Summary: Reactions to the epicness. These poor, unfortunate souls were not ready...

Warning! Chapters 56-58 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

Chapter 58: Galactic Echoes

-One Day After the Battle for Nal Hutta Begins – Coruscant Senate Building-

Supreme Chancellor Shev Palpatine gritted his teeth in rage after he terminated the comm channel on yet another hysterical fool. He longed to shed his false persona, to retreat to the temple far below the upper levels of the Senate district. It was only years of brutally practiced control that kept his carefully crafted charade in place when all he wanted to do was lash out and murder the next idiot that bothered him. Abruptly, unable to handle any more, he locked down his comm. The act would inform his loyal minions that he wasn't taking any more comm requests for now, no matter how insistent or demanding people got. He'd already dealt with the most important ones, allies and enemies alike, anyway. The rest of the fools could wait.

With a curt, sharp motion that was at odds with the carefully controlled body language that made up his Palpatine mask, he stood from his desk and strode to the window of his office. It was, of course, only a window from this side. From outside, it looked like any other bit of blank wall, securing his office from simplistic assassination attempts…and letting him look out over the Jedi Temple with no possibility of being seen.

It might have seemed odd to anyone who'd known his true identity that he'd intentionally moved his offices to overlook that Temple. But Darth Sidious, for that was whom he'd long thought of himself as in truth, had his reasons. For one, it was extremely enjoyable to gloat while looking down on those fools. Since the Jedi Order was technically part of the Judiciary Force, who reported to the Chancellor's office in turn. He was, literally, their boss.

Legally. No conquest required.

The incredibly delicious irony of that was reason enough for choosing the view. But it was hardly the only reason. With the magnification options secretly built into the widow frame, it also made an incredibly useful tool to keep a general eye on the movements of his greatest enemies. Something he did now, scowling as he used a tiny smidgen of the Force to manipulate the hidden controls, causing the window to cease being only a window. Several displays of magnified portions of the Temple grounds were quickly projected over the actual physical image. The fact the window was real was both a status symbol and a useful focusing aid when he was willing to risk careful probes toward the Temple with the Force. Carefully cloaked in the Veil of the Darkside, he could do that from time to time, without even that senile old troll feeling his efforts.

At the moment, he knew he couldn't summon up the fine control for such subtle efforts, so he focused his gaze on the magnified displays instead. Calm. Too calm. The Jedi Order was always calm, of course. Their airheaded, light-addled, nerf brains all drank far too deeply of the lie that was peace. Even in crisis, they only sped up, rather than panicking like any other prey would. One of the few things that made them legitimately dangerous.

But there should have been more activity.

At least, there should have been if they were behind the actions in the Hutt Sector that had been slowly stoking his rage to a high froth since morning. His initial thoughts, that the presence of Knight Secura leading one of the assault fleets, and sightings of several other Jedi among this mysterious 'League of Free Stars,' were that he'd somehow miscalculated in a way it was difficult to fathom happening. Now, as he watched the entirety-to-unhurried arrivals and departures around their landing pads, the completely normal traffic through other critical places he could see open to the air, he reconsidered.

His rage slightly more under control as he realized he might not have miscalculated entirely, he forced himself to look at the facts he had in hand clinically. The Order had announced, too quickly, that the Jedi involved had 'recused themselves from the Order.' It had all the hallmarks of a prepared statement, and Palpatine had initially dismissed it as a token effort at damage control. But what if it wasn't? If he looked at it from that angle, re-ordered his thoughts to consider Secura and the others as legitimate rogue elements…

Darth Sidious's rage whipsawed back into cold calculation as the pieces began to snap into place.

Fracture lines.

He, his former 'master,' and dozens of Sith before them had all worked toward internally destabilizing the Jedi Order. A united Order, one more open to varied viewpoints, would have been far more dangerous than the hamstrung organization that currently bore the name. Even as far back as Bane's first disciple, the Banite Sith had deliberately targeted specific Jedi and manipulated them into falling in specific ways. Never directly, of course. But from the shadows they had cherry picked specific Jedi with weaknesses, as the Order saw them, and encouraged them to fall using those weaknesses as catalysts.

