Chapter Four

Palpatine's shuttle landed on the landing platform of the palace. He disembarked and hurried into the building, flanked by his red robed bodyguards. The double doors opened for him automatically as he approached. He hurried to the throne room, which was empty. He went two doors over to Zograf's clone lab and entered.

"Zograf!" said Palpatine.

Zograf turned from one of the clone tanks.

"Emperor! I wasn't expecting you until-"

"Be quiet and listen to me." Palpatine interrupted, "Where is Jinx?"

Zograf looked lost.

"Um, I'm not sure. I thought he was supposed to wait here for you."

"What about Lord Vader?" asked Palpatine.

"I am here." said the real Vader from the shadows.

Palpatine looked taken aback, then angry.

"So it is a clone then. Zograf, find Tarkin and Jinx."

Zograf walked over to his scanning computer and began to browse it.

"They appear to be on Kamino." he said finally.

"What are they doing there?" asked Palpatine.

"Well, when I informed him about our clones, he didn't seem very happy about it." said Vader.

"So undoubtedly he's trying to make his own. Zograf, send two of our clones to Kamino at once."

Back on Kamino, Leon Ta walked back into the entry room where he had left Tarkin and Vader to find Tarkin standing in the hallway just beyond the room.

"We've begun process on your clones, Mr. Tarkin."

"So, they all will act exactly like me, right?"

"Yes sir. Where is Lord Vader?"

"Oh, he's waiting back there in case you do anything wrong."

Leon glared at him, then said "You do know it will take a while for them to catch up to you, don't you?"

"That's fine, but I have to go now."

Tarkin turned and proceeded back down the hallway toward the exit. He had been gone from the palace for a while. Somebody would notice his absence.

He turned the corner and found himself facing Palpatine. Lightning shot from Palpatine's fingers and hit Tarkin in the chest. Tarkin yelled as the lightning sent shocks of electricity into him. Then the lightning stopped and Tarkin fell to his knees in front of Palpatine. Vader was standing just behind him, examining the remains of Jinx and the clone of himself.

"Please explain yourself, Tarkin." said Palpatine in a furious, yet calm voice.

"I just felt I deserved some clones."

More lightning shot from Palpatine's fingers into Tarkin. He flailed around and cried out in pain. Vader approached Palpatine.

"It appears that Jinx was shot and then combusted. He has singe marks on his remains."

"That's because he tried to kill me so he could stay in place as emperor!" gasped Tarkin.

The lightning stopped again.

"Explain further." said Palpatine.

Tarkin got gingerly to his feet, then said "He arrived here and the clone of Vader I had brought as a test subject attacked him. I had no control. Then Jinx killed the clone and thought he killed the real Vader and he panicked. Then he tried to kill me too, so I shot him and he fell into a bacta tank and his lightsaber ignited it. It was self defense. Jinx was going to betray us. I was merely trying to get clones for myself without causing extra expenses for the Empire."

Palpatine considered him for a moment.

"Very well, Tarkin. Your motives can be understood." he turned to Vader, "We need to prepare for Jonstone and Justina's arrival. They will have tracked us here by now."

Then he took out his comlink and said into it "Commander, send a backup shuttle to Kamino, just in case things get difficult for us."