TIE/sh VIP shuttle

The TIE shuttle (TIE/sh) was a priority personnel shuttle used by officers of the Imperial Navy to travel between capital ships or installations. The TIE shuttle was a modified version of the twin-pod starfighter design common to the TIE Bomber and the TIE boarder.

Sienar Fleet Systems' TIE/sh was able to carry two passengers, plus a pilot, and up to a metric ton of cargo. The TIE/sh was not built for combat, and was armed with a single laser cannon. Death Squadron personnel commonly used TIE shuttles to deliver face-to-face messages between ship officers. Often, flag officers chose to ride in the larger Lambda-class shuttle, while lower-ranking officers made do with the TIE shuttle.

After losing the Millennium Falcon following a chase through the Hoth Belt, Captain Lorth Needa boarded a TIE shuttle to apologize personally to Darth Vader for his failure. The shuttle transported Needa from the Avenger to Vader's Executor, where Needa was choked to death for his incompetance.

Behind the Scenes
The idea of a twin-hulled TIE transport dates back to unused concepts of a TIE boarding craft for A New Hope. The final TIE shuttle, glimpsed briefly in one shot of The Empire Strikes Back, is essentially a TIE bomber, sans bomb chute.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back