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From her position against Harry's shoulder Aayla beamed at her, then turned to her own Master cocking her head, shaking off her momentary exhaustion. "Do you want to try Master?"
Quinlan Vos hesitated then shook his head ruefully. "I think not Aayla. I would not like to burden you with my own thoughts. My darkness is my own."
Dooku looked at the younger man then nodded thoughtfully. "I have heard such things spoken of before. Master Tholme is a harsh taskmaster, and skirts the edge of what is allowable often. Though not as often as the Dark Lady it must be said. That choice is mine as well. I prefer my thoughts to remain my own. Thank you though."
To that the two children nodded. Neither of them were willing to say it was probably just as much the love they felt towards master Fay as much as it was their trust in her that had allowed Aayla to forge that momentary connection. It made sense given that Aayla the empath had been the one to forge that connection, but it might have meant that any attempt to bring in Dooku would have failed.
Lily looked wistful for a moment then shook her head. "So we know about their bond, and how to stop it from hindering Harry and Aayla's ongoing training. That's good. Now, since were supposed to be leaving tomorrow morning for Coruscant, Master Fay and I have something of our own to share with you. We've come up with a game plan for dealing with the High Council…"
OOOOOOO
Two men stood in Hugo Demask's office on Coruscant. The head of the Banking Clan stood by the window his eyes staring out across the Senatorial district of the massive city that was the capital planet of the Republic. Next to him stood a sometime political enemy yet personal friend, Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo. The public reason everyone knew for his being here at the moment was to talk to the Banking Clan head to see if Naboo would be able to receive a loan to help it rebuild after the 'Trade Federation's patently illegal occupation was overturned'.
Though they were indeed talking about the Naboo issue, the rest of that reasoning could not be farther from the truth. "The child queen is due to arrive in moments. How long do you think it will take to maneuver her to ask for the vote of no confidence?" Darth Plagueis, wearing his Hugo Demask guise asked.
That was the way the Sith thought of things. The Sith title was their real names, their real selves. Their old lives and names became masks they could take on or off at need. Hugo Demask had truly died when Plagueis was borne, his death leading to someone greater stepping into his place, just as it had for Sidious.
"She will attempt to speak to the Senate at least once, the TF's representative will speak against her accusations then the girl will supply evidence, possibly including Jedi testimonial. However given the Jedi's stance about the TF being allowed to arm its ships, their neutrality will be in doubt, whereupon it will devolve into a shouting match. I imagine by sometime this evening she will be willing to make a more aggressive move." Sidious said, allowing a faint, sadistic smile onto Sheev Palpatine's face as he imagined the power that would soon be his.
"Good. I am unhappy about the fact that Jinn is not dead yet, but Maul will no doubt be eager to show that mere chance cannot save the man more than the one time it has already done so…" Plagueis trailed off, feeling something.
As the creator of the Veil, Plagueis was able to use it to an even higher degree and without the level of concentration Sidious needed to use to sense something from a distance. Interpretation at this point was hard, but would become easier now that the final wrinkles in the Veil's coverage had been worked out, all they needed to do was keep feeding the Dark Side with minor conflicts and tensions, and the Veil would do the rest.
But this was something close, and something Plagueis had feared he would never feel. "The Vergence!" He hissed, turning quickly to the window once more. Sidious did too, realizing what that hiss meant and the two of them sent their thoughts out into the Veil. "The vergence is here… with the Jedi Jinn and his apprentice…"
Sidious was silent for a few moments, his febrile brain calculating, considering plans, discarding them, analyzing the angles. "In the short term this changes nothing, and I need to get back to greet my gracious queen," he snarled the words shaking his head. That would be a brief trip, considering that he was already dressed in his formal senatorial robes. "Should I get a message to you about what I find?"
"No, let no one think anything about it, we cannot allow a slip up, now of all times. I will remain here and use my Force senses to feel out the vergence and see what I can discern of it, or rather him or her, if I can. Heh, at this close his presence practically washes out the other two Jedi with him, good, very good, the vergence is powerful as it should be…" With that Plagueis fell into a trance, not even noticing Sidious leaving, so intent on his old creation was he.
The very next day, Master Fay, Lily, Harry, Aayla, and Quinlan left to return, in some cases anyway, to the Temple on Coruscant. As Fay's yacht was registered to her, a known Jedi, it was admitted into the insanely busy lanes over Coruscant quickly after coming out of hyperspace. As they waited for admittance through the capital planet's planetary shield Harry gawked at the amount of traffic this system had, beyond even Serenno's, which had been the busiest system he had yet seen. Massive cargo carriers, both huge in-system tugs and hyper-capable merchant ships, thousands of small personal yachts, hundreds of civilian transport ships, the list went on and on.
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