(Naboo System, 11.5 Hours Later)
I had just woken up from a dream I could only remember a couple tiny tidbits of, and finished the necessary morning rituals, when I felt Seraph revert to real space for the third and final time.
Emerging from the port sleeping compartment onto the walkway that lead fore to the operations compartment, or aft to my tiny work-space just fore of the access to the (technological) Class 1.5 hyper-drive installed as a backup by the Langhesi, I could already hear Artoo's shrill beeps, whirs, and warbles of protest before the operations compartment door had even begun opening.
Now, I watched as the feisty astromech rolled speedily in my direction, while I prepared a pot of coffee in the microscopic kitchenette recessed into the ship's starboard bulkhead just aft of the centered operations compartment door.
Once he rolled to a stop beside me with a final warble of distress, I turned to listen attentively to a more complete summary of the droid's complaints, but when he finally wound down, my expression remained unruffled.
"There's nothing to be concerned about, Artoo. Now that we've left hyper-space, Seraph is simply heading for the Naboo System's meager asteroid field because she needs to eat. She's more than capable of avoiding any hazards to navigation while collecting her meal, and she won't do anything that would endanger us, in any case.
I realize a ship that doesn't always go where your navigation inputs direct is the stuff of astromech nightmares, but the sooner you accept that she's as free to do her thing as you are, the happier you're going to be" I replied in a sympathetic yet firm tone.
Several more rapid-fire statements were made in Binary, but I remained resolute. "If Seraph's free-ranging bothers you so much, why don't you distract yourself by going ahead and getting acquainted with IG-1? I try to keep him engaged when I can, but my duties don't always permit being trailed by a droid of his design.
I'm hoping this mission will provide him with enough stimulation that he'll stop powering down when no one is actively interacting with him."
When the round-topped blue and white droid evinced at least some interest in my suggestion, I pointed aft and finished with "You'll find him in sentry-mode right in front of the access to the back up hyper-drive all the way aft.
He's quite observant, so he picked up on the fact his proximity was making my new apprentice uneasy and decided to keep his distance for now.
He wants to let her get used to being followed about by him a bit at a time. Give IG-1 a chance, and I think the idea of a droid team-up will grow on you."
A couple of dubious and rather snarky sounds were fired my way as the droid rolled of aft, but my attention had already drifted back to the two snippets I remembered from my dream.
First, I was floating in complete darkness, when a dozen brilliant white lines sprung into being to form a cube that hung in the blackness before me. The cube's interior simply seemed only to consist of the omnipresent empty blackness, but within the black, there were two bright white orbs.
One of the spheres was a bit larger larger and somewhat brighter than the other, yet both zipped about the interior of their cube-cage with the same frenetic intensity as they sought to escape the confines of their cage.
Second, I had the sense that some time had passed, and now the cube was being batted and rolled about by some invisible force, or maybe just something as black as the surrounding darkness.
Almost as if it were one of the dice in a game of chance. The pair of spheres trapped within the dice-cube seemed to dim for a moment each time a tumble of their prison threw them into one of the invisible walls.
Their previous level of illumination would return a moment or two after an impact, but every several impacts seemed to permanently cost the two lights a tiny portion of their brilliance.
I thought I remembered trying to reach out and stop the cube from tumbling about a fraction of a second before I'd awakened, but couldn't be sure I hadn't imagined that part as a reaction to a dream that was unusually intense for being simplistic to the point of the absurd. Imagined or not, I remembered nothing that might have resulted from that desire to reach out.
Nothing but the vaguest sort of sense, akin in the vaguest sort of way to being aware that the existence of a vid you'd been watching didn't cease simply because you stopped watching it.
"Maybe one or both lights escaped the cube, and that lead to other movements in the darkness?" I silently questioned myself.
Testing the idea to see if it rang true in memory, or was simply a guess my mind had conjured to try and fill in the lost time between the two dream-fragments. The thought didn't seem wrong, per se, but neither did it jog loose anything new, or lead to any elaborations on what little I did recall.
