Battle of the Hungry Ghost

"The Falcon is ours, sir. Her crew is on the run."

- Pirate

The Battle of the Hungry Ghost was a minor battle in 0 ABY, during the Galactic Civil War, that took place aboard and around the Hungry Ghost above Yavin. After the destruction of the first Death Star during the Battle of Yavin, the explosion left hundreds of thousands of pieces of Death Star wreckage. The Huralok pirate Redkihl Rokk and his band of pirates traveled to the wreckage in their ship, the Hungry Ghost, to scavenge some of the parts after the Rebel Alliance left the system. However, one ship, the Millennium Falcon, discovered the pirate ship and went to investigate. The pirate, wishing to get the cargo the Millennium Falcon was carrying, bombs, sent out fighters to disable the ship, which they executed successfully. The pirates then docked the Millennium Falcon. However, another Rebel, Luke Skywalker, arrived and confronted the pirates.

Luke's fighter, however, was damaged in the ensuing battle, but he managed to make it into the Hungry Ghost ' s hangar bay. Luke made his way through the ship, continually being chased by the pirates. Meanwhile, inside the disabled Millennium Falcon, Redkihl Rokk sent numerous spider droids to scavenge the cargo. The crew fought off the spider droids for enough time to get power back to the ship. Solo then threatened Rokk to detonate the bombs if the pirates don't surrender. Eventually, Solo managed to obtain power for the Millennium Falcon. Luke, after engaging Rokk in combat and wounding him, escaped the ship through a hatch and flee to the ship. They broke free of the cables that held them to the ship and evaded laserfire from the Hungry Ghost. Solo then triggered the detonator and destroyed the Hungry Ghost instantaneously, killing Rokk and all of his crew.

Pirates in the wreckage
"Millennium Falcon''', prepare to be boarded!"

- Redkihl Rokk

Leia Organa, a founding member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, was rescued from the Death Star, the tyrannical Galactic Empire's planet-destroying superweapon, by Luke Skywalker, a future member of the Alliance, Han Solo, another future member of the Alliance, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master aligned with the Alliance. After her rescue, the plans for the Death Star were found to be secured in R2-D2, an astromech droid that Leia had previously hidden the plans in on her ship, the Tantive IV. After analyzing the plans, the Alliance launched an attack on the battlestation, which had followed Leia Organa back to the Rebel's secret base on Yavin 4. Although the Rebels were vastly outnumbered, Luke Skywalker was able to destroy the superweapon with the help of Han Solo, which left an enormous amount of wreckage around Yavin. The Rebels then evacuated their base before more Imperial troops arrived.

Skywalker, in his personal X-wing starfighter, jumped to hyperspace, headed for Hoth to establish a new Rebel base in the system. Solo, Chewbacca, the Wookiee copilot for Solo, Organa, and C-3PO, a protocol droid under the ownership of Skywalker, also began to jump to hyperspace in Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Solo, however, scanned an unfamiliar ship in the Death Star wreckage. Assuming it could be Imperial spies, Solo decided to investigate and find the unknown ship. Before they could find the ship, the Millennium Falcon was attacked by TIE Fighters. These TIE Fighters, however, were not of Imperial ownership, but were painted red, leading the crew to believing they were not dealing with the Empire. It was revealed that the unknown ship was in fact the Hungry Ghost, a ship under the command of the Huralok scavenger Redkihl Rokk and his band of pirates, who had visited the wreckage to scavenge parts.

Engaging in battle
"No escape for you, Millennium Falcon!"

- Redkihl Rokk

Solo identified Rokk as a threat and tried to turn back, having heard rumours that Rokk liked to give his victims slow deaths. The red TIE Fighters, however, hit the Millennium Falcon exactly where the weak point was. As a result, all power went out, and they were forced to dock onto Rokk's ship. After docking aboard the Hungry Ghost, Rokk revealed that he would take the Millennium Falcon ' s cargo, bombs. Immediately after the Millennium Falcon docked, Luke Skywalker emerged from hyperspace in his X-Wing and destroyed one of the red TIE Fighters. After much confusion, the crew of the Millennium Falcon identified the X-Wing as Luke Skywalker's. Redkihl Rokk then used twelve laser cannons to disable the small starfighter. Skywalker managed to fly the damaged fighter into the hangar bay of the Hungry Ghost. After notifying Rokk of Skywalker's survival, Rokk ordered the pirates to destroy Skywalker before he caused trouble.

Meanwhile, the pirates released hundreds of spider droids to take the cargo aboard the Millennium Falcon. Solo, Leia, and Chewbacca fought off some of the spider droids, almost hitting crucial parts of the ship in the process. After arguing about escaping, Solo gave C-3PO a box with a holographic message. C-3PO eventually encountered the Huralok captain and relayed the message. Solo told the captain through the message that he would detonate the bombs aboard the ship if he did not surrender and let the Millennium Falcon leave. Rokk, dismissing the smuggler's message as a mere bluff, told him to "do as you will." Their conversation was cut short by Luke Skywalker, who had entered the bridge. Before Skywalker could attack, a laser turret aboard the ship fired and wounded him.

Destruction of the Hungry Ghost
"Redkihl deserves the same fate he planned for us, to end up just another hunk of Death Star wreckage."

- Han Solo

Rokk, threatining Luke with death, lunged himself at the Jedi. Luke, however, used his lightsaber to rip some of the cables attached to Rokk, which provided medicine to the Huralok. Rokk, enraged at the victorious Jedi, lunged himself at Skywalker again, urging him to come back and fight. Luke escaped through the hatch that lead to the Millennium Falcon, along with R2-D2, and his protocol droid, C-3PO. After finding their way to the bridge, Leia embraced Luke now that he was safe, at least for the time being.

Han Solo managed to get power back to the Millennium Falcon and they broke away from the cables that kept them docked. Rokk turned all of the laser cannons on the fleeing freighter. Dodging the blasts, the ship eventually got out of range. Solo activated the detonator, and the bombs exploded all around the Hungry Ghost. Rokk and all of his pirates were killed in the explosion, and his ship was disabled. The Millennium Falcon then continued its planned course to Hoth.

Behind the scenes
This battle only appears in the comics of the magazine Star Wars Kids, in the comic Death Star Pirates, written by Henry Gilroy. It appears over four issues of the magazine. Many details of the battle and characters are not revealed in the comic, such as the proper name for Rokk's ship or the species of Redkihl Rokk. However, in the sourcebook Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds, both the name of the ship and the species is explained.

Appearances

 * Death Star Pirates