Star Wars Rebels Recap: A Princess On Lothal
By Elaine Tveit
When the three cruisers arrive, Ezra and Kanan discover that the leader of the escort is none other than the no-nonsense, quick-witted teenage Princess Leia Organa. Organa immediately recognizes the rebels, and tells them to put their helmets back on “and shut up.” Ezra is more than slightly annoyed by the ease with which she orders them around; but her ability to command is once again called into action when Lieutenant Lyste, formerly Task Master Lyste, grounds her cruisers with gravity locks to prevent them being stolen by the rebels.
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Leia’s original plan was to have the rebels steal the cruisers, which will complete her mission but allow Alderaan’s loyalty to the Empire to remain unquestioned. But she takes the news of her ideas being dashed in stride. She orders the lieutenant to give over his shuttle to her, under the pretense of delivering supplies to the people of Lothal, and takes Kanan and Ezra along, still in their stormtrooper and cadet disguises, as “escort.”
Once they’re in the air, Leia voices her concern that her plan of having the rebels steal the cruisers was ill-conceived; she was not expecting the ships to be grounded. Kanan, however, thinks it was a good plan, but they need to come up with a new idea if they’re going to get the cruisers out of their gravity locks and past the noses of the ever-watchful Imperials.
Suddenly, Ezra receives a signal from Chopper; he and Azadi have been captured by Stormtroopers. Kanan lands the shuttle in the area where a group of stormtroopers are guarding Azadi, Chopper, and The Phantom. Still in their disguises, Kanan and Ezra, along with the Princess, head outside to talk to the Imperials, the leader of whom says they have orders to execute one of their captives (Azadi) immediately.
Fortunately, help is on the way. Hera, Sabine, and Zeb come swooping in on the Ghost, dispatch the stormtroopers, and take Kanan, Ezra, and Leia aboard as “prisoners,” leaving Leia’s facade of loyalty to the Empire intact. Chopper pilots The Phantom, and they all meet aboard The Ghost in the safe airways above the clouds.
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