Chapter 109 - My SI Stash #9 - A Galactic Balancing Act by Vergil1989 Crossover King (Star Wars) (2/2)

Once I was sure the job was done to my satisfaction as Hego's ship exploded just on the edge of my vision, mindful of the array of sensors meant to monitor traffic to and from the capital planet, only then do I make the jump to light speed.

I won't make it to Naboo before the Jedi or Padme make it to the planet, but it'd take time for them to find the Gungans, let alone to organize their efforts to take back the capital from Nute Gunray. I wouldn't have long to get in touch with Maul, to stop him from killing Qui-Gon Jinn, having decided he'd be the better choice for Anakin over Obi-Wan, as much as I otherwise loved the guy, but I had to hope my new understanding of the Force, of the future that had yet to be unveiled, would provide me the means to do all that I'd set out to achieve. To that end, I ate, drank, slept, and meditated when I wasn't busy going over what I knew of Palpatine and his vast achievements already. A trail of blackmail, corruption, murder, and worse were already at my back, or had been perpetrated by Hego, but such was the price I suppose of dealing with the likes of such a twisted individual as the one I now inhabited.

Still, I let the hum of the ship guide my mind's efforts, giving me the means to achieve peaceful serenity despite the recent murder I've committed. The pain and anger I had allowed to take hold is still there, but it's much easier to deal with, to make my own as I subsume it with the peace I'd felt at having excised my personal demons in both lives in one move, nurturing the light that's only recently been allowed to grow in Palpatine's black heart, with the realization I've already started on the path to making the galaxy a better, gentler place for all of its inhabitants, not just those that were deemed 'valuable' to the Empire. My vow to be better, marred somewhat by my recent misdeeds aside, still stands. I'm aware of course how dangerous obsession, passionate or otherwise, can be, and do my best to keep my head on the entire affair. It's not a simple task, but the trip to Naboo gives me the time I need to do it.

I do however allow myself some dark glee when I make contact with the Trade Federation ship's crew, my hood pulled low, the menacing growl in my voice doing all the work as I demand safe passage through the blockade, such as it is with only one Lucrehulk starship still in orbit above the beautiful, verdant, resource rich world that stretches out before me. I don't contact Darth Maul, not yet, as I set down within Theed's royal palace, mindful of the rising sun. The anticipation, the tension I can sense in the air, it echoes what I know is already on the horizon, but I haven't told the Neimoidians about the impending attack. It wouldn't change anything in this late hour anyway, outside of a few, negligible details. What I intended would effect so much more.

That said, seeing the royal palace of Theed in person is...awe inspiring. CGI and practical applications made Theed visibly striking in a beautiful, sweeping sense, like looking upon the Sistine Chapel with their domed rooftops and cream colored stonework, disguising the metallic interiors of their hangar, their power generation, and the other vital systems. To make it better, I can see how the Naboo people have done their best to keep the natural beauty of their world protected, working to keep their influence to a minimum where possible, thus offering a truly breathtaking view to me even though I give it only a cursory glance for the time being. I have a far more pressing matter to contend with as I feel a broiling cloud of rage mixed with curiosity coming my way.

I don't contact Maul, because I don't have to as I sense his approach long before he makes his appearance just outside the royal palace's hangar. The power generator chamber where he'll have his fated duel with Obi-wan and Qui-Gon is just a short walk away from where we are, but I have a better idea as I stop just before one of the great falls that emanate from the palace grounds, on a cream colored, stony balcony, my arms at their sides in a relaxed, easy posture. I don't respond to Maul as the bestial zabrak kneels with the expected greeting of, ”My master, what brings you to Naboo so unexpectedly?”

”Your forseen failure.” I growl, mid spin towards him in a blur, my lightsabers snapping to life yet again. To his credit, Maul manages to roll back and away, the tip of a horn being cut away while one arm is singed, but he can barely grasp the impossibility that I've just turned on him like this before I casually wave a hand. He goes flying back hard, slamming into a stone pillar with bone jarring force before I just as quickly pull him towards me with the same ease. His startled cry is cut short as I sever his legs from the rest of his body as he passes by, my sabers crossing at the perfect moment. I don't let his upper half fall off the balcony however even as I effortlessly fling his legs over the balcony, I instead impale him through the c_h_e_s_t. ”You will not harm anyone again.” I hiss into his ear as the life leaves his body. I can feel the moment when he returns to the Force, but by then I've let what's left of him to tumble over the edge, into the water far below us.

And like that, I leave, having concluded my business, but I don't intend to go back to Coruscant just yet.

I have another destination in mind first.

