Stalker

For other uses, see Stalker (disambiguation).

The Stalker was an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer of the Imperial Navy under the command of Captain Akal Zed.

History[]

The Stalker was originally assigned to search the Outer Rim Territories for new worlds to subjugate,^[10] and would later become part of Moff Andal's fleet patrolling the Elrood sector.^[3]^[9]

It would later be reassigned as part of Darth Vader's Death Squadron, his personal fleet of Star Destroyers that searched for the Alliance High Command headquarters and, more specifically for Vader, the location of Luke Skywalker.^[2]

Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the ship fought Warlord Nuso Esva's forces in the Poln system as part of Death Squadron.^[6]

During Vader's post-Yavin search for Skywalker, the Stalker was one of the ships responsible for launching thousands of Viper probe droids into the far reaches of space to search for the Rebels' new base.^[2]^[10] Alongside another Star Destroyer, the Avenger,^[8] Stalker launched probes to the Allyuen, Tokmia, Hoth, and myriad other star systems.^[11] One of the droids of this operation successfully located Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth.^[8] Soon thereafter, the Stalker joined Death Squadron in its blockade of the planet during the Battle of Hoth. As the Rebellion's escape transports attempted to run the blockade, the Stalker helped to disable at least one of the fugitive ships, the GR-75 medium transport Bright Hope, the final transport to evacuate Hoth.^[7]

In 4 ABY, the Stalker participated in the Battle of Endor.^[2] As part of Death Squadron, the ship survived the battle. Captain Zed refused to obey the new fleet commander, Gilad Pellaeon, and decided to return to the Elrood sector with his ship.^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

The identity of the Star Destroyer that launched the Hoth probe droid has been inconsistent across different Legends sources. "Freedom's Winter," the first episode of the the radio dramatization of The Empire Strikes Back (1983), includes a scene between Captain Lorth Needa and a subordinate to indicate that Needa's ship, the Avenger, launched the probe droid that went on to discover Echo Base.^[13] This dialogue was cut from some versions.^[14] Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back (1989) follows the radio drama and says that the droid was launched from the Avenger. However, the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (1996) contradicted this, introducing the Stalker and identifying it as the ship that launched the droid. The PC program Star Wars: Behind the Magic (1998) and Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy (2004) followed the card game and name the Stalker. Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (also 1998) followed the radio drama and Galaxy Guide in identifying the Avenger. Attempting to clarify the discrepancy, The Essential Atlas (2009) states that both ships were responsible for deploying probe droids without stating which ship is seen in the film.^[8]