Chương 127: V.2-C.28│Problems in Paradise X│
Ahsoka after having her little fit of anger at failing, begrudgingly made her way over to the area the others were no doubt at.
One may ask how she had come across the Pawn? It was due to two factors, being at the right place at the right time and the Force telling her that this is the person, at least partially responsible for what had happened.
She trusted the Force to a certain extant because Anakin had told her not to always believe that the Force would solve all of their problems. All of hers, or anyone else for that matter.
"Ahsoka!" Someone called out her name and she saw that it was Aayla, and she was alongside someone else.
Shaak and Barriss were no where to be seen, as well as Zannah and Rynalla.
"Aayla!" She called back as she came closer.
Aayla turned towards the woman next to her and introduced both Ahsoka and the woman. "Ahsoka, this is Padme. Padme, this is Ahsoka."
"Nice to meet-" They both started at the same time and would continue to try and start and talk but would say the same thing at the same time.
Aayla found this amusing and she laughed, which prompted both of the other girls to laugh as well.
"Where did you go, by the way?" Aayla asked Ahsoka.
"I nearly had the guy." Ahsoka said.
"Nearly had who?" It was Padme whom had asked.
"He called himself the Pawn and was running away from the area. He was somehow connected to what has been going on."
"And you went off to chase after the guy yourself?" Aayla gave her a knowing look.
"Leave me alone, ok. I just wanted to help." Ahsoka pouted.
"Yeah, yeah. Just know that Anakin wont be happy with what has happened. Both at you going after the person while at the same time still losing him." Aayla said to her as she patted her head.
"Don't do that. I am grown up now." Ahsoka was in the stages of wanting to be seen as an adult, but it would be a while yet before she hits a proper growth spurt.
"Where did Ani go?" Padme asked out of nowhere as they started talking about him.
"We dont know. All we know is that he had left the planet to go and quote on quote finish something. It somehow relates to what has happened." Aayla replied.
The damage had been kept to a minimum, those harmed were taken away and all that was left now is to help out with the aftermath of the event. Which was something Padme was adamant in wanting to doing, instead of going back to the palace with Aayla.
In fact the others, Shaak, Barriss, Rynalla and Zannah had gone of into other directions that were in need of some assistance. Shaak and Barriss genuinely wanted to help some people out while Rynalla and Zannah couldn't care any less for these people, they were apart of the Empyrean.
They were people Anakin was upset about the death of and they knew, both Rynalla and Zannah knew that it would be best to act in the best interests of him. The both of them had an interest or investment with Anakin themselves, whether this be on purpose by Rynalla or unintentionally by Zannah.
"What happened to the others? I dont see them around..." Ahsoka left off as she was glancing every which way to find out where the others possibly were.
"The others split off from me, and once I arrived everything was basically already taken care of." Aayla said as she answered Ahsoka's question.
"Ok, I guess that is fine then." Ahsoka said with a sigh of relief she was unknowingly holding in which only leads Padme and Aayla to smile at her. Knowing that she IS really like Anakin as Anakin's mother had said she is.
"By the way Ahsoka, did the man, the 'Pawn' mention anything else about what he is doing here? His purpose or anything like that?" Padme asked her.
"Well... He didn't say anything else but there was someone that had come to help him. It seemed like they were hired help." Ahsoka answered.
"Hired help?" Padme was thinking to herself as she hummed as well, adopting a thinking posture.
"What is it?" Ahsoka, ever curious, asked.
"It is nothing much, but to do all of this, they would surely need alot of time, effort, planning and maybe even alot of money. One simply cant just pull out explosive devices capable of avoiding detection on a planet as secure as this without some advanced technology." Padme explained.
"Or money." Aayla supplied knowing all to well that this was probably a planned attack intent on causing chaos. Possibly it was random but it was in the heart of the Empyrean and it would surely upset many.
Especially those in leadership positions like Shmi and the person behind the scenes, Anakin.
Whoever it was, they wanted their attention, now they have most certainly got it and it may not be the type of attention they were looking for.
Certainly not when the type of attention they would be receiving was coming from Anakin. The girls had only really ever known about his light side, where he is mostly selfless in alot of what he does. When it came to the public, even those outside of his empire, he cared enough to try and change the Order.
It didn't work of course which lead to him leaving along with them and no doubt people have taken him as an example and have left as well, but this only went to show Anakin's fame. Within both the Republic and the Empyrean, even out in the Outer Rims people at the very least respected what he had done and managed to accomplish.
Even with the help of the mysterious figure Vader and his mother, Shmi being the main person in charge, everyone knew that without Anakin, there would be no Empyrean.
There would be no freedom within the Outer Rims and there most certainly wouldn't be more people alive then there were the days before, the years before or in any other alternate timeline.
"Yes, or money." Padme continued. "We will need to regroup back within the palace to talk more about this. Everyone here has basically been taken care of, but I would still like to stay." Padme looked over to the one child that had died during the attack.
His body now moved to somewhere more safe and as a sign of respect had a blanket covering his mangled, destroyed body. She remembered the look in Anakin's eyes and it saddened her immensely.
"We should go back then." Aayla said as she gestured for Ahsoka to follow her.
"But why dont we-" Ahsoka was going to question but was interrupted as Padme said.
"You dont have to stay. I was given a task and I also wish to follow through with it. Anakin wanted me to stay here with the people and give them my support, so I will. Not only for him but for myself and everyone else here." She said to Ahsoka who wanted to stay.