=============​

End Notes: Holy shit guys, all that feedback's pretty awesome and this hasn't been up for long at all. Having said that, I know all too well how beloved Star Wars is, to myself included, so I sincerely hope I don't screw this up as badly as JJ Abrams and the rest of Disney has. (The 'new trilogy' is not my Star Wars...) That aside, things will slow down now that the immediate crisis has been averted, with canon otherwise progressing unimpeded for the most part, outside of the obvious changes of course. :D At any rate, I hope this meets with the same joy and acceptance as the previous chapter's been so far. And MadGreenSon, feel free to hit me with more corrections, edits, etc at any point my friend. I'll try to get to them when I'm not half asleep at my desk. :p In any event guys and gals, may the Force be with you all, and I hope this is a good start to the madness soon to follow. Adios!

P.S. I'm all for receiving Omakes and the like, just throwing that out there. :D

Chapter 1.3

Walking On Sandy Skies

=======​

It turns out refueling a hyperspace ring is harder than you'd think. Thankfully it's not so difficult that it can't be regulated to droids and a transport crew that passes my sleek vessel once I make contact with the nearest spaceport as I navigate my way down to a landing pad in short order. I have far too much to do once I get back to Coruscant, damage control with Hego's recent death among them, explaining why I left my office at all, but I haven't been sworn into my new office, so my time, while limited, is still mine for the immediate future. It takes time for any office to change hands after all, few most of all as the Chancellor of the Republic, but not so much I could afford to dawdle.

Keeping my hood pulled low as I make my way through Mos Espa, the buildings and houses on every side sandblasted, dull, gray, an air of oppressiveness thick enough to dull a vibroblade, the people too hunched into themselves, I do my best to quietly make my way to my destination. I see now that I'm here for myself why Anakin hated Tattoonie, why he hated sand as a whole, because by the time I find my way to a certain junk dealer's shop, the almost constant breeze passing through the area has kicked up sand into places I'd rather not think about. Thankfully my long black, encompassing robes diverts most of it to either side without incident, but what it doesn't block manages to find passage to my neck, face, and upper c_h_e_s_t, making them irritated to varying degrees. I cannot get off this dustball fast enough, but my business will take at least two hours, perhaps more if I run into any trouble.

Watto, the Toydarian I've come to see, perks up when the sensor above his open door chimes pleasantly, alerting him to my presence. I don't meet his gaze as the alien, a cloud of avarice and greed as thick as the literal noxious stench and black flies I can sense already, follows him as he flies towards me. ”Greetings stranger. To what do I owe the p_l_e_a_s_u_r_e, eh? Hehehehehe.” He cackles, as if privy to a joke only he knows.

He stops laughing when I raise a hand, and he ends up pinned to the ceiling, his wings bent at unnatural angles against his back. ”The control chip belonging to Shmi Skywalker, where is the deactivation transponder?” I ask coolly without looking up to regard the alien's terrified visage. While it's dangerous to do, I've always had a bit of a hate boner for Watto since it's strongly implied the junk dealer was physically and emotionally abusive to some extent to his charges. Seeing him up close, sensing his presence in the Force, I can safely say that the implications were just another harsh reality of this place I'm now a part of.

”Wh-what are you?! The Hutts-” I don't move my hand, I simply clamp his throat shut, silencing him even as I slowly choke the life out of him.

”Where...and how do I free Shmi Skywalker? You have about two minutes of air Watto, I suggest you don't keep me waiting.” I don't intend to let him live past today, but he doesn't know that as I let up on the hold I have on him. I even go so far as to let him drop to the floor in a heap at my feet. Wheezing, gasping for breath, I let my presence become all Watto can focus on as he pushes himself back towards his counter, eyes wide in all abject terror. He scrambles away on his back, crab walking backwards with surprising alacrity for such a rotund, disgusting creature, but I sigh in disappointment when he pops over the counter, a holdout blaster in hand. ”Really?” I ask, exasperated by this futile effort as I stalk forward, bending to the side as a red laser bolt flies over my shoulder. Ten feet, five, I lazily dodge two more shots, one of which ends up slamming into a repair droid, which promptly falls over, its singular optic sensor glass, and the delicate circuitry beneath its domed head, bursting into so much useless scrap. I don't bother taking his weapon when I'm within melee range, I simply freeze his hand so he can't pull the trigger anymore.

Understanding just how clearly outmatched he is, Watto's free hand goes for something under his desk. He slams down a box onto the countertop, which I make him open, but not before I force his blaster, fingers still locked around the stock, one on the hair trigger, so that its pointed at his own skull. ”You won't get away with this outlander!” The words would be more intimidating if Watto hadn't soiled himself in terror by this point. As it is, his voice is a shrill whimper.

”You'd be surprised what I plan to get away with.” I reply with such casual disregard, that even I am a little chilled by how routine this has already started to become. I've since started out of Watto's shop, towards the back where I'm sure I'll find his hidden treasury, not that I actually need it anymore, but I pull the trigger on the blaster before I leave. The few droids about the establishment I take the time to short circuit with a liberal application of some Force lightning, but I otherwise make my way towards where I suspect Watto lays his head.

