Skirmish in Nixus Hub 218


Prelude


During the Age of the Empire, the Devaronian crime lord Cikatro Vizago obtained several crates of power generators, and made a deal to sell them to the crime lord Azmorigan at Nixus Hub 218. Near the planet Garel, Vizago encountered the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka. Ohnaka disabled Vizago's bodyguard droids, knocked out Vizago, and took over his starship, the Broken Horn. The ship's engines were knocked out during the incident, so Hondo sent a distress signal, which was picked up by the rebels Ezra Bridger and Chopper, who were in Garel City, working on the Spectres' starship, the Ghost.

The rest of the Spectres had gone off to Garel City's marketplace in search of power generators, on the orders of Phoenix Cell's leader, Commander Jun Sato. The frozen planet of Rinn, undergoing an energy crisis, was in need of the devices. Thus, the rebel cell had mobilized their resources to search for generators. Ezra, however, had been ordered by Hera Syndulla to clean the ion scoring off the Phantom, the Ghosts auxiliary ship, a chore he had been avoiding for some time. Chopper, after laughing at Ezra's misfortune, was ordered by Hera to help him.

Looking for an opportunity to skip their chores, Ezra and Chopper departed on the Phantom and rendezvoused with the Broken Horn in space. Once aboard, they encountered Ohnaka, who claimed that he had won Vizago's ship in a game of sabacc. When Hondo asked who Ezra was, the boy claimed to be Lando Calrissian. Hondo, having heard of Lando, bought the lie, but expressed surprise that "Lando" was younger than he had expected. After Ezra helped Hondo escape an Arquitens-class command cruiser, Hondo revealed his plan to sell the power generators at a mark-up price to an unknown buyer on Nixus. Ezra agreed to help Hondo in return for getting two crates and half of the profits. Hondo accepted the deal, and the three travelers headed to Nixus.

The skirmish


Upon arriving at Nixus Hub 218, Hondo and Ezra headed to meet their buyer, while Chopper stayed at the Broken Horn with one crate of generators. Ezra told Chopper to stay vigilant in case of trouble. Hondo and Ezra brought four of the crates of generators with them. The two companions quickly discovered that their buyer was none other than Azmorigan, an old adversary that Ezra had encountered during a skirmish at Lando Calrissian's farm on Lothal. Azmorigan demanded to know where Vizago was, and upon learning Hondo's identity, took him and Ezra prisoner, intending to collect a bounty that the Rang Clan had placed on Hondo's head. Upon being taken prisoner, Ezra covertly activated his wrist-comm to alert Chopper of the situation. Noticing that Hondo's companion was wearing a helmet, Azmorigan had one of his henchmen remove it, and recognized Ezra as one of the rebels who had accosted him at Lando Calrissian's farm. When Hondo stated that Ezra was Lando, Azmorigan made it clear that that was not the case. Hondo was unbothered by Ezra's lie, stating that he'd known he liked the boy. Azmorigan decided to kill his two enemies by launching them out of the landing bay into the vacuum of space using a large conveyor belt.

Before Azmorigan could execute his prisoners, Chopper arrived with the fifth crate and rammed the cart it was on into the one with the other crates, knocking several of Azmorigan's men over. In the ensuing confusion, one of Azmorigan's henchmen was knocked onto the conveyor belt, and Hondo launched him into space. While Chopper exchanged fire with Azmorigan, Ezra and Hondo struggled to free themselves from their binders, having wound up on the conveyor belt. Ezra managed to free himself, and used his lightsaber's blaster mode to fire at Azmorigan's men. During the fight, Hondo was knocked onto the conveyor belt, and the controls were damaged, causing the pirate to be launched into space, just after Azmorigan's case of credits was knocked into his lap, thanks to Chopper stunning the crime lord in the rear. Hondo was nearly hurled into space, but Ezra used the Force to pull him to safety, causing the pirate to realize that Ezra was a Jedi. Meanwhile, Azmorigan fled in his ship.

Aftermath


Following the skirmish, the two rebels and Hondo headed back to Garel on the Broken Horn. Hondo attempted to recruit Ezra to his crew, suggesting that the boy would find it more to his liking to be a "pirate Jedi". Hearing a mysterious banging sound, Ezra and Chopper investigated and discovered an imprisoned Vizago, who related the true story of how Hondo had stolen his ship. He also took back his droid controller from Ezra. Together, Vizago and the rebels headed to the bridge to confront Hondo. In an attempt to mediate the conflict, Ezra proposed that the two criminals split the credits while he and Chopper took the power generators for the rebellion. However, Vizago was in no mood for diplomacy and unleashed his bodyguard droids on the stowaways.

Hondo managed to escape aboard the Phantom with the power generators. Ezra managed to destroy several of the droids with his lightsaber, and tried to reason with Vizago. Instead, the crime lord sent Ezra and Chopper back to Garel in one of his escape pods. Upon landing in Garel City, Chopper revealed that the Phantom was programmed to return to its mothership, the Ghost. In the end, the rebels allowed Hondo to keep his money but made him surrender the five crates of power generators, which were sent to Rinn to alleviate the energy crisis.

Behind the scenes


The skirmish in Nixus Hub 218 first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Brothers of the Broken Horn," which first debuted on Disney XD on November 4 2015. Jim Cummings, the voice actor of The Clone Wars character Hondo Ohnaka, reprised his role in this episode.

Appearances

Unknown

Unknown

None