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"I think the children are coming." -- Padme Amidala
Dooku had left his solar sailer three levels down, and reaching out to the power of the dark side, he had halted his downward descent easily. He blasted off in a different direction than the Naboo ship and Jedi escort, as he did he signalled ahead to his cruiser that he would be there imminently and that its full capabilities would be needed for pursuit.
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Obi-Wan saw the Imperial Cruiser before Ric Olie did aboard the Nubian vessel. The cruiser’s long-range turbolasers began pounding the space around the Nubian ship as it headed toward the nightime side of Coruscant’s closer moon.
Obi-Wan turned and raced alongside the senator’s transport,and when the moon had eclipsed the cruiser, the Nubian ship slowed enough to allow Obi-Wan to dock underneath it and rush aboard.
He found his two Masters sitting with Padme between them, flanked by her handmaidens and C3PO. Olie was still in the cockpit along with Chae Markk and the other security guards, respecting the Jedis’ privacy.
Padme gazed up at Obi-Wan, she looked to be holding back tears. "They can’t take my children away from me, Obi-Wan,” she whispered. “They’re all I have left."
Obi-Wan claspsed Padme’s hand in his own and pulled a chair next to hers to keep her in some degree of comfort.
"I do not think we’ve decided that fully, Padme, but to keep the children together puts them at great risk should tragedy befall them. Even if Dooku does not capture them here and now, he will surely inform Palpatine of them. You will be on the run your whole life, trying to protect three lives at once."
The young senator bowed her head again and covered her eyes. She was silent a moment, then looked back up, her eyes wide.
"I think the children are coming."
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While Dooku’s cruiser could jump through hyperspace at great speeds, pushing its way around Coruscant’s moon was a more trying task, and one he could not expend effort through the Force on without seriously exhausting himself.
He knew the captain on board the cruiser expected him to request additional help, but that would possibly alert Palpatine to his efforts, a risk he wasn’t ready to take. With time to kill, Dooku retired to his quarters at the top of the ship. He sat on his throne and closed his eyes to meditate on the upcoming battle. There was a lot of power on board that ship.
Dooku prepared to return to the bridge, then paused and retrieved his light scimitar from a locked drawer. He fingered the saber eagerly, it had been a long time since he had lit it in combat.
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With the lights dimmed in the Nubian transport’s medical center, Padme lay calmly on a reclining bed while Rabe’ and Mischa took turns wiping her brow with a cool cloth, holding her hands and checking the monitors that provided data on both the young senator and her two babies’ vital signs.
Mace Windu stood over Padme, smiling with a fatherly patience down at her as he soothed her babies’ mental anxieties as they prepared for their journey into the world.
"Have you thought of names, Padme?"
Padme smiled shyly up at the Jedi Master and nodded. "I had been thinking of two, if it were a boy or a girl, now that we know for sure, I guess I can use them both."
Windu smiled and glanced at Mischa. The handmaiden nodded. Windu ascented.
"Let’s bring them home."
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Down in the secret depths of the Imperial Palace, the jet-black medical droid continued its primary task of monitoring the vital signs of its invalid patient. As Padme Amidala screamed in pain, Anakin’s neural pathways lit up for the first time in months, and stayed that way for more than 30 seconds.
As always, the droid noted any changes and immediately filed a report to send to its master.
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Although she was in pain, Padme maintained her calm, as Rabe’ held her hand and smiled bravely at her. She felt the first baby come and saw Windu’s face open up in a smile despite their dire situation.
The dark-skinned Jedi cradled a tiny being in his hands now, one which promptly began to sob, a good sign. Beckoning Rabe’ for a blanket for the newborn, he held the child up for Padme’s inspection.
"Your daughter is here, Padme." Blinking back her tears, Padme smiled at the tiny girl presented before her and spoke to her for the first time.
"Hello, Leia." Leia Skywalker beat her brother into the galaxy by about six minutes. The second birth was as easy as the first, which Padme would later attribute to Windu’s skills at calming the infants’ minds through the Force.
Her son, whose eyes reminded her so much of Anakin’s that she had asked Windu to leave her alone for a bit with them, curled right into her arms, alongside his sister.
For all the rambunctioness and eagerness he would one day possess, Luke Skywalker was napping contentedly barely twenty minutes after he was born.
