The massive Senate Building glistened in the afternoon sun. For centuries the Galactic Senate had stood, seen as the centre of the Republic; for centuries, the Republic had been seen as one of the greatest institutions in history; a coalition of different alien cultures who had their own views, values, and ideals, all coming together as a demonstration of strength and diplomacy. But Padme had, who had always been brought up and instructed to see it as such, nothing but fury and contempt for the Republic and the Senate within her right now.

After spending what seemed like eternity speaking to the police crews sent to discover what happened on the landing pad, although Padme had little doubt within her soul the investigation would go nowhere.

She had been threatened with assassination many times over the years. Every time there was an investigation, nothing came from it; evidence would either go missing, witnesses vanished, or someone applied pressure in the right places. Padme had spent enough time in politics to know how many enemies she had. Some of them would have the means, illegal or not, to find ways of blocking such investigations. It was highly likely one of them was behind the attack on her today.

Padme, escorted by her entourage, arrived in the Senate an hour after the ship bombing. The vast rotunda was buzzing with chatter. The fat bloated shape of Mas Amedda, the Supreme Chancellor's majordomo, was trying to quiet things as the squabbling senators would not stop as Palpatine conferred with his second aide, Uv Gizen, riding a small one-man floating scooter.

"Order! We shall have order! The motion for the Republic to commission an army takes precedent, and that is what we will vote on at this time," Mas Amedda boomed over the system.

Everything quietened down.

Palpatine began his speech, "...My esteemed colleagues, excuse me... I have just received some tragic and disturbing news. Senator Amidala of the Naboo system... Has been assassinated!" He finished sadly.

Padme scowled and her fists clenched. Around her, her friends and guards reacted just as she did while the senate reacted through shock and disbelief.

"This grievous blow is especially personal to me," Palpatine continued his voice grave. "Before I became Chancellor, I served Amidala when she was Queen. She was a great leader who fought for justice, not only in this honourable assembly but also on her home planet. She was so loved she could have been elected queen for life," Palpatine chuckled in remembrance. "She believed in public service, and she fervently believed in democracy. Her death is a great loss to us all. We will all mourn her as a relentless champion of freedom...and as a dear friend."

There was a moment of silence as the senators took this news in, but then they moved to the debates and argued about the need for an army to help the Jedi, who were being overrun by the never-ending battles with the Separatists. Ask Aak, the Malastare senator, moved his pod into the centre of the arena.

While the squabbling went on, Padme just stood there. She was mentally preparing herself for the right moment to reveal she was, in fact, alive and kicking.

But a large part of her….just wanted to say something completely different, she didn't care anymore about her stance on this army act business, and she was resigning as a senator. She was not sure how much more she could actually take, of seeing her friends be killed and seeing the glimmers of resentment in the eyes of the family members they had to mourn them.

But Padme knew if she did that, not only would her enemies have won.

People like Corde would have died for nothing, and Padme could and would never do such a thing to dishonour their memories.

Dorme scowled herself, "I see old Palps is still stirring it and giving a grand performance. Only he would stand up in front of the whole galaxy like this, and say you were gone while painting himself as a fatherly figure to you. Oh please, he's probably glad at the thought you're dead, that way he could spin it however he likes!"

"You're probably right, Dorme," Padme replied to her friend, "he's not my favourite person any more than I am his, and he's not going to garner any sympathy votes from me."

"When are you going to intervene?" Dorme asked her.

"In a moment, I want to see how this plays out."

The senators continued to argue with each other, with Mas Amedda struggling to calm things down. That was when Padme and her entourage moved their senatorial pod closer. "My noble colleagues," Padme's voice echoed throughout the hallowed halls of the senatorial chamber, "I concur with the Supreme Chancellor. At all costs, we do not want war!"

Padme was a little surprised by how strong her voice was, and she guessed some of her earlier desire and fire to stop this army from happening was still there.

The Senate went quiet when they realised who had just spoken, then there was an outburst of cheering and applause the great Senator Amidala was very much alive

"It is with great surprise and joy the chair recognises the Senator from Naboo, Padme Amidala," Palpatine announced, not giving any kind of outward sign of annoyance, but a grandfatherly relief that would fooled only an idiot.

Padme didn't bother to hide her fury as she "Less than an hour ago, an assassination attempt was made against my life. One of my bodyguards and six others were ruthlessly and senselessly murdered. I was the target but, more importantly, I have led the opposition to build an army... but there is someone in this body who will stop at nothing to assure its passage!" Cheers and boos and even jeering insults were thrown her way and echoed throughout the senate chamber. More than once, Padme and her entourage and some of her bodyguards even had speculated the Trade Federation were responsible for these attacks. The people of Naboo were hated by the Neimodians and the other members of the organisation for what happened with the Occupation of Naboo ten years before, and many would love nothing more than for her to die.

Many of the senators booed and yelled at her. Hearing their reactions made her incandescent with rage, but she was able to calm herself down to keep going and hope she made at least a few more come to whatever senses they had in their brains.

"I warn you, if you vote to create this army, war will follow," Padme went on, her voice growing louder until she was positive her throat was going to be rubbed raw, "I have experienced the misery of war first-hand; I do not wish to do it again."

Was it wrong, or a bad idea to guilt trip these same people into remembering their own lack of action during the Occupation of her planet?

Maybe.

Did Padme care?

No chance. They deserved it. In the last 10 years, nothing had changed in the Senate. They were still corrupt. Still hellbent on their pathetic agendas, their arrogance as they held onto their power bases and didn't care about the people they were supposedly sworn to look out for. Palpatine was even worse. Oh, he was a strong Chancellor. But Padme hadn't seen any sign of corruption vanishing. In fact, the corruption had only gotten worse over the years, and it looked to become even worse if a war began.

Padme had to bite her tongue to stop herself from lashing out at the senate, as more and more of them shouted at her. "Wake up, Senators... you must wake up!" She went on. "If you offer the separatists violence, they can only show us violence in return! Many will lose their lives. All will lose their freedom. This decision could very well destroy the very foundation of our great Republic," Padme didn't know how she managed it considering how angry she was, but she felt more passion for the Republic than she had ever done before, "I pray you do not let fear push you into a disastrous decision.

Vote down this security measure, which is nothing less than a declaration of war! Does anyone here want that? I cannot believe they do."

Okay, the last words that came out of her mouth, she knew was a mistake.

Padme was not stupid, she knew there were likely hundreds of senators here who wanted the war, for their own reasons; profit, personal gain, a way to disguise their own power plays maybe to seize power from Palpatine, and what about Palpatine himself? While he had stated publicly he didn't want war, was it a different story?

The trouble was Palpatine was not an open book, and he was incredibly selective about whom he met.

The rest of the senatorial meeting went on, and as it did, Padme became increasingly disheartened and frustrated by the lack of any real action. Palpatine shared a commiseration look with her, but that wasn't good enough.