Princess Leia Organa learns that the monarch of Serphidi, King S'Shah, is entering into talks with the Galactic Empire to establish an Imperial base on their planet. She sends Luke Skywalker, Cinda Tarheel and Berl to Serphidi on an information-gathering expedition.
As the Rebel pilots reach the Belial system, a squad of Imperial TIE fighters come out of Serphidi's shadow and attacks them. One of the fighters damages Captain Tarheel's s-foil forcing her to crash land on a mountain butte on the planet's surface. Skywalker and Berl follow her down to make sure that she is safe.
After confirming that Tarheel is still alive, the Rebels are shocked to discover several Serps advancing on their position riding atop of large, lizard-mounts. One of them fires a blast from an energy-lance, killing Berl. Captain Tarheel is stunned and taken prisoner. The Serps bring her back to the castle of King S'Shah.
Luke tries to track their movements, but is distracted when he finds a carnivorous plant monster attacking an aging Serp named Elglih. He saves Elglih and takes him to his home in Harmony Glade. Luke learns that Elglih is loyal to the Rebel Alliance and wants to see S'Shah dethroned. The only way to legally unseat S'Shah however is by participating in an event known as a Doom-Joust. Elglih volunteers to partake in the deadly war-games and names Luke as his squire. Luke is offended at the suggestion, but acquiesces.
On the day that the Doom-Joust is scheduled to commence, Elglih finally realizes that he is too infirm to possibly beat the stronger King S'Shah. Luke volunteers to fight in Elglih's place and openly challenges S’Shah. During the competition, Luke succeeds in dismounting the monarch from his lizard-steed. S'Shah however, withdraws a weapon known as a micro-jolt and prepares to fire it at Skywalker while his back is turned. Elglih warns Luke of the danger, and the young Jedi spins around firing his energy lance killing S'Shah.
Elglih becomes the new monarch of the Serp people and pledges to keep Imperial influences away from Serphidi. Captain Tarheel is released from the castle dungeons and the two pilots return to the Rebel base on Arbra.
Star Wars #65: Golrath Never Forgets
Luke Skywalker is placed on trial for the negligent death of Lieutenant Shira Brie. A small judges panel, presided over by Princess Leia, General Rieekan and General Veertag examine the evidence of the past several days and conclude that Skywalker is innocent of all charges. He is reinstated into the fleet at the rank of commander once again.
Later, a pilot named Gemmer complains about the photoreceptive imagery from a souvenir piece of rock from the old Golrath base keeping him awake at night. Captain Thorben has Gemmer turn the piece over to the Rebel leaders who quickly examine it. They discover that the natural mineral deposits found on the volcanic world record light images of their surroundings and project them as holograms once the mineral cools. They know that the Imperials have recently taken control of Golrath, and are scared that this geological peculiarity might yield the location of their current base at Arbra. Leia decides to personally lead an expedition to Golrath to eradicate any trace elements that might aid the Galactic Empire in their search for the fleet.
Golrath Station is currently presided over by the recently demoted Lieutenant Mils Giel. He soon learns about the bedrock's astounding properties when two stormtroopers report seeing images of a Rebel training exercise. Giel immediately sends a communiqué to Darth Vader and orders a squad of TIE fighters to defend the base should the Rebels return.
Two flight groups of X-wing and BTL Y-wing starfighters converge on Golrath. They engage with a squadron of Imperial TIE fighters and a vicious battle takes place. Princess Leia maneuvers her Y-wing through the morass of fighters and dives down into the clouds above Golrath. She flies down towards the old base using a parabelt rocket harness.
Leia sneaks into the factory compound and heads directly towards the reactor core. Her intent is to overload the core causing the base to explode. Giel finds her and opens fire, causing Leia to seek cover behind some packing crates. Giel seals off all of the exits and primes the overload switches himself. As valuable a prize as this base may be to the Empire, the chance of killing the leader of the Rebel Alliance is of even greater value – even at the cost of his own life. Leia manages to distract Giel by activating her rocket harness and finds a way to escape from the reactor room. He chases her outside, but is unable to stop her. She radios Lando Calrissian in a Y-wing who meets her at a rendezvous point.
Giel is enraged at his failure. Out of spite, he fires off a shot from his blaster at a passing X-wing fighter before boarding his own Imperial troop transport. Giel evacuates the base just before it explodes. As luck would have it, the ship he fired upon belongs to Luke Skywalker and the small blaster shot causes enough damage to Luke's engines that he is unable to regroup with the fleet. As the rest of the ships enter hyperspace, Luke is left behind with a fresh squad of TIE fighters bearing down on him.
