Kassius Konstantine

"It's not your fault, officer. But Lord Vader won't know that."

- Kassius Konstantine attempts to blame his own failure on an officer

Kassius Konstantine was a human male Admiral in the Imperial Navy. He was dispatched to the Lothal system where a rebel movement occurred.

Empire Day
In the years before the Battle of Yavin, Konstantine commanded an Imperial fleet from his command ship, the Imperial Star Destroyer Relentless. He aided the Inquisitor in his search for the Ghost, a rebel starship. After the Lothal rebels rescued another fugitive, the Rodian Imperial Information Office staffer Tseebo, and breached the Imperial security cordon around the planet Lothal's Capital City, Konstantine commanded the Relentless in the pursuit of the rebels. With Tseebo's help, the rebels escaped into hyperspace. While Konstatine thought of shifting the blame for the rebels' escape to the Inquisitor, he declined to since the Inquistior had succeeded in planting a tracking device onto the hull of the Ghost.

When Admiral Konstantine reported that they were receiving a signal from the tracker, the Inquisitor did not acknowledge his presence but merely commented that he himself would sense the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger. In response to the Inquisitor's comments, Kassius chocked back a laugh because he believed that the Empire had wiped out the Jedi years ago during the Jedi Purge. He was personally skeptical of reports that the leader of that rebel cell was a Jedi. However, the Inquisitor read his thoughts and scowled back at the Admiral with malice and spite. Fearing that his long and storied career would end if he failed to capture the rebels, he vowed that they would succeed.

Meanwhile, the Lothal rebels realized that there was a tracking device planted onto the Ghost auxiliary vessel, the Phantom. To prevent the Imperials from capturing Tseebo, Kanan and Ezra separated from the Ghost and flew the Phantom to the asteroid PM-1203, which hosted a former Republic base called Fort Anaxes. As planned, the Imperials took the bait. When Admiral Konstantine ordered that the Relentless land an entire battalion on that asteroid, the Inquisitor countermanded his orders and instead led a small continent of stormtroopers to the PM-1203. The Inquisitor's troops were quickly dispatched by fyrnocks, fearsome predators that resided in the asteroid. Despite the Inquisitor's lightsaber skills and Force powers, Kanan and Ezra managed to escape; leaving both the Inquisitor and Admiral Konstantine empty-handed.

Serving Tarkin
After the Inquisitor captured the rebel Jedi Kanan Jarrus sometime later, Konstantine was reassigned to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's flagship, the Sovereign, while over the planet Mustafar. After a lightsaber duel between Jarrus and the Inquisitor destroyed the Sovereign's engines, the ship was evacuated.

Enforcing the Siege
After the destruction of the Sovereign, Konstantine took part in the blockade of Lothal intended to ensnare the Lothal rebels. He was unsuccessful in this, however, as the rebels managed to evade capture again by deploying masking transponders emitting false signals, allowing them to escape in their stolen Sentinel-class landing craft. Shortly afterwards, Konstantine and the Relentless were part of the surprise attack on the Phoenix rebel cell, led by Sith Lord Darth Vader, who was piloting a TIE Advanced x1 starfighter. As the Ghost made its escape, Konstantine activated his Destroyer's tractor beam to attempt to catch them, however instead ended up catching Vader as the rebels jumped to hyperspace. Knowing that his life was in danger for this mistake, Konstantine blamed his failure on a subordinate bridge officer.

Mission to Seelos
After the Lothal rebels had escaped from Darth Vader, Admiral Konstantine continue his command of the Relentless which was still hunting for the rebels. He was accompanied by the Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus, who also had experience dealing with these rebels. Under instructions from the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, the Lothalian rebels had traveled to the desert planet of Seelos to make contact with several retired Clone troopers: Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor. The rebels hoped to win them over to their cause. Wolffe, distrusting the rebels, secretly sent a coded transmission that was picked up by the Relentless.

