Ninguém, pelo menos inicialmente
Um dos motivos pelos quais tanto Tarkin quanto Krennic parecem estar "no comando" quase que contemporaneamente é que Palpatine tem uma política real de não permitir que uma única pessoa controle todo o desenvolvimento da Estrela da Morte:
All the same, he had no compelling reason to solve the enigma of the battle station’s beginnings. What bothered him was that, compliant with a strategy that no base commander—Moff, admiral, or general—should have unrestricted access to information regarding shipments, scheduling, or construction progress, no single person was in charge of the project, unless of course the Emperor was considered to be that person.
Tarkin
Dito isso, as descrições do papel de Tarkin no projeto de Tarkin e Catalisador alinham amplamente:
And there were rumors to the effect that Tarkin had been instrumental in convincing Palpatine to move forward with the battle station—even that he had had a similar weapon in mind even before the discovery of the Geonosian schematics. Serving nominally as adjutant general for the navy, he was rapidly being brought up to speed on the status of the battle station, and there was talk among the members of the inner circle that Tarkin was being groomed to assume leadership of the entire project.
Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
Isso é amplamente consistente com a narrativa apresentada em Tarkin:
If establishing the identity of Sentinel’s enemies was already proving daunting, getting to the truth of the battle station’s origin was nearly impossible. Everyone from celebrated ship designers to gifted engineers wanted to take credit for the superweapon. Tarkin himself had discussed the need for such a weapon with the Emperor long before the end of the Clone Wars. But no one outside the Emperor knew the full history of the moonlet-sized project. Some claimed that it had begun as a Separatist weapon designed by Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser’s hive colony for Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. But if that was the case, the plans had to have somehow fallen into Republic hands before the Clone Wars ended, because the weapon’s spherical shell and laser-focusing dish were already in the works by the time Tarkin first set eyes on it following his promotion to the rank of Moff—escorted to Geonosis in utmost secrecy by the Emperor himself.
Tarkin
Ambas as fontes concordam que:
- Tarkin foi talvez "responsável" no sentido de que ele havia trazido a idéia de uma arma do tipo Estrela da Morte antes da ascensão do Império.
- Tarkin foi uma grande força por trás da "estação de batalha móvel".
- Tarkin acabou assumindo a liderança total do projeto.
Catalyst acontece antes de Tarkin . No final do Catalyst , Krennic foi abatido, e Tarkin recebeu significativamente mais autoridade sobre o projeto (a posição em que o encontramos em Tarkin ):
Krennic snorted. “Is that why Tarkin has been assigned command of the Sentinel bases?”
Amedda spread his large hands. “He is merely there to safeguard against further setbacks. It pleases the Emperor to keep him close to you.”
“That’s Tarkin’s job—to monitor me?”
Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
O motivo pelo qual não há menção de Krennic ou Erso é que não há muita razão para eles aparecerem. Krennic está envergonhado e relegado a uma posição de menor prestígio, e não está causando nenhum problema. Erso é apenas um cientista, ainda que de alto perfil, e Tarkin provavelmente não pensa nele com muita frequência.