In Golden Chains by sottovocesong
Emperor Sheev Palpatine is dead. In seven standard days, champions from across the houses of the empire will compete in a tournament of power. The prize is an indefinite alliance with the Imperial Palace...
...and Aurelia Palpatine's hand in marriage.
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âThe news of Palpatineâs death sent silent shockwaves throughout the system. Citizens celebrated in secret, in hushed whispers across apartment corridors and speedy thumbs up from behind windowpanes. Every holo channel played the same news report on repeat, interspersed with tributes to the departed Emperorâs life and achievements. No mention was made of the millions tortured or killed under his rule, nor of the resistance movement that still swelled on wartime strongholds like Alderaan and Yavin. As far as the media would have one believe, Palpatine was the saviour that liberated the system from the Great War, rather than the devil that started it.
Though the head of the snake had been cut off, the Solar Empire was a hydra â an enormous entity which had embedded its roots in every corner of the system. Palpatine had stationed a general to enforce the will of the Empire on every planet, each with an army at his command. Those same armies now patrolled the streets of the cities, daring the inhabitants to venture beyond the thresholds of their homes and acquaint themselves with the barrels of their blasters.
Thus, the Empire was not immediately vanquished by the death of its leader. As it transpired, Palpatine had prepared for this eventuality. That was how his granddaughter found herself curled against the cold stone architrave which framed the ornate window in the highest turret of the Imperial Palace.â
