Chapter 84

When I entered the throne room of the late Emperor Palpatine, there was only one person there—not even a person but a doppelganger, my doppelganger. I didn't dare go into the Death Star until I knew the Emperor was dead and the Death Star was out of his hands. Only after my doppelganger had killed him did I enter the scene.

I had witnessed it all, the fight and death of Palpatine through the eyes of my doppelganger. I could have gone myself, or I could have sent a team of killer droids with my doppelgangers but with the death star having the vent weakness, I thought it wasn't wise to devote so many resources just in case the rebels received a lucky shot that travelled down a vent and hit the main reactor. Odds like that were the reason that I stayed away but now the enemy fleet was occupied and the world-destroying weapon was in my hands....well, our hands.

"Difficult fight, there was" explained Yoda as he looked around the broken room and at the even more broken dead body of the now ex-emperor "Crushing the body, necessary, was that?"

I looked at the twisted remains of Palpatine and nodded "The dark side is full of weird and wonderful abilities. Complete regeneration isn't a far-off ability if you think about it. Better to be safe than sorry"

Yoda tapped the mess of a body with his cane "What now?"

"For you?... I don't know. The Empire still exists and there will be others who will want to be in charge but you are the Jedi that now has a super weapon. If you use it well then there is no limit to what you can control" I wandered over to the throne and searched over it.

Yoda eyed me closely, he could feel that I was searching for something but he had no idea. The galaxy's dreaded enemy was dead on the floor and we were in the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, what else could there be? "Looking for something, you are"

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"Yes...I just hope I don't find...." I stopped and turned to show Yoda what I had found

"A Wayfinder, you have found" explained Yoda.

"A Sith Wayfinder" I answered back with a sigh.

"What does that mean? asked Yoda

I walked over to the dead twisted remains of Palpatine and pulled out a dagger "Did you ever wonder why stationing stealth ships on the red Honeycomb Zone would cause the Emperor to dedicate all of his spare ships to attacking them? It left him weakened to an attack and would never gain him anything of note"

"Why" asked Yoda

I struck down and drove my dagger into Palpatines skull. The stab was so sudden that I felt Yoda jump a little from my unexpected brutalness. As I cut and flicked away skull pieces I felt Yoda become nervous.

"Every action taken by Palpatine after I stationed my stealth ships made no sense unless he was complied somehow" A long and slow sigh left my lips as I pulled the final piece of information I needed from the corpse of Palpatine. An inhibitor chip. Palpatine was a clone.

Now it made complete sense. I had hoped it wasn't possible but I still placed stealth ships in the red Honeycomb zone because I wanted Palpatine to protect the hidden Sith planet Exegol. I didn't know for certain it existed, didn't know if Palpatine would even move to protect it but when he did my stomach turned a little as answers fell into place. The real Sith lord was hiding in Exegol and now I knew that the place existed due to the Wayfinder and Palpatine's clone. Why else would this master mind do something so stupid as to devote his ships to defending a worthless area? He was complied to just like the Jango Fett clones were complied to turn on their Jedi friends and allies despite their close bonds. Palpatine was compelled to go to extraordinary efforts to make sure that Exegol was protected, even at the cost of his own life. This was the only way for Palpatine to do something that would weaken him. Palpatine wouldn't care if a thousand ships were destroyed as long as he won and he wouldn't put his existence in harm's way unless he was a clone following orders that he didn't even know about.

The true Sith lord still lived.