After the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Pre-recorded messages from Emperor Palpatine were sent using sentinel droids, outlining his contingency plan for the Empire. Operation: Cinder was relayed to some of the Empire’s top officers, including Admiral Garrick Versio, with the stated goal of punishing the Empire for failing to prevent the Emperor’s death and then rebuilding it with only the strongest Imperials left. In the process, Palpatine ensured that during his recovery, the Empire could not simply continue without him with a new leader. However, it turns out that his plans weren’t perfect.
In The Battle of Jakku – Rise of the Insurgency #2 by the creative team of Alex Segura, Leonard Kirk, Rachelle Rosenberg and Joe Caramagna, the Emperor’s orders are delivered to Gallius Rax’s star destroyer, the Devastatingand newly promoted Grand Admiral Rae Sloane reports on the success of Operation: Cinder bombings. However, it is confirmed that there is resistance to Palpatine’s grand plan.
Admiral Sloane expresses concern that Moff Adelhard has gone rogue, broadcasting propaganda that claims the Empire remains as strong as ever and trying to use Palpatine’s name to strengthen his own power base.
Emperor Palpatine’s plan to destroy the Empire wasn’t perfect
Not all imperial forces were willing to follow his orders
Operation: Cinder was Emperor Palpatine’s contingency plan in case he died, so that the Empire would not outlive the Emperor himself. The targets of Operation: Cinder were planets that were enemies of the Empire, but also the most loyal. Planets such as Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, Commenor, Nacronis, Vardos and Naboo, four of which are mentioned by Rae Sloane in Rise of Insurgency #2.
The main objective of Operation: Cinder was to destroy worlds that were sworn enemies of the Empire, as well as loyal Imperial worlds, but also to destroy any planets with sensitive Imperial information, rich worlds, and worlds that had fallen out of influence, all while eradicating the most vicious to give continuity to a new Empire. Following Operation: Cinder, a group of Imperial remnants, including Admiral Sloane and Brendol Hux, gathered in the Unknown Regions as per Palpatine’s orders, to create a new Empire that would eventually come to be known as the First Order.
Moff Adelhard’s loyalty poses the greatest threat to Palpatine’s contingency plan
The Empire was greater than its Sith leaders
Grand Moff Adelhard’s Iron Blockade – blocking off the Anoat sector from the rest of the galaxy and continuing his crusade for the Empire – is technically a greater show of loyalty to the Empire than following Operation: Cinder. Palpatine hoped that the most capable members of the Empire would implement his plans and that the weak and disloyal would die, but Adelhard chose a third path, fighting to keep the Empire alive.
It is notable that if Palpatine had been defeated just a few months earlier, Adelhard would have been able to count on the support of the Imperial Schism – a secret group within the Empire that supported the fascist conquest of the galaxy, but not its leader’s Sith religion. Unfortunately, Vader broke the Imperial Schism during his final rebellion against Palpatine, but the fact shows that for all his genius planning, Palpatine did not foresee every eventuality. Operation: Cinder was far from a foregone conclusion, specifically because some of his most capable subordinates were more loyal to the Empire than the Emperor himself.
Moff Adelhard was a major threat to both the Rebellion and the fractured Empire, presenting a major problem with Operation: Palpatine’s Cinder that came from within his own ranks. If he had managed to keep the Empire intact, the Empire could have risen again before Palpatine was ready to regain control – alternatively, it’s possible that Moff Adelhard’s success could have given rise to a major faction that would shape the First Order. The era following the greatest battle in the original trilogy is revealing crucial aspects Star Wars moments that fans have never seen before, and that even Palpatine did not predict.
The Battle of Jakku – Rise of the Insurgency #2 is now available from Marvel Comics.