STAR WARS
Rise of the Empire

Prologue

The past decade had been a great one for Chancellor Palpatine; no one would argue with that. As for the rest of the Republic...that was a bit more debatable.

A strife-ridden republic had split, and the end result had been a change in leadership at the highest level. Chancellor Valorum, a man who was quite experienced inmaintaining peace between the various parties within the Republic, had been presented with a Republic that was no longer unified. And thus, his conservative strategy was no longer what the Republic needed. Padme Amidala, queen of the planet Naboo, demanded a man of action lead the Republic back to unity.

And that man was Palpatine.

Palpatine couldn't help but smile, thinking back over how he had orchestrated the entire situation. His patience and craftiness had been rewarded. And yet, it wasn't enough for him yet, for there was more to him than met the eye. Being a politician and a sith lord had many advantages, after all. One only needed to be careful, and no one was more careful than Palpatine...no one tied up loose ends better than Darth Sidious.

The past decade's events had created the opportunity for more definite and lasting power. The cost, however, was heavy, as the Trade Federation had lost nearly all its political clout within the Republic, and those who once fought for the Dark Lord Sidious were too weak to continue the battle. But Sidious never intended to take over the universe through overpowering and direct force, and his alter ego had planted himself in the perfect spot to be given power. Everything had gone according to plan thus far, but the true difficulty would begin now.

It would take a drastic event to foster any more power for Palpatine…and it would once again need to be given to him, not requested. The only event he could think of that could cause enough chaos to force people's hands…was a war.

But where would he find a viable war threat? Even the Nemoidian Trade Federation's assault against Naboo, carried to the nth degree, wouldn't be enough. No. No. It would take a group with enough firepower to take on the majority of the known universe. They would need an army…some means of escalating things. Fear would be the only thing that would drive the republic to redistribute power, and that fear would only be created by a large and unified threat.

And considering the Republic really was the majority of the known universe, any valid threat would have to be formed from within its walls. Excellent, he thought. Add to the fear a sense of betrayal and treachery, and now the Republic will burn to fight. Despite how extreme his thoughts were, Palpatine knew that all of this was possible already. The Republic had been around for ages, but the last few years had seen a rise in corruption and partisan bickering. The end result was strife among the planets --quietly hidden, but constantly mounting. If a rebellion were to start, it would not take much to band together a solid movement.

This movement, however, would need a charismatic and strong leader to cement it. Had his apprentice Darth Maul still been alive, things would have been a bit easier. Maul could have led the war, but only from behind the scenes, for the Sith influence upon him would be too obvious for planets to rally behind him. Palpatine could have then focused on orchestrating the Republic's side of the battle. Curse that Obi-Wan Kenobi for killing a Sith Lord as a mere paduwan. Instead, Sidious would have to play his hand in both sides...very carefully.

But, in the end, it all came back to finding a valid leader for the rebels...brilliant enough to win, but prideful enough to be taken in and duped. A smile crossed Palpatine's face as a name quickly came to mind...

He had an excellent feeling about this...

Over Christmas break, I read a book about how the Roman Empire came into existence, and it got me thinking. There actually are a few interesting similarities between the fall of the historical Roman Republic and the fictional Galactic Republic of Star Wars. So I figure, if I have the time to pull this off, I'll write the story that's running around in my head. The main focus shall be upon Palpatine, Dooku, and Anakin...the 3 characters that we don't get to see enough of, but whom the story revolves around.

I want to go more into why things went the way they did than Lucas could in the movies...and I want to make Anakin's "transition" longer and more developed (my biggest gripe about movie 3 was that he doesn't seem to struggle enough with his decisions, and turns evil with no true warning...). I especially want to show him becoming crueller, and switching from the mindset of a confused Jedi to a dark one...and eventually beyond that to a Sith.

Feel free to review. I'll probably do this whether I get reviews or not, but I'm notorious for taking on too many projects at once. Review if you're feeling it, or if you see something that's way wrong.