Cassio Tagge

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**Cassio Tagge** was a member of the Joint Chiefs of a Galactic Empire and their Chief of the Imperial Army during their rule of the Empire. The General Tagge, who was born into an wealthy and privileged powerful family on the world of Tepasi that then owned TaggeCo mining operations, General Cassio Tagge did serve as chief of military operations onboard an original Death Star, though he disdained the battle station as “Tarkin’s Folly”. Unlike rival Admiral Motti, Cassio took the threat posed by the Rebel Alliance seriously. Tagge was not aboard the Death Star when it exploded over Yavin; acknowledging Cassio had been right about the rebellion threat, their Emperor did promote him to the Grand General and placed him in charge of the Imperial Military. Though his rise to power wasn't meant to last, for in a later times failure would catch up to an General Cassio Tagge.

## Biography

### Early Life and Career

A Human from Tepasi, **Cassio Tagge** was born to a noble and wealthy family who owned and operated TaggeCo, their family company that notably had mining interests on Lucazec. Tagge had at some point time did join the ranks within the military of the Empire, a government that'd replaced their Republic when the Clone Wars ended. Six years into the reign of the Emperor Palpatine, Tagge served as General and headed their Imperial Army as their Chief of Imperial Army, and as an member in the Joint Chiefs. By this time, he was considered a rival of head in the Naval Intelligence Agency, Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit. That year, he gathered with the rest of Joint Chiefs on Coruscant to confer with the Ruling Council and agencies for COMPNOR to discuss insurgents who hijacked a Moff Tarkin's *Carrion Spike*.

During their meeting, word arrived that the insurgents were attacking Imperial assets on Lucazec, which alarmed Tagge due to TaggeCo having operations on that planet. He watched in anger as footage came in of the insurgents destroying both space and surface operations on the planet. The insurgents were eventually caught and executed, and Tagge was among those rewarded for his aid in stopping the threat. Exhibiting excellent leadership skills, Cassio risen through their ranks of the Imperial Army rapidly, and soon held the rank of General, despite a lack of support from the influential Lord Vader. He proved a capable and astute officer who was disinterested in politics and heirarchy, and placed more stock in loyal service to the Emperor. As such, General Tagge eventually developed enough power and influence, combined with the favorable standing of the House of Tagge on Imperial Center, to hold sway with Palpatine himself. The general came to be seen as an unlikable, imposing figure within the army's hierarchy. Although Cassio Tagge's heritage assisted in his being posted to the Death Star I, his reputation as an officer was a key instigator, as was his relationship to the Emperor.

### Service to the Empire

#### Meeting at the Death Star

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, General Tagge was stationed aboard first Death Star, where he was in charge of army operations as Chief of the Imperial Army. During a meeting of high ranking imperials aboard the Death Star I, he argued with fellow Empire Joint Chief Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, who didn't share Tagge's view that a enemy Rebel Alliance, that'd managed to steal the plans to the first Death Star station, represented a threat to the Empire and to an first Death Star. Motti dismissed Tagge's concerns, noting that while the Rebels might pose a threat to Cassio's fleet, they were no threat to the Empire. Tagge began to point out that the Rebels had been building support within the Imperial Senate, but was interrupted by the arrival of Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, who informed the officers that the Senate had been disbanded by their Emperor. Cassio was stunned by the news, and openly questioned how control would be maintained without the bureaucracy, but the Imperial Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin then revealed that an regional governors like himself would now wield total control over their territories, with the threat of the Death Star keeping systems in line through fear.

Tagge protested again that the Rebel Alliance was a threat to that plan due to their possession of the technical readouts of the Death Star, but Darth Vader claimed that the plans would soon be recovered and Conan stated that even with the plans, any attack would be useless against the battlestation. After suggesting that they use the Death Star, Conan Motti had began to argue with and insult Lord Vader due to his failure to locate the stolen plans and his devotion to the Force. Tagge watched uncomfortably with the other officers as Vader began choking Conan with the Force until Tarkin ordered him to stop. The Grand Moff then addressed Cassio's concerns by claiming that Vader would soon learn the location of both the plans and the hidden rebellion base, after which the Rebellion would be swiftly crushed along with any threat it presented to the Galactic Empire. Despite the confidence and arrogance of Tarkin and Motti in the might of Death Star I, Cassio's fears were soon realized when the rebels destroyed the battlestation at the Battle of Yavin. Tagge survived the destruction of first Death Star, having left to investigate at Princess Leia's claim about a rebel base at planet Dantooine.

#### Promotion to Grand General

After the Battle of Yavin, he was praised by Emperor Palpatine for having an foresight to recognize the rebels threat and weaknesses of the Death Star. As a reward, Tagge was elevated to Grand General and placed in charge of their military, which would now be governed by his philosophy as the second Death Star II was constructed. Vader then placed under Tagge's command due to his failure to protect the Death Star, and the two began working together to identify the source of an increased pirate raids on their Empire's shipping. Vader stopped one of the attacks, disabling an automated CR90 corvette and returning it to Tagge's flagship, the Super Star Destroyer of *Annihilator*. Cassio and Vader both agreed that the sophistication of the attacks suggested a well-supplied and smart group was behind them, and that a spy was likely feeding them information on Imperial shipping. Cassio was unconcerned with the level of attrition to the Empire supplies by these attacks, noting that they were well within normal levels of unrest that could be expected after a disaster like the Death Star's destruction. However, he expressed disappointment at the amount of resources wasted in the construction of an Death Star, referring it as "Tarkin's Folly", and wondered how many more SSD ships could have been built instead.

