“ Morning, Senator Amidala.” The Chancellor’s aide turned and looked at Padme and Dorme, as they walked into the office.
“ Um . . . morning. Is there something I can do for you?” Padme said to the man standing in the middle of the room.
“ I was sent here by the Chancellor. He sent me here, to tell you that your presence is wanted in his office now.” The aide looked at the two women, before moving towards them and door.
“ Um . . . I see. Please, tell him that I will be here in five parsec.” Padme looked at the aide, before turning to look at Dorme and nodded to her.
“ Yes, Milady.” was all Dorme said, knowing what Padme was thinking. She headed over to her desk and sat down.
“ Yes, Senator. I will let him know that you will be seeing him soon.” the aide walked out of the office and headed down to the Chancellor’s office.
“ I wonder what is so important that he would want to see you this early in the morning?” Dorme looked at Padme and noticed a nervous look come across Padme’s face.
“ I agree with you. What he wants from me, makes me nervous. You know my feelings about this man. I still believe that he has had something to do with that assassination attempt on my life, even though he said it was Count Dooku. When the delegation and representatives come for their meeting, let them know that I will be with them, as soon as I can. Let them know that I am with the Chancellor. Well, let me put this stuff in my office, then I will head down to the Chancellor’s office.” Padme headed for her office and unlocked the door and walked inside.
Padme went over to her desk and put her stuff that she needed for her meetings today, in the bottom desk drawer. Then, relocking up it and headed out of her office and also locking it up again.
“ I will see you when you get back. I will let everyone know that you will be back soon.” Dorme smiled at Padme, before getting up and began making tea and Caf. Going back to her seat, she called down to the restaurant and ordered some finger sandwiches and sweet cakes, as they waited for Padme to come back for their meeting.
Padme left her office and headed down the hallway, to where the Chancellor’s office is located. Finally reaching the doors, she comes into the receiving office.
“ I will let him know that you are here to see him now.” the office aide looked up from his monitor.
“ Thank you.” Padme nodded to the man.
The aide stood up and headed for the Chancellor’s main office. He went inside and closed the door behind him. As she waited for the aide to come back, Padme began looking around the room. She noticed that a couple of paintings was of Naboo, and a couple of sculptures were from local artists from Naboo too.
“ Ah, Senator Amidala. It is a pleasure to see you this morning. Thank you for coming quickly.” Palpatine came up to Padme, with a wide smile on his face.
“ Oh . . . Chancellor Palpatine. Um . . . thank you. Your aide did tell me that you wanted to see me, as soon as possible. So, here I am.” Padme turned to see the creepy old man standing right behind her.
“ I see. Well, please, lets go into my office.” Palpatine motioned for her to follow him to his office.
Padme follows the older man into the other room and watches the older man take his seat behind his massive desk. She goes over to one of the small chairs that were in front of the desk.
“ Ok, can you please tell me why am here? I do have meetings today.” Padme looked at the man and trying to show him that she was not scared of him.
“ I understand that you have other people to see you today, and meetings, but this will only take a few minutes. I have something I want you to do for me and for the Republic too.” Palpatine leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk, before lacing his fingers together.
“ Ok. What is that you want me to do for the Republic?.” Padme sat back into the chair.
“ Well, I know that you have been in contact with the head of the government of the planet, Satturnline. I want you to go and talk to the head of this government and see if you can’t convince them to join our Galactic Senate and the Republic, of course.” Palpatine smiled, as he saw a discussing look come across Padme’s face.
“ I see. I have met Prince Branndyn of Satturnline a couple of times. I really don’t think he will join us, but I will try and get him to join us. I cannot promise that he will listen to me.” Padme looked at Palpatine, as a shiver went down her spine, because she knows that she has to head to that slimy person that she was hoping to never see again.
“ Oh, so, you know the person that you need to talk to. That is good news. Here is the terms that I want to give to the people of Satturnline.” Palpatine reaches over to his top drawer and picked up a data chip, before handing it over to Padme.
“ Unfortunately, I know him. Ok, I will give it to him, but I cannot promise that he will agree to any of your terms. If I cannot get him to do so, you may have to come see him in person, to do it.” Padme took the chip from the Chancellor, giving him a warning that he may be talking to the Prince himself.
“ From your tone, you don’t seem to like this person. We will see what happens when you get back here.” Palpatine was not smiling, when she gave him her attitude voice. ,p>“ Sorry, sir. I did not mean to give you an attitude, but let’s just say, the man is not to be trusted. There is something about him that is not right. What, am not sure. It seems he is hiding something.” Padme looked straight at him, to let him know that he too needs to be careful with this person.
“ I see. Well, thank you for your warning and I will keep my eyes on him and the system around the planet too. Well, I must let you get going for your meetings that you are having today.” Palpatine stood up, as did Padme.
“ Oh, when do you want me to leave for Satturnline?” Padme looked at him, as he came around his desk and led her to the office door.
“ Oh, sorry. You can have all of next week. The only things that are going on is small stuff and even I am not going to be there here either. I think I will head home to Naboo for a few days, myself.” Palpatine open the door and let Padme head out before him.
“ Ok. Then, I will leave early this weekend. You have a great break at home and I will let you know how things are, when we get back here.” Padme shook Palpatine’s hand and then turned and nodded to the aide, before leaving the office and headed back to her office.
She was coming to her office, when she saw the small group of people that she was going to have a meeting with, in a couple of minutes.
