Fanfic / Wilhuff Tarkin, Hero of the Rebellion

Wilhuff Tarkin, Hero of the Rebellion is a Star Wars fanfic by lord Martiya on SpaceBattles.com, FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own. It can be accessed here, here, and here.

What if Tarkin had discovered Palpantine's true identity instead of remaining in the dark about it? This fic is the result as the Grand Moff of the Galactic Empire helps the Rebellion in his own way, changing the galaxy in ways no one can predict

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• 24-Hour Armor: Tarkin as a governor before the Clone Wars and Count Dooku wear clothes lined with armorweave, a material that has some resistance against blasters and even lightsabers and is comfortable to wear, if expensive.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Tarkin ends up laughing at the fact that Ferren Barr mind-tricked the Purge Troopers into executing Order 66 on their commanding officers Sixth Brother, Ninth Sister, and Tenth Brother while Vader tries his best not to laugh along with Tarkin.
  • After Tarkin shows Owen Lars the hologram of Anakin Skywalker massacring the Separatist Council, Owen bursts into laughter from the sheer number of jokes Anakin makes while killing the entire council.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • One can call it Adaptational Heroism: The Fanfiction for Wilhuff Tarkin, though its a bit Downplayed given how Tarkin's happy to remind the audience that he's still a ruthless high-functioning sociopath every now and then.
  • It's implied a more downplayed example of this applies to Darth Vader as well. Tarkin is manipulating him into this.
  • Agent Kallus does not take part in the Lasat genocide thanks to Tarkin's intervention, though he still has his rep as a sadistic, genocidal maniac as way to maintain a cover for his work.
  • Ysanne Isard never becomes the psychotic Imperial she was known as in Legends thanks to Tarkin making sure she grows up in a more stable and healthy environment.
• Adaptational Villainy: Barriss Offee (well, the original) is the Seventh Sister of the Inquisitorius instead of her whereabouts being unknown.
• All There in the Manual: The Spacebattles thread includes information that isn't found on AO3 or FF.Net, both from discussions between the author and the forum users and informational inserts.
• Amazon Chaser: The Tarkin line is known for their choice of deadly marriage partners, with Wilhuff's wife Thalassa (who at one point had beaten into submission an assassin with the grip of his own blaster while cradling her baby child with the other hand) being the prime example.
• Anachronic Order: All of the chapters are not organized in chronological order but are connected to each other.
• Anti-Nepotism: The narration mentions that Admiral Motti, commander in chief of the Imperial Navy and an in-law to Grand Moff Tarkin, got his post for valor in battle, and the only help he ever had by Tarkin, command of a gunship during the Clone Wars, was because they were short on officers for a battle and a trusted captain had vouched for him.
• Arranged Marriage: One sidestory involves Tarkin and Ahsoka setting up a marriage between Firmus Piett and Shaak Ti to ensure that she and her padawan Maris Brood can hide in plain sight from the Imperial forces going after Shaak Ti.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Tarkin handles the conversion/elimination of less savory rebel groups so the Rebellion does not suffer any stains on its honor.
  • When Sizhran City on Falleen is infected with a flesh-eating disease that threatens the entire planet, the Imperial medical officer in charge orders the city's sterilization and the death of two hundred thousand civilians and the local Imperial garrison via Orbital Bombardment, but the corrupt planetary governor countermands the order because he gets kickbacks from a wealthy local... And Darth Vader has the Devastator wipe out the city before personally executing the governor.
• Battle Trophy: Something of a Tarkin family quirk:
  • Rivoche carries A'sharad Hett's lightsabers (that had their crystals removed) as proof of that deed.
  • Tarkin has one of Darth Vader's armors ever since Vader had the Moff hunt him down and unexpectedly succeeded.
• Big "WHAT?!": Rivoche shouts "What the WHAT?!" when one of the Tusken Raiders she just shot at pulls out a lightsaber and deflects her shot in the sky.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Justified: before the Clone Wars the Dark Acolytes would serve as Dooku's bodyguard not because they could defend him from anything he couldn't deal with, but because anyone politically important is supposed to have a bodyguard, and someone who carries a lightsaber and knows how to use it is a great status symbol.
