For years, Orson Krennic searched for the genius Galen Erso, at last finding him on
Lah’mu in 13 BBY, forcibly recruiting him back into the Empire.
Having feared this day might come, the Erso’s had a backup plan to escape to a designated
area where their old friend Saw Gerrera would find them.
But Galen chose to stay behind, distracting Imperial forces while his wife and daughter
escaped.
Lyra Erso refused to leave her husband, sending her daughter to the evacuation point alone,
while she confronted Krennic with a blaster.
Unfortunately she was only able to shoot him in the shoulder before she was taken out by
Imperial Death Troopers.
Galen distraught at witnessing his wife’s death, was taken into custody but his daughter
was able escape, raised as a member of Saw Gerrera’s rebel cell, fighting to end the
tyranny of the Empire.
For 8 years they travelled together, until her identity as the daughter of Galen Erso
began to threaten the rebels, and so Saw left Jyn behind, confident she could survive on
her own.
During his time with the Empire, Galen realizing they were determined to build the mobile battle
station, with or without his assistance, and so became heavily involved in the project
in order to slow its progress as much as possible.
For 13 years he worked steadily, becoming integral to superweapon’s construction,
and coming up with a plan to build a fatal flaw into the project’s design, a detail
so small and tucked away within the vast complexity of the weapon, no one would be able to find
it unless told where to look.
And so as the Death Star neared completion, he recruited an imperial pilot named Bodhi
Rook, convincing him to change allegiances, then sending with him a message for the rebel
alliance and his daughter.
On Galen’s instructions, the pilot delivered the message to Saw Gerrera and his rebel cell
located on the Moon Jedha.
The Rebel alliance then learned of the message and decided to track down Jyn Erso, daughter
of the scientist, recruiting her to meet with Saw and discover the truth about the message
supposedly sent from her father.
And so the Alliance sent a team to rescue Jyn from Imperial incarceration, as she was
serving a sentence of 20 years, for her attempt to blow up a ship on the planet Corulag, to
steal guns from the world’s petty dictator.
*saw considered extremist Once freed she travelled with rebel officer
Kassian Andor and his K2so Droid to Jedha, meeting a force sensitive Warrior Monk named
Chirrut Imwe and an assassin named Baze Malbus, who brought them to Saw.
Watching the hologram, Jyn learned that Galen had built a vulnerability in the Death Star’s
reactor, and said the structural plans could be found at an Imperial high-security data
bank on the planet Scariff.
Unfortunately the Empire had also made their way to Jedha, where Orson Krennic sought to
demonstrate the Death Star’s potential power to Wilhuff Tarkin his hated rival and superior
officer.
The ancient moon had a long history of association with the Jedi and Force, home to a number
of Force Religions like the Guardians and Disciples of the Whills.
Yet with the Empire occupying Jedha, it’s main city Nijedha became an active center
of Rebel activity, and with Saw Gerrera involved, was an ever increasing threat.
And so Krennic ordered the Death Star to fire upon the city, destroying everything in the
area.
Tarkin, pleased with the weapons performance decided it was at last time for him to assume
command of the superweapon, robbing Krennic of the fruit of his labors.
Krennic desperate to regain his position, reached out to Darth Vader, hoping he might
speak on his behalf to the Emperor, but was sorely mistaken, with Vader angered by his
request, force chocking Krennic into submission.
Upon the moon of Jedha, Jyn and her people were able to escape unharmed, but Saw Gerrera
stayed behind, dying with the city.
The Rebel Alliance then ordered Jyn and her team to track down Galen Erso, travelling
to the planet of Eadu, supposedly to extract him into Rebel Custody.
But in truth, Kassian Andor was ordered to execute the man, hoping to stop him from completing
his work on the Death Star.
But Andor proved unable to pull the trigger, and with no word from the team, the Rebel
Alliance feared the mission failed and so send a strike team to bomb the area.
Galen was killed in the fighting but Jyn was able to find and speak to him one last time
as he lay dying.
They then fled the planet and returned to the rebel base on Yavin 4, where Jyn proposed
a plan to travel to Scariff and steal the death star plans.
But with her father’s hologram destroyed on Jedha and no way to verify her story, she
was met with scepticism and disbelief, with the council unwilling to commit their resources
on the mission.
Yet Jyn refused to accept their decision, meeting with Kassian Andor, and other willing
rebels, who took a ship without authorization, and identified themselves as Rogue One before
leaving for Scariff.
Most of the team to distract Stormtroopers with a firefight, while Jyn, Kassian and K2so
made their way into the Imperial facility.
However Orson Krennic’s imperial forces were already present, as he suspected the
information on Eadu might be at risk and so now found himself in the middle of an attack,
adding his own forces into the fight.
And while the Empire might have then have wiped out the small group of attackers, they
were soon joined by the Rebel fleet, which reluctantly joined the Rogue One mission.
Within the Imperial Databank, K2so sacrificed himself so the others might find the schematics,
while Kassian Andor also stayed behind, giving Jyn the chance to transmit the plans to the
rebellion.
Although Krennic attempted to stop her, he was shot down by Kassian Andor who re-emerged
just in time.
Wilhuff Tarkin, who had now arrived aboard the death star, chose to first upon the main
city, sacrificing krennic, and the Imperial Base, in order to destroy the rebel forces
attacking and compromising their facilities.
As a result, Jyn and the rest of the Rogue One team died on the planet, but not before
successfully completing their mission and transmitting the death star schematics to
the rebel fleet.
With no way to save those fighting on the planet the Rebel ships began to jump into
hypespace, but at the last moment, Darth Vader arrived, boarding the main rebel ship and
carved his way through their soldiers to find the man in possession of the death star schematics.
But he arrived too late, as the last survivors made their way onto the waiting ship of young
Princess Leia, escaping with the plans, tasked with taking the information to Obi Wan Kenobi,
one of the last living Jedi, in the hope he might find a way to destroy the Death Star
and defeat the Empire.