"And so, The Mandalore Experiment draws to a close. Sooner than expected, but... successfully nonetheless."

The man who'd spoken had done so with a dispassionate calmness. His cold blue eyes were fixed on the array of holograms standing around a circular table. In this dark and quiet room was a gathering of the most brilliant minds the galaxy had ever known. Yet Director Royce Hemlock- division head of Cloning and Bioengineering- believed himself greatest among them all, and carried himself as such.

"Successfully?! Our efforts to threaten the stability of the First Light have only bolstered their resolve," began Director Orson Krennic, his hologram standing to Hemlock's immediate right with a silhouette made grandiose thanks to his flowing cape. "The beskar we've collected from this venture hardly justifies-"

"I think we know the real reason our friend here is upset," interrupted Director Galen Erso, division head of Kyber Research. "The success of the Mass Shadow Generator alone has brought into question the need for continued investment in Project Stardust. Perhaps our resources would be better spent elsewhere... wouldn't you agree, Director Cylo?"

To Director Hemlock's left stood the conglomeration of man, machine, and alien that Erso had addressed. Director Cylo was division head of Artificial Intelligence and Cybernetics and had wasted no time applying his research to himself. From a distance, he might have looked human. But up close, he was an abomination of machine and grafted flesh.

"While I agree with Erso's sentiment," he said, "...it is unfortunate that we could not do more to undermine the Light's backwards dogma."

"Don't pretend your opposition to my project is anything other than cowardice, Galen!" snapped Krennic, not even acknowledging Cylo's comment. "Even after all these years, you lack the stomach to do what is necessary. Were it up to you, the Empress would have destroyed us already!"

"Need I remind you whose work made Project Stardust possible? Even now it bears the very name I called my daughter!" glowered Erso. "I don't oppose Project Stardust because of some misguided humanitarianism. Director Krennic is well aware that after what the First Light did to Coruscant- to my family- I am well past such concerns. What he refuses to accept is that the relevance of his work has been superseded. It is undeniable that the Mass Shadow Generator offers similar destructive potential to the speculated power of the Death Star's superlaser at a fraction of the cost. And unlike Krennic's folly, we now know it works. I propose Advanced Engineering's time would be better spent on advancing and refining such technology."

"I don't need you to tell me how to run my division."

"If you fail to recognise such obvious facts, then clearly, you do."

"Tell me, Galen- what good is a weapon you can only use once?!"

"It's better than a weapon that is never completed. I would like to remind this Directorate that work on the Death Star was only continued out of necessity- because the First Light had the means for total planetary annihilation and we did not. But expenses and excuses can only go so far, especially when we now have a better alternative. And that's to say nothing of how Krennic's relentless hunger for our funds has hindered the development of the other core division projects- Sybil- Anima- Necromancer."

"Necromancer?! You would rather our resources go towards that superstitious nonsense?!"

"I concur with Director Krennic," Cylo put in. "If it's a choice between the Death Star and the quasi-mysticism Director Hemlock is peddling, I prefer the Death Star."

"I've already demonstrated that the science behind my project is sound," said Director Hemlock, his voice still steely and calm. "If there's one thing recent events have made clear, it's that warships and weapons will only go so far in winning this war. Or do I need to remind you that the Empress' latent power- the very power we are seeking to unlock- was capable of stopping a moon from falling? A thousand turbolasers couldn't have done what she did. We need an answer to that kind of power."

"Besides," began Galen Erso, "...whatever you think of Director Hemlock's work, it's clear he's already produced no small number of tertiary breakthroughs. My team has been eagerly pouring over the technical schematics he recovered from Mandalore."

"What?" said Krennic sharply. "What do you mean?"

Galen smirked.

"It seems Director Krennic's absence from our meetings has left him out of the loop. Care to educate him?"

"It would be my pleasure," said Director Hemlock. "Though... I suppose I'll need to start at the beginning. You would be aware of the three stated objectives of the Mandalore Experiment: beskar acquisition, destabilisation of the Light's governance on Mandalore, and testing of the efficacy of the Mass Shadow Generator."

"I am," Krennic said curtly. "We made contact with the most prominent insurgent group in the system- the Children of the Watch. We bought their loyalty and gave them the means to communicate without risking interception by the Light. We gave them the design of the Mass Shadow Generator, claiming it was merely a tool for producing interdiction fields in space and concealed within the control software a backdoor letting us trigger the weapon remotely. Then, under the guise of Mandalorian rebels, we coordinated scheduled raids against the Light, using the generator to jump into the system and hijack transports ferrying beskar. So where, pray tell, does stealing the Light's primitive technology come into this?"

"It involved the breakthrough your colleague described emerging from our work on Project Necromancer. I call it 'Phantom Cloning'."

