Chapter 20 – Rebellion

Padmé ran. She ran for her life. For Anakin's life. The trooper followed and sprinted after her. In the meantime he had called for reinforcements. There were already three of her pursuers. Padmé glanced back. No no no! Would she ever be able to shake them off? The young senator's eyes were already watering from the wind that was constantly whipping her face. She quickly turned the next corner and knocked over several passers-by who stood in her way.

The rest of the people on the street were smart enough to give her way. Looking back, she noticed that two of her pursuers had - presumably - given up. But one last trooper fastened at her heels. It seemed like he was targeting her personally. She turned forward again and in the same instant she stumbled. Oh no!

At the last moment, she escaped into a dark alley before she slipped, lost her balance and landed on the hard concrete floor. She gasped. Couldn't straighten up. Her head hurt. Still, she managed to raise her head and saw the clone that had stopped a few meters in front of her. She looked around desperately. Dead end. Now Padmé was as good as dead. She just saw the clone raise his gun and aim it at her head. Instinctively, the young senator closed her eyes. Anakin. Oh Ani. Forgive me. I'm sorry. I love you.

But instead of a shot, she heard something else. A hiss, a short sound of pain, and another hiss. She slowly tilted her head to the side. She was shaking. Only now did she notice the cold.

Suddenly hands touched her shoulder. A figure crouched over her. "Padme." It was more of a sigh than a statement.

"Anakin?" A warm hand touched her cheek.

"Shh, everything is ok, I'm here." Only now did she realize that she had burst into tears. With a jerk, Anakin helped her up and hugged her blissfully. "I'm so very sorry. I would have ..." he faltered. "I would have been almost late." His voice was frighteningly panicked.

Padmé stroked his hair soothingly. "I'm fine. Thanks to you." She smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am that you're here," she whispered.

And then, before she could do anything, the young Jedi spun her around. Laughing, Padmé tried to protest until he put her down and kissed her deeply.

"Here" he said and handed her the backpack he had been carrying on his back.

"Oh ... that wouldn't have been ..." Padmé began.

But Anakin stormed off, "Yes, love." Then he kissed her again. Sighing, she leaned back against her husband and buried her head in his chest. For his part, he closed his arms tighter around her.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble behind them. They both turned in a panic, Padmé clutching Anakin's tunic. A small person staggered toward them out of the shadows. One could only see her horns, which were enthroned on her head.

Determined, Anakin stepped forward, shielding Padme from the unfamiliar eyes. But then he suddenly stopped. His features hardened. "Ahsoka," he growled.

Now she stepped into the sparse light. It was indeed Ahsoka.

The senator let out a relieved breath and rushed towards the Padawan: "Ahsoka," Padmé happily choked out and hugged the Togruta. "How nice to see you!"

Ahsoka was completely perplexed, but was happy about the kind gesture from the senator. "I'm happy to see you too, Senator Padmé," Ahsoka replied, grinning nonchalantly.

"Ahsoka," Anakin exhaled sharply, trying to vent his anger. "Why did you follow me?!"

His Padawan chuckled with laughter, "Master, I couldn't let you go. Besides, Padmé is a friend of mine."

"You disobeyed one of my orders," he said snidely. "If that happens again, then ..."

"Anakin, that's enough," Padmé snapped, eyeing him disapprovingly. Puzzled, the young Jedi eyed his wife. "She meant well," she said more gently, crossing her hand in his.

"But she disobeyed my order. I don't know what could have happened to her!", he replied and snatched his hand away from her. For a moment he thought he saw pain flash in her eyes. But she closed her eyes so quickly that he wasn't sure.

"We should take care of far more important things in this situation," Padmé admonished and turned to Ahsoka. "Since you're here," she whispered. "I have bad news." Padmé exhaled and explained, "They have a bounty on your heads. Anakin, the Emperor wants you ... alive," she stuttered, looking scared into his eyes. "Your price is higher than any sum I've ever seen in my life."

Anakin visibly swallowed. He had to clear his throat twice to get half a sentence together: "That ... that's ... awful."

"Yes," his Padawan agreed. She stared at him, eyes wide with shock.

"Though ... that was predictable," Anakin whispered back.

"What do you want to do now?" Padmé's voice was no more than a lonely breath.

Now her husband turned to her: "I don't know, but you will be safe."

"But that's not my point. I have an idea ..."

A throat clearing from the beginning of the alley threw the senator off balance. She turned around carefully and recognized a man with a tattoo a few meters in front of her. She smiled warmly. "Let!" Happily rushed towards him.

