757For those of you who might need an extra smile today. And as always thank you all for the amazing support.
As I was writing this chapter, I realized that there's a lot in Attack of the Clones that doesn't make sense and isn't fully explained. I tried to fill in any gaps with the novels and interesting opinions I found on forums, which did provide insight into some of the political motivations that might not have been obvious in the movie or happened off screen.
Part II
Chapter 1 – I Set Myself on Fire, Again
Look, I didn't want to be the head of security for an important public figure. But after years of Panaka wearing me down and sort of coincidentally saving Padmé from a few assassination attempts where I just happened to be in the right place at the right time – really, I was just there to be a supportive fiancé for Annabeth, who's Padmé's chief advisor – I ended up with the job as head of security for Padmé when she became the Senator of Naboo for the Galactic Republic. And I know some of you must be thinking, 'You can barely keep yourself alive, Percy, how are you going to keep someone else alive?' Well, that was exactly why I had avoided the job for as long as I had, and perhaps I should have avoided it a little longer considering what happened the day Padmé returned to Coruscant for a very important vote on the Military Creation Act.
I should've known things would go badly. This particular bit of politics, the MCA, or as I call it the Majorly Conflicting Aggravation, has caused more trouble than a Hunters' visit to Camp Halfblood. I know I used to joke about an Annabeth vs. Padmé showdown, but after dealing with it for several months, it was anything but funny. See, the whole thing started about two years ago. This Duke guy or maybe he's a Count like Dracula – anyways, he gave this fancy speech on the HoloNet that basically blamed the Senate and Jedi for allowing the decline of the ideals and morals of the Galactic Republic, blah, blah, blah. Now, I know this might sound like when your grandpa says, 'Back in my day . . . children knew their place. They were eaten and happy about it.' (I have a feeling those words might only apply to my grandfather, but you get the point.) Older people are always talking about how things were better 'Back in their day.' It's truly an inter-universal phenomenon.
However, this guy did more than just gripe about the good old days. He was an ex-Jedi that called out the corruption in the Senate and the favoritism to the Core Worlds suggesting that the Galactic Republic no longer served all the systems it represented, that systems would be more prosperous if they were given the freedom to look after their own interests. Even Annabeth admitted that this old guy had a point to an extent. She used the Invasion of Naboo as an example to show how the Senate had failed to act and give Naboo the help it needed. She predicted that a lot of systems would be tempted by Duke-guy's offer for more freedom, less regulation, less taxes, and no dependence on the Senate. Some would join because they felt neglected by the Senate and wanted to focus on what would help their planet and not the Core Worlds.
I know it sounds like a good idea. Hades, even I kind of respected the guy since he left the Jedi Order because he didn't like that they were unwilling to do anything about the corrupt politicians and actually help people – something I agree with despite all my Jedi trainers saying that 'It wasn't their place to get involved with politics, only keep the peace.' However, while Duke-guy's ideas were tempting in theory, Annabeth pointed out that the supposed freedom of his political ideology also meant systems and corporations would no longer have to deal with trade regulations or follow those pesky workforce labor laws or worry about pollution. It meant systems could have slaves if their local leaders decided it was 'best for their system.' Maybe, back when I was twelve, I would have believed that leaders would actually do what was best for their systems, but now, I know that far too many gods – I mean politicians – feel that 'best for their system' is really code for whatever is best for the person in power. Funny how a guy who was trying to stop corruption might have developed a system of government that made it even easier for corrupt leaders.
Anyways, after grandpa's big speech several Outer Rim systems and a few of the more corporate minded delegations decided to leave the Republic and form their own Confederacy of Independent Systems or CIS. For the first time in like thousands of years the galaxy was divided. Besides the Hutts and a few other independent systems, everything had been the Republic. Over the past two years more systems joined. They seemed to be fairly well funded and supplied, so Annabeth used some of her slicing and hacking hybrid skills with Daedalus 2.0, not to mention the somewhat illegal spying on the new holo-devices (using Iris message wavelengths), and found they had some corporate backing from the Techno Union, Commerce Guild, and Corporate Alliance. She even thought that the Banking Clan might be involved, but they had better security, so she wasn't sure. Despite the information, she technically could do nothing. There currently were no laws against supporting other systems outside of the Republic, but there were definitely laws against what Annabeth did, or there would be if the laws ever caught up to Annabeth's technology. Because of that, Annabeth didn't tell too many people, just Padmé and occasionally the Jedi or Palpatine if they asked. Surprisingly, the Trade Federation was one of the few powerful corporations that hadn't agreed to help the CIS despite Duke-guy approaching them multiple times. Annabeth figured they were currently happy enough with their profitable holo-projector trade deal, but who knew how long that would last, especially since Mr. Sleezeball himself, Nute Gunray, was still in charge. It was only a matter of time before he decided the CIS would help his profits or something else equally as greedy.
