Star Wars 54: Starfire Rising

"You&mdash;your city, your pathetic little planet&mdash;have the honor to be my next target!"

- General Sk'ar

Star Wars 54: Starfire Rising is the fifty-forth issue in the Marvel Star Wars series of comics.

Plot summary
On the planet, Shiva IV, General Sk'ar captures Aron Peacebringer and Princess Leia. As the two heroes struggle against their bonds, Aron discovers that his own protégé, Ygal Delois, has turned traitor and joined forces with Sk’ar. Delois describes the General’s plan to wipe out the Calian Confederacy with an anti-matter bomb. Sk’ar orders Aron and Leia moved to a holding cell. Once there, Leia turns against the guard and kills him. Aron breaks free of his own bonds and the two sneak out of the containment block and steal an air-ship.

Aron and Leia fly toward General Sk’ar’s battle cruiser. Sk’ar sends out a squad of TIE Fighters to bring the Rebels down. The Princess takes down the assailants. Their ship suffers damage, however, and they are forced to crash on the lower decks of Sk’ar’s cruiser. Aron and Leia leap out and begin fighting Imperial stormtroopers.

Before long, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Kéral Longknife arrive to lend a hand. While the others fight the Imperials, Leia searches the ship for Sk’ar’s anti-matter bomb. She begins defusing the bomb, while Lando confronts Sk’ar directly. He fires his blaster at him, but the shots bounce off Sk’ar’s personal force field. Sk’ar retreats and begins escaping aboard a small shuttle. Chewbacca grabs a discarded gun mount and hurls it at the escape craft. The ship explodes and Sk’ar dies. Meanwhile, Leia successfully deactivates the anti-matter bomb.

Everyone returns to the Calian capital city of Illyriaqüm for a celebration. During the festivities, C-3PO informs Leia that an Imperial Star Destroyer is fast approaching Shiva IV looking for retaliation. The heroes jump into the Millennium Falcon and plot an intercept course. They bait the Star Destroyer into following them towards the outer edges of a black hole. Luke uses the Force to guide the Millennium Falcon safely around the perimeter, but the larger Star Destroyer cannot decelerate in time. The ship plods directly into the black hole and is destroyed.

Behind the scenes
This story continues from Star Wars 53: The Last Gift From Alderaan!.

In a panel, Luke is seen thinking that he hopes that someday, Leia will be something more than a friend.

Collections

 * Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 4: Screams in the Void
 * Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... Volume 3