Palpatine 1

The Dark Master of the Sith, Emperor of the Galaxy, Sheev Palpatine sat in a meeting with flunkies, advisors, and a few actually important people annoyed that he still had to play the political game to get what he wanted done. Five years of sidelining the politicians in the Senate, nationalizing entire industries and incorporating them into the military industrial complex, and promoting himself as the absolute rule, and yet he did not have the unlimited power he coveted.

Keeping his kind political smile on his face, even if his visage had been scarred and twisted into something horrific by that twice dammed Mace Windu and his accursed Vaapad, Palpatine waited for the meeting to end so he could work on something actually productive. What mattered about the condition of the economy if the Empire was the economy? No, working on his immortality was far more important. And those clones of that rather promising Jedi would be an excellent starting point. Although, the Kaminoans had been getting a bit too powerful lately. It probably would not hurt to cut them back a bit and see what some of the other cloning operations could do. Would even allow for new levels of secrecy since it was far too common knowledge that the Kaminoans supplied the clones to the Stormtrooper ranks.

But first, he would have to get a hold of Tanya. She was out there somewhere, and who better to find someone laying low than a bounty hunter. It was time for Cad Bane to return to work.

—-

Kenobi 1

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi sat on a makeshift rock chair in a cave on Tatooine. Next to him sat General Obi-Wan Kenobi who sat across from Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. On the last rock chair across from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Staying away and meditating is the best way to protect young Luke. It also respects the wishes of his family, who I seem to need to remind you we specifically chose to leave him with," the young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi said.

"We should be standing guard over him and making sure no enemies are capable of getting to Luke, even if we have to do it without the Lars Family permission," responded the fierce General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Being close or staying away does not matter if we cannot get supplies. We need to secure some funds and a reliable contact for the supplies." The ever focused on the practicalities of the real world Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi spoke up.

"Hmm, the force is clouded on what to do, but Padawan Kenobi is correct that we need money, especially with the difficulty we will fine in acquiring our own food," Jedi Master Obi-Wan said, putting an end to the discussion for now.

Hermit Ben Kenobi pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against with his one remaining hand. "I will talk to Lars tomorrow to see if he knows anyone looking to hire someone." With that dismissal, all the Obi-Wans vanished while Ben stepped outside, Count Dooku appearing out of nothing.

"Time for your lesson," Dooku said as he ignited his lightsaber, Ben taking up his own starting stance.

—-

Fischer 1

Rudolf Fischer was not a man given to a particularly high opinion of the meat headed buffoons that populated the military. No, he was a well educated financier who had to deal with balancing the budget to pay for the Emperor's obsession with building up a large armed force. If it was all up to him, he would just get rid of the entire thing and be done with it. It was just a massive waste of resources that provided no profits for the investments put into it.

So when one of the higher ups in the military decided to have a meeting with him, but with no specific topic specified, Rudolf could be forgiven for being annoyed about the situation and the time water it would end up proving itself to be. This Marth Raider or whatever it was would be given precisely the respect due to such a think headed fool who would rather earn a living with his fists and blaster than a comfortable chair and delightful numbers.

At the appointed time, his secretary let the man in, Rudolf looking over various figures so he wasn't completely wasting his time. A thud of a datapad landing on his desk raised his attention.

"You will tell me what you think of this report," a deep, modulated voice filled with power and begging no disagreement sent shivers down Rudolf's spine as he took in the appearance of the man he was meeting. A tall masked man wearing all black and holding a very intimidating appearance stood before him. A man that radiated barely controlled violence despite the calm stance the man held. Rudolf was given to remembering something from his childhood. A bounty hunter that got in the way of kryat dragon. The casual way the dragon completely destroyed the bounty hunter before moving on to the bantha it had actually been hunting.

Swallowing his fear, Rudolf picked up the datapad and began reading. His eyebrows raising in interest as he looked it over, reaching into his desk drawer he pulled out another pair of datapads. One to make notes and one to look up some information to cross reference.

Getting impatient, Marth interrupted his readings. "Your thoughts?"

"Whoever wrote this has an interesting perspective, but I believe their points are fairly accurate. The main issue is in the exact numbers they are quoting."

"And the proposal?"

"It has merits. And could ease the burdens that the expanding military has on the economy, but it would be difficult to implement due to the political entities already in place."

"If given authority to implement it, could you do it?"

"Sure. And I'll even throw in a new emperor as well," Rudolf joked, knowing such a situation was ridiculous.

"Excellent. You are hired," the man said before with a wave of his hand the large bay window of the office was blown outward. Gaping, Rudolf was unable to say anything as he was picked up and was carried out into the open air. And yet, Marth Raider did not fall, instead he floated over to a waiting ship that Rudolf was tossed into before being taken away.