Palpatine/Legends

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."

- Palpatine

Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, and, following his reappearance in clone bodies, Palpatine the Undying, was the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic (32–19 BBY) and the self-appointed Emperor of the Galactic Empire (19 BBY–4 ABY, later 10–11 ABY), which he established after orchestrating a full-scale galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars to seize dictatorial powers through special emergency measures given to him by the Galactic Senate.

During the Clone Wars, he was also the secret de facto leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, as well as the de jure leader of the Republic, allowing him to plan and execute the entire war, thus resulting in his ultimate triumph with the rise of his Empire.

The origins of Palpatine (82–32 BBY)
"He was even ugly as a baby!"

- Han Solo, commenting on the appearance of a clone fetus of Palpatine

Information about Palpatine's youth is extremely hard to come by, since most records on his homeworld concerning his ancestry, his immediate family and his upbringing had "mysteriously vanished." In the absence of such documents, all that is left is the same meager material that is found in his sanctioned biographies. According to the official curriculum vitae, he was born on Naboo, in the backwaters of the Chommell Sector of the Mid Rim, and he claimed the capital city of Theed, nestled on the quiet banks of the Solleu River, as his home. His family was of noble lineage,, and he had at least one sibling. But that is all. The rest was deliberately hidden in shadow; Palpatine wanted his personal history erased, most importantly the fact that he began a second life, which assumed far more importance to him than the first one.

Darth Plagueis
As difficult as it is to learn the facts about Palpatine's youth, it is harder still to learn about the man he became. Darth Sidious, the name under which he established his Galactic Empire, was more than just a name granted to him under an ancient tradition, more than just a face hidden by a black zeyd-cloth hood and cowl. As with many Sith, this alias became his true identity. The face of his birth became his mask, under which his real face concealed itself. But the events that led from what is presumed to be a normal age of innocence to the rise of a committed agent of darkness are unknown.

Palpatine was Force-sensitive of great power but for reasons unknown, the Jedi never learned of this. And since nothing is known of his parents, there is no telling if he came from a Force-sensitive bloodline, or if his abilities simply manifested themselves spontaneously, as was sometimes the case. Whatever the reason, the Jedi passed him over. Instead, this gifted and ambitious young man was discovered by a Muun who was actually a very powerful Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Plagueis by name.

Nothing is known about how Plagueis and Palpatine found each other, or just what marked Palpatine's fall to the dark side. Whatever the cause, Darth Plagueis found him suitable and inducted him into the cult, declaring him to be one with the Sith Order. According to Sith tradition, Dark Lords gave a new name to their apprentices. The forename Darth&mdash;as much a title as a name&mdash;was used, the last name determined by a kind of consultation with the dark side of the Force itself. Whatever inspired Plagueis in that communion is unknown, but from that point on, Palpatine would be called Darth Sidious.

The apprenticeship of Darth Sidious
Under Plagueis's tutelage, Sidious learned the history of the cult, of how there had once been many Sith Lords, until internecine warfare and Jedi intervention brought them down. He learned of Darth Bane, who had brought the cult back from near-extinction and formulated the diktat that had established the framework of the Sith ever since: that there would only be two Sith Lords at any one time&mdash;a master and an apprentice. "Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power; the other to crave it."

- Darth Bane

Sith methods of training were brutal and uncompromising. Apprentices were broken down and remade in whatever image suited the master's desires. And this was done frankly and openly. Plagueis himself told Sidious what was expected of him: "Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you&hellip;"

- Darth Plagueis

Plagueis did exactly what he promised. Sidious was emptied, and then filled with a new creed, the path of the dark side of the Force, the path that would lead from power over the self to power over all: "You must begin by gaining power over yourself; then another; then a group, an order, a world, a species, a group of species&hellip; finally, the Galaxy itself."

- Darth Plagueis

All this was to be done in anticipation of the Sith Order's ultimate revenge on their Jedi enemies. Apart from Plagueis, Sidious alone knew what this involved. It had been formulated in the days of Lord Bane, based on Bane's own very instructive experiences with the Sith of old. There would be no face-to-face confrontation this time. Instead, the Jedi and the Republic they served would die not from weapons, but from sickness. The Republic was destined to fall from its own corruption; the Sith would simply accelerate this process. They would facilitate war, murder, injustice and avarice, whenever and wherever possible, to demonstrate the failures of the so-called democratic system. Once crippled, the Republic would be simple to conquer. A public that had seen the deficiencies of rule by the weak clearly demonstrated to them would readily submit to rule by the strong.

Plagueis proved an excellent mentor. Sidious learned to think as others would, to anticipate their actions and thoughts (which would be a vital component of his rise to power later). Over many decades he grew extremely strong in the Force, and his knowledge of the ways of the Sith became exceptional. But this was not enough for Plagueis. The old master still sought a more powerful apprentice.

The murder of Darth Plagueis
"He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Plagueis never saw it coming. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself."

- Palpatine

Plagueis was a mystic. Obsessed with spontaneous generation and immortality, he was said to have delved into forbidden teachings, and possessed&mdash;or sought to possess&mdash;knowledge that could sustain those who were dying, or even return them from death. As far as Sidious was concerned, there was nothing alarming in this; both the Jedi and the Sith had sought ways to survive death for thousands of years, though not successfully. The most powerful of the ancient Sith Lords had supposedly known the secrets, but they had been lost, or rather, misplaced. It was expected that Plagueis should pursue this ultimate mystery.

The split between master and apprentice came when Plagueis also sought to take this research to its greatest extreme, to create new life from nothing. Whether he actually learned such powers, to defy death or create life, cannot be determined with absolute certainty, but at some point Plagueis began speaking to Sidious of an experiment he had conceived, to use arcane Sith disciplines to influence the midi-chlorians to draw life directly from the wellspring of the Force itself. The child that resulted from this experiment, Plagueis insisted, would potentially possess astounding power and be the living embodiment of the Force.

Sidious understood that what Plagueis was discussing with him was nothing less than his own replacement. His position was threatened. The question was how to deal with it. He could just kill the "experiment," but Plagueis would keep trying, and besides, if the child proved as powerful as expected, it would be wise to keep it available for his own use. In any case, Sidious had learned all there was to learn from Plagueis and already had his own secret apprentice; he was a master in all but name.

Soon after, Sidious killed Plagueis in his sleep. There was no elaborate plotting involved, as would be the case in his later schemes. He simply waited until Plagueis had gone to sleep, then made certain his master did not wake up. For all his cold ruthlessness, for decades he would look back on this moment of personal triumph, to his attainment of mastery at the cheap price of his own outdated master, with a self-satisfied smile. "It's ironic," he once remarked. "He could save others from death, but not himself."

Despite Plagueis's death, a Force-conceived child was born. Whether this process was initiated by Plagueis, Sidious, or the will of the Force itself remains unknown, but in 42 BBY, on an unknown world (possibly Tatooine), Shmi Skywalker gave birth to a child with a Force potential greater than any other documented in history. By the time he was nine years old, his midi-chlorian count would be over 20,000, surpassing the most powerful Sith and Jedi alike&mdash;the apparent fruition of Plagueis's vision. Sidious kept a close watch on Anakin Skywalker, patiently waiting for the day he would take him as his apprentice.

It was not unprecedented for Sith apprentices to kill their masters to gain the mastery for themselves, but he had learned it intimately, through personal experience. He would keep a close eye on his own apprentices, and tell them only the barest minimum of information about his own master; the less they knew of Plagueis and his sudden demise, the fewer ideas they would get. True, they would eventually hunger for his position, but he would forever be on his guard. Plagueis made the mistake of sleeping; he never would.

The apprenticeship of Darth Maul


While still Plagueis's apprentice, Sidious had also taken an infant Zabrak from Iridonia to be his own apprentice. He dubbed the infant Darth Maul and molded him into a deadly, unquestioning tool who lived only to serve his master's will. That he should have chosen a Zabrak is not surprising; in ancient times the Sith had spent great sums to hire Iridonian mercenaries. The unforgiving climate of their homeworld and the warrior ethos of their culture made them superb fighters.

Sidious treated Maul very harshly, putting him through tests that would forge him into the ultimate tool. But Maul knew Sidious was the only person in the Galaxy that cared for him in a way, and had a great amount of respect for his master. And, perhaps, more than respect; being the closest thing to a father Maul ever knew, there may have been something akin to familial love. Subsequent events make clear, however, that if such feelings existed, they were never reciprocated.

The initiation of Darth Maul
At last the time came for Maul's final test. Sidious took his apprentice and informed him of the basics of what was to come: he would be abandoned on an isolated world, where he would be forced to survive on his own for a month, hunted by assassin droids, until Sidious returned: "I am sending you to a planet in the Outer Rim. It is made up of three kinds of terrain: desert, swamp, and mountains. You will have at least three matches on each terrain. I have sent a fleet of assassin droids to attack you. Each has been programmed with different strategies. Some will work together, some will work alone. They are all programmed to kill&hellip; That is correct. I am prepared to lose what I most value. So must you be to become a Sith. You must be prepared to lose your own life in order to win."

- Darth Sidious

Maul fought as best as he could, and the droids gave him no quarter. They pursued him through the swamps, into the mountains, across the deserts. He lost his rations in one of the attacks and was forced to kill for sustenance. Finally, exhaustion and hunger took enough of a toll to allow one of the droids to wound him in the thigh and force him into hiding in a cave. Weakened, unable to stand or walk, overcome by searing pain, Maul saw Sidious at the mouth of the cave, challenging him to a final battle&hellip; with his master.

