Ambush on Ferrix

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Concurrent

Search for Kerri^[1]

Ambush on Ferrix

Combatants
Consolidated Holdings of Preox-Morlana Corporation^[3]	Axis network^[3]

Commanders
Deputy Inspector Syril Karn^[3] Sergeant Linus Mosk^[3]

Units
East Team^[3] North Team^[3] West Team^[3]

Strength
Pre-Mor Authority Security Forces corpos^[3] East-1^[3] North-1^[3] North-3†^[3] West-3^[3] West-4^[3] 3 Mobile Tac-Pods^[3] Pre-Mor Authority Patrol (planetary drop-off)^[3] 1 Preox-Morlana personnel carrier^[3]	Cassian Jeron Andor^[3] Luthen Rael^[3] 1 57-D delivery^[5] speeder bike^[3] 1 landspeeder^[3]

Casualties
1 Mobile Tac-Pod^[3] 4 Corpos^[2] North-3^[3]	The landspeeder^[3]

Civilian casualties
Timm Karlo^[3]

"Andor should be considered armed and dangerous. We will have the element of surprise, but there should be no illusions as to the risks involved. There may be some local residents who are… less than enthused with our presence."

―Linus Mosk^[3]

The Ambush on Ferrix, also known as the Ferrix incident or the mission to Ferrix, was an incident that occurred on Ferrix during the Imperial Era, when Syril Karn attempted to apprehend Cassian Jeron Andor for the murder of two Preox-Morlana security officers.^[3]

Prelude

In 5 BBY, Cassian Andor traveled to Morlana One in a fruitless search for his missing sister, Kerri. As his trip ended in a dead end, he was accosted by two Pre-Mor Security officers, Verlo Skiff and Kravas Drezzer, who attempted to shake him down, only for Andor to start a scuffle that ended in both corpos' deaths. Andor then fled Morlana One in his Breon HOY-39 Dayvan and took a straight route back to Ferrix.^[6]

The murders of Skiff and Drezzer quickly came to the attention of Deputy Inspector Syril Karn, who reported the incident to Chief Inspector Hyne. To Karn's dismay, Hyne ordered him to fabricate a suitable accident report, as both victims were in violation of multiple regulations, in order to avoid any Imperial interference with Preox-Morlana.^[6]

Regarding Hyne's order as criminal negligence,^[7] Karn continued his investigation after the Chief Inspector had left for an Imperial Regional Command review on their crime reports, using resources from different departments to track Andor to Ferrix. He then put out a bulletin for any Kenari male residents on Ferrix,^[6] which was answered by local Timm Karlo, who harbored romantic jealousy against Andor. Karn then solidified Andor as his prime suspect once a hostess from the Leisure Zone brothel identified an outdated hologram of him from a six-year old Imperial census. In discussion with Sergeant Linus Mosk, Karn agreed to take a twelve man team to arrest Andor.^[8]

Meanwhile, Andor anticipated trouble would follow him and arranged with Bix Caleen to sell an Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit he stole from Steergard to Luthen Rael, who running an underground rebel network.^[6] Rael agreed to meet with Andor, hoping to either recruit him or buy the Starpath Unit from him.^[3] Upon arriving over Ferrix in his Fondor Haulcraft, Rael acted on the advice of his Fondor Droid Mod to land 2.3 kilometers from Ferrix City and took a hoverbus to reach his destination.^[8] Caleen made contact with Rael to warn him of the Pre-Mor bulletin out for Andor and told him the rendezvous point at East Lot, Building Nine.^[3]

Meanwhile, Karn's task force arrived on Ferrix in three Mobile Tac-Pods with North Team, West Team, and East Team, acting on Mosk's strategy to initiate a pincer maneuver to capture Andor. Karn, Mosk, and the rest of West Team arrived at Maarva Andor's house and began ransacking it in order to pressure her into revealing her son's whereabouts. He soon turned his attention to her droid, B2EMO. But before he could pull the droid's power supply to intimidate him into cooperating, Andor spoke with B2EMO through a comlink, which allowed Mosk to track his location and dispatched East Team to secure the site. As an upset crowd of locals gathered around Maarva's dwelling, Karn agreed with Mosk's recommendation to leave two men to guard Maarva and B2EMO while the rest went to reinforce their comrades. Wilmon Paak was among the residents witnessed to the disturbanced and informed his father, who, turn, warned Caleen that Pre-Mor had come for Andor. When Karlo attempted to stop her from warning Andor, she realized he was the one who sold him out and ran off, with Karlo chasing after her.^[3]

Andor met with Rael soon afterwards and offered the Starpath Unit for 40,000 credits. However, Rael offered him another thousand for him to explain how he managed to steal the device from Steergard. Andor simply explained that he disguised himself as a mechanic while taking advantage of the Imperials' arrogance and complacency. Rael forewarned that the Empire would get wise to his exploits, but Andor ignored his advice, eager to get their transaction over with. Rael then played with his emotions, revealing his knowledge of his late father being hung in Rix Road, prompting Andor to draw his blaster on him. Unthreatened, Rael calmly explained that he wanted to recruit Andor and forewarned that Pre-Mor was coming for him.^[3]

