Mission to Lando Calrissian's farm

In 4 BBY the rebel crew of the Ghost accompanied smuggler Lando Calrissian on a mission to his farm on Lothal, after aiding him in acquiring a puffer pig from the crime lord Azmorigan. To reach the farm, the Ghost fought their way past a blockade of Imperial Star Destroyers and TIE/ln space superiority starfighters. Upon their arrival at the farm, they were confronted by Azmorigan and engaged in a firefight with the crime lord and his enforcers. They repelled Azmorigan, and Calrissian successfully kept the puffer pig so he could begin a mining operation.
==Prelude==
Following the rescue of Tseebo and Ezra Bridger's Jedi Trials, the Spectres were short on funds. While playing a game of sabacc with the "galactic entrepreneur" Lando Calrissian, Garazeb Orrelios made a bet on the astromech droid Chopper. However, Calrissian presented an Idiot's Array card and won the match. As a result, Calrissian took possession of Chopper. When the rebel captain Hera Syndulla protested Zeb's rash decision, Calrissian agreed to return Chopper and pay them if they agreed to smuggle cargo past the Imperial blockade above the planet Lothal and then rendezvous with the crime lord Azmorigan in order to purchase some "mining equipment." Hera reluctantly agreed to Calrissian's job offer and allowed the "galactic entrepreneur" to board her ship, the Ghost.
Upon arriving at Azmorigan's freighter Merchant One, Calrissian "sold" Hera to the crime lord in return for getting the "mining equipment." Unknown to Azmorigan, Lando had planned to swindle the crime lord and had secretly instructed Hera to escape the ship after the transaction. After Calrissian and Kanan Jarrus had returned to the Ghost, Hera knocked out Azmorigan and one of his guards and escaped the crime lord's freighter in an escape pod. While Hera was annoyed with Calrissian for not giving her advance warning of his ruse, she agreed to transport him back to his farm on Lothal. Calrissian had obtained a piece of farmland from the crime lord Cikatro Vizago through the auspices of Azmorigan.
==The mission==
===A perilous journey===
During the journey back to Lothal, Zeb and Ezra decided to inspect Lando's new "mining equipment." Against Calrissian's orders, the two rebels opened the crate and discovered that the "equipment" was a puffer pig. The creature escaped from its crate and wreaked havoc through the Ghost. After some trouble, the rebels and Calrissian managed to corner the puffer pig in the narrow corridor leading to the ship's cockpit. During the pursuit, Zeb scared the creature; causing it to inflate. This created a whole new problem for the rebels and Calrissian because Hera was unable to reach the cockpit while Kanan, Zeb, and Ezra were trapped on the other side.
Shortly later, the Ghost exited hyperspace above Lothal, which was surrounded by an Imperial fleet. Since the Empire was on the look out for their ship, the rebels used a signature modulator to mask their ship as the Tontine, a legitimate ship from Boz Pity. The Imperials fell for the trick and allowed the Ghost to proceed on its course. As the Ghost approached Lothal, Calrissian attempted to flirt with one of the rebels Sabine Wren. When Ezra attempted to climb over the inflated puffer pig to warn off Calrissian, he started the creature; causing it to inflate further. This sudden expansion knocked Zeb off balance, causing him to fall onto the control panel and disable the ship's modulator.
As a result, the Imperial crew aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Relentless quickly realized that the Tontine was actually the Ghost. The ship's commander Admiral Kassius Konstantine dispatched several TIE fighters to intercept and destroy the Ghost. Piloting the Ghost, Kanan and Zeb flew the ship into Lothal's upper atmosphere. They managed to shake off most of the TIE fighters in Lothal's cloudy skies. Kanan also used the Ghost frontal laser cannons to destroy one of the TIE fighters that got in their way.
===Showdown with Azmorigan===
After escaping the Imperials, Kanan flew the Ghost to Calrissian's farm. Upon landing, the rebels and Calrissian were confronted by Azmorigan and his henchmen; who had traveled to Lothal to reclaim his puffer pig. The crime lord demanded the return of his puffer pig and Syndulla, the Ghost and her crew as compensation, and Calrissian's death. When Hera pleaded with Azmorigan to reconsider his terms, the crime lord lost patience and ordered his men to kill the rebels and Calrissian. This sparked a gun battle between the rebels, Calrissian, and Azmorigan's henchmen.
Sabine and Calrissian managed to shoot two of Azmorigan's henchmen while Zeb scared the puffer pig again; causing it to inflate and knock out another two of Azmorigan's men. Kanan and his Padawan Ezra also joined the fight. While taking care to hide his Jedi identity, Ezra managed to shoot another of Azmorigan's men with his lightsaber-blaster. Chopper then took advantage of the chaos to steal several of Calrissian's fuel canisters as "compensation" for all the trouble that Calrissian had led them to. Within minutes, Sabine had managed to climb onto the roof of Calrissian's homestead and held two more of Azmorigan's men at gunpoint.
Despite the rebels' successes, Azmorigan managed to tilt the balance in his favor by taking Zeb hostage. Restating his terms, Azmorigan threatened to kill Zeb unless the rebels surrendered Calrissian. He promised to let them go once they had complied with his revised demands. However, Hera rejected his offer. Chopper, who had gotten back aboard the Ghost, then used the ship's frontal turret to knock Azmorigan and Zeb to the ground. With Azmorigan defeated, Hera allowed him and two of his surviving henchmen to leave if they did not trouble Calrissian again. As a parting shot, Sabine fired at the gangsters' feet in order to get them running.
==Aftermath==
Following the job run, Lando Calrissian honored his promise to return Chopper to the Spectres. However, Chopper's theft of the fuel canister led Lando to avoid paying them the promised credits, claiming that he never had them. He considered the stolen fuel to be the Spectres' payment. Later, Calrissian returned a favor to the Spectres by helping them to escape the planet during the Imperial Siege of Lothal. Despite being offworld, Calrissian arranged for his servant droid W1-LE to outfit their stolen shuttle with sensor buoys that allowed them to escape the Imperial blockade unhindered. These sensor buoys had the effect of disrupting the Imperial fleet's sensors.Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
Hera's decision to spare Azmorigan's life would have repercussions for Ezra later. While on a job run with the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, Ezra and Hondo encountered Azmorigan on Nixus Hub 218. Recognizing Ezra as one of the rebels that had accosted him on Lothal, Azmorigan decided to execute him and Hondo by catapulting them into space through a loading dolley. Before Azmorigan could exact his revenge, Chopper turned up and managed to drive away Azmorigan and his men. During the brief confrontation, Ezra also exposed his Jedi identity by using his lightsaber to deflect Azmorigan's blaster shots and using the Force to drag Ohnaka to safety.
==Behind the scenes==
The mission to Calrissian's farm first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Idiot's Array," which premiered on January 12, 2015. This episode also reintroduced the Original trilogy character Lando Calrissian with Billy Dee Williams reprising his role as the character for the TV series. The mission also introduced a new secondary antagonist in the form of Azmorigan, who was played by James Hong. Hong had previously served as the voice of Endente in the unfinished The Clone Wars Legacy episodes "In Search of the Crystal" and "Crystal Crisis."
==Appearances==
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*Always Bet on Chopper
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==Sources==
*Ultimate Star Wars
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*Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
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*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
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==Notes and references==
Category:Missions during the Imperial Era
Category:Missions of the Ghost
Category:Missions to Lothal