Theft and Exposure
Padmé quietly made her way toward the conference room while no one was paying attention. Strictly speaking, it was not really a matter of catching people off guard; everyone present now knew that Padmé was Rush Clovis's close friend, and none of them dared offend the InterGalactic Banking Clan, so they naturally turned a blind eye.
There was a gap of roughly five minutes between this moment and the time Toonbuck Toora and Lott Dod issued the martial law order. Those five minutes marked the line between Padmé being able to move freely through the palace and being unable to take a single step.
The key was that Lott Dod and the others had never imagined that Rush Clovis, blinded by love, would actually allow an outsider onto Kato Neimoidia!
Under normal circumstances, Sefrans Tann had raided Kato Neimoidia not long ago and had even fought a fierce battle against the Republic fleet here. Under such circumstances, no outsider could possibly have been allowed to set foot on Kato Neimoidia.
But as it happened, the Trade Federation had a loan request for the InterGalactic Banking Clan, Rush Clovis's investments were also connected to Lott Dod, and Rush Clovis deeply loved Padmé Amidala. Elated by Padmé's "change of heart," all his psychological defenses had vanished.
It was the combination of inevitability and coincidence that allowed Padmé Amidala to move unhindered through the palace.
Lott Dod and Toonbuck Toora believed they had strengthened security, but in truth, that five-minute gap rendered their orders meaningless to Padmé!
Even though the palace's defenses had indeed become much stricter, none of it had anything to do with Padmé!
If Tang Xiao had been here, he would definitely have rapped hard on Toonbuck Toora's blockhead and told her that this was exactly why