Flanchard

The Flanchard was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer that served in the Imperial Navy.

History
In 5 BBY the Flanchard was under the command of Captain Pter Nyklas, a staunch believer of the High Human Culture doctrine. The Star Destroyer was assigned to patrol the Suolriep sector and frequently handled slaving duties. Then-Lieutenant Han Solo had been assigned to the Flanchard after graduating from the Austringer Flight School as one of the TIE fighter squadron commanders.

On one of these tours, seven months after Solo had arrived, Nyklas and the Flanchard were about to meet with a slaver near Komnor for a shipment of young Wookiees. However, upon arrival they found the slaver ship not responding any calls and another, unknown ship. Previously to the arrival of the Imperials, a lone Wookiee, Chewbacca had ambushed the slavers and freed the other Wookiees. Nyklas, not taking any chances, ordered Solo and his squadron to disarm and board the slaver ship. After the fight was over, Chewbacca's ship, which had played dead throughout the battle, managed to escaped with half of the Wookiee youths. Chewbacca, wounded from the fight, had remained on the slaver ship, where is unconscious body was found by Lieuteant Solo. Nyklas, furious about the loss of slaves, ordered Solo to kill the Wookiee, an order that Solo refused.

For his behaviour, Solo was reprimanted, but stayed under Nyklas' command and Chewbacca fell into Imperial slavery. On duty rotation to oversee the construction of the Imperial Hall of Heroes on Coruscant, Nyklas constantly whipped Chewbacca and the other Wookiees, until he pushed Solo too far. The young Lieutenant stunned Nyklas, who was about to kill Chewbacca, and escaped.

Behind the scenes
The Flanchard first appeared in the second issue of the Chewbacca miniseries, published in 2000, which retold the first encounter between Han Solo and Chewbacca. The Star Destroyer was first identified as the Flanchard in the Essential Guide to Warfare, published in 2012.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Chewbacca 2