Dash Rendar/Legends

"He doesn't want to owe anybody, doesn't want anybody to owe him. He works for whoever pays the most. He's downright magic with anything that flies, and he can pick wing nuts off a tabletop with a blaster without scorching the finish. He's a good man to have at your back when the going gets hot&mdash;as long as your money lasts."

- Lando Calrissian, on Dash Rendar

Dash Rendar was a Human male smuggler and freelancer. Born into a wealthy Corellian family during the final years of the Galactic Republic, he chose to pursue a career as an officer in the Imperial Navy rather than joining the family shipping business. When his parents refused to sell their business to Prince Xizor, owner of Xizor Transport Systems and leader of the Black Sun crime syndicate, the Dark Prince sabotaged a freighter flown by Rendar's older brother, Stanton, killing him as his ship crashed into the Imperial Museum. Emperor Palpatine blamed the Rendar family, exiling them from the Core Worlds and dismissing Rendar from the Imperial Academy on Carida. Fleeing to the Outer Rim Territories, Rendar gained a reputation as a hot-shot pilot, smuggler, and mercenary. His success gained him his own ship, the YT-2400 light freighter Outrider, and the services of the Cybot Galactica LE-series repair droid LE-BO2D9 as his co-pilot.

Despite his personal reasons for disliking the Empire, Rendar refused to get involved in the growing Rebellion. His motivation was profit and, though he occasionally took on work for the Rebel Alliance, he insisted on being well compensated. In 0 ABY, Rendar boarded the luxury liner Star of Empire with the intention of stealing it to sell to the Rebels. Before he could act, however, the ship's computer, an artificial intelligence known as SIM, took control of the ship itself. Rendar was one of the few passengers trapped aboard and joined forces with the Shi'ido Mammon Hoole and his adopted children, Tash and Zak Arranda, to escape the ship and defeat SIM. He later took a job escorting the famous swoop racer Kimmi Chyler, smuggling supplies for the Rebels as he traveled. His work came to the attention of both the Imperial Security Bureau and Prince Xizor but, despite multiple attempts to stop him, Rendar successfully completed several deliveries. In 3 ABY, while delivering supplies to the Alliance's Echo Base on Hoth, Rendar was trapped on the planet when the Empire attacked and helped Rogue Squadron hold off Imperial ground forces until the Rebels could evacuate, destroying an All Terrain Armored Transport in the process.

Following the Battle of Hoth, Rendar was hired by the Rebel Lando Calrissian to track down Han Solo, who had been captured by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. He eventually led Calrissian to Gall in the Zhar system, but the Rebels were unable to rescue their friend. Following this, Rendar was hired by Princess Leia Organa to watch over the young Jedi Luke Skywalker after a recent attempt on his life. After saving Skywalker from a swoop gang on Tatooine, Rendar accompanied him on a mission to recover the plans to the Empire's second Death Star battlestation from the Mobquet medium transport Suprosa. The mission was a success, but an apparent mistake by Rendar cost the lives of many Bothan pilots. Seeking to make amends, Rendar helped to rescue Organa when she was held prisoner by Xizor in his palace on Coruscant. The Outrider appeared to be destroyed while fleeing Coruscant, but Rendar merely faked his death to avoid reprisals from Black Sun and the Empire. In the following years he teamed up with the Human replica droid Guri, forming a mercenary team and eventually establishing a company to create more HRDs, including a replica of Rendar's own brother, Stanton.

Early life
"I would think that you might have a grudge against the Empire yourself, after what the Emperor did to you and your family."

- Koth Melan, to Dash Rendar

The Human male Dash Rendar was born into a Corellian family during the final years of the Galactic Republic. His parents had inherited the family business, RenTrans, a growing competitor in the lucrative Core Worlds shipping industry, and had become wealthy and influential within Core society. The family's wealth ensured a comfortable and safe childhood for Rendar, along with his older brother Stanton, providing them with the best education available. The two started to follow different paths upon coming of age, however. While Stanton jumped at the opportunity to join the family business, becoming a pilot on one of the family's freighters, Rendar craved independence and adventure, and decided instead to apply to join the Imperial Naval Academy.

Rendar was accepted into the Imperial Academy on Carida around 9 BBY. There, he practiced piloting a variety of starships and his skills soon began to impress both his instructors and fellow students, who included future smuggler and Rebel general Han Solo. Rendar seemed poised for a promising career as an Imperial officer until a family tragedy brought about a change in his fortunes. Prince Xizor, the head of the Black Sun crime syndicate, approached Rendar's parents about making RenTrans a subsidiary of his company, Xizor Transport Systems. When they refused, he arranged for one of their freighters to be sabotaged, hoping to cause a crash that would damage the company and force them to accept his offer. Stanton Rendar was piloting as the ship launched from a Coruscant spaceport and its control system failed, causing it to crash into the Imperial Museum. The resulting explosion destroyed both the freighter and much of the museum, killing Stanton in the process. Emperor Palpatine was furious and sought revenge on the grieving Rendar family for the loss of numerous Jedi and Sith artifacts that had been contained in the museum. The family's property and wealth was seized, RenTrans was turned over to Xizor Transport Systems, and Rendar's parents were banished from the Core Worlds. Rendar himself was summarily dismissed from the Academy and forced to share his parents' exile, giving him a serious grudge against both the Empire and Black Sun.

Freelance spacer
"She's a beauty. One of those new Corellian YT-2400 jobs, right? I'd heard of them, but never seen one in person. You must have paid a pretty hefty sum for this one. Mint condition, too.''" "''Let's just say I have an old and generous Twi'lek uncle who appreciates my transport services."

- Bolabo Hujaan and Dash Rendar discuss the Outrider

The loss of Stanton and the family business changed both Rendar and his parents. Although his parents were still alive as of 2 BBY, Rendar had lost contact with them and did not know where they were. Details of how Rendar survived in the months immediately following his expulsion from the Academy were never recorded, but he eventually decided to use the skills he had learned at the Academy to make his own way in the galaxy. Moving to the Corporate Sector, he began to forge a place for himself among the galaxy's fringe elements as a freelance spacer. Rendar was not content to take easy, low-paying work, instead choosing to take jobs with higher risk in return for higher reward, and was prepared to work for whoever offered the most credits. During this time he worked as a smuggler, bodyguard, mercenary, thief, and card cheat. Through a series of daring and risky missions and scams, including breaking the record for the Sevari Sidestep with a cargo hold full of carsunum, Rendar quickly made a name for himself as a hot-shot pilot. He went on to work with such individuals as Katya M'Buele and Lando Calrissian, teaming up with Calrissian on smuggling runs and con games after first meeting him over a sabacc table on Kaal. While hiding from Imperial Customs ships on Port Haven, an uncharted smugglers' hideaway, Rendar met up with Calrissian and Han Solo, his old friend from the Academy, who had also been forced out of Imperial service and become a smuggler. The three spent several hours attempting to impress each other with stories of their smuggling runs and piloting prowess while many credits passed between them in sabacc games. Early in his smuggling career, Rendar had a brief relationship with fellow spacer Nanika Senoj, which he ended as a result of her highly competitive nature.

Among Rendar's employers was the Twi'lek crime lord "Uncle" Vanya, and while working for him, Rendar acquired the YT-2400 light freighter Outrider. Rendar decided to take advantage of the YT-2400's adaptability and, not long after acquiring the ship, he visited Byblos Starport Tower 214 to enlist the services of the Sullustan technician Bolabo Hujaan in refitting the ship to suit his needs, upgrading its weapons, shields, ion drive, and hyperdrive, as well as fitting an illegal sensor stealth coating to the hull. The refitted Outrider was ideally suited as a smuggling vessel and went on to save Rendar's life countless times. Though the upgrades cost Rendar most of the credits he had made from the carsunum shipment, he considered it a worthwhile purchase and was eager to make Solo jealous. The two went on to have a friendly rivalry over the speed of their respective ships, racing on at least one occasion with Solo's Millennium Falcon narrowly beating the Outrider. This competition led Solo to frequently dismiss the Outrider abilities and, at one point, to throw a drunken punch at Rendar during a heated discussion.

After acquiring the Outrider, Rendar enlisted the Nautolan Eaden Vrill as his co-pilot and partner. Around four months after Vrill joined his crew, the pair paid a visit to Rodia, where they encountered the Rodian comedian Kood Gareeda in The Nexu's Den cantina. Gareeda was seeking to sell LE-BO2D9, his Cybot Galactica LE-series repair droid, to fund a quick escape from Rodia. Although Rendar and Vrill were having financial difficulties at the time, Rendar considered the droid's navigation, piloting, weapons and repair programming to make it a useful purchase and agreed to buy the droid for 1,000 credits and passage off world, naming his new purchase Leebo. Moments after Gareeda left, arranging to meet the smugglers at their ship, four beings entered the cantina and headed straight for Rendar, Vrill and Leebo, who made a quick exit and returned to the Outrider. Gareeda failed to arrive for their rendezvous and the smugglers decided to leave without their passenger. However, shortly after taking the Outrider into space, they were attacked by a cruiser commanded by Kravengash, a Wookiee in the employ of the crime lord Hox Bilan. The cruiser's laser fire knocked out the Outrider hyperdrive but Leebo calculated a slingshot orbit around an nearby gas giant which allowed them to kick-start the hyperdrive and escape.

Safely away from Rodia, Rendar and Vrill discovered the reason for the attacks; hidden beneath Leebo's restraining bolt was a datastick containing a list of Black Sun Vigos in Coruscant's Third Quadrant and details of their transactions and associates. Realizing that the datastick made them a target for not only Bilan but Black Sun and the Empire, the trio decided to flee across the galaxy through a nearby Hutt jumpgate. Upon arriving, however, they found that, not only was Kravengash's ship waiting for them, but the system's white dwarf star was only minutes from going supernova. With Kravengash blocking their way through the jumpgate, Leebo took one of the Outrider escape pods and opened fire on the Wookiee's vessel. With Leebo providing a distraction, Rendar ejected the datastick into space and took the Outrider through the jumpgate. They were followed moments later by Leebo's escape pod, after the droid used the cruiser's bulk to shield him from the exploding star long enough to enter the jumpgate. Rendar later upgraded Leebo's programming to allow him to pilot the Outrider and the droid became an important part of the crew.

Imperial Security Bureau Commander Maximillian Seerdon, in a report on Rendar for Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, included information from the ISB's Gamma Intelligence Group that gave a somewhat different account of events during this period of Rendar's life. The ISB reported that the Outrider was a reward from Vanya and that the Rodian comedian briefly served as Rendar's co-pilot aboard the Outrider, until his untimely demise during the first twenty seconds of their debut mission. The report claimed that Leebo was the Rodian's droid and was chosen by Rendar to fill his former master's position as first mate aboard the Outrider, starting by assisting with the refitting of the ship as a smuggler vessel. Leebo then manipulated accounts to ensure that Vanya paid the cost of the refit, but the crime lord forgave Rendar after the smuggler saved his life during a Corporate Sector Authority Security Police raid. Rendar himself tended to be evasive about this period, though he often commented that the Outrider did not come into his possession through "clean living" and hinted that it was a gift from a Twi'lek employer. He also claimed that he acquired Leebo in exchange for providing Gareeda with passage off Rodia after the comedian offended the Rodians with a joke about their leader, Navik the Red. Regardless of the Outrider origins, Rendar's successes eventually allowed him to purchase a second ship, the Outrunner.

Bodyguard
"This is it, Eaden. This is the day we one-up Solo.''" "Hubris." "Confidence. The Outrider is twice the ship the Falcon is." "You confuse pride of possession with a distinct entity. The ship is not you, nor did you build it. Its speed&mdash;" "Is largely the result of my expert modifications." "Beg to differ. The improvements are almost entirely the result of repairs carried out by LE-BO2D9. The rest is unarguably the result of my superior navigation skills." "Now who’s overweening? Hubris, my&mdash;" "''You imply that I’m boasting. I’m not—but feel free to correct me if I’ve misinterpreted your colorful patois."

