Protocol Droid said:

Is the mouse droid a hint of the Empire being in Episode VII?

Well, yeah. did you read the posts about Stormtroopers being confirmed as in the next film?

Speaking of the Empire, I don't want to see a New Republic when episode 7 begins. We already saw a Republic in the prequels (in other words, democracies make for bad movies) and episodes 7-9 should be about accomplishing new things, not about maintaining what was accomplished in the OT and in the 30 years in between ROTJ and episode 7.