"Phantom... Cloning?"

"Traditional cloning, even with growth accelerators, necessitates time and training. Using the techniques the Kaminoans practised, even if a clone was grown to a mature age biologically, their minds were blank slates. Phantom Cloning is different in this regard. It involves taking a live subject and obtaining a completely detailed, real-time picture of the electrochemical processes of their brains. This data is then 'mapped' onto a body artificially constructed from the subject's own genetic material. The process is highly invasive- lethal to the original- but results in the creation of a clone with a mind full of their knowledge and experience. A living ghost... hence the name."

"And what good is a cloning procedure which kills the original?" said Director Krennic.

Hemlock shook his head.

"Perhaps you lack creativity. You are aware of Protocol 66, are you not?"

"Of course! An order for the Republic's clones to execute the Jedi, facilitated by inhibitor chips designed to prevent disobedience."

"Then you should know that such a chip cannot simply be implanted into an already-developed brain. Such a disruption would be, if not immediately fatal, then terribly destructive to their intellect and personality. That is why the Kaminoans embedded the design of the chips into the clones' genetic code- it ensures that both the brain and the chip develop concurrently, in a way that does not impede the functionality of either."

"So then... if you were to create a clone of a person you wished to control..."

"Exactly," smirked Hemlock. "If we have access to a living specimen, we can create a clone biologically and cognitively identical to them- but with a programmable inhibitor chip subject to whatever conditioning we desire. It was this technology I wished to test on the petri dish that was Mandalore."

"Why was I not informed of any of this?!"

"It was not deemed critical for you to know."

"Why not?!"

"I had no need of Advanced Engineering's expertise."

Indignant, Krennic looked around at the other Directors.

"But everyone else... you all knew?!"

"Director Cylo has developed cybernetic augmentations capable of shielding most species from the radiation produced by a stealth field generator. I therefore requested my operatives receive the procedure devised by his team so that we could acquire test subjects more... discreetly."

"And Galen?!" Krennic sneered. "What could you have possibly gained from Galen's cooperation?"

"That... is a little more complicated. By sheer happenstance, a phantom assigned as a guard to House Wren discovered some advanced schematics on the Wren Stronghold's local network listed under the name 'The Duchess'. I tasked Galen with uncovering their purpose... and he delivered. The schematics- though incomplete- describe a weapon designed to combat Mandalorian armour."

"In theory," Galen put in, "...such a weapon would generate arcs of electricity tuned to specifically target beskar, superheating it and vaporising the wearer. You can see why this weapon- and its designer- would be valuable to our cause."

"Exactly," said Hemlock. "I suspected that it was Ursa Wren- the clan's leader- who was responsible for these designs- which is why I dispatched operatives to acquire her. But when we enacted the Phantom Cloning procedure and questioned the phantom, we discovered that she knew nothing of the device. She claimed that if anyone had the expertise to create such a thing, it would be her daughter. A child, if you can believe it!"

"Unfortunately, it would be significantly more difficult to capture the daughter without raising suspicion," Cylo said. "Ursa had been dispatched on a mission to Ord Mantell when we captured her. We were able to fabricate a plausible enough reason for her short-lived absence. But her daughter..."

"Her daughter lived in the Wren Stronghold, under constant guard," grimaced Director Hemlock. "We needed a diversion- a smokescreen which would make this abduction the last of the Light's concerns. Thus, we orchestrated the bombing of Mandalore's Council Chamber. Equipped with kyber-based explosives devised by Galen's team, the Ursa Wren phantom was sent to attend a meeting of Mandalore's most important officials. She wasn't even aware of the bombs she carried- or even of what she'd been programmed to do with them- until it was too late. In the aftermath, we threatened to withhold our support of the Children of the Watch if they did not claim responsibility, thereby obfuscating our own part in the plot. In a climate of such fear and hysteria, it was far easier for the girl's disappearance to go unnoticed."

"And surely, Director Krennic, you now see why the Mandalore Experiment has been so invaluable to our research. The things we've learned- the things we've gained- are difficult even to quantify. In the wake of such advancements, I'm inclined to agree with Director Erso. It is my view that Project Stardust- the Death Star- is nothing more than a grand and expensive monument to the ego to those who envisioned it."

"I'll go one step further," responded Galen. "The old Empire is dead. Director Krennic would have us remain subject to the whims of narcissists like Tarkin and Palpatine. But we've all seen the fate that awaits those who favour size and spectacle to reality and reason."

"Without the Empire, you'd be nothing, Galen!" said Krennic through gritted teeth. But Erso did not take the bait.

"The Noctus Directorate was built upon the ideals of progress, rationality, and truth. It's unfortunate that one of our own cannot help but put his pride before these principles."