• Both Sides Have a Point: The Military Creation Act is addressed in a pre-Clone Wars segment, showing why Tarkin and his faction support it and why Padme opposes it: Tarkin wants a navy because the Judicials have clearly failed their job and a larger force is needed, while Padme finds that the timing is problematic and creating an actual military could turn the Separatist Crisis into open war. They also agree that a large force of proto-Star Destroyers would be a waste of taxpayers money (Tarkin believes a "mere" few hundreds could be used to act as deterrent against invasions from the Unknown Regions or the Companion Besh galaxy, but unless an invasion actually happens they don't really need more).
• Character Check: While Tarkin's best traits get emphasized, once in a while the story reminds the readers he's a high-functioning sociopath that will engage in horrifying actions if he feels it's justified. In fact, he has already lined up a planet for the Death Star, though he apparently went and looked for one that actually deserves it.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed with Rivoche: she immediately identifies Camie (one of Luke's childhood friends) as a romantic rival, and makes sure to eliminate the competition... By making her family rich, insuring Camie would feel bad going against her.
• Cool Ship: Tarkin's two ships: the Executrix, his official flagship, is the oldest surviving ISD (and second manufactured), while the Carrion Spike is a one-of-a-kind corvette mostly designed by Raith Sienar and equipped with a number of rare technologies, including a cloaking device.
• Crazy-Prepared: The dominant galactic civilization, be it ruled by the Republic or the Empire, has effective standard procedures for dealing with a lot of things, ranging from containment of deadly diseases to dealing with biscuits turning into rampaging giant monsters, with minimal collateral damage.
  • The Republic military's Contingency Orders include, among others, Order 1 that details precise procedures on how to contain deadly diseases that go as far as Orbital Bombardment in case the situation gets that bad, Order 65 that instructs to arrest the Supreme Chancellor, and Order 66 for immediate execution of a Jedi officer, the latter two with instructions on how to maintain a working chain of command. As Order 1 is used on-page well in the Imperial era, it's likely that Orders 65 and 66 still exist, now presumably shifted to the Emperor and Darth Vader.
  • In a non-canon chapter it's revealed that there's two different procedures for dealing with Captain Harlock wandering into their dimension and starting to kill Imperial officers: they can't shoot down the Arcadia, and trying would wreck a perfectly good Star Destroyer and traumatize the crew, but by challenging him to a Duel to the Death or committing suicide the targeted officer limits the damage to themselves.
• Death by Adaptation: Armand Isard gets assassinated before the Empire is a year old, courtesy of Tarkin fearing he'd expose him and having deduced he knew Palpatine's plan to take over the entire time.
• The Dreaded: Jabba: while Tarkin has nothing to fear from him, he also noted his cunning and that he should be given the same respect as an orbiting warship.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Accidental example: most of the Imperial Navy infantry still wear their Old Republic-era uniforms, that is identical to the one used by many planetary defense forces and the Rebels that sourced them from military surplus.
  • Early during the Empire, Ahsoka is seen wearing a GAR uniform, now Imperial. As she was legally a commander in the GAR she's entitled to it, no matter if she's wanted because of Order 66.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Appears quite frequently when it comes to the Imperials:
  • Tarkin himself is still The Sociopath, but pulls a Heel–Face Turn shortly after the Galactic Empire is founded when he learns the Clone Wars were engineered by Palpatine to gain power and murder the Jedi, appalled that trillions of deaths were caused due to one man's lust for power and hatred for Jedi.
    • Before the Clone Wars, he's shown to be a human-centric speciesist, but doesn't care if his crew members are aliens as long as they do their job. He holds a special hatred for slavers and thinking his speciesism would make him leave them alone if they only targeted aliens and also holds bribery and corruption in contempt.
  • The Emperor himself is appalled by the Lasat genocide not for being committed but because it was done with ion disruptors that waste immense quantities of tibanna gas (and are in fact supposed to be anti-tank weapons) and effectively inflict Cruel and Unusual Deaths on living targets, both of which even he finds excessive when applied on planetary scale.
