Death Star II survivors

when Luke is loading dead Vader into a Lambda, in the background we see scrambling Imps. Am I just misreading the sit, or are they trying to do the same thing as Luke--evac the doomed station? Luke is slowed down by Vader's body, and his touching death sequence; the Imps: NOT so. Thus, if Luke had time to escape, assumedly so did many Imps (but not Jerjerrod, who the novel indicated was to the last second trying to blow up Endor's moon).

Does the novel or EU back up my interpretation? Did these Imperials join the fleet (Lambdas having hyperdrive) or were they captured by the Rebels?

 

We know some, like Grand Admiral Teshik, escaped and rejoined the fleet battle.

 

Those specific Imperials haven't been addressed, I don't believe. However, we do know that Grand Admirals Teshik, Takel, and Makati were able to escape, and Teshik immediately joined the fleet and fought the Rebels until captured, while Takel and Makati got away. I would imagine many other Imperials had a similar opportunity.

 

Many got off the Station.

Moreover, I'd buy that a few TIE Pilots other then Vader probably survived Death Star I as well. Though they likely were stranded or captured...having no fleet to escape to and no hyperdrive of their own.

 

We know there's only 2 squadrons.

So it was Vader and the marooned fighter pilot on Yavin from YJK.

 

Totally brainfarted on that one.

Charles for the save!

 

Meh, so since when did they decide that there would only be six TIE Fighters to take off at Yavin and that the one scene showing them diving in on the Rebels would actually comprise the entire Imperial starfighter? What the heck were the Rebels doing and why weren't they helping to cover the trench run if they weren't preoccupied with TIEs? Unless somehow this puny force was able to destroy some 20 out of 30 Rebel ships?

 

The only fighters launched from the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin were those under Vader's personal command. Tarkin refused to launch the rest because he believed the station was invincible. According to a few video games, the Death Star also had a defense fleet that launched fighters.

Another Imperial survivor of the Battle of Yavin was then-Colonel Veers, though I haven't been able to confirm whether or not he was actually on the Death Star or merely travelling to it when the battle began. A third survivor was the TIE fighter pilot seen in "The Day After the Death Star".

TC

 

I'd imagine that for a lot of them it went like this.

"Hey, that snot nosed punk that blew the first Death Star and has been giving the Empire fits for years is dragging an apparently dying Darth Vader to a shuttle. The Emperor is gone. I'm guessing if he were still alive He wouldn't be letting his second in command get dragged away like an animal carcass. Let's get on a shuttle and run as far away as possible."

After all, if you saw that the Rebels had someone on their side that seemed to have mortally wounded Darth Vader I'm guessing you don't want to be anywhere near civilization in case he comes looking to chat you up.

Someone Mentioned that Jerrjerod was on until the final moments trying to blow up the Endor Moon. What purpose would that possibly serve? A. The Rebel Contingent on the moon was small. B. The Death Star was vulnerable unless the shield generator miraculously went back online. C. There was a great deal of Imperial manpower and equipment down on that moon.

If he thought he was going down in a blaze of glory wouldn't targeting Home One class ships been the better option?

 

Given the Rebel Fleet's position next to the Moon, he probably thought that the explosion would take the fleet with it.

 

When would Palp have ordered him to fire on endor. was his fall like in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. he got bored and pulled out his com? and there was a lot more than 6 ties. that isn't even worth arguing

 

Wasn't the TDATDS pilot retconned into being Qorl at some point? Or maybe I dreamed that...

 

Uh, he gave the order long before he was tossed down the pit, before the duel even started. From the RotJ novelization:

The Emperor hissed. "Your fleet is lost---and your friends on the Endor Moon will not survive..." He pushed a comlink button on the arm of his throne and spoke into it with relish. "Commander Jerjerrod, should the Rebels manage to blow up the shield generator, you will turn this battle station onto the Endor moon and destroy it."

"Yes, Your Highness," came the voice over the receiver, "but we have several battalions stationed on---"

"You will destroy it!" the Emperor's whisper was more final than any scream.

 

I love that book...

 

Awesome. Never read the Novelizations of any of the OT. Once I heard that there were tidbits like "Owen Lars is Obi-Wan's brother" in the book I figured it wasn't worth reading. Looks like I was wrong.

 

The RotJ novel has a couple of of cool parts not in the film. For example...

"Tell me, young Skywalker," the Emperor said when he saw Luke's first struggle had taken its course. "Who has been involved in your training until now?" The smile was thin, openmouthed, hollow.