"Oh." Ahsoka brilliantly replied.
"Come on, the Empress will want to know of this information, and so would Anakin like to know of this 'Pawn' as well." Aayla said to Ahsoka as she started to drag her away from one of the places of destruction.
"Ok. See you later, um, Padme?" Ahsoka called out as she was being dragged along.
"Yes, you may call me as such." Padme replied before she was out of hearing range and turned around to get back to what was asked of her. After this is done, she would be going to the palace to meet up with the others as well.
'Hopefully Ani is ok.' She thought to herself as she moved over to another elderly person that was shocked from the event but actually injured. Even if they were, the special super serum injected into the people of the Empyrean advanced their healing capabilities.
Meaning if this elderly was injured, then it meant she was probably all healed up before Padme had come over to her. In fact, it may have happened near instantaneously based upon the condition of such injuries.
This went to show the insane efficiency and effectiveness of the super serum.
"Are you alright madam?" Padme asked as she approached her and started to have a nice chat despite what has happened, allowing Padme to better understand her situation.
To better understand the importance of her decision to marry Anakin and her importance in leaving the Republic. She wanted to know about the Empyrean and just how much had changed throughout her time of absence from Tatooine.
A lot had changed and it seemed to be for the better.
Entirely so, that it seemed as if it was an entirely different or separate place from the slavers planet she knew of before.
[]
"Now that I have everyone's attention, I would like to go over the events of what has happened." Shmi had to yet again tell people about what was going on and she starting to get tired of it. At least she didn't have to do this forever and would rather create a press conference where she would explain everything out in the open.
In fact she had called a press conference to address the event.
She went on to talk about the casualties, about how she would put an end to the dissidents uprising because it got in the way of the prosperity and safety of the Empyrean and her people.
It was rousing and many people within the Empyrean would feel relieved that Shmi was addressing this situation publicly and out in the open while keeping near 100% transparency. She would need to give everyone a target to blame and they knew just who they were.
This further incentivized the citizens to worship Anakin as a divine being and his mother as the mother of that divine being.
Why wouldn't they love the people that had helped free them, helped them get back on their feat and propel them into prosperity of which had immensely elevated the living conditions of themselves and their loved ones.
Then there are the droids, which were also listening to this believing that they had missed out on something. An opportunity to proves themselves to the Prince, worthy of his praise and it would increase their fervor.
Everyone was becoming more and more zealous, which resulted in less and less tolerance among the people overall. This would stop change and would hamper freedom if Anakin wasn't careful managing the moods of the people.
Just as the media was a powerful tool, it could not only be used by someone, it could also be used against them. In fact, following this tool analogy, Anakin, if he messes up big time somewhere along the way would be him mishandling the tool.
With no protection and care to make sure the tool doesn't degrade, Anakin would need to ensure it is kept up to standard.
Shmi while knowing and experiencing alot of things was still not a political mastermind manipulator behind the shadows and was mostly not in the know of more intrigue based situations. Not that it would have all mattered as she could access those files anyway.
No, she just didn't want to look into it as she would most likely cause some problems. She knew where her place was and what she needed to do for her son. Soon enough she would not have to deal with all of this and would only be semi-directly connected because she would still be the Empress or Queen-Dowager to the Empyrean.
"Thank you. That is all and I hope that all of you will show your support for those of whom have lost their family today. Your community matters and so do you." Shmi finished the conference as she reentered the palace to find that her son was there.
He seemed like he was ok but she knew that outside appearances could be deceiving.
"Ani?" Shmi asked her son that was standing there. He had no usual smile he had but instead a blank face, and if Shmi was Force-sensitive with the ability to sense his emotions she would be saddened.
"I am fine." The usual that is said by a person that is totally fine.
"It is ok." Shmi does the motherly thing and just hugs her child where she feels that Anakin releases some tension built up from within. She could see it by the way he was standing, his posture gave away that he was still angry.
"I know." Anakin replied while sighing. "I should've done more." He was starting to regret trying to control such a faction just to pull out those who are against him and while successful, it still came at a price he was unwilling to pay.
"Why dont we go back inside. We can talk more in there and you can tell me all about what you did." Shmi lead him through the palace into a private room.
"You may not want to know everything." Anakin said.
"Then only tell me an edited version." Shmi said as she was not against Anakin having some privacy.
The two then would have a talk before reconvening with everyone else, getting the knowledge about everything else. From the success to the failure of Ahsoka being able to identify who the 'Pawn' was and where they came from while also lamenting the failure of not capturing him.
A constellation would be Padme now having semi-safely arrived here on Tatooine and Anakin would be celebrating that at least.
A memorial would take place however, in a memory of those who were lost in the attack. It was the only natural course of events to take place.
Anakin would also upgrade the defensive systems in place around Tatooine and on other worlds to make sure an attack like that didn't happen again. An oversight that should of not happened but because of the lack of resources to do so, they got away with it.
Surveillance and order was properly restored to Kemal Station. Droids were now back on the station and those around them.
Anakin would have to deal with what is to come next now.
His ascension to the throne and position of Emperor while introducing Padme and Aayla as his wives, that while he had already married, knew that they would want something more for their loved ones to witness.
For Aayla, she would like to invite her master, her father figure and others her life while Padme would also officially have those from her family attend as well.
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