The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Aveline! Aveline!"

The three girls squealed as they pounced on the masked woman, frantically hugging her from all different directions. At first, they'd been a little suspicious. Usually their half-sister was a little more light-hearted than the stoic version they'd first seen after she exited her ship. It was odd that her guards were placed in such a tight circle, hardly giving her and her husband enough room to breathe. But the triplets' suspicions were put to rest when they saw her eyes twinkle and she squeezed herself between the two front guards, kneeling and extending her arms, gesturing the she was excited for their hugs.

"I've missed you girls!" Aveline exclaimed as she embraced her sisters. Her voice was different than the last time they'd heard it. A little higher, a little more joyful. But that didn't surprise them very much. Rumors of the royal family changing their voices and appearances for a long amount of time due to safety precautions were true. And with the knowledge of Unim's recent capture running rampant through the Separatist system, it would've been unwise to ignore important steps such as vocal-change and a slight shape-shift. 

"We're so happy you're safe!" Nata grinned and climbed onto Aveline's back like she'd normally do when Aveline was staying at the palace. "After we heard about Unim-"

"Technically," Jordae began. She looked over her shoulder to see if their mother had exited the palace yet, then continued talking in a hushed tone. "We aren't supposed to know about Unim." Cyndea nodded.

"Yes, we might've..." Cyndea trailed off, then stood on her tiptoes to whisper into Aveline's ear. "We might've heard about it when we were eavesdropping on Mother and her advisers." The little girl put her index finger to her lips and shushed. "Promise not to tell?" The triplets could see the corners of her eyes tighten and they knew she was smiling cheekily beneath her mask.

"I promise."

"Who's that droid behind you?" Jordae raised an eyebrow, staring past their sister at the new addition to the group. The droid, which looked to be one of the older aid-type models, fidgeted almost as if it were nervous, and looked between the little girl and Aveline. Nata smiled from her perch on Aveline's back and extended a friendly hand towards the machine.

"Hello."

Obviously confused by this act of kindness, the droid looked at Nata's hand, then back at Aveline. The half-sister nodded, as if she were granted the droid permission, and the robot gently locked hands with the little girl.

"H-hello..." The droid stuttered shyly, causing the triplets to giggle.

"Girls, this is my friend, JC." Aveline introduced them as each child took turns shaking the droid's metallic hand. "JC, these are my little sisters. Jordae, Cyndea, and Nata." Gradually, as the dialogue between the five of them continued, the robot began to get a little more comfortable with the three as the guards stood watch around them.

"Aveline!"

The sound of their sister's name seemed to burst from the palace's main entrance as Queen Asemdi, dressed from head to toe in the usual swatches of bright red draped in dark purple and sporting one of her biggest feathered head-dresses, elegantly began to make her way from the door to where they were all standing. The queen's own set of personal guards flanked her on all directions, just as Aveline had been only seconds prior, and they looked just as ridiculous in their metal he-man armor.

"My precious angel!" The queen practically sang beneath her dark purple cloth that hid her face. "I am so relieved you've returned home!" Though she seemed to be exaggerating her happiness a bit, the woman's voice had a haunted tone, as if she was a predator sizing up her prey, debating whether or not the effort of taking it down was worth it.

"Hello, mother." Aveline cleared her throat and spoke. Her words and the way she said them changed almost instantly. It wasn't difficult for the girls to notice, since a minute ago Aveline sounded happy and relieved to be home. But it seemed that hearing the queen's voice reminded the scientist that she came from a somewhat haughty background, where everyone acted like they knew some important secret that no one else knew. "I apologize if my lack of communication worried you, I was told that sending any message from my ship could've put my life in jeopardy if the signal was heard by any Republic ships."

"No need to apologize, Lin," The queen said with a slight nod of her head, using her daughter's nickname she'd given her from the day she was brought into the universe. "I'm just happy that you've returned to us in one piece. Oh, I bet you're starving for a decent meal right now," Queen Asemdi glanced between her daughter and the ship she'd arrived in. "I'm sure the simple rations from your journey were distasteful. Come along, its nearly time for the evening meal."

So the three triplets, the queen, the scientist, the droid, and the pluthera of guards entered the palace.

The door locked behind them with a mechanical hisss.

**********

At first, Molindi felt like this mission was going to be impossible. This act was never going to last, something was destined to happen, maybe they already knew that she and the soldiers were fake and by this point the queen was just playing with them before killing them. All those questions ran rampant through her mind, like an annoying song on repeat. When the queen had spoken to her, she could feel her skin crawl and the shivers going through her spine. The queen knew. She had to. 

The way she scanned Molindi at first sight, the fact that she didn't at all question the fact that this person might not be her daughter. From Molindi's own experience with mothers, it was a part of their instincts to know which baby is theirs, which child is theirs. Before her own mother passed, she'd tell her daughter over and over how one of the crazy doctors in their hospital tried to switch Molindi with another human baby. As soon as she'd seen the different baby, Molindi's mother yelled at the nurse to bring her her real child, not someone else's. Molindi's father didn't know what the problem was, but after a DNA test they knew for a fact that they'd been given the wrong offspring.

The queen had to have known already, based on her mother-instincts. And along with the fact that she's a witch. Could witches read minds? Because Molindi wanted to vomit when she'd heard the queen call her 'Lin'.

'Lin' was the nickname her mother gave her when she was little.

It made sense that it would've been Aveline's nickname, too. 'Aveline' and 'Molindi' both had the same 'lin' parts in the middle, so maybe it was just a coincidence, right? That's what Molindi was banking on as they strode down a long torch-lit corridor made of sandstone. The sound of women merrily chatting among themselves echoed from a room on the left side of the hall.

They entered, and the memories of her worst mission flooded back to the surface as the blood dripped from the tabletop in the center of the dining room.