Semi-Nationalization of Kuat Drive Yards
After suffering two consecutive defeats, the Imperial military seemed to feel that its half-year of war preparations had achieved nothing, so it placed the blame on the constraints imposed by domestic military-industrial conglomerates.
Thus, under these circumstances, Emperor Palpatine issued a decree requiring all military-industrial conglomerates within the Empire to be nationalized, with the Empire taking controlling stakes.
At Palpatine's behest, Sith Fleet Systems, Corellia Engineering Company, and Kuat Drive Yards—the Big Three largest military-industrial conglomerates of the Imperial era—all came under enormous pressure. Second-tier companies, including Nubian Starship Power Company, Incom Corporation, Blaster Technology Company, and others, faced even fiercer pressure.
Little Kuat, the current Kuat of Kuat of Kuat Drive Yards, did everything he could to withstand the pressure from the Emperor. He began bribing officials of the Imperial Industrial Inspection Committee and used Chief Engineer Lila-Vesex's connections to approach Dunn-Vesex, attempting to resist the pressure through the military's influence.
To Little Kuat, aligning himself with Dunn-Vesex was completely different from directly handing half the company over to Palpatine. His relationship with Dunn-Vesex could still be called mutually beneficial, but with Palpatine, it would be nothing less than outright seizure and plunder!
Little Kuat was extremely resolute. In a secret communication, he bluntly told Lila-Vesex, "I would rather see Kuat Drive Yards, the legacy of my ancestors, and the efforts of countless generations of Kuat of Kuat before me completely destroyed and reduced to ruins! Only then can the Empire have it."
Afterward, he ordered massive quantities of explosives installed at all 117,000-plus connection points on Quat Planet's industrial Star Ring. Should Quat Planet be militarily occupied by the Empire, he would detonate the explosives and have Kuat Drive Yards perish together with the massive industrial Star Ring.
The Galactic Empire responded directly