Stofsk wrote:The Death Star is a terror weapon, pure and simple. It is not analogous to a police station or even military base, although it can fulfill the function of the latter. If we were to be serious the DS is analogous to a modern day nuclear missile silo, or SSBN, as their weaponry can achieve the same 'effect' as the superlaser does in the SW universe (replace shielded planet with city).
From the Imperial point of view, it
is a 'weapon' of
order. Whether the police or internal security or the military doing the job, a factor of
fear is involved to maintain Order. The Death Star may have a somewhat greater fear factor, but it is still fundamentally, from the viewpoint of the Controlling Government building it, a weapon for Order, and perhaps the only way to impose order on a recalcitrant shielded planet.
A government that
chooses not to impose Order beyond a minimum is good; a government that
cannot impose Order is bad. Which is one of the reasons why the NR is a failure. They were stressed hard enough by the
Yevetha, but the State clearly could not impose order within its institutions when faced with the Vong, thus leading to a shitload of un-necessary casualties.
And with shielded planets, the only way you can guarantee you can impose order against a recalcitrant shielded planet is with something like the superlaser.
And your point about Rebel responsibility for the Ewok extinction is well taken, yet what choice did they have? Regardless, is there a reason the Emperor decided to have the DS2 remote built in orbit of a habitable world like Endor?
Stop trying to push Rebel responsibility on the Empire. If they were just good little boys sitting at home and not trying to wreck the Order, the Death Star probably won't have to be built in the
first place.
The Emperor has the right to build its weapon over a known inhabited world. They are the Government, with no reason to hide, unlike the sniping Rebel scum.
Well, since they are supposed to have scruples, the Rebels could actually ... umm ... you know, go as they originally planned, without support. Even if you assume the Endor Commando Team was made up of dolts who don't realize what happens when the Death Star blows up on these little Ewoks, they didn't have to trick them into kamikazeing into Imperial blaster fire.
While we are transferring blame, an idea I would like to throw about Alderaan comes up:
Leia always felt guilty because Tarkin told her she dictated the choice of target for the Death Star's first operational shot. Most people take it to be that scene where she
lies to an Imperial officer and says the base was on Dantooine (itself a sure sign of
Treason.) Everyone tells her, of course, that it is all Tarkin's fault (and the Emperor's to boot). But in another way, perhaps she
did dictate the choice of target.
By the time of
Rebel Dawn, Bail Organa was already trying to get his People to agree to armed
revolt. And if the Empire's Intel network is worth a damn, it would have picked up some signs of that movement.
Enter Leia, who chooses to be a
spy for the Rebel Alliance. Why? The Rebel Alliance is shorthanded but realistically it wouldn't be a case that one more is critical and there are no doubt some less active jobs. Someone so highly placed as a Princess and Daughter of a Senator does not have some freedoms a "lesser" person has.
A Alderaanian that gets caught as a Rebel is an 'isolated act' by a single deranged citizen. A Princess of Alderaan that gets caught, especially during a period where the government is likely already under suspicion, is not likely to go off as easily, and strongly implies that the government is supporting of Rebellion. The fact she may have a squad of
Alderaanian marines and a ship claiming to be an
Alderaanian consular ship only confirms that the government has already gone traitorous.
So now, marked as a Treasonous planet, the Death Star decides to move to Alderaan. This is the
final loyalty test, and the idiot Alderaanians flunk it, by turning on a shield so powerful it will actually resist a measurable proportion of a 1E38J beam!!! Why don't they just go phone the Death Star and say "YES, EMPIRE! WE DEFY YOU!"
Now, the only question is, are the actions of Bail Organa supported by the majority of his people.
If yes, then the majority (over 50%) of the people of Alderaan are Traitors to the Empire. Traitors are to be executed. Well, it is kinda sad for the loyal minority, but Imperial justice is harsh I guess. And Leia Organa doomed them all by confirming to the Imperials just how wonderfully disloyal the government of Alderaan is.
If no, then Bail Organa and his family doomed a planet of unwilling people. And the only way to maintain order? Against a shield with 1E37J resistance? Against a Earth-sized planet supposedly with only 2 billion people (this is important, for it implies Alderaan can be self-sufficient in food and many other necessities, making a blockade ineffectual). And of course, Leia Organa told the Empire just how wonderfully loyal they are.
Just a thought.