Chapter 2
Empire Day is a galactic holiday of the Galactic Empire. The anniversary of the Empire's creation is celebrated yearly, on the twenty-third day of the fifth month when using the Great ReSynchronization (GRS) dating system based on Coruscant.
Despite the fact that the holiday fell on a single date of the year, celebrations of the event could last for several days or even weeks in certain regions of the Empire, depending on the local culture.
The holiday is intended to commemorate the dissolution of the Galactic Republic and the creation of the Empire by Supreme Chancellor-turned-Galactic Emperor Palpatine. The day is also a celebration of the might and power of the Empire, as well as that of Palpatine himself. Imperial Military parades are common on Empire Day, as is as the display of statues of the Emperor in public squares. Imperials use the holiday as an opportunity to step up propaganda efforts and further Palpatine's cult of personality. Government workers distribute Empire Day memorabilia to passersby, and Imperial citizens offer one another salutations of "Happy Empire Day". Many individuals loyal to the Empire celebrated with family or friends, while others sought to be close to their Emperor on his holiday. Because of Palpatine's reclusive habits, few see this wish realized.
It also sees the opportunity to award personnel of the Empire with various medals for significant acts of service. These include the Imperial Badge of Meritorious Service, the Imperial Engineering Volunteer, the Imperial Guest Performance, the Imperial Anti-Propaganda Enforcer, and the Champion of Empire Day awards, the latter of which is awarded by Darth Vader personally.
Although practiced by various parts of the Galaxy, it is most celebrated on Naboo's capital city, Theed, due to the planet being Palpatine's homeworld. Festivities on Theed during this time includes awarded medals, erecting statues of the Emperor, and military parades that include Stormtroopers, at least two AT-STs, and Imperial Marines.
After three years of fighting between the Galactic Republic and the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Clone Wars came to a close two years, when the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious decided that the pieces were in place to allow him to seize control of the galaxy. In his alter ego of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Sidious enticed the High Council of the Jedi Order to attack him—an attempt that ultimately failed and provided the Chancellor with a pretense for issuing Contingency Order 66 to the Grand Army of the Republic. While clone troopers across the galaxy killed their Jedi commanders pursuant to the Order, Sidious dispatched his new apprentice Darth Vader to assassinate the leaders of the Confederacy on Mustafar. Vader continued on to deactivate the battle-droid armies of the Confederacy, bringing the carnage of the Clone Wars to a close.
With the Confederate rebellion defeated and his Jedi enemies crushed, Palpatine called an Extraordinary Session of the Galactic Senate on the twenty-third day of the fifth month of 16 GrS. That afternoon, he presented to the Senate evidence of an anti-government Jedi conspiracy before issuing his historic Declaration of a New Order. In the Declaration, Palpatine proclaimed the Clone Wars to be over, transformed the Republic into the First Galactic Empire, and mandated that the anniversary of the Empire's creation be celebrated by Imperial citizens for the sake of their children and future generations. The newly proclaimed Emperor predicted that Empire Day would be celebrated for ten thousand years before concluding his speech. That inaugural Empire Day was marked by two separate attempts by surviving Jedi to destroy the new regime.
The first attempt was made by Grandmaster Yoda, the Grand Master of the now-defunct Jedi Order and one of the last surviving Jedi. He traveled to the Senate Building immediately following Palpatine's Declaration and confronted the Emperor in his Holding Office. The two engaged in a fierce duel in the Grand Convocation Chamber of the Senate itself. The second attempt was made by surviving Jedi Council member Obi-Wan Kenobi, who sought to kill Darth Vader on Mustafar. Both attempts ended in failure, as Yoda was forced to retreat from his duel and Kenobi found himself unable to execute Vader after maiming him. As such, both the Empire and the tradition of Empire Day lived on.
Despite the fake smile that he had planted on his lips for the fools in the public, Emperor Palpatine is not pleased. He summoned his apprentice days ago but there has yet to be a response by the Sith but responses of mere Admirals and Officers who have been told to report his apprentice's location which they have failed to do. The lack of communication by his incinerated apprentice annoys him.
Palpatine had no other real candidate to rely on to replace Vader - he had spent so much time and effort into converting Anakin to the dark side that disposing of him would be a wasted effort.
