"Thank you Sabe," Senator Padme Amidala said in a crisp professional voice, "That will be all."
Sabe hesitated, clearly fumbling over her thoughts trying to find something to say, something to make Padme feel better before she thought better of it. There was nothing she could possibly say to make this night any easier, she bowed her head slightly, mumbling, "Yes, my lady." before heading home for the night.
One year ago, today, Padme Amidala had refused Dooku's trade, one year ago today, she'd lost Anakin possibly forever. Even if he was still alive, and she prayed every day that he was, would he ever be able to look at her again? Could she blame him if he didn't?
She'd made the decision to refuse the trade to try and end the war, to bring peace to the galaxy and end the suffering of trillions. It had gnawed at her heart and eaten away at her soul, and when she made the choice, she knew she may be giving up more than just Anakin but her own chance at ever achieving real happiness. That she would be living with guilt and pain forever. But she'd made the choice regardless, because she really had believed it could have ended the war.
At first it had looked like she was right. Following Grievious's execution the Senate had passed her motion to begin peace talks again in earnest and she'd personally made another trip to Raxus prime to try and restart negotiations with the Separatist Senate.
That had been the beginning of the end of her dream of peace, she reflected. The Separatists had pointedly refused to engage in any talks whatsoever and condemned the Republic for what they called the 'unjust murder' of General Grievous. Further they launched a series of attacks on Republic controlled space while the Republic had committed to a ceasefire. The war had resumed almost immediately.
Still Padme held out hope of a quicker end to the war, without Grievous to lead them the Separatists lost one of their main generals and symbols holding the whole thing together. Again it looked like things in the wider galaxy might turn out even marginally better, several key worlds defected to the Republic, shipyards and droid production facilities included, and the Republics new campaign into Seperatist space spearheaded by the Jedi had made incredible progress winning battle after battle, planet after planet.
That had all changed at the battle of Raxus Prime though, where the Republic made a thrust to the heart of Separatist space to end the war once and for all. Nearly 200 Republic dreadnoughts and many more battle cruisers had been in the fleet, and they'd all been destroyed in an overwhelming Separatist victory.
It had been the first major separatist victory of the year but not the last, not by a long shot. The Separatists had recruited a new Admiral to lead the war effort, one whose tactics and skill had devastated Republic forces time and again, eventually retaking all of the planets the Separatists had lost since Grievious's capture and beginning to attack Republic worlds. He was a blue skinned humanoid Alien with blue black hair and glowing red eyes. He went by the name of Thrawn.
Despite appearing out of nowhere roughly 3 months after Grievious's capture with no record of his existence in the known galaxy before that, he'd already somehow achieved the rank of Admiral in the Confederacy, and it had been he who was charged with the defense of Raxus and he who had decimated the Republic forces so completely.
He was also incidentally why Padme had called on Sabe and had her return to Coruscant. Since leaving Padme's service almost 7 years ago, shortly after Padme had become Senator, Sabe had gone on to lead an organization in the outer rim that was dedicated to freeing slaves, helping them escape and intercepting them in transit before they were sold.
It had been an organization they'd founded together and were both still very much a part of, Padme provided fundraising, negotiated with planetary governments for resettling and recruiting volunteers and employees and expanding their efforts amongst the core worlds.
Sabe though, dealt with much of the ground work, the actual resettlement of slaves, the inroads they'd made with organizations that already did this kind of work made up of escaped slaves and of course the fringe types, people smugglers and other groups who were a necessary if distasteful part of the whole enterprise.
It brought her into contact with a lot of outer rim peoples and worlds and gave her a knowledge of the galaxies underbelly that was invaluable. It also made her the perfect person to turn to when Padme needed to try and identify a species for which no records existed in the Senate archives or anywhere Padme turned.
Unfortunately, Sabe had never heard of a species like this either, the Blue-skin and blue black hair weren't uncommon on their own, they showed up on dozens of species, the same went for the red eyes, though none of those species eyes glittered in quite the same fashion this Thrawn's eyes were said to, but put together no species in the galaxy matched what Padme was looking for.