Maul fought as hard he could, to little avail. Sidious denounced him: he was weak, unworthy of being a Sith. He could feel the rage building up inside Maul, and so he announced that he had secretly been training a second apprentice in case Maul failed his final test. Maul's inability to kill his master had proved that failure. It worked: Maul's anger and hatred boiled over and he flew at Sidious with renewed strength, actually coming close to beating him. Sidious just barely deflected Maul's blows. Eventually, even that strength was spent, and Sidious hurled the blade from Maul's hands. Maul was defenseless, used up, facing imminent death, but he still kept fighting, sinking his teeth into Sidious's hand. But rather than finish off Maul, Sidious threw his blade aside and laughed. "Do you feel the hate?&hellip; It is the source of your strength. You still hate me. No matter. Today you have delivered yourself into my hands. I have the power of life and death over you, Maul. Someday, you will hold that power over another. It is the honor of the Sith. You will devote yourself to the idea of domination."

- Darth Sidious

Maul had given in to his hatred, and had tried to kill his master, wanted to kill him. In a unique way, he had sought to fulfill the Sith commandment that an apprentice had to slay someone close to him to be accepted; having been raised in near-total isolation, Maul was close to none other than Sidious, and had passed his test. "You have passed the test&hellip; From this day forward, you are a Sith Lord. You have chosen the path of darkness, the path of power. You are Lord Maul. You are my instrument."

- Darth Sidious

Sidious took Maul to a secret facility on Coruscant, and gave him funds and material with which to prosper, and gave him detailed schematics Maul would use to build Sith vehicles, droids, and weapons. Darth Maul became more than his apprentice; he became his Hand, the instrument of his will. But always, in the back of Sidious's mind, was the possibility that Maul could eventually be surpassed by another, more powerful, apprentice. Until then, Maul would perform splendidly.

The unification of the Sith splinter cults
But an apprentice of Maul's caliber&mdash;and the promise of another even greater&mdash;was still not enough. There were other loose ends, the detritus of earlier Sith cults, that needed to be addressed. Many of them had no real knowledge of Sith ideology or even power in the Force. But in some cases they could be dangerous, to Sidious as well as the innocent. To ensure the success of his plans, they had to be brought to heel, or scrapped.

One of these was a Sith-centered mercenary band, the Sun Guard. They were not Force-sensitive, but their fighting prowess was phenomenal. They were sheathed from head to toe in black armor, and their helmets bore at least a passing resemblance to the blue-robed elite Senate Guard. Sidious consolidated these mercenaries in the Thyrsus system (a locale with which they would long after be associated), and put them to work where they could be useful. Several of them guarded his Coruscant stronghold, and as time went on, others would perform far more heinous tasks.

There were also the practitioners of the Dark Force religion, established by the rogue apprentice Darth Millennial centuries before. A collection of able Force-users and naive Sith enthusiasts under the leadership of a diminutive fallen Jedi named Kadann, they were not strictly Sith, but they had potential. At the appropriate time, Sidious came to their stronghold on Dromund Kaas and paid Kadann a visit, claiming to be intrigued by this prophet and his unique view of the Force. After many long conversations and debates, Sidious at last revealed to Kadann his true purpose: "The future you see isn't yours. You are merely the messenger. Serve me. Become my prophet. Reveal the will of the Force as you see it and I will make your predictions come true."

- Darth Sidious

Kadann accepted his destiny. At Sidious's behest he assembled a small group of Dark Force devotees with particular talents for seeing portents and omens in the Force. These became the Prophets of the Dark Side, with Kadann as Supreme Prophet. By the time the New Order came to pass, Kadann would become one of the new Emperor's most trusted&mdash;and most secret&mdash;advisors.

The Sorcerers of Tund had also split off from the Sith centuries ago; before Sidious could make his move against them, one of their own did. Rokur Gepta slew all of the other Sorcerers. Sidious then became loath to kill him, for he would lose the chance to learn the Tundian secrets. Instead, he struck up an amiable relationship with Gepta; when the New Order was established, Palpatine appointed him Scrivinir of the Centrality, a small allied state, and gave him the decommissioned Republic warship Wennis as a gift. Whether he ever learned any of the Croke sorcerer's secrets is unknown.

The rise of Palpatine (70–32 BBY)
"Palpatine was a Rodian in Ewok's clothing!"

- Mon Mothma

The beginning of Palpatine's political career


Palpatine began his political career at a young age, carefully hiding his true persona of Darth Sidious. On Naboo, public service was mandatory from the ages of twelve to twenty, and he began his road to power here (70–62 BBY). Unlike most Naboo, however, he elected to stay on in politics beyond the normally accepted age, when others would move on to more refined cultural pursuits. The Naboo generally saw public service as an obligation; he saw it as something to be enthusiastically pursued. It was the first indicator of his habit of staying on in office longer than his due time. He may simply have found a career that caught his interest, but possibly he had already begun his double life.

Palpatine entered his full-fledged political career in local Naboo politics (62–52 BBY), working upwards through the lower levels of power. Although not every fact of this period is known, what is certain is that he did not begin with grandeur. He lost more elections than he won, missing out on a string of political appointments. These failures may have been due to the natural learning process, but they may also have been deliberate on his part: he may have had to suffer more defeats than victories, so as not to seem extraordinary. At this point, it was important that he was not seen as someone who could threaten other, more powerful beings who could impede his plans before his position was firmly entrenched.

When Senator Vidar Kim, Naboo's representative in the Galactic Senate, was assassinated by a never-identified gunman on a passing airspeeder (52 BBY), the thirty-year-old Palpatine stood for election to succeed him. The people of Naboo elected him as their sectorial Senator, to represent Naboo and the thirty-five other affiliated worlds of Chommell Sector. Though the murder was never solved, it is generally assumed that the assassin had been contracted by Sidious&mdash;or, perhaps, Darth Plagueis&mdash;to kill Kim specifically to clear the way for Palpatine to follow him. Regardless of who pulled the trigger, or why, only Palpatine is known to have stood to gain from it.

The Senator's first "friendship"
The new representative of Chommell Sector wasted no time in forming relationships that could help him in the future. The first was the son of the man whose death ensured his own election. Ronhar Kim was a Jedi who had foresworn his family ties but was present to witness his father's murder. Palpatine may have wanted to know how much the Jedi knew before deciding what to do with him, so he approached the younger Kim just as he was standing before his father's body, lying in state. Under his mask of sorrow and condolence, he studied Kim carefully.

During their conversation, it quickly became clear that Kim knew nothing that could affect him, or the Sith. The young Jedi was more concerned about himself and his own choices in life than finding whoever struck down the father he barely knew: that father had wanted him to honor his bloodline again, perhaps follow his father into politics. What would happen, Kim asked himself, if he, an adequate Jedi at best, left the Jedi Order, becoming a politician but keeping his Jedi values? Could he not achieve more than he could as a Jedi alone?

The question helped Palpatine to see how Kim could be his eyes within the Jedi Order. He suggested that for a Jedi to become a politician would be a waste. Instead, perhaps the best course would be an alliance between a Jedi and a politician. "Through me," he offered, "you might have a voice in the shaping of the Republic. Through you, I would better understand the Jedi and their ways." Kim agreed, and struck up what would be a "friendship" that would last some three decades. Kim would be the first of Palpatine's "alliances" with Jedi, but this particular one would be of great use: a significant portion of the machinery that would destroy the Jedi would be created, unknowingly, with the help of Ronhar Kim.

Palpatine in the Senate
By the time Palpatine stepped onto the Senate floor for the first time, he already knew that the prominent power-brokers in the Senate looked down their noses at the more provincial delegates, expecting little to nothing of importance from them. He knew that he, too, was lumped in with the other hopefuls from Rimward worlds, those who, having never ventured far from their homeworlds before, would in short order be overwhelmed by Coruscanti politics. But unlike the rest of those hopefuls, Palpatine did nothing to prove the elites wrong. In fact, he encouraged them to keep thinking this way.

Palpatine deliberately affected the mannerisms of the rube the elites assumed him to be, employing the same pattern of underachievement he had used on Naboo. Again, he failed to take advantage of opportunities that could have landed him on important advisory boards and powerful committees; apparently he purposely sought to keep his advancement slow, knowing that the more he did so, the more harmless he seemed to his enemies. His performance evidently worked; the powerful Senators, wrapped up in their own petty power struggles, simply laughed at the small and quiet provincial, and otherwise paid him no mind. His own schemes and ambitions, which in the end dwarfed theirs by far, he concealed behind the facade of a kind, harmless mediocrity.

Friends and allies
Palpatine began establishing his base of power, cultivating friendships with respected public figures in key positions of government. As the list grew, it included Senators both weak and powerful, military commanders, members of the great organs of commerce, and even Jedi Masters. He even struck up a friendship with the leaders of the Caamasi delegation, to enhance the public's perception of his moral authority.

Many of the beings who would achieve prominent positions in the New Order to come began their relationships with Palpatine at this time. For instance, the future Fleet Admiral Terrinald Screed, then a young commander in the Republic Judicial Department, was contacted by Palpatine, and found that his own ideas easily meshed with those of the Senator. The future Grand Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin, then lieutenant governor of Eriadu and hungry for greater influence, also found his personal sentiments shared by the insightful representative of Chommell Sector. The future advisor Crueya Vandron, then head of a noble house in Senex Sector, joined Palpatine's camp.

