I will be Chancellor.
Palpatine stood quietly to himself as he watched the burning corpse of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He was standing in a crowd of people from the members of the Nabooan government which included Queen Amidala herself and her retinue of Handmaidens and bodyguards, and even members of the Jedi High Council, feeling the strong emotions of grief and sadness in the Jedi and from the people of Naboo who had known Qui-Gon Jinn as a brave, wise, and compassionate man. The Sith Lord took in the emotions like a thirsty man, but the emotions from the Jedi were what he savoured the most.
While it was true the Jedi buried their emotions in order to ensure they did not fall to the Dark Side, they weren't completely emotionless. It had been a long time since any of the Jedi had lost one of their own in this manner; yes, it was possible for a Mandalorian to fire a blaster bolt through a Jedi's head by luck alone, or it was possible for them to die in a manner where their infamous foresight was barely enough to save their lives, but it had been a thousand years since a Jedi was killed by a Sith and the Jedi learned of it. Many Jedi had fallen to the Sith Order Palpatine was a part of over the years, and their deaths were covered up or their remains were hidden and long since lost.
Until now.
Qui-Gon Jinn was the first Jedi Master to be killed by a confirmed Sith Lord in the last thousand years. The Jedi were now aware that the Sith still existed.
The Naboo crisis had served as a critical victory for the Sith. Palpatine had not only become the newly elected Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, but he was now in a better position than any of his predecessors to transform the Republic into a Sith Empire, and destroy the Jedi. There was still much work to be done, Palpatine knew that and he had accepted it; the work for the foundation of the Separatist movement which would the perfect weapon to help them end the Jedi and the Republic in one go, but if there was one thing the Sith had learnt, it was the value of patience.
They had needed to after the drawbacks of failed plans, of Sith Masters who suddenly and mysteriously turned to the Light Side of the Force and lost their sanity as a result, but inflicted severe damage to the Sith by destroying priceless holocrons and artefacts that the Sith had collected to impart knowledge, of unexpected problems which threatened to derail the Grand Plan. Through it all they had learnt to adapt, to evolve.
Not only had he become Chancellor, but he had ended the final embodiment of the Rule of Two. Darth Plagueis was dead, and with him gone the Rule of Two was finally over although Palpatine would keep and maintain just the one apprentice since that was all he would need, in addition to his Force-sensitive enforcers. Like himself, Plagueis despised the Rule of Two. The Muun Sith Lord had never liked the idea of his apprentice eventually rising up to one day challenge him or otherwise kill him in an unexpected way, but he was the only last embodiment of the Banite philosophy.
While he was surprised by how Amidala had beaten the odds and defeated the occupation the Trade Federation had imposed on Naboo, especially as he hadn't expected the outcome of the Battle to be what it was, especially as a small boy played the pivotal role in taking a small one-man fighter, and flying into the droid control ship and destroying it from the inside, ending the droid threat for good.
Palpatine was surprised by the result, and for a moment he even wondered if the Force had deliberately guided young Anakin Skywalker into doing something like that. Ultimately it didn't matter; the occupation had served its purposes although in a way he hadn't imagined or envisioned, since the Sith had the Senate, and with that the Republic. Nothing would stop them now since he planned to be more subtle now than before.
One of the more important victories Sidious saw was the Jedi now knew the Sith were out there. Some of his predecessors would likely have preferred the Sith to reveal themselves only at the last minute, when it was too late for them to do anything about it. Sidious could understand the viewpoint, and it even offered some poetic possibilities. But it didn't matter. As a bonus, a Jedi Master, powerful in the Force, had died.
"There is no doubt. The mysterious warrior was a Sith."
Palpatine gave no outward sign he had heard the whisper, but he listened anyway as Mace Windu spoke to Yoda. The two senior and most powerful members of the Council were referring to Darth Sidious' former apprentice, Darth Maul.
Just about within his peripheral vision, Palpatine watched as Yoda agreed with the Master of the Order. "Always two there are...no more...no less. A master and an apprentice."
Windu stiffened visibly. "But which one was destroyed, the master or the apprentice?"
The two Jedi Masters give each other a concerned look, ignorant of the fact the Sith Master was right there next to them. He had just heard every word. Maul's death was not entirely a blow, especially after Palpatine first saw how strongly the Force was with the young boy, Anakin Skywalker. Like all Masters of the Force - Dark and Light alike - Sidious longed to meet and train someone who possessed raw, untamed power. Skywalker not only met the criteria for power, but he also possessed a galaxy experience the average Jedi Youngling and initiate just lacked. The Jedi had sealed themselves away in that ridiculous temple, following the orders of the senate without following their own mission of serving as Guardians of Peace and Justice in the Republic. As a result, all the children who lived there were kept ignorant of how dark the galaxy was. While they knew of pirates, smugglers, murderers, terrorists, and bounty hunters and slavers, the younglings just saw them as phantoms, much like the frightening tales children were told by their parents.
Anakin however knew the reality. He had seen the darkness of slavery and suffered for it, and it had sparked an anger within the young boy's chest, just below those incredible blue eyes. But he was not ready to embrace the Sith life, and Palpatine didn't have the time or inclination to train a boy in the Dark Side. The boy could learn from the Jedi about the Force, but he had sensed their wariness about the boy and his anger, and the attachments he felt for those whom he cared about. In time, once they were torn away, leaving the boy furious, the Sith Master would pull him to the Dark Side. But for now he needed an apprentice who was already trained in the Force. Maul was a tool, but Sidious had wondered if he could teach the Zabrak in more advanced Force and Sith arts.
Maul was capable. He had been highly powerful, and his lightsaber training had made him a vicious opponent. He would have made the perfect weapon against the Jedi, but his overconfidence had cost him dearly. No matter. The Grand Plan would be fulfilled.
