Chapter Text
Padme and Lancer were crammed too close together in the cargo hold of some rusty old freighter, the old engines rumbling beneath them with a kind of vibration that Padme could only assume meant that the ship was in dire need of maintenance or even a full refit. Lancer's strong arms held her tight, though, so even as the g-forces pulled them this way and that they remained more or less still. After a few minutes, the roar of the engines breaking atmo became a low, distant rumble, and the gravity aboard the ship normalized.
"L-Lancer..." she murmured weakly.
"Hmm? What is it milady?"
"You're holding too tight... I can't breathe."
"Ohh! Sorry 'bout that! Haha!"
As he laughed awkwardly and released her, she turned as much away from his face as she could, her cheeks warm with what she could only assume was a bright red blush.
"Ha... quite a first class accommodation we've secured, eh?"
Padme sighed.
"It was hardly my first choice to cuddle in the cargo bay of some beat-up old merchant freighter but it was the earliest flight out that we could guarantee wouldn't just sell us out to the Hutts."
"Hmm... the slug-guys? Are they really that threatening?"
"The Hutt Syndicate basically rules this part of the galaxy. Their deep pockets buy out all the local governments - where there even are any - and everywhere without actual laws, well, they just run the place through sheer muscle. Hiring the meanest thugs the galaxy has to offer to shake down every city, town, village, and out of the way farmhouse."
"So they just pay people to fight for 'em, huh?"
Padme wrinkled her brow, half-smiling in her confusion.
"Of course. Money runs everything, how could they get people to obey them otherwise?"
"Well by being strong enough to inspire others to follow or obey, I guess. Are these Hutts strong themselves?"
Padme folded her arms.
"Maybe.. a little bit stronger than most humans? I've never heard of a Hutt lord doing his own dirty work, though."
Lancer frowned at that.
"Pathetic. There's no way I'd ever lose to such weaklings."
Padme laughed sardonically at that.
"What, you're saying that you'd take down the entire syndicate yourself?"
Lance leaned back and looked up, as though imagining the scene in his head.
"Mmmm... not the entire syndicate, I guess. Gangs like that will just fall apart if you cut off the serpent's head, as it were. I'd just kill the local Hutt and watch all his spineless underlings run away."
His eyes narrowed as he looked back down at her. For a moment, the incredibly serious stare he shot her made her heart skip a beat, and in that instant Padme had no doubt that this impressive blue-haired man would simply kill Jabba the Hutt. But he seemed to finally read the atmosphere a half-heartbeat's moment later, and his murderous gaze softened and he just smiled.
"But we're getting away from all that, right?"
Padme just nodded. A few silent moments they sat there, crammed into the small container in the hold like cheap spacer rations, before the trilling of her wrist-mounted communicator split the peaceful silence. She fumbled with the controls a moment before responding.
"Captain?" she asked flatly, confused. The communicator had been provided by the freighter's captain in case they were scanned, boarded, or otherwise attacked.
"Ye'll wanna hear this, Madame Senator. 'pparently them Separatists have gone an' separated. They encountered a Republic fleet over Corellia."
"Damn, so we're too late to tell the Senate of the Sith's scheme to rebel against the Republic."
She went silent a moment as her mind started racing, so many questions.
"Well, captain, what of the battle? Do we know who won, what the losses were?"
"Ermm... well it seems the Republic won and drove the Separatists away, but sounds like the losses were pretty light. Though some rebel bigwig got killed, apparently, beaten by.... idk, the Jedi or someone?"
"Alright. Thank you, captain."
Padme switched off the comms and looked back to Lancer. He looked like he was deep in thought over something.
"So what're you thinking, Lancer?" Padme asked coyly.
"Hmm... so they just beat one leader or whatever and the rest of their force just turns tail and runs away?"
Padme nodded.
"Sounds like what you said about the Hutts."
That made the tall blue-haired man smirk wickedly.
"More spineless cowards, then. Damn. At this rate, we ever make it to where the action's at, I might just have to kick everyone's ass and become king of the galaxy."
That elicited a short, genuine laugh from Padme.
"Ha! Maybe so, if you're half as tough as you think you are."
"Heheh. I'd like to think I'm twice as good as half as I think I am."
"Wouldn't that just mean you're exactly as tough as I say?"
"Heh. It would, wouldn't it?"
They shared a nice long laugh at that. Padme couldn't remember a time she laughed so hard. But as they stopped, they found themselves once again in a peaceful moment of silence, whereupon Lancer leaned in close again.
"So... what d'ye say?"
"Hmm? To what, Lancer?"
He smirked again, though there was an indecipherable glimmer in his ruby eyes.
"If I do become King of the Galaxy, I'd need a smart, strong queen beside me, wouldn't I?"
Padme's heart skipped another beat before starting to pound in her chest.
"W-well... I-I'd need to to know my king's name first, wouldn't I? "Lancer" is clearly a nickname or code name. So before all that, I would need you to-"
"It's Cu. Cu Chulainn, the Hound of Culain."
"Cu-"
She didn't have time to say anything or protest before she found his lips on hers, there in the cramped, hot, humid, sweaty cargo container they were stuck in for the next several hours. She didn't fight it, though, her body had been telling her to go for it for a while, now. Lancer... Cu was impetuous, pig-headed, violent, and a bit clueless. Unlike Anakin, he was also... incredibly manly and confident and had given her nary a complaint in their time together. Cu Chulainn had also trusted her, listened to her, and followed her faithfully.
Like a strong, loyal guard dog. One who never betrays its master.
And just as she thought, his hands were the perfect size and strength to hold her close.