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Palpatine's Legacy

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Prologue: Reckoning

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Part 1

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Hego Damask's residence

Coruscant

Deep within the tall building existed a room shielded from outside eyes – both electronic and more esoteric through the best means money could buy, ancient Sith artefacts and alchemy. It was there that Master and Apprentice met for the final time.

"I must say, Darth Sidious, the change that overtook you five years ago was nearly your undoing." The old Muun Sith smiled in genuine amusement.

"Strictly speaking, it was my Master." Sidious inclined his head without breaking an eye contact.

"Even now, your fear is like a well seasoned wine to the senses, Apprentice. Yet, your ambition is finally its equal."

"Equal to my frustration with the Jedi and Senate." Sidious allowed. A glimmer of amusement flashed through his aura before fear and determination swallowed it.

"A Sith must not have fear, Apprentice." Plagueis shrugged his shoulders and let his heavy cloak fall. Its fabric rippled in the twilight swallowing the light on the way down until it pooled around his feet.

"It was fear that kept me alive so long, among other things." Sidious shrugged. He discarded his own cloak – made of identical vastly expensive weave like that of his Master. "I crave freedom of this fear, my Master. Of the doubt and uncertainty. In the future that never was, I would have never tested myself against you."

"Ah. The ploy to get me drunk and murder me in my sleep. Creative, yet such a waste." The Muun shook his head in disgust. "Now you know I hadn't taught you everything then, Apprentice."

"Yes, I do, my Master. Now, one way or another, you're going to set me free." Sidious drew and ignited his lightsabre – its ruby fire illuminated his features and reflected off a pair of burning yellow eyes.

"Finally, we'll see if the Apprentice surpasses the Master." Plagueis smiled and with a flick of his wrist his own lightsaber appeared into his palm before igniting with the distinctive snap -hiss sound of its kind.

Master and Apprentice stared at each other for a long moment before they threw themselves against each other.

Outside, merely hours ago, the final chapter of the tragedy that was the Clone Wars took place on and above Coruscant as whole districts burned, armies clashed and two gargantuan fleets tore themselves apart in a war for the heavens themselves.

Clones, Jedi, droids of all stripes and ordinary soldiers fought, bled and died – as a mere diversion. No one seemed to notice or care when one whole legion held in reserve so far waited until the fighting reached crescendo and marched upon the Jedi Temple. The few GAR units that could have intercepted it, didn't bother for a mere hour before the Separatists threw everything they had at Coruscant, the Jedi were rumoured to attempt a coup…

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Sheev Palpatine's residence

Republica 500

Coruscant

I startled awake covered in cold, sticky sweat. My heart hammered within my chest trying to tear itself free and my throat was parched. It was the same dream, again. And again, the details were subtly different.

The future wasn't set – that much I knew. My very presence, no matter how impossible it was proved it. For you see, one bright day not so long ago I awoke on Coruscant in the body of one Senator Sheev Palpatine, known in certain distinguished circles as Darth Sidious. The memories of that man, they were a trip down hell highway.

Even the echo of the fear I felt during the dream was more than enough for me to instinctively call the Dark Side and its cool protective embrace. I could feel what was left of the previous occupant of this body shift behind my eyes and come awake. It wasn't even a ghost, more like an imprint of a now gone man, yet its sheer disgust at my fear and thus weakness was daunting and sobering.

I sighed and went to the fresher to clean up and then got a change of warm clothes. Outside, the weather fit my mood – there was a scheduled storm for tonight and even controlled, it was more than enough to throw sheets of rain against my flat's windows. I stared at the skyscrapers outside and contemplated my situation.

It should be simple you know – to get myself free. That very thought sent a ripple of fear through my spine and made me shake. Insane laugher escaped my lips and I cackled at the storm, all the while the Dark Side fed of my emotions.

Free… I laughed again so hard that my gut hurt.