As you can imagine, this all caused a lot of tension in the Galactic Senate, so much so that the Senate elected to extend Palpatine's final term as chancellor. Of course, this made both Annabeth and I wary, but there really wasn't another strong candidate that could at least somewhat unite the Senate. Annabeth compared it to the unprecedented third and fourth term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was a son of Zeus by the way, during World War II. As a precaution though, she did work with several senators to try and build as many balances as she could for Palpatine's extension of power. Shortly after extending Palpatine's term, the Galactic Senate started to get worried that the CIS might decide to attack Republic systems and block trade routes. Since the Republic still didn't have an army, the Military Creation Act was proposed in the Senate. This MCA proposal sparked a huge year-long debate causing division in the Senate and for the first time between Annabeth and Padmé. While the two very intelligent and stubborn women had their differences in the past, this was the first time they truly disagreed about something to the point where neither would back down. See, Padmé was a part of the Loyalist Committee, which acted as an advisory group for Chancellor Palpatine regarding the Separatist Crisis. She opposed the MCA because she felt that creating an army of the Republic would discourage peaceful negotiations to bring the separated systems back to the Republic and escalate violence leading to war. Annabeth, however, had a feeling that the Sith was behind this, despite the lack of Trade Federation involvement. It sounded too much like his threat to tear the galaxy into two. Plus, she had found an increase in armed droid production mainly from the Techno Union and the Trade Federation. Someone was building an army, and she wanted to make sure the innocent people of the Republic would at least be protected before the Sith instigated an attack and forced them into a war anyways.
While initially it started with just heated arguments between Annabeth and Padmé, it escalated quickly to shouting in the usually peaceful halls of the Theed palace. Naboo's leaders were torn between the two with the governor and Panaka supporting Annabeth's view and the Queen siding with Padmé. Even though I understood Padmé's view, I sided with Annabeth. I always thought it was weird that the Republic didn't have an army anyways. But it all came to a climax, during a meeting in the throne room six months ago:
I was just sitting there minding my own business standing behind Padmé and practicing my Force meditation to not die of boredom. Master Mundi, our last Jedi Master visitor would have been so proud, but Force meditation was less boring than political meetings. Anyways, I felt a warning in the Force and pulled out my lightsaber just in time to block the blaster bolts from three remote droids that were headed to Padmé. I used the next round of bolts to knock out the droids though my sort of cousin and second in command Gregar Typho managed to get the last one with a blaster. In the silence that followed, as everyone else processed what had just happened, Annabeth said, "See if you hadn't had Percy, virtually your own army, you could've been injured right now."
I whirled on Annabeth. "Please tell me you didn't use those droids to attack Padmé just to prove a point about the Most Conflicting Aggravation," I said through gritted teeth as I tried to keep my aggravation at bay.
Everyone in the room turned to Annabeth looking less than pleased at her. She just shrugged, "I set them at a non-lethal level and knew Percy would stop them before they could ever actually hit anyone, but yes, I used them to make a point. Padmé was safe because she had military protection."
Before anyone else responded, Padmé made a signal with her hand and all ten handmaidens including those from the queen in addition to Padmé's pulled out a blaster and closed on Annabeth. Instinctively, I jumped in between Annabeth and the handmaidens. Annabeth had her electro staff out in compact form and backed up slowly. "Now, judging by your current reaction, Annabeth," Padmé said with a smirk, "You don't look like you would willingly want to come and talk to me right now. Does it have something to do with the all the blasters pointing at you, making you uneasy and feeling threatened?" Padmé waved her hand, and all the handmaidens returned their blasters to their hidden holsters.
Annabeth immediately relaxed and even managed a laugh. I was a little less amused. "That was not cool, Padmé," I complained. I gave the queen my most innocent look, "And in a completely unrelated incident, the Force revealed to me that you need to send one of those plumber droids to the nearest washer room, your highness." Despite the Jedi Council's training, I still had the occasional accident when I got surprised, like ten guns suddenly pointing at Annabeth. Even if my brain knows that Padmé would never hurt either of us, it was just sort of a like a knee jerk reaction. You know like when the doctor takes that rubber hammer and hits your knee making your leg kick. Wel,l a sudden threat to Annabeth and sometimes a bathroom explodes, especially if my nerves are already a little high like after a surprise remote droid attack.
"Sorry, Percy, I didn't mean to cause you any distress," Padmé offered. "I was just trying to make a point to your stubborn fiancé."