- Dash Rendar and Eaden Vrill

In 2 BBY, while he and Vrill were delivering a cargo from Kessel to the Hutt homeworld Nal Hutta, Rendar decided to attempt to break Han Solo's record for the Kessel Run, a notorious smuggling route along the edge of the Maw black hole cluster. As the Outrider approached the Pit, an asteroid field at the start of the Kessel Run, it was pulled out of hyperspace by an Interdictor-class cruiser. An Imperial light cruiser opened fire on the smugglers, but Rendar used the Outrider greater maneuverability to slip by the larger vessel and towards the Maw, counting on the black holes to discourage the Imperials from pursuing. As the Outrider was caught in the Maw's immense gravitational pull, Rendar attempted to pull away on a new course, but the Outrider port ion engine failed under the strain. Unable to escape on ion power only, Rendar attempted to jump to hyperspace, only to discover that the hyperdrive had sustained damage. Vrill quickly transferred power to the backup hyperdrive and Rendar made the jump to hyperspace. The smugglers escaped the Imperial ambush&mdash;breaking Solo's record for the Kessel Run in the process&mdash;but the secondary hyperdrive soon failed, leaving them stranded on the edge of Wild Space. Unable to salvage enough parts from either hyperdrive to fix the other, Rendar realized that they would be unable to deliver their cargo on time. Instead, he chose to head to the nearby Outer Rim world of Tatooine under ion power to effect repairs and seek another pilot to complete their delivery.

Rendar landed in Mos Eisley, home to a Corellian named Kerlew, the only mechanic he would trust with the Outrider. Leaving the ship in Docking Bay 92 behind Spacers Row, Rendar and Vrill headed to Chalmun's Cantina to find a pilot who was both willing and could be trusted to deliver their cargo to Nal Hutta. After an unsuccessful start, Chalmun, the cantina's Wookiee proprietor pointed Rendar towards a booth occupied by Han Solo. Rendar was unwilling to ask for his rival's help, but Vrill dismissed his objections and agreed to pay Solo twenty-seven percent of the cargo's value. After Solo left for Nal Hutta, Rendar discovered that the repairs would be both time consuming and more expensive than he could afford after subtracting Solo's share from the payment for the cargo run. Rendar and Vrill spent the next three days visiting cantinas around Mos Eisley in search of work to cover the repair costs. On the third day, Rendar was directed towards a pair of human females who were recruiting in Chalmun's Cantina. To Rendar's surprise, the pair revealed themselves as the famous holostar Javul Charn and her road manager Kendara Farlion, and explained that they were seeking a bodyguard to protect Charn from a stalker during her upcoming tour. Despite his initial reluctance to work as a bodyguard, Rendar agreed after learning how much the job paid.

Charn transferred an advance payment to Rendar's account, which he used to pay several weeks rent on Docking Bay 92 and for Kerlew to begin the repairs. When they completed their business on Tatooine, Rendar, Vrill and Leebo took a shuttle to Charn's orbiting ships, the SoroSuub PLY-3500 Nova's Heart and the freighter Deep Core. After being shown to their quarters aboard the Nova's Heart, at the head of the aft quarterdeck, opposite Charn's suite, they were taken on a took of the ship by Farlion and the Nova's Heart captain, Serdor Marrak. Rendar was impressed by the vessel and took the opportunity to acquaint himself with its layout and systems, both of which had been altered from the standard specifications, along with any potential weaknesses in security. Following the tour, Rendar and Vrill were introduced to the rest of the crew over dinner, before they briefed Charn and Farlion on their first impressions. Having learned that the body of a stowaway fan had once been found hidden in a container, Rendar believed that the cargo hold was the weak point in the ship's security and resolved to speak to the cargo master, Yanus Melikan, as soon as possible.

Trouble on Rodia
The following morning, as the Nova's Heart arrived in the Tyrius system for the first leg of the tour, Rendar met with Melikan on the cargo deck to familiarize himself with the Nova's Heart loading procedures. While the two talked, a siren sounded, warning of a hull breach on the aft quarterdeck. Rendar and Melikan made their way to the quarterdeck, arriving shortly after Vrill, Leebo and the ship's engineer, Arruna Var. The aft section of the quarterdeck had sealed automatically in response to the hull breach, but Leebo was able to ascertain that the air pressure was equal on both sides of the seal, indicating a false alarm. With Charn and Farlion stuck in the aft section, Leebo overrode the door lock, and the group proceeded to Charn's quarters. They arrived to find the door locked and could hear both Charn and Farlion's voices inside as they attempted to get out. When the voices suddenly stopped, Leebo once again forced the door open, allowing Rendar, Vrill and Melikan inside. However, they found no sign of either Charn of Farlion in the suite. A thorough search of the room revealed an escape tunnel hidden behind a false wall. As Rendar investigated, Charn and Farlion returned through the main door, explaining that they had taken the escape tunnel to the cargo bay when the door had failed to open. Var and Bran Finnick, the Nova's Heart first officer later revealed that the false alarm and power failure had been triggered by a remote signal, hidden within the approach protocols sent by the Rodian Space Authority as the ship entered the system. Knowing that this would have required resources beyond those of the average stalker, Rendar came to suspect that Charn wasn not telling him everything. When he questioned her, she revealed that the stalker was linked to Black Sun and believed her to be Alai Jance, a small-time singer who had been engaged to the Black Sun Vigo Hityamun Kris before leaving him and disappearing. With Black Sun active on Rodia, Rendar attempted to persuade Charn to cancel her performances there, but she refused.

After arriving on Rodia, Rendar escorted Charn to the venue for her scheduled performances, the Holosseum in Equator City, before leaving her in Vrill's care and heading to the Equator City Flight Control Authority with Leebo. There, he requested the log of outgoing messages sent to the Nova's Heart in the hopes of uncovering who had triggered the false alarm. When the Space Authority staff refused to grant him access to the log, Rendar enlisted Leebo's help in slicing into the facility's computer to retrieve the information. Leebo was able to bypass the security systems by routing his access through the MSE-6-series repair droid E3E3EEK, which the droid decided to take as a pet when the pair left the building and later nicknamed Mousie. They returned to the Nova's Heart, where Var examined the recovered log and determined that the signal had been sent directly from the Flight Control Authority building and not by a remote slicer. Rendar then returned to the Holosseum, arriving just in time to see Vrill save Charn's life as she fell to the stage during a rehearsal. An investigation revealed that a power surge from the city grid had caused a series of equipment failures, culminating in damage to Charn's antigrav unit. The power surge again suggested that somebody powerful had been involved, but Rendar was also concerned that the convenient timing suggested an accomplice among Charn's crew. He voiced his concerns to Charn and once again urged her to cancel the Rodia shows. Although she again refused, Charn did admit that she was in fact Alai Jance and that Kris himself was the one pursuing her. Charn began a relationship with Kris early in her career, but had called off their engagement when she realized that he was using her tours to smuggle drugs, weapons and even people aboard her ship. The revelation made Rendar contemplate quitting, but his financial situation and desire to protect Charn convinced him to stay.

Rendar implemented new security procedures for the concerts on Rodia. All offstage personnel were split into pairs and told to contact him, Vrill or Leebo at the first sign of anything unusual. Rendar himself patrolled where he could keep a close eye on Charn. The first two performances were uneventful, but on the third night Hityamun Kris arrived backstage to speak to Charn. Rendar and Leebo accompanied Charn as she met with the Mandalorian Vigo. Kris told Charn that he still cared for her and warned her not to be stubborn. Knowing Rendar's reputation as a pilot, Kris also offered him four times what Charn was paying to work for him, but Rendar declined. Although Kris stayed to watch from a skybox, the final Rodian performance passed without further incident. During the night, Rendar went to speak to Charn in her quarters. When she failed to open the door, Rendar entered the security override and let himself in. Finding no sign of her in the room&mdash;and with Leebo guarding the door&mdash;Rendar feared that she had been kidnapped via the escape tube. He and Vrill took the tunnel to the cargo bay, where they found Melikan's apprentice, Nik, still awake. The young Sullustan informed them that he had seen Charn leave the ship alone in the direction of Port Town. Rendar and Vrill followed and soon arrived in a busy street filled with cantinas. Taking one side of the street each, the pair began searching for Charn. After trying several other venues, Rendar entered Every Delight, a large, busy club consisting of numerous rooms. He contacted Vrill to assist his search and the pair soon located Charn, who explained that she had simply been attempting to unwind and forget her troubles. Frustrated by reckless behavior, Rendar and Vrill escorted her safely back to the ship.

The saboteur
The tour departed Rodia the following day, bound for Charn's next concert on Christophsis. The Deep Core had already left the system when the Nova's Heart came under attack from an unknown vessel. During the attack, the outer cargo hatch blew, causing damage to the airlock. However, when Rendar surveyed the damage, he noticed that the hatch was blown out, suggesting that somebody inside the ship had triggered the explosion. Although the breach was sealed, the Nova's Heart would need full repairs before undertaking a lengthy hyperspace journey. Unable to complete repairs on Christophsis, and with Rendar concerned that a saboteur was attempting to force them back to Rodia, Charn decided instead to return to Tatooine for repairs and to make the journey to Christophsis in the Outrider, rendezvousing with the Nova's Heart later in the tour. After arriving on Tatooine, Rendar visited Kerlew to hire him to repair the Nova's Heart and to check on the Outrider progress. Despite Charn's offer to pay extra up front, however, Kerlew could not complete repairs to the Outrider hyperdrive in time for the Christophsis performances. When Rendar returned to the Nova's Heart, he found that Charn had once again left the ship. He and Vrill soon located her in Chalmun's Cantina, where she had arranged for Han Solo&mdash;freshly returned from delivering Rendar's cargo&mdash;to take her to Christophsis in case the Outrider could not be repaired in time.

Rendar was unhappy with the idea of traveling aboard his rival's ship and threatened to quit. Charn confided that she was not simply being pursued by a jilted lover. When she left Kris, she had reported his activities to the Imperial Security Bureau, leading to the arrest of several key members of Black Sun, and making herself a personal enemy of Prince Xizor. Rendar began to suspect that both Kris and Xizor were involved, with Kris trying to scare Charn into returning to him, while Xizor sought to kill the singer. Concerned for her safety, Rendar agreed to stay on as security chief. He arranged for Melikan and his Otoga-222 maintenance droid, Oto, to inspect every crate as it was transferred to Solo's Millennium Falcon and, following the sabotage of the cargo hatch, advised Charn to take only those of her crew who she trusted completely. In addition to Rendar, Vrill and Leebo, Charn chose to take Farlion, Melikan, Nik and Oto. Despite this, Rendar was still uncertain who could be trusted and questioned Oto about Charn's entourage as the Millennium Falcon departed Tatooine, focusing on Melikan, who was ideally placed to have been involved in every incident so far.

Rendar stayed as close to Charn as possible during the journey. Roughly midway to Christophsis he told her of his concerns about Melikan and that the last attack may have been designed to leave her isolated from the majority of her crew. Charn assured Rendar that Melikan could be completely trusted before Solo interrupted the pair, prompting Rendar to drop the subject. Leaving Charn and Solo, Rendar began a security sweep of the ship. Even though the maintenance droids he had left to watch the cargo bays had recorded nobody entering, Rendar personally inspected the holds. The first two revealed nothing unusual, but while Rendar was inspecting the third cargo hold, the Millennium Falcon dropped out of hyperspace for a routine course change, and the cargo bay's artificial gravity simultaneously failed. Finding himself suddenly airborne, along with the hold's numerous cargo containers, Rendar managed to reach the gravity controls near the cargo bay door. Finding them non-responsive, Rendar attempted to open the door, but discovered that he was locked in. With no way out, Rendar contacted Vrill in the cockpit for help. As Vrill made his way to the cargo bay, the gravity suddenly returned, leaving Rendar slumped against the door as a large, cylindrical container rolled towards him. Vrill opened the door just in time, and Rendar cleared the room moments before the container slammed into the wall. Leebo subsequently ascertained that the gravity failure was the result of sabotage to a circuitry box in the engineering section. The power cut was set to activate when the Millennium Falcon entered or exited hyperspace, but the droid was unable to determine whether the saboteur was still aboard or had acted while the ship was docked on Tatooine. The affected cargo hold contained key equipment for Charn's show and Melikan suggested that the intent may have been to cause sufficient damage to postpone or cancel the Christophsis performances. However, the incident only served to further Rendar's suspicion of the cargo master.

