When You Give a Man Power 
Chapter 38

Palpatine sat in his viewing platform in the Senate like the many other meetings that have been happening far more frequently as Senators yell and argue bickering amongst each other over this war that had grown worse day after day with many core worlds in the inner rim facing shortages they had never faced before. 

They were panicking, trying to get their people resources that their planets lacked and attempting to keep their positions not wanting to be the one to take the fall for why the worlds they represented are facing shortages ranging from food, and medicine, to luxuries. 

Many of them yell at one another but one thing that was common amongst all of the fighting is that nearly if not all of them blamed Chancellor Valorum for this disaster. Palpatine would smile if he could get away with it if the situation allowed it at having Valorum confide in him as he provided advice to his close friend. 

He took a sadistic glee out of setting these spineless cowards and fools who had more greed than sense against one another. 

They bickered and fought amongst one another turning against the one they had supported so blindly. It was as much a test as it was setting the stage for the next part of the grand plan to bring the Jedi to ruin and for the Sith to triumphantly return and rule the galaxy.

The Hutts themselves proved no better despite their flaunted superiority to the rest of the galaxy's sentients as they fought even harder at what they believed was a Jedi sent as an assassin by the Republic in an attempt to undermine their forces in the war and a calculated preemptive strike. Palpatine had to suppress a snort for it would ruin his image as much as smiling would have in the current situation. 

For all of their supposed superiority, the Hutts were no different than the vast majority of these Senators. So easily falling to the plans and schemes of others without even realizing they were all pieces on a board being moved to and fro without ever knowing they were manipulated. It’s why Sidious believed the lightsaber to be an archaic and barbaric tool of the ancient Sith.

A reminder of how the Sith have changed for the better, though he still found it annoying to this day that his master Plagueis ordered him to become proficient in the lightsaber arts despite his insistence that it was unneeded. The only good thing he could see coming from learning them was when it was time to reveal themselves to the Jedi and prove his superiority over them. 

He could already picture himself standing over the current leader of the Jedi, Mace Windu. The image of him scowling as Sidious stood over him triumphantly made him have a strong urge to smile but he suppressed it knowing better than to do so during something so serious amongst the Senate.

Focused on what was happening before him he made sure everything went as he needed it to, helping show the Republic how it was not in any position to fight a major conflict with the Hutt’s and to help speed along the idea that they needed a military sowing the seeds just like they had numerous times before speeding along the process of growing conflicts within the outer rim and their growing resentment of the inner rim. 

Of course, some of those conflicts never would have happened had he and the Sith before him not manipulated events in their favor, ensuring that the Jedi or other negotiators couldn’t bring them to a peaceful solution before any sort of fighting could happen. 

“Senators, please! Calm yourselves so that we may discuss this calmly with level heads.” Valorum said across the chamber and despite how loud it was courtesy of the comm speakers built across the Senate it did nothing to silence them. 

“Shut it Valorum! You are why my people are currently starving and are receiving hardly enough food to keep them fed!” One Senator said back spitting venom. He held him accountable for both his and his people's suffering. 

Not that the Senator cared whether his people lived or died, simply that it has made his life more difficult; he could feel through the Force the man's inner feelings believing his reasons and secrets safe.

Many other Senators joined in lambasting Chancellor Valorum while he tried initially to calm them only to stand there in shock. They threw insult after insult at him with the few non-corrupt Senators glaring at him, thinking him a fool for starting a fight with the Hutts thinking they could simply push them back without consequences when they had no standing military and were unprepared for a conflict of this scale.

Palpatine idly wondered how well Maul's last mission went. He had sent him to deal with the faction of Hutts who wanted to bring this conflict to an end and reach a peaceful resolution. However, in the Hutts' case, they wanted to go back to making money which did not surprise him.

“This conflict has started to calm itself Senators, a brief reprieve for both sides after an incident was brought to light,” Valorum said as the chamber after a moment of mass hysteria stopped processing his words.

