Lothal resistance group

The Lothal resistance group was a cell led by Ryder Azadi on the planet Lothal. Azadi's cell engaged in a campaign of sabotage at the Imperial Armory Complex, which manufactured vehicles for the Imperial Military. That same year, Azadi's cell joined forces with Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Chopper, who had been sent by the Phoenix Cell, to collect intelligence about Grand Admiral Thrawn's new TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter initiative. The following year, Azadi's cell joined forces with the Spectres in obtaining intelligence about an updated version of the TIE Defender and a daring rebel attempt to take out the Imperial Armory Complex. After the Spectres managed to rescue Hera Syndulla and take out the Imperial Armory Complex, the Lothal resistance and the Spectres played an important role in expelling the Empire from Lothal.
==Description==
Ryder Azadi's resistance cell consisted of himself, the former farmer Morad Sumar and his wife Marida Sumar, and the Ithorian bartender Jho. They specialized in sabotaging Imperial vehicles being produced at the Imperial Armory Complex in Lothal's Capital City. They were armed with blasters and rocket launchers. The cell was known to have at least two landspeeders including a V-35 Courier and a RGC-18 landspeeder. Ryder also had a UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft. Ryder's cell was based at a stone circle in Lothal's wilderness.
After stealing a prototype TIE/D Defender Elite, the Lothal resistance set up a new base at the Lothal cliff dwelling. The cliff dwelling was located in a mountainous and rocky area. The rebels also used a captured Mining Guild ore crawler as a defensive position.
==History==
===Origins===
The former Lothalian Governor Ryder Azadi escaped an Imperial prison in 3 BBY.Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded states that Leia Organa was 16 years old during her mission on Lothal. Since Star Wars: Galactic Atlas establishes that Organa was born in 19 BBY, the mission must take place in 3 BBY. As this revolt occurs immediately before , it must also occur in 3 BBY. By 2 BBY, Ryder had founded a resistance cell consisting of disaffected individuals including the Sumar couple and Jho. The cell sabotaged Imperial vehicles being produced at the Imperial Armory Complex in Capital City. This resulted in a high rate of accidents among Imperial personnel and caused the Empire to lose several missions and personnel.
===Infiltrating the Imperial Armory Complex===
That year, the Atollon–based Phoenix Cell received intelligence that the Empire was developing a new weapon at the Lothal Imperial factory. The Squadron dispatched the former Lothal resident Ezra Bridger, the Great Jedi Purge survivor Kanan Jarrus, and the astromech droid Chopper to solicit Ryder's help in taking out the Imperial Armory Complex. Ryder picked up Ezra's team in Capital City. After escaping an Imperial patrol, the rebels met at Ryder's stone circle hideout. After discussing their plans, Morad, who had found work as a safety inspector at the Imperial Armory Complex, agreed to lead Ezra's team inside the factory to steal the plans.
Meanwhile, Ryder's cell's activities attracted the attention of Imperial High Command who sent the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn to investigate the defective vehicles and the presence of "subversives" at the Imperial Armory Complex. After dressing down the workers, Thrawn forced Morad to demonstrate a 614-AvA speeder bike that he personally inspected. During the exercise, Morad was forced to drive the speeder bike at full speed. However, the engine system was faulty and the bike exploded, killing Morad. Despite Morad's death, Ezra and his team managed to steal the plans and escape the factory with the help of Fulcrum, who was revealed to be the disillusioned Imperial Security Bureau Agent Kallus.
Ryder and Marida launched an attack on the Imperial Armory Complex's east gate. This allowed Ezra and his team to escape. Back at the resistance base, the rebels transmitted the contents of Chopper's files to the Phoenix Squadron, which decrypted them. As a result, Ryder and the other rebels learned that Thrawn was developing a new prototype starfighter equipped with deflector shields. Ryder and other members of the resistance then listended to Senator Mon Mothma's speech as she called upon other cells to come together and join the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
===Stopping the TIE Defender project===
The resistance then planned an attack on the TIE/D Defender factories on Lothal with help from Commander Sato's Phoenix Squadron and General Jan Dodonna's Massassi Group. However, Ryder saw that the Seventh Fleet had left Lothal. The resistance then lost contact with Atollon.
By a year later,Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of "The Occupation" to 1 BBY. the Empire launched a crackdown on Lothal which claimed the life of Jho. Jho's bar was expropriated by the Empire, who brought it under the management of Baron Valen Rudor. Ryder and Marida Sumar however escaped and managed to warn the Rebel Alliance on Yavin 4 about the Empire's new TIE/D Defender Elite. After the Spectres infiltrated Lothal with the help of the crime lord Cikatro Vizago, Ryder and Marida managed to pick up the Spectres and their friend Jai Kell in their U-wing and evacuate them to their camp.
Ryder then helped the Spectres to stalk out a remote Imperial testing facility in Lothal's wilderness. Ezra and Sabine Wren managed to steal the TIE/D Defender Elite. Despite being pursued by TIE Interceptors, they managed to crash-land in the wilderness and recover the ship's flight data recorder. Ryder and the other rebels retreated to their camp and were joined by Ezra and Sabine, who had found their way with the help of a loth-wolf.
