Chapter 5: Chapter 5 : Landed on Tatooine.
Time-Line: 3 days later, three days since Naboo Escort joined Condor crew!
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-Mos Espa-
-One of Tatooine Space-Ports-
Change of POV: Alex's POV
We stepped from the ship, when I say we.
I meant me, Qui-Gon Jinn, R2D2 who somehow manages to snuck into the ship.
No one asked how, but the little guy did it.
Maybe it's just that type of thing? Something that must happen, no matter how many times you try to divert it and change the outcome, but you will not succeed.
But last, but not least... Jar Jar Binks or as some people might know him as...
Darth Jar Jar!
I honestly don't know, apparently before when Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan entered, followed by Naboo Escort, Qui-Gon Jinn jumped up from the ship to pull up Jar Jar who somehow manages to knock himself unconscious by ramming into a nearby Star-Fighter.
And the reason I didn't notice him in the ship was due to that reason, he was behind handmaidens.
Knocked out, lying peacefully down.
"Tis da so interesting! Missa can't wait to see new city!" You can goes who said it after we walked out of the Condor.
"Good for you." Was the Qui-Gon Jinn's reply, we didn't even walk out ten meters away before we we're interrupted.
Such is a life of a space pirate.
"Wait!" I'm wearing my SPI-Armor still of course, with my helmet on this time.
M7S Submachine-Gun strapped on my back via Magnet, my M6C pistol strapped on my right leg appropriately.
And a Battle-Knife too, strapped on my left leg.
Two magazines with 60 Rounds are neatly placed on my left waist, pulled by magnets.
Pistol only has one magazine unfortunately, while Submachine-Gun has 3 if we count one inside the gun already.
We stopped our walk as both I and Qui-Gon Jinn turned around, R2D2 stopped moving too as it slowly turned back.
Small little droid, he is my favorite guy on the entire ship, not going to lie.
Jar Jar on the other hand continued moving forward, undisturbed.
'Canon event I guess?' I though as I saw Captain Panaka running up from the ship with Padmé in tow.
"What is it Captain?" Qui-Gon asked as he crossed his arms, but his eyes remained fixed on Padmé.
'He is probably aware that Padmé is the real Queen.'I though but.
Seriously, how fast did she change her outfit? Or did she wear this under that red-cloak this entire time?
Her hair is pulled in high-ponytail, while she is wearing shoes, white pants and brown short-sleeved shirt.
"The Queen commands you to bring her handmaiden with you. " Captain Panaka motioned towards Padmé who had truly gone into her 'role' as she bowed towards Qui-Gon JInn.
But Qui-Gon on the other hand, wasn't exactly pleased.
"That is not a good Idea, Captain." Qui-Gon Jinn frowned as he stroked his beard.
"I won't be a bother, Master Jedi." Padmé bowed her head once more, I didn't fail to notice how Panaka frowned at the display.
"Queen is curious about other planets, so her Handmaiden would tell her the stories from her own lips." Panaka continued persuading, Qui-Gon Jinn frowned even more.
Time for interruption.
"Let her come, it won't be a problem." I replied catching their attention before I used my thumb to point at Mos Espa behind us. " And we are running out of precious time too, we should move on."
And Qui-Gon Jinn finally relented as he sighed and his shoulders dropped. " Fine, but you must be close to me." He replied to Padmé who firmly nodded.
Captain Panaka nodded to us before walking back towards the ship, we turned around on our heels and continued walking towards the Mos Espa, the city of the chosen one.
Mos Espa is only three kilometers away from our landing spot, so we continued walking in silence right now, with occasional remarks from Jar Jar here and there, and a beep from R2D2.
Silence was beautiful.
Silence was underestimated too much in the history of the Galaxy.
It didn't take long before someone broke that precious silence.
"How can you walk in such heavy armor in a hot planet like this one, Alex?" It was Padmé who asked genuine question beside me.
I walk on left, Qui-Gon Jinn on right, Padmé in middle, Jar Jar Binks in front of us and R2D2 behind us slowly catching up.
'Fascinating.'
I tilted my helmet towards right, Padmé is around my height, but due to my armor it makes me taller for half a head than her and obviously bulkier.
Though, due to chest-plate and my narrow waist, it can be easily deduced that wearer is a female.
No matter how much it hurts my pride, it is correct.
" It's due to cooling system engraved into the armor, it allows me to wear it freely and with joy in hot planets like Tatooine or on colder planets." I replied. I paused, " Besides, it's not as heavy as it looks like."
For all intents and purposes, I'm thankful that I didn't need to worry about sand getting into my boots or something similar.
Poor others.
UNSC technology is peak though when it comes to Armor designs.
A going point for SPI-Armor I guess.
Another silence as we continued walking, but then I couldn't help but be the one to interrupt this one.
As I prepared to release a huge 'secret'.
I slowly turned my head towards Padmé and spoke.
With a smile underneath my helmet.
"So, how does it feel to be a Queen?"
And that halted her in place, as her shoes dug deep into the sand, even Jar Jar in front stopped moving and turned his head with confused expression on his face towards us.
He heard something.