The datapad Sabe gave her only confirmed it, and as Padme looked at each alien species who matched any of the characteristics it wasn't hard to rule them out one by one. Sighing she tossed aside the datapad and poured herself a glass of wine, her fifth of the night.
She walked out onto her balcony and stared up at the stars feeling the tears start to form in her eyes. It was almost midnight and up until now Padme had been able to keep herself busy drowning in work, she'd scheduled non-stop Senate meetings with other members of her committee, she'd negotiated with a Sluisi delegation regarding increasing direct purchases of Naboo's plasma which would increase the portion of the profit that went to Naboo compared to the intermediaries and middle men, and then she had continued her search for Thrawn's species in attempt to ascertain his origins and motives and hopefully open a dialogue with them, or failing that find a weakness for the Republic to exploit. But now the day was over, the distractions behind her, and her mind was drawn back to her lost husband.
His smile, his laugh, his constant joking and bantering, his wild cursing in huttese and his big blue eyes. She found herself cherishing every memory she had with him, even arguments and fights. Fresh tears came to her eyes and trickled down her cheeks as she remembered the way he looked at her, like he still saw her as the Angel he'd thought he met back on Tatooine, like she could do no wrong.
It had embarrassed her sometimes and even scared her the way he had such absolute faith in her, such a belief that she was infallible. But it also emboldened and flattered her, it was a wonderful feeling to have someone who loved and admired you that much, beyond her roles in government or her political stances or anything else in particular about her. Just by being herself Anakin loved and praised her.
Anakin wasn't in love with her because she was a Senator or a Queen, he just loved her as a person, and he loved with a raging passionate fire that it was impossible not to be swept up in.
At least he used to love her like that, it was impossible for her to truly believe their relationship would ever move forward, would ever recover from her choice, she knew. She felt her tears falling more freely now, becoming sobs and she just let them fall, overwhelmed for a few minutes by the despair she tried so hard to fight.
Abruptly she felt a pair of comforting hands on her shoulder and a soft soothing voice in her ear, "It's going to be okay."
She whirled around her heart in her throat, "Anakin?" she gasped out, hoping against hope, against reason and logic that it would be him. Of course, it wasn't, he was still lost Force knows where, but it was the next best thing, her best friend and loyal companion, Sabe.
She couldn't help but give a weak laugh that came out more as a sob, "I told you to go home for the night."
Sabe smiled sadly at her former Queen and wiped away some tears from her Queen's eyes, "I couldn't sleep when I knew you were hurting, My Lady."
Padme relaxed into her embrace and shook her head. "I deserve the pain Sabe, you know what I did."
Sabe turned Padme around by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "You did what you had to do. You did what was best for the Republic, for the good of everybody."
Padme gave a short bark of laughter, "And look how that turned out, tell me the truth Sabe, has anything improved? Is the Republic any better off?"
Sabe hesitated, not wanting to lie to her friend, but trying to find a way to make her feel better all the same. "Grevious was a monster Milady, you know that."
"And they replaced him with another monster, Sabe. This one even more dangerous. And no doubt if we manage to get rid of him, they'll find someone else." Padme said sounding more defeated than Sabe had ever heard her.
"Then we can try something else, maybe another attempt at peace talks. Or a temporary truce and armistice. There has to be something we can do." Sabe said trying desperately to cheer her friend up, to reignite that spark, that passion that made Padme Amidala such a force to be reckoned with, made her someone Sabe would happily die for.
Padme shook her head despondently, "It wouldn't matter even if we did." She walked out further along the balcony and stared out with her hands on the railing, seemingly transfixed by the stars. "I've tried everything I can think of none of it has made any difference in the end. The war just keeps chugging along, millions of people dying every day. "
She looked back at her former handmaiden who looked to be on the verge of tears, and took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. She had to be strong, if not for herself, then for the people counting on her. "Go home Sabe, we'll get back at it tomorrow."
