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Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm.


A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

STAR WARS

The First Apprentice

It is a time of uncertainty. The Galactic Republic, an institution which has stood for a millennium, has grown stagnant. In this time of peace, criminal organizations, underworld cartels and secret societies have grown in influence throughout the galaxy. Unrest spreads across the worlds of the Outer Rim and unbeknownst to all, dark forces are at work to exploit the peace and spread chaos. The Sith Lord Darth Plagueis and his apprentice Darth Sidious work to undermine the Republic and ultimately destroy the Jedi Order. Despite their goals, their identities as Lords of the Sith remain secret. Sidious, known to the public as Palpatine of Naboo, now journeys back to his homeworld after ensuring the Senate's vote against the growing expansion of the Trade Federation. In his travels, he ponders on how best to secure more power for himself and his master.

54 years before the Battle of Yavin


Chapter 1: Gift from the Dark Side

The dark of the void. It was so close, close enough that all he'd need do was reach out with the Force. A single pulse and the barrier would be broken and all those who stood in the cabin with him would be sucked into that infinite blackness.

Ambassador Palpatine of Naboo stared out the reinforced glass dome that surrounded him and his fellows. They had been waiting for over three standard hours for their transport. It had never been this late before. He pondered what had delayed them. A malfunction? A miscommunication of orders? Perhaps some members of the crew suffered a tragic accident and were calling reserves to replace them? Whatever the reason, Palpatine was not worried. The situation would be resolved sooner or later. He had time to kill, but no activities to use as his weapon.

He would never say it out loud, especially not now, but he had become bored. Hence the entertainment of his murderous thoughts. With a single pulse of the Force, he could crack or even shatter the glass dome. Simply cracking it would be more amusing, the crowd around him would scream and scatter like a swarm of terrified hawkbats. It was not often he found himself with nothing to do. Well, that was not entirely true. He could easily converse with the people around him. Make connections and earn favor with the but at the moment that was not particularly interesting. They had just departed from the gala at Malastare and he felt that any further attempts to win favor through charm alone would be seen as pushy.

Not to mention, no one was in the mood to talk politics right now. Not since the outburst Senator Kim had displayed earlier. Palpatine did not blame the man. Losing one's entire family was a crippling blow. Especially to a noble of Naboo. His entire family line had been stolen from him by the cruelty of fate. His only hope now was a son that likely no longer cared for him. Such was the mindset of those taken into the Jedi Order.

Vidar Kim. Palpatine's mentor in Naboo's Legislative Youth Program and the closest thing in the galaxy that could be considered to be his friend. Now, a heartbroken old man. Did he pity his mentor? Yes, he did. While the loss of family was not something he personally grieved over, he could understand what it was like to have someone's entire world be shattered without warning. It was similar to the time he had lost his own family over a decade ago but on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. There was no heartbreak for Palpatine, and the result was jubilation combined with a new sense of purpose rather than crippling defeat. He still remembered how it happened, but there was no emotion to the memory. How he had killed his parents and siblings in a fit of hatred and rage. When he recalled the memory, it felt like he was viewing it through the photo receptors of some droid automata that had taken his place.

Kim had taken a blow that few regular beings could recover from. This would likely end his career as the Senator of Naboo. All the better. It was a position Palpatine had craved for some time, but he was patient. It was best to keep his hands as clean as possible. It would not do to draw the wrong kind of attention to him and displease his master. Too much hinged on his ascension through the ranks of the Republic Senate. The culmination of the Grand Plan was close at hand, but they would need to play their cards carefully if the vision of Darth Bane was to be realized at long last.

Palpatine shook his head. He was daydreaming again. Scanning the crowd in the lush garden, he spotted Vidar slumped over a bench, Kinman Doriana, another Ambassador and Palpatine's secret confidant, sat next to him. Further down, he saw Senator Tarkin and Senator Pax Teem of the Gran species. He considered joining in on their conversation purely for the sake of passing the time, but there was nothing that came to mind and to try and force it would appear needy. It would not do.