I scowled at both Padmé and Annabeth, not caring that I was surrounded by the most powerful people on the planet. "This has got to stop, right now." I glared at Annabeth. "You will not use me to help you make a point again." I turned my glare to Padmé, "And I don't like either of us being threatened even if it was just for show, next time give a guy a heads up. Now, you two are going to come to an agreement right now, or you both will have Jar Jar market duty. Or you will have to tell him he can't go because you don't want to go with him." There was a slight gasp from the room. It was a pretty good threat as far as threats went. Usually, I took Jar Jar to market once a week because he has so much fun interacting with everyone while I spend the two hours making sure he doesn't do any damage. It's an exhausting, difficult job, but he's my buddy. However, it would drive Annabeth and Padmé crazy, especially Annabeth, but at the same time, neither woman quite had the heart to withstand the kicked puppy dog look Jar Jar would give them if they had to inform him that he couldn't go to market.
I thought that the queen might protest my threat or be displeased that I was ordering her senator around, but at this point she just looked amused. Annabeth spoke first, "Look, I understand where you are coming from Padmé, I really do even before you had ten blasters pointed at me. But I don't think everyone on the other side wants peace or even that they will be allowed to have it even if they want it. You know about the information I found. Someone is building a droid army. It would be wisest to be prepared. It could save lives if some of the more extreme Separatists decide to attack."
Padmé sighed. "And I know you just want to make sure the people of the Republic are protected, but I think we need to at least give negotiations a chance first, something that will be near impossible if this act passes."
I looked back at Annabeth and saw a familiar expression on her face that always made my heart beat a little faster. She had her planning face on. "Hmm, so you are just saying you want to give negotiations time," she mused. Padmé nodded even though it wasn't really a question. "While we obviously can't be seen creating an army without negatively affecting negotiations, maybe I can work on limiting the droid army instead. Buying up the metal and supplies that they need and hoarding it, so to speak. Maybe some 'friends of ours' can shut down any corrupt mining corporations, helping to limit supplies and driving up the cost to make the droids. That way the Separatist systems are only affected if they do indeed have nefarious intentions."
Padmé smiled, "Now, that is a plan I can agree with."
All of this lead up to the day when I decided that personal protection wasn't for me. It started well enough with me piloting my second favorite starship, an N-1 starfighter, as I escorted the Senatorial Naboo cruiser into Coruscant air space, so Padmé could finally vote against the MCA. Based on her and Annabeth's estimates, the vote would be close but should end in favor of those voting against the creation of the army. Annabeth had to pull a lot of strings and call in a few favors, but she was confident she had the votes. Even though Annabeth still disagreed with Padmé's views on the MCA she was excellent at her job and respected the other woman enough both as a Senator and a friend to follow through with her wishes. Plus, between her efforts to horde droid building material and SASS targeting some mines and processing plants that broke labor or environmental laws, the droid production had decreased a lot.
Things got rough for me as soon as we hit the Coruscant atmosphere, literally. My gut clenched as our group flew through clouds, and my ship shook with extra turbulence. Yes, I knew Zeus wasn't even in this universe, but I still felt like a fish out of water in the air like this. Surely, no one else's ship was shaking this much.
"Shiraya's word, Jackson! Could your descent be any sloppier?" Gregar teased. "You almost hit that building." I knew he was just trying to lighten the mood. We were all a little on edge right about now. We hadn't been attacked yet, which meant we were either in the clear, or it was coming during the landing when we were most vulnerable.
None of this was helping my normal atmosphere induced anxiety. I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the feeling like always and did my best to keep the ship steady. It seemed extra hard today for some reason, but unlike back at home I couldn't blame my Uncle Zeus. My anxiety was forgotten though when I read the Aurebesh message from Blue, my favorite little droid, scrolling across my screen in our group's communication channel: R2-A3 you need to engage the stabilizer and remote steering.
Suddenly, my ship stopped bucking, and the descent smoothed. I heard Annabeth's laughter in my ear as she said over the comms, "R2-D2, do you mean that you have been doing all of Percy's landings for him?"
Affirmative.
The word scrolled across the screen.
And aiding in the take offs too.
See, usually Blue was my droid whenever I did solo-flying, but since Padmé was in the N-1 starfighter next to Annabeth and Blue was the best astromech droid ever made, he was with the senator. It was just an extra safety precaution in case bantha podoo hit the fan. And knowing our luck, that was a pretty safe bet. Plus, I think Padmé sometimes enjoyed the freedom of flying her own ship and getting to be just Padmé at least for a little bit and not Senator Amidala, the Defender of Naboo.
"After all these years, you are still scared of flying in the atmosphere?" Annabeth teased me. I could tell she was trying not to laugh. "And I thought you had gotten better, but all this time it's just been R2."
"Hey," I replied pretending to be upset, "I don't see you adopting a pet Ginntho." Annabeth's ship dipped as her concentration slipped slightly. No doubt she was picturing the 2-meter-long spiders of Utapau.
Padmé though was quick to come to her defense. "That's because only a psychopath would have a Ginntho for a pet, Percy. Are you suggesting your fiancé is a psychopath?" Padmé had an annoying way of sounding serious even when she was joking until she delivered her punchline.
"Did I miss the memo? Is it pick on Percy day?" I grumbled.
