Senator Sheev Palpatine finished his quick trip to the fresher with a last check in the mirror. He was about to be invited into the sanctum sanctorum.

The Valorum sanctum sanctorum.

The request had come from Bail Organa after the Alderaanian senator had made polite contact and Palpatine sent him Pestage's research. Please do not bring an aide. We ask that you make no notes.

So, Palpatine approached the Alderaan Delegation, on the other side of the Senate Office Building, alone.

An aide showed him in and directed him to a small, close conference room decorated in a cool sage green. The walls felt fifteen centimeters thick, so soft was the silence. Around an oval conference table sat the Corellian Senator Garm Bel Iblis, who rose to give him a bow, and a slight young woman with short red hair who could only be the new junior from Chandrila. Mon Mothma rose and bowed her head to him.

Senator Bail Organa approached from a corner, stopped, and bowed. "Senator Palpatine. Thank you for coming."

Palpatine gave them all a deep bow, understanding the importance of an air of reverence. "You're most welcome," he said. "Any way that I can be of help." He turned and gave Mothma a half bow and said, "Welcome, Senator Mothma."

"Thank you," she said.

Sereine was there, seated at the end of the table, wrapped in her working gray cloak with her hair braided and tucked in. She was the only person with a datapad. She seemed drawn into herself, head down, and didn't look up; sulking, most likely. Unprofessional of her.

"I'm afraid we're still waiting for someone," murmured Organa, and curiosity flared in Palpatine. "If all of you would sit, I'm sure he'll be here momentarily."

Palpatine felt a strange reluctance to sit close to her. He remembered other times he had seen her in that pose. She'd told him later she'd felt almost poisoned with lust, but hadn't felt it appropriate to touch him first. And that brought up completely inappropriate thoughts, together with a surge of anger that had him checking his Force-shielding. Fortunately, as it turned out, for the sixth member of the meeting chose that precise moment to enter.

Jedi Master Dooku strode in, so tall his head nearly hit the door frame. Organa touched the door controls to seal them in, and Dooku gave the senators a deep bow of his own. "Honorable Senators," he said. "I apologize for my tardiness."

"You're not so very late, Master Dooku," said Organa. "Come in and sit with us. Senators—and Sereine—this is Master Dooku of the Jedi Temple."

Garm Bel Iblis sat, leaving space for Organa and Dooku and pushing Palpatine toward the foot of the table. Reluctantly, he took the chair beside Sereine. She didn't look up, and he refused to look over at her.

Organa pointed around the table. "Senators Mothma from Chandrila, Bel Iblis—Correllia—Senator Palpatine from Naboo, and the lady is Sereine Lumisol. All of us, and the Chancellor, have her in common as a consultant and speechwriter."

Sereine gave Dooku a short half bow, which he returned as he took a chair. "Madame."

Bail sat at the head of the table. "I believe you all know the particulars of the situation in question. Master Dooku was the Jedi involved, who brought the matter to me."

Palpatine put the kindest inflection into his voice. "We're grateful that you're safe, Master Jedi."

"Thank you, sir," said Dooku. His eyes glowed like burning black coals, boring into Palpatine himself and Sereine beside him, and Palpatine thought he could guess the reason. He drew a breath and consciously relaxed his facial muscles to keep the smile off his lips. Once again, months of preparation and study had paid off.

"I presume everyone has had a chance to review the research so graciously shared by Senator Palpatine," said Bail. "However, there's a concern that we still don't have enough to approach Chancellor Valorum, even with the four of us as signatories to a formal request."

Garm Bel Iblis's baritone cut through the formalities. "Sereine, what is the issue here?" He'd brought a copy of Palpatine's research with him, and riffled the pages. "Some of this is pretty damning."

Dooku cleared his throat. "The issue appears to be me," he said. "I was Master Yoda's Padawan for some nine years. The question of slavery is an old issue between us, I'm afraid."

"Palpatine's dossier is up to date," said Sereine, finally glancing about the table, "but it isn't anything Finis doesn't surmise, or we all haven't, for years."

