Becoming one of the youngest queens at the time of her coronation, Padme Amidala of Naboo
was one of the most popular monarchs of her home planet, during the latter days of the
Galactic Republic. But during her reign, Queen Amidala encountered an entity that would change
the rest of her life, and would subconsciously impact her decision to remain as Queen of
Naboo. In a tense escape from the Trade Federation, Queen Amidala and her convoy of guards and
Jedi, were forced to take a landing on the desert planet of Tatooine. Taking an interest
in the planet, the Queen’s decision to walk to the settlement of Mos Espa, would lead
to an encounter with the powerful Force sensitive Anakin Skywalker, regarded by Jedi master
Qui-Gon Jinn, as the subject of the prophecy of the Chosen One. Taking an interest in Anakin,
the Queen helped the former slave to deal with his separation from Shmi, and despite
calls for her to remain as Queen after her term had ended, she took the challenge of
becoming a senator. But what if Padme had remained as the Queen of Naboo? Who would
become the senator in her place? Would she still be married to Anakin? As you are going
to find out, the extension of Padme’s reign as Queen, could have changed the fate of Naboo
and the Jedi… In the Royal Palace on Theed, Padme was seated
in the conference room, surrounded by her closest advisers, as they debated on whether
she should remain as Queen. Her popularity and effectiveness had already given her two
terms, and given the brewing danger in the Galactic Republic, she decided to extend her
reign. After addressing her extension as the Queen, she needed to work on the delegation
in the senate, as the current Senator Vancil, wished to step down from his role. Following
advice from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and her advisory council, Amidala decided that
Jar Jar Binks should represent Naboo, symbolising the integration of a multitude of species
on Naboo, but decided that he must be accompanied by a member of her council at all times. Back
on Coruscant, the renewal of Amidala’s reign, and the appointment of senator Binks, was
met by a wave of concern from the Jedi Order, as they knew that the Gungan was not blessed
with a political background, and could be easily manipulated. But for Anakin Skywalker,
the absence of Padme had been torturing his mind, and he decided to seek answers from
his mother on Tatooine. In the dead of night, Anakin snuck out from his quarters, and stealthily
navigating the Temple, to the ship which he had personally modified, then set course for
Tatooine. Landing in one of the spaceports of Mos Espa, the Jedi marched to the workshop
of the Toydarian Watto, but to his surprise, it turned out that due to financial trouble,
Watto had been forced to sell Shmi. Directing him away from the settlement to the Jundland
Wastes, Anakin knocked upon the door of the Lars home, and finally saw his mother for
the first time since he had been freed. Asking Shmi what he should do, she suggested to him
to go to Naboo and talk to Padme herself, when they received another knocking upon the
door. Outside of the Lars home was the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, tracking down Anakin
after he had sensed his departure from the Jedi Temple, and ordering him to return to
Coruscant, his padawan resisted, and offered to only do so if he could bring back Shmi.
Obi-Wan knew that Anakin could not be moved, and taking Shmi away from the Lars moisture
farm, he provided Cliegg with enough money to hire another worker, before escorting her
back aboard Anakin’s ship. Directing his padawan to Coruscant, Obi-Wan guided Anakin
to the one person he could trust, outside of the Jedi apart from Satine, and headed
for the Collective Commerce District. There the Jedi knight found his friend Dexter, the
Besalisk owner of Dex’s diner, who was willingly able to provide the former slave with work,
and organise accommodation for Shmi. Returning to the Jedi Temple, Anakin is grateful for
his master, for not telling the Council of his expedition, but he still had the problem
of what to do with Padme. Wisely deciding not to leave the Temple without Jedi permission
again, Anakin took the opportunity to speak to Chancellor Palpatine, who had invited a
number of Jedi masters to his office, to discuss Plasma Energy Trade from his old home planet
of Naboo. With many of the Jedi unwilling to work with the difficult representative
Binks, Anakin stepped forward and nominated himself to investigate, what Naboo had done
with its expenditure. Yoda secretly regarded this as a test for the Jedi padawan, as he
felt that both he and Obi-Wan were ready, to take the next step in their Jedi journey,
and Anakin’s excitement could not be contained as he took a small starship to Naboo. Allowed
to dock in the hangar of the Theed Royal palace, Anakin respectfully bowed to the Queen and
her delegates, when the Jedi felt a tremor in the Force and beneath his feet. Queen Amidala
used the communications system that was hidden in the seat of her throne, and after being
initially met by silence, Boss Nass revealed that there had been an attack on Otoh Gunga.
Organising an evacuation of the underwater city, Anakin observed from the bank of the
lake, when an intimidating looking ship landed on the other side of the bank. Out of it stepped
the Dathomirian Asajj Ventress, and rolling out a canister of swamp gas into the lake,
Anakin stopped it in the air with the Force, and lifted it into his ship to examine later.
Angrily igniting her blades, Ventress jumped across the water, forcing Anakin to block
the Sith assassin, and the second stage of Anakin’s path to a Jedi knight had begun.
That is it for part 1 of what if Padme remained as Queen. If you’d like to see a part 2
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ifs and as always leave a comment on what what if you’d like to see next. Thank you
very much for watching and see you next time.