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Continuity & Analysis

Star Wars: Rebels - Through Imperial Eyes (2017) [S3E17]
As Thrawn's search for the Rebel spy intensifies, Ezra Bridger looks to extract Kallus
and bring him to the Rebel base.
Star Wars: Rebels - Secret Cargo (2017) [S3E18]
The Ghost crew must escort Senator Mon Mothma, now wanted by the Empire,
to a meeting that can change the galaxy.




CONTINUITY
These two standalone episodes are both about Rebels working from within the Empire. Two worlds are seen in these episodes:

These episodes take place in the later months of 7975 (2 BBY). Ezra has now been Kanan's apprentice for three years.

- Lieutenant Lyste was last seen a few months earlier on Lothal in 'An Inside Man' (S3E10). He mentions that he had an unpleasant meeting
with "ranking officers" after "that incident with the princess from Alderaan." Those events took place a year and a half earlier.


Why is Agent Kallus hanging around on a light cruiser engaged in standard patrol operations above Lothal? He is shown
to wake up in sleeping quarters on the ship, which could suggest these are his regular quarters but doesn't prove that.
This ship is not going anywhere, so it is not as if Kallus is simply taking advantage of travel time to sleep. The ship is
conducting routine orbital defense and patrol activities, which under most circumstances have little or nothing to do with
Kallus' duties and purview. If not for the unusual shuttle theft, when Kallus awoke from sleeping he would be on a small
ship performing a task that has nothing to do with him, and which has minimal facilities for research or 'paperwork' or
any other task Kallus might have to do. Is the implication supposed to be that Kallus boarded the ship to get some sleep?
He could have done that more comfortably from one of the many Imperial facilities on Lothal, and when he awoke, he
would be somewhere in which his actual duties could be performed. This is not the first time in this series that officers
are shown to be cruising around on a light cruiser when that would seem to be an unlikely thing for them to be doing.


- Ezra states that no one is going to recognize him be of "how big the Empire is", and because "most troopers don't even know what I look like
now." The first statement is quite correct, as the galaxy's population is astronomical, and even a 'remote' sector like Lothal has many
millions of inhabitants across its many planets. It probably has billions of inhabitants when all totaled, although that is not true for every
single sector. Regarding his being identified, 99% of troopers in the galaxy should not even know his name, let alone what he looks like.
There are thousands of small rebel groups, some more significant than others, and there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of
wanted persons in the galaxy, including rebels, criminals, and others. If Ezra is referring to "most troopers" in the Lothal Sector, which
includes the local garrison, Konstantine's sector fleet, and Thrawn's 7th Fleet, it is much more likely that a trooper would have at some
time been alerted to look out for a high value target like Ezra who directly interacts with their forces on a semi-regular basis, and may
have been shown his image. Ezra suggests they probably saw images of what he looked like a couple years earlier.
Main Article: Galactic Population

- The Empire was able to monitor Kallus' last 'Fulcrum' transmission. The exact means are unknown, although this was probably made possible
by their response to the escape of Kanan and Ezra from the Imperial factory on Lothal. Knowing that there are transmissions leaving
Imperial facilities on Lothal, it becomes much more likely those transmissions can be isolated and listened to. Thrawn had already
determined there was a mole from those events, and had apparently narrowed it down to Agent Kallus, Lt. Lyste, or Admiral Konstantine.


- The Empire routinely arrests people with little cause, and exaggerates or mislabels criminal activity as treasonous rebellion. This is due to its
tough on crime, zero tolerance policies which seeks to round up any disorderly individual it can to be reassigned to forced labor. This kind
of arrest is also done to meet quotas and improve an officer's effectiveness rating. The burden of proof required by law in the Empire
is exceedingly minimal, and the word of Imperial officers are considered sufficient evidence for an Imperial court to convict.

- Imperial protocol is for droid witnesses to a crime to provide evidence as testimony against the criminal in official proceedings.

- Imperial clearance codes are specific to a single ship or facility, thus limiting the risk of stolen codes being used against them. They are likely
changed at some regular interval, to enhance security. Clearance codes can only be accessed by officers, meaning that only specific
terminals on an Imperial ship or at an Imperial facility can be used to download them. These are referred to as "officer's ports."


