"Senator Amidala is a Sith Lord! Disturbing reports from the Outer Rim planet of Takodana yesterday, where a rogue Jedi team allegedly sent to apprehend the leaders of the Alliance to Restore the True Republic ran afoul of a secret peace conference involving the Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore. As the arrest escalated into violence, violence resulting in the passing of all the Jedi Masters who embarked on the mission, it was revealed that the former Senator, as well as her teenage husband Anakin Skywalker, now serving as a General for the Alliance who led the recent liberation of Sern Prime from the Republic's Trade Federation army, are trained in the dark arts of the Sith order, long thought extinct despite a brief resurgence ten years ago. We switch now to a statement from Consular Amidala herself, shown here speaking besides her co-Consulars Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, both of whom have reaffirmed their support for the Consular.
'The five Jedi who chose to act on behalf of Chancellor Gunray and the Trade Federation found assassination and war to be a better path than democracy and diplomacy. In their attempt to threaten and coerce a peaceful gathering, the lives of my compatriots and those who agreed to meet with us took precedence over the continued secrecy of our training. Now, the galaxy deserves to hear the truth.
For thousands of years, the Sith Order has stood as the ancient enemy of the Jedi Order and the Republic of Ruusan...and deservedly so. I cannot come close to condoning the actions of my predecessors, much less the havoc and atrocities they have committed in millennia past. Like many, however, I had little knowledge of the order's history when, at the age of twelve, my latent abilities in the Force led one whom I always trusted as a mentor to train me in the ways of the Sith. In the following years, I had no choice but to continue, under the constant threat of death, or much worse.
The Sith Order sought to take advantage of the circumstances surrounding the blockade of Naboo to take power. It was in the subsequent chaos that I saw the opportunity to rid permanently the scourge of the galaxy, one that had infiltrated the very heart of the Republic and threatened to destroy it from within. With the help of the Jedi, who stood alongside our crusade for Naboo, slaying a villain who was also trained by my master without my knowledge, I found myself the last remaining sith in existence, and I swore to change the very meaning of the order from a Force for evil, to a crusade for democracy, freedom, and justice, for the opportunity of each and every sentient being in this galaxy to make what they would of their own existence.
Most of you watching this have already made your minds on myself. Others have already made up their minds on the Sith order. For those who do still retain an open mind, I ask you not to judge my husband and I by our labels, but by our actions. What troubles the galaxy today is not ancient theologies and supernatural forces, but the very ordinary threat of everyday greed, avarice, and corruption writ large.'
In light of Amidala's revelation, Chancellor Nute Gunray has issued his strong...words...ahem...I guess some of them do indeed qualify as actual words...but regrettably we will not play his speech on this broadcast because...frankly...kids are watching. Instead, we turn to Jedi Master Mace Windu, who has issued this statement on behalf of the Order.
'Many aspects of the events from the last two standard days are deeply disturbing and weigh heavily upon the shoulders of the High Council. We cannot condone the actions of Masters Ki-Adi-Mundi and those who accompanied him to Takodana, seeing as their mission was taken without the consent or knowledge of the Council. Violence is never the first option of a Jedi, and while we sympathize with their belief and service to the Republic, we warn against such impulsive actions taken on behalf of our Order in the future.
The Sith Order is one steeped in lies, cruelty, slavery, and death. Consular Amidala has acknowledged this fact on a surface level, but while her words are encouraging, because of that very history and the undeniably vile nature of the Dark Side of the Force, the Jedi Order cannot fully trust her disavow of evil, just because she says so. However, given the current political implications, it would be impractical for the Order to act upon the Sith as per our history, especially seeing that several current Council members, as well as some of the galaxy's more reputable politicians, have reaffirmed their support of Amidala and Skywalker's cause, if not all of their affiliations.
Alternatively, the Order welcomes an open dialogue with the Consular and the Alliance any place, any time, on their terms, even if it must occur outside the purview of the Republic. The Order recognizes the current state of chaos and instability within the Republic, and we are dedicated, as we trust the Consulars of the Alliance are, the repair our fractured state. But hear us clearly: the Jedi will not and never stand for the abominations and horrors of Sith past, and to Consular Amidala and General Skywalker I say this: you claim to stand for justice. Know clearly that the Jedi Order is watching, and for any crimes you commit in the name of the Dark Side, justice will be harsh, swift, and unyielding.'"
