I have sensed a disturbance in the Force.

Emperor Palpatine paused, stretching out his thoughts to the two men standing before his throne, awaiting their reactions.

No. Not men. Of course not men. Men were insignificant, pitiable creatures, fit only to be ruled, or intimidated, or sent to die in battle. These were far more than mere men.

A Chiss Grand Admiral, a strategic and tactical genius. A Sith Lord, ruthless and powerful in the Force.

They were watching him, Palpatine knew, each trying in his own way to glean some understanding as to why they'd been summoned. Grand Admiral Thrawn was observing his Emperor's voice, face, and body stance. Lord Vader, in contrast, was stretching out with the Force toward his master.

Palpatine could feel all that. But he could also feel the tension between these, his two most useful servants.

The tension wasn't simply because each wished to be the one standing alone at his master's side at the center of Imperial power. That was certainly part of it.

But there was more. Much more. Thrawn had recently suffered a serious defeat, permitting a small group of rebels he'd successfully trapped on the planet Atollon to slip through his fingers. That failure had earned Vader's contempt.

Thrawn, in his turn, strongly opposed the Death Star project favored by Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Palpatine himself, pushing instead for his own prized TIE Defender project on Lothal. So far Thrawn's opposition had not reached the level of open resistance, but the Emperor knew it was only a matter of time. Vader knew that, as well.

But Palpatine hadn't brought them here to offer an opportunity for reconciliation. Certainly not to mediate personally in their conflict. There were other, far deeper considerations.

Thrawn had given his oath of loyalty to the Empire. But that loyalty had never been fully tested. Vader stood beside Palpatine as the Sith Master's apprentice But his pervious life among the Jedi could not simply be ignored nor casually dismissed.

Here, with this intriguing Force disturbance, was the opportunity to deal with both issues.

Palpatine raised his eyes briefly toward the high window in his throne room. The Star Destroyer Chimaera was visible in the distance, a barely discernible arrowhead shape floating high above Coruscant's buildings and skylanes. Normally, military craft that large weren't permitted closer than low orbit. But Palpatine had wished the ship to be present during this meeting, a subtle reminder to both of his servants of what had been given to Thrawn, and what could be taken away.

Vader spoke first, as Palpatine had known he would. Perhaps you sense the rogue Jedi Kanan Jarrus, he said.

Or the creature Admiral Thrawn claimed to have encountered on Atollon.

Palpatine smiled thinly. Of course he wasn't sensing Jarrus. That particular disturbance had long since been noted, codified, and dismissed, a fact Vader knew only too well. The suggestion was nothing more than a reminder to Thrawn-and to Palpatine-of the Chiss's humiliating defeat.

Thrawn gave no visible reaction to Vader's comment. But Palpatine could sense a hardening of his attitude. He'd already promised the Emperor that he would deal with Jarrus and the Phoenix rebels who had so recently slipped through his fingers. Much of that failure had been due to factors not under Thrawn's control, which was why Palpatine hadn't taken the Seventh Fleet away from him.

But Vader had no patience for failure of any sort, no matter what the reasons or excuses. For now, he was waiting; but he was more than ready to step in to solve that particular problem if the Grand Admiral failed.

This disturbance comes from neither, Palpatine said. It is something new. Something different. He looked back and forth between his servants. Something that will require both of you working together to uncove