    • Also, he's not a paedophile. According to Tarkin, it's because such actions are actually an attempt to stem conscious or unconscious doubts about oneself by dominating someone, and that is one character flaw Palpatine doesn't have. Though he has no problem acting like one to a seventeen-years-old Leia to get some fun by grossing her and Bail out.
    • Downplayed regarding human supremacism: he considers it a folly that is only good as a tool to better rule the galaxy by putting potential enemies against each other... because everyone in the galaxy is already inferior to him until proven otherwise.
    • While he likes stroking Vader's hatred in all the pettiest ways, he draws the line at giving him an embarrassing Sith name such as Darth Gravid as Gravid's master, Darth Vectivus, had done.
  • Jabba is appalled at himself when he finds out he tried to steal water from the son of Anakin Skywalker, who, in the past, saved his son's life.
  • Darth Vader has no patience for the Empire's demands that the Stormtroopers renounce their names for their identification numbers and lose their personalities, and allows the ones of the two units under his direct command, the First Legion and the 501st Legion, to act as they please when off-duty as long as they do their job. He also has no tolerance for people trying to make unsafe vehicles for the troops, as shown when he Force-choked Admiral Octavian Grant into leaving the ejection seat in the TIE/LN. Keep in mind, all of this was before Tarkin started to slowly manipulate him back to the light side.
  • Raith Sienar may be a Mad Scientist, but he does things by common sense and has no patience for basic safety violations. He's introduced in the middle of a nervous breakdown because Navy Procurement decided to not only put the TIE/LN in production while still in its Flawed Prototype state without letting him refine it into a proper fleet-based fighter, but even tried to remove the ejection seat.
  • Nearly the entire population of the galaxy, including human supremacists and Palpatine, are appalled at the Pius Dea cult and how it systematically dispossessed aliens and committed genocide for being impure while it ruled the Republic to the point that everyone is horrified at their motto "The Goddess Wills It", with proud Imperials openly denouncing it millennia later and unfavorably comparing it to the Hutts and declaring their rule as the Darkest Hour of the Republic (during the Galactic Wars and the New Sith Wars the Republic fought a desperate war for survival against evil, but under the Pius Dea it was evil). Tarkin covertly pointing out to the population a series of parallels between the Pius Dea and the Empire's methods starts causing Heel Realizations among Stormtroopers.
  • For all its moral failings, the Trade Federation ensured their customers got their money's worth, and ensured at least some quality in their products. This is the source of Tarkin's grudge against Hoersch-Kessel Drive's current administration, as their products are markedly inferior than what they made back when they were controlled by the TF.
  • In his day, Grievous committed all sorts of atrocities... But even he had standards, to the point he's repeatedly used as a yardstick of someone being truly horrible:
    • When reprimanding the general that ordered the Lasat Genocide with disruptors, Tarkin notes that Grievous wouldn't have done it to avoid the sheer waste of Tibanna gas. He also puts it in context by noting that Grievous ordered the creation of a strain of brainrot plague that targeted only humans just to tick the Republic off.
    • When the lab that made his brainrot plague strain presented him with an unstoppable airborne flesh-eating disease he had ordered it destroyed, as he had no use for a plague that cannot be contained. The lab not following his instructions ended up having serious consequences down the line.
  • Darth Maul is appalled at Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna when he discovers they're Jedi Younglings who were spared by Anakin during Order 66 because they helped him woo Padme.
    "IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE, WHY?!"
• Everyone Can See It: Rivoche and Luke's crushes on each other are obvious to anyone who sees them interact or talk about each other.
  • Much earlier, Anakin and Padme's relationship being deeper than intended was just as obvious, to the point multiple Jedi and the entirety of the 501st Legion had figured it out and just pretended otherwise.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: The hologram of Vader executing the Separatist Council while he was Anakin Skywalker that Tarkin shows to Owen demonstrates that Darth Vader still retained the acerbic wit he had as Anakin Skywalker even after falling to The Dark Side.
• Evil Is Petty: Grievous is noted to have been extremely petty, casually misgendering Sev'rance Tann and not even bothering to keep the gender straight in the same phrase out of dislike for her and deploying a brainrot plague strain engineered to target only humans just to tick the Republic off.
