It was almost exactly thirty hours after the destruction of the Second Death Star that all communications devices were hacked. Even ones which had been transmitting calls were not exempt.

What was equally - if not more worrying than every communication device in the Galaxy being hacked - was what happened next.

The head and shoulders of Darth Vader appeared, but it was what he said that really had everybody scratching their heads.

"I have important commands and announcements to make," he began, and the brains of all the analysts in the Rebellion went into overdrive. Darth Vader never made announcements. The Emperor made announcements; Moffs made announcements. Darth Vader stood around looking menacing when the announcements were made, or directed the Imperial Armed Forces. At such an imperial crisis as this, he should be out re-forming what was left of the fleet, making hyperspace jumps like a madman to consolidate enough of a fleet to attack the rebels again, not making announcements to the whole of the galaxy, and he should certainly not be giving commands to his men when the entire galaxy could hear him.

Unless . . . unless he had made it off the Death Star, and the Emperor, by some miracle, hadn't. Would that mean . . . ?

"The first of them is that the Emperor has died."

If anyone else had said that, cheers would have erupted all over the galaxy. As it was, everybody waited in fearful silence.

"I am, in the absence of a legally designated successor, the Emperor of this Galaxy."

There was a galaxy-wide gasp of fear.

"And as Emperor, I formally rescind Order 66, made to exterminate the Jedi. In recognition of their tireless commitment to peace, justice, and liberty for the citizens of this galaxy, I give them formal amnesty and the right to pass as citizens. I will see to it personally that this is carried out."

Somewhere in the Thanium sector, Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Also, I command that all imperial forces suspend their operations, barring those which are dealing with Hutt crime rings, and a ceasefire to take place across the galaxy."

On a ship somewhere in hyperspace, Ahsoka Tano sat down. In another ship, so did Mon Mothma. On the converted Imperial base on Endor, so did Leia.

"The Alliance to Restore the Republic is to be recognised as a legitimate body and is not to be harassed or disturbed in any way. Negotiations are to be opened with Princess Leia Organa, and the Alliance is to be responsible for the rebuilding of the Constitution and a Galactic representative body of some kind, provided that in both their Constitution and their practice, they provide for the poverty-stricken and enslaved in all known corners of the galaxy; and if they cannot they must formally announce those parts of the galaxy that they cannot control as out of their reach. They must not lay claim to systems which they are unable to assist.

"Finally, I declare all slaves of the Empire and in this galaxy to be free, regardless of age, species, or gender. The Alliance to Restore the Republic will be responsible for co-ordinating efforts to assist and to rehabilitate freedbeings.

"Vader out."

For at least a second, all over the galaxy, there was a stunned silence.

"Well," said Han, "That was unexpected."

"He's probably just bluffing," said Lando. "He kept changing the deal when we were on Cloud City, remember?"

"I don't think he's lying," said Leia suddenly.

"Hey, Leia? You alright?" asked Han.

"No," she said, standing. She was as white as a sheet, and her hands were shaking.

"I'm not alright. I won't be alright until Luke gets back."

"I though you said he wasn't on that thing when it blew!"

"I won't be alright until I know that he is!"

"Sweetheart -"

"Not now, Han. I have a meeting to attend with High Command. They'll want to analyse Vader's message."

Chewie said that that was all very well, but Leia couldn't hide from her problems forever. He added that it was easier to face problems with somebody else rather than alone, and that in his opinion, Han Solo was the best candidate.

"Oh, shut up you," she said, as she marched out to the Command room.

Chewie said that he had told her so, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a minute. It was broken in the most jarring way possible.

"Do you think the Emperor was telling the truth?" C-3PO asked.

"Suuuuure, 3PO, of course he was!" cried Lando. "The guy always tells the truth. He's the most honest guy I know. Isn't that right, Han?"

"Yeah," returned Han, "Except that he got you to lie about where he was, which isn't actually that difficult, and he told ya that he was only gonna freeze Luke in carbonite and let you keep charge of Leia and Chewie! Oh, and did I forget that delightful invitation to lunch?"

"Yeah, the guy had guts. Pity they got utilised for that sorry-excuse-for-a-royal highness, or whatever it is that you're supposed to call him."

"Were supposed to call him. He's dead now. Supposedly."

There was another silence.

" . . . Do ya think it'll be better or worse, with Vader as the Emperor?" asked Lando

"Probably worse," said Han glumly. "He's Vader. And until we get our Jedi-boy-starpilot back in our court, we don't stand a chance against him."

Chewie said that they would have to find the strength to fight and the wisdom to know when not to.

"Well said," said Han.

"Do you really think that there's a time not to fight Vader?" asked Lando. "Or oppose him, at the very least? Or do subterfuge or whatever it is we're supposed to do?"

Chewie told Lando that stranger things could happen under the Corellian sun.

On the Ghost, Ezra Bridger stood staring open-mouthed at the holotransmitter for several minutes after the transmission had ceased. Karan Jarrus sat down heavily with Hera at his side.

"Well," said Zeb gruffly, "I don't think we were expecting that."

"I don't think we were," agreed Kanan. It was all he could think of to say.

"How . . . in the galaxy . . . did that happen?!" said Ezra, who was beginning to recover from his catatonia.

"That's what I'd like to know," said Sabine.

"I'm more worried about how he got access to out transmitter," said Hera. "Sabine, let's see if we can trace the transmission. Zeb, inform Pheonix Squadron of this anomaly and then go chart a nice convoluted hyperspace route to throw Vader off our track before we rendezvous with Ahsoka. We ought to tell her about this in person. Kanan, Ezra, I know you're in shock, so you can do some nice unthinking work by servicing the engines and the guns. We may need them when we exit hyperspace."

"Kanan," said Ezra, as they began checking readouts of the starboard gun, "Did you feel a - shift in the Force?"

"I did. It's . . . like nothing I ever experienced before. It's so big, I don't know how to describe it."

"It's like . . . it's like the galaxy is at peace again," said Ezra. "Kanan - if he was lying, do you think he's powerful enough to make us feel this way?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't put it past him, but . . ."

"If we stretched out, do you think he'd still be able to trick us? Or would we be able to find out?"

Kanan put his readouts down and sighed. "I really don't know. Maybe we would be tricked."

"That's no excuse not to try! If we're gonna hide behind our old fears of being tricked . . ."

Kanan smiled. "You're right, Ezra. Let's find out."

They closed their eyes, both of them, and reached out with a hand each.

Then Ezra felt it, and at the same time Kanan shouted something that brought the rest of the crew running.

"It's true! It's true! Hera, he's not lying - we're at peace now! The fight is won!" He was clutching at Hera's arms, and she saw to her amazement that there were tears of joy sliding down his face. Ezra was leaning against the gunner's chair with a smile on his face so bright it could have ignited the stars.

"Ezra, c'mon! We've got to tell Ahsoka!" Kanan was tearing out of the gunner's station out to the holotransmitter. He tapped in Ahsoka's ship frequency and her blue holographic image sprang up. "Ahsoka! Ashoka, he's . . . he's . . ."

Ahsoka lifted her face up to face the crew of the Ghost. Like Kanan, there were tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Yes," she whispered. "Anakin's free now. He always wanted to be free, and he was always searching for peace, but he never found it. He's found them both now. Kanan, Ezra - I think the Sith are dead. The Dark Side has been vanquished."

"Yeah," said Ezra with a grin. It stretched from ear to ear. "Yeah, I can feel it."

"Still, no need to get careless," said Hera. "We'll follow our original rendezvous instructions, then go get our orders from Commander Sato. Let's see what's going on here."