"If it were enough, he'd be pushing it now," said Organa. "It's part of the platform he ran on. He does seem to be a most compassionate person."

"It's that there's a personal issue he won't want to wade into," said Sereine. "He considers Master Yoda a close personal friend. That, and there's nothing new here to help force the barriers on something that's been screaming for progress for years."

"Eons," murmured Mothma, and Bel Iblis nodded.

Sereine shrugged. "I mean, you can approach him now. There's no reason you can't approach again when he declines. Especially you two." She indicated Organa and Bel Iblis with her eyes. "There are senators Finis watches, and follows very closely. You two are among that number. You could say you each have an admirer in a high place. You two approach him again, and he'll move it to the top of the pile. But you still need something new."

Palpatine listened, trying to ignore Dooku's eyes on him.

"It's always the same argument," Mothma complained. "Not enough Jedi to enforce; spread too thin."

"Member worlds' constabularies unwilling to enforce." Palpatine found a place to step in. "What you have here is a failure of leadership, moral leadership, all the way round. The Senate and the Jedi are meant to set the example, not follow it. If either body would step up and lead and set a moral tone, the galaxy would follow. We simply aren't doing that."

His peripheral vision picked up a quick and approving glance from Sereine at his left. Master Dooku responded with, "Absolutely," and Mothma said, "Yes, sir."

"You won't get any argument from Finis on that one," said Sereine. "He just doesn't want to tangle with Master Yoda. It seems like there's this hard push from inside the Temple not to get involved."

"There most definitely is." Master Dooku sent a grim look around the table. Palpatine returned it, reflecting briefly that Sith, during the years of their training, were all effectively slaves. Considering that, it seemed only natural to desire and want, once their master's blade was finally lifted from their necks. Sereine stirred at the corner of his vision and he felt that flare of anger inside him again.

Organa turned to Dooku with an air of intensity. "What I want to know is, why? The Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic. How do they just let this lie?" Bail threw his hands in the air, beginning to abandon formality.

Dooku sighed, lowered his own graying head, and steepled his fingertips. "There's a strong feeling in the Temple that the Jedi must not be masters of the Republic, but servants of the people. That we take our lead from the people as expressed by the will of the Senate, that to dictate terms goes against the spirit of the Jedi Code. So the Jedi are not leaders, but followers. And therefore, many of them will not lead."

Palpatine, who had been briefed on the Alderaan incident in a private holoconference with Organa, allowed himself the luxury of an angry nonverbal snort.

Bel Iblis, whom he had never met, regarded him with a quick, grim smile. "Do they not realize they are carrying this into the realm of the ridiculous? I don't think the Jedi Code was meant to foster inaction in the face of grave injustice, and to take a moral stand is a far cry from taking the Chancellor's podium."

Dooku turned to look him full in the face. "Thank you, Senator Bel Iblis. I have been saying this for years, as has my own Padawan, Master Qui-Gon Jinn. And I find that we are the unpopular ones for our views on the subject."

Sereine tapped the table. "What you need," she said, "is some hot cannon that makes this obvious and unassailable. Finis is with you, he really is. You give him that hot cannon and you've got him. He needs to have something to put in Master Yoda's face. Something Yoda can't argue with. You hand him that, and you get him to make his mind up. He does want to take this up. He's just looking for some viable way to do it."

"We've got to prod him with that hot cannon," said Mothma, and Bail and Dooku nodded. "The question is," she said, looking around the table, "what is it?"

"I want to know that myself," said Dooku. "Since I watched forty people freeze in the vacuum of space, I have spent nights awake, wondering what was said that led to that. And by whom."

"If we could lay hands on that, it would be nice," said Sereine dryly. "Otherwise, you're going to be nagging Finis on this for a long time."

Dooku stared at the table for a long moment, and blinked.

"Well, I can't lay hands on it. But there are two people in this room who can." He raised his head and looked directly at Palpatine and Sereine.

