Onyx Cinder

For other uses, see Onyx and Cinder.

Don't you ever want to do anything exciting?

Warning! This page contains spoilers from Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Caution is advised.

"This ship is the Onyx Cinder. You don't appreciate how incredible this is. Tak Rennod's the most infamous pirate the galaxy's ever known. For years, he roamed the skies, plundering, terrorizing whole star systems. Anything he wanted… he took it. The story goes, he was after the treasure of At Attin aboard the mysterious ship the Onyx Cinder when he just… disappeared. Crew, ship. All."

―Jod Na Nawood^[5]

The Onyx Cinder was a Galactic Republic starship utilized for credit chip transportation in a Republic mint. At some point, it was stolen by the notorious pirate Tak Rennod. Based in Skull Ridge Mountain on the planet Lanupa, Rennod ruled the spacelanes for years, and ultimately used it to bypass the Barrier of the mint planet At Attin, but the mission resulted in the death of the entire crew after a mutiny and the Cinder became buried in a forest. The only surviving crew member was the droid SM-33.

In 9 ABY, a youngling called Wim discovered it and, together with three children called Neel, Fern and KB, investigated the ship but they accidentally activated its engines and hyperdrive and jumped into hyperspace. The group of kids then forged an alliance with SM-33 and a Force-sensitive man called Jod Na Nawood to find their way back home and avoid a band of pirates led by Captain Brutus.^[3]

Description[]

Jod Na Nawood: "Now then, which of these ships is yours?"

Wim: "Uh, well… Okay, I think you should know that our ship, it—it's—"

Fern: "He's trying to tell you it's a wreck, but he's too embarrassed."

KB: "Technically, it shouldn't fly."

Neel: "It smells funny."

Nawood: "Well, can't smell as bad as—[notices the Onyx Cinder] Wait. Not that?"

―Jod Na Nawood, Wim, Fern, KB, and Neel^[3]

Onyx Cinder cockpit — The cockpit of the *Onyx Cinder*

The Onyx Cinder was a medium-sized starship similar to a light freighter with a chrome-colored hull. It had a hyperdrive and four engines located at the rear that could be rotated for 90 degrees for landing. The front of the ship was covered with a black-colored hull sleeve with four white stripes and two additional engines^[6] which gave it the appearance of an older, damaged starship;^[3] this could be fully blown off using the emergency hull demolition sequencer.^[6] The Cinder was also equipped with four extendable landing legs, an entry ramp and two dorsal laser cannon turrets. The hull sleeve contained two additional laser cannons that were larger than the dorsal ones, as well as one mounted on the side of the cockpit.^[3]

Its cockpit had a big window at the front and two other different sized windows at its sides and two seats.^[1] The ship was equipped with ^[3] By around 9 ABY,^[7] the Onyx Cinder was almost completely buried in dirt, roots grew from its overhead and small animals lived in it. SM-33 had become corroded and decrepit, walking with a limp as the result of the loss of his left foot. The skeletal remains of two individuals were found in a compartment, one pinned to a bulkhead by a knife in its chest.^[1] Despite its bulky appearance, the Onyx Cinder was quite maneuverable, able to evade and outrun pursuers.^[3]

History[]

Infiltrating the mint[]

"Aye, that was Captain Rennod's genius! Stealin' one of the Mint's own ships so he could fly it safely back through!"

―SM-33^[4]

The Onyx Cinder originally belonged to the Galactic Republic, being utilized as the transport for one of its hidden credit chip mints. As such, it was uniquely able to bypass the protective Barrier enveloping planets like At Attin and At Achrann, which normally destroyed any starships attempting to pass through. At some point, legendary pirate Tak Rennod, researching the legend of the "treasure planet" At Attin discovered its nature as a Republic mint and stole the Cinder to penetrate its defenses and infiltrate the planet.^[4] Rennod up-armored the ship^[5] with an additional hull sleeve and extra engines and weapons^[6] and hired a well-trained pirate crew for the mission, making sure to record his plans in his captain's log in Skull Ridge Mountain. After leaving his lair behind, he, his First Mate SM-33 and his crew made for At Attin, successfully going through the barrier but crash-landing on the surface. A mutiny followed, during which Rennod killed his entire crew but was fatally wounded by his concubine and perished, leaving SM-33 trapped inside the upside-down wreckage for years.^[5]

Re-discovery by the Skeleton Crew[]

In 9 ABY,^[7] a child from At Attin, Wim, discovered the entrance to the Cinder buried in the forest while taking a short-cut to his school. Believing it to be the gate to a Jedi Temple, Wym took his friend Neel there later to dig it out; they were however followed by Fern and KB who called "claimsies" on the door, promising to leave whatever was inside for the boys in exchange for digging the entrance out. The boys reluctantly complied, and the group entered the Cinder. The door was however locked behind them, forcing them to look for a power source to re-open it. KB found one of the Cinder's engines, realizing that the structure was in fact a spaceship, and asking the kids not to touch anything. However Wim had already found the cockpit and pressed the start button, causing the ship's engines to ignite, righting it and lifting off. Despite the kids; attempts to stop it, the ship took off and jumped to hyperspace.^[1]