Padmé laughed as she said, "We're landing on Coruscant, so of course it's pick on Percy day." I grinned as the memory of our first-time landing on Coruscant flashed through my mind. It had become a bit of a running joke actually.
The rest of the descent went smoothly with no buildings harmed. However, when Annabeth flashed me a smug look from across the platform, I considered how badly she'd pummel me if a spider happened to be in her ship on the return flight. Let's see how smooth her flying was then. I lowered R2-A3 and hopped out of the cockpit not bothering with the ladder. As I waited for Gregar, who was exiting his ship at a more normal pace, I scanned the landing strip. I had a familiar feeling that something wasn't quite right. It's like that annoying buzzing sound that you can't pinpoint where its coming from. I used to consider it my enhanced demigod senses warning me of danger, but here, the Jedi called it a warning in the Force. While I still wasn't as good at reaching for the Outside Force as the Jedi or even Annabeth, who could almost pass for a Jedi on that front, I had worked on quieting my own inner Force to an extent that I can feel the waters of the Outside Force lapping against my own. Something was about to happen, but as far as I could tell the coast was clear.
"We made it," Gregar said as his foot hit the landing platform. "Guess, we were wrong. There was no danger at all."
I winced. "Dude, don't you know you should never say something like that. It's like just begging the universe to prove you wrong, and then we'll have a mess."
Gregar just shook his head looking exasperated, but before he could comment about it further and jinx us even more, I said, "Last one to the ladies is an old man."
I took off towards Annabeth and Padme who were walking towards the main ship from the other side of the floating platform. I could just hear Gregar grumbling something that sounded like, "Real mature, Jackson." But despite his complaining, when I glanced behind at him Gregar was running to catch up.
I was just in front of the main ship as Cordé, pretending to be Padmé, led the procession off the ship when I felt a ripple from the Outside Force. "Percy!" Annabeth shouted in warning as she dove on top of Padmé to protect her. I was still too far away to do anything to help them, but the adrenaline coursing through my body urged me to do something. I couldn't just stand there safe while others were in danger. So as an ominous glow came from inside the Naboo cruiser, I did one of the most impulsive things I've ever done in my life, which as you know is saying something. I sprinted right towards the blast and tackled Cordé hoping the fire resistance in my blood could shield us both as the world exploded around us, and I was engulfed in flames. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was Annabeth's voice as she screamed my name.
The demigod dream was my first clue that I wasn't dead yet. In my dream I was standing in a very familiar room with an amazing view of the city that could not quite make up for the overuse of red in the decorations. It was Chancellor Palpatine's office. It looked like he was finishing up a meeting with some members of the Jedi Council. Yoda was there along with Mundi, Windu, Plo Koon, and to my surprise my buddy Kitt was there too. As the Jedi stood up to leave, the door opened. Padmé and Annabeth walked through followed by the rest of the loyalist committee.
Relief flooded me as soon as I saw Annabeth. From what I could tell she seemed unharmed though she definitely had the 'very pissed off, don't mess with me today' expression on her face. Yoda approached them and said, "Senator Amidala and Advisor Chase, the attack on the landing platform – terrible. Seeing you both alive brings warm feelings to me heart."
Padmé gave the Jedi Master the briefest of nods before saying, "Yes, well it would have been a lot worse if Annabeth and Percy hadn't acted so quickly. Cordé –" Padmé's voice hitched at her friend's name.
Please be okay, I prayed as I held my breath though I wasn't sure if I actually was breathing in this form. I inched closer to hear better. "She just got out of surgery, but the doctors believe she will make a full recovery," Padmé finished.
"Very fortunate, indeed," Palpatine said. "It is a miracle anyone that close to the explosion managed to survive at all."
"Yes," Mace agreed somehow sounding both amused and exasperated at the same time, "though we know Jackson seems to have no shortage of miracles, even if he technically abandoned his mandate to protect the senator."
Seriously, I had saved a friend's life and almost died, and this guy was still a little annoyed with me. Like how dare I do a noble yet impossible thing. I stepped towards him and said, "Fine next time I'll just do the Jedi approach of sitting back and doing nothing."
Mace stiffened and looked right where I was sort of standing, "Jackson?"
"Hmm, strange this is indeed," Yoda hummed, circling me like a super strange statue in an art museum.
"What's going on?" Palpatine asked.
"Intriguing," Mundi said also looking at me like I was a puzzle he couldn't solve. "Jackson must be in one of his strange Force dreams. He's here, but not."
The other senators looked a little creeped out, understandably. All they knew were that Annabeth and I could use the Force and were sort of like Jedi. They assumed though since we never joined the order that we weren't particularly strong or powerful. The underestimation suited us just fine. "Percy," Annabeth hissed, "You are supposed to be resting." She looked right at me, so she must be using the Outside Force to sense the part of me that traveled in dreams.
