『Hindsight, Bias, Corruption』

After going to their arranged quarters in Palpatine's Guest Suite, Padmé Amidala swapped places with her decoy, retaking her guise as the Queen of the Naboo. Ento, being forced to wait outside by her handmaidens rather than remain by her side to protect her, kept close enough to even through the walls protect her.

Dressed in a pale greyish green robe-like dress, its long baggy sleeves embroidered in curling vine decor. Her face was covered in white makeup applied with a pair of red dots on her cheeks and a red upper lip, with a small index finger sized mark on the center of her the lower lip.

As she stepped out, she looked over Ento who was the only one in the first room with her security detail, while the Gungan Jar Jar was waiting outside the apartment door with Anakin Skywalker.

"How does it look?" The girl kept a serious tone, not one typical of a joyous teen trying on clothes. Though she did grasp at the sleeves and give a light twirl.

Ento smiled a bit shy to comment, not really knowing what to say. So he just told her what he'd tell his mother whenever she tried on an imported dress, "Brilliant as the twin suns of Tatooine."

"They are Brilliant aren't they..." The Naboo Queen glanced off towards the window, "And hot."

"Very hot," Ento quipped as he went along with her words.

Quarsh Panaka just rested his gaze on the teen, narrowing his eyes. "Jedi, We will be expected in Palpatine's office soon. If you are here to protect the Queen, you must stand behind her, blocking the view of the window as to avoid being seen from the outside."

"You met me before I became a Jedi," Ento commented as he turned his head to look towards Panaka, "Call me Ento, or Rhade. Do not address me as 'Jedi' please. It sounds... Insulting."

Panaka's mouth parted slightly as he heard the boy speak in such a bold manner, but nodded slightly as his Queen gave him a glance of her own.

The boy, Anakin, was curious as to why Ento got to enter, but he and the others could not.

"How come I can't go in there...?" Anakin asked as he was seated, his legs swinging loosely off of the seat. He wanted to talk with the two of them. Ento promised to fly with him and Padmé was nice to talk to and even look at. Though he hadn't really talked to her all that much.

Dooku however remained standing beside the door, keeping watch on their surroundings. So when Anakin had spoken, he looked to the boy. "For security reasons, I assure you." Were the only words he gave to explain to the young boy.

Anakin tightened his lips slightly at this, only to look towards Jar Jar.

"Yousa goen to besa fine. Da queen will come out soon and wesa can all have a good timen." The Gungan tried to reassure the young human, in his own funny little way, taking a whole apple into his mouth from a fruit display in the meantime.

Dooku gave the Gungan a menacing gaze, much like how Qui Gon Jin had caught his tongue on Tatooine whilst visiting the young Anakin's home. "Don't do that again."

"Yousa too?" Jar Jar seemed to pout as he leaned back in his seat in defeat.

Anakin let out a soft laugh at the Gungan's disappointment.

Dooku himself smiled, before turning his head slightly as he listened to the talks in the room.

It was only a matter of time before they were to go to Palpatine's main Senatorial suite within 500 Republica. This 500 Republica was a prestigious and exclusive residential tower construct located within, the planet spanning city, Galactica City. Padmé, the Queen of Naboo, and her people were staying as Guests.

It was capable of accommodations higher than just 1,010 stories, making it as massive as just about any mountain. There were numerous lifts and even landing pads allowing access to taxi services to get to the resident's private starships. Its technology and people taking residence within itself, could be compared to amount found on a multitude of planets at once.

Ento had never felt so many people living in one place. He could only imagine the death toll should this building itself be destroyed. All it took was an out of control Lucrehulk cargo freighter to crash into it!

Yet he barely shivered at the idea, there was no death, only the force. It was easy for him to think this, there was no attachment to the people staying in this building... with a few exceptions.

Palpatine at the same time was looking in on the Guest Suite from his Senatorial Desk's holoprojector. "Ento Rhade..." He muttered to himself as he was going back into his memory.

There was only one Jedi, one that he met very briefly, with the surname of Rhade. However soon after he had met the individual, he was expelled from the Jedi Order due to his following of the Potentium ideology.

Potentium Sect was a group of beings who had a particular way of viewing the Force as a whole without its traditional division into light and dark sides. Their ultimate goal was to study the absolute limits of the force.

"This is an interesting development... Perhaps he was part of an experiment?" Palpatine tapped his chin, using the technology in the room to gaze over the boy more closely.

The Sith Lord had already noticed he was unable to sense the boy at a distance. At the moment, he couldn't even sense Ento as he was looking at him. It made him feel uneasy, it also was making him assume the reason why he couldn't foresee anything related to the changes the boy was making.