Luke was silent. He would reveal nothing.

"Oh, I know it was Obi-Wan Kenobi at first," the wicked ruler continued, rubbing his fingers together as if trying to remember. Then pausing, his lips creased into a sneer. "Of course, we are familiar with the talent Obi-Wan Kenobi had, when it came to training Jedi." He nodded politely in Vader's direction, indicating Obi-Wan's previous star pupil. Vader stood without responding, without moving.

Luke tensed with fury at the Emperor's defamation of Ben---though, of course, to the Emperor it was praise. And he bridled even more, knowing the Emperor was so nearly right. He tried to bring his anger under control, though, for it seemed to please the malevolent dictator greatly.

Palpatine noted the emotions on Luke's face and chuckled. "So, in your early training you have followed your father's path, it would seem. But alas, Obi-Wan is now dead, I believe; his elder student, here, saw to that---" again, he made a hand motion toward Vader. "So tell me, young Skywalker---who continued your training?"

That smile, again, like a knife. Luke held silent, struggling to regain his composure.

The Emperor tapped his fingers on the arm of the throne, recalling. "There was one called... Yoda. An aged Master Jed... Ah, I see by your countenance I have hit a chord, a resonant chord indeed. Yoda, then."

Luke flashed with anger at himself, now, to have revealed so much, unwillingly, unwittingly. Anger and self-doubt. He strove to calm himself---to see all, to show nothing; only to be.

"This Yoda," the Emperor mused. "Lives he still?"

Luke focused on the emptiness of space beyond the window behind the Emperor's chair. The deep void, where nothing was. Nothing. He filled his mind with this black nothing. Opaque, save for the occasional flickering of starlight that flickered through the ether.

"Ah," cried Emperor Palpatine. "He lives not. Very good, young Skywalker, you almost hid this from me. But you could not. And you can not. Your deepest flickerings are to me apparent. Your nakedest soul. That is my first lesson to you." He beamed.

I love the bit where Palpy mocks Yoda's speech pattern when asking about him. Also, the Emperor's power over Luke is so much more evident in the novel. He's playing with the boy, toying with his mind and emotions. Luke really has to struggle to keep away from the Dark Side.

 

Hmm, I wonder if Veers was coming in for final approach to the Death Star, but decided to hang back due to the battle and/or to get a nice view of a planet exploding. It's not like you get to see THAT every day.

As for the pilot from "The Day After the Death Star," hasn't it long been suspected that he and Qorl are one and the same?

 

"I'm just relieved you were able to find me. After my narrow escape from the Death Star, I assumed my luck had finally run out."

That's from Force Commander. "Narrow escape from" sounds to me like he was aboard it.

 

Thanks, Havac.

>Wasn't the TDATDS pilot retconned into being Qorl at some point? Or maybe I dreamed that...<

No; just a fan theory. I had heard of such a retcon being made in an unpublished sourcebook, but obviously that's difficult to confirm and irrelevant since it wouldn't be canon anyway.

The problem with the retcon is that Qorl describes his fighter crash-landing during the battle, resulting in the exact state the Solo kids find it in over twenty years later. He then climbs from the wreckage and witnesses the Death Star exploding.

In the Marvel comic, the TIE fighter had set down on a moon to make repairs after/during the battle and so is flyable the day after the battle. Following a dogfight in space both the damaged fighter and Luke's X-Wing crash land, followed by a hand-to-hand fight in which Luke knocks the pilot out but stops short of killing him. Luke is then picked up by the other Rebels.

The only way to make all this work is to assume that Qorl has completely misremembered the sequence of events following the Battle of Yavin, forgotten that he had repaired his fighter instead of wrecking it, that the wrecked state the fighter was found in YJK was the result of a skirmish after the battle and not the battle itself, either never bothered to mention or forgot his encounter with the Rebel pilot, and that he either quickly regained consiousness and ran away or was abandoned in the jungle by the Rebel rescue party.

It could be done, I suppose, but it creates more problems then it solves. We know that there were more than two fighters over the Death Star; there's no reason to bend over backwards to make both pilots the same man.

TC

 

you are all forgetting Veers was not the ONLY DS1 survivor....

forget not the DIANOGA! I kid you not. Acc to WEG, the dianoga lived to fight another day.

And now that we have seen the final ROTS clash betw Palpatine and Vader, his musings on "one called Yoda" and [worrying over?] his death or lack thereof can be retconned with such JUICY significance.

 

I don't understand.

 

In that case I do understand.