Kuat (INB) - Yesterday evening, in a planned operation, Imperial security personnel forced the hand of a group of disloyal officers surrounding the former Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military, Hatori Hoorl. Hoorl and his cabal of co-conspirators had been under surveillance for some time, and in recent days the net had begun to close in around the faithless Hoorl, leading him to abandon his more wide-ranging plans for perfidy and instead ‘cut and run’, leaving his junior accomplices chasing after him as he fled into the depths of space.

The news for many broke at approximately 1200 standard time, with the broadcast of messages across all major Imperial communication frequencies, ostensibly heartfelt cries of anguish from defecting personnel bemoaning their conspirator-in-chief Hoorl’s lack of progress in pushing his own personal agenda through Imperial High Command, which resisted his attempts to centralize more power around himself.

Though swaddled in allegations of corruption and dereliction of duty at the highest levels, these complaints in their essence reflected the bitter personal frustrations of one man, Hatori Hoorl, who despite his elevation to the lofty heights of Supreme Commander less than a year ago, has increasingly found himself unhappy with the limitations of operating in a rules-based organization like the Galactic Empire.

Despite being delivered as personal pleas from the defectors to their former colleagues, they received a decidedly cold reception; Imperials are well used to hearing such propaganda about the Empire flowing from the various rebel groups of the galaxy, and whilst jarring to hear these lies from once-trusted lips it was nonetheless clear from whom Hoorl had been taking his lines.

Perhaps most egregiously amongst the many personal grievances Hoorl dictated his juniors should cite as the founding principles of their new group is their stance towards alien liberation. Seeking desperately to find some legitimate basis upon which to found their existence, and rejecting Hoorl’s own political inadequacies as insufficient grist for their mill, the dissident group of officers seem to have settled on exploiting the differences between species as their main point of differentiation.

Repeating the Rebel lie that the Empire mistreats its alien members, the new group calling itself the ‘Restored Empire’ has declared they will be proudly pro-alien and seek to involve them at every step.  “It’s a bold strategy,” one Imperial Intelligence analyst noted dryly, “one wonders however if anyone’s bothered to run it past Hoorl.” 

In recent years the Galactic Empire has broadened its acceptance of aliens into its branches, including allowing Class B aliens to serve in the Imperial Army. Even the notoriously selective COMPNOR organization has appointed aliens including former New Republic Chief of State and  Herglic Galen Darksol to the position of Chief Executive of the Corellian Engineering Corporation, and a Chagrian to the Sith Council. However one branch has stood out as resolute in its prohibition of aliens: the Imperial Navy, which whilst the Army opened its doors to Class B aliens was under the direct command of one Lord Admiral Hatori Hoorl. “With friends like Hoorl…” said the Intelligence analyst.

Whilst his scrabble to protect himself from apprehension today almost left his friends and co-conspirators behind, their loss may not have been so keenly felt by the former Supreme Commander, who has been understood to have been seeking out friendship, funding, and common cause with the Rebel Alliance. “If the botched execution of this defection wasn’t a clear enough give-away, this splinter group’s talking points surely are,” said ISB-Director Patrick Bisson.

However Hoorl’s choice of sponsors will not prove popular with the very officer corps he sought to recruit amongst. With his own long history of anti-alien policy-making, it’s clear that his newfound zeal for xeno-welfare is a requirement of his new allies. Indeed the Imperial News Bureau understands that despite their stirring words, the defectors did not succeed in persuading even a single alien to join their flight from Imperial service.

Indeed, within the Empire it’s clear that although the defectors’ departure has been met with dismay, it has so far met with curiously little sympathy. For many, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Hatori Hoorl, whose ego made him think himself bigger than the Empire, and whose ego now has doomed his co-conspirators to a lifetime on the run from Imperial justice. 

“The departure of long-serving Imperials is always unfortunate,” said one source, “but it’s especially disheartening to see once-promising officers junior to Hoorl throw their career into a black hole for the sake of one frustrated senior officer’s ambitions and hot temper.”

“Despite having almost complete control over the Imperial Military for a year, and making many dozens of changes, Hatori Hoorl is a man who could always be relied on to find something about which to disagree,” said another source familiar with the situation. “His ability to deliver was not always where it needed to be, and he seemed to find that highly frustrating without realizing he was the source of his own problems.”

Whatever the truth behind Hoorl’s motivations, his execution of his treason was deeply flawed.  As he made his preparations to enact his scheme, Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) operatives revoked his security clearance, locked him out of the holonet and seized his funds. Instead of being able to give a rousing speech to try and sway other members to join him, he was forced to ask another member of the coup to post speeches themselves, robbing the action of any semblance of credibility or leadership. 

In an incredible example of the ISB’s devotion to our safety and their duty to protect us from terrorism, the speech itself was able to circulate Imperial channels for approximately two minutes before it was removed. The defection was therefore contained to a handful of participants, who lacked the ability to perform even the most basic act and spread their flawed and petty ideology. 

Grand Vizier Marcus Elensar, speaking on behalf of the Throne, said, “Whilst the Empire has overcome another challenge and Hatori Hoorl’s treason was foiled, there is little to celebrate here. The Empire has lost a number of officers who have sacrificed themselves for one man’s ambition, and across the Imperial Military people will rue absent friends who once stood at their shoulder but who now stand with a knife at their back.”