A question of Continuity: Who stole the Death Star Plans Bria Tharen or Kyle Katarn

Okay this has been bothering me for a while and that is the conflicting reports of who stole the plans for the original death star. It was assumed that Kyle stole them in Dark forces but then in Rebel Dawn Bria steals the same plans. So who stole the Plans?

 

acording to one of the tales books garm bel iblis stole them as well.

 

I didn't take 'em...

 

Yes, many people supposedly stole the plans. I don't think it will ever be settled. But I just say it was Katarn.

 

One common misperception about the EU is that a lot of authors each got their pet characters to steal the Death Star plans. Bria Tharen, Garm Bel Ilbrus and Hal Horn, and Kyle Katarn are all accused of stealing the plans. However, it is Kyle Katarn that is the guilty party here.

In Tales from the New Republic Garm Bel Ilbrus and Hal Horn come across information that indicates that the Empire is building a super-weapon. What they discover is the information that the Death Star exists, NOT the plans themselves.

Kyle Katarn is the one who steals the Death Star plan. This actually happens in the first level of Dark Forces, and at the end of his first graphic novel. He transmits the plans on to the next rebel cell. A circuitous route is used to get the plans to Princess Leia, to try to keep suspicion away from her (she?s currently the Rebellions highest place operative, being an Imperial Senator).

And so Bria Tharen?s cell is used to transmit the plans. She made it to the world of Toprawa, where her cell seized control of an Imperial comm center and held it while the techs transmitted the stolen plans to a Rebel courier ship. Even Bria herself didn?t know that Leia was in command aboard that ship. She was simply passed the plans, and was assigned to pass them on to the next person.


Here?s how it breaks down:

+/- 1 year before ANH: Garm Bel Ilbrus discovers the existence of the Death Star (TFTNR)
+/- 2 weeks before ANH: Kyle Katarn steals the Death Star plans and transmits them to Bria Tharen?s cell (DF)
+/- 1 week before ANH: Bria Tharen transmits the plans to Princess Leia (RD)
ANH: Leia arrives at Tatooine, and the epic begins? (ANH)

 

There's another theory saying that Kyle stole one half of the plans, and Bria the other half. (Hum... Actually, I wonder if it's in the EC... I think it was, but I can't check now.)

 

"There's another theory saying that Kyle stole one half of the plans, and Bria the other half. (Hum... Actually, I wonder if it's in the EC... I think it was, but I can't check now.) "

That's not a theory.That's what happened.It's mentioned in one of the Dark Forces novels.Bria's group got one half of the plans and Kyle got another.

 

You guys forgot the oldest character continuity screw-up in the book: 15-year old Havet Storm, who ALSO stole some Death Star plans in the English books The Lost Jedi and Rebel Dawn.

 

In all actuality, these british stories fit in pretty well (the summaries are coming, bubba! Swear!)

They tie into the radio drama perfectly (the dialogue crosses over), and they acknowledge that other rebels are on toprawa as well (these rebels are shown in Rebel Dawn). It fits pretty well, and gives a good explanation for why Boba Fett knew Bria died on Toprawa before anyone else knew (also in Rebel Dawn)...he was on planet as well.

 

They all did.

The plans were taken by people who didn't know what the other groups were doing. They were taken from different locations.

 

And when the Rebels tried to kill Tarkin in the X-wing video game they captured and freed his personal slave, Ackbar. Ackbar also informed the Rebels about the Death Star and what he knew was going on with it. Ackbar knew more about it than Tarkin thought. They were enrroute to it when Tarkin's shuttle was attacked by Rebel Y-wings. And Ackbar listened in on the planing session for the Death Star in "A Death Star is Born" from the Tales comic.

 

From The Essential Chronology, pages 46 and 47:

The rebel Alliance learned of the Death Star project through an informant on Ralltiir; the information was later confirmed by the Empire's own Lord Tion. Upon the station's completion, but before it could be tested, an assassination attempt nearly took Tarkin's life. He avoided death, but his Mon Calamarian slave Ackbar did escape and soon joined the Rebels.