"Oh wow," Sola deadpanned very unconvincingly as her parents stared at the holo in abject horror, "what a surprise. What a shock. My little sister. A Sith Lord. I can't believe it. What does everyone want for dinner. Who wants to pick up Pooja from dance class tonight."
Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie switched their horrified gazes from the holo to their eldest daughter.
"...you knew?!"
"...how long have you known this?!"
Sola simply shrugged her head and went back to browsing her comm. "Sisters share secrets," she said, not looking up from a new recipe for spiced shaak she was interested in cooking that night.
"My poor little daughter," Jobal moaned.
"It must have been that womprat Palpatine," Ruwee surmised, "I never cared for that man...his interest in Padmé always seemed disturbing."
"At least you know Padmé wasn't kidding when she told us not to worry about her safety," Sola said, trying to reassure her parents on this most unexpected turn of events. "And I'm sure she's got us well taken care of too."
"I feel bad for the boy," Ruwee said, realizing the extent of his younger daughter's relationship with her husband. "If the Sith took advantage of Padmé's youth and naivete, it cannot be denied that Padmé did the same to Anakin. The poor boy had no chance."
"Trust me," Sola said, wondering if it was too late for to ask Teckla to pick up some pickled chives on her way to the house, "Anakin's the last to complain."
"That poor boy." Ruwee's repeated. Then, his eyes narrowing, he scrutinized carefully his oldest daughter. "Since you seem to know so much more about our family than me...exactly how early did they really begin their...um...relationship."
Sola shrugged again. "Sisters keep secrets."
"Ani's a sith?" Beru chewed her grain bar nonchalantly as they watched the news from their small mansion on the edge of Naboo's Western Plains. "That's kind of...wizard."
Seeing his stepmother stewing over what she had just learned about her son on the holonets, Owen tried to make her feel better. "You always wanted Anakin to be a Jedi. I guess he's kinda a Jedi now? I mean, yeah, blood enemies with them and all...but you know...he's powerful."
"They did free a lot of slaves," Cliegg said, setting his rugged and calloused arm around his wife's back. Shmi had yet to speak since the newscaster broke the news though her eyes never left the holo, and Cliegg was getting a bit worried about his wife. "I mean, if you think about it...I bet they were responsible for that raid on Jabba's palace a few years back."
"She lied to me," Shmi said quietly, her tone not betraying her true thoughts. "They both lied to me."
"Sounds like they had to keep this a secret from everyone," Owen said.
"This changes things," Cliegg started, unsure of what to say, "but...it shouldn't change things that much?"
The entire family sat, waiting for Shmi to comment further. Finally, having seemingly come to a decision on the matter in her mind, she spoke.
"I still trust Padmé. I shouldn't, but I do. She has a good heart, and so does Anakin. None of that's changed. But she took advantage of my son, that is undeniable. I don't care if she's Queen again or Empress or whatever next time I see her, her majesty and I are going to have a loonnng talk..."
Senators Tub'r Fafi and Mas Amedda found the Chancellor's office seemingly empty, but Amedda, whose Chagrian senses were better, twitched his tentacles towards the desk.
"Chancellor Gunray," Fafi said, "we know you're in here. Please come out from under your desk."
"Amidala is a sith," Gunray said, emerging from his hiding spot but still visibly cowering. "She will kill me, I know it. She will torture me. I call her hair ugly!"
"Frankly Chancellor, you've done a lot worse than that, and you're still alive."
"And I was right," Gunray screamed, suddenly finding his courage or whatever derangement acted in its place. "She is devil and I was only one to see! That's why I'm Chancellor. That's why I so better superior in galaxy! She will die die die die die and everyone will celebrate Gunray to all!"
Fafi and Amedda reached their seats before the Chancellor's desk, sitting down and neither showing any reactions to the Chancellor's somewhat bipolar-ish ravings. Looking at Amedda, who gave him the okay to start their presentation, Fafi began, careful to not personally avow any involvement in Gunray's many assassination attempts. "Look, no one is killing anyone for the moment. Clearly your attempts to, ahem, end Amidala's career prematurely have not succeeded because she is a Sith..."
"Because you are all vile traitors betray me how dare you lowest low..."
"And I have no doubt that Amidala can have you dead in a moment's notice because of her powers, but has chosen not to do so. With all regard, Chancellor..."
"Your majesty," Gunray demanded imperiously.
"...ahem, your majesty, but the only reason you are still alive is because Amidala wills it so."
The air seemed to deflate from the Supreme Chancellor's chest as the truth of Fafi's words hit him. "So what can we do? I must flee. Gather all the Republic treasury and credits, I will escape with it all to..."