"Obviously, I am," I replied back, which only made her roll her eyes.
"And how is Percy doing?" Palpatine asked, his voice dripping with concern. "I noticed he was not admitted to the Grand Republic Medical Facility."
Mace glanced at the other politicians as if weighing his words. I understood his concern. Politicians could out gossip the children of Aphrodite. "Given the nature of Jackson's Force sensitivity, we all thought it best if he was treated at the Jedi Temple. His wounds were very severe, but he is responding positively to our treatment. It may take some time, but we are confident that he will make a full recovery, and likely not even have a scare to show due to his ah unique constitution."
The chancellor beamed as he said, "That is good news indeed." I shuddered. It might have just been my imagination, but I could've sworn that I saw a glint of greed in the chancellor's eyes, despite his kind tone.
"Do you have any idea who was behind this attack?" Senator Organa asked.
Annabeth and Padmé shared a knowing look, but before either of them could say their suspicions Windu answered instead. "Our intelligence points to disgruntled spice miners on the moons of Naboo."
Annabeth did one of those pointed coughs causing everyone to turn to her. "I think you might need to work on your intelligence network Master Windu because I assure you it most definitely is not those spice miners."
Windu glared at her. Sometimes I'm not sure who needles him more me or Annabeth. While I am annoying, Annabeth is like that rival, who's almost a friend. He admires her, but it secretly drives him nuts that he can't beat her all the time, like he can with most of his opponents. "Excuse me, Advisor Chase, the Jedi do not have the same unconventional resources that you rely on for your intelligence information." Now, did the Jedi suspect that Annabeth might be using her hologram invention to occasionally spy on some known criminals, who managed to escape the justice system? Probably. However, this was the closest they had come to calling her out on it, which caused Annabeth to shoot Windu her, extra don't mess with me right now look.
"Non-violence is an essential pilar of Naboo culture. Even miners on the moon would not dare to try and assassinate a public figure, particularly one as beloved and popular as Amidala. The backlash would be catastrophic for them." Annabeth explained cooly. "I believe the so-called threating message you are referring to was a decoy. I thought Jedi were taught to be aware of system cultures before throwing around accusations."
"Well then who do you propose is behind this attack?" Windu asked. While he appeared to be the patient Jedi Master, I could tell from personal experience that he was grinding his teeth together.
Padmé glanced at Annabeth before saying, "We think Count Dooku was behind it."
I watched everyone carefully for their response to the accusation. The Jedi looked taken a back, the politicians in the loyalist committee looked confused, and Palpatine just looked expectantly at Annabeth as if waiting for her explanation.
"More or less," Annabeth added with a shrug returning Palpatine's gaze.
"Impossible," Mundi of course disagreed. By now though I knew it wasn't personal. He was just naturally skeptic of everything. "Dooku is a political idealist, not a murderer."
While five years ago Windu might have argued as well, by now he had learned that Annabeth did nothing without first thinking things through. "Please, Advisor Chase," he said, "enlighten us on your reasoning for accusing a former Jedi of assassination." Windu knew that Annabeth had a reason for thinking it was Dooku, and he wanted to know why.
"Well about a week ago," Annabeth started her explanation as she walked towards the chancellor's desk. "My sources picked up chatter among bounty hunters about a job to kill the Naboo senator, which is why our team took certain security measures." I grimaced. That had been a particularly trying argument. Padmé had not wanted to use the decoy initially. "So that got us thinking, who in all the galaxy most wants Padmé dead?"
When no one answered immediately, I figured I should help them along even though only Annabeth and the few Jedi who were close enough could hear me. "The slime ball!" Annabeth quirked a smile.
Windu looked at me no doubt trying to translate Percy speech, "Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation?"
Annabeth nodded. "Exactly. However, hiring sentient assassins is not Gunray's usual method of operations. He prefers droids. So, then I started thinking who else might want to kill Padmé and why, especially right before the Military Creation Act vote since I don't believe in coincidences. Assassinating Senator Amidala would be the fastest way of getting the Military Creation Act passed since it will turn her into a Republic martyr and sow fear among the other senators and citizens alike."
"But that doesn't make sense, Annabeth," Senator Organa said his brow wrinkled in confusion. "Dooku should be the last person to want the Creation Act passed. If his intentions are truly peaceful as he claims, then he would not want Republic armament, and if he does intend to attack us with this droid army you keep suggesting that he has, then he also does not benefit from the creation of a Republic army."
