Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/April 18, 2010

Ranulph Tarkin was an important and ambitious politician in the waning days of the Galactic Republic who played a critical role in sparking the Stark Hyperspace War, in which he was remembered as a hero. As of 44 BBY, Tarkin was serving as the senator for Seswenna sector and the leader of the Senate's militarist faction. Determined that the Republic could not be secure without centralized armed forces, he demanded the recreation of the Republic Military and formed his own prototype fleet and army.

When Iaco Stark created a crisis by pirating the Trade Federation's shipments during a bacta shortage, Tarkin saw his opportunity to win the day. He pressured Trade Federation Minister Nute Gunray into giving up the location of a secret summit on Troiken in which Tarkin's political rival Senator Finis Valorum and a Jedi delegation would mediate between the Stark Commercial Combine and the Trade Federation. At Gunray's signal that all parties were assembled, Tarkin sent his full paramilitary force to Troiken, determined to stamp out Stark's pirates by force of arms and prove the value of a strong military once and for all.

The attack went awry when Stark anticipated that the senator would ambush him and infected Tarkin's fleet with a navigational computer virus. Tarkin was among the reduced fleet that made the jump to Troiken, where they were battered by Stark's navy. Tarkin had to abandon ship and seek shelter in the abandoned mines of Mount Avos with the Jedi and Valorum. There he fell apart, dejected at his loss, and was inclined to give up. The Jedi and Tarkin's aide, Jace Dallin, took over leadership of Tarkin's army and held out against Stark's troops, building a burning resentment and shame inside Tarkin. Finally, as victory neared under Jedi Master Plo Koon, Tarkin took his fate back in his own hands and absconded with an explosive. Sacrificing himself, he released a swarm of carnivorous challat eaters from behind a cave-in, killing himself but taking Stark's troops, trapped by Koon's strategy, with him. In the aftermath, due to the political influence of the Tarkin family, Ranulph Tarkin's reputation remained strong and he was recalled as the hero of Troiken for his part in the defeat.