Sighing to himself, Palpatine took his leave and exited the domed garden. As he crossed the threshold of the exit a serving droid approached him to offer one final drink before he waved the droid away and continued on. There was no real destination in mind, there was a goal. To create the illusion of time moving faster than it actually was. As he strolled through the stark white corridor with a clear view of space, his mind drifted to the application of Sith Sorcery. In the words of Darth Bane, Sith Sorcery was the greatest expression of the Dark Side. According to Darth Plagueis, its applications were near limitless, only rivaled by that of Sith Alchemy. Oh, how he hungered for the knowledge to wield such power. He often wondered just how much was being kept from him. How far behind was he? One level? Five? Fifty? There was no real way of knowing other than challenging Plagueis himself.

Something in the side of his vision caught his attention. Turning to the glass window he saw the large bulky form of a Senate transport. Shaped like a flat sea crustacean, its design was intended for both comfort and a large passenger load. As such it lacked any means of defending itself. Which made the battle damage a sight to behold. Dotted across its red hull was a score of black starburst burn marks.

Three new ships appeared from hyperspace. They were long bulky things with semi circular shells protecting their bridges. Palpatine narrowed his eyes at the ships. Trandoshan Slaver Hulks. What was scum like this doing so close to the Galactic Core?

The three slave ships closed in on the transport, strafing it with fire from their turbolasers. Fires erupted across the transport and within moments it was consumed by a fiery explosion. The structure of the space station shook due to the proximity of the shockwave.

When the light dies out, the slave hulks changed their trajectory and made for the station. Alarm claxons sounded and red lights came to life throughout the corridor.

Palpatine glared at the Trandoshan ships for a moment, annoyed that this scum would dare interfere with his business. For a moment, he wondered if he should take off the mask. Reveal himself as Darth Sidious and slaughter not just the alien transgressors but also the any who saw him.

"Palpatine!" Called out Vidar Kim, who came running with a pair of Senate Guards flanking him, Palpatine stowed his frustration away, he had a role to play.

With a look of panic, Palpatine asked. "What's happening?"

"Pirates!" Answered Kim. "They followed our transport here and now they're boarding the station."

"Senator." Said one of the guards. "We need to get you to the residential suites and lock it down. There are not enough of us to protect the entire delegation."

"Quite right." Kim turned to his junior and motioned for him to follow.

They ran along the passageways as the station shook again. The Trandoshans must have boarded by now. As the distant pop of blaster fire reached their ears, Palpatine found himself troubled. Something was off, not with the Trandoshans, but with the Force. He sensed a disturbance. The calm state of the Force around him had changed. It had gone from calm to tumultuous.

As they ran the boarders breached further into the station. Despite the risk of Jedi arriving on the scene, Palpatine opened himself up to the Force. What he felt surprised him. An onrush of fear and pain filled him. There was so much of it that he could not accurately pinpoint its location without having to stop and fully reveal his Force signature. Quickly closing himself off to it, he focused on reaching the residential areas. This was strange and he needed to focus on where this presence was coming from.

As they reached a four way junction red blaster bolts crashed into the walls, scorching them black. Kim and Palpatine pressed against the walls for cover. The guards rushed out into the corridor and returned fire.

The loud grunts and hisses of the reptilian aliens could be heard as they gunned down the guards. As they fell, Palpatine had an idea. Before the second guard hit the ground, he gestured with two fingers and the guard's arms flailed, tossing the blaster he held to the Ambassador's side.

Picking it up, Palpatine glanced around the corner and saw five of the thugs marching down to inspect their kills. Their crude armor covered up their ugly scaled bodies. In a hushed voice he spoke. "Senator, go get help, I'll try to stall them."

Kim gave him a mortified stare. "Are you mad? You have no combat training. You'll be slaughtered."

'If only you knew.' The Sith wanted to grin with feral delight but kept up the stoic expression. "Now is not the time to worry about me Vidar. They are here to hold us for ransom. You must find a way to call for help. There are too many Senators present for us to be captured."

"You are the last of House Palpatine, you can't afford to die here."

"Then my house will end in a blaze no one had expected of me." Playing the hero was not something he had on the agenda today, but he did find it slightly amusing that Kim cared so much as to have them run together.

