Chapter 1

Achsah was walking down the long hallway, looking at all the damage that happened during the Battle of Naboo.

“ Man, they did a number here.” Achsah said to herself, as she looked at one of the statues and saw blaster fire marks on the marble.

Off in the distance, she heard a door close. From the sound, it was the door to the Queen’s office. She also knew that they were making the Trade Federation sign a treaty that will remove what is left of the ships that were over Naboo. The high officers and Nute Gunray were arrested for the invasion on Naboo. She continued her walk down the hallway, towards the offices of the Queen and a couple other appointed officials. Coming around the corner, Achsah looked down the long hallway and saw, sitting on one of the benches, was a young boy.

“ Hey, you must be the boy who blew up the Federation Station, that was controlling all the Battle Droids?” Achsah said, as she came up to the boy.

“ Oh, hello. Yea, I was the one who blew up the station. I'm Anakin Skywalker.” Anakin looked up at the girl, who was standing in front of him.

“ I want to say thank you for what you did. I am also sorry about your friend, Master Jinn. Am Achsah.” Achsah held out her hand for Anakin to shake.

“ Thank you. He was a great person. So, what do you do here?” Anakin asked.

“ My mother works here. I just hang out around here, while she works, but there are times I do help out in the kitchen. So, what about you? Where are you from and what do you do?” Achsah asked, as she noticed that Anakin kept looking at the closed door that was behind.

“ Oh, wow. So, do you live here in the Palace? Am from Tatooine and I will be training as a Jedi.” Anakin said, as he crossed his legs in front of him.

“ Wow, a Jedi. Tatooine really is not that far from here. Yes, I live here, but my mom and I do have a small house not far from here. You want to know what they are talking about in there?” Achsah smiled at Anakin.

“ I did not know Tatooine was close. Yea, I really want to know, but Masters Kenobi, Yoda and Windu wanted me to stay right here.” Anakin said.

“ Oh, please, you can hear what is going on. Just follow me and I will show you.” Achsah said getting up and grabbing Anakin’s hand and pulled him off the bench.

They hurried down the hallway and stopped in front of a marble statue of one of the gods.

“ Um. . . neat statue, but what has this to do with finding out what is going on in the office?” Anakin asked, as he looked up at the statue.

“ This is the way to the secret room that is behind this statue. We need to hurry” Achsah said, as she reached down and tapped the base of the statue three times.

The statue slid to the right and revealed a secret door way. Achsah walked into the dark hallway, before grabbing Anakin’s hand again and pulled him through the door that she had opened. She hit a stone on the wall and the lights on the wall began to light up. Then, she tapped the side of the wall twice and the statue slid back into place. She and Anakin followed the small lamps, until they came up to a door. Achsah touched a stone again and the lights went out, before she hit another stone twice and the door slid open. Achsah stepped into the small room and motioned for Anakin to follow her. Once inside the room, they sat there and listened to the argument about what was going on, down below them.

“ That is not right. I will not sign this!” Viceroy Nute Gunray yelled out.

“ If you do not sign it, then you will be charged as a traitor to the Republic and will spend the rest of your life in prison.” Queen Amidala said, staring straight at the Viceroy.

“ How can I be called a traitor to the Republic, when am not even part of it?” Nute Gunray said, as he reminded the young Queen that he was a Separatist.

“ I know that Viceroy, but you are still under arrest, if not for treason, but for the coward that you are, and also, for the invasion of a peaceful planet and people.” Queen Amidala said, as she nodded over to the three Jedi that were sitting, down the table from her.

“ I still will not sign, and it is you, who will be sorry.” Gunray glared at the young Queen.

“ No, Viceroy. It is you who will be sorry.” Amidala gave the Viceroy a smile.

The room became very quiet. Then, there was a sound of chanting. It began to get louder and louder, then the two children watched, as Nute Gunray reached out for the tablet and began signing his name on it.

“ Thank you, Viceroy. Guards, please take the Viceroy to the Jedi’s ship.” Amidala said, as she nodded at the Jedi again.

“ What? . . wait, you cannot do this. . . I did not mean . . . .” Gunray said, as the two guards came up and began putting cuffs back on him.

“ Well, I just did. Master Yoda, I give this to you, so that way, you can give it to the Senate and to the Chancellor.” Amidala said, picking up the tablet and handing it over to the Jedi Master.

Achsah backed out of the small space and pulled Anakin out of the space, before hitting the stone once and the small door closed, before hitting the other stone she hit earlier and the small lights came back on again.

“ Come on. We need to be back at the bench, before they come out of the office.” Achsah hurried them down the hallway.

Back at the opening, Achsah hit the stone, which closed the door earlier and this time it slid the statue away from the door. Then, the children stepped out of behind the statue.

“ Go sit back down on the bench. I need to leave you now, and if I do not get to see you again, then I wish you well. It was nice meeting you, Anakin.” Achsah said, as she tapped on the bottom of the statue again and it slid back into place.

“ Ok, and it was nice meeting you too, Achsah. Good luck in whatever you do in your life to come.” Anakin said, before turning away from Achsah and headed back to the bench that he was sitting on, before he went into the hidden space.

Achsah walked on towards the kitchen and once there, she found a stack of dirty dishes waiting for her.

“ You kno,w spying will only get you into trouble, young one.” The elderly cook said, as she rolled the dough for the pastries that she was making for dessert.

“ I was just wondering what was going on, is all.” Achsah said, as she started the water for the dirty dishes that she was going to wash.

“ I understand, but you must be very careful, young one, because one day you might hear something you should not.” The cook said, as she finished rolling out the dough.

“ I will be very careful. I'm going to miss you when mom and I head to Coruscant in two days.” Achsah poured the soap into the water.

“I will miss you too, sweetie, but you need to continue your training and studies.” The elderly lady said, as she began cutting out the shape of the tarts.

“ I know.” Achsah grabbed the first stack of dishes and put them into the water.

Four hours later, Achsah was just finishing up her dinner.

“ Good night, Mayla.” Achsah said to the cook, as she got up from the small dining table, went over to the counter and put her dish into the sink.

“ Good night, Achsah and you have pleasant dreams. Tell your mother I will have breakfast served at six, because the guests will be gone and everyone who is here, will be sleeping in some.” Mayla said, as she washed the two dirty dishes that were in the sink.

Achsah gave the elderly lady a hug, before heading out of the kitchen and making her way to the staff quarters in the Palace. Walking into the small quarters that her and her mother share together, she looked around the small living quarters and saw that her mother was not there. Walking over to her mother’s room, she reached out and touched the door, reaching out with her powers that she has, and scanned the room and felt nobody in the room. That is when she realized that she was all alone in the quarters. Going back into the living area, Achsah saw on the small table by the door, there was a small light, flashing, which let her know there was a message from someone. Achsah hit the button and her mother’s image showed up.

“ Hey, sweetheart. I will be home really late. The Senator has asked for my help for a party that is happening tomorrow night. Love you and see you in the morning.” Achsah’s mother said, before her image faded.

“ Great. Yeah, right, a party. I get a feeling there is something more going on.” Achsah said to herself, as she headed for her bedroom, to get ready for bed.

Once Achsah was ready for bed, she climbed into the bed, grabbed her tablet and began studying her lessons that she needed for her classes. Achsah began to get very sleepy, so she turned off her tablet,put it down on the nightstand, before laying down and falling sound asleep.