Chapter 14 – Escape

Everything happened in slow motion for Padmé. Anakin yelled at her to climb into the ventilation shaft. But her legs wouldn't move. What is happening here? Before she could answer herself, Anakin grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the ventilation shaft. "Leg-up," he called out to her to drown out the alarm. It was loud, shrill and unbearable.

Padmé slowly regained consciousness. She regained control of her limbs and tried not to fall too heavily when Anakin picked her up to climb into the ventilation shaft. She quickly pulled herself up and made room in the narrow shaft. Shortly after her, Anakin pushed himself up and sealed the vent's opening again. The young woman leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up and smiled at him. "I guess so."

Anakin just nodded and allowed himself a little breather. After some time of silence, Anakin spoke up again. "We have to hurry. If they don't find us in the corridors, they'll suspect that we're in the ventilation shaft."

"Then it'll probably be enough if we leave now." The shaft was big. Large enough for a person to crawl upright. Anakin in front, followed closely by Padmé. They were moving faster than Anakin had thought.

"Do you even know where we have to go?" Padmé sounded resigned. It seemed to her that they had been crawling around in these shafts for hours.

Anakin moved his head almost imperceptibly. "As a Padawan, I often hid here when I was mad at Obi-Wan. He followed me everywhere, up to the ventilation shaft. He never went in there. Must've been too narrow for him." He chuckled and stopped. "If you want to take a break, let me know."

Now it was Padmé's turn to laugh. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

Anakin rolled back and stretched his legs. "Of course. But first, could you explain to me why you ended up here in the first place? Master Windu put it a rather unfathomable way. Palpatine and you in one boat? This is new to me."

Padmé's facial expression changed abruptly. Anakin just called it "the political mask" and he hated it when his wife looked at him like that. "Anakin ... I hope you know I would never do something like that. Or don't you trust me?"

Anakin could clearly hear the indignation in Padmé's voice. He held up his hands reassuringly. "It's okay! That was just a question."

Padme sighed loudly. "Let's move on now ... I want to get out of here."

"It's okay. We'll be right outside," Anakin whispered, gently stroking her cheek. Then he turned and crawled on.

They crawled straight ahead for some time until they came to a bend. "And now?" Padmé asked.

"Around the corner," said the young Jedi, and continued to crawl. As it turned out, Anakin really knew his stuff. Because after they passed more turns, they stopped in a dead end.

"Anakin, I thought you knew your way around. It's a ... dead end," the exasperated senator ground out before leaning hopelessly against the wall of the ventilation duct.

"Oh darling, that's not a dead end," the brown-haired man laughed in her face. "This is our way out of here!" Anakin sat up straight and approached the metal wall. Then he leaned forward and put his hand on the wall. Briefly he closed his eyes, went into himself for a moment and sank into the Force. A moment later, he opened his eyes again and stared at the wall, which was lifting and slowly moving backwards. Now this was no longer a dead end, but a corridor that ended in a hole.

Padmé's eyes lit up. In the next moment she fell around the young man's neck. "Oh Ani, thank you so much!"

Anakin beamed from ear to ear. "You know I could never let you down," he whispered, looking into her beautiful eyes. But there was no time for romance. Padmé quickly broke away from her husband and made her way down the hole. Anakin, a little disappointed, followed the love of his life into the hole.

Shortly thereafter, they were crouching in a small room. But he was tall enough to stand up. Once Anakin was firmly on his feet, he held out his hand to Padme and helped her up. "There, " she said to him, pointing to a metallic ladder that seemed to lead through a tube to nowhere. The Jedi followed the brunette and gave her the lead. The rungs were smooth so you couldn't get a proper grip. With quick movements, Padmé climbed the first few rungs and then looked down at Anakin, who would stop her should she fall.

oOo

The turbolift doors opened and Ahsoka strode towards the two guards posted at the entrance to the prison block. One of them saluted when they saw the padawan. "Padawan Tano, what brings you to us?"

Ahsoka, not keen on letting too much time pass, had to get used to the unusually high-pitched alarm tone before she was able to answer. "I'm looking for my master. Anakin Skywalker. Did he happen to come by by any chance?" The two Jedi Guardians immediately understood why Ahsoka had accidentally put extra emphasis on by any chance. One could tell from her voice that she wasn't in the best of moods. No wonder. She didn't seem to enjoy following her master around the temple like they were playing hide-and-seek.

The guard saluted again and pointed to the security devices. "Indeed. Master Skywalker went to Senator Amidala an hour ago. Shortly before that, without us noticing, he deactivated the video surveillance system for the cells. So we were only able to see through his plan when it was already too late."

Now Ahsoka seemed almost amused. Grinning, she shook her head and laughed silently at her Sky Guy. After Ahsoka had put on her dignified mask again, she continued: "Very interesting. May I know where my master is at the moment?"

"As far as we know, he tried to escape through the ventilation shaft. We could not determine his exact position. What is certain, however, is that Senator Amidala is with him."

First Ahsoka had to take a deep breath to digest the information. So Anakin had managed to reach Padmé and was escaping with her through the vents. Then where could he take her? Back to the surface. That was clear. But how? To the top levels of the temple? Unlikely. That could put Padmé in too much danger. But there were these underground secret tunnels. This was how the Jedi smuggled food and other essentials into the temple. This was the solution to this riddle.

Ahsoka knew Anakin and Padmé could be long gone. But she knew someone who could help her find them. Obi Wan.