Orson Callan Krennic

Orson Callan Krennic was a human male who served as Director of the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research, which belonged to Imperial Intelligence and the Imperial Security Bureau during the Imperial Era. Additionally, he was the commander of the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station up to the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. Born on Lexrul during the Republic Era, fifty-one years before the Battle of Yavin, Krennic began his career as a Lieutenant Commander in the Galactic Republic. Following the Clone Wars he was promoted to commander and later the fleet equivalent of admiral upon the formation of the Galactic Empire. Persistent and ambitious, Krennic was responsible for the development and construction of the Empire's enormous Death Star superweapon. An old friend of crystallographer Galen Erso, Krennic manipulated the brilliant scientist into researching synthetic kyber crystals under the pretext of researching sustainable energy. In reality, Krennic weaponized Erso's crystal research for the battle station's planet-killing superlaser, hoping this would place him above his long-time rival Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and win the favor of Emperor Palpatine. Krennic was also held accountable for security of the project, quelling rumors of the Empire's secret enterprise for the two decades of its assembly. For these many purposes he commanded a squad of death troopers, serving as both a sword and shield when the Director found himself in battle.

During the final stages of the Death Star's construction, the project faced potential exposure in the form of a rather talkative cargo pilot. Krennic restlessly sought to silence these rumors, ordering the first successful discharge of the superlaser on the sacred moon of Jedha, where news of the technological terror had reached. However, Krennic was ultimately unable to contain the project's secrecy, and the Rebel Alliance soon launched an attack on the coastal planet Scarif where data tapes containing a complete technical readout of the station were being held. After Director Krennic failed to prevent the theft of these tapes, Tarkin deployed the Death Star in a continued effort to eliminate the compromised facility. Krennic met his end in this second blast of his own creation, an ironic culmination of his life's work. Soon afterward, the Rebellion successfully exploited a vulnerability in the Death Star discovered through the stolen plans, detonating the reactor module and leading to the downfall of Krennic's achievement.

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