Almost immediately after Emperor Palpatine’s death and the Galactic Empire’s defeat at the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the Sith Lord issued a message from beyond the grave: “Operation: Cinder is to begin at once. Resistance. Rebellion. Defiance. These are concepts that cannot be allowed to persist,” Darth Sidious told the remnants of his Empire. “You are but one of many tools by which these ideas shall be burned away. “
The words that initiated Operation: Cinder in 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront II video game were echoed in Marvel’s Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku — Insurgency Rising #2, this time from aboard the Super Star Destroyer Ravager. Palpatine entrusted the warship — and his Contingency plan — to Admiral Gallius Rax in the 2017 canon novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire’s End, and Rax oversees the launch of Operation: Cinder in Insurgency Rising #2.
Grand Admiral Rae Sloane confirms that orbital bombings have begun on the targeted planets Candovant, Abednedo, Commenor, and Burnin Konn in the Anoat sector, which has been cut off from the rest of the galaxy: the Imperial Grand Moff Ubrik Adelhard has created an Iron Blockade around the entire sector.
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Adelhard, who appeared in the canon video game Star Wars: Uprising and is mentioned in Aftermath, cordoned off this section of the galaxy to keep the citizens of the Anoat sector in the dark about the Emperor’s fate and the Rebel Alliance’s victory over the Empire at the Battle of Endor. “As long as I live, the Empire lives,” Adelhard tells captured Rebel pilots on the Anoat sector planet Darlyn Boda. “As long as I wield power, the Empire’s flame continues to burn.”
Adelhard’s Imperials are loyal to the Empire, not the Emperor. Palpatine’s protégé, Rax, is dedicated to fulfilling the Emperor’s Contingency and burning down the Empire so that Darth Sidious’ Sith cultists can establish the Final Order (as seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) under the resurrected Palpatine.
As the Sith Lord recorded in The Secrets of the Sith book: “If the vast and powerful forces I had gathered could not perform their sworn duty and protect their own Emperor, they did not deserve to lay claim to this galaxy in my absence. For their failures, I would see them burn. And the galaxy along with them. With the Empire erased from existence, something new could rise in its place. And from beyond the grave, I would control its every move…”
Meanwhile, on Chandrila, provisional home of the nascent New Republic, Agent Behrens reports to Princess Leia Organa and Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma. “The Empire has not fallen,” Behrens says. “The war continues.” Facing offensives from two Imperial factions that might not be aligned, Leia orders Behrens to put together a team of the Republic’s remaining forces in the Anoat sector to engage Adelhard — or die trying.
They are: B-wing starfighter pilot Rynn Zenat; the mechanic Jarek Yeager (as seen on the animated series Star Wars Resistance); trusted intelligence operative Therisa Alern; and Kes Dameron of the Pathfinders, father of future Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac in the Star Wars sequel trilogy).
Meanwhile, Zeva Bliss — leader of the Spice Runners of Kijimi and the mother of Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell) in The Rise of Skywalker — looks to take advantage of the unrest by fomenting chaos in the galaxy and consolidate power in the underworld. On the planet Pillio, Luke Skywalker is ambushed by Yupe Tashu’s Acolytes of the Beyond, who seek to reclaim a Jedi relic: a Jedi star compass, which called out to Luke through the Force.
The compass will eventually lead Luke to Ossus — where he constructed a new Jedi Temple, as seen on Star Wars: The Mandalorian — and Ahch-To, site of the First Jedi Temple, where Luke will go into exile during the time of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku — Insurgency Rising #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics. After issue #4 in November, The Battle of Jakku trilogy continues in Republic Under Seige and then Last Stand.
