the whistles and beeps coming from an astro-droid and knew it was the Senator Amidala’s R2 unit. Just when he was about to go and ask what it was doing at the Temple he saw Anakin walk into the hanger.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Walking into the hanger the first thing Anakin saw was Obi-Wan and in truth his former master was the last person he wanted to speak to at the moment, unfortunately he also knew he couldn’t avoid his master forever. “Master” He said to Obi-Wan as he approached him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Anakin…What’s going on…Do you know who’s ship that is” Obi-Wan asked curiously.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Anakin couldn’t help but smile slightly “Yes Master…It’s mine”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Yours…What do you want a ship for”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Well I am going to be doing a fair bit of travelling so I am going to need a ship master” Anakin responded with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Has the Queen not spoken with Senator Amidala or is she still refusing to end their relationship. Obi-Wan wondered to himself. “So when are you leaving then”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Anakin let out a small sigh “Well this ship needs a bit of work and it’s going to take a few days just to get the main systems back online…It was heavily damaged somehow and I was able to get it at a good price but like I said…I still have a lot of work to do on it…Master Yoda has given me permission to use some of the maintenance and repair droids to help so hopefully It will only be a few days…My biggest problem at the moment is having to rebuild the computer systems and the operating system…Thankfully Artoo can help with most of that”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Speaking of Artoo…How do you have him…I was under the impression that that droid belonged to Senator Amidala” Obi-Wan asked hoping to get some insight into what was going on between the Senator and his Padawan.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Well since Threepio is staying with Padme she decided to lend me Artoo for a while” Anakin said while knowing full well what his master was really doing. What he was finding hard at the moment though was not laughing as Obi-Wan had yet to notice that he had cut off his padawan braid. “So Master if there’s nothing else I really got a lot of work to do” Turning his attention to Artoo Anakin called the droid telling him that they had work to do and said droid whistled happily and followed him as he left Obi-Wan standing there just looking at him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I really need to do something about this and find a way to keep him from leaving…There’s to much at stake. Obi-Wan thought to himself as he watched Anakin walk away with Artoo close behind.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Later that evening Padme walked to her small spacecraft to leave for Naboo. Unfortunately though she wasn’t alone and she had to wonder what Obi-Wan was up to because she had yet again another Jedi bodyguard. The Jedi’s name was Siri Tachi and from what she had been told Obi-Wan had been the one to recommend her for this mission.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">It still annoyed her that Obi-Wan was going to the length’s he was going to and she hoped Anakin wouldn’t do something stupid. She knew how important it was for Anakin to return to the outer rim and she could only hope that Obi-Wan doesn’t find a way to stop him. If the Jedi refused to let Anakin leave when the two weeks had passed she knew it would destroy him as he would see it as nothing more than being turned back into a slave.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Shaking her head slightly Padme brought herself out of her thoughts and turned to look at the blond Jedi Knight. “So Master Tachi…How did Master Kenobi get you to agree to be my escort home”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“I’ve been on an assignment for a while and Obi-Wan seemed to think that I could use a little vacation so he recommended that I take some time off and stay on Naboo…From what I hear it’s quite a beautiful place” Siri said back in response with a small smile.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“It is…I may be a bit biased but I think Naboo is one of the most peaceful places in the galaxy…Especially the mountain and lake regions where I grew up” Padme responded while thinking about her time there with Anakin and how much she had hurt him that night before also realising it was the place where they both fell in love. Not wanting the Jedi with her to pick up on anything she quickly moved her thoughts away from Anakin. “So how long are you staying on Naboo”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">“Only a few weeks” Siri said back before noticing the senator tensing up a bit. “Do not worry Senator I wont be following you around wherever you go…My Orders are to escort you home and take some leave…However I am also under orders to make myself available to you should you need it” With that the two women boarded Padme’s small ship.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Realising that he is running out of time and that he needed to find a way to keep Anakin amongst the Jedi Obi-Wan made his way to the Jedi Archives hoping to find some way to prevent Anakin from leaving. Part of him knew what he was doing was wrong but he also knew Anakin was the only one who could destroy the Sith and that his place was with the Order whether he liked it or not.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Ten years earlier he made a promise to Qui-Gon that he would train Anakin and he wasn’t about to let the last ten years go to waste simply because his padawan was being stubborn. Despite what Anakin had told the council he knew the truth but unfortunately that wasn’t enough and he needed to find someway of keeping Anakin within the order.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The other problem was Anakin relied to much on his emotions and that made him unpredictable and potentially dangerous. With that in mind Obi-Wan hoped that there would be something in the archives he could use.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Thankfully though he had asked Siri to keep an eye out for Anakin should he leave the order because if he was right then Anakin would go to Naboo when he leaves and if he does that then he may be able to convince the council to revoke Anakin’s resignation under the fact that he had lied about his reason’s for leaving.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Walking into the archives Obi-Wan sat down at one of the many computer terminals and began researching Jedi law on padawan’s that wish to resign from the order. He had less than two weeks to stop Anakin from making the biggest mistake of his life and he would do everything within his power to make sure that doesn’t happen.

<p class="MsoNormal">Padme and Siri had been on her small ship for a few hours and feeling a bit tired Padme left the Jedi Knight and headed to the lower level of her ship which contained a small bedroom for her to sleep in. Once she got into the small room she sat down on the edge of the bed for a few seconds while she played with the japor snippet that Anakin had given her so long ago.

<p class="MsoNormal">After about a minute Padme stood up and was about to get undressed when she noticed the small computer in the room had a red flashing light on it indicating that she had a message. Going up to the computer she turned it on and instantly smiled as she saw the message was from Anakin.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hello Angel.

<p class="MsoNormal">''Well after several hours Artoo and I got the comm. system working but it’s not fully operational yet so I can only send and receive data messages at this point.''

<p class="MsoNormal">I just wanted to say that I love you and will see you in about two weeks (That is if I can get this bucket of bolts working by then).

<p class="MsoNormal">''Please be careful on your way home and I know I shouldn’t worry so much and I know that you can handle yourself but I cant seem to stop myself. Keep yourself safe and I will see you soon.''

<p class="MsoNormal">Bye Angel.

<p class="MsoNormal">From your soon to be husband Anakin Skywalker.

<p class="MsoNormal">Padme smiled as she closed the message and decided she would write him a small message back to let him know she was ok and got his message.

<p class="MsoNormal">Five minutes later she sent the message back to Anakin and turned off her computer before getting undressed and heading towards her bed. Within a few minutes sleep claimed her and her dreams were filled with Anakin who she knew would always be there with her even when they were on different sides of the galaxy.