Rescue of Norath Kev

During the First Order-Resistance War, Team Colossus members Jarek Yeager, Kazuda Xiono, CB-23, and the pirate Synara San undertook a mission on the planet Varkana to rescue the Resistance agent Norath Kev, who had been captured by the bounty hunter Ax Tagrin. After a skirmish with Tagrin, Kaz's team managed to locate Norath aboard Ax's ship Dalkor Dagger. Though Tagrin trapped them, Kaz, CB-23 and Norath managed to sabotage the ship's engines, bringing it down. While Yeager and Synara fought with Tagrin, Kaz and Norath fled on a speeder bike and tried to contact the Colossus for a pick-up.
However, the First Order was alerted by Ax to their presence and dispatched forces to Varkana. Tagrin managed to capture Yeager, Synara, and CB-23, whom he handed over to Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny. Kaz and Norath mounted a rescue mission and infiltrated the First Order base by disguising themselves as stormtroopers. CB-23 managed to free herself. After overpowering their First Order captors and Tagrin, they managed to escape Varkana with the help of Ace Squadron and Captain Imanuel Doza.
==Prelude==
During the First Order-Resistance War, Resistance spy Norath Kev undertook a mission to track First Order black market activities at Vargo Spaceport on the planet Varkana. He also compiled a list of local First Order informants including the Gran vendor Lechee.
However, Lechee informed the bounty hunter Ax Tagrin, a mercenary who worked for the highest bidder, in this case the First Order. Following a pursuit, Ax tracked Norath and his astromech droid 2BR-NTB to a house. Tagrin shot 2B-NTB and took Norath prisoner. Before his capture, Norath managed to send a distress signal on a Resistance frequency.
==The mission==
Norath's signal was picked up by Kazuda Xiono, a Resistance spy who lived aboard the Colossus. Though Captain Imanuel Doza was concerned it was a trap, Xiono and his mentor Jarek Yeager, a veteran New Republic starfighter pilot managed to convince Doza to give them one rotation. Xiono and Yeager departed for Varkana with the pirate Synara San and Kaz's BB-series astromech droid CB-23.
===Walking into a trap===
Kaz and his team parked their Star Commuter 2000 shuttle on the outskirts of Vargo Spaceport. Despite taking care to keep a low profile, the group were spotted by the local merchant Lechee, who attempted to entice them to buy goods from his junk emporium. Kaz and his team rebuffed his enticements. Recognizing them as foreigners, Lechee used his comlink to contact Ax Tagrin.
CB-23 managed to trace Norath's distress call to a house. Inside the house, they found Norath's datapad and a data rod but no sign of the Resistance spy. The four were soon cornered by Tagrin, who wanted to capture them for the First Order. Yeager attempted to electrocute the bounty hunter with Norath's datapad but Ax deflected the object with his blaster.
Kaz, Yeager, and CB-23 took the opportunity to escape while Synara fought with the bounty hunter. Though Synara was a skilled fighter, Tagrin proved to be a formidable opponent and injured Synara in the back with his vibro-ax. Synara managed to escape Ax by kicking him over the balcony.
===A second round===
After Synara had regrouped with the others, the team met to discuss their mission. Though Synara was skeptical that Norath was still, Kaz was determined not to abandon Norath to the tender mercies of the First Order. Yeager managed to convince Captain Doza to give them more time to complete their mission.
Suspecting that Lechee was collaborating with the First Order, Kaz and his team questioned the Gran merchant. At gunpoint, the merchant revealed that Tagrin had taken Lechee to his ship Dalkor Dagger, which was parked in a hangar bay on the southside of Vargo spaceport.
Kaz and his team traveled to the hangar. While Synara waited outside, Kaz, Yeager, and CB-23 boarded the bounty hunter's ship. They found Norath inside a cell in the ship's cargo bay. However, Tagrin had been waiting for them and trapped them in the ship's cargo bay. He then contacted Commander Pyre, who was sent to go after Kaz before he had a chance to deliver the Colossus to General Leia Organa, and arranged to rendezvous at a prearranged location.
===Crashlanding and more trouble===
Ax Tagrin flew the Dalkor Dagger out of Vargo Spaceport. Synara followed her captured comrades in a speeder bike. Working together, Kaz and Norath managed to open an engine panel. CB-23 then connected to a network terminal and overrode the ship's system, causing a power surge which blew up one of the ship's fuses and engines.
The Dalkor Dagger collided with a rocky pinnacle before crash-landing in the desert. Kaz and his team escaped the crash-landing safely but so did Tagrin, who was determined not to let his quarry go. Ax pursued the Resistance team. While Kaz and the wounded Norath, who had sustained a broken leg, escaped on a speeder bike, Yeager and Synara fought the Tagrin.
