The Emperor's Response
The flicker of rebellion did not go unnoticed.
Mon Mothma and Bail Organa had carefully begun planting the roots of resistance, but their caution was no match for Sidious' reach. The moment the Emperor confirmed the presence of a coordinated dissent, he acted not as a politician, but as a warlord.
Within days, entire Core Worlds were locked under martial law. Holonets broadcast images of loyalty oaths, of senators publicly swearing fealty under pain of death. Troopers patrolled every capital city from Chandrila to Brentaal. Curfews. Surveillance. Silence.
But Palpatine was more than brute force. He was a strategist.
From the citadel atop Coruscant, he convened a war council of Moffs, Admirals, and economic ministers.
"This is not a military campaign," he said, voice low and cold. "It is a purification. The illusion of freedom must be burned away… leaving only order."
He deployed elite legions of clone veterans to secure key hyperlanes: the Hydian Way, the Corellian Run, the Perlemian Trade Route. Merchant guilds, once allies of the Separatists, were now brought to heel through fear and wealth.
Orbital shipyards were placed under lockdown. Banking clans forced to lend exclusively to the Empire. Key trade worlds like Corellia, Kuat, and Fondor were transformed into fortress-planets.
The galaxy gasped and fell silent.
Operation: Iron Lock
Under Project Iron Lock, Sidious dispatched mobile command stations and interdiction fleets across the Mid and Outer Rims. Their goal: to cut off the Rebellion's ability to move, to think, to exist.
Entire sectors were choked.
Droid surveillance units seeded in neutral systems.
Imperial governors were placed directly over planetary governments, their loyalty ensured by Vader's own hand.
Palpatine's message was clear:
"Stability through strength. Peace through submission."
Vader Hunts the Ghost
Despite the Empire's growing dominance, one shadow still lingered in the Sith Lord's mind.
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Whispers had reached Vader across multiple systems disguised transmissions, intercepted reports, and unconfirmed sightings. A cloaked figure with Jedi abilities helping smuggled refugees from the Outer Rim to Hutt Space.
In his private quarters aboard the Executor, Vader listened to one such intercepted transmission:
"he wore the robes of a monk, but I swear, when the slavers cornered us, he drew a blade of blue fire like the stories of the Clone Wars."
A tremor passed through Vader's gloved fingers. Kenobi had survived.
"I will find him," Vader said, his voice low, like thunder beneath ice.
He traced the rumors to the edge of the galaxy to the old ruins of Ilum, to the moons of Polis Massa, and beyond. Each lead brought him closer.
"He trained me. He betrayed me. I will end him."
The Rebellion Fractures
The hammer of the Empire fell harder than expected. Rebel cells began to panic. Supplies vanished. Communications faltered. The Empire was everywhere on Lothal, on Sullust, even on Naboo.
Some questioned continuing the fight.
But others more radical, more desperate emerged from the shadows. Saw Gerrera's Partisans. The Onderonian Black Guard. Fringe Jedi survivors who had abandoned the Code in favor of vengeance.
The Alliance grew divided: those who believed in restoring the Republic, and those who believed in destroying the Empire at any cost.
Bail and Mon Mothma held firm. "If we lose ourselves in the fight," she warned, "then we've already lost."
They pushed forward with new plans hidden bases, deep space signal relays, and the search for hope in the form of someone strong enough to ignite the stars.
Meanwhile, on Exegol...
Far beyond the reach of the Holonet, in the cold void of the Unknown Regions, Exegol continued to grow.
Palpatine's secret engineers, supplied by industrial titans and hidden convoys, smuggled starship components across the galaxy under the Empire's nose. On Exegol, these parts were melted down, reforged by the Star Forge itself twisted, perfected, and reborn in darkness.
Out of the molten pits rose new legions of ships stealth cruisers, dreadnoughts, weapons powered by ancient Sith energy.
"Phase Three is ahead of schedule," the Emperor noted in a private communiqué to his loyalists. "The Final Order… is within reach."