Kintaro

The Galactic Republic prosecuted the Clone Wars against the Separatist rebellion by dividing its armed forces into twenty Sector Armies, each designed to protect a specific oversector, or priority sector, of the galaxy. Near the conclusion of the war, in 19 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine enacted the Sector Governance Decree, which created a system of twenty of the most powerful regional governors, called Moffs, who were placed in command of each of the twenty Sector Armies and their respective territories to maximize the Republic's war effort. This command structure allowed the Moffs to act without needing to consult with squabbling senators. Moff Kintaro was given the responsibility of supporting the Republic's Fifteenth Army, also known as Hook Nebula Command, in the Sarin Oversector, with sector headquarters at Qeimet. The Fifteenth Army was envisioned as primarily a reserve force to reinforce Republic troops fighting on the Corellian Run, Hydian Way, and Rimma Trade Route hyperlanes.

After the war's end, as the victorious Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire under the authority of Emperor Palpatine, the Sector Armies and the Moffs' military territories remained. The Empire's militarization eventually reorganized the Republic's wartime boundaries into a more efficient and permanent set of oversectors, and the twenty original Republic Moffs became the first Grand Moffs of the Empire. In the face of a largely superficial Imperial Senate that wielded no real legislative power or military control, the responsibility fell to Kintaro, the Imperial High Commander of the Sarin Oversector, and the other Grand Moffs to maintain peace, coordinate the vast resources of the Imperial Military, and ensure the doctrines of Palpatine's New Order. The Emperor ultimately dissolved the Senate in 0 BBY, granting the Grand Moffs direct control over their territories.

Kintaro's sovereignty over the Sarin Oversector continued into the Galactic Civil War and the year 3 ABY, by which time he had established his capital on the planet Talofan. The Grand Moff also allowed a lucrative and illicit spice trade to operate within his domain. Ororo Transportation, a front company for the criminal Tenloss Syndicate, built a large, hidden shipyard in the remote Vergesso Asteroids, within the Lybeya system of the Bajic sector. The facility, one of the largest shadowports in the galaxy, served as the main distribution, storage, and repair hub for the Tenloss Syndicate's spice trade and other illicit dealings, catering to thousands of tons of illegal cargo each year.

Indeed, Kintaro's sector authorities were well aware of the hidden Ororo base, but the Grand Moff deemed that it posed no threat to sector security, because he relied on the operation to supplement his income. Ororo paid Kintaro well for his silence, delivering a hefty monthly tribute to his capital on Talofan. Kintaro was thereby satisfied with overlooking and even going so far as to conceal the operation from his own staff and officers. He refrained from bringing the base to the attention of Imperial Military forces and ordered the local Imperial Security Bureau to ignore it. The ISB, in turn, gladly focused its resources on uncovering Rebel bases and Imperial traitors elsewhere.

Kintaro and the ISB did not know, however, that the Ororo base also served as a major safe port for the Rebel Alliance and that much of the contraband that passed through the shipyard ended up in Rebel hands. Many types of Rebel and other starships, from starfighters to cruisers, underwent repairs at the base right under Kintaro's nose. Ororo developed sympathies for the Rebellion after too many encounters with the might of the Imperial Navy and privately wished to see the Empire replaced with a government that would prove less efficient in hampering its criminal operations. In 3.5 ABY, Ororo's growing spice business came to the attention of Prince Xizor, leader of the Black Sun criminal organization, a major competitor of the Tenloss Syndicate. To both damage his rival and curry favor with the Emperor, Xizor informed the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader of the Ororo shipyard. The Emperor, displeased with Kintaro for allowing such a Rebel base to operate under his watch, ordered Vader to destroy the shipyard.

The ensuing Battle of the Bajic Shipyards resulted in a tremendous Imperial victory, as Vader's forces destroyed hundreds of Rebel ships and thousands of pilots and crew members. Meanwhile, the Emperor had Kintaro executed for failing to secure his territory against Rebel invasion.

Grand Moff Kintaro's corruption proved to be his undoing as the Imperial governor of the Outer Rim Territories' Bajic sector, a hotbed of illegal spice trading among both the Black Sun and Tenloss Syndicate criminal factions. In accepting bribes to allow Ororo Transportation to operate its spice trade within his territory, Kintaro failed to realize that Ororo's Vergesso Asteroid base also catered heavily to the Rebel Alliance—not that he was likely to investigate either so long as his lavish kickbacks continued. Kintaro's private arrangement with Ororo Transportation unwittingly left him vulnerable to the machinations of Prince Xizor of Black Sun, who engineered the shipyard's destruction through the Emperor, thereby sealing Kintaro's fate, as vengeance against Ororo for daring to impede upon Black Sun's spice operations in that sector.

Grand Moff Kintaro was first mentioned in passing in the 1996 novel Shadows of the Empire, written by Steve Perry.

• Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
• Shadows of the Empire Planets Guide
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
• The Official Star Wars Fact File125
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Guide to Warfare