ST 321

"Command station, this is ST-321..."

- Imperial officer

ST 321 was a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle that Darth Vader used to travel to Death Star II to oversee the final stages of its construction.

History
ST 321 served as the personal transport of Darth Vader, the right hand and secret Sith apprentice of Emperor Palpatine, sole ruler of the Galactic Empire. Six months after the Empire's victory at Hoth,, ST 321 brought Vader to the second Death Star, an Imperial planet-killing battle station being constructed in orbit of the Sanctuary Moon of Endor.

Although ST 321 had a captain assigned to it, Vader occasionally chose to pilot it himself. He notably did so shortly after the Emperor's arrival at the Death Star, piloting the shuttle down from the battle station to the Imperial base that guarded its shield generator on the Sanctuary Moon. Shortly thereafter, even as a massive battle between the Empire and the enemy Alliance to Restore the Republic took place in orbit, Vader duelled his estranged son, the Alliance hero Luke Skywalker, aboard the Death Star. Ultimately, Vader chose to redeem himself and turned on the Emperor to protect his son, but he was mortally wounded in the process. With the Death Star about to explode, Skywalker then used ST 321 to escape the endangered battle station along with his deceased father.

Upon slipping out of the fast-deteriorating Death Star, the shuttle was almost intercepted by Shara Bey of the Alliance's Green Squadron, who proceeded to cover it from incoming TIE Interceptors after identifying its pilot as a friendly.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
 * Star Wars: Shattered Empire, Part I