A half-dozen Naboo starfighters, the very last in the small fleet, race towards the Trade Federation battleship. Mace Windu has never flown a Naboo starfighter. He will not allow this to be relevant.

After carefully waiting for a vulture droid to send a shot in Padmé's direction, not because it really matters but just in case, Windu tears into the Federation fleet, the other four Jedi backing him up. The vulture droids are quickly disintegrated, but more quickly appear. "Let's board this ship before they mobilize," he says, and veers off towards a hangar bay, targeting missiles at the shield generators.

Unfortunately, while the Jedi and Padmé do successfully make their way into the hangar bay, they are not inside before the droids can be mobilized.

Padmé follows the Jedi, trying to stay out of sight, as she doesn't have much experience either. Once the shield is down, she crashes through the hangar with the others. After taking a few seconds to recognize her possibly imminent death, she hops out of the fighter.

And droids! A lot of droids! She takes a few shots at them, trying to duck behind her ship in the process, but by then the Jedi have already gotten to their target.

The standard battle droids don't really stand much of a chance against the five Jedi. Within a few seconds, the initial group are all in pieces, and Windu's beckoning Padmé to hurry up.

R2-D2 also happens to be in your ship, Padmé! Please don't leave him for the battle droids!

Right! With R2 behind her, she follows the Jedi, not entirely sure where they're going. She will stay calm. The Jedi will protect her. She will save her people and survive the process. Probably. No, definitely. Definitely probably.

And the Trade Federation keeps throwing bad droids after bad, seeming to erroneously believe that they can make five Jedi have problems with droids seven abreast in the corridors - but do they know where they're going or how they're going to get there, actually?

Not really! They aimed for one of the central hangars, so they're pretty much just walking in the direction of the big round thing in the middle and hoping someone important is there!

This ship is big, though. Padmé is already getting tired even though she's only been running for a minute and why has she not exercised enough the Jedi are doing fine!

Pretty soon, they arrive at the hallway leading to the command center, which seems to have quite a few blast doors in the way. Kit Fisto and Shaak Ti get started with their lightsabers while the others defend, but it's going pretty slowly.

And that's when the droidekas start showing up!

Wonderful. Windu spins his lightsaber to deflect the blasts, not really aiming at them because of the shields. Calling Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon to his sides to deflect the blasts from the other droids, he runs forward and slams into the central one with all his power. The shield breaks, and he finishes it off with one more slash before starting on the next.

But there are more coming, and he can't hold them off for long. Looking at the blast door, which by now has a hole in it, he pushes the droids away with the Force, not actually doing any damage but at least repelling them for a moment, and then leads the group through the door.

Padmé fires a few shots, which don't seem to do anything, and then mostly just tries to dodge until she gets the chance to crawl through the hole. There are still a few more doors in the way, and there could be any number of droids after that, but for now, they can't get through the hole, so she can wait until the Jedi break the next door.

They repeat the process a few more times! Fisto and Ti burn through the door, the others block the hole with their lightsabers, and then they all climb through! Until, of course, they break through the final door, and find themselves right outside of the core.

Where someone with a small bit of competence has deployed all the remaining droidekas.  Uh-oh.

On second thought, we're staying behind this door for now.

Unfortunately, this does not stop the tide of battle droids!

This they can handle. As the others protect him, Windu grabs the battle droids from both sides and slams them together with the Force, crushing most of them in one attack. Unfortunately, there are now more battle droids than they started with.

"Why did you think this was a good idea?!" Windu shouts at Padmé, shoving another batch of droids into a wall.

"I never did say it was a good idea! I just did it!"

"Okay, that's it," Windu growls, and then he leaps through the hole in the door, flying over the crowd of droids to land in the center of a group of Neimoidians. They won't shoot him with their own soldiers in the way.

You wanna bet?

The Nemoidians don't want to stay near you, either, Mace!

Okay, apparently they will shoot through their own soldiers, and now all the soldiers are either dead or have run away. And his arm is now very very in pain. Fine! He only needs one arm! He runs to the one who gave the order to shoot, who hopefully is important enough not to sacrifice, and holds his lightsaber to his neck.

The droidekas do not shoot Mace Windu through Daultay Dofine!

While the droids have their backs turned, the Jedi manage to cut through quite a few of them using the hole in the door, and they hop through to the other side. Hopefully this is over.

Well, is it over, Daultay?

"Cease fire!" shouts Dofine frantically. "Cease fire! We surrender!"

A few seconds later, the intercoms announce that no, they do not surrender.

There aren't that many droids left in the room. Leaving Mundi and Koon to cover the hole, Fisto and Windu cut through the rest of the battle droids, and Ti reaches through the Force to snap apart a few droidekas one by one.

"TURN OFF THE DROIDS."

Dofine lets off a frightened squeal and hurries over to one of the control panels, where he presses a few buttons, and the droids all freeze.

It's over! Everything is fine! Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everyth- DAMMIT THAT'S POISON GAS!

Well, at least it's the same poison gas Qui-Gon reported?

They have a plan for this! Plo Koon, whose mask can filter the air, stays behind, along with R2. The others run out, knocking over some battle droids in the process.

While fiddling with a few controls, Koon sends a message to both Naboo and the Order. The Trade Federation shouldn't pose much of a threat anymore.

Naboo has already noticed! Jar Jar is knocking over so many things and he's not even getting in trouble!

Oh, wait, that was Captain Tarpals's falumpaset. Now he's in trouble.

