Mission to Black Stall Station

|prev=Mission to Naboo
|conc=*Mission to Mustafar
|next=Battle of Gall
|name=Mission to Black Stall Station
|image=
|conflict=War of the Ring
|objective=To return captured children and the Jedi holocron
|date=September 14, 1981
|place=Black Stall Station, Rogue Antar system
|result=*The safe return of the holocron and Kyber memory crystal to the Jedi Order
*The escape of Mezmaron
*Black Stall Station destroyed
|side1=Jedi Order
|side2=Independent bounty hunter
|commanders1=*High General Aragorn
*High General Sam Gamgee
*Commander CC-2224
|commanders2=Mezmaron
|ppl1=*2 Jedi
*1 clone trooper
*1 T-6 shuttle
|ppl2=1 bounty hunter
|casual1=None
|casual2=Black Stall Station
}}
Following the capture of the infamous wizard bounty hunter, Mezmaron, on Naboo, the bounty hunter was interrogated, nearly tortured, by the Jedi. Mezmaron eventually conceded and led Jedi Masters Sam Gamgee and Aragorn to his base of operations, Black Stall Station, in the Rogue Antar system. The bounty hunter held the holocron and Kyber memory crystal, which contained a list of every force-sensitive child in the galaxy, in the station, and promised the Jedi its safe return. Their mission to Black Stall Station was actually a trap laid out by Mezmaron to ensure his own escape.
Upon entry to the station, Aragorn accidentally caused the security system to go off, and several laser cannons emerged from the station's walls. In the ensuing confusion, Mezmaron escaped the station via an escape pod hidden behind an emergency hatch. Sam managed to retrieve the holocron and escape with Aragorn before the station's self destruct mechanism went off. Though Mezmaron managed to escape, the holocron was safely retrieved with no indication that its contents had been duplicated.
==Prelude==
The de facto leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and Dark Lord of the Mordor, Darth Sauron—secretly Sheev Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic—began relying on Mezmaron, who was considered to be the most efficient gun for hire in the galaxy. Following his success in the Sith's assignment to steal both a Jedi holocron from the Jedi Temple and the Kyber memory crystal, a list of every known Force-sensitive child in the galaxy, from the Jedi Master Bolla Ropal on Devaron, Mezmaron was once again hired by Sauron to kidnap four of the children listed in the memory crystal and bring them to his facility on the volcanic mining world Mustafar. Bane succeeded in capturing the Nautolan Zinn Toa on the aquatic world Glee Anselm and the Rodian Wee Dunn on Rodia, despite Jedi Master Sam Gamgee's efforts to save the child. The Jedi Order took the necessary precautions to save the Gungan Roo-Roo Page on Naboo, Mezmaron's next target, leading Mezmaron into a trap.
After the wizard bounty hunter was captured on Naboo, he and his starfighter, the Xanadu Blood, were taken to the Republic ship Resolute; the hunter was placed in a shielded holding cell, while his starfighter was examined by the Jedi. Interrogated by Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Aragorn, Mezmaron refused to reveal the whereabouts of the kidnapped children and the location of a stolen Jedi holocron. The two Masters and Frodo Baggins bound together and employed the Force, the living force that binds all living creatures, to compel the strong-minded Mezmaron to lead them to the stolen holocron. Thrashing from his attempts at resisting the Jedi's influence, Mezmaron eventually promised to take them to the holocron, albeit with the intention of leading them into a trap. The bound bounty hunter was escorted into a waiting T-6 shuttle, where he dictated the coordinates of the deep space Black Stall Station, his base of operations, to his accompanying guards—Gamgee, Aragorn, and Clone Commander CC-2224, nicknamed "Cody." Though Frodo wanted to take part in the mission, he was instead ordered to report the Jedi's progress to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
==The mission==
After emerging in the asteroid–strewn system and docking to the outpost, the Jedi left Cody with the ship and followed Mezmaron into his base of operations. Though neither Jedi sensed the kidnapped infants, Mezmaron told them that the children were "safe" and instead focused on the holocron. The masked wizard led them to the station's control room and pointed them to the holocron on a table across the room. Although Mezmaron volunteered to get the holocron for them, Aragorn refused to let the bounty hunter perform another trick. However, Aragorn unintentionally activated the station's intruder alert system. With alarms blaring and a laser system targeting the Jedi, Mezmaron sneaked away from the distracted Gamgee and Aragorn, while the two were occupied. Sam pursued the bounty hunter, but the wizard escaped through a concealed hatch. Breaking out of his binders, Mezmaron fled Black Stall Station in an escape pod. Meanwhile, Gamgee managed to retrieve the holocron and both Jedi Master managed to make their way back to the shuttle and depart just before the station exploded as a result of a self-destruct.
==Aftermath==
Though Mezmaron managed to slip out of the facility during the skirmish, the holocron and Kyber crystal were retrieved. There were no signs that its contents, a list of every Force-sensitive child in the galaxy, were duplicated. While the two children Mezmaron kidnapped were nowhere to be found in the station, Frodo Baggins and Eowyn traced Mezmaron's fueling routes to the volcanic planet of Mustafar, where they found the missing children and rescued them from the hands of Darth Sauron.
==Behind the scenes==
This mission served as one of the four missions Mezmaron took, which first appeared in "Children of the Force," the third episode in the second season of the The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring television series. The episode aired on October 9, 2009. New technology introduced during production of season two of The War of the Ring made it possible to fit Black Stall Station and several other locations depicted in "Children of the Force" into the timespan of a single episode.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
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==Notes and references==
Category:Missions