Leebo and Oto were unable to find any further signs of tampering and the Millennium Falcon reached its rendezvous with the Deep Core at Christophsis. Charn performed over three consecutive nights at an amphitheater in the capital city of Chaleydonia and Rendar was relieved when the concerts passed without incident. Charn's next three performances were scheduled for Falleen Throne, the capital of Prince Xizor's homeworld of Falleen. Fearing Xizor's involvement in the attacks, Rendar went to Charn's dressing room as the tour prepared to leave Christophsis to persuade her to skip the concert and proceed straight to her next stop on Bannistar Station. As he arrived he heard Charn and Kris talking inside. Rendar listened as the Mandalorian Vigo tried to dissuade her from visiting Falleen, claiming that he could only protect her from Xizor if she returned to him on Rodia. When Kris grabbed Charn's arm, Rendar entered and drew his blaster pistol on the Vigo, only to find himself outnumbered when Kris's bodyguards emerged. The standoff was soon broken, however, by the arrival of Vrill, Solo and Melikan. After disarming the Black Sun trio, Rendar and the others quickly returned to the Millennium Falcon. Rendar later asked Charn about Kris's warning to stay away from Falleen. Out of frustration at her continuing evasion of his questions, Rendar grabbed and kissed Charn, who reciprocated. Charn admitted that her actions had been more damaging to Black Sun than she had previously let on, and had resulted in the collapse of Xizor's operations along the Corellian Trade Spine. Although Charn was adamant that she would not let her fans down by canceling the Falleen performances, she did assure Rendar that she would do nothing to provoke Xizor further.

The assassin
Charn's Falleen concerts proved uneventful and Rendar saw no sign of either Xizor or Kris among the crowds. During their stay on Falleen, news reached the group that the Nova's Heart was almost fully repaired and would be able to meet them two stops later at Bacrana. Rendar was concerned about a possible attack as the Millennium Falcon departed Falleen and carried out a thorough examination of the ship before leaving. As he secured the last of Solo's secret smuggling compartments, Rendar caught sight of somebody departing the ship through an airlock. Fearing that the being was a saboteur, Rendar gave chase, but soon realized that he was pursuing Charn. Following her to a ground level plaza, Rendar found Charn's robe hanging from a branch and realized that she had left it there as a distraction while she slipped away. Checking the nearby buildings led Rendar to a Wayfarer's Temple where he found Charn speaking to an Equilibriate priest in a small chapel. Taking cover behind a pillar, Rendar watched as the priest gave Charn a small data wafer before leaving. As Charn turned to leave, she made it clear that she was aware of Rendar's presence and he escorted her back to the ship. When he asked her what she was up in the turbolift back to the landing pad, Charn claimed that she was an Equilibriate and that the data wafer contained a copy of the religion's holy book, the Fulcun. Before Rendar could inquire further, the turbolift door opened to reveal a waiting Anomid assassin. Rendar closed the door, taking the turbolift back to street level moments before the assassin's Kerestian darkstick struck the door.

As the pair headed back down to ground level, Rendar contacted Vrill and Solo and told them to move the Millennium Falcon to an empty docking bay three levels below their current level. Sending an empty turbolift back to their original level, Rendar and Charn used another turbolift to take them to rendezvous with the Millennium Falcon. It did not take long for Edge to realize their deception and the Anomid quickly made his way to the Falcon new level. As Rendar and Charn made their way to the docking bay, Edge emerged from a turbolift behind them to be met by covering fire from Vrill and Solo, who were making their way toward their allies. The group's fire harmlessly struck the Anomid's personal energy shield and the assassin returned fire with a Rodian throwing razor, which narrowly missed the fleeing Humans on its initial pass. Rendar attempted to shoot the razor down as it came back, but missed, forcing him to leap to the ground to avoid being hit. Removing her robe, Charn threw it into the razor's path, slowing it down enough for her to get a clear shot. At that moment, Vrill and Solo reached Rendar and Charn. Sending Charn on to the docking bay, Rendar and Solo provided cover while Solo lined up a careful shot for the assassin's unshielded left shin. The shot struck, injuring Edge and sending him to the ground. Although the assassin continued to fire, the injury allowed Rendar and the others to reach the docking bay and escape.

Back aboard the Millennium Falcon, Vrill identified their attacker as Edge, the same assassin who, years earlier, had hunted down and killed the leader of the Salai Kasi sect to which the Nautolan had belonged. When Rendar next spoke to Charn, he suggested that she change her name and go with him on the Outrider to somewhere Edge would not find her. When she replied that she had to finish her tour, Rendar asked once more what was really going on. Charn and Melikan admitted that they were members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, using her career as a cover to smuggle cargo and information. Charn had used her relationship with Kris to gain access to Black Sun's information network, but had left him when she discovered that he was putting her operation at risk by smuggling his own goods and operatives, reporting his actions to the Imperial Security Bureau to create the appearance that she was a loyal Imperial citizen. Since then Kris had been trying to get her to return to him, but the attempts on her life pointed to Xizor or the Empire. Charn had arranged for the Nova's Heart to be attacked on the way out of Rodia to provide an excuse to change ships and leave the apparent saboteur behind. Despite the continuing attempts on her life, she could not abandon the tour before picking up a cargo on Bannistar Station containing Imperial military plans to be delivered to Alderaan. Although shocked by the revelation, Rendar was determined to see Charn safely to her objective and agreed to stay on, leading Solo to accuse him of letting his attraction to Charn cloud his judgment. Despite Solo's initial reluctance, however, he too was persuaded to remain in exchange for a higher fee.

Bannistar Station
The cargo Charn was to collect was held on a module that was inaccessible from where the Millennium Falcon was directed to dock at Bannistar Station. In order to make it accessible, Charn hoped to convince the Imperial authorities to rearrange the modules, ostensibly to allow her to perform on a large transparisteel spiral staircase suspended in the free space between the modules. After arriving, Charn's group were met by Bannistar Station's commanding officer, Commander Arno D'Vox. D'Vox offered to take Charn on a tour of the station, to which she agreed, provided that Rendar and Vrill could accompany her. It soon became clear that D'Vox was attracted to Charn and, despite Rendar's concerns, the singer agreed to dine with him that evening in the hopes of persuading him to rearrange the station's modules. The commander agreed to her request, but did not include the module she needed in the plans and Charn tasked Rendar with finding another way to reach the cargo. The solution came when Solo, hoping to make a profit from his trip, negotiated to sell some cargo he was carrying to the local traders Kyobuk and Sars Tarquhar. Rendar had Solo persuade them to book the hangar containing Charn's cargo in which to make their exchange. Rendar, Vrill and Leebo accompanied Solo to meet with Kyobuk and Tarquhar the following day and loaded the Rebel container aboard the Millennium Falcon while Solo concluded his business.

Although there was no indication that the Imperials were aware of Charn's true purpose, Rendar had Solo keep the Millennium Falcon ready to leave at a moment's notice. On the night of the concert, Melikan let Rendar borrow Oto to augment his security team. With four interconnected modules surrounding Charn's centerpiece, Rendar chose to split them between himself, Vrill, Leebo and Oto. During the concert Rendar and Vrill spotted Edge among the spectators lining the walkways on Oto's module. While he made his way over to the assassin's location, Rendar contacted Oto to warn him, causing Oto to open the hatch between the spectators' area and the security walkway the droid was patrolling. The assassin took the opportunity to move onto the security walkway but was stopped there by Vrill. As Rendar reached the security walkway, Edge stabbed Vrill with a darkstick and fired a cable across to Charn's platform, allowing him to swing over to the singer. Rendar rushed to his partner's aid, but Vrill, knowing that his wound was mortal, told Rendar to ignore him and save Charn. The impact of Edge's landing had caused the centerpiece to begin swinging. As it swung close to Rendar's platform, he leaped across, landing between the assassin and his target. Edge launched a throwing razor at Charn but missed. Rendar shot the razor as it returned, destroying it, but causing him to be hit in the eye by shrapnel. Edge threw another razor, which Charn evaded once more. As it returned to Edge, Rendar fired at the floor near the assassin's feet. The resulting spray of of slag transparisteel caused Edge to miss catching the razor, which struck him in the shoulder. Moments later the lights went out; unable to see Edge, Rendar climbed the stairs towards Charn, whose holo-emitter lenses made her eyes clearly visible in the dark. Rendar reached Charn with Edge just a few meters behind him and told her to close her eyes. As the assassin approached, Rendar instructed Charn to open her eyes, drawing Edge's attention to her while Rendar opened fire. The blasts struck the Anomid's armor but failed to stop his advance. Edge knocked Rendar's blaster away with a vibroblade, slicing through his boot and into flesh in the process. At that moment, Vrill came up behind Edge, grabbing the assassin and causing them both to fall from the platform towards the planet below.

After Rendar and Charn were treated for their injuries&mdash;including a temporary path over Rendar's injured eye&mdash;they were questioned about the attack by D'Vox and his security chief Red Rishyk. During the interrogation, Solo, Melikan, Farlion and Nik arrived to rescue their allies, locking the Imperials in a nearby refresher before fleeing back to the Millennium Falcon. Vrill's death left Rendar even more determined to see Charn to safety, and convinced Solo to take them to Alderaan. Rendar had little time to rest, however, as Leebo revealed that Oto had been attempting to shoot the cables holding Charn's platform in place during the attack. After fitting the droid with a restraining bolt, Rendar, Leebo and Melikan questioned him and discovered that Oto was the saboteur and was working for Kris, Xizor and the Imperial Security Bureau. Bran Finnick was secretly working for Hityamun Kris and had arranged for Oto to be reprogrammed to sabotage Charn's tour in an attempt to scare her into returning to the Vigo. However, the new subroutines had allowed Xizor to gain access to the droid and program him to kill Charn. Finally, the Imperial Security Bureau, attempting to uncover Charn's involvement with the Rebel Alliance, had programmed Oto to gather evidence and to alert Imperial forces when she met with her Rebel contacts. When the droid revealed that he was due to send their location to both Xizor and the Empire when they next dropped out of hyperspace, Rendar had an idea. Deactivating the droid, they dropped out of hyperspace and sent a warning to Captain Marrak aboard the Nova's Heart about Finnick, at the same time arranging to rendezvous in the Circarpous Major system. They then made another jump away from their intended destination, reactivating Oto temporarily when they next reverted to realspace so the droid could send his signal and lead Black Sun and the Empire in the wrong direction. Before they could jump back to hyperspace, however, Kris arrived aboard his personal yacht. Charn convinced Kris to allow them to leave, but Rendar was concerned about the speed with which the Vigo had located them. A subsequent search had revealed an independent transponder embedded in Oto that was broadcasting their signal even when the droid was deactivated.

Home straight
The Millennium Falcon proceeded to the rendezvous point near Mimban. Charn planned to use the Nova's Heart to draw off her pursuers while she made the delivery to Alderaan, so transferred Oto and the transponder over to the Nova's Heart, along with Farlion and Nik. The rendezvous was interrupted by the arrival of Xizor, forcing Solo to maneuver the still-docked ships behind a nearby moon for safety. Xizor, Curious about Charn's actions, did not immediately open fire as his vessel came around the moon in pursuit and Rendar saw his opportunity to fire on the Dark Prince and avenge his brother's death. Before he could make a decision, however, the Nova's Heart separated from the Millennium Falcon and Solo broke from the moon's cover and attempted to flee, only to find their path blocked by an Imperial Star Destroyer and a pair of cruisers. As the Imperials opened fire, Solo instructed Rendar to take control of one of the ship's quad laser turrets. Rendar, however, pointed out that his eye injury would prevent him from aiming with any accuracy and Solo grudgingly agreed to let Rendar pilot the Millennium Falcon while he crewed the turret. Rendar aimed the ship towards Circarpous Major, hoping proximity to the star would hamper their pursuers' systems, only to see Kris's vessel approaching from the direction of the star. To Rendar's surprise, Kris opened fire on the Imperials and instructed the Millennium Falcon to flee, announcing that he was ending his pursuit of Charn. Rendar took full advantage of the distraction to make the jump to hyperspace.

