Chapter 21

Achsah and Anakin came back to Naboo, and landing in the secret hanger bay in the Palace.

“ We have to get back to the house. I will see you back on Coruscant.” Achsah came up to her mother and hugged her goodbye.

“ I understand, and yes, I will see you, when you get back to Coruscant. I want you both to come over to my apartment and have dinner with me the following day, you two get back.” Bilhah returned her daughter’s hug and then letting go of Achsah, looked at both the young couple and invited them to see her, when they get back to Coruscant.

“ Yes ma’am. We will come and have dinner with you. Well, Achsah, we need to going, before Obi-Wan and Benaiah get way to worried about us being gone for a long time.” Anakin nodded to Bilhah, before turning his attention to Achsah.

“ Ok. See you soon.” Achsah hugged her mother one more time, before heading out the door and she saw that two guards were gone.

“ I wonder where they went too? Um . . . do you see what I see?” Achsah stopped in her tracks, when she saw twelve battle droids marching down the hallway.

“ Yeah, we need to find another way out of here.” Anakin looked over Achsah’s head and saw the same droids.

“ We have to get my mother out of here and we have to use the other tunnel to get out of here.” Achsah turned to Anakin and had a very worried look on her face.

Anakin nodded his head and then followed Achsah to one of the statues. He saw that she was tapping on the wall beside it, as he came up to her, the statue slid away from the wall only to reveal a door.

“ Come on, we need to get in here, before they come back this way.” Achsah motion for Anakin to get into the tunnel, and followed him into the tunnel.

Once inside the tunnel, Achsah turned around, pulled down a lever and the statue began sliding back into place and the door shut and locked.

“ Ok, where to now?” Anakin asked, as Achsah walked passed him.

“ This way, until it ends.” Achsah motioned for him to follow her down the tunnel.

Ten minutes later, they came to the end of the tunnel and like before, Achsah pulled the lever and the door slid open. They exited the tunnel and once outside, Achsah pushed the stone on the ground and the door slid shut and the planter moved back in front of the wall. They managed to get to the front gate without be seen. Once they exited through the gate, they hailed down a taxi, which took them back to the house, up in the mountain village.

“ Obi-Wan and Benaiah, we are back.” Achsah called out as her and Anakin walked into the house.

“ Good, you are back. Now, you can tell us where you two have disappeared at? We got news that the Palace was attacked by the Trade Federation.” Benaiah came into the house from the patio.

“ Um . . . Let’s just say we got the Queen off the planet and yes, we know about the droids, because we saw them patrolling the Palace.” Achsah went over to the couch and sat down.

“ Really? Why did you not tell us that was what you were doing? . . . Let me guess, that was the thing that you had to do?” Benaiah looked over at the patio door, as Obi-Wan came into the room.

“ Yes . . . Sorry, we did not tell you, but we had to act fast, before that army of droids came into the Palace. I know we should have told you two what was going on.” Achsah looked at the two Jedi Masters.

“ Why are you telling us that you two are sorry for leaving and not telling us? You two are no longer Padawans, so you both can do whatever you feel is right. I am very proud of both of you for doing what you both did, and you saved the Queen and that is what is very important.” Benaiah smiled at his ex-Padawan to let her know how very proud he was of her.

“ Yes, I am very proud of you, Anakin. That is the first step of being a Jedi Knight, helping others who really need it.” Obi-Wan also gave Anakin a smile to let him know that what he did was great thing to do, and that he was very proud of him.

“ Thanks, but it was mostly Achsah, who acted like the hero. I just followed her.” Anakin looked over at Achsah and gave her a smile.

Both Benaiah and Obi-Wan saw something else pass between the two young Jedi.

“ Ok. Well, we just got message from the Council that we have to see the Viceroy and to convince him to leave Naboo.” Obi-Wan went over to the window, looked out and saw a couple of smoke trails rising up into the sky.

“ Great, but I have a feeling that we will have to make him leave by force and it will not be pretty.” Achsah looked over to the window and she too saw the smoke.

“ Then, we better get going now.” Anakin looked at the three people.

The four Jedi got into the land speeder and Obi-Wan drove them to Theed and to the Palace.

“ What are we doing here?” Anakin noticed that at the gate, was battle droid and not the Captain, whom Achsah and himself saw earlier.

“ We have a meeting with the Viceroy and well, this is where he is.” Obi-Wan stopped at the gate, as one of the droids stepped out of the guard house and motioned for them to stop.

“ Reason as to why you are here, Jedi.” the droid came up to the land speeder, with its gun drawn on them.

“ We are here to see the Viceroy. Yes, he knows we are coming here.” Obi-Wan looked up at the droid and noticed that the blaster was pointed straight at his head.

“ I have to see if that is true. You Jedi can be very tricky, so you better stay right here.” the droid looked at the four Jedi and motioned for the other droid to come over to him and watch over the Jedi, as he went to see what the Jedi had told him was true, that they were there to see the Viceroy.

Ten minutes later, the four Jedi showed up to the Throne Room and sat down. The Viceroy was sitting down on the Queen’s throne, while a couple of his men stood next to the chair.

“ We are here for the signing of the Treaty between the Queen of Naboo and Trade Federation.” Benaiah looked at the Viceroy, then looked around the room and realized that they were the only ones in the room, because the Queen was not here.

“ There will be no signing of the any Treaty, because the Queen is not here.” the Viceroy looked at the man that was standing in front of him.

“ Really? Well, I'm sure that she is somewhere in the Palace.” Benaiah said, as he looked around the room and he finally stopped back on the Viceroy.

“ No, she is not here. My droids have searched the whole place and they cannot find her. Somehow she has escaped us.” the Viceroy’s voice kept going up in a high pitch, every time he talked about the Queen.

“ I see, but you can still sign the Treaty. I am sure the Chancellor would not mind, if it is was not signed by the Queen.” Benaiah looked at the ugly gray creatures.

“ Never! If she is not here, then there will not be a treaty!” the Viceroy screeched out loud, when he realized that the Queen will not be here to sign the Trade Treaty.

Three hours later, the Jedi were back at the house and even told the Chancellor that the Viceroy refused to sign the Treaty because the Queen was not on the planet. When the Chancellor learned about that, he ordered the arrest of the Viceroy and his men. When a couple other Jedi came and took the Viceroy too prison, the droids were shut down. The Trade Federation ships left the system and made promise not to come back. Then, everything was quiet on Naboo.

“ Well, we are heading back to Coruscant. We will see you, Anakin, in a couple of weeks.” Benaiah looked at Achsah and saw a tired look on her face.

“ Ok. You and Obi-Wan have a safe trip back and we will see you later, then.” Achsah gave her ex-Master a very tired smile.

The two older Jedi left the house and Naboo and made their way back to the Temple. Achsah and Anakin left Naboo and went to back to the hidden place, where the Queen was and brought her back to Naboo.