Lt. Lyste is excited about the presence of "sector command staff", and wonders what they are doing aboard Thrawn's
destroyer. The three officers shown have all appeared in previous episodes of this series, Captain Brunson, Captain
Slavin, and Jr. Lt. Brom Titus. What exactly does Lt. Lyste mean by calling them "sector command staff" in this context?
Considering that this is the Lothal Sector, the sector command staff should be Admiral Constantine, the commander
of the sector fleet, and some previously unseen General, commanding the sector's standing troops. It may also include
high-ranking Colonels, Commanders, and other upper-middle-tier officers, in command of specific purviews such as
aerospace forces, communications, security, logistics, technical crews, and engineering. If "sector command staff" is
a more general term, it could refer to officers of lower ranks like Captains and Lieutenants who are attaches or other
functionaries who work directly for sector commanders. Either way, the officers they chose to show are inappropriate,
and were almost certainly chosen to save money, because these characters' animation templates had already been
created. Slavin is an officer of Thrawn's 7th Fleet, and was seen assigned to Ryloth, far from Lothal. The 7th Fleet is
not a sector fleet, as its operations are not localized to one sector. Its large presence in the Lothal Sector is due to being
assigned by Moff Tarkin to aid Moff Pryce. Like Slavin, Brunson was also seen operating in the southeastern portion
of the galaxy, running a small ship on routine patrol when they came across the Spectres. Brom Titus is part of Army
Intelligence, once an important General, he was demoted and relegated to running a salvage station a few sectors
away from the Lothal Sector. He could be in some way related to the Lothal Sector command, but that would be a bit
of a stretch. Nevertheless, these officers are not particularly important or high ranking, and don't fit well with any
conception of what "sector command staff" could mean. It would be unlikely to the point of absurd that these three
officers which the Spectres previously ran into by accident would all happen to be Lothal's sector command, despite
having never previously been seen actually in the Lothal Sector, and all having very insignificant ranks. These officers
could all be part of the 7th Fleet under Thrawn, but are far too low-ranking to constitute that fleet's "command staff."
Main Article: Ranks and Rank Insignia


- Code cylinders are the clipped-on metal cylinders seen worn on the uniforms or jackets of some characters in the SW universe. Originally
added to be a nondescript detail with no intended purpose, decades of legends material incorrectly attempted to explain them as
some kind of the rank insignia. Other material suggested they were tools or devices of some kind, which is precisely what they are
established in this episode as being. Code cylinders function as both access keys and a means of proprietary identification.


The officer now called Yularen was an unnamed character from Episode IV with no lines, first seen on Tarkin's
command staff aboard the Death Star, and later seen walking a corridor. His rank insignia identifies him as a Major
General in the Imperial Army. He was first named in 1995 by a playing card game, which gave him the designation
'Colonel Yularen'. The fact that this rank insignia cannot stand for Colonel based on the other insignia established by
canon did not really matter, since a card game is in no way canon material. He was subsequently given a backstory
in canon material as a Republic Admiral during the Clone Wars. The creators of this series chose to try and expand
upon Yularen within the Empire, but unfortunately imported his supposed rank of Colonel from the legends game.
This would be an absolute continuity error if he were in the regular military, however the invention of the ISB for this
series allows a way to explain this discrepancy, as higher-ranked officers in police forces are usually Colonels, rather
than Generals. It has therefore been established that this insignia represents a Colonel within the ISB, however if it is
used for that rank with a regular military officer in the future, that would be a continuity error. Lucasfilm has begun
to compound its rank insignia confusion with further nonsense as a result of not understanding this problem.
Main Article: Ranks and Rank Insignia


- Thrawn reveals how he chose the parameters for his probe sweep seen in 'Warhead' (S3E14), which were based on "an analysis of rebel
hyperspace routes, their attacks on Imperial ships and facilities, and rather importantly, proximity to Lothal."