• Exact Words:
  • A gang of slavers in the Greater Seswenna region of the Outer Rim pay off Senator Tikkes to claim that their base does not exist so Tarkin does not attack them. Tarkin proceeds to make sure they don't exist for real.
  Tarkin: To the Right Honorable, the Senator of the Calamari Sector, Tikkes. My dear Senator, it is my great pleasure to inform you that you are, in fact, correct. The slave fortress in the Greater Seswenna does not exist.
  • After being informed about what Project Starscream is doing, Tarkin assures Borborygmus Gog that he will make sure his project receives everything it needs. Cue Tarkin thoroughly destroying every part of Project Starscream, including performing a Base Delta Zero on the Planet D'vouran, bringing every major project member to justice, and having Gog's personal lab burned down, bombed with proton bombs, struck with capital-ship scale concussion missiles, subjected to a localized Base Delta Zero, then bulldozed and salted to rub it in. Then he strands Gog on Kiva at the mercy of the vengeful wraiths of a species Gog wiped out, after informing said wraiths that Gog was responsible for killing them.
• Fate Worse than Death: Tarkin's planned revenge on Darth Vader for his son's murder: he wants to get him back to Anakin Skywalker, thus able to suffer for it and all the other atrocities, and insure he lives to do so.
• The Fool: Subverted with Jar Jar Binks: in Tarkin's words he's simply naive enough to be mistaken for it and smart and humble enough to compensate for his naivety.
• The Fundamentalist:
  • In the distant part, the Republic had spent a thousand years controlled by the Pius Dea, a human supremacist cult that, even thousands of years later, Imperials still unfavorably compare them to the Hutts and react with disgust at their motto "The Goddess Wills It".
  • The Greater Seswenna region was plagued by the Sedevacantisti, a cult of fanatics who believe everything will go by their god's will, something that also made them fearless during the Clone Wars. It's implied that Ranulph Tarkin in his time didn't get rid of them due them having control of a large shipyard making them too great of a threat to be tackled, and that Thalassa Tarkin is one of them.
• The Gadfly: Invoked by Ahsoka when she riles up Vader by mentioning his sleep deprivation issues from the visions of his wife Padme's death when Ezra's group runs into him on Malachor and buy the others time to get away
• Gone Horribly Right: Palpantine has Vader assassinate Garoche and pin the blame onto an early Rebel group to make Tarkin more ruthless and loyal to the Empire. Unfortunately for him, Tarkin turns that newfound ruthlessness onto him and Vader.
• Godzilla Threshold: This trope is Discussed with throughout the course of the story:
  • The Base Delta Zero Orbital Bombardment protocol reduces a planet to a lifeless husk by wiping out all biological lifeforms, vaporizing every trace of liquid water, pulverizing the atmosphere, and melting down the crust... yet even The Empire considers it a last resort in case the situation on a planet has gone that bad. Tarkin cites an incident where a planet was being overran by a horde of mutated biscuit Kaiju as a case where it was ordered and called off at the last moment when it was discovered a certain chemical would kill it. It's finally ordered when Tarkin discovers the existence of D'vouran, a literal people-eating planet capable of hyperspace travel.
    • On a smaller level, the Bombardment of Falleen is ordered because the alternative was the death of the entire planetary population to a flesh-eating disease. Notably, one of the 200,000 victims was the medic who ordered it knowing he'd be killed himself.
  • During a conversation with Tarkin, Thrawn claims that the Death Star is not that urgent, but when Tarkin asks what Thrawn would consider worth of the Death Star, the Grand Admiral admits that he would use it against the Mnggal-Mnggal, a spreading monstrosity from the Unknown Regions that is considered so horrible that a sighting interrupts any battle in the area until the infestation has been dealt with and has consumed an entire planet surrounded by a Mnggal-Mnggal-controlled fleet
  • In the same conversation, Tarkin thinks he didn't expect to find out there are two planets worth of using the Death Star against.