"If you mean all that trouble you caused as a youth, I assure you that no one thinks of you that way anymore."

Palpatine almost smirked. Kim was one of the few close enough to him to know about all the trouble that was brought about during his days as a child and teenager. Of course, no one thought about it anymore. As Plagueis said, short lived beings have even shorter memories.

"We have no time to argue on this, you are the Senator, I am a mere Ambassador. There are dozens of suitable candidates to take my place." Palpatine intoned with a false sense of stubborn duty.

Kim looked like he was about to retort, perhaps say that was incorrect. That the student he had personally groomed was the best suited to take his place and while Palpatine would have agreed wholeheartedly, a mask of humility and selflessness was essential to his public appearance.

A bolt of red energy struck the floor beside the Ambassador, making both men flinch. Kim almost fell flat on his back, and Palpatine pressed himself against the wall. Examining the blaster, he found the safety switch and flicked it with his thumb. Turning the corner, he returned fire. Only managing to fire three shots before a volley of bolts forced him behind cover again.

While he wore a face of stressed panic, inside he was completely calm. He had faced down legions of battle automata on Hypori, survived the frigid cold of Mygeeto for days while half naked and crossed blades with the Dark Lord of the Sith. These pitiful creatures were nothing to him.

As they round the corner, blasters all aimed squarely at him. They held their stance for a moment. He could feel their bloodlust. Anger mixed with excitement washed over him, almost distracting him from the echoes of pain that he felt. In a sense, he almost felt a commonality with them. Many Sith throughout history used these disgusting creatures for their own gain. They had a natural respect for strength.

Palpatine held his blaster at the ready, deliberately keeping a poor posture as to feign weakness. They made a series of hissing sounds that formed a strange facsimile of laughter. One swiped at the blaster with a claw, knocking it out of his hand. A second strike landed in his stomach forcing him to keel over, and finally one raised their weapon, bringing it down to strike him on the skull. The impact did not render him unconscious, but it did bring him to the floor. Trandoshan strength was not something that should be taken lightly.

He felt their claws wrap around his arms. They pulled him and proceeded to drag him. If he had to guess, they were likely taking him to their ship. He kept his eyes closed and his body limp, doing his best to appear powerless. Just as planned.

Ignoring the pain, he opened himself up once more. He almost hissed at throbbing in his skull was compounded by the suffering he felt through the Force. Whomever was letting out this psychic scream was strong and at the same time weak. This was no Jedi. They felt pain and fear like any other being, but they denied themselves the power offered to them from their natural superiority over ordinary beings. A Jedi would not let out a Force Scream like this. Deduction told Sidious that whomever was screaming had no training.

Allowing his perception to expand, he witnessed the battle on the station through the eyes of all who were fighting. The Senate Guards were doing better than he had anticipated, there were not as many Trandoshans as he thought. Most were focused on the lower levels where the guard presence was at its weakest. He found Kim. The old fool was standing his ground, albeit at the rear of the defense. Tarkin was there too, he looked to be more in his element when compared to Kim and the rest of the delegation. Palpatine filed that tidbit of knowledge away for later as he switched his focus to the slave barges. Two were fully packed, but the third was almost empty. The source of the disturbance was coming from one of the packed ones. The second farthest from his position. Focusing his senses on his current environment, he felt only two of the brutes carrying him. The rest had moved on.

Perfect. With a wicked grin, he hopped to his feet and with the Force he hurled his captors to the ceiling. As they shouted in surprise, he tore their blasters from their grip and allowed them to drop. Palpatine planted a series of bolts all across the aliens' bodies and across the corridor. He needed to make it look like a struggle.

Straightening out his shimmersilk robe he admired his handywork for a moment. It was rare that he got to act out this way. Now that he was alone, he had no reason to restrain himself. The temptation to draw the lightsaber he had tucked in his sleave was present, but he decided not to act on it. If a Jedi were to investigate the scene afterwards, they would be able to identify the markings left by their signature weapon.

So, he walked along. Calm and focused. Following the echo of the scream. There was no pity in him for this being, but he was curious as to who or what it could be. That and he felt something else goading him along. The Dark Side surged through him stronger than it ever had before, urging him to investigate. Whatever it was, it was meant for him.

