Galaxies Apart
Twenty-One
Details of events at Sluis Van spread across the huge expanse of Imperial space. Losing the Death Star would have been a huge disaster, but to have it captured by the Alliance…it changed everything. With any other vessel in the galaxy – save one, perhaps – the balance of power would not have been affected by one ship.
A Death Starwas not any other ship.
Reaction was likewise swift. The Imperial military debated the debacle, and swiftly concluded that the judgement of the Emperor had been sound and correct in every possible detail. Members of such bodies had quite a habit of arriving at similar resolutions in order to avoid becoming bodies themselves…
The official verdict was unanimous. Thrawn was to blame.
No public comment on the tactics used in his attempted recapture of the Death Star were made. However, those present at Sluis Van that day knew what they had witnessed. No public comment did not mean no comment at all…
Grand Admirals and Moffs went to unheralded lengths to discuss the situation whilst conveniently forgetting to log their conferences in the official records.
The wheels were in motion.
Grand Moff Tarkin was currently chairing a meeting he would later erase from the station computer. Also present via hyperspace comm were several of his senior peers in the Navy.
"…what do you mean, investigations?" demanded Grand Admiral Tiernat.
Tarkin stared back, remaining placid. "What would you have me do, Tiernat? I had just heard - from Vader, of all people - that a consignment of TIE bombers and half a legion of my Imperial troops had been in a capture operation right under my nose, without my knowledge. I was compelled to perform some quiet research on the matter."
"What have you discovered, Tarkin?" that came from Moff Lursa, whom Tarkin had known for decades. Lursa commanded one of the biggest and most prestigious fleets in the Empire. He was a shrewd operator.
"A conspiracy," Tarkin stated simply. "Quite what purpose it serves I'm not certain, but I know that it is connected to the Jedi in some fashion. I also know that it was at work at Sluis Van."
"Your investigation only tells us what is blindingly obvious," Tiernat sneered. "It is not difficult to see that a conspiracy exists when one of our own commando units defects in the midst of a battle."
Tarkin struggled to keep his patience. "The conspiracy exists within our own ranks, Tiernat."
"Did your research give you any names?"
"A few," Tarkin admitted, "I'm having them…checked out now," he paused significantly, leaving little doubt as to the nature of this checking, "but I was able to determine that this extends to the very highest level of the Empire," seeing their eagerness for enlightenment, he milked the moment, savouring the power, "all the way to the Emperor himself."
After the initial contemplative silence, it was Lursa who spoke first. "What evidence do you have, Tarkin?"
"Troop transfer orders. I'll send them to you, of course. The orders show that Madine's commando traitors were assisted in their efforts to pool together – assistance invisible to them, but without which they never would have been able to accumulate at Sluis Van in such numbers. Orders all signed by Palpatine himself – highly irregular for the Emperor to take such a personal interest in troop movements, I'm sure you'd agree."
"Why would Palpatine conspire against his own military? Why would he go to so much trouble and take so many risks to aid the organisation he spent years fighting against?" Lursa asked.
The only reply volunteered came from a surprising source. "Several reasons," said Admiral Piett. He was the lowest-ranked virtual attendee, but as the commanding officer of a Super Star Destroyer, his backing was vital. "Destroying Thrawn, for one."
The mention of that name silenced all concerned. "Explain, Admiral," Tarkin ordered.
Piett went on to detail the stratagem Thrawn had improvised. Each of the Grand Admirals and Moffs present had heard rumours. Piett was able to confirm them all. He had been there. He had seen the whole thing.
"That's the craziest thing I've ever heard," whistled Grand Moff Petarki.
"His plan could have worked. Under the circumstances he did astonishingly well," Piett continued, "and yet he is made a pariah for his efforts."
Tarkin sniffed. He disliked Thrawn, and hearing his tactical genius firsthand wasn't doing anything to improve that opinion. "Usual procedure for such a huge failure would be death, I don't think there's any question of that."
"Palpatine wanted to ruin him, not martyr him," Piett replied. "Killing Thrawn would have stirred anti-human feeling in the Empire's worlds. Giving Thrawn a command as prestigious as a Death Star and conspiring to have him blow that chance…much more effective."
