"Secret Cargo" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Star Wars Rebels. It is the fifty-fifth episode of the series overall. It was released on March 4, 2017 on Disney XD.
Premise[]
The Ghost crew must escort Senator Mon Mothma, now wanted by the Empire, to a meeting that can change the galaxy.
Synopsis[]
Aboard the Ghost, Ezra, Hera, Zeb and Chopper were hiding among the wreckage of an old Separatists vessel, carrying tanks of fuel for a Rebel ship they were expected to meet with. On Senator Organa's request, the Ghost crew had volunteered to supply their contact with fuel, which was said to be carrying that was essential to the Rebellion. As they waited, they watched a HoloNet News report about Imperial Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila, who had been declared a traitor for speaking out against the Emperor for his rule of tyranny. Suddenly, the Rebels were alerted by an approaching Imperial probe ship piloted by a droid. To avoid detection, they powered the ship down and deactivated Chopper. Ezra manned the nose gun and awaited Hera's orders. They watched as the probe ship flew over them, carefully monitoring its surroundings. They noticed the ship turning around and approaching their position. Possibly scanning for lifeforms, the probe ship shined a light on the Ghost, and the moment the droid spotted Hera the Rebels opened fire. They chased the probe ship through the field of shipwrecks, trying to shoot it before it could report back to the Empire. Unfortunately, the probe ship was moving too fast and there was a lot of debris in the way. However, as they headed out into the open, a Rebel transport accompanied by a squadron of Y-Wings emerged from hyperspace. Eventually, Ezra finally managed to shoot the probe ship and destroyed it, but there was still a chance that it managed to call for reinforcements.
Later, the Ghost docked with the transport and began refueling the fighters. Ezra, Hera and Zeb met Erskin Semaj and Captain Jon Vander, leader of Gold Squadron. Due to security concerns, Ezra, Hera and Zeb were forbidden to make physical contact with their . They were also worried that their encounter with the probe ship might have jeopardized their mission, and were most anxious to get moving. Suddenly, light Imperial cruisers emerged from hyperspace and deployed a squadron of TIE Fighters. The Imperials opened fire on the transport, and Gold Squadron formed up a defensive perimeter with Ezra piloting one of the Y-Wings. Hera and Chopper jettisoned the fuel tanks, but were unable to detach from the Rebel ship. So they went and detach the hatch manually. The transport sustained major damage and lost shielding, forcing the crew to evacuate to the Ghost. Among the crew, was the who happened to be Senator Mothma. Working together, Gold Squadron disabled the Imperial cruisers with ion canons, and after a struggle Mothma successfully detached the Ghost from the transport. The Rebels regrouped and jumped to hyperspace.
Concerned for the senator's safety, Semaj insisted they abandoned the mission and get Mothma to a safe place, but the senator had no intention of hiding and insisted that they proceeded with the mission, which turned out to be a gathering of all the Rebel cells. Senator Mothma and a few others were in the process of building an alliance by uniting all the Rebel cells across the galaxy. It wa essential that Mothma made it to that meeting, but the Empire was out looking for her and would track any ship attempting to leave the system they were in. However, Hera knew a way to sneak Mothma out of the system, and volunteered to get her to the meeting. Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Governor Pryce, and Admiral Konstantine were discussing the recent attack they committed against the Senator's transport. Knowing that she had escaped on board the Ghost, Thrawn deduced that in order to avoid their forces Hera would transport Senator Mothma through the Archeon Nebula. Knowing their capital ships could not enter the nebula, Thrawn had already sent his prototype fighter and their best pilots to hunt down the Rebels and capture Senator Mothma. On Governor Pryce's request, Thrawn permitted her and Admiral Konstantine to take a ship to the far side of the nebula, where they would wait until their fighters flushed the Rebels out into the open. Then they could capture Senator Mothma.
