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“No!” Palpatine coughed out blood. “I cannot be denied my rightful legacy!”
He desperately glanced around. There was no one else except for him and Yoda on the damaged, windswept platform. He returned his focus back to the Jedi Master. He tried to speak, but he was hit with a nasty coughing fit, and he expelled more blood. Speaking had become extremely difficult for him.
“I am the culmination of a thousand generations of Sith, the end to the war that lasted millennia!” He weakly shouted. “All the training, the scheming…it would all end with the Jedi wiped out and me reigning supreme over the galaxy.”
“Right, you are, that you are the end of this process.” Yoda showed no pity towards the dethroned Emperor. “Ended with you, the Sith Order has. Nothing more than their greatest failure, you have become. Only over a year, your empire lasted, and failed to carry out your final plan, you have. In the end, nothing, you are, as the darkness takes you.”
The disgraced Sith Lord recoiled at those words, but he knew the Jedi was right. Yet, at the same time, he knew something the Jedi Master, and all the other Rebels, was oblivious to.
“Perhaps, in the end, I am nothing. You have won this war and toppled my rule, once and for all. But even as I lay dying, I hold a truth that you and your people have completely ignored.”
“Nothing for you to reveal, there is.” Yoda retorted. “Poisoned this galaxy enough with your lies, you have.”
The Sith Lord laughed, and his voice grew fainter by the second. He knew that death was drawing closer with every second.
“Oh, poor fool. You really haven’t learned anything, have you?” Even as he faced an ignominious death, his words were as scathing as ever. “My true intentions for the galaxy have no impact on the fate that will befall you. Destroying me may save the galaxy, but you and your rebellion have committed a truly grave mistake by destroying what I created.”
“I brought order and stability to a galaxy torn by war!” He continued. “I gave the people what they wanted - a safe, secure society. All you managed to do was shatter that order and reinstate chaos where there was once stability. Your new Republic, filled with criminals, terrorists, broken veterans, assassins, disloyal warlords, and failed leaders, shall not last to see a year of prosperity. That, I promise you, shall destroy the new order you establish.”
Yoda closed his eyes thoughtfully. The Emperor did have a point. At no point during this civil war did Rebel High Command ever get together to plan out the next stage after the Emperor fell. Everyone was heavily focused on overthrowing the Empire and defeating Palpatine that they never focused on the long term.
Kenobi’s words, a few mutual goals that other leaders shared, and the deep pockets of the GenoHaradan held everyone together in the fight against the Empire, but with the war over, what was next? Most of the politicians were too spineless to be effective leaders, and Yoda could sense tensions between different Rebel groups. Any dream for a new Republic would be shattered.
At the same time, however, Palpatine was wrong. The people wanted security, but they didn’t want to be under the Empire’s lash. Perhaps, Palpatine’s claims were baseless. For all Yoda knew, maybe everything could be eventually resolved, and a new Republic would rise from the ashes of the Empire it unseated earlier.
After reflecting on his old enemy’s words, he spoke up.
“If order, the people wanted, then why rebel? No point in disorder, there is, for any cause, hmmm? Louder than words, actions are, and a desire to see your reign overthrown, the actions of the people showed. Resolve internal matters, the people will, without your dark influence.”
Palpatine laughed, but it quickly devolved into choking on blood and other fluids. He was at death’s door, and at this point, he was ready to accept what would become of him.
“Ignorant to the end. You have brought upon yourselves an era of great darkness, and not even your worthless rhetoric of independence can save you from what is to come.”
He coughed and spluttered, more disgusting combinations of bodily fluids pouring out of him. Yoda unflinchingly stood where he was, completely unbothered by the gruesome sight. The Sith Lord lay dying before the cold, seemingly uncaring Jedi, but he didn’t care.
“Such matters are out of my concern.” His voice grew even fainter, and it was choking up. His skin was crumbling away, and his eyes had a vacant stare. He could easily slip out of life at any moment now. As he said his last words, he spoke slowly.
“You will see the consequences of your actions soon enough. My time has come, and in my absence, I shall leave you with…a galaxy in flames.”