Secret Mission to Tatooine

### Result (Outcome)

The *Galactic Empire* captures *Leia Organa*, but are unable to locate the droids carrying the *Death Star Plans*

The **secret mission to Tatooine** was an operation undertaken by the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. The mission followed the Rebellion's theft of the plans to the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying deep space mobile battle station from the planet Scarif. Rebel spies Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor transmitted the plans to Admiral Raddus aboard his flagship. As the Battle of Scarif concluded, the plans were nearly reclaimed by Darth Vader, but were successfully transferred to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan aboard the *Tantive IV*.

After escaping into hyperspace, Leia and the corvette were pursued by the Star Destroyer *Devastator* to the planet Tatooine. This led to a battle in orbit between the *Tantive IV*and the *Devastator*. The corvette was boarded by Imperial troops, led by Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Organa was captured, but, before she was taken prisoner, she gave the plans to the astromech droid R2-D2 who, along with his protocol droid companion C-3PO, escaped to Tatooine aboard an escape pod. Artoo's mission was to find Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, for whom the droid had a holographic message from the princess.

Once on the surface, the two droids came into the possession of a group of Jawa scavengers, before being sold to moisture farmer Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. The Empire, meanwhile, learned that the droids were likely in possession of the stolen plans and searched the planet for them. Artoo fled from the Lars moisture farm in search of Kenobi. The message, which Artoo delivered to Kenobi with Skywalker's assistance, was the princess' plea for help, asking that the Jedi Master safely deliver the plans to Bail Organa, one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance, on Alderaan.

The Empire learned that the droids had been sold to the Lars family, and they killed Owen and his wife, Beru Lars, once the Imperial forces made it to the farm. His family having been killed, Skywalker agreed to leave with Kenobi and take the droids to Alderaan. They hired a pilot, Han Solo, in Mos Eisley, and Solo agreed to take them to Alderaan aboard his ship, the *Millennium Falcon*. The arrangement was discovered by Imperial troops, who attacked the ship before it departed. The *Millennium Falcon* blasted its way out of the Mos Eisley spaceport and evaded Star Destroyers in orbit. They arrived at the former location of Alderaan after it was destroyed by the Death Star, and they rescued Organa from Imperial captivity. Though Kenobi was killed by Darth Vader, the group brought the stolen plans to the Rebel base on Yavin 4, where the Rebellion launched the Battle of Yavin and destroyed the Death Star.

## Background

During the Clone Wars, renowned energy scientist Galen Erso was recruited by Orson Krennic to research the energy potential of kyber crystals for the Galactic Republic—which, at the end of the war, transformed into the Galactic Empire. Erso, who initially believed the project was for benevolent purposes, defected from the Empire in 17 BBY after learning that his research was being used for weapons development.[6] He was captured by Krennic in 13 BBY and forced back into Imperial service to build the superlaser that would power the Death Star, a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. Erso used this as an opportunity to add a vulnerability into the Death Star's reactor, which, if triggered by pressurized explosions, would destroy the battle station. He set off a series of events that led to his daughter, Jyn Erso, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic learning of the flaw. It also resulted in Galen's death once the Empire learned of his treason. Erso and Captain Cassian Andor of Alliance Intelligence soon led a team called Rogue One to steal the Death Star plans and discover this vulnerability during the Battle of Scarif.

Erso, Andor, and Rogue One were all killed during the battle, but not before she was able to transmit the plans to the Alliance Fleet that was engaged with Imperial forces above Scarif. The plans were intercepted by the MC75 cruiser flagship *Profundity*, within which was docked the CR90 corvette *Tantive IV*. The Sith Lord Darth Vaderboarded *Profundity* and slaughtered a host of Rebel soldiers as he attempted to recover the plans, but the Rebel forces passed the information on a data tape to the crew of the *Tantive IV*. The plans were given to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate and a leader in the Alliance to Restore the Republic who was aboard the vessel. Organa was tasked by her father, Bail Organa, to bring the plans to Tatooine and deliver them to the exiled Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who served Bail Organa during the Clone Wars. Vader pursued the *Tantive IV* aboard his Star Destroyer, the *Devastator*, and followed the ship to Tatooine.

## Battle

The *Tantive IV* arrived in orbit of Tatooine, with the *Devastator* in close pursuit. The Star Destroyer dwarfed the corvette and overpowered it, knocking out its main reactor, before drawing the small ship into its lower hangar. During the pursuit, Lieutenant Ciena Ree was the officer responsible for activating the tractor beam that drew the *Tantive IV* into the *Devastator*'s hangar. As the *Tantive IV* was being pulled into the *Devastator*, the corvette continued to broadcast protests that it was on a "diplomatic mission." This was ignored by Ree and the other Imperial officers. Darth Vader then issued the order to board the *Tantive IV*.