The roar of distant fighting could be heard, but he felt no rush. Casually, he navigated the passageways. The Dark Side guiding his movements, showing him the way without even needing to check the directors guides he would pass by.

He could not help but feel a small bit of apprehension as he drew closer to the Force Signature. Was this a test from Plagueis? Did he train another apprentice in secret and arrange a chance meeting between the two as a test to see who was superior? Surely not. Sidious had not done anything to upset his master that had not gone unpunished until now. Even if it were some sort of test, it would not make sense to put his apprentice in danger.

Coming up to the airlocks of the station, he felt the presence of two Trandoshans by the entrance. Seeing no reason to hide, he calmly walked up to them and before they could even raise their weapons, he had them in his grip. Creating a pinching gesture, he cut off their air supply. On approach, he watched gasp and struggle to breath. Dropping their weapons, they writhed on the ground as they gagged and choked. Grabbing one of their blasters, he repeated the actions of his last encounter with the slavers. This had called out another pair of guards, which he also delt with.

Stepping through the hatch, he found himself in a dark space. Before he boarded the ship, he took a moment to feel the currents of negativity flowing around him. Pain. Fear. Sorrow and anger.

It was strange. The more he reveled in this flow, the more he felt in tune with the Dark Side. Whomever was within, was a storm within the Force.

Stepping inside, he held on to his looted blaster. This place was full of slaves, and he did not want anyone to mistake him for a Jedi. Killing them would be even worse because then he would have to silence them all and that might draw more eyes to him. Better to play the hero for now.

He found a crude ladder and climbed it. These thugs have not cleaned their ship for some time. Disgusting. While he was a minimalist, Sidious still valued keeping what you owned clean. It displayed a sense of discipline and order.

Walking through an empty bridge, he reached the hatch to the cargo hold. Cargo being the slaves they kept. The hatch slid open, and he took notice of a number of gasps and hushed whispers. Inside was two levels of ray shielded holding cells. Stretching out with the Force he found the birthplace of the storm. It was one level below.

"Hey. Hey!" Came a voice in Galactic Basic.

Palpatine turned to the right. Inside one of the cells was a bearded man dressed in what appeared to be simple woven cloth. Worn and ragged by his time in the care of the Trandoshans, he sported a series of freshly healed scars across his arms. He stared at the Ambassador with determination clear on his face.

"Are you with the Republic? Can you get us out of here?" His tone was frantic, but his intent was clear. Behind him was a woman dressed in a similar manner to him. His significant other most likely. Keeping them together for the sake of compliance.

For a moment he was tempted to ignore the slave and focus on his own objective. However, he gave a quick evaluation of the consequences of the choices before him. On one hand, he could simply go for his target and then set the ship to self-destruct once he leaves. The problem with that was he had no idea what or who was creating this turbulence within the Force. Depending on what he found, his tactics would have to change. On the other hand, if he helped these people, he'd be able to have his way with the Force user. Not to mention the good press he would receive for freeing a ship full of slaves. He did not care for the rabble, but they presented a use and that made them worth keeping alive.

Palpatine interacted with the control panel of the man's cell. Within moment, the energy shield that had contained him dropped. The dark haired woman cheered and hugged her husband. The bearded man quickly shushed her and turned to Palpatine.

Handing the man his blaster, Palpatine gave him instructions on what to do next. "Watch the entrance. They're occupied with station's defenders. I shall release the others."

With a brisk nod he ran to the bridge, Palpatine turned to the woman and in a calm and level voice requested for her to help him open the rest of the cages. The two opened each cell on opposite ends of the hold. Slowly making their way to the cell that held his objective.

Inside said cell was the body of a woman. She had long dark hair that sprawled across the cell floor. She was garbed the same as the rest of the people here. After opening the cell, he approached the woman and knelt by her side. There was no movement or response from her. Placing a hand to her throat, he felt no pulse, her skin was cold and her limbs stiff. This woman was dead.

But that made no sense. The disturbance was here. He could feel it.

