Moradmin Bast was a human male bureaucrat and military officer who served as a general in the ground forces of the Galactic Empire, the successor state of the Galactic Republic. By the early stages of the Galactic Civil War, Bast was stationed on the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station, the Empire's planet-destroying superweapon, serving as its chief manager and as an aide to the station's commander, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.
Around this time, Bast attended a meeting of the Joint Chiefs, in which various high-ranking military officers debated the purported threat the Alliance to Restore the Republic posed. When the Rebel Alliance attacked the battle station shortly thereafter, Bast analyzed the rebel attack, discovered that a thermal exhaust port could be a threat to the battle station as a whole, and encouraged Tarkin to evacuate, but the Grand Moff refused to. Not long after, the Rebels managed to use the thermal exhaust port and destroy the Death Star, killing Bast and everyone else onboard.
Bast attends a meeting of high-ranking Imperial officers aboard the Death Star.
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the successor state of the Galactic Republic, Moradmin Bast served as a general in the Imperial Army. By 0 BBY, he was stationed aboard the Death Star, the Empire's planet-killing superweapon, where he served as its chief manager and as an aide to the station's commander, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Having escalated their operations to open warfare, the Alliance to Restore the Republic managed to steal the technical readouts of the Death Star during the Battle of Scarif. Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, captured the rebel flagship that carried the plans, the Tantive IV, but was unable to recover the plans.
Bast was present in a meeting aboard the Death Star that included several high-ranking officers, including General Cassio Tagge, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, Darth Vader, and the station's commander, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. The Imperials discussed the potential threat posed by the Rebellion, and multiple opinions were expressed. Motti believed that the Rebel Alliance did not pose a threat, while Tagge expressed concerns that the Rebellion was more powerful than other Imperials realized. It was also in this meeting that the assembled officers learned that the Emperor, Darth Sidious, had dissolved the Imperial Senate and given direct territorial control to the regional governors, including Tarkin himself.
Shortly thereafter, the Millennium Falcon was captured by the Death Star after it entered the remains of Alderaan, which had been destroyed by the Death Star. The ship carried the stolen plans, along with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi—Vader's former master. The crew of the ship rescued Princess Leia Organa from the station's prison. During the rescue, Kenobi and Vader engaged in a lightsaber duel. Kenobi allowed Vader to kill him, giving the other Rebels a chance to escape, and the Jedi Master's body disappeared upon being struck by Vader's lightsaber. As the Rebels escaped, Bast approached Vader, who inspected the empty robes that Kenobi left behind. Bast asked who the man was, and Vader brushed the Jedi Master off as an old man who wrongly thought he could help gifted children.
General Bast stands next to Vader aboard the Death Star
Before the Rebels had escaped, the Empire placed a tracking device on the Millennium Falcon. The Death Star followed the ship to the Great Temple, the Rebel base on Yavin 4, where Tarkin intended to use the station's planet-destroying capabilities to destroy Yavin 4 and, with it, the Rebellion. The Death Star's arrival led to the Battle of Yavin, with the Rebels attacking after finding a weakness in the station's design. Imperials aboard the Death Star analyzed the Rebel attack and learned that the station could be in danger. Bast presented this information to Tarkin and asked whether the Grand Moff wanted to evacuate. Tarkin rejected the offer, chastising Bast for what Tarkin saw as the chief overestimating the chances of the Rebellion. Bast's concerns were proven correct when Rebel pilot Luke Skywalker fired a proton torpedo into one of the station's exhaust port and hit the main reactor, thanks to the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Han Solo, and Chewbacca, showing up late in the battle. The attack set off a chain reaction within the station, and the Death Star was destroyed in a massive explosion which killed everyone on board, including Bast.
Bast asks Tarkin if the Grand Moff wishes to evacuate the Death Star.
Bast was a human male. He had brown hair, light-colored eyes, and brown sideburns on the sides of his face. By the time of the Battle of Yavin, Bast came to see the Rebels as a potential threat to the security of the Death Star, and unsuccessfully encouraged Tarkin to leave the doomed station before its destruction.
Bast's rank insignia
Moradmin Bast used the Imperial Navy's standard-issue grey uniform consisting of an Imperial officer's tunic, a pair of flared pants, a black utility belt, and a pair of black durasteel-toed boots. He also wore a single row rank insignia plaque of 4 gold (right) and 2 red squares (left), and 2 code cylinders (1 on each pocket).
Chief Bast first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, where he was portrayed by Leslie Schofield and credited only as "Commander #1." One scene depicting Chief Bast was deleted from the film. In that scene, Bast provides Darth Vader with an update regarding the search for the Death Star plans on Tatooine. Vader tells Bast to send more Imperial forces to Tatooine if they are needed, as he believes finding the Death Star plans is the key to getting Princess Leia to succumb to the pressures of her interrogation aboard the Death Star and reveal the location of the Rebel base. Footage of the scene was used, with its dialogue altered, in 1978 for The Star Wars Holiday Special. The scene was released in 2011 as part of the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray set.
The character's name of Bast originated in 1991 as part of the Star Wars Legends book Death Star Technical Companion, a sourcebook for West End Games. His first name, his importance to the Imperial Army, and his rank of general were mentioned in Star Wars: Card Trader.
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – The Official Collector's Edition
- "" — Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2022
- Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire