Escape from Cloud City

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Escape from Cloud City

TheEscape from Cloud City, also remembered as askirmish on Cloud City, took place during theGalactic Civil War. As part of a plot to captureLuke Skywalker,Darth Vader led theImperial Military toCloud City, atibanna gasmine in the atmosphere ofBespin. TheDark Lord of the Sith laid a trap for Skywalker anddueled the fledglingJedi in an attempt to capture him. At the same time, members of theRebel Alliance fought to rescueHan Solo from thebounty hunterBoba Fett, who was working for theHutt Clan, and escape from Cloud City. They were unable to rescue Solo, who had been frozen incarbonite as part of Vader's plot, but they were able to fight their way paststormtroopers to escape from the city aboard theMillennium Falcon. The Rebels, along with the city'sBaron Administrator,Lando Calrissian, briefly returned in order to rescue Skywalker, who was injured in his duel with the Dark Lord, before evading theImperial Navy and making the jump tohyperspace to rejoin theAlliance Fleet.^[1]

Prelude[]

Capture[]

Hoping to turnLuke Skywalker to thedark side,Darth Vader sent part of theImperial Navy toCloud City, after it was discovered by thebounty hunterBoba Fett to be their destination, in order to capture Luke's friendsHan Solo,Leia Organa andChewbacca and use them as bait to lure Skywalker out of hiding and turn him. Having landed just before theMillennium Falcon, Vader made a deal with the city'sBaron Administrator,Lando Calrissian, to capture Skywalker's friends in exchange for his city's autonomy from the Empire.^[1]

When theMillennium Falcon eventually arrived at Cloud City, its crew was warmly welcomed by Calrissian, who gave them rooms to stay in and arranged for their ship to be repaired. Unbeknownst to him, however, theFalcon'shyperdrive was secretly deactivated by a team of Imperial technicians in the event of their escape. On the way to their apartment,C-3PO was separated from the group after being distracted by anotherprotocol droid, finding and being shot by astormtrooper, dismembering him. C-3PO's parts were later sent to the garbage incinerator of Cloud City, but they were found by Chewbacca before they were destroyed. On their last day, Calrissian invited them to dinner, but it turned out to be a trap set by Darth Vader. Solo, upon seeing Vader, tried to shoot the Sith Lord, only for Vader to block the shots with one gauntleted hand, andpull thesmuggler'sblaster away from him with the other. Stormtroopers surrounded the rebels, ensuring that they could not escape.^[1]

While Vader decided totorture Solo in order to draw Skywalker's attention, Calrissian began to feel uneasy as Vader altered the agreement. When he protested the idea of keeping Organa and Chewbacca in the city as prisoners, and giving Solo to Fett, Vader reminded him that disobedience would result in the end of his colony's freedom. Now seen as a traitor to his friends, Calrissian was forced to comply with Vader. Vader's trap did, as planned, eventually reach Luke as avision, and he rushed off to save his friends, despite objection from bothYoda andBen Kenobi.^[1]

Freezing Solo[]

Vader had planned to put Skywalker incarbonite, in order to be delivered tothe Emperor personally. Hoping to avoid his son's death, Vader chose Solo as a test subject for the modifiedfreezing chamber. Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and C-3PO (partially reassembled by Chewbacca in prison) were brought to thecarbon-freezing facility, where Solo learned of his fate. Despite Chewbacca's attempt to set him free, Solo insisted that there would beanother time to rescue him. Before he was frozen, Organa told Solo how she felt about him, to which he responded "I know." Solo was then frozen, and found to have survived. Afterwards, Vader was informed that Skywalker'sX-wing had just landed. Vader then ordered Calrissian to bring Organa and Chewbacca tohis ship. When he protested, Vader simply stated that he was altering the deal.^[1]

The escape[]

Realizing that the "deal" had gone too far,^[1] Calrissian issued aCode Force Seven^[6] and arranged for theBespin Wing Guard to ambush the Imperial team escorting himself, Organa, Chewbacca, and C-3PO—still strapped to theWookiee's back—to Vader's ship. Chewbacca and Organa, however, did not trust him due to his prior betrayal, with Chewbacca nearly strangling him until he revealed that there was still a chance to save Solo from Fett. Deciding it was worth the risk, the foursome rushed to intercept Fett, reaching his landing platform just in time to see theSlave I take off.^[1]

