Sidious approached the door cautiously and looked through the peephole. He looked over at Talzin, narrowing his eyes.  "I believe you may be familiar with our visitors."

She smiled.  "I may."

Sidious scowled and then turned and opened the door.  Two Nightsisters stood outside.  One was a heavyset red zabrak woman in armor, the other a tall, thin near-human with black hair and green eyes dressed in red and black robes.  They stared at him expectantly.  

He gave them his best fake Ambassador smile, in case anything or anyone might be watching, though he thought that unlikely.  

"Ah, of course, my midnight meeting," he said cheerfully. "Please, do come inside."  Internally his thoughts ran along a very different course.   Just what exactly is Talzin up to?  he thought with some irritation.  He didn't recall extending an open invitation to the entirety of Dathomir to visit him here, and he'd certainly never seen either of these two in his life.

After he closed the door, he stood in front of them and narrowed his eyes.  Blue electricity crackled at the tips of his fingers. "Is there a reason I shouldn't blast both of you so far into Chaos your constituent atoms will cease to exist?"

Talzin's voice answered from his right.  "I would ask you not to.  I invited them here, after all," she  said.

"That's right," the armored zabrak said.  "We're with her."  She smiled and waved over at Talzin and Maul.

Sidious continued to glare at the two unknown Nightsisters. "I already guessed that.  Whatever Talzin may have told you, you are not welcome here.  This is my domain--leave or suffer the wrath of a Sith Lord."

The armored zabrak crossed her arms.  "We do not recognize your authority, Sith.  Also, we greatly outnumber you.  Concede defeat."

The other Nightsister also crossed her arms and nodded.

Never, he thought.  His narrowed eyes flitted towards Talzin, who stood to his right, holding Maul.

"You invited them. To my apartment."  

"Yes, that's what I said," she replied, giving Maul his stuffed shaak.

"And did you ever consider asking my opinion on the matter?"

"Not when you already agreed to allow it," Talzin said, shrugging her red-robed shoulders.  

Sidious scowled.  He recalled no such thing.  He would have words with her about that, but first...

He narrowed his eyes at the pair.  "Who are they?"

"My lieutenants, of course. Atherion and Dremra. Maybe you Sith really enjoy that lone wolf aesthetic, but we Nightsisters hunt in packs."   

"And just how much of your--pack did you invite here?"  Sidious asked.

"Oh, do stop your worrying, Palpatine.  I know they won't all fit in here. It's just those two."

Sidious breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"I told the other five to camp outside."

There was a moment of utter silence.  "What?!"

 
"Invisibly, of course," Talzin clarified.  "They will camp invisibly.  Not to worry, I have factored in your requirements for stealth."

All things considered, she thought the introductions had gone fairly well. No one had actually tried to murder anyone, at least.

Sidious's eyes were currently acid yellow, however.  She'd noticed that they seemed to change between that color and a sort of faded blue, depending on his mood or desire for concealment. It was some sort of Sith-specific trait, of which she was quite curious about.  Though she decided that now would not be a good time to ask about it.

"Were they hiding on my ship too?!"

Talzin laughed.  "Of course not.  I hired a pilot to bring them here."

"What made you think I would be okay with this?" Sidious hissed.

Talzin stared at him.  "It doesn't violate the agreement."

"Agreement?  What agree--" Sidious paused.  "Oh.  OH." his eyes widened, and he groaned and put a hand to his face.  

Talzin tilted her head, watching him with interest.

Slowly, the hand edged down from his face and he looked up, his eyes blue again and accompanied by an obviously fake smile.  "Alright.  That--that's true.  It doesn't violate the agreement."  He held up a finger. "Addendum to the agreement: you do not invite roommates to my apartment without my permission."

"In the future, I will ask.  But do not dismiss their value to you--they are here to help," Talzin said.  

"Help? With what?" Sidious said, regarding the two Nightsisters with a skeptical expression.

"Protecting Maul.  Defeating the Jedi." She paused.  "Atherion is a master healer and expert on the arcane, and Dremra is an unparalleled warrior.  And as Mau--prickly pear's aunts, they will protect him just as I would.  The others can also assist with protecting Maul, fighting Jedi, or dealing with your master, should it come to that."

Sidious glanced over at the two Nightsisters, apparently considering this new information.  Finally, his expression settled into a reasonably non-murderous annoyance.

"They can stay."  He narrowed his eyes.  "But no more surprises.  Are we clear?"  

"Certainly," Talzin said, pleased.  She turned to Dremra and Atherion and smiled.  It had been awhile since she'd seen either of them, but of course she had arranged to remedy that issue.  Her own plans depended on their help.  And she had missed the  company of her friends.  

Dremra turned to Atherion and began signing an explanation when Talzin heard a familiar sound.

 
Sidious heard his comm.  There was only one person who would be calling him at this time of night.  He shooed the Nightsisters away from him, reluctantly allowing Talzin to take Maul this time.  Then he answered the comm.

"Master," Sidious said.  

"Sidious," Plagueis said, dressed not in his Sith robes, or even his business clothing, but in a lab coat and goggles, his expression clearly excited.  "I have made a discovery!"

"Oh," Sidious said, quietly panicking. "You have found a way to reverse the effects of the Font?"

"No," Plagueis said.  "But I have discovered how to tap into its power."

"Really?"  Sidious said with interest.  "I thought you said it did not increase one's power."