The ambush

Spotting West Team marching through the street, Salman and Wilmon began banging metals objects, spurring nearby residents into doing the same, sending a signal to any who heard it to take cover; Mosk interpreted the noise as a feeble attempt at intimidation. While this was going on, Caleen accidentally ran into North Team, who detained her.^[3]

After slowly gaining Andor's trust, Andor and Rael noticed that they were being surrounded. Rael then revealed that he had planted explosives on the doors and triggered them, sending their would-be attackers flying. Two other East Team members entered the warehouse and exchanged fire with the pair. Mosk was then notified by an East Team member that two men were down. Andor made a valiant effort to obtain the Starpath Unit that Rael wanted as Rael provided covering fire. However, with the falling scrap, the box was sent flying off its pedestal and onto the ground. Andor tried to grab it again, but East-1 fired from above, causing Andor and Rael to flee the warehouse.^[3]

Caleen tried to escape custody after Mosk alerted West Team of what had been happening, but Caleen was caught by a West Team member and slammed into the wall, causing her to bleed from the head. Meanwhile, as he and Rael traveled towards the city, Andor lamented leaving behind the path unit, but East-1 continued pursuing them and began fired on them again, causing them to run into the town.^[3]

Caleen was then handcuffed to the wall to allow West Team to move in, but Caleen's lover, Timm Karlo arrived and saw her bleeding. North-1 ordered Karlo not to engage and raised his weapon, but Karlo continued to run towards her. North-3 then fired at Karlo, killing him instantly. Angered, North-1 took North-3's rifle and ordered him to go back to the pod and listen on the radio. North-1 and two other West Team members headed towards Rix Road while North-3 went back towards the pod, as Caleen wept.^[3]

Mosk talked with East-1 over comms and learned that Andor had a companion. East-1 was ordered to pursue the two while West Team split up and waited for them to arrive at Rix Road. Maarva Andor then spoke to West-3 and West-4 about the sounds coming from the citizens, and once it stopped, West-3 and West-4 left their assigned posts. Andor and Rael then snuck up behind Karn, who was waiting to ambush them inside a house. With his blaster pressed up against Karn's head, Andor asked him how many men were operating under him. Karn shakingly responded that there were a dozen men and two officers present before being tied up and gagged in the back of a building.^[3]

North-3 headed towards the Mobile Tac-Pod and tried to get into the air, unaware that Brasso tethered it to a large piece of scrap while it was unattended. He continued to pilot the ship with the scrap pile still attached, causing it to get stuck in a operating machine and send him to his demise. The explosion was heard by Mosk, who began to worry and suspect that Andor had reinforcements.^[3]

East-1 continued to hunt for Andor and Rael, but heard the sounds of Syril Karn in a building. He freed the Deputy Inspector, only for him to yell that the landspeeder that passed by was them escaping. As he and East-1 chased after it, Mosk, West Team, and North Team fired on the speeder, causing it to flip over. Karn and Mosk celebrated, but Andor and Rael escaped with a speeder bike, their distraction having succeeded. Rael revealed one more surprise and detonated the speeder, injuring North Team. Andor and Rael then fled off-world.^[3]

Aftermath

Upon immediately clearing the planet, Rael immediately set a course for Aldhani. While en route, Rael convinced Andor to assist Vel Sartha's rebel team to steal the local sector's quarterly payroll with the promise of paying him 200,000 credits.^[2]

Pre-Mor's disasterous failure to capture Andor soon came to the attention of the Imperial Security Bureau. The Galactic Empire used this incident as a pretext to revoke Preox-Morlana's corporate independence and claim jurisdiction of the Morlana sector. ISB Supervisor Blevin traveled to Morlana One to personally reprimand Karn, Mosk and Hyne and told them that in addition to be dispatched to a transfer center to receive their personal effects, they would also be forced to sign the official ISB after-action report detailing their involvement and culpability in the Ferrix incident; Blevin refused to even allow them to read the report's contents, believing it would be a waste of time.^[2]

Meanwhile, the Empire began an active military occupation of military occupation of Ferrix City.^[9] By the time Andor returned to Ferrix, it had become common knowledge that Timm Karlo was responsible for selling him out.^[10]

The Ferrix incident gained the attention of Supervisor Dedra Meero upon learning that the Starpath Unit stolen from her sector was recovered. Suspecting it to be evidence of a larger rebel movement, she attempted to gain access to Blevin's report but was refused.^[2]

Stripped of his duties and left in utter disgrace, Syril Karn returned home to Coruscant.^[2] After gaining employment at the Imperial Bureau of Standards,^[10] he used his position to submit false reports about Andor in the hopes of catching him, which gained the ISB's attention. While being interrogated by Meero, he was given access to the after-action report and pointed out the descrepancies, which including Hyne's criminal negligence, the total lack of Imperial presence on Ferrix and that fact that Andor was aided by local accomplices.^[11]

Meero would regard the Ferrix incident as Luthen Rael's first mistake, codenaming the unidentified rebel spymaster as "Axis". Knowing that Andor escaped with Rael, Meero persuaded her superiors to give her more resources to hunt him down.^[11]

Behind the scenes

The ambush on Ferrix first appeared in the third episode of the Star Wars: Andor television series.^[3] It was first identified in a LEGO set reveal during Celebration Anaheim.^[12]