Yoda receives the message, but he doesn't check it. He's still at the funeral, and if that wasn't enough, he's now noticed the presence of Dooku.

Dooku, probably the only student of his who hates the Republic even more than Kina. Dooku, the only member of the Jedi Order he's ever watched leave. Dooku, who now rules an entire planet. Dooku, who never seemed to grasp that the Sith were evil.

Dooku, who trained Qui-Gon Jinn.

To say that Kina 'hates the Republic' is...neither very wrong, nor very right.  Kina likes the ideals of the Republic, those she knows about at least.  She does not like the present implementations thereof.  But it's not like she's been drawn into debates thereupon such that anyone would know.

And she, too, noticed Dooku.

Dooku isn't looking in her direction. Even when the body's gone, he's still watching the place where it was, his fists clenched with his fingers digging into his palms, rage burning in his eyes.

"...You look like you're having a time of it.  ...you knew Master Jinn?  I...he was going to take me as his Padawan.  I'd known him for a week.  And then he went out to celebrate Obi-Wan's knighthood, and...I don't know if I should tell you who I believe is responsible, but...they shot him with a rocket.  ...I don't think he's actually gone.  Even if he's dead.  But that doesn't really help.  Not...seeing him like this.  It hurts, doesn't it?  But...he wouldn't, doesn't, want that to be his mark on us.  So honor his life.  Don't get lost in his death.  You're...feeling a lot of anger, and - maybe that's justified, but...is it helping anyone?"

"No," mutters Dooku. "No, it's not." He looks a little less heated, now. "Is my anger helping anyone. That's not a question a Jedi's ever seemed to ask before."

"The Sith did this, Count," Obi-Wan snarls. "The Sith killed Qui-Gon. Are you going to start another of your speeches on how we need to be open to learning their methods?"

"Obi-Wan," Yoda says, quietly, although he's completely right.

Dooku sighs. "Contrary to popular belief, I never denied the Sith were evil, Kenobi. I would say this only hastens the need to find what our enemies are doing, and do it better."

"There's no our," Obi-Wan snaps.

"...Everyone - please.  Let's...Qui-Gon would not want us snapping at eachothers' throats.  Especially not now.  We're - we're all grieving.  Let's not burn bridges over his pyre.

"Count Dooku," she's so glad C3PO is around to tell her who this not-a-Jedi is, "would you perhaps be interested in visiting the gardens?  It's a bit more private.  I can walk you there, if you'd like a guide."

Force preserve her, this is...not a good idea.  But - Qui-Gon would not want a fight at his funeral ever.  So this needs to be defused before it can explode.

Dooku nods. "If you wish, then yes." Avoiding Obi-Wan's glare, he follows Kina in the direction of the gardens.

Oh no. Kina should not be talking to Dooku of all people. Yoda briefly considers spying on them, but no, she could sense him, that wouldn't work. Hopefully she'll have enough sense not to fall for whatever he tries to tell her?

"I have a bad feeling about this," voices Obi-Wan.

Yoda is, frankly, welcome to spy on them if he likes; Kina doesn't feel very happy about this plan either and she's not hiding that unhappiness from Yoda.

Nonetheless, this is the only solution she has that keeps Qui-Gon's funeral from being marred with fights.

So, to the gardens they go, Kina wending her way through to one of the quieter, isolated ones and placing C3PO as a guard against non-emergency intrusion.  "I don't think Master Jinn ever mentioned how you knew him, to me."

"He was my apprentice, many years ago," Dooku replies. "Back when I was a Jedi."

"Mmhmm?  Do you have any funny stories from when he was a Padawan?"  Light conversation.  Light conversation.  "I'd ask about your leaving, but now is not the time to bring up old wounds, not when our enemies deal us new ones.  Not to mention that I can probably fill in most of the details, already.

"...I don't think the Dark Side of the Force is...aligned.  With what we want to do with the Force.  It's made to - break everyone that touches it, and especially its own practitioners.  I've seen enough of their lives, and from their own perspectives, that I'm rather confident of that.  Anything good it does, I suspect to be entirely incidental, and won at costs most likely far outstripping the benefits earned."  She's looked up the drug that the Sith Lord claimed.  It's not curative, it's an addictive substance, and the side effects are often bad enough that pilots still can't fly.  "Especially if you lose control.  And eventually, you will, no matter how calm and in control you think you are.  I saw that personally."

This is not light conversation.  Why is she doing this.

"In control doesn't necessarily mean calm. I suspect that the Jedi have taught you the wrong ideas of how to control one's anger. It's not that I try to push your fury away, try to hide it so that I can't see it. I'm at the point where I can actively choose whether or not to be angry. I can call it up, when I need it to fuel my strength, and then change to a different emotion when it's no longer needed. Yes, I'm aware of how ridiculous it may sound, that I can just switch emotions on and off, but I've spent a decade or so practicing, and it really isn't difficult anymore. I don't let it break me. When I don't need my anger, I choose to be happy."

"Also, I wouldn't be quite so hasty to assume that I fit with the others who use the dark side. I'm certainly not trying to claim that the Sith Lords of the past, or even the ones I'm told are operating today, are stable. I would quite agree that the dark side is harmful to most who've tried to use it, but I don't, in fact, have a mind that works like theirs."

"The Jedi taught me nothing."

"Well.  Qui-Gon did, a little.  But not of emotions, nor their care and handling.  That I learned myself, in the deserts of Tatooine, and far too quickly for a healthy life.

"And this I say to you: feelings never vanish.  They mask themselves, they hide, they come out at an angle you would never expect...