On the way to Dantooine, Senator Mothma had a drink with Hera in the cockpit. The Senator spoke of her life and work in the senate, and how little it had done since the Republic became the Empire. She had come to realize that she can no longer fight in the senate, but perhaps on the front lines. They soon arrived at the Archeon Nebula, as Thrawn predicted. Captain Vander advised everyone to be careful, because there were stars forming inside the nebula and they would burn up if they got too close to one of them. Suddenly, an Imperial cruiser emerged from hyperspace, accompanied by two TIE Interceptors and Thrawn's new prototype TIE Fighter called the TIE Defender. Gold Squadron engaged the fighter, but realize too late that new TIE Defender was armed with heavy cannons and shields. Piloted by Vult Skerris, the Defender took out two of the Y-Wings. The Rebels entered the nebula with the TIEs in pursuit. Vult locked onto Ghost and fired, but Gold Five sacrificed himself by taking the hit. Only the Ghost and two fighters remained. Approaching a forming star, Hera took a daring move in going in close to the star. The TIEs followed, and one by one the TIE Interceptors burnt up. The TIE Defender still stood, and attacked the Ghost. Both ships burnt up, and eventually Vult chickened out. Even though they had sustained severe damage, the Ghost headed out of the nebula while Captain Vander and Ezra held off the Defender. However, upon exiting the nebula two Star Destroyers under the command of Governor Pryce and Admiral Konstantine emerged from hyperspace.
Governor Pryce made contact with the Ghost and ordered Senator Mothma to surrender or die. Mothma pretended to surrender, in order to give Hera some time to think of a plan. Meanwhile, Captain Vander and Ezra re-engaged the Defender, and following Ezra's strategy, Vander successfully disabled the Defender with his ion cannon. Governor Pryce caught the Ghost in a tractor beam, and just when Hera was about to give up Ezra and Vander showed up. Following Hera's orders, the two Y-Wings fired proton torpedoes into the nebula, which ignited the gas inside creating explosions that disabled the two Star Destroyers. The Ghost broke free of the tractor beam, and the three ships escaped to hyperspace. The Rebels made it to Dantooine, and upon entering orbit Senator Mothma began her speech which was heard across galaxy. In her transmission, she expressed her disapproval of the Empire's rule of tyranny, and by uniting all those who oppose she believed they could bring an end to the Empire and restore their Republic. For a moment after asking if they all stood by her side, it was all silent. Then suddenly a fleet of Rebel ships emerged from hyperspace, replying to Mothma's transmission. the forming of the Rebel Alliance had just begun.
Credits[]
Cast[]
- Taylor Gray as Ezra Bridger
- Vanessa Marshall as Hera Syndulla
- Steven Blum as Garazeb Orrelios / Alton Kastle / Probe Droid
- Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma
- Dee Bradley Baker as Kassius Konstantine / Gold Four
- Bonnie Wild as Gold Five
- Yuri Lowenthal as Jon Vander
- Phil LaMarr as Gold Three
- Mary McGlynn as Gold Two / Arihnda Pryce
- Lars Mikkelsen as Thrawn
- Josh Brener as Erskin Semaj
- Mario Vernazza as Vult Skerris
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Genevieve O'Reilly, who portrayed Mon Mothma in Rogue One reprises her role in this episode.
- Genevieve O'Reilly originally portrayed Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith, but most of her scenes were cut from the final film.
- This is the second episode that Kanan Jarrus doesn't appear in.
- This is the third episode that Sabine Wren hasn't appeared in.
- This is the first episode where Ryder Azadi, Jho, and Bail Organa appear but don't speak.
- This is the second episode where Rex and AP-5 appear but don't speak.
- This is the third episode where Jun Sato appears but doesn't speak.
- This is the second episode to feature Vult Skerris.
- This episode marks Jho's last appearance in the series before his death.
- This episode marks Bail Organa's last in-person appearance in the series. He does not appear again until "In the Name of the Rebellion", in which is only a hologram.
- This is the seventh episode to feature Thrawn and the sixth episode to feature Arihnda Pryce.
- In addition, this is the first time Thrawn and Pryce appear in 2 consecutive episodes.
- This episode is the first instance where the turbolaser batteries of any Imperial Star Destroyer have been shown on-screen.
- This is the first appearance of Home One.