Assassinated

"You have something in mind, don't you Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan turned from closing the door, pulling a rueful smile at the...Sith? assassin. "I have no idea what you mean."

"It's not your personality to sit back and let someone do the dirty work - even if it the lines of Quinlan Vos doing it." Ventress shifted on the lumpy couch, eyebrows raised a bit. "Giving Quinlan the assignment is a distraction."

"Possibly - or maybe I'm putting the evidence into the hands of someone to populace trusts."

"Because the Jedi having the evidence sounds suspicious." Ventress shook her head in amusement. "Kenobi, executing an intelligent plan - who knew such a thing was possibly?"

"You wound me." Obi-Wan walked to the armchair he had been sitting on, only to easily move it to its side. "But fortunately, it's not a mortal wound."

Ventress watched while he removed pieces a case from the bottom of the armchair, amused while he took out and began to assemble -

"A sniper?"

"Mm hmm. Picked up the hobby on the detail on Mandalore - where I meant my wife, you know." Obi-Wan peered through the scope and gave a small smile. "You should hear what sort of evidence my commander has collected in the past few days."

"...do not think tonight would be a great idea Dormé - maybe tell Senator Aang that tomorrow might work best?"

Dormé nodded, tapping away at her datapad while they walked the halls of the Nubian Embassy. "Plans tonight, my lady?"

'Plans' usually meant Anakin was home. She hummed in agreement, turning a corner and palming the door open to the Nubian Embassy. It had been an interesting few months, she could say. Stressful was a better word.

There was the whole mess with Mandalore - discovering Satine's marriage to Obi-Wan Kenobi - which wasn't a shocker, not really. Then Satine defusing Death Watch within weeks. While that was happening - Ahsoka discovering her friend would have bombed the Jedi Temple and planned to put everyone at risk... including Ahsoka.

There was that little detail that people - Jedi and Senators alike - seemed to be becoming gradually aware of her relationship to Anakin - not knowing the exact details, but knowing they were somehow committed to each other.

"Ma'am." Her secretary - an elderly Nubian grandfather named Bowen - gave a smile when they walked in. "There's a package for you."

"Oh?" Padmé's eyes swept over the desk, her eyebrows raising when she spotted the badly wrapped package. "Who from?"

"Don't know - Jedi. Dropping something off for General Kenobi. It was scanned for a bomb - came back normal."

"Not Anakin?" she asked, taking the package and furrowing her brow when she studied the scrawled note taped to the paper. It's code...and a book?

Clearing her throat, she glanced upwards and gave a smile. "I remember what this is - I wanted to research a Nubian Jedi awhile back. Obi-Wan must have asked someone to drop it off."

Dormé gave her a skeptical look, but ultimately nodded. She stepped in front of Bowen, bending down to review the schedule for the next few days.

Padmé walked into her office, closing it behind her and breathing a small sigh of relief. She usually considered her office a bit of a safe place, a room where she could control - most of the time - who came in or out of it. Without fanfare she flicked on the radio, shaking her head in amusement when showtunes filtered through the speakers.

"Oh Ani."

She kept the radio tuned to the showtune station, walking to one of her more comfortable chairs and sitting down.

"Now what are you up to Obi-Wan?"

It was probably close to evening once Padmé had skimmed the book... and all its evidence. It was spread out on her desk - the stills of Palpatine's office, the book spread out and bookmarked, the copies of the Death Watch surrender papers.

It was fairly obvious who Sheev Palpatine was... and it wasn't the cordial mentor Anakin claimed he was.

She sighed, pulling a hand through her hair and grimacing at the migraine she was beginning to feel.

How in the galaxy was she supposed to bring this to the public's eye? Not like she could bring it to the Senate...no, not even the Jedi Order.

A knock sounded at her door.

"Ma'am?" Bowen called. "I'm about to head out - Senator Organa is here to visit though. He says it's urgent.

Padmé cursed under her breath, shoving the documents and book into a drawer in her desk while she yelled, "He can come in!"

The doors slid open while Padmé was leaning against her desk for balance and tugging her heels back on. "Oh Bail - I needed to talk to you about -"

"The bill can wait Padmé." Bail attempted a smile, though it was strained at best. "You need to come to the Chancellor's office."

"I wasn't aware there was a -"

"Padmé that Chancellor has been assassinated."

Author's note: Hello. I am evil. I'm going to proceed to cackle.

ii Digestive Reader ii