"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. All the characters and places belong to Disney. The only thing that I own is my OC Rosella Ngaire.

AN: Welcome to The Shroud of The Dark Side! If you haven't read the other two stories, The Fog of War and A New Padawan's Journey, I highly recommend that you read those before jumping into this one.

This piece will be different from the other two since it will be divided into chapters and interludes. I want to quickly thank KaitiJo for giving me permission to use this format as she did for her story Crossing Battlefields. Most of the chapters will be based on or around the episode that I have chosen to cover while the Interludes will have more of a family bonding time to them (and maybe a little action)

Just to make this clear, this will not be a full rewrite of the entire series. Instead, I will be going through and choosing episodes that are my favourites in terms of the overall story that I want to tell and/or character growth. Also, this will be in chronological order, not the order in which they aired. The episodes that I do not cover will be staying the same in my universe.

It will take me some time to fully write out each episode based chapter, so I might not be updating every day like I used to for my other two stories.

Now with all that out of the way, today's chapter is just the prologue. Since I am still in the middle of writing the first part of the Malevolence Arc, that chapter most likely won't be up until Wednesday, December 22nd.

Don't forget to review!

Prologue

Palpatine was in his office, sitting at his desk. He knew that he had some time to himself before his first appointment for the day arrived to meet with him. So far, his plan was going well. This war was nothing but a game to him and he was in charge of everything. It was almost as if a chessboard had been laid out in front of him and the pieces were his to control. He had been planning this for years. If not decades.

Soon, everything would come down to one final battle that would at long last see him claim total control over the entire galaxy ever since his former Master had taken him on as his apprentice.

For a single moment, he allowed himself to reflect on his now dead master. After all, he was truly grateful to the Munn for teaching him everything that he now knew about the Dark Side. It was Plagueis who had helped him ascend to the rank of Senator of Naboo and who had told him about the Sith's long-term goal to take over the galaxy, destroy the Republic, as well as the Jedi, and create an Empire in its place.

It was then that he knew that would become his personal mission, as well as his dream to see the plan to fruition.

Once the crisis that had occurred on his home planet of Naboo was over and he had been declared the new Supreme Chancellor after Padmè Amidala, who had been Queen at the time, had called for a Vote of No Confidence in the previous Chancellor, Finis Valorum, the only thing that was left to do was get rid of Plagueis for he had outlived his usefulness.

If there was one thing that Palpatine didn't like, it was sharing power.

When the deed had been completed and he knew that his former master was now dead, Palpatine, to his surprising shock, didn't feel any remorse or guilt for that was the way of the Sith.

Turning his chair around, Palpatine stood and walked to the massive transparasteel window that was in his office. Bringing his thoughts back to the present, he thought about the Senate.

The Senate was now a cesspool of the self-centered ambitions of disingenuous politicians who could not see past their own greed to the hypocrisy within. Most, if not all of the Senators who were there wore a mask of service, duty, love and pride on their face. Most of those masks were stretched across scheming faces as if it was a second skin. Sometimes, it was impossible to distinguish the mask from the original face as carefully chosen words of duty, service, honor, and humility poured from their lips.

Honor and Humility. The Chancellor thought to himself. Those were two ideals whose meanings were always in flux, their virtues as tumultuous as the seas of Kamino. Yet, they remained. Paragons of all that was just and good. Goals to be striven for. He had long concluded that the Sith were wrong in spurning them. Was it not honorable to bring balance? To achieve order?

If he knew one thing, it was that this galaxy, and the squabbling Senators with their petty egos who lived in it, along with their corrupt systems, would be brought together under his rule. He would bring structure where only chaos reigned. He would grant consistency and stability to the disorganized, disillusioned masses. How could they be anything but grateful?

Then he thought about all his successes to date.

When he saw how the Senate had listened to Jar-Jar, - who had been Naboo's Senator at the time- and voted him his emergency powers, he knew it was too good to be true. He was now the Emperor in all but title. Then came the deaths of all the Jedi who had fallen in the arena on Geonosis. He had been sitting in this very office when he felt the shockwave through the Force. Oh, how he had grinned as he felt each one of them perish.

He allowed a soft, yet pleasing smile to appear on his face as his thoughts turned to his latest victory, if one could call it that, which was the start of the Clone Wars. When Dooku had told him that the war had begun, he happily smiled underneath his hood, for it meant that he was close to achieving his ultimate goal.

Palpatine's thoughts then turned to the clones and he clenched both of his fists. Thankfully he was alone and there was no one to catch him as his eyes turned from their normal shade of blue to Sith yellow in an instant.

As soon as the Senator from Alderaan had suggested that the GAR be placed under control of the Jedi Order, he knew that a small wrench had been thrown in one of his plans. Now, he only had a handful of clones that were under his charge. The Jedi had control over the rest of the army.

Speaking of the Jedi, he didn't like the fact that they had changed and were still continuing to do so. Not one bit. He grew even more displeased upon learning that the change had come about from Anakin Skywalker, whom he heard was now a Jedi Knight. Skywalker had gotten the Order to break away from its traditions and rules that they had followed for hundreds of years to embrace what they had once thought was forbidden. Attachments, emotions, love and family.

Palpatine growled under his breath. Now that things like attachments and family were allowed in the Order, he knew that the Jedi would be much harder to wipe out for they would be growing stronger every single day.

He needed Anakin. He needed the darkness that was lurking deep inside the young man. Even if he was able to successfully cultivate a friendship with the young man, he knew that he would have to be crafty in order to turn Skywalker over to the dark side, as he knew he wouldn't get far so long as their so-called family was together.

His eyes narrowed as he thought about the Prophecy that he had stumbled upon by complete accident. He was surprised that none of the Sith who had come before him, not even his former Master had discovered it until now. Upon reading it, he had nearly pitched a fit. There was no way he was letting this person, this Star, as the prophecy called her, discover just who he truly was. If he were to let that happen, then his plans would be utterly ruined.

He needed to find out just who this girl was and do everything in his power to get rid of her, even if that included hiring outside help. This girl needed to be out of the picture if he wanted his plans to move forward.

As for Dooku, his failures would be dealt with in due time as his usefulness was coming to an end whether he saw it or not. There was going to be no room in Palpatine's future empire for the former Jedi who continually failed in his tasks. He wasn't about to reveal who Dooku really was just yet, so he would be allowed to continue to strut about, to bask in his self-importance like a plump fowl who did not realize the axe was about to fall.

Just then, the chime outside his office went off, indicating that his first appointment had arrived. Palpatine stepped away from the window, allowing his anger to simmer down until it was all but gone. His eyes turned from their hate filled yellow back to their normal blue. Soon, he was back in his role as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, the man who had been elected to lead millions upon millions of beings in the galaxy.

Even though the Jedi had put a wrench in his plans, it would not stop him in his quest to rule the galaxy.

This game was far from over.