Research scientist Galen Erso and his family are in hiding when Orson Krennic, Director of

Advanced Weapons Research for the B Imperial B Military, forces Galen to return to work on
Krennic’s unfinished B Death Star aB space stationB capable of destroying entire planets. After
his wife is killed, their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken into safely by B Saw Gerrera. Fifteen
years later, Bodhi Rook, an imperial cargo shuttle pilot B defects B and smuggles a holographic
message from Galen to Gerrara on the moon Jedha. An adult Jyn is freed from imperial captivity
by the Rebels, who plan to use her to track down her father, and then kill them to prevent the
weapon from being completed.

Jyn and Rebel officer Cassian Andor and hisB droidB K-2S0 arrive on Jedha to find Gerrera,
where his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against the Empire, which is extracting
Kyber crystals from the planet to power the super weapon. With the aid of blind warrior Chirrut I
hmwe and mercenary Baze Malbus, Jyn finds Gerrera, who is holding ROOK. Saw shows her
the hologram, in which her father expresses his love for her and discloses his coerced help on the
project. Galen also reveals he has covertly compromised the Death Star’s design so it can be
destroyed. He tells her first the plans are at an Imperial high -security data bank on the planet
Scarif.

Grand Moff TarkinB meets with Krennic on the Death Star and expresses skepticism about the
project and its management. As a demonstration, Krennic uses a low- powered shot from the
weapon to destroy Jedha’s capital and crush the insurgency led by Gerrera, forcing Jyn and her
group to flee with Rook, while Gerrera elects to remain behind and die. Tarkin congratulates
Krennic but then uses security breaches under Krennic’s command as a pretext to take control of
the project.

Jyn tracks her father to an Imperial research facility, but he is mortally wounded in a Rebel
bombing raid and dies in her arms. Just before the attack, he admits to Krennic that he was
responsible for the leaked message. Krennic evacuates the planet and the Rebels leave in a stolen
Imperial cargo shuttle. On Mustafar, Darth Vader, limbless and submerged in a Baka Tank is
informed of krennic’s arrival and exits the bath. Upon meeting the Dark Lord, Krennic makes a
request to meet the emperor directly to reassure him of the Death Star’s progress and potential.
As Krennic begins implicating Tarkin in the destruction of Jedha, Vader then reiterates the
secrecy of the Dead Star, implying that not even the Imperial Senate knows of it, and the Senate
has only been informed that Jedha was destroyed in a mining disaster. Krennic is then ordered by
Vader to ensure the Death Star’s design has not been compromised by Galen. Krennic selfishly
asks whether or not he is still in command of the Death Star, and if Vader will talk to the
Emperor on his behalf. Seemingly insulted by his arrogance, Vader uses the power of the force to
briefly choke Krennic and in a stern yet humorous warning, advises Krennic to not choke on his
aspirations.

Jyn proposes a plan to steal the Death Star schematics from Scarif, but with her father and
Gerrera dead and the hologram destroyed, the Rebel leadership have no way of verifying her
story and cannot agree on a plan. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn, Ander, K-2S0, and a number
of rebels use the stolen Imperial shuttle to raid the data bank themselves. Disguised as Imperial
officers, the three search for the plans, while the rest of their team set off explosives and
commence firing in the nearby landing area in order to distract the resident B Imperial garrison.