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"And do we do this alone?" asked Master Bilaba slowly. "Should we show the Chancellor, at the least, this information, that there might have been a Sith operating behind the scenes for so long?"
"No. Open about this we cannot be," Yoda said firmly. "Studied this in depth I have since this shift felt I did. Knowledge that we are looking must be kept close, lest we feed the Dark Side."
"Can we instigate an investigation into the Banking Clan?" asked Master Poof.
All eyes shifted to the newest member of the Council. Coleman Trebor was a public relations specialist and had several friends and connections with the intergalactic news networks. "We can if we're careful about it. The Banking Clan isn't very well thought of, and if their head is out of communication for a long period of time we can use that as a pretext to investigate his personal holdings. We have to be somewhat open about that aspect, however. How that will mesh with our desire to keep our concerns about this Sith Lord's organization secret I leave to older and wiser minds."
There were some dry chuckles about that around the room. He wasn't the youngest there, but even if you included Yaddle in the equation Master Yoda had the rest of the Council beat in that area.
Plo Koon had been silent up to this point, his personal datapad opened as he skimmed through some information. A gentle tap on his chair's armrest brought the rest of the council's attention to him, and he held up his datapad. "I wanted to see if I could find out what I could about the ship this Hego Damask used. It was reported in Coruscant space, but then it jumped out two days ago. The odd point is, it didn't contact Coruscant space command before it hypered out. And it did so in a direction where it was certain to run into a gravity well. I would recommend we try to follow that route before it gets too old."
"Agreed. Master Tiin, Master Koon, would the two of you please follow up on that the moment our meeting is done?"
The two of them were two of the best starfighter pilots in the Order. They had also been given special dispensation recently to aid in the construction of new starfighters for the Order. They both nodded agreement, though Tiin looked rather dubious that this hunt would equate to anything.
OOOOOOO
For once since becoming a Sith, Sidious was angry with himself rather than with the universe at large. The reason for this was simple. Thanks to his eagerness to remove his former master and take command of the Veil, Sidious had made mistakes. First, he had overlooked the fact that Yoda would have felt his former padawan's death. Second, he was not on Coruscant, in order to further distance himself from the event.
This had served him in numerous ways, and he was certainly going to use his time abroad to good effect, but Sidious would not be on hand to attempt to steer or influence the Jedi's initial push to investigate the Banking Clan, and unfortunately he had not left any orders to that regard with Pestage. That was bad, as while there was nothing there to point to any Sith involvement, he had no agents of his own in the Banking Clan, Plagueis having handled them entirely on his own up to this point.
This left Sidious in the uncomfortable position of truly being blind to what could occur. Nothing to lead the Jedi back to me or to the Order of Two, but what else will they discover? How much will this set back our plans to continue to gather the opposition forces for our war?
The Veil also had weakened slightly as it shifted from his former master to Sidious. But that aspect did not matter much. It would grow stronger even than its previous incarnation soon enough. Further, now that it answered to Sidious alone, he would start to receive some of the power up from it that was part of the design.
No, it was the mistake with Yoda that was going to cost Sidious. I wanted to move on the Banking Clan and my former master's personal holdings quickly, but now I can't! The Jedi will be watching it, and if I make any move to consolidate the clan's holdings or even look as if I have any previous connection to them, they will begin to be suspicious of me far too early in this game.
Still, the Jedi will not be in a position to take that power for themselves. That would go directly against the laws set down at the Reformation. The Banking Clan will have to deal with being watched by the Jedi more closely, but even that can be turned to my advantage, Sidious thought.
There was a slight beeping noise to one side, and Sidious came out of his meditation, turning in that direction. His droid pilot's face appeared there. "Master, we are coming out of hyperspace over Wayland."
Sidious nodded, saying nothing. The droid had its orders, having come this way before, and, after all, who would waste pleasantries on a droid? Now to see what my master has been working on out here and if any of it can be turned to my purposes.
The ship, the same ship that he had given to his former apprentice, slowly descended towards the planet, a planet that appeared on no system charts in a system that appeared on no intergalactic map. A planet that had little to no sign of any inhabitants, save for a few scattered, extremely low-tech settlements. All of those were well away from the ship's target: a large mountain standing alone well away from any other.
Despite the fact that there was no visible sign of any technology, the ship was suddenly locked on by various targeting systems as they closed. Sidious quickly input a command control code, and they all shut down in sequence, one after another. A moment later a small portion of the mountainside opened, revealing that it had been artificial. The Scimitar glided in, where it was caught quickly by a few small tractor beams, which helped to guide it to a gentle landing.
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