8 Chapter 8: The Queen

As I walked to the palace I had my robotic bugs keeps tabs on the queens current location. I had seen the palace through my robots but the images didn't do it justice, the statues and palace staircase were exactly what you would expect for a king or queen of an entire world, both grand and majestic at the same time.

"Halt" the guard to the left and right of the entrance both shouted at the same time. "This is the Royal palace, withdrawn immediately"

I activated my Gamer's mind to keep myself calm and collected. I had my hood up and mask covering the bottom half of my face, leaving only my glowing eyes visible, so I looked extra suspicious to the two guards. Looking at the two guards their outfits were slightly different to the movies, they were wearing blue armoured vests and neither of them had a helmet. Both of them had their hands on their pistols.

"I would like to see the queen please" I tried to sound as gentle as possible, trying to ease their tension.

"The Queen is an important person she doesn't have time to deal with little kids, leave now or we will remove you" both guards had taken their pistols half way out of their hostlers, no doubt trying to intimidate me.

Thanks to my Gamer's mind I was able to keep my cool, the look of the guards pulling pistols didn't even faze me.

I took a step forward and both the guards drew their weapons and pointed them at me, I quickly activated TK and their pistols flew out of their hands and turned to face them both.

Both the guards gulped loudly and looked as though they were preparing to flee. I couldn't blame either of them with pistols pointed at their heads. I quickly used TK and both the guns fell apart in to their individual pieces on the ground. I took care not to break them at all they would just need to reassemble them.

I took another step forward and the two guards flinched as I walked past. "I will find her myself" I could hear both the guards falling to the ground as I walked through the palace doors, unable to hold up their own body weight.

As I walked towards the interior of the palace the captain of the guard and ten other guards came from all around me with their weapons drawn. "I am captain Quarsh Panaka, you will surrender immediately or we will be forced to take you down" all the guards seemed to make it a point to let me know they were pointing their blasters at me.

"Greeting Captain, I need to see the queen so unfortunately I cannot let you detain me, please move aside" I spoken in a polite tone and gave a small bow when greeting the captain. He looked exactly as he did in the movies, just angrier at my presence.

"Why do you need to see the queen?"

"It seems my datapad six months ago wasn't taken very seriously and I need to correct that"

"That was you?" he raised an eyebrow at my statement, he had spent over a month trying to figure out who sent that message and trying to find anything that would substantiate my claim. However I had wiped the droids memory and he could find nothing that would suggest an invasion. He was forced to dismiss it as a prank.

"Wait here" he said walking off towards the throne room. I could see him discussing my presence with the queen through my insect droids. He quickly returned with an answer.

"Stand down all of you. The queen has granted him an audience" the guards all looked relieved by his words. I could see sweat forming on their faces and hands, it was obvious that none of them had seen any battle before.

Arriving at the doors to the throne room the guards all took their places behind me, all of them still keeping one hand on their blasters. I followed Captain Panaka in to the large circular room, it was beautifully decorated with marble floors and stone columns.

Sitting on the throne was a woman dressed up in a glamour red dress, she had 3 servants to either side of her dressed in colourful robes. I immediately recognised one of them as Padme looking exactly as she did in the first film.

"Why is the meaning of this intrusion Jedi? If you cannot provide me with an explanation I will have to demand an apology from the Jedi council"

"Forgive me Queen Amidala" I say slightly bowing toward the real Padme

The everyone reacted to my bow with a strange look except for the captain and decoy. Padme stood up slowly and the decoy got up to trade places. Padme sat on the throne and stared at me with a stern gaze and looked at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"You surprise me Jedi, not many people know about my decoy, but I would still like you to answer my question, why have you intruded in to my palace?"

"Forgive me your majesty, but I am no Jedi" Padme a look of surprise at my statement but didn't say anything. "As for my intrusion, I sent you a message roughly 6 months ago warning you of an invasion, I would like to know what precautions you have taken so far" I stared back at Padme, I knew full well that no preparations had been made. I was seriously considering if she was going to lie but if she was anything like she was in the films she would be honest with me.

"I was informed of the abilities you used just outside my palace, I was under the impression that only Jedi could perform such things" she looked at me with suspicion.

"No your majesty, While the Jedi are the largest and well know of the groups who can use the force, there are many who can utilise it if you know how" I gave her a simple and direct answer and waited for her to continue.

"We have found no proof of your claims of an invasion, so, why should we believe you?" She kept her stern look evaluating my every move.

"Because if you do nothing your people will suffer and die. whether you believe me or not in 6 months you will suffer from an invasion and military blockade" I spoke every word calmly while keeping eye contact with Padme.

"From who? We are a peaceful people there is no reason for anyone to invade us" Padme had a frown on her face and the worry in her voice couldn't be concealed.

"I am sorry, but I cannot say, If I give you too much information it would influence your decisions and could cause an even worse outcome" I apologised in a sincere voice. If I made the wrong decisions Palpatine could end up winning.

Panaka stepped forward from behind me. "Your highness, I do not know if this boy is tell the truth or not, but if what he says is true we must make preparations to keep the people safe" he knelt to the ground and bowed his head.

"What is your name?" Padme looked back to me and asked.

"My name is James your majesty" I said as I removed my hood and removed my face mask.

I could see the surprise on all the faces in the room, the guards seemed to relax more towards me, while the maids and Padme all has a slight blush appear on their faces.

"Well then James, Doing so will cause a major upheaval for the next 6 months and will cost a considerable sum. How will you atone if what you say turns out to be false?" Padme quickly recovered and asked with a small smile.

"I will remain under guard wherever you choose to put me until the invasion your majesty, if the invasion doesn't happen then you may do what you will with me, imprison me for life, execute me, make me your slave, whatever you wish" I stated calmly as if I was talking about the most mundane thing you could think off.

"Very well, you will remain in the palace for the next 6 months and if what you said is true I will reward you with whatever you desire, however if you have lied you will be punished accordingly. Captain Panaka, please escort our guest to his quarters"

"Yes your highness" the captain gave another slight bow to Padme and guided me out of the room.

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1 hour later the throne room

"Do you trust him your highness?" an old man on the Naboo council asked Padme.

"I do, I do not know how he knows the things he does, but he doesn't seem to be lying"

"Just because he believes its true it doesn't mean it's actually going to happen"

"But if it is true and we do nothing then the people will suffer and we cannot allow that to happen" Padme strongly disagreed

"And if he is wrong? do you intend to imprison or execute him?"

"You know that we do not execute people and do you believe that a prison would be able to hold him?"

All the members started murmuring between themselves.

"Very well we will make the preparations" the council members all rose from their seats and bowed to Padme.