"But if you do not feel the feelings you have, they will build, and build, until you break.

"No matter how good you are at tricking your own mind, the memories, the thoughts, and the feelings remain.  Don't forget that.

"As an example, Count Dooku...Did you choose your anger, when you saw Qui-Gon's pyre?"

"No, I didn't. But I was able to turn it off when prompted to. And why, exactly, would refusing to feel your emotions cause them to grow stronger? There's a level at which it's no longer tricking your mind, it's actively reshaping it into a state where it's stronger. My emotions are a part of me. I'm not going to let anything else decide who I am, what I feel."

"I'm curious, though. What do you suggest I do instead? Just feel whatever feelings happen to come up? Even if not for the Force, that sounds rather unpleasant. I'd rather not feel anger and sadness, except for when it's necessary for my powers. Getting rid of them seems healthier than the alternative."

"To grow stronger?  No.  To grow trickier; to seep into unrelated thoughts and actions, to fester and cause rot; lingering guilt, doubt, and resentment that spreads into everything it's allowed to touch.  I don't think that you should stop controlling your emotions.  I do think you should question the sources of the emotions that come from outside your control.  Things happen for reasons.  It's obvious, but nonetheless, it's true, and sometimes the reasons are subtler than they first appear.  Contemplate the anger you felt, looking at the pyre; find its source, and control that.

"If you are truly able to shape the bedrock of your mind as you say, though...Well, I'd appreciate if you wrote your techniques down, in general; the Jedi Order could stand to have calming techniques other than saying 'release your emotions' in new and excitingly different collections of words, hm?

"...Mmm.  I think, you and I, we've simply walked different paths.  I sought, and still seek, primarily self-knowledge; to understand the workings of things, before I ever contemplate changing them.  You seek primarily self-control, self-mastery; you may or may not know how or with what you have meddled, but you knew the outcome you intend to reach, long before starting.  Both of these are useful skills, but you wouldn't want to hammer with a wrench, or wrench with a hammer - and sometimes, you need to do both of those things.

"I don't think most Jedi could usefully learn Sith techniques.  I think it would be possible to teach the skills that someone would need, the same way the Jedi do...but by doing the same harm the Jedi do to their learners, along another axis.  This helps absolutely no one, especially since your teachings are...active, in a way that Jedi thought is not, that will inevitably lead to people re-enacting new and excitingly horrifying Hutt-isms as they lose track of what they even started down their chosen path for.  You know what you want, and you hold it tightly.  Others are not the same.

"I think that the fundamental lesson I'd teach, were I to start an Order of my own, would be discernment.  To know yourself and know the world around you is to take the first step to changing it, after all."

"That seems reasonable enough. I think it'll be a little difficult for me to explain these things, and yes, I agree that it's not something most people would be able to learn. But unfortunately enough, even if it does end up bringing me pain, protecting myself isn't in fact my goal. If I have to spend my life being unhappy, in order to protect a great many others from even worse fates, then that's still a net positive."

"And you already think about starting your own Order? I admit I'd be interested to see how that turns out. Certainly can't be any worse than the Jedi."

"I intend more to reform this one; it's broadly compatible, just needs a good shaking.  ...There's something I keep hearing you not acknowledge I'm saying, and I want to - be clear on what I'm trying to communicate.  You are seemingly unambiguously working well and doing good along the path you walk...but many others not only can't but should not follow you, because your path walks into the suns.  If you are sure of yourself, if you are strong in conviction, if your stride does not waver, you can do that, and neither become lost nor go blind...but that is three points of failure, and many who try to emulate your travel will die in the desert, sun-scorched, regretting every step they took or having forgotten why they tried."

"Don't worry, I'm certainly not planning to encourage all the Jedi to become Sith Lords. But I'll warn you, I spent fifty years trying to change the Jedi Order from the inside, and I never had much of an impact. I doubt it'll work for you, either."

"Yeah, but you don't have a Sith Lord's lightsaber hanging from your belt right now."  Kina permits herself a small grin, but...that does bring back memories.  "Though, Qui-Gon actually killed the fellow.  He was attempting to get Obi-Wan, had lost focus on Qui-Gon because he'd crashed a kriffing speeder into him and possibly also because I'd just whanged him on the head with a wrench, and Qui-Gon stood up with a broken arm and probably more to spare and cut his head off.  ...Still feel kind of sorry for the guy; it's not his fault the Sith kidnapped him to train as an assassin and torture 'for research purposes'."

"A Sith lightsaber." Dooku looks impressed, but also slightly worried. "I heard Qui-Gon had killed a Sith. This part I hadn't. Ah... if you're not interested in messing up your head for the greater good, then you might want to throw that into an abyss as soon as possible. They're dangerous, not just in the standard burning people way."

"It's not really still his lightsaber in that sort of way, if that's the sort of thing you're worried about.  It's a different color, even.  They're specifically known to be head-messing-with dangerous, though?  Yikes.  ...Can't say I'm surprised.  They...pour their pain, anger, hatred, suffering into the things, for power.  Only makes sense it'd...echo."

"A different color? You mean you managed to claim it as yours, change what it was? Interesting. I don't think any Jedi could do that - well, Windu somehow made his turn purple, but it didn't start out belonging to a Sith Lord. Well, I'll grant that it'll mark you among the Jedi, but I expect you'd have an even harder time making changes than I did, given your age. Not many Jedi will listen to a child, or notice them as anything special, even if you do have that saber."