Realizing that—for now, at least—Solo was gone, they redirected their efforts into escaping. After reaching theFalcon's hangar door, they discovered that the access codes had been changed, preventing Calrissian from unlocking the doors. C-3PO then realized that R2-D2 could override the security systems, but accidentally directed theastromech into plugging into a power socket. Before leading the group to another door with a computer terminal, Calrissian informed the citizens of Cloud City of the Imperial occupation, and advised them to leave as soon as possible. The ensuing chaos worked to their advantage, helping them get to another door mostly unhindered by Imperial forces, though they encountered several stormtroopers upon reaching another door.^[1] After R2-D2 plugged in, he was informed by the computer that she had been given a message by theFalcon'srepair droid, namedTreadwell, to warn them that theFalcon's hyperdrive had been deactivated.^[7]

However, when he tried to inform the group about this, C-3PO interrupted him, saying that the hyperdrive had been fixed, and telling him to open the door. After Artoo did so, and covered their retreat with a smokescreen, the group boarded theFalcon and took off, barely escaping the Imperial troops. Skywalker, having just been defeated by Vader in alightsaber duel, was clinging for his life at a vane on the bottom of Cloud City. First calling to Ben Kenobi for help and receiving no response, he called to someone else: Leia. Organa, on board theMillennium Falcon on her way out of the city, heard Skywalker's plea and ordered the ship around. Finding Skywalker dangling from the vane, they pulled up beneath it, and Calrissian pulled the young Jedi to safety. As theFalcon's hatch closed, threeTIE fighters showed up and pursued the rebels into space while firing at the freighter.^[1]

Having left the planet's gravity well, theFalcon, upon sighting theExecutor, attempted to jump to hyperspace, only to find the "repaired" hyperdrive nonfunctional. As the crew desperately attempted to fix the hyperdrive while R2-D2 was reassembling C-3PO, the astromech realized what the problem was, having been told earlier by Cloud City's central computer, and managed to reactivate the drive, allowing the rebels to escape intohyperspace.^[1]

Aftermath[]

After theFalcon jumped to hyperspace, the team of Imperial technicians that had deactivated its hyperdrive expected to be executed. To their surprise, Vader did nothing, simply striding out of the bridge of his flagship.^[9] TheFalcon's crew, meanwhile, rendezvoused with theAlliance Fleet during thebattle at Rendezvous Point Delta-Three. AtBackup Rendezvous Point Gamma-Nine,^[10] Skywalker received aprostheticarm to replace the one he had lost, with it being completed as Calrissian and Chewbacca set off on a mission torescue Solo fromJabba the Hutt,^[1] only to return to the Rebel fleet upon discovering Fett had yet to drop Solo off atJabba's Palace;^[11] the bounty hunter had been distracted by the hunt for his old ally,Nakano Lash.^[12]

Meanwhile, Cloud City was taken into Imperial control,^[1] with several trades, such as cybernetic implants, being suppressed,^[13] and askeleton garrison stationed there.^[14] Shortly after the escape, Calrissian, Organa, Skywalker, and R2-D2returned to Cloud City the aim of rescuing Lobot and sabotaging the mining operations, with the small team also wanting to study carbon freezing due to Solo's capture and retrieve Skywalker's lightsaber. Rescuing Lobot and a number of other residents, the mission was largely a success, and, even though Skywalker was unable to find his blade, he did recover his X-wing.^[15] In the aftermath of theBattle of Endor, however, the garrison was relocated to a more strategic location, setting the stage for the city's eventualliberation.^[14]

Behind the scenes[]

The Escape from Cloud City first appeared in the1980 filmStar Wars: Episode VThe Empire Strikes Back, the second installment of theStar Warsoriginal trilogy.^[1] The novelLost Stars also featured the escape from the viewpoint ofCiena Ree, who was one of the Imperial technicians tasked with deactivating theFalcon's hyperdrive.^[9]

Appearances[]

Non-canon appearances[]

• Star Wars Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back
• LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales — "Flight of the Falcon"(In flashback(s))
• LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures — "The Lost Treasure of Cloud City"
• Star Wars Blips — "Fan Droids"(Appears in hologram)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Sources[]

Notes and references[]