Destruction of the Cathedral of Winds The destruction of the Cathedral of Winds was an incident of sabotage performed by the Galactic Empire in 11 ABY . With the intent of killing Leia Organa Solo and Gial Ackbar , Imperial Ambassador Furgan ordered Terpfen to sabotage Ackbar ' s shuttle . While ferrying Organa Solo to Vortex , Ackbar crashed against the local Cathedral of Winds and killed hundreds of native Vor s , which was a blow to the morale and reputation of the New Republic . Eventually , Terpfen confessed to Organa Solo and she cleared the good name of the Republic ; meanwhile , the Vors built a second Cathedral . History . Prelude . In 11 ABY , after the death of Palpatine , the New Republic made advances to the Vors , wanting them to join the new , anti - Imperial government . As a token of good will , the Vors invited Leia Organa Solo , a diplomat of the New Republic , to the Concert of the Winds . Organa Solo ' s friend , Admiral Ackbar decided to ferry her using his personal ship , a B - Wing shuttle customized by himself and by his trusted chief mechanic Terpfen . Unbeknownst to Ackbar , Terpfen was an unwilling agent of the Galactic Empire , being under the control of Imperial Ambassador Furgan . With the intent to kill both Ackbar and Organa Solo , Furgan ordered Terpfen to sabotage the ship . Terpfen had obeyed the order . Destruction . When Ackbar arrived to Vortex , a Vor controller open a channel with him . Any incoming alien ship was to receive specific coordinates to follow , taking the winds in consideration , so the pilot could veer properly . Although Ackbar was an excellent pilot , his ship never veered as he intended her to . Thrice the controller asked Ackbar to correct the approach . Understanding that the ship was to crash land , Ackbar ejected Organa Solo , and then attempted to save the ship , but when he tried other systems , the ship spun out of control , approaching the Cathedral of the Winds while the controller vainly tried to order an abort . At that point , thousands of Vor were flying around the Cathedral . One of the flaps of the B - Wing detached itself , and the B - Wing plowed into the floor and the foundations of the Cathedral , and eventually collided against the lower part of the building . The flying Vors tried to escape , but most of them were too slow to escape injury . The Cathedral broke into a rain of sharp glass splinters , killing more than three hundred and fifty - eight Vors . The structure as itself fell soon afterward , leaving only a few standing tubes . Organa Solo had survived unhurt and Ackbar had only injured his arm , but Terpfen convinced Furgan that this was a greater blow to the morale of the New Republic than Furgan ' s original plan . The New Republic now appeared dangerously incompetent . Soon afterward , New Republic Chief of State Mon Mothma contacted Organa Solo ' s husband to report the situation . The peace talks were cancelled , though the unflappable Vors never filed any complain or made any threat . Reconstruction . With their traditional stillness , the Vors began the re - construction of their Cathedral almost immediately and with quasi - religious fervor . Instead of building again the same Cathedral , they were following a new layout apparently existing only in their collective minds . This new Cathedral , although still bright , crystalline and made of cylinders , was sleeker than the original one and had a more organic aspect . The Vors also decided to direct all of their creative energies to this new task , not wanting to sing or perform any music . The species was stunned , and they thought they could not retake any routine until the Cathedral could sing again , but they apparently did not blame either Ackbar or the Republic for the accident . Mon Mothma sent a team to help them re - build the Cathedral , while at the same time partially cleaning the stained image of the New Republic , although the Vors had not asked for any help during the reconstruction . The New Republic Council considered other measures to be taken in the face of the tragedy : They opened an investigation , but the records were analyzed by Terpfen , who falsified the results and suggested pilot failure as the only valid option . Senator Hrekin Thorm of the Council considered that Ackbar could lead the repairing team in Vortex , as a punishment for his failure ; Senator Garm Bel Iblis opposed , as the Vors would probably not want him on their planet . With this pressure , Ackbar resigned from his post , The Vors did not welcome the relief team , neither did they disturbed their activities . They seemed to not recognize the presence of the glove - wearing Humans . New Republic General Wedge Antilles was assigned to temporarily lead this team , and thus he traveled to Vortex along with Qwi Xux , an Imperial scientist he was to protect . Both of them joined the team . Xux , a former musical performer herself , found a small crystal flute in the floor , a remain of the Cathedral . She picked it up and , eyes closed , improvised a tune . Vors stopped their work , approached her , surrounded her and , blinking , listened intently . The relief team went there too , believing Xux to be in danger . Xux finally stopped the music and opened her eyes , wordlessly watching her audience . A big male clan leader of the Vors walked to Xux , took the flute from her hand , smashed it on his , and ordered to avoid any further music until the Cathedral was ended . All the Vors then flew away . Seeing that the aliens had not been understood , the Vors made an official communiqué explaining that music in Vortex could be considered a mockery . The Chief Council of Vortex , Krini - shen , made the release , clarifying that Xux ' s melody would not be reproved as it had been clearly a misunderstanding . Partly as an apology , Xux provided the Vor with quantum crystalline technology created by her that could be used , and was used , in the new Cathedral . Soon afterward , Qwi Xux was attacked by Dark Jedi Kyp Durron in Ithor . Durron erased most of her memories , including those of her stay in Vortex . However , Xux would later recover her important memories of how she played the flute for the Vors . Before the Cathedral had been re - built , Terpfen managed to confess his sabotage to Organa Solo . With this information , Organa Solo cleared the names of Ackbar and of the New Republic , and notified Vortex and other planets . Only months after the disaster , the Vors had re - built the Cathedral , and again they invited New Republic dignitaries to the new Concert . Many of them attended , including a pleasantly surprised Ackbar , the Solo Organa extended family , General Antilles and Xux , and Duchess Mistal of Dargul with her consort . Then , for the first time in decades , the Cathedral played again , performed by flying Vors and with no machine recording the music . The Vors opened all the windows and doors for the grand finale . Although the Vors kept mostly the same rules and laws , they also established a no - fly area of two kilometers around the Cathedral , to avoid a similar disaster .