As night fell, Padmé piloted her ship to Kamino. Satine made sure no one saw her until the next day.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Mara said, sheathing her lightsaber.
"Everything will be alright," Padmé said, smiling.
"I'm the prisoner," Mara said. "If Skywalker doesn't come for you, he'll come for me."
"Don't remind me," Padmé said.
Satine managed to conceal Padmé's absence throughout the night and most of the morning, until everyone had to leave for their respective missions.
Satine had asked Ahsoka to accompany her on a political mission, and a confused Anakin had agreed.
Leia had told Luke the reason for his mother's absence, and they had kept Anakin occupied all morning.
"Where's Padmé?" Obi-Wan asked discreetly. "Anakin's been looking for her all morning."
"I don't see why he would," Satine said, looking away. "They're not together anymore, remember?"
"Anakin's thinking in a fit of anger," Obi-Wan said. "In two days he'll be begging her to take him back." Obi-Wan said, and Satine laughed. It was likely.
"Maybe she won't be back for two days," Satine said, knowing she could never lie to Obi-Wan.
"Where is she?" Obi-Wan asked, worried.
"Kamino."
"What?" Obi-Wan said, just as Anakin approached, puzzled by his master's condition.
"Is something wrong?" Anakin asked.
"We should go," Obi-Wan said, changing the subject.
"Have you seen Padmé?" Anakin asked, feigning disinterest.
"I think she's in her room," Satine smiled, and Obi-Wan looked at her apprehensively.
"Is she alright?" Anakin asked.
"I'm sorry, Master Skywalker," Satine said, looking at him. "I thought you two were no longer together. Was I wrong?" Satine said, and when Anakin didn't reply, she proudly withdrew.
"What a temper," Anakin chuckled nervously, glancing at Obi-Wan, who raised an eyebrow.
"She's right, you and Padmé are no longer together," Obi-Wan said. "Come on, we have to get Jabba to Coruscant."
"That's precisely why I'm looking for Padmé. We have to leave, and she's holding us up," Anakin said shrewdly.
"Remember she was a queen?" Obi-Wan asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"A queen is never late, everyone else is early," Obi-Wan said, walking toward the ship. It was the stupidest excuse he'd ever come up with, but at least it would keep Anakin thinking about that and not Padmé.
Jabba was on the ship being taken before the council. Anakin was waiting for Padmé to arrive, completely annoyed and tempted to go looking for her. After half an hour, he decided to go after her.
Obi-Wan had said goodbye to Satine, telling her he had to leave on the mission with Ahsoka, and they had already departed.
"What's really going on?" Han asked Luke.
"Mom's on Kamino, with Mara," Luke said, and Obi-Wan looked at him, wide-eyed.
He walked toward the ship's room where Mara, a prisoner being transferred to the council, was supposedly being held, but he didn't find her.
"I didn't know that," Obi-Wan said.
"If Dad finds out Mom and Mara are on their way to Kamino, he'll want to go after her," Leia said, and Luke coughed, signaling her to be quiet. Anakin was walking quickly toward the room.
He walked past them all and opened Mara's cell, cursing under his breath.
"Where are they?" he asked, looking at his children.
"I can't tell you," Leia said, hugging him.
"Luke," Anakin said, "Where are they?"
"I can't tell you," Leia said, hugging him.
"Luke," Anakin said, "Where are they?"
"I can't tell you," Leia said, hugging him.
"Luke," Anakin said, "Where are they?" "I can't say, Dad."
"Luke, this isn't about Mara," Anakin said seriously. "She's a prisoner, and Padmé is helping her."
"They're on Coruscant," Leia said, hugging her father. She just hoped Padmé was alright. "Mom said she could convince Mara to join us."
"That's nonsense," Anakin grumbled. They had to get to Coruscant quickly; Padmé could be in danger.
Anakin and Han piloted the ship. Curiously, Han was silent. Luke and Leia were nervous, and Obi-Wan hadn't complained about how fast they were flying. Anakin knew something was wrong.
"He's going to head for Kamino as soon as he finds out she might be in danger," he said, approaching the twins.
"He can't," Leia said worriedly. "They could discover her, and she'd be in even more danger."
"I only hope it succeeds," Obi-Wan said.
On Kamino, Padmé and Mara, as senators of the republic, were invited in.