In doing so, in creating false patterns, they had caused the reactionary elements within the Order to embraced their greater stupidities as the 'right way.' Strident enforcement of the 'no attachments' nonsense that was so utterly unhealthy for most human and near-human Jedi. Equally harsh opinions against possession of wealth. A dozen more equally moronic viewpoints, so obviously nerfshit from the outside that only the Jedi's self-absorption let the ideas continue to exist. All of them useful opinions to make the Jedi Order more isolated, more brittle, narrower of thought and prone to foolish overreactions against their own.

That had been encouraged for centuries. As had the elimination of dangerous ideas. Darth Plagueis, his immediate predecessor, had whispered in the right ears about how 'unnatural' it was for 'inorganic' life to feel the Force. A particularly reactionary council composition at the time had seen the Iron Knights exiled as a result. Sidious himself had performed the same trick when Master Djinn Altis had championed the idea of taking multiple Padawans as a means to bring the Order's numbers back up. That had been a dangerous idea that couldn't be allowed. Not when the timing would have meant a significantly larger pool of young and mentally flexible Jedi Knights for the Order to call upon right as the Grand Plan was set to initiate. Sidious had whispered in ears, or had mouthpieces of his whisper in ears in his place, and easily managed to kill the entire movement in its infancy. Master Altis had left the order with his few followers and caused no real issues since.

The Jedi Order had been intentionally weakened with internal weak spots and too much rigidity. But it hadn't been intended to actually fracture. Doing so would be an unmitigated disaster for the Grand Plan. A divided Jedi order, split into multiple factions around the galaxy and with some of them refusing Senate authority? That would cripple the intended usage of the clones as the one-hit mortal death blow to the Order as a whole. It would turn what should be a crippling strike into something far less, resulting in the sort of drawn-out open conflict with the Jedi that they'd been specifically working for centuries to avoid.

But he could see the miscalculation now. Far more minor than he'd thought when he believed the Jedi Order as a whole was backing this sudden war against the Hutts. It was irritating, but not as horrific an oversight as he'd been imagining. Instead of a massive, unprecedented intelligence failure, this was instead the result of just slightly too many efforts to weaken the Jedi as a whole. The Iron Knights and Altisan Jedi both had been seen among those working with this 'League of Free Stars.' That meant that a handful of more free-thinking Jedi had created a movement. A fracture in the Jedi Order that could all too easily lead to the schism that wasn't intended to happen. Forty-eight Jedi had left the Order 'temporarily.' Adding in the Iron Knights and Altisans, that meant somewhere between sixty and a hundred 'Jedi' of various stripes were involved.

Too many.

That was enough to create a legitimate seeming faction. One that was doing something that would be attractive to a lot of younger, more headstrong, Jedi.

Unfortunate.

That meant that, instead of squeezing the Jedi like he wanted to over this, he was going to have to support them. To find a way to keep the rogue Jedi connected enough to the main Order not to outright split away. He was going to have to take some heat onto himself, or more accurately onto the Judiciary Forces. But that was alright. It was nauseating to have to 'help' the Jedi, but since he knew it was to better wipe them out in the long run, it was easy enough to swallow. It would even ingratiate him to the fools all the more when he helped them avoid the worst of the flak from the Public and Senate.

How else could he use this?

Calmer now, colder, he looked at all the angles and slowly built a new plan. The Grand Plan had been built highly modular for exactly this reason, to make it nearly impossible to evade. He could and would use this to his advantage. The first step, of course, was to throw yet more doubt onto the Judiciary, subtly pointing out their failure to see this coming. That would allow him to expedite the creation of a dedicated Intelligence Service. Something that was always going to happen, and which would only benefit him if he could start on it a few years early. It would be all too easy, even now, to make sure it reported directly to his office instead of the Judiciary Forces. Those forces were proving increasingly incompetent, after all. Not to mention everyone in the Senate 'knew' he had a reason to dislike them over their failures to help his homeworld.

What else?

