Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I'm still not happy with this chapter but decided to go ahead and post it anyways since it has been a while and it might take me forever to pinpoint what is wrong and fix it. This chapter just seems overly complicated for some reason, but I want to move on with the story.
Interlude IV – Annabeth
Annabeth sighed as she stepped off the ship's entrance ramp and onto the landing platform. Even though she preferred the more diverse architecture of New York City, she had to admit that Coruscant was the more beautiful city at night. They had arrived just as the sun was setting, and the lights of the city came alive. Somehow those lights turned the towering gray monoliths into something more.
Percy also sighed, but she knew he wasn't admiring the view. "Do we really have to do this?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied as she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the ramp even though he was pretending to resist. "And you know why. Even if it wasn't for our special project, you would still be here to petition for Gungan representation in the Senate."
"That doesn't make me like it any better," Percy muttered as he gave up on resisting and walked with her toward the waiting air taxi at the end of the platform.
"Besides, I thought you were warming up to Senator Palpatine at the end of that dinner," Annabeth said. "And now we know he's just a victim in all this." Even with the wind and noisy air traffic, Annabeth still lowered her voice just in case.
Percy snorted, "I don't think that guy is ever truly a victim. He reminds me too much of a shark. And even if he seems more. . ." he scrunched up his eyebrows in that cute way of his as he tried to name what he was feeling, "relatable, I guess, that still doesn't mean I want to spend the next two days with him."
Annabeth had no response to that. Percy had a way of seeing beyond what people wanted him to see. Sometimes even wisdom had to listen to gut instinct. Because of this, she had considered the blackmail from every angle she could think of, but she had predicted it months earlier and the motivation and logic behind it just made sense.
From the Sith's perspective, it was a good move. Palpatine was a skilled politician who had proven that he could convince other senators to back his agenda, a necessary requirement for a successful chancellor, one the current chancellor clearly lacked. The nature of the blackmail also prevented Palpatine from going to the Jedi for help, and if Palpatine hired bounty hunters, they would just as likely turn against him as they would stop the blackmail. However, that did leave her and Percy. Although they weren't in the equation when the Sith Lord would have developed this strategy, they were now. It was likely that Dath Sidious at least suspected that Palpatine had enlisted their help, particularly after that nasty Trojan horse. Therefore, the blackmail could also double as a trap for her and Percy. It was something Kronos would have done, and Sidious clearly was trying to recruit Percy, much to her boyfriend's annoyance. They would have to be careful.
Another option had crossed her mind, if Palpatine was somehow in league with the Sith. But, someone basically blackmailing himself was just ridiculous she had decided. Why go through the elaborate charade? If the Sith wanted Percy or her, either dead or alive, there were far simpler ways to go about doing it than fake blackmail. It just didn't make sense, unless the Sith had always intended to blackmail Palpatine. Plus, she had Obi-Wan check Senator Palpatine with the Force before he left Naboo, and he hadn't sensed any Dark Side or even malicious intent from the senator, not at all like Darth Maul. There really was no reason to distrust the senator anymore except that he reminded Percy of Octavian. All her suspicions about the Trade Federation's attack on Naboo to get Palpatine elected had been confirmed, even the motivation and blackmail. Hopefully after this trip, they would know once and for all if Palpatine was up to something more sinister.
Her thinking was interrupted by their third companion who stumbled down the ramp and would have tumbled right into Percy if her boyfriend hadn't nimbly sidestepped and steadied the Gungan, "Thank yous."
"No problem, Jar Jar," Percy said with a smile. "It keeps me on my toes." R2-D2 followed Jar Jar with an annoyed beeping. Annabeth had learned enough binary over the past few months to understand that Percy wasn't the only one Jar Jar had almost crashed into. Percy was right about one thing: it would be a long two days.