The sound of sniffing pulled him from his scanning. In the dark corner of the cell, sitting in a fetal position was a child. A young girl. Was she the woman's child?

He stepped towards her, keeping his movements silent. Children in distress were easily frightened. He knew this from experience tormenting his siblings.

"Excuse me." He said politely, making the girl gasp.

"Are you alright?" The child did not move.

"I am not going to hurt you." She started to shake, slowly she lifted her head up, revealing a pair of silver eyes that shone in the dim light.

Palpatine stayed silent for a moment to allow her to speak, when she did not, he offered her his hand. "You are free now. The slavers are gone."

She shook for a moment, he felt her fear, her uncertainty. The was something else, a small spark of hope. Standing, she revealed that she only wore a dirty brown cloth for a dress. Around the age of five, she took small steps, giving the impression of reaching for his hand. Only for her to swat it aside and ran past him.

Palpatine made no motion to stop her. Escape from a Sith Lord was impossible for a child of her age. Calmly, he turned to watch her having already reached the ladder and climbing it. Fast. That was interesting. Children are not that swift.

"Wait!" He called in a worried tone of voice. He had an image to maintain.

Chasing after her, he pushed past the small crowd at the ships entrance. The bearded man tried to stop him, but Palpatine shoved him aside in his pursuit.

Now back in the corridors of the station, he used his senses to track her. Unlike him in his youth, she had no means of concealing herself withing the Force. This meant she had nowhere to hide from him. Striding down a passage, unheeding of the crowd that followed him, Palpatine tracked his quarry.

"I'm Marrdun." The bearded man said after catching up with Sith.

"I am Ambassador Palpatine of Naboo."

"Thank you for helping us, Ambassador."

Palpatine did not continue the conversation as a scream brought him to a run. Surging ahead of the crowd, he rounded the corner and used the Force to augment his speed, turning him into a blur of color.

Within moments he found the girl in the clutches of a Trandoshan. It held her by arms. She flailed and squirmed in pain as the reptilian biped laughed at her state of weakness.

When it noticed Palpatine, it raised its blaster. Knowing a crowd of people were closing in behind him, he decided to improvise. Reaching out through the Force, he grasped the creature's wrist and twisted it to the point he heard its resilient bones break. The child fell from its grasp and ran towards him. This surprised Sidious as she hid behind his robes, tugging at him with her shaking hands.

The Trandoshan growled in anger and aimed the blaster, but never fired. Palpatine kept its clawed hand firmly clasped around the handle of the gun. The alien tilted its head and looked at the frozen limb, wondering why it could not move so much as a finger.

Palpatine altered his posture to look more threatened as he heard a mass of footsteps from behind him. Someone let out an angry shout and before a red blaster bolt crashed into the reptile's chest.

Marrdun ran past the Ambassador with three other men to check the body of the Trandoshan.

Glancing behind him. He saw the messy black hair if the girl he had been following. Slowly, he wrapped one of his hands around hers. He felt her flinch before looking up at him. Those shining silver irises met his blue eyes and he saw the desperation on her face. Her hair was black and ended in tinges of red.

"Do you know a way out?" Marrdun asked as one of his men kicked and spat on the corpse.

"There is none. They destroyed the transport I was meant to depart in."

"Damn." Marrdun cursed.

"Fear not, my friend. Once the Trandoshans have been delt with the Republic will send another transport for us. We need only wait, and you'll be back to… Excuse me but where are you from?"

"Dantooine."

Palpatine furrowed his brow. That was quite the distance. Glancing down at the girl again, she continued to sob as she stared at him. "I cannot imagine what you might have suffered at the hands of those fiends."

"Yeah. And she suffered the most." Marrdun gestured to the youth at Palpatine's side. "Lost her guardian while we were in there."

"Guardian?" Asked the Ambassador. "Not her mother?"

"Nah." Marrdun shook his head. "She ain't got no parents. Showed up in our village sometime back. Verdina took her in. You already saw what happened to her."

The girl sniffed before tightening her grip on his robes. So, she was an orphan. This was highly convenient.

Palpatine firmed his lips. "And what is her name? I would ask her, but it is clear she is in no state to have a conversation."

