Palpatine let out a slow, heavy sigh as he leaned on the railing of the balcony in his suite. His hands were clenched in a white-knuckle grip on the smooth metal railing as he watched the burgeoning morning Coruscanti traffic with a clouded gaze. It took all of his self-control and reasoning to not let his anger burst and kill someone, anyone. From what the Sith Lord could glean, Obi Wan had just returned from his investigation of some backwater planet called ‘Kavir’ as well as a brief stop to some insignificant Rylothi colony, Palpatine didn’t ask for specifics.

It wasn’t like the Jedi were exactly being forthcoming either. Even with all of the goodwill Palpatine had secured with that council of fools, they were surprisingly tight lipped about the investigation. He could probably force them to open up the investigation using his emergency powers, however that would also have the side effect of making both the investigation and the Sith’s escape public, which was something he absolutely did not want.

Palpatine’s face twisted into a thoughtful frown. He had managed to meet with Obi Wan shortly after his return, and the Jedi Master had seemed unusually… shaken. He knew Obi Wan well enough at this point to know that the man was adamant in his Jedi ways enough that very little could shake him. Heck, Palpatine could even sense the fear radiating off of the usually stoic Jedi. Alas, before he could question as to why the experienced Jedi felt this way, the rest of the council arrived and quickly swooped him away.

He hated that part in particular. Palpatine hated when there were unknown variables. And now there were several roaming about; a Sith Acolyte and Jedi Padawan from 3000 years ago, a usually fearless Jedi being scared shitless, and two backwater planets with seemingly no significance being linked to the both.

It wasn’t as though Palpatine could investigate himself either. Every single move he made, whether official, or unofficial, could be traced in some manner due to his elevated position. His spies would also be noticed, as the Jedi would undoubtedly either be investigating the planets themselves, or keeping a close eye on them. As such, there was only one avenue Palpatine could investigate; his apprentice, Count Dooku.

Palpatine chewed the inside of his cheek. That method of investigation had several problems in of itself. Despite being his apprentice, Palpatine didn’t trust Dooku even a little bit. He knew well that Dooku planned to supplant him as the Sith Lord, it was their way of life after all. Handing off the investigation of these unknown variables to Dooku would essentially be Palpatine blindfolding himself and telling the turned Jedi to lead him across a tight rope.

Yet, the variables could not remain unknown, and cracking the tough nut that was now the Jedi Council would be difficult and slow if he was to not raise suspicions, meaning that the variables would have once again changed by the time he had made any headway.

Some anger broke past his control as he snarled in frustration. It had all been carefully laid out. The war would continue to escalate, Palpatine would ‘hesitantly’ accept more and more emergency powers while he continued to groom Anakin to be his apprentice, then finally the Jedi would catch on, try to stop him, and then he would use Order 66. Now the rug had been pulled right from beneath his feet because of this damned Sith, and things were slipping out of his grip. It was so fucking infur-

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Palpatine was brought out of his thoughts as a slow, melodic series of beeps sounded from the desk behind him. The Sith Lord took a deep breath to calm himself before he pushed off of the railing, twisting and walking towards the desk. He didn’t bother with the usually slow and frail gait he used out in public, walking forward with purposeful strides as he schooled his expression into cool calm.

Reaching the desk he took a seat, pouring himself a glass of Naboo Wine as he double checked the doors were locked. Pressing a button underneath the desk, the blinds to his windows folded inwards, cutting off both all natural light and any possible prying eyes.

Palpatine took one final breath before answering the call with a scalding tone, “Foolish apprentice, it is the middle of the day in Coruscant. Your reason for calling me had better be a good one.”

The holographic image of Count Dooku, leader of the Separatist cause and the second of the Rule of Two Sith, flickered to life on the desk. Dooku was an old human, old enough for his hairs to have gone completely grey and silver, yet he still held himself as though he was in his late twenties, full of vigour and strength.

The Count bowed his head apologetically, “I offer my humblest apologies, master. I would not call you if it were not of the utmost urgency.”

Palpatine nodded as he adopted an outwardly annoyed expression. Dooku did not mean his apology sincerely, however that was to be expected considering his current vocation as a scheming Sith, “Well, out with it then.”

Dooku raised his head, his expression turning grave, “As I am sure you are aware master, this new Sith from millennia ago recently escaped custody, as well as the Padawan from the same time period.”

This time Palpatine really was annoyed as he scowled in anger. Was this why Dooku had contacted him? To rub in Palpatine’s failure to keep a hold or at least quickly take care of the sudden and dangerous variable. Perhaps this was all in fact a ruse by Dooku, and these two newcomers were actually some of his Dark Acolytes sent to interfere with Palpatine’s plans.

Dooku continued, pointedly ignoring his master’s worsening expression, “Well, I have recently obtained some information as to their whereabouts.”

Palpatine perked up at that, however he quickly smoothed it out into cool interest so as to not fully reveal his hand, “Oh?”

His apprentice nodded, “Yes. For our plans to drag Mandalore into the war I was cooperating with a local terror cell known as ‘Death Watch’. A bunch of foolish zealots really, but they were the best option to sow chaos and force Mandalore to pick a side.”

Palpatine frowned as he searched his memory as he nodded along slowly. He had heard of them both from Dooku and news from Mandalore about their exploits, “Where are you going with this?”

A proud smile crossed Dooku’s face, “I have been keeping in contact with them, and recently something very interesting has happened. Apparently, while they were preparing to launch their invasion of Mandalore from Concordia preemptively and without my knowledge, they were found out and their leader Pre Vizsla was captured. Captured by what they claim to be Jedi, who also thwarted one of their attacks at one of the Capital’s entrances.”

Palpatine was glad that the holograms could only be transmitted in blue, meaning that Dooku couldn’t see the colour drain from Palpatine’s face. No Jedi were on Mandalore or had been sent. They had basically been outright banned due to their deepening links with the Republic military. So if it wasn’t Jedi…

Slowly and measuredly, the Sith Lord took a sip of his wine.

Dooku’s smile deepened for some unknown reason, “And according to them, these Jedi wielded two types of lightsabers. One of them was a male in black clothing with a red lightsaber, and a female in purple clothing with a blue lightsaber.”

The glass in Palpatine’s hand shattered