Battle of the Hungry Ghost

"The Falcon is ours, sir. Her crew is on the run."

- A pirate, informing Redkihl Rokk on the situation

The Battle of the Hungry Ghost was a minor battle in 0 ABY during the Galactic Civil War that took place aboard and around the Hungry Ghost, the flagship of the Huralok Redkihl Rokk and his pirates, above Yavin. The destruction of the first Death Star, a planet-destroying superweapon, during the Battle of Yavin had left wreckage of the battle station. Redkihl Rokk and his pirates traveled to the wreckage to scavenge some of the Death Star's parts. However, Han Solo, the captain of one Rebel ship, the Millennium Falcon, discovered the pirate ship but was attacked by Rokkk's Red TIE Fighters. The pirates docked to the Millennium Falcon, intending to take the bombs the Falcon was carrying.

However, another Rebel, Luke Skywalker, arrived in his starfighter and confronted the pirates, but his fighter was damaged in the ensuing battle. He managed to make it into the Hungry Ghost ' s hangar bay and ran through the ship, continually being chased by the pirates. Meanwhile, Rokk sent numerous spider droids to scavenge the cargo of the disabled Millennium Falcon, and the crew of the Falcon fought off the droids until the ship's power was restored. Solo threatened Rokk to detonate the bombs if the pirates didn't surrender. After engaging Rokk in combat and wounding the pirate, Skywalker escaped the ship through a hatch and fled to the ship. The Falcon broke free of the cables that held them to the ship and evaded laserfire from the Hungry Ghost. Solo triggered the detonator, destroying the Hungry Ghost.

Prelude
"Millennium Falcon, prepare to be boarded!"

- Redkihl Rokk, after disabling the Millennium Falcon

Leia Organa, a founding member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, was rescued from the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying superweapon, by Alliance members Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latter two being Jedi. After her rescue, the plans for the Death Star were found to be secured in R2-D2, an astromech droid that Organa had previously hidden the plans in on her ship, the Tantive IV. After analyzing the plans, the Alliance launched an attack on the battle station, which had followed Organa back to the Rebel's secret base on Yavin 4. Although the Rebels were vastly outnumbered, Skywalker was able to destroy the superweapon with the help of Solo, which left an enormous amount of wreckage around Yavin, and the Rebels evacuated their base before more Imperial troops arrived.

Skywalker, in his personal X-wing starfighter, jumped to hyperspace, headed for Hoth to establish a new Rebel base in the system. Solo began to jump to hyperspace in his ship, the Millennium Falcon, with Chewbacca, his Wookiee copilot, as well as Organa and C-3PO, a protocol droid under the ownership of Skywalker. Solo, however, scanned an unfamiliar ship in the Death Star wreckage. Assuming it could be Imperial spies, Solo decided to investigate the unknown ship. Before they could find the ship, the Millennium Falcon was attacked by TIE Fighters that were painted red; their color scheme led the crew to believe that they were not of Imperial ownership. It was revealed that the unknown ship was in fact the Hungry Ghost, a ship under the command of the Huralok scavenger Redkihl Rokk and his band of pirates, who had visited the wreckage to scavenge parts of the Death Star wreckage.

The battle
"No escape for you, Millennium Falcon!"

- Redkihl Rokk, believing he was victorious



Solo identified Rokk as a threat and tried to turn back, having heard rumors that Rokk gave his victims slow deaths. The red TIE Fighters, however, hit the Millennium Falcon hard enough so that all power went out, and the Falcon was forced to dock to Rokk's ship. Rokk revealed that he planned to steal the Millennium Falcon ' s cargo, which consisted of bombs and other explosives. Immediately after the Millennium Falcon docked, Luke Skywalker emerged from hyperspace in his X-wing and destroyed one of the red TIE Fighters. After much confusion, the crew of the Millennium Falcon identified the X-wing as Skywalker's. Redkihl Rokk used twelve laser cannons to disable the small starfighter, but Skywalker managed to fly the damaged fighter into the hangar bay of the Hungry Ghost. After being notified of Skywalker's survival, Rokk ordered the pirates to destroy Skywalker before he caused trouble.

Meanwhile, the pirates released hundreds of spider droids to take the cargo aboard the Millennium Falcon. Solo, Organa, and Chewbacca fought off some of the spider droids, almost hitting crucial parts of the Falcon in the process, but were unable to stop the droids from taking the cargo. After arguing about a plan for escape, Solo gave C-3PO a box with a holographic message. C-3PO eventually encountered the Huralok captain and relayed the message. Solo told the captain through the message that he would detonate the bombs aboard the ship if he did not surrender and let the Millennium Falcon leave. Rokk, dismissing the smuggler's message as a mere bluff, told him to "do as you will." Their conversation was cut short by Skywalker, who had entered the bridge. Before Skywalker could attack, a laser turret behind Rokk fired and wounded Skywalker.



Rokk, threatening Skywalker with death, lunged at the Jedi. Skywalker, however, used his lightsaber to rip some of the cables attached to Rokk that provided medicine for the Huralok. Rokk, enraged at the victorious Jedi, lunged at Skywalker again, urging him to come back and fight. Skywalker escaped through the hatch that led to the Millennium Falcon, along with R2-D2, and Skywalker's protocol droid, C-3PO. After finding their way to the bridge, Organa embraced Skywalker now that he was safe, at least for the time being.

Aftermath
After Solo managed to get power back to the Millennium Falcon, the Falcon broke away from the cables keeping it docked to the Hungry Ghost, and the fleeing freighter dodged the laser blasts the pirates shot at it. The ship eventually traveled out of range, and Solo activated the detonator. The bombs exploded all around the Hungry Ghost. Rokk and all of his pirates were killed in the explosion, and Rokk's ship was disabled. The Millennium Falcon then continued its planned course to Hoth.

Behind the scenes
The battle first appeared in the magazine Star Wars Kids, in the comic Death Star Pirates, written by Henry Gilroy. It appears over four issues of the magazine. Later, the comic was published in Star Wars Tales Volume 2. Many details of the battle and characters are not revealed in the comic, such as the proper name for Rokk's ship or the species of Redkihl Rokk. However, in the sourcebook Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds, both the name of the ship and the species are explained.

Appearances

 * Death Star Pirates