"May I suggest another route," Amedda started.
"State it you dirty dirty shit swallower," Gunray ordered angrily. "If it stupid, you die! I kill you."
"Let's examine Amidala's motives," the Chagrian continued. "Amidala clearly set you up as her opponent because she believed you to be a pushover. Her plot failed, but I'm sure the moment the vote was announced she was wishing death upon you."
"But considering that the truth of her Sith nature would have emerged sooner or later," Fafi continued, "she was afraid of acting immediately, because killing you would clearly be seen as, well sour grapes, coming from a sith."
"So she incites rebellion. Because she could not beat you fair and square, she splits the Republic to undermine our positions."
"My position," Gunray protested. "Only mine Fafi you fat whore! No one else's, mine mine minus!"
"The key thing to note though," Fafi continued, ignoring yet another outburst from the Chancellor, "is that this revelation leaves her weaker than before."
"How so," Gunray asked, suddenly intrigued now by his adviser's theory.
"Again, she cannot act as she truly would wish to because she operates from a position of weakness. Before the revelation, she had the unquestioning support of her co-Consulars as well as parts of the Jedi, including several High Council members."
"Those disgusting shitpoo smearing traitors," Gunray began.
"In what I have learned about the sith," Mas continued, "it is rare that support will continue for long. Amidala chose ultimately the wrong allies, and her very nature will eventually turn them against her."
"When," Gunray asked, his head suddenly perking up as if he were a five year old child on Life Day. "Can this be done by tonight? I have an orgy to attend tonight..."
"We all have orgies to attend tonight, Chanc...your majesty," Fafi responded impatiently. "We need to buy significant time for the inevitable to happen. We press the attack, find soft targets for the Droid Army such as Corellia or Mon Calamari, keeping the Alliance off balance and away from a concentrated attack on Coruscant."
"I have made contact with certain parties on Zygerria and Nal Hutta," Mas said. "The Hutts and the Zygerrians are among the most threatened by Amidala's anti-slavery crusade, and have indicated that they are willing to receive our assistance in preserving their freedom and way of life."
"This is...promising," Gunray said.
"There is one other thing," Mas started nervously.
"The Jedi and Amidala's fellow Consulars are just as unlikely to work with you..."
"Because they are evil! Evil! Evil! Evil, and I am so good and godly! They are jealous of my God penis!"
"Nevertheless," Fafi said, "it may prove to our advantage were we to spread some rumors...completely untrue of course, of what would be considered by the masses as palace intrigue."
Gunray was confused. "You want to tell the holonets I'm intriguingly handsome? I tell them every damn day!"
"No," Amedda said. "Let them think a coup is in the works, that you have lost our trust, that the Senate is prepared to vote on a motion of no confidence. Senator Fafi and I can both leak stories from our offices saying that there is a belief that any day now, one of us may well take over the office of Supreme Chancellor."
"Never! I rule alone forever!"
"It's a ruse, your majesty," Fafi said, trying to comfort the Neimoidian. "We lure both the Alliance and the Jedi into thinking a friendlier, more conciliatory regime may be imminent any moment."
"Peace overtures will be sent in secret. Senators like Organa and the Jedi would want to negotiate. The sith will not. This will start a wedge between Amidala and her core supporters, one we can take advantage of."
"It's our only chance," Fafi affirmed, ending their proposal. They both watched nervously as the Supreme Chancellor meditated on their words. "It's a long shot, but it just may work."
"The God king emperor approves," Gunray finally concluded, standing and rising to his full height with his swagger fully restored. He loomed over the desk menacingly and pointed at his two chief lieutenants, his finger shaking in anger. "But don't you dare betray me, Fafi. Don't you even think about it. Because I will fuck your corspe, Fafi! I will fuck your corspe, Fafi! All the Gods help me, I will kill you and piss all over your leg and lick all that piss back up and I will fuck...your...corspe FAFI!"
The Senator from Kuat nodded his head, not in the least perturbed by the Supreme Chancellor's vile diatribe, though there was one piece of that that seemed uncomfortably sexy, and Fafi made a mental note to try it out with one of the hookers later that night. Disturbingly, he noticed that the Supreme Chancellor now sported a raging hard on under his robes, and prayed for the first time in decades that it was incidental and had nothing to do with himself.
"I understand, your majesty," he agreed. "You will fuck my corpse if I betray you." Unsuccessfully, he added in his head.
