Natural Causes

By Agent Malkere

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters.

Being a Sith lord came with many perks. Like vices. It was perfectly acceptable for a Sith to have vices, and Sheev Palpatine had many of those when he allowed himself. His diet, for example, probably ought to have killed him years ago, if not for the wonders of medical technology. Gambling with the lives of others – that was a good one. He had an internal bet going with himself about how many of the Jedi he could get killed off in this war before he was finally able to enact Order 66. He was hoping for at least half. He did so enjoy reading the reports of their gruesome and sometimes creative demises. In his younger days, he had even indulged in death sticks occasionally, but as chancellor it wouldn't be prudent to start dabbling in those again. Appearances must be maintained.

Palpatine signed off on some more reports. Paperwork was atrocious. When he finally became emperor, there was going to be a great deal less of that. It was actually starting to give him a headache. How obnoxious. He usually only got those from dealing with Representative Binks. He'd have to get something for that soon. He had a meeting with young Skywalker this afternoon, and one should always be at one's best while molding the mind of one's future apprentice.

The headache spiked and pinched. This was not a Representative Binks headache. Blast. Better call for a medical droid now. Chancellor Palpatine stood up. Blinked at the unexpected wave of nausea. Then he collapsed to the ground in a dead faint. Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was dead in a matter of seconds.

That was the funny thing about aneurysms. Despite advanced medical technology they still struck at times without warning. Somethings were still missed no matter how many scans were done. Death sticks were known to sometimes thin the walls of blood vessels in some humanoid brains. And sometimes they were helped along by resentful Sith Force ghosts who were still bitter about being stabbed in the back by their ungrateful apprentices.

Either way, it was listed as 'natural causes' once the final cause of death was announced. The chancellor had been an elderly man, after all. It was tragic but not unbelievable.

Anakin was not intentionally running late, but, well… things came up. They often did. Padme, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan all said he was a trouble magnet. Come to think of it, so did Rex. But, really, none of them had any room to talk. And it hadn't been his fault this time! Honestly! That stowaway Separatist droid on the Resolute was definitely a screw up on everybody's part. At least they had found it before it could escape onto Coruscant. Thank the Force.

Either way, the chancellor was always very understanding about this sort of thing. He hadn't been able to get ahold of Chancellor Palpatine via the coms to let him know what was going on, though, which was unusual. Perhaps something had come up with the senate?

When Anakin arrived outside of the chancellor's office it was… empty. Why was the door open if Chancellor Palpatine wasn't there?

"Anakin, what are you doing here?"

"Master?" Anakin turned in surprise to find Obi-Wan striding down the corridor towards him. "I had a meeting scheduled with Chancellor Palpatine. Do you know where he is?"

Obi-Wan's expression became grim.

"He's dead. One of his aids found him on the floor of his office shortly before lunch. The senate has convened for an emergency meeting to elect a new chancellor."

Anakin thought he should have felt… more. There was a strange sort of passing grief but not to the extent that he would have anticipated. The chancellor had been sort of like a father figure to him at times. He'd felt more grief at the news of Qui-Gon's death than this, and he had only known the man for a matter of days. Actually, Anakin almost felt relieved for some reason. Odd. He'd have to meditate on that later (for once). Maybe he was actually getting better at the Jedi 'no attachments' thing.

Obi-Wan seemed to be expecting some sort of response to this news, so Anakin finally settled on,

"That's highly unfortunate. Do they suspect foul play?" It was doubtful, given the security in the senate building, but bounty hunters had managed to slip through before. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility.

"Not as of yet."

"Has the senate selected its nominees for his replacement?" Anakin looked forward to hearing Padme's analysis of the situation later. This was definitely going to effect the war effort.

"Senator Organa and Senator Amidala seemed to be the most favored candidates when I left. We shall see."

Anakin nodded, and they walked down the hall together, shoulder to shoulder. He would have to talk to Yoda before the Resolute left for the 501st's next assignment. This strange feeling of lightness was probably something he should look into.

Two days later, Chancellor Padme Amidala stepped graceful into her new role, and despite the unfortunate circumstances there seemed to be a new air of light and hope in the senate building. Like a dark cloud had been lifted from over all of them.

A/N: Happy Star Wars Day everybody! I've been looking through Prequel fix-its lately, and I found myself wishing that there was one where Palpatine just randomly keeled over dead one day - just because. So I wrote this. Yay!