| abstract | - Following the destruction of the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, the Emperor immediately ordered the construction of a new battle station that would surpass his first Death Star in both sheer size and destructive power. With the completion of this weapon, he planned to remove the scourge of the Rebellion from the galaxy for good and cement the New Order as the unquestioned galactic power. At some point, the Emperor devised a plan that would turn the same process by which the Rebellion destroyed the first Death Star into their ultimate undoing. Whereas Rebel spies stole the plans to the first Death Star, enabling them to formulate the assault that destroyed that battle station, the Emperor would allow the plans to his second battle station to intentionally fall into Rebel hands in order to draw them into a trap that would allow the Empire to finally destroy them. In 3 ABY, as construction on the new Death Star neared completion, the Emperor began to put his plan into action. The key to his machinations would be the Falleen Xizor, Dark Prince of the criminal organization Black Sun. Ultimately, Xizor would act as the Emperor's greatest pawn. The criminal leader's infinite wealth and influence, second only to that of the Emperor and Darth Vader, would be used to draw the Alliance into a false sense of security. Although devious and untrustworthy as most criminal organizations were, the Alliance did not necessarily view Black Sun as an enemy. As a criminal organization, it would only be reasonable to assume that Black Sun was a natural enemy of the Empire. It was this assumption that the Emperor foresaw and sought to exploit. The Emperor began mutual relations with Xizor sometime before the Battle of Hoth. Xizor would serve a two-pronged service to the Emperor: on one hand, the Dark Prince and Lord Vader were bitter rivals, jockeying for Palpatine's favor. Palpatine deliberately allowed Xizor to become privy to the knowledge that Luke Skywalker was in fact the son of Vader, and that the Emperor and Vader intended to turn him to the dark side of the Force. The Emperor realized that while Vader intended to keep Skywalker alive, Xizor would attempt to kill him in order to permanently discredit Vader in the eyes of the Emperor, in hopes of perhaps replacing him at Palpatine's side. If Xizor did succeed in killing Skywalker, it would mean no difference to the Emperor, for it would prove that the boy was not powerful enough to have been worth the effort to corrupt him in the first place, and his burgeoning abilities in the Force would no longer be a threat. Secondly, the Emperor would use Xizor to deliver the Rebels to him. In an effort to gain greater favor with the Emperor, Xizor introduced a plan to him to allow the plans to the uncompleted Death Star to fall into the hands of the Alliance. Knowing where the Death Star construction site was located and the construction time table, the Rebels were sure to launch an attack, and the Empire would be waiting to intercept and destroy them. Darth Vader didn't trust Xizor and warned the Emperor against his plans. Xizor actually wanted to gain the Emperor's favor and have the Alliance defeated. However, his plan B was that, in the unlikely possibility the Rebels would win this war, the eventual new order would not forget Black Sun's "generous contribution" to their victory. It is likely, however, that the Emperor first devised this very scheme and only allowed Xizor to believe it was his own idea in order to use him as a pawn.
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