Treasure Trove

"The Treasure Trove has missed it's [sic] rendezvous mark by 36 standard hours."

- Major Bren Derlin

The Treasure Trove was one of thirty Gallofree Yards GR-75 medium transports stationed at the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth by 3 ABY. Under the command of Captain Amm Natejeka, the Treasure Trove was to pick up a shipment of badly needed blaster gas from the Cloud City black market for delivery to the Alliance Fleet regrouping beyond the edge of the galaxy in the wake of the Battle of Hoth. The Treasure Trove never escaped past the Imperial blockade of Hoth, however, crash-landing on a giant planetoid within the Hoth asteroid field, one of seventeen Rebel GR-75 medium transports destroyed during the battle.

Description
The Gallofree Yards, Inc. GR-75 medium transport Treasure Trove measured ninety meters in length. Little more than a hollow shell equipped with a considerable number of cargo pods in the underside of its hull, the transport was minimally armed with laser cannons. Outdated and relatively slow-moving, the Treasure Trove, like all GR-75 medium transports belonging to the Rebel Alliance, required constant maintenance.

History
The Treasure Trove was among the Rebellion's fleet of thirty GR-75 medium transports stationed at Echo Base, the Alliance High Command headquarters, on the remote ice planet Hoth by 3 ABY. The Rebellion acquired these dilapidated transports at significantly reduced prices, but their affordability translated to a great deal of constant upkeep. During its service with Alliance High Command, the Treasure Trove fell under the command of Captain Amm Natejeka.

The Rebel evacuation plan for Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth called for each GR-75 medium transport to attempt a blockade run through the line of Imperial-class Star Destroyers in Hoth's orbit under dual starfighter escort and the protective covering fire of the ground-based v-150 anti-orbital ion cannon. Just prior to the evacuation, General Carlist Rieekan, theater commander of all Rebel forces in the Hoth system, tasked Natejeka with taking the Treasure Trove to the nearby Bespin system following its departure from Hoth, where she would make contact with the black market of Cloud City in order to procure a cargo of spin-sealed Tibanna gas, or blaster gas, which the Alliance Fleet desperately needed to supply its ships. After doing so, Natejeka was required to deliver the shipment via the Treasure Trove to the Alliance Fleet at the Rebels' predetermined rendezvous point beyond the Galactic Rim within five days. Rieekan provided the Treasure Trove with a landing permit for Cloud City.

The Treasure Trove never made it out of the Hoth system. The transport, which had missed its rendezvous mark by thirty-six standard hours, greatly troubled Rieekan and Major Bren Derlin, both of whom anxiously awaited the expected delivery of the valuable blaster gas. However, the Treasure Trove starfighter escort did safely arrive at the Fleet, reporting that the transport may have been lost among the Hoth asteroid field. With the Fleet's supply of blaster gas running perilously low, Rieekan dispatched a team of special agents in the YL-2200 light freighter Out Runner to search for any sign of the missing Treasure Trove.

Following the transport's transponder code, the Rebel agents eventually located the crippled Treasure Trove lining the small crater of a giant asteroid in the Hoth belt. The central command pod and upper hull remained intact, but the Treasure Trove ventral cargo pods had been completely blown away and its drive system was blackened and badly damaged. A quick sensor scan revealed to the agents a single lifeform in the command pod.

The agents boarded the Treasure Trove and found the command pod dimly lit via emergency power with only faint gravity remaining. A vacuum leak had frozen what little air remained, leaving condensed water vapor on bulkhead frames. The agents soon discovered Natejeka, the lone survivor, lying in a damaged and still-docked escape pod, dying from grievous injuries and exposure and holding a datapad. She died immediately thereafter, but the agents learned from the datapad's contents of the Treasure Trove mission to acquire the badly needed blaster gas.

The Treasure Trove wreck also attracted the Imperial-affiliated bounty hunter Chreeto the Defiant, who chased the Rebel agents away from the crash site, failing to capture them. Although the Treasure Trove went down as one of seventeen Rebel GR-75 medium transports destroyed during the Battle of Hoth, the Rebel agents successfully completed the transport's mission by acquiring the blaster gas from Cloud City and delivering the shipment to the Alliance Fleet.

Behind the scenes
The Treasure Trove makes its only canonical appearance in the 1996 second edition of the West End Games sourcebook Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back as part of a special roleplaying supplement entitled Freedom No More. The Treasure Trove sets the stage for the roleplaying adventure in which the players must complete the transport's mission by visiting the Hoth asteroid field and Cloud City during the time frame paralleling the events in the film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.