Sabe walked towards the door, and paused at the threshold, turning back to look at the woman she admired more than any in the entire galaxy, the woman she devoted her life to. It hurt her in her very soul to see her like this, defeated and alone. She had to make her see that, to make her see that she had made a world of difference, both to Sabe and in the lives of the billions, no trillions of people she'd devoted her life to serving.
She walked back to the balcony and flashed her mistress a small smile, as if to say, 'I'm not going anywhere.', while she gathered up her words. "Do you remember the first time we came here, to 500 Republica? Back when the trade federation invaded Naboo and we barely got out alive."
Padme looked back at her and gave a small nod before Sabe continued. "I was doubling for you in that first meeting with Senator Palpatine, if you remember back, and it took everything I had just to hold it together. I was terrified, I didn't know what to do, and he made it sound like the Senate wouldn't help us. I just couldn't see a way out."
She swallowed past a lump in her throat and continued in a stronger voice. "But you did Padme! When our backs were against the wall and the Senate wouldn't help us, you didn't accept defeat, you found a way. You overthrew a supreme chancellor for Force's sake, at 14! And then you went back and crushed the Trade Federation and freed our people. You've done things no one else could have done, and I know in my heart you can do it again."
Padme smiled at her a real genuine smile, remembering happier times. Not that the blockade and the mad dash to Coruscant were necessarily happy, but there were happy moments she could take away from them, when her friends rose to the occasion and her people showed their strength and overcame the challenges that faced them.
Sabe grinned at her and gave a small thump on the shoulder. "So, when you wake up tomorrow go out there and show the Separatists, you're not someone to be trifled with."
And just like that Padme's good mood faded away, replaced with doubts and uncertainty. Sabe noticed almost immediately, "What is it?" she asked.
"I'm not really sure the Seperatists are the really enemy anymore." Padme said turning away.
Sabe looked at her with stunned disbelief. "What do you mean the Seperatists might not be the enemy? If they're not, then who is?"
Padme glanced back at her before looking away again and took a deep breath before replying, trying to put her thoughts into words. She hadn't shared her suspicions with anyone else before, hadn't even completely thought them through to herself, she didn't know how to explain them.
"I'm not a soldier," She began, not knowing how else to start, "and galactic wars haven't occurred in a thousand years in any case, but even so, something feels off. The war feels too neat, somehow, too clean. We get rid of General Grievous and the Separatists still refuse to come to the negotiating table, even when they start losing battle after battle. Then someone else no one ever heard of immediately takes his place, like a backup player on a sports team."
She glanced over at her friend and saw the doubts clear on her face and rushed to continue, "It's not just Grievous either, that's just one example. Take the war itself, Clones vs Droids. Two artificial armies created to fight each other. Every other Galactic war has had widespread enlistment and forced conscription, but not this one. We have all the devastation and death of galactic war, but none of the sacrifice. At least not here in the core."
"And look at the Clones themselves" She said, getting on a roll now. " Jango Fett was one of the most notorious Jedi killers of our time, and a Mandalorian to boot, a sworn enemy of the Jedi, why would Master Sifo-Dyas choose him as the template? Why did Jango agree? And where did Sifo-Dyas get the credits to fund it?"
"I thought the mystery of who funded the Clones was solved? Wasn't it funds from Eriadu and Umbara and maybe Malastare too?" Sabe interjected.
Padme paused to consider her answer. Sabe was right, at least officially. As soon as the clone wars had begun the Senate had formed a committee to look into the clones, to determine how they were grown, who paid for them and why they had shown up so conveniently.
Padme had several friends and supporters on that committee who'd kept her appraised of the investigation up until it's conclusion and Sabe was correct, they'd found evidence that the funding came from the planetary governments of a handful of core and expansion region worlds, Eriadu, Umbara and Malastare included.
Padme had never fully bought into that story though, she remembered the long fight against the military creation act, and the discussions she'd had with Senators from those worlds. She'd never gotten the impression that they had already funded an army in secret or anything of the sort. Of course, once the war had started and the clones became the Grand Army of the Republic, those senators had been all too happy to take credit and boost their standing in the Senate with stories of incredible foresight and patriotism.
