Attack on Imperial Troop Transports In the fifth year before the Battle of Yavin , two rebels who operated on the Outer Rim planet of Lothal , Ezra Bridger and Garazeb Orrelios , attacked three Imperial Troop Transport s . Prior to the attack , the two were sent on a supply run by fellow rebel Hera Syndulla . During the supply run , the two rebels searched for meiloorun fruit s , leading them to discover meilooruns that had been purchased by the Galactic Empire . Bridger attempted to steal the fruits from the Empire but the two were discovered , leading to a chase throughout the settlement of Kothal . During the chase , Orrelios hijacked a TIE fighter , and the two rebels escaped aboard the stolen ship . Orrelios pilot ed the TIE fighter away from the settlement . The two planned to return to their ship , the " Ghost " , but discovered the Imperial Troop Transports who were carrying three prisoners : Morad Sumar , an old friend of Bridger ' s parents , as well as Sumar ' s wife and an Aqualish . The rebels mounted a rescue and successfully freed the prisoners . The three prisoners jumped from the moving ITTs , and Bridger found himself confronted by a number of stormtrooper s . The rebels were eventually able to escape , along with one of the meilooruns they had been looking for , and hid the TIE fighter on Lothal — despite telling Syndulla and rebel leader Kanan Jarrus that they had destroyed it . Imperial HoloNet News later claimed that the transports were carrying innocent workers . Prelude . In the fifth year before the Battle of Yavin a group of rebels who operated against the Galactic Empire on and around the Outer Rim planet of Lothal undertook a mission to steal and , later , destroy T - 7 ion disruptor rifle s . The rebels were pursued by Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau , who confronted them once they brought the weapons back to Lothal . During the confrontation , Kallus challenged Garazeb Orrelios to single combat with AB - 75 bo - rifle s , the weapon of the Lasan High Honor Guard ; Orrelios , a Lasat , was once a member of the Honor Guard , before the Empire destroyed Lasan . Orrelios was nearly killed by Kallus , the man who had once ordered the use of the devastating disruptor s against the Lasat , but was saved by fellow rebel Ezra Bridger , whose spontaneous use of the Force sent Kallus through the air . The rebels were able to escape and flew away aboard their ship , the " Ghost " . Bridger ' s actions became a source of contention between him and Orrelios , as the boy frequently reminded his Lasat bunkmate about how he saved his life . While attempting to train to use the Force , Bridger became involved in an altercation with C1 - 10P , the C1 astromech droid also known as Chopper . Their fight soon included Orrelios , who had been attempting to sleep . As a result , he chased Bridger into the ship ' s cargo hold . Fed up with their fighting , Hera Syndulla — the owner and pilot of the " Ghost " — ordered them to leave the ship , which had landed on Lothal , and go on a supply run in the nearby settlement of Kothal . In addition to telling them to find everything on her supply list , Syndulla told them not to return without at least one meiloorun fruit . The two ventured into Kothal , where they began looking for the supplies . Orrelios found everything on the supply list , while Bridger looked for meiloorun . While searching , he encountered Morad Sumar , a local farm er . Sumar , an old friend of Bridger ' s parent s , suggested he talk to an offworld importer , as meilooruns did not grow on Lothal . After Bridger said his farewells , Sumar was approached by Imperial Supply Master Yogar Lyste , who asked Sumar if he was willing to sell his farm ; the Empire wanted the land due to its proximity to a vein of ore . Sumar , who had previously rejected the Empire ' s requests to buy the farm , once again declined . Bridger watched the discussion before meeting up again with Orrelios . They soon found a crate of meilooruns belonging to a Rodian vendor , but the fruits had already been sold to the Empire . The two rebels followed the stormtrooper who collected the crates and brought them to a loading area , where Bridger attempted to steal the fruits . He was spotted , forcing Orrelios to throw the remainder of their supplies at the troopers so they could escape . Pursued by stormtroopers , Bridger and Orrelios fled back into the streets of Kothal before splitting up . Orrelios made his way to a nearby landing pad where he hijacked a TIE fighter , piloted by Baron Valen Rudor . Orrelios flew the TIE fighter over Kothal and found Bridger running across the rooftops while being pursued by stormtroopers . Orrelios opened the TIE fighter hatch , and Bridger jumped aboard . Once the two rebels were away from Kothal , they contacted the " Ghost " to tell Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus , the leader of the rebels , about their progress . Bridger and Orrelios attempted to come up with an excuse as to where they were , but Jarrus heard the TIE fighter engine s and the two admitted that they had stolen the fighter . Jarrus , furious that they could have attracted Imperial attention towards the crew , ordered them to ditch the TIE fighter and return to the " Ghost " immediately . The attack . As the two rebels flew the TIE fighter towards the " Ghost " landing site , Supply Master Lyste led a squadron of stormtroopers and three ITTs to Sumar ' s farm . When the Imperials arrived , Sumar once again explained that he had no intention of selling his farm . The Empire , however , no longer had any interest in buying it . Instead , the Imperials targeted the ITT guns on the farm and destroyed it . They arrested Sumar and his wife and loaded them onto the ITTs . As the prisoner s were being loaded , Bridger and Orrelios spotted the smoke from the farm . Bridger realized that it was Sumar ' s farm , and the TIE fighter diverted course towards the farm . The rebels detected the ITTs after the Imperials left the farm , and the two decided to mount a rescue , despite Orrelios ' reluctance . When the fighter intercepted the transports , Orrelios contacted the lead vehicle and claimed to be an Imperial Commander named " Meiloorun . " Orrelios stated that there was rebel activity in the area and requested that the transports reduce speed , which Lyste agreed to . With the transports moving at a slower rate , the fighter made a closer approach , allowing Bridger to jump onto one of the transports . Lyste grew suspicious once he saw that " Commander Meiloorun " was flying a TIE fighter , as he knew of the reports of a stolen TIE fighter . Lyste requested that " Commander Meiloorun " state his operating number , to which Orrelios was unable to confirm . Lyste realized that Orrelios was flying the stolen TIE fighter and ordered the transports to resume their previous speed , as well as to shoot the TIE fighter down if they spotted it . Despite the increased speed , Bridger found the prisoners and attempted to reach the control panel to open their cells ; the cells , as well as the panel , were on the exterior side of the craft . Unable to reach the controls , Bridger used to the Force to activate them , and the cell doors opened . Having freed Sumar , his wife , and an Aqualish prisoner , Bridger told them to jump . Although the crafts were traveling at high speeds , the three prisoners were able to make the short jump and land on the ground safely , as the ITTs continued to speed away . The Imperials realized that the cells had been opened , and stormtroopers made their way onto the top of the craft in order to confront Bridger . He evaded their blaster fire while the ITT opened fire on the escaping prisoners , but the prisoners were covered by Orrelios , whose TIE fighter drew the attention of the ITT gun . Bridger jumped onto another ITT and hid behind a crate , the lid of which was blown off , revealing meilooruns inside of it . Using the crate as cover , Bridger fired his energy slingshot at the soldiers , though the energy blasts were unable to penetrate the stormtroopers ' armor . Bridger resorted to throwing meilooruns at them ; one throw knocked a stormtrooper down and , as the trooper fell , he inadvertently fired his blaster at another trooper , throwing the soldier overboard . With the stormtroopers knocked down , Bridger began collecting meilooruns from the crate . The remaining stormtrooper fired at the boy , hitting the meilooruns . Most of the meilooruns exploded from the blaster fire , but Bridger was able to keep one and jumped to another ITT . He was followed by the remaining trooper and threw the meiloorun at him , giving Bridger a moment to take cover behind a turret . Bridger pulled out a wrench from his backpack and placed it into the opening of the gun turret , causing the turret to explode when it attempted to fire on the TIE fighter . The resulting explosion threw the remaining stormtrooper off of the ITT . Bridger climbed back aboard and grabbed the meiloorun , but was approached by three more stormtroopers . Orrelios opened fire on them and the troopers jumped off of the craft . As the TIE fighter swung back around , Orrelios flew it upside down , opened the top hatch , and grabbed Bridger as the fighter flew by . Aftermath . The two rebels flew away from the scene of the attack , and Bridger thanked Orrelios for saving his life — an action that led Orrelios to say that they were eternally even with life - saving . The Lasat also gave Bridger , who collected Imperial helmets , the helmet that had belonged to Baron Rudor , a symbol of their newfound friendship . The two hid the fighter somewhere on Lothal and returned to the " Ghost " , where they explained what happened and claimed that they crashed the TIE fighter . They also handed the meiloorun to Syndulla , fulfilling her original orders . Once back on board , and after having worked together in the attack on the ITTs , the two were able to get along — though they did turn their ire towards Chopper , who they blamed for the situation occurring in the first place . Sometime later , the rebels watched a HoloNet News transmission about the attack on the ITTs . During the transmission , Imperial propaganda claimed that the rebels used the TIE fighter to attack a transport carrying innocent workers . This angered Orrelios , who knew that they had freed Sumar and the other prisoners . During this time , Bridger and his fellow rebel , Sabine Wren , undertook a project to paint the TIE fighter . Wren , an artist , painted the TIE fighter with numerous color s , particularly bright yellow . She considered it some of her best artwork ever . The continued activities of the rebels drew the attention of the upper levels of the Imperial government . The rebels , meanwhile , set out to broadcast an inspirational message to the people of Lothal , in which the crew would announce themselves as rebels fighting for their freedom . Although the transmission was broadcast , Jarrus was captured and held as a prisoner by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , Governor of the Outer Rim Territories . The rebels undertook a mission to rescue him , which led them to Tarkin ' s Star Destroyer , the " Sovereign " , in orbit of the volcanic planet Mustafar . The crew brought the TIE fighter to Mustafar aboard a stolen " Gozanti " - class cruiser and filled the stolen TIE fighter with electromagnetic devices , when they arrived at Mustafar they sent it into the " Sovereign " , where it knocked out the Star Destroyer ' s power . Once they rescued Jarrus , Wren — as well as Orrelios and Syndulla — used the TIE fighter to escape from the " Sovereign " . Morad Sumar and Marida Sumar , sometime later , joined Ryder Azadi ' s rebel cell on Lothal . Behind the scenes . The attack on the Imperial Troop Transports first appeared in " Fighter Flight , " the second episode of the first season of the animated television series " Star Wars Rebels " , as well as the adaptation book " TIE Fighter Trouble " , which was published only in India . It was also referenced in the next episode , " Rise of the Old Masters , " as well as the chapter book adaptation of the episode " Droids in Distress . " Dave Filoni , executive producer of " Star Wars Rebels " , explained that the premise of the episode and the attack came from playing with TIE fighters as a child , and how he would put his hero action figures into TIE fighter toys . The attack marked the debut of ITTs on the show , which were based on a Kenner Products " Imperial Troop Transporters " toy that was available between the 1977 release of and the 1980 release of . The episode was originally planned to include Minister Maketh Tua , a character who appeared in the previous episode , " Droids in Distress , " but was changed to Supply Master Lyste prior to the completion of the first draft script of the episode .