Consequences

Bonus Chapter - Sidious and Plo

A number of people had questions about why Sidious and the Jedi are reacting the way they did, so hopefully this chapter will clear everything up. :) ~ Tirana

Palpatine is still fuming to himself as his escape pod speeds away from the Invisible Hand, heading for the surface of Coruscant. He had sensed something off in the Force from the moment the Republic forces had attacked the Separatist ship, but he hadn't been prepared for something of this magnitude.

Somehow or other, the Jedi – or at least Skywalker and his meddlesome Padawan and Master – were able to figure out that he's a Sith Lord. More than likely, it's connected to whatever they were able to determine from investigating the clones' inhibitor chips. He covered his tracks perfectly in that regard. There was no way they should have reached such an assumption. Besides, that was why he had Coruscant attacked ahead of time in the first place – to disrupt them, just in case they got any closer to discovering his identity. They shouldn't have been able to figure it out so fast.

He can't shake the feeling that there's something else going on, something much more covert that he, for some reason, hasn't gotten any wind of. Tano should have been take care of earlier, but that didn't work out as intended, and right afterwards he sensed a disturbance in the Force unlike anything he's ever felt before. Is whatever happened connected to her? The Force isn't giving him a clear answer, but at the same time, he's pretty sure that, somehow, it is. Whatever is going on, he needs to find out. It was not yet time for the Jedi to discover the truth. Before, he might have been able to get answers about Tano from Skywalker, but that obviously will not be an option anymore.

They have put themselves in a very delicate situation. As much as he might like to end it all here and now by issuing Order 66 before any dangerous information can spread, there is no evidence against the Jedi as a whole. The claim the Jedi attempted to assassinate him is too early, given he was in the midst of Separatist territory at the time. It would cause too many unwanted questions. The only logical assumption is that someone assisted his escape.

Legally, no case could be won against either side. No evidence can be confirmed, though he could just as quickly change that. The Invisible Hand is crashing on Coruscant, and if much of the ship makes it through, evidence of the Jedi collaborating with Dooku could easily be planted on the ship, but it would be only against Kenobi, Skywalker, and Tano. They would be executed immediately for committing treason.

He's worked for years, planned on Skywalker becoming his apprentice. If the boy turns out to be a threat, eliminating him rapidly will be necessary, but he very much doubts the necessity of such actions.

It had been his plan all along to have something occur, something which would lead to an act of treason of the highest level. The Jedi Council was supposed to walk into the trap, so the Jedi as a whole could be posed a threat to the Republic beyond the shadow of a doubt. It would be so simple if he could get Anakin to Fall, and have him testify against the Jedi, saying that they were the ones who gave him the instructions.

Yes, that is what his next step must be. He needs to escalate his plans to get Anakin to Fall, which will have to be improvised since he didn't plan on the boy finding out he was a Sith yet, but he's good at improvising regardless. With Kenobi, Tano, and Senator Amidala, he has all the leverage he could ever need.

The fastest, most believable route he can take now is to spread the word of what happened, while saying that Shaak Ti defended him. With her dead, it would be something no one could verify. Regardless, it will plant doubts in the public's minds about the Jedi, which will work in his favor once he does get to issuing Order 66.

Once he is done spreading his story, he needs to wait and see how the Council will react to it. More than likely, they know he's Sidious, but they also know that there's nothing they can legally do against him right now. They don't have any proof against him aside from assumptions, and the public would never accept that. Any action they take will be illegal. If they try to arrest or attack him in any other way, he'll have the perfect opportunity to destroy them for treason.

Still, he's certain that as stupid as the Jedi masters that run the Order are, they aren't that stupid. Probably. Generally, they still play by the laws to a point, and presumably they will continue to do so, even though they know he's a Sith. If they don't, they risk forever damaging their image in the eyes of the Republic and Senate. More than likely, they will try to pacify everyone by saying that they had no involvement whatsoever in Skywalker, Kenobi, or Tano's actions.

Either way, both sides know they are playing a delicate game, and there's no more room for mistakes.

***

To say that Plo Koon is highly disturbed by this recent turn of events would be an extreme understatement. Of all the things Obi-Wan, Skywalker, and little 'Soka could have done, why did they try to kill Sidious like that? Especially with Grievous and Dooku to back him up, when the chance of failure ran so high? The temptation would be great, he understands, but they should have known better. He's surprised Obi-Wan agreed to it. He's a Jedi Master; he's supposed to be calm and level headed. If the other two planned something so reckless, he should have put a stop to it.

Plo wishes more than anything that they could do something about Sidious now, but it's not possible. They don't have any evidence against him except circumstantial from the fact that he was able to escape the Invisible Hand mostly unharmed, and what the inhibitor chips revealed about the Chancellor being able to issue an order to kill all the Jedi. But that doesn't, in any way, prove that he's a Sith Lord. Yes, they know he is, but they can't expect that the Senate is going to take their word for it when they're speaking against the leader of the Republic. And the Senate will never accept evidence from the Force vision of a padawan, especially when said padawan would have a very, very good reason for trying to get back at the Republic for what happened to her.

There is nothing the Council can do, until they have solid evidence, without risking being branded as traitors themselves. Especially after Ahsoka's framing, he wasn't the happiest with having to put her, Obi-Wan, and Skywalker all on leave, but it was the best decision they could come to – far better than outright throwing them out of the Order to escape blame.

The Council already took a serious risk at it is in only placing them on leave, instead of expelling them for trying to assassinate the Chancellor. He couldn't go along with having little 'Soka expelled a second time, even though this time she did commit treason, and legally, is deserving of death. No matter what prompted it, there is no solid evidence to back up their claims.

They have no support, except the fact that Sidious has no more proof of his allegations than the Jedi do. That alone gives them some leeway. Even so, it will raise questions against the Order.

For as much as Plo would really like to go into the Senate to kill Sidious, he knows the clones have the order to turn on the Jedi if he was to try. It's not worth risking the Order's destruction simply to save three people. Expelling them would mean they would be turned over to the courts, an act which could result in their execution – something the Council didn't want to risk.

Whatever step they take against Sidious, it will involve much careful planning and consideration. Once slight slip-up will mean complete annihilation.

It would be simplest if they could go through the courts, but that process would be too complex. Sidious has complete control over them, and the Jedi don't have sufficient evidence aside from the word of three people, who's testimony would be questionable at best, and the warning Dooku gave Obi-Wan on Geonosis – another highly dubious source of information. Taking the word of a Sith is stupid, and it would make them look even worse to the public. It would appear as if they're take the word of the enemy more seriously than that of their own leader, not to mention that Dooku also only implied who Sidious was. There was no direct statement, and even if there was, the matter is too serious to take to court without hard evidence.

So, until they actually find more proof, they'll have to do whatever they can from the shadows. At least they know about the inhibitor chips in the clones now, so they can start working on removing them. The realization that his own men have chips in their head that can literally control their actions is sickening. As soon as the matter with Sidious is resolved, he needs to raise that issue with the Council next. They have to remove the chips as soon as possible.

And then they'll have to work silently and wait until the time is right to make a move. The Force will guide them.