Meanwhile, Rebel troopers prepared for their ship to be boarded, taking positions in the hallway near the entrance from which the Imperials would enter. As stormtroopers readied to blast their way into the ship, they cut down the door and it exploded outward, and the Imperial forces swarmed into the halls of the *Tantive IV*.

The Rebels were quickly overwhelmed, and the ship quickly fell under Imperial control. Captain Raymus Antilleswas captured along with several surviving rebels. While the ship was being boarded, four of the rebel crew attempted to escape in a pod but the Imperials shot it down.

The stormtroopers checked the vessel's main computer and found that there was no trace of the Death Star plans. The plans were in the princess' hands, and she downloaded them into the memory banks of the astromech droid R2-D2, who belonged to her father and Antilles. In addition to the plans, she recorded a holographicmessage for Kenobi introducing herself and telling him that her father had requested that he come to the assistance of the Rebellion. She begged him to help and to bring the Death Star plans to her father on Alderaan, saying that Kenobi was the Rebellion's only hope. She ended her recording and sent Artoo on his mission. The droid, along with protocol droid C-3PO, made his way to an escape pod, intent on delivering the plan and message to the Jedi Master.

Meanwhile, Darth Vader, who had boarded the ship soon after the attack began, interrogated the captured Antilles by choking him with his bare hands. The Dark Lord demanded to know where to find the Death Star plans, but Antilles claimed that the ship had not intercepted any transmissions and that it was simply a consular vessel on a diplomatic mission. Antilles, haven proven he would not talk, had his neck crushed by the Dark Lord, killing the captain. Vader ordered his stormtroopers to begin tearing the *Tantive IV* apart until the plans could be found, and that all passengers were to be captured and brought before him. The stormtroopers continued their search as ordered, and one group located the princess. They stunned Organa and captured her.

As the princess was taken prisoner, Artoo and Threepio boarded an escape pod and ejected it from the ship, bound for Tatooine. Imperial gunners aboard the *Devastator* noticed that the escape pod had been jettisoned but were ordered to hold their fire, as an Imperial officer believed that the escape pod had likely short-circuited. As the droids escaped, Organa was brought before Vader and denied any involvement in the Rebel Alliance, claiming instead that she was on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan and that the Imperial Senate would not be pleased with what Vader had done to the vessel. The Dark Lord ordered the princess to be taken away, and was then informed that the Death Star plans were not aboard the vessel. He also learned of the escape pod and ordered his men to retrieve them, as well as to send a false distress signal and then tell the Senate that the crew had been killed by some other means.

## Aftermath

The morning after the droids were captured by the Jawas, the sandcrawler arrived at the Lars moisture farm, where moisture farmer Owen Lars lived with his wife Beru and their nephew Luke Skywalker—who was secretly the son of Darth Vader and the twin brother of Princess Organa. Owen and Skywalker inspected what the Jawas had for sale and ultimately purchased Artoo and Threepio, with Owen intending to use them as farm workers. While Skywalker was cleaning them, he discovered a partial version of the princess' message for Kenobi. Although Skywalker had never heard the name Obi-Wan Kenobi, he did know of a Ben Kenobi who lived beyond the Dune Sea, and was unaware that they were the same person. Skywalker told his aunt and uncle what he had discovered, and Owen let slip that Kenobi knew Skywalker's father, then-known as Anakin Skywalker. Owen claimed, however, that the two died around the same time, though Kenobi was still very much alive.

While Skywalker was speaking with his family about the message, Artoo escaped from the farm to find the Jedi Master. The next morning, Skywalker and Threepio quietly left the farm to locate Artoo. While they were gone, the Empire traced the droids to the Jawas and finally to the Lars farm. The stormtroopers killed Owen and Beru and left their charred corpses amongst the burning ruins of the farm. Skywalker and Threepio, meanwhile, found Artoo in the Jundland Wastes but were attacked by Tusken Raiders. Skywalker was knocked unconscious and, soon thereafter, Kenobi arrived and scared the Raiders off by imitating the cry of a krayt dragon, a type of beast that lived in the desert. As the Raiders and their bantha beasts left, Skywalker came to and told Kenobi about the droid and its mission, and the Jedi Master admitted that he was, indeed, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Kenobi brought Skywalker and the droids to his home, where he explained that he was once a Jedi Knight and that he had fought in the Clone Wars alongside Anakin. He gave the boy Anakin's lightsaber and claimed that Anakin had been murdered by Darth Vader. The two then watched the full message that Artoo had brought for the Jedi Master. Kenobi resolved to bring the plans to Alderaan and asked Skywalker to go with him, but the boy refused. It was not until he discovered that his family had been murdered by Imperial Stromtroopers that Skywalker agreed to go to Alderaan—and to be trained as a Jedi, as his father once was.

## Appearances

* Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
* Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope