Chapter 3
She started her first day on Coruscant very early in the morning. She used to train daily; her skills had to sharpen if possible. The Emperor nor his apprentice Vader couldn't feel her in the force; she hid herself carefully. Palpatine has done so when he was senator and Supreme Chancellor. And no one ever recognized it. Not even the Jedimasters! Not even Yoda! Palpatine fooled the Jedi for more than a few decades and when they finally noticed that he was the Sithlord they were looking for it was far too late.
She would hide herself in his presence, would only give him very little hints while playing with him. It was a puzzle for him she had planned. But he wouldn't win or solve it; he would lose and fail whatever he would try to find her. At the last stage of the game, of course, he would know with whom he was playing with…but that was future…and furthermore a long way for him to take. It was a dangerous game but a funny one, too. For her. Not for him.
After she ended her training she dressed for the day in some formal clothes Organa had provided her for her first day in her new job. She would go shopping as soon as possible. The robes were of a dark blue and heavy. They fitted perfectly but Kimea didn't feel well in it. Formal robes weren't her favourites. She preferred less expensive clothes and less heavy clothes. She hardly could move in them and already now she began to hate her shoes.
A shuttle took her like so many employees to the senate building that was connected directly to the Imperial Palace. Organa once told her the senate was now a part of the palace.
He was right.
Kimea hurried, she didn't want to be late at her first day. Looking around she easily orientated herself with the location. The corridors were very high and leading up to a few floors. All corridors were flanked with senatorial offices. She needed a few minutes to locate the office of the chandrilian senator and stepped in.
In the antechamber in which the secretary normally got his or her desk were waiting three individuals, two men and a middle-aged woman. One of the men had to be the new senator Dorh Sona, but she didn't know which one. The younger or the elder one?
Her father once introduced her to Mon Mothma, maybe she had seen Sona before in Mothmas staff but didn't recognized him by then. But by what Organa had told him Mothma had been Sonas mentor.
"I suppose, Kimea Tachi?" the younger one stepped forward and shook her hand friendly. He might be in his thirties.
"Senator Sona? Congratulations to your announcement."
He answered quietly: "The worst choice the Emperor could do the best for the Alliance after Mons 'retirement'."
"The office isn't a safe place to talk about…"
"We're safe,…all loyal to her."
Sona introduced her to the other individuals: His secretaries Gavin Igfer and Lyna Traren. Both had worked for Mothma and couldn't be linked to the Alliance.
Good for them…
Kimea was warmly welcomed and led around. She would be the only senatorial aid for Chandrila and would assist Sona in meetings and in the senate. She got her own office, a smaller one as the Senators', but right next to the door. In sight of his entrance. A perfect place to prevent possibly trouble.
Senator Sona asked them to join him for lunch so they could talk about all necessities. But now it was time to start playing politics.
His morning was as all mornings before. His mood was dark. He hadn't slept last night and the message from that unknown Jedi didn't help it either. Very early he decided to go for a walk in the park of the palace. There wouldn't be anyone outside, it was hardly 0530, and sleep was just over in some minutes.
Outside it was icy; he could see his own breathing. The cold air was aching in his lungs; he felt it hard to breath. He shivered but kept going slowly through the park. Loving the loneliness and silence in the morning he hadn't have just a few hours left before the sound of the day found its way even in his quiet world. Today's schedule was full of appointments he needed to perceive. The newly announced senator of Chandrila took up his duties. There was a meeting with some highly ranking military personal and some other boring get-togethers.
As always he would sit in his office or his audience chambers trying not to fall asleep in the presence of his guests.
After ending his little walk he stepped inside his palace once again, used the repulsorelevator to his chambers and hoped the day would soon end, even if it had yet just begun.
One of her duties as senatorial aid was to request for an appointment with the Emperor. Of course, Senator Sona and she would be present to him today. In the evening. Officially.
But Sona wanted to meet the Emperor after working into his tasks. He would like to follow Mons advices but not that obvious. Her job was to take the request to Palpatines aid, the Grandwezir Sate Pestage. And it was Pestage and the other advisors and aides who decided which request was worth Palpatines attention. Getting an appointment was split into many so-called very important factors. First able the importance of the matter that should be heard by Palpatines ears, and then the urgency of the matter. So it could be that not all information reached the Emperor himself.
Entering the highest floor with all these very important offices she realized how many senatorial aides were working in the senate, carrying out their duties for the different senators of the thousands of worlds in the galaxy. Waiting for permission to enter an office was normal. Kimea hated to wait. Her impatience was her weakness.
The corridor was decorated with marble, stucco and even golden applications, but it was not that rich decorated to be called overloaded. Next to each office were several benches on which the senatorial aides could sit down while waiting. Kimea searched for Pestage office, and then seated herself on one of the benches. With her there were some other aides waiting and she shyly introduced herself. Making some friends in the ranks of the senatorial aides might be helpful one day,…and it was furthermore practical. She needed new friends to live a typical normal life for the outside.
"Which senator?" asked one of the senatorial aides, the one she sat next to.
"Chandrila. Senator Dorh Sona."
"Oh. They've found a new senator that soon?"
"Show must go on, I guess. Where are you from?"
"Barin IV, Senator Yon Gok'kl."
A good beginning. Kimea started to integrate herself in their talk, tried to make contact.
After a while and some new contacts it was on her to step into the office of Pestage. A dimly lighted room perfectly styled with expensive furniture. In the middle of the room stood a desk made from dark wood. In front of this desk were two perfectly fitting chairs.
"Please take a seat,…"
"Senatorial aid Kimea Tachi, Chandrila."
Pestage, old and sickly white skinned, sitting behind his desk, raised his head. He wore the typical burgundy robes of an imperial dignitary.
"Ah, yes, welcome to Coruscant. Senator Sona is also in his office then, I guess."
"Yes, he is working into his tasks at the moment", she gave the request to him.
Her name 'Tachi' didn't irritate him, although he might know her mother once. But 'Tachi' was a common name on Chandrila as well as on Coruscant and on a few other planets. No one would notice her family connection with some former Jedi. Furthermore she took more after her father than her mother, and being female the likeness to Obi-Wan wouldn't be obvious to anyone. Not even to Vader, who had known and seen her once very often. A secret was a secret and had stayed a secret for a very long time.
"Very well then", he answered, "I'm going to decide about Senator Sonas request as soon as possible. He can expect a message today."
"Thank you, Grandwezir."
Kimea stood up, bowed deep and wanted to leave the room. She didn't feel well in his presence.
"Senatorial aid Tachi?" he called her back.
"Yes?"
"Mothma had asked for you. I hope she hadn't chosen you because of a rebellious mind!"
"No, I was chosen because I know where my place is."
Bowing again she left the room, happily he didn't ask her what she had meant with that. An ambiguity answer, of course. Let Pestage think, what he wants to think. Coruscant was her home world…if there was any place she ever called 'home' it might be the temple. Only second was the house on Tatooine.
Lunch-break took place in a small bistro somewhere in the Great Hall of the Palace. Sona had invited them; he wanted to celebrate his debut. Of course best cover was to let everyone know he would be satisfied with his new job. But he wasn't and everyone of his staff was aware of it. He was just the substitute for Mon Mothma in the senate, but that didn't matter him. Being a spy beyond the enemy lines was dangerous but not less interesting. Of course they all had to be very careful; some individuals would spy on them…in the Emperors' name. Palpatine was old, but he was no fool. A new senator didn't mean a new focus in politics.
