Sidious as he liked to call himself, having long ago started to resent his birth name, Sheev Palpatine, was smiling. He hated the name given to him by those insipid slavers he called parents, they tried to bind him with things like respect, responsibility, basic human decency. He would have none of it, he would not be bound! The only lessons he took from those cruel masters was favors were a currency, and political slight of hand.

  None of that mattered to Sidious right now. No, his pet, Padme Amidalla, had brought him two gifts! The first was a beautiful and impressionable boy, he could just taste him already! The simmering hate! The tragic past! He couldn't wait to get his claws into him and taste such wonderful emotions. He would grow into a wonderful acolyte, perhaps even an apprentice once he could end his master. He would have to gently guide his master away till then though, couldn't afford to have the old alien fool getting ideas, like who served who.

  The second however, was much more expected. Though he would have liked to have the young protege ended, he could do that later. Just another failure of Maul's, but one that brought it's own success! She had played her part beautifully! Her young face was so holo ready! With a strong face she denounced her strongest supporter, of all people! That beautifully executed betrayal, via political stab in the back! And the face he made! He couldn't have planned it better if he was writing a holo drama!

  And now? Pour old Palpatine had his hands tied! Even though he had become the chancellor as someone from a political backwater he could never move the politic body of the republic right?

  Ha! As if this wasn't his entire plan in the first place. He couldn't wait to see the face Padme made as he turned Naboo into a wasteland filled with slave miners. Naboo deserved nothing less for what it did to him! Oh he couldn't wait, he loved it when children screamed and ranted against the world, the unfairness of it all! He loved that beautiful struggle as he ripped out their heart, sometimes literally, the tears, the pain, the fear, everything!

  And oh, was he 'bogged down' in politics. So many favors! So many bribes! He was spoiled for choice, unlike when he was a mere senator that actually had to work for things. Not that he couldn't afford it before, he had a controlling stake in... most things. It was why he wanted the Trade Federation to take the fall. He didn't have much stock in it, and what he did have was shorted. Instead he had several other transportation industries under his thumb, corellion smuggling transportation one of them.

  So, when the Trade Federation fell and paved the way for other transportation industries to take it's market share he would be in the perfect position to amplify his portfolio. Not that anybody realized that he had been slowly building up his stock in things perfectly positioned to take advantage of the coming war, and the dearth from the megacorps that would disappear. He only wished he could get rid of them all, only to replace them with his own. Still though, he would make trillions of credits basically overnight. A thousand times increase in his estimated value wasn't small.

  Sidious looked out from his apartment window at the top of 500 republic. He owned the building, but under a pseudonym like everything else. Even he didn't know what his true net worth is, let alone his, eargh, master's. He would have that alien's hide mounted on his wall soon enough, now that he was chancellor. It was the perfect time, the culmination of all his efforts. And soon his master would be dead and all the obstacles would move out of his way of their own volition!

  ..."Amidala did "

  Padme wasn't having a good day. Her people were back on her planet under the thumb of the trade federation. Who knows what they were doing to those poor aliens under her care, let alone the Naboo citizens! The Gunguns might be technologically backward, but they were under the guiding hand of the Naboo, and it was her duty to protect them like all the other citizens under her aegis.

  Her decision to rush out through the blockade was an unpopular one. Many thought she was running away. However, she could not let the Trade Federation, those noseless green skinned scum get away with what they were doing. They would pay! And she would be the one to bring the hammer of justice upon them!

  But first, she had to navigate this unrepentant bureaucratic bantha fodder! Forget the trade federation, the core wasn't going to move their fleets for 'another backwater'. Fine, there are judicial fleets, it's their job. But they were 'busy' with anti-pirate raids. What was the trade federation but a planet raiding pirate? Oh, she like this one, 'we cannot in good conscious allow you our fleets on leave as they are currently needing aesthetic refurbishment'. A paint job, they couldn't give us their fleets because of a paint job. And that was even ignoring the endless replies of cutthroat 'give us your plasma, for less than what you paid the Trade Federation, no negotiations'. Worse then the pirates in the fed, no worse than the actual pirates, again worse than the fed!

  Queen Padme Amidala cried into her hands for who knows the how many-ith time, ruining her makeup. She had been constantly visiting senators and representatives, many only to slam the door in her face. She had gone to see the Jedi, but they would only send another 'negotiation delegation' and that would never be enough to save her people. One of her handmaidens came over and wiped away her smudged makeup, before reapplying it.

  These past few months since her escape she had been wearing her makeup and her regalia constantly in order to be ready to appear before any representatives at a moments notice. Granted, much of it was her 'moving' formal wear as she called it, and not her 'sitting' formal wear. But it didn't matter, neither was meant for the abuse she was constantly putting them through.