"Senator Amidala, we were expecting you," they said.
"I apologize for the delay. As soon as the chancellor informed me about this, I came all the way here, but my ship ran out of fuel and I had to stop somewhere else," Padmé lied.
"Who is your companion?"
"I present to you Mara Jade, a young Jedi from Corellia," Padmé said, and the Kaminoan asked no further questions.
Economic negotiations tended to take hours, so during the first recess, Mara and Padmé put their plan into action.
"It's full of cameras, they'll know it was us," Mara said.
"Satine gave me this," Padmé said, showing a wireless remote used to disable nearby signals.
"We have to hurry then," Mara said, walking quickly.
They pretended to enter their rooms and changed into black robes, used the remote, and ran to the control room.
Padmé began entering the codes. She couldn't leave a trace of what she had done; they would review and change the codes. So she did exactly as Satine suggested: she sabotaged the accelerated growth of 100 clones. It would appear that the sabotage was to halt production, while the real code entered would circulate freely throughout all the medical platforms. Each clone who entered would have the chip that compelled them to obey Order 66 removed. To make it more believable, Satine had given her a lethal guard badge. Padmé dropped it along the way when the clones trapped them in the control room. It was then Mara's turn to act.
Mara quickly wounded the clones, without killing them, as Padmé had requested. They had also made sure not to leave any traces; the lightsaber Mara used was Leia's.
They escaped using the control panel to turn off the lights and ran back to their rooms, quickly discarding their robes before entering.
When the lights came back on, they sensed soldiers approaching.
"There's only one Jedi here," they heard a clone general's voice say. "It has to be them," he added.
"Senator Amidala is here on business. I fear this meeting was used to plan this attack," said a Kaminoan voice.
"But we were attacked by a Jedi," said one of the clones.
"We'll find out," he said, and the door to the room opened.
Just as they had planned, Mara used her purple lightsaber to threaten the newcomers.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here," Padmé said, feigning fear. "What happened?" she asked.
"It's not her," one of the clones said.
"What do you mean?" Padmé asked, looking at him, confused.
"We were attacked by a Jedi. We needed to make sure it wasn't her companion," the clone general said.
"Mara?" Padmé asked. "Mara has been protecting me ever since all that commotion."
"I apologize for the inconvenience, Senator Amidala," the clone trooper said. "We're sorry about this, Jedi Master," the clone said, and Mara nodded.
"Did someone follow her here, Senator?" the Kaminoan asked.
"Not that I know of," Padmé said, worried.
"We've found this. I think Death Guard is behind this," said the Kaminoan. "I need to inform the Chancellor that 100 clones have been sabotaged; they won't have accelerated growth."
"I'll inform him myself. This happened while your Senate representative was here."
"Would you really do that, Senator?" asked the Kaminoan, happy not to have to be the one to inform the Chancellor.
"Of course."
"Why would Death Guard want to sabotage the clones?" asked a clone.
"Because Mandalore has joined the Republic. They're allied with the Separatists," said Padmé, and everything began to make sense to the Kaminoans.
The trade negotiations ended after two days. Padmé had contacted the Chancellor to tell him what had happened and inform him that the trade deals had been a success. But that day, the Chancellor wasn't alone. He was surrounded by the Jedi Council, and Anakin was there, looking at her seriously through the hologram.
"Very well, Senator Amidala," the chancellor said with a smile. "I always knew I could trust you."
Mara and Padmé left Kamino in complete silence.
"Are we in trouble?" Mara asked.
"Too much," Padmé sighed.
Ahsoka and Satine were in no different situation. The chancellor had granted them diplomatic authorization to speak with Darth Maul. Clearly, the chancellor had thought Satine was just gloating. He couldn't believe the woman would offer to become an ally to the monster who had imprisoned and tortured her for months. Maul's conditions were not simple; killing Palpatine was one of his main objectives. Satine hadn't been mistaken; Maul hadn't spoken. He wanted revenge, but to agree to hand over important information, Maul requested to speak with Obi-Wan. Satine knew it was dangerous and that she would have to inform Darth Maul of her visit. Obi-Wan would never agree to ally himself with him, not with the man who killed his master.
"What will we do now, Duchess?" Ahsoka asked nervously. "We need all the information to defeat the Empire."
"We'll have to find a way," Satine said.
