This Imperial scout was a member of the Galactic Empire Exploratory Division and the person who rediscovered the lost planet Seoul 5. A short time before the Galactic Civil War, the scout was on a mission for the Galactic Empire when his scout ship was hit by a meteor just as he was entering hyperspace. The collision threw his craft off course, and he arrived in a distant star system. After landing on one of the habitable planets, the scout began to explore an abandoned city on the world, recognizing the settlement as a Seoularian outpost. Following further exploration, the scout discovered an underground room with a cache of Seoularian crystals that had been used to power the city. Planning to return to the planet later to make a more thorough gathering of the artifacts in the city, the scout only took one of the crystals back to Imperial space with him. However, before he could accumulate enough resources to purchase a larger starship and return to the world, the Galactic Civil War began, and the scout was unable to make the trip back.
Following the Battle of Endor, the scout was present on a backwater world, where he had taken to gambling as a means of fulfilling his dream of returning to the discovered world. At the same time, Han Solo and his copilot Chewbacca were on the same world playing their own chances. The scout, seeing his chance to win a large ship from the smuggler, decided to wager his crystal and a holomap to the Seoul 5 system against Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. The scout was confident that his hand would win him the ship, but Solo beat the scout and took the crystal from him. Although the scout claimed that Solo had cheated and pulled his blaster pistol on the smuggler, Solo avoided the attack and escaped from the gambling den with the holomap and the crystal.
The Imperial scout discovers the crystal control room.
Sometime before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War, this scout was part of the Empire's Exploratory Division. On the way back from one of his scouting missions, his scout ship was hit by a meteor right before he was about to enter hyperspace. His hyperdrive transported him to a distant star system. His instruments showed the fifth planet in the system to be habitable, and he put down for repairs. After leaving his service droid to finish his repairs, the scout decided to scout a nearby city. The city had been completely abandoned, but the scout recognized the buildings as Seoularian due to his having been previously garrisoned on a world with Seoularian ruins.
After exploring the surrounding area, the scout discovered the crystal control room, the power station to the city that contained a vast supply of Seoularian crystals. Intending to return to the planet to take possession of the wide variety of artifacts in the preserved city, the scout only took one crystal with him, the key crystal, which powered the other crystals. The scout returned to Imperial space, but before he could find time to return with a larger ship, the Galactic Civil War began. As a result, the scout was unable to accumulate enough resources to invest in a larger ship and return to Seoul 5.
The Imperial scout has the tables turned on him.
Even after the Battle of Endor and the death of the Emperor, the scout had still not been able to mount a return trip to the distant planet. He eventually found himself in a tavern on an outlaw world in a backwater sector of the galaxy. While there, he began to gamble in an effort to obtain enough resources to achieve his dream. However, one skilled gambler, Han Solo, began to clear out everyone in the house. Believing that he could beat the smuggler on one last hand, the scout told Solo his story, trying to convince him to wager his ship, the Millennium Falcon, against his key crystal and a holomap to the Seoul 5 system.
Solo remained unconvinced, but the scout demonstrated the abilities of the key crystal to boost mental power. After the scout threw Solo's copilot Chewbacca across the room using the key crystal, Solo agreed to one more hand. The Imperial scout played his final hand, a Full System, one of the best hands in the game, and prepared to take his winnings, as the chance of beating his hand was astronomically low. However, Solo had beaten the odds, and his hand beat that of the Imperial scout. Appalled by Solo's unbeatable luck, the scout pulled his blaster pistol on the smuggler, claiming that his opponent had obviously cheated. Before he could fire on Solo, Chewbacca upended the table, throwing the scout to the floor and disarming him. However, the mention of a cheat caused the rest of the gambling hall to take notice, and they decided to punish Solo for "cheating" them out of their money. In the shoot-out that followed, Solo and Chewbacca escaped the tavern back to their ship, with the key crystal and the holomap safe in hand.
This Imperial scout had a hot temper, and he was quick to lose his cool, yelling at those who had wronged him. When Solo questioned him about his story on the discovery of Seoul 5, the scout yelled at the smuggler for daring to deny the veracity of his tale. Likewise, when Solo was able to beat him in a card game, taking his most prized possession, the scout proclaimed Solo to be a cheater and pulled his weapon while in the gambling hall.
Although the Imperial scout proved resourceful during his discovery of Seoul 5, he found himself unable to make the return trip following the advent of the Galactic Civil War. He had resorted to gambling to fulfill his dream of returning to his discovery rather than trying to obtain the funds through legitimate means.
The Imperial scout was created by Roy Richardson for use in Star Wars 84. The character remained unnamed in the comic, but he served as the impetus behind sending Han Solo and Chewbacca to Seoul 5. By the end of the comic the scout's whereabouts are left unexplored. The Imperial scout was penciled by David Mazzucchelli and colored by Tom Palmer.