  Naboo practiced 'Hanakotoba' which was the 'language of flowers'. This also meant 'flowers' as in women. Padme had thousands of floral scents and perfumes, not to mention the hairpins for her hair or even the ribbons, bows, and belts of her dress. Every. Single. Accessory. had a meaning! And she had to know them all! Infuriating did not begin to mention it! Worse, if she did not wear the right ones, the right mix of perfumes, it could be devastating to her career! It was said that king Veruna's downfall came not from his corruption, but because he accidentally wore the perfume of welcoming a mistress around the woman's husband! And it turned out he had been sleeping with her!

  She did not want to go the way of her predecessor. She could not afford to, not in her people's time of need. It seemed that she was getting the most traction from the Kuati, her people's shared tradition was something that brought respect, almost kinship. But they would still need time to build a fleet. Their new treaty vessel an '' that pushed the russan reforms further than even the acclaimed and venerated did. still, she was loath to wait so long. As long as she could gather a fleet, she could return to Naboo and bring the fed to heel!

  Her holo rang. Palpatine had been kind enough to loan her a room in his apartment. Even being so kind as to leave the apartment when she needed to shower and change, which could take a long time for a 'queen' of Naboo...

  She did not recognize the number, but that was no surprise, she was called at all hours by deep beasts that deserved their place in the dark depths they called home. They knew wounded prey, and she could admit to herself she was wounded prey, desperate for anything. So she answered the holo while she looked up the number, of course not before making sure her full regalia was presentable. At least she didn't need to walk through a storm of carefully choreographed perfume first.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  The first thing she recognized was that this was the inside of a ship... familiar... Oh, a sheathopede! the second was that these were not senators, magacorp execs, or people of power or influence. Well, maybe from corellia, those people took pride in looking like slobs.

  No, these were not people she recognized "Who are you, and how did you get this number?" She asked. Only belatedly did she realize that had to be the most common thing said in every holodrama ever, right after 'oh no Prath, I could never leave my husband!'.

  "Wehniekirth Bridmari at your service, but you can call me Brid, rogue, adventurer, explorer extraordinaire!" Said some kid, I was about to end the call when he was tossed, literally tossed, aside by a wookiee "Who the corellion hells let whiney near the holocorder?! Stay put force damn it!" Said an familiar older gentleman. A young professional woman also came into focus. "My name's not Whiney!" stated the kid only for the wookiee to scream in his face, which seemed to cow him.

  "And who are you?" she asked. "My name's Ber, but that's not important..." Oh yes, Ber! Now she remembered. And what he had to tell her, well...

  Queen Amidala was on the war path. She did not so much walk, as march with people, usually she would have to make way for the busy assistants hurrying to and fro, now diving out of the way for her. Literally in one case, but he seemed to have some form of PTSD and muttered something about "about to go postal" she didn't understand. It probably had to do with the fact she had her full guard detail as well as her handmaids, all armed. Technically that was a violation, but she had been given a pass as they had been attacked by several assailants. Ironically, she believed the Trade Federation when they said they weren't theirs, as they were just low leveled thugs, earned her points though so she still blamed them.

  Her target? One senator Tarkin. He and Mon Mothma were talking to each other after she called them for a meeting. Well, called was an overstatement. She had made them aware that she was meeting them. Mon Mothma was sympathetic to her plight, but couldn't move her fleet as the vast majority did not conform to the reforms. She had pledged a large amount of support vessels though.

  Tarkin however, was the opposite. He had a large fleet regularly patrolling the rim to protect from pirates. And while his fleet was in the opposite side of the galaxy, if properly coordinated it could reach Naboo by the time she got back herself. But what he wanted her people could barely afford. Because he wanted Naboo. She only hoped that they could reach Naboo before there wasn't any Naboo left to save...

  Brid coward under threat of wookiee beatings. He had faced beatings before, usually by his dad after he did something admittedly stupid, not that he would ever admit that it was stupid. Still, he wanted to talk to the queen. I mean, how often do you actually get to talk to one of those high ranking government types, right? Let alone a queen of all people! She was even doled up just like she was in the holovids! And she was right there! The wookiee raised it's fist in preparation to strike, brid coward and surrendered. Keeping quiet probably did save his life, though he would never admit it.

  "There, that did it, she has everything we have." Ber said as he turned off the holo. "Why did you have to stop me, I had a real shot with her!" Said Brid. Everybody in the room stilled. "We needed to tell THE queen of Naboo, intel of vital life and death importance, and you are complaining because we interrupted you booty call?! She's like 12 and you're 27! You disgusting perv!" Screamed Ber.

