Part 14 (2/2)
”And what if they should?” Sidious snapped. ”Do you think that would bring an end to what I have set in motion?”
”No, my lord. But this is unexpected.”
Sidious eyed Dooku from beneath the hood of his cloak.
”Yes. Yes, it is, as you say, unexpected.”
He returned his gaze to the far-off towers.
”Someday I may choose to reveal myself to the galaxy, but not now. This war must be made to continue a while longer. There are worlds and persons we still need to convert to our side.”
”I understand.”
”Tell me, who is conducting this... search?”
Dooku exhaled with purpose. ”Skywalker and Ken.o.bi.”
Sidious took a long moment to respond.
”The so-called Chosen One, and a Jedi with enough good fortune to almost make one believe in luck.”
Without turning from the view, he added: ”I am displeased by this turn of events, Lord Tyra.n.u.s. Greatly displeased.”
Once Master and Padawan, Ken.o.bi and Skywalker had become the scourge of Dooku's existence. On Geonosis he had deliberately allowed them to pursue him - - just as Sidious had instructed him to do. Also as instructed, Dooku had made Ken.o.bi aware of the existence of Darth Sidious, as a means of confusing the Jedi Order by telling them the truth. In the sloop's docking bay he had demonstrated his mastery to Ken.o.bi and Skywalker - - although Skywalker hadn't been as easily defeated the second time they had dueled. Enraged, the young Jedi had proved a powerful opponent, and Dooku suspected that he had grown only more powerful since Geonosis. Long have I watched young Skywalker, Sidious had once admitted. And all the more so of late.
”My lord, the Jedi may search for others who contributed to fas.h.i.+oning the communications devices you distributed to Gunray, myself, and others.
Also, there is the matter of Grievous's defeat at Belderone.”
Sidious made a gesture accepting that defeat. ”Do not trouble yourself about Belderone. It may suit our ultimate purpose to have the Republic believe that they have chased us from their precious Core. As regards your concern for keeping secret my whereabouts, I am moved. But here, too, I begin to see a way to engineer events in our favor.”
He paused to consider something, then said: ”Yes, I begin to see the blazes along the trail Skywalker and Ken.o.bi will follow.”
Sidious turned to Dooku, grinning malevolently. ”Their single-mindedness will deliver them into our hands, Lord Tyra.n.u.s. We will set our trap for them on Naos Three.”
Dooku allowed his skepticism to show. ”As remote a world as can be found in known s.p.a.ce, my lord.”
”Nevertheless, Ken.o.bi and young Skywalker will find their way to it.”
Dooku decided to take it on faith.
”What would you have me do?”
”Nothing more than make arrangements - - for you are needed elsewhere.
Employ outsiders.”
Dooku nodded. ”It is done.”
”One small addendum. See to it that Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi ceases to be an irritant.”
Sidious sneered the name.
”He represents so forceful a threat to our plans?”
Sidious shook his head. ”But Skywalker does. And Ken.o.bi... Ken.o.bi has been as a father to him. Orphan Skywalker once and for all, and he will s.h.i.+ft. ”
”s.h.i.+ft?”
”To the dark side.”
”An apprentice?”
Sidious gazed at him. ”In good time, Lord Tyra.n.u.s. All in good time.”
27.
Having suffered through all four hours of Palpatine's State of the Republic address to the Senate, interrupted dozens of times by standing ovations - - an archaic tradition not practiced since the era of Supreme Chancellor Valorum Eixes - - Bail Organa watched from the backseat of the air taxi as a trio of a.s.sault cruisers lifted off into Coruscant's flame-orange sky, casting their wedge-shaped shadows on the spired roof of the Jedi Temple.
Bail's destination.
He instructed the droid pilot to set the taxi down on the Temple's northeast landing platform, where two Jedi younglings were waiting for him. The opulence of the Temple's wide corridors was lost on him as he followed his escort to the room the Order used for public meetings, rather than the circular chamber reserved for private conclaves in the summit of the High Council spire.
A holorecording of Palpatine's speech was running in the center of the room when Bail was admitted. Around the holoprojector table sat Council members Yoda, Mace Windu, Saesee Tiin, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Sta.s.s Allie, Plo Koon, and Kit Fisto.
”And so it is with a heavy heart that I commit two hundred thousand additional troopers to the Outer Rim sieges,” the holoimage of the Supreme Chancellor was saying, ”though in full confidence that the end of this brutal conflict is now in sight. Cast from the Core, expelled from the Inner Rim and Colonies, driven from the Mid Rim, and soon to be exiled in the spiral arms, the Confederacy will pay a dear price for what they have brought down on our fair house.” He paused for applause, which went on for far too long. Droid cams buzzed around the Great Rotunda to highlight the more well-known of the Palpatine-friendly factions then, coming full circle, closed on Palpatine's thirty-meter-tall podium to linger on the two dozen human naval officers who were standing just below the summit, clapping enthusiastically.
”A show of force, this is,” Yoda remarked.
Dressed in robes of magenta and forest green, Palpatine continued. ”Some of you may question why my heart is heavy when my tidings bring news of such long-awaited redress. The decision weighs on me because I would sooner say: Enough is enough, let the Confederacy - - the Separatists - - wither and die on their own in the Outer Rim. Let us keep our best and brightest home; let us refrain from bringing bloodshed to any more worlds, harm to our n.o.ble soldiers, our trusted Jedi Knights.”
Yoda harrumphed.
”Sadly, though, I cannot decide with my heart alone. Because we cannot allow the enemies of democracy to rest and recuperate. Like a life-threatening growth taken hold in the body, they must be excised. As a contagious disease, they must be eradicated. If not, our children's generation and generations to come will live under the threat that those who brought chaos to the galaxy will find the strength to regroup and attack anew.”
”Applause break,” Bail said - - because he had been there.
The Jedi Masters stirred in their high-backed chairs but said nothing.
”Lest my statements convey an impression that the hardest decisions are behind us, let me hasten to add that much work remains to be done. So much rebuilding; so much reordering... To you, all of you, will I look for guidance in determining which worlds we should welcome back into the Republic's embrace, and which, if any, should be kept at arm's length, or shunned for the injuries they have heaped upon us. Similarly will I look to you for guidance in reshaping our Const.i.tution to conform to the needs of the new epoch.”
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