Star Wars - Darth Plagueis

know.”
    Laughter from the others prompted Darnada to part his muzzle just enough to reveal the tips of his fangs.
    The Sluissi looked at Kim and Palpatine. “Perhaps Black Sun is unaware that the son of Hego Damask’s operating officer—Larsh Hill—is in line to replace Tonith as chairman of the Banking Clan.”
    Tarkin put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “I’ve heard the rumors to the effect that Damask has been meeting with the heads of the guilds, the Corporate Alliance, and the Techno Union. What might become of trade—of any sort—if he brokered a deal between them and the Trade Federation?”
    “Here’s the point,” Kim said. “If we’re going to prevent the Trade Federation—and the Muuns—from tightening their hold on the Senate, we need to band together and vote to defeat the proposed legislation.”
    Before Kim could add anything, Tarkin said to Palpatine, “Do you agree that the Trade Federation needs to be taken down a notch, Ambassador?”
    Palpatine glanced at Kim, who said, “Speak freely.”
    “Senator Kim and I are in complete accord on the issue, and have been for some time. No single corporate entity can be allowed to grow too powerful—especially at the expense of developing worlds. Naboo must safeguard its interests, just as Eriadu and Sullust and Sluis Van have safeguarded theirs.”
    Tarkin watched him closely. “Is Naboo prepared to assume control of transporting its plasma? Aren’t you in danger of biting the proverbial hand that feeds you?”
    “Naboo has no intentions of planetizing the Trade Federation’s facilities. We’re simply pressing for a renegotiation of the original contracts.”
    Tarkin thought about it. “So you feel that a defeat in the Senate might make the Trade Federation more … pliable, as it were.”
    Palpatine vouchsafed a thin smile. “Only those bills that support well-reasoned regulation should win approval in the Senate.”
    “Well put,” Tarkin said.
    Palpatine waited for someone to point out that he had offered nothing of substance, but no one did. Even Kim failed to grasp that he was being undermined.
    Pax Teem was about to speak when a Gran messenger intruded on the privacy canopy.
    “Senator Kim, we are in receipt of an urgent communiqué from Naboo.”
    While Kim was excusing himself, Palpatine dropped into the Force. Conversation at the table grew faint, and the physical forms of Pax Teem and the others became indistinct—more like blurs of lambent energy. He kept himself still as a disturbing echo reached him. By the time an ashen Kim was returning to the table, Palpatine was already out of his seat and hurrying to meet him.
    “What is it? What’s happened?”
    Kim stared at him as if from another world. “They’re dead. Everyone. My wife, my sons …”
    And he collapsed sobbing against Palpatine’s shoulder.
    The funeral for the Kim family was everything it hadn’t been for the Palpatines. In keeping with tradition, the bodies of Kim’s wife, two sons, and the ship’s pilot and copilot had been returned to Theed from the crash site in seaside Kaadara and cremated in the Funeral Temple. A procession hundreds-strong led by King Tapalo and his chief advisers proceeded on foot from the Temple to the nearby Livet Tower, where everyone spent a moment gathered around the Eternal Flame, contemplating transience and the importance of living a harmonious life; then moved in solemn precision to the banks of the Solleu River, where the grief-stricken Senator scattered the ashes and wept openly as the current carried them over the Verdugo Plunge to the flatlands beyond.
    Following the ceremony, mourners gathered to express their condolencesto Vidar Kim, who wore a robe of deep green over a black tunic. When Palpatine’s turn came, the two men embraced.
    “I have only one hope for a family, Palpatine, one hope.” Kim’s eyes were red-rimmed and brimming with tears. “Ronhar.”
    Palpatine compressed his lips in uncertainty. “He is a Jedi Knight, Vidar. His family is the Order.”
    Kim was insistent. “I need him more than the Order needs him. Only he can carry the Kim line forward—just as you will someday carry on the Palpatine line.”
    Palpatine said nothing.
    With vehicular traffic banned from Theed’s narrow streets, the city seemed almost as it had a decade earlier, before antiquated laws had been repealed and wealth had worked its dubious magic; before Flash speeders and R2 astromech droids had become