Instantly Lord Sidious realized what he meant, and the thought of gaining access to the Jedi Temple flamed a different desire in his mind. That, and the realization that his and Maul's months of practice were indeed this successful sparked a moment of pride. He reminded himself that he needed to go home and write a chapter on that work as soon as possible. Darkness forbid that such an essential skill ever be lost to the Order again.

"I'm sorry, Master Jedi, I'm afraid I don't follow," said Bel Iblis.

"The Temple records room," said Dooku. "All communications to and from the mother house are stored there on holocron. I'm sure that whatever contretemps lead to forty prisoners dying in the void are available on the holocrons for that star date for anyone to steal."

Dead silence fell around the table. Sidious had to fight to keep from smiling. He fastened his gaze on the table and drew several soft breaths, disciplining his mind, gently relaxing his face.

"I can't steal them," Dooku continued. "I am well-known, and it's a known phenomenon among trained Jedi that if one of us has been in a place or touched an object, one who knows us will be able to sense this for some time after. For instance—" he turned to Senator Organa— "if in one hour from now, you had a meeting with my master in this room, he would most certainly know that you had had a meeting with me in this room shortly before. It's one of the reasons only a few items in the Jedi Temple are kept under lock and key." A quick smirk curved his moustache and beard. "We rather have our own Force-based honor system."

Bel Iblis spoke in a cautious tone. "You said … two people? In this room?"

Dooku turned in his chair. "This is quite remarkable," he said, "because we Jedi don't often notice this in any being except members of the Toydarian species. Often their minds are blank to the Force, and impervious to us. Certainly, we don't perceive this from any Human. I myself have been a Jedi some fifty-seven years, and I have encountered this in a Human only twice before."

He turned that burning dark gaze again on Palpatine and Sereine. "However, I walk into this room, and I encounter not one of you, but two of you. It's uncanny." He gave his head a small shake. "I have a strong intuition that either of you could indeed commit larceny in the Temple and not leave a trace in the Force."

He addressed Palpatine, who by now had firm control and could look him straight in the eyes. "Honorable sir, I would never ask you, but …"

His gaze tracked over to Sereine. "Madame Lumisol. May I touch your mind?"

Palpatine turned in time to see Sereine bridle and blink. "I'm sorry, what?" she said.

"If I might …" said Dooku, and then he got up. He rounded the table to Sereine and stood there, so close to Palpatine his cloak brushed his sleeve. Sidious felt a dart of triumph and turned in his seat so no one could see his face. I have got to get used to this, he thought.

A newfound power was always a delight. Sidious had thought he was almost out of them. The ability to close himself off to others also meant other beings' energies wouldn't bother him so much henceforth: a most welcome benefit.

"If you will allow it," said Dooku, looking down at Sereine, who backed up her chair and stared up at him with alarm in her brown eyes, "I want to attempt to touch your mind in the Force."

So do I, Palpatine thought, and Good luck with that. Many was the night he had awoken and been startled to find her there beside him at the other side of his bed, having absolutely no sense anyone else was even in the room. He, too, had searched for her in the Force. From time to time.

Sereine blinked up at him, and Palpatine recalled she had been similarly intimidated by Pestage. What is it, height in a man, or the deep voice? Palpatine thought, annoyed.

"What does that entail?" she said, her voice flat and doubtful.

"I'll simply touch your face briefly. I don't believe you will feel a thing," said Dooku.

"For the purposes of … ?"

"I want to know if you truly are Force-blind."

Uneasy stirrings at the far end of the table made her turn her head. "Anyone else know anything about this?" she asked. "Anyone ever done this before?"

Three sectorial senators looked at one another. Organa said, "No, I'm afraid not, 'Reine."

What? Palpatine thought. He had believed he was the only one who called her that. "I don't believe it will harm you, Sereine," he said. "You should." Because, personally, he was intensely curious to have a second opinion of her. If she had any propensity to form a dyad in the Force, he should have found it.

At last, Sereine looked at him. Palpatine looked evenly back at her and gave her a little nod.

