A/N: Thanks to all readers!

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In the decades since Senator Palpatine's failed attempt to seize power and turn the Republic into an Empire, the galaxy had changed a great deal. Yet Coruscant was still very much the same. The multileveled city that had replaced the original mountains and seas still bristled with skyscrapers and luxury apartments. The richest citizens still breathed their preferred choice of air; their paths were still smoothed and their every need met by quality control, service, and protocol droids. The downlevels still teemed with poverty and crime, smugglers, bounty hunters, and luckless citizens alike struggling to live on waste gases and food scraps. And the entire Federal District still held endless secret rooms, unknown passages, hidden stairs, and private corners where plots were hatched unheard, tended in darkness to one day bear terrible and treacherous fruit.

Senator Snoke, representative of the far Western Reaches, the worlds on the very edge of the Outer Rim, nearly a part of wild space, stood on a balcony connected to his suite in the exclusive 500 Republica building. Little Ben Solo stood next to him, staring out at the endless mountains and canyons and valleys of the lit cityscape. He didn't know it, but if he had looked up and to the left, he would have seen the balcony where Darth Maul once stood with Siduous in a secret meeting during the Clone Wars, both in plain sight and completely unnoticed. He didn't know this. But Snoke did, of course. Because Snoke, whatever his true nature, was a being who knew a great deal.

"What are we going to talk about tonight?" Ben asked him in a wandering voice.

Snoke smiled down at Ben. He was far from young, but still a handsome humanoid man with sculpted features and thick dark hair. He passed a long, thin hand over Ben's face, bending his considerable height down so that he could whisper in the boy's ear.

"Many things. Your birthday is tomorrow, is it not?"

Ben nodded.

"Eight is a magic age, a special age, my boy. A time of wisdom and of learning. There are many things you may begin to learn now, much knowledge that was not available to you before. Would you like that?"

"Yes," said Ben, his eyes vague as he looked out over the city.

"But you can never tell anyone else. It will be our secret. Do you understand that?"

Ben looked up at the tall, gaunt man and felt the familiar thrill of excitement, and pleasure that this important man was talking to him and nobody else. But as always, the triumph was mixed with an eerie dread.

"I… I think so," he said.

"No, you can never tell anyone else what I've told you," repeated Snoke musingly. "It will be our secret alone." The boy nodded in response.

What a shame that their meetings needed to be kept a complete secret, Snoke thought regretfully. Of course, it would not always be so; he had long ago decided that. One day, at least far as everyone else was concerned, Ben Solo would be meeting openly with his friendly, lifelong mentor, the Outer Rim political leader who had known him and helped him since childhood. Many people would likely think Senator Snoke to be a much better influence than Ben's careless, handsome, roving father.

But not now. Not yet. Snoke had an inhuman patience, and he could and would wait until his plans ripened to that point. No matter what, he would obtain his revenge on the Republic that had once taken everything from him. Revenge is a dish best served as cold as an ice planet, he thought. He smiled down at Ben, who smiled back, although his face looked uneasy.

Ben couldn't remember when he'd first talked to Snoke this way, this secret way. He only remembered it when he was in Snoke's private apartment. Then he forgot. Sometimes on the way out, sometimes when he was stepping into the matter transporter, sometimes when he got back into his bed he would remember for just a moment. But then, when he cried for his mother and she came running, he would forget before she'd even opened the door to his room.

"Things will change," Snoke said caressingly. "We'll know each other better and better. We'll work more and more closely. We will share more secrets. I will show you more important things. You will become powerful in my teachings, Ben. And by the grace of my training, you will never, ever fail me. No-one can stand in our way. No-one must distract you."

Ben turned his head up suddenly then, looking at Snoke with a troubled expression.

"Nobody at all?"

"We don't want to worry your mother," Snoke said soothingly. "You know that."

"But what if there was someone else? Somebody important?"

Snoke blinked, taken off guard. He wondered what the boy could possibly mean, and whether or not it would be wise to press him for further details. These things must be done delicately, after all. No matter how carefully he manipulated Ben, there was so much about the child that he could never quite understand, something elusive that always slipped out of his grasp.

A gust of wind blew a strand of dark hair over Ben's pale face, a strangely random wind for Coruscant, where every detail of weather and climate were planned. He continued to stare up at Snoke, his little face set into defiant lines.

"What if there is someone?" he repeated, and for the moment, Snoke could think of no answer.

Since Leia had reached the age of fourteen or so a great many men had carried out lengthy conversations with her breasts. Senator Cholani of Corellia, who had cornered her at the Naboo party, was no exception to the rule.

"I've admired your recent work in the Senate, I must say," he was now informing her chest.

"Oh… such as what, specifically?" she asked.

"Er…" He seemed at a loss for words, which did not surprise her.

"The bill to draw attention to the problems on worlds in the Western Outer Rim," she said, deciding to take a bit of pity on him.

"Yes, yes," he said in tones of relief. "Although I must say that I can't really agree with your view that any unknown threats might exist in that area. The Criminal Confederacy is, as always, the only true danger."

"I agree that CrimCon is a danger," said Leia. "But there are signs that additional trouble may be brewing on planets like Jakku."

"Well. You may be right."

"You really think so?" she asked, not making any particular effort to keep the skepticism out of her tone.

"Perhaps we should discuss the matter further at some point," said Senator Cholani, in a way that made her think it was unlikely he had heard a word she'd said. He leaned close to her and lowered his voice. "Privately."

Leia raised an eyebrow. "Privately, huh?"

He waved a hand vaguely across the loud, busy space. "Somewhere quieter. You know."

"Oh, I know, all right," said Leia. "Such as your apartment?"

He brightened. "I'm so glad that you understand my meaning. Tomorrow evening would be perfect. Or perhaps… later tonight."

"I'm sure my husband would love to participate in that discussion," said Leia, suppressing a snicker with some difficulty.

"We may be forced to hold the meeting without him," said Cholani. "Unfortunate, but there you are. "He hasn't returned from that trip out to Teth yet, has he?"

"News travels fast," Leia said dryly.

"But I should think you'd appreciate some intelligent conversation," he said. "Han seems a bit more suited to discourse with that Wookie friend of his, what's his name, Ooga-Booga? And that supposedly reformed reprobate, Jahangoll Fett? Meanwhile…" Cholani looked at her shrewdly. "You're left alone on Coruscant to raise a child."

She was silent.

"Come now, Leia. Wouldn't you appreciate a bit of… company?"

She found her voice.

"If I did, rest assured, it wouldn't be yours."

"Are you sure?"

She eyed the Corellian senator and decided that she didn't like him at all—not his oily assumptions about her availability when Han was gone, not his politics, not anything.

"Very sure."

"I wouldn't decide so quickly." His handsome smile threatened to turn into a leer. "I can be very good company indeed." He laid a hand on her arm. "

Leia shook off his hand, eyes blazing. "I'm sure that I'd rather go to bed with an Ewok than spend one more minute talking to you. And if you think—"

She broke off.

Ben.

Something is wrong.

The knowledge was as instant and sure and shocking as a blaster bolt.

She shoved Senator Cholani out of the way and began pushing through the crowds of partygoers to the door. It wasn't until after she was halfway down the corridor that she realized she should have taken the matter transporter, that this was a time for instant travel if there ever was one. But by then, the homing instinct towards her son was so strong that she couldn't turn back. She picked up the red shimmersilk train of her gown with one hand and began to run, her heels catching on the elegant carpet runner.

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Next chapter: We'll find out a lot more about exactly what Senator Snoke is doing…