But it had always gnawed on her why they had participated in long negotiations and gave speeches about the logistics of training an army of enlisted soldiers and building a military up from almost nothing, when they should have known they had already done all that years ago. The Senators claimed that they'd been merely misdirecting the Separatists and concealing the true strength of the Republic but it always felt like more than that to Padme, like they hadn't known about the clones at all and simply found themselves in a position to take credit once they were known to exist.
She'd never had any proof of her suspicions of course, until very recently, and she wasn't sure how much she wanted to say. She considered it briefly before deciding to go all the way. She'd already come this far, and she had to talk to someone about it, at the very least to make sure she wasn't going crazy and seeing shadows where there were none. Besides Sabe was perhaps the person she trusted most in the galaxy.
"Do you remember when I took that mission with Senator Clovis to Muunilist?" she asked hesitantly. Sabe nodded slightly and she continued. "You gave me a long list of reasons why I shouldn't take it, and how it would only increase my pain and guilt."
Sabe remembered all right, it had been one of the few times she'd recommended Padme not follow her head, and not do what she thought was right. It wasn't that she thought the mission was unimportant, but rather she knew what kind of a low life Rush Clovis was and how he felt about Padme and didn't want the Senator to have to face that kind of thing while she was still hurting. She didn't say all of that though, she just said, "I remember."
Padme smiled slightly, clearly aware of what Sabe was thinking. "You were right as a friend, but there was another reason I had to take the mission. While Clovis and I were reviewing the banks files and getting rid of the Muuns who used to be in charge I was able to get a top-level slicer remote access to the banking clans computer terminals."
Sabe's mouth dropped open in shock. "Tell me your joking. My lady, it was far too dangerous. It's a serious crime"
Padme shook her head, "It was important Sabe, I had to."
Sabe glared at her, "You should have had me do it for you Senator. You're far too important to risk in something like that."
Padme laughed clearly amused. "Your loyalty is touching Sabe, truly it means everything to me; but there are some things I have to do for myself. Clovis would've seen right through a deception."
Sabe ground her teeth but didn't push the point. "So, what did you find?"
Padme seemed to sober up and returned to gazing out the balcony. "It was exactly as I thought. The money didn't come from Planetary governments or any government that I could see. It was routed through holding companies and shell companies and a maze of financial firms that my accountants could barely make heads or tails of. All I know for sure was that it wasn't funded by any of the people who said they funded it, they laid a false data trail later, with help from inside the banks."
Involuntarily Sabe shivered slightly, the intrigues seemed to be building towards something and Sabe was sure she wasn't going to like what her mistress suggested next. "What are you thinking?"
Padme eyes found Sabes and she shrugged slowly. "I don't really know what to think exactly. I just know things aren't as they seem. Two separate peace proposals that went nowhere. Armies and commanders appearing as if out of thin air, and some clandestine financial group funding everything, hidden in the shadows."
Sabe nodded slowly, beginning to finally see what was bothering Padme so much these last few months. "I think your right, but we have to dig deeper. What's your next move?"
Padme looked at her in surprise, "Next move? I haven't really thought of one. I can't show this to the senate, not unless I want to be locked up for illegal slicing amongst other crimes, and the trail seems to have gone cold trying to find who provided the money."
"Not necessarily," Sabe said, "I have some contacts in the outer rim who can look at that data trail, they might be able to find something accountants here on Coruscant might miss. I'll get this to them first thing tomorrow, with your permission of course."
Padme nodded slowly, "I'd appreciate that. And as for Thrawn," She shrugged again, "There is not much we can do. We've established he isn't from any part of the Republic or the Outer rim, which pretty much leaves the Unknown Regions and entirely new Galaxy. Not a lot of data we can find in either case."
Sabe thought about it for a second before an old memory flashed into her mind, "Didn't the Senate approve a mission to explore the Unknown Regions a few years back before the war? Outer Flight? Or something like that, they might know something."
Padme looked startled but only for a second before she shook her head grimly. "Your right, The Outbound Flight Project, unfortunately we lost contact with the ship shortly after it appeared in the Unknown Regions, the entire crew is considered missing presumed dead."
