Evacuation of Paucris Major

While investigating her parents' involvement with the rebellion in 3 BBY, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan discovered the construction of a fleet at Paucris Major. Some months later, in her capacity as a senatorial aide to her father, Bail Organa, and as a member of the Apprentice Legislature, she was summoned to a meeting with Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Tarkin, suspicious of the Organas, mentioned Paucris among other systems where the Galactic Empire aimed to establish "peace." Leia understood this to mean the Empire suspected rebel activity there. She attempted to contact her father, but he was away from Coruscant. With Bail unavailable, Leia contacted Chandrilan Senator Mon Mothma, another rebel leader, and her mother, Queen Breha Organa, informing them of the Empire's knowledge of Paucris Major. Mothma tasked Leia with warning the rebels on Paucris. As the royal Alderaanian yacht, the Polestar, was on Alderaan, Leia needed to charter alternative transport. Mothma provided her with an untraceable credit solid for payment. Before departing, Leia contacted Kier Domadi, with whom she had planned to meet, to inform him of her urgent trip to Paucris, promising to reconnect soon.

Finding a ship for covert transport proved challenging for Leia. However, she encountered fellow Apprentice Legislators Chassellon Stevis and Amilyn Holdo, who were trying to hire the freighter Mighty Oak Apocalypse for a speeder auction on Arkanis. Holdo, aware of Leia's rebel ties, convinced Stevis to stay behind, and she and Leia chartered the Moa to Pamarthe. On planet Pamarthe, an intense storm threatened to ground all ships, making it difficult for the girls to find onward transport to the Paucris system. However, Leia spotted a Chalhuddan vessel. The Chalhuddan leader, Occo Quentto, owed Leia a favor from a past relief mission to Chal Hudda where she delivered vaccines. She called in this favor for passage to Paucris Major.

Upon Leia and Holdo's arrival at Paucris, escorted by Chalhuddan ships sent by Quentto, no Imperial vessels were detected. Leia signaled the leader of the Paucris rebel base, and her father, Bail, responded. Initially, Bail was displeased with Leia's presence, until she informed him of the impending Imperial arrival, sent by Breha and Mothma. Bail immediately ordered the evacuation and instructed Leia to meet him on the Tantive IV.

Leia and Holdo boarded the Tantive IV from the Chalhuddan ship, where they were greeted by Bail. He explained that the fleet contingent at Paucris was being dispersed, and the orbital repair stations would self-destruct before the final convoy departed. Leia requested a shuttle for her and Holdo's return to Coruscant, to avoid implicating the Chalhuddans with the rebellion. They were provided with a small, civilian-looking hopper.

Aboard the hopper, Leia and Holdo awaited the departure of the other ships. Leia charted a course for Baltizaar, as a direct return to Coruscant would be risky. As the last ships jumped to hyperspace, Holdo alerted Leia to the arrival of another vessel: a nondescript cutter approaching the repair stations. Leia attempted to identify the ship and realized with horror that it was being piloted by Domadi, the only individual besides the rebels and the Empire aware of the Paucris system. She tried to warn Domadi about the impending self-destruct of the orbital stations, but the warning came too late. Domadi's ship was severely damaged by the detonation's shockwave.

Leia and Holdo approached Domadi's ship in their hopper and docked. Upon boarding, they discovered that the ship's artificial gravity generator was offline. They eventually found Domadi in the cockpit, mortally wounded. With his last breaths, he confessed to following her to the Paucris system, gathering information about the rebellion with the intention of handing it over to the Empire to protect Alderaan and Leia. He requested that Leia give him the memory rod containing the data before he passed away. Leia left the rod on Domadi's ship but took his body aboard the hopper. Domadi's ship was left to burn up during reentry into Paucris Major's atmosphere, destroying the evidence he had collected.

The rebel ships at Paucris successfully evacuated. Upon Leia and Holdo's arrival at Alderaan in the hopper, an Imperial ship contacted them, stating that their vessel's ionization levels suggested travel to a system under investigation. Using her knowledge of astrology, Holdo claimed that the hopper had just returned from the Shili system, whose sun had near-identical ionization levels to that of Paucris Major. Holdo then secured the Imperial officer's approval by emphasizing her astrological interests and eccentric personality. Leia was deeply saddened by Domadi's death and required time to recover. His parents were informed that he had died saving Leia during a small-craft accident in Alderaan's upper atmosphere. Back on Coruscant, Leia was contacted again by Tarkin, who made his suspicions of the Organas evident.