She looked up at Dooku and said, "All right."

Palpatine stood up and gave the Jedi master his seat.

Dooku sat and rolled the chair closer. Palpatine retreated to the closest wall and stood. Rancors couldn't drag him farther from this.

The Jedi master reached out and placed his long, spidery fingers on Sereine's cheek under her eye. Then he frowned and changed his grip, reaching behind her head to the back of her neck instead. She startled a little at that and pulled back; then she closed her eyes.

The Jedi master frowned a moment, then closed his eyes.

Lord Sidious chafed at not being able to allow himself to sense the Force in the room.

After a minute, a slow smile showed itself in Dooku's graying beard.

He spoke softly to her. "Everyone's told you you're Force-blind, haven't they?"

"Um … actually, no one's ever told me anything," said Sereine.

Master Dooku lowered his hand and sat back, smiling. "Well, you're not," he said. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that."

She opened her eyes to peer up at him. "Well, what am I?" she said, her face and voice wary.

Dooku rested his hands on his thighs to lean forward and look straight into her face. "You are a vergence in the Force. Perfectly neutral. Right at zero."

What?! Sidious had to restrain himself. What did this foolish Jedi know? He, Sidious, knew her, every inch of her, had slept with her for two years. And certainly a talented Master Sith would know a vergence in the Force! He willed himself to remain silent.

Dooku turned to Organa, Bel Iblis, and Mothma to explain himself. "A vergence in the Force is a concentration of Force energy around something. It can be anything—a place, an item, a person. Some people call it a locus, or a Force nexus. And here, we have one." He gestured to Sereine.

"A vergence can be of any size. It can be positive, negative, or neutral. Light or dark, or in between. Although, in my experience as a Jedi, a so-called neutral vergence is rarely ever exactly neutral. All the ones I have encountered have been slightly to the light or dark. Not this one."

He turned back to Sereine. "You are not Force-blind, although you might as well be. You are so perfectly on balance you have no access to power and no signature in the Force. For our purposes, you could walk right into the Jedi Temple and steal from the records room, and if no one saw you, including the security cameras, you would leave no trace."

Sidious wondered passionately what her midichlorian count might be. Although he knew full well what the Jedi was saying, he couldn't resist questioning him further.

"Will she ever access the Force?" he said. "How powerful do you think she is?"

Dooku cast him a glance. He reached toward Sereine again, and she flinched. He raised his hands instead, tracing a pattern in the air around her. "Difficult to say," said Dooku. "As long as she remains in perfect neutrality, I think not. As to the other question, it's impossible for me to tell. Perhaps with testing at the Temple … although, I think a midichlorian count might tell us more than that."

Sereine closed her eyes and her brow furrowed between them. "I'd like to know a little more about all this," she said.

"I can direct you to some references, and answer questions if you have them," said Dooku. "In the meantime, if you would care to assist me, I think we may be able to find that hot cannon you're looking for."

Sereine opened her eyes. "I'm not saying I'll do anything," she said, glancing from Dooku to Palpatine to the three other senators in the room. "But if you'll discuss what you have in mind, I can think about whether I'm willing to participate."

Garm Bel Iblis cleared his throat at the front of the room. "I'm not sure these are discussions we should be privy to."

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I think whatever is done … should simply be done, and if I show up with certain evidence, then I do, and if I don't, well … I don't." She looked at Mothma. "Especially, a new senator needs to be light years away from this."

She looked at Dooku. "We should meet somewhere."

"Obviously, the Temple is out of the question."

Sereine bit her lip. "There's my apartment."

Palpatine couldn't suppress something between a snort and a cough. She looked up at him, and he said, "There's always our offices at the Naboo Delegation. After hours, perhaps."

Sereine shook her head. "I won't allow you to do that. I'm not getting you into another scrape, let alone one I'm implicated in."

Sidious of course had the perfect space, but he couldn't offer it to Dooku. Yet the idea of Sereine alone with this Jedi in her apartment rankled.

