When An Imperial Officer Received a 2 AM Duty Call From Palpatine (Legends)

You know those moments when something feels off at work, but you keep pushing through anyway? That’s what this story is about. It’s not about a Jedi or a Sith—but about a young Imperial officer who stayed up too late on duty and ended up with the most unexpected call of his life.

How Gregg Ended Up on Vader’s Radar

In the Dark Times comics (Out of the Wildness, Fire Carrier, and A Spark Remains), Lieutenant Gregg shows up as a small-time officer in the Imperial Navy. At first, he was just a data specialist working aboard a Star Destroyer, nothing glamorous. Then Vader showed up on his ship, officially chasing an assassin who had broken into Imperial databanks and prisons. Unofficially, though, Vader was really hunting Jedi again—something he wasn’t supposed to be doing, since Palpatine had already told him to drop that obsession.

While everyone else was chasing dead ends, Gregg noticed a small, almost boring-looking data breach tied to after-action reports from Imperial ships. His captain dismissed it, but Vader took him seriously and pulled him along. That single discovery set off a chain of events that would change Gregg’s entire career.

What came next was Falco Sang, the captured assassin. Gregg not only helped with the capture, but he was later tasked with interrogating him. And that’s when Vader made Gregg his go-to man for Jedi intel. Gregg had just become Vader’s personal data hunter—what some people in the Navy started calling his “pet.”

Running a Secret Team With Vader

After that, Gregg’s life turned upside down. He wasn’t just another officer anymore; he was in the middle of Vader’s secret Jedi hunts. Gregg worked late nights, going through endless reports, while Sang—now forced to work for the Empire—handled the ground missions once a Jedi was located.

At first, Gregg and Sang hated each other. Sang had no reason to respect an Imperial officer, and Gregg didn’t trust him. But after time, and especially after Sang saw how Vader treated strength and skill, the two built a strange kind of respect. Sang even stood up for Gregg when other officers mocked the both of them as “Vader’s pets.”

Together, they became Vader’s secret little team: Gregg on intel, Sang in the field, and Vader delivering the final strike. For a while, they were useful enough that nobody questioned it too much. But Palpatine’s spies always found out eventually.

That Late-Night Call

One night, Gregg was doing what he usually did—staying up too late searching through reports for Jedi activity—when his comm lit up. He thought it was another officer. Then the hologram flickered on, and it was Emperor Palpatine himself.

I like how the story shows Gregg’s reaction: he nearly fell out of his chair. Palpatine opened by mockingly praising him, saying how impressive it was that such a young officer worked so hard, staying up all night. Then he got straight to the point. He asked Gregg what he was doing for Vader.

Gregg knew lying would only make it worse. So he told the truth: he was secretly helping Vader track Jedi. He expected punishment right there, but instead Palpatine gave him approval. He told Gregg to keep doing what he was doing—but to never tell Vader they had spoken.

That moment right there shows how dangerous the position was. Gregg wasn’t being rewarded. He was being turned into a pawn.

Palpatine’s Setup

It didn’t stop at that one call. Later, Palpatine reached out again—again at night—and handed Gregg the location of a Jedi. Gregg didn’t know it was bait. He just rushed to deliver the intel to Vader. In his hurry, he stormed into Vader’s meditation chamber while Vader wasn’t fully suited up yet. Gregg caught one of the rare glimpses of Anakin Skywalker’s scarred but still young face, and the whole situation was painfully awkward. But Vader didn’t care. Gregg had found him a Jedi to hunt, and that was all that mattered.

So they set out on the mission. But everything about it screamed trap. The Jedi had time to prepare, the terrain was filled with narrow bridges and chokepoints, and the enemy clearly knew they were coming. The other officers suggested bombing from orbit. Vader shut it down immediately. He wanted to kill the Jedi with his own hands, no matter the cost. Gregg was even ordered to threaten any officer who tried to interfere.

The ground assault turned into a disaster. Bridges exploded, vehicles were destroyed, and stormtroopers were burned alive when fuel traps were sprung. Vader himself caught fire but still pressed forward. He finally reached the gate, where a Jedi Master revealed himself—not the one Vader had been hunting, but another acting as a protector.

The Trap Closes

The duel that followed was brutal. The Jedi Master fought fiercely, hurling machinery with the Force and even pulling out a detonator that could take down the entire complex. For a moment, it looked like Vader might lose everything. But he disarmed the Jedi, literally, cutting off the hand that held the trigger.

Vader killed him soon after, but it didn’t bring the satisfaction he wanted. The Jedi Knight he had been hunting was still out there, hidden, and he had been played. Palpatine had given him exactly what he craved—only to remind him how reckless that craving made him.

The fight didn’t end neatly either. Palpatine’s spy was there too, another former Jedi working for the Emperor. Vader killed him as well, maybe out of rage, maybe out of fear of being replaced. But that death triggered the detonator anyway, bringing the whole place down. Vader barely escaped, clinging to metal wreckage before Falco Sang swooped in to pull him out.

The Aftermath for Gregg

Through all of this, Gregg survived. He stayed in his role, still working late nights, still serving Vader, and still following Palpatine’s orders not to mention their conversations. That 2 AM call put him in the middle of the most dangerous power game in the Empire—between master and apprentice.

Gregg wasn’t a Sith, or an admiral, or even a famous commander. He was just a lieutenant who happened to be good at his job, and because of that, he ended up in one of the most dangerous positions in the galaxy.