The stench gives his den away long before anything else does, but thankfully I don't have to do much more than wave a hand to pull aside the pile of soiled linens and detritus, revealing an encoded and locked c_h_e_s_t partially buried in the dirt and sand beneath the otherwise unremarkable sand blasted hut within the scrap yard's confines. Judging by the size and the weight of it that I can sense when I stretch out my mind, it's filled with every ill begotten cent he's ever earned. This will make a fine gift when the time comes.

I however, have one more stop to make before I can leave this dust ball.

========​

I arrived at Watto's shop in the early morning hours, with the planet's two suns, because for some reason one sun just isn't enough for some people, only just beginning to rise. I arrive, after a few friendly conversations with the locals, including the same old woman who had warned Anakin of a sandstorm coming their way, who greets me quite warmly indeed as I ask for directions, to Shmi Skywalker's home just before mid afternoon with both suns beating down upon me. It's hot, near to the point of being unbearable, but the natives I'm annoyed to note, seem largely unaffected by the oppressive heat. Then again, my past self was used to the bipolar weather of the American Mideast, specifically Illinois, where in the morning it might be spring, and by the same afternoon you're walking through a blizzard.

As for Watto's money and the transponder box I'd taken, the former I'd already delivered to my ship, hiding it away for the time being, while the other was securely tucked away in the new cloak and robe I've thrown on, this one a far more mundane brown. I was Sheev Palpatine now, rather than the Sith Lord, and for as long as I was able to keep up the illusion, that was all Shmi Skywalker would ever know about me until much, much later in life, assuming I told her the truth at all. Besides, I've murdered at least three people in a day and a half, if not longer by now, I've sated my bloodl_u_s_t well enough for the foreseeable future. Now, it was time to balance the scales in the other direction, to remember my ultimate purpose for being here in this galaxy, let alone on this planet.

Pernilia August was hard not to notice the few moments she's on screen during the Prequel movies. Even beaten and battered by Tuskan Raiders during Attack of the Clones, a group I very much intend to pay a visit to, someday, I thoroughly believed that Anakin's mother was probably one of the more striking of the characters due to her quiet strength and resilience that the viewer can't help but notice. So when I gently knock on her door, hood thrown back, a warm, genial smile on my face, I can't help but be a little giddy although to look at me, I'm the picture of warm tranquility.

That and while I'm currently ten years Shmi's senior, I'd had the opportunity to check, and I can safely say I don't have an old man's shriveled up p_e_n_i_s between my legs. Whether it's because of all of the training under Hego I've suffered through, or because humans in this galaxy live reasonably healthier, longer lives, I couldn't say. I'm just glad I'm surprisingly robust and hearty for a guy pushing fifty. Not that the reason really matters, I didn't intend to take s_e_x_u_a_l advantage of Shmi Skywalker anytime soon, not when she likely needed years of therapy and rehabilitation from having been a slave for most of her life. Really both her and her son could probably benefit from sessions with a licensed professional. I know I'd benefited from such sessions in my past life after everything with my dad had been said and done. And despite what some would say to the contrary, admitting you need help of any kind, especially mental health, is nothing to be ashamed of.

My thoughts are brought short, a first for me since waking up as Sheev of all people, when Shmi opens the door, and regards me with understandable suspicion, and an unfortunate helping of dread. ”Yes?”

”I'm truly sorry to bother you, but are you Shmi Skywalker?” I ask, my voice a gentle tenor that I'm relieved to note makes the woman relax slightly even as she continues to regard me with veiled suspicion. There's only so many reasons why a man like me would ever visit a slave after all, and she has no reason to hope or even assume I'm here for her freedom.

”I am...” She trails off, giving me a chance to introduce myself.

”Sheev Palpatine, a Senator...well, honestly soon to be named Supreme Chancellor to the Galactic Republic.” I chuckle, embarrassed or so she assumes as I humbly dip my head at the admission. ”I know that seems rather farfetched, but I have it on good authority your son has aided in the liberation of my home planet of Naboo.” That gets the reaction I'd hoped for as Shmi's chocolate brown eyes, set in a face that looks even more striking up close like this, and she takes in a shaky breath at the news.

”He's...doing well then?” She asks, scarcely able to process what I've just told her.

I smile more openly now, no theatrics necessary anymore as I gesture for her to invite me in if she wishes. When she moves aside, still in a mild state of shock, I gently brush past her, shutting the door before she can do so. ”He is, and if I'm any judge,” I begin, setting the transponder box down on the table in Shmi's living room, rather what passes for it, ”I imagine a mutual friend of ours, Master Qui-Gon Jinn, will assure you he's to be trained as a Jedi after Anakin aided the liberation effort of Naboo's people from the grasp of the Trade Federation.” I've since moved to the kitchen to pour her a glass of water just as she manages to jar herself out of her mental paralysis. She starts to say something to the effect I don't have to trouble myself, but I gently shake my head at her refusal. ”It's truly no trouble, but as you've no doubt guessed by now, I didn't come here just to congratulate you on raising such a fine young man, Shmi Skywalker.”

