Sitting in her opulent office desk, Chief of State Shesh set down the datapad from which she read the news of the riots throughout the Hapes Consortium and took out and activated her commlink. She dialed in the frequency of the highest ranking member in the Galactic Alliance military.
"Admiral Bwua'tu here," the Bothan's growling voice came.
"Have you managed to either round up or otherwise... neutralize all the Jedi yet, Admiral?" Shesh asked.
"All of them on Shedu Maad anyway, Chief Shesh," Bwua'tu answered. "Grand Master Hamner has already provided me the data that we need to locate all of the other Jedi across the galaxy so that we may capture or eliminate them as well. He has promised me personally that they'll turn themselves in; and considering the surprising level of cooperation between him and everyone else on Shedu Maad, I have no solid reason to doubt him so far."
"Good to know," Shesh remarked, satisfied with what she was hearing so far. "Let's hope that all the other Jedi will be as cooperative as Hamner and his cohorts. Are you returning to Coruscant as we speak, Admiral?"
"We're already back in Alliance space, Chief," Bwua'tu reported. "It won't be long before you'll be seeing us up above Coruscant."
"Excellent," Shesh purred. "Thank you for the good news, Admiral."
"My pleasure, Chief Shesh," Bwua'tu replied evenly.
Shesh then cut off the communication between them and went back to her datapad to see what else was going on in the galaxy at large.
After a few moments of browsing, she had just took a sip from her tea which she then promptly spat out onto her office floor when she read the latest news from the Consortium.
Tenel Ka Djo, believed to have been deceased with her daughter, was now back from the dead, it seemed, and had already called in for the rebuilding of the Hapan Royal Palace. While the rebuilding was going on, she and her child would be residing aboard her reserved Battle Dragon, the Dragon Queen II, until the Palace was fit to be lived in by the royal bloodline again.
Well, Shesh thought, looks like there would be some conflict of interest between the Consortium and the Alliance once Tenel Ka realized what had happened to her precious Jedi Order.
.
Plagueis smirked as he sat in his seat in the Teaser's passenger cabin reading the news on his datapad.
Dr. Ruk, who appeared to have been playing a word game on his datapad in his own seat, looked over at Plagueis and asked, "What is it?"
The Sith Lord looked over at the scientist. "When Tenel Ka retook control of the Consortium, she was pretty angry when she learned about what happened to the Jedi Order."
"Something happened to the Jedi Order?" Ruk asked. "I didn't know."
"Neither did I until just now," Plagueis informed him. "During the chaos that occurred after her death, the Galactic Alliance took advantage of the lack of authority of the Jedi and went to Shedu Maad, which is the home of the Jedi Order, in case you didn't know. Alliance Admiral Bwua'tu asked the Jedi Grand Master to surrender or die at the hands of his fleet, and the Grand Master wisely decided to surrender himself and the rest of the Order."
"So what's the Queen Mother doing about this?" Ruk asked.
"She's threatening to launch a full-scale war against the Alliance if they don't give the Jedi back in a week." Plagueis appeared to be quite happy. "So guess who might go to Coruscant to try to resolve this issue: ambassadors from Hapes."
Ruk's face lit up with realization. "An excuse to go back to Coruscant and continue our work, even if we have to at least pretend we're trying to quell another galactic conflict."
"That's right," Plagueis nodded. "And I believe we only had a few more things we needed to get right on our portal machine before we're ready to activate it."
"Yes, we do," Ruk said. "But what happens when the Galactic Alliance authorities and the Jedi call us out on who we are? That diplomatic immunity isn't going to last long on us when the Queen Mother hears of those accurate accusations."
"It won't matter if she does," Plagueis said. "When I brought her back from the dead, I made sure that she would serve my will no matter what."
Ruk looked surprised at this.
"What, you thought she agreed to make us ambassadors so easily because she just came back from the dead and was emotionally cathartic when she reunited with her daughter?" Plagueis laughed insincerely. "Oh, no, when I resurrect a staunch supporter of the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi, especially one who was once a Jedi herself, I make sure they fall onto my side when they breathe their first breaths of their new life."
"Okay, so that takes care of the Queen Mother and everyone who follows her, even the treacherous nobles sniping at her back," Ruk said sardonically. "And while it may be suspicious to everyone else, there's really nothing anyone can do about it anyway. But are you sure that the Chume'da can be relied on not to go against us and her mother, considering how out of character the Queen Mother will be?"
"I spent quite a bit of time manipulating her, Doctor, and I brought her mother back from the dead," Plagueis pointed out. "I doubt she'll have a change of heart when it comes to us.
"And even if she did, I have an ace in the hole that will ensure her cooperation with us either way."
"What's that?" Ruk inquired.
"Not only did I make sure that Tenel Ka would be on our side when I brought her back from the dead," Plagueis said, "but I also instilled a safeguard in her system that was meant to go off specifically if her daughter ever did come to her senses and decide to betray us. And that safeguard is simply reversing what I've done."
"Making her die all over again," Ruk concluded. "But tell me, why didn't you just do to the Chume'da what you did to her mother?"
"She is too powerful, even for me," Plagueis said. "And while she certainly can't kill me, for nothing can, trying to take her over would be a waste of my eternal time."
"Well, you could just kill her and bring her back to life to serve your will," Ruk suggested.
"Unfortunately, it's not that simple," Plagueis said.
"Why not?"
"Because she's a descendent of Anakin Skywalker."
"So what?" Ruk asked.
"I created Anakin Skywalker," Plagueis said. "I manipulated the midi-chlorians necessary to conceive of him in his mother's womb. For all intents and purposes, I am his father."
"While that's an interesting factoid I never knew about you," Ruk said, "that still doesn't answer my question."
"Obviously, Skywalker was special," Plagueis elaborated. "And because of his unique origin, it acts as a sort of barrier against my power that lives through to his descendents. While I am able to influence the Chume'da's thinking like I've done so far, I can't physically do anything to her that would absolutely ensure her cooperation with us, nor can I even bring her back to life. She would even be invulnerable to my Force-lightning."
"But that doesn't make any sense," Ruk said. "You created Skywalker. Wouldn't that mean that he and his descendents be more prone to your abilities than others?"
"I would think the same thing," Plagueis admitted. "But it's just... something that I feel from the Force whenever I'm in contact with the Chume'da. It lets me know on an instinctual level that anything I do to her through the Force will be completely ineffective."
"This Force thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Ruk said.
Plagueis shrugged. "Some things are just not meant to be understood. As an immortal, I've come to accept that fact quite easily compared to when I was actively searching to prolong my life indefinitely."
Ruk sighed and turned back to his game.
"Oh, and you're probably also thinking why I didn't simply just convert you to my will like I did with Captain Pussa and Tenel Ka," Plagueis said.
Ruk looked back up at the Sith. "Yeah, why didn't you do that?"
Plagueis smiled. "Simply, Doctor? I kind of enjoy the little nuggets of fear in your being that you try to repress every time you're with me."