The Entire Galactic Civil War - Andor Update - 3-Hour Star Wars Lore

0:11 The Formation of the Empire at the end of the devastating galaxy-wide

0:15 Clone Wars ended the Republic that had withstood for thousands of years.

0:19 The new regime claimed to herald a new era of order and peace within the galaxy,

0:24 but many within the near defunct Senate saw it

0:26 for what it truly was and were already plotting its demise.

0:30 However, the Galactic Civil War was about to begin,

0:34 bringing hope to everyone willing to fight against the evil of the Empire.

0:38 These long videos are difficult and time-consuming to make,

0:42 so please consider liking, sharing and commenting.

1:54 As Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was gathering new powers throughout the Clone war,

1:59 several Senators grew worried at this alarming

2:03 rate of centralization of authority.

2:05 Despite their attempts to combat this, their fears would be realized

2:10 in 19 BBY when he declared himself Emperor of the new Galactic Empire.

2:15 Not long after this, their party suffered again

2:18 with the loss of their leader Padme Amidala of Naboo,

2:22 publicly announced as a casualty of the Jedi Rebellion against Palpatine.

2:26 The truth about her fate was known to those of her inner

2:31 circle namely Senators Bail Organa of Alderaan and Mon Mothma of Chandrila

2:35 who would act as the new leaders of the faction and serve

2:40 as the most persistent and most threatening challenge to Palpatine’s reign.

2:45 In its early years, the Empire put a lot

2:48 of effort into organizing various planets into new systems.

2:52 They would start by building military installations and educational

2:56 facilities such as the ones on Mandalore and Lothal,

2:59 bringing the planetary systems closer to Imperial

3:02 authority through a slow brainwashing process.

3:04 But the real power and will of the Empire

3:08 would be shown when the more unrestful worlds would protest,

3:13 leading to severe near-crippling sanctions.

3:16 Those that would rebel were treated with no mercy

3:19 as an example to those who would try to resist Imperial Authority:

3:23 Mon Cala was nearly eradicated in 18

3:26 BBY[1] and Ryloth’s freedom fighters led by Cham

3:30 Syndulla were decimated by the Emperor and his enforcer Darth Vader in 14 BBY.

3:37 This form of dominance and stabilization was called the “Tarkin Doctrine”,

3:41 after one of the closest advisors of the emperor- Wilhuff Tarkin,

3:46 and it entailed rule through power and fear.

3:49 Those planets that were loyal would be transformed into model worlds

3:54 and those who even thought of doing anything else would be brutally suppressed.

4:00 This Doctrine led to rapid militarization and the Empire

4:04 became a military dictatorship with a strong human elite

4:08 that brutalized alien populations by either eradicating them or strip

4:13 mining their planets and leaving them to their fate.

4:17 Even relatively affluent human populations were not immune to the Empire

4:21 as it exercised its newfound power, testing its limits.

4:24 The planet Ghorman, with a human population very near to the Core,

4:28 experienced one of the earliest examples

4:30 of Imperial power quashing unrest when a crowd

4:33 of protesters attempted to block Tarkin from accessing

4:36 a landing pad in the capital city, Palmo.

4:39 Tarkin decided to then land on the protesters, killing hundreds.

4:42 The Senators still held a certain amount of power,

4:46 as the Emperor needed them to keep their planets

4:49 from open rebellion until his secret Operation Stardust was ready.

4:53 As a result, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma would use their influence

4:57 to help the worlds that bore the ire of the Empire.

5:02 As time wore on they switched to other covert means,

5:06 mainly contacting the various rebel groups across the Empire such

5:10 as Saw Gerrera’s cell and various

5:13 other underground movements that opposed Palpatine.

5:15 They would be supplied with weapons, food,

5:19 and other logistical needs as well as information

5:22 from imperial defectors and independent intelligence networks such as Fulcrum,

5:26 which was founded by Bail Organa and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano in 18 BBY.

5:32 This was a group of agents from various

5:35 backgrounds in and outside of the Imperial Military,

5:39 and they were vital to the success of these early anti-empire movements.

5:44 Two of the other key figures in the early formation of these Rebel

5:47 movements were a man named Luthen Rael and his assistant, Kelya Marki.

5:51 Luthen Rael was originally Sergeant Lear of the Imperial Army,

5:55 but he deserted soon after the declaration of the Empire,

5:58 disgusted and traumatized by the atrocities

6:00 he was committing in the Empire’s name.

6:02 The final tipping point for him came when his forces were

6:05 responsible for the massacre of Kleya Marki’s people on her unknown homeworld.

6:09 Lear discovered Kleya hiding on his ship

6:11 and fled the planet with the orphaned girl.

6:14 From there, the pair, posing as father and daughter,

6:17 devoted themselves to fighting the Empire,

6:19 executing attacks on Imperial assets on worlds like Naboo.

6:23 They also coordinated efforts between disparate

6:25 groups of rebel cells and operatives,

6:27 ranging from Saw Gerrerra’s militants to disaffected Senators like Mon Mothma.

6:32 Luthen managed most of these activities from his store,

6:35 an antiques shop on Coruscant, which provided him with direct access to some

6:39 of the galaxy’s wealthiest and most powerful individuals.

6:42 His reach even extended into the Imperial Security Bureau,

6:45 where he secured the cooperation of a promising young agent named Lonni Jung.

6:50 Rael’s activities did not escape the notice of the ISB,

6:53 who knew him only as “Axis,” but his and Kleya’s efforts

6:57 would prove key to organizing an effective resistance to the Empire.

7:01 One of the biggest assets in Rael’s repertoire

7:03 came from an unexpected source in 5 BBY.

7:06 A man on the planet Ferrix named Cassian Andor had managed

7:10 to steal an Imperial Starpath unit from the naval base on Steergard,

7:14 drawing Luthen’s attention.

7:15 Luthen traveled to Ferrix under the pretense

7:18 of buying the Starpath unit, but in reality,

7:20 his hope was to recruit Andor, employing him in the fight against the Empire.

7:24 During their meeting, the pair was unexpectedly attacked by security

7:28 forces of the Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone.

7:30 Days earlier, Andor had been on the planet Morlana One,

7:34 trying to track his long-lost sister,

7:36 when he was accosted by PreMor Corpos, both of whom he killed.

7:39 As a result, Syril Karn had put together a task force hoping to arrest Andor,

7:44 now unbeknownst to him,

7:46 catching one of the most effective anti-Imperial leaders in the crossfire.

7:49 Andor and Rael were able to escape with the assistance of others on Ferrix,

7:53 heading on Luthen’s ship to the planet Aldhani.

7:56 Once safely on Aldhani, Rael successfully convinced Andor to take the job he

8:01 had been attempting to hire him for on Ferrix.

8:03 Rael had assembled a team under the leadership of Vel Sartha,

8:06 who also happened to be Mon Mothma’s cousin,

8:08 with the goal of raiding the Imperial base in the Aldhani Dam,

8:12 where payroll for the entire sector was held.

8:14 If successful, this would give the rebel forces a much-needed influx of credits,

8:19 while also demonstrating to the galaxy that the Empire was not untouchable.

8:23 On top of Sartha and Andor, who joined the team under the name

8:27 “Clem,” the team included Imperial Lieutenant Gorn,

8:29 who supplied the group with intel from within the base,

8:32 Cinta Kaz, Taramyn Barcona, and Karis Nemik.

8:35 Nemik was an ideologue,

8:36 and his manifesto would prove to be very popular with the rebels,

8:41 converting many disaffected imperial citizens to their cause.

8:44 The infiltration occurred during a local festival,

8:47 which coincided with a stunning aurora phenomenon known as the Eye of Aldhani.

8:51 In the local tongue, it was the Mak-ani bray Dhani.

8:54 The Imperial occupation had slowly crushing the indigenous beings of the planet,

8:58 reducing attendance of the annual pilgrimage year

9:01 after year as their culture was destroyed.

9:03 Four of the team posed as a guard detail for Commandant Jayhold Beehaz,

9:07 while Cinta and Sartha entered the dam from underwater.

9:11 Kaz held Beehaz’s family hostage,

9:12 while the rest of the team took Beehaz himself to the vault,

9:16 racing to liberate the credits before assistance

9:18 could come from the nearby Alkenzi airbase,

9:21 alerted by the sudden loss of communications caused

9:23 by a scrambling charge placed by Sartha and Kaz.

9:26 One of the base’s own technicians was then

9:29 able to successfully slice into the strike team’s communications,

9:32 sending a security force to the vault to confront them.

9:35 Gorn attempted to force Beehaz to order them away,

9:38 claiming it was not an assault but a top-secret official mission.

9:42 Instead, Beehaz died, exhausted from being forced to assist in loading

9:45 the credits onto the base’s box freighter,

9:47 which Andor and the team planned to use in their escape.

9:51 His death made the situation erupt into a firefight,

9:53 quickly claiming the life of Gorn while

9:55 Andor tried to prepare the freighter for launch.

9:58 The fighting also claimed the life of Barcona.

10:00 Kaz remained on the base, slipping away in an Imperial uniform,

10:04 while the rest of the surviving members escaped

10:07 on the box freighter.TIE Fighters from Alkenzi arrived,

10:10 forcing Andor to quickly maneuver to avoid being shot down.

10:13 This caused a cart of credits to pin Nemik against the wall,

10:17 critically injuring him.

10:18 The group, having a contingency plan for just such a medical emergency,

10:21 headed for Doctor Quadpaw on the nearby moon of Frezno.

10:25 Quadpaw was unfortunately unable to save Nemik, who,

10:28 as his last action, entrusted his political manifesto to Andor.

10:32 Skeen attempted to convince Andor to betray Sartha and split all of the credits,

10:37 causing Andor to shoot him.

10:39 He then took the fee he was promised by Rael- 200,000 credits,

10:42 and made his way back home to Ferrix.

10:45 This would prove to be a risky place to be.

10:48 While Andor was on Aldhani,

10:49 the Empire had taken over the holdings of the Preox-Morlana

10:52 Corporation in response to Syril Karn’s failed assault on Ferrix,

10:55 which was one of the planets within their Free Trade Zone.

10:58 The Imperial headquarters on Ferrix was established in a building on Rix Road

11:03 in the middle of Ferrix City and placed under the command of Captain Vanis Tigo.

