Imperial Chancellorship 1 (Patreon)

Imperial Chancellorship - or ‘The Dark Irony of a Dead Sith Lord creates a most wonderful Empire’ (Star Wars, SI)

EDIT: I will go for a mix of Canon and Legends. Also, the Sequels are no longer canon in this story.

The Battle of Endor and the Destruction of the second Death Star were horrible events. Even more as the Emperor died in the latter situation, leaving the Galactic Empire without a proper leader.

Becoming Emperor by Proxy, Mas Amedda was in the worst spot possible. The Imperial Council, once a beacon of loyalists under Emperor Palpatine, was now a nest of vipers ready to strike him down and attain power by shredding what was once a powerful galactic entity.

The situation, as he could tell from the many reports coming from both outside and within Coruscant, was terrifying. Without a clear line of succession, Mas was deemed the new Emperor through his role as Grand Vizier. He was the ‘second-in-charge’ and thus the one that was meant to inherit by legalese.

Once a Grey Eminence within the Republic, the Chagrian was nothing without Palpatine. And he knew and hated that. It’s been just two days, and yet promises of revolts were growing more worrisome. The news of Palpatine’s death was censored and limited, but with the Rebellion roaring gloriously at this victory, it was clear this was not going to last for long.

No, something had to be done and… he was surprised when figures wearing red robes came into his office. Royal Guards, always the loyal pieces for the Emperor and those close to him.

There was an issue- he hadn’t asked them to join him in his office.

“W-What is the meaning of this?”

Was that a coup? Maybe the news of Palpatine’s death was actually fake and he thought he betrayed him? There were so many potential reasons for this to end poorly on him, but Mas was not killed or imprisoned.

No, one of the guards used a device to send a message to his terminal. He looked down to the screen, frowning at the lines of words that made a letter from… the former Emperor.

It was the Last Will of Sheev Palpatine! It was there, in front of him. What many had thought didn’t exist in truth was now available for him to read. And he ended up reading it a few times.

It wasn’t too long, but the content was a lot to unpack. The Emperor made little reference to the potential eventualities of his passing, but he summarized that the chances of his death, ‘tied to the pesky Rebellion’, was to be seen less as a tragedy and more as a change of guard.

A successor was named! And, to his surprise and relief, it wasn’t that dangerous bastard Rax!

Still, the name listed there had him confused. Was this a joke? No, he was familiar with this name. After all, he knew the Emperor had disliked him from the moment he first heard of him.

Grand Admiral John Bukharin was not a loyalist, but he worked to serve the Empire to his very best. His dedication and morality tended to bring mixed reactions from his superiors and Palpatine himself.

As he was raised a prodigious cadet and was instantly sent through difficult operations to further improve his understanding of naval combat and ground warfare, the Emperor had the chance to meet him and get an opinion in regard.

Despite the ‘headache’ the young man tended to leave with his positive efforts, the Emperor tended to give him praise and send him in harsher circumstances to have him ‘show his true worth to all’.

The troops liked him, the various Admirals tended to see him as both an ally and a rival to power, but Bukharin was, in Mas’ mind, a rather paradoxical individual. He seemed more fitting as a rebel due to his propensity to ‘reform’, but he wasn’t interested in them.

In his own view, the ‘Rebellion was the result of old relics trying to use idealism and hatred to get back to a decadent status quo’. The Empire, instead, was an ‘opportunity that has long been ignored and that should be exploited the best way possible’.

And considering the current order, this may as well be the chance John had been waiting for. While also giving stability to a situation that Mas was no longer going to be dealing with in the frontline!

To make things even better for this to settle properly was the reports that Palpatine had attached to the letter. There were hundreds of those that spanned for the years-long assignment that the Grand Admiral had been sent to deal with.

The Yuuzhan Vong- the greatest menace of them all! From the reports and the steady exchange of resources and men, the Grand Admiral had destroyed them and allowed for these words to be colonized under his own leadership.

In return, Bukharin was able to have triple the amount of ships he had started his campaign, the production established in the secretly-colonized region now providing him with enough strength to stand against Rax if it comes down to a clash.

A wide grin appeared on his face as he swiftly prepared what the Emperor had asked him to do, fetching by message Ferric Obdur, the propagandist, to prepare something massive to drop together with the official news of Palpatine’s death by sending him the redacted letters and reports. Then, a letter to Grand Admiral Bukharin was sent with the expectation of his return providing more ships to sustain the war effort against the Rebels.

Later that day, in that very nest of viper that was the Imperial Council, Mas delivered the news with proof as the Emperor had also placed an holographic lecture of the letter itself.

The official succession was now guaranteed, and while many still plotted to try and claim some more power through this crisis, things were going to retain some stability.

The Empire was not lost yet!

—--------d-d-d-d—------

AN

What if an SI managed to get a bet with Sheev and outmeme him?