• Happily Married: Gilad Pellaeon and Barriss Offee are in a loving and stable relationship after they got married, not least thanks to Gilad helping Barriss move on from her guilt over her involvement in Ahsoka's exile from the Jedi Order.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: Present in between the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy... but they all hate the efficiency experts and COMPNOR more, and are willing to put it on hold. The hatred for the efficiency experts is so deep that when Tarkin, who identifies himself as a naval officer, was forced to work with one, Tarkin was planning to get him Eaten Alive by a Hutt at the first chance and the crew of his Star Destroyer was giving the expert spoiled food and a constant stomachache (with Tarkin knowing), at least until Tarkin realize the efficiency expert actually knew his job and informed the crew.
• It's the Only Way to Be Sure: The Bombardment of Falleen: after utter carelessness released an airborne flesh-eating bacteria in a city the Imperial medical officers on the ground called in an orbital bombardment, fully knowing they'd die in the process, to avoid it spreading to the entire population - and Darth Vader obliged (his ship had been ready to carry it out for a while, he just waited for the medics on the ground to agree with him before opening fire). Orbital bombardment to contain deadly diseases that can't be otherwise contained is part of Contigency Order 1.
  • On a smaller scale, official bioweapon disease facilities have plasma bombs ready to be detonated to contain accidental releases (the flesh-eating disease on Falleen had been released by a hospital illegally experimenting on bioweapons and trying to dispose of evidence because Vader was coming to check on them).
• Jerkass Has a Point: Maul points out to Ezra that in battle you have to be ready to kill, unless you're so incredibly superior to your enemy that you can afford to show mercy without risking yourself.
• Mad Scientist: Raith Sienar is more amoral than fully insane, but is still noted for his loose ethics and the time he got sloshed scared Tarkin more than anything he faced during the Clone Wars put together. In his first appearance he's not amused that the Emperor is having his Expeditionary Battle Planetoid turned into the Death Star, but consoles himself with the fact that the very skilled engineer Orson Krennic is the director and designing the hull personally.
• Mook Horror Show: Chapter 14 is a group of space pirates that had joined the Rebellion dealing with an elite Imperial task force, shown entirely from their point of view and complete with two Hope Spots.
• Mugging the Monster: Quite often someone find themselves dealing with an opponent far more dangerous than expected:
  • The Tusken coalition that Tarkin, Luke and Rivoche dealt with turned out to be led by Jedi survivor A'sharad'hett. While they figured out how to deal with him, Tarkin flat-out admitted that had he known he'd have resorted to Orbital Bombardment.
  • A quartet of thugs on Tatooine tried to rob two harmless-looking girls with an astromech and a protocol droid. Their would-be victims, Rivoche and Leia, robbed them instead with R2's help, and later 3PO got them arrested for possession of an illegal blaster he planted on them.
• Mythology Gag: At one point Tarkin jokingly claims that the training of his Omwati scientists was "they've been kidnapped from their homes and given the best and most challenging education and training the Empire could provide, and if one of them made a single error their village would be destroyed from orbit before their eyes before they themselves were killed. Doctor Xux was the only one to never err once", alluding to what he actually did them in Legends.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Imperial Efficiency Experts are so bad Tarkin is shocked when he realizes the one he's having to work with actually knows his job.
  • The TIE/ln was supposed to mount weak shields, missiles, and a full sensor suite... But Fleet Procurement instead ordered it into production in its Flawed Prototype form, before the shields, missiles, and sensors could be adapted. They also tried to remove the ejection seat, except Darth Vader overheard that and almost murdered the bureaucrat responsible for the idea.
• Oh, My Gods!: The story uses such invocations taken from the official material, but has a couple additions:
  • Tarkin repeatedly uses "Bogan", the Dark Side-associated moon of Tython, as a swearword similar to "Hell".
  • After the Clone Wars, an Imperial colonel who was just informed the city he was garrisoned in was to be isolated due a contagion exclaimed "What the Grievous just happened?!".
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Anakin Skywalker was horrifically sleep deprived in the last days of the Clone Wars and took idiotic decisions because of it, and years later he's reminded of it by both Tarkin and Ahsoka.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: A recurring Jedi Master is only referred to as The Hyperionian. His real name, never mentioned in story, is Mickey Mouse, with Hyperion being Mickey's homeworld in one of his non-canon appearances in Star Wars.