Sabe paused briefly before speaking, "They might've sent out scouting expeditions beforehand though, teams to explore that part of space. Are there any records of those?"
Padme frowned considering, "No records I could find, I don't remember hearing about any scouting activities?" She moved back inside following her friend as she walked over to a data terminal. "What are you doing?"
Sabe spent a few seconds plugging in file requests before silently asking Padme for the clearance codes. Padme provided them and then an error message appeared. She spoke as she typed. "You wouldn't have heard anything about it, when we send security to scout out diplomatic meetings and other things, we usually file the support with the Naboo security Chiefs not your office personally, it's possible they did as well. There it is." She gestured to the file with the error message and Padme grabbed the data pad with her left hand and looked it over.
"It says the files were sealed by Supreme Chancellor Valorum almost immediately after they were acquired." She said, studying them briefly. "I suppose I'll have to meet with him in person and see what we can learn."
Sabe smiled at her friend slyly, "I'm not sure he'll be very happy to meet you after the way you two parted ways." She said, remembering back to Padme's vote of no confidence.
Padme gave her a small smile in return, "Maybe, maybe not. Only one way to find out. Contact his office and schedule a meeting and see what you can find on the financial data." She glanced at her chrono and turned a stern eye towards Sabe, "Tomorrow. And Sabe, thank you for everything tonight, I don't know what I would do without you."
Sabe smiled at her mistress, glad that she could take her mind off Anakin for at least a little while longer. "You'll never have to find out, my lady. And trust me, something will come of this, you'll see."
Padme gave her a small smile as she left and returned out to the balcony to stare back out at the stars. The grief and pain that were ever present came back to her, but so did a renewed sense of resolve. Telling her friend her suspicions had taken a load off her chest, and helped her plan a course of action forward, it had also was nice to lay it all out and realize that she was onto something.
Sabe was right, she couldn't give up. She may never see Anakin again, may have lost him forever, but she could make his loss worth it. If not for her, than for the trillions of people in the galaxy she'd sworn to serve.
She'd find a way to end this war and find who was really responsible. One way or another she was going to succeed. For Anakin.
Almost a week later former Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's sleek transport glided onto the landing ramp outside Padme's apartment. To her mild surprise he'd agreed to meet with her without any cajoling whatsoever and had made time in his schedule to do so promptly.
She greeted him at the landing ramp and exchanged a few pleasantries before inviting him inside and opened up a glass of Sullust brandy, an old favorite of Valorums or so she had heard.
As they settled into a comfortable silence, Padme decided it was time to broach the reason she approached Valorum in the first place. "As my office said when they contacted you we've been looking into some old files that your administration had sealed. Here's a list of them." She passed a data pad over which contained a list of scouting operations into the Unknown regions undertaken by Valorum's administration in preparation for the Outbound flight Project.
He perused it thoughtfully before replying. "Ahh, I'm afraid you're on something of a wild bantha chase, my lady. The files don't really exist."
Padme looked at him mildly confused, "They don't exist, what does that mean."
Valorum sighed and set down his glass massaging his temples slightly. "It's quite simple really, there were no ships sent out to scout prior to Outbound flight being launched, the files were created as a stalling tactic."
Padme still didn't understand, "A stalling tactic? What for?"
"Jedi Master Jorus Cbaoth, of course." Valorum said, rather pointedly. "He was a prominent Jedi from before your time who was very politically connected and strong in the force. Outbound flight was his passion, and he was determined to see it through."
Valorum paused briefly, taking another sip of his brandy before continuing. "I never really shared his enthusiasm, neither did the Jedi Council at the time, it seemed a foolish endeavor to send so many Jedi outside the galaxy proper while our own backyard was far from in order. We didn't want to alienate Cbaoth though with an outright refusal, so we simply made it look like Outbound Flight was moving forward. We were learning more about the regions first, making contact with locals, discovering workable hyperspace routes, you know the usual." He said with a vague hand wave, "In reality though, no missions were ever launched. We had some reports of a dustup between the locals of the region, some military conflicts and didn't want to risk sending any ships."
