Star Wars: The Last Jedi introduced a Rebel base on Crait – and it was one of Alderaan’s best kept secrets. The Resistance suffered a terrible blow in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, taken by surprise when the First Order proved able to track them through hyperspace. This meant they were unable to escape the First Order, who were able to simply wait while one ship after another ran out of fuel, and then pick them off.
A desperate Leia Organa led the survivors of the Resistance to the planet Crait. Situated in the Outer Rim, this remote and inhospitable world had apparently once been home to a Rebel cell, and Leia correctly deduced it could have facilities left behind that would allow the Resistance to survive. Now, Lucasfilm has finally confirmed the true origin of the Rebel base on Crait – and it turns out this was Alderaan’s best-kept secret.
Alderaan had always considered itself a peaceful planet, and it was bereft of weapons even during the Clone Wars and the Dark Times that followed Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. But Alderaan’s ruler, Bail Organa, was actually a prominent figure in the nascent Rebel Alliance. According to the Star Wars Squadrons game, Organa personally established one of the first Rebel cells on Crait, and a unit called “Colima Squadron” used it as a base to fly out and sabotage Imperial outposts across the galaxy. As peaceful as Alderaan may have been, its wealth funded at least one Rebel cell, and probably others. If the Empire suspected, that would neatly explain why they were willing to use Alderaan as an example of the Death Star’s power.
Claudia Grey’s excellent novel Leia: Princess of Alderaan reveals isolated Crait played a key role in the history of the galaxy. Colima Squadron conducted an attack on Calderos Station, an Imperial facility in the Mid-Rim that monitored shipping throughout the area. It was a surgical strike, removing a major Imperial presence in the area that could potentially have identified shipments being taken to Crait, but Bail Organa’s adopted daughter Leia was able to figure it out and track the insurgents to their base. On Crait, Leia confronted her father and learned the truth about Alderaan’s involvement with the Rebellion. She decided to commit herself to the same cause – and the fate of the galaxy was changed forever.
Unfortunately, the Star Wars: The Storms of Crait one-shot reveals the base was taken over by an old acquaintance of Bail’s after his death, Trusk Berinato. He turned Crait into a mining facility but began working with the Empire. The Rebels were ultimately forced to abandon Crait, although interestingly Star Wars Squadrons suggests the secretive Colima Squadron continued to operate from there. In the end, though, when peace came to the galaxy, Crait was abandoned – until it proved important once again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
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