For over a thousand years, the Galactic Republic with the aid of the Jedi Order, ruled over
much of the galaxy.
Led by a Senate and Chancellor they strove to honor the values of democracy, liberty
and equality on all member worlds.
Yet after so many years of relative peace and prosperity, corruption and greed came
to haunt the government, with self-serving politicians manipulating the system for their
own advantage.
Disheartened by the Republic’s inability to address their concerns, a numbers of planets
and systems joined together, forming the Confederacy of Independent Systems, led by Count Dooku,
a former Jedi now working to liberate those under Republic oppression.
But in truth, Count Dooku had fallen to the Dark Side, taking the name Darth Tyrannus
to become the apprentice of Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith Order.
Sidious who was posing as Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Republic, orchestrated the separatist
threat from behind the scenes in order to plunge the galaxy into war, so he might assume
dictatorial powers, and ultimately destroy the Jedi and Republic.
This then led to the Clone Wars, seeing a Clone army fight for the government, while
battle droids represented the separatists.
Between the years 22 and 19 BBY, fighting raged across the galaxy, and the Republic
soon learned that the Geonosins under Archduke Poggle the Lesser, were designing a massive
superweapon for the Seperatists, a threat they found so serious they decided to start
construct their own superweapon, with the goal of completing their work before Count
Dooku’s project was realized.
The idea for such technology traces its history back thousands of years to the age of the
Old Republic, when the Sith Order constructed superweapons in various forms, unleashing
massive devastation against their enemies, and were only stopped when the Jedi Order
and their allies destroyed the massive machines.
Having existed so far in the past, the schematics and details of how such weapons were created,
had largely been lost over time, making it exceedingly difficult to replicate the technology.
Undeterred by such limitation, the Republic government under direct orders from Chancellor
Palpatine and Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, authorized the formation of a Strategic Advisory Cell,
to work in secret and begin the process of building the weapon.
In order to oversee the project, the ambitious Lieutenant Commander Orson Krennic was made
director, leaving his position with the Corps of Engineers in order to advance his standing
within the government.
Yet as they studied and planned for the weapons construction, Krennic understood there was
only one man capable of seeing the project realized, remembering his old school friend
Galen Erso, a brilliant scientist who’d spent much of his life researching and working
on energy production.
But Erso was known to be eccentric and frustratingly principled, considering himself a pacifist
and conscientious objector, refusing to take sides during the Clone wars.
He therefore went to work for the Zerpen corporation on the remote planet of Vallt, attempting
to create artificial Kyber Crystals, which he knew had enormous potential for his energy
research, but which were exceedingly rare and difficult to attain because of the restrictions
placed on the crystals by the jedi Order, who used them to power their lightsabers,
and who claimed the crystals were attuned to the force.
But the war eventually found them, with Vaalt becoming a separatist world, seeing Galen
arrested and accused of espionage for the republic.
Vaalt then offered to free the man if he committed to working directly for their government,
but he refused, steadfast that he was a neutral party and would not involve himself in the
war.
During his incarceration, he was separated from his pregnant wife Lyra Erso, but remaining
on relatively friendly terms with his jailors, was allowed to attend the birth of his daughter
Jyn.
Krennic, learning of his old friend’s predicament, led a republic operation, first to capture
Separatist operatives, then trading them for the Erso family.
After rescue, he launched an unexpected attack against Vallt, allowing for the world to be
captured by the Republic.
Krennic knowing that Erso would never agree to join in the superweapon project if asked
directly, began a long process of manipulation, pretending to protect and help the Erso’s
at every turn, while in the background working against them to limit their options and increase
Galen’s desperation for meaningful work.
Meanwhile, Count Dooku’s separatist ally Paggol the Lesser of Geonosis, was released
from Republic encarceration, and returned to his homeworld, after promising to use his
planet’s labor force to construct the republic superweapon, now conceived as a moon sized
mobile battle station.
But Paggol only feigned cooperation, soon using the violent nature and tendencies of
his people to sabotage the construction, then orchestrating his escape, returning to Count
Dooku and the Separatist forces.
This and many other setbacks greatly frustrated Krennic, but still he refused to pressure
his Galen, confident that in time, the man would choose to work on the project of his
own volition.
And so to speed that process along, he ensured no one was willing to hire Erso and even made
it difficult for him to leave Coruscant, arranging for a needless investigation into Galen’s
ties to Zerpen and the Separatists.
Then, when the scientist was at his most vulnerable, Krennic arranged for a job opportunity far
below his level of skill and genius.
Working for Helical Hypercom, he built communication devices under a hard headed and insecure boss,
who wanted none of Galen’s help of suggestions for how to improve production.
But soon this opportunity was also taken away, as Galen and his family barely escaped a separatist
attack on his new home, forced to flee back to the coruscant.
However, the war was now finally reaching its end, with the sudden death of Count Dooku,
fall of the Jedi Order and emergence of the Galactic Empire under Emperor Palpatine.
Although Galen’s wife Lyra lamented the deaths of the Jedi, herself a follower of
the Force religion, most simply moved on, eager for peace and willing to give the Empire
a chance at stabilizing the galaxy.
