"Do you want to make Naboo love you even more than they do right now?" Padmé teased Anakin as she cuddled her husbands in their bed.
It was late at night and the power triad of the galaxy were laying on bed as they watched the holo-news. It was a couple of nights after Anakin and Obi-Wan had made it back from their joined mission in Genesis. This time it was a success, as Slick had not been there to leak their plans. A quick job, they were in and out in a matter of hours. For which, Padmé was eternally grateful.
"He is an attention hog," Obi-Wan teased too.
On the holo-news, the hosts were discussing how the Trade Federation had recently lost their seat in the Senate on various accounts of corruption and treason. Not to mention, the fact they were not even a planetary system that represented civilians. Adding the face that Naboo had previously sued them for almost every last penny and later the Skywalker Corporation had risen and hindered them from ever recovering completely. Which in return made their influence in the Senate decrease and it was easy to take them out. With the Skywalker Corporation and other businesses, alliances growing and establishing themselves in that period, the Trade Federation had been scrambling to regroup, the disbandment of the Trade Federation did not affect the Republic and the neutral systems' economy.
"I just did my job," Anakin complained playfully, a pout on his lips. "You won't even believe what the Senate tried to do!"
"What?!" Padmé turned to her husband in worry. "Ani! They tried to pull something behind my back?"
"Oh, they did!" Anakin laughed, calming his spouses by his clear amusement. Whatever they had tried it had not worked. "You kept a good eye on us, the clones, and Naboo. So, they targeted Skywalker Corporation."
"The same company which is the reason we are winning this kriffing war?" Obi-Wan asked dumbfounded. He was really tired, if he was cursing. "Are they kriffing stupid?"
"Oh, I wish!" Anakin snorted. Face darkening, as his smile turned into a scowl. Obi-Wan and Padmé were no longer scared of Anakin's change of behavior. They embraced it and felt relieved that Anakin was comfortable with them to show his real feeling and not to put an act around them. It was a show of trust they will not take for granted. "Chancellor Palpatine approached my mom with the objective of giving her the emptied seat of the Trade Federation to the Skywalker Corporation."
Now, Obi-Wan and Padmé's faces darkened. Chancellor Palpatine was a touchy topic in the Skywalker household. He had been Padmé's mentor, but now was her political adversary. Obi-Wan had heard stories about how obsessed he was to get Anakin on his own when he had been young and had tried to bully the Jedi Order into compliance, even with Master Plo soundly refusing. Luckily, as Anakin was in dual guardianship with Shmi, Chancellor Palpatine had no way to force her the same way he had tried with the Jedi Order.
As for Anakin... the least is said the better.
Now the whole galaxy was seeing the other face of the "grandfatherly" Chancellor Palpatine He was being investigated for corruption, fraud, and embezzlement.
The Banking Guild had been disbanded and arrested for illegally holding the monopoly of the Republic's currency. It was broken into various different banks that work simultaneously to maintain the valor of the Republic's currency, with each planetary system having its own banking system. It had been one of Padme, Bail, Mon, and their party's greatest successes.
The problem came one when it had been pointed out that the Bank Guild had only been capable of holding that monopoly of power because of Chancellor Palpatine. One of his earliest emergency powers had been the cause. An Emergency Power that Palpatine had pushed for. Insistently. Which is why he was being looked into.
"Is he trying to use the Skywalker good public image to get this mess dropped?!" Padmé exclaimed in anger.
"Or is he trying to get close to you through her?" Obi-Wan pointed out. "Or to get Shmi to his side and then try to get to Padmé on his through her?"
"Who knows? Maybe all three!" Anakin scoffed. "Mom shut him down nicely though. Rex was with her at the time and recorded the whole thing. The GAR had a good laugh at least."
"Ani, what is your issue with Chancellor Palpatine?" Padme asked him carefully. "Lately, it seems as if it's quite personal, this animosity you have with him. Though, you hid it with anyone else but as."
"He… he makes a lot of comments," Anakin winced, frowning. He took a second to think what to say and decided to go with half-truths like always. They worked the best. "When I came back from Hutt Space, he called me to his office for a report. Though, he did not ask anything about the front lines. He kept on repeating how awful was the Council for sending me for so long, right after I've gotten married. And that me having issues bonding with you two after half a year away was normal. Especially, with all the time you both spent on your own... without me..."
"That sleemo!" Padmé exploded, eyes burning with anger "What gives him any right to comment on our private life?! What is even his plan?!"
"To isolate dear heart," Obi-Wan deduced, displeasure leaking through the Force. "He wants him away from the Council and us, so he will be forced to relay on him. Unluckily for him, dear heart has a lot of allies and friends outside of us and the Jedi Order."
"His obsession is worrisome!" Padmé glared.
"It is," Obi-Wan agreed. "I'll talk to the Jedi Council about being more careful around him."
Anakin hid his smirk on Padmé's hair as his next plan was in motion. Nothing better than when your hard work plays on beautifully.
"Commander Rex!" A worried Jesse rushed into the control room of th Command Center. "Look!"
