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"I realized that. But any response, no matter how slow is preferable to none at all and Senator Palpatine is certain the next chancellor will be someone we can work with. At present I must admit to be grasping at straws." Padme sighed, weighed down by more than just the physical encumbrance of her formal attire. "We have a plan, one I hope will succeed, but it is a bit of a gamble too I must admit to being thankful that the Order decided to send Master Windu along with Master Jinn and padawan Kenobi."
Master Windu had decided to come along this mission for two reasons: One, he had felt the need to do so, to get out of the temple and away from his role as Master of the Order after the debacle with Aayla's mission. And two, he really wanted to just hit something right now, and none of the other masters could argue with him.
Shaking her head Padme changed the subject. While she might have been willing to ask for Harry and Aayla help, after hearing about how they, Dooku and Fay had stormed Jabba's castle she knew they were more dangerous than their ages suggested, with Master Windu coming along she felt they had the martial side of things covered. And master Fay's famous abilities would be unnecessary until after she freed her planet. "Where will you go from here?"
"Back to Serenno to keep training under Master Dooku," Aayla replied, while Zule pouted, shaking her head. She wasn't jealous of the opportunity Harry and Aayla were being given, such a thing would be very much against the Jedi Code. But she could admit to some irritation that they were leaving so soon and that it might well be a while before she saw them again.
"Padme, our ship is ready," Obi-Wan said from behind the queen, nodding a greeting to the three younger padawans. He had seen Aayla and Zule around, and had even taken a few lessons on Force Shielding from Aayla, so knew them both. The green-eyed boy however was new, though he wore the robe and had the padawan's braid.
Padme nodded, looking at her friends, remembering the pleasant evening and morning they had spent together on Tatooine, a moment of happiness on a bleak world at a bleak time. "Well, this is where we part ways then. Farewell you two, or as you Jedi put it, may the Force be with you."
Aayla and Harry both moved forward, taking turns to hug the slightly younger (if currently far bulkier) girl, who flushed under her pasty white makeup, unused to such physical displays between acquaintances. "May the Force be with You Padme, and stay in touch yeah," Harry asked, leaning back to wink at the girl before turning away to join his own party. He never noticed Anakin staring at him, or Padme flushing as her eyes followed him and Aayla as they walked away.
After a final farewell to Zule, the two youngsters left the Temple with their masters and Padme's party, separating to enter their respective ships as Lily slipped out through the wall after saying farewell to Zule. The two ships lifted off one after another, exiting through the planetary shield and moving through the space lanes and out to the hyperspace jump coordinates together. There they went their separate ways, jumping to hyperspace in different directions.
OOOOOOO
At the same time that Harry and company were with the High Council, Sidious nee Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo was busy with the Senate, gathering the votes he would need while also giving orders to the opposition via several dozen cutouts. His public persona needed to be surprised by events after all, yet manifestly have the backing to move to aid his planet, eventually anyway. Not until a few Jedi died.
At the same time Plagueis was very carefully keeping watch on the Jedi Temple. The Vergence, a young boy by the feel of the mind, was there. Plagueis hadn't cared at all about the gender the vergence would become only the fact that he had been able to create it in the first place. With his senses and ability to use the Veil watching the boy even in the temple was doable if very difficult. He had to keep any Jedi from feeling his presence and see past all the interfering auras to the one he was most interested in, though again thanks to the Veil the first was far easier than the second.
He had of course felt Fay's arrival, as well as her hangers on, Jedi who did not matter a whit in comparison to her power and sheer ability. Of all the Jedi who were not direct physical threats, Fay was the most dangerous in terms of the impact they could have to the Great Plan. She had already set back several smaller portions of the plan a few times, and Fay's particular soft touch, iron fist in a velvet glove approach was a worrisome example which could not be allowed to spread less the Jedi Order gain too much public support for the Great Plan to succeed. Her Force presence was like that of Yoda himself, but he lacked the thing that made her more dangerous: Yoda was predictable, Fay was not.
That evening Sidious and Plagueis met up in the latter's laboratory as the older Sith Lord sat in his throne and the younger man sat on another, albeit smaller, chair. Though Plagueis considered them near equals, the key word between Sith was the 'near' in that sentence. The younger man had just finished his report on the day's events and Plagueis allowed himself to nod slightly in approval. "And thus the next phase of the plan will go off without a hitch, good. Well done my apprentice, very well done indeed. You make the Senate dance to your tune far easier than I could ever manage."
"Thank you master," Sidious replied, though the word stuck in his throat as it always did these days. But it was not time just yet, no.
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