Bright Hope/Legends

"Your Highness, we must take this last transport. It's our only hope!"

- C-3PO, to Princess Leia Organa, during the Battle of Hoth

The Bright Hope was a GR-75 medium transport in service to the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It was stationed at Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth.

Description
The Bright Hope was typical of the GR-75 medium transport line. At only ninety meters in length, the clam-shelled transport could haul a considerable amount of cargo by comparison, at up to 19,000 metric tons. Modular cargo pods were located at the front and underside of the outer hull for rapid loading and unloading, while the vessel's interior was equipped to hold additional cargo and could comfortably house a standard number of ninety passengers. However, the ship could be adapted to hold a larger number of troops by adding sealed passenger pods in place of the cargo variants.

Perched above the top of the outer hull was the stalked, cramped command pod, where the crew of seven&mdash;including a command crew of six and one gunner&mdash;operated the ship. The transport's deflector shield generator was also located within the pod, protecting what would otherwise seem an obtrusively exposed vital section of the ship. The gunner controlled the ship's minimal armament of four twin laser cannons, though the Bright Hope was largely unfit for combat. Instead, it routinely made every effort to avoid engagement, typically relying on the escort of Alliance to Restore the Republic starfighters for protection while moving between star systems, and also an advanced sensor suite and coutermeasure systems to detect enemy ships.

The Bright Hope was propelled by three primary sublight ion drive engines, six secondary drive engines, and was also equipped with a standard Class 4 hyperdrive for purposes of rapid transit. Four retractable landing gear legs extending from the underside of the ship, along with repulsorlift drive units and a retractable boarding ramp, made landing on planetary surfaces a possibility.

The transport's interior consisted of at least two freight decks and multiple passenger decks. The Bright Hope's bulkheads were fitted with small storage compartments and the inner passageways were lighted by a standard illumination system and a dim emergency system that offered light from the ceiling above. Viewports at intervals offered vistas of the surrounding outside environment. Each ship deck was equipped with escape pods; the passenger decks held at least three.

History


The Bright Hope was the last escape transport to evacuate Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth, overloaded with a large number of passengers, including Toryn and Samoc Farr. Han Solo attempted to bring Princess Leia Organa and C-3PO to this transport during the final moments of the evacuation of the base, before being stopped by an avalanche in one of the base's corridors. It had the distinction of being escorted by six T-65 X-wing starfighters, including one piloted by Tarn Mison, in its attempt to run the Imperial blockade of the planet. Nevertheless, the transport was intercepted and disabled by the bounty hunters Zuckuss and 4-LOM, flying the Mist Hunter. The Bright Hope was further damaged by the Super Star Destroyer Executor and the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Stalker, and drifted into space without power.

Despite the damaged suffered, eighteen members of the crew deemed most important to the Rebellion's cause managed to flee in three operational escape pods back to the planet Hoth. The bounty hunters, originally planning to rescue and then collect the bounties on twenty-six of the most valuable Rebels still on board, were forced into rescuing the remaining ninety passengers, fifty-two of them severely wounded. With their help, the surviving passengers, led by Toryn Farr, were delivered to the Rebel underground on Darlyn Boda.

Before evacuating the ship, Farr dutifully proceeded to erase all computer records in the ship's memory banks through the work of a slicer droid on board, including the memory of the droid itself. This prevented vital information, such as the identities of many personnel who served at Echo Base, as well as those who escaped aboard the Bright Hope, to fall into Imperial hands.

The Bright Hope, crippled beyond repair, was left to float helplessly through space, considered one of the seventeen transports destroyed during the battle. It is unknown what became of the wreckage, though it is likely the Empire searched the ruins for survivors and computer records.

The eighteen members who were jettisoned back to Hoth were forced to survive on the ice planet for more than a month before Farr was assigned to personally lead a rescue mission to save them. They were eventually recovered.

Behind the scenes

 * According to Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, the transport Leia was meant to board was the Thon's Orchard. In the novelization of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo refers to the ship as "Transport C One Seven."
 * One of the evacuees who escaped aboard the ship was named "Darklighter," though it is unknown if this person was related in any way to Biggs or Gavin Darklighter.
 * Among the 108 survivors were 8 pilots, 32 newly-inducted soldiers, support staff from the command center, hangar crew, personnel with specialized skills for surviving on Hoth, and one cook.
 * Star Wars: Behind the Magic identifies the GR-75 medium transport in the background shot when Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles board their X-wings before evacuating Hoth in the The Empire Strikes Back as the Bright Hope. This seems contradictory to Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM, which states the Bright Hope was located inside of an Echo Base hangar before liftoff. If this transport is the one escorted by Skywalker and Antilles, it is most likely the Thon's Orchard.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back radio drama
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novelization
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM

Notes and references
Bright Hope