The following day, Ryder and most of the Spectres remained at the camp while Ezra, Kell, and Garazeb Orrelios went to retrieve the TIE Defender Elite's hyperdrive; which Sabine believed could be installed into Ryder's U-wing. Despite being pursued by the Noghri tracker Rukh and Imperial forces led by Governor Arihnda Pryce, the rebels managed to return to the camp with the hyperdrive in a stolen Imperial Troop Transport. After installing the hyperdrive into Ryder's U-wing, Hera Syndulla and Chopper returned with the flight data recorder to Yavin 4. Ryder and the Spectres then escaped into caves with the help of loth-wolves.
After emerging in Lothal's southern hemisphere, the rebels set up camp in the caves. Ryder then helped the Spectres to a Mining Guild ore crawler Crawler 413-24 before driving away in his speeder. The crawler was staffed by indentured prisoners including Vizago and overseen by the Trandoshan Captain Seevor and the foreman Proach. Following a fight, the Spectres managed to free the slaves, kill Proach, and subdue Seevor. After narrowly avoiding an Imperial patrol, Seevor was killed by Ezra. The Spectres also managed to recruit Vizago and the former prisoners to the rebel cause. Having built a ground support team, Hera was able to convince the Alliance leadership to authorize a strike on the Imperial TIE Defender factory on Lothal.
The bolstered Lothal resistance and Spectres aided the planned rebel strike by sabotaging the Imperial artillery defenses. However, they were forced to retreat when Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet wiped out much of Hera's strike force. The Spectres later mounted a successful mission to rescue Hera from Imperial captivity but Kanan was killed in the process. While Ryder and the Spectres were devastated by Kanan's death, the rebels subsequently learnt that Kanan's death was not in vain since Governor Pryce had destroyed the Empire's fuel supply and damage the TIE Defender factory in the process; achieving the goals of Hera's strike mission.
===Liberating Lothal===
Later, the Lothal resistance led by Ryder Azadi threw their support behind Ezra Bridger's plan to lure Governor Pryce into a trap at the Lothal cliff dwelling as part of their plan to liberate Capital City from Imperial rule. As part of the plot, Ryder pretended to betray his rebel comrades in return for escaping prison. As expected, Pryce attacked the base with several patrol transports and stormtroopers. Following fierce fighting, Pryce destroyed the Lothal rebels' ore crawler, which had served as their defensive position. At least two Lothal resistance fighters were killed during the fighting. Despite capturing the Lothal resistance, Pryce was ambushed by Hera's reinforcements including the former Clone troopers Gregor, Wolffe, the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka, the Ugnaught Melch, the bounty hunter Ketsu Onyo, and Kallus and a pack of loth-wolves. The rebels then took Pryce and her surviving stormtroopers captive.
Joined by Hera's reinforcements, the Lothal resistance embarked on the next stage of their plan to liberate Capital City from the Empire. This plan involved using Governor Pryce to transmit the clearance codes needed to enter the "Dome," the center of Imperial power on Lothal. After seizing the command center, Ryder issued a faux Protocol 13 for all Imperial forces on Lothal to evacuate aboard the "Dome", which turned out to be a mobile Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility. Before they could leave, Thrawn returned aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera.
Thrawn managed to force Ezra to come aboard the Chimaera by bombarding Capital City. Under Hera's leadership, the Lothal resistance, Spectres, and their new allies split into two teams and fought to recapture the deflector shield generators before Thrawn unleashed a second salvo. Following dogged fighting which claimed the life of Gregor, the rebels managed to reactivate the deflector shield generators and protect Capital City from Thrawn's bombardment. Meanwhile, Wolffe along with Mart Mattin and Vizago transmitted a signal that brought a pod of purrgil to Lothal. These purrgil wiped out Thrawn's Seventh Fleet and carried Thrawn and Ezra away to the unknown reaches of space. Thrawn and Ezra subsequently ended up on the planet Peridea, in a distant galaxy.
Following the disappearance of Thrawn and Ezra, the remaining Lothal rebels and their allies evacuated aboard the Ghost before detonating the "Dome". The destruction of the "Dome" killed Governor Pryce and most of the remaining Imperial garrison on Lothal. Following the defeat of the Empire, the citizens of Capital City celebrated. Despite fears that the Empire would return, the Empire never again sought to conquer Lothal and collapsed into ruins following the Battle of Endor.
==Behind the scenes==
Ryder Azadi's resistance cell first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels Season Three episode "An Inside Man," which premiered on Disney XD on October 3, 2016. The resistance cell consisted of several Rebels characters who had appeared in earlier episodes including Ryder himself ("Legacy"), Morad and Marida Sumar ("Fighter Flight"), and Jho ("Empire Day"). Ryder's cell reprises their roles as secondary characters in Season Four.
==Appearances==
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*Thrawn: Treason 
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==Sources==
*Dawn of Rebellion 
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*Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
==Notes and references==
Category:Alliance to Restore the Republic military units
Category:Organizations of Lothal