The Military Creation Act. It wasn't supposed to be brought up for the first time for almost another year, on his original timeline. Even then, it was supposed to be soundly defeated, a way to sow early dissent in the extreme early days of the Separatists open movements. But it could be repurposed. The Republic was always supposed to start the war on the backfoot. So much so that his chosen tool on the other side of the war would have to intentionally cripple the Separatist's forces so that they didn't cause damage he didn't want his new Empire to have to deal with. They couldn't speed up the creation of an actual military, of course. That would be foolish when the clones wouldn't be ready for a minimum of three years. But if he twisted the act, caused it not to fail but to be warped and reduced to near worthlessness instead?

He could get a lot of mileage out of that.

As could Tyranus as he pitched the action as the Republic trying to clamp down on the Rim.

A cruel smile found its way onto his face as the pieces of the way forward continued to snap into place. The ORD systems would be the key. If he crippled the act into something that would simply revitalize the Ordnance/Regional Depots that were the closest thing to military nodes left in the dying husk of the Republic, it would serve perfectly. A political sop for the fearful by putting stronger military bases in the Mid Rim, firmly between the cowards and the conflict now underway in the Outer Rim. Meanwhile, those system would become rallying strongholds for the early Galactic War.

With a few small fleets of the already-completed Venators supporting critical locations, he would be able to unleash Doku and the Separatists much more viciously. Let them do a lot of damage that didn't matter, without them crippling systems he'd prefer remain mostly intact. The Republic would still be too horribly outmatched to turn down the Clone Army, but the entire war would be far bloodier and more believable. Which would only strengthen the Dark Side and cost the Jedi more lives.

Perfect.

As for this League of Free Stars? Well, he had a few people to kill for failing to warn him about it. Despite the surprisingly large Fleet it had amassed to take Nal Hutta, however, he doubted it could truly take on the Hutts. Once the Hutts got their mothball fleets out of mothballs, hired the mercenary armies that were undoubtably already on the comms with them? No. The most likely result would be a lot of bloodshed, some of it Jedi blood, and a scared populace that would only feed into the needs of the Grand Plan.

He could use this, as always. Yet more proof that he was the one Chosen by the Force. That he was its destined Master. Everything would go his way in the end, as it always did. He had foreseen it.

... ...

- Coruscant – High Council Chamber -

"How many?"

Adi Gallia, still their representative with the Council of Reassignment despite the Skywalker issue, grimaced as she answered.

"Only eleven, so far. All ones that, honestly, we could have predicted. I expect the number to go up once we get more news, assuming that reports are accurate about how…successful Knight Secura and her allies are proving. The largest loss has been Knight Ti. But given her stint dealing with the aftermath of Karazak, it is obvious she feels uniquely qualified for parts of what will be needed, if this League of Free Stars even partially succeeds."

Mace Windu grunted, but he was looking better than he had the day before. Not great, and he'd complained to several people that he was still seeing unholy amounts of large shatterpoints everywhere. But the largest seemed to have passed. Though to what effect none of them could yet say. The answer Master Gallia had just provided the High Council was regarding the number of Knights that had presented their own statements of recusal and quietly taken off on ships headed towards the Outer Rim. No Masters had done so just yet, though with Knight Ti having been ready for elevation, that was only on the most technical grounds. It was Plo Koon that spoke next, adding more information.

"The reports of their success so far appear to be accurate. As many of you have no doubt done, I reached out to old contacts. One was able to supply a firsthand account from someone who had been on Nar Shaddaa. The moon was claimed easily, with few losses to the aggressors, and my contact was very emphatic about how utterly the same fleet had shattered Nal Hutta's orbitals. It remains in doubt if they can take the planet itself without resorting to brutal orbital bombardment tactics, but the star system at least is in firmly under the control of this League of Free Stars."

Windu nodded acknowledgement to the information. He had, in fact, reached out to old contacts of his own and gotten similar news. Though only from secondary sources rather than a first-person perspective as Master Koon had apparently found.

"Has anyone found out who this League is, and how they built such an enormous fleet without us hearing about it?"

There were a lot of head shakes…but one unexpected member raised two fingers for attention. Saesee Tiin wasn't who anyone had expected to get such information from, but the reason he had it made sense when he began to explain.

