Sheev Palpatine stood in his office, turned toward the window, and watched the fighters streaking past, the Security Bureau ships flashing red and blue lights, and the terrified crowds below.
Rush Clovis stood awkwardly behind Palpatine, not knowing what to say. The Chancellor before him was clearly completely different from before. This man was filled with an indescribable power that inspired fear.
"Ainnle Tim has been rescued," Sheev Palpatine said slowly. "At the same time, someone infiltrated your residence and encountered the Jedi Knight I had arranged there. Now, you are nothing more than a pitiful wretch abandoned by everyone, Clovis."
"Coruscant... Coruscant was actually attacked? That's impossible... This..." Rush Clovis suddenly looked up. "Right, Padmé! Padmé is in the Republic Senate Building too! If this place was attacked, she could be in danger..."
Palpatine looked at him as though he were a pitiful creature. "Poor fool, have you still not realized that Padmé's heart has already been stolen by a Jedi Knight?"
"A Jedi Knight? How is that possible?! Aren't Jedi Knights forbidden from having worldly attachments?"
"That is why I said you have been abandoned by everyone. The InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Galactic Republic... even your former lover..." Palpatine said with a cold sneer. "But I am the only one who still believes you have value."
"What do you want?" Clovis sensed that something was wrong.
"The Galactic Republic under the rule of the Jedi Order has reached its end—or rather, it should have reached its end. Just like the InterGalactic Banking Clan under Muun leadership... isn't that so?" Sheev Palpatine's smile gradually turned sinister. "In such a transformation lies your only opportunity! When you ascend to the pinnacle, when you sweep the Jedi Order into the garbage heap of history and make