11:07 Once home, Andor gave part of his earnings to a friend

11:10 named Bix Caleen to pay off his various debts,

11:13 and tried to convince his adopted mother, Maarva,

11:15 to bring their droid B2EMO to leave Ferrix with him.

11:19 Maarva, a prominent leader in a local

11:21 social club called the Daughters of Ferrix,

11:23 had become inspired to fight the Empire by the heist on Aldhani,

11:27 like many around the galaxy.

11:29 On Coruscant, Mon Mothma confronted Rael about the Aldhani heist,

11:32 believing it would cause further crackdowns by the Empire.

11:35 Luthen countered that the movement they were building needed credits,

11:39 which she could no longer provide,

11:41 and that the inspiration for further rebel actions would continue

11:44 to expose the Empire's excesses and create fractures within it.

11:48 Maarva’s radicalisation, then, was playing directly into Luthen’s hopes.

11:52 On other worlds, fledgling groups were similarly

11:54 beginning to appear in opposition to the Empire.

11:57 In some cases, this meant the radicalisation of existing

12:00 social clubs or networks like the Daughters of Ferrix,

12:03 and others like the Ghorman Front on the planet Ghorman,

12:06 which we briefly mentioned earlier, were being built from scratch.

12:09 Andor departed the planet alone, heading to Niamos,

12:12 where he hoped to live under an alias, Geef Kirgo,

12:15 while the occupation of Ferrix continued to marshal its resources,

12:19 cracking down on local unrest and arresting several locals.

12:22 Many on Ferrix were upset with the loss of the hotel,

12:25 which had been turned into the Imperial

12:27 headquarters and prevented trade with outworld visitors.

12:30 The ISB placed an agent named Dedra Meero in charge of the occupation,

12:35 and she became convinced that the earlier battle

12:37 on Ferrix was not just random criminal activity,

12:40 but part of a growing rebel network's activities,

12:43 adding even more fuel to the search for Andor from all sides.

12:47 While on Niamos, Andor was accosted by an Imperial shoretrooper,

12:50 accused of anti-Imperial activity,

12:52 and sentenced to six years in prison with no real opportunity

12:56 to contest the charges thanks to the new Public Order Resentencing Directive,

13:00 which was instituted in response to the Aldhani heist.

13:03 Little did the Empire or ISB know that they

13:06 had one of the heist’s participants in custody.

13:08 He was sent to a prison installation in the Narkina system,

13:12 where he spent several weeks labouring

13:14 on an unknown Imperial project alongside his fellow inmates,

13:17 the real purpose of the expanded incarceration of Imperial subjects.

13:21 When an elderly prisoner named Ulaf

13:23 died shortly before his sentence was complete,

13:25 and another inmate who had theoretically completed

13:28 his own sentence was readmitted on another floor,

13:30 the inmates began to understand they would never be free.

13:34 Andor enlisted the help of other inmates,

13:36 including Ruescott Melshi and the floor manager Kino Loy,

13:39 who had previously been unwilling to tolerate inmate disobedience,

13:42 believing it could jeopardize his own release, in an escape plan.

13:46 Andor was able to cut power to the floor,

13:49 which was electrified to prevent prisoner escape.

13:52 With their entire working group on board, the prisoners began to stage a riot.

13:56 Andor and Loy climbed within the facility to seize control of communications,

14:00 announcing their intentions and inciting

14:02 a full-blown revolt within the entire prison.

14:05 Once fully in control,

14:06 the inmates jumped from the prison into the oceans which surrounded it.

14:10 Many likely perished during this escape, potentially including Loy,

14:14 who was unable to swim, but Andor and Melshi made it out alive.

14:18 Andor made contact with Ferrix from Niamos, where he had returned,

14:21 learning from Xanwan, who ran a freight business on Ferrix,

14:24 that Maarva had died.

14:26 As he prepared to return home for Maarva’s funeral,

14:29 several groups were hoping to use the event to lure him in and capture him.

14:33 Syril Karn, formerly of Preox-Morlana, remained obsessed with finding Andor,

14:37 holding him responsible for ruining his life.

14:39 Vel Sartha and Sinta Kaz, who had worked with Andor on Aldhani,

14:43 were also deployed to Ferrix by Luthen Rael in an attempt

14:46 to neutralize him before he could reveal anything about Luthen and his network.

14:50 The Daughters of Ferrix organization requested a traditional,

14:54 public funeral for the beloved local figure,

14:56 which Dedra Meero and now-Prefect Tigo granted,

14:59 putting their forces on high alert for Andor’s potential appearance,

15:02 and setting up an Imperial perimeter around the procession lines,

15:06 particularly in front of the headquarters at the end of Rix road.

15:10 As the funeral began, masses of the Ferrix citizenry joined the procession,

15:14 despite restrictions placed on its size and location by the Imperials.

15:18 Andor himself remained outside of it, though.

15:21 On top of attempting to remain hidden from the ISB and from Luthen,

15:24 who he spotted wearing a cloak near the procession,

15:27 he had learned that Bix Caleen had been taken prisoner by the Imperials.

15:30 She was being tortured for information,

15:32 and he put his efforts towards rescuing her.

15:35 As the procession continued towards Fountain Square,

15:38 Tigo ordered the troopers to get the marching Ferrixians off the streets.

15:42 Acting on information provided by a local who detested Andor,

15:45 Meero also deployed a squad of Death Troopers to find him,

15:48 personally heading out of the containment zone around the hotel,

15:51 against the advice of Tigo, who recommended simply surrounding the area.

15:55 The crowd, facing increasing concentrations of Imperial troops,

15:59 arranged themselves through the square around B2EMO,

16:02 chanting “Stone and Sky,” as B2EMO

16:05 projected Maarva’s final message to her compatriots.

16:08 In this message, Maarva decried the evils of the Empire,

16:11 expressing a wish that she were around to fight them longer,

16:14 and had begun fighting them earlier,

16:16 hoping to inspire all present to fight the Empire.

16:19 With this last pronunciation,

16:20 Prefect Tigo covered the projector and kicked the droid over,

16:24 erupting the crowd into action.

16:26 Tigo was attacked by a local named Brasso,

16:29 and the Imperial lines were charged by the locals.

16:32 One, Wilmon Paak, threw an improvised explosive device into the crowd,

16:36 nearly killing Dedra Meero if not for the intervention of Syril Karn,

16:39 who had been watching from nearby.

16:41 Imperial army troopers and stormtroopers were ordered

16:44 to fire at will on the riot,

16:46 mowing down dozens, if not hundreds, of Ferrixians as the battle continued.

16:51 Cassian successfully rescued Caleen,

16:52 sending her off in a shuttle alongside Brasso and Paak,

16:55 while he returned to seek out Rael.

16:58 After finding the man,

16:59 who had become increasingly sought out himself by the ISB and especially

17:03 Meero under only the title “Axis,” Andor demanded that Luthen either kill him,

17:08 or enlist him fully into the Rebellion,

17:10 beginning his career as one of the Rebellions most successful operatives,

17:13 including an eventual stint within Organa and Tano’s Fulcrum program.

17:18 Ferrix was only one case study

17:20 in the cycle of resistance and crackdowns growing throughout

17:22 the galaxy as the Empire sought to spread

17:25 its power and particularly to claim resources.

17:31 The planet Lothal was among many in the Outer

17:34 Rim that were colonized extensively by the Empire

17:37 and it was given special attention due

17:39 to its deposits of Doonium and Kyber crystals,

17:42 both of which were highly prized resources for the Empire’s projects.

17:47 This was compounded by Governor Arihnda Pryce’s actions:

17:50 she sought to make Lothal a major player as the main Imperial base

17:54 in the Outer Rim by having military

17:57 and manufacturing installations all over the planet.

18:01 However, the extensive military build-up,

18:03 as well as the concentration of resources,

18:06 would bring the attention of the still underground rebel alliance,

18:10 namely the crew of the Ghost known as the Spectres.

18:15 The Spectres were a group of individuals who had

18:18 all faced some form of injustice from the Empire.

18:21 The leader of this group was Hera,

18:24 daughter of the Ryloth insurgency leader Cham Syndulla.

18:27 Hera was a highly skilled pilot who

18:30 owned the VCX-100 light freighter named Ghost,

18:33 and she left Ryloth along with her C1-10P droid Chopper

18:37 after the failed assassination attempt on Palpatine and Darth Vader.

18:41 In her opinion, Ryloth’s only chance

18:44 for liberation was through an allied galactic attempt.

18:48 The second commander was former Jedi Padawan Caleb

18:52 Dune who escaped Palpatine’s Jedi purge under the alias

18:56 Kanan Jarrus and joined Hera after they cooperated

18:59 against the Empire on Gorse in 11 BBY.

19:03 The crew would soon be joined by a Lasat

19:06 Warrior known as Garazeb Orrelios or “Zeb”, who was one of the few survivors

19:11 of the Lasat Genocide at the hands of the Empire.

19:15 Another member of the crew Sabine Wren was a weapons expert from Mandalore,

19:19 who left as a result of the Empire’s subjugation of Mandalore.

19:23 And the last member, Ezra Bridger,

19:26 an orphan recruited from Lothal in 5 BBY after he helped

19:30 the Spectres in a mission to steal weapons from the Imperials.

19:34 It was discovered that he was Force-sensitive,

19:37 which prompted Kanan to take him as his apprentice.

19:40 The Specters ran most of their operations from the Lothal sector,

19:45 and quickly gained a reputation.

19:47 Their wide range of operations, as well as the Jedi in their crew,

19:51 led to them being hunted by many of the higher-ranking Imperials,

19:55 namely Grand Moff Tarkin,

19:56 who was in charge of the whole Outer Rim and the Grand Inquisitor,

20:01 a Force-sensitive Pau'an male who was dispatched

20:04 by Darth Vader to purge the Jedi.

20:07 This hunt resulted in the death of the Grand Inquisitor himself

20:12 during the Action at Mustafar in which the Spectres rescued Kanan Jarrus,

20:17 destroyed Tarkin’s ship the Sovereign,

20:19 and escaped with the help of the Phoenix Squadron, which they then joined.

20:24 The Empire now realized that these rebel activities were

20:28 coordinated and were far larger in scope than previously thought.

