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Sphinxes were smart. It was a well-known fact across the Galaxy. Helped spread in no small part by Padme’s own ancestor, legendary Sphinx of Thebes, who challenged Oedipus with a riddle about man. Though the story itself was well known, the actual location of the Thebes, an ancient city from Naboo, wasn’t, as the planet itself was not prominent, being from the mid-rim.
Still, Padme prided herself on living up to the family legacy. Since turning 18, she'd been making her way across the planet, encountering human and Gungan alike and testing their IQ. To their credit, she'd found that the Naboo were smarter than most humans, and a good 60 to 70% of them were able to answer her riddles correctly.
Gungans, on the other hand . . . well, let's just say she developed quite the taste for seafood.
The familiar rattling of stormtrooper armor made her smile. The Naboo were thoughtful, Gungans thick, but stormtroopers? Amusing. She quickly perched herself upon a large boulder off the side of the road she'd been traveling upon in search of a meal and patiently waited for the group of stormtroopers to cross her path.
There were four of them, all in their eyesore of an armor set, blasters in hand and marching confidently toward the sleek, brown pelted sphinx the moment they caught sight of her.
“Well, look here, boys, said one smugly. “The local wildlife thinks we can't win her little trivia game.”
Chuckles came from the rest of the stormtroopers, and Padme let herself to join in. Their misplaced over confidence
never
got old. “It's my pleasure to test the wits of capable men like yourselves.”
“It
is
your pleasure,” said another trooper. “Just like it'll be your pleasure to be locked in a detainment cell when we beat your little game.”
Padme's smile was all teeth. “I assure you, the answer to this riddle is something that
none
of you possess.”
“Enough stalling!” Barked the third trooper, sounding impatient, “On with it before I blast you!”
Padme dipped her head demurely. “Very well.
“I am a skill often praised but never bragged about.
I keep you out of trouble's maze and make your life less fraught.
I'm a whisperer, not a shout, a gentle touch, a soft caress.
With me, you'll navigate life's route and your way with ease and grace.
What am I?”
The fourth trooper, who had written down her riddle, showed it to his party. They formed a circle and muttered amongst themselves. After a few minutes, they separated and faced her again. “We have the answer to your riddle!”
“Oh?” Her eyes glittered. “Do enlighten me.”
The trooper who'd spoken up first responded confidently. “Poison.”
Padme got to her feet, unsheathing her claws, and gave them a fanged grin. “The answer- is
subtlety
.”
Before they could even raise their blasters, she was on them with ease, bowling them all down. Stormtroopers tended to huddle in groups, making it easy to take out more at once. As the troopers were struggling to get up, Padme quickly sliced open the throats of two troopers lying next each other and dodge this series of blaster bolts coming from the other two troopers who'd managed to stand up.
She zigzagged between the blaster bolts and raced towards one of the troopers who was firing, pouncing on his chest and tearing open his neck between her powerful jaws in an instant. His body fell to the ground with the Sphinx on top of it, and she licked the blood from her flawless, porcelain face as she stalked towards the last trooper, her eyes never leaving him.
The trooper himself was shaking so badly he could barely hold his blaster. She walked up to him slowly, a sensual smile on her face. He fell to the ground, landing on his rear, trembling as Padme sat between his legs and with one paw, lifted his helmet off to reveal the face of a man frozen with fear.
She placed her lips on his and wrapped a paw around his throat, slowly unsheathing her claws and allowing them to sink deep into his neck. As she squeezed his throat, she could feel the blood rising into his mouth, which she lapped up in their dance of tongues. Finally, he went still, and she let him fall to the ground.
She looked down at him thoughtfully. “I believe
you
taste the best.”
Finding a gap in the stormtroopers armor at the shoulder, she dug her teeth in and picked him up, dragging his corpse into the protective depths of the mountains, leaving the three other bodies in their blood-stained white armor behind.