• Open Secret: Padme and Anakin's "secret" marriage, or at least that their relationship was far deeper than it was supposed to be, was awfully common knowledge, even among the Jedi (Empatojatos Brand believed they were Friends with Benefits, and from that and Palpatine being the main Sith was able to guess Vader's identity and how he was turned). At one point is even revealed that everyone in the 501st knew it, and the Death Watch had a bet about the exact nature of their relationship.
• Orbital Bombardment: The Empire being the Empire, this is mentioned repeatedly, and actually used against the planet D'vouran.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Jabba on Tatooine ends up this when dealing with Tarkin, as while he may be the planet's unofficial ruler and have the governor in his pocket Tarkin commands the Imperial military of the entire Outer Rim and can have his men casually tortured to death with no repercussion.
• Papa Wolf: A few show up:
  • Wilhuff Tarkin. When he was told his son had been killed by the Atoan resistance he almost ordered their genocide - and when he realized it had actually been Vader he decided to bring him back to Anakin Skywalker purely because he could suffer for all the atrocities he committed.
    • Tarkin also considers perfectly acceptable for a father to kill millions as revenge for their child as long as they actually get the culprit.
  • Gideon Tarkin, the Grand Moff's younger brother. His baby daughter had just been tested for midichlorians when Order 66 came in, and he was ready to take on the Jedi Master in the room to protect his daughter. The Jedi, instead, ran, so Gideon instead falsified her count to avoid her getting in trouble with Force sensitives.
  • As per canon, Galen Erso had sabotaged the Death Star in revenge for his wife's death and being forcibly separated from his daughter. He ends up befriending Tarkin over this once the Grand Moff confirms his daughter is alive and points him at the right target.
  • Vader's first on-page attempt at murdering Palpatine is precipitated by the Emperor being creepy at Leia (that Vader by now knows is his daughter) to gross her and Bail out.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Tarkin has a few such moments:
  • He reacts to the existence of Project Starscream with measures ranging from having Cornelius Evazan executed twelve times to inflicting D'Vouran with Base Delta Zero. When you put Evazan's hideous experiments before his involvement in Project Starscream - the ones that had earned him death sentences on twelve different worlds - and the fact that the planet ate people into consideration, all of these measures are perfectly reasonable responses to crimes of that magnitude.
  • Upon finding that Jabba was having his men collect a "water tax" from the people of Tatooine during a drought, Tarkin had the tax collectors hung to dry in the desert sun with signs explaining they had tried to illegally collecting taxes as a warning to anyone trying to commit crimes on his watch.
• Point of Divergence: Right after the Battle of Coruscant, Mace Windu sent Tarkin all the data they had on the identity of the main Sith, including the hints it was apparently someone working for Palpatine, in a package that could be opened only with information known partly by him and partly by Ahsoka. This started the chain of events that made Tarkin realize the Emperor was behind everything, turning him against the Empire.
  • Instead of ordering the bombing of Atoa after receiving the news of his son Garoche's death by Vader's hand, Tarkin decides to let the subjugation of the planet continue as planned thanks to his previous knowledge of Palpantine's treachery allowing him to avoid falling into darkness.
  • A'Sharad Hett never becomes Darth Krayt since Tarkin's defense of Anchorhead ensures that Obi-Wan never has to intervene and disqualify him as a Tusken Raider
  • Saw Gerrera never falls into terrorism thanks to Ahsoka informing him of the flaws in his current tactics and how Tarkin (a.k.a Night Hammer) would destroy them if they cross the Moral Event Horizon in fighting against the Empire.
• Pragmatic Hero/Sociopathic Hero: Tarkin in a nutshell; while he's on the side of the good guys this time, he's still a high-functioning sociopath willing to do coldly pragmatic or downright horrific deeds if he believes them to be necessary.
  • Ferren Barr played the latter trope straight to the point that the Hyperionian was selected as his master to keep him in check.
• Pragmatic Villain: We have a few:
  • The Emperor is a spiteful being that enjoys the galaxy's suffering and even draws power from it, but he knows where to draw the line to avoid excessive rebellions:
    • He's incensed at the Lasat genocide, not out of morality but for how it was conducted using ion disruptors (that are anti-tank weapons) on single people, thus wasting insane amounts of gas tibanna.