Ento was a blindspot, something he couldn't see passed, which was most infuriating.

"A Magnet for Midichlorians perhaps...?" Palpatine wanted to ask his Master, but he hadn't been responding to his calls. Had he been abandoned? He didn't know, he wasn't sure. "Then why is he so hard to sense?"

Little did the Sith Lord know, Ento knew he was watching. He could sense the holographic surveillance devices throughout the room.

"It is time to see Palpatine," Padmé informed her Head of Security, who nodded in return.

Shortly enough the small group of people left the room and made their way down the hall to Palpatine's office suite.

Palpatine was waiting at the door for them by the time they arrived. "Welcome your Majesty, right this way..." He smiled charismatically as always, leading her into the room along with her handmaidens now dressed in their dark maroon cloaks and attire.

"Thank you Senator," she responded to him, Ento walking in right beside her.

Palpatine raised a brow at the closeness of the Jedi. Though he didn't feel the boy's emotions, he could definitely see how close he was standing. Even for a protector, it seemed almost too close.

He watched as the Queen went over towards the sofa, her back to the window. Soon, the view of her back from the window was overtaken by Ento himself.

Palpatine blinked a few times, noticing that Ento was using the force in an ambient to protect the girl. He couldn't sense her thoughts, or her emotions either, except for what he could see on her face.

Two handmaidens took to the corners of the room by the windows at the Queens back. Panaka himself making way across the room and standing beside the one on the Queen's right.

Everyone was in place.

And so, Palpatine walked over towards his guests and their conversations began.

"...There is only politics, no civility. The Republic is not what it once was," Palpatine was pacing in front of the couch that the Queen was seated upon. Rather than the charismatic smile he wore, he seemed to have switched over to a more solemn expression.

If Padmé had not known of his true nature, she would've believed his expressions and what he showed to her only on the surface.

"The senate... It is full of greedy squabbling delegates... There is no interest in the common good." The words were somewhat true, but also false. Business was cut throat, and the bureaucrats were in control thanks to Palpatine's influence over galactic matters.

Ento was in half the mind to assault him right here and now, but he knew, if he did... He wouldn't be able to protect everyone in this room, mainly Padmé, the Queen.

Dooku stood on the interior of the door, watching as this went on. Palpatine and him hadn't spoken since their arrival. Tension though not clear through the force, may be building between them.

"I must be frank your Majesty," Palpatine continued to pace, showing no short of stopping anytime soon. "There is little chance that the Senate will act on the Invasion."

"Chancellor Valorum seems to believe that there is hope," Padmé retorted in a serious fashion, her eyes now following the Senator.

"If I may say so your Majesty, the Chancellor has very little real power... He is mired by baseless accusations of corruption. The bureaucrats are in control now."

As if by formality, Padmé responded, "What options have we?"

"Our best choice would be to push for the election for a better, stronger, Supreme Chancellor... One who can control the bureaucrats and give us justice." Palpatine seemed to be showing his true ambitions now, subtly revealing his desire to become Chancellor. "You could call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum."

Padmé just glared at him when he said this, her teeth clenching slightly, but she quickly composed herself as she felt a light whisper in the back of her mind from Ento. It was as if he was telling her what to say next.

"Chancellor Valorum is our greatest supporter," she did not use past tense as if to counter him, but to state a fact that he is their supporter. "The Bureaucrats that had usurped control of the senate and corrupted the foundation of the Republic, should be the ones to be removed."

Palpatine blinked hearing her say these words, hearing her label his pawns as outright traitors.

"Your Majesty, you shou--"

"Senator Palpatine," Padmé interrupted him much to his chagrin, "Our people are suffering from the vile hands of the Trade Federation, the very Bureaucrats you speak of that control the Senate!"

Palpatine stared at her as she spoke, she was either not so naive anymore, or someone was feeding her ideas that resonated with the situation. His eyes flickered to Ento, then back towards Padmé herself.

"It is as you say Your Majesty..." The Sith Lord adapted quickly, "But how do you expect to usurp the bureaucrats of their gilded thrones?"

Padmé frowned at these words, though tempted to look back at Ento, she refrained from doing so. How would she usurp these people from their control over the senate? If they were the source of corruption, it would take far too long to remove them through investigations.

She wasn't one to order assassinations, or forceful removals. There was nothing she could do other than follow through with Palpatine's suggestion of starting a vote of no confidence, take it to the courts, or allow a committee to oversee the affair.

All of these would take far too long.

"We will see what is to transpire today..." She responded to his words as she knew they had some truth in them. All their choices would all take too long, "And I will make my choice."