"I did indeed.  And as for that other quandary...Wouldn't you say children are the future?"  Kina has an almost smug expression on her face, a subtle quirk of the lips.  "Classes can get interesting, when someone's willing to question what's being taught in them."

"And you expect them to listen? The teachers generally don't respect their students, and if you hope to educate the other kids, I doubt they'll want to listen to you when the authority figure says otherwise. You may be overestimating the degree to which people are moved by explanations of why they're wrong."

"I don't have to make them listen.  I have to make them think.  A simultaneously easier and harder task, really.  Nonetheless, it's one I think I've had success in, already."

"Really. What progress have you made?"

"It's not so much anything measurable; I've only been here a week.  What I do have, though, is opportunity, because I'm new and bold.  There's rumors flying already.  And I can leverage that popularity to introduce new ideas to the people that will heed them."

"Yes, I suppose you might be able to sway a few. Qui-Gon, of course, was quite reasonable. And if you're looking for specific resources, Yarael Poof and Depa Billaba were the only Council members who seemed at all interested in any change within the Order. Still, I doubt you'll make much progress. In my experience, people in general simply don't listen to arguments, and the rumors, whatever they are, won't actually be concerned with the substance of what you say."

"Actually, what did cause the rumors? I imagine the lightsaber isn't your only accomplishment."

"The Master Yoda couldn't answer my question in meditation class."  Kina continues to subtly smug.

"Ah. That's not actually that out of the ordinary? He doesn't really answer questions, he just has very wise ways of avoiding them."

"Does he now.  It's a shame that he didn't use them at the time, then."

Dooku chuckles. "I suppose it's too much to ask of Master Yoda, for wisdom to involve actually being correct instead of reciting mindless cliches. Well, I've found it much easier to work outside of the bounds of the Jedi Order, and for that matter, as far from the Republic as possible. But if you want to look for change within the Order, I certainly wish you well. Just don't be surprised if you find nothing more than a lesson on sophont nature."

"You're not wrong.  And yet, if I succeed, it will be a far larger impact than changing any one world could hope to make.  Do keep in touch; I cherish the existence of respectable opposition.  I'd best return, however; I imagine the Masters are quite concerned that their Chosen One has been this long alone with a heretic."  She grins wryly.  "I'm sure you know the way out of here; you've walked it before, hmm?"

"Well, I don't - " He pauses. "Well. Well, that explains a surprising amount. The Chosen One. I may have to take back what I said about the Jedi not respecting you."

"- Oh, it does?"  Kina's dramatic exit, spoiled.  Hmph.  "I have to admit, I still haven't heard all that the Jedi know about this prophecy thing."

"I don't know much of prophecy. It's not something that's been replicated at any point recently; visions of the future are quite hard to come by. Well. I'll certainly keep an eye on you, then. Let's see how you manage to, ah, bring balance to the Force." He does begin to walk away, but stops for a moment. "You didn't actually mention your name?"

"Kina Skywalker.  It's been a pleasure getting to know you."

"And the same to you."

It is only when she's certain that he's off the premises that Kina Skywalker exhales.

Yoda watches as Dooku emerges, and then as quickly as possible runs over to Kina.

"...You didn't need to rush.

"...He's reckless.  He seems focused on his goals to the detriment of truly considering their consequences.  I don't think he's of the same breed as the Sith meddling with the Senate, but if they approached him the right way, he'd fall for their rhetoric without considering the sort of weapon they'd make of him.  And I don't think you can keep the eye on him that someone really needs to.

"...Kriff, I should not be doing that either, really, but...who else can, by now?  ...I believe he's...stable, mind you; that he actually will still act for the betterment of the galaxy as he understands it, but it's his understanding that's his weakest point."

"Concerned, I am as well," Yoda says. "Always his problem, has this been. Some path, he must be able to justify, and when satisfied with what we offer he is not, desperate he is, to prove himself stronger. Agree, I do, that the Sith would appeal to him. But you... no. Too close to him, you cannot be. Dangerous, he already is." Now that Qui-Gon's missing, he really doesn't have anyone left in the Order - a few casual acquaintances, maybe, but nobody he really trusts. But he would be a horrible influence on Kina. "Find someone else, we must."

"You're not wrong that he's dangerous, especially without guidance...but does he have anyone he trusts left, with Qui-Gon dead?  If not...I might be the only option we have."

"Yes, but... concerning, it is, that already such a close bond to him you think you have! Manipulating you, he may be!"

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to manipulate him right back, so it's only sporting.  And it's not that I think that we're particularly close, yet, but that - I'm starting from neutral, whereas the Jedi Order is not something he likes.  I don't sound like a Jedi, and I'm willing to be - unorthodox, though nothing like his - ...He's walking a path where one misstep could end him, and he strikes me as the sort who has that careful footwork, but...he hasn't seemed to think about the need for it, anytime recently.  He's cautious, but not careful.  I quite probably have the opposite problem, as you might recall with the lightsaber earlier."  Kina puffs out a small, wry, chuckle.  "At least the funeral didn't end up having a massive fight that everyone involved would regret.  That was all I was originally concerned about, before all that happened.  So my plan worked, there.  Yay."  The sarcasm is dripping.  "Not that I'd go back and undo that conversation, if I could be sure that what I was aiming to prevent would still not happen.  The information we gained...It's useful, I think.  And it opens up certain other options."  Like dangling him out for the Sith and seeing if they bite.  Or have bitten.

Why does she have to be like this. "No. Look for someone else to handle this, I will."

It's only then that he reads the message on the comlink.