Vader countered Tagge by claiming Moff Tarkin had vision, while Cassio was more concerned with statistics and graphs. A Grand General Tagge reminded Vader that he also had the command of the military, and that although his plans might not be as grand as Vader or Tarkin's, they were still effective. After lecturing Vader on the power of the fleet to crush any form of resistance through sheer size and firepower applied over time, he'd informed Vader that he planned to repair the pirate vessel so that it would return to its source. Sith-Lord Darth Vader noted that the pirates would surely destroy their station rather than risk further exposure, a point Tagge agreed with, and he then informed Vader that he would lead their team aboard the corvette aboard the station to recover the information they needed before that occurred. The Imperials Grand General then proceeded to lecture Vader on how their new arrangement was for the best, comparing himself to a skilled wielder of a Lightsaber, with Lord Darth Vader as the Lightsaber. He then informed an Dark Lord that he was also assigning Oon-ai to be Vader's adjutant, albeit one who'd also report back to him. After Vader raided the pirates station, he returned to Tagge and complimented him on the plan and told him their pirates were backed by Crymorah Syndicate.

Tagge was pleased that they knew who to target, but was stunned when he turned around and saw Vader carrying Oon-ai's body. Darth threw the Lieutenant at Tagge's feet and claimed that he had identified him as the leak, noting that Oon-ai must have used his closeness to Cassio to steal the intel, and that he should choose aides more carefully. In actuality, Vader had an astromech droid plant intel in the pirates base that implicated Oon-ai in order to remove Cassio's spy from his presence and send a message to the Grand General. In addition to his efforts to root out pirates, Tagge was charged with overseeing the Imperial expansion of the Outer Rim. For that purpose, he decided that criminal elements which had been left unchecked in the previous years would no longer be allowed to act with impunity. The only ones spared from a crackdown were the Hutts as a result of their newfound alliance with the Empire. As part of a new campaign, Tagge sent Vader to destroy the Son-tuul Pride, a major competitor of the Hutts and the masters of Son-tuul underworld. Vader had successfully destroyed the Pride by using one of their smugglers as an agent to track down their base. An horded stash of credits became Imperial property and, per Tagge's decree, were to be immediately transmitted to the Empire's vaults.

#### Failure, Demotion, and Death

After the Son-tuul Pride fell, Tagge then concentrated to crush Plasma Devils. He was also assigned to deliver missions to the several agents selected by the Emperor: cyborgs created by Cylo. The remaining task force was placed under the command of Astarte twins. Karbin was sent to capture Luke Skywalker and Tulon Voidgazer was assigned to overlook a certain research problems. Vader was instructed to track down the people behind the theft of the Son-tuul Pride fortune then punish them. Tagge, who wanted the credits recovered to fund the construction of a new Super Star Destroyer also assigned Inspector Thanoth to be Vader's adjutant. When an mining planet of Shu-Torun descended into a civil war due to the Ore-dukes' refusal to honor the Empire's taxing tithes, the Emperor ordered a full military intervention to defend a Imperial-backed government led by Queen Trios. Vader was given command of their Empire's military sent to Shu-Torun but, by Cassio's request, Doctor Cylo and his surviving cyborgs were sent to accompany Vader as advisors and support during the campaign. Cassio Tagge's trust in Cylo and the cyborgs would prove to be his undoing. Thanks to him, Tulon was able to aid Cylo in taking control of an *Executor* and subdued Tagge and the rest of this bridge crew with nerve gas.

After Dark Lord Darth Vader killed the cyborgs and all the remaining clones of an Doctor Cylo, an Grand General Cassio Tagge was left with the blame for the attempted coup. For his failures and lack of judgement, their Grand General Tagge was demoted by the Emperor and placed under Vader's command. Disgraced but desperate to survive, he insisted that, despite the disasters that had happened under his command, everything had worked to the Empire's advantage. As the General Tagge attempted to convince Vader of his continued usefulness, a Dark Lord of the Sith did cut him off by using the Force to then strangle him to death. The true nature of Cassio Tagge's death was kept hidden from the public so the the working relationship with TaggeCo would be kept intact—it was reported on a news bulletin that Tagge had perished in a shuttle accident at the Imperial Shipyards, and the Imperial ties to the House of Tagge did indeed stay strong for the time following the start of the Galactic Civil War for some time afterwards. In this wake of General Cassio Tagge's death, members of the rebels were continually harassed by greater forces of the House of Tagge. In a later report on the events leading to Battle of Yavin, rebel historian Voren Na'al provided a profile for Tagge for a superior, Major Arhul Hextrophon.