Rescue of Tseebo

During the Age of the Empire, the Galactic Empire seized control of the Outer Rim planet Lothal. Ephraim and [Mira Bridger](/article/mira_bridger], two Lothal citizens, broadcast rebellious messages opposing Imperial rule. Tseebo, a friend of the Bridgers, urged them to stop, but they ignored his warnings. Consequently, the Empire imprisoned the Bridgers. Overwhelmed by guilt for failing to protect his friends and their son, Ezra Bridger, who was left to fend for himself on Lothal, Tseebo joined the Imperial Information Office. He volunteered to receive an AJ^6 cyborg construct, attached to the back of his head, designed to enhance productivity. Fifteen years following the Empire's rise to power, Tseebo downloaded Imperial secrets into the headpiece and defected, seeking refuge in the Bridgers' former residence on Lothal. Motivated by a desire to atone for betraying his friends, he intended to use the secrets. However, the information overload from the headpiece caused mental instability, leading to periods of lucidity and confusion. The Empire, aware of the critical nature of the secrets in his head, launched a widespread search for Tseebo across Lothal.

By this time, Ezra Bridger had become a Jedi Padawan and a member of the Spectre rebels. They operated from the starship Ghost, fighting against the Empire on Lothal. During the Empire Day celebrations in 4 BBY, marking the Empire's fifteenth anniversary, the Empire held a parade in Capital City. The parade showcased various military vehicles, including an experimental TIE fighter, along with officers and soldiers. The rebels planted a thermal detonator on the fighter, destroying it in a bold attack. This prompted the Empire to deploy a significant military force to apprehend them. The rebels fled into the streets of Lothal, pursued by Imperial stormtroopers, Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau, and the Jedi hunter known as the Grand Inquisitor.

Bridger led two of his fellow rebels—rebel leader Kanan Jarrus and Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren—to his childhood home, intending to use it as a safe haven. It was there that they found Tseebo hiding from the Empire. Bridger was unhappy to see his parents' old friend, as the Rodian served as a painful reminder of his losses. Wren examined Tseebo's headpiece, discovering a wealth of Imperial data, including information on new weapons, starfighters, military schedules, strategies, and a five-year plan for the Empire's expansion in the Outer Rim Territories. Jarrus recognized the critical importance of this information to their rebellion, leading the rebels to decide to extract Tseebo from Lothal and secure his safety.

The rebels, with Tseebo in their company, departed the safe house. To clear a path out of the city, Jarrus and Wren ambushed a group of Imperial soldiers and commandeered an Imperial Troop Transport. Meanwhile, Bridger guided Tseebo through the city streets and into the transport. The vehicle proceeded towards the city's edge, where Imperial forces, led by Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko, had established a checkpoint to prevent unauthorized departures. The attacked troops reported the theft of the transport, prompting Agent Kallus to order Aresko to prevent its passage. However, Aresko and his forces were unable to stop it, despite firing blasters and All Terrain Defense Pods at the vehicle. Wren, who was piloting the transport, remained determined and drove it directly through the checkpoint, out of the city, destroying another ITT and an AT-DP in the process.

The Empire pursued the stolen transport with two speeder bikes and a Troop Transport carrying Agent Kallus. During the chase, Kallus contacted the Grand Inquisitor to inform him of the rebels' breach of the main gates. The Grand Inquisitor, accompanied by several TIE fighter pilots, boarded his TIE fighter, suspecting that the Ghost would be waiting to rendezvous with its crew. As the Grand Inquisitor prepared to pursue them, Kallus' forces attacked the rebels to slow them down. An Imperial combat driver detonated an explosive charge on the transport's door, creating an opening for a trooper to board. He discovered Tseebo inside before Jarrus intervened. The Jedi used the Force to push the trooper off the vehicle, causing him to crash into the second speeder.

Kallus's transport fired on the rebels as it approached, allowing Kallus to leap from one vehicle to the other. The Ghost, piloted by Captain Hera Syndulla, arrived just as Kallus reached the top of the stolen transport. Lasat Honor Guardsman and rebel crew member Garazeb Orrelios fired upon the ISB agent. The Imperial craft turned its laser turret towards the Ghost, but the freighter's shields withstood the attack. The rebel astromech droid Chopper used the Ghost's weapons to fire on the Imperial transport, causing it to flip over and crash. Kallus was also knocked off the stolen transport after being hit by Orrelios's fire. However, the ISB agent clung to the back of the craft as the rebels began to exit and board the Ghost for a mid-air rescue. Kallus managed to climb back onto the transport in time to see Tseebo in the company of the rebels, but he was unable to prevent their escape. He contacted the Grand Inquisitor again, informing him that Tseebo was aboard the Ghost. The Grand Inquisitor then led four other pilots in pursuit of the escaping starship.