She held him. Usually he held her, their bodies always a perfect fit when Anakin cradled his wife in his arms in their sleep every night, but on this day, she needed to hold on to him, like the old times. Anakin felt his wife's small nose against his shoulder, her mouth nuzzling his back, and shuddered. He loved and missed being held like this, and would enjoy it more if it weren't for his wife's anguish, felt plainly through the Force.
"We should probably get up," he said, caressing his wife's fingers, wrapped tightly around his chest and abdomen. "The Jedi will be waiting."
"I don't want to," he heard Padmé grumble behind him almost childishly. "Let them wait."
"How are you doing," Anakin asked. "I can ask Ellé to tell the Jedi to postpone the meeting. Obi-Wan won't be happy, but..."
"Fuck Obi-Wan," Padmé spat. "Fuck the Jedi, fuck the meeting, fuck everything."
Holding her hands closer to him, he waited patiently for this wife to continue. After a few minutes, he felt her sobbing quietly as she buried her face in the back of his neck.
"Is this worth it," her soft voice asked finally as he sensed that she was starting to regain her composure. "Is any of this worth it? For Sifo-Dyas's life? For all the lives that have been killed...torn apart in this war. And everyone else that has to die at our altar?"
"We've kept the war at a minimum," Anakin said. She was wavering, but he knew it would pass in time. This entire endeavor was her brainchild, her life's work and legacy, and she would not give up on it. And he would not let her, unless he truly believed she had forsworn it for good. "Casualties are light, including for the clones. We've always believed that the galaxy was at a breaking point...this clone war allows us to relieve the pressures of a dying Republic with the least amount of death and suffering."
"I know, but...," Padmé swallowed, trying to control her emotions as she worked out the conflict in her head, "we're the ones causing the suffering. Not Sidious. Not Gunray, or any of their minions...but us. We're the villains. I've always understood that on some level, but to actually do it..."
"Then it's our burden," Anakin said firmly. "Sidious is dead. We have no control over what Nute Gunray does. There will always be villains, but that's why we exist...because this will be the last war, the war will end all wars. Sifo-Dyas is dead. You were closer to him, but it pains me too...he was a good man, and he would have stood with us to the end. Sifo-Dyas saw the same vision we did...let's not let his death be in vain."
Anakin waited, for once unsure how Padmé would respond to his words. He was treading on new ground, he knew. Padmé had always led the way, taking the initiative as they weaved their path to their destiny, and she had never been the one unsure of herself, or their mission. Turbulent emotions continued to seep out of his wife, as well as a sense confusion he had never felt from her through his bond. Whatever she decided, he would follow...but where did it leave him, both of them, if they were to walk away at this late point?
Suddenly, a shift in the Force, and Anakin sensed that his wife had mastered her emotions, her resolving strengthening in its focus, her grip on his body tighten.
"You're right, Anakin. You are wise. Shiraya help us, we've forded the Melting Waters, crossed the Plains of Gunga, there is no turning back now. We will finish the job, and we will meet our destiny. Together."
The two hooded figures approached the entrance of Varykino in silence. As they passed several small handmaidens along the estate grounds, standing impassively but clearly attentively to the extreme through the Force, Quinlan Vos lowered his hood and looked over to his friend and fellow knight.
"Ready," he asked in a low voice.
"Do we have choice," Obi-Wan asked back, lowering his hood as well.
"Several, in fact. There are always alternatives."
"Nevertheless, the die is set," Obi-Wan said, and Quinlan sensed that he would brook no more unnecessary hesitation in their mission. "Let's do this."
HannahKathleen: Thanks! That was certainly Anakin and Padmé's greatest test to date, and their most precarious moment. As for how the rest of the galaxy will react...all will be revealed.
Praetor-Canis: Thanks...about time they put a decade of training to use. They have the bond, just as Anakin and Obi-Wan do...but will it be enough to subjugate the rest of the galaxy and the Jedi?
Nightshade's sydneylover150: Perhaps, but Obi-Wan has a more pressing mission right now...
ichigo urahara Shihoin: Yup, Sifo-Dyas revealed his true loyalty in end. The revelation was inevitable, but Mundi certainly forced the siths' hand.
TheWateringWizard: Wow, you caught up with everything! I'll admit, I've definitely given in to the temptation to portray Gunray as a more ridiculous cartoon villain than a serious villain. As for Obi-Wan, as in canon before the Clone Wars, he has latent feelings for both women, more so the Duchess, but they are still quite repressed considering that their lives are not yet in danger.