"Send Master Kenobi to execute the Chancellor, I will. The death of one of his closest friends at the hand of the other - unhinge young Skywalker, it will. Lure him to our side, it will not fail to do."

"He must not be turned only against Kenobi, my former apprentice," the disembodied voice admonished lightly, swirling through the room and bringing with it the presence of evil. "Send other Jedi to aid Kenobi, and implicate the Order, not just one Master - too easily written off as a rogue. Skywalker must be convinced that the Order in its entirety is wrong...not just Kenobi."

"Send Council members, I will. To turn young Skywalker to the Dark Side, we must not fail."


Palpatine cowered back in shock as four grim masters ignited their sabers. Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Mace Windu, and the leader of the strike team - Obi-Wan Kenobi - stood blocking any escape the Chancellor might attempt. He did not seem inclined to do so, holding up his hands in fear. "Master Kenobi!" he exclaimed, eyes on the man in front. "What is going on?"

"Don't play with us, Sidious," Mace snarled, eyes glowing dangerously. "We know who you are. Master Yoda has seen it."

"What?" Palpatine squeaked, blue eyes huge in the light of four glowing sabers. "No! No, you've got it all wrong, I'm not a Sith Lord! I'm just -" - just the Chancellor, in the most powerful position in the Republic, and constantly acquiring more power - "-just an ordinary man! You would've felt it if I were Force-sensitive! Here!" He scrabbled quickly for a small medkit in a drawer in his desk. "You can take a blood sample! I'm not a Sith Lord, I swear it!"

"How do we know you'd not manipulate the results?" Kit Fisto demanded.

The door slammed open, and Anakin staggered in, looking slightly panicked. "Wait! It's not him - it's Master Yoda!"

Five people stared at him, appalled. "You have proof?" Obi-Wan demanded.

Anakin held out a commlink in answer. A hologram sprang up, of a little green man kneeling and speaking most damningly to yet another hologram, of one certain Lost Jedi - and afterward, rising, and speaking most sneeringly (and ungrammatically) of one Darth Tyrannus (former apprentice, over me lording it, hm!) Palpatine watched the mass exodus in relieved shock, and left early to go home, take a headache pill, and start drafting legislation to return borrowed powers to the Senate, effective immediately after the war.


I have only two sections backlogged after this, and while I've had plenty of ideas generated (TPM rewrite, Jedi Leia, Obi-Wan surviving the Death Star,) and have one of my own (not telling what,) I'm also two days further behind on work than I'd thought and have gotten back into terrible sleeping habits. So I will write when I can, and I will be back - promise.