Veers stared in open surprise- that The Commander would take power by force, that his Emperor was telling him this...
"No," Palpatine continued casually, voice little more than a murmur, as if lost in thought, "My Jedi will be Heir to the Empire. Only that will hold him and keep him here." It would be the only thing which would have held Palpatine in similar conditions, and as much as he told the boy he was his father's son, he now very much reminded Palpatine of himself. He would provide Palpatine's Empire with the power and the focus it needed to withstand any threat. And he would provide it with an all-important heir- a natural chain of succession. A Sith dynasty which would endure generations- in Palpatine's name.
"It's natural selection" Palpatine offered to Veers at last, "The strongest wolf will lead the pack."
Veers was silent, and Palpatine turned to him after a few seconds, knowingly. "You're wondering if that natural selection will cut in a little sooner- if my protégé will challenge my leadership?" He shrugged, supremely confident. "In all likelyhood he will- and I shall put this down decisively and without compunction, as I do any dissent. When one teaches a lesson, one should do it in a manner that will never be forgotten, otherwise one must teach the same lesson again and again."
The Emperor held yellow-flecked eyes on Veers, his gaze as sharp as ever, "I am not weak; when the challenge comes I will be ready. And it will- he would not be worthy as my Heir if he did not test those bounds." He turned away, self-assured as ever, "Yes, he has the power to lead you- as only a Sith can. To continue my Empire in my name, as I have decreed."
Now was the moment- to clarify Veers' part in this, to instil some sense of genuine commitment in the ambitious General, all be it self-serving. Enough to perhaps get him past Skywalker's close radar and into his trusted elite.
"If you were wise, General, you would look to beginning some kind of dialogue with your future leader. By the time he takes the throne, his own power base will be in place and there will be no room for latecomers. A request for transfer to the Core System Fleet and the Peerless would not be looked upon unfavourably." Palpatine let this final point dangle before he turned pointedly to Veers, confident and assured, "But remember who leads you now - and who will do so for the foreseeable future. When he takes power, it will be because I allowed it. By my decree and not before."
.
.
The massive suite of rooms named 'The Cabinet' extended over a full floor of the South Tower of the monolithic Imperial Palace, and were the working place of Palpatine's personal ministers and aides, the site where the actual act of daily government of the countless systems of the extensive, far-reaching Empire took place. Situated immediately above the vast, four storey high Throne Room where Court was held daily from early evening well into the night, the Cabinet housed two huge, lofty ante-chambers leading to the Emperor's Private Audience Chambers, as well as the Emperor's personal offices and those of his favoured few, rooms here being awarded only to the 'established'; those personal advisors who had held high office for many years.
The equally impressively-appointed Council Offices one storey below the Throne Room, where sessions of the Ruling Council were met, also boasted offices for the most favoured, these too allocated and revoked at the Emperor's whim, as were individual invitations to attend Council or Court. Like apartments in the East Tower, offices carried great import; no-one understood better than the Emperor the art of enhancing the value of a favour, and once given, the fear of having this newfound status revoked held many-a Royal House or powerful individual to silence.
On being awarded command of the Core Fleet, Luke had been allocated two offices in the prestigious Cabinet. He had never once entered them, continuing to work in the private offices within his own apartments or those long-since allocated to him within the War Cabinet in the North Tower. Whether the Emperor knew this or not Luke had no idea, though he couldn't imagine Palpatine failing to note something of such import so close within his own sphere of influence. But his Master had never remarked upon it and the offices remained allocated to The Commander, their permanently closed doors visible at the end of the long corridor which stood just beyond the entrance to the ante-chamber of the Emperor's Private Audience Chamber.
It was in the gilded opulence of that scarlet-walled ante-chamber that Luke stood in uneasy silence now, waiting to see his Master, the command to attend already waiting when he had arrived on one of the small, inset landing platforms in the North Tower, successfully avoiding the pointless pomp and ceremony of an official return.
Uneasy because he'd been summoned to the Private Audience Chamber- the cavernous room where he had fought his father years earlier. It wasn't the first time he'd returned here of course; he'd been here many times at the summons of the Emperor, but it never failed to send some burst of emotion through him. Regret, frustration, confusion- he didn't know; didn't care to look too closely. He only knew it was here where he fell - truly fell. Where he lost his way so completely. He had fallen far earlier in many ways, he knew. He was already in that cage; had built the bars which held him. But the day that he'd fought his father- that was the day those bars fell away... and he stayed.
Did he want to be here? No. did he trust Palpatine? Absolutely not. Could he leave? Never.
Because Palpatine had invested a great deal of effort in ensuring there was simply nowhere left to go. Wherever he went Palpatine would hunt him down. On his own, trying to cover his tracks, Luke knew he would never outrun or elude his Master- Palpatine simply knew him too well; knew his sense, his presence in the force, and Luke knew his connection was such that he would be detectable even if he tried to hide it.
If he tried to return to the Alliance, even ignoring the fact that he was under the death penalty there as an Imperial spy - not an unwilling captive or even a defector, thanks to his Master's maneuvering, but an actual double agent - Palpatine would throw the whole fleet at it; rip it to pieces just to get him back.
Wherever he went and however he tried to hide, Palpatine would find him and bring him back, whatever the cost- he had made that absolutely clear.
Though he would never destroy his precious 'Jedi', he had made that clear too; he would simply break him to pieces and rebuild him one more time. One more grating, grinding trial; a test of torture and thresholds executed with pitiless, surgical precision or self-indulgent gratification depending on his Master's mood from moment to moment, and damned if Luke didn't even know which was worst anymore, because they too had become a part of his life, the incensed, raging outbursts and the cool, cruel manipulations.
Because somewhere along the way he had become just one more of the Emperor's possessions. Whether Palpatine wanted the snarl of complications and aggravation that his precious new advocate purposely embodied was immaterial; what mattered was that Palpatine owned him- which meant that nobody else did; that he would never have this power turned against him.
In an effort to control Skywalker, Palpatine gave his wolf an ever longer leash; the illusion of freedom when they both knew it was nothing of the sort. Still, they played the game, Luke remaining at first because he quite simply had no-where else to go, forcibly isolated, all other options stripped away. Then, damn himself for his own stupid weakness, then held by obligations and associations, aqcuaintances and allies formed even here. Because Palpatine had made it very clear what would happen to them should Luke steer too far from the accepted path. Besides; he had become used to the situation. It had become, Force help him, the norm.