Beckon call

A beckon call or remote activation controller was a handheld communications device that allowed its user to remotely access the systems and controls of a slave-rigged vehicle. The power and usefulness of beckon calls varied considerably. However, a range of just under a planetary radius was considered to be short. The most common function was simply to make the ship fly to the controller's holder (hence the name); the ship would even avoid obstacles. More advanced versions could be programmed to autonomously fight enemy vehicles "with a reasonable degree of skill" should the user require it. On the other hand, some low-end models would work only if the weather was good and the beckon call had a direct line-of-sight to the vehicle that it was supposed to be communicating with. Extremely modified beckon calls were capable of transmitting signals across hyperspace, such as the one that Lando Calrissian had in his possession while attempting to solve the mystery of the Teljkon Vagabond. According to Lando, some could stay in stand-by mode for more than a century before their internal power-cells died.

The beckon call did come with certain drawbacks, apart from the range limitations. Firstly, it was constantly transmitting a signal, which meant it would trip any scanners set to detect transmissions, limiting its functionality as a hidden tool. Compounding this issue, the beckon call would be useless if the ship it was tied to was sabotaged; Lando tried to use his beckon call to summon his personal ship to escape Darth Vader and the Imperial forces in Cloud City, but the Imperials had already disabled it.

For unknown reasons, beckon calls seem to be much rarer in the modern galaxy; neither Luke nor Han recognized one on sight, and Lando claimed he had not seen one in years, However, Lando then amended his statement to specify that he had not seen a pre-Clone Wars model. As Lando had at least one ship that was linked to a beckon call, it seems it was not impossible acquire one.

Text and facts from the “Beckon call/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.