The Wandering Alderaan (RAR!)

[Zor]

In this scenario Grand Moff Tarkin stands on the bridge of the Death Star overlooking Alderaan with Princess Leia with intent on destroying it. However just as the Death Star is about to fire some strange sensor readings are detected around the planet. The sensor techs take note of them and they look like something which is familiar, but exactly what it is can't possibly be the case given the scale. Then two seconds before the superlaser fires the planet suddenly accelerates off jumping to hyperspace, leaving that colossal energy beam to continue on to ruin someone's day a few thousand years down the line. Leia is as flabbergasted as Wilhuff at this, if more positively. A day latter the planet has appeared somewhere along the Hydian Way with artificial suns illuminating it's sky with Bail Organa transmitting a message decrying Palpatine's unprovoked attack on his world. It's world engines primed to jump away at a moment's notice.

What happens?

Zor

[FaxModem1]

World Engines? Like, the world engines from Shadow Raiders/War Planets? Have they always been on Alderaan, or did the Rebel Alliance build them?

Either way, a lot of planetary governments are going to be screaming for the plans for those so that they can have their own world engines in case of the Death Star coming along. Palpatine now faces the fact that he just dissolved the Senate, and his big bad superweapon looks utterly impotent in the face of the new technology Alderaan has.

[Solauren]

Palpatine also has to deal with the fact that you could literally load up Alderaan with massive amounts of hardware, and jump it to say, Coruscant, and launch a full scale liberation of the planet.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Indeed. Id imagine a full network of planetary defence ion cannons and turbolasers plus a planet shield would make a mobile Alderaan almost as dangerous as the Death Star itself.

[Solauren]

The artificial suns could potientaly be weaponized too. I can imagine that a Star Destroyer hitting one of those would not be good for the star destroyer. Or the Death Star for that matter.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Suddenly that Rebel General's line in Rogue One about "the Empire has the ability to cause destruction on a massive scale, we do not" just changed massively.

Going by Dodonna's line about the DS outgunning half the Imperial Starfleet, the Imperials would need to mass a lot of ships to face down Alderaan, which leaves them vulnerable to the Rebel fleet elsewhere - especially if Alderaan is mobile.

This might actually make the war bloodier though. If more systems declare themselves for the Rebellion, realising they could have easily shared Alderaan's almost fate, then you might suddenly have a full-scale galactic civil war, with the Empire going all-out to stop it.

I do wonder what effect this would have on the heroes though - will the DS stay in the Alderaan system, allowing Luke, Han and Obi-Wan to board it and rescue the Princess?