It had taken a month for her to finish a full proof holo-tracking device that did everything she needed it to. Gods, did she miss Leo. He could have probably done it in a week. It had taken another month to organize everything politically to officially petition the chancellor for a Gungan representative in the Naboo delegation which provided Annabeth with a legitimate reason to visit Coruscant and install the tracker herself. With the possibilities of spies in Palpatine's staff, she didn't want to risk sending it because if the Sith suspected anything then he would not send a hologram and her grand plan would be finished.
"Please, Percy, be on your best behavior," Annabeth warned before they got within hearing range of the air taxi pilot. "Senator Palpatine is the favorite for the chancellor position, and his help would be invaluable with our fight against slavery. Helping him with his problem will go a long way, but you need to be nice to him too."
"Fine, I'll 'talk cordially' as he says," Percy grumbled.
The ride to Palpatine's suite in the 500 Republica passed in a blur of architectural marvels. This time, since it was just she, Percy, and Jar Jar, Annabeth embraced her architecture nerd. She gushed over the Senate Rotunda, "It has a diameter of two kilometers! That's over six times larger than any dome back home." Percy's eyes glazed over after the first minute, but he still nodded his head and said, "Cool," whenever she paused for breath. She thought it was sweet that he at least still pretended to listen, even after all these years.
One of Palpatine's aids met them at the dock and showed them to their rooms. It seemed that Annabeth and Percy would be sharing. Neither of them complained. The aid informed them that the senator would meet them for dinner in an hour and then left. As soon as the door closed behind the woman, Annabeth pulled out Daedalus 2.0 in tablet form and scanned for surveillance bugs in their room.
Percy groaned, "Gods, I forgot how red this place is!"
"So that's the real reason you never liked Senator Palpatine," she said with a smirk. "You don't like the color scheme of his interior décor,"
Percy grimaced and extended his hands to encompass the rather large room dramatically pointing at the red carpet, the red walls, and the red ceiling. "I mean this is even worse than the Ares cabin."
"Please, this is decorated far more tastefully. To even think of comparing that barbed wire monstrosity to this. . ."
Percy flashed her that lopsided grin of his that always meant trouble and pointed at a large black statue of a woman in the expressionist style. "I don't know. That statue of a lady melting into the block is pretty disturbing. I think I'd rather the stuffed boar's head. You think we can turn it around? I won't be able to sleep with her looking at me."
That made Annabeth laugh so hard she almost dropped the tablet. "Gods, Percy," she gasped, "what am I going to do with you."
He looked so happy then, like making her laugh was a huge achievement. However, he ruined it a moment later by wiggling his eyebrows and saying, "I can think of a few things."
Annabeth felt her cheeks blush, but she turned back to her tablet to continue the scan, "Seaweed Brain, you have absolutely no tact."
"Tact seems overrated," he retorted with a smirk and headed to the sleeping area where he plopped on the king-sized bed and stretched out with a loud sigh. "A guy could get use to this! It's like lying on cotton candy."
Annabeth checked the readings then placed the tablet on a table. She looked at her boyfriend who appeared so relaxed and peaceful with his eyes closed. She knew he hadn't been getting the best sleep ever since he saw the Sith kill the bounty hunter. Her own dreams had been slowly getting worse as well. Nothing as vivid as Percy's, but she did hear voices, suggestions, ideas. She wasn't sure what to make of them yet. It could just be the result of her opening up to the Force more. "You do know the comforter is red," she teased.
Percy grumbled something, but Annabeth still heard, "worst color," and, "more blue," clearly. When he sat up and opened his eyes though, the teasing light was gone. "Is the room all clean then?"
"Yes," she said as she sank onto the bed next to him. "Except for Palpatine's own surveillance."
"You mean he's spying on us right now?" Percy asked incredulously.
Annabeth nodded, "The cameras target the door and windows for security purposes, I guess, and the mics are probably there to collect useful information on the guests."
"Who spies on their own guests?"
"Politicians," she said with a small smile.
Percy just groaned again and collapsed on the bed.