20:32 With the deaths of several more Inquisitors

20:34 and Darth Vader’s failure to capture them,

20:37 the Empire’s eyes were now fixed on the Lothal Rebels and the Seventh

20:41 Fleet was sent to the sector at the request of Governor Pryce.

20:45 It was led by a newly appointed commander- arguably

20:49 the best tactician in the Empire- Grand Admiral Thrawn.

20:54 Analyzing different encounters against the rebels throughout the sector,

20:58 Thrawn concluded that Phoenix squadron played a role in most of them,

21:02 which meant that it was a far bigger threat.

21:06 He provided examples to Tarkin, Admiral Konstantine,

21:09 and Governor Pryce during his briefing.

21:11 When asked about his plan he responded with: "I will start my operations here,

21:17 and pull the rebels apart piece by piece.

21:20 They will be the architects of their own

21:23 destruction." After his arrival in 2 BBY, he started planning the operation

21:28 by letting the rebels continue their activities,

21:31 offering moderate resistance, as this allowed him to study the enemy.

21:36 He knew that the capture of the Spectres or any other small

21:40 part of the Phoenix cell would not be enough to end the rebellion,

21:44 so he bided his time.

21:46 During this time, Mon Mothma had become disillusioned with the Senate

21:51 as the growing number of Imperial

21:53 atrocities and wrongdoings were left unanswered.

21:56 This disillusionment had been slowly occurring over a long time,

22:00 as we know she had been involved with at least the funding

22:04 of overt Rebel activity for years in cooperation with Luthen Rael,

22:07 and her association with Bail Organa and even Saw Gerrera

22:10 in opposing the Empire stretched back essentially to the Empire’s formation,

22:14 but to understand her final break with the Empire we

22:18 must jump back slightly to once again discuss the planet Ghorman.

22:21 Ghorman had remained in the galactic political consciousness

22:24 ever since the initial Ghorman Massacre described earlier.

22:27 By 5 BBY, the Senate was still debating what

22:30 Mon Mothma termed blatant domination of a faithful ally, but the following year,

22:35 Ghorman would become the subject of increased Imperial scrutiny.

22:38 Local dissent had grown for years, leading to the formation of opposition groups

22:43 like the Ghorman Front opposing the Empire,

22:45 and the initial Ghorman Massacre was commemorated

22:47 by a monument in the capital city of Palmo’s plaza,

22:50 called the Monument to the Fallen.

22:53 But while this dissent did influence the Imperial response somewhat,

22:57 it was something else entirely which drew the Empire’s focus.

23:01 Ghorman was largely isolationist, but it was also known as a center of fashion

23:05 thanks to a type of spider called the Gorlectipod,

23:07 which produced fine silks used in textile production.

23:11 The export of these silks provided

23:13 a significant amount of wealth for the planet,

23:16 despite otherwise not closely associating with the galactic community.

23:19 But more of interest to the Empire,

23:21 Ghorman was discovered to be home to large deposits of a mineral called Kalkite,

23:26 which was incredibly rare and used for reactor lens coating.

23:30 Imperial Director Orson Krennic explained this to a meeting

23:32 of various Imperial leaders in the Maltheen Divide,

23:35 describing it as crucial to an energy initiative being run by the Empire.

23:40 In reality, the massive amounts of reactor-coating Kalkite were

23:43 needed for a secret project known as Project Stardust,

23:46 which we’ll return to later.

23:49 Other alternatives, substitutes and even synthetic

23:52 means of Kalkite production had been explored,

23:54 but the end analysis had concluded that only

23:57 Ghorman’s Kalkite reserves were sufficient for the Empire’s needs.

24:00 To this end, a plan was needed to place

24:03 Ghorman under strict Imperial control to extract the mineral,

24:06 something which would surely devastate the planet’s

24:08 ecosystem and, at the very least, displace its inhabitants.

24:13 Krennic placed ISB agent Dedra Meero, who had overseen the operations on Ferrix,

24:17 in charge of the initiative on Ghorman,

24:19 leaving it to her to work out a means to allow

24:22 the Empire to essentially destroy the planet for their purposes,

24:25 given that the mining had a significant risk of destabilizing the planet’s core.

24:29 Meero, who was obsessed with tracking down Rebel activity,

24:33 particularly that of a shadowy figure referred to as Axis,

24:36 devised a plan with her supervisor,

24:38 Major Lio Partagaz, to foment insurrection on the world.

24:42 The planet’s isolation in the galactic community would also

24:45 prove to be a massive asset in the Empire’s ability

24:48 to shape the narrative around their occupation and their increasingly

24:51 brutal response to the insurrectionist movements they planned to stoke.

24:54 While Meero and Partagaz began working out their plans for Ghorman,

24:58 Cassian Andor was engaged in a mission for Luthen Raela nd

25:01 the growing Rebellion to steal a powerful Imperial TIE variant, the TIE Avenger.

25:06 However when he reached the rendezvous point on the unassuming

25:09 planet of Yavin IV to transfer the fighter,

25:12 he learned that his contact had been killed by a local rebel band,

25:15 the Maya Pei Brigade,

25:17 and himself gets captured under suspicion of being an Imperial pilot.

25:21 After several days in captivity,

25:23 Andor was able to take advantage of infighting within the Brigade to escape,

25:27 contacting Luthen’s assistant Kleya Marki to request a new dropoff point.

25:31 When Marki informs Andor that his usual hideout on Mina Rau,

25:35 where he and other escaped Ferrixians had been working as farmhands,

25:38 has fallen under a communication blackout, he quickly heads for the planet.

25:43 Once there, he found his companions in conflict

25:46 with Imperial search parties cracking down on illegal immigrant labour.

25:50 He was able to escape with Bix and Wilmon Paak,

25:53 however Brasso was killed in the escape attempt.

25:56 Over the next year, heading into 3 BBY,

25:58 Cassian and Bix continued to work for Luthen,

26:00 while Meero and Partagaz executed the early stages of their plan,

26:04 Meero had been in a relationship with Syril

26:07 Karn since sometime after the events on Ferrix,

26:09 and she had arranged for his transfer within his new employment

26:12 at the Bureau of Standards to head the office for the department on Ghorman,

26:16 where Karn worked to ingratiate himself

26:18 to the local resistance groups like the Ghorman Front.

26:21 During conversations with his mother back on Coruscant,

26:24 which he knew ere being monitored by Ghorman Front members,

26:27 he expressed disbelief in some of the Empire’s

26:29 growing narratives about the threat posed by Ghorman.

26:32 While Karn was heading home that night, past a small peaceful protest,

26:36 he was given a model of a Ghorman spider,

26:38 which was being used by the Front to pass

26:41 information about underground town hall meetings to organize resistance.

26:44 Karn conferred with Meero to update her on both

26:47 his surveillance and his invitation to the meeting,

26:50 with Meero confirming that he should attend,

26:52 though Karn remained unaware of just how far Meero and the ISB

26:56 intended to take the occupation beyond simple pacification of dissidents.

27:00 At the meeting, several Ghorman expressed their grievances with the Empire,

27:04 with Karn claiming to sympathize and admire their passion when asked.

27:08 Some present were concerned about his loyalties,

27:11 knowing he was an offworlder who worked within the Imperial government.

27:14 The meeting also focused on the Empire’s

27:16 construction of a new facility on the planet.

27:19 Many believed the empire was building a fortress on Ghorman,

27:23 while another element of the complaint concerned the original Ghorman Massacre.

27:27 The Empire had promised their new structure would not occlude or cast

27:31 shadow on the memorial for those killed nearly 15 years before,

27:34 but this promise had already been broken.

27:37 After the meeting, the Ghor,

27:39 including Ghorman Front Leader Carro Rylanz continued to talk to Karn,

27:43 imploring him to use his position within the Empire to raise their concerns,

27:47 and believing that he would act as an ally

27:49 to help make their voice be heard, peacefully.

27:51 Meanwhile on Coruscant, it was clear to Luthen Rael that the situation

27:55 on Ghorman was going to continue to escalate.

27:57 He asked Andor to go to Ghorman and evaluate Rylanz and the Ghorman Front,

28:01 thinking that if the Ghorman Front can pose

28:04 a real threat to the Empire on the planet,

28:06 or at least prompt another example of Imperial overreach,

28:09 its location as an affluent world near

28:12 the core would force the galaxy to take notice.

28:15 As Andor arrives on Ghorman, under the guise of fashion designer Varian Skye,

28:19 the ISB under Attendant Grymish conducted a raid

28:22 on Karn’s office at the Bureau of Standards,

28:25 uncovering the Ghorman Front’s listening device that Karn had informed Meero of.

28:29 His faked outrage over the ISB’s overreach only

28:32 served to ingratiate him further into the Ghorman Front,

28:35 who informed him they wanted his help in getting the schematics of the new

28:39 Imperial facility and to execute a heist

28:41 on Imperial transports to gain weaponry.

28:43 He agreed to help, and returned to Coruscant

28:46 where he met with Meero and Partagaz,

28:48 informing them of the Front’s activities and goal,

28:50 and securing their cooperation in providing transport schedules which Karn,

28:55 faking cooperation with the Front,

28:56 could use to execute their heist for the schematics

28:59 and continue to build justification for the Imperial crackdown on Ghorman.

29:03 Despite this close cooperation with the ISB,

29:06 Karn continued to believe that his role was to catch

29:10 outside agitators in order to eventually de-escalate the situation.

29:13 Andor’s ongoing assessment of the Front was less than favourable,

29:17 exposing multiple security vulnerabilities,

29:19 an assessment supported as we know by their infiltration by Karn,

29:23 and the group’s general inexperience and lack of capacity

29:26 to sustain an armed rebellion without being wiped out.

29:29 Andor tried to convince Luthen that the Front was not ready,

29:33 but Luthen was too enamoured by the potential

29:36 for a Ghorman victory or, more likely,

29:38 crackdown, to incite further unrest in the galaxy.

29:41 This led to a break between Luthen and Andor,

29:44 who over the next year left Luthen’s organization to join

29:47 the more centralized Rebel effort being organized on the planet Yavin.

29:51 Still hoping to assist the Ghorman Front,

29:53 Rael dispatched Kaz and Sartha to assist them in their heist.

29:57 Initially the heist goes according to plan.

29:59 One of the transports was disabled and the Front,

30:02 assisted by Sartha and Kaz with Karn watching

30:05 from afar and reporting to Meero and Partagaz, unbeknownst to the Front.

