Governor Wilhuff Tarkin stood on the flagship's bridge, viewing a grim scene through the projection on the screen.
The Consul-class Star Destroyer Tarkin's Will was plunging toward Onderon. A gaping breach had opened along one side of the vessel, spewing torrents of flame.
Even before it began landing on Dexen Satellite, the Star Destroyer had fallen into a Separatist trap. Its Engine Department had been destroyed, leaving it completely powerless.
Afterward, he had arranged for several transport ships to hold Tarkin's Will in place with tractor beams and dispatched engineering teams aboard for emergency repairs, hoping to bring the warship back if possible.
However, the reports from the engineering teams were disappointing—the engines of Tarkin's Will had been damaged too severely to be repaired. The only option was to wait until the battle was over, then have Kuat Drive Yards send a large engineering vessel to completely replace one of the Star Destroyer's engines before taking it to Quat Planet for a full overhaul.
Thus, throughout the brutal landing battle on Dexen Satellite, Tarkin's Will had simply floated lifelessly through space, a silent observer from beginning to end.
Yet just as the fighting on Dexen Satellite had finally drawn to a close, an accident suddenly occurred. Another violent explosion erupted inside Tarkin's Will. According to the engineering team's report, fuel had likely leaked from the Star Destroyer's still-hot Hypermatter reaction reactor, igniting the ammunition magazine.
The explosion blasted vast quantities of superheated gas and fire from inside the Star Destroyer, propelling it toward Onderon. It was ultimately captured by the planet's gravity and inevitably began to fall.
The engineering teams still aboard the Star Destroyer evacuated in an emergency, but many were nevertheless trapped inside and crashed with the short-lived warship into Onderon's primeval jungle.
Wilhuff Tarkin watched the scene