Palpatine also brought his own allies with him: Sate Pestage, one of the few people who truly knew Palpatine (and possibly the only person Palpatine would have considered a friend) and Kinman Doriana, his two loyal aides. They kept his schedule and maintained his public appearances, and also covered up Palpatine's less savory activities.

During his term as a Senator (c. 43 BBY), Palpatine served as part of a Republic task force sent to monitor the demilitarization of Ando, where the native species had resumed a long-standing feud over mining rights. It was here that he met a Jedi named Jorus C'baoth, another member of the expedition. C'baoth was headstrong and arrogant, and perhaps this, in addition to gaining another source of information within the Jedi Order, is why Palpatine struck up a tempestuous but long-standing friendship with C'baoth. Even after returning to Coruscant, they met to discuss politics, philosophy, and the state of the Republic. Eventually (c. 41 BBY), at Palpatine's request, the Jedi Reassignment Council sent C'baoth to act as his personal advisor, and C'baoth became part of his staff. C'baoth later moved on (c. 39 BBY), requesting reassignment after receiving visions of the dark side returning and running off to Elrood Sector to flush out a group of dark-siders (and missing the true cause of the rise of darkness right next to him). But one thing they discussed during their time together held promise for the future: they spoke of the ExGal Society, a small, dedicated group of scientists studying the possibilities of life outside the Galaxy, and the idea of an excursion beyond the galactic rim.

Palpatine surprised everyone as he became increasingly popular. He wrote extensively, his notes on power becoming popular texts among political and military science students, his theories even taught at leading universities throughout the Galaxy. Despite this growing influence, Palpatine remained unassuming, and would spend many hours alone reflecting in his modest, yet well-appointed quarters. It was rumored that he orchestrated the abdication of Naboo's King Veruna, possibly hoping that his successor, Queen Amidala, would be too young to make rational decisions and would primarily rely on Palpatine during her reign.

He grew closer to Tarkin, who shared many of his sentiments on government. They became as close to being friends as people with their personalities could. In 33 BBY, Tarkin helped Palpatine engineer the murder of the Trade Federation Directorate, which were on Tarkin's homeworld of Eriadu for a trade summit. The pirate raids on the Trade Federation that had led to the summit had also been orchestrated by Palpatine, as was Nute Gunray's rise to power as Viceroy.

Shortly afterwards, Palpatine secretly funneled several million credits, believed to have been stolen by the Nebula Front, through the Bank of Aargau, and into the accounts of the Valorum family. Palpatine's aide, Sate Pestage, ensured that the exchange was uncovered by Valorum's political enemy, Senator Orn Free Taa, who revealed it to the Internal Activities Committee, thus critically weakening Chancellor Finis Valorum's already tenuous hold on power.

According to Supreme Prophet Kadann, Palpatine produced a son named Triclops some time during this period and banished him to the spice mines of Kessel. The validity of this story is not known, and is hard to determine due to Palpatine having altered or destroyed records of things in his life such as immediate family members, but it was commonly believed by high-ranking Imperial officers in 5 ABY.

In 32 BBY, Sidious convinced the Neimoidian leaders of the Trade Federation to blockade the planet Naboo, in protest of Senate resolution BR-0371, a measure that levied a tax on the major Rim trade routes. Sidious kept his identity of Palpatine unknown to the Neimoidians, although he revealed that he was a Sith Lord and made it quite clear that he held some power in the Senate.

The Naboo crisis (32 BBY)
"I have a bad feeling about this." "I don't sense anything." "It's not about the mission, Master. It's something&hellip; elsewhere&hellip; elusive."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn

Over the past year, Palpatine had moved the major pieces into position. The Trade Federation was now angered, threatened, and led by malleable individuals controlled by him. The Supreme Chancellor too was malleable and controllable. And, finally, the monarch of Naboo had been replaced by a new one, as malleable as the rest. Palpatine now had control of every side of the board. It was time for the next round of the game. This was the Naboo crisis, the point where all the other plots intersected and dealt the first crippling blows to the Republic.

The blockade of Naboo


The Trade Federation rapidly built up its forces in the Naboo system, assembling enough battleships to ensure a tight blockade. At Sidious's command, they closed the planet off and strangled its formerly thriving trade business. No supply ships could land or take off. Then the Federation secured the outer gate to the system by stationing a battleship at Station TFP-9, its own outpost at the outer edge of the system, to ward off the curious and advertise the act to all who would listen. The last free entrance was closed off, and all incoming ships were informed that the Federation was acting in protest of the illegal taxes that the Republic had levied against them. The blockade of Naboo was an accomplished fact.

For the next month, the Senate debated fiercely, but did nothing to help the Naboo. The Federation's representative, Lott Dod, successfully argued that they had not yet violated any Republic laws; they had attacked no ships, nor had they moved against Naboo itself. And if no outright crime had been committed, the Judicial Department could not act. The stalling further weakened the Valorum government; their defiance of his measures was in itself damaging, but the longer it went on, the more impotent Valorum appeared. Partly to allow this perception to widen, Palpatine kept his monarch, Queen Amidala, from disrupting his plans, urging her to be patient and wait until the Senate reached a decision.

Amidala proved harder to rein in than expected: her patience spent, she contacted Valorum and told him that she held him personally responsible for her world's suffering. Shocked, pushed into a corner by his own conscience, and desperate to shore up his crumbling support, Valorum decided to act. He would call for a special session of the Senate to discuss the blockade, but to give him a strong bargaining position, he needed the battleships sent away from Naboo. He decided to send the Jedi to Naboo as ambassadors, hoping they would shake the Neimoidians' confidence and show them he meant business.

The invasion of Naboo
Palpatine may not have known Valorum's full plans, since the Chancellor went directly to the Jedi Council without informing the Senate as the law required. Eventually he learned about the ambassadors, but not that those ambassadors were Jedi. The presence of a Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, took him by surprise. When the panicked Neimoidians told him, he fought hard both to manage his own anger and to get the Neimoidians under control, to focus them on the next task. The Jedi had been brought into the picture sooner than he would have liked. "This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops," he commanded Gunray. As for the Jedi, he had plans for them also. "The Chancellor should never have brought them into this. Kill them immediately." The Neimoidians acted accordingly, destroying the cruiser that had delivered the Jedi and immediately jamming all communications. Then, the conference room the Jedi were in was flooded with dioxis. The Jedi however, survived.

The invasion went splendidly. Within a day, most of the major cities, including the capital, were in Federation hands. Amidala was captured with her entire retinue, and the Neimoidians presented her with a treaty that would bring an air of legitimacy to the invasion. But she never signed it; instead, the Jedi, far from being dead, had escaped, rescued Amidala and her retinue, and commandeered a ship bound for Coruscant, successfully evading dozens of heavily-armed battleships in the escape. Sidious was livid, or seemed so. He took the opportunity to introduce them to Maul. "This is my apprentice, Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship," he told them. But despite the anger Sidious showed to his Neimoidian agents, Amidala's escape did not inconvenience him. Had he been anyone other than the Senator from Naboo, his plans would have been greatly harmed. But it was the very fact of his public identity that ensured that, come what may, he would have little trouble in finding her, no matter where she fled. He had an inside source: Amidala herself.

The search for Queen Amidala


After Amidala's ship was damaged in the escape, Jinn and Kenobi recommended that they land on Tatooine, an obscure desert world in Arkanis Sector, to repair the ship before going on. Amidala agreed, and they made for Tatooine, bringing this backwater planet into the spotlight for the first time. She signaled Palpatine, informing him that the ship had been damaged, was waylaid (she did not say where, in case the Federation was monitoring her communications) and that they would arrive after making repairs. Palpatine could now trace the signal to find out exactly where she landed. He handed the signal data over to Maul, giving him what he needed to find his prey. In a very short time they had narrowed the search to Tatooine.

The Neimoidians too tried to track Amidala, crafting a desperate-sounding message from Sio Bibble to be sent to her ship. They failed to get anything of use, but, desperate to stay in Sidious's good graces, they reported their scant findings. "They have accepted a communication from Sio Bibble," he told Maul. "They haven't answered it. But we can be reasonably sure that they're still on Tatooine." Maul knew the arid world had a small population, so it would not take long to find them. "Tatooine is sparsely populated," he told Sidious. "If the trace was correct, I will find them quickly, Master." "Move against the Jedi first," Sidious instructed. "You will then have no difficulty in taking the queen to Naboo to sign the treaty." But Sidious also knew that Plagueis's "experiment" was on Tatooine. If the Jedi interfered, the child could be tainted, less susceptible to Sith teachings. Sending Maul to kill the Jedi under the cover of retrieving Amidala would prevent that. This was one reason why Maul was instructed to move against them first. But Sidious may not have told this to Maul; there is no mention of the boy in Maul's journals prior to his visit to Tatooine. As far as Maul knew, he was going to kill the Jedi and bring Amidala back to Naboo by any means necessary.

Maul left for Tatooine, but, he failed to kill the Jedi or retrieve Amidala. Soon after, Palpatine was surprised to find the queen arriving on Coruscant, determined to rouse the Senate to her cause. One of Sidious's more trusted non-Sith agents, Kinman Doriana, who was present for these events, indicated&mdash;or at least believed&mdash;that the original plan was to use the occupation of Naboo, which they expected to last for months or even years, to create turmoil and paralysis in the Senate, which Sidious and his agents could have used to devastating effect. The eventual goal, to lever Palpatine into the position of Supreme Chancellor, would likely have been achieved nonetheless, but more gradually. But Sidious was as capable at improvisation as he was at careful planning. He saw a new plan, one that would work far better than the first one.