The only freedom I might find was to liquidate what assets I could, quietly mind you, overnight and flee for some Force forsaken hole on the ass end of the galaxy. That was the smart call to make – after cluing in the Jedi on who my Master was. I winced at that thought – both of confiding in the Jedi and the way I capitalized how I thought of Plagueis within the fortress of my own mind. My Master, whom I should be meeting tonight…

I shook again in fright. There was no choice to make any more. If I really wanted to run, I would have done it over the past few days while I faked an illness and sat at home falling apart and occasionally trying to plot. The truth was that there was too much left of Palpatine. I had his memories and given enough time, I believed I could match him in the mastery of the Force if nothing else. The allure of so much power at my fingertips, the potential to rule the galaxy in a decade or so, crowds of billions chanting my name even if I didn't want the fucking job… Those were chains as solid as the floor below my feet. On the other hand, what I contemplated – confessing to Plagueis of all people instead of running to the mercy of the Jedi and rotting in prison if I was lucky… I snarled at that thought that wasn't wholly mine.

I loathed the Jedi and the control they were granted over trained Force Adepts within the Republic. With a few exceptions – primary small sects on the edge of proper Republic space and of course the one made for the Corellians of all people, the drama queens if you were trained to use the Force within the Republic, you had to be under the authority of the Jedi. My very existence as a Senator and trained Force Adept, much less a Sith, broke so many laws it wasn't even funny.

Mind you, that fact didn't change the obvious – I was insane. Had to be. Whatever put me in Sidious' body, either kriffed up by the numbers or intentionally left enough behind to make sure I wouldn't take the obvious and easy way. Not to mention, the safe and sane one.

I twitched again in fear at I contemplated to do tonight and felt something stir through the Force until I could feel another presence in my head. My Master was amused at the emotions he got from our Force Bond… which in fact was the one good reason why running away unless it was to the Jedi wasn't really an option. I knew, in theory, how to block it. In practice, I needed to well, practice until I got anything resembling the mastery Sidious had over the Force. I might have been able to get to the Jedi Temple before Plagueis got me. Running for the hills, or in this case, the Unknown Regions and staying ahead of my Master – that wasn't something I would bet on even other people's credits.

The storm continued to rage outside, Plagueis pulled back from our bond and either went back to sleep or to do something more productive and I was left alone with my thoughts.

I could offer him so much knowledge – both about the future and past. Just not for the next decade with the exception on how the Naboo Crisis would unfold. If I played my cards right, I might earn the right to become my Masters' worthy Apprentice and perhaps soothe the presence stick in my mind as a final fuck you by whatever put me into this kriffing mess!

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Part 2

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Hego Damask's residence

Coruscant

There was enough of Palpatine left in me to allow me to keep a calm exterior as I willingly walked to my doom. That didn't change the fact that as I went through the familiar hallways of my Master's home, terror gripped me inside. Too soon I was into the Sith's inner sanctum standing against Plagueis seated form. The Muun was cloaked in shadows with only his tall forehead barely visible. That and his two burning eyes staring at me from the darkness.

This was no mere shadow that surrounded us both. The Dark Side was seeped into everything within this hidden room – it was strong enough to practically see and clung to the Dark Lord of the Sith as a heavy vestment.

"So much fear," Plagueis chuckled. "Even when I began training you and you knew just enough to comprehend the gulf existing between us, you weren't this scared, Apprentice. Yet, now when you should be a Dark Lord in your own right..." He trailed off and continued to stare at me. "But you aren't Sidious any longer, not fully. Neither are you merely Sheev Palpatine, are you Apprentice?"

"Am I still your Apprentice, my Master?" I asked warily.

"That is the question, isn't it? So much fear… it feeds the Dark Side nicely, no?"

I merely nodded, not trusting my words.

"You could have ran." I was sure Plagueis smiled at that suggestion – and I did give it some thought, really, I did!

"I did make a contingency or two." Like everything I knew about my Master being ready to be dumped onto the Holonet if I didn't input certain codes in a few hours and do it again and again in close enough intervals – either from home or my office in the Senate.

Coming here I knew that the daring to blackmail Plagueis would be suicidal, yet… My terror intensified. Could I endure a few hours of torture to ensure we were both kriffed if it came to that? Palpatine could. Me? That depended how much of Sidious I had left in my head.