Annabeth nodded. "Excellent points, Bail." Annabeth pressed a button on Palpatine's chair earning her an actual wink from the chancellor for her audacity, and the secret Shah-tezh board rose to its place. "However, you are assuming Count Dooku's motives are his own." She picked up the Vizer's piece and showed the group. "I make the case that Count Dooku is simply a piece in someone else's game. Everyone in this room is aware that the Sith Lord known as Darth Sidious has threatened to tear the galaxy in two. What better way of doing that than a civil war?" She grabbed the Imperator's piece in her other hand and used the Force to lift both into the air. "For that to happen, the Republic needs an army to prevent any hope of peaceful resolutions." Annabeth sent a loaded look at Padmé. "I'll admit that it took me a while to acknowledge that fact. Lastly, my sources have told me that Dooku has been trying very heavily to recruit the Trade Federation without much success. What better way to woo Nute Gunray than to kill his most hated enemy for him? And since we know the Trade Federation is connected to the Sith," here she raised up the knight piece and used the Force to lift it up next to the other two pieces, "he may actually be behind most of this." The pieces started spinning around each other. "All three of these pieces are connected somehow, so yes that is why I say Dooku is behind this more or less. And why we must do everything we can to prevent the Military Creation Act from passing. Senator Amidala is right about that." Annabeth admitted, which caused Padmé to smile despite everything.
"It seems then that Senator Amidala's life is in grave danger," Palpatine stated. "Given that young Percy is currently recovering and unable to perform his protective duties, perhaps Senator Amidala should be put under the protection of your graces." He looked at Yoda and Windu expectantly.
Actually, I had to admit that it wasn't the worst idea since I was currently floating around subconsciously, little better than a ghost. Some extra Jedi muscle to protect Padmé would definitely help though I had a feeling she wouldn't agree.
Sure enough, "Chancellor, if I may comment, I do not believe this is necessary," she said
I went to Annabeth and said, "Please tell Padmé to accept the Jedi protection. Tell her I didn't almost fry myself only for her to die because she was too stubborn to get more help."
Annabeth sighed and quickly relayed my message to Padmé before she argued with the chancellor even more.
"Where's Percy?" Padmé asked. Annabeth gestured to the area I was standing. Padmé tried to look at me, but she was staring a bit above my head. "Fine, Percy, I'll do this," she said, "but only if you promise to do everything you can to get better. You must listen to the medics and do what they say. No running off before you're healed."
I grimaced and decided Padmé knows me a little too well. Annabeth had the nerve to laugh. "Fine," I grumbled, and Annabeth translated for me.
"Thank you, for your assistance Percy," Chancellor Palpatine said somehow managing to look right at me for a brief moment before his gaze moved past my shoulder. "I know how disruptive this could be for you Senator, so perhaps the Council could assign someone you are familiar with. Maybe an old friend like Master Kenobi?"
I smiled. That could be fun.
The dream finally dissolved around me. I was impressed that I had lasted that long. At Annabeth's urging and some help from Jedi meditation techniques, I had worked on trying to control my dreaming abilities with limited success. Actually, I had figured out how to not have dreams when I wanted a peaceful night sleep back before we started hunting slavers. It just required me to calm my mental sea, or the manifestation of my innate Force energy as Master Mundi called it, but not cross the barrier into the Outside Force. Unfortunately, that required conscious effort from me before snoozing, so whenever I became accidentally unconscious, like when the Force uses me to generate a whole planet's worth of water, or I almost blow myself up, it's back to random demigod dreams. Sometimes though, I let the dreams come. As Annabeth pointed out, it could be a useful way of keeping an eye on happenings in the galaxy while we were under planet rest on Naboo though I saw it as a way to see old friends even if they couldn't see me. With practice, I did get better at controlling when I left the dream, but I still had no control over where I ended up. Sometimes it was back on Tatooine checking in on our old allies like Jrome. Other times, it would be in Palpatine's office or the senate or a Hutts' stronghold. But my favorite dreams were the ones where I got a glimpse of Anakin and Obi-Wan on their missions. Once when I popped into their speeder, I startled Obi-Wan so badly that he almost crashed during a highspeed chase.
Of course, occasionally, I'd have to endure annoying chats with the latest evil lord to haunt my dreams. I had to hand it to this Darth Sidious though, he was a persistent evil dude. I mean Kronos gave up trying to recruit me after two years. Gaea only tried a month or so, though she probably would have tried longer if I hadn't been in an enchanted sleep for 6 months. But this evil lord was going on almost a decade now. It was like the more I told him no the more determined he got.
His current strategy included informing me about some injustice in the galaxy and making me feel helpless to stop it because of the Jedi's planet arrest, which was only lifted for when we aided Padmé in her senatorial duties. However, joke was on him because half the time I could get the Jedi or SASS to help out with the situation. Though when either the Jedi or SASS couldn't help, which seemed to happen more and more lately, it was hard to do nothing. I also started wondering if the Sith was the one causing the injustice. He was careful though with what he revealed. I could tell that I only saw or heard things that he wanted me to. Nothing that would help me identify him or his location or his current evil plans.
While Annabeth also had a few demigod dreams, for some reason she never saw Sidious. Annabeth thought that whatever weird Force shield he used to prevent the Jedi from sensing him also stopped her but didn't stop me – sort of how I could dream of Kronos even when he didn't call me. However, I knew it was just my typical Percy Jackson luck again.
