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transparisteel. He allowed himself to feel a surge of satisfaction at the battered object, a broken lightsaber hilt from a
fallen Jedi. The Duro who sold it to him told him it had belonged to Mace Windu himself, but Sauro had no way to verify that. It just pleased him to imagine it.
    He had hated the Jedi all his life. Their privilege, their arrogance. He’d brought one of them to trial—that odious boy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had later become such an important
general. He was dead now, too.
    And Sauro was alive. Older, but still in excellent shape, thanks to careful attention to his diet and visits to spas every six months. Not for him to accept the decrepitude of old human age.
    He was now one of the most powerful Senators in the Emperor’s inner circle, a confidant and an advisor. They had formed their alliance years ago, after his attempted takeover of the
Chancellor’s position. Palpatine had called him into his office after the debacle, when so many Senators had been slaughtered. Sauro had planned just how to wiggle out of responsibility.
He’d blamed the assassination attempt on Granta Omega, of course, a conspirator who had gone much farther than he claimed to have known. He had expected censure from the Chancellor, perhaps
an arrest, though there was no hard evidence. Instead, Sauro had been offered a deputy position. It was clear, Palpatine had said, that Sauro knew the uses of power. He would give him a platform to
exercise that gift.
    And he had.
    Behind the scenes, he had bribed, punished, flattered, and manipulated. Now he was the unseen power behind Palpatine. The Emperor had been hideously scarred after the assassination attempt by
the Jedi Mace Windu, but Sauro did not underestimate him. His personal power had not diminished.
    The problem was his new enforcer. Darth Vader had appeared out of nowhere. Sauro felt him like an electrojabber in his side. Vader was standing between him and the Emperor, and he couldn’t
have that.
    Vader was consolidating his power, planet by planet, system by system. He was bringing governments in line. Already his name was spoken with fear.
    Sauro didn’t know where Vader had come from, but he knew he wasn’t a politician. He didn’t know how to maneuver his way through powerful blocs and strategic alliances. In the
end, that would bring him down. He was just a thug.
    Palpatine needed someone with elegance and subtlety. Someone like him.
    Sauro believed in careful plotting. He didn’t act in haste. He needed to outmaneuver Vader, but it would take time. It might take years. He would wait. If Vader was proving to be the
Emperor’s enforcer, Sauro would be the Emperor’s strategist. Eventually he would demonstrate to Palpatine that he should be his second in command, not Vader.
    The trick was to find out what he needed to do to impress Palpatine. He had to go above and beyond what he’d done in the past. He had to anticipate. Not answer the needs of yesterday, but
the needs of tomorrow.
    He was good at that.
    His comlink signaled at last. The miniaturized hologram of Bog beamed onto his desk.
    Bog bowed. “Everything is going according to plan, good friend.”
    “And what does that mean?” Sauro asked. Bog was always vague. He seemed to think that if he wasn’t pinned down, he could be seen as marvelously efficient.
    “The Jedi is under surveillance. The sensor tag adhered to his boot as he stepped forward to greet me, just as I’d planned. Unfortunately a seeker droid tracking him—because I
believe in backup—met an unfortunate accident. Smashed into a building. The traffic in the space lanes is unruly because of this situation—”
    “You idiot, it smashed into a building because the Jedi wanted it to,” Sauro said. “It wasn’t an accident. If you’ve got a sensor in his boot, what do you need a
seeker for? He’ll spot it no matter what it does. Just track him with the sensor. Where is he?”
    “In the Hundred Seventh District. It’s in the