（外文电子版资料）Star Wars - Emperor 3 - Emperor.pdfVIP

The Emperor Eclipsed By Brendon Wahlberg ( Third in a series of stories about the Emperor during the film trilogy (episodes 4-6) see also A New Enemy (1) and The Hand Of Fate (2) The Emperors Grand Vizier, Sate Pestage, knew his master was dead before anyone else in the palace. The message he found waiting for him on his secure holonet terminal left no doubt in his mind. Once he had decrypted it, using codes known only to the Emperor and himself, Pestage knew the Empire had lost its dark center. Like the gigantic black hole at the center of the galaxy, Palpatine had been the hub around which every destiny in the Empire revolved. Now, without him, the Empire would spin out of control, heading for disaster. Pestage should have been filled with despair. He had found his lifes meaning in his service to the Emperor. Without that purpose, the emptiness would surely swallow him. But the Grand Vizier could afford neither despair nor oblivion. It was entrusted to him to turn defeat into victory, to salvage order out of chaos, to restore hope. Palpatine, his Emperor, was depending on him. Pestage reviewed the contents of the message once more, as puzzled by its cryptic lines as ever. My old friend, the fact that you are reading this means that the worst has come to pass. I have reached the nexus I feared, and have not survived. But you must not surrender. If ever you have been my servant, you must serve me now. You must bring Mara Jade to the Citadel on Byss. No one, not even Jade, must know the reason for the journey, but if you succeed, I will be restored. The Empire is in your hands. With one bony finger, Pestage touched the erase key . He knew that no one else must see the message. Bad times were coming. Now, a power vacuum existed, and someone would rush to fill it. No one had the right to the throne except his master. Not even Pestage himself could claim it. But those who would steal the throne would also kill to