"As you are all aware, I am in charge of our starfighter corp. This means, naturally, that I have a rather large number of contacts in the shipbuilding industry, as Jedi tend to require bleeding edge fighters to have any hope of the fighters themselves keeping up with our enhanced reflexes. Through those contacts, I was able to get some information on where at least some of the ship designs seen in use so far came from. That, in turn, allowed me to make a number of disturbing connections."

Master Tiin raised his dataslate in Mace's direction, obviously asking permission to project onto the central holo display. He got an immediate and slightly impatient nod of approval, and flicked a few files over to the central system without farther delay. The first images was of a sprawling shipyard complex, labeled as being in the Allanteen VI system.

"This is Evolution Shipyards. By far the easiest ship to track were the transports being used in large numbers, model ES-23 variants that are the primary produce of this Shipyard. A shipyard that has massively expanded its capacity over the last several years…and almost exclusively sells to a series of Transport companies well known to many Jedi. Ones that have programs in place to retrain ex-slaves in valuable jobs. The Shipyard itself boasts such a program, as does Allanteen VI in more general terms, in the form of the Brighter Futures Academy. Both of which share a partial owner…"

The image on the display changed, showing a well-dressed and smiling near-human with green hair. The hair, assuming it was natural, marked him as most likely being a minor human variant. It was also a very familiar face, as his broadcasts of demands for the Hutts to surrender had reached the Order by now. Of course, given the massive headache caused by the capture of the Karazak system, most had already known his name. Though he'd been unassuming enough as the 'financial backer' of that operation that he hadn't stood out too much in comparison with many of the others involved.

"Izuku Midoriya, in point of fact, is someone who we tried to investigate. Only, we discovered that he's completely legitimate. In fact, as far as I can tell, he is still completely legitimate."

There was a noise of protest from Ki-Adi-Mundi. When Master Tiin paused to look at him, he couldn't resist an incredulous question.

"Still legitimate? He's started a war with the Hutts!"

Master Tiin didn't take offense, in fact he actually chuckled. It was a dry, exasperated thing, but there was some genuine humor in it.

"Yes, he has. Funny thing, that. You see, one of the reasons he got away with Karazak was that he owns a planet called Tythe."

A picture of Tythe appeared…and several people made abrupt noises of understanding as they saw the sprawling shipyard complexes around it.

"Getting that image was hard, as Tythe is almost entirely serviced by its own merchant marine, whose captains are fiercely loyal to the planet and its owner. But that is Tythe as of a few months ago, when a Naboo flagged freighter visited it…to pick up spare parts for the new Defender-II class patrol corvettes Naboo recently bought from Tythe. A class that was seen in huge numbers over Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa."

Master Tiin triggered another image, this one showing a distant shot of such a ship…surrounded by what looked suspiciously like an N-1 starfighter variant. A heavily upgraded variant.

"We already knew that Naboo had sold their starfighter design to Tythe, as they were used to take Karazak. But the connection, which we might want to press their new senator about, is almost beside the point. Both Tythe and Karazak were Extra-Republic worlds. Karazak might now be applying for membership, but it wasn't a Republic world when Mr. Midoriya's mercenary company went after it. Now, Tythe still isn't a member world of the Republic, and Nal Hutta isn't either. No world in Hutt Space is."

Mac Windu groaned as he realized what Master Tiin was getting at.

"This is literally a war between two powers that don't belong to the Republic. Meaning Republic laws have nothing to say about it. The Fleets belong to a legitimate government outside Republic space, and are attacking non-Republic worlds. Ones that have traditionally rejected any presence of the Republic or Jedi in their space."

Master Tiin actually looked a little please as he nodded.

"Yes, that's it exactly. As the Jedi involved have all renounced their current membership in the Jedi Order…we and the Republic have literally no odupiendo in this race! Not officially and legally, anyway. That, however, is a digression. Obviously, the surprisingly large shipyard complexes around Tythe are another source of the ships that were used against Nal Hutta. But there's no way it and the Evolution Shipyard produced everything. Meaning there are still more shipyards out there, somewhere, supporting this push."

