Secret mission to Tatooine

The secret mission to Tatooine was an operation undertaken in 1 BBY by the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. The mission followed the Rebellion's theft of the plans to the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying deep space mobile battle station from the planet Scarif. Rebel spies Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor transmitted the plans to Admiral Raddus aboard his flagship. As the battle concluded, the plans were nearly reclaimed by Darth Vader, but were successfully transferred to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan aboard the Tantive IV.

After escaping into hyperspace, Organa's corvette was pursued by the Star Destroyer Devastator to the planet Tatooine, beginning the Assault on Tantive IV. In the fierce battle in orbit between the Tantive IV and the Devastator, the corvette was no match for the immense Devastator and was captured and boarded by Imperial troops, led by Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Organa herself was stunned and captured but not before she uploaded the plans to the astromech droid R2-D2 who, along with his protocol droid companion C-3PO, escaped to Tatooine aboard an escape pod. Artoo's mission was to find Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, for whom the droid had a holographic message from the princess.

Once on the surface, the two droids came into the possession of a group of Jawa scavengers before being sold to moisture farmer Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. The Empire, meanwhile, learned that the droids were likely in possession of the stolen plans and searched the planet for them. Artoo fled from the Lars moisture farm in search of Kenobi. The message, which Artoo delivered to Kenobi with Skywalker's assistance, was the princess' plea for help, asking that the Jedi Master safely deliver the plans to Bail Prestor Organa, one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance, on Alderaan.

When the Empire learned that the droids had been sold to the Lars family, they killed Owen and his wife, Beru Lars. His family having been killed, Skywalker agreed to leave with Kenobi and take the droids to Alderaan. They hired a pilot, Han Solo, in Mos Eisley, and Solo agreed to take them to Alderaan aboard his ship, the Millennium Falcon. The arrangement was discovered by Imperial troops, who attacked the ship before it departed. The Millennium Falcon blasted its way out of the Mos Eisley spaceport and evaded two Star Destroyers in orbit. They arrived at the former location of Alderaan after it was destroyed by the Death Star, and they rescued Organa from Imperial captivity. Though Kenobi was killed by Darth Vader during a duel, the group brought the stolen plans to the Rebel base on Yavin 4, where Rebel analysts studied them and found a weakness in the battle station's systems. The Rebel forces launched an attack on the Death Star, leading to the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the dreaded Imperial superweapon.

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