Operation: Cinder

"Operation: Cinder is to begin at once."

- Palpatine's order to Captain Duvat

Operation: Cinder was a contingency plan issued posthumously by Emperor Sheev Palpatine following the Galactic Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor. It called for the scouring of Palpatine's homeworld, Naboo, with the use of a climate disruption array, as well as attacks against at least a dozen other worlds, including Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, and Commenor.

Prelude
"Palpatine's greatest weapon was terror. He reveled in the knowledge of Naboo's fear. That he could and would destroy all of this beauty the moment it suited him...just as he did Alderaan."

- Leia Organa

About 84 years before the Battle of Yavin, Sheev Palpatine, the man who would become the Sith Lord known as Darth Sidious, was born on the Mid Rim planet Naboo. Palpatine served as a senator for Naboo and took the title of Supreme Chancellor in the Galactic Senate following Naboo's invasion. Thirteen years later, the Galactic Republic reformed into the Galactic Empire, christening Palpatine with the title of Galactic Emperor.

The formation of the Empire sparked the start of the Galactic Civil War, a conflict fought between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The Empire ruled through fear, constructing the Death Star, a massive planet-destroying superweapon. When the Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin, the Empire began the construction of a second Death Star. Four years after the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Endor was fought, and the Death Star II was destroyed with Palpatine aboard. Imperial officials stated that the Emperor was still alive and that claims saying otherwise were treasonous propaganda.

Scouring of Naboo
"By order of the Emperor...Naboo is to be scoured..."

- Captain Lerr Duvat, to Lieutenant Gulin

In the days following the Battle of Endor, Lerr Duvat, captain of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Torment, was approached by a messenger droid with an order from the late Emperor to begin Operation: Cinder. Duvat complied, and some 20 days after the Battle of Endor, he relocated his vessel to Naboo and placed satellites in orbit around the planet to form a climate disruption array. The array was then used to create hurricanes, and by the time it had reached twenty percent efficiency, three class-five hurricanes (with another dozen forming) had been made.

On the surface of Naboo, the storms caused a planet-wide blackout, and all orbital sensors were jammed by the Torment. Leia Organa and Shara Bey, on behalf of the Rebel Alliance and New Republic, were present in the Theed Royal Palace discussing an alliance with Queen Sosha Soruna, and the blackout interrupted their negotiations. As the storms worsened, Naboo was subjected to flooding, fires, and lightning strikes, leading to Theed's evacuation under the direction of Captain Korro.

During Theed's evacuation, Organa, Bey, and Queen Soruna used N-1 starfighters left from the Battle of Naboo 36 years earlier. Flying into the planet's orbit, Soruna targeted the satellites while Organa and Bey engaged waves of TIE/LN starfighters. General Lando Calrissian of the New Republic soon arrived with an MC80 star cruiser and several starfighters; the New Republic Starfleet quickly destroyed all remaining Imperial forces.

Continued war
"Your efforts in combating Operation: Cinder have been instrumental in saving countless innocent lives. That said, as much as Admiral Ackbar and I wish we could tell you the end is at hand...we see no respite from hostilities at this time..."

- General Crix Madine, to New Republic soldiers

In the three months following the Battle of Endor, Imperial remnants continued their attacks, targeting dozens of worlds throughout the galaxy, including Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, and Commenor.

Aftermath
Within a year of Operation: Cinder, Naboo was under the protection of the recently-formed New Republic. In the weeks leading into the Battle of Endor's one-year anniversary, Corona Squadron defended the planet from Imperial forces on at least three occasions during the Naboo Sieges.

Behind the scenes
Operation: Cinder first appeared in the canon comic Shattered Empire, Part II of Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The comic, published in 2015, was written by Greg Rucka and penciled by Marco Checchetto.

Appearances

 * Shattered Empire, Part II
 * Shattered Empire, Part III
 * Shattered Empire, Part IV