Contingency

"If an Empire cannot protect its Emperor then that Empire must be deemed a failure. It collapses not only because its central figure is gone, but because it must not be allowed to remain!"

- Emperor Sheev Palpatine, to Gallius Rax

The Contingency was a plan devised by Emperor Sheev Palpatine to ensure that the Galactic Empire would not outlive him. The central piece of that plan was Gallius Rax, a human native of Jakku whom Palpatine had taken in as a protégé. In the event of his own death, Palpatine intended for Rax to carry out the Contingency, referring to it as the latter's destiny. In order to transmit posthumous orders, Palpatine had special sentinel droids made. Operation: Cinder, which involved the scouring of Naboo and many other planets, was part of the plan.

After Palpatine perished at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Contingency was activated. Rax, however, attempted to change the nature of the plan to his advantage so he could start a new Empire of his own. The Empire officially surrendered to the New Republic with the signing of the Galactic Concordance in 5 ABY. Several Imperial remnants rejected the treaty and continued to hold out in the months following the end of the Galactic Civil War, although they were few in number as a result of the Emperor's Contingency.

Appearances

 * Shattered Empire, Part II
 * Shattered Empire, Part III
 * Shattered Empire, Part IV
 * Aftermath: Empire's End