The two Jedi watched the greeting from a safe distance and couldn't make sense of the situation. It wasn't until Padmé walked over to them with the man she'd called Let in tow that everything became clear: "Ahsoka, Anakin, this is Let Ipak," she said proudly. "He surprised me in a café .... But we're fighting on the same side. Against the Empire."

Anakin eyed Ipak suspiciously. It went against the grain that Padmé got along well with a man he didn't know.

Padmé pointed to Anakin and his Padawans: "These are Anakin and Ahsoka. Two of the most gifted Jedi in history. You remember Anakin Skywalker, don't you, Let? He fought alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Clone Wars."

The man nodded. "Of course," he held out his hand to Anakin. The Jedi reluctantly shook it. "The world doesn't forget someone who was in the holo-news almost every day so easily."

Surprised, Ahsoka lifted her head. What did he mean by that? She had heard the hint behind his harmless words. As if he hoped Anakin would take advantage of his popularity with the people. But for what?

Let Ipak grinned nonchalantly and added, "I'm the leader of a small camp a little further from here. If you don't mind, I could show you the way. You're always our guests."

The three nodded, glad to have a place to stay and soon everyone was on their way.

The camp was larger than expected: It spanned an entire block of multi-story concrete houses. A few streets from the center and well camouflaged with a purple paint that had already started to crumble in places. Let Ipak ushered the small group in through the back door and walked down a stone corridor adorned on either side with heavy curtains. There was no light and it was very cold.

As Let stopped at the end of the hallway, he pulled the curtain on the right side aside and opened a metal door that was only four feet wide. In any case, this entrance was too small for a clone. Then he stepped aside and let his visitors enter first.

Anakin didn't trust Let Ipak. Not only because he seemed to like Padmé, but also because he couldn't make sense of him. And now everything in his head was screaming trap! But the young Jedi didn't show anything, ducking his head and following Padmé through the small door. Before them lay a dangerously narrow and steep wooden staircase. Anakin shuddered. If he fell down here he would twist his neck or worse!

Padmé was probably thinking the same thing, as she stood unsteadily until Anakin placed his hands on her waist from behind and whispered in her ear, "If you fall, I'll catch you." Or at least he would try ...

The stairs creaked and Anakin tried not to use his full weight on the ground. Padmé clung to the wall as she climbed the steps. A faint feeling of dizziness seized her, but the young senator was not impressed and finally managed to reach the top of the stairs. She carefully stepped aside to make room for Anakin and Ahsoka.

Let Ipak crouched at the bottom of the stairs and quietly closed the door before elegantly leaping up the steps. Once upstairs, he rapped hard on a metal panel in the wall four times. A moment later it creaked, and the metal was pushed back. A man appeared. He was a Rodian, early 20s. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness in the hallway, he turned sideways and said, "Don't worry folks, it's just Let."

Immediately, the metal door flew wide and Let stalked through, closely followed by Anakin, dragging Padmé behind him. Ahsoka remained skeptical in the entrance and let her gaze sweep over the room. It was large and the walls were painted a cheerful yellow. People of all species sat everywhere and talked. The atmosphere seemed carefree and happy, but Ahsoka sensed the unrest. What frightened her most, however, was the high intensity of the Force. Ahsoka could almost feel it. She actually only knew this intensity from the Jedi temple.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin looked at her with concern. Padmé froze next to him, noticing her wide eyes.

"Master, can you feel it?" She looked uncertainly from Anakin to Padmé.

Her master nodded, "The Force is very strong here. I wonder why." Frowning, he turned to Let, who was arguing with the Rodian.

"Everything is fine, Minul. They won't cause us any trouble."

"Oh yeah? Let, they're Jedi. They shouldn't be here."

"Why shouldn't they?"

"Because we do their dirty work. We stand against the Empire while they barricade themselves in their temple and cowardly wait for Palpatine to surrender of his own accord!"

Now Anakin intervened: "Listen, the Jedi wouldn't stand a chance against Palpatine and his army. We can't win."

"Oh, and that's why you're letting us do the work?" Minul snapped at Anakin. "You Jedi can't do anything! Nothing! You're no better than Palpatine. He only lets his lackeys do everything as well!"

"Oh, and you're supposed to be our lackeys?!" Anakin laughed mockingly. "What can you do?" The next moment, Anakin was thrown against the wall. He slammed into it with full force and looked up in bewilderment. Nobody had touched him.

"Anakin?" Padmé ran to him and knelt down next to him. "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" She gently stroked his cheek and helped him to get up.

"Yes," he growled. "I'm fine."

"You're force-intensive, aren't you?" Ahsoka asked, not looking at Minul angry but curiously.

"Yes," Minul replied politely and smiled slightly. "We are the last resort for force-intensive people who are being persecuted or rejected by their families."