30:10 Unfortunately, a bystander named Lezine,

30:12 who had been very vocal about the Imperial occupation at the earlier townhall,

30:16 refused to leave the vicinity of the heist when one of the Front members,

30:20 named Samm, instructed him to.

30:21 His refusal to leave prompted Samm to level his blaster at Levine,

30:25 which escalated the situation even further.

30:28 Lezine assaulted Samm, causing Samm to accidentally fire his blaster,

30:32 hitting and killing Kaz.

30:34 Karn reported shots being fired to the ISB,

30:37 and Partagaz ordered reinforcements to the scene,

30:39 further escalating the Imperial presence on the planet,

30:42 and giving further ammunition to the Imperials

30:45 to propagandize against the Ghorman insurrectionists.

30:47 The next year saw a continued escalation of Imperial

30:50 response to supposed terrorist activity on the planet.

30:53 In 2 BBY, Meero was operating directly from the planet,

30:57 and Partagaz informed her that with no substitute yet found for Kalkite,

31:01 the Empire needed its final excuse to begin relocation

31:04 of the citizens of Ghorman and full Imperial takeover of the planet,

31:08 under the orders of Director Krennic,

31:10 with little of the planet expected to remain following the mining.

31:13 A firebombing was alleged to have been carried out at the Palmo naval terminal,

31:18 which independent analysis suggests was likely to have been staged by the ISB,

31:22 beginning the final phase of the Ghorman plan,

31:25 with hopes to finish it in the following 48 hours.

31:28 The newly-arrived crisis specialist of the ISB, Captain Kaido,

31:31 escalated the oppression of the locals through the institution of new curfews.

31:36 Knowing Meero had been deployed to Ghorman,

31:38 Luthen Rael sent Wilmon Paak to Yavin,

31:41 hoping to re-enlist Andor in an attempt to assassinate Meero.

31:44 Initially Andor was hesitant, still distasteful about Rael’s methods,

31:48 but ultimately he agrees to help,

31:51 taking a U-Wing with Paak to Ghorman, much to the chagrin of General Draven,

31:55 who ran the Yavin base and informed

31:57 Andor that this kind of unauthorized departure

31:59 for personal missions would not be tolerated

32:02 in the future if the Rebellion hoped to succeed.

32:05 Once arrived, Paak and Andor scouted the Imperial Office building

32:08 next to Palmo Plaza where the Empire had established their office.

32:12 Meero faced additional problems on Ghorman

32:14 itself beyond the newly arrived Rebel assassins.

32:17 Syril Karn had begun to grow suspicious of the work he was being asked to do,

32:22 and the Imperial narratives around the attacks.

32:23 He had been under the impression that he was supposed to be

32:27 responsible for finding the outside agitators

32:29 responsible for prodding Ghorman dissidents into action,

32:31 but he was being kept away from information necessary

32:34 for him to do that, and he had begun to suspect

32:37 there was elements of the Imperial plan he was not

32:40 being informed about thanks to information from the local resistance groups.

32:44 Those same groups, especially the Front,

32:46 were facing a crisis themselves in deciding how to proceed.

32:50 The planet was under increasing occupation, especially around Palmo Plaza,

32:53 and there was dissent between those who believed in peaceful

32:57 resistance versus those who believed they needed to be more proactive.

33:01 The day following Andor and Paak’s arrival,

33:04 the pair planned to go forward with their assassination attempt.

33:09 While they were setting up, Imperial forces were also moving barricades.

33:14 The Ghorman Front believed they may have been clearing the barricades out,

33:17 but Andor informed them that the office

33:19 building was being turned into a fortress.

33:21 The Empire had already begun to land mining rigs by this point,

33:25 to the dismay of Meero who thought it might

33:27 undermine attempts to paint the Ghor as the aggressors.

33:30 News had already been spreading throughout the galaxy

33:32 of a protest and general strike on Ghorman, centralized on Palmo Plaza,

33:36 where armed Ghorman Front members were beginning to assemble.

33:39 Many of the Ghor were aware of the landing mining equipment,

33:43 and when pressed by one of them on what the Empire might want on the planet,

33:47 Karn once again moved to confront Meero

33:49 as the growing protest began to sing the Ghorman anthem.

33:52 Meero denied knowledge of the mining equipment when he asked,

33:55 and he attacked her, forcing her to reveal

33:57 part of the Empire’s interest in Ghorman minerals,

34:00 to the shock of Karn who departed back to the crowd in disbelief.

34:04 As the protest grew, Imperial Sergeant Bloy set more soldiers against the crowd,

34:09 which began harassing the soldiers,

34:10 when the final phase of the Imperial plan was triggered.

34:13 A sniper stationed outside the protest fired upon the Army troopers,

34:17 many of whom were young and inexperienced, with little discipline.

34:21 In response to what they believed was

34:23 an attack from within the ranks the protesters,

34:25 the Imperial troops began to fire upon all of the protesters,

34:28 who began to panic and flee, while armed members of the front returned fire.

34:33 Powerful Imperial KX enforcer droids were also deployed,

34:37 brutally batting aside protesters as they made their way through the crowd.

34:40 Looking to finish his mission in the midst

34:43 of the ongoing riot now spreading throughout the city,

34:45 Andor remained in the plaza attempting to line up a shot on Meero.

34:49 Seeing him with his blaster aimed at the office building,

34:52 Syril Karn attacked Andor, the man who Karn held responsible

34:56 for ruining his life nearly four years earlier.

34:58 Andor was saved by the intervention of some of the surviving front members,

35:02 specifically Rylanz, who had traditionally been one

35:05 of the voices advocating peaceful resistance and who

35:07 had taken Karn under his wing during his time posing as a Front member.

35:11 With their opportunity to assassinate Meero gone,

35:14 Andor and Paak joined the Ghor now retreating from the plaza.

35:18 On their way out, they managed to disable

35:21 and capture one of the KX droids, designated K-2SO.

35:24 Paak temporarily remained behind on Ghorman to help broadcast the story

35:28 of the Imperial crackdown and the hundreds of dead Ghor,

35:32 while Andor returned to Coruscant to meet with Rael and Marki.

35:36 This second Ghorman massacre represented a political

35:38 turning point for the Galactic Civil War.

35:41 Mon Mothma and Bail Organa discussed their political options,

35:44 deciding that it was time for someone to speak out against the Emperor,

35:48 but that Yavin was not yet fully ready for both to depart the Senate.

35:51 Mon Mothma began planning a series of speeches,

35:54 the first of which she planned to give directly in the Senate.

35:57 Originally Mothma had planned to flee the Senate

36:00 under the protection of Bail Organa’s staff,

36:02 however Rael warned her that his staff had been compromised,

36:06 saying instead that he would send her an escort in the form of Andor.

36:10 Andor urged Luthen to join Mothma in her escape after the speech,

36:13 but he insisted his work was not yet done.

36:16 During her speech, Mon Mothma described

36:18 the atrocities of Ghorman as only the beginning,

36:20 and Palpatine as the monster who would come for them all.

36:24 Andor then began escorting her out of the Senate Rotunda,

36:27 but the pair were confronted by ISB agents intending to arrest Mon Mothma.

36:31 Mon Mothma’s assistant, Semaj, accused the ISB agent of being a Rebel

36:35 spy as she attempted to arrest Mon Mothma,

36:38 giving Andor the opportunity to shoot her and flee

36:40 with the Senator before a more organized response could be arranged.

36:44 Semaj continued to cover their escape,

36:46 and the trio later met back up at a safe house

36:49 formerly used by Andor and Bix Caleen while working for Luthen.

36:52 From there, Mon Mothma made her way to the Ghost and Captain Syndulla’s forces.

36:58 Following the Ghorman Massacre, during which a group of peaceful

36:58 protesters was massacred by the Imperial forces,

36:58 she gave a speech denouncing the event and naming

36:58 the Emperor personally responsible for that event and all like it,

36:58 and resigned from the Senate.

36:58 Without her Senatorial immunity,

36:58 the Empire sought to finally arrest one of its most staunch adversaries.

36:58 However, she evaded capture, fled Coruscant,

36:58 and made way to rendezvous with Hera’s Squadron.

36:59 Thrawn deduced it was Mon Mothma

37:01 that she was escorting and sent Admiral Konstantine

37:04 and Governor Pryce to intercept them at the Archeon

37:07 Nebula but they failed to do so.

37:10 Upon her arrival at Dantooine,

37:12 Mon Mothma gave a speech denouncing the empire and calling for all

37:17 the individual rebel cells to unite and fight to liberate the galaxy,

37:21 promising that she would be on the frontline with them.

37:26 With this, the Rebel Alliance was truly formed.

37:29 As this was going on, Thrawn was

37:31 getting closer and closer to locating Phoenix base.

37:34 Rebel forces had concentrated in the Atollon

37:37 System for their first operation of the war.

37:40 They decided on an attack on Lothal

37:43 as their previous successes and steadily growing

37:46 strength along with the arrival of the Massassi

37:49 Group under General Dodonna had emboldened them.

37:51 Their plan ultimately would involve an unexpected strike

37:55 upon Lothal coordinated with the local resistance where they

37:59 would use the planetary shields and weapons against

38:01 the Seventh Fleet before it had time to react.

38:04 The impending attack was discovered by Thrawn’s agents

38:08 as they tracked the Massassi group through the system.

38:12 Thrawn intentionally leaked the information to Alexandr Kallus,

38:15 the agent of the Imperial Security Bureau who

38:18 secretly was part of the Rebel Fulcrum network.

38:22 Kallus tried to inform the Phoenix cell, but his transmission was intercepted,

38:27 allowing the empire to finally discover the rebel base.

38:30 The rebels only received half of the message but it

38:34 was quickly deduced by Captain Syndulla that Thrawn knew their location.

38:39 She called for an immediate evacuation,

38:41 but as this order was issued the Seventh Fleet arrived and blockaded

38:45 their escape as well as jamming all transmissions in or out of the system.

38:50 The Rebel main ships amassed in Atollon’s atmosphere were 3 Braha’tok Gunships,

38:56 7 CR90 Corvettes, 3 Nebulon-B frigates,

38:59 one of them being General Dodonna’s Vanguard, 2 GR-75 transport ships,

39:05 3 Hammerhead Corvettes, and Commander Sato’s Quasar Cruiser Phoenix Nest.