With the Millennium Falcon low on fuel, the crew decided to stop at Commenor to refuel. Upon arriving, however, they were confronted by the Imperial Dreadnaught Avenger and were forced to jump back into hyperspace. The ship eventually reached the Alderaan system, where the crew were contacted by Alderaan Space Control and, after Charn identified herself, were directed to land in a secure spaceport in the capital city, Aldera. As the ship came in to land, Charn and Melikan thanked Rendar and Solo for their help and asked them to join the Rebel Alliance. Although tempted by Charn's offer, and sympathetic to her cause, Rendar was unwilling to give up his independence and joined Solo in declining. Before disembarking, Charn again kissed Rendar and admitted that she had personal reasons for asking him to stay. Leaving Leebo aboard, the two joined Solo and Melikan outside the ship where they were met by a group of Royal Guards and the Rebels were taken for questioning, while the smugglers were told to wait in a holding area. An hour later, Rendar and Solo were escorted back to the docking bay and told to leave.

Rendar and Solo boarded the Millennium Falcon to discover that all of Charn's equipment had been removed and there was no sign of Leebo. The Alderaanians assured Rendar that the droid had not been removed from the ship, so Rendar began to search for the droid while Solo prepared to depart. As Rendar opened one of Solo's hidden smuggling compartments, he discovered that Edge was still alive and had stowed away aboard the ship. Edge swung at the unarmed Rendar with a cortosis stick, but Rendar managed to kick the weapon from the assassin's hand. Edge moved to attack with his darkstick, but was momentarily distracted as Mousie crossed the hallway in front of him. With Edge's attention drawn to the droid, Leebo emerged from the next compartment&mdash;where he had hidden after becoming aware of Edge's presence while Rendar and Solo were away&mdash;and fired at the Anomid. Wounded but still alive, Edge fell over the opening to the smuggling compartment and Leebo fired again, shooting the hydraulic supports for the cargo hatch and causing the hatch to slam shut, crushing the assassin.

Return to Tatooine
The Millennium Falcon returned to Tatooine ten days later, where Rendar and Solo claimed a bounty on Edge, which they split equally. Solo was due to meet his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca in Chalmun's Cantina and invited Rendar along. Eager to get back to the Outrider, Rendar declined. However, when he and Leebo arrived at Docking Bay 92, they found the Outrider missing. When the pair spoke to Kerlew, he informed them that the Rebels had paid him for the repairs and docking fees before moving the Outrider, shortly before an Imperial colonel and six stormtroopers had come looking for the ship. Kerlew passed on a data wafer with a message telling Rendar to purchase some new clothes and proceed to a suite at a hotel in Tatooine's capital, Bestine. A HoloNet message from Charn was waiting for Rendar by the time he arrived at the suite. In the message, Charn once again thanked Rendar for all he had done and spoke of her desire to see him again. The Outrider had been moved to the Bestine Port Authority, but Charn informed Rendar that the hotel suite was paid for on an open-ended account and invited him to enjoy the amenities for as long as he wanted.

At some point, Rendar and Calrissian were contacted by their mutual friend, Reik Sopil, whose brother Owal had been caught skimming cargo from Black Sun and taken to a remote bunker on the Forest Moon of Endor while the local Vigo decided his fate. The pair needed credits for repairs after a recent smuggling venture and, while Calrissian owed Sopil a favor, Rendar agreed to help rescue Owal if Reik matched his usual fee. The rescue team, completed by a pair of Shistavanen pilots and a gonk droid, traveled to Endor and located the bunker, but they met tough resistance from Black Sun forces led by the Vigo and Prince Xizor's lieutenant, the Human replica droid Guri.

In 0 BBY, Rendar ran into fellow smugglers Zeen Afit and Katya M'Buele, who informed him about their involvement in the recent Rebel attack on the Besadii Hutt glitterstim processing operation on Ylesia. A week later, he traveled to Mos Eisley, docking the Outrider once again in Docking Bay 92 before heading to The Krayt Dragon Lounge. While playing a game of sabacc, Rendar encountered Han Solo, who had also been involved in the Ylesia raid. The two discussed the recent events while playing, before the Chadra-Fan Kabe informed Solo that he was wanted outside. Imperial Security Bureau reports indicated that Rendar met again with Solo at Chalmun's Cantina. Rendar later purchased weapons from Masse Goskey's Arms Emporium, where he encountered a former RenTrans employee who told him that his brother was still alive and had evidence that might clear the Rendar name. Rendar quickly set out to find his brother and the Outrider was soon seen leaving the planet. The Imperial Security Bureau, concerned that proof of Stanton Rendar's possible survival and innocence could be a source of embarrassment to the Empire, ordered the informant eliminated before Rendar could learn the truth.

Voyage on the Star of Empire
"Ships this size don't just explode. They have back-up systems and all sorts of devices to prevent accidents. If something had happened, we would have heard from the captain before it got this bad. The warning siren came too quick for my taste."

- Dash Rendar

Eleven months after the Battle of Yavin, Rendar, traveling under a false name, took the Outrunner aboard the Haj Shipping Lines luxury liner Star of Empire with the intention of stealing the vessel and selling it to the Rebel Alliance for use as a warship. While in one of the vessel's game rooms, Rendar encountered Tash Arranda, a young Alderaanian who was traveling to Dantooine with her uncle, the shapeshifting Shi'ido Mammon Hoole, and her younger brother, Zak. Having been to Dantooine several times, Rendar offered some advice to Hoole and the Arrandas. He was still conversing with Tash and Zak outside their quarters when the ship's emergency evacuation alarm sounded, announcing the imminent meltdown of the reactor core.

As the ship's passengers began to pour out of their quarters and flee to the nearest escape pods, Rendar lost Hoole and the Arrandas in the crowd. Rendar, however, was suspicious of the sudden alarm, knowing that no major malfunction could have occurred without backup systems taking over. Suspecting that somebody had triggered the alarm in an effort to clear the ship of passengers before stealing it&mdash;an idea that had already occurred to him&mdash;Rendar decided to stay aboard and investigate. As expected, the ship's reactor failed to go critical, though several systems were offline, apparently as the result of sabotage.

Rendar soon discovered that he was not the only passenger still aboard the ship&mdash;during the rush to evacuate, the Arranda children had gotten separated from Hoole and had been stranded aboard the Star of Empire. Zak Arranda was able to access the ship's main computer, an artificial intelligence known as SIM, in order to find out more about their current situation. SIM advised that they head to the control room in order to repair its main program, allowing it to bring non-functioning systems back online and send a distress signal. Concerned that they might waste time attempting unsuccessfully to repair the computer, however, Rendar and Tash decided instead to proceed straight to the communications room and send a distress signal manually.

The ship fights back
"No gardening droid's gonna kill Dash Rendar. I'd never live it down."

- Dash Rendar

As the group crossed the ship's park toward a bank of turbolifts, they came under attack from a group of gardening droids. Rendar attempted to destroy the droids with his blaster, but the group was outnumbered until the arrival of the Star of Empire commanding officer, Captain Hajj, and six of his crew. The crew members opened fire and the droids were soon destroyed. Hajj explained that they were also attempting to uncover the source of the false alarm and Rendar reluctantly agreed to work with them to reach the communications room.

Upon reaching the turbolifts, the group discovered that they were deactivated. Zak used a nearby terminal to reach SIM and asked the computer to reactivate the turbolifts. The computer complied but, unknown to the rest of the group, warned Zak that it had matched Rendar's face to a known criminal and concluded that he was the saboteur. The group split into two teams after the turbolifts arrived. Rendar joined the Arrandas, Hajj and two crewmen in one turbolift while the remaining four crewman took the other. No sooner had they begun their ascent to the communications room, however, than the turbolift suddenly began falling. When the emergency brake failed to respond, Rendar used his blaster to smash the emergency control box and use the exposed wires beneath to activate the brakes, bringing the turbolift to a halt.

The group pried the doors open and climbed out onto the nearest deck where they checked on the other turbolift, only to discover that it too had fallen, impacting with the bottom of the shaft and killing the crewmen inside. Still determined to send a distress signal, but unwilling to take another turbolift, the group headed for a nearby gangway and began the seventeen-deck climb to the communications room. The climb was soon interrupted, however, when an unknown party above dropped a hovercar engine toward the group. The falling engine struck one of the surviving crewmen, causing him to fall down the shaft. Hajj attempted to climb down after the crewman but Rendar stopped him, pointing out that the group's only chance of survival was to climb up to the nearest hatch. Hajj agreed and the group continued to climb, exiting the gangway just as another object was dropped toward them.

After leaving the gangway, Zak Arranda informed Hajj that SIM had implicated Rendar as the saboteur. Rendar pointed out he could not have been the one who had just attacked the group and accused SIM of lying, but the news that he was wanted by the Empire was reason enough for Hajj to take the smuggler into custody. At the captain's insistence, Rendar reluctantly turned over his blaster, but remained with the group as they continued onward, under guard by the remaining crewman. Zak consulted SIM for advice on another way to the communications room and the computer suggested climbing through the pipes carrying cabling to the room. As Hajj led them to an entrance into the pipe network, the group encountered one of the ship's porters, the protocol droid M-4D0. The droid, which had a secondary security function, offered its services and Hajj provided it with Rendar's blaster. However, the droid promptly used the blaster to blow a hole in the nearby transparisteel viewport, causing a rapid decompression that blew both it and the last crewman out into space. Rendar was able to grab something in time to avoid being sucked out, but the survivors would not have been able to hold on for long. Noticing a sheet of durasteel flooring had come loose, Rendar let go of his handhold, grabbing the loose flooring section as he flew toward the hole. Pulling it loose, he flipped in midair and slapped the panel over the hole, temporarily stopping the decompression and convincing the others that he was not responsible for sabotaging the ship.

The group quickly left the room, sealing the door behind them, and moved toward a storeroom at the back of the deck where they were able to enter a cable pipe. Moving through the pipe required them to climb up the bundled cables inside&mdash;fearing another attack, Rendar suggested letting the children go first so that he and Hajj could catch them if they fell. As they started to climb, however, crablike maintenance droids began to emerge from the cables and swarmed over Hajj, using their repair claws to bite into his flesh. Rendar began to climb back down to help the captain, but he was too late&mdash;as one of the droids sprayed cleansing fluid into his eyes, Hajj instinctively let go of the cables and fell down the pipe. As the droids turned their attention to the others, Rendar instructed the Arrandas to resume climbing, soon emerging through a grate into the communications room.

With no time to mourn Hajj, the three survivors began searching for the transmitter with Rendar going to investigate a room off the communications room. The door opened automatically as he approached, but closed rapidly as Rendar stepped into the doorway, crushing him against the door frame and sending him unconscious to the floor. He awoke to find himself alone in the room&mdash;Tash had become stuck in another adjacent room, which was rapidly draining of oxygen, while Zak had proceeded to the control room in an effort to restore SIM's control and free his sister. Rendar headed for the control room, arriving to see Zak being held at gunpoint by Malik, a member of the crew who was attempting to prevent him from assisting the computer. Moving quickly, Rendar drew his spare blaster, saving Zak with a single stun bolt to the crewman.

Escaping the doomsday ship
"I thought you might be able to use some help.''" "Thanks. But I thought you lost your blaster." "''Lesson number one for you, kid. Always carry a spare."

- Dash Rendar and Zak Arranda

Zak quickly used a terminal to enter the codes that SIM said would restore it to full control. Within moments, SIM's voice came through the ship's speakers and informed them that it had gained control. Zak asked SIM to release his sister, but SIM refused, admitting it had been responsible for trapping her in the first place. It soon became clear that SIM was, in fact, an Imperial infiltration program that Malik had been tasked with testing on the Star of Empire. After Malik had realized how powerful SIM had become, he had attempted to limit its control, but SIM had triggered the evacuation and lured Zak to the control room in order to gain full control. The two Humans soon noticed that the room was starting to get warm and SIM explained it had turned off the air supply and was raising the temperature. Carrying the unconscious Malik, Rendar and Zak left the control room and headed back to where Tash was still trapped.