Plo Koon let out a chuckle, which drew attention to him from many of the rather dyspeptic looking members of the Council.

"Well, I must say, Knight…that is former Knight Secura seems to have found herself an ambitious ally. As much as I'm dreading the chaos, I can't help but admit a part of me is quite pleased to see someone finally doing something about the Hutts. They have been a thorn in the galaxy's side since before the Republic even existed. Perhaps this shatterpoint was a turn for the good, not the ill?"

There were wildly different expressions on the faces of his fellow Councilors as they mulled over that comment. Some seemed to want to dismiss it, others seemed somewhat supportive of that point of view, and still others looked torn. He continued on blithely, seemingly unbothered that he was sowing a bit of dissention with his words.

"Well, if Miss Secura ever returns to the fold, I certainly don't think we can punish her for her use of the Priority System. This certainly is a weighty enough matter to have justified it."

A few snorts and more glares met that statement, even as Master Tiin began his lecture again. This was, they could all tell already, going to be a very long meeting…

... ...

- Senate Building – Office of the Senator of Naboo-

Padmé Amidala banged her head repeatedly on the extremely nice desk, ignoring the fact that its eloquent wood still hurt quite a bit with every contact, despite how nice it was. All four of her handmaidens were present to witness her semi-quiet attempts to do herself in. The two who'd stayed on with her after she transitioned from being a Queen to a Senator, and the two new ones she'd gained when taking the position just six months ago. Much to her chagrin, when she'd last looked up, they were all wearing extremely amused expressions at her reaction of the moment. Maybe if she gave herself a concussion, she could beg out of the utterly deluge she was sure was about to descend on her as people started making connections between the ships seen attacking Nal Hutta and Naboo?

Sadly, her valiant attempt to save herself via a prolonged leave of absence for 'medical reasons' was interrupted when Sabé took the gap of time when Padmé raised her head once again to slip a cushion between her forehead and the desk. Padmé thumped into it anyway, holding her face pressed into what she was fairly certain was one of the thin cushions from the entirely uncomfortable guest chairs she'd been intending to have replaced. Foolish oversight, not getting that done in the last few months. She'd had so many other things to do, of course. But now she was going to have to smother herself until oxygen deprivation did the needed damage instead of a concussion. That honestly seemed like a much less pleasant way to do this. Yet, for escape from her soon-to-be fate, it was still acceptable.

Alas. While ever-reliable Sabé had merely ensured her mistress didn't do herself a misfortune, Eirtaé was not nearly so generous. She had always had the sharpest tongue of her handmaidens. Not in a bad way, but certainly in an occasionally mischievous or mildly sadistic way. Sadly, she was also one of those two handmaidens who had stayed with her after switching from Queen to Senator. Originally, she hadn't intended to, being interested in studying art and engineering with the Gungans. She'd even had an invite to do so at Otho Gunga itself, with one of their major builders.

She'd reluctantly turned it down near the end of Padmé's second term as Queen, when the major shifts in politics meant Padmé needed someone who could intelligently discuss engineering matters. Naboo had, ever since their neighbors began to realize that their planet had access to extremely good fighters, patrol corvettes, and several types of transports, been getting a lot more interest from other Mid Rim worlds.

With the Gungans keen to sell to others, despite the vast majority of their production going to Tythe for reasons Padmé was now painfully aware of, Padmé had needed to walk a very careful line. One that let them sell defense-oriented systems to their neighbors who were understandably nervous after what had happened to Naboo itself, while still not being accused of proliferating arms by the human population of the planet. To that end, she'd needed a capable and trusted engineer on hand to answer questions, and it had only become more critical when she became the planet's senator instead of its Queen. It was far easier for the current Queen to run such deals through her and the Senate than directly through the Queen herself. Particularly as Padmé's own continuing popularity helped ease any backlash.

"Trying to escape reality isn't going to make the problem go away, Padmé. We'd best have some sort of response ready by the time the rawls come to nip at our heels. You've seen the footage. There's no way that people aren't going to connect our patrol ships and starfighters to this 'League of Free Stars.' Particularly not when they start digging and realize just how massive the trade we do with Tythe and its leader is. Or, you know, when they realize that the Gungans apparently have a huge presence in the army busy conquering Nal Hutta."

