Greetings, it's been quite awhile since I've been around but here I am once more.

As always, apologies for the long absence, I have no excuse other than life being what it is.

Many thanks to Eurospawn for putting up with me so patiently in his beta work.

That said, read, review, and above all please enjoy.

Tarrus

Stirring the pot-chapter 8

Emulating

"Another."

The long corridor, its bare metal walls evenly interspersed with white doors, echoed with the voice of the stations only living inhabitant as his voice lowered into an intense murmur. The echo's soon faded under the sound of shattering wood as the gentle glow of the corridors lights flickered slightly:

"Another."

Frustration laced the word as the air shifted in response to the power coming from the open door at the end of the hall, the occupant of the stations voice again issued from the room, quiet but strength in the words. Only to again be accompanied by the sound of shattering, noiselessness descended breaking the steady hum of the corridors lights as if a breath was being held. A surge in atmosphere, dutifully logged by the environmental control computer preluded the darkness that then descended upon the corridor as the lights failed entirely before regaining their luminescence as if a wave had passed over them:

"Another!"

Anger coated the demand and the air seemed stilled in anticipation, words, nearly bellowed resonated along the corridors walls, the power behind them making them unintelligible as the corridor shook under their weight. Shattering, accompanied by several heavy thuds and a gasp of pain rent the air as the anger surged as a rippling tide and the corridor went completely dark and the stations gravity control faltered. The hiss of hydraulic gears briefly broke the silence as every door along the corridor engaged its emergency override, locking themselves in order to prevent atmosphere escape. Nothing broke the silence save for laboured breathing accompanied by a muffled snap-hiss.

Red light pierced the formerly open door and protruded in the form of a short beam as metal sizzled and melted around it. It took several seconds for the beam to bisect the door. A harsh wrenching and squealing of the doors fittings bore testament to the sudden removal of the door from its normal resting place.

Anger and frustration, veritably simmering in his veins at yet another failure, Plagueis held his lightsaber aloft as he gently floated his way from the training area, left hand wrapped in the folds of his robes, back to his sanctum. Idly, Plagueis used the force to engage the backup systems, dull red light illuminated just enough of the corridor to see the way as his feet again touched the floor.

The station had been established in deep space as a storage facility primarily. But his wayward apprentice would have no knowledge of its existence. No record had been made of its existence, and Plagueis had not done anything relating to it since well before his erstwhile apprentice had even dreamt of politics as a career. Checking his anger, storing it for later use, Plagueis allowed his mind to turn to the problem he was attempting to solve.

He had gleaned a small amount from Potters memories besides the scenario he had already tried to undertake, before his rather, humiliating, withdrawal. Plagueis had seen a human child, a child with red hair holding some relation to the multitude of the rodent species that infested the galaxy in one hand. The child had also been holding, a stick, a stick which had been used, in conjunction with a language Plagueis had only two, memorable as they where, encounters with, to do something to the rodent. The resultant light had been proof enough that an effect had been achieved.

Plagueis fought the pain in his throbbing left hand by smothering the nerves with the force. He had tried to emulate the child's use of magic. He had acquired wood from several different planets, each as diverse from the other as possible. An old protocol droid had been used to drill the, incantation, into his mind. No syllable had been mispronounced. Plagueis had even sourced several dozen rodents from Coruscant in order to attempt this. But, as he allowed a sliver of pain to work its way up the shard of Ayalayli Thornwood embedded in his blood slicked palm, Plagueis knew, just like his attempts with the woman, something was missing. No amount of magic he had poured into the attempts had done anything besides cause the timbers to shatter under the stresses. As he made his way to the small infirmary to expedite the removal of the Thornwood from his palm, Plagueis began to repeat the phrase he had been using for hours, the strange words still foreign on his tongue.

