To: His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Palpatine
From: Governor Tarkin, Seswenna Sector, Eriadu
Regarding: Increasing the security of the Empire

Your Majesty:
   It has recently come to my attention that what had previously been
the quiet grumbling of malcontents on backwater worlds has become
dissidence in more civilized systems. Your Majesty will forgive me if
I am repeating foundless rumors, but I have heard there is even armed
defiance in some sectors.
   Coupled with increasing to your plans from hot-headed young senators,
this situation has given me pause to think about our long term security
arrangements. I myself have been frustrated chasing pirate bands in my
sector, only to have them leap deep in a neighboring sector where my
forces cannot follow without running into conflict with another Moft. If
the scattered armed resistance should become organized, it will doubtless
follow the example of it's criminal brethren. Granting any rebel group
the advantage of elusiveness is foolhardy at best. At worst, it could lead
to our destruction.
   Even the excellent pace with which His Majesty is increasing the size
of the Imperial Fleet can scarcely hope to provide all-encompassing
security should a significant number of planets decide to defy your New
Order. We are years -- perhaps decades -- away from a force vast enough to
secure every system and every world simultaneously.
   Therefore, I present the following recommendations for your
consideration:

- To provide a swift, systematic response to rebellion as it appears
and before it has time to entrench, I suggest the formation of Oversectors
-- sectors consisting of systems in which rebellion is newly born, or
systems which maintain frequent contact with systems in chronic unrest.
These Oversectors would be formed without regard to current sector
boundaries. With the freedom to cross outdated political borders,
Oversector forces would be able to respond to threats quickly, while they
are still small and manageable.
   Liquidating a dozen small threats is easier than rooting out one
well-established center of defiance. As an Oversector is created across
problem sectors, they must be given a greater quantity of forces than a
normal sector. Three Sector Groups should suffice. 

- Command of an Oversector should be given to a single individual who
reports directly to His Majesty. This will bypass any delays caused by
political opportunism in your advisors. 

- Cannibalize existing holonet transceivers, modify them, and put them
in the flagship of every Sector Group in an Oversector command. Place
similar devices within his Majesty's command ship and within the royal
palaces of Imperial City. This will enable forces to respnd to threats
almost as quickly as they are reported. Imperial forces will be able to
coordinate to a degree impossible by the enemy whose fastest means of
communication is an ever-changing rendezvous point somewhere in the
galaxy. 

- Rule through the fear of force rather than through force itself. If
we use our strength wisely, we shall cow thousand of worlds with the
example of a select few. These examples would need to be highly visible
worlds, whose punishment would be further revealed through our control of
information via the hyper media.

- Your Majesty, it has long been my contention that your New Order
needs one undeniable and overwhelming symbol to impress and, yes, frighten
the masses. The average citizen has no grasp for numbers nor a head for
calculation. I maintain that the effectiveness of the Star Destroyer stems
from not only it's massive firepower, but from it's size. When citizens
look at a Star Destroyer and then compare it to the craft which might be
mustered to attack it, they have a tendency to dissmiss such a notion as
suicidal rather than approach the problem tactically.
   This natural state can be exploited to a far greater degree, as the
average citizen deals in symbols, not rational analysis. If we present the
galaxy with a weapon so powerful, so immense as to defy all concievable
opposition against it, a weapon invunerable and invinsible in battle, then
that weapon shall become the symbol of the Empire. We need only a handful,
perhaps as few as one, of these weapons to subjugate a thousand thousand
worlds. It must have force enough to dispatch an entire system, power
enough to shatter planets. The fear such a weapon will inspire will be
great enough for you to rule the galaxy to unchallenged. What do you need
with the Senate when you can give direct control of territories to your
hand-picked regional governors? Sweep away the last remnants of the Old
Republic and let fear keep the local systems in line -- fear of our
ultimate weapon. 
   I am ready to begin work to implement these steps at your word.