TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 001. Trapped in a Turbolift: This space travel thing is new to you, and you're starting to think the ship is purposely out to get you. A turbolift is just a grandiose name for an elevator, which should be the safest way to travel after all! But someone out there is out to get you, you're sure of it. Because the next thing you know, the lights flicker and the lift grinds to a stop. You're trapped, with whomever was unlucky enough to be in the lift with you.

It could be hours before you're rescued. These turbolifts span the entire massive ship, and don't just travel straight up and down. No, they can travel horizontally, vertically, sometimes even diagonally. You could be stuck between any deck now. There is a small access panel on one of the smooth walls, but how good are you with getting these things to work? Let's not forget that sudden stop tossed everyone around a little, and people could be hurt. Time to put your emergency thinking cap on, and make friends with the people beside you fast. You could be the only way back to freedom.

Conversely, you could slide that pack of cards out of your pocket and start a rousing game of gin rummy. Really it's up to you.







Option 002. Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, minding your own business, and now you're on a spaceship in the middle of a crowded room! It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens, and some of the food is looking rather strange too.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward. A long bar with barstools and a bartender span one side of the room, with a bank of strange computers on that same wall. It looks like people are ordering food and drinks from them. Tables are sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows with a view out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[diplomaticsolutions]

"My love..." Her voice was soft, calm, soothing, yet full of such yearning. She had has time to become use to the fact of her own demise. A series of unfortunate events was what it was in the end. Like a puzzle, one piece after the other had fallen in to place, until the picture had been completed. By that time, it had been too late.

And she was there, rising, wrapping her arms around him. "Ani. It's okay. It's okay."

[nosmallfry]

He closed his arms around her, returning the hug, clinging. As though his embrace alone could keep her safe. He had to keep her safe. Had to. "No... if it was an accident then... then..." he stopped, stilled. "It hasn't happened for me yet! If you tell me what happened, and I get sent back, I can stop it. I can save you. Maybe that's why the Force brought us here. So I can save you." That had to be it. Had to. He would find out what had happened, and he would stop it from happening. He would save her. No matter what he had to do. He would save her.

[diplomaticsolutions]

It had been an accident. She did truly believe that. Her Anakin would never had done it, but he hadn't been himself. She didn't know what would happen if he returned, if he would remember any of it. She didn't recall Obi-Wan being missing, and yet here he was. Still... It was Anakin, and here was her love. Perhaps she shouldn't say, but she couldn't lie to him or keep him in the dark. "The Sith Lord everyone was looking for... It was the Chancellor. It was Palpatine, Anakin."

[nosmallfry]

He sat back, stunned and struck. "Palpatine... but... he's our friend?" He trusted her, it wasn't that he thought she was lying, he never would think that, he trusted her more than anyone but.... But.... how could it be Palpatine? Why.... "He's... been trying to help us...." He seemed so lost and confused, in a way he hadn't been even as a child.

[diplomaticsolutions]

She knew it would be hard for him. She knew that Palpatine had reached out to Anakin many years ago. No doubt it had all been a part of his plan. Padmé had had time to think things through since she had arrived, and it was the conclusion that she had come to. "I know, Anakin. He was a man I greatly admired, but that man was only a mask that hid his true persona."

[nosmallfry]

He put his hands over his face and closed his eyes as he tried to absorb that. "He was one of my first friends," he said softly. "When you had things to attend and the Masters had to meet with the Council, he was the one who spent time talking to me... Why.... why would he do that if he was a Sith? Why would he be helping me to...." To try and keep her alive.

.........

By telling him stories about Darth Plageus, and giving him hope that....

"He wanted me to believe the dark side had the power to save you?" he whispered, it was a question. It was a hope he dared not have. It was his heart tearing in half.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"Ani..." So soft it was almost a whisper, and yet that one word, his nickname, could convey so many feelings. She could see what the truth was doing to him, but also knew that she couldn't lie to him. While their relationship might have had some bumps along the road due to their duties, Padmé had never lied to him. She wasn't going to start now.

[nosmallfry]

"How do I save you without giving into that?" he whispered. "Do... do I have to kill Palpatine to spare you?" He would do it. If the man was truly a Sith Lord, Anikin would do it. He would in some part hate himself forever for it, but he would do it. To save her, to prove himself to the Jedi Council, and to end the threat to all the planets they protect. But it still felt a little like he was discussing to stab in the back someone who loved and trusted him. That Palpatine had betrayed him first did nothing to sooth that pain, and he didn't think it ever would. But he would take that pain, to protect her, he would take on any burden.

He was trembling now.