The Senator commands the Monarch
Palpatine requested an audience with Queen Amidala in his apartments at 500 Republica to go over strategy. He had spent the last six months cultivating the queen's trust, knowing she would heed him better than Veruna would have. It was all for this moment, when, in a crisis, she had to rely on him. She came believing the Senate would help her, but Palpatine slammed the door in her face by announcing, with mock disgust, that the Senate was long past caring about the common good. Worse, the corruption scandal had weakened Chancellor Finis Valorum more than she had thought. Both the Senate and Valorum were closed off to her as options. That left her with nothing but the options Palpatine offered.

He gave her two: she could move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum, and push for the election of a more effective leader, or she could take the matter to the courts. In offering her this choice, Palpatine risked nothing. Amidala had pinned her hopes on a quick resolution of the crisis. The longer Naboo starved under Federation occupation, the more of her people would die. If there was to be a solution, it had to be now. And the courts took even longer to decide things than the Senate. He had given her an option he knew she would never choose, could never choose.

So Amidala had to decide between working in the courts, while the death toll on Naboo rose to unimaginable numbers, or heeding her trusted Senator's advice. More specifically, she had to choose between Valorum or her homeworld. As expected, she chose Naboo. Only fourteen and still new to the throne, she had all the qualities of the great leader she would eventually become, but little experience. If Palpatine, who knew the Senate in ways she did not, said that Valorum had become an obstacle, that was enough for her.

The fall of Chancellor Valorum


The long-anticipated special session of the Senate&mdash;the last under the Valorum government&mdash;had only two items on its agenda: a hearing of the Naboo delegation's case, and a debate on the Trade Federation's continued opposition to BR-0371. Few expected it to be anything other than routine. Palpatine alone knew what was coming. He knew that the Federation's representative, Lott Dod, would stall the proceedings with every procedural tool at his command. He also knew that the vice chair, Mas Amedda, would keep Valorum shackled by procedure no matter what. And he knew that, in the face of an attempt to stall, Amidala would have no choice but to act as he had suggested.

During the session, Dod and his allies threw up objection after objection; Amidala, unable to even finish her plea, grew more and more frustrated. Finally, Dod moved that a Senate committee be created to determine if her "accusations" were valid, citing senatorial procedures that Amidala had no hope of understanding. Then, Amedda pulled Valorum aside, subtly forcing him to concede that Dod was within his rights. When Valorum then asked Amidala to defer her motion to allow the committee to do its work, it was the last straw. She saw with her own eyes that Palpatine was right&mdash;Valorum was ineffective&mdash;and she had nowhere left to go. Palpatine hid his satisfaction as, next to him, Amidala delivered the words that sealed Finis Valorum's fate.

"I will not defer. I have come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee. If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

- Queen Amidala

Valorum was thunderstruck, but by the time he could recover, events had moved past him. Senator Edcel Bar Gane of Roona seconded Amidala's motion, and the vote was on the floor. The Senate had waited for this for months, perhaps years, and so unpopular was Valorum that they fell on him with abandon, demanding a vote. It was all the Chancellor could do to postpone the vote until the following day. Palpatine already knew it would be a vote the Valorum government would not survive. It now remained only for him to ensure that he would be the one filling Valorum's shoes.

The scramble for the Chancellorship
"I feel confident that our situation will create a strong sympathy vote for us. I will be Chancellor."

- Palpatine

The sudden power vacuum left a choice for the two major factions in the Senate. The loyal Senators saw the danger of an unstable government and sought to elect a strong leader to truly clean up the corruption in the Senate. The corrupt Senators wanted stability too, if only so they could continue plundering the system, and sought a figurehead who would provide the appearance of stability and just look the other way while they fattened themselves. Bail Antilles, representative of Alderaan, was the choice of the loyal Senators, while Ainlee Teem, representative of Malastare, was the choice of the corrupt Senators. These two nominations came as no surprise; both had been campaigning for months, even before the corruption scandal.

Much of the backroom politicking that led to Palpatine's nomination has been lost to history. What is known is that he had been working for months to catch the attention of an influential clique in the Senate, led by Senator Orn Free Taa of Ryloth. Taa was not satisfied with Teem or Antilles. As early as the breaking of the corruption scandal, Palpatine had caught Taa's eye as a potential compromise candidate. From Taa's point of view, it made sense: Palpatine had few enemies in the Senate, and many friends, ensuring that all factions could work well with him. Thus, it can be assumed either Taa or one of those Senators in his circle nominated Palpatine.

Palpatine returned to 500 Republica confident&mdash;indeed, certain&mdash;that the tide was with him. He declared to Amidala that he would become the next Supreme Chancellor, and meant it. In fact, he had already made certain of it. Even in the midst of all his preparations for the Naboo crisis, Sidious had availed himself of his connection to the Thyrsian Sun Guard. Before Valorum's recall ever came to a vote, Sidious had made use of these Sith mercenaries to assassinate a discreet, though pivotal, number of Senators whose votes could have endangered his scheme. Exactly which Senators were killed is not known, but they would have been the ones most likely to tip the balance of votes decisively in favor of his competition.

The election of Palpatine
When the Senate convened the following day to vote on the no confidence motion, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Valorum had few friends left, and the Senate so wanted him gone that they did not hesitate. Finis Valorum was swiftly voted out in a humiliating defeat. His political career in ruins, he spent years in seclusion, waiting for the public's distaste for him to wear off. When he finally realized just what role his removal had played in Palpatine's grander scheme, Valorum made one last small but brave attempt to hold back the avalanche, but by then it would be too little, too late. Future generations, however, would look more kindly on him.

In his absence, the Senate voted for a successor. Probably, neither Antilles nor Teem could garner enough votes to achieve an effective majority, especially when the recent murder of certain delegates had removed some decisive votes from the equation. Rather than face a voting deadlock, the Senate eagerly embraced the third option. Antilles' supporters could take heart that Palpatine had seemingly kept his distance from the corrupt Senators during his tenure. Teem's supporters were encouraged by his apparent docility. Almost every faction in the Senate had become convinced that while he was incorruptible, he would work nonetheless to further their specific interests.

But the ultimate deciding factor, as Palpatine intended, was the groundswell of sympathy for the representative of besieged Naboo. Palpatine could rightfully claim that Valorum had promised to do all he could for Naboo in a time of crisis, and failed. Perhaps it was proper that Palpatine himself should be given the chance to make things right. With such weight behind him, Palpatine received the most votes by far, becoming Supreme Chancellor&mdash;the last being ever to hold the title&mdash;by an overwhelming margin. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and restore the remembered glories of the Republic. No one could have realized that they had elected the leader of an order dedicated to destroying the Republic.

The liberation of Naboo


Even before Palpatine's election, Amidala declared her intention to reclaim Naboo from the Trade Federation. He made a show of concern and tried half-heartedly to keep her from going. She left anyway, taking both Jinn and Kenobi with her for protection. Thus she had taken all his enemies along with her into what could only be a death trap. He and Darth Maul contacted the Neimoidians on Naboo, instructing them to kill Amidala, and notified them that Maul would be joining them to deal with the Jedi personally. Then he sent his apprentice off, with orders to make certain the Neimoidians killed the Queen, and that the Jedi fell by his own hand.

Even while Sidious managed the election on Coruscant, he made time to go over the progress reports from Naboo that Maul was frequently sending to him. As they came in, Amidala's behavior seemed more and more baffling: not only did she manage to escape Gunray's reach, but she had forged an alliance with the Gungans and assembled an army in the Lianorm Swamp, possibly in preparation for a strike against the Federation occupation force. If true, she was acting far more aggressively than her tactical position suggested; he doubted she would last even five minutes in such a contest. But he would soon see. He gave his approval to Gunray's plan to meet the Gungans head-on. "Wipe them out," he commanded. "All of them."

In truth, the outcome of what would be called the Battle of Grassy Plains mattered little to him. He had only sent Maul to Naboo, and ordered Gunray to destroy the Gungan army, to keep up the facade that he had an interest in Naboo, to keep the Neimoidians from seeing his true motives. Regardless of who won the battle, Palpatine would benefit: if Amidala and her defenders fell, she would become a martyr he could use to justify further and more decisive action against the Trade Federation, and if they succeeded, he could use her victory as a symbol of the new take-charge attitude the Republic would be showing under his guidance. Either way, he would be seen as a decisive leader, and validate his election.

The aftermath of the Naboo crisis
Palpatine was soon informed that Amidala had triumphed. Against all odds, she had retaken her throne, and taken Gunray and Haako into custody. Of all the possibilities, he had not expected this one to come to pass, but in the end it did not matter. The occupation had already served its purpose. And his state visit to Naboo after the battle tied himself firmly with that victory. He suffered a far more serious loss when he learned that Darth Maul, after claiming an admirable kill in the person of Qui-Gon Jinn, had himself been killed by the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. This was another major setback in his original long-term plans; Maul's death had cut short a quiet but promising reign of terror, where he would have picked off individual Jedi and provided a major distraction for the order. Sidious regretted the loss of a valuable tool, but that was all; for all the childlike loyalty Maul had shown him, it was never returned.

In any case, he had gained far more than he had lost. He had also learned the role that a certain Anakin Skywalker, a former slave boy from Tatooine, had played in the liberation. Though barely large enough to reach the controls, he had piloted a fighter straight into the Federation control ship and destroyed it. He had caught the eye of the Jedi Council itself; suspicion was growing that he might even be the Chosen One of ancient Jedi prophecy, and after much debate the Masters decided he would be apprenticed to Kenobi. Sidious would have preferred it if the experiment had stayed on Tatooine, living an anonymous life, free from Jedi influences, but eventually he could still make the boy his. He made a promise to Anakin in the celebration, telling him that "we will watch your career with great interest." He would keep this promise.