Syndulla set a course for space while Jarrus and Chopper manned the ship's blaster turrets. A direct hit from the Inquisitor damaged the ship and disabled Chopper's circuits. Syndulla initiated countermeasures to evade the ongoing attack and ordered Chopper to man the rear guns. With Chopper incapacitated, Orrelios took over the station, and Syndulla executed her maneuver. They evaded further fire, and Orrelios destroyed one of the TIE fighters. However, four newly arrived fighters joined the attack. The Inquisitor ordered his forces to open fire and disable the Ghost's shields, which they succeeded in doing after several more volleys. The Ghost was left vulnerable to further attack, and the situation worsened with the arrival of two Star Destroyers, including the Relentless. Knowing the Ghost would likely escape, the Inquisitor fired a tracking device onto the ship, which landed on the attached attack shuttle Phantom. Bridger worked to repair the damaged navigation computer as eight more TIE fighters approached the ship, but he was unable to fix it. Instead, Tseebo entered the cockpit and directly inputted coordinates into the ship, enabling the Ghost to escape into hyperspace.

The Inquisitor traveled to the Relentless to confer with its commanding officer, Admiral Kassius Konstantine, who confirmed the placement of the tracking device. Meanwhile, the Ghost crew addressed the damage to their ship, including the damaged Chopper, and discussed their next steps with Tseebo. Jarrus sought Bridger's opinion, given his history with Tseebo, but Bridger initially refused to engage in the discussion, dismissing the idea that Tseebo mattered to him. Although Bridger remained angry with Tseebo for failing to protect his parents, he learned from Wren that the Rodian had voluntarily undergone the implant procedure to atone for what happened to Mira and Ephraim. Tseebo proved to be of further assistance when his headpiece detected the presence of a tracker on the hull. The now-functional Chopper scanned the ship and located the tracker on the shuttle Phantom. Despite the risks involved, Jarrus devised a plan to detach the Phantom from the Ghost while in hyperspace and take the shuttle to Fort Anaxes, an asteroid base used by the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Bridger and Jarrus would proceed to the asteroid base to draw the Inquisitor away from the Ghost, while Syndulla and the remaining crew members would deliver Tseebo to "Fulcrum"—the codename for a rebel intelligence operative who was, in reality, Commander Ahsoka Tano.

Bridger, still unwilling to speak to Tseebo despite Wren's encouragement to forgive him, soon departed with Jarrus aboard the Phantom. The shuttle detached from the ship and was pulled out of hyperspace, briefly tumbling through realspace before Jarrus stabilized the shuttle and set a course for Fort Anaxes. The Inquisitor sensed their change in location through the Force, which Konstantine confirmed by reporting that the tracker had detected the ship's exit from hyperspace. At the Inquisitor's command, the Relentless initiated a pursuit course and headed towards the asteroid field.

Jarrus landed the shuttle inside the abandoned clone base, which was infested with dangerous creatures called fyrnocks. These creatures, previously encountered by the rebels during a visit to Fort Anaxes, were part of Jarrus's strategy. He instructed Bridger, whom he had been training to connect with animals through the Force, to establish a connection with the fyrnocks and calm them while Jarrus removed the tracker from the ship. Bridger attempted to make the connection, but his own fears prevented him from doing so—not fears about the creatures themselves, but the fear of discovering the truth about what happened to his parents. Overwhelmed by emotion, Bridger finally forgave Tseebo, which the Rodian sensed through the Force. With his fears overcome, Bridger calmed the creatures, eliminating the threat they posed to the two Jedi.

Meanwhile, the Ghost rendezvoused and docked with Fulcrum's ship. Syndulla escorted Tseebo to the airlock, where his mind had cleared after sensing Bridger's forgiveness. Unsure if he would see the boy again, Tseebo revealed to Syndulla what had happened to Bridger's parents: they were alive but were prisoners of the Empire. Tseebo was then transferred to Fulcrum, whose people would be able to help him manage the information overload within his implant.