Palpatine would spend the last two years after the incident on Mustafar attempting to search for a suitable apprentice to replace Vader. He is disappointed that the latter's abilities had been diminished following the duel, and wants someone better. Unfortunately, he couldn't, for Vader had killed everyone that Palpatine had dispatched to destroy him. And thus Vader remained as his apprentice.
The fool had been through a deep depression after the death of that whore, Amidala, but now he is avoiding his comms calls for the past few days. His apprentice would feel as much punishment as he had felt in the aftermath of Mustafar.
Now, his tool has gone missing; for just two years, Vader had purged many of the Jedi throughout the galaxy, had purged traitorous clones who stand a threat to his Empire, and ultimately covered his tracks for the possibility that he would be usurped.
Upon speaking to one of the foolish Admirals under his apprentice's command, it became quickly known through the Empire that Darth Vader has gone missing, disappearing and rumors began to rise.
Palpatine clicks on his frequency of one who would be able to hunt down Vader, the button activating as the slimy form of Admiral Tarkin appear. "Moff Tarkin, I trust you heard of Lord Vader's disappearance."
Tarkin is intelligent, cunning, manipulative, ambitious, arrogant, and he had a strong sense of duty, and dignity, he was well-known for his sharp memory. He never forgot a favor or a slight and is capable of recalling individuals from meetings. Unlike many other imperial officers, who are simply doing what they believe is their duty, Tarkin is one of the few imperials to be genuinely evil. Even while he was "good", he is in favor of killing prisoners, including Jedi, without any evidence against them. He is quite selfish, as everything he did was always for his own ambitions, even after Sheev Palpatine is revealed to be Darth Sidious, the traitor and enemy of the Galactic Republic, he still remained loyal to the latter, whom he had long been a major supporter of. Tarkin had no intention of overthrowing Palpatine, although he dreams of someday being in the position to fulfill his ambitions.
Tarkin has no regard for innocent lives, as he was perfectly willing to murder innocent individuals just to make an example out of what happens to anyone who challenged the empire, he lacks any form of honor, as he was perfectly willing to break his word if it suited him. Much like Palpatine, Tarkin is immoral, greedy, power-hungry, cunning, misanthropic, hateful, cruel, and sadistic. Were Tarkin Force-sensitive, he would make a perfect Sith.
Granted, he is not, but still, the man serves his purposes and, should he continue with his progress, he would receive the highest rank within the Empire.
"Yes, my Emperor," Tarkin replies without hesitation, head up and the man straightens.
"I want you to track down his TIE Fighter," the Emperor demands, knowing that Tarkin would follow his orders without hesitation. "He is to be brought back to me alive. You will have all of the requirements at your disposal in order to track down his location."
"Yes, my lord," Tarkin replies, staring dutifully at the eyes of the Emperor.
"Moff, we have tried for months! There are no sightings of Lord Vader! There is even no source of Lord Vader!" The pathetic officer exclaims, staring at his superior officer deeply, his eyes as pathetic as the Moff have ever seen.
Throughout the occasion, Tarkin remains cold as stone, his face sharp.
"Troopers," Tarkin calls over to the two troopers who stand in the corner, and they approach, undoubtedly afraid of entering his presence, "execute him."
The stormtroopers nod and seize the man by his arms and begin to drag him away.
"Moff Tarkin! We will double our search!" the man screams, attempting to put up resistance. "Give me a second chance!"
Tarkin feels the corner of a smirk appearing on his face. His pleads are meaningless. He will not tolerate failure on his flagship. He will not tolerate pathetic and incompetent officers on his flagship as well. There has been enough incompetence in the Jedi during the old Republic.
They have checked the regions of the galaxy in the hunt for the lost servant of the Emperor, only to come up with zero results, much to the anger of Tarkin.
Moving over to a small communication screen on a table in his office, Tarkin sits down and begins to input the Emperor's frequency. Usually, these higher ranks moffs like himself are the ones allowed to contact the Emperor whereas the lowly rank and mere admirals and officers will come into contact with an aid or Mas Ameddaa in which he reports it to the Emperor.
It takes several seconds for the call to connect before an illustration of the Emperor's elderly face appeared on the screen, looking far angrier than Tarkin have ever seen before. It is obvious he is angered, doubtlessly knowing about their failure, given he is a Sith Lord and the Sith and Jedi can tell things happen before they occur.
