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Between 3 ABY and 4 ABY,^[4] the Mission to Bestine IV,^[7] also known as the Battle on Bestine,^[8] was simultaneously undertaken by the crew of the bounty hunter T'onga on behalf of Crimson Dawn, and a team led by cyborg Imperial lieutenant, and former bounty hunter, Beilert Valance. The purpose of Valance's mission was to stop a Crimson Dawn team, who unbeknownst to Valance was led by his old friend T'onga, from attacking what he had been informed was a shipment of medicine the Empire had sent to Bestine IV, though in reality was a shipment of munitions intended to be used against the insurgents that fought against the Empire on the planet.^[3] The ultimate outcome of T'onga's mission was for them to upend the fragile balance held between the Empire and a local populace, which, according to Crimson Dawn member Margo, did not want the Empire on the planet.^[1]

The mission[]

Mercenary showdown[]

When they arrived at Bestine, Valance and his team of Revengers were greeted by a Stormtrooper Commander and Valance ordered for patrols along the entire deck where the shipment was to arrive. T'onga and her crew were met by an insurgent who was underwhelmed by the amount of reinforcements Crimson Dawn had sent them, though T'onga attempted to down play the concerns by stating they had the Trandoshan Bossk on their side. As the transport with the shipment arrived, the crew and the insurgents made their way to it on speeder bikes. After they got aboard the ship, Tasu Leech beheaded two coastal defender stormtroopers, and with the element of surprise still on their side, the team set out to crash the ship.^[3]

Leech and Bossk headed to the engines and while they spoke, Leech was attacked and knocked over an edge of the ship by the Trandoshan Tanka, who was part of Valance's team. Bossk, thinking he heard Leech say something, asked for Leech, but he was then attacked by Tanka. As the two Trandoshans fought each other, Bossk eventually got the upper hand and wrapped Tanka up in a cable and sent him over the same edge Leech had been sent over, who was using his knife to make his way back to the top of the ship at the time. With the element of surprise now not with them, the two sent out to warn the rest of their team. Meanwhile, Losha Tarkon and Zuckuss were setting explosives up in the ship, but were caught by the other two members of Valance's team, S'ira and Ankala Sahm.^[3]

At the same time, T'onga and the insurgents were attempting to make their way to the bridge to stop the ship before Imperial reinforcements arrived from the base the ship was heading too. As one of the insurgents was killed by a coastal defender stormtrooper, the lead insurgent made way to the bridge and informed T'onga to follow them, but was forced to leave an insurgent behind. The lead insurgent stated that the other insurgent had known the risks and was willing to sacrifice his life for their cause, and added that the only thing that mattered was reaching the bridge and stopping the ship to prevent the deaths of their people, as well as T'onga's. As they made for the bridge, T'onga noticed the lights were down, and questioned why, but the insurgent was insistent there was no time to worry and they could see well enough to reach a control panel. T'onga then stated she felt something was not right, and the insurgent was killed, which sent T'onga flying back, and she declared no bounty was worth the experience of this. Valance, who had fired the shot that killed the insurgent from his palm blaster, noted he there was something about the voice he heard, and realized that it was his old friend T'onga. At the same moment, T'onga realized it was Valance in the bridge.^[3]

Making amends[]

Valance and T'onga then began speaking, with T'onga stating she thought Valance had died, which he dismissed and replied he was surprised his old friend would be low enough to work for a group of killers like Crimson Dawn, which T'onga suggested was better than working for the Empire like Valance. T'onga expressed her surprise that Valance was working for the Empire, as when she had last seen him he was attempting to escape them. Valance then revealed to T'onga that it was not what he wanted, and explained to T'onga that he had left Cadeliah, a girl who Valance had previously been tasked with keeping safe from his old mentor Nakano Lash, with his former lover Yuralla Vega, and that they were at a rebel base. Valance told T'onga he was working for the Empire in order to keep the two safe. T'onga then informed Valance that Cadeliah had been captured by Crimson Dawn, and then she gave Valance even worse news, that Vega had been killed after the Empire bombed the base. The news devastated Valance, and he blamed himself for her death, as he believed the Empire had tracked the location of the base through his memories.^[5] In reality, the base had been bombed after the Crimson Dawn assassin Deathstick informed the Empire of the base's location.^[9]