...Kina is not above peering over his shoulder.  Or having C3PO do so as well.

"It seems that capture a battleship, Queen Amidala has," Yoda says. "Your fault, this somehow is."

"I did tell Padmé that I thought the Trade Federation was likely to have some kriffing obvious flaws in their droid designs, because merchants prize cheapness and not problem-solvingness, but I can't take credit for this!  I wasn't even there!  ...What're they doing with it?"

Yoda sighs. "Waiting for the Trade Federation to surrender, they say. That easy, it will not be. Already will the Senate be in motion. This time, I think, their slowness will help us. But head there, I must."

"Take C3PO with you.  He's good at political stuff, and we could use a recording of the room for analysis."

Yoda sighs significantly harder. "Very well. C-3PO, with me!" He exits, wondering what is going on in the Senate.

By the time Senator Palpatine is summoned to an emergency meeting of the Senate, he's already received the news from the Trade Federation, and he is very certain that it was not legal for the Jedi to board the ship, but oh well, he's arguing the other side, and anyway, if anyone still paid attention to legal, they wouldn't have gotten here to begin with.

The second call he gets turns out to be a bit more interesting.

"Why, Baron! What a pleasant surprise! Of course I'd be interested in discussing campaign contrib - what bill? Oh, yes, that one." Apologetically, he steps outside, whispering to the other Senators, "You know how it is." It's a little sad that he's using bribery as a routine excuse instead of something to generate excuses for, but oh, well.

When he makes it into a more private room, he begins speaking to the person actually on the line, Count Dooku. "You met the Skywalker girl? Might she be able to join the Sith?"

"Possibly," Dooku replies, his smile clear even through the audio. "But I think I may end up joining her."

"That is... a joke of some sort, Dooku?"

"Dooku?"

Palpatine eventually manages to get a full report, which really doesn't reassure him. And then he's called back into the Senate building, where the Trade Federation seems to be very upset that their ship has been stolen. Who would have guessed. Okay, time to act angry.

"Might I remind you, Senator, that this only began because you forcibly invaded our planet and caused us quite a bit more loss than your ship is worth, denominated in the lives of our dying people - in many cases already dead! If you have any objection to the alleged invasion of your battleship, then just as you proposed with Naboo, the Senate can assemble a sluggish investigative committee over the course of the next few months, and let us compete over who can bribe them more."

And spin this to help him! "Or, of course, we could move forward with establishing a more effective leadership for our galaxy. I assure you, Senator, that when I am elected, I will stop all of the treacherous criminals operating on Naboo. We all know who is at the top of that list."

"Senator Palpatine, I confess that I'm concerned over your ability to manage this," says Bail Antilles, floating his pod to the center of the Senate. "I don't deny that an investigation is needed, but we all know that Naboo's own Senator would hardly stay impartial! Neither you nor Senator Teem would be able to handle this in a way that would truly find who is at fault." It's the Federation, of course, but he can't say that out loud.

"In addition, I find myself appalled that the fate of the entire Senate seems to be dependent on the outcome of this one conflict! Important though Naboo may be, there are thousands of other planets that would be strongly affected by the election of a new Chancellor. I would urge all of you to vote based on the many issues that plague our galaxy at the moment - including the ongoing shortage of construction materials in the Outer Rim regions, extreme amounts of corruption in our banking system, a need for stronger taxation of galactic trade routes - "

Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation explains his opinions on taxing trade routes, which contain more curses than the usual Senate speech. After a few sentences, his aide informs him that his microphone is on.

Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda is technically supposed to be enforcing strict orders of discussion among the Senators now that Valorum has left. At the moment, he's sitting back and watching, because this is getting fun.

(Kina, watching the recording, wishes more politicians were like Senator Antilles.  He might actually care.)

"Senator Antilles, I certainly agree that Palpatine is biased," Teem says, joining the growing group in the center of the building, "but I, unlike him, don't happen to work for one of the parties involved in this affair. I simply arrived at a conclusion that at this point should be quite obvious! Naboo owed a clear debt to the Trade Federation that they time and again refused to pay! The Federation simply sent its collectors as permitted by law, and Naboo decided to respond with hostile force, and seize even more property to add to their list of crimes! Can you truly call yourself impartial, simply for refusing so strongly to recognize the truth?"

"In addition, I would point out - perhaps not quite in the same words as my colleague, but in the same sentiment - that taxation of trade is precisely why so many problems are arising in the galaxy! For example, the material shortage that you yourself pointed out, happens to be one that countless systems would have been capable of resolving if not for federal interference! I know for a fact that my own people on Malastare have long been involved in the trades of lumber and fuel, but following a harsh tariff in recent years, many of our businesses have been forced to shut down, due to this government's desire to take their meager profits for itself! And you wonder why there are so many planets unable to satisfy their needs."

"I find it quite interesting, Senator, that all of your impartial positions always seem to land on those of the Trade Federation."

"Oh!" Teem says. "Is Sheev Palpatine accusing me of taking bribes? Whatever happened to your friends on Rodia?"

"A vicious rumor with no more truth than anything else you spit - "

"ENOUGH!" barks Antilles. "I think it's fully clear that we need order in this Senate. Regardless of any battles at Naboo, we have an election scheduled, and if there is anything the two of you can agree upon, it should be that this election can give you a chance to finish your selfish plots! I call for the election, now!"

Yes. This is working! He's presenting an image of the person standing above the other two bickering Senators! Hopefully anyone who isn't being bribed by one of them, if they exist, will be prepared to vote for him as a solution to all of this!