"Ruby Rose."


An hour had past and the Trandoshan boarders had been repelled. It had been a sloppy operation. The aliens were overly confident in their natural strength over humans. They were picked off, those that survived till the end made an escape, taking the empty shuttle. The authorities had been contacted and were sending an emergency relief force to aid both the Senators present and the recently emancipated slaves.

Palpatine sat on a bench in the garden dome, taking small glances at the child by his side. She was a scruffy thing but that hardly mattered. The Force swirled about her in a frenzy of emotion, both positive and negative. The positive was due to the chilled desert the Ambassador had managed to procure to calm the child down.

He wondered, was this what Plagueis saw in him when he stopped hiding his own strength in the Force? That begged another question. What was he supposed to do?

"Palpatine!" Yelled Vidar Kim as he rushed over to his resting aid.

"Senator." Palpatine greeted, straightening his posture and smoothing out his red hair.

"By the Force. Are you alright?" Kim asked glancing at Palpatine's head.

Raising a hand, he felt the lump on his head left by the strike he had suffer at the moment of his intentional capture. "Oh. Do not worry about this. It's just a bump."

"I have no idea what possessed you to do what you did back there. I swear you'll give me a heart attack, then my House will end thanks to you."

Both men let out a short laugh. All the excitement had strung the sorrow out of the Senator for the moment. Palatine expected that to change once they returned to Naboo.

Kim carried on. "Still, what you did today was nothing short of miraculous. Escaping your captors and freeing an entire ship full of enslaved humans. If there was any doubt before if you would take my place once I retire, I'd consider it dashed."

"I am honored, but I would have done it all the same." Palpatine doing his best to make it appear that he did not believe he deserved any sort of praise.

"I am very proud of you. I knew there was potential in you when I singled you out back in the Legislative Youth Program. Even with your father ranting in my ear to keep a close watch on you."

Kim then turned his gaze to the girl at the Ambassador's side. "And who might this be? One of the unfortunates that were brought here against their will?"

The girl looked at Kim and shrank in on herself as she scooted closer to Palpatine. "This little one is called Ruby Rose. She was a slave."

"Why is she here and not with her family?"

"From what I've been told, she has no family. The Trandoshans killed her acting guardian." Palpatine said with a note of sympathy.

Kim's mood deflated after hearing his aid's words. "It would appear I'm not the only one who's lost something important today."

The girl did not respond but continued to stare at him. Palpatine felt the waves of fear role off her, he also noticed them lessen as she drew closer to him. She trusted him. He could work with that.

"Indeed. Being orphaned is a horrible experience. But I can promise you, young one, things shall get better for you." The girl looked at him, hope present in her eyes.

"What are you saying?" Asked Senator Kim.

"That I plan to take her in." Palpatine said plainly. "It would be cruel to send her back to Dantooine with no one left to care for her. And sending her to an orphanage would not be much better, no matter what system the authorities deem fitting."

"Are you sure about this? Not that I am complaining, but this might impact your work."

Palpatine scoffed at the notion. "Please, Vidar. Even a solitary man like myself needs company. Besides, I'm likely the last of House Palpatine, it would not hurt to have someone to leave it all to once I'm gone."

"You aren't joking, are you? Adopting a child? This is against tradition you know. Surely you could have one of your own. You're only twenty-eight."

"If I believed I could manage it, I would already have someone waiting for me back on Naboo." Palpatine jested.

Kim responded with a sly smirk. "Really? That's not what I heard. Doriana told me you were quite the charmer at gala. You got the hostess' attention rather easily."

"Then you would know that the woman was slightly drunk, and I had no intention of leading her on. Politics I can handle. Romance is out of my depth unfortunately." Palpatine remembered how the woman of dark hair and blue eyes slipped him a letter to her personal residence, and how she was tipsy on her heels as she walked off.

"You give yourself too little credit Palpatine, but still, I won't stop you. I might have to follow your example if I cannot convince my one remaining son to return to Naboo to continue my line." Kim said, his dour mood returning to him.

