What Was The Reason For Operation: Cinder? Palpatine’s Contingency Plan - Star Wars Explained

Emperor Palpatine believed the Empire should not continue without him. So he put a contingency plan into place that, in the event of his death, would destroy not just his enemies, but the Empire itself.

Join me today as we take a look at the first part of this Contingency, known as Operation: Cinder.

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Following his death at Endor, Darth Sidious’ Contingency was put into effect by dispatching sentinel messenger droids to loyal Imperial officers. These sentinels contained the Emperor’s posthumous order to initiate Operation: Cinder. Each officer was given a planet to target, and over the course of many months, the operation was carried out.

Planetary targets were selected based on one of two criteria: to punish the Empire or to destroy hope for the Rebel Alliance. So how did Operation: Cinder work?

Once they reached their target system, Imperial forces would deploy a climate disruption array of satellites that would trigger catastrophic atmospheric events, such as powerful hurricanes and intense lightning storms. Any civilian ships attempting to flee would then be shot down by the Imperial Navy while the storm systems destroyed the planet’s surface.

Dozens of worlds were targeted, including Vardos, Burnin Konn and Commenor. Although many of the Empire’s objectives for some of these attacks were less obvious, the Alliance was able to discover the reason for many of these assaults.

One of the worlds targeted first was Palpatine’s homeworld of Naboo. This story is told in the Shattered Empire comic series, and if you have not read it I highly recommend it. It shows just how devastating Operation: Cinder actually was.

The Star Destroyer Torment arrived in the system twenty days after the Battle of Endor and launched their satellites. Almost immediately the storms began to form, and operating at only 20% three class-5 hurricanes had already developed with twelve more forming.

Imperial forces were still executing Operation: Cinder three months after the Battle of Endor. The Rebel Alliance, now forming into the New Republic, took action against the Imperial operation where they could and were able to save countless civilians.

This action was more than just a rallying cry for the New Republic. Many Imperial citizens defected after the Battle of Endor, but many who had remained loyal to the Empire’s principles saw Operation: Cinder as senseless slaughter with no purpose causing many soldiers, officers and citizens to abandon the Galactic Empire.

Emperor Palpatine’s full Contingency plan did not play out until more than a year after his death at Endor. Operation: Cinder had accomplished his goal of punishing both the Empire and the Rebels, but it was the Battle of Jakku where the next phase was to occur.

Counselor Gallius Rax was charged by Palpatine to execute his Contingency. Drawing the remaining Imperial Navy to Jakku, New Republic forces followed. The original plan was for Rax to use Sith artifacts to destroy the planet and both fleets; however, Grand Admiral Rae Sloane killed Rax before he could trigger the destruction.

Accepting leadership of the Contingency, Sloane chose not to destroy the planet, leaving the New Republic with their military fleet. She did execute the final phase, which was to take select Imperial officers to the Unknown Regions and rebuild the Empire under the moniker of the First Order.