39:10 These were outclassed by the 5 I-Class Star Destroyers,

39:15 2 Arguiten Light Cruisers, and 2 Interdictors of the Seventh Fleet,

39:20 with Admiral Konstantine commanding his Interdictor on the right flank.

39:24 Thrawn arrived shortly after on another

39:27 I-Class Star Destroyer- his flagship Chimaera,

39:30 placing it behind the imperial center.

39:33 General Dodonna urged an immediate jump to hyperspace,

39:37 but Commander Sato decided to stay behind with the Phoenix

39:41 Squadron till the ground forces were fully evacuated,

39:44 planning to cover the retreat of the Massassi Group.

39:47 The first ship to jump,

39:49 a Nebulon-B frigate was pulled out of hyperspace and destroyed by Admiral

39:54 Konstantine and that’s when the rebels

39:56 discovered the two interdictors on either flank,

39:59 both of which created gravity wells stopping any and all hyperspace movements.

40:05 Hera realized that there would be no escape from this fight

40:09 and proposed a diversionary attack so that a fighter could

40:12 leave the Atollon System and contact the rebel command on Yavin

40:16 IV for reinforcements that might help the fleet escape the system.

40:20 Ezra Bridger was tasked with this role and took command of the Nightbrother.

40:25 He was to be escorted by Hera’s squadron

40:28 through the opening that the fleet would create.

40:31 Commander Sato deployed the fleet into a Spearhead formation and sent

40:35 the Y-Wings to bomb the Imperial flanks and goad them into attacking.

40:40 This move was anticipated by Thrawn who

40:43 countered it by maintaining his position while

40:46 strengthening his center and sending his fighters

40:49 so that the rebels had to attack him.

40:51 Hera then moved her squadron to try and get

40:55 through the enemy formation covered by allied squadrons, but they were repulsed.

41:00 The imperial bombers then took out a great portion of the rebel right flank,

41:04 and these losses along with the advance

41:07 of Thrawn’s two light cruisers checked Hera’s progress,

41:10 forcing her to return to the center to reinforce it.

41:13 As more and more of the fleet was destroyed in the desperate attack,

41:18 Commander Sato ordered an evacuation of the Phoenix Nest and had

41:22 the ship piloted in a way suggesting he[GI2] was trying to escape.

41:26 This maneuver was successful as Konstantine took the bait

41:29 in an attempt to be the one to down the Rebellion’s Flagship.

41:33 At the last moment, Sato changed course

41:37 and crashed directly into Konstantine’s vessel destroying both ships,

41:41 and this gave Ezra the chance to jump to hyperspace.

41:46 With that, Thrawn ordered the last interdictor to move

41:49 to the center and made a general advance,

41:52 which forced the few remaining rebel ships

41:55 that weren’t destroyed to the ground on Atollon.

41:58 After conducting an orbital bombardment on the shields,

42:01 he sent his ground forces to capture the high-profile targets,

42:04 but the rebels fought for long enough to allow Ezra

42:08 to return with reinforcements from the allied warlike Mandalorian Clan Wren.

42:13 Mon Mothma had denied help,

42:16 as she did not want to expose the full rebellion prematurely.

42:19 Clan Wren would prove up to the task,

42:22 however, and disabled the last Interdictor,

42:25 allowing what remained of the Rebel forces to escape to Yavin IV.

42:30 The rebels lost most of their ships and 80% of their troops,

42:35 but the majority of the Rebel Alliance survived to fight another day,

42:39 thanks to Mon Mothma’s conservative tactics.

42:43 Meanwhile, Thrawn thought he had crippled the rebellion,

42:46 and that gave the Rebel Alliance much-needed time to recuperate their losses.

42:51 It returned to their usual covert operations finding great

42:56 success in undermining Thrawn’s attempts on Mandalore and Geonosis,

43:00 but it wasn’t until late in 1 BBY that they

43:04 would once again gather enough forces to resume operations on Lothal.

43:08 Soon they discovered that Thrawn was working on the TIE Defender program,

43:12 which could have given the Empire’s single-pilot

43:15 starfighters a decisive advantage against the Rebel ships.

43:19 The Rebel alliance sent the Spectres who once again

43:22 managed to pass Thrawn’s blockade and steal a prototype,

43:26 destroying the airfield in the process.

43:28 The Spectres were downed when they attempted to escape,

43:31 but Syndulla managed to escape bringing the TIE Defender plans to Yavin IV,

43:36 where general Dodonna’s team studied the new starfighter.

43:40 They found no weaknesses, which meant that the Rebels had to act fast.

43:46 Not long after the Empire activated Protocol 13 for Lothal.

43:50 This protocol would start an immediate evacuation

43:53 of the Imperial personnel from the planet,

43:56 followed by probable devastation of Lothal from orbit.

43:59 The enactment of the protocol sprang the Rebels

44:03 into action and they once again decided to attack Lothal,

44:06 this time under the leadership of the newly promoted General Syndulla.

44:10 The plan was to attack and destroy the fuel depot, therefore,

44:14 neutralizing not only the fleet source of fuel

44:17 but also the fuel required for all operations on Lothal.

44:21 This would be a coordinated attack with Hera commanding a squadron

44:25 of 24 bombers and fighters which would breach Thrawn’s blockade while

44:30 the rest of the Spectres still on Lothal would destroy the air

44:34 defenses around the city allowing Hera’s Squadron to destroy the depot,

44:39 rendezvous with the Spectres and leave the planet.

44:42 The plan went as scheduled with Hera arriving and taking

44:45 out the Imperial fighters and their commander within the orbit,

44:49 incurring few losses of her own.

44:51 At the same time, the Spectres infiltrated the city

44:54 and destroyed the land defenses clearing the way for Hera

44:58 but as they passed through the atmosphere they were

45:01 assaulted by a hidden line of amassed TIE fighters,

45:04 which Thrawn had placed there knowing

45:06 Hera could easily outmaneuver his Star Destroyers.

45:09 This all but destroyed her squadron with the few survivors,

45:13 including herself, being captured.

45:15 Thrawn was now confident that he had

45:19 neutralized the Rebels enough to depart for Coruscant.

45:22 The Grand Admiral was unhappy that the Emperor was allocating

45:26 funds to the top-secret Operation Stardust rather than his program,

45:30 and hoped to change his master’s mind.

45:33 He left with his flagship, leaving the rest of the fleet under the command

45:38 of governor Pryce and his special agent Rukh.

45:42 Not long after, the Spectres attempted to free Hera.

45:46 This succeeded, but they lost Commander Kanan in the process,

45:50 as he sacrificed himself so they could escape.

45:53 This was a Pyrrhic victory for Governor Pryce,

45:56 as she inadvertently destroyed the fuel depot.

45:58 She tried to cover this up with a victory

46:02 parade and briefing Thrawn of Kanan’s death via hologram,

46:05 but Thrawn knew of the fuel depot’s destruction due

46:08 to her actions and promised severe repercussions upon his return.

46:13 The Spectres meanwhile would not sit idly.

46:16 While Kanan’s loss was a severe blow for them,

46:19 the absence of Thrawn gave them the opportunity

46:22 to liberate Lothal and so Hera left

46:25 the planet to gather forces for the operation

46:27 which was unauthorized by the Rebel Alliance leadership.

46:31 At this point, the leader of the Lothal rebels Ryder Azadi offered governor

46:36 Pryce to give up the Lothal Rebels’ and the Spectres in exchange for immunity.

46:41 This offer was seen as a golden opportunity by Pryce to amend her failure,

46:47 but in reality, it was a trap set by Ezra.

46:50 When the governor personally led a large contingent to take the rebels

46:55 into custody her contingent was attacked

46:57 and destroyed by the Force sensitive Loth-wolves, who allied with Ezra.

47:02 Hera’s arrival with reinforcements resulted in her capture.

47:07 The Rebels then quickly made for the city and infiltrated

47:10 the Imperial Dome with the aid of the captured Pryce.

47:14 They were able to take full control of it with the intention

47:17 of launching it out of the city before it would self-detonate.

47:21 As they were about to launch it, however,

47:24 Thrawn arrived at the scene and took command of the Chimaera.

47:28 His agent Rukh disable the planetary shield generators

47:31 and the city was bombarded leading to many civilian casualties.

47:36 The Grand Admiral convinced Ezra to surrender himself,

47:40 promising that he will stop the bombardment.

47:43 However, the young Jedi foresaw this, and not

47:46 long after being brought on the Chimaera,

47:48 he played his last card: As was planned,

47:51 the rebels called upon a large pod of Purrgil- massive,

47:56 whale-like creatures that lived in deep space,

47:59 traveling from star system to star system.

48:01 The creatures attacked the Seventh Fleet, all but destroying it.

48:06 The details are lost, but both the Jedi and Grand Admiral were taken into deep

48:11 space by the Purrgil who had the ability to travel using hyperspace.

48:15 With the destruction of the Imperial fleet, the rebels launched the dome,

48:20 killing Governor Pryce and destroying the last remaining

48:24 presence of the Empire on Lothal in the process.

48:27 The Liberation of Lothal would be

48:29 the first decisive victory of the Rebel Alliance

48:32 and Lothal would become the first planet to have thrown off its imperial yoke,

48:37 demonstrating to the entire galaxy that the Empire could be defeated.

48:42 They expected the inevitable Imperial response, but it would never come,

48:48 as other problems were brewing on the horizon,

48:51 threatening to shake the foundations of the Empire to its very core.

48:58 Following their victory on Lothal the Rebel Alliance hesitated,

49:01 not sure what to do next,

49:03 as the liberation of Lothal hadn’t even been a priority

49:06 nor authorized by the high council or commanding officers.

49:10 The success of the Spectres laid the seeds

49:12 of doubt among the soldiers of the alliance, who were now apprehensive of Mon

49:18 Mothma’s continued insistence on finding a diplomatic

49:21 solution as well as other leaders’ push

49:24 for covert means and avoiding direct action.

49:27 This led many of the common soldiers to defect to other

49:30 branches of the rebellion which had broken off with the Rebel Alliance.

49:34 Among them was the group of Saw Gerrera who had become known for his brutal

49:39 and successful hit-and-run tactics and was

49:42 considered a dangerous terrorist by the Empire.

