Ghorman project

The revolution starts now.

Warning! This page contains spoilers from the episode "One Year Later" of Andor. Caution is advised.

"No Notes. No Records. None of you were here. Nobody puts this in their calendar. All service and transport droids will be data-wiped, once we're done. Your colleagues, superiors... if they're not in this room, they're not cleared for the project. Colonel Yularen, Governor Tarkin, all senior commanders will be notified by the Emperor, at the time of his choosing. Now, the group in this room is, of this moment, the tightest of closed circles. Any security violation will be brought to the Emperor's personal attention."

―Orson Krennic instructs discretion to the attendees at a secret Imperial meeting at the Maltheen Divide^[1]

The Ghorman project was an initiative undertaken by the Galactic Empire's Advanced Weapons Research Division in 4 BBY. The project was a task group composed of Director of Advanced Weapons Research Orson Callan Krennic as its leader, three officers from the Imperial Security Bureau, an officer from the Imperial Navy, two members from the Ministry of Enlightenment, three officers from the Science and Engineering Division and three science officers, at least two of whom were affiliated with the Tarkin Initiative. They were responsible for the planned suppression of Ghorman and a subsequent mining operation for kalkite, which was rich mineral under the surface of Ghorman that would be used to coat reactor lenses. Such a project would likely destabilize the planet's core, and as such, the population needed to be handled in methods created by the project. The project was highly secretive, with Director Krennic claiming that he directly answered to Emperor Palpatine and urging the attendees at the projects introductory meeting at the Maltheen Divide in 4 BBY to not talk to anyone other about, it including their superiors like Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and ISB Colonel Wullf Yularen. While Krennic claimed at the meeting that the goal was ensuring Imperial energy independence,^[1] the truth was that its work was part of the Death Star program, Project Stardust.^[2]

Imperial Navy Admiral Daysar suggested creating a plague or feigning a natural disaster to relocate the Ghorman people, while Dee Shambo and Nisus Osar from Enlightenment proposed a continuation of their propaganda initiative. ISB Lieutenant Dedra Meero personally suggested to Director Krennic to create a false rebellion, thus allowing Imperial authority to subjugate the population.^[1] Directly after the meeting Meero was tasked with overseeing the population of Ghorman^[3] and the Empire began constructing an armory in the Ghorman capital city Palmo.^[1]

The armory, disguised as an annex, overshadowed the Monument to the Fallen, earning public outcry from the populace who correctly suspected its true nature. By 3 BBY, Meero had installed Syril Karn at the Imperial Bureau of Standards field office in Palmo, for the purpose of infiltrating the Ghorman Front, under the pretense that the planet would be used as bait for outside agitators. Karn was aware that the Front was monitoring him, hoping to court him as a sympathizer to get them the proof they needed.^[4] A subsequent ISB raid on Karn's office as well as the Front gaining access to his Preox-Morlana dossier solidified his cover. Karn then provided the Front with information on Imperial transports moving throughout Palmo.^[5] The Ghormans rebels, with the aid of the Axis network, raided a weapons shipment, unaware that this was what the ISB intended for them to do.^[6]