Padme considered the information in silence. It was disappointing to say the least, though not necessarily surprising. She had actually been surprised when Sabe had mentioned that scouting missions had taken place, after all wasn't scouting one of the primary functions of Outbound flight itself? And if Outbound Flight had been destroyed with 6 fully armed dreadnoughts and 7 Jedi Masters than how did small scout vessels survive.
A small chime interrupted her reverie as her holo transmitter beeped, she smiled apologetically at Valorum, but he waved his hand indicating it was alright for her to take it. She clicked on the com and Sabe's face appeared. "Hello Sabe, did you find something?" She asked, straight to the point.
Padme could tell from the expression on her face that she hadn't, her words merely confirmed that fact. "Unfortunately, not, My lady. We were able to trace the funds as far back as a holding company called 'Bane Holdings' but were unable to trace it further. We couldn't find any operators or employees of Bane holdings or owners listed either. "
Padme nodded dejectedly, one dead end after another. Her accountants on Coruscant had also taken it that far. Between that and Valorum's revelation, her revelations from the other night had proven remarkably fruitless. Whoever was behind this covered their tracks incredibly well. "I appreciate the work, nonetheless, Thank you Sabe."
She keyed off the com and turned back to Valorum. "Thank you for your time Chancellor, I'm sorry for bothering you about this, if I had known… " She trailed off as she noticed the expression on Valorums face, His eyes were fixed on her with almost frightening intensity, his expression hard and unreadable. "Chancellor?" She said uncertainly.
He shifted his gaze to look her in the eyes though maintained that same hard stare for several seconds before speaking. "What is your business with Bane Holdings?" He said suddenly.
"My business? What do you mean?" Padme asked uncertainly. Abruptly it occurred to Padme that it may have been a very bad idea to take that holocall with Sabe in front of Valorum. She knew they were looking into a potentially dangerous mystery, but it hadn't occurred to her that someone like Valorum could be involved.
He'd after all been retired for almost 15 years after leaving office in disgrace, well before any of what they were looking into had come to pass. Now though she had to tread very carefully, though considering the dead ends they had run into so far, this may be the best lead they had. She would have to play this very carefully indeed.
"Exactly what I said," He growled out harshly. "What business do you have with Bane holdings?"
Padme shrugged noncommittally. "My business concerns are my own Chancellor, I'm afraid that's all I will say on that subject until I know why you're so interested in them."
Valorum held her gaze for almost a full minute before his expression dropped and the anger seemed to melt away. He looked away and what looked like grief took its place. "They ruined me." He whispered with more than a hint of despair. "They destroyed my career, my reputation, dragged the Valorum name into the dirt, made a mockery of my family legacy and I was powerless to stop them."
Padme looked at him in astonishment, "They ruined you? Who? How?" It was a strange accusation to hear from Valorum, doubly so that he would say it in her presence. As far as she knew, she'd been the one to ruin Valorum by calling for the vote of no confidence which had removed him from office. It had been one of the reasons she had been surprised he'd come at her invitation given her own role in his downfall. To hear that he blamed someone else entirely was surprising to say the least.
He finished off his glass of brandy and poured himself another drink without even looking at her before speaking again. "You probably didn't know this at the time, you were far too young and had concerns of your own, but shortly before you called for the Vote of No Confidence, I faced accusations of corruption, embezzlement and accepting bribes."
Padme actually did know that. She'd been rather shocked at the time that she had unseated a sitting supreme chancellor as a 14-year-old queen and yet couldn't rally any support towards her planet's plight in the Senate. When she'd dug a little deeper, she realized she'd only been the straw that broke the camel's back, not the actual cause of his ouster. Regardless, she said nothing and allowed him to continue, the first vestiges of excitement trickling down her spine, something was coming, something important. What was that old saying, 'when the force closes a blast door it opens a viewport?'