Seclusion

Vuunkin and Sheowtulla were happily chatting as Harry grasped the flight controls listening to the droid explain all the knobs, dials and buttons. The metal controls were smooth under his palms and he relished the feel of the engine in lieu of rushing air as the droid droned on. He longed to properly fly the craft but Sheowtulla, after recalling the speeder incident had locked the flight computer onto a path towards the edge of the system. The Wookie wanted to head for somewhere called 'Hutt space' but Harry needed to find this other wizard, something had changed. Reality felt, strained, as if something was trying to push itself into being but was, mostly, being denied, most worrying though, it felt as if it was within himself. Harry had only noticed the change since leaving Corellia's surface. In space it seemed, there was less between him and what he called the aether, at least less in the way of distractions. Giving the control panel in front of him a forlorn look, Harry stood up from the pilots chair and excused himself to the now silent members of the group. He needed to focus, and in the absence of a ley nexus, the Box would have to do:

"What's he up to?"

Was Vuunkins query to the also confused Wookie as the subject of their animated conversation abruptly stood from the pilots chair and brushed past them. Sheowtulla shrugged his shoulders, the action eliciting a protest from the now toppled and still immobile droid on the floor:

"No idea, but if its anything like what I've seen the last few days, you wouldn't want to miss it."

As his Verpine friend rushed off to follow the not jedi. Sheowtulla more sedately eased himself into the pilots chair disengaging the flight path lock, worry for the wizard all the while stirring in him. Harry had thus far been nothing if not in control of the various situations they had found themselves in, at least in control enough that Sheowtulla got the strange impression of an underlying boredom in some of Harry's actions. Since leaving Corellia however, Harry had been, tense and withdrawn. Even being put in the pilots chair had only momentarily lifted his spirits. Something was troubling his friend, and Sheowtulla wanted to help. But before he could go and address the issue directly, he had a call home to make.

The cargo hold, the by far largest area of the vessel was the only space big enough for Harry's needs. Reaching into the confines of his robes, Harry drew out a crystal cylinder filled with a silvery liquid. From the middle of the empty deck, Harry poured the vials contents in a circle around him and sat himself in its centre. Stretching out his left hand and pressing it into the silver fluid Harry, pushed from within himself and willed the construct to assemble.

Vuunkin watched in awe as the young humans hair swayed in an invisible breeze as the silver fluid began to rise. Strands of silver bubbled and spread across the deck as the mass rose, the circular shape twisting upon itself as corners emerged from the mass. A heavy clang of metal against metal resounded throughout the room as with a final shudder, a garland of blue light rose from the centre of the spectacle and plunged itself back into the mass, turning the silver black and burning blue lines throughout its surface forming a script Vuunkin had never seen before.

Sheowtulla's yelling from the cockpit snapped Vuunkin out of his stupor as he realised the box in front of him had seemingly grown around the reason he had managed to escape off of Corellia in the first place. More worryingly though was the sound of heavy, but quick feet stomping their way in his direction. Vuunkin had no desire, friend or not to get in the way of an indebted Wookie that would take the absence of its charge quite badly. Vaulting the cargo decks stairs, Vuunkin approached the cube at a run, hoping that Harry was at least audible through whatever he'd just built around himself.

What can we do?

Istive felt very tempted to get her friend a drink as she gave her report of the day's absurdities. She had one last thing to detail to the stone faced visage of her commanding officer. Carvin was sitting across from Jaina with an encouraging smile, which helped to calm her enough that her voice didn't waver:

"On recovering Lasclong and providing the Corsec team transport back to the security offices, I received confirmation from Republic Security Command that a request from Petty Officer Chara had been received and was being processed."

Jaina's blank face met her worried gaze evenly, and the responding tone bereft of emotion, told Istive all she needed to know about upcoming events:

"What request is being processed?"