- "Accessing information tends to be easier than having the means to transmit it without the Empire's knowledge", which is further indication
that the Empire has a near stranglehold on interstellar communications through HoloNet, which it inherited from the Republic and now
maintains. Sending a transmission without being monitored is all the more difficult when using Imperial equipment. However coded
transmissions can be sent using unorthodox methods without being detected by the Empire, most of the time. Once the Empire has
an idea of either the source or the destination, triangulation seems to make it easy for the Empire to determine a transmission has
at least been sent. It is unclear how Yularen knows that a coded message he just noticed was a "rebel message" if it is encrypted.
Main Article: Hyperspace Communication

- The Ghost meets the escaping Mon Mothma at coordinates in space where the wreckage of a Separatist warship can be found, shortly
before the public announcement of the Rebel Alliance. This is a symbolic allusion to the Rebel Alliance as the successor of the Separatist
Alliance, a rebel organization which also fought Palpatine's rule back when the Empire was the Republic. The remains of a Separatist
frigate are also a reference to the last galactic conflict, the Clone Wars, as the results and unresolved issues of that war have ultimately
precipitated the Galactic Civil War, which is either about to begin or has recently begun, depending on how one defines it. The fact that
this ship is destroyed is also a warning about what happened that last time an organized rebel force attempted to resist Palpatine's
leadership, and that organization had a massive military, tens of thousands of starsystems with loyal populations and industrial facilities,
and access to huge financial and resource assets. Sidious engineered the Clone Wars in part to sap the galaxy of rebellious entities,
which exposed themselves and were destroyed or occupied. The devastated fighting spirit of the galaxy has begun to rebuild, and
the cycle of history has once again produced an organized resistance. Once again, Sidious has foreseen this and planned accordingly.
Main Article: Darth Sidious and The Plan


- HoloNet broadcasts are omnidirectional and can be viewed without betraying one's location, unlike a directed communications signal.
Imperial HoloNet is state-run, so it does seem strange that Mon Mothma's "treasonous" remarks are being rebroadcasted in full
later in the day. This may be indicative of some of the last vestiges of press freedom which have been left as part of the Empire's
crumbling facade of civility, however some broadcaster may have paid a price for their journalistic integrity considering that,
unlike Mothma's pirate address later on, the Spectres viewed her Senate speech on a regular channel.
Main Article: Hyperspace Communication

- Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila was first seen in Episode VI as leader of the Rebel Alliance. She next appeared as a background
character in the prequels, where her only lines were in deleted scenes from Episode III. She often appeared in The Clone Wars,
but until this episode had not been officially established in canon as representing the planet Chandrila. This world was also
made canon here, confirming supplementary and legends material. Mothma was last seen 3 years earlier in Andor.

- The Empire has massacred "peaceful" civilians on the planet Ghorman, a world in the Sern Sector of the Colonies region, mostly populated
by Humans. It had been a member of the Republic for many millennia, and held some small weight and influence in interstellar politics.

- Erskin Semaj is Mon Mothma's Senatorial attache, who will later be seen to have become a Commander in the Rebel Alliance. The leader of
Gold Squadron is Captain Jon "Dutch" Vander, who first appeared in Episode IV where he was KIA leading his bombers against
the Death Star. He also appears in the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One, by means of old footage from the original SW film.

- Mothma and her starfighters have presumably made their flight in haste, and need to refuel. Considering the fuel capacity of a starfighter,
this may have soon been true even if they left on a full tank. Mothma's Taylander shuttle probably has a fuel carrying capacity closer to
that of the Ghost, however they too need to refuel at regular intervals like most ships. Starfighters are designed to be light, small,
and agile, and are not meant for long-distance transportation, and thus need to be refueled much more often. The shape of the fuel
tanks the Ghost is hauling suggest that fuel storage might be the purpose of some structures and ship parts seen in other SW.
Main Article: Hyperspace Travel


