God Save the Queen: Book 2 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Chapter 8: If This is a Diplomatic Mission, Where is the Ambassador?

With a shudder, the small bust of King Veruna lifted from its plinth to join the other bits and bobs orbiting Anakin.

In hyperspace, you have to make your own fun.

“That makes fourteen,” I said. “Not bad at all, I thought you’d call it quits at ten.”

“I can…handle more,” he replied.

It wasn’t the weight that bothered him, the heaviest thing he was holding was a durasteel vase that had been used to furnish one of the state rooms. Instead, Anakin had all fourteen objects spinning around him in complex ellipticals, sometimes only millimeters from colliding with each other.

“As much as I believe you, I think my XO would be upset with me if you got marble dust all over the carpets.”

He gave a sheepish laugh at that, but with Qui-Gon’s help started to return the objects to their resting places. I don’t think anyone would miss Veruna’s face, but it was technically a royal artifact and I didn’t make it this far in life careless spitting on the customs of Naboo.

I leaned to the side. “What do you think?”

Schmi Skywalker was seated next to me along the wall. “It’s…more than I could have hoped for.” Her hands, no longer skeletal after years of proper meals, nonetheless worry in her lap. “It seemed so impossible, for my little Ani to be a Jedi, I never thought…” She shook her head. “Thank you, your majesty.”

“It’s the least I could do.” I leaned back in my chair. “Though I’m surprised Master Jinn went along with it.”

The plans for a tour of the Outer Rim had been in the works for some time, but when I’d learned that Anakin and Qui-Gon were on Sullust, I’d prevailed on parliament to send them an invitation.

And then used my own connections to extend one to Schmi. Regardless of what some people might think, I didn’t take pleasure in micromanaging my people, so I was surprised to find out she hadn’t just been quietly ‘employed’ by the palace after we’d rescued her from Tatooine. Instead, she’d found a job working in Naboo’s burgeoning shipyards.

It appears Anakin’s technical talent came from somewhere after all. While Schmi was no wunderkind, she’d picked up enough to keep her job for the last five years and change.

All of that was just a footnote on the official preparations, not the least of which was my surprise promotion to Rear Admiral of second fleet. The ceremony had taken place the day before my new fleet left from Naboo along our newly acquired hyperspace lane.

While no one else had been impolitic enough to say it, Naboo all but owned the Llanic Lane until it dipped into the far rim, and this ‘tour’ of our new potential trading partners would only push that control farther.

That much had been by design; what I didn’t expect was that I’d be the one commanding that first expedition. My opposition used the promotion as a chance to devolve further powers from the crown, which I acceded to. My time would be much more limited if I wanted to manage a fleet, even if it was just four frigates and a carrier.

Oh, and over two hundred N-2 Fighter craft.

That led us to the current moment: myself, two Jedi, and a few thousand other Naboo en route to Sereno on board the Otoh Gunga.

Sadly, Duchess Satine of Mandalor never responded to my request to make a pilgrimage to her world, so they’d been struck from the itinerary.

I rose as Anakin bounded over to me and his mother. He gave me a shy smile, which I returned with a ruffle of his hair. He pouted, sending Schmi tutting, while I slipped away to speak to the other Jedi in the room.

“You’re certain this is okay?” I asked, tilting my head to the mother and son on the other side of the room. Nearly a week into the voyage, any lingering awkwardness had long vanished. “With the code.”

Qui-Gon hummed. He looked the same, five years on: no additional wrinkles, not even a hint more pepper in his beard, even. Teaching Anakin agreed with him.

“He is too old.” A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. “To attempt to sever him so completely from his past would leave only a wound.”

“So, you’re just going to ignore this?” I asked. “I agree with your decision, but I don’t imagine my approval factored into it.”

“Have I ever expressed a negative thought about your opinions, Queen Amidala?”

“Several times on Tatooine, if I remember correctly.” I couldn’t help the answering smile.

“I seem to recall those conversations were between myself and a simple handmaiden.” Qui-Gon shrugged. “It speaks well of you, that you value your servants so highly.”

“I think so too.”

Anakin laughed, and both of us turned to look. He had a wide grin on his face, telling his mother some story about one of his adventures.

“Do you ever miss it?” I asked.

“It is difficult, to miss what one has never had.” Qui-Gon stroked his beard. “It is the basis of the Temple’s own teachings on the matter.”

