Splendour

The Splendour was a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport owned by the Besalisk criminal Galus Vez. Vez used the starship to race opponents on his private racing track, the Fool's Run, where he could activate asteroid thrusters remotely from his ship to drive asteroids into opponents. About five years before the Battle of Yavin, Vez used the Splendour to race against the Twi'lek Hera Syndulla, who piloted the Ghost. The Besalisk used asteroids to slow his opponent, but was struck by asteroids himself when Sydnulla's companions used the Force to aid their friend.
==Description==
The starship known as Splendour was a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport painted in turquoise colors. Like all gauntlet fighters, it measured 52.3 meters in length and 52.4 meters in width and stood 13.23 meters tall. The vessel could carry twenty-four passengers and was armed with four laser cannons, two facing forward and two facing back. Additionally the vessel had systems installed which could remotely activate asteroid thrusters.
==History==
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the Splendour was owned by Galus Vez, a Besalisk criminal who owned the space station known as Osisis Station in the Regani sector. Vez used the ship to race against visitors to the station on his private racing course, the Fool's Run, which ran through an asteroid belt encircling the planet which Osisis orbited. The course included a hidden asteroid thruster installed on one of the asteroids, which Vez would use to drive the rock into opponents during races.
About five years before the Battle of Yavin, Vez was visited by a group of rebels whom he knew, who were looking to buy parts to repair their VCX-100 light freighter Ghost. Vez, however, was unwilling to provide the parts, as previous visits by the group had caused increased Imperial scrutiny of the Besalisk's operations. Vez instead offered to race the group's pilot, Hera Syndulla, on Fool's Run. If Syndulla won, the rebels could have their parts and leave, but if Vez won in the Splendour he would get to keep the Ghost. Syndulla agreed, and the pilots took to the track.
Vez initially gained the lead in the Splendour, but was overtaken when Syndulla performed a number of fancy maneuvers. Instead of trying to match the opposing pilot's skill, Vez used the Splendour systems to activate that asteroid thruster, which drove the asteroid it was attached to into the Ghost, damaging the ship's stabilizers. The Besalisk managed to take the lead once more, but was slowed when two of Syndulla's companions—the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger—used the Force to drive a pair of asteroids into the Splendour. Ignoring the damage to his ship, Vez believed he could still win, but could only watch in horror as the Ghost sped past the Splendour thanks to the astromech droid C1-10P, who had boosted its engines. Despite having lost, Vez refused to honor his deal and attempted to capture the rebels to hand over to the Imperials, but was defeated and forced to hand over the parts for the Ghost.
==Behind the scenes==
The Splendour first appeared in the canon comic strip "Ring Race," which was written by Martin Fisher and illustrated by Bob Molesworth. The strip was published in the first issue of the Star Wars Rebels Magazine series, which was released on January 28, 2015.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Criminal starships
Category:Kom'rk-class fighter/transports