Author's Notes: And here is the Epilogue. Thanks for reading! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
Added Notes: Based on some comments I received on the first version of this Epilogue, I realized there was some confusion about what I intended to convey in the dialogue. So, I went back and made a change in the last paragraph, and hopefully, it will clear things up and add to the quality of the story. I hope it's better.
Epilogue:
"And what of Master Yoda, on Kashyyk?" Chancellor Palpatine asked again, very quietly.
"Reports are… inconclusive, your Grace," his aide said slowly, uncomfortably. He'd been avoiding the question for the past ten minutes now, and Palpatine was growing weary of it.
"Tell me," he ground out, his scarred, burned larynx lending his voice a sinister tone.
"He… he escaped our troops, your Grace," the aide said finally. "Patrols report that he is nowhere to be found on the planet."
"How did he escape?" Carefully controlled anger was barely veiled in the simple question.
"They are still investigating, sir. However, initial scans of the battlefield shortly after he disappeared from the command post indicate that a commando squad was in position to take him out. They… somehow failed to engage."
"Failed to engage," Palpatine echoed softly, his yellow eyes glittering in the light of the Coruscant cityscape that flooded into his otherwise dark chambers. "Which squad was it?"
"Delta Squad, your Grace," the aide supplied readily, glad to be laying the blame on someone else.
Palpatine just stared straight ahead, clawed fingertips softly tapping on the scorched wooden top of his massive desk.
"Shall I have them recalled, your Grace? We know where they're stationed. We can have them in detention in –"
"No." The single, quiet word seemed loud, for all the baleful command that was put behind it. "No," he said again, even more quietly. "They can still be of use to us. There is another mission that needs to be completed. I want Delta Squad to undertake it." He held up a datacard.
The aide took the card and scanned over it quickly. "But your Grace," he said in confusion, "this would be suicide. Civilian casualties will be catastrophic! The political ramifications… Your Grace… this mission is doomed to failure!"
Palpatine's twisted face finally gave the barest hint of emotion – a small, ugly smile. "Yes, I know." His voice practically dripped with malicious satisfaction. "But they don't need to know that… do they?"
End.