Title: Case of the Missing Holocube
Author: DaenaBenjen42
Characters: a stormtrooper, Vader, Palpatine, Mara (child)
TimeFrame: ten years, post ROTS
Genre: Humor
Note: This is based on a challenge that jackyyy17 gave to me: A missing holocube, a popular sporting event, an overly obsessed sports fan, and too many potato chips.

And without further ado...The story!

Vader knew something was off when he entered the throne room that morning to find Palpatine rummaging through his robes ceaselessly. "Master?"

Palpatine glanced up, then continued looking though his robes. "Can't find it!"

"Find what?"

"My favorite holocube! It's not here!"

Vader watched as Palpatine stood up, shook out his robes, and then searched his throne. "Where did you see it last, Master?"

Palpatine sighed as he searched the cushions, and then, finding nothing, looked under the throne. He sighed. "I had it this morning. At morning meal."

"So, maybe you should look there?" Vader motioned to the adjoining door, at which stood two red-robed royal guards.

The Emperor sat back down in his throne and looked menacingly at Vader. "I looked there."

"Right." Vader turned on his heel and left the throne room, hoping to file a report. How hard is it to lose a holocube, anyway?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Vader sighed as he walked into the security control center for the palace. There was only one person on duty, and he could tell that the guard was distracted. "Excuse me?" This is going to take forever.

"Be with you in a moment," the guard said absently, his attention on a holovid.

Vader was about to say something when the guard suddenly booed and started throwing chips at the holovid. "Uh..."

"Come on, you idiot! Get it right!" The guard stood up and threw more potato chips at the screen. He jumped up and down. "Boo! He's not supposed to be ahead! Get in front of him!" The guard looked away from the screen absently, saw Vader standing there, and stopped, mid-throw. "Oh. Lord Vader!" He straightened his uniform and tried to look suave. "How may I help you, sir?"

Vader stared at the man, then shrugged. He remembered being excited about sports once, even if he was an evil minion. "I'm looking for a holocube that the Emperor lost this morning. Could you use the security holo's to aid in the search?"

"Yes, sir." The guard nodded and turned to access the security system. He glanced at the holovid again, and threw another chip.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Vader walked back into the throne room purposefully, and went straight to his Emperor, who was sitting there, talking to that child that he'd been training.

The Emperor glanced away from the red-haired child, and was surprised when Vader handed a holocube to him without a word. "Where did you find it?"

"Your chambers," Vader said stiffly. He didn't want to miss the party that he'd been invited to, that the guard was throwing in honor of his favorite team winning.

"Oh," Palpatine said, as the child looked at the holocube curiously. "No, Mara. This one is mine."

"I like it," Mara said, smiling at him. She looked at Vader. "Daddy Palpat was teaching me how to talk to him in my mind."

"Ah." Vader wasn't sure how he felt about the child, but felt it was interesting that his master had gone to such great lengths to get her. "Master, if you won't be needing me, I'm going to go now."

Palpatine waved him off. "You can go."

Vader took his leave and left the throne room in a hurry.

"Why's he going so fast?" Mara wondered.

Palpatine would wonder that, too. That is, until a delivery man slowly entered the throne room with a clipboard, and ten boxes on a hover sled.

The delivery man talked briefly with one of the guards at the door, the guard signed the delivery slip, and the delivery man left.

The royal guard brought the boxes over to Palpatine, who (along with Mara) opened the boxes to find... bags of potato chips. Ten boxes of them.

They stared at the content of the boxes, Palpatine not quite certain what to make of it. Why would anyone send him potato chips? Was something going on? Confused, he turned and looked at the small girl standing next to him. "Well?"

"What?" she asked. "It's food."

"That it is, Mara."

She smiled up at him. "Can I have some chips?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"We don't know who sent them. Or why."

She glared at him. "But I want some chips!"

"Mara…" He fully remembered the one time he gave her food that she wanted. "No. Go to your room."

"I don't want to go to my room!" She continued to glare at him, and he wanted to laugh at the oddness of an eight year old trying to glare coldly at anyone. "I want some chips!"

And he wanted to avoid having food thrown at him again. "Not now, Mara."

The glare softened slightly. "Later?"

"Maybe."

"Why not now?"

"Because I said so."

"That's not a good reason, Master."

"Yes it is." When she didn't move, he was sorely tempted to electrocute her into obeying. "Perhaps later, when I find out where these have come from…"

"You're no fun."

The End!