R2D2 just beeped, sorry my guy, I don't speak 'Blinks'.
Meanwhile, Qui-Gon Jinn simply stopped his march, turned slowly and continued rubbing his beard with amused expression plastered across his face.
'I guess this would explain the assumption of him knowing who 'Padmé' is.'
"Alex, you must have surely misunderstood something..." Padmé tried to defend herself but I cut her off with a significant proof as I started ranting about it.
'You are moving too gracefully for someone to just be a handmaiden." I paused. "Your facial structure is too alike to the 'Queen'Amidala' " I put heavy emphasis on 'Queen'.
"It must be some-" She tried but I interrupted her once again.
"And protective glances from Captain Panaka? They're not simply a 'friendly' but ones engraved with grave duty, combine that with your face it already speaks enough. " I paused, as I crossed my arms over my chest, thank god they are small! "Even if you use the excuse of a double for the 'Queen'I find it more useful to exchange roles stating 'you will'."
"Or, changing your roles before the attack on Naboo would have been far more beneficial than later on, wouldn''t you agree." I paused. " Queen Padmé?"
These facts are small, I indeed noticed Panaka's gaze towards her, and Padmé footsteps, they're too graceful, even compared to the other two handmaidens.
In other words, she must have undergone proper etiquette classes for something like this, as something like that couldn't simply be 'deleted' by a simple deception like this.
And as a final nail in the coffin, I motioned towards Qui-Gon Jinn who raised his eyebrow at my action. " It's impossible to lie to a Jedi, especially with their uncanny ability to sense lies through force. Wouldn't you agree so, Master Qui-Gon Jinn?"
And attention is quickly shifted towards Qui-Gon Jinn as Padmé as if possessed turned towards him, with wide eyes.
Qui-Gon only found it all the more amusing and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Just as our friend here said, it's all truth. The moment your double introduced herself as 'Queen' Amidala, I was aware of a deception, and upon seeing your face between Handmaidens I was able to confirm my thoughts.. " He nodded like a Sage at that. "And Captain Panaka certainly helped in clearing that small confusion with his mall yet subtle glances towards you. "
And Padmé seemingly giving up only slumped her shoulders down, closed her eyes and replied.
" You would be correct, it was a simple deception I used with Sabé, my handmaiden for months already, and hopefully for coming years too."
Qui-Gon only hummed as Alex listened.
"It's informative now to know it would not work on Jedi at least, it's good to know." She replied as he brought her head up to gaze at Qui-Gon who only nodded, before she turned her head towards Alex. " But I didn't know that that traits of my walking and small glimpses could reveal my identity, you must be highly trained, Alex?"
Now it was my turn to scoff as I snorted.
Now fishing for informations about me? Huh!
"You could say so, I was highly educated to begin with." I spoke as I un-crossed my arms and started walking towards the Mo Espa, followed by others. " But keep your role as Handmaiden still. We are in un-familiar territory after all, we won't reveal your identity."
Silence for several moments followed by.
Though the once again silence didn't last long before it was Qui-Gon who interrupted it this time. " I'm certainly curious on the reason why would a Royalty like you, 'Alex' travel to such places like Tatooine? And what were you doing near Naboo to begin with?"
Suspicion laced in his tone, as his eyes narrowed. A bit.
We still continued walking, but even so if Padmé didn't make any sudden movement, this certainly got her attention, if anything, politics were her thing.
A potential good relationship with another planet could benefit Naboo.
Besides, her thoughts were. ' Alex truly a Royalty?'
A silence, before I let out one long sigh.
" I knew you were going to bring this up eventually..." I sighed. "I'm on vacation if you want to call it like that, your Jedi sensing truth-ability is too powerful. And it's a rather infuriating nuisance. " But the truth is, Alex was stupid. If she simply used another way to go around that question, treat it like a joke, avoid it, shook her head, or something similar, it all could have been avoided and everyone would have treated it like a joke.
But of course, Alex couldn't have helped and been too excited, too pre-occupied with everything happening to think carefully, and had revealed her 'status'by simply saying no back then for Obi-Wan's question, if she had gone around it, then she would have escaped this entire situation.
"Without any guards?" It was Padmé dumbfounded expression that asked this, as she tilted her head to look at her green armored ally beside her.
A bit cutely, though?
No wonder Anakin fell for her though.
And my next reply was epic.
"I run-away."
Silence, two dumbfounded expressions meet my words.
Even R2D2 couldn't help but voice it's own complaints! " Beep! Beeeeep!" As the droid beeped behind us.
Might have complained something around the lines like 'If you had brought ships and fleet with you this entire thing could have been avoided!'
Just kidding.
"That's certainly unexpected." Was Master Jedi reply, as we continued walking.
"Why would you do so?" Was Padmé bewildered question as she frowned and looked at me, I simply turned my head towards different direction.
I can't really explain this one can I?
On one hand I see her point.
On second hand, I see 'Auto-Pilot's' point on wanting to check the unknown, adventure and all.
"When the ship jumped into hyperspa-" Qui-Gon Jinn began before I interrupted him.