Agent Kallus sent a probe droid to Seelos to investigate. Prior to its destruction, the droid succeeded in sabotaging the rebel's auxiliary ship Phantom and confirmed there was indeed a rebel presence there. While Agent Kallus led a ground assault with three AT-AT walkers, Admiral Konstatine remained aboard the Relentless to render air support to Kallus' forces. However, the clones and rebels put up an unexpectedly fierce fight and succeeded in immobilizing Kallus' AT-AT walkers. The Admiral was unable to render air support because Darth Vader had ordered him to rendezvous the Relentless with his shuttle in space.

Instead of meeting Vader, Admiral Konstantine received another Inquisitor known as the Fifth Brother. When Konstantine raised his concerns that the diversion might have compromised Agent Kallus' mission, the Inquisitor merely replied that his struggles were of no concern to him and pledged to stop the rebels himself.

Serving the Inquisitors
Following the Imperial misadventure at Seelos, Admiral Konstantine continued serving under the Fifth Brother. He and Agent Kallus were later present aboard the bridge of the Relentless when his crew picked up a surge of energy at an abandoned medical station. This surge had been triggered by several members of the Spectres, a rebel cell that had harried Konstantine and his Imperial comrades several times. These rebels had been searching for medical supplies for the Phoenix rebel cell. In response to the surge, the Fifth Brother informed the Admiral and Kallus that he was visiting the station alone. There, the Fifth Brother and another Inquisitor known as the Seventh Sister almost succeeded in apprehending Chopper, Ezra Bridger, and Sabine Wren. However, due to Garazeb Orrelios' quick thinking, the four rebels managed to escape the two Inquisitors.

Later, Admiral Konstantine and the two Inquisitors were present when Agent Kallus suggested that the Imperials pool their resources together for a strike on Garel. Following an earlier incident on Takobo, the Inquisitors had learned that the rebels were hiding on Garel. Under Kallus' orders, Konstantine and the Imperial fleet departed from Lothal and traveled to Garel. Despite surrounding the rebels on both the ground and air, several rebel ships including the Spectre's ship Ghost and Commander Jun Sato's CR90 corvette still managed to escape into the skies above Garel City. Commanding the air assault, Admiral Konstantine ordered the crew of his Star Destroyer to deploy their tractor beam projector. His forces also succeeded in shooting down at least one rebel ship.

The Relentless tractor beam managed to trap Commander Sato's corvette. However, Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla used the Ghost to ram into the tractor beam projector; knocking it out of action. The damaged projector collided with a TIE fighter. This distraction enabled the Phoenix rebel fleet to make a jump into hyperspace. When Agent Kallus, who had led the ground assault, demanded a status on the position of the rebel fleet, a visible disappointed Admiral Konstatine reported that he and his men were also wondering the same thing. Despite exposing one of the Phoenix rebels' hideouts, Konstantine and his Imperial colleagues failed to crush the rebel cell.

Admiral Konstantine and Agent Kallus later commanded an Imperial light cruiser which attempted to capture the rebel ship known as the Ghost above Nixus. Despite their efforts, the Ghost managed to jump into hyperspace. Earlier, the crew of the Ghost had rescued two Lasat refugees named Gron and Chava, who were searching for the legendary Lasat homeworld of Lira San. With the help of the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka, the Imperials managed to track the Ghost down to a collapsed star cluster in Wild Space. The Imperials attempted to pursue and destroy the Ghost but were forced to retreat by the gravitational pull of the star cluster.

Personality and traits
Admiral Konstantine was a stern by-the-books military leader. While he had a commanding presence, he always appeared perturbed by force-users such as the Inquisitor or Darth Vader. On occasion he showed himself to be self-serving and was not above sacrificing his own men to save himself. Due to his long and storied career in the Imperial Navy, Admiral Konstantine felt that he had to excuse or somehow find someone else to pin his failings. He was also initially skeptical that any Jedi had survived the Jedi Purge.

Behind the scenes
Kassius Konstantine is a Star Wars Rebels character who first appeared in the first season episode "Gathering Forces." He is voiced by Star Wars: The Clone Wars veteran Dee Bradley Baker. Konstantine was given some point-of-view passages in Michael Kogge's chapter book Ezra's Duel with Danger, which was based on the Star Wars Rebels episodes Empire Day, Gathering Forces and Path of the Jedi. These passages shed light on his personality and tense relationship with the Inquisitor.

Appearances

 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal