Mission to steal Imperial weapons

The mission to steal Imperial weapons was an operation undertaken in 5 BBY by the rebel crew of the Ghost to steal and, ultimately, destroy illegal T-7 ion disruptor rifles from the Galactic Empire. It was a formative operation in the early days of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The mission began as a means of securing credits needed to replenish their ship's supplies and continue their operations against the Empire; the crime lord Cikatro Vizago, who operated on the Outer Rim planet Lothal, was willing to pay for the weapons. The mission took the rebels to the planet Garel, which they traveled to aboard a star commuter shuttle. Aboard that shuttle was Minister Maketh Tua, who was attempting to procure the weapons from their manufacturer, Amda Wabo, with the help of two droids—R2-D2 and C-3PO, who were secretly working for Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan to destroy the weapons. The rebels were able to learn the location of the weapons in the Garel City Spaceport, and stole them before the Empire could obtain them. After a brief firefight on Garel, the rebels escaped back to Lothal.

Once on Lothal, the rebels attempted to sell the weapons to Vizago, but were quickly discovered by Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau. This led to a brief battle against Imperial forces, in which the rebels destroyed the disruptors so they could not fall into Imperial hands. The rebels escaped Agent Kallus' forces and returned the droids to Senator Organa, who was able to learn about the rebels from R2-D2. In the aftermath of the mission, the rebels became part of the fledging Rebel Alliance that Organa helped lead, though only the pilot of the Ghost, Hera Syndulla, knew of their involvement at first. They later learned of their involvement, as well as Organa's, after other rebel cells came to their assistance during mission to rescue the crew's field leader, Kanan Jarrus, from the Empire.

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