    • During his reign he ordered Vader to inspect all former Separatist bioweapon facilities to make sure they were converted into legitimate hospitals or properly fitted with all needed safeties (including a plasma warhead), as he didn't need any plague to be released on his watch.
    • He personally ensured that the Imperial military maintains their training in dealing with plagues, not out of any kind of goodness but because this way his trusted subordinates would have a hand in the relief effort rather than letting potential rebels ingratiate themselves the locals by providing it entirely.
  • Baron Orman Tagge helps dealing with the sudden appearance of Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuits on Gastrula not because he wants to help but because the Bantha Breakfast Biscuits are manufactured by one of his companies, so he needs to help or he'd be held responsible, even if Gastrula is one of the worlds where the biscuits are banned to prevent them from turning into giant monsters and his company had not introduced the biscuits there.
  • It's believed Grievous would have never ordered to commit genocide by shooting people with ion disruptors or release an incurable flesh-eating bacteria because it would have been too wasteful. He was also known for having a brainrot plague strain engineered to target only humans just to tick the Republic off, giving context to what Grievous considered wasteful.
  • Jabba helps funding the restauration of water to Tatooine simply because he can profit from it.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Most Imperials, including the Stormtroopers, don't even realize they are villains - as far they know, they work for the legitimate galactic government to maintain law and order and being paid for it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Tarkin gains a reputation as this in the Outer Rim with his strict but fair rule and his crackdown on crime in the area. An example is on his visit on Jelucan, when he left his men specific instructions about letting some local children sneak to watch his ship as long as they didn't act out, and personally intervening when they started trouble while insuring the reaction wasn't excessive.
  • Darth Vader, at least as far as the troops under his command are concerned: as long as they keep up to his standards he doesn't care of what they do in their free time.
  • Garm Bel Iblis: when Hoffner tries to sell him the location of the Katana Fleet, that he already knew from Talon Karrde, he simply confirms he wasn't trying to scam him, and then offers him a job as a courier and scout.
• Refuge in Audacity: Tarkin using "Moff Night Hammer" as his Rebel codename operates on this, as it refers both his rank at the time and the name of his final command during the Clone Wars (the 18th Sector Army, "Night Hammer Command"). He even admits it to Palpatine's face.
  • Order 66' status as a publicily known Contingency Order in Legends is restored and repeatedly used as a plot point.
  • At various points right after Order 66, Ahsoka is seen wearing a GAR uniform with the rank of commander - that she deserves due the Jedi having no right to strip her of her military rank. She's also wanted and marked for death due Order 66, but as she's clearly an officer nobody actually looks at her face.
• Reporting Names: According to an insert on Spacebattles, the Separatist Subjugator and Devastation classes are officially named Ash Worlds and Eibon Scimitar respectively, with their canon names being reporting names... That by the author's word are what Dooku and Grievous would have named them if they didn't need to deceive the Confederate Congress, names they shared with Sidious so they could be used in some way.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: While the Rebel Alliance as a whole is dedicated to the noble cause of freeing the galaxy from Palpantine's tyranny, certain groups like Saw Gerrera's cells can verge into He Who Fights Monsters territory with their more extreme methods or, in the case of the Triskel Force, are little more than criminals playing at being rebels.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: Tarkin makes sure that the Rebel Alliance will not suffer any stains on its honor by tracking down those who use its goals as a smokescreen for their activities and deal with them accordingly. The Triskel Force is just one out of many so-called "rebel" cells that Tarkin has eliminated thanks to their criminal activities.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Both Jabba and Rivoche have independently figured out Leia is Anakin's daughter, and aren't telling anyone.
• Shout-Out: A few:
  • The original Night Hammer-class cruisers are described similar to the Arcadia (green version), and known ships of the class reference other Leiji Matsumoto works.
  • At one point Vader almost succeeds in murdering Palpatine through carbon monoxyde, the same method used (successfully) in The Salvation of Dachat.
  • Chapter 14 is a homage to Paul "OtaKing 77077" Johnson's TIE Fighter web video, shown mostly from the Rebels' point of view as they get totaled by the Imperial squadron.