Both of them try to stammer out objections, but Mas Amedda calls for the vote, and it seems nearly everyone is prepared to begin.

Antilles's plan is, in fact, a good one. Most of the Senate doesn't actually care much about what happens to Naboo, and while Palpatine's been spending his time making sure to get an advantage over Teem, Antilles might be able to pull the election away from the battle between the two of them and take the remainder of the vote. It'll be close, but Antilles will have the support he needs.

Bribing this many Senators is going to cost SO MUCH and Plagueis will KILL HIM. Probably not literally, but just in case, he's going to stay in his apartment for the next two decades.

He can always use the money he stole from Naboo? No, they barely had any money. Fine, he'll invade somewhere else.

Within an hour, the votes have been bought, cast, tampered with, and re-tampered with. The winner is Palpatine!

(Track Palpatine, Teem, Antilles financials - esp. Palpatine, cannot imagine Queen standing for this so why is he goes into Kina's notes.)

When the election concludes, Palpatine gives a long gratitude speech, and then in his first action as Chancellor, has the Trade Federation invasion declared illegal! Do you get your ship back? Good question! Looks like we're out of time for today, though. Don't worry - next year, we'll start a committee to handle it!

Well, that went about as well as Kina expected and she's now giving a log-scale - in that you pretend that there's a log10 involved somehow because humans are very bad at math - 8 out of 10 on Antilles not being the Sith Lord.  (Well, if the Sith Lord is amongst the Chancellor candidates at all, but she can't really speculate on the broader possibilities right now; she simply doesn't know enough.)  Tomorrow, she's going to make some calls.  (Well.  Most of the calls she's thinking should come from the Jedi Order.  Nonetheless, she still thinks the calls ought to be made.)

...Actually, no.  She's making one right now, to Padmé.

Padmé is unavailable at the moment! Would you like to leave a message?

...who the hell is shooting at her this time? The droids are off and the Neimoidians are supposed to have surrendered by now!

...Well Kina's going to give it fifteen nail-biting minutes and call back, and if she's still unavailable, leave a message like so:  "Hello, Padmé, it's me; I need to talk to your boss about something critical and time-sensitive, please call back soon and be okay."

Kina spends the next hour hoping really hard that'll happen, and, eventually, can't stay awake.

The next morning, Padmé has replied. The Queen is apparently very very busy but if it is somehow a higher priority than removing Trade Federation forces from Naboo, here's a link to her personal holo.

"How important is determining whether the newly-elected Chancellor is the Sith Lord who arranged that invasion?" are the first words Kina says to Queen Amidala.  "Because I have a plan, but it relies upon you, as his boss, telling him, as Senator of Naboo, that he doesn't get to wall off Jedi investigators and to turn over his financial records, because Senator Teem wouldn't sling mud that he didn't expect to stick, and I don't think you'd authorize blatant bribery, especially on your constituents' credits."

He what.

"Technically, I don't have legal authority over him anymore, but I can open an investigation on finances during his term as Senator, provided that there's sufficient justification. I certainly assure you that I had no part in bribery, but I also trust Senator Palpatine, and I doubt he would have involved himself in that either."

"...what was that about a Sith Lord?"

"The Sith Lord that coordinated the invasion of Naboo, specifically to precipitate the snap election, ma'am.  ...Which, that implies he knows you personally well enough to factor in your likely reactions to his plans, which is.  Also not good.  There is evidence of his specifically wanting you left alive, to provoke the vote of no-confidence, that we seized from the assassin I'm sure you remember."

"Yes, but I have a number of people who know me, and even then one of them could surely be reporting to the Sith Lord. Why do you believe it to be Palpatine himself?"

Although it was Palpatine's idea to have Valorum kicked out. And Palpatine did not state beforehand that he would be running...

"Actually, no, there's more you don't know. Palpatine did, in fact, arrange for me to contribute to his election, and not in a way I even realized until now. I wouldn't say there's cause to believe he is the Sith, but his intentions are likely not as pure as I hoped."

"Is there anything else I should know? Otherwise, I'll contact the Jedi and arrange an investigation. We'll need to move with caution; if Palpatine really is the Sith and not just their pawn, the standard police won't be able to apprehend him."

"Because the Sith, as a political faction, wish to make a tyranny under their thumb out of the Republic - I have that as words from their very own mouths - and I highly doubt the one who meddles in politics got into that field of concern and proceeded to be unambitious.  That, and - success, as a Sith, is highly predicated on control.  Personal control.  Your boot stamping upon the faces of even those who are nominally your allies, let alone enemies.  I've - experienced enough of them - to be sure of that.  So it doesn't make sense, to imagine a Sith not trying to take their throne.

"There are two Sith the Jedi presently know of.  One is the politician, who is human or near-human, very likely a man, and at least a generation older than the assassin - which might well place him in Palpatine's age group, now that I think about it.  The other is a Muun, in charge of the politician as far as Sithness goes, and deeply invested in the field of biological immortality.  Does Senator Palpatine know any reclusive, likely rich, Muuns that happen to have personal interests in medicine, to your knowledge?"

"Not that I know of. Then I'll speak with the Order now. Thank you, Kina."

"May the Force be with you, Queen Amidala.  I'll let them know to expect your call.  And if Padmé can acquire enough blaster parts, she should consider the tactical implications of lightsaber geometry, in the meantime."  Kina clearly recognized her somehow.

Kina brushes aside the robe she's wearing to show her franken-blaster.  "Just in case."