Istive fought the urge to swallow before handing the transmission transcript to Jaina, who proceeded to read it aloud:

"Petty Officer Chara, your request for details regarding the incident on file concerning field specialist Jy Rhut as it may be pertinent to your current assignment has been approved. The matter will be brought to the Jedi High Council for clearance on their end and a judgement regarding Specialists Rhuts continued presence on your task force will then be rendered pending subsequent details in light of your recommendation. Access to the files relating to the other members of your task-force has been denied without authority from your task-force leader, as the details therein are not to be considered operationally pertinent."

Jaina in a voice far more cold than Istive was used to, finished the last segment of the document:

"Reminder, no direct contact is to be made with Jedi in relation to this matter unless in an emergency. Authority to assume command in the event of compromised task-force members remains in affect. Highest priority in regards to returning the subject into Republic Security alive remains in affect, condition of secondaries is not a concern. Signed, Commander Chertin."

Istive watched, anxiety ill-hidden as Jaina calmly placed the data slate next to the one recovered from the destroyed medbay. She very nearly jumped when Carvin quietly dismissed her after thanking her for the report. The closing of the door behind her, muffled the angry swearing but did nothing to stop the noise of something being broken from reaching her. Lasclong, all smiles as per usual when not on duty hailed her from down the corridor:

"Istive! Thanks again for getting us all out of there, before you arrived we were practically crawling our way through the complex. Any word on what those damn birds were? Blasted things seemed to be everywhere. Have you ever seen a more sorry bunch than CorSec? At least they lent as a better ship"

Istive found herself agreeing with her counterpart regarding CorSec, their performance had by all accounts been poor, it had however seen their little shuttle replaced with an old Consular-Cruiser with minimum armament. Lasclong seemd to be waiting for an answer as her attention was drawn back to the room she had just left, half her attention on the angry noises emanating from the shuttles command room, she responded with much less enthusiasm than her counterpart:

"Good to see your fully recovered Las, Carvin was worried you might have gotten an infection from the animal that had your arm. As for the birds, no word yet, all the ones that were caught have since vanished, like the others."

Lasclong, seeming to finally notice Istives mood, and the noises from the room behind her. Sobered up immediately:

"So, what's happening?"

Sighing, Istive pinched the bridge of her nose before responding:

"Honestly? I don't know, Carvin and Jy seem to have something cooking for our next encounter which is why Jy's not here, and Jaina, I mean the Lieutenant, has put out a tag on their ship so they won't get far in civilised space. As for Chara, well I can tell you that no-ones happy about him, the commander has him tracking down the identity of the Verpine you saw currently."

Lasclong rubbed the shallow scratches on the arm that held the beast away from his throat and winced at the pull on his ribs as he thought about the day. His armour had prevented anything more than scratches but the weight of the thing had left his ribs bruised. He could have sworn the thing had trebled in weight once he'd knifed it before it disappeared. The birds during extraction had not been much of a problem for him, but the more lightly armoured Corsec team had not come out wholly uninjured. He was glad to hear there would be a rematch in the offing, but he shared Istive's reservations regarding Chara. The man did his job to the letter, then seemed to go out of his way to make problems, especially for Jy. The anti-human sentiment had a particularly stalwart follower in their communications officer. If Lasclong had it his way, the man would be left behind, preferably concussed. Istives voice broke him out of his reverie and he turned his attention back to her visibly worried frame:

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, or whenever the Lieutenant gives out the next briefing. I'm tracking the freighter on long-range sensor and she wants to know their point of jump as soon as I have it."

Lasclong nodded, taking the hint he smiled at her and went to his bunk. As much as he was looking forward to another shot at this Wizard with his newly requisitioned trap gear, courtesy of a shamefaced Corsec corporal. He couldn't deny the urge to ask Carvin for something to slip into Chara's drink.

