Rafa XI was an icy slush planet that occupied the outermost orbit in the Outer Rim Territories' Rafa system. It was the site of a helium refinery and a research installation. In 3 BBY, after the freighter captain Lando Calrissian and his droid, Vuffi Raa, disarmed a team of Colonial Constabulary troopers who attempted to arrest the former on the planet Rafa V, the duo made the police officers board their own cargo barge, which was modified by Vuffi Raa to take them on a week-long trip to Rafa XI. By four months later, four of the Constabulary troopers Calrissian had attempted to maroon had returned to the administrative building of the Rafa system's governor, Duttes Mer, on the planet Rafa IV.

Description[]

Rafa XI was a terrestrial^[3] planet located in the Rafa system,^[2] a part of the Centrality sector in the Slice portion of the Outer Rim Territories.^[1] A bleak ball^[3] of icy slush, Rafa XI occupied the eleventh and outermost orbital position^[2] around the Rafa system's sun,^[3] circling it in the dark,^[2] and, along with the rest of the Rafa system, was situated on the Arleen Loop hyperlane, which connected it to the Arleen and Dela systems.^[1] By 3 BBY,^[4] Rafa XI was the smallest planet of the colony that spanned the Rafa system.^[3]

History[]

In 3 BBY,^[4] Lando Calrissian, the captain of the freighter Millennium Falcon, and his droid, Vuffi Raa, disarmed a group of five Colonial Constabulary troopers, which had attempted to arrest Calrissian on the planet Rafa V and included Guard-Captain Myle Jandler. Since Calrissian did not want the law enforcement officers to further interfere with his search for the Mindharp artifact but was not willing to kill them, Vuffi Raa modified the cargo barge the Constabulary contingent had used to arrive on Rafa V so that it would take them to Rafa XI.^[3]

The droid disabled the starship's controls and programmed into the vessel's computer an unalterable course for Rafa XI. The journey would take the barge a week to complete, and since Vuffi Raa also destroyed the ship's communications antennas, it would not be able to communicate with the rest of the system except by the troopers shining flashlights out the vessel's viewports. Calrissian also instructed his droid to provide the Constabulary troopers with Oseon brandy and holocassettes, as the captain characterized the "scenery" of the barge's destination as "remarkably boring." Before the vessel departed from Rafa V, Jandler, who had grown tired of following orders from the Rafa system's governor, Duttes Mer, affirmed to both Calrissian and his team that, once they arrived at Rafa XI, they would not hurry about reporting the circumstances of their marooning.^[3]

At some point during the subsequent four months, four of the Constabulary officers who had been sent to Rafa XI traveled back to the planet Rafa IV, where they were placed under house arrest in Governor Mer's office building. Four months after Calrissian's encounter with the Constabulary troopers on Rafa V, Vuffi Raa, who had become separated from his owner, donned a trooper's uniform and traveled to the penal colony of Rafa IV in order to free Calrissian from imprisonment. Once there, the droid, acting as a Constabulary officer, claimed to the supervisor of the prison compound that Calrissian was to be immediately turned over for transportation to Mer, who supposedly wanted to interrogate the man for his attempted marooning of the policemen on Rafa XI.^[3]

Locations[]

Rafa XI was the site of a helium refinery, which Lando Calrissian thought of as relatively impressive, and a considerable research installation.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Rafa XI was first mentioned in Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, the 1983 first entry in The Lando Calrissian Adventures trilogy of novels by L. Neil Smith.^[3] "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder Where We Are," a 1990 roleplaying game source article published in the thirteenth issue of the Voyages SF magazine, placed the planet in the Corporate Sector. Since that article was released outside of the Lucas Licensing process, its canonicity within the Star Wars Legends continuity was never confirmed.^[5] The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas subsequently overrode the Voyages SF placement by establishing that the Rafa system, and therefore Rafa XI, was instead situated in grid square T-8 as part of the Centrality.^[1]

Appearances[]

• Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu (First mentioned)

Sources[]

• "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder Where We Are" — Voyages SF 13
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III ("Rafa system")

Notes and references[]