"A misconception," Plagueis said. "The problem was that I was performing the tests identically to my previous tests."

"Isn't that--how they should be done?"

"Yes, but I realized that I misunderstood the nature of the test itself."  The hologram of Plagueis laughed.  "Quite obvious on reflection, really."

"Perhaps you could explain?" Sidious asked, perplexed but intrigued.

"Of course.  You see, I was using the same emotional inputs to fuel my power as always.  The tests were not therefore testing my entire potential, but only my abilities as sourced from those motivations.  Which did test the full extent of my power previously.  But I have found this emotional additive produces emotional responses that source much greater power.  Up to 1.3 times as powerful, from what I have seen so far."

"Oh," Sidious said.  "That's good to know."  So Talzin had been correct after all.  For once he was interested in replicating one of Plagueis's experiments.  Very interested indeed.

"Yes!" Plagueis said. "It certainly bears further investigation.  Also, I would like to obtain a new brain scan from you for my research.  Perhaps you could drop by sometime soon?"

"Apologies," Sidious said.  "My ambassadorial duties currently prevent that."

"Oh," Plagueis said.  "Unfortunate, but there is no hurry. Drop by when you can."

"Of course, Master," Sidious said.

"Thank you," Plagueis said.  "Oh!  And there is an urgent matter which we must discuss as well."

"Yes?"

"Vidar Kim," Plagueis said.

"Of course," Sidious said, feeling both relief and disappointment at once.  A part of him had hoped that Plagueis had simply forgotten about Vidar.  The other part had been hoping for his Master's orders to initiate the assassination, so he could muster sufficient resentment towards Plagueis to feel at ease when the time came to push him through the doors of death.

It would be difficult enough to kill the Sith Master given his skill in the Dark Side alone.  Plagueis was an expert at all forms of lightsaber combat, though the art bored him profoundly.  But more importantly, his ability and knowledge in the Force would make him a truly terrifying opponent.  Sidious didn't need to suffer all these doubts as well.

"I no longer think it is necessary to kill Vidar," Plagueis said.

"What,"  Sidious replied.

No, no, that's not what you're supposed to say, Sidious thought angrily. Order me to kill him!

"You will become Senator in due time," Plagueis said.  "Anyway, Bon Tapalo has become too complacent, and I think killing Vidar would send him the wrong message."

"The King is very sure of his place," Sidious agreed, wondering where Plagueis could be going with this.

Plagueis grinned.  "Which is why you're going to abduct his supporter Veruna instead.  I will send you the details of the plan."

"What am I to do with Veruna afterwards?" Sidious asked.

"Bring him to me," Plagueis said.

"What do you have planned for him?"

Plagueis smiled.  "New experimental subject."

"Oh.  I will retrieve him for you at the earliest opportunity, then," Sidious said, cursing the terrible feeling of hope that had surfaced in him.    

"Thank you."  Plagueis tilted his head, frowning.  "Apologies for contacting you at this hour.  I just realized it must be rather late on Naboo, and I know you still require sleep."

"Not a problem," Sidious said.  "I was working anyway."

Plagueis smiled.  "I'll let you get back to that, then.  I will keep you updated on any important developments in my research."

"Thank you, Master."

When Plagueis cut the connection, Sidious took a deep breath.  That had gone--unexpectedly.  He needed to meditate on it.  But first, he needed to modify his plans to account for these extra Nightsisters.  

He looked up and frowned at the three Nightsisters, reserving a more tender smile for Maul.  He turned his gaze to the two new arrivals.

"So, you want to fight Jedi, do you?"

"Yeah!" Dremra said.

"That's too bad.  We'll be having tea with them instead."

Dremra gave him an outraged look.  "What kind of Sith are you?!"

Sidious crossed his arms.  "The living kind.  We cannot win a direct confrontation against an enemy who so greatly outnumbers us.  So we must strike quietly, long after they've dismissed us as being no threat to them.  But first, we must study them, and identify their weaknesses."

"Over tea," Dremra said, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes."

Atherion began gesticulating to Dremra, and Drema responded with similarly detailed gestures.  Maul, being held by Talzin, watched the two nightsisters from behind his stuffed shaak.

Sidious tilted his head.  They were communicating with some sort of sign language.  Probably a Dathomirian variant which would be all but unknown off-planet.  

Which meant they could be plotting to kill him right now and he wouldn't know it.  Also, he supposed it meant that Aetherion was deaf.  And possibly plotting to kill him right now.

He waited patiently to see what they would do.

Finally, Dremra and Aetherion looked back over at him.  "What about Maul?" Dremra asked.

Sidious looked over at his tiny heir.  An idea had occurred to him, and as much as he disliked it, he also had to admit its practicality.  

Maul would be safer on Naboo than Coruscant.  He couldn't help thinking of the danger Maul had been in on Sriluur.  There he had also planned for Maul to be far away when the dangerous part of his plot was enacted, but things had not gone as planned.

"You will have ample opportunity to reintroduce yourself to your nephew while Talzin and I visit Coruscant to find ourselves some Jedi.  Oh, and his name is Maurice now."

It seemed he had found Maul some suitable babysitters after all.

Of course, this might be an attempt to take Maul from him, but if so, he would simply retrieve his small  Apprentice.  He did not judge them to be dangerous to Maul at any rate, and that was what was important.  There would be consequences if they tried any such thing, though.

For one, he would be banning all Nightsisters from his apartment.