According to Plan

The hologram flickered amongst the static and Palpatine bit back his smile until the transceiver had completely failed. The Viceroy was on schedule, or at least the Jedi had made him panic on schedule. Soon, Naboo would be left without its new ruler and the resultant public spectacle that was so carefully being engineered would be presented to the senate, at least certain members of the senate. Other matters too appeared well in hand, the bounty hunter had accepted the contract, and the Security Forces where on track. Smoothing his senatorial robes, Palpatine left his suites and descended from his private office to the greater auditorium in the centre of the Senate. The morning was taken up, again, by reports on piracy near Ryloth. But as a conscientious senator, he attended every sitting, no matter how boring.

The halls that led to the senates pods would appear full to visitors as the session was about to start. But to Palpatines eyes, the showing by senators was minute. Flunkies dominated the hallways, no doubt sent by their masters, too 'busy' or otherwise occupied to attend the mornings session. All smiles, Palpatine exchanged pleasantries with several junior officials, careful to mask the fact he knew very few of their names. Today would be slow and tedious, if the presence of the chancellor was missing, Palpatine would have given into temptation and sent his own, public protocol droid to record the discussion. Assured of the days course of events, and content to let other matters attend to themselves Palpatine strode through the corridors in confidence. The picture of poise and collected serenity, he strode into his pod and seated himself:

"Careful, you brute!"

Thoughts broken, Palpatine surveyed the disturbance several pods to his left. A Quarren, orange skin flushed in indignation was pulling itself up from the floor, Palpatine recognised it as Nrin, the current Mon Cal senator. Towering above him and growling in apology was a Wookie:

"I don't know what the senate was thinking allowing your kind access to the senate. Someone else should speak for you, at least the fish have the sense to let the wiser race conduct its planets affairs."

Interest piqued at the unusual presence of a Wookie in the Senate chambers, and idly dismissing the slur against the other prime specie on Mon Cal. Palpatine studied the markings on its minimal ceremonial adornments as he tuned out the pompous senator. Grackchawaa's the current prime ruler of Kashyyks family heraldry was emblazoned on the Wookies shoulder pads with a strip of cloth bearing the Republic motif tied around its neck. Concern tugged at Palpatine, the Wookies presence was unusual to say the least, much preferring to be isolationist. Which suited Palpatine prefectly:

"I must apologise for my friend senator, it would seem we have taken a wrong turn. We will depart for our entourage immediately."

Palpatine sharpened his focus as the presence of a Jedi amongst the entourage behind the door to the Mon Cal pod made itself known. The brown robed figure had just emerged from the pods door and taken the Wookies arm and was now steering the brute back the way it came. Whatever was about to happen, Palpatine had no knowledge, doubly disturbing was the fact the Jedi had until now been cloaked from his senses, such a precaution in the senate was troublesome. Eyeing the mostly empty forum space, something else came to his realisation. Without sufficient senatorial presence, the chancellor would be able to mandate. His assurance in his plans success dipped as the chancellors podium rose in the centre of the assembly. His confidence in the viability of his adjustments plummeted in the wake of the chancellor Valorum's address as he asked himself, why didn't he know about this in advance?:

"My dear senators, I apologise for the last minute change of plans but a delegation from Kashyyk has brought charges against the Republic Security Forces, in conjunction with a demand for the recognition of the efforts of a human named Harry Potter against the recent slaver assault on Kashyyks capital."

Fury bubbled swiftly within Palpatine as the implications for this course of action became apparent. Fury that turned to icy rage, carefully channelled internally, as the sight of the Kel Dor in Jedi garb that was seated in the delegations pod finally registered as to just who was with the entourage.

"Evidence and testimony have been independently verified by the Jedi temple with master Plo Koon in attendance to represent Jedi interests in this matter. We welcome the personal envoy of King Grackchawaa and Jedi Master Plo Koon to this august assembly."

In that moment, Palpatine promised himself to find a suitable end for the Jedi Master, but first he needed to do damage control. As discreetly as he could, Palpatine tapped a code onto his personal communicator. All the while seeking to make eye contact with the Vice Chair, Mas Amedda.

