The Clone Wars: Path of the Force, A Star Wars Story

16

When Padme realized the electric shock had stopped once again, she wasn't sure if she had lost consciousness or not. She opened her eyes and saw Vindi heading toward her. She closed her eyes tightly, bracing for his touch. Once again she forced herself to remain still and endure his awful probing. She vowed this would be the last time he touched her.

Subtly she found the screw above her again and found it moving easily now between her fingers. She carefully unscrewed it and hid it in her palm, but kept her arms above her head to avoid Vindi's detection.

Padme opened her eyes. She found Vindi's face disturbingly close to hers. His hands traveled across her shoulders. His touch had become more forceful as he started to, not just slide his slimy hands across her skin, but to grab at her body. She was done. She flinched forcefully and shook him off her. For the first time, he looked at her angrily.

"I thought we were making more progress than this pet," he said standing up, looking down at her. "This behavior just will not do."

She would of liked nothing more than to punch him in the nose right then, but she could be patient. She would need the element of surprise.

She didn't need to wait long. Vindi completely turned around from her to walk back to the power console. This was her chance. She stood up quietly and walked right behind him. He was so much taller than her that she realized she couldn't reach over his head. So she jumped and wrapped her tied hands around Vindi's neck and pulled. Vindi choked immediately and grabbed at her arms. She pushed her knee into his back and pulled as hard as she could. Vindi's choking noises stopped but he still struggled against her. Vindi pushed back into her, but Padme was ready. She stepped to the side and used Vindi's momentum against him. Pulling him down, she slammed his head into the torcher machine. Vindi's body slumped to the ground.

Padme dragged her hands out from underneath Vindi's body, and finally pulled the tight cloth out of her mouth.

"I'm already spoken for."

Padme turned around and ran. She followed a light through a tunnel that led upward and into a vast cavern. She slowed to a walk stepping cautiously into the cavern. Something was in there. Shadows. Thousands of them, dotted across the cavern floor. Padme walked, slowly up to the closest shadow. Battle droids. More battle droids and weaponry than she had ever seen together. It would take two, maybe three battalions to take on this many droids. They were all deactivated though. But, for how long?

Padme could think of only one purpose for this droid army. She had to warn someone. She needed to get away from here. Warn Anakin.

She began to run again, toward the mouth of the cavern. The light became brighter with every step, almost blinding her. Padme wondered how long it had been since she saw daylight.

She was almost to the mouth of the massive cave when she tripped and fell. She expected to hit dirt like she had been running on. But, she fell on cold, hard metal.

Padme looked up to see two red eyes glaring down at her. Vindi had activated the droids.