Returning to Coruscant after the victory celebrations, he must surely have had much to celebrate himself. True, the Jedi now knew of the Sith's existence and their involvement in the crisis, and for more than a century the Jedi had been aware of rumblings that there were neither more nor less than two Sith at a time. They might search for that "second Sith," but such searches never could lead to him. They had claimed his apprentice, but he could find another who would serve him adequately enough until the young Skywalker was ready to be turned. The Jedi were now afraid, and that gladdened him. In any case, no matter what losses he had suffered, the greatest prize had been won. The Republic that the Jedi sought to defend was already his.

An end to loose ends


Quickly, Palpatine removed incriminating materials left over from the crisis. Republic investigators had seized both Maul's ship, Scimitar, and his droid C-3PX on Naboo. Both contained knowledge best not revealed. But Scimitar refused to yield its treasures; the first Republic technicians to try inspecting the ship were gunned down by security probe droids, and when they called in Jedi Master Saesee Tiin to secure the ship, Tiin found the onboard computers already completely erased. There would be no clues about the "second Sith" from that quarter. Sidious had to sacrifice the ship's equipment&mdash;Maul's surveillance gear, his explosives, his poisons and torture devices, and his speeder, Bloodfin. But it was worth it, just for the fear that ate at Tiin as he left the Infiltrator: "That ship is alive with the dark side, Master Yoda. I can feel it clinging to my robes. And worse, it still tempts me, calling me back with promises of fantastic journeys to the far reaches of the Galaxy."

- Saesee Tiin

Tiin recommended that the ship be placed in the care of the Jedi Council, but the Senate representative from Kuat lobbied successfully to give Kuat Drive Yards an opportunity to study it. Before it could ever reach a KDY facility, it disappeared, at least officially. Roughly a decade later, it was discovered to have been diverted back to Naboo and stored in a clandestine hangar, an easy feat in a Republic so bloated that its left hand did not know what its right was doing&mdash;especially when Palpatine was guiding both hands. As for the droid, Palpatine saw to it that C-3PX's possibly incriminating memory was erased, then remanded it to the custody of Raith Sienar. Under Sienar and subsequent masters, the droid was retasked for other uses, and throughout the rest of its operational life, whether as a corporate espionage droid, a bounty hunter, even as an assassin, it had no inkling of its link to Sidious's former apprentice.

The Republic under Palpatine (32–24 BBY)
"The Chancellor loves power. If he has any other passion, I have not seen it."

- Mace Windu to Obi-Wan Kenobi on Coruscant

The new Chancellor kept himself busy during the eight years of his legitimate tenure. Much of this work was an intrigue that would eventually cause catastrophic bloodshed, the Clone Wars. But he had other projects, smaller but effective, that further undermined the Jedi and the Republic they served. Many (such as the Outbound Flight Project) were designed to whittle away the Jedi ranks, a few at a time, to make his task easier when the time came to purge them entirely. And as he carried out these murderous intrigues, always he cloaked himself in the image of a responsible leader. This was the Republic under Palpatine.

Palpatine and Mas Amedda
One of Palpatine's first decisions as Supreme Chancellor was to maintain Mas Amedda as his vice chair and Speaker of the Senate. He had gone to great lengths to persuade Senator Taa's clique to nominate Amedda in the first place, and the Chagrian had performed exactly as expected. Amedda had the potential to be useful in the long run. No doubt he, like so many others, mistook Palpatine's mild temperament for malleability, and in his first years in office the new Chancellor made himself appear open to suggestion, enacting some legislation that Amedda brought to his desk.

But while he kept his mask on in Amedda's presence, Palpatine was also gathering information on the Chagrian to use as leverage. Exactly how and when Amedda learned that Palpatine was also Darth Sidious is not known, but by then it was far too late to tell anyone; Palpatine had enough incriminating material on him to keep him muzzled for life. So by the beginning of the Clone Wars, Amedda had become a willing member of the conspiracy. With the coming of the New Order, he would continue to serve Palpatine and keep his secrets, not paying too much heed to the thought that, eventually, his knowledge would make him more a liability than an asset.

The offices of the new Chancellor


Palpatine maintained his private senatorial apartment at 500 Republica as his main residence, but according to custom he also moved into the Chancellor's Suite in the Senate Office Building. Exercising the traditional prerogative to decorate the office as he saw fit, he purged all traces of Finis Valorum from it and made it practically a mirror image of his apartment. Within weeks, no one who had spent any time in the Suite during the Valorum government would have recognized it. Yet again he hid his Sith nature in plain sight: the color red now dominated the decor, and priceless objets d'art&mdash;many of them Sith heirlooms too obscure to be recognized as such&mdash;were moved in.

But there were two especially important pieces Palpatine brought in. The first was a new Chair of Office, black, thronelike, armored with ultra-dense lanthanide alloy. This chair, with certain modifications, would be his seat of power for more than four decades, and copies of it would be installed in every ship, outpost, and facility Palpatine was likely to visit. The second, and even more important piece, was a neuranium sculpture of Sistros, concealing one of his Sith lightsabers, sealed within the sculpture at the time of its forging. This he placed in the anteroom. Other reserve blades, and his black cloak and hood, he concealed in other art objects or in shielded compartments throughout the Suite, until the time when he would at last put them to use.

The coming of the Red Guard


It was at this time the controversial and crimson-robed Chancellor's Guard, or simply Red Guard, first appeared. The original impetus for the Guard was a Captain Prid Shan of the Senate Guard. As potential threats to the Chancellor's person increased, Shan began rocking the boat, demanding that the Senate provide additional funding to upgrade the equipment and training of the Guards and assign them strictly to the Chancellor. Publicly, Palpatine feigned embarrassment at the notion of trained soldiers specifically protecting his person&mdash;he wanted just such a bodyguard unit, but could not afford to be seen as directly advocating one. A personal guard for a chief of state was seen as a violation of the Republic's principles, and some in the Senate objected. The solution was to create a situation where one could be forced on him, so he devised a means to make it clear that Shan's concerns were valid.

Palpatine arranged for his "friend," the Jedi Ronhar Kim&mdash;son of his late predecessor as Naboo's representative, and one of his first allies in the government&mdash;to be present for a terrified warning from Senator Viento, concerned that Palpatine's proposed reforms had angered some enough to want him dead. At that moment, the Senate Guards flanking him raised their rifles. As Palpatine expected, Kim quickly neutralized them, but they killed themselves with a fast-acting poison before they could be properly questioned. The Senate Guard was seen to have failed at a crucial moment, and Captain Shan's words, backed by the voices of Viento and other Senators, now had enough weight to carry the argument.

The Red Guards&mdash;later to be known as the feared Emperor's Royal Guards&mdash;were quickly formed and placed under Palpatine's personal authority. Throughout the years both leading up to and during the New Order, he was rarely seen outside their company. As he would do many times, he saw to it that their design inspired fear in any who saw them. Their distinctive crimson robes and armor were based not only on those of the Senate Guard, but on two other, far more ferocious units: the Death Watch of the Mandalore system and the Thyrsus Sun Guards he had long ago consolidated under his own authority (in fact, by the time Palpatine was inaugurated as Emperor, more than a few of the fanatical Sun Guards&mdash;those he had not by then eliminated&mdash;had found their way into the ranks of the Red Guards). As expected, there was some criticism, but as the years passed, the gradual passage of new security laws and the rise of the Separatist threat kept that criticism to a minimum.

The reelection of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
As Palpatine finished his elected term in office (28 BBY), the election for the Chancellorship was held as scheduled. Despite the fact that Palpatine's best efforts at reform had been stymied (he himself had made certain of that), his own scheming and the lack of any genuinely viable opposing candidates ensured his reelection. It would be the last election for Supreme Chancellor to be held in the remaining history of the Republic; shortly before the next scheduled election (24 BBY), his maneuvers would result in an amendment to the Constitution allowing him to serve indefinitely. And once that election had passed unobserved, there would never be another in Palpatine's lifetime.

Jorus C'baoth and the Outbound Flight Project
Among the more well-known of Palpatine's lesser intrigues was the funding, and then destruction, of the Outbound Flight Project, the brainchild of Master Jorus C'baoth. Palpatine had worked with C'baoth before, and for years the two of them had discussed the possibility of life outside the Galaxy. That possibility never truly left C'baoth's imagination, and eventually (27 BBY) it blossomed into a new proposal, the Outbound Flight Project, which C'baoth presented to Palpatine. Six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers would be linked to a central storage core, becoming a single vessel, and then launched on a course through the fringes of the Republic, then the Unknown Regions, then off into the void, eventually to reach a nearby galaxy, and back again.

Extra-galactic travel had long been dismissed as impossible because of intersecting ripples formed in hyperspace by galactic masses. Palpatine may have suspected otherwise, if the reports from Zonama Sekot of possible extragalactic invaders were true. In any case, C'baoth believed the Jedi could use the Force to calm this turbulence, and tests in the briarpatch border of the Unknown Regions seemed to bear him out, so C'baoth recommended that he and as many other Jedi as possible join the expedition. Though other reasons surely factored into his supporting the project&mdash;the possibility of learning more about the so-called "Far Outsiders," for instance&mdash;its greatest value for Palpatine was to provide a single target, far from prying eyes, where a number of prominent Jedi could be disposed of easily, without being traced to him. So, while outwardly appearing cool toward the concept, he allowed C'baoth to move forward and worked behind the scenes to see the project through to completion.