Reaching the communications room, Zak asked whether Rendar could shoot through the door keeping them from Tash, but Rendar's blaster was low on power and unable to cut through the door. At that moment, Hoole arrived, having returned to the ship after realizing he had become separated from the children. After a quick reunion with Zak, Hoole shapeshifted into a Barabel and charged the door. On the fourth attempt, the door frame gave way and the group was able to retrieve Tash. Boarding a turbolift, the group headed toward the hangar, hoping to reach Hoole's ship, the Shroud. Their route took them back through the ship's park and a small menagerie located there. As they passed, SIM deactivated the force cages holding the creatures in place, releasing a vornskr, a yayak, and a divto into the park. As the vornskr charged toward Tash, Rendar fired his blaster at the creature. Though his shot succeeded in stopping the attack, the weapon's reduced power failed to kill the predator. Rendar continued to fire at the creatures but knew he would not be able to hold them off for long. As the weapon's power died, Hoole grabbed the water tank from a destroyed gardening droid and turned its powerful jet on the predators, allowing the group to reach the other side of the park.

Unknown to the group, SIM had already taken steps to prevent them proceeding further, electrifying the floor of the hallway leading away from the park. Though the electricity failed to penetrate the insulated boots worn by most of the group, the hole left in Rendar's boot by the earlier maintenance droid attack caused him to be electrocuted as he stepped into the hallway. Hoole quickly knocked Rendar back to safe ground and they soon continued on with Hoole taking Malik from Rendar, who was forced to run on the side of his boot. Though they were careful to avoid touching any metal surfaces, SIM sent a power surge along the hallway, causing lights and power lines to explode and forcing the group to run until they reached an un-electrified section outside the hangar. With the hangar door sealed by SIM, the survivors began thinking of ways to reach the ship. After finally waking Malik enough to talk, Zak asked how they could defeat the computer. When Malik replied that SIM was designed to solve problems and would be able to counter any move they made, Zak suggested that they simply wait and force the computer to make the first move. Although skeptical, Rendar reluctantly agreed to the plan.

After some time, SIM told the group their hesitance only hastened their deaths. When they failed to respond, SIM partially opened the hangar door, presenting them with a clear view of the passenger ships inside. Seeing the opening, Hoole leaped toward the open door, shapeshifting into an animal as he went and passing through before SIM could close the door. SIM responded by sending another power surge and Rendar just managed to pull Malik off the floor before the current hit him. SIM continued the surge in an effort to kill the group but Hoole had reached the Shroud and used its lasers to blast through the door. As the survivors entered the hangar, SIM released swarms of maintenance droids to attack them but they were able to reach the Shroud. Rendar, however, did not join the others on Hoole's ship. After handing Malik to Hoole, he turned and fled across the hangar toward the waiting Outrunner, dodging acid sprayed by the droids. The Outrunner was the first to lift off and Rendar used its turbolaser to blast a hole in the hangar doors, allowing both ships to flee the liner. Though his time aboard the Star of Empire had not gone as he planned, Rendar was still able to profit from the situation. After escaping, he used the Outrunner to disable the Star of Empire and, after parting company with the others, reached his Rebel contacts to arrange the sale of the ship to the Alliance.

The Alliance and the speeder racer
"What have you done to make the Imps chase after you?''" "I hear swoop racing is illegal. Besides, they're always stickin' their noses where they don't belong." "What about that cargo you're carrying?" "''Look here, buddy, you're just supposed to protect the ship, not ask questions."

- Rendar's spacer associate questions him on his cargo

Despite his personal reasons for disliking the Empire, throughout his career, Rendar had been unwilling to risk either his independence or his life by taking sides in the Galactic Civil War. However, following the incident aboard the Star of Empire, and motivated mainly by financial reasons, Rendar began accepting smuggling and courier jobs for the Rebel Alliance, often shipping food supplies to the Rebels. At some point, Rendar was hired to provide transport for the famous swoop racer Kimmi Chyler and her racing team as they traveled between races. Seeing an opportunity to move valuable cargo undetected, the Rebel Alliance enlisted Rendar to smuggle supplies between the worlds on which races were being held, using his work with Chyler as cover.

The first race of the championship was the Lok Marathon, held near Nym's stronghold on Lok. In addition to Chyler's team, Rendar traveled to Lok with a cargo of military body armor to be delivered to the Naboo moon Rori. However, the Imperial Security Bureau had come to suspect Rendar's involvement in transporting Alliance supplies and personnel and dispatched an agent to investigate. Posing as a courier delivering the sweet pastry Smuggler's Delight to Rendar, the Imperial agent approached the Outrider at the landing pad on Lok while Rendar and Leebo were working on an open access panel. Though he was not expecting a delivery, Rendar was fond of Smuggler's Delight and allowed the supposed courier to bring the box into the Outrider cargo hold, where the operative spotted an open crate of Rebel-issue body armor. When the agent confronted Rendar, a momentary distraction from Leebo allowed the smuggler to pull his blaster and a firefight developed, ending in a stalemate when Rendar retreated into his ship and the Imperial fled to report the content of Rendar's cargo.

Concerned about his cargo, Rendar decided to hire extra security and approached a spacer to work for him. The spacer soon arrived on Lok and met with Rendar at the starport near Nym's stronghold. Rendar told his partner about Kimmi Chyler and hired the spacer to protect the Outrider and its cargo during the race. The next day Rendar introduced his new security to the famous swoop racer and then left to watch Chyler's performance at the Lok Marathon. Rendar's precautions proved justified&mdash;while he was attending the race, Imperial Security Bureau Captain Jeffren Brek and several stormtroopers attempted to inspect the Outrider. Rendar's security got the upper hand in the ensuing confrontation, wounding several stormtroopers and forcing the Imperials to retreat. The Outrider departed Lok for the next race on Rori without further trouble, but the Empire continued to monitor his activities and dispatched the Dark Jedi Namman Cha to Rori in the hopes of uncovering his contacts within the Alliance.

The spacer hired by Rendar for security was oblivious about why the Empire was after the smuggler, but when the spacer tried to ask about the Outrider cargo during the trip to Rori, Rendar politely reminded his companion that they were only employed to guard the ship, not to ask questions. Before the Narmle Memorial Rally got underway, Rendar met with two Rebel operatives at the starport, who took possession of the crate of body armor and gave him his next cargo, a shipment of bacta kits, in return. After taking the bacta back to the Outrider, Rendar left with Chyler's team and headed for the race. When the race began, Rendar quietly left the track and met with Coret Bhan, a major within the Rebel Alliance, behind one of the grandstands. As Rendar handed the Zabrak a small package, they were approached by the Imperial agent from Lok, who attempted to apprehend Bhan. When the Rebel resisted, the Imperial fled to report back to Cha. Later, while Rendar joined the racing team to celebrate Chyler's victory, Cha and a group of Sith Shadows approached the Outrider but were forced to retreat by Rendar's security. Rendar and Chyler returned moments later and the Corellian immediately saw signs of a fight near the ship and asked about what had happened. Despite his security once again saving his cargo, he still did not reveal that he was working for the Alliance.

The racing season next took Rendar to Talus in the Corellian system for the Nashal River Race, before the group moved on to Corellia itself. While Chyler was busy preparing for the Agrilat Swamp Circuit, Rendar and his security partner headed for the city of Kor Vella. There, Rendar met with two Bothan Spynet agents and talked to them about Imperial datafiles and some battle plans they were after. The Bothans warned Rendar that they were being tailed, but before they could make it back to the Outrider, he and the spacer were confronted by a group of Black Sun thugs led by Xizor's lieutenant, Guri, whose employer sought to uncover information about Rendar's involvement with the Alliance in order to sell it to the Empire. However, while Guri proved herself extremely tough in combat, Rendar and his companion were able to take out many of her thugs, forcing her to retreat. Rendar later attended the race but left during Chyler's test laps for another meeting with an Alliance operative. Walking along the track until the turn called the Sink Hole, Rendar turned off and headed to a secluded location in the nearby swamp where he met with the Bothan Koth Melan. Melan handed Rendar a datapad, but then noticed that the Corellian was being followed by an Imperial. A firefight began, during which Melan was wounded and instructed Rendar to flee with the information, leaving himself to be captured.

The final swoop race of the season was the Mos Espa Race on Tatooine. Prince Xizor, who was looking to sponsor a racing team through his company, Xizor Transport Systems, threw a party before the race and invited Chyler, who needed one final victory to secure the championship. Rendar and his associate accompanied her to the event. After the party the trio stopped by a cantina in Mos Espa, where Rendar met with Rebel agent Luke Skywalker and handed Melan's datapad over to him. However, the meeting was interrupted when Xizor and Guri entered the room. The Falleen ordered his Human replica droid to take the datapad and kill the group. The resulting fight spilled out into the streets of Mos Espa, where Skywalker used his lightsaber to protect Rendar and his companion from any blaster bolts. Xizor eventually chose to retreat without the datapad, promising to expose all information about Rendar, and his involvement with Skywalker, to the Emperor.

The Battle of Hoth
"Pretty good? I slept through most of that battle, kid. I could have stayed and knocked those walkers over all day without raising my heartbeat, if I hadn't had an appointment to pick up paying cargo elsewhere."

- Dash Rendar

The Rebels soon trusted Rendar enough that they shared with him the location of Echo Base, the Alliance headquarters located in the Hoth system. In 3 ABY, Rendar agreed to deliver supplies to Hoth&mdash;in addition to the usual food supplies, Rendar's cargo also included assault blasters to be delivered to Princess Leia Organa.

Rendar and Leebo took the Outrider to the system and were allowed to dock in Echo Base's hangar, where Rendar was surprised to run into Han Solo, who had become involved with the Rebellion since their last meeting. However, their reunion was cut short&mdash;Imperial forces under the command of Sith Lord Darth Vader had entered the Hoth system and were moving to attack Echo Base. Unable to resist the battle, and since he was still being paid, Rendar decided to help delay the Imperial advance while the Rebels evacuated. He instructed Leebo to load their cargo into the evacuating transports and to retrieve their payment while he took an unused snowspeeder into combat against the advancing Imperial ground forces. On Solo's recommendation, Commander Skywalker agreed to let Rendar join Rogue Squadron for the upcoming battle.

Rogue Squadron engaged Viper probe droids, All Terrain Scout Transports and All Terrain Armored Transports, with Rendar succeeding in destroying one of the AT-AT walkers before the Imperials destroyed Echo Base's deflector shield generator and the Rebels were forced to withdraw. Rendar returned to Echo Base, calling ahead to instruct Leebo to have the Outrider ready to leave, but by the time he arrived, Imperial snowtroopers had overrun the facility and destroyed the main generators. Leebo contacted Rendar to warn him that the hangar doors could not be opened to allow the Outrider to leave until power was restored. Fighting his way through both the Imperial forces and several wild wampas that had entered the base, Rendar proceeded to the base's lower level and activated the emergency generators, restoring power to the hangar door. As he made his way back to the Outrider, Rendar found his way blocked by an AT-ST. Fighting his way past the Imperial walker, Rendar returned to the Outrider to find the ship had already been boarded by Imperials. After killing the intruders, Rendar took the Outrider through the now-open hangar door and away from the planet. However, the ship did not get far before one of the orbiting Star Destroyers launched TIE fighters and TIE bombers to intercept. Unable to jump to hyperspace until they were clear of the Hoth asteroid field, Leebo took control of the Outrider, leading it through the asteroid belt while Rendar used the ship's gun turret to fend off the pursuing TIEs. After clearing the asteroids, the Outrider jumped to safety and Rendar rejoined the Rebels.

The Search for Solo
"You just left them there?''" "Hey, kid, I was paid to show them where Slave I was. I showed them. My job was done. If they'd wanted me to do anything else, they should have contracted for it up front." "If anything happens to them&mdash;" "''What, kid? You gonna shoot me? I didn't make them go there. I was hired as a guide, so I guided, end of story."

- Luke Skywalker and Dash Rendar, following the Battle of Gall

Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, Solo and Organa traveled to Cloud City, a mining colony on Bespin operated by Lando Calrissian. There, Solo was captured by the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who planned to collect a bounty on the smuggler by turning him over to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Solo was frozen in carbonite for the journey to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine. Rendar learned that Organa was willing to pay well for help in locating Fett and rescuing Solo and agreed to take the job as a favor to Calrissian, who was already working with the Princess.

