Lorth Needa/Legends


 * "I shall assume full responsibility for losing them...and apologize to Lord Vader." - Lorth Needa

Lorth Needa (? - 3 ABY) was a fleet officer in the Galactic Republic and Imperial Starfleets.

Needa was a veteran command officer, having served in the Fifth Fleet of the Open Circle Fleet during the Clone Wars. During the Second Battle of Coruscant, Lieutenant Commander Needa served as commanding officer of the Carrack-class cruiser Integrity and was responsible for the demanding surrender of General Grievous.

After the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Needa transitioned into the Imperial Starfleet and rose to the rank of Captain of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Avenger, a ship placed in Darth Vader's Death Squadron. Needa became close with Admiral Kendal Ozzel and acted as the squadron's defacto second-in-command. After Ozzel's death at Vader's hand for his failure at Hoth, Needa was charged with the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon.

The Avenger pursued the Falcon from Hoth. However, it outmaneuvered the Star Destroyer and caused it to collide with another ship. After chasing the Falcon into the Hoth Asteroid Field, the Avenger lost track of the freighter when it sought shelter in a cave on one of the asteroids. Needa informed Darth Vader that the Millennium Falcon had not appeared on their sensors for hours and asked him to consider the damage the Imperial fleet had sustained, but Vader was set on capturing the freighter.

The Millennium Falcon eventually reappeared after discovering that the "cave" it had hidden in was in fact the mouth of a giant space slug. While pursuing the Millennium Falcon out of the asteroid field, the Falcon vanished from Avenger's sensors when Han Solo cut ship power and landed on a blind spot on the Imperial ship's conning tower. Seconds later, Vader demanded an update on the pursuit. Needa ordered his ship to rendezvous with the Executor.

On the bridge of the Executor, Needa apologized for losing Vader's prey, and Vader swiftly killed him. Following his failure in the Hoth Asteroid Field, other members of the Needa family were purged from the Imperial military. Needa was survived by his first cousin Virar Needa.

Behind the scenes
Lorth Needa was portrayed by Michael Culver in The Empire Strikes Back.