Heir to the Empire

Thrawn launches a three-prong simultaneous hit-and-fade attack on a planet called Bpfaash under New Republic jurisdiction, using Joruus to increase efficiency by exerting control over some of the ships. They attack briefly, then leave before New Republic reinforcements can arrive. At the end of the attack, Joruus says he is getting impatient waiting for the Jedi he was promised; Thrawn assures him the rumors and other preparations have been put into place, and his teams wait only for the right moment to initiate the plan.

Luke is giving Leia a lesson in lightsaber fighting tactics and tapping into the Force when Han arrives to give them the news about the Imperial attack of Bpfaash. He tells Leia that Mon Mothma wants her to go to the planet to reassure the citizens there; Luke wants to go to help protect them, but the people of Bpfaash do not like Jedi. Leia tells him briefly about the Dark Jedi who had caused problems there, leaving a lingering dislike for Jedi among the people. She mentions that one Jedi had escaped to Dagobah, and when she leaves, Luke wonders if Yoda’s ghost might still be on the planet. After releasing some stress with lightsaber training, worried over the responsibility he is taking on in training Leia and her future children as Jedi, he orders his X-Wing to be prepared within the hour.

Han and Leia inspect the damage on Bpfaash with their team, wondering why the damage is relatively light when four Star Destroyers were involved and why the Empire chose that planet when more likely targets were in relatively easy distance. Wedge also reveals recent rumors he had heard about Joruus’s survival and residence on a small planet—these are the rumors planted by Thrawn’s people.

Leia’s Jedi senses kick in and she warns everyone to get down just before more of the Noghri they had seen on Bimmisaari arrive. Under cover, Han, Leia, and Wedge Antilles (an X-Wing pilot for the Rebel Alliance in the Battle of Endor) suddenly see what they think is the Falcon arriving, assuming Chewie had noticed their comms being blocked. Leia cannot sense Chewie himself, and when Han looks closer, he sees that the Noghri have scrounged up the same model ship as the Falcon to try to trick them into boarding. Instead, Han disables part of the Falcon in a way that also releases gas into the air, sending a signal to their fleet. Soon X-Wings arrive to help.

On board the Falcon, Han challenges Ackbar’s insistence that they will find out who leaked their location and that Coruscant is still safe for Leia. After the call, he suggests to Leia that instead of returning, they go somewhere unexpected and hole up there. As a compromise, since Leia does not want to be cut off from the New Republic completely, he suggests going somewhere where there is a diplomatic connection, using their friend Lando Calrissian’s connections to hack into the New Republic comms.

Luke and R2-D2 land on Dagobah, finding Yoda’s home in ruins due to the wet landscape and quick-growing plants that have overtaken it. R2-D2, however, discovers the presence of metal on a scan and leads Luke to it; the metal is located in the same cave where he had encountered the vision of himself fighting Darth Vader while training under Yoda.

While trying to find the metal R2-D2 had found, Luke encounters another vision. This one starts as a memory of him on Jabba the Hut’s ship on Tatooine, where he had gone to rescue Han and Leia. The memory changes; R2-D2 shoots Luke’s lightsaber toward him, and it flies past Luke and lands in the hands of a woman.

Luke finds the metal and discovers it is a seemingly innocent piece of machinery, instead of something helpful, but R2-D2 becomes excited when inspecting it. As they start to fly away from the planet, R2-D2 explains that he had seen Lando with something exactly like it. Curious, Luke decides to visit Lando to ask about it.

Han and Leia approach Nkllon, where Lando is running a new business. Han argues with one of the planet’s pilots about being able to land on the planet. He sends a message to Lando without sharing their names, and Lando provides permission to land.

As they position themselves with the ship that shields them from the too-close sun of Nkllon, another ship starts to join them. The ship’s movements seem suspicious, so Han prepares for attack, but it turns out to be Luke in his X-Wing.

The shielded trip to Nkllon takes 10 hours, but they arrive. As they are nearing the landing platforms, their conversation with Lando is cut off, their comms compromised. When they reestablish connection, Lando says it might be the sun, but then they all realize the true cause: an Imperial Star Destroyer.

Luke, Han, and Leia quickly develop a plan against the Star Destroyer, as Lando needs to protect his equipment on the ground. Luke attacks first so he can also reach out with the Force to confuse them; during the attack, however, Luke hears a voice calling to him. The voice tells Luke that he will find the speaker, suggesting over and over that Luke find him and that together they will rebuild the Jedi.

Luke wakens to Leia and Han calling to him; they have driven off the Imperial ships, and Luke has lost 30 minutes of real time during his mental conversation with the mysterious voice.

On board the Star Destroyer, Pellaeon informs Thrawn of the ship’s status, while Joruus informs him that the men he controlled were able to capture 51 of Lando’s mining drones Thrawn had been after. Joruus hints at having spoken with Luke, and pushes Thrawn to take him to the planet they have chosen. Thrawn promises to do so once they repair the ship from the Nkllon sun, but when Joruus leaves, he suggests to Pellaeon that they might capture Luke—perhaps even kill him—themselves after dropping off Joruus. Pellaeon, however, convinces Thrawn that they should capture Luke alive and not risk angering Joruus until they have completed their plans on Wayland.

Lando has realized that half of his supply of mole miner drones have been stolen. He is angry, but he recovers quickly, asking why Han and Leia came to him. Once Luke has returned, Han admits that they need help protecting Leia. Unfortunately, Lando has no smuggling contacts he trusts enough to provide the protection they need. Chewie offers an alternative plan: he offers to take Leia with him to Kashyyyk, Chewie’s home planet. He will protect her, and the New Republic Wookiee representative’s sense of honor will not allow him to betray Leia. Chewie also suggests Han fly the Millennium Falcon elsewhere to make others think Leia is with him. Lando offers to go with Han, as he has business to attend to, and he helps set up C-3PO with programming that allows him to use Leia’s voice, giving them a way to trick people into believing Leia is with Han.

Luke shows the transmitter he’s found to Lando, who explains that it is a beacon to call a ship to the owner. When talking to Leia afterwards, Luke realizes it must have belonged to the Dark Jedi that they heard had fled to Dagobah whom Yoda must have fought and defeated. The meeting of dark and light powers, Luke realizes, must have created a sort of shield for Yoda, keeping Darth Vader and the Emperor from sensing him.

Luke tells them he needs to seek out what he believes might be another Jedi. Leia reminds him of the rumors about Joruus C’baoth, and Luke decides to seek him out; Leia warns him to be careful, as it might be an Imperial trap. She points out that when Yoda said Luke was the last of the Jedi, Vader and the Emperor were still alive, so Yoda could have been excluding Dark Jedi. Joruus may be a Dark Jedi.