”Then why did you come here?” She asks as she reluctantly accepts the glass of water, her eyes finally darting towards the box on her low sitting table between two equally shabby looking chairs. Despite her suspicions, I'm relieved that she drinks up, no doubt needing the cool, precious liquid after the shock I've just dropped on her lap.

The budding, slowly forming hope I can sense from her makes this next part all the more joyous for me. ”To take you away from all this, not as a slave, but as a free woman.” She doesn't see it, but I quickly pull the closer of the two chairs out with a very subtle wave of my hand just as I feel her legs start to give out on her once she actually hears what I've just said.

I'd say I've done my good deed for the day, wouldn't you?

​

========​

Even though it's difficult to sleep on the way back to Naboo, mainly because I can sense Shmi's swirling emotions all too clearly in the comfortable if tight confines of my personal vessel, I wake up just as we drop out of hyperspace above Naboo, feeling refreshed and ready for the celebrations that are surely about to begin not long after we land. A fear that they might've failed, that we're flying into a trap, is quickly dispelled when we pass by what's left of the Trade Federation droid control ship, Anakin's handiwork in all its glory. As with Shmi, seeing the wreckage of the Lucrehulk up close is something else entirely as I do my best to avoid as much of it as possible while maintaining our course towards the planet's surface.

”He did that.” I hear Shmi whisper from the copilot's chair, astonishment and awe audible to my ears.

”He saved so many people with that singular action.” I assure her, again needing none of Palpatine's acting skills to convey my genuine gratitude for what her son has done for my home world, my people. It's soon after that I make contact with the ground, and I'm assured that it's safe to land despite having seen the evidence of this for myself. Once more, the verdant beauty of Naboo soon fills the c_o_c_kpit window, and I don't have to look toward Shmi to know she's utterly transfixed by the view. I was 'born' here, and I too can only marvel at the panoramic vista that stretches out before us as I make ready to land at the Royal Palace once more, this time as an honored guest. That and I know there's no record of my having been once already, having established the protocol to erase any and all evidence of my comings and goings when on Separatist business as I'd been previously, so for all anyone knows, this is the first time I've been home for some time.

I'm not surprised to find the Queen, the real Queen, her decoy standing behind her, along with a number of her retainers and guards, awaiting my arrival when I start down the boarding ramp. ”Your Highness.” I offer warmly and gladly, and while my gaze is on the decoy, my words are meant for Padme. ”I see that congratulations are in order.”

”Ours is not the only victory we have cause to celebrate Chancellor Palpatine.” Sabe 'Amidala' replies, while a far more plainly dressed Padme darts her eyes from me to the last person she expects to see behind me, still at the top of the ramp.

”Shmi?” She gapes, before recovering her composure, putting her skill as an elected official to good use.

”Padme?” Shmi asks in turn, much to my quiet amus_e_m_e_nt as Lady Skywalker slowly descends the ramp.

”Anakin's going to be overjoyed to see you again.” Padme adds before she turns to regard me, all pretense and facades forgotten. ”You did this.” She states rather than asks, already suspecting the answer.

”I did.” I reply. ”But come, there's much to discuss my friends, and much more to celebrate.” Needing no further prompting, Padme, Sabe, and the rest of the entourage are all too happy to head towards the palace's royal dining hall, where a feast has already been arrayed for the victorious heroes of the Republic.

It's here that Shmi forgets she's surrounded by dignitaries, state officials, and royalty alike when she takes one look at the dinner guests just as a blonde haired boy that barely comes up to my waist spins around in his seat. In a burst of speed that would've put Hego to shame, Anakin is out of his chair and running towards his mother as fast as his little legs can carry him just as Shmi meets him halfway across the polished stone floor. The tearful reunion between them is a sight I'll hold onto for as long as I live, and to make it better, it's met with thunderous applause by those who are there to witness such a truly joyous moment. Even Obi-wan and Qui-Gon Jinn are smiling openly, the former joining in the round of applause while the other simply gives me a firm nod of abject respect for what I've just done.

The galaxy has just become a much brighter place from where I'm standing.

​

=========​

End Notes: So the body count so far stands at three. Hego Damask, Maul, and Watto. Yet I've just reunited Shmi with her son after freeing her, albeit 'illegally' since the Hutts will no doubt hear about this eventually, giving Anakin hope and the only family he's got back, and to top it off, both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are alive and well. I do believe I'm doing pretty well for the first few days of being everyone's favorite psychopathic Emperor, wouldn't you agree? :D​