Unpalatable order

Deeply troubled, Yoda brought his ship into land at the Jedi Temple. Hostilities had been avoided, barely, upon Dathomir, despite the barbs and veiled insinuative comments. So, empty handed, Yoda had returned to Coruscant. His communicator purposely switched off during his descent. Meditation, solitude and simply a chance to process everything that had happened was the single greatest desire that Yoda brought with him from his journey. However, upon viewing the entourage that awaited him upon the landing pad, he knew such a chance was fleeting at best. Mace Windu led the delegation, his robes fluttering in the downthrust of Yodas ship as he approached the descending vessel. Resisting the urge to linger before exiting his vessel, Yoda opened the cockpit and tiredly motioned the dark-skinned master to go ahead:

"Master Yoda, matters have advanced considerably since your journey to Kashyyk, and Dathomir."

The distaste in Windu's tone was clear at the mention of Dathomir, but Yoda paid it little mind. Instead he retrieved his gimer stick from the cockpit and began to descend the ladder. Windu, sensing the aged Jedi's tiredness changed his tone from forthright to concerned as he continued:

"The Wookies have acted upon our instructions and are already on planet and master Koon, who was briefed as to this affair is part of the entourage. Master Koon is taking all suggested steps regarding security including shielding himself from other force users."

Yoda, eyes closed as he processed the information, opened them to cast a sharp look at Windu before asking:

"Original issue, resolved it is?"

Here Windu took a moment to glance back at the outwardly composed form of master Ban-Yaro behind him, it was Yaro, at Windu's hand gesture that answered Yoda in a steady but frustrated tone:

"The communications issue is still undergoing investigation, our investigations have revealed anomalies in multiple joint operations with Republic Security which will require going over..."

Here Yaro trailed off and Yoda easily picked up on his anxiety as Windu again made a gesture, this time Yaro's voice had replaced its frustration with confusion:

"Additionally, we have been forced to suspect the presence of a rogue agent within the temple itself, the purposeful deletion of orders from anyone above the level of Knight, could only be done by someone with authorised access. Access to all levels of communications, besides personal encryption. Master Yoda, as you no doubt are aware, other than yourself and the Chancellors office, the only ones with such access are senior masters, and myself."

Yoda, unwilling to accept the idea, but without any recourse otherwise issued the instructions he had been hoping to never have to give:

"Master Ban-Yaro, investigate all masters in this matter you will. Master Windu, understand I do, that the chancellors office, normally out of our jurisdiction it is."

Windu, face and countenance tight at the implied instruction nodded his assent. Turning to Yaro, Windu nodded his head in dismissal, and as the master hurried off, voiced the query he had been wanting to voice since Yoda had told him he was going to Dathomir:

"Master Yoda, what do you intend to do?"

Yoda walked slowly past his friend, his gimer stick striking the metal underfoot harder than normal:

"Master Windu, to the senate chambers, I go."

Fundamental change

Eyes closed, and silencing ward up. Harry disassociated himself from his immediate surroundings and slipped across into the Aether. Unlike before, the flow was restive, almost peaceful. The eternal choir lulled rather than screamed across his consciousness. Souls, ghosts, apparitions, all swirled before and around him. They begged him for life, but the eagerness from before was muted, dulled in the absence of the other.

Everything was, almost on hold. The currents lapped rather than dragged, nothing pressed upon him in this space. It was as if he was in the eye of a storm, treading a becalmed sea. Souls, ever-present watched him even as their platitudes continued to fall upon his ears. This was, unnerving. Strangeness permeated his surroundings, flickers of something skittered across his consciousness. It was not malignant, or benign, the closest description Harry had was simply that it was.

Light flared to his left and he allowed his attention to be diverted. Several souls, unusually cohesive had congregated to watch him, they did not drift as the others did but held there place in the admittedly lax current. Robed forms surveyed him, and as he looked back upon them. The current surged. Caught of guard, Harry nearly stumbled into the mists that surrounded him as the voices surrounding him picked up their urgency. The figures, held their ground in the face of the sudden drag and continued to observe him. Regaining his footing, Harry made his way towards them against the current, and attempted to hail them over the sudden pressure:

"Who are you?"

