Chapter Text
The Chancellor was dead. Padmé knew this because she was standing in his office, which happened to have his corpse. It also had three severely wounded jedi masters, one unharmed jedi master, and her jedi knight husband, also unharmed. She closed her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Explain this to me again, Ani?”
Anakin and Master Windu made eye contact, then turned back to her.
“Chancellor Palpatine was the secret sithlord we’ve been looking for. Master Windu tried to arrest him, but in the end we had to kill him.”
Padmé sighed. Her nose-pinching was not at all helping to ward off her headache.
“Yes, but why did the two of you call me?”
“We were wondering about the legality of our situation, Senator. Skywalker assured me you could help.” Master Windu said.
“Unfortunately, being a Sith lord isn’t against Republic law.”
Anakin grinned at her. Her headache suddenly got worse. She was semi-sure the two were unrelated.
“That’s the best part, angel!” He walked to the Chancellor’s desk, bringing up some holograms. “He’s been doing so much illegal shit outside of being a sith lord.”
Padmé made eye contact with Master Windu. He shrugged. She made her way over to the desk.
Anakin had pulled up various plans of Palpatine’s, each more horrifying than the last. But then, Padmé's eyes landed on gold, their ticket out of this mess.
“He’s been funding the Separatists?”
“As well as leading them, yes.” Master Windu said.
Padmé felt vaguely giddy.
“Well, that’s how we make this legal! The only thing more powerful than the Senate’s love for Palpatine is their absolute hatred for Separatists.”
“What about the secret sithlord thing?” Anakin asked.
“We don’t even need that, let the Separatist thing speak for itself.”
“Got it,” he nodded at her, then turned to Master Windu. “Can we call a med team for them now?” He gestured to the unconscious jedi masters.
Padmé shook her head. “Call people who you trust not to speak about this.” She thought for a moment. “Or to panic about the Chancellor being dead.”
“You just said this was legal?” Master Windu arched an eyebrow at her.
“I said we need to make it legal, not that it was automatically legal. The jedi kill the beloved Chancellor and then accuse him of being a Separatist? That won’t work.”
“But we have the proof!” Anakin said, gesturing at the various holograms.
“Yes, but will the Senate believe us?” She shook her head. “I doubt it.”
“Then how do you suggest we make this legal, Senator?” Master Windu asked.
The three stood in silence for a moment. Padmé's eyebrows furrowed as every possible smear campaign she could discretely run flew through her mind. Finally, she smiled.
“Give me five hours.”