Vidar Kim settled his olive-toned bulk into his plush office chair. Across from him stood his personal courier, a young Rodian intern who stared, seemingly transfixed, at a short stack of flimsi.
"Go on boy, you said you had something to tell me, so here I am. Why don't you start with why this couldn't have come to me by holo?"
"It's well uh, the speaker said it was complicated and wanted you and the other senators to be able to read it over."
The Rodian cleared his throat twice before looking down once again at the flimsi, adopting a booming tone for his recitation.
"Greetings my fellow senators of the Center Coalition for Prosperity. A grave threat to the stability of the Republic has made itself known. A gross and preposterous legal challenge has just slithered from the circuit courts into the highest echelons of our justice system. I won't mince words; if this suit is successful it means nothing less than the hobbling of the Republic. In short an affluent noble from Serenno used his unconscionable levels of wealth to hide his Force-sensitive child from the ever-vigilant eyes of the Jedi. Now twenty-three years after this treachery he is suing for the 'right' for other beings to do the same with their children!"
The nervous intern continued his shrill reading of the speaker's letter as Ronhar pondered the implications of what he had heard. Such a challenge struck at the very heart of the Jedi's mission to enforce peace and harmony throughout the galaxy. Historically the people of the Republic had accepted the loss of their Forceful children, fearing what would happen if such innately powerful beings were free to develop without guidance.
Yet the conclusion of the war a thousand year past had seen the extinction of the Jedi's enemies, whatever their name had once been. And the compulsory indoctrination of children seemed to run contrary to the Republic's promise of freedom of conscience.
The years had not yet solved this seeming contradiction. Ronhar recalled a nearly identical case he had learned about in law-school, in that instance the courts had ruled in favor of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Senate, children being taken in by the Jedi was defended as a logical extension of the Republic's prerogative to enforce compulsory public education for the youth. The thought of wise and powerful Jedi masters and indifferent public-teachers being the same in the eyes of the law had always amused Vidar.
This of course begged the question, what had changed? Why would this suit be successful where the other had failed? Had the relentless machinations of the holo-rancors and keyboard bounty hunters really been so effective at swaying public opinion?
Such questions could wait until the game was afoot in earnest. Vidar interrupted his courier's impassioned soliloquy, thanking him and telling him to grab an early lunch with his fellow interns but not before leaving the flimsi on his desk.
Swiveling in his chair, Vidar faced the azure skyline and thought of his own son. When the doctors had reported little Ronhar's midichlorian count Vidar had been caught flat-footed. Of course he had always known it was a possibility that his child would be strong in the Force, it just wasn't an eventuality many people considered. At the time he had felt proud and joyful at his son's selection for the order, feelings he could still summon when he thought of his child settling disputes, practicing with his lightsaber or meditating serenely on the nature of the Force and the universe at large.
Though sometimes he wondered whether his reaction had been legitimate, as an upstanding citizen he could not imagine defying the Jedi who stood astride the galaxy as the ultimate moral authority. But he was still a father. A father who had given away his child and seen his wife grow fat and cold with the passing of the years. Now he was alone, his only solace a job that grew increasingly taxing and the fame and fortune that came with it.
Vidar shook his head as if to throw off the gloom that had suddenly overtaken him. My child is happy and that's what counts at the end of the day. Besides I've taken Palpatine under my wing, perhaps it's time I brought him in to my full confidence show him the galaxy and whatnot. I may no longer have a son but I can still have a legacy.
The young man who now thought of himself as Darth Sidious stared towards the front of a lavishly furnished classroom where a mid-level functionary was lecturing. The subject was one that particularly interested the Naboo. This bureaucrat was part of a relatively fringe-movement that advocated for the establishment of multiple nation-states on planets racked by sectarian strife. Palpatine was wholly familiar with the arguments and agreed with them. He didn't need to have the basics spoon-fed to him.
