Infiltration of the Imperial Armory Complex

In 2 BBY, the rebels Morad Sumar, Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, and Chopper infiltrated the Imperial Armory Complex on Lothal. Their mission coincided with a visit led by Grand Admiral Thrawn to investigate the high rate of sabotage within the factory. Despite Morad being killed by Thrawn during a test demonstration on a 614-AvA speeder bike, the Lothal rebels managed to obtain the blue prints for a prototype TIE fighter. They escaped the factory with the help of the disillusioned Imperial Security Bureau Agent Kallus, who had become an informant for the rebellion. As a result of the rebel attack, Thrawn realized that the Galactic Empire had a traitor among their ranks.

Prelude
During the Age of the Empire, the Galactic Empire established a major military presence on the planet Lothal. With the collaboration of Governor Arihnda Pryce, Lothal became the headquarters of the local Imperial presence in the Lothal sector. After escaping an Imperial prison in 3 BBY, the former Lothalian Governor Ryder Azadi established a rebel cell based at a stone circle in Lothal's wilderness. This rebel cell consisted of Lothalian residents who were disaffected by the Empire's policies including the farmers Morad Sumar and Marida Sumar, and the Ithorian bartender Jho.

By 2 BBY, Ryder's resistance cell had embarked on a campaign of sabotaging Imperial vehicles at the Imperial Armory Complex, which manufactured armored walkers, 614-AvA speeder bikes, and TIE fighters for the Imperial Military. This led to a high rate of accidents, injuries, and fatalities among Imperial military personnel. Eventually, Imperial High Command took notice of the suspiciously high rate of accidents at the Lothal factory and sent Grand Admiral Thrawn to investigate.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Squadron decided to take out the Imperial Armory Complex on Lothal. Since they lacked a presence on Lothal, they contact Ryder's resistance cell for help. The Phoenix Squadron also received information from Fulcrum that the Empire was developing a new secret weapon at the facility. This Fulcrum agent turned out to be the disillusioned Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus, who had become sympathetic to the rebels following his encounter with the Lasat Garazeb Orrelios on Bahryn. He had also helped the Mandalorian Sabine Wren escape the Skystrike Academy during an undercover mission. The Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla dispatched her crew members Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, and Chopper to infiltrate the factory and gather intelligence on this new secret weapon.

The crew of the Ghost rendezvoused with Ryder's speeder in Capital City. After fighting off an AT-DP walker and two speeder bikes, the rebels escaped to Ryder's stone circle encampment in Lothal's wilderness. There, the two rebel cells discussed their information and plans. The former farmer Morad, who now worked as a factory worker at the Imperial Armory Complex, agreed to help Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper infiltrate the factory. Morad informed the rebels that the Empire had tightened security around Section A2 and suspected the plans for the secret weapon were being stored there.

Evading the lockdown
Morad and the crew of the Ghost infiltrated the Imperial Armory Complex disguised as factory workers and an Imperial astromech droid respectively. The rebels just arrived in time for an Imperial inspection conducted personally by Grand Admiral Thrawn himself. In the presence of Governor Arihnda Pryce, Agent Kallus, and Lieutenant Yogar Lyste, Thrawn gave a speech reprimanding the factory workers for the high rate of accidents caused by vehicles manufactured at their factory. As a deterrent, Thrawn forced Morad to demonstrate the last 614-AvA speeder bike he had inspected. Using a simulator, Thrawn raised the speeder to maximum full speed. This caused the faulty engine to overheat and explode, destroying the bike and killing Morad.

Following Morad's death, Thrawn took the opportunity to warn the workers that they would be responsible for personally testing the vehicles they built. Thrawn then ordered his subordinates to impose a lockdown on the factory and to screen every worker. Kanan tried to contact Ryder to warn Hera Syndulla but found that the Imperials were jamming their signals. With a security screening underway, Kanan and Ezra realized they had to escape and got Chopper to stage a distraction by destroying a speeder bike.

After escaping the security screening, the two rebels proceeded on their mission to reach Section A2. However, they ran into a stormtrooper and scout trooper, whom they knocked unconscious and stole their uniforms. After losing contact with Kanan and Morad, Ryder contacted Hera via hologram and informed about the new Imperial officer. Hera recognized the officer as Grand Admiral Thrawn, whom she had encountered earlier on Ryloth. Ryder planned to launch a diversionary attack on the factory's east gate to distract Thrawn.

