Berd Lin

Berd Lin was a Human male living on the planet of Harix during the Galactic Civil War. In 1 ABY, Lin's mother Myoris and a number of classmates were kidnapped by Imperial forces acting under the command of Darth Vader, who intended to use the children as bait to draw out several key Rebel leaders. Lin escaped and enlisted the help of Rebels Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, and aided in the rescue mission that freed the hostages before fleeing Harix.

Biography

Berd was enrolled in a school where his mother Myoris Lin was a teacher. Because her sympathies lay with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, Myoris's school was subject to an Imperial raid led by Major Stafuv Rahz. When Rahz's squad of stormtroopers attempted to break into the school, Berd was ushered into an escape tunnel along with his fellow students by Myoris. After exiting the tunnel, Berd evaded capture by the stormtroopers and encountered Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO. Luke and the droids had been planning to deliver a collection of micro-books that had been published prior to the reorganization of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. Though his mission had been thwarted by the raid, Skywalker helped Berd escape from Harix.

Shortly after they had left the planet, Berd immediately tried to formulate a plan to save his mother and his classmates from certain doom. When Luke assigned C-3PO to take care of him, Berd made his displeasure known, insisting that his time "must be given to saving my mother and my friends." To this end, he ran away from C-3PO when he was supposed to be sleeping and attempted to recruit Han Solo and a number of former smugglers to help him rescue his mother. Though Berd was initially unsuccessful in persuading the spacers, his plight struck a chord in Chewbacca's charitable nature. Chewbacca's willingness to volunteer, Luke's reproachful words towards Han and the others and the combined egos of all of the spacers present at the time caused an atmosphere of generosity to prevail within the confines of the cantina.

Shortly before the rescue mission was to be launched, Berd had a dream in which his mother warned him that the Empire had set a trap for any would-be rescuers in a cut slot behind the Talhu Slotted Peaks on Harix. When he informed them of his premonition, the spacers decided that his claims were dubious and they considered abandoning his cause altogether. However, Han and Luke decided that there might have been some merit to Berd's dream. Berd discarded his original rescue plan and quelled the protests of the spacers by relating his new plan to them. When they put his plan into action, arrived near Harix and launched a fleet of target drones set on a direct course for Harix. Each individual drone was modified to project a false signature of itself and as a result it would show up on most sensors as a ship much larger than it actually was. While the Imperial forces holding the blockade moved away from Harix to engage what they thought was a large Alliance battle fleet, the fleet of freighters used the distraction to land on Harix without being noticed.

Luke, Han and Chewbacca left Berd and Princess Leia Organa to wait with the fleet of freighters while they took care of the trap — a group of landed TIE Fighters lying in wait for any would-be rescuers. When he heard blaster fire coming from the general direction of the trap, Berd wanted to go to help Luke and Han, but Leia managed to keep him from running off. After Leia received Han's signal that the trap had been destroyed, she and Berd, along with the fleet of freighters landed at the school. They found that Luke and Han had gotten to the school ahead of them and had managed to save Myoris and her students from being vaporized by Rahz's sonic projector but in doing so, had ended up in a rather sticky situation. The spacers exited their freighters and made short work of Rahz's squad of stormtroopers and captured Rahz. Though Berd was reunited with his mother, their relief at seeing each other once more was short-lived. Rahz managed to break free of his captors, but Berd had a good idea of what Rahz wanted to do and made some last-minute modifications to the sonic projector. Rahz avoided being hit by the spacers' blaster fire and manned the sonic projector. Berd intended to simply disable the projector by rephasing its power, but his modification had the unintended side effect of refocusing the sonic projector's power through its control panel and as a result, Rahz was killed when he tried to to fire the gun. When word came that Imperial forces were approaching Harix, the Rebels and spacers brought Berd, his mother and his classmates along when they fled from the planet.

Personality and traits

A child prodigy, Berd Lin showed a maturity and savvy beyond his years during his battle with the Empire on Harix, caring only about saving the lives of his mother and classmates. Lin believed strongly in the hope and promise of the Rebellion, and proved to be a brilliant natural tactician. The young man had little fear of a fight, and also possessed a high level of technical knowledge, already possessing the knowledge to rewire a sonic projector.

Behind the scenes

Berd Lin first appeared in Bring Me the Children, a comic strip story arc written by Don Christensen and released in 1980. In his comic appearance, Lin was illustrated by Russ Manning. Although originally identified only as Berd in Bring Me the Children, his last name of Lin was given 27 years later, in Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley's Hyperspace supplement Aliens in the Empire.

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