Sidious broke his gaze and scanned the room. A preponderance of the audience occupied the back rows not paying any attention. Besides himself only two other beings seemed to pay the speaker any mind, a Gungan who stared daggers at the presenter as if he had mastered the dark side art of Deadly Sight and a human female with dyed blue-hair who would snort derisively at seemingly random intervals.
Palpatine had thought things would be different by age twenty. Instead the Sith lord found that while his credentials and those of his peers grew, the level of intellectual development remained static. The youth assembled here had completed their requisite eight years of public service and had elected to continue their political training as members of the Apprentice Legislator Program.
In theory they were the best and brightest, the all-but-anointed future leaders of the Republic. A true Sith was supposed to inflict fear not feel it, but in his heart of hearts Palpatine dreaded the day these imbeciles would take their places at the levers of power. Through the Force he could all but see the Gungan gliding into a partnership at a law firm in a galaxy already choked with legal parasites and the girl shrilly denouncing beings of actual worth as a "community organizer."
As if to assuage his anxieties the dark side flowed into him unbidden, strengthening his limbs and sharpening his senses. He could kill both of them. The Gungan's hollow bones would snap and shatter under his telekinetic assault. The girl's frail heart would be pulped in her chest, a swift yet painful end. Palpatine began salivating and already beads of sweat were forming on his brow. Every transgression of theirs past and future was known to Sidious, the dark side called for blood, blood!
The Dark Lord focused on breathing slowly through his nose. Murder is a tool of a Sith not his purpose. Attacking everyone who annoyed him would reveal his true nature in short order, dashing his hopes and possibly extinguishing the Sith forever. Gradually, and with the exertion of some mental effort, Palpatine reduced the Dark Side's presence in him to a mere homicidal purr.
So engrossed was he in tempering his bloodlust that Sidious almost didn't notice that the speech had concluded. Wiping away the remaining saliva from his lips, the Sith joined his peers in scattered applause. His academic responsibilities concluded Palpatine made for the door pulling out his personal datapad as he did so. He had felt the vibration of a notification during the lecture and was curious as to its origin. Much to his satisfaction it was a missive from his mentor Vidar Kim.
Vidar Kim: Recent developments on Serreno have led to a legal crisis threatening the Jedi. As a senator the workings of the courts are not of direct interest to me. Still this is the current focal point of galactic political interest. I will have need of your service/counsel on Serreno. Access the attached holo-frequency for your transportation.
Regards, Vidar Kim
Holon;GalSen;Chomm;0899524
The Holonet file informed him that his ride would be picking him up at the end of the academic week, tomorrow, and that the amenities provided on Serreno would be nothing short of extravagant. After tapping out a message responding in the affirmative he veered away from the mass of other students down a side hallway. Making his way towards an automated food-dispenser Palpatine tendered a few spare credits and moments later was carefully chewing a dried piece of aquatic fruit grown primarily by the Gungans and a few other species who valued obscure plant life.
The flesh was satisfying enough and the taste, while muted by the preservation process, was pleasant in its own understated sort of way. But Sidious wasn't really very hungry and the pleasure of taste was fleeting, to tell the truth he had only gone to the food machine in order to escape the crush of his classmates heading back to the dorms. He himself planned to eventually go there, just not right away.
Lately he had been making an effort to avoid contact with those who it was not absolutely essential to have it with. His growing power in the Force had made the emotions and processes of others as plain and obvious to him as if they had been written in the sky with lightning. And for as much as he tried to convince himself of their insignificance he could not bring himself to fully ignore the thoughts of those around him.
His greatest fear was that by peering into their essence he might leave something of himself behind, something identifying, incriminating. Upon reflection the notion of a telepathic paper trail seemed absurd, but then if one of them should happen to be Force-sensitive that would be something else again. They could challenge him in the physical sense; such a battle would reveal his true nature in short order. Or they might attempt to ally with him, an unacceptable proposition giving the nature of the Rule of Two.
Speaking of which, he would need to contact his master about his upcoming trip. Discarding the remainder of his snack Darth Sidious set off back to his dorm room.
…..