A pre-recorded message from ol’ Palps or of the lookalike actor mentioned in Aftermath, I wondered.

in #4 we see the production of droid types with the exact same head.

Droid (source: #4)

In #4 we now learn that this thing is just a droid type with a screen for a head. Unsure of the face in the screen is really Palpatine or the aforementioned lookalike actor.

‘The first book’ mentioned is probably A New Dawn, I figure.