Meanwhile, the rest of T'onga's crew were rounded up by coastal defender stormtroopers and Sahm and S'ira. One of the troopers questioned what was taking Valance so long, adding that they should just shoot the captured bounty hunters right there and then, to which S'ira told the trooper that Valance had explicitly told them to wait for further instructions. Leech began to wind the trooper up, dismissing concerns from Zuckuss and added that stormtroopers were not known for their aim. The trooper then hit Leech with his blaster, stating he could hit him pretty good from where they were. Tarkon then threatened the trooper, and Zuckuss once again attempted to calm the situation down. The trooper, however, had had enough and made the call to kill the crew, despite protests from Sahm.^[5]

Valance then arrived behind the trooper and informed him that he was committing an act of insurbordination, and asked if his orders were not clear. The trooper apologized, and asked Valance what was another dead rebel sympathizer. Still reeling from the news of Vega, Valance informed the trooper he had said the wrong thing and attacked the trooper. Sahm and S'ira were shocked to see Valance seemingly betray the Empire, and the remaining shoretroopers told Valance that if he wanted to get off the ship, he would have to go through them, to which Valance simply replied that it was fine by him and threw a piece of the ship at them, and then began to fire on them. After the troopers had been dealt with, he revealed to S'ira and Sahm that the shipment they were supposed to be protecting was in fact thermal detonators, and not medicine as they had been led to believe.^[5]

Imperial intervention[]

At this moment TIE fighters that were escorting the transport made their way to attack, though Valance, having had experience of piloting TIEs as an Imperial cadet, knew a weak spot and was able to destroy two of them. A third TIE appeared and headed for them, but 4-LOM, piloting T'onga's starship the Edgehawk, arrived in time to destroy the TIE. Valance then sent a message to Lieutenant Jyala Haydenn, who was present aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Righteous Fist above Bestine, asking why she had not told him about Vega, and questioned if their recent attraction towards each other was actually real. Haydenn responded that it was real to her, and that Vega's death had been unfortunate accident. Haydenn tried to appeal to Valance, stating that he had always dreamed of serving the Empire, and now he was. When Haydenn asked Valance what he intended to do, he informed her he was going to complete the mission of delivering the shipment to the base, though he added it would sort of be done as promised. He then shut the transmission down, and Haydenn was apologetic, adding she was sorry and that she did not know how to tell him about Vega. The Star Destroyer then received a signal from the base, that the transport was heading straight for it at full speed. The development prompted the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who was aboard the Righteous Fist, to arrive at the bridge.^[5]

The transport then reached the base, which it destroyed, causing cheers from the Bestine insurgents in a nearby village. Sahm and S'ira reunited with Tanka, and he asked what he had missed. They then saw the base in flames, which Tanka stated was not good. T'onga's crew and Valance made their way to wreckage of the base, and T'onga declared the attack a success, adding that they should leave before reinforcements arrived. Valance told T'onga that the attack on the base was just means to an end. T'onga informed Valance they had protected the village from the Empire, and asked him what other end there was, to which Valance replied bait as they watched a shuttle land on the planet. Vader and Haydenn departed from the shuttle, the Sith Lord having drawn his lightsaber, stating that Valance had proven to be a disappointment, and his betrayal would not be tolerated.^[5]

