Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 38 - Replacements

Senate Building - Coruscant

Palpatine was almost having the best day of his life, the Jedi Order was in ruins, he had snatched the prized pupil from the clutches of the Council, and had seized almost complete power in the Senate. The only thing that was mildly bothering him was the scarred face thanks to Master Windu and the missing 501st cruiser. But those things could wait, right now Palpatine was going to sit back behind his desk and bask in the victory that had taken him over 20 years to co-ordinate.

Deciding he was going to take a moment to reflect on all the ones that had to die for this Empire to be born, Sidious walked over to his secret stash of Sith lightsabers located in a granite statue that was worth millions and was taken from a planetary lord after Sidious secretly killed him during a not-so-diplomatic meeting ages prior. But something felt off about this compartment, ignoring the feeling, Palpatine opened it up anyway and came face-to-face with a live detonator that had just armed.

Leaping from the explosive and dragging a nearby seat to protect him, Sidous barely escaped the explosion that would have otherwise seriously injured him. Calling Commander Fox and asking what the hell was going on, Palpatine was met with the news that the not-so-dead Blue Team along with their Spartan commander had just escaped the planet along with some Jedi survivors from the Temple.

Furious, Palpatine called for Lord Vader, his deadliest attack dog and future successor, but no reply. Trying once more, the Sith Lord's patience grew increasingly thin and the call went to voicemail again, and again, and again. Calling Commander Fox once more, Sidous demanded to know where Lord Vader was. Unfortunately for Fox, he had just found out that a shuttle had departed moments ago from the Naboo senator's apartment carrying Skywalker, Kenobi, Tano, Amidala, and Captain Rex alongside two droids. Fearfully informing the Emperor of this news, Fox looked at the Senate building as a colossal spider web of lightning shot out of Palpatine's office as the transmission ended between the two.

Inside the office, Palpatine was furious beyond what words could describe, incinerating all the furniture in his office via the wave of Force lightning he just unleashed. How could that ungrateful brat do this to him after everything Palpatine had done over the course of his life. From the kind and gentle approach Sheev took while Skywalker was just a boy, to the mentor figure he represented during Anakin's teenage and young adult years. All he heartstrings and sickening compassionate moments he had to perform, all for what? A scarred face at the hands of that douche Windu, over two decades wasted of grooming and patience.

Palpatine should have had that whore of a senator killed years ago, but for once his patience got the better of him once again. He wanted to wait till the dust settled before kidnapping her, having his way with that perfect Naboo body before finally killing her and blaming it on the Jedi. This would have cemented that gullible fool as his apprentice for life, but now that's all been WASTED.

Furious, Sidious called in both of his chief advisors; Admiral Tarkin and Mas Ameda. After explaining to them the situation with no lack of curses and outbursts, Palpatine wanted a full status report of just how bad things were. Following a few calls and heated messages, Tarkin got the numbers in. According to the logs, there were 2 Venator class destroyers missing, at least 20,000 clone troopers including 6 legion commanders. Not to mention the massive dent in their Special Forces arsenal with at least 6 Alpha class ARC troopers missing and of course, 117.

Secretly, as much as both Tarkin and Palpatine hated the Spartan, they could not deny that he was a massive problem, as indicated by the explosive grater in Palaptine's wall. What's worse is that they had no idea where he could be and if given time, that strategically brilliant mind of his would come up with a plan to exploit all their dirty secrets. As for the missing clones, they shouldn't be that big of an issue, the Empire hilariously outnumbered them. But it was the idea that the clones could turn on Palpatine that made them such a big of a risk.

Ordering Tarkin to contact Commander Rampart, it didn't take even 2 minutes before the young officer appeared on the hologram projector. "Commander Rampart, what is the status of projects Orion and War Mantle?"

"My Lord, Project War Mantle is on schedule with 8,000 troopers ready across the galaxy. As for the other project, we expect the first squads to be ready in a month." Rampart briefed, he was in command of a secret military unit that aimed to eventually phase out the clones with a volunteer based soldiers. Palpatine had ordered this upon realizing the massive threat that the clones posed to the Empire once the chips lost their effect. This had turned into reality with the missing 20,000 clones that were now roaming around somewhere in the galaxy.

Suddenly, a clone officer ran into the room. After quickly saluting the Emperor, he informed his superiors that there had been a data breach on the main server with hyper-encrypted files being copied. Dismissing the clone with an angry wave of his scrawny hand, Palpatine didn't need to guess what the files were. "Commander, given recent events you are being promoted to Admiral. See to it that all troopers are moved to Daro immediately and increase production by 300%."

"It will be done my Lord." The newly promoted Admiral Rampart bowed before ending the transmission. Turning to Tarkin, Sidious wanted him to personally oversee the construction of Project Longsword over at Kuat Drive Yards. Telling him that the first ships will be ready by the end of the month, Tarkin departed for KDY. In the meantime, Palpatine wanted Tarkin to get rid of Chief and his force of rebel clones by any means neccessary. He didn't care for civilian casualties or how much credits it drained, but this issue had to be dealt with immediately.

With a smile, Tarkin stated that he'll completely disband the 501st presence on Coruscant, splitting them off into other units and designating the legion as a whole enemies of the state. The clones may see each other as brothers, but if they were to be convinced that some of their fellow men were traitors, that would be a lethal weapon to be used against the rebellious 20,000.

As for Vader, or lack thereof, Palpatine had a backup plan but he would need some time. Tasking Mas Ameda with keeping the Senate occupied with boring administrative tasks, Palpatine put his bony fingers together as he thought through his next steps.