[diplomaticsolutions]

There was a shake of her head, although more that she didn't know how to answer that. She had never been one to take killing lightly, and had only used her skills in defence of herself or her people, her friends. "It's not me I'm worried about, Anakin. It's you."

[nosmallfry]

"Me?" he asked startled, and a small dark laugh escaped him. He shook his head. "You are the one in danger, Padmè. Not me. You are the one who.... who I won't let die." Yes, yes he did just change his sentence because he couldn't bring himself to say that she died, past tense, like it was a fact. Like it was unchangeable. She might see it as set in stone, but a lightsaber could cut through stone. Easily. He would save her. He would.

[diplomaticsolutions]

Yes. Him. He was the one who was going to go down a path that she couldn't follow, down a route where he would be alone. The information that Obi-Wan had told her, and what she had seen with her own two eyes... Of course it was him that she was worried about. "I just don't want you to lose yourself, Anakin."

[nosmallfry]

"Losing you would be far worse," he said softly, taking her hand, needing to feel that contact, to feel her here, real, with him. "And if I have you, how could I ever lose myself? You'd be there to remember for me." He would not let this happen. He would not let her die. Would not.

[diplomaticsolutions]

Perceptions. Padmé knew that that played an important role in everything. Anakin had perceived her as the enemy, and had acted as he had, using the Force on her. He hadn't been himself though, had lost himself. Her fingers squeezed around his. "Sometimes it isn't that easy."

[nosmallfry]

"Please..." he whispered, "Tell me what happened, exactly what happened, so if I go back, I can fix it. I can make sure it never happens."

[diplomaticsolutions]

How do you tell the man that you love that he turned to the dark side, and in doing so, strangled his wife? Her hands moved, to cup his cheeks, thumbs brushing against his skin. "If there is one thing, and one thing only that you should remember, Anakin, is that I love you so I would never betray you."

[nosmallfry]

"Of course," he said, confused and thrown by what he felt was a change of topic. He lifted his hands to rest them over hers. "I know that. If there was anyone in all the galaxy I would never doubt, it is you." He means it. Having no clue what is coming, and having made the choice to believe her, he means it. Of course, what Anakin means, and what he feels in the next moment, with someone else whispering in his ear....

Anakin meant well, he always did, but he always had strings, and who was pulling them usually was a better predictor than anything else as to how he would react.

[diplomaticsolutions]

It wasn't, at least from her perspective, although she couldn't fault the look on his face. She could give him that much, couldn't she, without their world falling apart? "No matter what it might seem like, Anakin. Remember that, because it is important."

[nosmallfry]

"Alright," he said, still confused. "But I don't understand why you won't tell me," he whispered. His head tilted towards hers, as his eyes drifted closed. "I just want to keep you safe," he said softly. "I want us to raise our family together. No more secrets, no more fear, just us. Together."

[diplomaticsolutions]

"... I don't want to hurt you, Ani." Because she knows that it will do just that. She had tried to get him to come away, to go with her, and he hadn't wanted to. No, he had been drunk on power. Anakin, who hated politics, had wanted to rule the galaxy.

[nosmallfry]

Because of who had been holding his strings at that moment. Because he was always a puppet and he was being pulled along. "Why... why would it hurt me? Losing you is the only thing that could hurt me, and I wont let it happen, I'll find some way to stop it, to save you. I will. Somehow. I swear it."

[diplomaticsolutions]

"Because what happened was an accident. The truth wasn't black and white." He had done it, but it wasn't him. It wasn't the Anakin Skywalker that she had grown to love, who she had married, and whose children she had bore.

Dear Anakin, you are not allowed to get suicidal, love me.

[nosmallfry]

"It.... it was.... my fault?" he whispered, putting together the pieces that made a picture he hadn't wanted to see. How.... how could it be his fault? He had tried so hard, was trying so hard to...

No... wait... if it was his fault.... then he could... he could just... not do whatever he did, right? He could stop the accident from happening, he could be by her side and see her safely through. He had to save her. Had to.

He better not >(

[diplomaticsolutions]

"It's not that simple, Anakin." As, yes, it had been his action that had ended her up in the situation, but he hadn't been the one behind it. No, they had been puppets. She knew that now. "You were mislead, deceived."

Oh dear. :D

[nosmallfry]

"By.... By Palpatine?" he asked, trying to put it all together. "IF...If I just... don't listen to him or... or if he's not around anymore... then you'll be fine?" he whispered.

No dear.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"... I don't know. You- none of it has happened for you, yet for me, it is the past, Anakin." Her perplexed look seemed to say it all, as she had no idea how it worked, or even if she should have told him any of this.