"Who rejects their own family members?" Ahsoka stared at him in horror and looked down sadly. How I was rejected by the Jedi back then. Wrongly.

"Nowadays there is a danger that the families of the power-intensive people will be considered guilty. That's why they split up...", he looked at her sadly. "Well, you can imagine why."

"But you mustn't give up anyway," Ahsoka whispered hopefully.

"Then you are something of an undercover Order?" Anakin seemed outraged.

"Yes and no," Let answered, turning back to him. "We train our protégés in using the Force so that they can defend themselves in an emergency. We have a great teacher, maybe I'll introduce her to you later, Master Jedi. She's skilled in using the Force and she's very strong. Maybe even stronger than you."

Anakin glared at Let while Padmé thought, "I think I'll stay here," she whispered. "It would be safer for now. If you allow me, Let."

"Of course," Let smiled at her. "Remember our pact."

Padmé nodded and smiled back. "Thank you very much."

"Excuse me a moment." Let turned and left.

"Tell me, what's going on between Let Ipak and you?" Anakin blurted out as soon as Let was out of sight.

"What should be going on, Anakin? He reached out to me in the darkest hour and I gratefully accepted. Without him I might be dead. Who knows." Padmé looked at him in exasperation and shortly afterwards closed her eyes wearily. "It's better if I stay here," she whispered, leaning against the wall.

"I don't want to leave you alone," Anakin replied. "Not again." He gently took her in his arms and leaned against her. Padmé snuggled up to him tenderly and buried her head in his tunic. For the first time, Padmé could let her emotions run free and didn't have to hide them from anyone. She sobbed softly. "Padmé," the young Jedi eyed, startled. "Please don't cry, love. Everything will be fine."

She shook her head silently and let her tears flow. "No Ani, nothing is going to be okay. What am I supposed to do with my life? Hide?!" Her voice sounded hysterical and broke on the last words.

"No Padmé, once Master Yoda returns to Coruscant, everything will be different." He hummed softly to himself and wrapped his arms even tighter around her.

"Please," she whispered. "Hold me tight ... and never let go." Determined, he bent down to his wife and kissed her tentatively.

"Um ... I don't want to interrupt, Sky Guy. But ..." Ahsoka stood behind the couple, a little hesitant, not quite knowing what to do.

Deftly, the young Jedi turned without letting go of Padmé. "What's up, Snips?" Annoyed, he looked at his Padawan.

"I just wanted to offer that I could stay with Padmé if you had to leave." She smiled kindly at her Master and Padmé.

Padmé flinched in Anakin's arms and looked at him in panic. "You'll go?"

Startled, he shook his head. "No, of course not. Ahsoka just wants to be sure, in case something like that should happen." He winked at her calmly. Padmé seemed relieved and relaxed in his arms.

At that moment, Let Ipak sauntered back down the hall and stopped next to Anakin. Surprised, he eyed him and Padmé, who was still in his arms. "Master Skywalker, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a supply tour? I would like to give you an insight into our everyday life."

Anakin felt taken aback at first, but agreed. He gave Padmé a quick kiss on the forehead and nodded to Ahsoka again. "Take care, I'll be back soon. You can set up camp." Then he followed Let down the hall.

"You know, we've made it our mission to take in people who are force-intensive. It is our destiny to eliminate the Emperor and his entourage." Anger crept into Let's voice. He and Anakin sat on a downtown rooftop looking for ways to get food.

"Of course," Anakin nodded understandingly. "But you shouldn't be using the dark side."

"We don't."

"I can sense your anger at the Empire, Let. I'm angry with it too, but you mustn't let it overwhelm you. Because then it's too late. Then you are no better than Palpatine."

Let shakes his head sadly. "We know that, but it's not easy."

Anakin stared into the blond man's gray eyes. Only now did he notice the tattoo that adorned his neck. "When all this crap is over, I'll plead before the High Council to ensure you're protected."

Let looked at him in amazement. "You would really do that, Master Jedi?"

Anakin nodded again. "It's the least I can do. After doing so much for the senator."

"I'm pretty sure you have a relationship with the senator. Isn't love forbidden?" Smirking, Let peered at the young Jedi.

"It's none of your business. Besides ... there are exceptions," Anakin relented.

"I knew it," Let mumbled and suddenly looked sadly into the distance.

"You okay?" Anakin gave him an uncertain look.

"Yeah, yeah, I just want my wife here. I miss her ..." He stopped mid-sentence.

"I'm sorry. Come on, let's rob that store over there." Anakin grinned sympathetically and pointed to a small grocery store across the street, because he couldn't imagine life without Padmé either.

Let looked up and smiled. "Yes, let's begin."

-

Thoughts?