Nothing, the figures simply stood and stared at him, several wore masks of a design he had never seen before, others did not, their faces however seemed almost ablated. Stark white faces with the suggestion of a nose and perhaps contours where eyes used to be. As he neared them, the current intensified. In all his time of being able to interact with the Aether, Harry had never struggled to traverse it. But here, he was clinging on by sheer force of will. Bent against the strain, Harry just made out the dispersal of the group, save for two. One masked, one not continued to survey him. As one the two lifted their inward hands to him and the current stilled completely. Very nearly toppling at the sudden lack of pressure, Harry stood tall and created a defensive barrier between himself and the apparitions. As the barrier snapped into place, a near gut-wrenching sensation of wrongness spiked throughout him. Crying out and staggering at the sensation Harry nearly missed the whisper that replaced the normal voices in this place:

"Let us in."

Abruptly, he felt himself being thrown, his barrier immediately destroyed under the force of something impossibly strong. In seconds, he was ripped from his purchase in the Aether and flying without any sense of where he was headed. Light bloomed in his mind and darkness tugged at his senses as he was roughly slammed back into his body. The sensation of wrongness within himself, ever-present during his flight persisted. Stunned, Harry let himself lie for a few minutes before the need to reconnect with his body got to much for him.

Breathing gently, Harry let sensation return to his consciousness. He was lying on his side, uncomfortably wedged diagonally in the corner of the box. As the strangeness and feeling of some rapidly fading bruises accompanied by nausea penetrated, a strange sensation of vertigo gripped him before he was flung across the floor of the box and into the adjacent wall. Rubbing his forehead, which had just slammed against metal, Harry willed the box to dissolve. As the walls liquefied a pair of huge furry hands reached through the metal and grasped him by the front of his robes. A roar that nearly deafened him accompanied his being bodily dragged out of the collapsing mass and brought face to face with a very upset Sheowtulla.

Escalation

As Jaina stood to attention and listened to the communication being relayed from Corellia she had to resist the urge to indulge in another fit of anger. Commander Chertin, in his apparent wisdom, had decided that they were taking too long. So, here she stood, Chara off to her left, smug smile plastered over his face, listening to her new orders:

"You are to engage the fugitive immediately, local enforcement have been notified and shall provide you with assistance. Lethal force is now permitted. However, you are to prioritise the recovery of Potter's body, that of any associates is of no consequence. Only you are to take possession of the corpse. Failure to secure the fugitives body is unacceptable. Am I understood, Lieutenant?"

The blue holo image of Chertins face filled the cockpit space, he was staring directly at her. His less than pleasant features seemed to loom over her. Steeling herself, and fighting the incredulity at this sudden turn around in the operation, she forced herself to respond:

"Orders received, and understood, Commander."

The floating head nodded at her before it winked out of existence. Chara, seemingly oblivious of the mood she was in chose this moment to speak up:

"Lieutenant, I will inform the pilot of our change in course immediately, I request permission to contact CorSec patrols immediately before our quarry has a chance to run."

Irritation at the man's refusal to acknowledge the other members of the team who weren't of a higher rank penetrated into her rushing thoughts. So, with a far more clipped tone than she normally used she set the wheels in motion, all the while unable to shake the question of why they hadn't made the jump to hyperspace yet:

"I will notify the rest of the team, you will prioritise requesting assistance from an interdiction capable vessel along with whoever else is in range. Requisition of these forces is to be logged as an anti-piracy engagement"

As the man snapped his usual customary salute, she turned on her heel and opened the bulkhead to allow Istive re-entry. The obvious curiosity on Istive's face was greeted by a stony look from Jaina as she gave her instructions in a flat tone:

"We are engaging the target, direct course, shields up, power to the weapons on my mark."

