Imperial Mercy Missions

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-10-15 09:03pm

We know that one of the reasons the New Order was so popular in the begining was because the Empire made the people feel safer. Unlike the chaotic Old Republic, the Empire imposed order and discipline. They made the proverbial trains run on time and many people welcome such order after a time of turmoil (Hitler's Germany, Mussolinni, Ceasar, etc)

But what about missions of mercy? Say a planet was suffering from a catastrophe that would wipe out billions. Would the mighty Imperial stardestroyer suddenly be converted into a makeshift hospital ship and help evacuate the planet, much like the Federation does with its top of the line warships? (See any Trek episode where the Ent is called to evacuate, bring medical supplies, deliver food, etc)

I would find it hard to believe, rebel propaganda aside, that the Empire would simply let whole worlds die or suffer major upheavals like plague without doing something about it. And not due to any humanatarian instincts but more from a practical point of view. Its hard to keep a populace content with you when you allow whole worlds to die and not lift a finger.

Do we have any instances in the EU where the Empire conducted mercy missions or at the very least wasn't the characteture of an evil empire?

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-10-15 09:09pm

Well we do know that Leia used mercy missions as cover(ANH) so it is possible that the empire relengates these tasks to civial groups. With the size of privat freighters in the Star Wars universe, it is easy to see a civilian entity having the capability to handle such things.

Jean Paul · Post by **Jean Paul** » 2004-10-15 09:09pm

Hmm... save a plauge infested world here, while blowing up another one with the DS there.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-10-15 09:22pm

Actually very little EU has written of this, but we have to actually assume they must have.

Literally if they didn't then their own infrastructure would be destroyed. While we see their atrocities...nothing on a galactic scale cannot be all bad...people don't work that way and the amount of force needed to enforce that train of thought would make whatever we think of the Empire size puny.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-10-15 09:26pm

I would find it hard to believe, rebel propaganda aside, that the Empire would simply let whole worlds die or suffer major upheavals like plague without doing something about it.

For plague they BDZ the planet. See the homeworld of whatever the hell Prince Xizor was.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-10-15 09:28pm

Rogue 9 wrote:
I would find it hard to believe, rebel propaganda aside, that the Empire would simply let whole worlds die or suffer major upheavals like plague without doing something about it.
For plague they BDZ the planet. See the homeworld of whatever the hell Prince Xizor was.

Hardly a BDZ and that plague was both a cover up and the most efficent means to destroy the virus.

Poor analogy on both parts.

Literally Vader was covering up a pet project and the most effiecent method is to simply exterminate to virus and all those possibly infected without murdering every Faleen.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-15 10:59pm

Ghost Rider wrote:Actually very little EU has written of this, but we have to actually assume they must have.

Agreed.

That's actually an EU-covered era I'm looking very much forward to -- the 19-year gap between ROTS and ANH. After all, because of the time it took to do the prequels, nothing's really been done in that timespan before (with a few exceptions, like the Lando trilogy and both Han trilogies). So, I believe there's a good chance we'll see at least one mercy-mission shown in the EU.

After consulting the Force.net's book release schedule, here are the following post-ROTS novels coming out that we know of:

August 2005
Post-Episode 3 Novel by Michael Reaves. This book features the "clean up" of the remaining Jedi.

February 2006
Untitled Hardcover by James Luceno. This book is set a few weeks after Revenge of the Sith.

May 2006
Coruscant Nights #1 by Michael Reaves This paperback novel is the first of a loose trilogy of novels following the events of Revenge of the Sith.

May 2007
Coruscant Nights #2 by Michael Reaves This paperback novel is the second of a loose trilogy of novels following the events of Revenge of the Sith.

May 2008
Coruscant Nights #3 by Michael Reaves This paperback novel is the second of a loose trilogy of novels following the events of Revenge of the Sith.

In addition, there are two HC novels set for release in February and October of 2008 whose era has not yet been decided and so there exists the possibility that they may be post-ROTS. Only time will tell.

