Treasure Trove

"The Treasure Trove has missed it's [sic] rendezvous mark by 36 standard hours."

―Major Bren Derlin

The Treasure Trove was one of thirty Gallofree Yards GR-75 medium transports stationed at the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth by 3 ABY. Under the command of Captain Amm Natejeka, the Treasure Trove was to pick up a shipment of badly needed blaster gas from the Cloud City black market for delivery to the Alliance Fleet regrouping beyond the edge of the galaxy in the wake of the Battle of Hoth. The Treasure Trove never escaped past the Imperial blockade of Hoth, however, crash-landing on a giant planetoid within the Hoth asteroid field, one of seventeen Rebel GR-75 medium transports destroyed during the battle.

Description

The Gallofree Yards GR-75 medium transport Treasure Trove served the Rebel Alliance's transport fleet. Measuring ninety meters in length, the transport was minimally armed with laser cannons and was equipped with sublight drive. The Treasure Trove's command pod contained at least one escape pod, while the transport had a single airlock. Cargo bays comprised the lower portion of the Treasure Trove's hull.

History

Battle of Hoth

"This is your mission that you must complete immediately. Head to the coordinates enclosed on this datapad, under file v22358. There, you are [sic] establish contact with the black market of this mining colony, and acquire a cargo of spin-sealed tibanna gas. A landing platform is also enclosed. The second set of coordinates are for our rendezvous point, which you must make within five days."

―General Carlist Rieekan's datapad message to Captain Amm Natejeka, Treasure Trove

The Treasure Trove was a product of Gallofree Yards, a starship manufacturer that went bankrupt several years before the Battle of Yavin. Many of Gallofree's remaining transports, the Treasure Trove included, eventually found their way into the service of the Rebel Alliance. The Rebellion acquired these outdated transports at significantly reduced prices, but their affordability translated to a good deal of constant upkeep. By the year 3 ABY, amidst the Galactic Civil War, the Treasure Trove came to number among the Rebellion's fleet of thirty GR-75 medium transports stationed at Echo Base, the Alliance High Command headquarters on the remote ice planet Hoth. During its service with Alliance High Command, the Treasure Trove fell under the command of Captain Amm Natejeka.

When the Galactic Empire invaded Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth, the Rebel evacuation plan called for each GR-75 medium transport to attempt a blockade run through the line of Imperial-class Star Destroyers in Hoth's orbit under dual starfighter escort and the protective covering fire of the base's v-150 Planet Defender ion cannon. Just prior to the evacuation, General Carlist Rieekan, theater commander of all Rebel forces in the Hoth system, tasked Natejeka with taking the Treasure Trove to the nearby Bespin system following its departure from Hoth, where she would make contact with the black market of Cloud City in order to procure a cargo of spin-sealed Tibanna gas, or blaster gas, which the Alliance Fleet desperately needed to supply its ships. After doing so, Natejeka was required to deliver the shipment via the Treasure Trove to the Alliance Fleet at the Rebels' predetermined rendezvous point beyond the Galactic Rim within five days. Rieekan provided the Treasure Trove with a landing permit for Cloud City.

The Treasure Trove never made it out of the Hoth system. The absence of the transport, which had missed its rendezvous mark by thirty-six standard hours, greatly troubled Rieekan and Major Bren Derlin, both of whom anxiously awaited the expected delivery of the valuable blaster gas. However, the Treasure Trove's starfighter escort did safely arrive at the Fleet, reporting that the transport may have been lost among the Hoth asteroid field. With the Fleet's supply of blaster gas running perilously low, Rieekan dispatched a team of special agents in the YL-2200 light freighter Out Runner to find and rescue the crew of the missing Treasure Trove.

Missing among the asteroids

Following the transport's transponder code, the Rebel agents eventually located the crippled Treasure Trove lining the small crater of a giant asteroid on the edge of the Hoth belt. The transport's central command pod and upper hull remained intact, but the Treasure Trove's ventral cargo pods had been completely blown away, and its drive system was blackened and badly damaged. A quick sensor scan revealed to the agents a single lifeform in the command pod.

The agents boarded the Treasure Trove and found the command pod dimly lit via emergency power with only faint gravity remaining. A vacuum leak had frozen what little air remained, leaving condensed water vapor on bulkhead frames. The agents soon discovered Natejeka, the lone survivor, lying in a damaged and still-docked escape pod, dying from grievous injuries and exposure, and holding a datapad. She died immediately thereafter, but the agents learned from the datapad's contents of the Treasure Trove's mission to acquire the badly needed blaster gas.

The Treasure Trove's wreck also attracted the Imperial-affiliated bounty hunter Chreeto the Defiant, who chased the Rebel agents away from the crash site, failing to capture them. Although the Treasure Trove went down as one of seventeen Rebel GR-75 medium transports destroyed during the Battle of Hoth, the Rebel agents successfully completed the transport's mission by acquiring the blaster gas from Cloud City and delivering the shipment to the Alliance Fleet.

Commanders and crew

The Treasure Trove's commanding officer during the Battle of Hoth was the Human female Captain Amm Natejeka. Natejeka failed General Carlist Rieekan's directive to deliver a shipment of blaster gas to the Alliance Fleet, dying from her wounds and exposure to space in the transport's command pod after the Treasure Trove was all but destroyed during its unsuccessful evacuation from Hoth.

Behind the scenes

The Treasure Trove makes its only canonical appearance in the 1996 second edition of the West End Games sourcebook Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back as part of a special roleplaying supplement entitled Freedom No More, written by author Pablo Hidalgo. The Treasure Trove sets the stage for the roleplaying adventure, in which the players must complete the transport's mission by visiting the Hoth asteroid field and Cloud City during the time frame paralleling the events in the film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.

Appearances

• "Freedom No More" – Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, Second Edition (First appearance)