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The child was deceptively small for the noise of its cries. The nurse droid proclaimed him completely healthy as it presented the infant to him. Sidious didn’t bother to hide his disappointment, as he so often had to in his role as the kind, grandfatherly Supreme Chancellor.
The infant squealed in his hands. Completely Force null.
Useless.
As was not uncommon during these experiments, Sidious’s thoughts turned to his old Master, Darth Plagueis. Plagueis had once had a family that he had cared for. Oh, to be sure, his Master had been many other Dark things, but Plagueis had been a family man. He cared, he might even have loved. It had made him a weaker Sith Lord, but it had also motivated him to learn the manipulation of the midi-chlorians to extend their lives, something Sidious himself had never mastered. He had loved them, as much as a Sith was capable of love. But his old Master’s sentimentalities were ultimately harmless. Plagueis’s spawn had all lived long, prosperous lives before being killed shortly after their father had been murdered in his sleep.
But when he looked down at his only child, Sidious felt no love. He wasn’t sure if he even would have recognized the emotion. Feeling strangely dissatisfied, Sidious brought the child back to its mother, waking her as he entered the room.
“Sheev.” The woman smiled tiredly. “You came.”
She was a former servant in his household on Naboo, with enough Force sensitivity to be worth something without being strong enough to have been taken by the Jedi. Not that it had helped, apparently. He smiled at her, enjoying the moment her nervous excitement turned to terror. Good. She had finally learned, and it had only taken nine months.
“Sheev… do you have a name in mind?” She swallowed. “Do you… I think I should hold him, now.”
She reached for her child, her smile forced.
“That won’t be necessary, my dear. You’ve served your purpose.” Sidious summoned the nurse droid to take the child, not glancing at it again.
Her screams were pleasing only for a moment. The infant wailed, distantly, as its mother died.
Another failed experiment.
Well, perhaps the child could have a use yet, Sidious considered. He could always use it as leverage against a future apprentice. Yes… a legitimate heir, to serve as competition to motivate him. Or perhaps to punish him. He could imagine Skywalker’s black jealousy and rage, even now, though a Jedi the boy still was. The thought of Skywalker's turn was delicious enough to cheer Sidious, despite how this project had proven to be a waste of his time. Yes, the child could still be useful.
Not that he would raise the boy, of course. Gaining Skywalker's trust when he was a boy had been bad enough. Sidious had enough sycophants on distant worlds to deal with the minutiae of childrearing. He considered which one of them he both wanted to punish with this task but who was also component enough to raise the boy to the galactic age of majority with a semblance of a ruler's education.
And as he left for Coruscant, another thought came to Sidious’s mind. Wasn’t it said that sometimes Force-sensitivity skipped a generation?