  "You don't know how old she is! She could be 18 for all you know! Besides, she's rich, and this could have been my only shot!" He said. Ber didn't stop the wookiee from beating him this time. The only thing he said was "Don't break anything, we can't spare the bacta. Not that I think this waste of air is worth it, but he has been surprisingly useful in situations that he is, in fact, useful, I'm still not sure it's worth it." Stated Ber. Brid had supplied at hotfix for when the Trade Federation had supplied the shutdown codes. What he failed to mention was that by applying the hotfix 'slicers update' to the ship it would void the warrantee, which was apparently the thing that set off the hidden B1s and not actually stealing the ship...

  Ber didn't know what to do, they had no direction and this section of space didn't have a hyperwave connection he could use. Fiz was out of it, apparently the corellian had not taken well to being taken prisoner and was treated with more tender loving care by their caretakers than the naboo. Ber didn't know how to feel about that, that his people took to being other people's property better than any others.

  So he jumped from system to system, the coordinates taking him along a narrow route. Apparently loading up the astronavigation comp with a full nav map would have been excessively expensive for the company, copyrights and lawsuits. Good to know that not everything goes in the favor of the big guys.

  Unfortunately following a corporate route meant that you were bound to run into corporate assets, as the munificent frigate demonstrated. Fiz woke up when tubolaser fire started to bounce off of the shields. Good to know not even the unflappable corellion could sleep through immenant death. Lucky for them though that they couldn't properly aim the main guns at them this far out, and the anti-fighter armaments didn't make it near close enough to do damage.

  But that didn't stop the problem that the explosions alone from the medium turbolasers would be enough to shake this craft apart if they didn't do something fast. Fiz took over the controls and aimed us on a swerving path angled around the munificent. It wasn't directly taking us under the guns, but it would keep us in their firing arc for longer than Ber felt healthy. Still, the Munificent wouldn't be able to turn before they were past, and then it wouldn't be able to follow before they were long gone. After they were out of system they could see about updating the navicomp. But they had to live first.

  Dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging turbolaser fire. Ber wasn't sure if it was just sweat, or he peed himself a little, Fiz seemed calm and collected like it was just another Tuangsday. For fiz minutes they dodged turbolasers that could vaporize any trace of them. But finally they were free from the munificent. Just a little further and they would be able to escape from the jump point out of this space.

  Which is when they hit the ship with the shutdown codes, lowjacking it, locking the controls. Luckily it didn't send the ship back toward the munificent, but the turbolaser fire was back, and while it was still way off, bursting in space, it was getting closer, and they were sitting nerf.

  "Out of my way!" Screamed Brid. He dove under the controls and ripping things out of there sockets. He pulled out two wires, crossed them until they sparked, then jammed them into the console in various spots. He did the same for a couple of other wires, this brought back thrusters and shields, but the navicomp was still out, and most of the controls were locked.

  Once he was done down below he popped a hidden panel in the console and unlocked a num pad hidden beneath. He took out a card from a slot, input some numbers, put it back in the slot, pulled out another card, put it in the num pad, hit some numbers and slammed it closed. The console lit up in full and everything turned back on!

  "Ha! Good to see they use the factory reset codes. I wasn't sure it would be the same ones I used to steal airspeeders for joyrides but it seems the more things change the more they stay the same. Same exact ones, same exact procedure!" Said Brid.

  "What the hell did you just do?" Ber screamed. He was excited to survive, but he had no clue what was going on. Fiz jammed us into hyperspace and we were gone. With a class 1 there was no way they would be able to keep up with us while we escaped.

  "Oh, well there are these common codes that almost every manufacturer puts into their speeders, and apparently ships so 'qualified' mechanics can perform a factory reset and refurbish. I learned that in tech class" "Which you flunked, hard" Ber put in, "Hey, I learned what I needed, too, the rest was useless! Like how much is too much pressure before a reactor overloads. Who cares? The computer can handle that. Anyway, we don't have a hyperwave to install the new factory codes, so the warrantee is voided, but what does that matter?" He finished.

  We all kind of agreed with him, what did we care about the warrantee of a stolen ship we got off the feds? It didn't matter, and we were going to be in hyper for a couple of days with this jump. Finally into a system that should have a registered hyperwave connection. Which was why they had chosen it.

  Waking up to B1s chanting about voided warrantees was not fun. Even the wookiee pissed himself since the creepy bastards hovered over them while they slept, trying to strangle them in their sleep. It didn't work very well, but Ber and the rest of the humans had some bruising around their necks after they finished cleaning the droids up. They had apparently tried to get into the weapons locker, but that had also locked and switched codes when the reset happened, and the droids couldn't figure the new ones out.

  Funnily the new codes were Aerek, Besh, Cresh, Cherek, Dorn, Esk. Apparently the B1s never learned their letters. Also, had to keep Shynook from killing Jape. The wookiee was not happy with droids at the moment, but Jape was basically his only lifeline for us to understand him. Once he realized that talking to us would basically be a nightmare of twenty questions and charades, he gave up his plot for murder... for now...