Fuuuuuccccck. Why did her second favorite handmaiden have to remind her about that. The Gungans had, at least, not left her to be completely blindsided. Roughly the time that Nal Hutta had gone quiet under jamming, she'd received a priority message from the Gungan Bosses that explained just how many Gungans were in the army of this League of Free Stars. Along with the general plan that League was working toward. Over 150,000 Gungan just in the military element, and easily three quarters of a million more on Tythe, in some fashion involved in the industry fueling it! The better part of a million members of the indigenous race of her own damn planet, and she'd had no idea so many had slipped off world to join a Crusade!

Mind you, it was a Crusade specifically against one of the vilest practices in the galaxy, targeting a species that she couldn't muster up any real sympathy for. But still! Given the contents of the message, the Bosses had known that there was going to be some backsplash on Naboo. And they weren't the ones stuck dealing with it. Nooooo. That was her. Barely 6 months into her tenure as a senator no less! She barely had a grasp on Senate politics yet, and now Naboo was going to be right in the spotlight! Again! Finally raising her head to aim a glare vaguely in her no-longer-second-favorite handmaiden's direction, she bit out the first thing that came to her mind.

"I am going to strangle Izuku the next time I see him, and I fully expect you to hold him down for me. If you don't, I won't include you in the massages I demand after I choke him half to death."

Eirtaé snorted, even as Sabé burst out in a fit of giggles. All while her two new handmaidens, political experts and aides more than the body doubles and bodyguards from her time as Queen, looked very confused. Dormé and Cordé had only joined her team, replacing other handmaidens, when Padmé had made the jump from Queen to Senator. As a result, the two of them had never met Izuku Midoriya, or his Jedi 'minder' that she and the others hadn't failed to realize was in a relationship with him. Sabé, ever the leader and glue that kept the handmaidens together, cheerfully enlightened them.

"Master Midoriya has magic hands. Seriously, best massages a girl could ask for. Even if I couldn't get him to massage my tits! I'm pretty sure he would have, what with Aayla egging him on, but he was determined not to be too improper with the Queen around. Even if the whole point was to relax and we eventually got Miss Prude to sunbathe properly topless with us!"

Padmé blushed, instinctively reaching back to swat at the handmaiden that had also become her closest friend over the years. Sabé easily dodged it, of course, causing Padmé to grumble.

"I'm not a prude. Also, you probably shouldn't mention that we have interacted with him casually. What little distance we can manage is going to be important."

Sabé snorted and immediately contradicted her.

"Nope. We're in way too deep of water and swimming with entirely too many sando monsters for that to help. The way I figure it, the best way we can handle this is to go the opposite way. Claim that, while we don't support war, we certainly believe in the eradication of slavery in the galaxy. Just outright brazen our way through with a statement acknowledging we disagree with our ally's choice in methods, but fully support their attempts to bring freedom to the oppressed."

Everyone in the room but Sabé frowned at her, the gears turning in their heads. It was Dormé, brought on for social-political expertise, who spoke first.

"It…could work. We can easily point to our own support of programs to help freed slaves as proof for our opinion and commitment in that direction. If we stress that the government of Naboo does not support the war itself, but is more than happy to help freed slaves, we could set ourselves up in a strong position. It will cause some trouble at home, but here in the Senate our preexisting channels with Tythe and our effectively neutral stance on what technically isn't even a Republic matter? That will encourage, possibly even force, a lot of major powers to suddenly include us. It would short cut a lot of the efforts we've been making to create our own political power base."

The calculation there was somewhat cold, Padmé thought. But…not technically wrong. It also was very much a case of 'this is going to happen anyway, so how do I make it work for me.' She'd certainly learned that lesson from watching her old mentor, now Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, at work. He was a past master at spinning things to work for him, and she'd learned from watching him how to play many sides against each other toward her own ends. It had, indeed, been what sparked her slightly-crazy risk in going to the Gungans back during the crisis. She'd wanted better relations with them all along, and had seen a chance to both aid her people far faster than the Senate would have, while also tying the Gungans to her own people via shared struggle.

