Westhills skirmish In 6 BBY , the Lothal ian youth Beck Ollet and two other insurgents were involved in a brief skirmish with an Imperial Troop Transport in Lothal ' s Westhills . After witnessing Imperial forces massacring unarmed protesters during the Spring season , Beck had joined a three - member rebel cell that was dedicated to bringing down the Galactic Empire . Infiltrating a mining camp which had formerly been orchards , Beck and his fellow insurgents managed to plant detonators on Imperial mining droid s ; damaging the machines . Pursued by an Imperial Troop Transport , Beck and his comrades fled in a landspeeder . During the pursuit , Beck exchanged fired with his Imperial pursuers with a blaster . While fleeing to a nearby bridge , Beck ' s speeder was hit and began to slow down . However , Beck ' s friend Zare Leonis , who had come on a jumpspeeder looking for his former classmate , managed to slow down the Troop Transport by flinging a detonator underneath the vehicle . This momentary distraction gave Beck and his friends enough time to flee across the bridge in their landspeeder . The Troop Transport then attempted to pursue Leonis but the youth managed to flee across the bridge in time . Shortly later , Beck and his rebel associates were arrested by Imperial stormtrooper s . Under the auspices of the Imperial Security Bureau , Beck was enrolled in an experimental re - education program known as Project Unity . Meanwhile , Leonis infiltrated the Academy for Young Imperials with the intention of finding his sister Dhara Leonis and working against the Empire from within . While studying at the Imperial Academy on Arkanis , Leonis was exposed as a traitor by a brainwashed Beck and subsequently pleaded guilty to his involvement in the skirmish at the Westhills . He was sentenced to death but managed to escape with Dhara due to the efforts of his girlfriend Merei Spanjaf and the Spectres rebel cell . Background . Following the end of the Clone Wars , the Galactic Empire occupied the Outer Rim world of Lothal . They wanted to exploit the planet ' s rich mineral wealth and to establish a new hyperspace route . While agriculture had been the main industry on Lothal prior to the Imperial occupation , the expansion of Imperial mining operations had caused extensive pollution and many families to lose their lands and livelihoods . In 6 BBY , Imperial security forces under Lieutenant Piers Roddance had massacred several unarmed protesters in the Westhills protesting against Imperial polices on Lothal . The Lothalian youth Beck Ollet and his friend Zare Leonis ( an offworld migrant ) had witnessed the massacre and became disillusioned towards the Empire . Beck ' s hostility towards the Empire needed little encouragement since he had always resented his family ' s decision to sell their orchards in the Westhills to the Empire . During the summer season , Beck joined a three - member rebel cell that sought to overthrow the Empire in retaliation for its destruction of orchards and massacre of protesters in the Westhills . To conceal his insurgent activities , Beck told his parents that he was spending the month riding jumpspeeders around Lothal with his cousins before starting work as a harvest supervisor in the fall . The Raid . One day , Beck and his fellow insurgents decided to plant detonators on mining droid s at a mine in the Westhills . This mine had been built over the field which had been the site of the earlier Westhills massacre . Prior to departing on this raid , Beck contacted his friends Zare and Merei Spanjaf thanking them for being his friends if he did not return . Beck and his colleagues managed to plant detonators on several of the mining droids ; damaging them . Before they could finish their work , they were spotted by an Imperial Troop Transport and were forced to flee on their landspeeder . While fleeing , they left behind a canvas satchel filled with detonators . Receiving Beck ' s message from Merei , Zare traveled to the mine on his jumpspeeder and quickly discovered Beck and his colleagues ' handy work . Zare then witnessed Beck ' s landspeeder being pursued around the mine by the Troop Transport . The Imperial Transport had managed to score a hit on the speeder , damaging one of its repulsorlifts . Through his macrobinoculars , Leonis witnessed Beck exchanging fire with a blaster with the Imperial Troop Transport . Beck ' s landspeeder managed to flee into a nearby orchard but was unable to elude the Imperial Transport . Wanting to aid his friend , Leonis picked up Beck ' s abandoned canvas satchel and followed the Troop Transport and Beck ' s landspeeder on his jumpspeeder . Beck and his comrades drove towards the bridge which lay across the Barchetta River while under fire from the Troop Transport , which was equipped with frontal anti - vehicular cannons . Seeing that the Troop Transport was closing in on Beck ' s landspeeder , Zare flung a detonator from Beck ' s canvas satchel at the rear of the Imperial vehicle ; causing the vehicle to almost topple . This distraction enabled Beck and his companions to flee on their landspeeder across the bridge linking Barchetta River . However , Zare ' s action had failed to destroy the Imperial Troop Transport , which turned its attention to him . Fleeing the Transport ' s blaster fire , Leonis managed to escape across the bridge . The Transport was unable to continue its pursuit since it was too wide to cross the bridge . Aftermath . Beck and his fellow insurgents ' attack on the Westhills mine drew the ire of the local Imperial authorities on Lothal . Since the Empire had identified their landspeeder , Beck and his comrades were forced to go into hiding . Prior to going into hiding , Beck managed to arrange a final meeting with his former classmates Zare Leonis and Merei Spanjaf . During their meeting , Beck asked Leonis whether he had been spotted by the Imperial authorities . Leonis responded that nobody had contacted him so far which meant that they did not recognize him . Beck also regretted his attack on the Westhills mine since he felt that the Empire was too powerful to take on openly . While the time was not ripe to launch an insurgency against the Empire , Beck advised his friends to use other means to work against the Empire . He advised Zare to infiltrate the Imperial Academy on Lothal in order to fight against the Empire from within . He also encouraged Merei to put her slicing skills to good use against the Empire but cautioned her that the Imperials were increasing security measures . Shortly after the meeting , Beck went to hide with his fellow insurgents in a shuttered shop in Capital City ' s marketplace . However , the Imperials had managed to track them down and promptly arrested Beck and his two fellow insurgents . Zare witnessed the arrest and resolved to continue his mission to infiltrate the Academy . Leonis also wanted to find his sister Dhara Leonis , an Imperial cadet who had disappeared under suspicious circumstances . Following his arrest , Beck was tried by an Imperial security tribunal which found him guilty and enrolled him in an experimental re - education program called Project Unity . During his interrogation , Beck remained hostile but acknowledged that he had been a new recruit to a three - person resistance cell that was opposed to the Imperial occupation of Lothal . He managed to conceal Zare ' s involvement in the raid on the Westhills mine by claiming that the mysterious jumpspeeder rider who had attacked the Imperial Transport pursuing his group ' s landspeeder was an " angry farmer " . In the meantime , Leonis excelled in his Academy training and was eventually transferred to the Arkanis Academy , where he attempted to join a secret society called the Commandant ' s Cadets in the hope of finding his sister Dhara . However , he was exposed as a traitor by a brainwashed Beck Ollet . During interrogation and a military tribunal , Zare confessed to his role in the Westhills skirmish and several other crimes including fraudulent enlistment and aiding the Spectres . As a result of his guilty plea , Zare was sentenced to death . However , he and his sister Dhara managed to escape Arkanis with the help of Beck , Merei , and the Spectres .