Like everything else in the suite, Palpatine's dining room was luxurious but elegant, and of course red. Dinner started out rather awkward. While Palpatine's small talk may have helped break the ice among politicians, it was not well received by Percy.
"I hope you found your accommodations to your liking?" Palpatine asked after inquiring about their space flight to Coruscant.
"Well, I would like them a lot more if it wasn't for the complimentary spy cameras and mics," Percy replied, the sarcasm practically oozing from his words.
Annabeth wished she could have shaken Percy right then. That wasn't how you addressed it. In fact, such things were better left unaddressed. They knew about the surveillance, and Palpatine knew that they knew.
"You are as blunt as ever, young man," Palpatine said with an amused smile. At least the senator didn't seem too offended by Percy's rudeness. "However, I have found that the surveillance is necessary for the safety of my guests. I am sure you are aware how dangerous galactic politics can be. Why three years ago, there was an assassination attempt in that very room. In addition to the security benefits, the surveillance also allows my staff and myself to better meet the needs of our guests. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, I will of course deactivate it during your stay."
"Yes, that would be nice," Percy stated.
"Then consider it done. As a host and friend, I only wish for you to be as comfortable as possible," Palpatine promised.
Percy started to say something, no doubt to request that Palpatine change the red color scheme to blue, so Annabeth hastily said, "Thank you very much Senator, we greatly appreciate your hospitality."
"You are very welcome, my dear," Palpatine replied with a conspiratorial smile and a wink. "I am just glad you managed to get here at all. I must admit that I thought you would have trouble obtaining the necessary unanimous vote from the Parliament in order to petition the chancellor, especially since Ras Tapalo is a representative, and his faction makes up 22% of the Parliament body. I know Queen Amidala believed that she would need to change the law from a unanimous vote to a majority in order to add a Gungan representative to the Naboo delegation for the Galactic Senate. That would have taken an additional two months at the very least even with her soaring popularity."
"Tapalo did give us trouble," Annabeth admitted. "But then we offered him something he thought he wanted in exchange for the votes."
"I am intrigued, what would an anti-unificationist want enough to give Gungans representation in the senate?"
Annabeth smiled. It had been one of her and Percy's more brilliant plans, "Plasma. The Gungans agreed that all off-world trading of their plasma would go through the Plasma Consortium which would receive 20% of the plasma as commission."
Palpatine frowned, "That seems rather generous of the Gungans though I suppose even a junior representative in the Galactic Senate is invaluable."
"Yes, it was generous. Tapalo was suspicious, especially since we sprung a fully signed agreement on him which according to Gungan customs meant he only had 26 hours to ratify it. Otherwise, the offer would be retracted since the Gungans would be insulted. Tapalo spent that time making sure the agreement would be binding for the next 10 years. Then, he agreed to the deal. Maybe, it was because he assumed Percy and I are children or that Gungans are not as intelligent, but he never stopped to ask the more important question: why the Gungans were willing to offer the commission and trade advantages to begin with," Annabeth explained.
Palpatine looked expectantly at Annabeth to answer the question, but she nodded at Percy who was grinning. He should be the one to brag since this part had been his idea. "Tapalo didn't realize that unlike the Naboo, the Gungans don't actually want to trade their plasma. They consider it a sacred gift from their gods. Not only do they use it to power their cities, but it literally makes their cities. They also use it in everything from artwork to weapons and even food. Isn't that right Jar Jar?"
"Uh-huh," Jar Jar said as he stabbed his fork at the roasted gorak, an Alderan delicacy. "Wesa use it in Umi-yumi and Nommi and to make Adder moss chips." As Jar Jar listed the foods, he flung his fork around and the meat flew off the utensil. Annabeth barely had time to duck the projectile. "Opsies." In the excitement of the flying meat, Jar Jar dropped his fork on the ground. He bent over to retrieve it, but then hit his head against the table. Both Annabeth and Percy managed to grab their water glasses just in time. Unfortunately, Palpatine did not have demigod reflexes. His red wine spilled all over the table along with Jar Jar's drink.