"It is not likely that he will return, Kim. Your son was taken by the Jedi. They are his family now." Palpatine hide the spite in his words. Ripping children from their families and claiming the moral high ground. The parents' consent did not change the fact that children's lives were decided for them from the start. If they at least admitted this practice was not ethical, then he would respect them more for their honesty.

Palpatine ignored what Kim said next and turned to the girl again. Wondering what would happen if the Jedi found her. They would leave her behind because of her age? Force her to suppress her power for fear of it being a danger to others? If they found her at the preferred age, she would make a mighty enemy in the years to come but would ultimately be another casualty in the name of the Grand Plan. In other words, it would be nothing but wasted potential. Another of the powerful, forced to bend the knee for the sake of the meek and ungifted. Such a thought made him angry.

In response to his rage, he felt the Dark Side flow through him. It had brought him to this child, or perhaps it had brought her to him. One the Jedi and the Light would reject for not fitting their rigid and hypocritical doctrine. But the Dark would accept her, for the Dark was generous.

Plagueis would not approve of this. It was a violation of the Rule of Two. But then again, the Muun had already renounced the tenant set by Darth Bane. So, why could he not do the same? With some persuasion he could convince his master to overlook this and see her as an asset. After all, why would anyone reject such a gift?

"Regardless. I must try. But not now. Not when there has yet to even be a funeral." Kim concluded with a somber tone.

"Again. I am truly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, my friend. I hope you can give this little one a life few could dream of." Kim said, forcing a smile for the girl before taking his leave.

"Oh, I most definitely will." Sidious replied silently, letting a grin form on his face while his mentor walked away.

After roughly ten standard minutes of silence, three shapes appeared outside the dome. One Senate transport, the exact same as the one that was destroyed earlier. Flanking it were two Consular class cruisers. Palpatine remarked on speed in which they responded. Anything to protect the galaxy's elite.

The girl stared at them in wonder. This did not surprise the Ambassador. Dantooine was not an overly industrialized world. By reputation, most people there preferred the simple life.

"Wow." She muttered, almost dropping her chilled treat on his robe.

"Impressive is it not." Palpatine said with a gentle smile. "You do not have to worry anymore, my little friend. I am here for you now."

"Th-thank you, sir." She said in a shy manner. That would have to be taken care of. But not now. For now, he had to earn her trust and build up her confidence.

He placed a hand over her shoulder. "You are most welcome."

They sat there for the rest of their time until more Senate guards appeared to escort all the delegates out. He moved with the crowd with his new ward in hand. As they boarded the ship, the girl would not stop clutching his robes for fear that if she did, he would leave her.

"Please take your seats." Said a stick thin droid on treads as it moved along the passenger space.

Palpatine allowed the girl to take a seat next to a viewport. She stared out into open space. The child was curious. He did not object to this. There was little he could do without forcing her to be less receptive to him. Soon, he would have to enforce discipline, but for now, he would allow her to be indulged. This child was a gift. A gift from the Dark Side itself. He had to treat her properly before he allowed her to be broken. It was a necessity. One had to be broken, so that they could be remade by the Dark Side.

Sidious grinned as he contemplated events to come. On how he would shape the destiny of this gifted child to his liking. On what they would accomplish together. Her doing his bidding from the shadows, while he stood in the light and pulled the strings of the Republic.

He even contemplated taking her with him to Dathomir, just so she could experience the presence of the Dark Side. No. She was too young. Ironic as that was. He could not break her right away. He would need to instill the tenants of the Sith within her before fully guiding her into the embrace of the Dark Side. He would need to be patient, but with time, he would forge her into a weapon which he would wield against the Jedi. And who knows, perhaps she would even grow beyond that. If she could manage it, he would praise her. He would still fight with all his might, but if he failed, he would gain the one comfort allotted to all who followed the Rule of Two. That his death would herald the coming of one more powerful than himself.

Ultimately, that was all that mattered. You had power or you had nothing.


Here's my attempt at a STAR WARS story. Let me know if I got some things wrong.

I am mostly going to be relying on Legends material for this story. Clones Wars content and characters will be included but most of it will be from Legends.

I hope you all enjoy it. Have a Great day.