Rex almost dropped the holo Jesse all but threw at him. Once he saw what had his vode so concerned, his face lost all color.
General Skywalker arrested for wrongly use of funds?
"What the kriff?" Hawke cursed.
"So, this is how the Senate is trying to get rid off our General," Admiral Wulff sighed.
"What do you mean Admiral?" Rex asked him confused. "Our General brought them the biggest victory of this war and his inventions are what's giving us the advantage!"
"But it is his evidence that got one-third of the Senate arrested and their reputation in an all-time worse," Admiral Wulff explained. "Many want him out before he uncovers more corruption and goes after them."
"Kriff them all!" Rex growled in anger. "We need to turn this ship around! Our general needs us!"
"General Koon, General Skywalker's father, needs us," Admiral Wulff stood before him with a stern expression. "What can we do in Coruscant? We will get in the way more than help. General Skywalker needs us to aid his father and husband in the front lines, a husband who is there because General Skywalker had a premonition dream of General Koon's ship being blown. We have to do this, so General Skywalker can deal with the Senate in peace and unconcerned about the front lines. Understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The soldiers answered, determined if unhappy.
Meanwhile, on Coruscant.
"Calm down, Senator Skywalker," Bail whispered, having to hold on into Padmé's arm to stop her from jumping down the pod and joining her husband. "This is Knight Skywalker, he will be fine."
"This is bullshit!" Padmé hissed furious, glaring at Chancellor Palpatine.
"Not to mention, illegal," Mon added from behind them. "Many of us were not informed of this decision. They might have gotten majority, but without a full Senate vote this farce can't pass down."
"Which will be pointed out by Jedi Knight Skywalker," Bail assured Padmé, who was calming down slowly. "If he does not, you have my promise that I will do it myself."
"Thank you, Senator Organa," Padmé sighed. "You got this Ani."
"How do you plead General Skywalker?" Chancellor Palpatine demanded.
"First of all, it's Jedi Knight Skywalker," Anakin corrected with a raised eyebrow, making his wife snort in amusement. "Second, if this is a court, where's the judge? In any case of juridical decisions, the Juridical System and a Supreme Court Judge is needed. The Senate cannot make a ruling on their own. Third, you cannot, even with majority of the votes, try to arrest someone or make decisions without the whole Senate voting. Clearly a third of this Senate had no idea of what this is about. Who was in the blind about this? Please raise your hand!" Almost half the room raised their hands. "Wow... really?" Anakin turned to Chancellor Palpatine with a raised eyebrow. "You know this is illegal, right?"
"Answer the question Skywalker!" Tarkin sneered, losing his patience at the disrespect.
"As I stipulated before, this is illegal," Anakin turned to Tarkin with a glare. Oh, how he hated that man. "So, no. I do not need to answer any question. Even if I did, I've done nothing wrong."
"How can you say that?" A neutral senator exclaimed. Until now she had been a fan and supporter of Anakin's, but now she clearly looked betrayed. She must have been lied to by Palpatine and his supporters, like many other neutral senators. "You took advantage of the seizing of the Hutt Space planets to push your agenda, using the funds of the Protection Corps to buy terrains. When it is illegal for Jedi to have possessions!"
"Ok… there are so many wrong things on that speech that I do not know where to start," Anakin shook his head with a tired sigh. "First of all Jedi are encouraged not to have material possessions. It is not illegal. Making it illegal, would be illegal. It would borderline with slavery. Second, the Protection Corps funds are donations that come from my own pocket. An emergency fund I started when I was thirteen. I can do what I wish with it and it would be legal, because I own that money and donated to the Protection Corps. The rest are donations in the form of technology from the Skywalker Corporation. Third, I did not buy any terrain with that fund. Skywalker Corporation did, using the royalties I gained during this war for my last inventions. I was tasked as the middleman between the Jedi Corps, Skywalker Corporations, and the planets."
"What for?" The same senator asked, this time calmer as the Senate's Hall was silent in shock. They could not believe that someone could own that much money and not use it for themselves, to donate millions, even billions of credits? Madness!
"Well, these planets were razed down by slavery and war, there are a lot of orphans. So, the Skywalker Foundation is opening orphanages and schools with the aid of the Education Corps," Anakin explained. "Also, the various Jedi Corps will need places to stay as they go to these planets for relief efforts. Small temple branches will be opening there. Half of the territories Skywalker Corporation bought will be donated to the Corps."
"You can't do that without the Senate's permission!" Tarkin snarled, foaming from his mouth, earning startled looks from various neutral senators, that seem to have realized they've been used and lied to.
"They can," Anakin replied snarkily with a smirk. "The Jedi Order might be dependent of the Republic. But the Jedi Corps have never been tied to any government. They've always remained a free religious organization whose first mission is to help." Anakin's smirk grew, as he gloated. "They do not need your permission."
With that said, he turned on his heels and strutted out of the room, not before throwing Padmé a kiss and a confident wink. Leaving the Senate to an uproar.
"He'll never change, will he?" Bail snickered, as Padmé and Mon watched the senators scream and smile with satisfaction.
They deserve it.