Star Wars #66: The Water Bandits
Luke Skywalker, having sustained damage to his X-wing fighter is forced to land on the backwater world of Beheboth. He wanders into a moisture farm community in the nearby district of Garrotine. While bartering for food at a local cantina, Luke becomes embroiled in a scuffle with some farmers who mistake him for a brigand. A woman named Darial Anglethorn enters and intercepts them. She takes Luke aside and explains that roving bands of brigands have been stealing their precious stores of water. Luke agrees to help Darial out and she hires him as a bodyguard. She drives Luke out to her moisture farm, which is protected by a gigantic fortified wall.
That night, all of the farmers working at Darial’s installation mysteriously pass out, including Luke. When they awaken, they discover that all of their moisture vaporators are destroyed and Darial is missing. Luke promises to investigate her disappearance and travels across the arid deserts and mountain ranges.
He eventually comes upon the brigand stronghold, operated by a pirate named Gideon Longspar. Longspar’s men get the drop on Luke and bring him into the throne room. Gideon reveals that he has captured Darial and has stolen all of the water supplies from her farm. He has in his possession an alien entity known as Tirrith. The Tirrith entity exists as sentient mystical energy and comprises a hive mind. Longspar has captured half of the entity and threatens to destroy it, unless the remaining half agrees to aid him. The Tirrith has been infecting the moisture vaporators late at night transforming the ambient air moisture into a toxic gas. This is how Gideon has been able to incapacitate people, allowing his brigands to steal the water.
Luke manages to free Darial and destroy the containment pod holding the captured Tirrith particles. The Tirrith then aid him in distracting the guards allowing Luke and Darial the ability to leave the stronghold.
Appreciative for their aid, the Tirrith enter the atmosphere and charge the clouds with electrostatic energy, creating a greatly needed rainfall on Beheboth.
Star Wars #67: The Darker
As the Rebel leaders discuss a plan to rescue the captured Han Solo; C-3PO, Chewbacca, Plif, and several other Hoojibs venture into the depths of some unexplored tunnels near the hidden Rebel base on Arbra. They are in search of R2-D2 who had wandered off to investigate a faint cry for help, but the cry was a ruse to lure the droid to the home of the Darker. The Darker, a creature made up of dark energies of the ancient civilization of Arbrans, was trapped in an abandoned underground city by a large force field created by the Arbrans. As Threepio and Chewbacca enter the city, they see Artoo has been captured by the dark creature who intends to use the droid's components to develop a mechanism to disable the force field which holds him captive. Chewbacca tries to stop him, but the Darker uses his ability to manipulate emotions to turn the Wookiee against the protocol droid. Threepio is eventually able to free Chewbacca from his possession, and also free R2-D2 from his bonds. He then instructs Chewbacca to capture and hurl the Darker into the force screen realizing this would destroy the creature. Not only is the Darker killed when Chewbacca throws him into the screen, but the cave surrounding the city begins to collapse. The group evacuates the city into a connecting tunnel before it is completely turned to rubble.
Star Wars #68: The Search Begins
The Rebels continue their search for Han Solo, having just recently learned that Boba Fett was in league with another bounty hunter during the search for the Millennium Falcon. Having narrowed the search down to three different bounty hunters, the Rebels split up into three teams: Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 in his X-wing, and Princess Leia Organa and C-3PO in a Y-wing. Of the three bounty hunters on their list, the princess is assigned to hunt down Dengar, last seen on the planet Mandalore. Landing just outside the capital city of Kedalbe, Leia and C-3PO make their way on foot before encountering a caravan of individuals. To their surprise, the procession is a group of slavers, herding a group of enslaved Mandalorians. Before Leia and C-3PO can sneak away, the caravan comes under attack by a group of Mandalorian soldiers led by what looks to be, Boba Fett. During the battle, Leia ends up saving "Fett" from a slaver's attack, and is shocked to find herself fighting by the Mandalorian's side. Following the end of the battle, the Mandalorian leader introduces himself to Leia. He is not actually Boba Fett, but another Mandalorian named Fenn Shysa. Shysa brings Leia and C-3PO back to his base and explains to her how he has spent the past few years trying to free his people from the Galactic Empire's influence in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. Shysa then tells Leia of his role in the Clone Wars, claiming that he fought for the Empire, was led into battle by Boba Fett, and even became acquainted with Leia during briefing missions. Shysa finishes his tale by telling Leia that of all the Mandalorian Protectors, only three survived, his commander, his childhood friend, Tobbi Dala, and himself.
