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Everyone had bad days. Some people even had terrible days sometimes. One thing was certain though, bodies would be dropping if it was a bad day for Lord Vader. Today had been a Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, judging by the growing pile of bodies the trooper saw. They didn’t want to go in the room. There were already twenty bodies stacked up outside the room. Who in their right mind would go in this room?
They had to though. Someone had to tell Lord Vader he had a visitor from Coruscant. Taking a deep breath they knocked as lightly as they could on the door, leaning as far away as their armor would let them.The door slid open slowly with a menacing his. They were almost certain they were going to die. Straightening their back, they faced their death like they were supposed to, a proud soldier of the empire.
“What do you want?” Came from the menacing Lord Vader’s vocoder as he loomed over the poor trooper. They wanted to cry and would have cried had the sounds not been audible to Lord Vader.
“Sir, there’s a ship from Coruscant for you. Three passengers and two droids in total. We believe two of the passengers are Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, known members of the Rebel Alliance,” they managed to stammer out.
Before they were done getting their reply out Lord Vader was sweeping out of the room, leaving them to scamper behind him. Keep pace with him they continued, “We aren’t sure we’ve identified the third life sign correctly, sir.”
Vader either didn’t hear that or ignored the trooper as they continued to the hangar bay. The ship in the bay was an older model, out of style now. The trooper supposed it would have been in style about twenty years ago if they had to guess. Good thing they didn’t.
The towering figure stood with his arms crossed as the ship’s ramp lowered. The trooper stood with the rest of their brethren, slightly behind Lord Vader guns at the ready. When the ramp lowered several guns went down in shock. There was the Skywalker boy and the Organa girl holding hands and chatting like old buddies.
“Come on mom, you said you wanted to talk to dad,” Luke called impishly.
If the boy had any common sense he wouldn’t have been in such casual attire. His black outfit was much less menacing than Lord Vader’s, in the trooper’s own very humble opinion. That was neither here nor there though. The Organa girl had her hair done up in her twin buns and was looking rather radiant, not that trooper noticed.
Leia smiled and folded her hands with her hip cocked out once she reached the bottom of the ramp and said, “Yeah, mom, come meet Daddy Dearest.”
Lord Vader reeled back and breathed, “Twins? I would have known.” His voice sounded choked up and the trooper was impressed they were allowed to witness this. How were they not all being killed right in here boots? None of them were sure.
“Yes father, you did,” Leia answered, a mischievous smirk on her face, “and she's pissed at you.”
This was when Lord Vader seemed to realize something. With a scream of fury, he turned and several of the troopers fell under his fury, crumpling into misshapen balls on the floor. They were luckily on the far end of the line so they were safe. They were sad their brethren had fallen though. They had been such good people.
They took a step back in shock though when a sharp female's voice called, “Ani, stop this madness, right now!”
A regal woman walked down the ramp. The trooper couldn't believe their eyes. It was Padmé Amidala. Everyone on The Empire’s side went still with shock. Lord Vader fell into a kneeling position. The trooper, the only one left standing, scrambled to follow his lead. They bent their head and heard a heavy sigh.
“Everyone can stand up,” came Amidala’s voice.
They slowly rose even as Lord Vader remained on his knees. If they didn’t know better they would say the way his shoulders were shaking indicated he was crying. They however did, in fact, have enough wherewithal to ignore it. They were transfixed however by Senator, well not anymore but Amidala. She was still the radiant vision they remembered from before the fall. Vader stood when her hand guided him up into standing.
Everyone stood, observing each other before Amidala pulled back her arm and swung it for all she was worth. A loud CRACK sounded as she connected with his face mask. Everyone, even Lord Vader’s “children,” gaped openly at the display.
“Tell me, Anakin, are you dense? The first thing you do once I’m dead or dying is go become a Sith Lord who rules an empire. An empire , not a republic like we once visioned. Did you go out of your mind ?” She snarled, a beautiful woman full of passion.
Silence reigned for a few moments. For a second the trooper contemplated running for they were sure they were going to get it soon as well. Who knew with this crazy lady? She had just slapped Darth Vader who terrified even the emperor at times. This lady was crazy. They knew that much, at the least.
When Amidala turned to them their back straightened and they saluted instantly. It would be best not to upset the, clearly disturbed, woman. With one finger crooked, she beckoned them closer. Uncertain, they walked forward, silently fearing for their lives. There was no way this would be ending well, in their minds.
“Please, help my husband to his chambers. He and I will need to have a talk regarding his life after my supposed death,” She informed them.
“Yes ma’am,” They concurred.
They helped their lord to their bedroom, quickly scurrying out of the room later. The boys at the canteen would not believe this and there was no way they were sticking around. Running down to the canteen they ordered the strongest drink they had onboard and threw it back before never believe what happened…”