Stealing the plans
Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper soon managed to reach Section A2 in their disguises. However, the chamber was guarded by stormtroopers who would only admit Imperial communication droids carrying clearance codes. After learning about the escaped workers, Thrawn realized that rebel infiltrators had breached the factory. He ordered anyone not carrying his personal code in Section A2 to be terminated on sight. Continuing his inspection, Thrawn forced another factory worker to demonstrate his AT-DP walker. When that walker collapsed, he ordered the man's arrest.

Despite Thrawn's stringent precautions, the Ghost crew managed to elude the Imperial guards by incapacitating an Imperial communication droid and stealing its clearance code. This allowed Chopper to enter the room and to download the tape containing the prototype TIE fighter blue prints. Before Chopper could finish his work, Kanan and Ezra were confronted by a stormtrooper corporal and his men who demanded to know why they were outside their perimeter. Ezra claimed that they mistook Section A2 for Section B17.

An unlikely ally
While the corporal did not buy it, Chopper emerged from the room at that moment. The three rebels managed to flee into a turbolift with Agent Kallus, who recognized them. Following a brief fistfight, Kallus managed to convince the rebels that he was a friend by citing his past encounters with their comrades Garazeb Orrelios and Sabine Wren. Satisfied, the rebels then solicited Kallus' help in reaching a communications station so that they could transmit a signal on their comlink to Ryder. Kallus obliged and the rebels managed to storm a communications station and stun the stormtroopers and Imperial officer stationed there.

With the help of Kallus' access codes, Kanan managed to contact Ryder, who revealed that he was preparing to launch an attack on the east gate. Kallus advised the rebels to escape on an AT-DP walker in the east gate's hangar bay. To conceal Kallus' dealings with the rebels, Ezra hurled the ISB agent against a glass monitor board to make it look like he had put up a fight against them. By this stage, Thrawn had studied the history and art of the crew of the Ghost. After linking the missing factory workers with the unregistered C1-series astromech droid known as Chopper, Thrawn deduced that the rebels were being helped by a friend from within the Imperial hierarchy.

Escaping the armory
At that point, Ryder and his rebel cell launched an attack on the east gate, damaging at least one Imperial Troop Transport. Reasoning that Ryder's forces had attacked in order to create a distraction for the rebels to escape, Thrawn decided to play the rebels' game. In response to Ryder's attack, Lieutenant Lyste sent the two AT-AT walkers 271 and 414 to engage the insurgents. Thrawn allowed Lyste to dispatch reinforcements in order to lure Ezra and Kanan into a trap. The crew of the Ghost took the bait and rode out on the AT-DP Walker 216 under the pretext of helping the AT-ATs fight the rebel attackers.

Studying the rebels' escape patterns, Thrawn realized the rebels had stolen at AT-DP walker and ordered the AT-AT pilots to crush the rebel walker which answered to the callsign Walker 216. Ezra managed to maneuver his walker under one of the AT-ATs. However, the AT-AT pilots aboard proceeded to use their heavy walker to crush the rebels' smaller walker. Ezra and Kanan managed to use their lightsabers to dig themselves and Chopper out of the doomed transport and board the AT-AT walker. After dispatching the pilots, their hijacked AT-AT walker was hit by a rocket fired by Marida, the wife of the late Morid Sumar. Exiting the AT-AT walker, the three rebels fled with Ryder and Marida on two landspeeders.

Aftermath
Returning to Ryder's hideout, Ezra, Kanan, and Ryder were able to send the information from Chopper's memory banks to Sabine, who decrypted them. As a result, the rebels discovered that the Empire was working on a new prototype TIE Interceptor, that was equipped with a deflector shield. The rebels feared that if the Empire produced this new fighter in large numbers, it would pose a danger to the rebellion and their pilots. Ezra and Kanan also informed Hera, Sabine, and Zeb about Kallus assisting their escape. While Hera was grateful for Kallus' assistance, she and Sabine still distrusted Kallus.

Back on Lothal, Thrawn discussed his suspicion with Governor Pryce and Agent Kallus that the Empire had a mole among their ranks who was assisting the rebellion. When Governor Pryce advocating questioning all Imperial personnel, Thrawn advised against a mass crackdown. Instead, he proposed setting up a trap for the informant in order to turn that individual into an Imperial "asset." Thrawn wanted to wait for the spy to make their next move. Feigning loyalty, Kallus commended the Admiral for his "flawless" strategy.

Behind the scenes
The infiltration of the Imperial Armory Complex serves as the main plot of the Star Wars Rebels episode "An Inside Man", which premiered on Disney XD on December 3, 2016. The episode also reintroduced the TIE Defender, a starfighter which had appeared in several Star Wars Legends products.