Valorum continued in his same morose tone, "All of the accusations were false, of course but they appeared very convincing on the surface. You see a company dumped tens of millions of credits into Valorum Shipping, paying for services never rendered, paying for ships never built. I'll spare you the details but in essence they dumped millions of credits towards making it appear that bribery and corruption had occurred. Everyone ate it up of course, and I barely avoided facing criminal charges and in the end the Valorum name that was once had a proud legacy of service and dignity was dragged through the dirt and my legacy tarnished, my powers as chancellor stripped away first and then I was forced out of office in disgrace." He finished staring at her with the expression of an aged and broken man. It was clear he didn't expect her to believe him, and Padme had to admit if it wasn't for the circumstances of their meeting she never would have.
The story was just too far-fetched. Why would anyone commit dozens of crimes and spend millions of credits just to make a political opponent look bad? Anyone exposing themselves to that kind of risk had to get something more tangible in return. Unseating a supreme chancellor didn't guarantee that favorable legislation was passed, or a chancellor of your choosing was elected. But in this case… "Bane Holdings did that?" She asked warily.
Valorum nodded, staring at her with a slightly more guarded and earnest expression, hopeful but doubtful as well. "Not directly, of course. Through layers of shell companies and corrupt financiers but the trail ran dry with them, they were where most of the money was first amalgamated and disbursed. Hence my question, what business do you have with them?"
Padme paused to consider her answer. She could brush him off and deflect the question. He would be unhappy of course, but it was certainly the safest option, she hardly knew Valorum and he had no reason to be friendly with her given their history. Admitting to what she knew would also be admitting to the crime she committed to get the information, something he could definitely use against her.
On the other hand, he was a much more highly placed politician way back when these machinations had begun decades ago, he might be able to help, and he was the one who brought her this new lead. In the end she decided he had a right to know, even if they had a bit of a troubled past, he deserved the right to know what the organization that had ruined him and his families good name had also been a part of.
She took a sip of brandy and nearly winced at how strong it was before settling back to tell him what she'd learned. "I don't know how much you keep in touch with politics these days Chancellor, but by chance have you been following the Senate Inquiry into the origins of the Clone army?"
Valorum nodded, his eyes slightly suspicious, before she continued. "To cut right to the heart of it, their conclusions were wrong. I managed to get a slicer unfettered access to banking clan computer terminals on Muunilist. He found that what the Senate traced was actually a false trail left with the help from someone inside the Banks themselves. The actual money was routed through many different intermediaries and financial groups but dead ends at Bane Holdings."
His reaction was everything she hoped for. The same fire he'd been directing at her earlier came roaring back, mixed with an expression of stunned disbelief. "Are you certain of this?" he managed to gasp out.
She nodded gravely. "I've had teams of accountants double and triple check their work, and I trust the slicer, I can provide you with copies of the data trail if you'd like. Some Clandestine group deliberately funded the Clones decades ago, and they were not some patriotic planetary governments." She said with scorn.
He leaned back into the couch, clearly still stunned by what he'd heard. "I long suspected that there had to be something more behind these people, but this." He breathed out slowly before looking at her with a more severe expression. "Senator, I want to thank you for bringing me in on this, I've been chasing information about this group for almost a decade now."
Padme accepted his thanks with effortless curtesy and humility. "Think nothing of it Chancellor, I feel as if the Force brought us together on this. Perhaps united we can find something where we failed individually. Do you have any ideas about how we can move forward?"
Valorum nodded gratefully and set down his glass. "Do you mind if I pace?" He asked almost suddenly, "I haven't dealt with this kind of political intrigue in a very long time, and it always helped me think."
Padme shook her head with a smile, "Not at all, I'll be on the balcony, I usually do my best thinking out there."
She poured herself a glass of water, forgoing the harsh taste of the sullustan brandy, and walked out to take in the Coruscanti sun set. Even after all these years it was still breathtaking, and with it's beautiful backdrop she began to think.
Sometime later, before the Sun had completely dipped below the horizon she saw Valorum walking out towards her a serious but slightly pleased expression on his face and a data pad in his hand. Padme hoped that meant he'd discovered a way forward, because She had not had any such luck. Knowing of Bane Holding's connection to sinking Valorums Chancellorship was certainly interesting but it didn't help her come any closer to who was actually behind this whole mess.
