The Senate rotunda was a cathedral of power: thousands of floating platforms, each housing voices that claimed to speak for their worlds. But only a handful truly mattered. And among those, only one understood the game fully.
Senator Palpatine of Naboo sat with still hands and calm eyes, like a monk among storms. Yet beneath that veneer of civility, his mind was a war map of political leverage, fear, ego, and ambition.
His son Palpus had learned to see the Senate as his father saw it. Not as a place of governance, but a stage. Every word was a push, every silence a trap, every gesture an attack.
But today, Palpus did not attend. He watched remotely, through encrypted channels, from the Unknown Regions. He had his own empire to build.
Today was about his father and the noose tightening around Chancellor Valorum's throat.
The Queen's platform rose from below, gliding into view. Padmé walked forward proudly, robes of white and crimson flowing behind her. She looked small in the vast chamber but the silence that fell proved her voice was already strong.
"Honorable representatives of the Senate," she began, "my people are dying."
Scattered murmurs. Whispers. Some sympathetic. Most calculating.
Valorum looked weary, his voice strained.
"The chair recognizes the Queen of Naboo."
Padmé continued:
"The Trade Federation has invaded my world, enslaved my citizens, and forced my government into exile. I beg the Senate to take immediate action to free Naboo."
From his private seat, Palpatine leaned slightly forward.
Not to speak.
To watch.
The Neimoidian Viceroy's floating pod hovered into the center.
"These are outrageous accusations!" he squeaked. "We know nothing of any invasion!"
Padmé's fingers clenched, but her voice remained regal.
"I was there. I saw the camps. The arrests. The occupation. You lie."
The Viceroys sputtered, offended no, pretending to be offended.
And Valorum old, slow, careful did exactly what Palpatine knew he would.
He stalled.
"Perhaps a commission… to investigate the situation…"
Padmé's expression collapsed not into fear but into betrayal.
The room erupted into bickering. Clamoring voices. No action. No justice.
Palpatine did not look at Padmé. He didn't need to.
He whispered softly, only loud enough for her to hear over the Senate floor:
"The Chancellor has clearly lost control. If Naboo is to survive… a vote of no confidence is required."
Padmé's breath halted. Then she understood.
This was the only path.
She straightened, voice carrying with unexpected steel:
"I move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum."
The Senate froze
Then exploded into chaos.
Shouts, accusations, demands, cheers.
Valorum looked like a man already dead.
Palpatine allowed himself the smallest smile.
The sun rose over rolling green hills and mirror-bright waters. Gungan and Human stood together two peoples who had never before fought side by side.
The Gungan Grand Army assembled in vast shimmering columns, shield generators humming like deep ocean currents. Their beasts roared, stamping the earth.
Beside them, the Royal Naboo Militia prepared blasters, speeders, and the slim silver starfighters of the palace guard.
Padmé stood at the front. Young. Determined. Unmovable.
"We take back our world today," she told her people. "Not as humans. Not as Gungans. But as Naboo."
The Gungan General, Boss Nass, raised his staff."Dis war weesa fight together."
The shields engaged, forming a glowing azure barrier across the plains.
Battle drums thundered.
And the droid army rolled forward
endless metal ranks marching with dead precision.
The Duel of the Fates
Inside the Theed Palace, sliding doors parted and Darth Maul stepped forward.
Black tattoos. Horns. Yellow burning eyes.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan ignited their sabers in one motion green and blue sparking to life.
Maul answered with a double-bladed inferno of red.
The clash shook the palace halls like thunder.
Qui-Gon drove forward Obi-Wan mirrored Maul moved like a storm given shape.
Steel boots on polished floor. Red arcs splitting air. Green blade meeting scarlet fury.
This was not simply combat.
This was revelation.
The Sith had returned.
Anakin looked up at the starfighters resting on their clamps. Sleek. Silver. Beautiful.
His hands twitched the way a musician twitches near an instrument.
R2-D2 beeped sharply.
"Maybe we can help!" Anakin said, climbing into a cockpit.
Padmé's pilot reached for him Too late.
The starfighter powered on.
"Whoops wrong button "
Thrusters ignited. The ship shot forward straight into space.
Padmé and her handmaidens infiltrated the upper levels of Theed Palace with precision and grace. Blasters flashed, guards fell, droids toppled. They forced their way into the throne room.
The Viceroy panicked.
"This is impossible! How ?"
Padmé leveled her blaster at him.
"I am Queen Amidala of Naboo. And you, Viceroy, are under arrest."
His cowardly knees hit the floor.
Above Naboo Space Battle
Anakin's starfighter spiraled through chaos.
"R2! I think we broke something!"
R2 screeched.
Lasers rained down. Capital ships loomed like metal mountains.
Anakin saw something glowing weak, flickering.
The droid control ship's main reactor.
He sucked in a breath.
Then dove.
"Now THIS is podracing!"
He fired.
The ship erupted.
Droids across Naboo collapsed like puppets with cut strings.
The battle ended in a breath.
Celebration surged across Theed. Music. Flowers. Tears. Laughter.
But in the quiet, when the cheering faded, Padmé turned to see him
chancellor Palpatine, newly arrived with Naboo officials.
Warm. Grateful. Gentle.
"Your Highness," he said softly, "your courage has saved your world."
Padmé bowed her head. But her eyes flickered with something deeper trust.
Palpatine placed a hand over his heart.
"The Senate has elected me Chancellor. I will ensure Naboo never suffers again."
Behind his smile
behind the applause
behind the hope