r/GalacticEmpire

Inspired by the excellent Grand Admiral Zaarin artwork by Absorbconical, I did my first ever commission. Shated with permission. I hope that my fellow Grand Admiral enthusiasts find it interesting.

I figured it'd be a neat effect to have Batch showing off some of creations (and a probable one) along with a more practical demonstration of the cloaking devices.

Batch was indeed a genius- but also ruthless and unethical in the extreme. Per his destruction of Aeten II, he has the dubious distinction of being one of the few known Imperials guilty of mundicide. He really didn't let anything stop him from achieving his goals.

Per his own writing in the Imperial Handbook, he outright says that Imperials should murder civilian crews if they posess cloaking devices.

Batch seems to have had a large Fleet- at least 9 ISDs per the Imdaar Alpha artwork and almost as many in the game itself. He also had overall command of the Executor SSD Terror, and possibly another cloaked Executor at Fondor. He also had access to the top Imperial superweapons, such as the Tarkin. Swarms of cloaked TIE Phantoms and he is also known to have provided Palpatine with a cloaked shuttle and yacht.

For ground forces, Batch wouldn't just have had the usual shipboard complements. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that there were two Imperial Terror Projects involving cloaked forces. Batch almost certainly had a role in the development of the cloaked Terror Troopers. He certainly had no qualms about such experimentation.

Batch appears to have been completely loyal, but also aware of what happened to Grand Admiral Teshik, Bevel Lemelisk, Vader himself, and how Advisors were randomly killed (per WEG). He didn't want to suffer their fates, or worse.

Grand Admiral Zaarin has been specifically stated to have acted when he did only Batch was about to give Palpatine an unbeatable edge with the cloaked TIE Phantoms, and the cloaked Executor-class Terror and the Fondor SSD. The Rebels somehow found out about Batch's projects, and it was only after Batch's projects were ruined that Zaarin felt free to move against Palpatine. Zaarin likely betrayed Batch. There's a strong case to be made that Zaarin feared Batch, or at the very least didn't think he could have won against Batch's cloaked forces. So, he made sure Batch would be out of the way, though he probably didn't expect Batch to survive and go into hiding.

Thing is, he was somehow able to hide, along with at least a few ships, for several Months before Endor to about half a year afterwards. Approximately a whole year in hiding. It's impossible to believe that the Empire had no plans to go after him, though if so how, and who among the Grand Admirals would have been assigned to the task? It is impossible to believe he wouldn't have been prioritized.

Batch's crew must have been fairly loyal to him, at least a good while, or they didn't even realize that he had abandoned the mainstream Empire until long after he left.

As for how Batch was able to hide, the subtext of the original Gamer article has the cloaking device guy going into hiding. That is, whatever forces he had left possessed working cloaking devices. Or so it can be inferred, if it wasn't implied.

Batch's reported death is the murkiest and uncertain of all the Grand Admirals. Normally it wouldn't be a huge surprise if such a person really was murdered by his crew, but this was the guy who had cloaking devices, and almost certainly personal cloaked devices as used with the Terror Troopers. If anyone had the technology, means, and motive to escape and go into hiding, it was Batch.

Alternatively, the crew that turned on Batch were some of his own Terror Troopers. He might have had a truly horrific end, being stalked over a prolonged period of time by invisible monsters of his own making.

After Batch's crew got out of hiding, they must have been quite shocked to learn about the state of the Empire and what happened in their absence. Warlord Harrsk is known to have acquired several ships from Batch's forces. Warlord Harrsk is also known to have controlled the Megador, though not prior to Endor. Batch was known for having access to experimental ships and the larger warships in the Imperial Navy- perhaps Megador was among them? Batch still having control of a larger warship in hiding would explain the apparent reluctance or inability of the Empire to go after and neutralize him.