49:45 Their divisions and quarrelling would soon come to an end

49:48 however as the Empire was about to finish its

49:51 weapons program codenamed Project Stardust- the Emperor’s long-kept secret

49:55 that was to give him complete domination of the Galaxy.

49:59 Let us step back to 23 BBY and the history behind the weapon.

50:05 Project Stardust was a plan to build a colossally large

50:09 Battlestation with the capability of destroying planets through a laser device

50:14 powered by the energy of kyber crystals which had long

50:17 been used by the Jedi and Sith to power their lightsabers,

50:21 and by this time was a new technology being pioneered in other uses.

50:25 The Project stemmed from early Sith plans

50:28 but truly found its roots during the lead up

50:31 to the Clone Wars with the original plans

50:34 coming from the Geonosians weaponsmiths’ “Ultimate Weapon Project”.

50:37 These plans were given to Count Dooku for safekeeping and he passed

50:43 them to Chancellor Sheev Palpatine who was the Sith Lord Sidious in disguise.

50:48 Palpatine shared them with the Republic Special

50:51 Weapons Group and convinced them to build

50:53 it using the rumor that the Separatists

50:56 were building their own super battle station.

50:58 The project was to be kept under the utmost secrecy

51:01 and the truth would only be known to a select few

51:05 such as the future Grand Vizier Mas Amedda and the Director

51:08 of the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research Orson Krennic,

51:12 with the latter in charge of the project.

51:16 During and after the Clone Wars,

51:18 resources were diverted to the project by hidden means using scientists

51:22 to work on projects such as scientist Galen Erso’s Project Celestial Power,

51:27 which had a pretext of researching sustainable energy.

51:31 Resources from random mining operations were then channeled

51:35 into the work which was hidden near Geonosis.

51:38 But despite the personal interest of Palpatine

51:40 in the project it took a long time to complete,

51:43 as the need for secrecy put a strain on the available resources.

51:47 This was compounded upon with the raids

51:50 made by partisans on the lightly defended convoys, the Geonosian worker revolts,

51:55 the covert operations of the then hidden rebel alliance,

51:58 and more crucially the work of the kyber power

52:02 system being stalled as Galen and his family fled

52:05 into hiding in 17 BBY after discovering the truth

52:09 of their involvement with the help of Saw Gerrera.

52:12 Krennic was very persuasive in keeping the worries

52:15 of his superiors in check and his critics, namely Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin,

52:20 who considered the project as a drain on resources.

52:24 Despite this opposition, Krennic was able to make good progress,

52:28 especially after the capture of Galen Erso on Lah’mu in 15 BBY.

52:33 Although the Kyber crystal power problem was solved and the work resumed,

52:38 his belief that he had broken Galen would be Krennic’s undoing.

52:42 The first hints of an Imperial superweapon

52:44 came from information given to Luthen Rael,

52:47 who was still on Coruscant, by his long-time informant in the ISB, Lonni Jung.

52:51 The latter had been spying on ISB agent Dedra Meero’s files,

52:55 and she had been doing her own investigations

52:57 into what the Empire had been doing with Project Stardust.

53:01 Jung informed Rael that the energy project and the Public

53:04 Order Resentencing Directive under which Andor was imprisoned were simply

53:07 means to cover for the gathering of resources and labour

53:10 to make what we now know as the Death Star.

53:13 Despite promising he will extract Jung and his family to Yavin,

53:16 Rael killed Jung once he had this information

53:18 and began plans to evacuate Coruscant with Kleya,

53:21 planning to turn the information he had gained over to Marki.

53:25 While Luthen was preparing to leave,

53:27 he was cornered in his shop by Meero and the ISB,

53:30 who finally tracked him down as their long-sought, mysterious “Axis” figure.

53:34 Rather than allowing himself to be taken into custody,

53:37 he attempted to take his own life,

53:39 but an Imperial medical team was able to take him to Lina Soh hospital,

53:42 where he was kept on life support, as the Imperials hoped of interrogating him.

53:46 Marki was able, however,

53:48 to infiltrate the hospital where he was being kept barely alive,

53:51 removing him from life support before he could divulge anything,

53:55 sparing him the torment of Imperial interrogation.

53:57 She headed to the safehouse previously used by Andor and Mon Mothma,

54:01 and put out a call for aid.

54:03 This final failure would also mark the end of Meero’s career.

54:06 She was arrested and confronted by Krennic for her role

54:09 in not just the failure to apprehend Luthen alive,

54:12 but also her role in collecting information on Stardust,

54:15 which allowed a single source to be able

54:17 to leak a significant amount of information on the subject.

54:20 Following her own interrogation,

54:22 she was sent to a prison complex much like the one Andor had escaped from.

54:26 She had been able to impart one useful

54:29 bit of information- that Rael had an assistant, Kleya.

54:32 On Yavin, Paak received the distress call put out by Kleya,

54:36 dispatching Andor, the rebuilt K2SO, and Ruescott Melshi,

54:39 who had joined the Rebellion on Yavin after escaping Narkina with Andor.

54:44 This unauthorized mission once again irked the Yavin leadership,

54:47 which now actively included both Senators Mothma and Organa,

54:51 along with Admiral Raddus of the Mon Calamari, among others.

54:55 Once they had made it to the safehouse,

54:57 Kleya informed the rescue team of the information

54:59 given to her by Rael about the Imperial superweapon.

55:02 Kleya insisted Andor take the information to Yavin and leave her, given

55:06 the tense relationship between Luthen and the Yavin leadership in the past,

55:10 but Andor refused to leave her behind.

55:12 She was knocked out in the ensuing fight

55:14 with the Imperial troops sent to apprehend her, but Andor,

55:18 Melshi, and K2 successfully extracted her to Yavin.

55:21 Initially the leadership was hesitant to accept her information,

55:24 given it had come through Luthen, but Andor convinced them to listen to her.

55:29 Soon, this information was to be

55:31 supplemented from another source within the Empire,

55:33 though it would require cooperation with another Rebel leader

55:36 with whom the Yavin Rebels had a tumultuous past- Saw Gerrera.

55:41 Project Stardust was entering its final phase

55:44 by the time Lothal was liberated and Tarkin’s

55:47 first target upon its completion was to be

55:50 the Rebel Alliance base once it was discovered.

55:53 It became known that Galen sent an Imperial

55:56 cargo pilot who was sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance,

55:59 named Bodhi Rook, to deliver a message to Saw Gerrera who was on planet Jedha.

56:04 But when the latter arrived and delivered the message,

56:07 he was imprisoned by the old rebel,

56:09 who had grown paranoid and distrusted Rook’s defection.

56:13 The Empire, knowing that Rook held sensitive

56:16 information announced a big bounty for his capture,

56:19 bringing what otherwise would’ve been a minor

56:22 defection to the attention of Rebel

56:25 Alliance intelligence who started investigating hearing rumors

56:28 of a “Planet Killer” and Galen’s message, but could not get into contact

56:32 from Gerrera and his rebel group called Partisans.

56:35 They needed someone who could reach out to Saw and to this end,

56:39 they rescued and recruited Galen’s long-lost daughter

56:43 and old associate of Saw, Jyn Erso.

56:46 The mission was to be led by Rebel Alliance Intelligence Officer Cassian Andor

56:50 who would be accompanied by Jyn Erso and his rewired KX security droid K-2SO,

56:55 and they were to head to the Holy City of Jedha and try

57:00 to establish contact with the Partisans and then find the Pilot and the message.

57:04 They did not have to wait long as they

57:07 were caught in one of the Partisan attacks against

57:10 the empire and escaped by the skin of their teeth

57:12 with the aid of Baze Malbus and Chirrut Imwe,

57:15 former Guardians of the Kyber Temple that once stood in Jedha.

57:19 This rescue was temporary as they were soon captured by the Partisans.

57:24 Jyn revealed who she was and her relation to Gerrera,

57:27 so they were to be taken to him as prisoners.

57:31 After a heated reunion,

57:32 Gerrera showed Jyn the message in which her father revealed his efforts

57:37 in undermining Project Stardust and the ultimate weapon named the Death Star.

57:41 While Galen was working on the main weapon and the power supply of the station,

57:46 he secretly placed a flaw within the reactor of the station,

57:49 creating an easy way to destroy it- if the reactor

57:53 was destroyed the entire station would go with it.

57:57 In order to find the reactor,

57:59 they needed to get the Death Star’s schematics which he revealed

58:02 were housed in the imperial data vaults on the planet Scarif.

58:06 Before they could leave, however, the Death Star entered the orbit of Jedha

58:11 under the command of Grand Moff Tarkin who wanted

58:14 to test the now complete station and destroy

58:17 Saw Gerrera and the security breach caused by Rook.

58:21 On his command the station fired directly at the Holy City,

58:25 destroying it nearly instantly and causing

58:27 a shockwave that nearly killed the Rebel team.

58:31 Cassian, Jyn, Baze, K-2, Chirrut were rescued by Rook.

58:35 Gerrera and his partisans were not as fortunate.

58:38 Having escaped Jedha they quickly jumped into hyperspace bound for Eadu

58:42 with the intention of rescuing Galen as requested by Mon Mothma,

58:46 but due to the stormy climate crashed on the planet’s surface.

58:50 They decided to continue their rescue operation,

58:53 but before they managed to save Galen,

58:56 the Rebel Blue Squadron attacked the base at the command

59:00 of rebel General Draven resulting in Galen’s death.

59:02 This showed that different groups within the rebellion

59:05 were still vying for their goals and were uncoordinated.

59:09 With nothing else to do on the planet,

59:12 Cassian’s group stole an Imperial Zeta Class shuttle

59:15 and returned to the rebel base at Yavin IV.

59:18 The Rebel Council was summoned on the moon and Jyn

59:22 and her comrades presented their evidence of the Death

59:24 Star and its ability to destroy entire planets

59:27 to the shock and alarm of the council members.

59:30 Nearly all of them were now advocating for peace

59:33 or calling for the disbanding of the Alliance much

59:36 to Jyn’s fury who demanded an attack on Scarif

59:39 to recover the plans and then destroy the Death Star.

59:43 This plea was ignored.

59:44 Storming out of the council room Jyn was met by her comrades

59:49 who informed her of their willingness to embark on the Scarif mission.

59:53 Many other rebels were fed up with the Council's

59:56 indecisiveness and also wanted to join her group.

