Shadow Caster

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The Shadow Caster was a Lancer-class pursuit craft used by the bounty hunter Ketsu Onyo. About four years before the Battle of Yavin, Ketsu used this starship to travel to the planet Garel during an assignment from the Black Sun crime syndicate to obtain the GNK-series power droid EG-86. There, she used the starship to pursue her former classmate Sabine Wren, who had been sent by the Phoenix Squadron to obtain the droid for the rebellion. After fighting, Ketsu and Sabine reconciled and joined forces to escape an Imperial light cruiser by blowing up a GX1 short hauler. Together, they escaped on the Shadow Caster and delivered the droid to rebel forces at Havoc Outpost.

A year later, Ketsu decided to help the rebellion and used the Shadow Caster to clear a passage for the rebel starhip known as the Ghost to dock with the rebel fighter carrier during an Imperial attack on the rebel fleet. Ketsu's actions enabled the rebels to unload fuel supplies which allowed the fighter carrier to refuel and flee to the safe world of Atollon.

Description

The Shadow Caster was a fast, powerful^[2] Lancer-class pursuit craft^[1] that was equipped with two forward laser cannons, a triple laser turret, and a tractor beam projector.^[3] It was also equipped with a deflector shield generator and a hyperdrive.^[2]

History

Shadow Caster Exp Pack box art — The *Shadow Caster*

The Shadow Caster was the personal starship of Ketsu Onyo, a bounty hunter working for the Black Sun crime syndicate. About four years before the Battle of Yavin, she traveled to the Outer Rim world of Garel using the starship. There, she attempted to collect a bounty on the GNK-series power droid EG-86 but instead clashed with her former friend Sabine Wren, who had joined the Spectres, which was part of the rebellion. After Sabine and her astromech droid companion Chopper managed to escape with EG-86 on a stolen GX1 short hauler, Ketsu used the Shadow Caster to pursue them and managed to knock out their hyperdrive. She also blasted their blast door open, causing Chopper to get sucked out into the vacuum of space.^[2]

Ketsu then brought the Shadow Caster face-to-face with Sabine's ship and demanded that she relinquish the droid or she would blast them. While Sabine distracted her with idle chatter, Chopper snuck up from behind and sabotaged the starship's triple laser turrent; preventing Ketsu from opening fire on Sabine. Sabine then took the opportunity to escape but Ketsu managed to capture Chopper with her ship's tractor beam projector. Taking Chopper hostage, she reiterated her demands for EG-86 and threatened to destroy the astromech droid if her demands were not met. The Shadow Caster then docked beside Sabine's stolen ship and extended a docking ring to "negotiate" with Sabine. Following a conversation, Sabine forgave Ketsu and the two former friends reconciled.^[2]

Shortly later, an Imperial light cruiser stumbled upon the two ships and announced its intentions to board them. Sabine then hatched an escape plan which involved overloading the short hauler's hyperdrive while everyone else fled aboard the Shadow Caster. This ruse worked and Ketsu along with Sabine, Chopper, and EG-86 were able to escape on the Shadow Caster before the short hauler exploded and damaged the Imperial cruiser. Ketsu and the rebels then flew the Shadow Caster to Havoc Outpost where they passed EG-86 to an Alderaanian group of rebels that included the astromech droid R2-D2. Having completed their mission, Ketsu dropped off her rebel friends back at Garel before parting company.^[2]

A year later, Ketsu Onyo used the Shadow Caster to assist in the defense of the Phoenix rebel fleet, which had come under attack from Imperial forces under Admiral Kassius Konstantine. When Admiral Konstantine ordered his TIE fighters to stop the Ghost from delivering fuel to the rebel fighter-carrier, Ketsu used the Shadow Caster to clear a path for the Ghost to land and unload its fuel. This enabled the fighter carrier and the rest of the rebel fleet to flee to the planet Atollon, with the help of information from Chopper and his friend, the former Imperial inventory droid AP-5.^[4]