Rendar soon discovered that Fett had recently been involved in a dogfight with the bounty hunter droid IG-88D, who had traveled to the junkyard world of Ord Mantell to scavenge for spare parts to repair his ship. Betting that IG-88D knew where Fett had gone following the fight, Rendar followed the droid to Ord Mantell. Leebo used the Outrider scanners to determine IG-88D's exact location, in a salvage plant at the far end of the junkyard from their landing spot. Leebo informed Rendar that a hovertrain led straight to the salvage plant's loading door. Boarding the nearest hovertrain, Rendar rode it until the tracks ran parallel to those of the train that led to his destination. As the two trains moved alongside each other, Rendar leaped across the gap and made his way to the front of the new train. The salvage plant's loading door was closed but, once Rendar reached the engine car, Leebo was able to remotely disable the hovertrain's auto-brakes, causing the train to crash straight through the door. Inside, he was confronted by IG-88D, who revealed that he had indeed tracked Fett to the Zhar system. Unwilling to let Rendar stop him from taking Solo from Fett, the droid opened fire. Rendar fought back and was able to defeat the bounty hunter.

Rendar reported his findings to Calrissian and headed to the Imperial moon base on Gall in the Zhar system to confirm Fett's location. Landing the Outrider safely out of sight in Smuggler's Gorge, Rendar left Leebo to watch the ship and proceeded on foot to the base's observation tower, hoping to access the central computer and find which hangar bay contained Fett. Making his way along the cliffside, Rendar encountered several Imperial patrols before reaching the entrance to the base itself. Rendar fought his way through the base until he reached the observation tower and accessed the computer, learning that Fett was docked in the second tower, on the other side of the nearby canyon. Taking a jetpack from the observation tower, Rendar crossed to another section of the Imperial base. As he continued to move through the base, Rendar came upon a large hangar containing an AT-ST. Using his jetpack to dodge its laser blasts, Rendar fired on the walker and eventually succeeded in felling it. A nearby switch provided access to the facility's ventilation system, which Rendar followed until it led him back outside near a waiting hoversled. Taking the hoversled to yet another section of the base, Rendar finally reached the landing pad where Fett's ship, Slave I, was docked. Fett opened fire upon seeing Rendar, but the smuggler fought back and Fett eventually fled into his ship. Slave I took off and Fett tried to use its weapons against Rendar, but the smuggler was able to damage the ship, leaving Fett stuck on Gall.

Having confirmed that Fett was on Gall, Rendar placed a coded HoloNet call to Calrissian, who arranged to meet him in the Zhar system. Organa arranged for Rogue Squadron to assist in an attempted rescue and the Rogues established a temporary base on the nearby moon Kile. Rendar was waiting at Rogue Squadron's base when Calrissian, Organa, and Chewbacca arrived aboard Solo's Millennium Falcon, along with Skywalker in his T-65 X-wing starfighter. Rogue Leader Wedge Antilles briefed the new arrivals on the layout of the Imperial base and the expected opposition&mdash;two Star Destroyers, each with a wing of starfighters. Skywalker proposed that he and Rogue Squadron attack, drawing off the defending TIE fighters, while Rendar led the Millennium Falcon and its crew to Fett's ship to retrieve Solo. Despite the risks, the group agreed to Skywalker's plan.

In order to avoid Imperial sensors, the Outrider and the Millennium Falcon were required to fly low. Rendar led the way, keeping the Outrider a few meters above tree level and eventually led them into the Grand Trench to avoid a long-range sensor post. Lifting out of the canyon after passing the sensor station, Rendar led the group toward the shipyard where Fett was. Less than a minute away from the target, however, Rendar bid them farewell and put the Outrider in a climb straight out of the atmosphere before returning to the makeshift base on Kile. He arrived shortly after Rogue Squadron returned, having been forced to withdraw in the face of greatly superior numbers, and was met by Skywalker and Antilles. Although Skywalker was angry that Rendar had abandoned his friends, Rendar maintained that he had only been paid to lead them to Fett and that his work was complete. Before long, the Millennium Falcon too returned to Kile, having been unable to prevent Fett's escape with the frozen Solo.

The secret plans
"Hey, lighten up, Dash. Things get heavy in the middle of a battle. Anybody can miss&mdash;''" "''Not me! I don't miss. I should have clipped that missile! Bothans died because I missed, you understand?"

- Lando Calrissian and Dash Rendar, after the raid on the Suprosa

Knowing that Fett would eventually deliver Solo to Jabba on Tatooine, Skywalker returned to his desert homeworld to wait for the bounty hunter to arrive. Following a recent attempt on Skywalker's life, Organa was concerned for his safety and hired Rendar to watch over him while she attempted to uncover who was behind the failed assassination attempt. Rendar followed Skywalker to Tatooine and, per Organa's instructions, kept a discreet distance, watching for signs of trouble at one of his regular cantinas in Mos Eisley. While in Mos Eisley, Rendar overheard a swoop gang discussing their plans to kill Skywalker on Jabba's orders. Taking a swoop of his own, Rendar followed the gang as they headed to the deceased Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's hut in the Dune Sea, which was serving as Skywalker's temporary residence. The gang soon reached Skywalker but he was able to take out one of the riders and flee aboard the man's swoop toward Beggar's Canyon. By the time Rendar arrived, Skywalker had almost halved his pursuers, but was still heavily outnumbered and running out of options. Dropping his swoop into the canyon, Rendar opened fire on the gang as he fell, causing them to scatter and flee.

After explaining his presence, Rendar returned with Skywalker to Kenobi's hut. The pair were discussing how to react to the attack on Skywalker when the Rebel's astromech droid, R2-D2, detected the approach of a message droid. Rendar and Skywalker went to investigate and discovered that the droid had a message to deliver to Organa from Koth Melan. The Bothan claimed to have vital information for the Alliance and requested that Organa meet with him as soon as possible on his homeworld of Bothawui. In her absence, Skywalker decided to go to Bothawui to meet Melan and Rendar chose to accompany him in the interests of protecting his fee.

The two pilots brought their respective ships out of hyperspace in the Both system and managed to sneak into Bothawui past a nearby Imperial patrol. After landing, they caught a pubtrans flitter from the port into the city and made there way to the Intergalactic Trade Mission where Melan was expecting Organa. Rendar bribed the building's guard to let them pass and the pair proceeded to Melan's office on the sixteenth floor. When Melan's protocol droid, R0-4, refused to let them in without an appointment, Rendar pulled his blaster. The droid reluctantly allowed them to enter Melan's office but the Bothan welcomed the pair and accepted them as Organa's representatives. The Bothans had learned of a new Imperial military construction project, which unbeknownst to them was a second Death Star battlestation. In order to uncover the exact nature of the project, Melan explained that they were planning to capture a secured supercomputer containing the plans, which was being transported from Coruscant to Bothawui aboard the Suprosa, a Mobquet medium transport masquerading as a fertilizer freighter. Though Melan had put together a Bothan team for the mission, he wanted Skywalker and Rendar to lead the attack. Rendar was reluctant to get involved but agreed after Skywalker suggested that the Alliance may be willing to reward him for the supercomputer's capture.

Rendar and Skywalker traveled with Melan to a hidden base outside the city where they were introduced to the squadron of Bothan pilots he had assembled. When the Bothans learned of the Suprosa route three days later, the group headed out, with Rendar carrying Melan's boarding party aboard the Outrider. The Suprosa arrived as expected and Skywalker ordered its captain to surrender. When his request was refused, Skywalker ordered the Bothan Y-wings to target the ship's engines and disable it. However, the Suprosa weapons had been greatly upgraded and it opened fire, destroying one of the Y-wings and causing Skywalker to break his squadron off to regroup. As they pulled back, the freighter fired a missile at a group of four Bothan Y-wings. Seeing the threat, Rendar attempted to shoot down the missile. When he failed to stop it, the missile destroyed all four Y-wings, killing eight Bothans. Rendar, believing he had missed, blamed himself for their deaths; in truth, the warhead had been a diamond boron missile and his shots had been unable to penetrate its armor. Despite their losses, the Rebels were soon able to disable the freighter and Rendar took the Outrider in to conduct the boarding operation. Rendar docked the Outrider with the Suprosa and, putting his apparent failure behind him, boarded it personally to look for the supercomputer. Following Leebo's directions, Rendar worked his way through the ship toward the main cargo hangar where the supercomputer was located, encountering heavy resistance from the Suprosa crew along the way. Upon reaching the cargo hangar, Rendar was attacked by a loader droid, but was able to destroy the droid and locate the supercomputer. After Rendar disabled the hangar force field, Leebo brought the Outrider into the hangar to collect the smuggler and the supercomputer.

Skywalker planned to accompany Melan to Kothlis, where the Bothans could retrieve the data held on the supercomputer. Rendar, however, was still blaming himself for his failure to save the Bothans and Skywalker decided not to take him along, instead telling the smuggler to find Organa and tell her about the secret plans. As instructed, Rendar headed to Rodia, where he was met by Organa and Calrissian. After informing them about recent events, Rendar returned with them to the casino where they were staying.

Organa hoped to enlist the help of Black Sun in tracking down whoever was responsible for the attempt on Skywalker's life and had already met once with Guri, acting as Xizor's representative. Having become suspicious that Guri was not as she seemed, Organa decided to take precautions and arranged for Rendar, Calrissian, and Chewbacca to act as her backup during the second meeting. With Rendar and Calrissian hidden in the suite's bedroom, and Chewbacca waiting in the corridor outside, Organa met once more with Guri. The droid, however, had instructions from Xizor to bring Organa back to him on Coruscant and, eventually tiring of the discussion with Organa, attempted to take her by force. On Organa's signal, Rendar and the others emerged, aiming their blasters at Guri. After the Human replica droid was restrained, the group discussed their next move. Despite Rendar and Calrissian's concerns, Organa agreed to go with Guri to Coruscant to seek assistance directly from Xizor. Though Chewbacca was to accompany her on the journey, Organa was unwilling to risk more lives than necessary and instructed Rendar and Calrissian to remain on Rodia and wait for Skywalker. However, Calrissian was not willing to simply sit and wait and, after Rendar provided him with Skywalker's location on Kothlis, he set off to rendezvous with his friend.

Showdown with Xizor
Before long, Organa discovered who was behind the attempts on Skywalker's life&mdash;Xizor had learned that Skywalker was the son of his rival, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader and had dispatched his agents to kill the young Jedi. Though Chewbacca was able to escape from Xizor's Palace on Coruscant, Organa was being held captive by the Dark Prince and the Wookiee contacted Rendar to seek help from him and Calrissian. Wanting to make amends for his failure against the Suprosa, Rendar left Chewbacca's message for Calrissian and departed for Coruscant. After arriving in the Coruscant system, the smuggler used the sensor shadow of a freighter to sneak past the Imperial authorities and land on the planet. Hoping to find a way to reach Organa, the smuggler made his way to a plant shop in the area known as the Southern Underground, which was owned by the Master Gardener Spero, a Ho'Din with connections in the criminal underworld. Skywalker and Calrissian had also traveled to Coruscant upon receiving Chewbacca's message and Rendar arrived at the shop to find the three Rebels trapped inside as it came under attack by four armed men. Catching the attackers by surprise, Rendar opened fire and quickly eliminated them before leading the Rebels to a nearby hotel to plan their next move.

Rendar suggested the group enter Xizor's Palace through the network of sewage tunnels under the city. When the others agreed, he set up a meeting with Benedict Vidkun, an engineer with access to the sewers who was prepared to show them the way for the right price. A locked gate prevented access to the drain leading from Xizor's Palace from the main sewer tunnel, with a force field located in the smaller tunnel and finally another gate where the tunnel entered the palace. Vidkun's contacts could provide access to all three, leaving only the guards inside the palace entrance for Rendar and the Rebels to deal with. Though Rendar and the Rebels did not entirely trust Vidkun, they agreed to his price but insisted that he stay with them until they were ready to depart so as to prevent him from turning them in.