Palpatine waved off Jar Jar's apologies as he called for an attendant to help with the mess, but Annabeth could read the annoyance in the senator's expression. And Percy being Percy of course had to say, "Well, at least you don't have to worry about staining your red placemat."
After dinner, Palpatine invited them to his office to discuss some issues before the meetings tomorrow. Annabeth pulled out Daedalus 2.0, still in tablet form, and scanned for unfriendly surveillance devices. She found three. One was the same model she found on the Naboo ship all those months ago. Those generated noticeable heat, so they should be relatively easy to find assuming you knew to look for heat and not some sort of communication signal. Whoever placed this one had cleverly hidden it in one of Palpatine's lights by his desk to disguise the bug's heat signature which was probably why it was missed by the senator's surveillance sweeps. Luckily, the Daedalus Surveillance Detection App used several different detection techniques besides heat including sensing a wide range of radio frequencies, infrared, x-ray, hyperwaves (she had to manually add that feature), and an energy she thought might technically be defined as some kind of magic.
The other two bugs, one on the table in the sitting room and one hidden on a statue by the desk, looked like they were a new type, an upgraded version that had fixed the heat design flaw. They would have been difficult for conventional tech to find, but she could use this new model to feed the Sith Lord false information. For that to work though, she needed him to think that she couldn't detect this new design. Unfortunately, she also needed a place to talk to the senator and install the holo-tracker without the Sith knowing which meant that the surveillance device in the brown cat-like statue had to be removed, discreetly. Percy peered over her shoulder at the tablet screen, and she circled the bug she needed him to take out before quickly scrawling on the touch pad, Accident in Greek, and then erasing it. She was grateful that Percy resisted the urge to smirk though she saw it in his eyes. Percy excelled at causing accidents, particularly destructive ones.
"Has my security team found all of the Sith's surveillance devices?" Palpatine asked, looking at her. "I assume you were checking."
Annabeth nodded, "It looks like they did a pretty good job, but like I just showed Percy, they missed this one." She walked over to one of the silver upright lamps near the desk. Percy grabbed the stand and lowered the top, so she could remove the tiny device on the light source. She dropped it on the floor and crushed it beneath her heel.
"Thank you, my dear." Palpatine said with a small smile. Annabeth returned the smile just to prevent herself from grimacing. Chiron was the only one who called her, 'my dear.' From anyone else, it just seemed patronizing. "I hate to think how much the Sith overheard using that device or how much more he might have. I suppose we should go over your schedule now that we do not have any unwanted eavesdropping." He walked over to his desk and sat behind it. Percy grabbed Jar Jar just in time to stop him from poking one of the huge pearls Palpatine had on display and dragged him over to the seat farthest to the right, the chair closest to the statue with the hidden spying device. Percy took the seat in the middle, so Annabeth took the one on his other side and recited their itinerary.
"Well, it seems like you meet with all the necessary people before the official request with adequate time to stroke egos and flatter," Palpatine said. He gave Percy a rather sharp look since her boyfriend was leaning back in his chair to the point that the front legs were off the ground. Percy of course ignored this. This particular posture was a rather bad habit of his whenever he sat in a chair for longer than five minutes. "I think this whole process should go rather smoothly."
Annabeth nodded, "I agree, but if you don't mind, I would like you to take a look at the speeches just to be sure." As she and Palpatine discussed minute word changes she could tell that both Percy and Jar Jar were getting increasingly board and restless. Percy elbowed Jar Jar to get his attention and then lifted his feet off the ground, so that he was only balancing on the back legs of the chair. She hated when he did that. If she wasn't in front of the senator, she would kick the chair out from under him. Then Jar Jar thought it would be a good idea to do it too. The Gungan immediately tipped the chair too far back and flipped over crashing into the brown cat statue with the hidden surveillance device. The statue shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Annabeth stared, shocked. Sometimes Percy really was brilliant. The disaster had proceeded so naturally that if she hadn't been the one to tell him to do it, she would have sworn that the whole thing was an accident brought on by Percy's boredom and Jar Jar's infamous clumsiness. "Oops Whoosie, mesa sorry," Jar Jar said as he stood and looked at the mess.
