No War Hawks Allowed
"Knock knock!" said Ciaran cheerfully, not waiting for a response to enter Senator Amidala's office anyways.
"Ciaran!" exclaimed Padme, happy to see her old friend. She got up from behind her desk and gave Ciaran a friendly hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I just decided to swing by and give you this." Ciaran pulled a small white envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Padme. "It's an invitation to a meeting in my secret clubhouse. Don't tell anyone." She whispered conspiratorially.
Padme giggled as she took the envelope. "You have a secret clubhouse? Why do I find that hard to picture?"
Ciaran scoffed. "Padme dear, I have secret
planets. This is nothing."
"Well are you sure you should be telling me so causally? Who knows who could be listening to your secrets?" teased Padme.
"Padme, the only listening devices in your office are mine." she bragged.
"What?!" exclaimed Padme, who started looking around her office as if she expected some kind of wild animal to leap out and attack her.
"Oh don't act so surprised. Or ungrateful. That secretarial security firm didn't come from nowhere you know, and they've stopped quite a few attempts on many Senators, including yourself." Despite Ciaran's efforts to console her, Padme kept looking around her office. "And stop insulting my men's competence, you won't find anything. That's the whole point of hidden surveillance."
"That's a little insulting that your keeping tabs on me." said Padme. Still, she stopped searching her office and just settled for pouting at Ciaran. "So what is this secret meeting?"
"No, the clubhouse is secret, the meeting is open to anyone who wants to come." clarified Ciaran jokingly. "It's about some sort of senatorial alliance thing, I'm sure we'll go more in depth then. And despite some people who ought to just be grateful for their upgrades told me you would be useless, I decided to bring you in on this."
"As much as I appreciate your vote of confidence, I'd like to have some idea of what I'm getting myself into Ciaran." said Padme.
Ciaran let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, if you must know, I'm bringing together as many Anti-Palpatine Senators as I can."
"The Chancellor?" asked Padme, seemingly confused as to why Ciaran would be forming opposition to her predecessor.
"Yes, how many Palpatines do you know that you need to ask for clarification?" asked Ciaran, holding her hands out to the sides in confused exasperation.
"Why are you forming your own group? There are already plenty that oppose his policies. I'm a key figure in most of them." said Padme.
"I'm not trying to oppose his policies. Well I am trying to oppose his policies, but like you said there are already groups for that. I'm trying to oppose Sheev Palpatine the person." said Ciaran, clarifying with the kind of serious attitude Padme rarely saw from her friend. "And since you're all buddy buddy with the Chancellor as Senators from Naboo, you can start to see why PR-1 would advise against bringing you in on this."
"Why would you want to oppose Chancellor Palpatine?" asked Padme, getting exasperated with her friend's political machinations. "Just because we disagree on some policies doesn't make him evil or something. He's a very honest man."
"Padme, there's no such thing as an honest man. I just hadn't though Shifty Sheev was as corrupt as he is." said Ciaran, rolling her eyes at Padme's naivety. It could be endearing, but it was also frustrating on occasion. "Do you remember the advice I gave you about the Military Creation Act?"
"You said that war was inevitable. You told me to make my own choice about the matter, but in retrospect I didn't really have one, did I?" said Padme, looking at Ciara suspiciously through narrowed eyes.
"No, you really didn't, because opposing things would get assassins sent after you. Like it did many who did oppose it. And who stood to gain the most from it being passed into law?" asked Ciaran rhetorically. "Who has spent this entire war gathering more and more emergency powers? We have to confront the possibility that he's not going to give that power up Padme."
"That's ridiculous. He's put plenty of his opponents into positions of power. I'm the head of the Loyalist Committee, along with plenty of other Senators who have no love of the Chancellor." countered Padme, her faith in democracy as unshakable as ever.
"Friends close, enemies closer. He put you in charge to discredit you and keep an eye on his opponents in one place. Think about the type of people he put on the Committee with you. One of the most corrupt Senators in history. A Senator literally paying out of pocket to fund the Separatists. Think about it." said Ciaran, recalling the numerous facts PR-1 had briefed her on.
Padme looked to the floor, both in thought and embarrassment at her own blindly trusting nature. Ciaran decided that she may have gone a bit too far too quickly with her best friend. "Padme, I'm not saying you need to hate the man. I'm just asking that you come the meeting with an open mind. Power corrupts, and no man is a saint."
"I'll be there." said Padme resolutely. "And I promise to try and keep an open mind. So long as you haven't gathered a group of radicals proposing a hostile takeover or anything crazy." The two friends shared a laugh, and another hug as Ciaran went to leave.
"I can promise you that much at least, no military coups." Ciaran exited the room and mumbled to herself. "After all, that part is my job."
AN: Maybe now I'll get to Blazing Chains. Or maybe
@Publicola will info dump fifty more interesting things to distract me. Who really knows?
hi 
