DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Obi-Wan made his way through the crowd and arrived at an entrance to an alleyway that was just off the main square. He peered from behind a wall to survey the scene before taking action.
Sabé, dressed in a gown for the ball, and a guard were speaking to one another. The guard's posture was unsteady and he radiated an aggressive attitude. Two other men were watching from a connecting passage.
"Jaquill, go home. You've had a bit too much to drink," Sabé told the guard. Her arms were crossed, and she projected authority.
"No, I won't," the guard spat, his speech slurred. "I've had enough of you, enough of a Queen, and I'm sick of women telling me what to do." He glanced to see if the other two men were still watching, then he grabbed Sabé's wrist.
Obi-Wan began to enter the scene, but felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around and faced the tall older man, with graying temples, who had been at Sabé's side during the parade. Now wearing civilian formal dress, he carried Meira, who grinned at Obi-Wan. She patted the man's chest and said, "Poppie."
"Hold Jedi," he smiled kindly. "You mean well, but she has to handle this."
"But...," Obi-Wan waved at the situation.
"Young man, you've completly forgotten who she is, haven't you? Just watch," the man said.
Sabé clasped her hands and broke Jaquill's hold on her easily. She turned to step away from him.
"No you don't," the guard bellowed. "You're going to have to do better than that, little girl!" He grasped her arm and pulled her to him.
With flashes of movement that even the Jedi had trouble following, Sabé disabled Jaquill, and pulled a blaster on the two witnesses.
Pulling out a comlink, Sabé called, "Captain?"
"Panaka here, they're on the way, Minister. We're keeping it quiet, as per your request."
"Good. Thank you, Captain. By the way, one of them will need medical attention." There was a hint of satisfaction in her tone.
"That's my girl," Panaka chuckled before he ended the communication.
The man with Meira entered the alley. Pulling his blaster, he assisted Sabé with covering the two men. "I see I'll have to remind the good Captain that you're my girl, not his." His pride in his daughter was evident.
Obi-Wan followed him into the alley. Sabé acknowledged him with a nod. "Leutenant Hasin Uzza, may I present Jedi Kenobi. As you know, he assisted with our escape from the Trade Federation."
"The Jedi and I met while you were taking care of business," Uzza said.
Sabé bent down to examine Jaquill. He was hissing in pain from a broken arm and leg, and muttering curses at her, but knew better than to resist. She unzipped his jacket and found a red scarf where it had been tucked out of sight. She pulled it out and gasped.
"Damn! They've gotten too close." She shot a withering glance at the the men covered by Uzza's blaster.
Obi-Wan was puzzled. It looked just like the scarf he had seen a few moments before in the marketplace. "There's another few just like that in a stall across the way. What does it mean?" he asked.
At his statement, both Sabé's and her father's eyes widened. "Obi...Jedi Kenobi, as soon as Panaka's men get here, you must show my father where it is." She called Panaka again. "Is the Queen indoors?"
"Yes, what's wrong?" Panaka was alarmed.
"The Faction may be in the Square. Alert the Handmaidens, watch for trouble. Calle out"
Once the other guards had arrived, Obi-Wan and Uzza headed toward the suspicious stall. On the way, Uzza briefed the Jedi. He was still holding Meira and acting casual, trying to appear unalarmed. Along the way, he arranged to have his wife, Raisa, pick up the baby from him.
In low tones, the leutenant spoke to Obi-Wan. "The Faction is an underground group that wants to depose the Queen. They are not above using terrorist tactics to do so. One of the handmaidens stumbled across them in a lucky break not long after my granddaughter was born. We thought we had tracked them back to their leader and stopped the movement. It seems we were wrong."
Matching his delivery, Obi-Wan asked, "Why do they want to get rid of the Queen?"
"We're not sure. At first we thought it was planned by those interests that had King Veruna in their pocket, and saw that they couldn't corrupt Amidala. Now that they've gotten this far inside our organization, it's hard to say." Uzza shook his head. "I hope for Jaquill's sake, he was brainwashed or coerced. It will be hard enough for him as it is. I thought he was a steady, dependable fellow."
Raisa Uzza emerged from the crowd to retrieve Meira. The couple spoke to each other for a moment, then the woman took the baby home.
The man watched them as they left. "Jedi, it seems our great time of peace is at an end. I feel dread when I think of the kind of world my granddaughter is going to grow up in."
Obi-Wan's gaze followed where Uzza was looking. He watched Meira wave at the two of them as she was carried away. Suddenly, he didn't feel quite as detached from Naboo and this family as he had before.