Gentis Gentis was a male Human General of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars and later the Galactic Empire . When he saw that Emperor Palpatine was needlessly wasting the lives of young Imperial officers , including all but one of his sons , he orchestrated a coup , seeking to gain control of the Empire in order to end such warmongering . Biography . The Clone Wars and Order 66 . Gentis , a male Human , was a General during the Clone Wars , a battle between the Galactic Republic and the secessionist Confederacy of Independent Systems . During the war , which began in 22 BBY , Gentis led only seventy clone troopers against one of the Confederacy ' s most deadly units , the Burning Ember armored division , and defeated them . At another point during the war , the Confederacy triggered large volcanoes on the planet of Mirak Major , and Gentis successfully evacuated six billion people to safety . At the end of the war , when the Jedi Order was culled during their " plot to take over the Republic " , Gentis felt so betrayed by their supposed disloyalty that he personally executed three Jedi Knights . Prelude to a coup . At some point , all of Gentis ' s sons had become members of the Empire . All but one — Caul Gentis — were killed in the opening days of the New Order . In late 19 BBY , a few weeks after the rise of the Galactic Empire , Gentis attended a military meeting on Imperial Center . While seeking to escape the droning of the various Moffs , he came upon the Imperial Crematorium , and watched hundreds of dead Imperials be incinerated every minute . Realizing that even though the war had ended , Emperor Palpatine ' s warmongering ways would never cease , and many more young men like his sons would be killed . Gentis quickly set about seeking a way to end the senseless killing , using his position as a war hero and respected headmaster to gain influence and recruits . A few months later , the cadets of the graduating class of the Raithal Academy arrived on Coruscant . They were part of six different academies from around the galaxy who came to the capital in order to be part of the first graduating class of Imperial officers . Their training — like that of the Empire ' s clones and other military personnel — had been accelerated from the usual years to only a few months . Gentis presided over the ceremonies , and made a rousing speech focusing on loyalty to the Empire . Laurita Tohm , a young man who idolized Gentis , was the valedictorian of the Raithal Academy , and thus was given the rank of lieutenant by Gentis himself . Gentis asked Tohm , who had been disfigured in a Separatist attack , about how his conditions effected his success , and told him to keep up the good work . Tohm was soon selected to be a part of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin ' s fleet , but Gentis had other plans for the young officer . He ordered his son , Caul , and fellow Ensign Shens to keep Tohm " out of harm ' s way " . Tohm ' s friends locked him inside a prototype TIE fighter , and for a time , he assumed it was a practical joke . In reality , this was the first small step in Gentis ' s coup , as he believed that the promising officer would draw too much attention due to his prominence and deformities . Attack on Coruscant . Gentis ' s plan began the night of the graduation , as explosions rocked the cityscape for kilometers around , eliminating seventy - two Imperial targets within minutes . The officer ' s club , various Stormtrooper garrisons , the Comm Towers , and a supply depot were all destroyed . Imperial Plaza became ground zero in the battle that erupted , as " terrorist " forces — in truth , hundreds of the newly graduated cadets — swarmed through the city streets , fighting with the Empire ' s clone forces . The stormtroopers were losing the battle until Darth Vader appeared , rallying the troops and driving the enemy forces back . In the madness , Tohm had escaped from the prototype starfighter by engaging its ejector seat and landing in the midst of the battle . Tohm grabbed a blaster and joined Lord Vader in resisting the attack . Shens , one of the many students Gentis had enlisted , died in the battle at Tohm ' s hands . Gentis himself met with Emperor Palpatine , under the pretense of presenting some of his best students as " future Moffs " . When the explosions went off , Gentis released a powerful necrotic virus known as Aorth - 6 , hoping to personally assassinate the Emperor . Dozens of Imperials , including Royal Guardsmen , were killed by the aerosolized virus , which liquified them from the inside out . Though the Emperor was indeed infected with the virus , Gentis didn ' t count on the presence of Moff Trachta , and he and his men fled before being discovered by Vader and Tohm , who came to rescue Palpatine . The Ghost Prison . Though Gentis didn ' t know the details of their escape , he was quickly made aware that while much of their coup had succeeded , both Vader and Palpatine had disappeared . Palpatine had used the dark side of the Force to keep the virus at bay while Vader , Tohm , and Trachta escorted him to secret hangar below the Imperial Palace , where they loaded him aboard a stealth transport . Gentis then unleashed a back - up plan as his engineers sent a command to every droid within five kilometers to kill any Imperial officer they saw . Aboard the Emperor ' s shuttle , Trachta was attacked by a 2 - 1B surgical droid , while Vader and Tohm were attacked by lightsaber - wielding Jedi training droids in the Jedi Temple , though both attacks failed . Using information gleaned from a holorecording , Vader and Tohm quickly evacuated Palpatine to a hidden Jedi prison in the Diab system known as The Prism . Consolidating power . Shortly , Gentis called a meeting of powerful Moffs and Naval officers . He maintained the pretense that the capital had suffered a terrorist attack , and that as ranking officer on the planet , he had assumed military command . He also placed a naval blockade around the world , as well as blacking out all communications — again , under the pretense of quelling the terrorist uprising . When questioned by Grand Moff Tarkin , Gentis claimed to have the Emperor in protective custody , though Palpatine may still die of his injuries . He then implied that Vader and Trachta may have had a hand in the attacks , as both had disappeared and not contacted anyone . Tarkin then told Gentis that as the only Grand Moff he would be assuming acting control of the Empire . Gentis looked to Caul with dismay as he told Tarkin they would be waiting for him . Later , Gentis met with another Imperial general , trying to convince him to join their coup while Caul held a blaster rifle to the man ' s back . Gentis showed the general the Imperial Crematorium and explained that this was where he had decided to kill the Emperor and the losses Palpatine was inflicting on their young ranks . After the general agreed to join Gentis , the headmaster showed the general and Caul a hologram of the Death Star plans , proving to the general that it was more than just a rumor . Though he already had spies aboard the unfinished project , Gentis wanted Tarkin within his grasp so that he may gain further knowledge of the superweapon . He then planned on having Tarkin executed for his crimes , as 627 of Gentis ' s cadets alone had died while working for Tarkin . Gentis would then announce to the galaxy that Palpatine was dead , regardless of whether it was true . Gentis then told the general that he and his peers would declare Gentis to be the new emperor , so that there would be no more needless deaths . Final battle . Gentis amassed his cadets to greet Tarkin ' s shuttle , planning on finally cementing his hold on the Empire . As the shuttle landed within a docking bay , Gentis acknowledged to Caul that it was all for him and his fallen brothers . Tarkin disembarked along with his stormtroopers , but was immediately surrounded by the cadets . Gentis confronted Tarkin , wanting him taken alive for interrogation , and told him his reasons for the coup . Tarkin was unapologetic , not caring about the hundreds of innocent cadets who had died under his command . When Gentis told Tarkin that his own sons had been killed by the policies of the Emperor , he was told by Vader that he would see them again soon . Gentis looked up in horror as Vader emerged from the shuttle alongside Tohm , Trachta , Shonn Volta and dozens of deadly ex - prisoners . After amassing a small fighting force from the Prism , Vader and Tohm had used Volta ' s hyperspace expertise to find Tarkin while he changed hyperspace lane s at the nexus of several trade routes and set a trap for Gentis . Though Gentis ' s forces outnumbered the attackers by eight to one , there was no accounting for the disparate skills Vader ' s group brought to the fight . Vader himself unleashed a violent Force wave while the prisoners slaughtered the cadets . Caul ordered Koh , a demolitions expert , to hit their attackers with grenades , but Volta , who was also a sniper , shot Koh before he could throw the armed explosives , which detonated in the midst of the cadets . Caul retreated among the scattered and wounded cadets until he heard Tohm call out to him . Thinking that Tohm was still on their side , he was happy to see him , but Tohm cruelly shot him in the stomach , killing him . Gentis saw his son fall and ran to his side , horrified that he ' d lost his final child . He cradled Caul ' s body in his arms , unable to believe that he was dead . He begged for him not to die , then promised to keep his son safe . Suddenly , he was wracked with Force lightning , attacked by the Emperor himself . As he screamed and clutched his son to his chest , his body was ravaged by Palpatine ' s dark side power , and he was left a charred husk . In the aftermath , all of those involved with the coup were rounded up and executed , while Trachta was promoted to Grand Moff and Tohm was promoted to Admiral . Tohm ' s victory and reward would be short - lived , however , as Vader threw him from a balcony high above the cityscape , afraid that Tohm might rival his own might in the future .