But the Senate still hesitated to fund such an expensive expedition, so Sidious sent his spy, Kinman Doriana, to make sure C'baoth would gain enough credibility to sway the Senate to his cause. C'baoth had been dispatched to negotiate an agreement between the Corporate Alliance and a regional government on Barlok over mining rights. Doriana beat C'baoth there, inflaming militant Brolfi miners into making an assassination attempt, one that was meant to fail. As expected, C'baoth himself foiled the assassination and hammered out a deal both sides had little choice but to accept. With such a triumph under his belt, it was simple for C'baoth to convince the Senate to pass Measure 4213.0410, which provided full funding for Outbound Flight. Even the Jedi Council caved in to pressure and agreed&mdash;grudgingly&mdash;to assign six Jedi Masters, including C'baoth, and eleven Knights agreed to go as well. This was more than even Sidious could have hoped for, and, eventually, would be a loss the Jedi Order would be hard-pressed to recover from.

The destruction of Outbound Flight
Outbound Flight was launched (27 BBY); now its Jedi passengers had to die. To that end, Sidious sent Doriana to oversee handpicked units from the private armies of his commercial allies. Against that, even six new Dreadnaughts should have been overwhelmed without fuss. But Sidious had not anticipated that his task force would be discovered by a young Chiss officer named Thrawn. Doriana sought peaceful contact&mdash;there was always the possibility that the Chiss could become allies&mdash;but the Neimoidian commander, Siv Kav, foolishly launched an attack without any discussion. Within minutes, all but one of Doriana's ships was destroyed, and that only because Thrawn wanted someone left alive to interrogate.

Doriana feared the punishment he would receive when Sidious learned of this debacle. But he found a way to turn a short-term defeat into a long-term victory. Skillfully using the scant intelligence from Tarkin and Sienar's expedition to Zonama Sekot, he evoked the threat of an invasion by the Far Outsiders, already establishing footholds at the edge of the Galaxy, already sending scouting parties to plan the route of conquest. If Outbound Flight met their bridgehead, Doriana insisted, the Galaxy would face a massive onslaught long before it was ready. Thrawn (who, as it turned out, already knew of incursions on the far edge of Chiss space) was convinced, especially after Doriana opened a holochannel to Sidious so Thrawn could discuss the matter with him personally.

Sidious too was occupied. He had learned that C'baoth had added Anakin Skywalker to the crew roster without anyone's knowledge; nothing could be allowed to happen to his prized apprentice-to-be. Palpatine traveled all the way out to Roxuli, the last stop of Outbound Flight before it left Republic space. Officially, he was there to secure C'baoth's services as a negotiator between the Roxuli government and its asteroid mining colonies, but he was really there to save Skywalker from the coming trap. That meant he would have to save Kenobi as well, since he could not yet separate Master and Padawan, so he secured Kenobi's services as a replacement negotiator, and Kenobi brought Skywalker with him. In their absence, Outbound Flight continued toward the Unknown Regions, and its fate.

Soon after, Doriana reported that Thrawn had destroyed Outbound Flight, partly by maneuvering a second power of the region, the nomadic Vagaari, into the engagement, to the destruction of both parties. And though Thrawn knew of Sidious's existence and Doriana's true identity and position, Doriana chose not to kill him, correctly guessing that the Chiss strategist could be of continued use to the Sith cause. Thus Palpatine gained a new tool as he lost an old one: the unstable C'baoth was dead, but he still had a way to make use of him in the future, if needed. C'baoth's blood had been drawn before the start of the doomed mission. If ever Palpatine had another special need for C'baoth, the cloning tanks would be waiting.

The search for a new apprentice
"Soon I will have a new apprentice; one far younger and more powerful."

- Darth Sidious



After the untimely death of Darth Maul, Sidious was faced with an urgent task. Before he could continue in his plans to divide and conquer the Republic, he needed an apprentice who could be counted on to make the necessary preparations, to sow dissension among the Republic's member worlds. Maul clearly had not had the kind of political acumen needed; of the many skills he had possessed, subtlety and oratory were not among them.

Obviously, the ideal method would have been to locate another Force-sensitive youth to mold according to his desires, but that was impossible now. As a Senator from a less-than-prominent world, he could afford the time to train Darth Maul from infancy, but now the daily schedule of a sitting Chancellor precluded any attempt to do the same for Maul's successor. He could not risk his political career for his Sith duties, nor could he neglect his Sith duties for his political career.

But fortune played a part in giving him the perfect candidate, in the form of a disaffected Jedi Master named Dooku. As befitting his needs, this Jedi was already well trained in the ways of the Force and was a superbly accomplished swordsman, though not exactly in the same flamboyant style as Maul's. He was also patient, intelligent, and charismatic. All of these were qualities Sidious would need for the next phase of the plan. And, most importantly, there were other qualities in him, weaknesses that Sidious could exploit to make a Sith out of him.

At some point in this time, Palpatine was training other possible candidates for the mantle of the Sith. One known pupil was Vergere, who, at some point, tried to kill Palpatine. She failed and escaped the Galaxy.

The seduction of Count Dooku


Dooku, always a maverick, had been appealing to the Jedi High Council to take the threat of the Sith more seriously. If there were always two Sith, he asked them, and one was believed to have been killed on Naboo, why were the Jedi not devoting their best efforts to finding the second Sith? But they remained plodding as ever. Their shortsightedness repelled Dooku, introducing to him the idea that his ideals and theirs might not necessarily be the same. He may even have been arrogant enough to believe that he, rather than some untrained child named Skywalker, might be the Chosen One.

Dooku set out to find the missing Sith himself. Instead, Sidious approached him. It became clear that Dooku was fascinated by the Sith, or at least believed that the Jedi could not save the Galaxy from itself. After much discussion, Sidious gradually persuaded Dooku that he too believed that the Republic was collapsing under its own weight, that a new order was needed to improve things. Dooku became convinced that their separate visions of improving things were actually quite similar. It was not long before he decided to accept Sidious's offer: in exchange for Dooku's services, Sidious promised to teach him about the dark side and how to use it to achieve the positive changes they envisioned.

Dooku chose to believe what he had with Sidious was a partnership. It is clear, however, that from the very beginning of their relationship, Sidious was leading him on. Dooku was a necessary tool, as Maul had been. Sidious neither needed nor wanted a "partner," someone on an equal footing with himself. It was not the Sith way; it was certainly not his way. Dooku would be a useful placeholder, until Skywalker was ready for conversion.

The clone army
Certain details about the creation of a clone army, which would be commissioned as the Grand Army of the Republic and would later become the nucleus of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps, remain clouded. It is generally accepted that the impetus lay with a certain Master Sifo-Dyas, a former member of the Jedi Council and a close friend of Dooku's. Out of all the Jedi, Dooku had confided the most with Sifo-Dyas. But as Dooku grew disenchanted, Sifo-Dyas grew concerned. He became convinced that very dark times were ahead, but the Jedi Council paid little heed. Desperate, Sifo-Dyas spoke to Palpatine, who likely convinced him that if the Jedi refused to see the approaching darkness, and the fate of the Republic was at stake, they themselves would have to act. It would have to be done in secret, so as not to alarm a Galaxy accustomed to peace. Even the Jedi Order could not be told. So Palpatine sent Sifo-Dyas to the Kaminoans, a species that specialized in genetic engineering, to commission a massive army of cloned soldiers, an army that would defend the Republic in the future.

Sidious could not count on Sifo-Dyas to keep silent, so Sidious sent Dooku to eliminate him. Without hesitation, Dooku murdered the man who had been his closest friend. In doing so, he fulfilled an ancient Sith covenant that prescribed the slaughter of one who was close as a measure of commitment. Seeing that Dooku had embraced the dark side, Sidious awarded him the Sith name and title of Darth Tyranus. But the cloning project still stood, so Tyranus carried on where Sifo-Dyas left off. The first task was to make sure the Jedi never learned about it. Until he had been silenced, Sifo-Dyas had kept the project a secret. To ensure that it stayed one, Dooku erased all records of the planet Kamino from the Jedi Archives, along with thirty-seven additional systems (including Dagobah and Dromund Kaas) that Sidious had judged to be of potential value to the Sith&mdash;his last act before leaving the Order.

Tyranus's second task was to find a source of DNA for this clone army. To ensure that the clones could challenge the Sith's enemies when the time was right, their template had to have exceptional combat instincts, supplemented by superb training and experience. Sidious ordered his new apprentice to find someone who fit this criteria. After much consideration and a brutal trial, Tyranus determined that Jango Fett, the last survivor of the old Mandalorian shock troopers, would be the perfect candidate. Tyranus offered Fett a generous payment for serving as the Kaminoans' prime clone. Fett accepted, on the condition that, in addition to the credits, he received an unaltered clone of himself, whom he would make his own son and apprentice. Tyranus agreed, and the foundation was laid for Palpatine's legions of stormtroopers, the force that would help Palpatine build an Empire out of a tattered Republic.

The Separatist Crisis (24–22 BBY)
"I will not let this Republic that has stood for a thousand years be split in two. My negotiations will not fail." "If they do, you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers."

- Palpatine and Mace Windu

Palpatine had now completed his two four-year terms as Chancellor, and his army was nearly at the ready. Now he needed a full-scale galactic war to overthrow the Republic, eliminate the Jedi, and restore a long-vanished golden age where the Sith would rule the Galaxy once again. The Clone Wars would do just that.