Kaz contacted Captain Doza to request a pick-up. However, Doza was unable to help since Commander Pyre's Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, the Thunderer, had just arrived in the Varkana system. The Star Destroyer dispatched a landing party consisting of an Upsilon-class shuttle, two Atmospheric Assault Lander, and two TIE/fo space superiority fighters to rendezvous with Tagrin.
===First Order entanglements===
Ax Tagrin managed to subdue and capture Yeager, Synara, and CB-23 whom he handed over to Commander Pyre and First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny. When Tagrin demanded his payment, Pyre refused on the grounds that he had only captured a collaborator and a pirate rather than two Resistance spies. The First Order detained and questioned their three captives.
Agent Tierny had Yeager and Synara strapped into interrogation chairs aboard an Atmospheric Assault Lander. She used a mixture of torture and psychological manipulation including references to Tamara Ryvora to extract answers from Yeager but the rebel veteran proved resistant and uncooperative. Meanwhile, Pyre tasked a Tech stormtrooper with extracting data from CB-23, seeking information to locate and eradicate the Resistance.
===Hide and seek===
In response to the arrival of the First Order, Captain Doza hid the Colossus inside a red gas giant. Though his daughter Torra Doza and Kaz managed to convince him to delay his jump until Kaz had managed to rescue his team, Captain Doza refused to rule out retreating into hyperspace in order to safeguard his inhabitants.
Captain Doza's fears were confirmed when Tagrin managed to locate Kaz's shuttle. He sent a transmission to the Colossus, which enabled him to trace the location of the space station. Tagrin informed Commander Pyre who dispatched Lieutenant Galek, the third commanding officer aboard the Thunderer, to pursue the Colossus. Doza however realized that the First Order had discovered them and took the station into hyperspace.
Before the Colossus retreated into hyperspace, Torra Doza along with Hype Fazon and Freya Fenris managed to persuaded her father to allow Ace Squadron to hide in space and wait for Kaz so that the Colossus could pick him up.
===Kaz's rescue plan===
Back on Varkana, Kaz improvised a rescue plan which involved stealing stormtrooper armor and infiltrating the spaceport hangar where the First Order had docked in order to rescue their friends. Norath was skeptical of Kaz's plan but cooperated. Due to Kaz's clumsiness, the two attracted the attention of stormtroopers. They hid in a house but attracted the hostility of a local Gabdorin merchant who tried to alert the First Order. When the stormtroopers entered the house to investigate the commotion, Kaz and Norath knocked them unconscious and stole their armor.
Kaz and Norath managed to sneak through the First Order lines in their disguises and penetrate the makeshift First Order base. They encountered Commander Pyre but Xiono managed to stun him. Though the Tech stormtrooper managed to access CB-23's main databanks, the droid managed to break free and electrocute her captor with her grappling cable. She then fried the computers and knocked out Agent Tierny, who had come to investigate.
Meanwhile, Kaz and Norath freed Yeager and Synara. After reuniting with CB-23, they headed back to the shuttle after being unable to contact Captain Doza. However, Tagrin was waiting for them and attacked them. Though Tagrin managed to blind the organics with a flash detonator, CB-23 took control of the shuttle and rammed him, knocking the bounty hunter unconscious. The group then managed to escape a revived Captain Pyre and his stormtroopers.
===Aces to the rescue===
Kaz's Star Commuter 2000 shuttle was pursued by three TIE fighters. However, Ace Squadron led by Torra and Hype came to their rescue and took out the enemy fighters. While flying into space, they were intercepted by the Thunderer, which dispatched three squadrons of TIE fighters to attack them.
However, Torra contacted her father who brought the Colossus out of hyperspace. Several TIEs crashed into the space station. Kaz's shuttle and Ace Squadron managed to board the Colossus, which then jumped into hyperspace.
==Aftermath==
While Kaz's mission to rescue the Resistance operative Norath Kev was complicated by the arrival of the bounty hunter Ax Tagrin and the First Order, Kaz and his team managed to complete their mission with the help of the Colossus and Ace Squadron. Torra managed to convince her father to let her and her fellow Aces remain behind to help Kaz. Despite the odds stacked against them, Captain Doza was unwilling to abandon his people to the First Order.
Kaz's idea of using stormtrooper armor and Eila to rescue his friends Yeager, CB-23 and Synara won him the praise of both Norath and Neeku Vozo. While Norath initially regarded Kaz as clumsy and indecisive, he came to appreciate Kaz's loyalty and devotion and offered Kaz a place in the Resistance. However, Kaz had grown attached to his friends aboard the Colossus and declined Norath's offer.
==Behind the scenes==
The Rescue of Norath Kev first appeared in the Star Wars Resistance Season Two episode "The Missing Agent," which premiered on Disney XD on December 22, 2019. The rescue mission also appeared in the subsequent episode "Breakout," which aired on December 29, 2019.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Timelines
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
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==Notes and references==
Category:Battles in the Outer Rim
Category:Missions of the First Order–Resistance war
Category:Rescue missions