"I'll not further impose on Your Majesty's time; good luck with the...everything happening."  And then, Kina hangs up.

Next stop, finding a Council member.  Also, setting C3PO to the task of digging through the tabloids.  There's bound to be plenty who're poking their noses into Palpatine's business right now, and if there's a reclusive Muun getting into his orbit, well...They'll notice.  They'll spin ten-thousand irrelevant theories, but they'll notice.  Maybe they'll even holocap him.

She does not actually expect that plan to work, but it's low-risk high-reward enough to merit at least trying.

She knows. She definitely knows. And if Kina was capable of figuring out that the Queen was secretly Padmé, that only further implies that she can trust Kina when she says she's figured out the Sith Lord's secret identity. Wonderful.

After tasking Sabé with handling the Trade Federation, Padmé overrides Palpatine's password to access his bank accounts. But actually, there really isn't much that's suspicious, at least not to her. None of the names seem obviously faked, and Palpatine's total wealth hasn't really changed much over any interval of time.

(It hasn't occurred to her that Palpatine is both accepting and giving out bribes, and balancing the scales that way. And in any case, the major deals aren't with his own money.)

Still, it's at least worth checking with the Order. She'll call - actually, Windu's right here, she'll talk to him first.

This is... not literally the most surprising thing he's heard this week, which is kind of ridiculous. It is still surprising. Bribery, he expected. Working for some nefarious cause, sure. But actually having a chance of being the Sith didn't seem to fit Palpatine. Still, they'll check it out. Windu sends a message to the rest of the Council, to analyze the data and look for any discrepancies. They shouldn't actually try to arrest Palpatine yet, though - if he is the Sith, Windu will need to be there personally, or else something will go wrong.

Something will almost certainly go wrong anyway, but hopefully less wrong.

And when Windu's done talking, the Jedi leave the planet. It'll take nearly five days to get back to Coruscant, but hopefully that'll be quick enough.

Kina - well, she's probably not going to be there herself.  But she prepares, nonetheless, in between basic saber-handling classes and studying up on Force techniques from the supply of holocrons the Jedi Order has (she's hoping to have Force Barrier soon enough to matter, and she really wants to learn Force Healing, it seems - perhaps the best possible thing in the universe if it might do what she thinks it could do...though if it doesn't, she'll have empathy for the biologist Sith Lord even though his way seems obviously-flawed) and hoping that Padmé gave enough of Palpatine's financial data to the Order to prove her hypothesis right or wrong.

She floats the idea of going on this mission anyway, because - she doesn't know why.

She'll ask the Force about it, because - just because she'll 'bring balance to the Force', and really what does that even mean, no-one's explained, least of all the actual Force - it doesn't mean that everything needs to be by her hand alone; that's the whole point of being here to begin with, not working alone, but this feels important to be present for, but - does the Force need her, for this?  Does it want her?

The Force doesn't have a clear answer! Kina is obviously helpful at doing things, but it could be dangerous!

The Order manages to find a few suspicious things in Palpatine's finances! There's nothing directly criminal, but the views of the people giving Palpatine money for supposedly innocuous purposes have a 74% correlation with major changes in his voting patterns in the Senate, even after they've controlled for everything they can think of. In addition, after reviewing Senate footage that they did have access to, all of the somewhat falsified rumors about Teem's criminal record are from people who Palpatine met with beforehand. It's not anywhere near enough proof for a conviction, but they're hoping they can at least get a warrant to question him. The drawback is that questioning him is probably a really bad idea.

"Well, the worst case is that he is, in fact, the Sith Lord.  Which he should already know that we know, and that we know he knows we know, unless Sith are especially self-blinded on sharing information that people actually need to know with the people they're aligned with, and while I wouldn't rule it out, I think it's unlikely.  So we control who does the approach - Masters Windu and Yoda, perhaps?  Selecting for personal combat prowess - and that solves that problem.  Any other case, he's just an ambitious politician.  We can handle ambitious politicians.  What worries me is the chance of the biologist getting to go to ground, but - we can't leave a Sith in charge of the Republic.

"...Okay maybe we could if it was the one who's focused just on immortality research, if there was some necessary strategic tradeoff, because I don't think his harms will scale to any particular degree, so he'd just be an absent ruler sort of type if he wasn't just trying to get the tiresome business of ruling out of his hands, but I wouldn't want to.  And it's definitely not him who's going to go couping.  Short of new evidence, utilitarianly-speaking he basically gets lost in the noise of the galaxy's problems - like slavery - by himself.

"Honestly if he is doing actual medical research - mm.  No.  Politics Sith's the main topic.  If that Sith is Palpatine...Honestly, I think showing up to 'speak with him about investigating accusations of bribery made during the recent election for the position of Supreme Chancellor' will get us through his door.  He's won, by now.  He's not going to be as cautious as he would've been.  And he'll see the opportunity of using the Jedi to dispose of political opponents, and want it.  I don't know if Sith are powered by schadenfreude but I think they'd love the idea of turning well-meaning people's best efforts into tragedies, just in general, because they're cruel and vicious even when that's harmful to them, judging by present examples."

"...Anyone catch something I missed?"

"I suppose that the primary problem is that we have several possible situations we could be in - a politician with a pretty ordinary amount of crime, someone who's working for the Sith, a Sith Lord who we can ambush, and a Sith Lord who knows we're coming and has something planned to beat Jedi. I don't think there's any action at all that would succeed in all of those. If we try anything that can beat an active Sith, we risk a massive scandal if he's not one. If we try anything more subtle, then it'll give him chances to get away."