The fighter pilots from the Chandrila rebels are upset at the Spectres for blowing up Tarkin's destroyer, as it provoked
a harsh Imperial response. That was two and a half years earlier, yet they mention it as though it had happened recently.
Has nothing else that provocative happened in the last two years? Considering all the rebel activity in the huge galaxy
with a population in the many trillions, it would stand to reason there would have been more than a few other actions
undertaken somewhere which similarly provoked the Empire. These pilots act as though that one event years ago is
the primary reason for the Empire's intense security program and counterinsurgency efforts. The idea that the rebels
familiar to viewers constitute the entirety of rebel groups or forces in the galaxy has never been the case, especially
in the original trilogy, where those shown were only one small part of a larger galaxy-wide civil war. Thanks to legends
and small-minded creators inside and outside of Lucasfilm, big picture considerations like galactic population which
were treated carefully by Lucas material are increasingly ignored in favor of overstating the importance of known
characters, constantly reusing them, and placing them at the center of the story. This reduces the large and complex
society of the galaxy to a few hundred important people and a few small groups who are the only meaningful actors.
It is as if the many trillions of other people in the galaxy are just part of the set, not actual beings with priorities and
responses to political and economic realities. It could be that the Spectres are being held up as an example of a group
which uses brazen approaches, and that there are indeed others like them. Nevertheless, it is hard to see why these
pilots seem so upset about this one rebel action years earlier, considering what else must have gone on since.
Main Article: Galactic Population


- As seen in previous SW material, the Empire was able to track Mon Mothma's trajectory in hyperspace by virtue of having tracking systems
prepositioned and knowing what they were looking for. In this case, she left Coruscant, where tracking facilities in and around the system
are numerous. Although she escapes capture again, the Empire now knows which starsystem she is in, and can focus its nearby scanning
ability to isolate any ship leaving it. As these systems are less proximal and less numerous far from a major system, the Empire can only
"attempt" to track a ship in this way, unless they had a full cordon of large ships with good scanning technology. In most cases, ability
to track the trajectory of a ship's first jump out of a system is neither certain nor unlikely, and depends on the circumstances. Hera
wants to "sneak" Mon Mothma out of the sector by using a nebula, as hyperspace tracking should be thin near an obstacle which is
avoided for safety by hyperspace travelers. Imperial monitoring probes, stations, and beacons are likely very numerous in the galaxy,
but space is astronomically vast, and these must logically be positioned to most effectively scan established hyperspace routes of all
sizes. This inevitably leaves huge blind spots and gaps which are only covered by additional probing or the presence of ships.
Main Articles: Hyperspace Travel & Scanners, Sensors, and Cloaking Devices

- The Archeon Nebula is a stellar nursery located in the Lothal Sector, a subsector of the Dominus Sector in the Slice region of the Outer Rim.
It is difficult to traverse, due to its dense pockets of volatile gases, numerous forming stars and young stars forming starsystems. It is
usually avoided by travelers as a serious obstacle to safe navigation, however it is also an unmonitored route in and out of the sector.


- Proton torpedoes are dangerous to detonate inside dense concentrations of gas like a nebula, as they can ignite pockets of gas.

- "Deflector screens" are the best and only defense against high-levels of heat and solar radiation such as generated by a star, or a forming
star in this instance, as they are designed to reflect and redirect energy, and can also be directionally energized.
Main Article: Shields, Deflectors, and Ray Shields

- Dantooine was first mentioned in Episode IV as having been the prior site of a Rebel Alliance base. This base was presumably built shortly
after these events. Dantooine was first seen in Clone Wars 'Chapter 12', where Mace Windu led Republic forces against a Separatist
droid army. It was fought over for its strategic position, and perhaps due to the value of its agricultural exports. Its population is not
insignificant, but is relatively minor compared to the standards of the Core. Considering its rural, agrarian nature, it is not surprising
that the Empire has taken little interest in the planet, and has probably has no permanent military presence. There may be Imperial
officials concerned with tax and trade occasionally visiting major centers or cities, however a remote rebel base could function on such
a planet for some time without being noticed by the Empire. As seen in later material, the Alliance will not stay based here very long.


Why are Mon Mothma and the Spectres waiting in suspense to see if anyone will join them over Dantooine? The drama
of this scene must be false or exaggerated, otherwise it is a continuity error of one kind or another. These ships arrive
within 10 seconds of each other, in formation and facing the exact same direction. This shows that they traveled
together, having previously gathered, and that they left their point of departure long before Mothma began her brief
transmission. They were therefore going to arrive here regardless of her transmission, and their arrival or lack thereof
has little to do with her message. Earlier in the episode, Hera described this as "THE meeting", suggesting that only
rebel cells which were already part of the loose network were invited anyways, and that their meeting had already been
arranged. As seen on the screen during her transmission, they had clearly hacked into HoloNet to send this message, or
found a way to transmit using the Empire's HoloNet frequencies which scrambled the broadcast source and interrupted
the regular broadcast. This was in no way a signal beacon to alert anyone to her location, as that would have brought
only the Empire. Those who heard this message were not intended to be able to find her. If the rest of the Rebel fleet
was waiting nearby for a signal, this could explain the suspense when they didn't arrive immediately, however the idea
implied by the scene that she called the ships forth is still exaggerated, as this had to be a prearranged rendezvous.


