"The events on Onderon were, of course, very much not as we would desire," Palpatine said, with a slight frown of distaste. "While they ultimately worked out, the consequences could be significant."
"Of course, Chancellor," replied the Vice-Chair, Mas Amedda. "Is there anything we will need to do?"
Palpatine barely glanced at the Coruscant Guard clone troopers around the entrance to the executive section of the Senate building. "Perhaps," he said. "We should especially watch out for the risks posed by large crime syndicates. Such an event could result in serious strain on the Jedi."
With possible witnesses, there were limits to the sort of thing he would say… but with Mas Amedda, a long-time political ally who knew he was more than he appeared, he could insinuate. And he was quite sure Mas would follow the direction of his thoughts.
"That would be unfortunate," Mas noted. "Especially if the problems were associated with Mandalore. Obi-Wan Kenobi is closely tied to the planet's leadership, and it would be inevitable that he'd be sent – and the loss of Master Kenobi would be a major blow to the Jedi."
Palpatine was about to reply, but as they passed through the doorway something beeped urgently.
"What was that?" he asked.
One of the Coruscant Guard troopers was watching a screen, and he signalled to the rest of the squad. They all pointed their weapons, and the sergeant put a hand to his helmet.
"What is going on?" Palpatine asked. "Explain yourselves! I am the Supreme Chancellor!"
"Routine check, your excellency," the sergeant said. "After the hostage crisis and intelligence of a possible kidnapping attempt, we set up scanners on the doorways of your chambers. Nobody gets in without a weapon scan."
"That does not explain why you are holding the Supreme Chancellor and Vice Chair at blasterpoint," Mas Amedda replied.
That wasn't actually true. It did explain why Palpatine and Mas were at blasterpoint, because Palpatine carried a lightsaber as a matter of course – a weapon that was well-concealed and difficult to detect, and which wouldn't show up on any scan keyed to detect blasters.
But apparently the Coruscant Guard was more thorough than that.
"We currently have reason to believe that you may have been replaced by an imposter, your excellency," the sergeant answered. "And if you haven't been, we'll need an explanation for why you're carrying a lightsaber-"
"Oh, this is tiresome," Palpatine interrupted. "Execute Order 76."
The whole clone squad straightened.
"What is your order?" the sergeant asked, his tone flat.
"Have all weapons scanners recalibrated to avoid registering lightsabers," Palpatine told him. "In addition, forget this conversation and record it as a negative result."
"It will be done, my lord," the sergeant replied, still flat, and the troopers stepped aside.
"You had to use the order?" Mas asked.
"Surveillance footage," Palpatine replied. "If any other clone views any recordings taken of this before I can get them deleted, the effect will be the same."
"Of course," Mas realized, as they began walking again. "I bow to your superior skills."
Some miles away, Keelyvine Reus stared at her screen, which was still displaying the helmet-cam feed from CT-1154-17 'Thinner' as he and his squad quietly returned to their positions – and the clone at the scanner began reprogramming it, deleting certain details from the profiles it used to identify potential weapons in the first place.
When she'd been asked to quietly back up Commander Fox as the Coruscant Guard's number-one contact for complex situations that might require a Jedi Investigator – as Jedi or investigator – she'd expected a lot… but not this.
"...well," she said, out loud, thinking. "Order 76 implies other orders. They're secret enough that I don't know about them, they override the will of the clones, and the Chancellor knows them…"
It all added up in a very unpleasant way.
She considered, then stood.
This was clearly over her head, and the Council needed to know.
AN:
I wondered if I could get Palpy's plans to unravel starting with a metal detector.