Actions of the Rebel Alliance
In reality, the ones who benefited most from the Galactic Empire moving against the Trade Federation were naturally the Rebel Alliance.
The Trade Federation had cut off a large number of hyperspace routes leading to the Outer Rim Territories, throwing the Galactic Empire's rule there into chaos. As mentioned before, at least one-fifth of the Outer Rim was now inaccessible.
Although the Galactic Empire reacted immediately, dispatching large numbers of exploration teams, navigators, and hyperspace specialists in an attempt to rebuild the routes, that still required time and resources. In the meantime, those Outer Rim systems had completely slipped out of control.
The Rebel Alliance indeed intended to seize this window of opportunity. Besides proceeding with their original plan on Ryloth to take control of the Galactic Empire's 14th Army jurisdiction, they also began launching uprisings on planets where Imperial power had weakened.
The reason the Rebel Alliance moved so quickly was that the Trade Federation had handed the Outer Rim Territories' data to the Duchy of Dawn, which then passed it to the Rebel Alliance through its own channels. Moreover, the Trade Federation had very professionally marked which routes in the navigation data were unknown to the Galactic Empire—those were easy to identify. Whenever Imperial ships traveled through routes the Galactic Empire did not know about, they had to rent the Trade Federation's navigation services.
Thus, while the Galactic Empire poured nearly all its strength into preparations to wipe out the Trade Federation in one stroke, the Rebel Alliance was also expanding rapidly throughout the Outer Rim Territories.
At this moment, on Columex in the Outer Rim of the galaxy, atop a colossal office tower that soared into the clouds.
A beautiful woman in a sharp business suit sat behind her desk, wearing a