Author's Note: Hey dudes and dudettes! (I love that word 'dudettes'. I just discovered it while reading an email from Purina Tidy Cats. They have these make-pretend cats send you emails and tell you about their various vacations all over the world. As of now Roscol is in Costa Rica looking for treasure and he wants to help you win $10,000.00. All you have to do is enter the sweepstakes. Eye roll. Who ever wins that stuff?) This chapter features the return of Padme, a hint of Sidious' point of view, and some of the novel. Enjoy!

Chapter 56 repsonses:

G-Anakin 13: Hmm...well he doesn't find out she's a Sith until Chapter 24, and by that time he's already turned. Naturally he's shocked and a little hurt that she never said anything, but they really don't have any problems over it. He's just happy he doesn't have to hide his new Sith lifestyle from her and that she understands. You can basically say their marriage starts to descend after that. Padme isn't as loving to him anymore and he doesn't understand why. That's where the whole Arica scenario comes in.
The whole Telly/Obi (I like how that sounds!) pairing I would say is pretty obvious. But don't look for anything serious from it until Chapter 31. As for the Vader suit...hmm, let's just say the end result of that is slightly different then the way it is in the films. Obi and Ani duel but...for a different reason and an unexpected twist takes place right after he's donned in it.

Twisted Words (): I forgot about the whole blinds making shadows on him bit, but then maybe I did remember and choose not to put it in. I don't know. It's a bit of a running joke that everyone refers to Yoda as a frog or freak in this story (except the serious Jedi). It adds interesting humor. I'm glad you liked the Telly/Obi interactions. Look for more of those in Chapter 14.

Sica Meni: Well I made the changes. I just can't believe I missed them.

Booksaboutnothing: Hey! Long time no hear. As for the arrest, Padme's there when it takes place, but that's all I'll say...

The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 1-The Turning of an Era

Episode V: Revenge of the Sith

Chapter 12: Politics

"And that hereby concludes today's meeting," Vice Chair of the Senate Mas Amedda announced, dismissing the Senators inside the large Senatorial conference room a few levels below the Senate Arena.

Padme got up out of the hard chair she'd been sitting in for the past two hours with a sigh of relief. She thought it'd never end. That morning's Senate meeting had been extremely boring in her opinion. The Senate was simply voting on rather it should give Palpatine more power or not. In the form of having control over the Jedi Order.

Though he won by a majority, she got the impression that some of the Senators who voted in favor were paid off beforehand. By winning mostly all the votes, Clone Intelligence would now report directly to the Chancellor, making him the Supreme Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.

"My dear Senator Amidala," Palpatine called out as she was making to leave to room. She stopped at his voice and turned. "A word if you please."

She nodded. "Of course."

Interestingly enough, Padme noticed a few Senators looking between her and the Chancellor with suspicious interest, but they left all the same.

Once she and the Chancellor were alone she spoke. "What can I do for you Chancellor?"

"Well Senator, since I have your dear friend Anakin awaiting my arrival for a meeting I have scheduled in my office, I'll keep this brief."

"O-kay," she said slightly bewildered.

"As I'm sure you very well know, communications between the Jedi and Senate have become a bit stressed of late."

Upon her nod, he continued. "Because of this, I figured it a good idea to have my very own personal representative on the Jedi Council to...unstress the communications so to speak, and inform me of the Jedi's latest goings."

"Anakin? A Jedi Master!" Padme said with a hint of disbelief. "Well, I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

Palpatine smiled. "I expect as much."

"He's always going on about how the Jedi are holding him back," she explained. "This will most definitely cheer him up. But are you sure the Jedi will agree to this. I thought the Council elected its own members."

They were now walking out of the room and to the main elevator that would take Palpatine to his office.

"Oh piss posh Senator, Anakin is the most powerful Jedi out of all of them. He should've been on the Council ago."

"So true," she said and than raised an eyebrow. "Even more powerful than the Jedi frog Yoda?"

Palpatine allowed a hint of a smirk. "Yes I'd say so."

Padme gave a dry laugh and waved as the Chancellor boarded the elevator that would take him to Anakin.

Chancellor Palpatine arrived at his office a few minutes after bidding his daughter farewell after that mornings' Senate meeting. He was quite pleased about it to say the least. No longer would the Jedi have any type of real power in the war, and soon there would be no Jedi left at all, which fit in perfectly with his next plan…

As expected, Anakin was waiting for him as he entered the room.

"Hello sir," Anakin greeted. "You wanted to see me? I hope you are well."

The Chancellor smiled. "Oh yes Anakin, quite well. Thank you for asking."

Anakin nodded as Palpatine walked over to his desk.

After rustling through a few papers and finding what he was looking for, he placed that paper in another part of the desk and looked back up at Anakin. The young man was looking at him expectantly.

"I hope you trust me Anakin," he said after a moment.

"Of course," Anakin responded, but Sidious felt a great deal of confusion coming from him.

"I need your help son."

At that pronouncement, Anakin allowed his confusion to be seen. "What do you mean?"