"Your Imperial Majesty, we have been tracking down Lord Vader repeatedly for months as ordered," Tarkin reports professionally, doing his best not to be intimidated by the Emperor's angry scowl.
"Have you interrogated the Naberrie family?" The Emperor's voice is a sharp hiss as he glares at him, eyes flashing golden.
"Yes, they claim to have no affliction involving Vader. The Naberrie family also have been questioned thoroughly. In the end, the agents couldn't find any trace of any source of deception by the family." Tarkin explains bitterly.
Part of Tarkin wishes he is able to kill them. Naberrie is a thorn to his side in her time as a senator so her uneventful death was a pleasing day for the admiral, not to mention the beginning of the construction of the superweapon. However, the Naberries were a powerful family during the era of the Republic, and even during the time under the Empire, they are a powerful family. The rumor is that, given her services to the Galactic Republic and the sacrifices she very nearly had to make as a result, the Naberrie family received a large stipend from the Empire to compensate for their loss, allowing them to live them would not be a wise choice politically.
"What of his imperial center in Alderaan?" the Emperor asks.
Tarkin straightens slightly, "Senator Organa claimed that Vader's shuttle hasn't been on the surface for months and this is proven by the arrival checks. Vader's imperial center has been unbothered, including his wealth. His spare comm hasn't been used for months, my loyal majesty."
Although this chance being low, the Emperor chooses to press. "Tatooine?"
"No, there hasn't been any sightings of Lord Vader," Tarkin replies, scrutinizing the hooded figure of the Emperor's face and maintaining eye contact. "Though thirty years back, there have been rumors of a human boy going by the name of Anakin Skywalker being the first human who won a Podrace championship. It disappeared in time."
He remembers that particular Jedi from the Clone Wars, and admittedly had respect for him. He had wondered if Skywalker was assassinated by the Emperor shortly before the declaration of the new Order. Or if Skywalker was killed by Vader inside of the Jedi Temple.
He didn't get far enough in Vader's presence so he doesn't know what his tactics are like, unlike Skywalker.
"Leave troops in the inner rim to continue their investigation and search for Lord Vader. Recall the majority of the forces and return to your duties." the Emperor orders bluntly, his voice as cold as always, though never before has the Emperor been publicly displeased, especially since the collapse of the ineffective Republic. "Do warn the troopers, if they see any sightings of Vader, they are not to engage him. Only report about him."
It is apparent the Emperor isn't satisfied with the reports, but Tarkin shall not press any buttons or deny his orders and commit with further orders.
Tarkin and the Emperor are friends. Tarkin, as of now, is the only one allowed to address Palpatine by his first name, "Sheev" without risking punishment for his actions. Tarkin is a military strategist and Vader was not, so he knew people like Tarkin were very necessary to the running of the Galatic Empire. Vader is there as an enforcer and to make sure people in the military didn't fail in the important missions. Tarkin is too valuable to the Emperor so Vader would not have risked the Emperor's wrath by offing him.
"As you wish, your majesty," Tarkin responds, grateful to return to his duties instead of going scavenger hunting for a missing Sith Lord of the Emperor.
The hologram flickers before disappearing.
Planting his hand on his paperwork, the Moff takes a sip of coffee, wondering who Darth Sidious's next pawn would be.
Darth Sidious has not been counting on Vader's disappearance death, so he would have been caught unawares by this event if it happened. However, since the Jedi Purge had just occurred, Sidious would be short on options for a new apprentice. However, Sidious had captured Force-sensitive infants during the Clone Wars to train as Dark-side acolytes. So Sidious, if acting pragmatically, would act like any other Sith Lord attempting to procure a new apprentice - kidnap an infant and train them in the ways of the Dark Side. In fact, Tarkin has already witnessed this before, the example being that rapid animal called Maul.
