Originally I intended to write 6 books, one for each Star Wars movie. Naturally the first book I started on was A New Hope. While designing the sky hopper I came up with a design that wasn't what I was looking for, but an excellent start towards the Tydirium. I tucked it away until I started working on figures for Return of the Jedi. It only took a few minutes to rework that start into a finished model.

The lambda class shuttle is the Empire's multi-purpose transport craft. It is of course hyperspace capable and can be fitted to carry twenty passengers or several tons of cargo. The two side wings swing down to stabilize it while in flight. When landing, they swing up to save room in docking bays. For defense it has 8 forward and 2 rear facing laser cannons. The alliance stole one of these ships, the Tydirium, and used it to sneak past the Imperial Starfleet. Their cover was a routine shipment of parts and technical crews. In reality, it carried a squad of rebel commandos tasked with landing on Endor and destroying the shield generator that protected the second "Death Star".