59:59 She accepted their offer and gave them her thanks.

1:00:02 They left Yavin aboard the captured shuttle under the call sign Rogue One.

1:00:07 The planet was protected by an orbital shield gate,

1:00:10 but Rogue one’s Zeta-class Heavy Cargo Shuttle had access codes.

1:00:15 Having bypassed the security shield over Scarif,

1:00:18 Rogue One landed with Cassian, Jyn,

1:00:20 and K-2 disguising themselves and made their way to the citadel to get

1:00:25 the schematics while the rest of the team set up for a diversionary attack.

1:00:30 On Jyn’s command Rebel commandos blew multiple explosives

1:00:33 on the launching pads around the imperial base,

1:00:36 and the Action on Scarif commenced.

1:00:38 After the bombs on the landing platforms were detonated,

1:00:42 Krennic, who had arrived moments earlier, ordered an immediate response,

1:00:45 and the garrison was deployed to the platforms

1:00:48 believing they were facing a large attack.

1:00:51 The jungle helped the rebels and their unit led

1:00:54 by Baze and Chirrut ambushed the storm troops upon their arrival,

1:00:58 who sustained heavy losses and were pinned down.

1:01:01 The rebel attack was also aided by Rook and his men who from their ship

1:01:05 were misdirecting Imperial units through the coms

1:01:08 and diverting even more men from the citadel.

1:01:11 Their attack was eventually pushed back

1:01:14 however as the garrison’s AT-ACT walkers.

1:01:16 The Walkers were terrifying killing machines,

1:01:19 with armor impenetrable to the rebel small arms.

1:01:23 The rebels were pushed back to the beach and many were killed along the way.

1:01:27 Just as the last of them were about to be cut down,

1:01:31 X-wing starfighters from Blue Squadron suddenly appeared.

1:01:34 Their weapons were more than capable of fighting the AT-ACTs and as the Imperial

1:01:37 garrison on Scarif didn’t scramble its

1:01:39 limited contingent of TIE-fighters to intercept, the X-wings were unopposed,

1:01:40 and the rebels easily destroyed the walkers, halting the Imperial advance.

1:01:45 The main forces of the Rebel Alliance had arrived.

1:01:49 Hearing the Imperial dispatch that Scarif base was under attack,

1:01:53 Rebel commander Admiral Raddus learned that this was Rogue One doing.

1:01:58 He gathered his forces and made way to Scarif,

1:02:01 contradicting the orders of the Council,

1:02:03 much to the encouragement of the soldiers who joined

1:02:06 him.The Rebel fleet consisted of Admiral Raddus’s MC75 Star Cruiser,

1:02:11 the Profundity, 4 Braha'tok-class gunships, 6 CR90 corvettes,

1:02:17 3 EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, 3 Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes,

1:02:23 12 GR-75 medium transports and were supported

1:02:27 by fighter wings Blue Squadron, Green Squadron,

1:02:29 Red Squadron, and bomber wing Gold as well as the Ghost

1:02:33 belonging to the Specter cell which liberated Lothal from the empire.

1:02:37 The Imperial orbital garrison was situated around

1:02:40 the shield gate itself which was immobile but held

1:02:44 capable defense guns as well as a considerable

1:02:47 number of TIE fighters within its docking bay.

1:02:50 This was complemented by 2 Imperial i-Class

1:02:53 Star Destroyers- Admiral Gorin’s Intimidator and the Persecutor.

1:02:58 Defending a relatively unimportant planet,

1:03:00 the garrison was quite relaxed by the time Raddus’s fleet appeared.

1:03:05 The imperials were only getting reports that the surface

1:03:08 battle was won and thus left the shield gate open.

1:03:12 As soon as the Rebel fleet appeared however the balance of power shifted

1:03:16 and Raddus ordered Blue Squadron under General

1:03:18 Antoc Merrick to support the surface attack.

1:03:21 Many of his fighters and support ships got through

1:03:24 before the shield gate was closed and helped their comrades.

1:03:28 Now with the ground situation stabilized Raddus went

1:03:31 on the offensive sending Gold and Green Squadron

1:03:34 to probe the shield gate to reestablish contact

1:03:37 with Rogue One as the gate blocked their transmission frequencies.

1:03:40 Ghost and Red Squadron were to defend the main fleet,

1:03:44 while the rest of the fleet kept the Star Destroyers at bay.

1:03:48 However, instead of using his superior firepower,

1:03:51 Admiral Gorin took up a defensive position to protect

1:03:54 the shield gate as he was waiting for reinforcements.

1:03:58 The shield’s defensive emplacements were too strong

1:04:01 to overcome and the Rebels weren’t able to break

1:04:04 the shield with their medium craft bombers and they

1:04:07 were forced back when the TIE squadrons were launched,

1:04:10 as the imperials outnumbered them.

1:04:12 Raddus sent Red Squadron in to reinforce them but the battle was by now

1:04:17 going ill with one GR-75 transport as well as 1 Braha'tok gunship destroyed,

1:04:22 with the rest of the fleet heavily battered.

1:04:25 However, the Rebel admiral knew that retreat was not

1:04:29 an option and so continued to press the attack.

1:04:32 At this time all of the TIE fighter squadrons

1:04:34 were fighting within the perimeter of the rebel fleet,

1:04:37 which left the Imperial Star Destroyers vulnerable.

1:04:39 When a breach opened in the TIE fighters

1:04:42 right flank it was noticed by Jon Vander, commander of Gold Squadron,

1:04:47 who ordered his bombers to form on him and immediately made

1:04:50 a run on the Persecutor with ion torpedoes and disabled the vessel.

1:04:54 Suddenly the Rebels received a signal from Rogue One

1:04:58 as Rook was able to get through the shield’s jammer.

1:05:01 Rook told Raddus that they had the Death Star

1:05:04 plans but they needed him to destroy the shield

1:05:06 gate to send the data files as they were

1:05:09 too large to get through while it was still up.

1:05:12 After confirming that he would do so, Raddus formed an ingenious plan:

1:05:16 one of his Hammerhead corvettes- Lightmaker,

1:05:19 captained by Kado Oquoné, was called up to implement it.

1:05:22 After the crew was safely evacuated,

1:05:24 with the exception of Oquoné and a skeleton crew,

1:05:27 the Lightmaker broke off from the fleet

1:05:29 and made a large swing around the Imperial’s right

1:05:33 flank before turning alongside the starboard side

1:05:35 of the Persecutor and then ramming straight into it.

1:05:40 Lightmaker’s crew ignited full thrusters after impact,

1:05:43 causing the Persecutor to turn left straight into the Intimidator.

1:05:48 Admiral Gorin ordered reverse thrusters, but by now,

1:05:51 Persecutor was turning too rapidly and smashed

1:05:54 into the upper castle of the Intimidator,

1:05:57 severing it in half and permanently knocking both ships out.

1:06:00 Persecutor and Lightmaker then both crashed

1:06:03 into the shield gate ring and destroyed it.

1:06:06 This allowed the rebels on the ground

1:06:09 to send a signal and almost immediately the Profundity

1:06:11 received a transmission from Scarif as Jyn successfully

1:06:14 transmitted the plans from the top of the tower.

1:06:18 With operational objectives achieved,

1:06:19 the Rebels started planning to rescue the ground forces and return to Yavin,

1:06:25 but as they were making preparations the Death Star exited hyperspace,

1:06:29 with Darth Vader and capital ships not far behind.

1:06:33 Knowing that Vader could handle Raddus’s fleet,

1:06:35 Tarkin ordered a single reactor ignition volley upon

1:06:38 the Scarif Citadel to safeguard their secret plans.

1:06:42 Even the deliberately weakened shot from the Death Star was destructive,

1:06:46 and this blast resulted in the deaths of Krennic,

1:06:50 Rogue One, and all forces that were upon Scarif.

1:06:53 With evacuation impossible, the rebel ships now began their jump to Hyperspace.

1:06:58 Half of the fleet successfully escaped,

1:07:01 but Darth Vader’s Devastator suddenly emerged from Hyperspace

1:07:04 causing the rest of the fleet to pull away with one GR-75 crashing into the hull

1:07:09 of the Devastator and being destroyed instantly.

1:07:12 The sheer firepower unleashed from the Devastator

1:07:16 obliterated a Nebulon B frigate

1:07:18 in a matter of seconds and then pounded the already weak shields,

1:07:22 destroying them and disabling the Profundity.

1:07:24 This gave time for the rest of the fleet to escape,

1:07:28 while Darth Vader boarded the Profundity to secure

1:07:31 the Death Stars plans they had taken.

1:07:33 However, before he could get them a few of the rebels

1:07:37 escaped with the plans on Captain Antilles ship Tantive

1:07:39 IV which was docked in the hull and despite being

1:07:43 not fully repaired jumped into hyperspace with Vader in hot pursuit.

1:07:48 So concluded the Battle of Scarif.

1:07:51 The operation was a great success for the Rebel Alliance,

1:07:54 as the only major blows being the loss the Profundity,

1:07:58 Admiral Raddus, and General Merrick,

1:08:00 while the Empire lost all of the Scarif garrison.

1:08:03 The fact that the Rebel alliance now had the Death Stars

1:08:07 plans meant that they had

1:08:08 a chance to destroy Palpatine's monstrous battlestation.

1:08:11 The battle that was minor in size and number of participants,

1:08:16 was about to change the course of Galactic History.

1:08:21 With Death Star’s plans onboard,

1:08:24 Tantive IV’s Captain Raymus Antilles set course for Tatooine,

1:08:28 which was its original destination before the Scarif operation,

1:08:32 hoping to evade the pursuit of Vader’s Devastator.

1:08:35 Onboard the Tantive IV was the daughter of one

1:08:38 of the leaders of the rebellion Bail Organa Princess Leia,

1:08:41 and her mission was to find the Jedi Master Obi-Wan

1:08:45 Kenobi who had been in exile since the Great Jedi Purge.

1:08:48 He was to be given the Death Star Plans and then escorted to Alderaan.

1:08:53 However, the Devastator managed to follow Tantive into the Hyperspace,

1:08:57 and upon exit crippled the rebel ship in a matter of minutes drawing

1:09:01 it within its hanger ignoring the ship's

1:09:04 broadcast of being on a diplomatic mission.

