Saga Talking Points--a Palpatine prequel-era vignette for Election Day

Author's note: Happy Election Day! I'm American, I voted and I will eventually find out who won. In the meantime, I felt like writing Chancellor Palpatine for a while. I own Amne Selrieen Palpatine (from my series Wife of Deceit), but the rest belongs now to...Disney?
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Atunda was set aside for 'family dinner.' The Palpatines did not yet have any family to bully into putting aside homework or comm calls, but the Chancellor and his Lady had established early on in their marriage that they would spend the 1800-1900 hour of each Atunda breaking bread with each other.

Today, Amne had talked an Ithorian lobbyist into an early meeting and canceled her last two meetings of the night. It hadn't pleased her staff, but one meeting had been a courtesy comm call to the people who had hosted them on a recent trip to Felucia that could wait until morning and the other had been rendered moot by her lunch meeting.

Cos never told her what he had rearranged in order to be there. It was also an unspoken rule that Lady Palpatine was in charge of the catering and tonight she had managed to overcook the nerf and undercook the sebola. Her husband didn't insult her by commenting that he had offended the junior senator from Ryloth for this and she didn't complain that he had arrived ten minutes late.

With all of that being categorized as unmentionable, they were left with small talk for the first course.

"I hope you had an enjoyable day," Cos said over the salad.

"I had a productive day," Amne corrected before spearing a blumfruit slice with her fork. "And you?"

"I had a productive day," he assured her. "Would you like to maintain the suspense or will you be telling me about your productivity?"

"You first," she said.

He considered for a few moments, obviously filtering the number of things that she needed to know about or had clearance to hear. "I vetoed a bill that would leave judicial appointments on popular ballots in upcoming elections," he said. "Even if the people in their wisdom choose someone other than myself, they will not be able to vote the most hologenic lawyer on Alderaan into the central courts."

"I'm not sure I agree with that," Amne teased. "Counselor Aikia is quite handsome."

"I also met with the Chancery Council to hear their recommendations on appointees to fill the recent vacancy on Finance," he added as if he hadn't heard her. "Those discussions will be taking place for at least the remainder of the week, as my advisors are in favor of a Muun from the Banking Clan and I have no patience for the man."

He went back to his salad until he had cleared his plate, obviously done with his contribution to the subject. Once Amne had finished her own salad and cleared the plates to make room for the nerf roast, he looked up and smiled indulgently.

"And you, my dear?" he asked. "How was your productivity defined today?"

She waited until he was in the middle of a sip of water before responding: "I spent the morning deciding if I should vote for you."

He did not choke on the water, but his eyebrows arched and he set the glass down carefully. "I was not aware that this was a concern."

"More than you might think," she said. "There is no question that I will be supporting your candidacy for the Chancellorship in the next election. Trober Bailey and a few of the brighter minds in the Office of Political Affairs simply sat me down at 0900 and figured out why. We established my position on universal health care, suffrage enforcement, refugee aid and education reform and we did it in the presence of my press secretary and communications director so they could start quoting me when the time came."

His eyebrows lowered and Cos nodded approvingly, his mouth curved up on one side in a half-smile. "And what are your positions?"

"I think that universal healthcare is a noble idea that can't possibly work in a Republic of thousands of individual economies..."

"As do I," he agreed.

"I hold the view that member states should maintain their own constitution, which means that we cannot expect every new or pre-existing member state to offer the right to vote to every sentient on their planet."

Cos did not comment on that, since he was a staunch supporter of the idea that constitutions should be written, enforced and amended by the duly elected Chancellor, not the squabbling, self-important big-fish-in-small-ponds known as planetary leaders. But he was too polite on an Atunda to bring that up.

"I have supported every refugee aid resolution that you have presented since your original election," Amne added. "And of course, as a schoolteacher, I wish you would do more to fund schools Galaxy-wide. I wish you would offer incentives to students pursuing a degree in education..."

"Shall I take a few notes for my campaign platform?" Cos asked dryly.

"It's nothing you haven't heard before," Amne countered.

He nodded and raised his glass in a salute. "So I recall," he said. "And I will do my best to override the Senate's formidable power in keeping the Chancellor in check so I can meet your demands."

It was an infrequently-made joke, but one that carried no real weight. "And I can quote you on that?"

"I'm sure you already have," Cos deadpanned. "What was the end result?"

Amne shrugged and set to sawing her way through her piece of meat. "I think that if you apply a hefty enough bribe, I can be persuaded to vote for your re-election. And you can quote me on that."

"I'm sure that someone already has," he said. "Pass the salt and we'll discuss what sort of bribe you had in mind..."

 

Wonderful spoof/parody. Like your sig.

 

I thought that the Senate voted for the Chancellor though.

Oh well.

 

In my fanon, the vote of no-confidence and the subsequent election were by the Senate. For the regularly-scheduled election, it's a general election. This is also why it took the Senate to use its powers to bypass term limits that Obi-Wan references in ROTS.

 

Ah, that makes sense now.

 

Wonderful banter there.

 

A nice piece, Ish!

 

That sounds about right. It sounds like the English system.

 

I think this is officially the longest I've gone between replies to a story. Thanks for reading.

 

This is so cute!

(I love a Palpy vig.)