Another Chapter! Sorry for the wait I have been busy with my other fic and real life stuff;p Enjoy
CH15
The Gala was splendid. Albeit a tad to grandiose for his liking however it seemed that the young Queen of Naboo knew how to keep her guests entertained. For an orchestra she had ordered the Midrim Grand Bleuras the rising stars of Coruscant in the opera genre. Palpatine after nodding and waving at a ridiculous numbers of dimwitted politicians relaxed in his private box in the opera house the Queen had rented out for the occasion for the older senators. Next door however Darth Sideous could almost feel the swirl of the dark side hear the bleary and distasteful music of the youth and even a number of intoxicated senatorial sentient beings their secrets only to easily accessed by his own mind.
He was about to ignore the vile room altogether deciding he did not need to draw on the dark side with Jedi present when he suddenly sensed an insane amount of force around an individual? Was it a Jedi? He slowly cocked his head in the direction of the source. An older human male Jedi Knight a Qui Gon Jin was sitting next to a female twi'llek Jedi her name he recalled was Master Tara Li Nas but she wasn't the source of this anomaly. It was a boy! He was sitting next to the Twi'llek and asking saying something the force flaring brightly at his joy. Palpatine narrowed his eyes. This boy would be a fitting replacement for Xantise. He smiled darkly as he saw a man bend on one knee and whisper something to the boy handing him sweets. The man looked up. Force! Kenobi! For a moment he had thought he had been discovered by another Jedi! The boys intense light shadowing the presence of others in the force. Kenobi nodded at him. Palpatine suppressed a chuckle. Yes Kenobi would be an excellent medium to get to the boy.
Kenobi said something else which had the boy near to tears in laughter the two male Jedi frowning and the twi'llek master smiling diplomatically. Then he backtracked and walking around the isles entered the box adjacent to his own where the Queen was sitting. A few minutes later when no connection could be made between the events Obi Wan entered his own box.
"Lieutenant, to what do I owe this pleasure? A message from her highness perhaps?"
"She hopes you are enjoying yourself supreme chancellor."
"I am indeed."
With a flourish the few bugs that littered his box were turned off by Kenobi. It was the intermission so no one would find the lapse in words. "I have retrieved the body."
Palpatine's eyes narrowed. "He lives?"
"Barely," Kenobi smirked. Oh how Kenobi hated Xanatos! Palpatine laughed darkly. "He will regret surviving." Kenobi's feral smile deepened. "Of course my master."
Palpatine motioned to the boy below. "Have you acquainted yourself with him?"
"I am his best friend." Kenobi replied. Palpatine frowned. It was getting harder to read his apprentice. He could sense that Kenobi's mind was slowly becoming shuttered from him in an exceedingly clever way. He was truly coming into his own as a Darth. But his own master had escaped. Which side would his apprentices choose? Regardless he would have the boy Anakin was it? And he would rule the republic! After he killed his master of course.
Kenobi bowed and reactivated the bugs. Palpatine smiled. The force was with him.
The Opera would droll on for two more hours after intermission. Qui Gon Jinn sighed. The boy was mercurial but he was proving a handful to both masters asking away questions. But mostly he was asking about Padme and why he couldn't see her. "But Lieutenant Kenobi said she would love to see me!" He whined. Padawan Master Nas chided we are practicing detachment. The Queen will soon leave Coruscant, she will not take you with her you know that! You must learn to let go!"
"But he said she wouldn't mind if I saw her just this once! You sad so yourself she's leaving! I might never see her again!"
Qui Gon's eyes slid to the young boy. "Perhaps but you yourself have pointed out that you might never see her again after this meeting. The Queen is a very sensitive woman if she cries? Would you truly wish to cause her such pain padawan?"
Anakin's force signature drooped into a grudging acceptance. "NO."
"Well then," Master Nas replied shooting Qui Gon thank you look. But whatever she was about to say next was cut off by both Jedi looking toward the private boxes danger suddenly radiating from that area. Seconds later an explosion racked the Supreme Chancellor's private box.
Both Jedi ran toward the balcony. Master Nas hastily leaving her young ward with a nearby officer. They reached the balcony only to see two figures dressed in bounty hunter garb forcing the Chancellor onto an aircar. They grabbed the closest air car and took off into the cluttered lanes of Coruscant. But the speeder was too fast. They were losing the Chancellor!
Palpatine looked with distaste at the bounty hunters. He could dispatch them in seconds but of course he had a role to fulfill. "What do you want with me?" He asked weakly.
The hunters chuckled. You've got a one million bounty on your head in the outer rims. The female bounty hunter forced cuffs onto his hands. He tried hard not to laugh. This "incident" was the perfect opportunity for him to claim the necessity of a redgaurd. He smiled. Now to find the culprit. He tried skim their mind only to be blocked. He controlled his face frown the snarl working up. The young male looked at him lifting his mask a bit revealing red eyes. His master's dark acolytes?
"Our master will be most pleased when we deliver you." The female laughed. So his master was unaware of this? He gnashed his teeth together feeling the Jedi at his heals. He couldn't use too much of the dark side. Not now! A large portion of his master's artifacts assisted in suppressing their use of the dark side so close to the accursed temple of love and peace. Without them he would need to be in his private chambers to work any spells of darkness incognito.
The Jedi were catching up. The female acolyte snarled at the male who jumped onto the Jedi aircar. She fastened his shackles to the right side or the speeder and took the wheel stepping accelerating the vehicle. He heard a hiss of sabers and a sudden shift in the dark side the acolyte was dead. She changed course flying dangerously low and then flew up toward the sky. The vehicle shuddered and protested as she cut a few of the engines the force shuddering in danger. Palpatine tugged at his chains this was almost ridiculous. He tried a low voltage on the cuffs only for the cuffs to absorb the voltage and clamp tighter around his hands. He cursed under his breath. You'll kill us both! She laughed. Curse her that was her intention? He didn't want to reveal himself. Not now!
Suddenly a familiar force signature jumped down into the car from a building above latching on. Kenobi in one fluid motion too fast for the women opened the side door and tossed the women out grabbing the wheel.
"I can't stop this thing!" Kenobi yelled.
"Cut me loose!" Palpatine commanded.
"I do that and we instantly crash." Palpatine frowned "You have a better idea?"
"How about a safe landing?" Kenobi deadpanned. But at that moment another engine exploded taking half the aircar with it.
"Jedispit this is why flying is for droids." Kenobi grimaced pulling up on controls. Palpatine laughed heartily enjoying the danger of the ride.
"You truly are insane master." Kenobi quipped but Palpatine let it slide in the exhilaration of the present moment. Truly how long had it been since he let loose too pod race? The last engine dined with a whine. They were losing altitude quickly. Kenobi slammed a fist trying to shatter the cuffs. "Kenobi, hold." Palpatine readied to summon the dark side. Kenobi would have to take the blame and go into Jedi "healing."
"My Lord wait, allow me to try something!" They had only minutes to impact. Palpatine frowned. Kenobi closed his eyes, at first nothing happened and Palpatine readied the dark side. Suddenly the force enveloped Kenobi. Palpatine hissed as its edges burnt him. Kenobi yelled in pain and concentration as he summoned an insane amount of the light side force cushioning the blow. Their aircar crashed. Using the light side as cover he blasted the accursed cuffs off catching his apprentice by the arm as he collapsed in a feint. Palpatine frowned. His Master may not have been directly responsible for what occurred. However it seemed that only one of them could exist in this galaxy. The game was on!
For those of you wondering Palpatine and podracing? What in the world? Well I did some research and apparently one of the only things Palpatine loved was dangerous pod racing.