Bel Iblis cleared his throat. "The Corellian Delegation does have a rather substantial cruiser. A lapse of security could be arranged to provide the two of you a meeting space."

Organa got up and took Mothma's arm. "I don't know how much of this bit of the meeting we should be listening to," he murmured. She got up, and they clustered at the door.

Sereine rubbed her forehead. "Oh, I don't know. Things do tend to get around, and I wouldn't want it to cause trouble later." She looked up at Dooku. "All right. My apartment it is, only you must be aware living space on Coruscant is expensive and it isn't much of a space."

"I guarantee you I've been in much worse places, Madame," said Dooku.

"If you'll give me your contact information?" she said, holding up her datapad.

Mon Mothma called his name, and Palpatine was obliged to leave his place at the back of the room and join them at the door. Bel Iblis followed.

She directed a pointed look between themselves and the Jedi and their political consultant. "I worry about this. Are we all going to need a new consultant after she gets arrested? Surely there's a better way than this."

Organa shook his head. Palpatine whispered, "I observe this idea originated with the Jedi. It seems he's quite motivated to discover all that happened. I imagine he'll find a way with her or without her … but with her, we do share whatever they discover."

"All the same," said Bail. "I wasn't elected to public office to commit larceny."

"Nor was I," said Palpatine. "If they can crack this, however … if she ends up arrested, I'll bail her out."

"Oh, of course, we'll assist her," said Bel Iblis.

"I'm just not comfortable with this as a plan of action," said Bail.

Dooku approached and overheard. "She may not do this," he said. "It's just something we're discussing, is all. You need not concern yourselves. I'm sure you'll hear no more about it."

Palpatine had to drop his gaze to the floor and take a few slow, even breaths at that remark. He knew quite well what it was code for.

Mothma reached for the touchplate and opened the door. "I'm afraid this might have been a mistake." She turned to go, and the others followed her.

Bail turned around in the doorway. "Sereine? Are you all right?"

Sereine still sat at the table, her forehead in her hand. Bail walked back to her, and Palpatine followed. He aimed for the chair next to her, but Bail beat him to it, sat next to her, and put a hand on her back.

"I have the worst headache all of a sudden," Sereine said. "Whew."

Palpatine wanted to unmask and stretch his awareness toward her himself, but Dooku's voice outside the door stayed his hand. Instead, he watched impotently as Bail Organa ran his hand up and down her upper back.

"Can I get you anything?" he said.

"An anti-inflammatory and a lampshade," said Sereine, and sat up. She started wiping her eyes.

Bail got up and walked to the door and called for an aide.

Palpatine put his hand on her arm. "Darling?" he murmured.

"That just hit me in the head, as soon as he touched me," she said. "Wow." She tipped her chin and reached behind her head to massage the back of her neck. "Maybe I'm just a bit stressed about all this. I get headaches that way."

Palpatine cast a weather eye at the door, where a very tall shadow still fell into the room. Leave, he thought.

Bail strode back in with a glass of water and a tablet and set them on the table. "A prox and a glass of water," he said.

"Thanks, Bail," she said, and downed the tablet and half the water.

"If you're this worried about it, don't do it," said Bail.

"I'm only talking about it," she said.

xxx

What do you do when a venerable old Jedi master comes to call? Do you offer him something to drink?

Sereine Lumisol paced back and forth in her small living room, wondering exactly what she was getting herself into. She recalled that Palpatine often paced back and forth while they worked on a speech or when he was worried or perplexed about something.

She supposed it was catching.

She could still beg out of this. Until the moment he tapped on her door …

She heard a tap on her door.

Slowly she crossed the room. Pressed the touchpanel. The man who loomed in her doorway looked tall and imposing enough to make her step back two paces.

She steadied herself and stepped aside. "Master Dooku." Courage. She lifted an arm. "My very humble dwelling."

"Ms. Lumisol," said the impossibly deep voice. "It's quite satisfactory."

He walked in and turned to face her.

And Sereine completely lost her wits. She stood there gaping at him.