With the fighting ended, Krennic was now ready to present a new opportunity to his friend
Galen, offering to put him in charge of a research facility on coruscant, with access
to the best scientists and materials available, where he could work directly with kyber crystals,
no longer restricted by the Jedi Order, to finally achieve his vision of cheap renewable
energy for everyone.
Krennic then continued his manipulations and lies, stating that the Emperor shared Galen’s
desire for renewable energy, authorizing Project Celestial Power, to see it realized.
This was Galen Erso’s dream job and so they moved permanently to Coruscant to begin his
work.
Lyra Erso however was proving an obstacle to progress, as she did not trust Krennic
and greatly resented the Emperor and Empire for their callous betrayal of the Jedi.
And so the Lieutenant Commander arranged for a project to occupy her time, sending her
to a remote world in search of a new source of Kyber Crystals.
With no more distractions, Galen was able to make tremendous progress, and became a
dutiful servant of the Empire after Krennic informed him that Seperatist sympathizers
and anarchists were continuing to fight against them, even destroying some of the facilities
dedicated to furthering Galen’s research.
Krennic’s connection to his old friend now finally paid off as he gained popularity and
standing in the government, becoming an ally of Mas Amida and being promoted to the rank
of Commander.
Yet already the seeds of his downfall were planted, as Lyra Erso was working with a Dressilian
smuggler named Has Obitt, who had been pressed into service by Krennic many years earlier,
working on covert projects for the Republic and Empire.
The friendship he developed with Lyra and her child Jyn led him to turn against the
Empire, knowing the truth about what the horrors they committed in the shadows.
As part of his turn against them, he took Lyra to see a number of planets which had
been devastated by the Imperial machine, who mercilessly stripped these worlds of all their
natural resources, even violating the sanctity of Legacy World Status, which supposedly protected
many planets from such exploitation.
And while his assets turned against him, Krennic also faced a powerful threat from within the
Empire, as Moff Willhuff Tarkin had become a bitter rival, seeing them engage in a political
battle, each of them maneuvering to undermine the other.
Tarkin however, had no immediate plans to usurp Krennic’s position, instead focusing
on his pacification campaigns, biding his time, and allowing for the many blunders and
setbacks of Project Celestial Power to be blamed squarely on Krennic, using him as a
scapegoat for any problems that might arise, and leaving his own reputation intact, so
he might move in an take command of the mobile battle station when it was closer to being
finished.
Krennic, developing his own strategy for how to deal with Tarkin, arranged for Has Obitt
to smuggle weapons onto the world of Salient II, in order for the Empire to accuse them
of illegally obtaining armaments so they could invade and take control of the planet.
Has had done this kind of work for the Empire before, but after spending time with Lyra
Erso no longer felt he could be part of such atrocities.
But Krennic was aware of the man’s wavering dedication and knew that he would not go through
with the plan.
And just as he expected, Has betrayed the Empire, instead gathering together a rag tag
group of rebels, to help Salient forces resistant imperial conquest.
Among his crew was the veteran warrior Saw Guerrera, who fought in the Clone Wars to
liberate his homeworld of Onderon, and now continued the fight, seeing through the Empire’s
lies and fighting against them.
Moff Tarkin, charged with the annexation of the world, was now bogged down in a difficult
fight against Saliant insurgence, occupying his time and attention, allowing for commander
Krennic to continue his work undisturbed.
But soon the tables turned against him, as Tarkin completed his conquest of Saliant,
capturing Has Obit alive, while Saw Guerrera escaped.
Has was interrogated and turned into a spy for Tarkin, allowed to escape captivity and
head for Coruscant where he was instructed to return to the service of Krennic so he
might leak information to his new Imperial master.
At the same time, Lyra and Galen were discovering the truth of Project Celestial Power, learning
about the Empire’s atrocities on other worlds, and how they were attempting to weaponize
his research.
After a tense argument with Krennic in which their suspicions were all but confirmed, the
Erso family fled Coruscant, arranging passage through their friend Has Obitt, now free from
Imperial custody.
But escaping with the former smuggler and rebel would be too obvious and easily detected
by Krennic, and so Has sent his comrade Saw Guerrera to pick them up and relocate them
to the distant world of Lah’mu, where they might be safe from the Empire.
Has meanwhile returned to krennic’s service, claiming he was simply trying to save his
own life on Salient, and never intended to turn against his Imperial benefactor.
Krennic hesitantly accepted his explanation, unaware that he was now working with a Tarkin
spy.
In addition, the loss of the genius Galen Erso reflected poorly on the Commander, and
while he claimed that other scientists could continue the man’s work, it was clear progress
would be slowed significantly, causing him to be demoted back to the rank of Lieutenant
Commander, with his hated enemy Willhuff Tarkin assigned to Sentinal Station, in order to
oversee Krennic’s continued work on the Mobile Battle Station.
Furious with the Ersos, Krennik vowed to continue the search for them, no matter how long it
might take, unwilling to end his efforts until they were found.