At the end of his story, Leia asks Shysa if he had seen Dengar anywhere on the planet. Shysa leads the princess to a suspended cage, deep within the Mandalorian base, but refuses to turn the bounty hunter over to her. Shysa's friend, Dala had unfortunately been captured a few days before Leia's arrival, and the Mandalorian had made a deal with the Empire, planning to exchange the bounty hunter for his imprisoned friend. As Shysa leads Leia away from Dengar's prison, the bounty hunter calls out to her, promising that he will tell her everything he knows if she will only free him from his cell. Leia decides to take the hunter up on his offer, and when night falls on the camp, she distracts Shysa, while C-3PO sneaks over to Dengar's suspended cell and cuts him free. Before Shysa can figure out what is happening, Leia tricks Shysa into kissing her, using the action to position him next to a large tree. With Shysa off balance, the princess slams his head into the tree, knocking him unconscious. With the Mandalorian leader incapacitated, and Dengar cut loose, Leia and C-3PO make their way back to their ship with their captive, planning to bring him back to the Alliance base and interrogate him there. However, unknown to the princess, when she had freed him from his cell, Dengar had used the time to send a signal to the Empire via a transmitter on his armor. Leia and C-3PO are ambushed by an All Terrain Advance Raider and a group of stormtroopers, leaving C-3PO to claim that the two Rebels are most certainly doomed this time.
Star Wars #69: Death in the City of Bone
Continuing where the last issue left off, Leia Organa and C-3PO have just been captured by the Galactic Empire, due to the duplicity of the bounty hunter, Dengar. Leia and C-3PO are escorted to the City of Bone in a transport barge where they meet with the Imperial Commander, the Suprema, who assures them that he will soon crush the resistance on Mandalore and kill Fenn Shysa. As Dengar communicates with the Suprema about tracking down Shysa, Princess Leia and C-3PO are led away by stormtroopers. However, one of the stormtroopers is in fact Fenn Shysa in disguise, and he frees the two Rebels. Shysa explains that after Organa had knocked him unconscious, he had awoken to find the princess being captured by the Imperials. Discovering a perfect way to infiltrate the base, Shysa had knocked out one of the perimeter guards and took his place. Shysa tells the princess that he will help her recapture Dengar if she will help him free his friend, Tobbi Dala, from his cell in the City of Bone. After Leia agrees, the group make their way to Dala's cell and mount a rescue. With the two Mandalorian friends reunited, the group decides to mount an attack on the fortress.
Shysa shoots a flare out the window of the city, triggering an assault by his forces. In the commotion that follows, Dala commandeers an airspeeder, and the group make their way back to the Suprema's headquarters. As a shoot-out ensues with the Imperial forces, Organa and Dala destroy the control box powering the energy links of the Mandalorian slaves. Free of their restraints, the Mandalorians rise up against their captors, causing a riot to break out in the city. The rebels use the distraction to enter the Suprema's headquarters, but find the Imperial leader waiting for them. The alien shoots Dala in the chest, mortally wounding him, but the rest of the Rebels are able to stop him from doing any further damage. Dala is near death, but he promises his old friend that he'll open the doors of the city, letting the Mandalorian slaves escape to join up with Shysa's forces who are arrayed outside. True to his word, Dala opens the doors, and the Mandalorians are allowed to escape. As Princess Leia and Shysa escape in their airspeeder, Dala closes the doors, preventing the pursuing Shrike Squadron from pursuing them. The squadron smash headlong into the sides of the city, creating a chain reaction of exploding fuel and ammunition, incinerating the inside of the city and killing both the Suprema and Tobbi Dala. Back at the Mandalorian camp, Shysa forces Dengar to talk by threatening to kill him. Dengar claims that he was not the one working with Fett, but that he overheard someone telling Fett about a hideout in the near the Anga system. Although the mission to find Fett had been a wild goose chase, Leia takes solace in the fact that the Empire's presence on Mandalore has been crippled.
Meanwhile, on the Wheel, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are pursuing Bossk, believing that he might be the bounty hunter who had worked with Fett during the search for the Millennium Falcon. The duo have found a patron, Vorol, who knows where Bossk is, and Chewbacca threatens him until he gives up the information. After hearing the location, Calrissian is shocked. "Aw, no. No! Not…there!" he proclaims.