Upon exiting hyperspace far away from At Attin, the kids panicked, not knowing how to return. At this point, SM-33 appeared, having been reactivated along with the ship. After initially attempting to attack the kids due to perceiving them as infiltrators to Tak Rennod's ship, he was convinced by Fern that she had in fact been the one who killed him, causing the droid to recognize her as the new rightful captain of the ship. Fern then ordered SM-33 to return the ship to At Attin; having been ordered by Rennod not to reveal its location to anyone, SM-33 claimed he couldn't say he had heard of the place and pointed out the need for the ship to be repaired due to sustaining heavy damages from years of abandonment. Following his advice, the kids had 33 fly the ship to the shadowport Borgo Prime, where the ship was docked and the kids disembarked to find directions to At Attin. After briefly being kidnapped by Silvo's pirates due to revealing their old Republic credits in a cantina,^[8] the kids were able to escape back to the ship with SM-33 and fellow prisoner Jod Na Nawood.^[3]

Adventures with Nawood[]

Nawood took the kids' claims about At Attin seriously, having heard of the treasure planet legend himself, and agreed to take the kids home as long as he was rewarded for his actions with part of the planet's treasure. To find the coordinates of the planet, Nawood took the kids to the Observatory Moon to meet with astronomer Kh'ymm. While she managed to discover the coordinates of another Jewel of the Old Republic, At Achrann, thanks to the kids' descriptions of their home, Kh'ymm also called in a New Republic patrol suspecting that Jod had kidnapped the kids. The patrol's T-65B X-wing starfighters engaged the Cinder, trying to force it to land without harming the kids, but Jod had Fern and Wim man the turrets and fire back. In the ensuing battle, the Skeleton Crew managed to damage one of the two starfighters and jump to At Achrann.^[3]

After arriving and landing in At Achrann, the kids had SM-33 keep Nawood to the ship and went out to explore. The starship was however discovered by a Hattan patrol, forcing Nawood to spend all of the kids' credits he had previously stolen to buy their eopiees and rescue the kids from the Troik. While on the planet, the Skeleton Crew and Jod discovered SM-33's programming about not revealing At ttin to anyone, as well as his backstory with Rennod,^[9] realizing that the coordinates for the treasure planet could only be on Rennod's lair under the Skullridge Mountain.^[5] The Crew arrived at Lanupa, but to SM-33's surprise the mountain had been turned into a luxury hotel, which didn't allow any children in the premises. Rennod took over, pretending that the Cinder was the transport of the Wise Elders of the Bratric system and dressing the kids accordingly.^[5]

A new ship[]

Nawood: "I claim this ship. I claim the Onyx Cinder. I am the captain of this ship and you all take orders from me."

Fern: "I call unclaimsies!"

Nawood: "What?"

Fern: "I call unclaimsies and claim it for kids only! 33, take these pirates off our ship."

Nawood: "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. [SM-33 punches Jod in the face]'"

SM-33: "Aye, but it be close enough!"

―Jod Na Nawood, Fern and SM-33^[4]

The crew then made their way to Rennod's lair under the mountain, pursued by Nawood's old crew which had been alerted by Pokkit. Inside the lair they found Rennod's treasure and log, containing the coordinates to At Attin, at which point Rennod used his right to challenge Fern's captainship, forcing her to surrender and taking over the Onyx Cinder as its captain.^[5] Before he could escape with it however he was detained by Gunter and taken prisoner on board his frighate. Abandoned on the hangar, the Cinder was taken by the hotel crew to be scrapped in the trash fields by a massive scrapper barge. The kids were able to reach the ship on time and KB toom over the controls while Wim went to the turret to shoot the barge off, but the engines weren't powerful enough to escape and the barge got a hold of the forward hull, tearing it off. With all other measures exhausted, Fern pressed the emergency hull demolition sequencer, which blew off the armored hull sleeve the barge was attached to and allowed the Cinder to remove itself from the wreck and fly away, escaping certain doom.^[6]

Having finally obtained the coordinates for At Attin, the kids jumped directly to it, but upon arrival they were trapped by the pirate frigate's tractor beam, as Nawood had taken the pirate crew there first. Having realized that the ship was the key to entering the planet, Nawood had his pirates board it and SM-33 search for the beacon that allowed it to pass through the barrier field. SM-33 pointed out that Nawood was the captain of the pirate frigate now, and as such couldn't captain another ship. Wim saw the chance to claim captainship on the Cinder again, but Nawood claimed it first. Fern desperately called "unclaimsies" to reclaim the ship for kids only, and although this wasn't part of the Pirate's Code, SM-33 complied, attacking the pirates and kicking them off the ship. Despite the pirates attempting to pursue them through the barrier, their ships were destroyed by the planet's defenses with only the Cinder making it through.^[4]

Back to At Attin[]

"Citizens of At Attin, this is the Supervisor speaking. An Emissary is arriving for a shipment. All non-essential work is suspended until Offload is complete. Thank you."

―The At Attin Supervisor announcing the Onyx Cincer's arrival^[4]

After the ship cleared the field, Nawood revealed himself, having boarded the Cinder before it left the pirate frigate, sliced SM-33's head off with Tak Rennod's lightsaber and threatened to kill the kids' parents if they intervened. The planet's droids recognized the ship as belonging to a Republic envoy having arrived to collect a credit shipment and allowed the Cinder to land on the central landing platform, welcoming him and taking him directly to the vault.^[4]

Behind the scenes[]

OnyxCinder-SCPatchRelics — The *Onyx Cinder*

The Onyx Cinder appears in the Disney+ television series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. It was first identified in a listing by German retailer Müller revealing the LEGO Star Wars: Skeleton Crew set 75374 The Onyx Cinder.^[10] The Onyx Cinder was the show's largest practical set, with large parts being fully built and having working technology and mechanics.^[11]