Evacuation of Paucris Major

The evacuation of Paucris Major occurred in 3 BBY, when the rebel fleet being constructed and refurbished at orbital facilities above the planet Paucris Major was forced to leave the system upon receiving word that the Galactic Empire intended to send a fleet to the Paucris system.

Prelude
In 3 BBY, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, investigating her parents' involvement with the rebellion, discovered that a fleet was being constructed at Paucris Major. A couple months later, while serving as her father Bail Organa's senatorial aide and in the Apprentice Legislature, she was summoned to a meeting with Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Tarkin, who harboured suspicions of the Organas, mentioned Paucris as one of several systems that the Empire hoped to achieve "peace" in. Leia realized that this meant the Empire suspected rebel activity in the system, and attempted to contact her father after the meeting, but he was not on Coruscant. Since Bail was still offworld, Leia contacted Chandrilan Senator Mon Mothma, another leader of the rebellion, and her mother Queen Breha Organa to inform them that the Empire knew about Paucris Major. Mothma charged Leia to go to Paucris and warn the rebels there. As the Alderaanian royal yacht Polestar was on Alderaan, Leia had to hire another ship for transport. Mothma gave her an untraceable credit solid to pay for the trip. Before she left, Leia contacted her boyfriend Kier Domadi, who she had been planning to meet, to tell him that she had to go to Paucris. She promised him that they would talk again soon.

Journey to Paucris
Leia had some difficulty hiring a ship incognito, until she ran into fellow Apprentice Legislators Chassellon Stevis and Amilyn Holdo attempting to hire the freighter Mighty Oak Apocalypse to take them to a speeder auction on Arkanis. Amilyn, knowing of Leia's rebel connections, persuaded Chassellon to stay behind, as she and Leia hired the Moa to take them to the planet Pamarthe. On Pamarthe, one of the planet's famous storms was threatening to prevent all ships from leaving the planet, making it difficult for the girls to find another ship to take them to the Paucris system – until Leia saw a Chalhuddan ship. The leader of the Chalhuddans, Occo Quentto, owed Leia a favor stemming from a relief mission she had made to Chal Hudda delivering vaccines, and she called in the favor for passage to Paucris Major.

Evacuation
When Leia and Amilyn, travelling with an escort of Chalhuddan ships sent by Quentto, arrived at Paucris, no Imperial ships were detected in the system. Leia sent a signal to whoever was in charge of the Paucris rebel base, and her father Bail answered. Bail was initially angry at Leia's presence, until she told him that the Empire was coming, and that she had been sent by Breha and Mothma. Bail immediately ordered the evacuation, and told Leia to rendezvous with him on the Tantive IV.

Leia and Amilyn disembarked from the Chalhuddan ship onto the Tantive IV, where they were greeted by Bail. He informed Leia that the portion of the fleet at Paucris was being broken up, and that the orbital repair stations' self-destructs would be activated before the last convoy left. Leia requested a shuttle so she and Amilyn could return to Coruscant, so as not to link the Chalhuddans with the rebellion. The girls were given a small hopper that looked like a civilian craft.

On board the hopper, Leia and Amilyn waited for the other ships to leave. Leia plotted a course to Baltizaar, as it would be risky to return directly to Coruscant. As the last ships jumped out, Amilyn informed Leia that another ship had arrived in the system: a nondescript cutter approaching the repair stations. Leia attempted to figure out whose ship it was, and realized in horror that it was piloted by Kier Domadi, the only other person besides the rebels and the Empire who knew about the Paucris system. She attempted to warn Kier that the orbital stations were about to self-destruct, but the warning came too late, and Kier's ship was badly damaged in the shockwave from the stations detonating.

Leia and Amilyn approached Kier's ship in their hopper and docked. Boarding, they found that the ship's artificial gravity was no longer functional. They eventually found Kier in the cockpit, mortally injured. Dying, he told Leia that he had followed her to the Paucris system, and that he had been collecting information about the rebellion, intending to turn it over to the Empire to ensure the safety of Alderaan and Leia. He asked Leia to hand over the memory rod with the data, before dying. Leia left the rod on Kier's ship, but took his body on board the hopper. Kier's ship was left to burn up on reentry into Paucris Major's atmosphere, destroying the evidence he'd collected.

Aftermath
The rebel ships at Paucris were successfully evacuated. When Leia and Amilyn's hopper arrived at Alderaan, they were contacted by an Imperial ship, which stated that their vessel's ionization levels suggested travel to a system under investigation. Using her knowledge of astrology, Amilyn claimed that the hopper had just returned from the Shili system, which had a sun with near-identical ionization levels to that of Paucris Major. Amilyn then got the Imperial officer to sign off by playing up her astrological interest and her odd personality quirks. Leia was grief-stricken by Kier's death, and took some time to recover. His parents were told that he had died saving Leia during a small-craft accident in Alderaan's upper atmosphere. Back on Coruscant, Leia was contacted by Grand Moff Tarkin again, who made little secret of his suspicions of the Organas.

Appearances

 * Leia, Princess of Alderaan