Admittedly, Tarkin thinks about the ramifications of Vader deserting the Empire. Vader was someone who had been hunting down the remnants of the Jedi Order for the past 2 years, placing them on the point of extinction. Infantry and troops under Vader's direct command tended to admire him for his tendencies as a "front line" strike commander. Time and again he showed that although he had highly demanding standards for said troops, he would not hold them to any risks that he wasn't willing to take upon himself. As it happens he was willing to take some pretty outlandish risks in that he would often personally step onto the battlefield directly alongside front-line troops or run sorties in his personal fighter craft, so it wasn't like the list of things he wouldn't ask troops to do was very long. They simply appreciated his leading by example. Officers throughout the Empire, however, tended to view him in a negative light for reasons that should be very clear. Vader was infamously precocious, intolerant of insult or failure, prone to bullying, coercion, and murder, and he had an infinite license by the Emperor to use these tools however he saw fit regardless of either his personal success rate or how well his goals aligned with those of the Imperial military.
The Empire losing such a weapon like him would be a hard pill for the Emperor and the Empire entirely to swallow, and Tarkin wonders how the Empire is going to recover from such a blow with the departure of the Emperor's Enforcer.
It is a message that echoes across the galaxy, leaving the confusion and unsettling in its wake.
"Citizens of the Galactic Empire! I regret to inform our great citizens that today is an unfortunate day for the Empire. I lament to report that Darth Vader has recently been murdered by a batch of Jedi. Slain mercilessly and ruthlessly by the Jedi, the same descendants, and learners of Jedi that attempted to assassinate me during the final days of the Galactic Republic. As shown in multiple recordings that have been released to the public shortly after our great rise, the Jedi Council discussed taking control of the senate to take the chancellor out of office; what once have been the Jedi Order are nothing but murderers and terrorists who care for their precious Order. His will has been left to this Empire in order for us to build greater weapons and armory to hunt down these traitors and bring them to justice in the name of the Empire, in the name of Lord Darth Vader.
All of the Jedi's allies who support them to this day shall follow. Their ways have failed their Order, and now the traitors strike again at this Empire who brings nothing but peace, freedom, and democracy to this galaxy. They have destroyed a figurehead of this Empire, my dearest friend with their blades in order to bring what they call peace and justice. Do peaceful entities slaughter a man for remaining loyal to this Empire and its citizens? They have been doing this for over twenty thousand years since the Mandalorian Wars, killing or imprisoning all in a prism who cross their path and oppose their ways and views; this is how the Jedi operates. The Jedi care about no one but themselves, allowing time and time again for millions to die without emotion or attempting to save those who are in danger as shown in the Clone Wars. This Empire will not stand by it; if the Jedi wants war, they shall have it, as would their supporters and followers who do not desert. Today, if the Jedi supporters so do wish to avoid conflict by the civilians of the Empire and its troopers, they should turn Jedi they are hiding away. As of in three days, this choice would no longer be operational, merely execution for treason regardless of the circumstances."
Death to the Jedi!"
Millions of the Empire supporters and even former Jedi supporters rally his calls or heeded his warnings about what would happen to Jedi survivors; the Jedi supporters instantly begin to turn in the Jedi at seeing a major upgrade on patrols in the Inner and Outer Rim, more Jedi survivors who had hidden away being executed swiftly by the Imperial troopers, the Empire triples its troopers on many planets which infuriates many senators and the people to the point of snapping as they didn't like the Imperial soldiers traveling about and interrupting their hobbies and their duties, raiding homes and interrupting deals, so they took the warning in the hope that this would end.
Unbeknownst to all - or unspoken to all in better words - many senators and people who turned in the Jedi they were hiding were executed by the Empire in silence and their leaders are reinstated by those delegated by the Emperor himself and his deeply trusted followers.
Rumors already circulate about who the next Supreme Commander is going to be, most assume it will be a Moff, admiral, corporal, or officer, that being Tarkin or Yularen as their progress has done the Empire massive amounts of projects which aided the Empire at the end of the day.
Still, there are some others who are aware of the Jedi and Sith, and that particular group can't help but wonder who would be the next Empire's Supreme Commander who would assume control over the Imperial Army, knowing full well it is going to be a Force Wielder. How intimidating would they be? Will they be as machine and robotic as Darth Vader? Are they going to actually see his or her face unlike with the former Dark Lord? Will they be as successful and become a genuine figurehead that is to be feared by the galaxy like Vader was in a mere two years?
More importantly, would they gain the respect and admiration of the public as many had Vader?
Arthur's note: I decided to do arc 1 of this series since I want to give some closure which is 10 chapters and I have written them all already for months so I decide it isn't right that many who follow this story have to wait.
May the Force be with you all always.