Mission to Ahakista

The Mission to Ahakista was planned by a crime lord Raze and his assosiate Sardoth - the owner of Daystar Casino. The goal was to gain access to information stored in the Hub, a super computer that was responsible for coordinating the traffic of the entire Imperial Fleet, and to destroy the Hub afterwards. Since the Hub was the only reason the Empire had interest in Ahakista, where it was located, it was believed that after its destruction the Empire would leave the planet. But as the goal of the mission was never accomplished, the accuracy of this assumption remains unknown.

Prelude to the mission
After discovering that his agent Wyl Tarson was an Alliance spy, the crime lord Raze choose not to dispose of him immediately, but instead to use him in another way. Raze had him rendered unconscious and had a bomb implanted inside his skull, in addition the comlink, that allowed Raze and Tarson to communicate with each other. More importantly, the comlink gave Raze the ability to detonate the bomb if the need arose. After Wyl woke up, Raze informed him about what had been done to him and the "new... relationship" that accompanied the bomb. Raze warned Wyl that any insubordination would result in the detonation of the bomb and had forbidden him to tell anyone about this new arrangement.

A short time later, Raze sent Wyl and another member of his organisation named Laynara on a mission to Ahakista. Raze let on very little about the nature of the mission, except for the fact that Tarson was to meet with an associate of his named Sardoth, who would in turn brief him further, and that he would need to build a team of people who were "accustomed to infiltrating... precarious places". Raze allowed Wyl a certain degree of freedom with regard to the formation of this team, since he knew that Wyl was connected to the Alliance.

But Tarson did not want to expose any agents who were actively working for the Alliance since he felt that this was a problem of his own making, so he chose only to recruit those agents, whom the Rebellion didn't want anymore. Their first one was Baco Par, who was reputed to be "one of the galaxy's best lockbreakers". Instead of convincing Baco to accompany him, Wyl simply kidnapped him. He also tried to recruit an old Alliance agent named Darca Nyl, who, while without Force-sensitivity, had some skill with a red lightsaber he carried. Reluctant at first, Nyl eventually changed his mind and joined Tarson's crew as they went off to Ahakista.

Mission planning
After ariving at Ahaksita, Wyl discovered that Raze had lied to him when he had described Ahakista as "a sleepy little backwater". In fact, the planet was in the middle of a civil war and the Empire had decided to intervene in the conflict in order to protect the government that it had installed there. To make the matters worse, Darth Vader was personally observing the operation. Upon landing at the Daystar Casino Wyl and his group were greeted by Sardoth, the business's proprietor. Tarson tried to fish for more details regarding the mission but Sardoth told them that he would apprise them of the details in the morning.

Next day, the group arrived at the meeting place, where Wyl met Rasha Bex, an Imperial officer who was assisting them because she had asked Raze for information regarding the location of an imprisoned smuggler. He also met Dunlan, the leader of the local resistance movement. Only then did he learn that his team was to target The Hub.

Tarson's team was to infiltrate the pyramid which housed the Hub by making their way though the tunnels beneath the it and then cracking a blast door that was guarded by a force field. The force field could only be deactivated if the pyramid's power grid was destroyed. According to Sardoth's plan this last part was to be handled by Dunlan and his people, who had the weaponry to destroy the power control station from outside the pyramid. But Dunlan refused to do his part and stormed out of the meeting. When officer Bex said that she was bailing out on his team, Wyl took exception to this and told Bex in no uncertain terms that she would never see BoShek again if she left. He then announced that they would begin their attack on The Hub immediately.

The Mission
Wyl led Laynara, Baco, Nyl, and Sardoth into the tunnels that led to the Hub. After dispatching of the stormtrooper guards, Sardoth led them through the tunnels, eventually reaching the energy barrier that blocked the path to the door they needed to break through. But officer Bex's attemp for sabotage was foiled and the force field remained in its place.

In the meantime Imperial Stormtroopers were wiping out the local Ahakistan rebels. While Vader and his troops were distracted by the task of killing Dunlan's fellow rebels, Dunlan slipped away and ran. After that he chose to do exactly what he had earlier refused to: destroy the power control station on the pyramid's tenth floor with a surface-to-air missile. Just one step ahead of Vader and the stormtroopers, Dunlan stole a landspeeder and found for a place from which he could fire his missile at the pyramid. After Dunlan destroyed the power control station, Vader finally caught up with him and killed him.

While the others were still waiting for Bex to disable the energy shiled, Nyl decided to scout and see if there might be another way around. Sardoth followed him into the tunnels, away from the others, and confronted him, revealing that he had once been an apprentice to Dark Jedi Lycan, whom Darca killed many years ago. Sardoth engaged Nyl in a lightsaber duel, and soon Nyl, being non-Force user and less skilled, took a wound to his shoulder. However, sensing Sardoth's tapping into the Force, Darth Vader himself appeared in the tunnels, determined to elliminate both duelists. While Vader concentrated on Sardoth, Nyl was able to land a glancing blow to Vader's helmet. Vader Force-pushed him away, and Nyl watched the Dark Lord of the Sith kill Sardoth before he fled into the tunnels.

After Dunlan managed to knock out the energy shield, Wyl, Laynara, and Baco proceeded on to the door leading to the Hub. Baco was shot a moment after he had the doors open by arriving Imperial stormtroopers. After Baco made him promise to get the Hub's information to the Rebellion, Wyl and Laynara entered the compound while Baco stayed behind, sealing the doors behind them.

Wyl and Laynara reached the Hub and Laynara prepared a device that would extract and transmit the data in the computer. At this point, Wyl tried to do the right thing and fulfill his promise to Baco by sending the transmission to the Rebel fleet. Raze, however, had other plans, using the implant to inflict pain on Wyl. When Laynara threatened not to carry out the mission, Raze ceased the torture. The delay, however, gave the Imperials time to get through the blast door, incapacitating Laynara and surrounding her and Wyl. In spite of Raze's urgings, Wyl refused to activate the device that would transmit Raze his precious information, so Raze activated the bomb in Wyl's brain. Surprisingly, Wyl woke moments later to see Darth Vader standing over him, having temporarily deactivated the bomb. When Vader threatened to kill Laynara, Wyl surrendered all information he had about Raze as well as all information he had on the Rebellion's spy network. Appeased, Vader destroyed Raze's bomb and took Tarson into his service.

Aftermath
Using the information provided by Tarson, the Empire disposed of Raze, using the orbital bombardment to wipe out his stronghold. Tarson continued ti provide information for Darh Vader. The only other survivor of the mission was Darca Nyl, who escaped into a pipe system and, seeing Par dead, decided that Tarson had indeed betrayed the group, and vowed vengeance on him.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Rebellion: The Ahakista Gambit