Raid on the Crucible

A raid on the Crucible during the Clone Wars saw the Ohnaka Gang attack the Paladin-class corvette while it was transporting Jedi younglings who had undergone the Gathering back to Coruscant, attempting to seize their kyber crystals and sell them on the black market. Although the younglings' protector Ahsoka Tano drove the pirates off the ship, she was taken captive, leaving the younglings alone in space.
==Prelude==
During the Clone Wars, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was assigned to escort a group of Jedi younglings — Petro, Byph, Gungi, Ganodi, Katooni and Zatt — to the sacred planet Ilum so they could undergo the rite of the Gathering to earn their kyber crystals and construct their own lightsabers. They travelled on the ancient starship Crucible, accompanied by the astromech droid R2-D2 and the ancient architect droid Huyang.
After all of the younglings had passed the trial, the Crucible departed Ilum, and Huyang began to instruct them on the basics of lightsaber construction. The headstrong Petro, always eager to be first, assembled his weapon with the crystal matrix inverted, which would cause it to explode if activated, for which he was scolded by Huyang. However, the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, leader of the Ohnaka Gang, had gotten wind of the younglings' journey and, knowing how valuable kyber crystals were on the black market, set out to steal the crystals. Despite some of his pirates' hesitancy about getting involved with the Jedi again, Ohnaka was unconcerned, noting that the younglings were just children as opposed to full-fledged Jedi.
==Raid==
The Acushnet, Ohnaka's Corona-class armed frigate, emerged from hyperspace near the Crucible position and shortly began firing on it to disable its engines and hyperdrive. Tano, watching the younglings attempt to assemble their lightsabers, left the hold and headed for the ship's bridge, where R2-D2 informed her of the situation. She ordered the droid to begin trying to get them out of there. Huyang, realizing the ship was under attack, ordered all of the younglings to give him their crystals for safekeeping. Petro, however, only pretended to do so, secretly pocketing his crystal.
The pirates fired grappling lines to snag the Crucible, before spacesuit-clad gang members guided the Acushnet docking tube to mate with the Jedi vessel's airlock. The pirates blasted open the airlock door and boarded. Running back to the hold, Tano encountered the younglings and Huyang in the corridor and, knowing the pirates were getting close, ordered them into the air vents to hide. They hid inside just as the pirates reached that corridor, walking over the hidden Jedi group unaware of their presence.
Formulating a plan, Tano ordered Ganodi and Zatt, the most technically-inclined of the younglings, to go to the bridge and assist R2-D2 in preparing to break the Crucible away from the pirate ship's hold. She ordered the rest of the younglings and Huyang to take shelter in the ship's hold, while she went to the engine room to boost the power so the ship could break away. Tano explained to her charges that the breaching of the airlock seal would cause a vacuum that would suck the pirates off of the Crucible and back onto their own ship, before the parties split up.
When Gwarm and Goru informed Ohnaka that the ship appeared to be abandoned, the pirate captain castigated his men's stupidity before pointing out that the passengers of the Crucible had obviously gone into the ventilation shafts, ordering smoke bombs dropped into the vents to force them out. Zatt and Ganodi, reaching the bridge and R2-D2, were spotted by a pirate who attacked them before being shocked unconscious by the astromech, allowing the younglings to seal the bridge. While Huyang and the younglings in his charge were on their way to the hold, the pirates' smoke bombs forced them out, right into the clutches of a group of the brigands. In the ensuing fight, in which the children and droid were somewhat outmatched, Petro inserted his kyber crystal into his misassembled lightsaber hilt, tricking Gwarm into knocking himself and the other pirates present unconscious when the weapon exploded. Petro retrieved his crystal before the group continued on.
Emboldened by the success of his earlier ploy, Petro convinced Byph, Gungi and Katooni that they should fight back against the pirates, although Huyang, who had been damaged in the scuffle, was skeptical. Tano, reaching the engine room, deactivated the safeties on the power. However, after informing Zatt, Ganodi and R2-D2 of her success, she was dismayed upon realizing the other initiates had not yet reached the ship's hold, and ran off to find them. In the hold, Katooni, Petro, Byph and Gungi set the training remotes to maximum power and piled them up, before hiding behind one doorway as a few pirates entered the room. Katooni contacted Zatt and asked him to close the other door to the training room, although he wanted to know where she was. The pirates were taken out by the remotes, but when the four younglings and Huyang headed through another door in the corridors, they found more pirates, including Ohnaka himself.
As another group of pirates including Goru approached from behind to corner the younglings, Huyang shut a door. Ohnaka demanded the younglings' crystals just as Tano arrived and Force-threw several of the pirates. Having previously met, Tano warned Ohnaka that the Jedi Council would not be pleased by his actions, and he threatened that they would never know he was responsible if there were no survivors. Tano engaged the pirates in combat as the four younglings and Huyang fled to the hold. On the way, Huyang was damaged by a female pirate who shot off his head and arms, although he was able to use his legs to knock her out, with the children gathering up his parts. When the other group was safe, Tano, despite being in the corridor, ordered Zatt to break the Crucible loose.
When the airlock was breached, as planned, the pirates and Tano were sucked toward the cofferdam. Most of the pirates made it onto the Acushnet, although a few were sucked into space. Tano personally ensured that Ohnaka was forced back onto his ship. Once it seemed that all of the pirates were gone, Tano ordered Zatt to jump into hyperspace as the grappling cables snapped. However, Tano was knocked into the Acushnet cofferdam by one remaining pirate as the airlock of the Crucible shut and the Jedi vessel escaped.
==Aftermath==
Tano was taken prisoner by the Ohnaka Gang, with Ohnaka intending to sell her to make up for the lost profit from losing the kyber crystals. After taking her to his base on Florrum, Ohnaka informed his prisoner that he intended to sell her to a business person who would pay handsomely for a female Jedi, dead or alive.
The younglings only realized that Tano was missing after the damaged Crucible dropped out of hyperspace. Calling for help, the children contacted Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who warned them against being heroes and said he would attack Ohnaka's base with his forces. Kenobi intended to send Clone Commander CC-2224 "Cody" to pick up the children, but his fleet was attacked by General Grievous' forces almost immediately after signing off with the Crucible. The battle was a defeat, forcing Kenobi to self-destruct his command ship Negotiator and preventing him and Cody from enacting any sort of rescue for the younglings.
As most of the younglings finished assembling their lightsabers, unaware of the reason for Kenobi's delay, Petro suggested that they rescue Tano themselves. Katooni was opposed to the idea, but Ganodi and Zatt reported that the damage to the Crucible was such that the ship had to make a landing, otherwise the engines would explode. Arriving on Florrum, Ganodi and R2-D2 stayed with the ship while the rest of the group set out for the pirate base, disguising themselves as acrobats to rescue Tano. The younglings, droids and Tano were recaptured, however, with the Crucible being destroyed. However, the attack of General Grievous and his forces in retaliation for Ohnaka having once held Count Dooku hostage led the pirates and Jedi to join forces, eventually escaping Florrum in the Slave I, with Ohnaka being paid handsomely to return the Jedi to the Republic fleet.
==Appearances==
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*Ahsoka 
*Pirate's Price 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
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*Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles
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*Star Wars: Timelines
==Notes and references==
Category:Heists and robberies