Following the tracking device's signal, the Grand Inquisitor arrived at Fort Anaxes on an Imperial shuttle accompanied by several stormtroopers. The Inquisitor ordered the troopers to contain the two Jedi, as he wanted to capture them alive. The troopers entered the base, preparing to surround the rebels. Upon entering, the soldiers found the two Jedi silently meditating, with the fyrnocks calmly standing behind them. The Inquisitor sensed something through the Force, but it was too late—the two Jedi unleashed the fyrnocks on the stormtroopers. The Inquisitor, unimpressed by their plan, ignited his lightsaber, as did Jarrus, and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel.

The Inquisitor gained the upper hand during their duel. Jarrus even grabbed his own blaster mid-fight and attempted to shoot the Jedi hunter. The Inquisitor disarmed him, however, and used the Force to send Jarrus crashing into the wall of the base, knocking him unconscious. Bridger, who had continued meditating with the fyrnocks, sensed his master was in danger and took Jarrus' lightsaber to fight the Inquisitor. However, the Inquisitor swiftly used the Force to snatch the weapon from the boy's hand. The Jedi hunter used the Force to hurl the young Padawan backward, and Bridger nearly fell into a deep pit at the edge of the base. Filled with anger and fear over the Inquisitor's threats to kill Jarrus and the rest of his friends, Bridger unknowingly tapped into the dark side of the Force and connected with a giant fyrnock from within the pit. The massive creature emerged, and the boy commanded it to attack the Inquisitor. In doing so, Bridger was overwhelmed and collapsed.

Jarrus attended to his apprentice while the Inquisitor battled the giant fyrnock. Bridger regained consciousness but had no memory of what had transpired, only a feeling of cold. The two Jedi escaped—with Jarrus's lightsaber, which the Inquisitor had dropped—while the Inquisitor continued to fight the fyrnock, and the smaller creatures distracted the stormtroopers. The Inquisitor scared the giant fyrnock away and threw his lightsaber towards Jarrus and Bridger, but Jarrus deflected it back. The two Jedi boarded the Phantom, and Jarrus piloted it out of the base. As he did so, he used its turrets to destroy the Imperial shuttle before leaving the asteroid.

Bridger was shaken by his experience on Fort Anaxes, having never before confronted the consequences of the dark side. He initially kept to himself. Jarrus and Syndulla agreed to keep the truth about his parents a secret until he was ready. Eventually, he rejoined the crew's normal activities. However, Jarrus remained concerned about his Padawan's dalliance with the dark side on the asteroid. He needed to ensure that the boy was prepared to continue on the Jedi path. He discovered the existence of a Jedi Temple on Lothal and brought Bridger to the ancient Jedi structure. There, the Padawan was sent in alone to confront the fears that had led him to briefly flirt with the dark side of the Force.

Inside the Jedi Temple, Bridger encountered visions of the Grand Inquisitor murdering his friends, whom he now considered his new family. This helped him realize that his fear was not of dying, but of losing those he cared about and being abandoned once again. Bridger then heard the voice of Yoda, the former Grand Master of the Jedi Order, who guided Bridger from afar into a chamber deep within the temple. Once there, he asked the boy why he wished to become a Jedi. Bridger initially felt anger towards the Empire, but he admitted that his true motivation was to help others. Yoda told him that despite the challenging path ahead, Bridger possessed the potential to become a Jedi. The boy was granted a kyber crystal to construct his own lightsaber, a traditional rite of passage for a Jedi.

One year later, Bridger learned from Syndulla what Tseebo had revealed about the Bridgers' fate: they were imprisoned by the Empire. Although he had a vision of his parents in Imperial custody, it was too late to save them. He soon discovered that they had been killed during a prison break intended to liberate themselves and their fellow inmates.

The Tseebo rescue operation served as the foundation for the November 2014 episodes "Empire Day" and "Gathering Forces," which were part of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. Henry Gilroy wrote "Empire Day," and Steven G. Lee directed it. Greg Weisman, the executive producer, wrote "Gathering Forces," and Steward Lee directed it. In the original story outline, a character named Cob Tier, a human friend of the Bridger family, would have facilitated the reunion between Ezra Bridger and Tseebo. However, this element was removed as the story evolved, and the character was merged with Tseebo.