"I'll help," Percy volunteered. He dove down and quickly started gathering pieces, paying particular attention to where he stepped.
Palpatine finally found his voice before Jar Jar could start helping Percy, "Do not touch it. You have done enough damage to a priceless artifact already." The livid tone made Annabeth glance at the senator. The usually calm and collected politician was furious.
Percy noticed the intensity of the senator's anger as well and pulled Jar Jar away from the statue and the desk. "We are really sorry, Senator," Percy apologized. "Jar Jar and I will go back to his room and practice the speeches for tomorrow. Just send me the new version with the changes." He said that last part to her. As he made eye contact, he gave her a small nod. To most onlookers, it could just be a nod farewell, but Annabeth knew that it meant Percy had crushed the bug somehow when he was cleaning up the statue.
After they left, Palpatine sighed and looked at the ruined statue, seemingly lost in contemplation of the broken fragments. "I know I can't replace it," Annabeth hesitantly started, "but if there's anything I can do, Senator, please. . ."
Palpatine stopped her with a wave of his hand, "What is done is done. Although, this particular piece was a prehistoric carving from a colleague's planet." Annabeth winced. She hated the idea that she had assisted in the destruction of history. Palpatine returned to his seat and seemed to collect himself so that once again he was the calm politician. "The staff will clean it up before tomorrow. Now, where were we?"
"I think we have perfected the speeches, and now, it's safe to move onto other things," she said quietly and pressed a side button on the Daedalus tablet. A thin circular device popped out, her custom made holo-tracker.
"What do you mean?" Palpatine asked
"Well, I couldn't very well put this in with a surveillance camera so close to the desk," Annabeth whispered. She carefully lifted Palpatine's holoprojector that was just to the left of her and attached the tracker to the bottom. She pressed a button to activate her device and returned the holoprojector to its original position.
"The statue –"
"Yes," Annabeth interrupted, "And there's one on the table in the sitting area. Although the auditory range is rather good, I believe we should be okay here as long as we talk quietly. It would probably be good if we had a valid excuse to continue discussing things though. If I was the Sith, I would be extremely suspicious of any mysterious conversations I couldn't hear."
Palpatine nodded his head in understanding and in a perfectly normal voice asked, "Well now that the business has been taken care of, could I interest you in a game of Shah-tezh?"
"I am afraid you will have to teach me the rules, Senator. From my limited knowledge of the game, I think I would enjoy it since it seems similar to a strategy game from my home world." Annabeth knew that there were several chess-like games in this galaxy, even chess itself, and that Shah-tezh was the oldest. She had played Dejarik once, and although she had won easily, she was not a fan. That game felt too much like a ring match compared to the more elegant strategy required for chess.
"Of course, my dear." Palpatine pressed a button on his chair, and a portion in the middle of the desk slid apart as a square board rose to fill the empty space. It looked like a beautifully crafted chess board with its checkered black and white squares made of polished stone, but this board had nine squares per a side instead of eight. Once the board had stopped moving, nine pieces rose from the board on both sides, white figures in front of her and black in front of Palpatine.
Palpatine patiently explained the rules of the game and the uses of the nine unique pieces as well as some rather interesting history. There were definitely a few similarities with chess: the Imperator was like the king, the Vizer moved exactly like a bishop and even resembled the shape because of the hat, and the Knight, like its chess counterpart, could jump over pieces but only moved two spaces in a direction instead of the characteristic L-shape. However, the other pieces particularly the Craft, the Beast, and the Outcast were completely foreign to her. The lack of pawns would make defense tricky, and the larger board would also affect the game.