- The Alliance to Restore the Republic is formally and publicly proclaimed by Mon Mothma's transmission. The exact start of this organization is
subject to interpretation. It could be considered to have been formed during the last few days of the Republic, as seen in deleted scenes
from Episode III. Most definitions of the Alliance would place the formation of this formal union between the network of cells at this point
or shortly before, however this organization functionally existed since at latest 7973 (4 BBY), as the main cells which formed the Alliance
were already coordinating their efforts at that time. The Alliance which was officially forged at this meeting includes a number of smaller
entities, but is primarily composed of Phoenix Group, Massassi Group, the Alderaan and Chandrila resistance movements, and the Mon
Calamari Fleet. Other groups will remain peripherally associated with the Alliance without integrating into the unified military force.

ANALYSIS
Kallus exposes himself as a Rebel agent by being too good at covering his tracks. His success in evading discovery to this point has resulted
in the Empire discovering the existence of a double agent within their operations in the Lothal Sector. His ability to continue his activities
despite increased Imperial monitoring proved to Imperial authorities that the culprit was likely an officer, and was certainly one with a range
of talents. This has already placed him on the short list of candidates, and the skill displayed in once again covering his tracks in the incident
with Lyste has made the talented Imperial spy the most likely candidate. Thrawn's thorough investigation linking Kallus to Ezra only confirmed
this for the Empire. Kallus was bold to attempt to protect his cover, when he could have chosen extraction, a move fitting of a highly-trained
espionage agent who believes in their cause. This was not a wise choice, considering the Empire was clearly closing in on their mole, and
implicating an officer of Lyste's limited capacities was unlikely to protect his cover much longer even if Thrawn had not already figured him
out. Rebel tactics are becoming predictable to the Empire, which has accumulated experience in dealing with the Rebels, and has finally
appointed its more thoughtful strategic masterminds to handle the problem. The Empire has nearly every material advantage, so Rebel
tactics rely on taking advantage of Imperial weaknesses, and the use of misdirection, subterfuge, and infiltration. This has created a pattern
which the Empire can use to predict Rebel tactics, and use to engineer responses which take advantage of predictable Rebel behavior.
Phoenix Cell in particular often relies on the unique abilities and uses of their two Jedi, which the Empire's operatives are aware of and have
begun to counter, or at least prepare to face opponents with their abilities. Thrawn knows from studying Hera that she will always take
the "unlikeliest path", especially if others may not dare to. This allows the Empire to respond with a trap that should have succeeded.
The one thing the Empire cannot counter is the Rebels unlikely tactics, which once again turned a certain defeat into a Rebel victory.