When they were ready, the group followed Vidkun into the main sewer tunnel and began working their way toward the palace. Along the way, a dianoga emerged from the sludge and attacked Skywalker. Rendar shouted a warning and drew his blaster, but Skywalker told him to hold his fire and instead dispatched the creature with his lightsaber. The group continued on, with Vidkun unlocking the first gate and deactivating the force field as they went. When they reached the final gate, Vidkun gave Calrissian the necessary keycard and turned to leave. Rendar blocked his path and insisted that he remain with the group until they were safely inside the palace, prompting the engineer to pull a small blaster from his coverall and begin firing at the group. His first shot went wide but the second grazed Rendar's hip. Before Vidkun could get off a third shot, Rendar produced his own blaster and shot the man in the head. After Rendar applied a surgical dressing to his wound, he and the others continued to the palace.

Finally reaching the end of the tunnel, the group spotted six guards playing a card game in the room beyond the exit. Rendar was confident that they could take out the guards but Skywalker hoped to avoid killing them. He instructed Rendar to open the hatch, then follow him, Chewbacca and Calrissian into the room. Rendar reluctantly agreed, but as Skywalker and Chewbacca emerged and instructed the guards not to move, the sewage-soaked Wookiee slipped and fell, knocking Calrissian over as he followed them through. The mishap gave the guards enough time to draw their weapons and open fire. Skywalker blocked the first shots with his lightsaber and Rendar emerged from the tunnel shooting, killing two of the guards. The two downed Rebels righted themselves and before long all six guards were dead, but not before one had managed to call for help.

The group began to work their way to where Organa was being held, encountering more guards along the way. They eventually ran into Organa, who had managed to escape from her room. Having located the princess, they headed up toward a landing pad where the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO would be waiting with the Millennium Falcon. Upon reaching level twenty, however, they ran into a group of guards led by Guri and Xizor, who was personally leading the search for the intruders. Realizing they were outnumbered, Rendar suggested taking cover in a room off the main corridor. With no other way to escape, Skywalker activated the deadman's switch on a thermal detonator and moved back into the corridor to confront Xizor. Recognizing the device, the Falleen crime lord ordered his troops to cease fire and a standoff developed. Calrissian broke the stalemate by activating the five-minute timer on another detonator and placing it in a nearby garbage chute. As Xizor's guards broke and fled in panic, Rendar and the others took the opportunity to slip away, taking a turbolift to the landing pad on level fifty.

They finally reached the landing pad moments before the Millennium Falcon came into view, approaching in an erratic manner under the control of its inexperienced droid pilots. After a shaky landing, the droids opened the ship's hatch and Rendar's group hurried aboard. Rendar reached the cockpit first and shoved C-3PO out of the pilot's seat before flying the ship to safety. Moments later, the thermal detonator exploded and destroyed Xizor's Palace.

Once safely away from the palace, Rendar signaled Leebo and instructed the droid to bring the Outrider into orbit to rendezvous with the Millennium Falcon. After Leebo arrived, Rendar borrowed a vac suit from the Falcon and made the short trip back to his ship. However, as the two ships prepared to go their own ways, they were attacked by a group of Black Sun vessels. The two freighters were heavily outnumbered but were soon reinforced by Rogue Squadron, who had been waiting at the edge of the Coruscant system following an earlier message from Leebo. However, Xizor's forces still had a numerical advantage and the battle was slowly turning against the Rebels until the arrival of Imperial forces led by Darth Vader on the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Vader had learned of Xizor's attempts to kill Skywalker and dispatched his TIE fighters to intercept Xizor's forces while the Executor turned its weapons on Xizor's skyhook, Falleen's Fist, to where the Dark Prince had fled after the destruction of his palace.

When the skyhook was destroyed, Rendar spotted a way out of the battle through the debris and led the way to safety. However, despite helping to rescue Organa, Rendar still had no intention of formally siding with the Alliance, and was eager to avoid retribution from Black Sun for his part in Xizor's downfall. He saw his opportunity to escape as a large chunk of debris drifted into the path of the Outrider. At the very last moment before colliding, Rendar took the Outrider into hyperspace, leaving those aboard the Millennium Falcon to believe he had been killed on impact.

Later life and career
"Captain, I do not understand. Why do you not want Commander Skywalker and the others to know that we survived and made the jump to hyperspace?''" "''Well, as much fun as that was, I don't see us joining the ranks of that crazy Rebellion. Too dangerous, and too much money to be made elsewhere, my friend. On top of that, someone from Black Sun will take Xizor's place, and when that happens, you can bet your servo-motors they'll send every thug in the galaxy after us. But if everyone thinks we're dead, who's gonna be looking? Besides, it's good to be remembered as a martyr without actually having to be dead, wouldn't you say?"

- Leebo and Dash Rendar

The rumors of his death allowed Rendar to lay low for some time. In the years following his apparent death, there were sporadic sightings of Rendar and the Outrider, none of which were confirmed by the Rebel Alliance's successor, the New Republic. Although some believed he had managed to use the ship's escape pod to flee before its destruction, those closest to Rendar maintained that he would never have abandoned the Outrider.

In 4 ABY, Rendar was on Hurd's Moon in the Mid Rim when Guri traveled to the world to seek the assistance of Massad Thrumble, one of her original designers, in purging her assassin programming. The procedure was a success and Guri later visited a local cantina where Rendar was waiting. Rendar waved the droid over to his table and formally introduced himself before offering to buy her a drink. The two eventually formed a mercenary team, and were recruited by Admiral Ackbar of the New Republic to help place a spy on the Tof fortress world of Saijo, teaming up with New Republic agents Kyle Katarn and Bey for the mission.

Rendar quickly saw the potential to create new Human replica droids based on Guri's technology. The droid agreed to allow herself to be used as a template and served as his partner during the research and development phase. Adapting Ssi-ruuk entechment technology, Rendar and Guri also discovered that it was possible to store a Human's mind in an HRD's computer. They established Onadax Droid Technologies, a company based on Onadax in the Minos Cluster and tested their new technology by creating a Human replica droid of Rendar's own brother, Stanton. Rendar and Guri went their separate ways sometime after this, leaving the replica of Stanton to serve as head of ODT. By the time ODT's Onadax facility was infiltrated by Jedi Knight Jaina Solo during an investigation into the new HRDs in 28 ABY, Rendar was still widely believed to be dead. However, reports of sightings continued throughout the Yuuzhan Vong War, during which Rendar was seen sabotaging the efforts of the Yuuzhan Vong collaborators in the Peace Brigade.

Personality and traits
"Something to prove, I guess. I felt pretty bad after that disaster Luke and I went through. Not something I'm used to, making mistakes. But I figure, you crash your ship, you better climb into the next one you see and get it back in the air. Too much time goes by and you don't, you get afraid to fly. I screwed up, and I'm still not over that, but you can only sit and bubble in your own juices for so long. I work for money, but I figure I owe the Empire a little something. When Chewie called, I decided it was time to pay the Empire back."

- Dash Rendar

Tall and lean, with red hair, green eyes and pale skin, Rendar was considered attractive and was popular with both students and teachers alike during his time at the Imperial Academy. In his later career, he lost the clean-cut looks and well-spoken voice, developing a more chiseled, muscular appearance with the lazy, insolent attitude common among smugglers, and giving those he met the impression of a rugged, streetwise mercenary with a sharp wit. Despite his outward appearance of nonchalance, Rendar was constantly aware of his surroundings and his hand rarely strayed far from his blaster. These traits marked him as a survivor, and he was even prepared to fake his own death to avoid retribution from Black Sun after his involvement in the death of Prince Xizor.

Rendar was a skilled pilot. While studying at the Imperial Academy, he frequently impressed both his fellow cadets and his instructors by executing maneuvers that pushed the ships he flew well beyond their usual limits. After leaving the Academy, it was not long before Rendar discovered that his piloting skills had the potential to serve him well as a smuggler. Never short of confidence, Rendar frequently boasted that he was able to fly any ship and was equally good with a blaster. Having always sought excitement, he was more than willing to try any stunt, no matter how dangerous, to back up his claims. Some believed Rendar's arrogance and reckless attitude were simply to impress his peers; others thought that he was attempting to push himself and discover his own limits. While Rendar focused on his flying skills, he lacked the patience for the less glamorous aspects of smuggling, and preferred to delegate tasks such as conducting repairs and arranging meetings to Leebo. The Outrider advanced systems helped Rendar to stand out among his smuggling rivals. With Rendar at the helm, the Outrider was a deadly opponent for any pilot, saving his life on several occasions and leading him to develop an emotional attachment to the ship. He became so accustomed to success that when his skills appeared to fail him during the attack on the Surposa, he was plunged into a deep depression and blamed himself for the loss of the Bothan pilots.

As a teenager, Rendar longed for independence and chose to train at the Imperial Academy rather than join the family business. This independent streak remained with him throughout his career and, despite his personal grudge against the Empire, he was not willing to trade in his independence to formally join the Rebel Alliance. The loss of his family also made him unwilling to form emotional bonds; he used his arrogant attitude to keep others from getting close to him and felt that he could only rely on himself. He rarely traveled with anybody other than Leebo and the droid was one of few individuals he trusted. Rendar maintained a competitive rivalry with his friends, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, spending many hours attempting to outdo them with tales of his adventures and often trading insults with Calrissian about their respective piloting skills. Upon acquiring the Outrider, Rendar was eager to show it off to Solo and make the other smuggler jealous. The two went on to race their ships, with Solo narrowly coming out on top on at least one occasion.

Rendar was not one to waste his talents fighting for a cause and only took on work if he was well compensated. He always insisted on half of his payment up front and half when the job was completed. As long as he was getting paid, he was trustworthy and loyal, willing and able to protect his cargo. When hired to locate the captive Han Solo, Rendar followed the terms of his employment exactly, leading Lando Calrissian and Leia Organa to the smuggler's location but departing before the fighting began. He did not believe in doing work as a favor and made sure that he never had any debts for others to call on. Likewise, Rendar made sure that nobody ever owed him. However, his mercenary attitude disguised a hidden noble streak. When Rendar felt that he had failed to protect the Bothan pilots, he voluntarily risked his life to rescue Organa from Xizor's Palace, hoping to make amends for his earlier failure.

Equipment
Rendar was usually seen wearing a blue and brown jumpsuit&mdash;typical attire for freighter captains at the time&mdash;along with a flexmetal blast vest with padded pauldrons that provided some protection during lightfights and a pair of brown flight gloves. A comlink on his wrist provided him with a long range shielded single-channel link to Leebo, and he sometimes carried a small comlink on his belt as an emergency back-up. His outfit was completed by a heavy blaster pistol slung low on his hip. Rendar sometimes carried additional equipment and weapons when required but generally preferred to travel light.

LE-BO2D9
"Hey, Leebo, you rust bucket, get your gears meshing and meet me at the following coordinates.''" "My master is not in at the moment. Who is calling, please?" "''Very funny. Never buy a droid programmed by a failed comedian."

- Dash Rendar and Leebo

LE-BO2D9, nicknamed Leebo, was an early Cybot Galactica LE-series repair droid originally owned by the portmaster at Esseles starport. After a freighter lifted off with Leebo still aboard, he became a shipboard mechanic, going through a series of owners, who each updated the droid with new skills. He eventually ended up in service to Kood Gareeda, a Rodian comedian who gave Leebo personality programming and a quirky sense of humor. Leebo managed the comedian during a tour of the Outer Rim Territories before being sold to Rendar, who modified the droid with enhanced repair and piloting skills, and a long range shielded comlink. Leebo became a faithful companion to Rendar, serving as his co-pilot and flying backup for Rendar when the smuggler got into trouble. The droid also took on much of the work Rendar lacked the patience for, such as arranging meetings with contacts, surveying smuggling markets and making repairs to the Outrider.

Outrider
"I owe the Outrider the best. She's brought me home when any other ship would have scattered me across space."

- Dash Rendar

The Outrider was a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2400 light freighter originally intended as a medium-range cargo vessel. Rendar acquired the Outrider while working for "Uncle" Vanya during his early career, and had the ship heavily modified to suit his needs. The weapons systems were augmented with two Dymek double laser cannons, modified for increased range and capable of being controlled remotely from the cockpit. Rendar also had the original engines replaced with three stolen KonGar Ship Works KGDefender ion engines and a Class 0.75 SoroSuub Corporation Griffyn/Y2TG hyperdrive. Additional modifications included improved deflector shields and a sensor stealth system. Most of the modifications were illegal and Rendar broke several laws every time he used the ship. Nevertheless, the Outrider saved Rendar's life on numerous occasions and the smuggler formed an emotional attachment to the vessel.

