Hijacking of Crawler 413-24

Around 1 BBY, members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic hijacked Crawler 413-24 in an attempt to use its long-range communications equipment to contact Alliance High Command. The Galactic Empire was blocking all non-Imperial transmissions from the planet Lothal, which was under a severe lockdown. The Spectres had returned to Lothal to gather intelligence on the new TIE/D Defender Elite, eventually stealing the prototype's flight data recorder. Hera Syndulla and Chopper had successfully returned the device to Rebel Command. Ezra Bridger, confident that Syndulla intended to return for them and lead an attack, insisted that the Lothal resistance group had to get in touch with the Alliance. When the Rebels detected the ore crawler in the vicinity of their new base, a solution presented itself.

Bridger, Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus, and Garazeb Orrelios boarded the crawler, confronting its Trandoshan captain, Seevor, who managed to activate an alarm and halt the vehicle. In response to the alarm, Mining Guild headquarters contacted the crawler, and Bridger impersonated Seevor over the comms in an attempt to allay their suspicions. As Jarrus and Orrelios investigated the crawler's reactor room, Wren worked on activating the vehicle's old long-range transmitter and Bridger watched Seevor, eventually locking him in a closet. In the reactor room, Jarrus and Orrelios discovered several slaves, as well as Cikatro Vizago, a crime lord and associate of the Spectres who had been arrested by the Empire after smuggling them onto Lothal. They were then accosted by the crawler's foreman, Proach, who quickly shocked Jarrus unconscious and then fought Orrelios, who eventually defeated him. Shortly after, as the other Rebels entered the cockpit, Wren reported the arrival of two Imperial gunships, sent to investigate the crawler, as Bridger had made the Mining Guild suspicious.

The Rebels pretended that everything was business as usual on the vehicle, with Orrelios posing as the foreman and Vizago as the captain. Bridger, Jarrus, and Wren hid in a closet. After the Imperials left, finding nothing, the Rebels discovered that Seevor had taken advantage of his scrawny build to escape into the ventilation system. Wren attempted to activate the transmitter but discovered that Seevor had shut down the crawler's reactors. As the Trandoshan had magnetically sealed the door to the reactor room, Bridger was sent through the vents after him. Bridger fought Seevor in the reactor room, and the captain eventually died by falling into the smelter after stepping on Bridger's dropped lightsaber. The Rebels were thus able to contact Syndulla and Rebel Command, and discovered that the Alliance leaders had authorized an attack to prevent the manufacture of Defender Elites on Lothal.

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