The Emperor has ordered "brutal attacks" against Ghorman, described as a "peaceful world", which no doubt attempted some non-violent
resistance in regard to an issue that mattered to the Emperor, or perhaps simply to the Imperial system generally. Mothma describes this
planet as "one of countless systems helpless against his oppressive rule", which is probably a more general reference to the overbearing
system of Imperial governance. The attack on Ghorman seems to have been something of a uniquely atrocious atrocity, as Mothma
describes the "massacre" of civilians. The scale of the killing must have been significant to warrant notice, considering that the Empire
usually disperses crowds by force. This attack on Ghorman may also have been an indiscriminate reprisal campaign, which would be in
keeping with the Imperial responses to the unraveling security situation in this era, and would shock even the complacent Senate.
The Senate is still a politically powerful entity which the Emperor must handle with care, however his extensive influence over a huge
number of Senators and other political figures predates the Empire itself, which severely limits opposition to his rule. As his regime became
entrenched and the Imperial program developed, Palpatine's has worried less and less about upsetting the Senate. He has steadily pushed
the limits of Senate tolerance, slowly acclimating them to an ever more repressive security state. At times, he has tested their limits, leading
to push back. In other instances, his abuses of power were exposed, and he was forced into political concessions to preserve the stability of
the political landscape. These instances are rare, but ensure that even at this point in the Empire when the Senate is more obsolete than it
has ever been, the Emperor is not invulnerable to public opinion as controlled through the Senate. If Mon Mothma did not have a soapbox
by virtue of her Senate seat, it is unlikely anyone would have heard her condemnation of the Emperor, which carried far more weight with
the public coming from a privileged Imperial insider. Mon Mothma was part of the coalition during the Clone Wars who naively attempted
to preserve liberty in the galaxy by leading a 'war for peace', resulting in the rise of the Empire. Her commitment to democracy and due
process was so great that she tried to reform the Empire from within the Senate. Having finally realized that democracy exists for show
purposes only in the Empire, and that the system cannot be saved from within, she has used her clout one last time to great effect.

Although the Rebel Alliance is technically still not an official organization, the differences in goals, tactics, and ethical values of different rebel
groups has already presented itself as a potential impediment to the success of this fledgling revolution. Individual rebels were pushed into
taking up arms for different reasons, and different groups have a range of histories resisting the Empire. The better equipped rebel groups,
usually from stable Imperial worlds often in the Core, don't want to rock the boat, as their primary interest is in building larger military force
which has a realistic chance of taking on an Imperial fleet. They do not wish to remain a guerrilla force forever, and seek the respectability
of a traditional military and an organization which encapsulates the civilized, democratic behavior they wish to restore to galactic politics.
Other rebel groups are not interested in waiting at all, as they see that the Empire's production capacity and potential manpower resources
make any hope of competing with them on equal footing is a failed strategy. Their goal is to achieve strategic disruption to Imperial operations,
win key, symbolic victories over superior Imperial forces, and generally harass Imperial resources. This is intended to make the Empire look
weak and vulnerable, to encourage local rebellion on Imperial worlds, and distract Imperial forces from targeting resisting worlds. Groups
favoring either approach do share many goals, most importantly their desire to resist the Empire with force, and their goal of inspiring
a larger, grassroots rebellion across the galaxy. The Alliance may not have the resources to combat the Empire head on, but it can act as
a navy, coordinating body, and arms supplier to isolated pockets of rebels throughout the galaxy. If such a rebellion grows large enough
it would be doomed to failure without some kind of navy, thus the Alliance's role would prove invaluable no matter its limited resources.

The Alliance to Restore the Republic was already a functional network of allied rebel cells when it was formally constituted and publically
announced. The proclamation of the Rebel Alliance was most significant as a political rallying cry and a definite milestone in the Galactic
Civil War period, which is usually considered to have already begun. The challenge to the Emperor was not only intended to increase recruits
and allies to their cause, but also to accelerate the growing trend in public discourse about open and organized resistance to the Empire.
The highly invasive security state of the Empire makes organizing locally very difficult anywhere with a significant Imperial presence, so
an illegally broadcast message from a Senator on HoloNet being seen across the galaxy was a signal and a wake up call to all disaffected
elements within the Empire that the time for action was coming. It was also notice that the Empire would be looking hard for rebel activity,
but would also be busier than ever trying to contain it, opening up many possibilities. The official formation of the Alliance did streamline
some of the various rebel cells which had their own starfleet into a unified military structure, and subordinated it to a civilian leadership
of current and former elected officials, in keeping with their philosophy and goals of restoring democratic institutions. This organization
presented a far greater threat to the Imperial military than any of the cells on their own, but more important was its institutional challenge
to Imperial authority. The Alliance represents an alternative galactic government in exile, which despite its lack of actual power does stand
as a potential alternative to loyalty to the Empire, and its very existence suggests to the galaxy the possibility that the Empire is illegitimate.
The Alliance unites those who wish to go back to the days of the Republic with those who simply wish to see the Empire gone. That divide
will one day become an issue of political importance, but for now the common struggle against the Empire is a major unifying force.


FURTHER ANALYSIS
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