Valance then confronted Vader about the loss of his loved ones, stating that whilst he could not save them, he could avenge them. Vader responded that the hunter had grown tiresome, and if he sought death then Vader would grant him it. The cyborg began to fire at Vader, claiming he had been wanting to put Vader down for a long time. As the Sith Lord deflected the attacks, Valance told him he would have to do better to stop him, right as one of the blasts was deflected back at him and hit his arm. Meanwhile, T'onga ordered the rest of her crew to travel back to the Edgehawk as she took a speeder bike to save Valance. In an attempt to distract Vader, Valance threw a rock at him, which he was able to destroy with the Force, though he had taken the bait and was forced to drop his lightsaber to prevent Valance from firing at him. At this point, T'onga arrived on the speeder, though Vader picked up his saber and instantly destroyed the speeder, surprising T'onga with the speed of his attack. Vader then told Valance he was out of tricks and time as he pressed the attack against the hunter.^[6]

Haydenn, who had been watching and was horrified at what was happening, began to fire at T'onga, informing her she had recognized her from footage she had previously recovered from Valance, and then told her she should have not come to Bestine and ruined everything by telling Valance about his loved ones. Leech then arrived at the scene aboard a speeder bike and rescued T'onga. Having had enough, Vader told Valance that it was enough, and the cyborg told Vader that whislt he may kill him, he had saved the insurgents in the village, unaware that TIE/sa bombers were headed to the village to wipe it out. Vader informed Valance that he had not saved them, but had instead doomed them, as the bombers destroyed the village. S'ira, Tanka, and Sahm, having made their way to the village after Valance had gone rogue, attempted to escape the bombing by heading to a cave. Valance then lamented that Vader had just killed all his team, those who followed the orders of the Sith without question, to which Vader informed Valance that he had not killed all of the team yet.^[6]

With this, Haydenn tried to intervene, though Vader told her to not test his patience, as she had already failed him. The lieutenant then suggested to the Sith that she be the one to kill Valance, and therefore fixing her mistake. As she pointed a blaster at him, Valance tried to appeal to her to not go through with it, telling her she was more than an Imperial uniform and that they could take Vader together and start a new life elsewhere away from the Empire. Valance then tried to explain his feelings for her, adding that he was sure she felt the same, and that they could build something special together. Despite Valance's words, Haydenn informed the hunter that her first love was the Empire, and she shot him in the face, forcing him to fall off a cliff.^[6]

Aftermath[]

After she shot Valance, Vader told Haydenn that she had let Valance fall out of their grasp, and ordered her to send a recovery team to the valley to search for his body. Haydenn countered that there was no chance he could have survived, though when the Sith Lord informed her he would not repeat himself, she told him that she would call in the team to find him. Zuckuss and Tarkon, meanwhile, made their way to the wreckage where Valance was, and found him. The three then headed to the Edgehawk and the crew left Bestine.^[6]

Once Haydenn returned to the Righteous Fist, she met with the team, Inferno Squad, who Vader had specifically requested by name. She provided the unit with their mission, to track down Valance and wipe his memory, as he may have recorded classified information that would be problematic if it fell into the hands of the Rebel Alliance. Commander Iden Versio then informed Haydenn that would not be allowed to happen, and that Inferno Squad would make sure of it.^[6]

Appearances[]

• Bounty Hunters 28 (Mentioned only)
• Revelations (2022) 1 (First appearance) (Vision to Darth Vader)
• Bounty Hunters 29
• Bounty Hunters 30
• Bounty Hunters 31
• Bounty Hunters 32 (Indirect mention only)
• Bounty Hunters 33 (Indirect mention only)
• Bounty Hunters 34 (Indirect mention only)
• Bounty Hunters 35 (Indirectly mentioned only; in the opening crawl)
• Bounty Hunters 41 (Indirect mention only)

Sources[]

• Yoda Goes to a Strange World and More from Marvel's December 2022 Star Wars Comics – Exclusive on StarWars.com (backup link) (First mentioned)
• Sana Starros Strikes Out on Her Own and More from Marvel's February 2023 Star Wars Comics – Exclusive Preview on StarWars.com (backup link) (First identified as Battle on Bestine)
• IG-88 Joins the Fray in Marvel's Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #29 – Exclusive Preview on StarWars.com (backup link)
• "Sacks Appeal" — Star Wars Insider 224 (Picture only)

Notes and references[]