Chapter One

In the throne room of one of Emperor Palpatine's Imperial palaces on Coruscant, there is a thin man with a scruffy face and brown curly hair sitting in the large throne in the middle of the room, looking bored. As he exhaled loudly, the double doors at the end of the room opened. The man sat up quickly and made a look of focused attention as Darth Vader strode into the room.

"Oh, Lord Vader!" the man exclaimed, standing up quickly and tripping over his long black robe, stumbling forward. Vader snorted with disgust.

"Honestly, Jinx! How you ended up becoming our substitute emperor, I have no idea."

"Sorry Lord Vader." said the man called Jinx.

Vader ignored Jinx's apology and continued "Since you are new here, I must bring you up to speed on our current situation. I will be going away on a mission to hunt down Jonstone and Justina soon, and I am to introduce you to one of your superiors."

Vader stepped aside and revealed another figure standing behind him: Tarkin.

"Who's this?" asked Jinx.

"I am Wilhuff Tarkin, head Moff officer of the Empire." said Tarkin in a superior voice.

"Oh. So you're Palpatine's suck up I've been hearing about." said Jinx snidely.

"How dare you!" said Tarkin, puffing himself up indignantly, "Who are you to insult me? And I believe we should look at who is talking. You seem no smarter than a space slug!"

Jinx advanced on Tarkin.

"Well then, how come I'm the emperor and you're only an officer?" he retorted.

Vader made a fist. Jinx gagged and put both hands around his throat, sinking to his knees.

"Remember Jinx, you are not in charge of Tarkin or myself unless the real Emperor commands it. Your instructions were to co-lead the palace with myself and Tarkin. If you show any sign of insubordination again, I will have you sent to work in the garbage disposal section instead. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes, sir." Jinx gasped.

Vader lowered his fist and Jinx collapsed to the floor, coughing rapidly.

Vader continued as though nothing had happened "Now, the Emperor has set up a plan to kill Jonstone and Justina. You two are to stay in the palace. I'm on my way to destroy Scrapater first, then hunt down the Jedi ."

"Why are you destroying Scrapater?" asked Jinx, as he got to his feet unsteadily.

"Because the Emperor commands it."

"But there isn't enough firepower in a shuttle to destroy a whole planet." said Jinx knowledgably.

Vader sighed with exasperation.

"If you had any brains in that thick head of yours, you would know that Scrapater is a small moon, so it will not be that difficult to destroy."

Vader turned and walked back down the room.

"I will return later." he added as he left, closing the double doors behind him.

As Vader walked into the hangar bay toward his shuttle, he wondered what Palpatine was thinking. Why didn't he just leave command to himself and Tarkin? Why was he including Jinx in this at all? He knew he must not let stuff like that worry him, but he still couldn't help questioning why Palpatine kept his plan a secret from him. He wondered how this all included finding Jonstone and Justina. But then, maybe it didn't at all. Maybe it was all just a ruse to distract everyone from something else Palpatine was up to. He did not know what to think. The only thing he did know was that he had been ordered to destroy Scrapater and that is what he should do now.