“ Senator Amidala is not here at the moment. She was called to see the Chancellor, but she should be here shortly. Please have a seat, and there is some food, Caf and tea.” Dorme looked at the small group that came into the room.
“ I am right here, Dorme. Please, everyone get something to eat and drink and we can have our meeting right here. Just let me get my stuff, then we can start whenever you guys are ready.” Padme walked in behind the group, smiled at everyone and motioned over to the food and drinks.
Everyone said thank you and went over and began getting the finger food and drinks. Padme went into her office and put the data chip that the Chancellor gave her, in her desk drawer, after she grabbed the stuff she needed for her meeting.
Finally, after a very long day of trying to come up with some solutions, to some of the problems that the people of Naboo were having, they were hoping that they could get some answers in the Senate. Padme and Dorme finally came home and they had a very quiet night, with dinner and watching shows on the holo-net.
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Four days later, Padme was just putting the last dress into her traveling bag, when Dorme came into the bedroom with Padme’s tea.
“ I would like for you to sit in the Senate session. I know there really isn’t anything going on, but I would like for you just there to record everything. Just in case something does come up that I may want to voice on. I should be gone for only three days or four, at the most.” Padme closed her bag, and then took the cup from Dorme and took a sip of the tea.
“ Ok, that sounds good. I have sent messages to everyone that there will be no meeting this week. Also that you will set up appointments to see them, when you get back.” Dorme grabbed the bag and followed Padme out of the room and she carried the bag to the door.
“ Thank you. That sounds good. Good morning, Typho. Are you ready?” Padme looked at the man that came into the room.
“ Morning, Padme. Yes, am ready and so is the ship. We are ready whenever you are.” the Chief of Security looked at both women, who came into the room.
“ Let me get a travel cup and then we can go. See you soon, Dorme and please take care.” Padme looked at her best friend and saw tears come to her friend’s eyes.
“ Yes, Padme. I am afraid that something will happen. I know and I will try to think positive and I will see you in a few days. Good luck in whatever that evil man has you doing for him.” Dorme wiped the tear away and handing Padme the travel cup. Giving her a hug, she then watched her friend leave the apartment with the Chief of Security.
Padme walked down the hallway to the landing platform and to the waiting ship. Once on board and settled in, the ship took off and took Padme to the one place she did not really want to be. Five hours later, the ship landed and waiting for them was Prince Branndyn and his Prime Minister, at the bottom of the ramp.
“ Senator Amidala, this is such a wonderful surprise. I got a call from the Chancellor and he told me that he was sending someone, but he did not tell me who would be showing up. I am so very happy that it is you that is here. Please ,lets get inside and dinner is ready for us.” Branndyn smiled, as he saw Padme come down the ramp. His smile got even bigger, when he saw that she was followed by Security Personnel and that is all.
“ Prince Branndyn, it is a pleasure to see you too. Dinner sounds great.” Padme came up to him and giving him a welcoming hug and kiss on the cheeks.
“ I noticed that you don’t have a Jedi Knight with you this time around.” Branndyn nodded to Captain Typho, who nodded back.
“ Um. . . Jedi Knight Skywalker was not able to come, due to the fact that he is away on a mission.” Padme slightly moved away from the Prince and then they began walking towards the inside of the palace.
“ Well, am sorry to hear that he could not join us. Please come with me and see to my other guests.” Branndyn put his hand on the small of Padme’s back, as to move her forward to the dining room.
Walking into the dining room, Padme had a bigger surprise. Her parents were sitting at the dining table. They all smiled at her and was happy to see that she was alone and did not have a Jedi Knight with her.
“ Mom, Dad, this is a surprise.” Padme looked at them, as she sat down across from them.
“ Padme, yes, this is surprise. We are here to set the wedding date for the end of this week.” Jobal smiled at the young people.
“ Um . . . excuse me? I was not informed about this. I cannot get married this weekend, because I was hoping to be back in the Senate in four days.” Padme looked at her mother and giving her and evil eye too.
“ We will talk about this later. There will be a wedding at the end of the week, if you like it or not. Do I make myself clear?.” Jobal told her youngest child, and giving her a look, as not to push her on the matter.
So all through dinner, Padme stayed pretty quiet, while the couple and the Prince made most of the arrangement of the wedding. They decided to make Padme a little happy and give her some time to let the Chancellor know that she will be leaving the Senate, at the end of next week, and she will be married next weekend.
After dinner, Padme headed to her room and settled down. She waited until everything was quiet, then headed down to her ship. She closed up the hatch and then went over to the communication center and dialed up Anakin’s number. She hoped that he would be able to pick up and talk to her.
“ Hey, can you come to Satturnline? I really need you here.” Padme begged Anakin, as tears came to eyes.
“ Let me guess, you were forced to go there. I will be there in about two hours.” Anakin had a feeling that this was either her parents doing or someone else.
“ Ok, I will be up and waiting. Land somewhere far from the palace. My parents had nothing to do with me being here. It was Palpatine that sent me here.” Padme gave Anakin a small smile.
“ I should have known he would be behind this. Ok, I will do that. See you soon and I love you, Padme.” Anakin smiled back at her.
“ I love you too, Ani. See you soon.” Padme smiled at her husband, before disconnecting their communication.
Padme went back into the palace and up to her room. She climbed into bed, and she fell sound asleep, waiting until Anakin showed up. Then, she could feel a lot better, knowing that he was with her to keep her safe from this evil person.