The Echani spy that Padmé had helped to hire spent a couple of days staking out Palpatine's apartment suite. They wanted to be sure that the information she had about his movements were correct before she broke in to plant the spy equipment that would be needed. It seemed that he was quite the creature of habit which made things easier for the Echani woman; with regular meetings with various senators and delegates or dinners with one person or another – all on set days and at set times. On one of the evenings he was out of the apartment and his various members of staff were otherwise occupied and out of the building, the spy got into the apartment with the code and put everything in place.
It was a race against time. Despite the Supreme Chancellor's predictable habits, there was always a chance he could return early. The cameras and listening devices were relatively straight forward to set up. It was the devices for the computer system that were more difficult due to the security and firewalls. Once the equipment was placed, the Echani activated the system and quickly left. It was now up to the Jedi to get what they needed from the set up.
In the Jedi Temple's communications room, the set up for the listening devices and monitoring systems activated. A small team of Jedi were to take shifts in gathering any relevant information. All the Order could hope would be that the plan worked.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this," Qui-Gon asked. He couldn't help but feel very concerned about what Chae was letting herself in for.
Chae was getting into a form hugging pale blue dress with Asia's help. It had been hand delivered to her by one of the many staff that worked for Palpatine. A few days before, Chae had essentially invited herself to his apartment suite, under the pretence of catching him off guard. In order to do this, she decided to go with the whole routine of wanting to warn him about the "awful rumours" that she had been told. This way he would get the chance to head them off before they had the chance to spread in the first place. It just wouldn't do to let the Sith or the Separatists ruin his reputation, after all.
Chae wasn't even sure he'd even fall for it and he could just have her killed there and there. But he had allowed her to have the meeting with him and he had gone along with the conversation. As a result of this discussion, the Supreme Chancellor had asked Chae to join him as her "plus one" for an opera he had been invited to; as a show of good faith between them. To keep up pretence, Chae had agreed to it.
Now, here she was, getting into an outfit that was totally out of her comfort zone. It was too form hugging and showed way too much cleavage. Added to that she would be without her lightsaber. Chae knew both of them were merely playing along with each other, until one or both of them dropped the facade.
With some assistance and planning, her father was going to be in the same building for the evening; keeping to the shadows but keeping himself within a safe distance for Chae's reassurance. She didn't want to be with Palpatine alone.
Turning herself around to face her father, Chae tried her best to put a brave face on. "I need to do this. I need to play him at his own game in the hopes that he'll let his guard down and show himself for who he really is."
As she helped get Chae's hair just so, allowing it to fall around her shoulders and down her back, Asia added, "we're just worried about you. I know Obi-Wan was jumpier than a sand rabbit when he left the Temple."
That had been the hardest part for Chae. She knew her single mindedness to prove Palpatine was a Sith Lord was causing him unnecessary worry. But Chae was now in too deep with this and she couldn't back out of this – she had to follow this through to the end. If she made it out the other side, Chae made a promise to herself that she would find a way to make it up to Obi-Wan.
The Galaxies Opera House was busy that night. The patrons were all dressed in very elaborate ways. There definitely seemed to be an attitude of people wanting to upstage each other; and be seen with the most elaborate outfit of the night. Chae was able to view them from the private box that she and Palpatine were sat in for the show. It was very strange but fascinating to her that people lived like this.
Although it had been Chae who had gotten the most attention when she arrived on the arm of the Supreme Chancellor. This hadn't gone unnoticed by Chae. She should've known she'd likely be the centre of attention. Palpatine had likely done this on purpose; him arriving in the company of a – likely much younger – woman was always bound to get attention. If word got out that she was also a Jedi, it would likely cause a scandal too with how she was dressed. Jedi didn't wear revealing dresses. They certainly didn't associate with politicians whilst dressed in such outfits; not without having some kind of ulterior motive.
For the entire evening, Palpatine was very guarded about what he said around Chae. Despite her claims that she wasn't out to get him, he didn't fully believe her yet. His former apprentice had told her about his true identity, which had only confirmed her own suspicions about him.
But she did turn up at his office alone. Would she have done that if she had nefarious intentions for him? Surely she would've taken a group of Jedi with her? Surely even Chae wouldn't be stupid enough to take on a Sith Lord alone, despite being a powerful Jedi and daughter to two strong Force users. This woman was intriguing, to say the least.
Would he be better off attempting to bring Chae over to his side? After all, hadn't she had her issues with the Order in the past? They had exiled her for loving and protecting her daughter; and only wanting to do what was best for the child. He knew that Chae would regularly butt heads with the council. He knew about her previous relationship with Omar Organa and her current one with Obi-Wan Kenobi – a relationship that she had been keeping secret for many years. Chae would do anything to keep Obi-Wan safe, even more so after she hadn't been able to keep Omar from falling to the Darkside. Palpatine knew Chae would give anything to be able to live openly with the Jedi Master without the risk of punishment or exile.
Palpatine tested the water, so to speak, and dropped the occasional veiled comment – ones that would seem completely innocent on the surface of it. All he had to do was put the thoughts into her head and her own mind would hopefully do the rest. If Palpatine couldn't get to Anakin, he would see if he could manipulate Chae instead. If it failed, then he would follow through with his original plan of killing her.
Qui-Gon watched from a safe distance for the entire evening. How easy would it be for him to kill the Supreme Chancellor now and just have all of this over and done with? Too easy, he knew that, but on the flip side there would be far too much fallout as a consequence. He one hundred percent believed Chae. Despite the fact that Palpatine had managed to maintain the 'mask' for decades, Qui-Gon just knew that there was something off about him.
It was difficult to watch the Supreme Chancellor with his daughter. The man was a creep; his intentions towards Chae were far too obvious. Although it wasn't the first time Chae had dealt with senators with one track minds. As she always did, Chae handled it with charm and grace, even if her company for the evening didn't deserve it. All he could do was keep his cool and hope that Palpatine got his cumuppence eventually.
Chae was grateful to return home. She felt dirty just from being in Palpatine's presence. Removing the dress, she slung it into the corner of the bedroom, along with the matching high heels. She would get her droid to deal with it in the morning. Chae was, in some ways, glad that Evie was with the Kibibi family for the night. At least she wouldn't have to explain her weird mood to her, or answer any odd questions.
Crossing the apartment, Chae headed for the bathroom. She just wanted to have a hot shower and scrub herself down. Standing under the hot water, Chae closed her eyes and just allowed the water to run over her skin. Reaching out through the Force, Chae was slowly able to calm her mind and feelings. Stepping out of the shower, Chae dried herself and wrapped a bathrobe around herself.
The scent of herbal tea hit Chae's senses when she returned to the lounge area. It lightened her mood. Chae was glad she had agreed to let her father keep her company after having the type of evening she'd had. If nothing else, Qui-Gon just knew which herbal tea was needed for any given situation. Chae had given up trying to find out how he had such a talent for it. He had not once budged and let her know anything useful. It made her wonder if it was somehow connected to her mother. That would explain why he wouldn't talk about it.