Dodd Rancit Dodd Rancit was a human male officer who served in the Naval Intelligence Agency of the Galactic Empire , a position he ' d been appointed to personally by Emperor Palpatine . However , he later ended up working with a group of rebels that he hoped to use as a tool to improve his standing with the Emperor . Rancit ' s plot was discovered and he was executed for treason by the order of Darth Vader . Biography . Clone Wars and early Imperial service . Dodd Rancit was born in the Outer Rim and attended the illustrious academy at Prefsbelt . During the Clone Wars , he served the Galactic Republic as part of Republic Intelligence . In this role , he was the case officer that was responsible for supplying his old friend , Captain Wilhuff Tarkin , with counterintelligence operatives to combat the CIS Shadowfeed s . Another major assignment was the oversight of subcontractor Knotts and station chief Berch Teller , both of whose roles were the support of partisans and resistance groups that operated on worlds occupied by the the Separatist Alliance , including Antar 4 . After the end of the war and the transition into the Galactic Empire , Rancit ' s first assignment was the command of Sentinel Base , a remote outpost supporting the construction of the Death Star battle station . Later , he was removed from the Death Star project and transferred back to Coruscant , replaced at Sentinel by now - Moff Wilhuff Tarkin . His many rivals enjoyed interpreting this as a demotion , despite being appointed to head the new Naval Intelligence Agency by Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself , with the rank of Vice Admiral . During this time , he was often seen in the company of fellow - NIA Vice Admiral Terrinald Screed , and developed hardened rivalries with other members of the Imperial Military , especially Harus Ison . The - then NIA Commander Gallius Rax , who was tasked with the execution of the Emperor ' s Contingency plan , submitted his reports directly to Wullf Yularen ; bypassing Rancit and Screed in the chain of command . In the years following the end of the war and the formation of the Empire , Rancit became extremely dissatisfied with the course his military career was taking . He felt pushed aside during his time as the commanding officer of Sentinel Base , despite its importance to the Imperial cause . His bitterness only grew when his old comrade Tarkin , now a Moff while he , Rancit , languished as an admiral , was given command of Sentinel and Rancit himself sent back to Intelligence . Berch Teller campaign . Hatching a plot of vengeance against the Empire , and against Emperor Palpatine and Tarkin in particular , Rancit arranged for his old Clone Wars subordinate Berch Teller , as well as his crew of insurgents ( the names of which he may have personally provided to Teller from ISB databases ) , to attack Sentinel Base and later steal Tarkin ' s personal ship , the " Carrion Spike " from Murkhana and use it in a variety of anti - Imperial activities . Rancit managed to convince the Emperor to divert substantial Imperial military resources to defending Imperial facilities in the Perlemian Trade Route and Hydian Way . While this won him the Emperor ' s favor , it enabled the dissidents to plan an attack on an Imperial convoy ferrying supplies to the Death Star . In addition , Rancit secretly planned to betray Teller and his crew and destroy the " Carrion Spike " at Carida , in the hopes of earning himself a promotion and improving his standing with Palpatine . Teller however had figured out that Rancit was not trustworthy and instead had abandoned the " Carrion Spike " , sending it on autopilot towards the Imperial fleet at Carida , in order to take a cobbled - together warship to attack a supply convoy en route to Sentinel Base from Desolation Station in the hopes of delaying construction of the Death Star , intending to leave Rancit holding the bag . Rancit , unaware of Teller ' s counter - betrayal , was aboard the " Secutor " - class Star Destroyer " Conquest " at Carida , and ordered its captain to fire upon the " Carrion Spike " as soon as it emerged from hyperspace . Darth Vader arrived with Lieutenant Crest and a contingent of stormtrooper s to arrest Rancit , preventing the " Conquest " from destroying Tarkin ' s ship . After proving to Rancit that the " Carrion Spike " was empty by scanning it for lifeforms in order to prove to the Vice Admiral that his erstwhile allies had double - crossed him before " he " could double - cross " them " , Vader ordered Crest to take Rancit and load him into an escape pod , then shoot him into space . As he was taken away , Rancit defiantly told Vader he wouldn ' t beg for mercy . Unmoved , Vader simply replied that it wouldn ' t make a difference if he did . The Vice Admiral ' s punishment was carried out without delay , with the added humiliation that Rancit was made to issue one final order to the " Conquest " — to fire on his own escape pod and kill him , which he did . Legacy . Rancit ' s betrayal was the main reason that led to the end of Naval Intelligence as an independent agency , being folded into Imperial Intelligence and headed by Rancit ' s rival , Colonel Wullf Yularen of the Imperial Security Bureau . His demise ironically benefited many of his other contemporary rivals as well ; with Ison promoted into the Ubiqtorate and Nils Tenant elevated to the Joint Chiefs , along with similar promotions for Cassio Tagge and Conan Antonio Motti . The details of Rancit ' s treason and death were kept a closely guarded secret from his colleagues in Naval Intelligence on direct orders from Palpatine , so that he couldn ' t be martyred . After Rancit ' s demise , it was said that he perished in an attack by the Rebel Alliance , though the true circumstances regarding his death — that Vader had killed him for treason — circulated as rumors . Personality and traits . Unlike many of his more - reclusive contemporaries in the Imperial hierarchy , Rancit was very much familiar in the social circles of Coruscant , known to be a lover of art and of the Coruscant Opera . This fact did much to mask his covert operations , both for and against the Empire . He was considered friends with fellow - NIA Vice Admiral Terrinald Screed as well as Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , despite secretly resenting the latter ' s success . Rancit was inwardly jealous of Tarkin ' s and others ' career advances , a feeling that would eventually fester into concealed hatred .