Knowing that the Alliance's only chance lay in obtaining a copy of the station's blueprints and analyzing them for vulnerabilities, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma set up multiple plans for the capture operation. Toprawan rebels, in a raid on a space convoy, stole most of the technical information before it could be transferred to the Imperial Information Center. On Danuta, an untested Alliance agent and former stormtrooper officer named Kyle Katarn broke into an Imperial facility and made off with another set of plans. When combined, the two readouts formed a complete schematic of the Death Star from pole to pole.

But Imperial Intelligence learn of the leak. Star Destroyers blockaded the Toprawa system while stormtroopers moved in to crush the Rebels and recover the plans. The Alliance's only hope was a risky in-system data transmission. Princess Leia Organa, adopted daughter of Bail Organa, arrived in the Toprawa system under cover of diplomatic immunity. Her consular ship Tantive IV intercepted the Death Star plans and vanished into hyperspace. Tragically, the Rebels on Toprawa -- led by Commander Bria Tharen and Red Hand Squadron -- were all killed.

There you have a view of who all stole the plans. Though we can probably add even more folks to that list. However, the question should also be who designed and created the Death Star. Among those credited with this feat are Rath Sienar, Umak Leth, Bevel Lemelisk, and to some extent, even Grand Moff Tarkin. There are undoubtedly just as many involved with the creation of the Death Star as there were with the capture of the plans to the deadly space station.

 

The Death Star plans are a rather convoluted situation, and I think that most of us here don't have the time or resources to go into it...especially when we already have so many times before. Needless to say, it all fits pretty well.

Mavrick, do you own Jedi Dawn? I've always wanted that book to see how well it ties into the radio drama and Rebel Dawn with Boba Fett's whereabouts and information on Bria's death.

 

Technically, the first one to do so was Tarkin.

Tarkin "stole" the "Death Star Plans" from Sienar.

 

The story Birth of a Death Star from the Star Wars tales number four ties in with what Wedge 88 said, it shows Ackbar listening in on the conversation about the Death Star.

 

Excerpted from "Dark Forces -- Soldier for the Empire" (audio drama):

MON MOTHMA: Yes, but if the whole thing were planned? The head could be faked. What if his father is alive, held prisoner against Kyle?s actions? What if the whole thing is part of a complex plan to place a spy in our ranks? The Empire is capable of that and much more. I want you to follow Katarn, watch his every move, and kill him if he turns on us. Can you do it?

JAN: If I have to. But what then?

MON MOTHMA: We have a backup. Our forces on Toprawa may have a shot at the Death Star plans as well. The problem is that those plans don?t show engineering schematics. We need both sets to ensure success.

JAN: You could send someone else. Like me.

MON MOTHMA: Katarn was one of them. He knows how they think. Besides, the Emperor is notorious for hating women almost as much as he hates aliens. A man stands a better chance of getting into what may be an all-male facility.

JAN: And....and Kyle is expendable.

MON MOTHMA: Yes, Jan. Kyle is expendable. We all are.

 

Heehee, thanks Mavrick.

So...the Emperor was a woman hater too...

 

They all stole the plans! They went in one after the other and stole plan after plan after plan.

Stealing death star plans was a big sport in those days. Rebels dared each other to steal the plans all the time. Someone would steal them, put them back, someone else would steal them again... it's all quite ordinary.

Every monkey-lizard and his uncle had stolen the plans before ANH.

 

The Alliance conducted several attempts to steal the plans, in case one or more failed. Fortunately, many were successful, so there is naturally a lot of confusion on the subject.

 

Yep, I do indeed have both Lost Jedi books. When I do the sumaries, I'll send them your way too, Sturm.

 

so how does one do summeries on a multiple choice adventure? Who decides which was the correct path? always wondered how that works?

 

I simply chose the path that made the most sense. Mostly, one can't advance in the story unless they choose the right path. If you screw up something, it usually comes back to haunt you, and ends the game for you.

More or less, there's basically one path.

 

Ok, that's cool, sounds quite linear. Glad they kept it that straight forward, made it quite easy to make the most sense out of it, it sounds like, .

Does it work that way for all the other choose your adventures, like troy denning's or star wars missions books?

I know LFL's policy for the video games is always the most positive path, is the outcome.

 

It's more like Denning's books than the Missions. Basically, the most positive path wins out.

 

Correct.


I heard Havet Storm had a robotic pet dog. It looks like the Guardian-series guard droids that also look like dogs that we saw in the SWAJ and Essential Guide to Droids.