Here goes: the first installment inthe Silver Blade Trilogy. It's also my first Star Wars fic, so bear with me here.

Silver Blade I: Three Lives Connect

What if Padme had triplets instead of just Luke and Leia? This is the story of the third child, Luke's other sister.

Chapter 1: A Terrible Truth

Obi-Wan looked down at the young woman who was so clearly in pain. "It's a boy . . ."

"Luke . . ." she managed to choke out. Then another child entered the world.

"It's a girl."

"Leia!" gasped Padmè. She breathed heavily, not ready for the pain of labor. Her breath slowed as Obi-Wan lifted her second daughter in front of her.

"It's a girl."

"Lunalila . . ." she whispered as her eyes glazed over. "Obi-Wan . . . I know there's still good in him . . ." then her body stilled as she cased to exist.

Padmè Naberrie Amidala Skywalker, Senator of the Republic and former Queen of Naboo, was dead.

Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa met together. "Hidden, safe, the children must be kept," stated Yoda. "Separated, they should be."

Bail spoke up. "My wife and I will take the girl, Leia. We've always talked of adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us."

"What of the boy?" asked Obi-Wan.

"To Tatooine. To his family, send him. Watch over him there. Also, over the girl Lunalila, you should watch. In the ways of the Force, train her."

SWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSWSW

18-year-old Lunalila Skywalker (Lila to anyone who didn't want their arm removed) sat meditating outside Obi-Wan's hut on Tatooine. Reaching out with the Force, she felt her master sneaking up on her with his lightsaber drawn. Having become used to this, she waited until he was right behind her, then sprang into action.

Drawing her silver lightsaber and somersaulting over Obi-Wan's head in one fluid motion, she ignited the deadly blade and saluted.

"Your reactions have improved, Padawan," he said with approval. "But now we shall see if you can best me in combat." Igniting his own blue lightsaber, he returned the salute, and attacked without warning.

Quickly blocking his blade, Lila darted her lightsaber around his defenses. Forgetting to guard her left side, she was quickly brought back to reality as Obi-Wan's lightsaber missed her hip by a hairsbreadth. Even in his old age, Obi-Wan Kenobi was still a formidable fighter. In desperation, Lila saw a small rock and used a slight nudge of the Force to maneuver it.

Brandishing her weapon in her master's face, she caused Obi-Wan to stumble backwards and trip over the stone. Lightsaber flying from his hand, the Jedi Master found himself weaponless on the ground with his smug Padawan's lightsaber at his throat.

"Well done, Lila, well done. I presume you used the Force to make me trip over the rock?"

"No, actually, Master. I used the Force to move the rock and you tripped on it yourself."

"Ah. Well, come inside, there's something I think you should know."

They walked inside and seated themselves at the small table inside. Playing with her dark brown Padawan braid, Lila awaited what her master had to say.

"Its time," he began, "for a history lesson. No, this one is interesting," he laughed, seeing his Padawan's face fall. "This is about the blockade on Naboo, the Clone Wars, and the fall of the Republic. Hold your questions until the end."

Lila gave a noncommittal shake of her head.

"Well. Many years ago, the Trade Federation formed a blockade around Naboo. The Senate sent two Jedi ambassadors to negotiate with the Federation, myself and my Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. As we waited, an assassination attempt was made on our lives, but it failed. At the same time, the Federation began an invasion of Naboo. We boarded an invasion ship and landed on Naboo, where we met a rather . . . idiotic . . . Gungan, Jar Jar Binks.

"We came across Queen Amidala as the Federation was capturing her. Destroying the droids and fighting our way to the hangar, we took off in a Naboo cruiser and set off for Coruscant. However, the Federation's ships managed to impair the hyperdrive, forcing us to land here on Tatooine. Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, a droid named R2-D2, and a handmaiden named Padmè set off for the nearest settlement.

"Trapped by a sandstorm, they were forced to stay with a nine-year-old slave boy, Anakin Skywalker, and his mother, Shmi. Having no money to pay for a new hyperdrive, they made a bet with Watto, Anakin's master. Anakin would be entered in an approaching pod race. If he won, we would get the parts we needed. If he lost, Watto would keep our ship. And Qui-Gon told me Anakin had never won a race before.

"Extremely surprisingly, Anakin won the race and also his freedom. I was confused as to why we were bringing a nine-year-old kid with us. Upon returning to the ship, Qui-Gon was attacked by what we assumed was a Sith, who had been extinct for a millennium. An interesting riddle, wouldn't you say?" Lila nodded. "Upon reaching Coruscant, Queen Amidala pleaded her case before the Senate. When only confusion followed and Supreme Chancellor Velorum could do nothing, she called for the election of a new Chancellor.

"Meanwhile, we brought Anakin up before the Council. He had the highest midi-chlorian count we'd ever seen, so high that at first I thought the sensors were broken. The Council, sensing much fear in him, refused to train Anakin.

"In a fit of desperation, the Queen decided to go back to Naboo and force the Trade Federation off her planet. Trying to recruit the Gungans, the handmaiden Padmè stepped forward, declaring that she was Queen Amidala; the false queen was her decoy. She had hidden her identity well. Even Qui-Gon, who was almost never startled, was surprised, although he told me afterward that he had had his suspicions. I didn't believe him.