Of course, that Jackson luck struck again as another dream took me. I flew over a strange desert planet with red mountain ranges that made me think of Mars. An ominous looking structure loomed ahead of me. My brain automatically thought temple, however, it wasn't Greek. It was harsher and more severe, with none of the elegance of my father's culture. If anything, it reminded me more of the Titan's fortress on Mt. Othrys, but more rugged. As if whoever built this predated the Titans if this was my world. Good thing it wasn't my world, but Annabeth's suspicions were in the back of my mind. I entered the temple through a long corridor that opened up to a vast chamber. On either side, there were two statues each kneeling as they held up the great weight of the structure. I shuddered as the painful memory of holding up the sky flashed through my mind. More statues of tall, hooded figures, that reminded me way too much of Darth Sidious's getup, lined the middle walkway. Some of them had tumbled down or cracked in half. Clearly, this temple was old and didn't receive many visitors.
The hair rose on the back of my neck as I saw what was in the center of the chamber, a sarcophagus. It was made from black marble. Strips of gold wound around the top and bottom with symbols from some ancient alphabet that looked like it might have influenced ancient Greek. Behind the sarcophagus towered a huge statue of a warrior. "Here we go again," I muttered as my mind flashed back to a different sarcophagus, yet there was something about the dark, ancient presence emanating from it that felt familiar.
The darkness seemed to grow thicker, and the room shook with power as a voice said, "Come to me Son of the Sea. I am your only chance to return home. Together we can accomplish what would otherwise be impossible."
"Sorry, I make it a habit of not trusting voices that come from strange sarcophagi, which says a lot about my life that this is apparently a reoccurring event," I ramble looking for clues at the identity of this presence. It could be Ouranos with the similarities to Mt. Othrys and Kronos and the fact that it called me Son of the Sea, or it could be Sith related given the statues looking like Darth Sidious. Maybe this had to do with the dark side and not one of the worse beings in Greek mythology.
"Swear loyalty to me, young hero, and you will have the power to keep your beloved safe." Cold crept through my body at those words. "Without my help, she will die, and you will be trapped in this universe till the end of your days."
"That sounds like a threat," I challenged.
"No," the voice replied, "It is a warning. She is in danger even now. Can't you sense it? As a demonstration of good faith, I'll show you."
The dream once again dissolved to be replaced with another. I was in Annabeth's room in Padmé's senatorial suite, but I felt different. I was looking out of a helmet, and there was a familiar, comforting weight on my body, that I associated with my Mandalorian armor. It had happened to me enough in those dreams with Hercules that I realized I was looking through someone else's eyes. And I as that someone else had raised both arms to point twin blasters at Annabeth while she slept.
AN: Just in case it's another year until I can update again. I've included the first part of the next chapter because it would be too mean to leave this as a cliffhanger for an extended period of time:
Chapter 42 – We Go on a Double Date
I screamed at Annabeth to wake up, but of course the person pointing the guns did not scream. What made it worse was even though it wasn't me, it still felt like it was me who pulled the triggers. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I watched helplessly as the blaster bolts flew towards – an empty bed. Relief rushed in while Annabeth returned fire from behind the bed. She must have sensed the intruder, and only been pretending to be asleep.
However, the attacker's beskar armor easily deflected Annabeth's shots. They were at a stalemate since the attacker couldn't get a good shot either at that angle. I cursed as I and the attacker holstered a blaster and stepped forward trying to close the distance. Suddenly, one of Annabeth's shots went far too high. I felt the assassin smirk. Clearly the guy must be thinking Annabeth was panicking, which only made it more satisfying when his steps faltered as freezing chemicals poured from the ceiling right on top of him. Annabeth had used the heat from her blaster bolt to activate one of the fire sensors and turn on the fire suppressant system. The armor protected him mostly, but I could fill the exposed skin getting cold until he pressed a button and suddenly the armor heated like one of those fancy car seats back on Earth. It was enough of a distraction though to give Annabeth time to clear the bed. She leapt at us with her force pike expertly knocking the blaster away. But her next move was sloppy and too slow as she went for the breast plate, which just caused the slightest sting even though her force pike must have been on its highest setting. Now, I knew Annabeth was never sloppy, but this guy didn't. So, when he/I grabbed Annabeth's arm, intending to pull her in probably to break her neck or slit her throat with a hidden knife, I wasn't surprised when she pivoted into him and stabbed the vibroblade end into the vulnerable part of his inner thigh where the beskar armor didn't cover.