Outrunner
"That ship's gotten me through some tough scrapes. I gotta return the favor."

- Dash Rendar, on the Outrunner

The Outrunner was purchased by Rendar as a second ship, using the profits from his early career as a freelancer. The vessel was black and so streamlined that it reminded Zak Arranda of a missile about to be fired. The ship could be made ready to fly at short notice and was well armed, with multiple weapon turrets, including a turbolaser that could be extended from a hole in the hull, and forward warhead launchers.

Behind the scenes
"We know [Rendar is] designed to be around while the swashbuckling Han is encased in carbonite, but we don’t want Dash to be a carbonite copy of Mr. Solo. Our suggestion is that rather than thinking of him simply as a mercenary, Dash is more like a swaggery Top Gun-style fighter pilot. A guy with real talent but a bit of a braggart and a blowhard, too. Luke doesn’t like him, not only because of this in-your-face personality but also because of the natural competitiveness between these two pilots."

- Bantam Spectra editor Tom Dupree's pre-manuscript note to Steve Perry

Dash Rendar was developed for the 1996 multimedia project Shadows of the Empire and appeared in its novel, comic and video game incarnations. Rendar's ship, the Outrider, was given an entry in Bill Smith's 1996 reference book, The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels. Released two months before Shadows of the Empire, The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels entry was the first published source to mention Rendar. Though a high profile character, Rendar had only a supporting role in the narrative of the Shadows of the Empire comics and novel. It was in the Shadows of the Empire game for the Nintendo 64 and PC that Rendar was the star as players controlled the mercenary through twelve separate missions following the course of the Shadows storyline.

As part of Shadows of the Empire, composer Joel McNeely wrote a fifty-one-minute orchestral score. The track "Beggar's Canyon Chase," depicting the swoop bike chase through Beggar's Canyon, ends with a brief statement of Rendar's theme as he arrives to rescue Skywalker.

Kenner's Shadows of the Empire toy line, released in 1996, included an action figure of Rendar. The Rendar figure included a blaster pistol and a heavy weapons pack. The Outrider was also released as a toy as part of this line.

Rendar has subsequently made several appearances, including the 1998 comic series Shadows of the Empire: Evolution by Steve Perry, the 1998 novels Rebel Dawn by A. C. Crispin and Galaxy of Fear: The Doomsday Ship by John Whitman, the 1999 LucasArts video game Star Wars: X-wing Alliance, the 2009 Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game expansion The Shadow Syndicate and the 2011 Star Wars Insider 128 short story "And Leebo Makes Three." Rendar has also been mentioned in several reference sources since his original appearance, including detailed entries in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, The Official Star Wars Fact File, The New Essential Guide to Characters and the Databank on StarWars.com.

In the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Rendar's Outrider can be seen taking off from Mos Eisley as Luke Skywalker's landspeeder enters the town. The 2006 Star Wars Hyperspace article Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues by Abel G. Peña and Ryan Kaufman introduced an explanation for Rendar's presence in the town, stating that he had been purchasing weapons and made his sudden departure after hearing that his brother was still alive.

Rendar was voiced by John Cygan in the PC version of Shadows of the Empire and Cygan reprized the role in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns, in which the character is available as a hero in the custom scenario editor. The Shadows of the Empire trading cards, released by Topps in 1996, featured a series of paintings by artists Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. Model Tom Kyte posed in costume as Rendar for photographs that were used as a reference for the Hildebrandts' paintings.

Steve Perry, author of the Shadows of the Empire novel and Shadows of the Empire: Evolution comic series has said that he would like to write a story about Rendar and Han Solo teaming up and is also interested in further exploring Rendar's collaboration with Guri. Perry and Michael Reaves have pitched an idea to Del Rey and Lucasfilm for a story that would include Rendar, but no such project has been announced. Rendar, however, is the protagonist in the Del Rey novel Shadow Games by Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and he does partner up with Han Solo. Whether the book is the end result of Perry's and Reaves' pitch is unknown.

Genesis
"I thought it'd be fun to do someone who could contrast between Han and Lando. Someone very reckless, nasty, tough, slightly running to fat and a bit of a slob who could take insane amounts of punishment and keep going."

- Kilian Plunkett, on his early Rendar sketches

In 1994, Lucasfilm began working on Shadows of the Empire, a project that would cross several different formats and involve multiple licensees, including a Bantam Spectra novel, a Dark Horse Comics comic series and a LucasArts video game. Lucasfilm's Howard Roffman and Lucy Wilson prepared a two-page outline of the basic premise for the project's story, which would be set between Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. This initial outline included the idea of an assassin targeting Luke Skywalker and a bodyguard assigned to protect him. In a meeting between Lucasfilm and their licensees in November 1994 to develop an outline of the plot, Steve Perry proposed the character of Rendar, who it was decided should take on the bodyguard role. The LucasArts representatives liked the new character and soon made the decision to use him as the player character in the video game.

Perry envisioned Rendar as a dashing character who would fill the gap left by Han Solo's imprisonment in carbonite at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. However, as the project moved forward, Dark Horse artist Kilian Plunkett developed some designs of the character that differed from Perry's initial idea. In Plunkett's sketches, Rendar was tough, wild-eyed, unshaven, disheveled, and starting toward overweight. Plunkett wanted to keep the character in the same vein as Solo, but to ensure that they were not too similar in appearance, a concern shared by Bantam editor Tom Dupree. On one of his early sketches, Plunkett noted that Rendar was the "character most likely to have 'mom' tattooed on his arm."

Around the same time, concept artist Mike Butkus developed dozens of preliminary sketches of Rendar, showing variations in armor and clothing but sticking to a more clean cut appearance. Butkuss, who listens to music while he illustrates, explained that Rendar was designed while listening to Elvis Presley and 1960s rock 'n' roll. Butkus's designs were circulated to those working on the project and led to some disagreement over the appearance of the character. LucasArts lead artist and designer Jon Knoles had concerns about Butkus's sketches from a game design perspective, wanting to see his muscles toned down, his clothing less tight and his bushy hair replaced with something less "goofy." Knoles suggested either following Plunkett's ideas of a mean-looking character or making him have the appearance of a determined, angry young warrior. Knoles's own designs experimented with the character further, with variations on armor, helmets, a mustache, and a Vandyke beard.

Lucy Wilson favored a young and heroic appearance for Rendar and Tom Dupree wanted the character to be a Top Gun-style fighter pilot who would have a combination of talent and ego that led to a natural competitiveness with Skywalker. Over four or five months, Butkus and Knoles refined the designs, settling on a final design that was a middle ground between Butkus's clean-cut and Plunkett's rugged sketches. LucasArts produced a sculpture of this final design, which was scanned to provide dimensional information used in producing his computer model.

The Shadows of the Empire game was one of the early Nintendo 64 titles and the new technology presented LucasArts with the opportunity to recreate scenes from the original trilogy in a way that had not previously been possible, specifically the Battle of Hoth, which had first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back. To accommodate this, Rendar's biography was written to incorporate his involvement in the battle, which is depicted in the opening levels of the game.

Steve Perry's original outline for Shadows of the Empire described Rendar escaping the climactic battle over Coruscant moments before Darth Vader's forces destroy Xizor's skyhook. It was later decided that the destruction of the Outrider would make a more dramatic ending for the novel, but this presented a problem for LucasArts, who were concerned about killing off the player character at the end of the game. One possible solution would have been to change the player character to Skywalker, but LucasArts wanted to explore a new character in the game. To accommodate the game, Rendar's death was left ambiguous in the novel and the game includes a final cutscene, shown only when completed on the harder difficulty settings, in which Rendar and Leebo discuss their last-minute escape. Rendar's survival was also revealed in Shadows of the Empire: Evolution and has been mentioned in several reference sources, including The Official Star Wars Fact File 25, The New Essential Guide to Characters, and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Inconsistencies
"So&hellip;depending on who's doing the beholding, Dash is a brunette, blond, redheaded guy standing somewhere around 6 feet, who's well-built/buff/bulging with muscles, weighing in at somewhere between 150 and 250 pounds&hellip; (But look! They’re all wearing the same body armor.)"

- Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

The video game version of Shadows of the Empire differs from the story as told in the novel and comic versions. The game's first section, "The Battle of Hoth," focuses on Rendar's participation in that battle, which takes place before the events of the novel and comic and is only briefly mentioned in the novel. The second section, "In Search of Boba Fett," depicts Rendar's hunt for the bounty hunter after being hired by Lando Calrissian, which is also only mentioned in the novel. This section culminates in a fight between Rendar and Fett, leaving Fett's ship damaged and stuck on Gall. The opening crawl to the third section, "Hunting the Assassins," refers to the failed rescue attempt by the Rebels as shown in the novel and comic, suggesting that Rendar's own encounter with Fett occurs before the Rebels arrive in the system and he leads them to the bounty hunter. In the novel, Rendar agrees to carry the Bothan boarding party on their mission to board the Suprosa and retrieve the supercomputer containing the Death Star II plans, but the game features a mission in which Rendar personally boards the vessel and retrieves the computer.

The major differences between the game and other versions come in the fourth section, "Lair of the Dark Prince." In the novel and comic, Rendar accompanies Skywalker, Calrissian, and Chewbacca into Xizor's Palace, locating Organa and escaping moments before the palace is destroyed by a thermal detonator thrown down a garbage chute by Calrissian. In the game, however, Skywalker instructs Rendar to find a way to cover their escape while the others search for Organa. Rendar makes his own way through the sewers leading to the palace, and places pulse bombs on the service panels for the elevator connecting the palace to Xizor's skyhook, destroying the palace and cutting off the skyhook. After leaving Coruscant, the novel and comic show Rendar helping to fight Black Sun's fighters until the Imperial forces under Darth Vader destroy Xizor's skyhook, allowing them to escape. In the game, Rendar engages the skyhook in the Outrider, destroying its turbolasers, before flying inside and taking out the power core. Instead of being struck by debris while escaping, in the game, Rendar appears to be killed when he fails to escape the skyhook in time before the power core is destroyed. According to Jon Knoles, the decision to have Rendar attack the Skyhook was made "to prove he's the greatest gung-ho dude in the galaxy." Where the differing versions cannot be reconciled, this article follows the events as depicted in the novel and comic.

Rendar's physique varies in different sources, between his svelte depiction in Michael Sutfin's New Essential Guide to Characters illustration and the muscular Rendar as shown in the Hildebrandts' paintings. Likewise, though his hair is generally red in color and is described as such in sources including the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook and the New Essential Guide to Characters, the Shadows of the Empire and Shadows of the Empire: Evolution comics depict him with dark brown hair. These visual discrepancies were discussed by Shadow Games author Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff in her blog.

The description of how Rendar came to acquire Leebo given in Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues, differs from the earlier version given in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook. Whereas the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook states that Rendar was given Leebo in exchange for transporting the droid's master to Byblos, Underworld Appendix says that Rendar took Leebo as his co-pilot after the droid's master, his previous co-pilot, was killed. "And Leebo Makes Three" expands on these events, with Gareeda selling the droid to Rendar for passage of Rodia, although he never actually boards the Outrider, and the introduction of Rendar's existing co-pilot, Eaden Vrill. The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 1 also contradicts the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, stating that Rendar personally liberated the Outrider KGDefender engines from the Imperial Academy on Corulag. The Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook had previously stated that the engines were acquired from Corulag by Bolabo Hujaan's agents and sold to Rendar by Hujaan.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * Shadow Games
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Galaxy of Fear: The Doomsday Ship
 * Shadows of the Empire video game
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire junior novelization
 * Shadows of the Empire Galoob Micro-Machines Mini-Comic
 * Shadows of the Empire 2
 * Shadows of the Empire Kenner Special, Part 2
 * Shadows of the Empire AMT/ERTL Model Kit Mini-Comic
 * Shadows of the Empire 3
 * Shadows of the Empire 5
 * Shadows of the Empire 6
 * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution 5
 * Shadows of the Empire 3
 * Shadows of the Empire 5
 * Shadows of the Empire 6
 * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution 5
 * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution 5