  • Then-governor Tarkin wiping out a slaver fortress through Orbital Bombardment and sending a message to a corrupt Senator that claimed it didn't exist is a homage to the Liberation of Lomboko in Amistad.
• Shown Their Work: The author made a lot of research on the source material:
  • One chapter declares the Death Star's weakness as "Thermal exhaust port 5, one of the secondary exhaust ports near the north one", that the exhaust port is of a different design from the others, and that it would be actively venting hot material to make the shot harder and explain it couldn't be particle shielded. The weakness being a secondary exhaust port is directly lifted from A New Hope, where Dodonna explains that the Death Star's weakness is a small secondary exhaust port near the main one and that it's ray shielded but not particle shielded (thus it can be hit by torpedoes), and the visuals shown she has at least eighteen secondary ports (of which only one leads directly to the reactor and is a weak spot), and the rest from the physics of an exhaust port.
  • At one point admiral Terrinald Screed is shown taking on a planet-sized Abominor droid - and winning.
  • Project Stardust head designers are listed as Orson Krennic (as the leader and the one who dealt with the structure of the Death Star), Galen Erso, Bevel Lemelisk, and Umak Leth, with Qwi Xux and her fellow Omwati scientists as external collaborators.
    • When asked how the Omwati scientists were trained, Tarkin jokingly claims that "they've been kidnapped from their homes and given the best and most challenging education and training the Empire could provide, and if one of them made a single error their village would be destroyed from orbit before their eyes before they themselves were killed. Doctor Xux was the only one to never err once", referring to what Tarkin actually did them in Legends.
  • The Separatists are mentioned to have used cloned infiltrators and that the first group was infamous for suffering from Clone Madness, as alluded in The Thrawn Trilogy and other pre-AOTC works that assumed the clones were the enemies of the Republic in the Clone Wars.
• Simple, yet Opulent: In a pre-Clone Wars chapter Asajj Ventress notes that Tarkin and Dooku wear a reservist's military uniform and a simple black outfit respectively, and would seem very plain to anyone who can't tell they're made with synfleece and shimmersilk respectively (Outland Regions Security Force uniforms being normally made out of steelcloth) and lined with armorweave, making the outfits extremely expensive.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Tarkin's cadre of young Omwati scientists and their villages all survive.
• Teen Genius: Rivoche, as per Legends.
  • Also, Qwi Xux and her group of young Omwati scientists. According to Galen Erso and Bevel Lemelisk, their analisis sped up the construction of the Death Star by years.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: The Empire's use of T-7 ion disruptors against the Lasat population is flat-out declared this as disruptors are "anti-materiel weapons to be used exclusively on vehicles, barricades, and buildings", yet a general ordered them used on individual soldiers and unarmed civilians. Even Palpatine found this excessive, if nothing else because it's stupidly expensive.
  • In another chapter, Rivoche uses a DLT-19D blaster rifle at full power against single Tuskens. For reference, a shot from a DLT-19D can leave a half-meter crater in any ferrocrete wall, and against people, it disintegrates them. Justified in that the whole point was to terrify the Tusken's banthas by killing their riders and sending them into a panic.
    • In the same chapter, A'sharad Hett is first set on fire and then shot three times with the DLT-19D. All of this is warranted considering that he was just that tough and had supposedly been already killed by an artillery barrage (had Tarkin known he was leading the Tusken he would have ordered Orbital Bombardment).
• Token Evil Teammate: Tarkin is the guy who handles all the tough calls and dirty work for the nascent rebellion thanks to his coldly pragmatic approach to getting things done.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In this case, trademark favorite drink with Jabba and desert wine. Tarkin later gets his hands on it and likes it.
• Worthy Opponent: The Lasat Honor Guard Kallus defeated regarded him as this, insisting that he won the right to use their bo-rifle fair and square.
• Wrecked Weapon: A'sharad Hett's two lightsabers have their crystals removed by Vader after his death, as he leaves them to Rivoche Tarkin as Battle Trophies.
• Written by the Winners: The Empire has altered the history of the Clone Wars to make itself look better. Also, most people think that Xendor, an early Dark Jedi, had planned to attack the Republic rather than only the Jedi.

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