Ground Battle on Kessel

OnALegendsArticle

For other uses, see Battle of Kessel.

The Ground Battle on Kessel occurred early during the Galactic Civil War, when Urai Fen instigated an insurrection on the prison world of Kessel to free the crime lord Tyber Zann.

Prelude

Tyber Zann had been arrested on Felucia after stealing a Sith artifact from Jabba the Hutt. He sent Urai Fen and the artifact ahead of him, intending to follow him and meet up later. He did not get the chance. Galactic Empire forces caught up with him and arrested him, shipping him off to Kessel.

Urai Fen escaped and returned to Ryloth, where the Zann Consortium had a base. Urai Fen gathered the Zann Consortium's forces, and they defeated Imperial forces on Kamino. After the battle, Fen laid low until Zann was ready to escape. Eventually he hired Han Solo and Chewbacca to transport him to and from the prison in the Millennium Falcon.

Meanwhile, Zann remained in prison. A mouse droid belonging to Jabba arrived and projected the image of the Hutt to Tyber. He taunted Tyber and demanded to know where the artifact was. Tyber refused to tell him. After he kicked the droid out, Tyber contacted Urai, who was nearby. Soon after, a bounty hunter sent by Jabba tried to kill him. Urai saved his life and they began their escape.

The riot

"Hold on a second, where's my cargo? And what's with all these people? I'm not running a passenger ship."
"I'm your cargo, Captain Solo. Don't worry about the prisoners. They found their way in here, they can find their own way out."
"Whoa, wait a minute. Your man said this was just a spice run. Now, of course I never believed that nonsense about a spice run but I didn't count on an Imperial prison riot!"
"I'll double your already considerable fee."
"I know, Chewie. I get the feeling we don't have much choice if we want to leave here with our skins intact. Get aboard now, we're leaving."
―Han Solo and Tyber Zann[1]

Tyber had to make it through locked doors by blasting the controls. As he made his way through the prison facility he fought stormtroopers guarding it. He also convinced many prisoners to join him.

Eventually Tyber ran into opposition by two Imperial dark troopers. He took this opportunity to rush to the Falcon while the prisoners engaged the droids.

He arrived at the Falcon, where Han and Chewbacca had been hired to take the two off planet. Han complained that this wasn't exactly what he had been told—Fen had told him it was a spice run—but Tyber offered him more money. They left, leaving the prisoners behind.

Aftermath

"My stay in prison has not done wonders for the Zann Consortium. Jabba must have already heard of my escape."
―Tyber Zann[1]

Very likely the prisoners were recaptured or killed, as no other transports were available for escape. Tyber Zann returned to Ryloth and began his revenge against Jabba and other plans.

Inspired by Zann's riot, the prisoners in the spice mines of Kessel staged another revolt after the Battle of Endor.[3]

Behind the scenes

The presence of dark troopers at this conflict before the development of the Dark Trooper project even began could possibly be explained as these being early prototypes, or simply some other type of Imperial combat droid since they were not called dark troopers by name.

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
  2. ↑ Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption places the first missions of the Zann Consortium's campaign sometime between the beginning of the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin, which The New Essential Chronology dates respectively to 2 BBY and 0 BBY.
  3. ↑ StarWars.com Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Empire: Part 1 on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
In other languages