Operation Earplug

In 3 ABY, during the height of the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Imperial scouts operating in the Valtha Divide discovered a most unusual creature. The teezl, thought to be the only one of its kind, had considerable abilities as a natural hyperspace communicator, able to transmit information instantly to any receptor in the galaxy. Seeing the teezl's natural talents as potentially a game-changer in the intensifying war with the Alliance, the Empire constructed a secret armada—then the largest in Imperial history—under the command of Admiral Mils Giel to transport the creature to the Imperial capital of Corsucant. However, the Rebels caught wind of the teezl's existence, and soon formed plans of their own. Fearing that the teezl's installation at the heart of the Imperial war machine would mean certain defeat, the Alliance formed a small task force in order to make sure the teezl never made it to Coruscant.

The Rebel plan to disrupt the teezl's delivery—dubbed "Operation Earplug"—relied heavily on subterfuge and confusion, and required the acquisition of four Imperial TIE starfighters to infiltrate Giel's armada. This was accomplished through a deal with underworld arms dealer Orion Ferret, who offered the Alliance four TIE fighters he had reconstructed out of parts purchased from battlefield scavengers. The mission almost went awry before it started, as Ferret double-crossed Rebel Commander Luke Skywalker and compatriots Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca when they arrived on the space station Bazarre to execute the transaction, and Skywalker and Calrissian were left to die on the garbage planet Patch-4. However, the Rebels emerged from the betrayal intact and with the TIE fighters secured, returning to the main Rebel base on the planet Arbra.

With the four starfighters fully operational and modified with laser cannons with limited output but much higher firepower, a complement of pilots from the elite Rogue Squadron was formed to carry out the destruction of the teezl—this "Flying Bantha Squadron" was composed of Commander Skywalker, Lieutenant Shira Brie, Alph and Captain Hanc Thorben, who had overseen the TIEs' refitting. A successful sortie on the isolated Imperial outpost of Spindrift not only proved that the reconstructed TIEs could pass for the real thing, but provided the armada's route coordinates.

Flying Bantha Squadron soon acquired a set of codes to acquire entrance to the armada's formation after capturing and interrogating an Imperial pilot, and the stage was set. After maneuvering their way within the caravan of Imperial ships, the Flying Banthas attacked, confusing the Imperial forces who could not pick out where the laserfire was coming from. Amidst the Rebels' opening salvos, an Imperial Star Destroyer commander named Major Voss ordered his men to attack indiscriminately, plunging the armada into complete chaos. Matters only escalated when Admiral Giel ordered the teezl to jam the Rebels' communications, forcing Skywalker and the others to fly blind. Still, Skywalker leaned on his connection to the Force to reach Giel's flagship—the Praetor Mark II-class battlecruiser Helmsman—and used his final high-powered laser blast to annihilate the teezl's transport cage and take much of Giel's ship with it. Skywalker then narrowly evaded Imperial pursuit to make the jump to hyperspace, winning the day for the Alliance.

Their mission to destroy the teezl successful, two of the "Flying Banthas" made it home to Arbra: Skywalker and Thorben. However, Skywalker discovered no heroes' welcome waiting for him—instead, he learned that one of the TIEs he had shot down during the battle had contained his squadmate, Lieutenant Brie. Skywalker was briefly disgraced and stripped of his commission in the aftermath of Brie's apparent death, but had his status restored after a mission to Krake Data Vault revealed that Brie had actually been an Imperial double agent. The two surviving modified TIEs used in Operation Earplug remained in Rebel hands and continued to see active service for years afterward—New Republic Intelligence would later use the fighters for fact-finding missions into the Imperial Remnant after the Rebels' climactic victory at Endor.

Operation Earplug occurred over the course of several 1982 issues of the original Marvel Comics Star Wars comic book run, with the arc being written by David Michelinie and illustrated by Walter Simonson. The name "Operation Earplug" was later given in 2003, in Cory J. Herndon's Wizards of the Coast article Arbra: Sanctuary In the Storm.