Phase III was the most deadly with an assault rifle, rocket launcher, and grenades. Phase II had a jet pack and a heavy assault rifle. Phase I was a skeletal droid that used a vibroblade. The Dark Troopers had three 'phases' or robotic designs, with the second and third phase capable of being used as either an autonomous droid or an exoskeleton for a humanoid. After the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first Death Star, Mon Mothma contacted Kyle Katarn to look into another Imperial threat, the Dark Trooper Project. In Star Wars: Dark Forces, Kyle Katarn is a mercenary and former stormtrooper who helps to secure the Death Star plans. In Star Wars Legends, there is a story that predates Rogue One and tells a different version of events leading up to A New Hope. 12 The Opening assault on Tantive IV (Episode IV) By the time Jyn and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) send the plans to the Rebel forces orbitting the planet, they appear to be the only Rebels alive on the planet. These high stakes are one of the reasons why Rogue One is so impressive. This includes some major characters and key players from Rogue One, including Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). They succeed in killing most of the Rebel forces on the planet's surface. There are other times that stormtroopers seem unthreatening in Star Wars, especially when they are fighting against the main characters - has anyone ever really worried that a stormtrooper would shoot and kill Luke Skywalker or Han Solo? But on Scarif, the Imperial forces attack with deadly precision.
Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) leads the Rogue One team to the planet of Scarif there, they begin a suicide mission in order to retrieve the Death Star plans. The third act of Rogue One takes the audience through the critical moments that lead up to the opening sequence of A New Hope (1977).