The first Death Star was one of the Empire’s greatest weapons ever built having the capability
of blowing up entire planets with a single superlaser.
The initiation process to fire the superlaser was done within the command center, where
it began with an order from the battlestation’s commander which was then carried through by
the superlaser gunnery crew, who did all the appropriate calculations and adjustments to
ensure the superlaser hit the targeted planet.
Once that process was done, the final step came down to a single guy who was tasked in
flipping the last lever that would unleash the superlaser toward the planet.
The guy who did this was named Tenn Graneet, who was responsible for not only all the superlaser
firings committed by the first death star, but also for possibly saving the rebellion
by stalling at his post during the Battle of Yavin.
Prior to working on the death star, Tenn Graneet was a young man who was fascinated at firing
massive weapons, always hoping to being assigned to the largest gun available.
When the time came he served in the Republic military as a gunner during the clone wars,
and he later served within the Imperial navy when the transition occurred.
When the Death Star was nearing completion, Graneet was among the few hand picked Imperial
gunners to be transferred to the superlaser gunnery crew.
At first he was absolutely thrilled at the new position, but after going through a simulator
that displayed the full power of the battlestation that he and his crew would be manning, he
began to question whether it was wise for any one man to wield such power.
Being a full supporter of the empire at the time, Graneet dismissed his initial concerns
by convincing himself that the Empire would never use this super weapon on a populated
planet, and that its true purpose was to just strike fear into the chaotic regions of the
galaxy and that it was only ever going to be used on non populated planets as a means
to display its frightening power.
The first time he ever actually fired the Death Star superlaser was when a few rebels
discovered the battlestation’s existence and sent their biggest ship to go destroy
it: a repurposed Trade Federation droid ship.
At the time of this attack, the superlaser was not fully operational and could only fire
at limited power.
Despite this, at only 4 percent at its full power, the superlaser that was fired completely
obliterated the rebel droid control ship, showing Graneet the power that he was about
to wield once the superweapon construction was fully complete.
Later, he was ordered to fire the Death Star’s nearly completed superlaser at the planet
Despayre which contained the slave labor that the Empire used for the battlestation’s
construction.
It took 3 shots from the superlaser to fully destroy it, with the first one wiping out
all life on the surface of the world, the second cracking the planet’s deep crust,
and finally the third shot destroying it completely.
Alderaan became the first planet where the Death Star’s superlaser was used at full
power, which obliterated the planet in a single shot.
After having just killed over 2 billion people, Graneet broke down not being able to comprehend
what he had just done.
He later labeled himself as the largest mass murderer in the galaxy.
Shortly after Alderaan’s demise, he was viewed differently around the Death Star’s
population as word began to spread of how he was the one who pulled the trigger that
destroyed the planet and killed all of its people.
He quickly began to question his loyalty to the empire, despising the men at the top who
put him in such a position that forced him to commit such atrocious acts.
Later fear took over him as he worried about how if the Rebel Alliance were to win the
war, he would be the very first one to be tried and executed by them for his crimes.
He thought about quitting his position as a means to protest, but decided not to, understanding
that he would just be replaced with someone else and perhaps not wanting to put the burden
of committing genocide on someone else.
Finally the time came when he was ordered to fire the Death Star’s superlaser toward
the Rebel base during the Battle of Yavin.
Wishing that something would happen that would free him from pulling down the firing lever,
he began to stall, repeating over the intercom to his crew and the command center to “standby”
as a means to give himself a few extra seconds before he committed to the order.
During those few seconds, the Rebel pilot Luke Skywalker had fired the proton torpedos
inside the exhaust port and successfully compromised the super weapon, causing it to blow up immediately
afterwards.
Tenn Graneet, along with everyone else on board, was killed instantly during the Death
Star’s destruction.