"Do you think they'll be upset when they find out where we were?" Ahsoka asked.
"You can bet on it," Satine said.
When Anakin learned that everything was a lie and that Padmé wasn't on Coruscant, he searched tirelessly for her, but not even R2-D2 could track her, which made sense because Kamino wasn't yet showing up on radar as a security measure to prevent the Separatists from attacking the clone factories.
Seeing his somber state, the council had sent him to meditate. Luke and Leia stayed at the temple because Yoda wanted to train them in the Force.
When Ahsoka returned to Coruscant, she was the first to report to the council, who then summoned their master.
"Why did you do that, Ahsoka?" Anakin asked. "You said you were going on a political matter with Satine."
"Theoretically, it is a political matter," Ahsoka said nervously.
"This council will never take an enemy as an ally," Obi-Wan said seriously. He'd already had the same discussion with Satine, who had insisted that he should consider it.
"Padawan Tano, lying to your master is not what a padawan should do," Mace Windu said, and Ahsoka apologized.
"We really needed that information," Ahsoka said.
"I understand," Yoda said, smiling. "We must consider it."
"Master Yoda, ally ourselves with Maul?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously.
"It's clearly a trap," Yoda said, and Ahsoka nodded. She thought so too, as did Satine, but that was Palpatine's weakness: he always left clues in his traps.
"I understand," Yoda said. "We must fall into the trap," Anakin said, and Yoda nodded.
"I will escort the Duchess to the Citadel then," Obi-Wan said, and the Masters nodded. Obi-Wan wanted to see for himself what this trap was and how they could decipher it.
"Master Kenobi," Mace Windu said, hiding a smile, "Please stop calling her Duchess. We all know she's your fiancée." Obi-Wan smiled nervously.
Padmé and Mara arrived at the Senate building, where they informed the Chancellor. Padmé realized how difficult it was for Mara not to tell the Chancellor, whom she considered a father figure, the whole truth, but she also witnessed Mara's loyalty when she returned with her to the Jedi Temple.
"You're back," Luke said, looking at Mara with pride.
"I only did it because your mother's offer was better," Mara lied, but Luke was too pleased.
"What will happen to her, Master Yoda?" Padmé asked, aware that everyone already knew Mara had arrived as an enemy.
"You have helped a prisoner, Senator Amidala," Yoda said seriously. "But you have also gained a valuable ally." He smiled.
"Do not consider me an ally," Mara said, ignoring Yoda's gaze.
"She won't go to prison?" Padmé asked hopefully.
"She has helped save us," Mace Windu said. "We have no reason to send her to the Citadel, but she will remain under the Council's care."
"Great," Mara said.
"I must speak with her," Yoda said, and Mara nodded, following Yoda's lead.
Padmé informed Leia and Luke of what had happened, and they told her about the incredible allies they were gaining each day.
"Leia has done an excellent job representing you, Mom," Luke said, proud of his sister.
"I'm so proud of you, Leia," Padmé said, seeing that her daughter had managed to forge numerous treaties with neutral systems that were secretly joining the cause against the Chancellor.
"Thank you, Mother," Leia said, smiling.
"Where's Anakin?" Padmé asked timidly.
"He was sent to meditate. We haven't seen him since yesterday," Luke replied, knowing his parents' situation was complicated.
"I understand," Padmé said sadly. She had hoped to see him at the council. She piloted back to her apartment, resigned to not seeing Anakin until he decided to return to the temple.
Padmé entered the apartment with a sigh. After a few hours, she had showered and changed into pajamas. She needed to rest. With tears in her eyes, she took Anakin's robes, which she still kept, and put them on. She walked to the living room to get a glass of water when she nearly had a heart attack.
"Was your trip to Kamino good?" Anakin asked, standing in the doorway.
"Ani," Padmé said nervously, but happy to see him again.
"Was Mara good company?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ani, I couldn't tell you. You wouldn't have let me go," Padmé said.
"Of course not. You're pregnant, and you put yourself in danger," Anakin said, annoyed.
"I decide when I'm in danger, Jedi Master," Padmé said defiantly.
"Anyway, you wanted to talk," Anakin said irritably. "Let's talk now."
"Fine," Padmé said nervously. It would be a long conversation, and all she wanted to do was kiss him and lose herself in his arms.