"Do you understand?" Palpatine asked once he had explained everything.
"Yes," Annabeth replied. "Who starts?"
Palpatine smiled, "White always moves first."
Silence filled the room during their first few turns. Since this was her first time playing, Annabeth opted for a more defensive strategy to get a feel for the game and probe Palpatine's responses. Despite her cautious tactics, she was still the first to capture a piece. "Good," Palpatine said. "I believe you will become quite the Shah-tezh prodigy." After that the conversation flowed once again though she had a feeling Palpatine was trying to use it to distract her.
"I am rather surprised that a visit to the Jedi Temple was not on your itinerary," Palpatine stated after he had pinned her Counselor in a particularly clever trap. "Frankly, as Force-users from another galaxy, I'm surprised you are not more involved with the Jedi."
Annabeth frowned in concentration trying to find a way to either save her piece or at least make Palpatine pay for taking it. "I think Qui-Gon was hoping that we could work together and sort of compare notes to gain a better understanding of the nature of the Force, but the Council disagreed. Not to mention, we aren't exactly on the best terms with the Jedi Council at the moment, so we decided that it would be best to avoid the Jedi Temple unless there was some emergency."
"I know dealing with the Council can be frustrating at times," Palpatine admitted, "but surely, you would at least want to visit with Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker while you are on Coruscant. I know the boy would be disappointed that he missed you. He seems rather fond of you both."
Annabeth glanced up from the board. "That's the problem, Senator, we are not allowed to visit Anakin. In our last meeting with the Council, we might have . . . pressured them to take Anakin back as a Jedi-in-training. In return, both Percy and I swore a binding oath in the Force that we would never try to contact him again."
Palpatine blinked in surprise, "That seems like a rather unfair and demanding oath."
"They were afraid that we were a bad influence on him. Plus, the whole no attachment rule as you very well know." She returned her focus to the board and smiled as she found a solution to her problem by setting up her Knight to capture his Vizier. "It was a hard decision. I think both Percy and I saw a little of ourselves in Ani, but we knew he wanted to be a Jedi. So, we did what we could to help his dream become a reality, even if it means we won't see him again."
"That is a pity," Palpatine said as he studied the board.
Annabeth decided now was as good of a time as any to tell Palpatine her plan. If he was trying to distract her with conversation, it was only fair to do the same. "Senator Palpatine, I need you to drop out of the election." Her statement generated the shock she had expected. The senator looked up from the board in confusion.
"Why?"
"I need you to at least act like you will. Make arrangements for a well-publicized speech for the day after tomorrow. Drop hints to your staff, particularly around the sitting area. In order to locate the blackmail, we need the Sith to contact you as soon as possible. He hasn't done that since the original blackmail threat, and we are running out of time. We have to manufacture a situation that would force him to do so. I believe the chance of his puppet chancellor dropping out of the election will succeed in doing that. Afterwards, you can say whatever you want in the speech, pretend that the Sith convinced you to continue with the election."
"I see," Palpatine said, and he moved the one piece she had hoped that he wouldn't. He studied her, "It does seem like a good strategy, and even if it does not work, it will not hurt my campaign." He smiled, "And it does explain why you destroyed my statue."
"So, you will do it?"
Palpatine nodded, "Yes."
Annabeth let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. At least she could consider this part a victory, even if she knew she had lost the Shah-tzeh game. She swallowed her pride and casually flicked her Imperator over. "You've already won, in five more moves, nine if I decided to be annoying."
"A lot can happen in nine moves. I may make a mistake," Palpatine suggested.
"You wouldn't make a mistake," Annabeth said with certainty, "not for the duration of the rest of the game since you barely even blinked when I used my best tactic to distract you. I also see a backup plan that you set up during your third move. Even if I did stop your first endgame, I would leave myself wide open for the second one."
"If you saw these formations why did you not disrupt them sooner?" Palpatine asked. "You played a rather defensive game."
