Moradmin Bast/Legends

"We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger. Shall I have your ship standing by?"

- Chief Bast to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin

Moradmin Bast was an Imperial Army general, subordinate to High General Cassio Tagge. The personal aide to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin aboard the first Death Star, Bast also served as chief manager in the Death Star. In 0 BBY, Bast was present for a meeting onboard the Death Star, discussing the lost Death Star plans in the conference room, shortly before the Battle of Yavin. During the battle, Bast analyzed the Rebel attack and found a potential danger. Bast confronted Tarkin in the Death Star bridge, however Tarkin had confidence in the Imperial forces that engaged the Rebel attack on the Death Star. Bast was killed when the Death Star exploded near Yavin 4, after Luke Skywalker's proton torpedo entered the Thermal exhaust port in the Death Star.

Imperial service
Moradmin Bast learned cunning and patience by hunting big game as a youth on Dura-Kahn, earning him the ability to accurately estimate his enemies. This lifetime of training enabled Bast to see the Rebel Alliance as a dangerous animal, never to be underestimated.

Much of Bast's service record remains unknown, but he entered service in the Imperial Army and rose through the ranks. Eventually he attained the rank of general and was either assigned or personally selected to serve as subordinate to General Cassio Tagge, head of Army Operations aboard the Death Star battle station. In this capacity, Bast frequently acted as a kind of personal aide to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin himself. Despite being junior in rank to Tagge, he outranked the station's highest-ranking naval officer, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, and served as chief manager onboard the Death Star. He seems to have functioned well in his position because he had no personal aspirations beyond serving the Empire, and was loyal to Tarkin and Tagge.

In 0 BBY, Bast attended a conference on the Death Star shortly before the Battle of Yavin. The group of command staff stationed in the Death Star discussed the Rebel Alliance, and their victory in obtaining the Death Star plans. Motti and Tagge argued about the Imperial Senate's continuous support for the Alliance. Though with the intervention of Tarkin, he announced to the assembled command staff the Emperor's dissolution of the Imperial Senate. After Tarkin indicated that all Moffs have control of their star systems, Tagge restated his argument of the Rebellion and the stolen plans. Darth Vader intervened and demanded that the stolen plans will be found. Motti, however, claimed that any Rebel attack will be a useless threat, no matter what technical data they've obtained of the Death Star. He suggested that they use the battle station to threaten the Rebels, however Vader reassured to Motti that the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. Throughout the conference, Bast sat in silence and witnessed Motti's near death when Vader force choked him for his lack of faith in the Force.

Battle of Yavin (0 BBY)
During the Battle of Yavin, Bast indicated that a small thermal exhaust port, an entrance to the Death Star's main reactor, was a potential danger to everyone onboard the battlestation. Having concluded that the Rebel starfighters could pose a threat to the Death Star, Bast immediately brought this information to Tarkin in the overbridge of the Death Star, but the Grand Moff contemptuously brushed his recommendations aside. Despite his reservations, Bast remained with his superior officer, and watched as the Death Star approached it's target: Yavin 4, home of the Rebel base. As Darth Vader and his TIE fighters intercepted the Rebels, young Luke Skywalker posed a serious threat when he led a squad into the trench of the Death Star. Vader quickly dismissed two of the three fighters that accompanied Skywalker, and soon the Rebels ran out of time. The Death Star cleared Yavin 4 and without hesitation, Tarkin ordered Bast to fire the superlaser on the planet to end the Rebel Alliance, though the engineers stationed on the Death Star experienced slight difficulties, delaying the destruction of Yavin 4. Vader failed to stop Skywalker after the intervention of Corellian smuggler Han Solo, when he damaged Vader's entourage. As the Sith Lord flew out into space, due to one of the TIE fighters in his squad bumped into his fighter, Skywalker successfully fired his proton torpedoes into the thermal exhaust port. Bast, as well as everyone stationed on the Death Star, were killed when the massive battlestation exploded near Yavin 4.

Legacy
Two years after Bast's death, a man who served onboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator resembled Bast, however it is unknown if he is related to the latter.

Personality and traits
Moradmin Bast chose to wear the prominent sideburns that were popular among the Imperial officer class at the time, though his were more prominent than some, as they extended all the way down to his jawline.

During the meeting onboard the Death Star in 0 BBY, Bast remained quiet throughout. As chief manager of the Death Star, Bast gave Tarkin information regarding the Rebel attack during the Battle of Yavin. Wanting to save his friend's life, Bast assured to Tarkin that his ship will be on stand-by. However the commander-in-chief of the Death Star quickly dismissed Bast.

Behind the scenes
Chief Bast was portrayed by Leslie Schofield in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Cut footage from A New Hope featuring Schofield was used in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The novel, Death Star, is the first source to confirm Bast's rank as a General, and specifies he is of lower rank than Tagge and higher rank than Motti. The authors of the book failed to realize he was the officer who informed Tarkin during the Battle of Yavin the Rebels could succeed. During the battle, his character is misidentified as an "operations lieutenant."

Canon explanation regarding his survival
Though scenes of Chief Bast talking with Darth Vader cut from A New Hope were included in The Star Wars Holiday Special, Bast's presence with Tarkin during the final moments of the Death Star show that this is not the same officer. On the StarWars.com message boards, Leland Chee originally noted two opposing C-canon on his survival, but was later shown that the film itself counters the idea that he survived. The lookalike officer in the Holiday Special has not yet been identified. His connection with Bast, if any, has not been explained.

Although the novelization does not identify Bast by name, the officer who delivers Tarkin of the Rebels' strategy is described running from the room, rather than remaining by Tarkin's side as shown in the film, however that officer is never stated to be Bast, who in all other canon perished onboard the space station during its destruction.

Appearances

 * Death Star
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novel
 * Star Wars 2: Six Against the Galaxy
 * Star Wars 6: Is This the Final Chapter?

Notes and references
Bast