Great Leader of the Second Imperium

"An Imperial guard! I thought they had all been destroyed"

- Rullak

The Great Leader of the Second Imperium was a faux Emperor Palpatine created by four unidentified Imperial Royal Guards to serve as figure head for their fledgling empire.

History
"We had all of the brilliant speeches and recordings the Emperor had made. We had his thoughts, his policies, his records. We knew we could make the Second Imperium work, but no one would have followed us. We had to give the people what they wanted, and they wanted their Emperor back&mdash;as you did. You were easy to fool because you wanted to be fooled."

- Royal Guard to Brakiss

The four Royal Guards founded the Second Imperium and by impersonating Palpatine using holograms stretching from his earliest days as the Senator of Naboo to Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and finally to Emperor of the Empire drew many into their fold.

Following a series of raids on the New Republic the four Royal Guards arrived at the Shadow Academy with Palpatine supposedly residing in a massive repulsorlift isolation chamber. The Royal Guards prevented Brakiss from visiting the Emperor, causing him to be concerned about the Emperor's health. Later, from his isolation chamber, the Emperor prompted Brakiss to launch an assault against the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4.

"Where is the Emperor? There is no Emperor, is there? This has all been a hoax, a pitiful bid for power."

- Lord Brakiss

At first the battle played out as planned. A Second Imperium ground force consisting of Stormtroopers and Dark Jedi surrounded the Jedi Praxeum while TIE fighters and TIE/sa Bombers bombed the surrounding jungle. In space, the Shadow Academy and a fleet of refitted Star Destroyers and battle cruisers blockaded Yavin 4. This changed with the arrival of the New Republic fleet under Admiral Ackbar and Brakiss' defeat during a single combat with his former Master. Having made it back to the space station, Brakiss made his way to the isolation chamber and demanded to see the Emperor. However, he was blocked by two of the Royal Guards. Enraged and giving in to his anger, Brakiss cut them down with his lightsaber and then entered the chamber.

There, he discovered a third Royal Guard working on a bank of controls, computer screens and holographic generators and realized that the Emperor had never returned. In reality, the Royal Guards had created this illusion so that they could control the Second Imperium. Unfortunately, the fourth guard used his "Emperor's" override controls to activate the Shadow Academy's self-destruct systems, destroying the Shadow Academy and killing all onboard. With the destruction of the Shadow Academy, the battle turned in favor of the New Republic and the remaining Imperium troops and Dark Jedi were presumably captured by the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant.

Appearances

 * Young Jedi Knights: Darkest Knight
 * Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege
 * Young Jedi Knights: Delusions of Grandeur