KRENNIC HAD THOUGHT he’d already had the worst week of his life. Worse even than the one during which Galen Erso had abandoned their work on the Death Star and gone into hiding, leaving Krennic alone to head up the project.

He’d already lost control of the Death Star to Grand Moff Tarkin. He’d been threatened by Darth Vader. And he suspected if he failed at his current task, he would probably be executed, perhaps by the Emperor’s own hand.

But this week kept finding ways to become even worse.

The rebel fleet should have fled as soon as it saw how outmatched it was. Instead, it had fought like a cornered rancor, desperate to tear apart anything nearby. The rebels couldn’t possibly prevail against the two Star Destroyers in orbit over the planet—not to mention the TIE fighters and TIE strikers swarming about the place—but they could certainly bloody the Empire’s nose before they went down.

Was that really their only goal? To make a final, pointless gesture of defiance before the ascendancy of the Death Star rendered the Rebel Alliance moot?

The rebels had focused most of their firepower at the Star Destroyers, but they’d also made a strong effort against the gate. Krennic didn’t see how they could hope to penetrate the shield. It had been built to last.

Still, they refused to stop trying. They’d even sent a squadron of Y-wings to make a bombing run. As if they could simply batter down the gate like a wooden door on an ancient castle.

It wasn’t like they would be able to break a hole in the shield large enough for any of the rebel ships on Scarif to escape through it. The rebels trapped inside would be rooted out and destroyed, one by one, like the vermin they were.

But the Y-wings had done more than slap the Star Destroyers around. They’d actually managed to disable the electronics on one of the gigantic starships with an ion bomb. It wasn’t a permanent condition, but until the crews on the Star Destroyer managed to fix it, the craft was floating dead in space, a sitting womp rat for the rebels’ weaponry.

And then Krennic got word that his worst suspicions were true. Lieutenant Adema relayed a report to him and said, “Unauthorized access at the data vault.”

“What?”

Krennic froze, unable to believe the news for a moment, but then it all made sense. The attack on the ground. The appearance of the rebel fleet. They were all there for one thing. The last thing Krennic wanted them to find.

The Death Star’s plans.

“It’s just come in, sir.”

At least now Krennic knew what was at stake, and he knew what he had to do.

“Send my guard squadron to the battle!” The death troopers would help break the back of the rebel assault, but Krennic had to hit the heart of the problem himself. “Two men with me! Get that beach under control!”

Krennic shoved his way out of the room, leaving others to worry about the rest of the battle. If he wanted whatever was going on in the data vault stopped, he would have to put an end to it himself.