Jaina passed her wide-eyed friend and marched quickly down the central corridor. As her shoes clicked on the metal grating below she accessed the internal comms:

"Jy, get to the central turret, Carvin get your gear ready for the retrieval of a body in zero G. Lasclong, I want you to secure the cockpit and other vital areas then head for the forward gun, I'll not run the risk that he can teleport onto us. Orders have changed people, we have been given the go ahead for lethal measures."

The affirmatives resonated through her comm unit and she paused as she felt the ship tremble with power under her as Istive fed the engines. Closing her eyes she rested her head on a cold support strut and enjoyed the coolness against her forehead. She'd seen firsthand what Potter could do on the ground, would he be as dangerous in space? She didn't want to find out but had no choice.

Sighing deeply, Lieutenant Jaina Comarilla made her way to the hologram pad beneath the cockpit. She unhooked the data slate from her belt where it had been stowed since its recovery back on Corellia. As she entered the now hardwired on salon pod she engaged the diplomatic protocols on the hologram pad, ensuring there was no trace or ability to tap in from the cockpit above her. This was one conversation she did not want to get back to Commander Chertin. The pads emitters sprang to life as she connected, a smaller image on the wall in-front of her sprang into existence and she took in the robed form. The data-slate felt heavy in her hands as she quickly went about disobeying an express order for the first time in her admittedly short career. She had to hurry, she would soon be out of time before they had to engage.

Gambit

Senator Sheeve Palpatine kept the satisfied smile from his face with long practised discipline as Amedda leant across from his place in the chancellors podium to whisper in Valorum's ear. His discipline was sorely tried however as Valorum's face went nearly white in shock and Palpatine caught a glimpse of the frowning visage of the Jedi attending the Kashyykian delegation. Valorum, seeming to shake his shock off, straightened and readdressed the senate, his tone betraying his disbelief however:

"Senators, I am sorry to force this change in proceedings but I have just received news of an attack upon the Trade Federation embassy by as of yet unknown elements. In light of the ongoing crisis between the Federation and Naboo I rule that the current discussion be suspended until investigations have been put in hand."

The hush that proceeded this statement, gave Palpatine all the time he needed to affect a startled, nervous disposition as the implications of this event dawned on the few senators present. Rising to his feet, Palpatine disengaged the pod from its mooring and allowed it to drift into the hearing space. Mas Amedda, seeing him rise announced him to the forum:

"The senate recognises the Senator of Naboo."

Carefully adopting a posture of deference, Palpatine issued his statement before any could object to his breach of protocol:

"Senators, I am deeply shocked at what the Chancellor has just relayed to us. I assure you, Naboo is not involved in this cruel act upon the Trade Federation's embassy. I can state with all certainty that all personnel and material will be made available to the senate and our support staff will be dispatched to assist the Federation should they grant us the great gift of accepting. Despite recent events "

The uproar at his statement was expected, the missives being sent out along the diplomatic encrypted channels would be flying, with decrypted copies invariably finding their way into his information traps. Sending a reassuring look to the busy trade federation pod, several levels down to his left, Palpatine calmly re-docked his pod at the request of the chancellor and forced himself to walk in measured steps back to the hangar. Ignoring the blind, groping searching of Plo Koon's force presence.

For the entirety of the journey back to his suites, Palpatine did not allow himself to break character, even as his shuttle passed the plume of grey smoke and dust emanating from one of the embassy buildings close to his own. Upon entering the suites however, his measured tread abruptly changed into a flurry of movement as he stripped the office of every countermeasure and every concealed data storage device that was not to be expected in such an office. Within minutes the offices was clean, and anything incriminating was currently flying to his secondary office, courtesy of a fully primed assassin droid. Calmly seated behind his desk, Palpatine sent the official recording as a data packet direct to Naboo. With luck, the Queen would be watching it with the Viceroy, assuming the Jedi had been delayed enough.