"Honestly, telling him we're investigating the Senate does seem like our best option at the moment. It'll cover any case where he's not a Sith, since we can keep an eye on him, and we can probably trick him like you said. But if he knows that we suspect him of being the Sith, he'll probably get a chance to escape, unless we put a ton of guards on him, in which case that only increases the chances of him knowing we're onto him, and the size of a potential scandal... there are a lot of tradeoffs here."

He looks around at the rest of the Council, and then to Kina. She's probably the one who'll have a great idea, isn't she.

"Hmm.  ...Well, what if we put a ton of guards on the Senate and not specifically him, at about the same time as we approach him?  We do have credible intelligence that a Sith is trying to meddle with the workings of the Republic - did someone contact Senator Teem?  I'm assuming that if he's the political Sith Lord, he knows for sure that we know he exists, and will have taken - has he given the Jedi Order any gifts? - he'll absolutely have some preparations, even if they're just general principle sorts of things.  On the other hand, being a Senator actually does constrain his ability to...I don't know, rig his office with traps.  So I think expecting him to know we're coming, but be unable to mount significant preparations for assault within the Senate chambers - hm, if I were him I'd try and spin this as the Jedi betraying the Republic.  It would hold together long enough if he could survive to spin it or had some way of releasing information after his death, and he does have his boss...  But at the same time...I think two Jedi, and perhaps a Padawan, is not an unreasonable amount of Jedi to, especially, meet the new Chancellor and discuss investigations.  And five of you captured an entire battleship."  Kina grins.  "I think that especially if we stack the deck, whether or not he's predicted us moving, he can't win now.  He might not lose as much as we'd like...but his plan is blown up."

"Maybe." Windu sighs. "So we put some Jedi on the Senate, try as hard as we can to phrase it as something other than what it is, as, say, Palpatine's helping us investigate Teem. We look around his office, try to find some proof, and if we find he's the Sith, then we attack. We'll just have to be as careful as possible to make sure Palpatine thinks he has a good reason not to flee."

Yoda nods. "Then begin, we will. Master Windu, with me to the Senate, you will come, to, ah... investigate if Teem and the Trade Federation are working for the Sith, yes."

"...I could 'run away' and play bait, as a fallback plan.  The Sith want me, enough to run risks for it.  But I think that's a bit too much risk, for not enough reward.  ...And if I'm not coming with you, one of you should take this.  Fires more shots than a lightsaber can block."

"A blaster, we will not need," Yoda replies. "Handle this ourselves, we can."

"Yoda?"

"What?"

"...NO."

"...No what?"

"Yoda, at this point, I think we both know she has to come," Windu says. "I don't like it any more than you do, but if we have to outwit a Sith, we're going to need her."

"Depa, set up a comlink system. Me and Yoda are going in. In case he is a Sith, all ten of you are going to be surrounding the building. The kid too."

"...And speaking of outwitting Sith, we should see if we can get him to throw his master under the bus under the pretense of suspecting that the Muun is financing Senator Teem."

"At this point, I'm not sure if we can afford to introduce any more complications. Let's just get started on Palpatine."

"Yeah, it's not likely to be remotely possible, but if you see an opening to do it, it's worth taking."

Within half an hour, the Jedi are set up, and Windu and Yoda enter the Senate building, where Chancellor Palpatine is telling Lott Dod that for the last time, he can't interrupt to talk about his ship.

"Chancellor. My apologies, but this is urgent. We suspect that the Senate has been infiltrated by a Sith Lord, either through an agent - or possibly even in person. We're going to need to conduct immediate questioning of anyone who might have witnessed or been involved in these events."

"If it's an emergency, Master Jedi, then yes, we can accommodate you. How long do you anticipate this lasting?"

"Quite a while, I'm afraid. During that time, we can't allow anyone to leave this building. There's a potential Sith Lord, and it could be anyone here."

His eyes meet Palpatine's for a fraction of a second, enough to leave him uncertain it even happened. But still, enough to warn him of something. The only way they can get Palpatine to reveal himself is if he suspects the Jedi are coming for him. Of course, he can't say it out loud yet, just in case they're wrong about all of this.

Quite a few Senators seem to be upset by this, but no one wants to be the first to object.

"It shall be done, Master Jedi. If I can help you in any way, I would be happy to do so."

"Not yet, Chancellor, but we might need to ask you a few questions at some point. For now, we're going to need to speak with Senators Lott Dod and Ainlee Teem."

Now they're actively resisting. But the Jedi convince them to cooperate, primarily by repeatedly dropping the word treason, and they soon file off to a private room.

Palpatine watches them go. After arguing with the Senators for a while, making clear that no, they are not allowed to go home, he stalks off to his own room. To all external appearances - because obviously, the Jedi might have access to the cameras - he's simply sitting in his chair, massaging his head and reading reports. He actually is carefully tapping out a message, using the Force to press buttons on his device in the closet. The messages are cryptographically secured, and filled with allusions no one could possibly understand, and on a channel that the Jedi don't have any way to access, and there are a few other precautions that even he doesn't know the functions of.

This is the first trick he has prepared. The next few tricks are the six people he's communicating with. If the Jedi want to play dirty, he'll do the same.

The contents of the messages vary a little, and they're deliberately obscured. But there's one common theme.

The Jedi Council is trying to outplay him. And getting outplayed really isn't something Darth Sidious does! Granted, he may not know what game he's playing. He may not know the rules, or the goal, or even who's at the board. But what he does know is how many points he's going to score.

Twelve.