"The Gungan army drew the droid army out towards the grasslands as a distraction while the rest of us struggled to regain control of Theed, capital of Naboo. There, we again met the Sith." Obi-Wan's voice broke. "In the following battle between Qui-Gon, the Sith, and myself, my master was killed.

"I destroyed the enemy. During this time, the Queen had gotten into the throne room, and by some unbelievable turn of events, Anakin ended up in a starfighter and, surprising me completely, destroyed the droid control ship. We won the battle. In the light of Qui-Gon's death, the Jedi Council agreed to let me take Anakin as my Padawan learner. Now. Questions? Or can I go on to the start of the Clone Wars?"

Lila's head was spinning, but she felt she was able to understand it. "No, Master."

"Okay then. Ten years later, an assassination attempt was made on Padmè Amidala, who was now the Senator for Naboo. The former Senator, Palpatine, was elected Supreme Chancellor. She had returned to Coruscant to speak on the issue of the Separatists. Instead of her dying, her handmaiden and decoy Corde was killed."

"She seems to be fond of using decoys," muttered Lila.

Obi-Wan laughed. "Yes, well. It wouldn't go down too well if the Senator from Naboo was killed. Too much confusion: politicians are all the same." He stared moodily at the table. "Anyway, Anakin and I were assigned to protect her. We met with her for the first time in years. I could tell Anakin was nervous.

"That night, a bounty hunter dropped two poisonous worms into Padmè's room. Anakin and I managed to trace the hunter to a club, where she was about to tell us who she was working for when a toxic dart was shot into her throat. The dart was in none of the records in the Jedi Archives. Through a friend of mine, I found out it was from a distant planet called Kamino. I immediately departed for the watery planet. At the same time, Anakin was assigned to escort Padmè to her home planet of Naboo.

"On Kamino, I found a huge cloning facility making an army of over two million clones. Apparently the Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, who had been dead for about ten years, had ordered this army built for the republic. I met the man who had been cloned, a very shady bounty hunter named Jango Fett. After talking with him, I identified him as the man behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. I was ordered to take him to Coruscant.

"He resisted and escaped, but not before I put a tracking device on his ship. I trailed him to Geonosis, until he discovered me in the asteroid field and opened fire, with the help of his son Boba. Evil boy. Actually, that reminded me why I hated flying. It's a sport for droids."

"You don't really mean that, Master," teased Lila.

"No, but it is definitely not on my list of things to do anytime in the near future. But that is not the issue at hand. On Geonosis, I discovered Count Dooku and Nute Gunray were behind the plots to kill her. Dooku was also in charge of the Separatists.

"As I returned to my ship to report to the Jedi Council, I found that my long-range transmitter had been conveniently knocked out. I decided to send it through Anakin. However, he was not on Naboo like he should have been. He was on Tatooine."

"What was he doing there?" blurted Lila.

"I later found out that he had been dreaming about his mother in pain and had decided to rescue her. He ended up killing a Tusken Raider camp. Anyway, as I was communicating with the Council, I was captured by Geonosians. Not pleasant. Count Dooku wanted me to join the Dark Side. I refused, naturally. So I was sentenced to be executed.

"To cut a long story short, so were Anakin and Padmè, who had decided to rescue me. To cut an even longer story short, we were about to die when Jedi Master Mace Windu showed up with about 200 reinforcements. But there were a lot more battle droids, and twenty survivors were about to be shot when Master Yoda brought the clone army. Anakin and I followed Dooku to a hangar, where I was injured and Anakin lost an arm. Master Yoda stopped us from being killed, but Dooku escaped. Thus the Clone wars began. Questions?"

"Are you telling me that the Sith had been recreated and you never knew this?"

"Yes. But now I should tell you about the fall of the Republic. Well, near the end of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine was kidnapped by the half-droid General Grievous. Anakin and I were sent to rescue him, which we did, and Anakin killed Dooku. He was an unarmed prisoner, and it went against the Jedi Code.

"I was sent to kill Grievous on the planet of Utapau. After I did, my clone troops turned on me and I was almost killed. The same thing happened to the Jedi all over the galaxy. Meeting with Yoda later, I learned a terrible truth: Anakin had turned to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader; Palpatine was a Sith Lord." Sorrow tinged his voice. "Yoda and I were the only Jedi who survived.

"Returning to the Jedi Temple, we found hundreds of slaughtered Jedi. But in the council room . . . there we found the younglings dead, killed with a lightsaber.

"I told Padmè of this and learned that she and Anakin were married . . . which kind of surprised me but not really . . . and she was pregnant, which really surprised me. I stowed away on her ship as she went to confront Anakin on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. She told him that he had gone down a path she could not follow. He used the Force to choke her. I faced Anakin and he attacked me. We fought, and he ended up on fire with three limbs missing."

"The hell?"

"I had the high ground, I told him not to try, he did anyway. I carried Padmè to the ship and met with Yoda, and Padmè went into labor. Just before she died, she gave birth to triplets: Luke, Leia, and Lunalila Skywalker."

Lila was horrified. "You mean..."

"Yes, Lila. Your father is Darth Vader."

There should be a limit on how long first chapter should be. I mean, seriously: five pages? I'm sorry if it's too long; I really wanted to end it on that note and I felt Lila should know some background history (I'm not too good at paraphrasing).

And just as a heads up so you don't send me a virus when I get to one, I can't choreograph lightsaber battles for hell. I just put ideas into your head, didn't I? Yeah, I should shut up now.