CHAPTER 46: POLITICAL MANEUVERING
POV: Kael Vorn
The Senate investigation committee met in Senator Organa's private office rather than any official chamber—twelve senators gathered around a conference table that had seen more momentous decisions in the past hour than most government committees managed in months. The room's soundproofing blocked electronic surveillance, but Kael's Force sense detected no eavesdropping presences lurking nearby.
Bail's fingers drummed against the polished surface as he outlined their findings. "Emergency powers granted without meaningful oversight. Military command structure centralized beyond all historical precedent. Constitutional protections suspended indefinitely." Each point struck like a hammer blow. "The pattern is undeniable, but the evidence remains circumstantial."
Padmé leaned forward, her pregnancy beginning to show despite carefully chosen clothing. "We need documentation of malicious intent, not just questionable judgment. The Chancellor maintains plausible deniability for every decision."
"Which is why we're here." Mon Mothma's voice carried the authority of someone who'd spent decades navigating political treachery. "To pool our resources and find proof that even Palpatine's supporters can't explain away."
Kael placed a sealed datapad on the table's center. "Project Shadowfeed financial records. Senate appropriations diverted through shell companies to fund illegal experimentation on Force-sensitive beings."
The silence that followed was deafening. Bail examined the data with growing horror, his diplomat's composure cracking as he processed the scope of the conspiracy.
"These funding authorizations... they bear the Chancellor's personal seal. But they're buried so deep in the bureaucracy that even the Treasury doesn't know they exist."
"And here." Padmé added her own intelligence, gleaned from months of careful investigation. "Banking records showing identical shell companies receiving funds from both Republic and Separatist sources. Someone is financing both sides of this war."
Mon Mothma's analysis was characteristically direct. "Cui bono? Who benefits from a prolonged conflict that exhausts both the Republic and the Confederacy?"
The answer hung unspoken in the air. Everyone in the room understood the implications, but proving them was another matter entirely.
"The evidence points to a massive conspiracy," Bail said finally. "But pointing isn't proving. Palpatine has spent decades insulating himself from direct accountability."
Kael's frustration bled through his carefully maintained composure. "He controls the investigation apparatus. He appoints the investigators, sets their parameters, defines their scope. We're trying to use a corrupted system to expose its own corruption."
Over the following weeks, their worst fears materialized with surgical precision. Palpatine learned of the investigation through channels they couldn't trace and responded with the political brilliance that had brought him to power.
First came voluntary compliance. "Of course the Chancellor submits to constitutional oversight," his spokesman announced during a press briefing. "Transparency strengthens democracy." But the oversight committee consisted entirely of Palpatine's allies, and their investigation focused on procedure rather than substance.
Then came the pressure campaign. Senator Fang Zar received a message about his daughter's "safety concerns" at her university on Alderaan. Senator Giddean Danu discovered that his son's military unit had been reassigned to extremely hazardous duty on the Outer Rim. Two senators withdrew from the investigation within days.
The remaining evidence, while damning, remained insufficient for formal charges. Palpatine's legal protections were too comprehensive, his political support too broad, his defensive measures too thorough.
"We failed." The admission tasted bitter in Kael's mouth as he met with the core group in Bail's office three weeks later. "He anticipated our moves, neutralized our evidence, and eliminated our allies."
Padmé's hands rested protectively over her swelling belly. "Not failed. Delayed. The evidence still exists. The pattern is still visible to those willing to see it."
"But the window for legal action is closing." Mon Mothma's realism cut through false optimism. "Palpatine grows stronger each day. His emergency powers expand with every crisis. Soon, constitutional oversight won't matter because the Constitution itself will be irrelevant."
Bail nodded grimly. "The Republic dies a little more with every vote, every crisis, every expansion of executive authority. We're watching the slow-motion collapse of democracy, and most senators are too frightened or too compromised to resist."
Kael felt the weight of foreknowledge pressing against his consciousness. He knew what was coming—Order 66, the Empire's declaration, the Jedi purge. But his curse prevented him from speaking those truths directly, forcing him to watch helplessly as events unfolded according to Palpatine's design.
"Then we prepare for what comes after." The words emerged with more certainty than Kael felt. "We can't save the Republic through legal means, but we can ensure something better rises from its ashes."
"Revolution?" Padmé's voice carried distaste for the concept. "Armed resistance against legitimate government?"
"Resistance against illegitimate tyranny." Mon Mothma's correction was gentle but firm. "There's a difference between revolution and restoration. When the Republic falls, we'll be ready to restore what it should have been."
As the meeting disbanded, Kael remained behind with Bail and Padmé, ostensibly to review security protocols but actually to process their failure privately. The investigation had accomplished nothing except to alert Palpatine to their existence as potential threats.
"I feel like we're playing chess with someone who can see twenty moves ahead." Padmé's exhaustion was visible in the slump of her shoulders. "Every time we think we've found an advantage, he reveals it was part of his strategy all along."
"Because he's had decades to prepare," Bail replied. "This didn't start with the war. It started before any of us entered politics. We're trying to stop a machine that's been building momentum since before we knew it existed."
Kael's return to the sanctuary that night brought no relief from the frustration burning in his chest. They'd gathered evidence of Palpatine's crimes, assembled a coalition of concerned senators, launched a formal investigation—and accomplished nothing except to paint targets on themselves.
"We know he's evil," he told Ahsoka as she reviewed training schedules for the Gray Guardians program. "We have pieces of evidence. But proving it within a system he controls is impossible."
Ahsoka looked up from her datapad, studying his expression with the perception that came from months of partnership. "Then maybe we stop trying to use his system. Maybe we prepare for when it collapses and ensure we're ready to pick up the pieces."
The simplicity of her observation cut through his political complexity like a vibroblade through silk. They were fighting the wrong battle on the wrong ground with the wrong weapons.
Palpatine's strength lay in controlling institutions, manipulating legal frameworks, exploiting democratic processes. But when those institutions collapsed—when the Republic became the Empire—his power would rest on force alone.
And force was something the Gray Order understood intimately.
"You're right." Kael set down the investigation files he'd been reviewing obsessively. "We can't save the Republic. But we can build something to replace it when it falls."
"The children from Zygerria are settling in well," Ahsoka continued, returning to her scheduling. "Ventress thinks most of them will be ready for basic Force training within a few months. Trauma-informed instruction, she calls it."
The shift in conversation felt deliberate—a reminder that their real work lay in building rather than investigating. Twenty rescued children, a growing network of freed clones, allies throughout the Senate who shared their values even if they couldn't prove Palpatine's crimes.
They were planting seeds for a future beyond the Republic's collapse. When democracy died, something better might grow from its ashes.
It would have to be enough. It was all they could do.
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