After a moment, Master Dooku chuckled and dipped his head once and smiled. "Ms. Lumisol," he said. "I know I am a Jedi. And I'm tall, and I'm a bit older than you. But I am a person, and so are you, and we have a common aim."

"Let's start over," he said, and he offered her his hand for a shake. "My name is Yan."

Sereine had to laugh at herself. She smiled and put her hand in his. "Sereine," she said. His hand was so large, hers was completely lost in it. But it was warm, and so was the tone in his voice.

He turned and looked about. "I've brought you some schematics. Let me put this … here," and he strode to her living room table, producing a glowing blue pyramidal object. He set it down and it produced a glowing beam which coalesced into an image of the Jedi Temple.

"I believe the easiest way to get you in would be through the Temple Hospital, which is on the east side. Unfortunately, the records room is a good distance away, over here." The model turned, and Sereine saw that the records room was very interior, and over three quarters the distance to the west side of the Temple.

"Okay," she said slowly. "That's quite a walk."

"True," said Dooku. "I will bring you a Jedi cloak instead of your gray one, and I will meet you at Temple Hospital and walk you most of the way there. I wonder if you would consider temporarily dyeing your hair? It would make you much less conspicuous."

Sereine walked closer to the projection. "Perhaps you should show me what happens when we get there. Why are you walking me most of the way there?"

"There are security cameras that will need to be disabled. I'll need to take care of that. I believe I'll leave you here—" he pointed to a small room. "This is a fresher where you won't be detected, if you're quiet. I need to disable security cameras here and here—" he pointed. "And then there's the matter of the droid that staffs the records room overnight. Once the droid is out of the records room, it will be your turn."

The hologram projected the walk from the fresher down the corridor to the records room, and then into the room through the one door. "I took this this morning," said Dooku. "Once you're in here, you'll want this cabinet …" The camera tracked to the wall on the right and a large cabinet stuffed with more holocrons opened. "You'll see these are all plainly dated. You bring a bag, you take the ones we need. I am outside watching the door for you. If someone enters, this utility closet in the back will provide a hiding place until I can come for you." The camera showed her the closet.

"However, it will be about the third hour that we do this, so I expect practically the entire Temple will be asleep. I'll walk you close enough to an exit—I don't expect you to remember all this from a hologram."

Sereine sank down on her couch.

"How do you feel about all this?'

"I want to do it," she said, staring at the static hologram of the utility closet. "I just worry about complications and unexpected events. There's only one way into that room and one way out."

"Yes," said Dooku. "I could pilfer the items myself, but it would be discovered long before we even had the time we needed to see everything on them and cull whatever is useful. If that weren't true, I would be quite all right doing this myself, but this area sees almost constant use. If you take them and do some astute rearranging, no one will realize they're gone for some time, I think."

"I do want to," Sereine said again. "I guess I'm either willing to take the chance of complications, or I'm not. May I borrow this? I want to watch it until I feel like I know the route."

"In that case, let me show you how to … Oh, I can't. You can't touch the Force. In that case, I will switch this to voice command." He put his hands briefly on the pyramid. "If you tell it to play, it will replay that for you."

"All right," she said.

The Jedi master gave her a short bow, and she stood. "Before you leave …"

"Yes?"

"What was it you were telling me at the meeting? I had such a headache I barely recall it."

"Ah." Dooku approached her again. "I regret that. You weren't ready for that, I know now. You've never touched the Force in your life, so of course it was overwhelming to you. I simply didn't expect to find that in you."

Sereine folded her arms. "If that's what it's like, I don't think I want to."

He considered for a moment, looking kindly down at her. "I'm not sure that you can. I'm not sure what it would take. I believe the fact that I reached you implies …"

She raised her brows. "Yes?"

"That I am a lot closer to neutral than I ever have been."

His face looked very troubled, with a sad expression around his eyes. Sereine didn't know what to say.

"I'm going to bid you good night," he said. "Study that, and let me know if you wish to proceed."

"Thank you. I will."