Palpatine was silent a moment before continuing. "I'm depending on you."

"For what? I don't understand."

"To be the eyes, ears, and voice of the Republic," he declared, beginning to walk down the stairs from his desk. "Anakin, I appointing you to be my personal Representative on the Jedi Council."

Sidious easily felt the shock, excitement, and disbelief coming from him. "Me? A Master? I'm overwhelmed sir. But the Council elects it's own members they'll never accept of this."

The Chancellor smirked. "I think they will. They need you. More than you know. All it will take is for someone to properly…"

He waved a hand expressively.

"…explain it to them."

Chill remnants of night slid down the High Council Tower of the Jedi Temple; and within the cloistered chamber itself, Obi-Wan was still trying to talk them out of it.

"Yes, of course I trust him," he said patiently. "We can always trust Anakin to do what he thinks is right. But we can't trust him to do what he's told. He can't be made to simply obey. Believe me: I've been trying for years."

Conflicting currents of energy swirled and clashed in the Council Chamber. Traditionally, decisions of the Council were reached by quiet, mutual contemplation of the flow of the Force, until all the Council was of a single mind on the matter. But Obi-Wan knew this tradition only by reputation, from tales in the archives and stories told by Masters whose tenure on the Council predated the return of the Sith. In the all-too-short years since Obi-Wan's own elevation, argument in this Chamber was more rule than the exception.

"An unintentional opportunity, the Chancellor has given us," Yoda said gravely. "A window he has opened into the operation of his office. Fools we would be, to close our eyes."

"Than we should use someone else's eyes," Obi-Wan said. "Forgive me, Master Yoda, but you just don't know him the way I do. None of you does. He is fiercely loyal, and there is not a gram of deception in him. You've all seen it; it's one of the arguments that some of you, here in this room, have used against elevating him to Master: he lacks true Jedi reserve, that's what you've said. And by that we all mean that he wears his emotions like a HoloNet banner. How can you ask him to lie to a friend-to spy upon him?"

"That is why we must call upon a friend to ask him," said Agen Kolar in his gentle Zabrak baritone.

"You don't understand. Don't make him choose between me and Palpatine-"

"Why not?" asked the holopresence of Plo Koon from the bridge of Courageous, where he directed the Republic Navy strike force against a Separatist choke point in the Ywllander system. "Do you fear you would lose such a contest?"

"You don't know how much Palpatine's friendship has meant to him over the years. You're asking him to use that friendship as a weapon! To stab his friend in the back. Don't you understand what this will cost him, even if Palpatine is entirely innocent? Especially if he's innocent. Their relationship will never be the same-"

"And that," Mace Windu said, "may be the best argument in favor of this plan. I have told you all what I have seen of the energy between Skywalker and the Supreme Chancellor. Anything that might distance young Skywalker from Palpatine's influence is worth the attempt."

Obi-Wan didn't need to reach into the Force to know that he would lose this argument. He inclined his head. "I will, of course, abide by the ruling of this Council."

"Doubt of that, none of us has." Yoda turned his green gaze on the other councilors. "But if to be done this is, decide we must how best to use him."

The holopresence of Ki-Adi-Mundi flickered in and out of focus as the Cerean Master leaned forward, folding his hands. "I, too, have reservations on this matter, but it seems that in these desperate times, only desperate plans have hope of success. We have seen that young Skywalker has the power to battle a Sith Lord alone, if need be; he has proven that with Dooku. If he is indeed the Chosen One, we must keep him in the play against the Sith-keep him in a position to fulfill his destiny."

"And if the prophecy has been misread," Agen Kolar added, "Anakin is the one Jedi we can best hope would survive an encounter with a Sith Lord. So let us use him to help us set our trap. In Council, let us emphasize that we are intensifying our search for Grievous. Anakin will certainly report this to the Chancellor's office. Perhaps, as you say, that will draw Sidious into action."

"It may not be enough," Mace Windu said. "Let us take this one step farther-we should appear shorthanded, and weak, giving Sidious an opening to make a move he thinks will go unobserved. I'm thinking that perhaps we should let the Chancellor's office know that Yoda and I have both been forced to take the

field-"

"Too risky that is," Yoda said. "And too convenient. One of us only should go."

"Then it should be you, Master Yoda," Agen Kolar said. "It is your sensitivity to boarder currents of the Force that a Sith Lord has most reason to fear."

Obi-Wan felt a ripple of agreement flow through the Chamber, and Yoda nodded solemnly.

"Agreed." Mace Windu looked around the half-empty Council Chamber with a deepening frown. "And one last touch. Let's let the Chancellor know, through Anakin, that one of our most cunning and insightful Masters is to lead the hunt for Grievous."

"So Sidious will need to act, and act fast, if the war is to be maintained," Plo Koon added approvingly.

Yoda nodded judiciously. "Agreed." Agen Kolar assented as well, and Ki-Adi-Mundi.

"That sounds like a good plan," Obi-Wan said. "But what Master do you have in mind?"

"Worry about that later, we will. Does not matter now," Yoda said.