The rise of the Separatist movement
"Master Yoda, do you think it will really come to war?" "The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is."

- Palpatine and Yoda

Under Palpatine's direction, Count Dooku united several commercial organizations&mdash;foremost among them the Trade Federation that had been Sidious's tool for seizing the Chancellorship&mdash;into the Confederacy of Independent Systems, thus forging the Separatist movement in 24 BBY. These organizations pledged the massive armies they had used to protect their profits to Dooku, thus making the Confederacy capable of overthrowing the Republic, and a threat in the eyes of the Senate.

Palpatine arranged for Dooku to construct the revolutionary government at the end of his term limit as Chancellor. Due to this, the oblivious Senate granted him an indefinite extra term in office&mdash;canceling the 24 BBY Galactic Republic Chancery election&mdash;to settle the Separatist Crisis. But the movement continued to strengthen, despite Palpatine's "attempts" at peaceful negotiations, including the formation of the Loyalist Committee, an organization of Senators that wanted to keep the Republic together and preserve its principles.

The false "peace initiative"
As the crisis expanded, Palpatine staged yet another "public relations" drama in which he could perform his favored role of the hurt innocent, offering from a position of strength the hand of peace. One day in 22 BBY, trillions of HoloNet viewers across the Galaxy found their regular programming interrupted by a signal that overrode all government channels and 90 percent of the private feeds. In a brief twelve-minute address, Palpatine offered an open invitation to Dooku to parley: "There are many on both sides of this grand debate eager to turn this dispute into war. It needn't degenerate into so wasteful an outcome. Together, we have the intelligence and the reason to find an alternative solution."

- Palpatine

As he spoke, he did everything he could to keep up the appearance of the wronged party, assuming the moral high ground by forgiving his enemy. Even at this late hour, he said, he was willing to discuss a diplomatic solution. Little plays like this would be useful later; when the time for war came, he could say that he had done his best to prevent it, putting his own credibility as Chancellor at risk for it. "I appeal to your sensibilities developed as a revered Jedi. I was witness not only to your practiced brand of diplomacy during the Sevarcos Dispute of three decades ago, but also of your former apprentice's noble efforts to protect the sovereignty of my world. From these examples, I know you are a proponent of peace&hellip; We have much in common, sir, for it is the inefficiencies of the Republic that are the focus of my Chancellery. But the solution lies not in insurrection, but rather through reform. The system will work, and together we will make it work."

- Palpatine

At the end of the address, he proposed Bothawui, a neutral world, as a potential site for a conference. For "security reasons," he named no date, but announced that all avenues of communication to his office were open to Dooku. It did not matter; Sidious and Tyranus had planned in advance that there should be no response, and that, as a result, the Separatists would be seen as implacable, unreasonable. And the next time any violence was blamed on the Separatists, the militarists in the Senate could rightly claim that negotiation with such radicals was impossible, and the call for an army would become louder still.

Putting the Senate on the defensive
The false proposal had its desired effect; the demand for a military to defend the Republic intensified. But it was still not enough to tip the majority of Senators in favor of the Military Creation Act. When it came to a vote, they needed to approve both the Act and the surrendering of their own lawmaking powers to Palpatine, and do so willingly. There was only one thing for it: a round of assassinations that could be blamed on the Separatists, and cause the rest to circle their wagons.

Soon, various Senators, including Aks Moe of Malastare, were murdered (22 BBY). No terrorist organization claimed responsibility in any of these incidents, but with the Separatist threat on the rise, fingers were naturally pointed in their direction first, just as Palpatine had anticipated. And, also as foreseen, the inability of the Jedi to keep up with the wave of violence added to the overall effect. Ainlee Teem rose up in the Senate to critisice the Jedi. The conclusion was obvious: if the Jedi and the Judicials themselves were not enough to maintain order, an army was needed to fill the breach. Publicly undecided on the issue, Palpatine privately observed the debate with pleasure.

The night before the scheduled vote on the Military Creation Act, Palpatine made an address to the member worlds of the Republic. Again, he spun a complete fiction, expressing confidence in a peaceful solution and commitment to negotiations, though even the non-attentive press noticed that he was already "grudgingly" anticipating a Senate yes-vote. "Regardless of the outcome of the Military Creation Act vote, the primary path that this administration will adhere to is one of civility and intelligent discourse. If the constituents decide that a Grand Army of the Republic is indeed essential to the safety of our citizenry, we will erect a formidable force to assist our Jedi in maintaining the peace, not in starting a war&hellip; I assure the families of the Republic that hostilities will only be engaged in retaliation or in the protection of Republic soil, or in response to brazen acts of warfare brought on by the Separatists. It is not this office's desire to incite war."

- Palpatine

The intent was to settle their fears. Whatever would happen, he maintained, the Republic would still be the Republic; that was not going to change. The tragedy was that their fears were well-founded, and that it would be this same man who would make them come true. He concluded: "On election day, we will demonstrate the strength of democracy as thousands of delegates make their voices heard in the Senate. It is this cherished freedom we must protect, at all costs. The days and months ahead call for clear, rational thinking. It is only as a last resort that arms will replace words as the means of settling this dispute."

- Palpatine

The assassination attempts on Senator Padmé Amidala
Palpatine's successor as Senator of Naboo and the world's former Queen, Padmé Amidala, was almost killed by the Clawdite bounty hunter Zam Wesell after arriving on Coruscant to vote on the issue of creating a Grand Army of the Republic. Palpatine had the vote delayed and had the Senator put under the protection of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, her old Jedi allies from the Battle of Naboo a decade ago. After a second assassination attempt was made by using poisonous kouhun worms, Anakin was assigned by the Jedi Council to protect Amidala back on her homeworld of Naboo. The two both secretly started to fall in love with the romantic ambiance of Varykino. Anakin was clearly breaking the Jedi Code, and this guilt and secrecy would only bring him closer to the dark side.

Meanwhile, Kenobi&mdash;who had been sent by the Council to solve Amidala's mysterious assassination attempts&mdash;found out about Kamino from an old friend in Coco Town, Dexter Jettster, located the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who was the army's prime clone, and infiltrated the Separatist stronghold at Geonosis to discover that the financial leaders supporting the Confederacy had an army of battle droids in wait and that to insure the Trade Federation's backing was to have Senator Amidala killed. Kenobi contacted the Chancellor and the Jedi Council back on Coruscant, but was taken captive by the local Geonosians.

As for Anakin and Padmé, the duo had secretly voyaged back to the desert planet Tatooine after Anakin had visions of his mother, Shmi, in agony. Anakin met the Lars family, who had freed Shmi from Watto years ago and learned that his mother had married Cliegg Lars. His mother's husband told him that she had been taken captive by a Tusken tribe. Anakin tracked her down to the Tusken camp, where he witnessed her death in captivity. The young Jedi slaughtered the entire tribe, creating a terrible disturbance in the Force that was felt by Yoda and Palpatine on Coruscant. The Chancellor was gladdened when sensing Anakin had committed another dark act, and Yoda even heard the spirit of the late Qui-Gon Jinn cry to him from the netherworld. Anakin returned to the Lars' homestead to bury Shmi and, after taking his old protocol droid C-3PO back, he journeyed with Padmé to rescue Obi-Wan.

Emergency powers


Though Kenobi had been captured on Geonosis, he had been able&mdash;or was permitted&mdash;to send out one transmission to the Jedi Council reporting his findings. Though he was cut off by droidekas arriving to take him into Geonosian custody, Kenobi had a great deal to say: "I have tracked the bounty hunter Jango Fett to the droid foundries on Geonosis. The Trade Federation is to take delivery of a droid army here and it is clear that Viceroy Gunray is behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. The Commerce Guilds and the Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku and are forming an&hellip; Wait!&hellip; Wait!"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Palpatine had in his hands the "proof" he needed to force the Senate's hand: the testimony of a respected Jedi regarding a massive military buildup. He no longer needed to convince anyone of the Separatists' intentions. Here was proof that, regardless of the Senate's hand-wringing about whether to risk a war with the Separatists, Dooku was already preparing to launch a war against them.

During a tense night-time conference in the Senate Office Building, Palpatine and Mas Amedda met with members of the Jedi Council and the Loyalist Committee, to ponder how best to counter the threat of an imminent Separatist attack. It became clear that even with an immediate threat hanging over their heads, the Senate would still not be able to approve the use of the clone army before the Separatists launched their offensive. Following an interminable session of argument, Amedda (no doubt prompted by Palpatine before the meeting) suggested that if the Senate were to grant Palpatine emergency war powers, he could then approve the use of the army immediately. Jar Jar Binks, representing Naboo in Amidala's absence, volunteered to make the motion in the Senate.

When Binks made the motion in his broken Gunganese variant of Basic, the Senate was shocked. They simply could not believe that Binks, the being they had all derided as a clown, was now possessed of a strength and eloquence they had never seen in him before, and as radical as his proposal was, it seemed the most sensible option, given the circumstances. Binks was advocating a complete about-face on militarization, and this reconciled a great many doubters. As Amidala's chosen proxy, Binks's position was seen as her position. If Binks said it, then by senatorial rules, she had intended for it to be said. "Senators, dellow felagates, in response to this direct threat to the Republic, mesa propose that the Senate give immediately emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor."

