Chapter 7

" It's time, Milady." Captain Typho said, as he came into the ship's lounge.

" Ok. You going to be ok. Here, Corde`." Padme asked ,as she saw Corde come into the lounge dressed as Senator Amidala.

" Yes, Milady. I'm going to be fine. You better hurry and change ships, so that way, we can be on Coruscant, before late morning or early afternoon." Corde said coming up to Padme and giving her a sisterly hug.

" Ok, see you when we land on Coruscant, then." Padme putting on the helmet on her head, before following Captain Typho off the ship and going over to the two star ships.

Padme walked to her ship, climbed on board, and sat down in the cockpit ,before closing the canopy hatch. Once inside the cockpit, Padme began doing her checklist and starting up the engines of her ship.

" Ok, we have clearance for takeoff. So, lets do this, and stay close to me and we will stay close to the Cruiser." Captain Typho said, as they started to take off.

" Roger that, Captain." Padme said, as they flew off into the atmosphere and then, into the outer space region of the planet’s atmosphere. Once they were far enough from the planet, they set their course for Coruscant and went into hyperspace.

Two hours later, four starships skimmed past the great skyscrapers of Coruscant, weaving in and out of the huge amber structures, artificial stalagmites rising higher and higher over the years, and now obscuring the natural formations of the planet unlike anywhere else in the known galaxy. One of the star fighters led the procession.The pilot was veering around and about nearly every passing tower, and was running point for the second ship, the Naboo Royal Cruiser. Followed by two more fighters, that was running swiftly and very close to the Royal Cruiser, as to shielded her, as the pilots are ready to instantly intercept any threats that may come their way. They avoided the most heavily trafficked routes of the great city, because that is where any potential enemies could be hiding in the cover of the thousands of ordinary vehicles.

Many people knew that Senator Amidala of Naboo was returning back to the Senate, after the vacation that the Senate was on. She was here to cast her vote against the creation of an army to assist the overwhelmed Jedi in their dealings with the increasingly antagonistic separatist movement, and there were many factions that did not want such a vote to be cast. The young Senator has made many enemies, during her reign as Naboo's Queen; very powerful enemies with great resources at their disposal, and with, perhaps, enough hatred for the very beautiful young Senator to put some of those resources to work to her detriment. The two star fighters landed, before the Royal Cruiser, but once the Cruiser touched the landing platform, the two fighter pilots opened up the canopies and climbed down from their cockpits.

" We made it. I guess I was wrong. There was no danger at all." Typho said, as his fellow fighter pilot leapt down from the wing of the ship and came over to stand next to him.

" There's always danger, Captain. Sometimes we're just lucky enough to avoid it." the other pilot said in a female voice.

Captain Typho was about to respond, but paused and looked back towards the cruiser, just as the ramp was lowering to the platform. Two Naboo guards appeared, very alert and ready, with their blaster rifles presented before them. Next to come down, the ramp was Senator Amidala, all dressed in her Senatorial attire of black and white robes and dress, and on her head, was an all-black headdress. Before anyone knew it, there was very loud explosion, which knocked everyone that was on the landing platform down to the ground.

" No!" Typho yelled out, as he scrambled to his knees and turned about.

All that anyone could see was pieces of burning metal spread all over the landing platform, as the remaining hulk of the Royal Cruiser burned brightly. Not far from the wreckage, laid seven bodies; one of those bodies wore a very decorated raiment’s that Typho knew so very well. Since the Captain was a war veteran, he'd seen a lot of people die very violently. Looking at those bodies, and then looking at Amidala's beautiful robes, at their placement about the very still form, he instinctively knew. The woman's wounds were surely mortal. She was fast dying, if not already dead.

* (pages 37-40 of Chapter 4 of Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones by R.A. Salvatore)