All I was one hundred percent sure about was this had been no simple figment of REM sleep. It meant something, somehow, somewhen, but I hadn't the foggiest idea what.
"Is that fresh coffee I smell?" I looked up from being so completely lost in thought I'd nearly missed Padme's question. Noticing the attractive young woman seemed to be anticipating the possibility of trouble today, because a familiar skintight white jumpsuit was gracing her figure.
There was no holstered blaster as yet, but the thin gray utility belt she was wearing already had a number of small pouches affixed, and there was definitely still room at either hip.
"Anakin? Coffee?" She prompted gently when I didn't respond after a couple seconds. I felt my cheeks warm, but managed to keep my voice from quavering, as I finally replied "Oh, ahh, how do you take it?"
The small smile she gave me as she answered "Milk and sugar, please" could have meant anything, but I felt how pleased she was by this chink in my composure as surely as if the feeling had been my own. The knowledge helped me recover my balance as I prepared the cup as she'd requested, so by the time I handed it to her, I had an actual response in mind.
"I take it from your choice of clothing that you arrived at the same conclusion I did. That the Queen's going to send you to find out what the trouble with the Gungans is after five minutes of briefing or less, I mean." It seemed the most likely eventuality, and Padme's immediate nod confirmed we were thinking along similar lines.
"The Gungans are a people with a deep respect for the past, and a corresponding tendency to venerate the leaders among them whose careers in their completed totality proved them to be effective servants of the common good.
Boss Nass, as greatly esteemed as he was while serving as the head of the Gungan High Council, was never so well-loved and respected as he's become since retiring with his record full of achievements and successes.
They tend to accord me a certain amount of respect, along similar lines. Which is certainly useful at times like these" Padme explained in a serious tone that did a good job of conveying her respect for the neighbors and erstwhile allies of the Naboo.
"Wasn't Queen Neeyutnee's coronation only a couple of months ago? That doesn't seem like enough time to complete the transfer of power, and get up to speed on the unresolved developments from the end of her predecessor's term. Let alone establish a dialog of her own with Boss Lyonie"
I remarked in what I thought was a fairly astute manner. The there-and-gone flash of worried concern that crossed Padme's face as she heard my assessment seeming to vindicate my observation.
"Her Majesty's coronation was four days prior to the Gungans' Festival of Warriors. Which was itself a little more than ten weeks ago." Padme confirmed, paused for a moment as if choosing her words with care, then continued loyally.
"That could have had something to do with the Queen asking me to act as her personal representative for the duration of the festivities, or it could simply have been a result of the state of flux that always grips the Diplomatic Corps in the wake of a royal election."
I considered what she'd said for a moment, then decided there was as yet no upside to voicing the concerns I'd had since learning the Queen had requested her immediate return to Naboo.
The Gungans recalling their ambassador without explanation was disconcerting, even troubling, but I knew that wasn't enough to convince the woman in front of me that her people's staunchest allies for more than a decade might now be considering the possibility they should be backing a different pod-racer.
There was a not so brief lull in the conversation, as our joint speculation about a problem we knew too little about came to an end. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, exactly, but I wasn't sorry when Padme ended it to ask.
"Do you have some idea of our ETA off-hand, Anakin? I suppose you can sense how anxious I am to return home and find out what the situation is, and what I can do to help."
The question brought a fond smile to my lips, as I replied with a touch of pride in my girl "We've already arrived, so as soon as Seraph finishes taking on the few hundred kilograms of minerals from your asteroid field that she needs to refuel and rearm, we can comm the Theed spaceport for a descent vector."
My answer brought a look of shocked surprise to my charge's lovely features. "What do you mean we're already here? That's impossible!" Padme sputtered on a moment or two longer, until my unwavering certainty forced her to accept the truth.
"Seraph's the offspring of a bio-technology several decades more advanced than anything known to the Republic, Padme. It's hard to say exactly how fast she really is, because I'm understandably reluctant to push her to her absolute limits, but my girl makes Class point-five speed with no trouble at all."
I explained with a satisfied grin. Delighted to be bragging about my blazing angel to an appreciative audience.
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