Gas-processing vane

A gas-processing vane, also known as simply a processing vane was a large device used to purify and stabilize Tibanna gas mined from the atmosphere of the gas giant Bespin. After being forced through an opening at the bottom of Cloud City's reactor bulb by tractor beams, the gas is transported through the reactor stalk and stored at low-pressure in cavernous reactor shafts before eventually being filtered through the processing vanes. The vanes featured carbon-freeze chambers, which admixed the Tibanna with carbonite for flash-freeze preservation.

Sometime after the Battle of Hoth, the Galactic Empire froze Rebel smuggler Han Solo using a processing vane's carbon-freeze chamber and gave him to bounty hunter Boba Fett. Shortly after, Luke Skywalker arrived to rescue Solo and Princess Leia Organa, but instead encountered Darth Vader and proceeded to engage him in a lightsaber duel. The fight concluded on the vane's sensor balcony, where Vader cut off Skywalker's arm and revealed to him he was his father. Choosing to die rather than join the dark side of the Force, Skywalker let go of the end of the balcony, causing him to fall into the shaft below and get sucked up by a gas-exhaust pipe.

Appearances

 * The Original Trilogy Stories
 * Star Wars Battlefront
 * The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * Use the Force!
 * Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back