It hurt like Hades, and the assassin cried out in pain. But I had to hand it to him this guy was good, even if he had underestimated Annabeth. What might have been the amputation of his leg was stopped as he grabbed the other end of the Force pike to limit the blow to a painful yet relatively minor injury. Quick as lightning, Annabeth changed directions with her strength and tried to stab the other end into the helmet's viewplate. The guy blocked it but was forced to let go of her arm. I felt this guy's change in weight and wished I could warn Annabeth as he shot out his bad leg in a powerful kick. Annabeth dodged but couldn't avoid the follow up punch to the stomach. She flew back with the wind knocked out of her. The assassin bent as if bowing and then pressed a button before limping as fast as he could towards the nearest window. The room exploded just as he broke through the window.
"Annabeth!" I screamed though no one could hear me. I felt like my heart had stopped beating.
The assassin muttered, "Pity, she was quite good. He was right about underestimating her." He had activated his jetpack and hovered outside the window surveying the destruction he caused. Within moments, the same fire suppressant system Annabeth had used as a weapon made quick work of the explosion, revealing a very pissed off Annabeth firing a blaster at the assassin. She was alive! I didn't care how though the assassin clearly did. "How . . . that's impossible!" He gritted out as he maneuvered to prevent her from hitting the weak spot in his armor at his neck, which she had gotten close too. Then he had to swerve to dodge a bronze blur.
Guards poured in, but Annabeth shouted, "Protect the senator. This might be a distraction." Half of the guards stayed while the other half left. The assassin must have realized that he would never complete the job now that he was outnumbered, and his target had just survived a missile. He shot up out of range of the blasters though little good it would do him. Even though he didn't know what it was, I had recognized the bronze blur he dodged. It was one of the last of Leo's spy bugs, which had probably latched onto his armor. Annabeth would go after him, and I needed to help her.
"Remember this," that ancient powerful voice said in my head as the dream faded around me. "You will not always be so lucky. The girl knows that as well. Swear loyalty to me, and you both will survive." Then there was nothing.
I woke up feeling like fire ants were crawling all over me, and my head hurt like it tended to do after a typical 'I should be dead' experience. Despite the pain, there was a comfortable weightlessness to my limbs. Then my dream came back to me. "Annabeth!" I shouted as my eyes flew open in a panic.
"Easy, Percy," a familiar voice said though it sounded distorted. "Annabeth is just fine. Please, calm down, so you don't almost flood the Jedi Temple again."
"Kit?" I asked turning to see my friend floating next to me. Clearly, I was underwater, somewhere in the Jedi Temple, which explained the weightlessness and the distorted sounds. Kit though looked like he was badling some invisible force with well the Force. That's when I felt the all too familiar feeling in my gut, which meant I was manipulating water. "Oops, sorry." I released the power sort of like how you might have to force your hand to relax after it forms a fist without you realizing it when you are mad or in pain.
Kit breathed a sigh of relief and a pressure that I didn't realize was there vanished. "That's better," Kit said and flashed me one of his smiles. "You almost flooded the whole floor last night. You had some kind of dream that made your power lash out. We had to use our strongest tranquilizer on you to get you to stop. It was only later when we heard about the assassination attempt on Annabeth that we realized what must have happened. But both she and Padmé are safe now. Annabeth had a few bruises and light burns, but nothing a few batca patches didn't fix. Smart woman! She covered herself in the fire suppressant that was already on the floor and managed to role under the bed before the missile detonated."
I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding since I can breathe pretty naturally underwater. "Sorry about that, usually I don't lose control like that anymore."
Kit shrugged, "Even Jedi have trouble with control when they are unconscious and that's after decades of training our minds. You have only been practicing our techniques for a few years."
"Did I do a lot of damage?" I asked.
"To yourself, yes," Kit smiled purposely misinterpreting my question. I finally glanced down and saw that I was covered in bacta patches and had an IV sticking out of my arm that was connected to some sort of medical device. "Severe burns along your back and limbs, plus two bad fractures in the spine from getting hit with debris."
I shrug it off, "I've had worse." Or at least I thought I did. It was starting to get hard keeping track and comparing all my injuries. Were these burns worse than the ones from Mt. St. Helens? How did spinal injuries and potential paralysis compare to holding up the sky or extreme almost death inducing Force overuse?
Kit shook head making a weird noise with his tentacles that might have been his species version of an underwater sigh. "If you weren't well you, you probably wouldn't be alive now, much less walking. I don't think we understood the extent of your fire resistance until now. The other guards . . ." Kit trailed off, and I grimaced. He didn't need to say it. I knew if I didn't have part of the sea with me, I'd be burnt to a crisp.
I changed the topic back to my original question, "Did I do any damage to the Jedi temple that Mace will chew my head off for?"
"Nope, just drenched a few Padawan Learners," Kit said with his signature grin returning. At my confused look, he explained, "Well when you went all tidal wavey and almost flooded the rest of the temple with the aquatic level, Yoda recruited two dozen Padawans to help contain the water as a training exercise. So, he, I think, was actually pleased with it."
I have no idea when I will finish this next chapter, but have faith I'll get to it eventually.