CDiehl · Post by **CDiehl** » 2004-10-15 11:28pm

It really doesn't seem inconceivable they do some good deeds. You can't pepretually attack your people or leave them to suffer, and have a working empire. Also, most people who work for the Empire, even at the planet or sector levels, are just people doing a job. They can't all be like Tarkin, or the Empire would never have lasted as long as it did. Also also, the Emperor can be as powerful a Force user as he wants and have all the titles he can invent for himself, but he's just bragging into a void unless he has people to rule.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-10-16 03:36am

In Starfighters of Adumar Admiral Rogriss laments, that he conquered worlds to "bring them order, discipline, hygiene and education".

Not necessarily mercy-missions, but it shows, that imperial officers thought, that their conquests would improve the conditions of planetary populations.

Another example are the decon-droids in TTT. While they were not doing their job (and instead kept Honoghr poisoned) the existance of decon-droids suggests, that the empire sees a need for them. And that wouldn´t be the case, if it were totally uncaring (for whatever reason).

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-10-16 06:25am

"Impossible! How will the emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"

I've always felt that the Empire functioned very similarly to the Republic for the majority its duration up until the dissolution of the Imperial Senate. After that, the galaxy was basically in a state of martial law for the following 3.5 years until Palpatine's death.

I imagine that this relatively brief period was one of great turmoil as whole sectors rebelled against the emperor--who was suddenly deprived of his trump card against the more heavily defended inner systems: the Death Star. IMO, the emperor was not firmly in control of the galaxy post-ANH and was therefore scrambling to deal the rebellion a crushing blow simply to keep his dominion from falling apart. Hence the urgency in building a second Death Star. It wasn't just a "terror weapon." He needed it.

So in other words, it's my guess that the Empire probably had little time for mercy missions at that point.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-10-16 07:08am

reminds me of that bit from the life of brian...

what has rome done for us?
well they built all those aquducts....

actually here we go
1. made the high traffic space routes safer, allowing big container ships to move raw supplies and vital medical goods to planets that need them.
2. made things safer by killing lots of pirates and terrorists
3. saved us from those damned driod isserectionists
4. set up a good standardized education system.
5. brought slavery, and those hutt controlled worlds under control
6. maintains the imperial holonet system, and nav system (also see point 1)

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-10-16 08:51am

Galvatron wrote:"Impossible! How will the emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"

I've always felt that the Empire functioned very similarly to the Republic for the majority its duration up until the dissolution of the Imperial Senate. After that, the galaxy was basically in a state of martial law for the following 3.5 years until Palpatine's death.

I imagine that this relatively brief period was one of great turmoil as whole sectors rebelled against the emperor--who was suddenly deprived of his trump card against the more heavily defended inner systems: the Death Star. IMO, the emperor was not firmly in control of the galaxy post-ANH and was therefore scrambling to deal the rebellion a crushing blow simply to keep his dominion from falling apart. Hence the urgency in building a second Death Star. It wasn't just a "terror weapon." He needed it.

So in other words, it's my guess that the Empire probably had little time for mercy missions at that point.

But then why waste it so easily?

Literally he threw it away to quickly and his plan was some slow extermination of the Alliance for one Jedi. Hardly the actions of a man who needed said object.

If he needed this object...he would've had another contructed ala Jedi...damned the weakness. It was essential to his rule. Instead they went the route of the SSD and other weapons.

I just see the DS as an enforcer to allow him to focus his energies on other things. With his fleet it was iffy, but have the DS and no planet is going to be dumb.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-10-16 04:48pm

Ghost Rider wrote:But then why waste it so easily?

Literally he threw it away to quickly and his plan was some slow extermination of the Alliance for one Jedi. Hardly the actions of a man who needed said object.

Waste? Threw it away? You think he planned to lose it? That he would bait a trap with his own life if he thought there was any chance of failure?

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2004-10-16 05:49pm

I guess they are like the Roman Empire. While the Romans built wherever they conquered, there was a fair amount of brutality, at least in terms of today. But they extended their Pax Romana, probably much like the Emperor was trying to do.

But also, the Emperor was just pure Darkside. If parts of the Empire didn't want to conform to his vision of how it should be, hasta la vista. I don't think he had any qualms with wiping them from the face of the earth.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2004-10-16 11:55pm

Except that they were never on the face of the Earth to begin with.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-17 12:01am

Drooling Iguana wrote:Except that they were never on the face of the Earth to begin with.

Yes they are; they just work behind the scenes.