"A slipspace jump. "
He only raised his eyebrow before continuing his sentence. " A slipspace jump, the map of galaxy on your ship showed the whole galaxy and number of systems in unknown regions, a systems with different names compared to those we gave them."
"And yet, they are mapped to as a 'Green'Territory."
The hidden question is. 'Do these Systems belong to your civilization?' As master Jedi is fishing for intel.
But instead I replied with something else. " The Slipspace-Drive is our way of travel instead of Hyperspace-Drive, in conclusion.." But Qui-Gon continued, seemingly this issue attracting his attention.
"It would be difficult to change the drives with our tools.."
And seemingly forgetting the earlier question, but Alex didn't have much luck since Qui-Gon only squinted his eyes at her like side-eye.
But perhaps, for better relationship between them, and seeing this as a diplomatic relation refrained himself for repeating that question.
Same for Padmé even though she is certainly excited about it.
But on the hyperspace drive issue.
I nodded, Padmé paled with that meaning.
"Then we do not have a ship to travel to Coruscant.." She stated.
"That wouldn't be entirely true, we can always a steal a ship. " Qui-Gon raised his eyes in amusement. " Right, Master Jedi?"
But our masked Queen certainly is not approving off this decision
"But! It's stealing!" A masked Queen roared!
Ah yes, I forgot this is Padmé before clone verse, a one that doesn't do crazy stuff yet and is quite a bit immature when it comes to it.
I raised my eyebrow. " I think the bigger issue would be Blockade of Naboo right now than one stolen ship. Each second we waste is precious, and getting to Coruscant is a must."
No one argued against this one.
"We don't really have a choice here to begin with. It's either we get the ship and get to Coruscant or waste precious time." And our conversation soon died up as we entered Mos Espa just meters away from us. " We'll continue our conversations some other time, now we should concentrate on more important things."
A firm nod from Padmé, as she relented this issue but still.
She could not help but clench her small fists in slight disapproval still.
But nevertheless, I shook my head before turning towards the resident Jedi Master.
I glanced towards Qui-Gon Jinn, " I'll go out to scout for ships first, we'll meet later, and take this. " I out stretched my right palm, in it holding a chip, or something like it. He gave me a questioning look as he took it.
"It's a tracking chip, I'll find you with it later. " I whispered to him, as I patted his back for a moment and then left him and masked Queen alone.
Let them deal with a frog and all the troubles it will bring along.
And I will have my fun.
And I need to summon a first hero anyway.
We parted our ways as I continued walking forward, in random direction anyway.
It didn't miss my sight how some people looked at me, or rather at my unique equipment, some might have even mistook me for a Mandalorian perhaps?
But nevertheless, I continued my walk further, undisturbed, while glancing left and right towards so many amazing species of aliens.
And so many different stands they have.
Stands for Food.
Stands for drinks.
But most of them are not really acceptable for Human consumption likely.
Star wars Galaxy is big, supposedly there are over millions of different sentient species. But did you ever question yourself why are there so many of them, and on so many different planets?
I like to think that perhaps, there were huge civilization in past, who proceeded to conquer races across the galaxy and send them across different planets as slaves or something similar on that way, it would also explain why are there so many Humans to begin with.
Across so many planets to, it can't be simply explained as if 'They just evolved on different planets.'
If you add a little bit of Halo Flavor in the mix, it might even go along with my 'theory'.
After all, Forerunners are a race that 'betrayed'their creators, the Precursors for a petty reason like 'Mantle of Responsibility' being given to a new species, the Humans instead of them.
And considering they de-evolved Ancient Humanity and even modified their DNA to the very cell..
It can be some-what assumed that Forerunners might have done that to countless other races, like Sangheilli perhaps?
'I do remember them destroying 99% of Ancient San'Shyuum civilization and population, then stranding them on their Home-World and also eradicating all their technologies too..'I though as I glanced towards a pair of Twi'Leks who waved towards me, motioning for me to come towards them.
A quick glance upwards revealed the settlement.
'Twi'Leks Hub' Wild is what I though as I proceeded to ignore this establishment and any similar further.
Then they just waited for Halo Array to be fired..
Pity for them anyway, but who cares about them anyway.
But Humans in Star Wars are fascinating, they probably are not even 'full' Human anymore, they just cross-breed with many species.
Such as Twi'Lek, Togruta and much more.
But the Humans I summon?
They are pure, the original, the first drop of the bottle, the first cap.
But on more pressing matters.
I saw a suspicious looking alleyway, wide enough for several people to pass through at same time, and I saw couple of different corners.
Perfect for summoning a 'Hero'.
Satisfied I marched through it, but just as I entered it, it didn't go unnoticed through my 'Helmets HD'Vision' that three thugs immediately stood up from their position and one of them picked up a small blaster.
A pistol blaster, as they trotted my way.
'Ah, classic I guess. But did I ever mention how this helmet is super convenient?' I though as I marched faster into the alleyway before turning towards the right corner, and meet a dead end.
The only thing I don't have is a UNSC Soldier Interface implant that allows to 'organize'allies as green dots and enemies as red dots if they are in our field vision, with the use of helmets of course.
Chapter Word Count: 3,000