"I was curious how some of your moves, those I couldn't quite determine the motivation for, would play out in your strategy. The patterns in this game are different than the one I'm used to. Although I could recognize a few of the long-term sequences, by the time I realized the whole picture, it was too late to do anything," she admitted. "Plus this time, I needed to get a feel for the game, see how things reacted if I prodded. Sometimes when you are on an unknown playing field or know you have a disadvantage, it is wisest not to play to win, but rather to play to learn."
"I am impressed, Annabeth," Palpatine said with a smile that seemed almost fatherly. "That is a very wise and mature perspective." He sighed then and looked out at the city. "Unfortunately, you do not always have the opportunity to play to learn."
Gods, did she know that to be true. "In those situations, you are no longer playing, Senator. You are surviving." She could still taste the hot, sulfurous air of Tartarus. That hadn't been a game, at least not for her and Percy. There, she had done whatever she could just so she and Percy would survive, even manipulating Bob and Damasen. She tried to tell herself that she hadn't known then, when she had used every persuasive tactic she could think of to convince the Titan and Giant to help them, that it would cost the two their lives. She wanted to believe that it had been their choice to sacrifice themselves and stand-up to Tartarus, to choose another destiny. But, she also knew they would still be alive if it wasn't for her.
She sensed Palpatine's piercing gaze and hated that she had somehow admitted her vulnerability to this sharp-eyed politician just with her words, expression, and silence. "I am sorry," the senator said in a soft, sincere tone, "that you know the burden of survival at such a young age."
She met his eyes and managed a weak smile, "You don't get as good as Percy and me if you had an easy life."
"I suppose not." A silence hung between them as Annabeth forced her focus away from those painful memories. "Could I interest you in another game?" Palpatine asked, kindly. "Even if you were playing to learn, I must admit you were the best opponent I have had in a long while."
"It does sound tempting, Senator." Annabeth had enjoyed herself immensely even if she had lost and couldn't wait for another round. Palpatine was certainly a master of the game. "However, I am afraid I shouldn't leave Percy and Jar Jar to their own devices for much longer. Those two are probably the biggest trouble magnets in the galaxy."
Palpatine winced, "I suppose you are right. I would hate to see what damage those two could cause if left alone for too long."
As she passed the sitting area on the way out, inspiration struck. She turned back to Palpatine and said, "I am sorry that Percy and I couldn't do more to help, and I hope you consider my suggestion to withdraw. It is the safest way to call his bluff." After playing a game of Shah-tezh with him, she was confident that Palpatine would recognize this move for what it was and play along.
"I will consider it," Palpatine said solemnly. "As much as I will regret losing the opportunity to serve as chancellor, it is a better alternative than risking the Republic falling into the hands of this Sith."
She suppressed a smile as she left the office. Palpatine was good at this.
After checking to make sure that both Percy and Jar Jar could successfully deliver their speeches, she and Percy returned to their room. Annabeth immediately noticed the changes to their accommodations. The statue that Percy had criticized was gone, and the red comforter had been replaced with a blue one. Percy frowned, "I know I should be glad, but I still don't like it. It's just creepy now, like too personal and invasive."
Percy might not have been considered book-smart, but he was rather attuned to power-plays which was exactly what Palpatine had done. It sent two messages. One, the benefit of the spying devices for determining guests' preferences, and two, a subtle reminder that this was Palpatine's domain. In these rooms, he had complete control and could even make a large statue disappear on a whim. "Are those spying devices actually off now?" he asked.
Annabeth did a quick check with Daedalus, but she had known the answer even before she pulled out the tablet. "Yes, they are all gone." Not off, he had them removed.
"Good," Percy said and gave her a passionate kiss that took her breath away.
It will be Annabeth's point of view for the remainder of the blackmail arc, so probably the next chapter or two at the most. I'm having more trouble then I thought I would with this part. I might literally write two different versions because I can't make up my mind about something, so thanks for your patience.