ME: I haven't read Catalyst or the Rogue One novelization by Alexander Freed yet, but I was inspired to write this by my own thoughts on Krennic after having watched the movie. Plus I still have no idea what to do for a TFM update.

Director Krennic is a competent bureaucrat, Governor, but he does not understand his place in the Imperial hierarchy. And now with the completion of the Death Star's construction, he is suddenly far less useful to the Empire. If an organ fails to do its job, a surgeon must remove it from the body and replace it in order to save his patient. The Emperor understands this, but it appears Krennic may not.

(Lord Darth Vader, speaking to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin)

Admiral Orson Callan Krennic, the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for Imperial Military Intelligence, struggled painfully. He had been shot in the back by some Rebel and could only curse the quality of the protective vest he had worn underneath his tunic as he went down. As Krennic looked up, he saw his prized creation, the Death Star, in the sky of Scarif. To say that the Imperial scientific manager was shocked by what he was seeing would be an understatement, and part of him marveled at how magnificent the Death Star looked from his position. But then Krennic realized that the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station was likely present to target Scarif, even though Tarkin had to know he was on the planet.

He wouldn't destroy Scarif! Krennic thought desperately, fear and horror plaguing his mind by mixing with his surprise and awe. Even if that arrogant Grand Moff doesn't value me at all, surely he wouldn't destroy the archives here! They're too critical, the Emp-.

Then Krennic saw that the Death Star was preparing to fire, and he realized that even if the Alliance would be annihilated and consigned to a footnote in some Imperial History class's text file, he wouldn't live to see their defeat.

I thought myself invaluable to the Empire, but it was only for a fleeting period of time in the grand scheme of things, Krennic thought as his end drew near. All the Stormtroopers, TIE pilots, and regular officers that have died on this world and will die I dismissed as disposable, like a box of tissues. But while a handkerchief may be of better quality and more expensive, it, like I, is still ultimately expendable.

Nothing was left of Krennic to bury after the beam struck him. Much like the scientists whose deaths he had ordered on Eadu, Krennic was killed on order of an uncaring superior despite years of service due to a mixture of necessity and having become a loose end. Tarkin would go on to state in his report to Emperor Palpatine that firing on Scarif was a justified effort to protect Imperial secrets, and that Krennic's nature made him no great loss to the Empire.

ME: At first I was pretty disappointed with Krennic as a villain, but after thinking it over it makes total sense.

I mean, Krennic comes from a scientific/engineering background. Just because he can force Galen into working for him does not mean he can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Vader and Tarkin. In the end, Krennic was an expendable and overly-ambitious underling to both Vader and Tarkin, and it showed. Plus he may have been a decent combatant for an officer of his age, but his background means him being relatively unimpressive makes sense. I mean, would you expect the head of DARPA to be a Badass worthy of being a video game's Final Boss? Krennic being relatively unimpressive as a threat compared to Tarkin and Vader's actually pretty realistic.

Now for me to try and brainstorm how a TFM update should go. Suggestions are appreciated, my loyal fans.