One thing I knew for sure – coming as just a spineless coward would see me murdered out of principle as disgrace for what the Sith must represent and a monument of Plagueis' wasted time as my Master.

"Mutually ensured destruction..." The Sith Lord chuckled. "I must admit, that hasn't been something one of us has done since before Bane began the Rule of Two. Why expose us all, when the Apprentice is supposed to surpass the Master?" Just as fast as it came the brief moment of levity evaporated. "I don't know what happened to you, Palpatine."

I wasn't sure it if was a good or bad sign that he didn't address me as an Apprentice or by Palpatine's Sith name and title.

"Somehow, I merged with a person from another time and place." I began. Lying to the face of the likes of Plagueis as I was right now? That would be monumentally suicidal. "I'm more that person than Palpatine or Sidious."

"Curious. You make a distinction between them."

"From what I remember they were more than the two sides of the same coin." I shrugged. "That person, knew of a possible future. One where the plan succeeded, the Jedi fell, Palpatine got his Empire then wasted it."

"Blunt and to the point. From the way you speak, I don't believe my Apprentice surpassed me in that potential future."

"He got you drunk then murdered you in your sleep the night you celebrated his election as a Chancellor." I hoped that I didn't just sign up my death warrant.

Plagueis was silent for a long time. The only sign I had he was still alive was his smouldering eyes staring through me.

"Show me." He ordered and his presence exploded to encompass the whole room.

My mental shields cracked as he demanded I open our Force Bond and I had no option but to obey. I felt his presence into my head shifting through my memories and he most definitely wasn't gentle about it, though I had the vague feeling he did take precautions to not rip my mind to shreds.

The next thing I knew there were flashes passing before my eyes – scenes from movies, cartoons, passages from books and wikis that I more or less remembered… Then I was on one knee gasping for breath.

"Most curious indeed..." Plagueis muttered. "Much of what you know would be less than relevant by the time those events come to pass. However, you're right, I do have a great deal of time and resources invested in the person of Sheev Palpatine, our next Chancellor. Convince me, Palpatine, that you should leave here alive as more than a puppet. Convince me that you could become a worthy Apprentice and successor." For the first time since my arrival, Plagueis moved to shift forward and he stared in my eyes with redoubled intensity.

"While the general outline of the plan is sound and should work, I'm not the same man as I was a few days ago. Trying to do it without some… additions begs for disaster to strike."

"All I'm hearing is that you aren't up to the task."

"The task was tailor made for Palpatine, or you made him for the task. Lying to you or trying to blueshift you means death or worse."

"True that." Plagueis allowed.

"As I am, I can't play Palpatine's intended role. I humbly suggest that we changer the role he was meant to fulfil as a Chancellor."

"My Apprentice was many things, humble was never one of them." This time I could hear Plagueis' smirk as he spoke. "Do extrapolate."

"I lack his charisma. With his memories and the Force I could fake it, however, with the Jedi around..." I shrugged. I would need to keep my use of the Force on Coruscant very limited outside of shielded locations like this chamber. "We make Palpatine shine through actions highlighted in the best possible light by the PR people we have on our payroll – we do pay for the best after all."

Plagueis continued to stare at me. He probed my mind once again through our bond then began to chuckle and it turned to an outright laughter.

"The war we planned, one of its purposes is to tarnish the Jedi. You want to run with that idea, don't you?"

"Do what the Jedi can't or refuse to do? Shift the popular perception against them? Make the poor Sith seem misunderstood victims of history? The winners write the history." Despite the terror doing its best to turn my bowels into water or a frozen ball ready to hit the floor, I smiled. "When the time to proclaim thee Empire comes, the galaxy will hail us as saviours and demand we take power."

"And what do you want?"

"Power enough to break my chains and be free of this fear crippling me. The galaxy in the palm of my arm and the mysteries of the Force revealing all their secrets to me." I wasn't sure how much of that came from me and how much was Sidious' influence… and more importantly, I wasn't sure I cared.

"You might just do, Apprentice. Tell me more..."