Even Palpatine had to do a double take at hearing what he just said. Is the conflict calming? How did Valorum manage that? The man was a fool if there ever was one and Palpatine was convinced he had finally broken down and started lying through his teeth just to keep the crowd appeased.

It’s something that he had known of the man for some time was that he vehemently refused to lie. Even when it was in his best interest to do so. At least anything regarding politics and running the Senate as its Chancellor.

When he had confided in him as the stress of everything was getting to him he had told him that he believed that being honest in the Senate would send a message to the others and as he put it be the change he wanted to see.

He believed that being honest would help the people of the Republic… Palpatine had laughed when he had some privacy at the sheer naivety of the man. It was a good laugh that he had not had in a long time.

He was shocked to learn that about Valorum. It made him question at first how the man had survived for long in politics then he remembered how easily manipulated he is. In politics one cannot be rigid, you must be capable of bending your desires and beliefs if you are to get anywhere in it.

That is one of the first things he didn’t need to learn as he watched far more honest people flounder because of their honesty. Shaking his head at such thoughts he explained why the fighting would ease up between both sides.

“What was believed to be a Jedi acting in the Senate's interests has been pursued by a well-known Jedi Master and after engaging the assassin trying to kill a faction of Hutts who like us wish for peace and driving them off he had firmly believed that the one responsible is no Jedi.”

Palpatine froze for a fraction of a second as his mask slipped and he stared up at Chancellor Valorum before his public face was brought back. One of the rare few moments of surprise he let slip out.

A Jedi Master had battled Maul? The Hutts he had sent him to kill were priority targets to not let the conflict end just yet when they needed the Republic to truly feel the impact of not having a standing military. They were gaining ground amongst the gangsters in the outer rim with many agreeing that the conflict is going on for too long and has put the Republic in a bad position and everyone knew it.

But the fact Maul had been caught in the act had him worried. Plagueis will not be happy hearing how close they had come to being discovered by the Jedi when they were not yet ready to fully reveal themselves…

“Chancellor Valorum, if I may be so bold as to ask, did the Master Jedi say what he believed the perpetrator to be if he was not a Jedi?” He asked as many eyes were staring at him but he let his kindly mask make them think of him as a non-threat.

It’s how he had gotten so much support from the public. That and many politicians had underestimated him thinking he was easily pushed around or manipulated. Oh, how some of them learned that mistake far too late.

“Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan had been tracking the assassin for some time, Senator Palpatine. From what the rest of their order had told me they believed the one they battled was a well-trained assassin from a cult. Let this be a reminder that others in the galaxy use this conflict and make it worse as a means to their own ends…”

On and on the fool went having managed to calm the Senate around him down and had Palpatine not been blindsided by the Jedi being wise of what Maul was doing he would have subtly tried to get the Senators to be at his throat once more.

Despite stalling his plans to take control of the Senate he was thankful the Jedi so far believed Maul as nothing more than a dark side cultist. How arrogant they have become since the time before the Rule of Two had been created. Thinking that they and the rest of the galaxy were safe from the Sith and that they were nothing more than a bad memory in old historical records that had nearly faded away.

He would make sure to have his agents keep an eye on this Qui-Gon Jinn. He had heard of him being against the rest of his order and their philosophy on the Force, a student of someone Palpatine had at one point feared would take his place as his master's apprentice. 

But Qui-Gon was someone that he was wary of. Unlike the rest of the Jedi he was not bound to the Republic and by virtue of that not so easily controlled by it and its corruption. He was someone who followed the Force itself, or as he had heard in passing the Living Force.

He was willing to change and adapt. For that, he was a much greater threat despite not having the power to even stand before him should they come to blows. Even with something as barbaric and outdated as a lightsaber, he would fall to him. How ironic it is that the greatest threat to him was a man that wasn’t even close to him in power.

The Senate meeting went on and before long came to an end with many Senators believing this conflict would come to a quick and decisive end even if many of them were worried about the consequences of meeting the Hutt's demands. 

