Strike Team Misericorde

Strike Team Misericorde, also known as Extraction Team Misericorde, was a unit of Rebel Alliance Intelligence, founded and led by Captain Magna Tolvan, former Imperial Captain-Inspector who defected to the Rebellion. After the archaeologist Chelli Aphra stole the Farkiller of Oo'ob the Apostate and put it up for sale on the black market, Strike Team Misericorde was sent to Unox to retrieve the artifact. Sister Six, a former associate of Aphra's, recognized her, but was unable to stop Captain Tolvan, whose mind had been altered to make her believe she had killed Aphra, from seeing the archaeologist.
==History==
===Formation===
Within days of her defection to the Rebel Alliance, Captain Magna Tolvan assembled Strike Team Misericorde as a part of Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service. Under the former Imperial Captain-Inspector, they foiled three assassinations as well as catching two double agents in the Alliance, of whom they cut into small pieces and sent home. Chief of Rebel IntelligenceStar Wars: Rogue One: Rebel Dossier General Airen Cracken gained a great amount of trust in Tolvan and took any information on an M.I. cell or of a threat to the life of their Commander-in-Chief,Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide Senator Mon Mothma, seriously.
===Capturing Aphra===
Within two months of being founded, Strike Team Misericorde was sent to an abandoned Spice Mine on Unox to retrieve the artifact known as the Farkiller, a lightsaber sniper rifle hybrid notoriously used by the renegade Jedi Oo'ob the Apostate. The Farkiller had been put up for sale on the black market after being stolen from the Slinani Migration Shrine Red Mist by the rogue archaeologist Chelli Aphra. General Cracken had deliberately chosen Tolvan and her team for the mission because because she and Aphra had formerly been in love before Aphra altered Tolvan's memory to make her think she had killed her at Accresker Jail.Doctor Aphra (2016) 25
Strike Team Misericorde quickly ambushed Aphra and her accomplice Vulaada Klam at the spice mine, stunning their Qaberworm Gurtyl as it attempted to carry them to their starship. One member of the team, the Xexto Sister Six immediately recognized her, having been a part of a mercenary team with Aphra before joining the Alliance.Doctor Aphra (2016) 19 Knowing that Tolvan thought Aphra was dead, Six panicked as Tolvan was arriving aboard a UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft. The RA-7 protocol droid Teezee-Too then announced Aphra's arrest as the captain disembarked and saw her. Aphra tried to be friendly with Tolvan, who quickly deduced that she had altered her memory at Accresker Jail and became aggravated. Aphra then attempted to explain herself before Tolvan intervened and told her she had missed her, before stunning her on the spot.
===Testing the Farkiller===
Strike Team Misericorde took Aphra back to Cracken at Trading Post Sh'ung-tesk, where the Alliance High Command was stationed. As Aphra awoke, Tolvan, Cracken, and Teezee-too were discussing her and Teezee noticed a hidden pocket in her bag, where Tolvan uncovered and recognized an ancient lightsaber that Aphra had taken from Accresker Jail.Doctor Aphra (2016) 24 Cracken told the captain to use the kyber crystal inside it for the Farkiller to deal with an Imperial system cell aboard the trading post, which Tolvan suspected to be there for the Alliance High Command.
Led by Tolvan, Strike Team Misericorde sneaked up on an Imperial System Cell as it took information from an Ishi Tib. The captain and her soldiers ambushed the group before locating the rest of the system cell in an abandoned Bantha barn two kilometers out of town. She then contacted Cracken and patched the feed from her binoculars to Teezee for him. Cracken gave her permission to use the Farkiller and she shot at the barn with it, destroying it instantly. Strike Team Misericorde then searched the wreckage and found a datapad regarding Aphra, implying that the system cell was in fact there for her and not Mon Mothma. Tolvan reported this to Cracken before returning to him as he offered a deal to Aphra, who declined and decided to leave with Vulaada Klam.
===Spy extraction===
Sometime later, Strike Team Misericorde were tasked with extracting the deep-cover operative Thassilio Smeuse, who was working undercover as an Imperial officer. The strike team allowed themselves to get captured by a group of stormtroopers on the swamp world Ozri II after faking engine failure on their U-wing. The undercover Smeuse met arrived at the scene and was briefed by a senior stormtrooper. When Smeuse then asked if the rebels had anything to say, Tolvan recited a code phrase, which the operative finished for her.
Strike Team Misericorde proceeded to kill the stormtroopers and flee the surface of Ozri II with Smeuse. Aboard their U-wing they jumped into hyperspace under fire from TIE fighters. The strike team took Smeuse to the rebel base on the planet Hoth, where the operative was debriefed on his findings from being undercover. Tolvan was also summoned to view a message sent for her, Klam and Korin by Aphra.
==Behind the scenes==
Strike Team Misericorde first appeared in the canon comic Doctor Aphra (2016) 32, written by Si Spurrier, illustrated by Wilton Santos and Caspar Wijngaard, and released on May 8 2019.
==Appearances==
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 32 
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 33
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 35
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 38 
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 39
*Doctor Aphra (2016) 40
*
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Timelines
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
==Notes and references==
Category:Alliance to Restore the Republic intelligence organizations