“So because most near-humans don’t develop long-term memory until nearly two standard years, it’s right to take them from their families?”

“Do you believe it is right?” Qui-Gon replied. “Master Dooku no longer does, though he made no effort to affect change while he had the power to do so. But is it better for children to grow up pining after half-remembered family?” He shrugged. “Anakin will still have to learn to say goodbye; you and I have merely…afforded him more time for that lesson.”

“As opposed to children, who have never learned what they are leaving behind.”

“Some would call it a kindness, for all that it masks a cruelty,” Qui-Gon said.

“But not you,” I replied.

He raised an eyebrow, before inclining his head towards his padawan.

I let out a quiet laugh. “It really is a pleasure to see the both of you again, even if you’re only staying with us as far as Sereno.”

He folded his hands in the sleeves of his cloak. “It would be impolitic, for a Jedi and Padawan to attach themselves to an overtly political expedition.”

“Even this is pushing the bounds of propriety,” I admitted. “Still, how could we refuse the saviors of Naboo?”

“Anakin has quite enjoyed exploring the Gunga,”Qui-Gon said. “He’s torn between the engineering sections and the hangar bay.”

I smirked. “As long as you keep him away from the fighters.”

“He did say he wished he’d had a chance to fly one, during the battle of Naboo.”

I coughed. “I’m sure he did.”

Before that line of conversation could continue, the door to the state room hissed open. Sabé stepped through, snapping off a sharp salute.

“Admiral,” she said. “Our scanners have picked up a distress beacon when we dropped out of hyperspace.” She enjoyed calling me admiral, I think, because I still wasn’t used to it. As both my handmaiden and attaché, she was more than allowed that closeness.

I sighed, turning half to Jinn. “Back to work.”

He inclined his head.

“Is the beacon from a ship?” I asked.

“Most likely.” Sabé folded her hands behind her back. “We’ve traced the signature to a nearby system with no other comm traffic. There shouldn’t be a hyperspace buoy in system, so there’s nothing for the distress signal to bounce off.”

“Could be an old transmission still, though.” I sighed. Normally, we would detach at least a few fighters to investigate; we had that flexibility, but right now we were on a strict timetable.

“In this part of the Rim?” Anakin asked.

I blinked, glancing over. He must have crept over when he heard ‘distress beacon’. My fault this time. “Why would that matter?”

He shrugged. “Well, most people aren’t dumb enough to transmit a distress signal all the way out here. And if they do, they usually regret it once their help…arrives.”

“Pirates, of course.” I nodded.

“Or smugglers, or slavers.” Anakin shifted from foot to foot. “Can’t let an opportunity go to waste.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Sometimes I wonder what you heard working behind Watto’s counter.”

He grinned impishly. “Oh, just stuff. I picked up more from spacers at bars.”

I turned to look at his master. “You take little Ani to bars?”

“I’m not little!”

“Information gathering is an essential skill for a Knight,” came Qui-Gon’s response.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re just too obviously a Jedi to get any juicy gossip.” I ruffled Anakin’s hair, ignoring his halfhearted attempts to duck away. “And you’ll always be little Ani to me, squirt.”

“Gonna be taller than you soon,” he muttered.

“What was that?” I turned to look at him. “Did you want to repeat that?”

He blushed, looking away.

I sighed. “We should investigate, then. Either it’s some poor schmuck who desperately needs our help, or…”

“Bait.” Sabé’s smile was not kind. “A shark hunting for scavengers.”

Qui-Gon hummed. “There’s always a bigger fish.”

“Yes.” I blinked away the déjà vu. “And this time we have that honor.”

“I’m not certain that’s a good idea, your majesty.” Sabéswitched titles to remind me of my responsibilities no doubt.

But…

“There’s nothing in this region of space that can threaten us,” I said. “If our goal is to start stabilizing this region of space, then I could hardly think of a better place to start.”

She sighed. “Most of the captains said the same thing.”

“Did you really expect me to back away from the challenge?” I asked.

“Not with a grin like that, your majesty.”

I blinked again, before I realized that yes, I was very much grinning.

“Well,” I said. “If we’re all in agreement, I believe I should head to the bridge.”

Sabé quirked her lip. “Just once, I’d like a boring assignment.”