Demands that will happen after engaging in a conflict that they could have avoided had it not been for both himself and his master orchestrating the conflict to break out.

He contemplated as he strolled into his apartment about the conflict coming to an end. He doubted it would be so easy even if both sides had calmed the fighting down. 

But regardless the Sith had gotten several steps closer to their goal, and with the way the situation had turned out he could use it to accelerate other plans. Looking out of one of his windows at the manor which Chancellor Valorum was allowed for being the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

Walking into a secured room ensuring no listening devices or anyone could listen in, the room darkened and the terminal hummed to life. He looked down upon the kneeling form of his apprentice, Darth Maul.

“Report. What happened Maul?” He growled out, losing the mask of the kindly old man many people in both the public and Senate thought was the real Palpatine unaware of the monster that lurked underneath.

“My master, there were complications with the last mission you gave me. Two Jedi had been lying in wait for me, and were it not for them and the Hutt's guards I could have killed the Hutts.” He said calmly but Palpatine could feel the fear coming from him.

He knew all too well the price for failure. But in this case, it was not too big of a setback but that was not what angered Sidious. “Unfortunate. But I cannot blame you for it going wrong.” 

Maul kept his head bowed. Sidious felt his shock at his acknowledgment and his dread at the punishment he had believed to come yet nothing happened. At least not immediately and he was hesitant because of that.

Sidious could feel his guarded emotions. He had learned well to hide himself through the Force or through using his emotions and hiding them in such a way that it would be difficult for anyone to find him until it was too late.

“Rise.”

Doing as he was ordered Darth Maul rose and his gaze met Sidious and that is one thing Sidious would give Maul some respect for. Despite knowing all too well how he could kill him and torment him while doing so he met his gaze evenly showing no outward sign of fear. If it wasn’t for his strength and knowledge in the dark side of the Force, he wouldn’t have even known he was afraid.

Maul had learned well under his tutelage. “I do not believe your training has failed you, for that would mean I have failed. What I want to know is how the Jedi were aware of where you would be and how they could sense you. Between your training and the surrounding suffering of the Hutt's planet, they should have had no way of finding you.” Sidious said getting straight to the point not liking something that had completely caught them unaware.

 This could have revealed their existence to the Jedi when they were close but not to the point they could openly reveal themselves.

“I do not know my master. Had I been given more time and the Hutt forces not interfering I could have killed them and any witnesses. The stronger of the two Jedi was capable but his age makes him weak, and his… apprentice left much to be desired. He will be far easier than his master.” His apprentice explained to him going through the fight.

In his mind he enjoyed the fight against the Jedi Master and would have been ecstatic at getting the chance to kill another accomplished duelist amongst their ancient enemy.

He had enjoyed killing their previous Battlemaster Anoon Bondara even if it was not his mission at the time. 

“Despite failing to kill the Hutts because of two Jedi when you have proven they are no a match for you in the past is evidence enough you still need training and… A reminder of why you do not hide things from me.” He said with finality. 

Darth Maul, the one he had secretly trained to one day aid him in killing Plagueis with his master unaware of him training Maul as a Sith and not a simple Sith-trained assassin. The child he had met years ago on Dathomir when he was learning of other dark side cults’ secrets as a means to increase his power to aid him in killing Plagueis but also to increase his knowledge of the dark side. 

A child that had such potential that he would be a fool to not take him when he did even if it meant making an enemy of Mother Talzin. A risk but one that would prove itself worth doing when Maul showed to him and his master that he was worth training. 

He managed to kill an isolated old Jedi who was far from weak despite his seventy years in isolation as a test. Then managing to impress Plagueis himself at having managed to kill at the time the Battlemaster of the Jedi order and his apprentice in the lower portions he stood on now. 

With that kind of potential Sidious believed he would be enough to help tip the scales in his favor when the time came to take his place as the Master and no longer an apprentice or what Plagueis the fool that he was tried calling it -- an equal. 

Anything involving the dark side and especially the Sith there were no equals. There are those who have power and those who have none but desire it. 