- Jar Jar Binks

The cheering and the chants of his name from the body of the hall went on, uninterrupted, for minutes, drowning out the few jeers of protest. By the time Palpatine held up his hands, calling for silence, he had, with the help of the unsuspecting Gungan, won the Senate almost completely. The rest of it&mdash;the humble speech with which he would soothe their belated fears about the future of the democratic system, and the actual vote on Binks's motion&mdash;was merely a formality. "It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. I am mild by nature, and I do not desire to see the destruction of democracy. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated, I promise you. And as my first act with this new authority, I will create a Grand Army of the Republic to counter the increasing threats of the Separatists."

- Palpatine

At the conclusion of his "acceptance speech," Palpatine asked only that once the crisis was over, he could retire to Naboo and live out his remaining years in peace&mdash;another heinous lie. Only one thing he said could be taken at face value: the clones were a fact, and he quickly legalized them as the Republic's armed forces. He had dealt the Republic a fait accompli, and they had not even imagined that he was even involved.

The Clone Wars (22–19 BBY)


The great project that Sidious had spent more than ten years in making&mdash;the first full-scale conflict in a thousand years, and one of the most destructive in history&mdash;began on the right foot for him. He had at his command a force of well-trained, well-equipped soldiers answerable ultimately to him, and sweeping discretionary powers to use as he saw fit, which undermined the Constitution to an unprecedented degree. Now he put both of these to work in the long and bloody conflict that history calls the Clone Wars. On the surface, it was seen as the Republic's effort to suppress the militant Separatist movement. It was actually a war waged against the Republic itself by its own head of state.

From democratic diplomat to dictatorial despot
"There are times when we must all endure adjustment to the Constitution in the name of security."

- Palpatine

During the Clone Wars, Palpatine further consolidated his power in the crisis of the war. More and more amendments were made to the Constitution in the name of security, including Statute 312b, which gave more weight to votes cast by Senators from Core and Inner Rim worlds, those whose support of Palpatine was more dependable, than those from Rim worlds.

The "Reflex Amendment"
Another wartime constitutional amendment that gave particular teeth to his emergency powers was Emergency Amendment 121b, dubbed the "Reflex Amendment" by both supporters and critics because it was claimed by those in favor that the amendment would increase the Republic's reflexes when dealing with Separatist attacks. The public justification was that 121b was necessary to compensate for the problem of overlapping jurisdictions in engagements where the battle spread across more than one system and thereby involved more than one local defense force. As usual, his supporter, Ask Aak, did the oratorical legwork by thundering in the Senate about the amendment's virtues: "The Separatists have taken advantage of our lethargic reaction time long enough. We will no longer be yoked by bureaucracies that have been fattened by the larder of the Trade Federation and other traitors."

- Ask Aak

The larger effect of 121b was that Palpatine and his handpicked officials would have far larger control over sector- and system-based defense forces than before. With its passage, officials appointed by Palpatine's military council were moved in to replace the commanding officers of several key loyalist forces. The opposition had hoped in vain for a solution that would have allowed for equal cooperation between local forces and the Army of the Republic. What they failed to realize was that cooperation had nothing to do with it. 121b was a crucial step toward the eventual absorbing of all local defense forces into the GAR (20 BBY), without which the awesome Imperial armed forces could not have been possible.

The disappearance of Seti Ashgad
As Palpatine called for even more extensive security measures, more and more Senators began to balk. One of these was Seti Ashgad, a former hyperdrive engineer who had designed the first Z-95 Headhunter starfighter and then used his fame to get elected to the Senate. Ashgad was charismatic, charming, easygoing, and skilled in marshalling support. The "Golden Tempter," they called him. Had Palpatine not made his own move to oust Valorum and become Supreme Chancellor, Ashgad might have done so himself. For this reason alone, Palpatine kept an eye on him. And when Ashgad argued (21 BBY) against the installation of new surveillance cam droids in the Senate building, Palpatine acted. Asghad was abducted by Sidious's agents and secretly exiled to Nam Chorios, the site of a former penal colony. "Senator Seti Ashgad has disappeared, days after he protested the installation of the Senate's new cam droids. Palpatine's office says the timing is merely a coincidence."

- Republic HoloNet News

Thus the public was told of the Golden Tempter's unexpected departure. By all rights, a dispute over holocams was hardly cause to make him disappear. After all, others like Bail Organa had opposed the measure also. But Ashgad was a cut above. More than Organa, Fang Zar, or Mon Mothma, Ashgad's case demanded a stronger answer than the strictly political measures Palpatine was employing against the others. The Golden Tempter could easily tempt others to support him. Perhaps, given time and room to maneuver, Ashgad might even gain enough support to propose a no-confidence vote against Palpatine. Evidently, Sidious, with his uncanny gift to see potential futures, decided to pinch off this particular future at the very beginning. Thus Ashgad was left to rot on desolate earth, under a sky in perpetual twilight.

The assassination attempt on Bail Organa
Palpatine had plans for Bail Organa as well. Organa was less dangerous&mdash;for the present&mdash;than Ashgad had been, but he too was a symbol of the old order Palpatine meant to destroy. And, as with Ashgad, it was better to weed out such potential threats early rather than late. The opposition had recently managed to table discussion (21 BBY) on the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act, a bill which, if passed, would centralize even greater power in his hands. An "incident" that claimed the life of a public figure such as Organa might serve to rouse the Senate and get the bill passed.

Organa and his entourage were traveling back to the capital following an emergency personal visit to his homeworld of Alderaan. Sidious made arrangements for pirates to attack Organa's cruiser while en route. The marauders actually succeeded in boarding the vessel and were but a corridor away from reaching Organa himself, until the unexpected intervention of a pair of Jedi fighter squadrons forced the pirates to withdraw. Many of them were conveniently destroyed before they could escape, or be captured and forced to talk. It was enough to permit Palpatine to reintroduce the Security and Enforcement Act. Indeed, the Senate was so offended by the attack that they "insisted" it be reintroduced.

The re-emergence of Finis Valorum
It was then that Palpatine's predecessor, Finis Valorum, suddenly reappeared. Valorum had observed Palpatine's activities, both public and private, from a distance, especially how the Chancellor's opponents, like Ashgad, had a habit of disappearing. Possibly the Enforcement Act had been the last straw, and forced Valorum to action. But Palpatine had ears everywhere, even in simple custodial droids working in Bail Organa's residence at Cantham House, so when Valorum came to visit Organa there, it was not long before tirades like this reached the Chancellor's desk: "The Senate barters away fundamental rights upon which the Republic was built! You trust that the tyrant you are creating will give them back to you when the crisis is over? Palpatine will give back nothing! No one who seeks power the way that he does ever surrenders it willingly!&hellip; Palpatine will make sure that any individual or group that opposes him or is in his way is removed! Look what happened to King Veruna! Look what happened to me! I know it was Palpatine who had me framed. I was forced to resign as Supreme Chancellor so he could ascend to it! Just as I am certain he arranged for those pirates to attack your transport!&hellip; I have no more proof of that than I do that he masterminded my fall. If I did have it, Palpatine would be in chains this moment."

- Finis Valorum

Such words clearly buttressed Organa's courage, so the next morning he appeared at the Chancellor's Suite to insist that under no circumstances would he support the Enforcement Act, and that in fact he would oppose Palpatine on it. The Chancellor said nothing about it, but he did see fit to tip just enough of his hand to put Organa on edge: "Might I give you a small warning? It would not be wise for you to see Finis Valorum again. Dirt rubs off so easily, and can tarnish those who would otherwise seem clean."

- Palpatine

Palpatine decided on Valorum's death; he was tarnished, but the passage of eleven years can change things; having seen what Palpatine's election had ultimately led to, some Senators would be far more sympathetic to Valorum, more willing to listen. The simple solution was to silence him now, while he was still seen as an embittered old political has-been, when no one would truly care. His disposal, of course, could be put to useful ends&hellip;

The Star of Iskin terrorist incident
The events behind the explosion (21 BBY) that destroyed the freighter Star of Iskin and killed everyone aboard, including Finis Valorum, were not known until a Jedi investigation uncovered the details. The actual bombing was carried out by one Sajé Tasha, an Anzati assassin based on Coruscant who frequently performed high-end political murders. Either by himself or through his apprentice Darth Tyranus, Sidious instructed Sora Bulq, one of Tyranus's acolytes, to work with the corrupt Senator Viento to hire Tasha.

Once Valorum boarded the ship, Tasha drew him off to a place of privacy. As an Anzati, it was not enough to kill him; she had to drink his "soup" as well. But the wounds left by Anzati proboscises are distinctive, and it wouldn't do for his body to be discovered with such marks in his sinus cavities. Such a clue could lead to Tasha, and ultimately to Sidious. Placing a powerful explosive in a sensitive area of the ship solved the matter. In fact, considering how Palpatine exploited the incident, it is likely that Tasha was ordered to destroy the ship; he needed an incident to justify passage of the Enforcement Act. Since the pirate attack on Organa's cruiser had failed, a terrorist incident in the capital city itself would do a better job.

As Star of Iskin climbed away from the docks and into the Coruscanti sky, Tasha's bomb detonated, and the freighter faltered and dropped. It finally came to rest with such violence that it buried itself into the pavement of Jrade Plaza. And with it, in addition to the thousands of dead, was buried a specific corpse that was so charred that no traces of Anzati proboscises would be found on it, if the body could be picked out of the wreckage at all.

The vote on the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act
The effects of the tragedy were everything Palpatine could have wished; the day after the incident, Senator Ask Aak took the floor and harangued the assembly in support of the resolution. Aak insisted that the role of any government is to protect its citizens, and a government incapable of doing so should be provided with the necessary tools. Aak yielded the floor to thunderous applause. It remained only for Palpatine to call for silence