Ways & means
Palpitine closed his eyes and checked his urge to force-strangle the man. Not yet. Not in public.
“So… the Imperial Senate has decided it wants to cancel the death star construction program?”
The terrified man nodded so briefly it was barely noticeable.
“Why?”
“They, uh, feel that its, uh, not justified, given that the, uh, war is, uh, over”, the man stuttered. “They want to divert funds to reconstruction work”
Palpitine closed his eyes.
“Right. Fine then. Excellent”. He turned to his military aide “Draw up plans to disband the Senate in the event of an emergency -arrange it so that when, sorry, if, I order, Imperial Governors and Starfleet can rule directly. Something like that. And…” he narrowed his eyes, drumming his fingers on the throne.
He smiled. “We’ll just call it ‘heavy construction equipment’ and it’ll come out of a different budget - it’ll even be part of the Imperial Reconstruction program. Not part of military procurement at all.”
Dismissing the cowering underling, he turned to his aide “Contact the Vogon ambassador - we might need some examples to the Senate procurement committee, stuff about the economic benefits of Hyperspace lanes. But no poetry!“
He paused. “Actually, no. Its to the Procurement Committee. Tell him...
Tell him they love poetry.”
“So… the Imperial Senate has decided it wants to cancel the death star construction program?”
The terrified man nodded so briefly it was barely noticeable.
“Why?”
“They, uh, feel that its, uh, not justified, given that the, uh, war is, uh, over”, the man stuttered. “They want to divert funds to reconstruction work”
Palpitine closed his eyes.
“Right. Fine then. Excellent”. He turned to his military aide “Draw up plans to disband the Senate in the event of an emergency -arrange it so that when, sorry, if, I order, Imperial Governors and Starfleet can rule directly. Something like that. And…” he narrowed his eyes, drumming his fingers on the throne.
He smiled. “We’ll just call it ‘heavy construction equipment’ and it’ll come out of a different budget - it’ll even be part of the Imperial Reconstruction program. Not part of military procurement at all.”
Dismissing the cowering underling, he turned to his aide “Contact the Vogon ambassador - we might need some examples to the Senate procurement committee, stuff about the economic benefits of Hyperspace lanes. But no poetry!“
He paused. “Actually, no. Its to the Procurement Committee. Tell him...
Tell him they love poetry.”