Gideon Smith Gideon Smith was a Human miner in the Sil ' Lume asteroid belt . He occasionally worked for the Tredway family and was friends with Sidney Shortfang , a fellow miner . He had a grudge against the Galactic Empire and jumped at any chance to cause them grief . Biography . In 0 ABY , Gideon Smith was working in the Sil ' Lume asteroid belt when he encountered Luke Skywalker who had come to the Sil ' Lume system to investigate the location for a possible Rebel base there . After witnessing the capture of Erling Tredway by Imperial troops led by Governor - General Sebastian Parnell , Smith took Shortfang in his ship , " Rockcan " to fly to 24 Tredway to warn Tredway ' s family of his capture . However , they arrived too late , and the asteroid had been attacked by the Empire , and the workers there massacred . However , with Skywalker ' s help , Smith and Shortfang located Erling ' s sister , Dena Tredway , who had been badly injured in the attack but was able to survive thanks to the help of droid workers at the facility . Smith , who was familiar with the mining tunnels , piloted a boss - buggy to help bring the badly injured Dena out of the mines . After loading her into the " Rockcan " , the group dropped her off at a nearby asteroid inhabited by Doctor Ire Eleazari , Dena ' s friend . As Eleazari healed Dena , Smith , Shortfang , and Skywalker headed for Tol Ado , a prison planet where Erling had been taken following his arrest . The group infiltrated the base by posing as Imperial prisoners after Skywalker donned an Imperial uniform . Working together , the group was able to locate Erling ' s cell in the Deathblock and convince him to escape . However , after learning that his home and family had been massacred by the Empire , Erling was filled with rage for the perpetrators , abandoning his doctrine of peaceful resistance . Looking for revenge , Erling instigated a firefight with the Imperials . As Skywalker attempted to facilitate their escape in a repulsorcraft , Smith pushed Erling to the floor of the vehicle to protect him . The move caused Smith to be struck by blasterfire and he fell from the craft . As the Rebels sped away , Smith was shot to death by the Imperials as his friends escaped . Skywalker greatly mourned Smith ' s death , believing that it had been easily avoidable if Erling had not attempted to fire on the Imperials in a desperate revenge bid . Behind the scenes . Gideon Smith was created by Troy Denning and appeared in one of the role - playing strands of the 1990 West End Games role - playing supplement " Jedi ' s Honor " . During the scenario , the outcome of the adventure is dependent on the reader ' s choices . Skywalker can choose to abandon Gideon and Sidney to work on finding a Rebel base , leaving the two miners to their own devices , but this action results in a failure of the scenario . If Skywalker is unable to convince Erling to come with them due to not visiting 24 Tredway earlier in the scenario , Tredway is left to die on Tol Ado and Smith survives the infiltration of the Deathblock . However , if the group has visited 24 Tredway , Erling agrees to come with them , resulting in Smith ' s death . There is no scenario in which Smith survives if Erling agrees to come with the Rebels .