It hadn't been a malicious calculation. Simply one that was intended to squeeze the most possible good out of a terrible situation. Which, honestly, sounded exactly like the situation they were now in. Biting her lip, she thought for a few long moments more, running through her own calculations about how the major power blocks would react. Slowly, with considerable reluctance, she nodded.

"That might well be our best option. The Queen is going to be irked, since she'll have to deal with the discontent from this back home. But we work with how the galaxy actually is, rather than how we wish it were. If we take it farther and lean into the stance that we won't help with the war effort in any way, but will be happy to host refugees…maybe even fund medical relief ships?"

There were nods all around as the plan firmed up in all of their minds. It wasn't ideal. It was going to make some of their efforts with the more peaceful power blocks much harder or impossible. But if they could ride the line well enough, they could come out in a stronger position than they could have gained even with another year or two of effort. Cordé, the closest to a proper aide/secretary out of her handmaidens, spoke up as she saw the others had all reached at least a basic consensus.

"If that's what we're going with, we need to be the ones to start reaching out first, rather than battening down the hatches. Senator Bonteri, at the very least, needs a warning. You can repay some of the favors we've been accruing with her at the same time, by forwarding a fair bit of what the Gungans gave us. Onderon is in The Slice, which means Hutt influence is all around their region. Giving that information so early will be damn near priceless to her in sorting out her own position. Which, given that they are isolated enough not to be overly influenced by the Hutts themselves but certainly don't like the cartels being in the area…might actually be in favor of letting the situation play out."

That was…true. Mina Bonteri had taken Padmé under her wing when she first arrived as a new Senator, helping her find her feet in the much bigger political scene here on Coruscant. They had just as many ideological differences as similarities, though. The nature of Onderon and its constant struggles meant its people were no pacifists. If they saw any advantage in this League replacing the Hutts, Mina might well throw her own weight against the inevitable efforts by the Republic to meddle. Meddling that they technically had no business doing, since neither side was part of the Republic. Which would give the Hutt's many detractors leverage…even as the even larger numbers who benefited personally or professionally from dealings with the Hutts would be screaming bloody murder. Padmé took a deep breath in, held it for a five count, then let it out in a woosh. Slightly more centered, she nodded firmly and got about doing something about the situation.

"Fine. It is what it is and moaning about it won't undo what's already underway. Get me a link to Mina within the next…call it half an hour from now. The rest of you, let's sort out the basics of what to tell her, and how in the karking hells we're going to balance this mess without the Queen murdering us all…"

... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: Whew! Finally time to get a look inside Palpy's head! Before this, he didn't have a big enough reason to take a deep look at Izuku and Co. Now...yeah, they made him sit up and pay attention. I hope I managed to convey, here, just what makes Palpatine so dangerous. He's really not that special of a direct combatant. Dangerous, absolutely, but not the end all and be all that many oddly make him out to be. What he IS, however, is the ultimate politician and schemer. Able to pull strings and spin almost anything to work for him, moving the goal posts around so his shots always score, and constantly adapting to make the most of even his own mistakes, let alone those of others.

A/N 2: Okay, seriously, writing Padme's little meltdown was my favorite part of this release. It turned out WAY better than expected, and it wasn't even part of the original plan. The battle bits didn't use as much word count as I'd expected. As a result, I figured I'd add her reaction...and it came out delightfully. I'm now looking for more excuses to write her and her handmaidens, because it was just flat out fun.

A/N 3: Yeah, you probably know this once by now. One per release, I point out that I have a Patreon Page with Early Access content. In example, I just released chapters 59-62 of Displaced Hero there, adding just over another 15,000 more words which will remain in early access until next month. Similarly, there are at least a few Early Access chapters there for ALL of my stories, though NONE of them are ever permanently paywalled. All fanfiction content I make ends up here (or on Scribblehub and Questionable Questing) eventually, as new content for each story is released. Typically, there are around 45-60,000 words of additional early access content for patrons. As well as chances to vote in polls that influence content.