Wilhuff Tarkin was one of Emperor Palpatine’s closest confidants, being appointed as the
first Grand Moff within the Galactic Empire.
Tarkin was noted for his cruelty and ruthlessness, willing to eliminate millions without hesitation
as well as being the architect of the Empire’s fear based military strategy, all in the name
of creating and maintaining peace and order in the galaxy.
His ruthlessness stemmed primarily from his harsh and brutal childhood, where as a young
boy he was frequently taken to the dangerous forests of Eardiu and made to hunt for his
survival, with it being quite common of him fighting for his life against vicious beasts,
leaving him with a plethora of scars across his body that would remain for the rest of
his life.
This early childhood experience left him with a no nonsense attitude when it came to incompetence
and weakness among those within the Empire, with Tarkin being almost disgusted at how
soft and spineless some of the men he worked with were.
This became especially apparent once Tarkin took full command of the first Death Star,
where many of the Imperials stationed on the superweapon were uneasy to being a part of
a planet destroying battle station.
Shortly after the destruction of the Scarif citadel, the gunnery crew of the Death Star
did a simulation test to practice their ability to seamlessly execute a full scale power ignition
of the superlaser.
Not only did the simulation test the physical sharpness of the gunnery crew, but also their
mental strength, as they were not allowed to hesitate one bit in carrying out the death
star’s planet destroying potential, not even against a neutral and peaceful world
which they believed was the target during the simulation.
The test ended up being a failure, for the gunnery crew failed in executing the protocol.
This of course left Tarkin livid, who ended up calling all the super laser gunners into
a hanger to meet with him.
With all the gunners lined up at attention, Tarkin singled out the chief gunner and asked
him to remove his helmet and roll up his sleeves.
Tarkin wanted to see if the man had any scars, to which the gunner replied that he only had
one scar, on his knee that he got from a Grav-Ball tournament.
The gunner then attempted to show this very scar, but before he could, Tarkin viciously
slapped the man in the face.
His stupidity and naiveness was too much for the Grand Moff.
Tarkin then began to berate the Chief Gunner, making note how the man was both taller and
younger than him, but only had a single scar on his entire body despite serving in the
military for so long.
The Grand Moff then removed his upper Uniform, revealing to everyone there of all his scars
scattered across his body.
Tarkin then ordered the gunner to be given a vibroblade, for they were going to fight.
If the gunner won, he would be promoted to captain.
If not, then he would die.
While initially hesitant in fighting the Grand Moff, the gunner agreed after hearing Tarkin’s
speech on how strength is needed for their fight against murderous rebels who would kill
them all in their sleep if given the chance, for weakness could not be allowed in the Empire
if it were to survive.
And the fight began, with Tarkin quickly making work on the inexperienced gunner with his
own blade, cutting through his uniform and making quick stabs.
Although the fight was clearly over, Tarkin wasn’t done and continued to stab the gunner
over and over again, like a sadistic maniac, releasing all his pent up rage against the
incompetence and cowardice of all the men around him.
But it was only a fantasy.
Tarkin snapped out of his murderous fantasy when his attention was brought back to the
Chief Gunner still trying to show him his scar on the knee.
While still livid toward the chief gunner, Tarkin wasn’t going to break his calm, collective
appearance by giving in to his likely, everyday temptations in viciously murdering someone
in direct combat.
Rather than that, he made clear that while he understood that prior leadership under
Director Krennic may have been more laid back, with him now under command such sloppiness
would not be tolerated any longer.
Tarkin then made a speech on how they all worked for the greatest weapon ever built,
and their prior accomplishments of destroying both Jedha city and Scarif Base.
And to not take their posts for granted, as even a slight bit of hesitation on their part
during battle, could mean the death of all of people stationed aboard the battlestation.
A couple days later, and the actual, full execution of the Death Star’s superlaser
was unleashed to destroy Alderaan.
While the firing of the Superlaser was a success, a data report showed that there were a handful
of the gunners that still hesitated in doing their calculations and targeting.
As a result, they were called down to meet with Tarkin.
He was of course angry, especially since he had given them all the chance to resign from
their positions if they were unable to do what was needed.
But none of them did resign, and yet they still hesitated and wasted precious seconds.
Tarkin could not have let that happen, as for him, duty in serving and protecting the
Empire meant everything.
When asked if he would have destroyed his own homeworld, Tarkin said he would, as he
would do his duty, with pleasure even.
Seeing how none of the sloppy gunners understood why their hesitation was so careless and dangerous
to the battlestation as a whole, Tarkin decided they were not fit for military service anymore,
so he shot them out of the airlock.
Though unknown to him, Tarkin would soon meet their fate a couple days later, during the
Battle of Yavin.