Tarkin dismissed it. "I refuse to believe he would allow the Alliance to capture a Death Star simply to ruin Thrawn."
"Enlighten us, then," Tiernat invited him.
Tarkin took a breath. He was going to need it. "The Emperor wanted the Rebellion to capture the Death Star. Thrawn's humiliation was simply an added bonus."
"But," Petarki replied, voicing the thoughts of them all, "why? Why would the Emperor want to hand over the most terrible weapon in his arsenal to an organisation bent on his destruction?"
"The answer to that is this unofficial dialogue we are taking part in now," Tarkin sat back, relaxing now that realisation was flooding to him, "a few years ago, would we have been so bold as to go behind our supreme leader's back and speak to each other as we are doing at this moment?"
Petarki hesitated. "No, I suppose not."
"Of course not," Tarkin emphasised the point. "Why?"
"We were too busy with the war, of cour…"
Petarki trailed off. Tarkin saw the implications dawn on him. He took the opportunity to strike.
"He needs war, gentlemen. To maintain his grip on the Empire he needs to manufacture a conflict. The Emperor doesn't want victory – no, he wants the galaxy locked in a conflict he controls, one which allows him to remove his enemies, maintain his powers, justify his existence without challenge."
It was time to play his final card.
"He's done it before," he said.
He pressed the control to send the appropriate files to those he was communicating with across the light-years.
"Our Emperor started life as Senator Palpatine, of the sovereign planet of Naboo. This you all know. But I have holo-evidence which shows that he was also the mastermind behind the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Senator Palpatine was Darth Sidious."
He saw the eyes of his fellow cabal members flick across the evidence he was sending them. He had gone to great trouble and tortured many to death to get it.
In fact, many Bothans died to bring him the information…
"He created the war to remove Chancellor Valorum and engineer himself as Supreme Chancellor. Twenty years later, he needed a similar scheme. By relinquishing of the Death Star to the Rebellion, not only did he re-create the civil war, he also removed the one individual inside his own military who he himself feared could bring down the ship in battle. Ingenious, absolutely ingenious."
"I call it insane," Piett spoke up again. "He would deliberately jeopardise the lives of every Imperial officer by unleashing the power of the Death Star on his own people? He's putting his entire military at risk along with any planet the Rebels choose to destroy."
"He's gone too far," fumed Grand Admiral DeSilva. "This kind of thing could bring us all down. Who's to say what else he's been up to? A Death Star is bad enough…but will it end there?"
General agreement was expressed by all. As the most senior spokesperson – and, not coincidentally – commander of the one ship which stood any chance against the Alliance's Death Star, Tarkin felt it was his responsibility to take charge.
"My friends," he called for order, "I share your concerns, let me assure you. For some time now I have felt that the bureaucracy of this Empire has grown far too isolated from the men on the front line. Whether we are at war or peace, sanity must be paramount in the governing of this entire Imperium."
Seeing their nods of agreement, he felt approved to go on.
"First, though, we must remember that conceded deliberately or no, the Palpatine lies in Rebel hands and will be used against us at every opportunity. We must come together and formulate a plan to deal with that threat."
Pausing again, he saw the agreement ripple around once more.
Tarkin had been born for this.
"When the Rebellion lies at our feet for the second and final time, we must decide how we are to proceed. I assume that each of you agrees the current situation is intolerable. Cards on the table, gentlemen. Do you have what it takes to stand firm and support a coup?"
Each of his potential rebels registered some discomfort. To his pleasure, however, all seemed solid.
"Do we want to stay as we are, an unused and forgotten Navy? Left behind in the wave of diplomacy and of bureaucracy and useful only to be manipulated at the whim of our leaders? Or shall we throw off the shackles given out by politicians more interested in arcane religion than the welfare of the men who die to put them in office? Shall we build a new and an efficient Empire, one focussed not on deceit and deception but on strength of will and weapon, one bathed in glorious victory?"
Expressions of affirmation came back from all concerned. Tarkin drank in the support. He had waited for this for far too long. He now had the endorsement of the Imperial Navy's elite.
When the time came and Palpatine was finally deposed, there would only be one possible replacement.