It is why he was rather angry with Maul, not that he failed to kill the Hutts. But because two Jedi, one of whom despite being a threat, was not a physical one. Maul should have easily cut them both down. 

The fact they were tracking him made him worried, and since he is now aware of this revelation courtesy of that weak idiot Valorum and not his agents or even Maul himself. 

Could his apprentice already be trying to hide and withhold information from him?

“It’s almost as if you are plotting against me…” Sidious said with a hiss as Maul’s eyes widened before kneeling once more before him.

“No, my master. I was busy trying to get off the planet and ensuring I was not followed before contacting you. It required all of my focus to ensure no one managed to track me.” 

Feeling the Force and seeing his fear but sincerity through that fear Sidious kept himself restrained. After a long tense moment had passed Sidious let up on the pressure with Maul feeling like he had a great and terrible weight lifted from him that had unknowingly made it hard to breathe. 

“You at least had enough sense to retreat and not let them capture you.” 

“Master I have already found gaps in the Hutt's security, I can make another attempt–”

“No. The Jedi and the Hutts will be better prepared, and knowing Qui-Gon Jinn's connection to the Jedi commanding the Republic forces,” One that he still had thoughts of eliminating as Plagueis had recently told him again the possibility of Dooku making a fine Sith, “He will have back up and the Hutts will be better prepared knowing you were sent to eliminate them. You will go to keep an eye on Nute Gunray and act as his protector in the shadows until I have further need of anyone that needs to be eliminated. This conflict is far from over and we have much to gain ensuring it continues.” 

Despite how Nute Gunray had recently shown the costs that come with having him as an asset like that incompetent idiot Rune Haako who had initiated this entire conflict, if things had not worked in their favor he would have had both of them eliminated.

But he still had uses for Gunray though he was now second guessing if he should keep him around for the coming conflict that would be close to the final steps necessary for the Sith's ascension. For now, he will keep him since he does not have the time to find and groom a replacement to be the head of the Trade Federation.

“Yes, master,” Maul said lowering his head, feeling anger simmering from him as Sidious coldly smiled. 

The image of Maul disappeared while Sidiout took a moment to himself before speaking with Plagueis. Despite all that had occurred on Maul's mission it could have gone far worse. If he had been killed and they examined his body and any Jedi with any sense would notice immediately he was no simple darkside cultist. 

Now if the Jedi in their arrogance believed him to be a Sith was another thing entirely. Of course, they wouldn’t be capable of telling the difference between a Sith-trained assassin and an actual Sith but that didn’t matter if it revealed them to the wider galaxy. He had his suspicions that Qui-Gon Jinn was of the mind that Maul was a Sith. 

The man had after all dealt with his fallen apprentice Xanatos and his fallen apprentice was quite the gifted Force user. Not gifted enough to warrant him or his master seeing much use in him besides maybe a plot that he would be unaware that he was embroiled in. But the matter remained that someone like Qui-Gon had dealt with those who wielded the dark side even if  they did so like newborn children not truly understanding the power of it or how to wield it properly. 

But he would be one of the few Jedi open-minded enough to realize that he was no mere dark side user and could begin to suspect he was a Sith. That’s if he doesn’t believe it now, even if the other Jedi don’t believe him which at first glance sounded nice, it was far from it. It’s not the worst thing by any means. 

With Qui-Gon warning them even if they don’t believe it should something come to pass that would further reinforce what they had been warned of then it would make his job much more difficult. It wouldn’t stop him but it would be preferable to keep them in the dark for a little longer. A few more years at least. 

Looking over at a holopad that had the faces of several known criminals and bounty hunters that he and his master had been looking into as potential candidates. He looked at the Duros and the near-human with long ears on the device then at the dark-skinned former Mandalore Jango Fett. Glancing down at the near human he felt the Force calling out to him. 

The terminal sprung to life again, his attention being drawn away from the bounty hunter and instead to the form of his master, Darth Plagueis. How he dreaded this discussion as he looked at the less-than-pleased Sith Lord.