"Did you think of anything promising?" She asked with a friendly smile.
Valorum nodded hesitantly, "I think so." He said slowly, "I think the financial data is probably a dead end, I'll have my accountants look at the trail you found if you think it's wise, but if they covered their tracks like they did with me, I doubt they'll find anything. But I think they're false trail may give us somewhere to start. Eriadu, Umbara, Malastare and a few others. These worlds had to have some involvement."
Padme shook her head regretfully. "I'd considered that as well, but I don't really think so. At least not to any meaningful degree. One of the reasons I was suspicious of their story is just how jaggedly it fit with how those senators behaved prior to the discovery of the Clone army. I really don't think they knew anything about it before hand or were involved in any way with its creation or Bane Holdings."
"You're missing my point I think," Valorum said with a small shake of his head, "I agree with you, I don't think these Senators or governments were ultimately behind any of the schemes, but they clearly have to share a common thread of involvement with whoever was. A clandestine sort of partnership that was strong enough for them to be awarded credit for the funding of the clone army and trusted not to reveal who was really behind it."
He handed her the data pad before continuing. "That kind of trust can only really occur with face to face meetings over a long period of time. Exactly the kind that occurred there."
Padme read the data pad for a moment before glancing up with a confused frown on her face, "On Sojourn?" She asked. "I've never heard of any conferences or meetings on this world."
Valorum smiled coyly, "Not a world, a small moon. It was known colloquially and somewhat dramatically as the hunter's moon in fact, owing to its large population of predators imported from all across the galaxy, or so I've heard, I've never actually been. And to answer your question, there is no reason you should have. Sojourn used to be a place where influential and likeminded financiers, mercenaries and politicians met for annual clandestine gatherings in order to push some common agenda. They were discontinued almost 10 years before I became Chancellor. Nonetheless, each of these worlds were key members of the gatherings for a very long time and helped push forward the groups goals in the Senate."
Padme took in the information with an outwardly stoic expression, inwardly though, she was reeling. Clandestine gatherings on a secret moon by a secret cabal, it sounded almost exactly like what she was looking for and what she feared she'd find. She looked over the coordinates and thought about them briefly before coming to a decision. "Then let's go check it out."
Valorum looked at her with obvious surprise. "Check it out? You can't mean now?"
Padme nodded, "I do. Think about it Chancellor, whoever this group is, they obviously have incredible resources and connections. They've masterminded some incredible political upheaval across several decades while managing to stay free from any large investigations. If we delay, they may catch wind of our investigation and destroy any evidence we might find. We have to go now."
Valorum looked at her uncertainly, "It's just so sudden," he mumbled, "I have other appointments, Senator."
Padme cut him off with a sharp look, "You said these people dragged your family name through the mud and destroyed your reputation, what could be more important than finding them and bringing them to justice."
He waffled for only a second longer before his resolve appeared to harden, "You're right of course. Let me grab some clothes for the journey and then we can head off, I'll also charter one of my company ships, if we're trying to stay inconspicuous it's probably better to travel in one of those. You're a very prominent figure and I know for a fact the tabloids track your yacht."
Now it was Padme's turn to hesitate, but again only for a second. While she didn't know Valorum very well and would normally be hesitant to go on a potentially dangerous journey with a virtual stranger on his ship no less, she wasn't lying when she said she thought the force brought them together on this, and she would see it through.
She contacted captain Typho and had him ready a security team and commed Sabe to inform her of their plans. Sabe wasn't happy with the plan but agreed to keep her trip hidden and contact the Jedi council if they didn't return promptly.
A little over an hour later they were off speeding into hyperspace, and less than a full day's travel later they arrived. They touched down near the only structure that still remained on the world and Padme descended the ramp with Valorum by her side and her security team at her back.
She'd thought she was ready for anything, an unsatisfying wild Bantha chase, a dead end, a treasure trove of information about some grand conspiracy, anything. But nothing could have prepared her for walking into the abandoned Fortress and finding herself face-to-face with her missing husband.