1:09:07 The rebels attempted to use the escape pods

1:09:09 but the first ones were shot down by the Devastator,

1:09:12 so they resolved to stand and fight.

1:09:15 As the stormtroopers were about to breach the ship

1:09:18 Leia gave the plans to an astromech designated R2-D2,

1:09:21 ordering it to go to the surface in one

1:09:24 of the pods and deliver her message and the plans to Kenobi.

1:09:28 The ship was boarded and a brief firefight broke out in the halls

1:09:32 resulting in the death of nearly all the Alderaanian Consular Security force.

1:09:37 However, their resistance allowed R2-D2 and the protocol

1:09:40 droid 3-CPO to escape in a pod,

1:09:43 which the imperials didn’t shoot at, detecting no organics.

1:09:47 The droids landed in the desert with no

1:09:50 settlement for miles and were then captured by Jawas,

1:09:53 native inhabitants of the planet who specialized in scavenging

1:09:56 abandoned items such as droids and selling them.

1:10:00 As such their captivity was not long as they were

1:10:03 sold by them to a moisture farmer named Owen Lars.

1:10:07 While they were in his care, Owen’s nephew Luke Skywalker discovered Princess

1:10:11 Leia’s message and sought to find

1:10:14 this “Kenobi” thinking it may be the hermit “Ben” who lived nearby.

1:10:18 Despite C-3PO’s protest, R2-D2 struck out alone the next day,

1:10:23 determined to deliver this message,

1:10:25 which forced Luke and C-3PO to go out to recover him.

1:10:29 However, they were set upon by another native group- Tusken Raiders

1:10:33 and were nearly killed until the hermit Ben arrived scaring the raiders away.

1:10:38 He confirmed that he is the legendary Jedi Master Obi-Wan

1:10:42 Kenobi and then took the trio back to his home.

1:10:45 Seeing Leia’s message,

1:10:47 he realized that he can’t stay out of the war and decided to go to Alderaan.

1:10:52 He attempted to recruit Luke revealing that he was the son

1:10:55 of his old friend and a very powerful Jedi Anakin Skywalker,

1:11:00 who was killed by Kenobi’s apprentice Vader.

1:11:03 Initially Luke refused to join Kenobi on the way to Alderaan,

1:11:07 but soon after returning home, he discovered the remains of his Aunt and Uncle,

1:11:11 and his home burnt to ash, most likely by the imperial stormtroopers

1:11:15 who were still searching for the droids.

1:11:18 With no other option and eager to avenge his family, Luke joined Kenobi.

1:11:23 They had made their way to Mos Eisley spaceport and hired the captain

1:11:28 of a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter Millenium

1:11:31 Falcon Han Solo and his Wookie copilot Chewbacca.

1:11:35 Eager to pay off the debt to the local crime lord Jabba the Hutt,

1:11:40 Solo accepted Kenobi’s lucrative offer,

1:11:42 and the unlikely crew set off from Tatooine,

1:11:45 despite the attack of the Stormtroopers that came too late.

1:11:49 Meanwhile, Leia was now detained on the Death Star

1:11:52 which was in the Alderaan system and the Emperor

1:11:55 used her involvement with the Rebel Alliance

1:11:57 to finally put an end to the Galactic Senate, dissolving the body entirely.

1:12:02 Palpatine, now no longer constrained by their protection of Senatorial status,

1:12:07 imprisoned many of the Senators on Coruscant[1],

1:12:10 ending the threat the Rebels had posed from within.

1:12:14 Completed Death Star was the most powerful force in the Galaxy and so there was

1:12:18 no longer a need to retain control of the Galaxy through the use of the Senate.

1:12:22 The might of the Empire was the only thing keeping the planetary system

1:12:26 at bay and the threat of the Death Star would keep them quiet,

1:12:31 but the Emperor and Tarkin knew that a show of force and a demonstration

1:12:35 of the power of their new weapon would need to be shown.

1:12:38 Among those now no longer protected by their Senatorial status was Princess Leia

1:12:43 who was tortured at length on the location of the main rebel base.

1:12:48 As the torture failed to work, Tarkin threatened to blow her home planet if

1:12:52 she refuses to provide the location of the rebels.

1:12:55 Leia tried to deceive her captor and named

1:12:58 the planet Dantooine- the rebel base that was abandoned previously.

1:13:03 Despite that, Tarkin ordered the Death Star to destroy Alderaan which was

1:13:08 considered one of the centers of the rebellion and thus was a threat.

1:13:14 More than 2 billion civilians were killed in the destruction of the planet,

1:13:19 among them Bail Organa.

1:13:20 The news of its destruction spread rapidly,

1:13:23 terrifying some, while steeling the resolve of others.

1:13:27 The Alderaanians on Coruscant held a Vigil that turned into a riot

1:13:31 that lasted for several days but they

1:13:33 were put down brutally by the stormtroopers.

1:13:36 Many Alderaanians and their sympathizers joined the rebellion.

1:13:41 Meanwhile, having successfully escaped and arrived in the Alderaanian space,

1:13:45 Millenium Falcon was seemingly caught in a meteor shower,

1:13:49 but as it ventured further the crew was puzzled as to why Alderaan was not here.

1:13:55 Kenobi who felt the death of the billions in the Force said

1:13:58 it was the Empire doing and that they had destroyed the planet,

1:14:02 but this was dismissed by Solo who said

1:14:04 not even an entire fleet could’ve done this.

1:14:07 Before they could learn the truth, the Falcon was attacked by a single TIE

1:14:11 fighter acting as a Scout which Solo followed believing

1:14:15 he could destroy it with no Imperial bases around

1:14:18 for him to escape to or get help from.

1:14:20 What he originally thought to be a moon was soon

1:14:23 discovered to be the Death Star which the scout had

1:14:26 been luring them too and they were caught in its

1:14:29 tractor beam before they could escape and were taken aboard.

1:14:33 Using Solo’s smuggler tactics, Kenobi’s Jedi skills, and R2’s hacking,

1:14:38 the crew of the Falcon managed not only to avoid capture,

1:14:42 but disabled the tractor beam and freed princess Leia,

1:14:45 saving her from the execution.

1:14:47 However, when they almost escaped, the crew was accosted by Darth Vader.

1:14:52 The Emperor's enforcer, who had waited a long time to avenge

1:14:56 his previous crippling defeat at Kenobi’s hands,

1:14:59 was eager to destroy his old master and the two began to duel.

1:15:04 It started with Kenobi’s taunt “You cannot win Darth.

1:15:08 If you strike me down I shall

1:15:10 become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”.

1:15:13 Vader took a very cautious approach which was uncharacteristic of his style,

1:15:17 but he knew just how dangerous Kenobi was and the old

1:15:21 Jedi was just trying to distract Vader and the stormtroopers,

1:15:24 which allowed the crew to make their way to the Falcon.

1:15:28 Upon seeing that, Kenobi stopped fighting, letting Vader strike him.

1:15:32 However, once the blow found its mark Kenobi vanished

1:15:36 with nothing left but his saber and a slashed robe.

1:15:39 The duel gave the crew of Falcon enough time to board

1:15:43 their ship and the freighter escaped from the Death Star hangar.

1:15:47 A half-dozen imperial TIE fighters were sent to pursue them,

1:15:50 but the rebels were able to destroy the enemy starships,

1:15:53 making the jump to Hyperspace and the safety of Yavin IV.

1:15:57 The crew was in a celebratory mood but Leia knew that the Imperials

1:16:02 had let them escape and had probably placed a tracker on the ship,

1:16:06 but hoped that the Death Star plans might swing the battle in their favour.

1:16:11 When they arrived, the plans were immediately given to General Dodonna

1:16:15 for assessment and soon Galen’s design flaw was found and the plan conceived:

1:16:20 Dodonna decided to send the remaining pilots of Gold,

1:16:23 Red, and Green starfighter Squadrons alone against the Death Star,

1:16:27 as the monstrous station would have a harder

1:16:30 time hitting them than any medium or heavy craft.

1:16:33 The pilots were ordered to attack a single

1:16:36 two-meter wide exhaust port with their proton torpedoes,

1:16:39 which, once successfully entered,

1:16:40 would go all the way down to the reactor chamber

1:16:43 and set off the reaction that would destroy the Death Star.

1:16:47 Not long after, the Death Star Arrived in the System and began

1:16:52 Orbiting Yavin Prime to get into position to fire its moon Yavin IV,

1:16:56 situated on the other side of the Planet.

1:16:59 Luke joined Red Squadron as a pilot with his childhood friend Biggs,

1:17:03 Solo meanwhile had received his payment for his aid and left Yavin

1:17:07 to pay his debts intending to not be part of the battle to come.

1:17:12 To many, this seemed like a suicide mission,

1:17:15 but the Pilots sent out were invigorated and could

1:17:18 be counted on to fight till the last.

1:17:21 The rebel forces consisted of 22 T-65B

1:17:25 X-wing starfighters that were divided between Red Squadron,

1:17:28 commanded by Garven Dreis, and Green Squadron commanded by an unknown pilot.

1:17:33 The X-Wings were to serve as a distraction as well

1:17:37 as escort for the 8 BTL-A4 Y-wing bombers of Gold Squadron,

1:17:41 commanded by Jon Vander,

1:17:43 as the bombers were supposed to make an attack run through the meridian

1:17:47 trench of the Death Star which was guarded by 20 turbo lasers,

1:17:50 and then to the exhaust port.

1:17:53 The Imperial force was made up of the Battle Station itself, the Death Star,

1:17:58 which had 15’000 turbolaser guns along with 768 tractor beam emplacements,

1:18:04 and was complemented with several hundred

1:18:06 TIE fighter squadrons within its hangars.

1:18:09 The Death Star was also accompanied

1:18:11 by the Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer “Fortitude”,

1:18:14 but this ship was used in a defensive posture.

1:18:17 The Rebel Squadrons exited the surface of Yavin IV and made their way towards

1:18:22 their target and with 15 minutes left

1:18:24 for the Death Star to get into firing position,

1:18:28 they confirmed their numbers locked their S-Foils into attack position,

1:18:31 beginning the Battle of Yavin.

1:18:33 Just as Dodonna had accessed the Death

1:18:36 Star’s surface guns were too widely dispersed

1:18:38 and too slow to catch the starfighter which

1:18:41 dodged and picked them off with relative ease.

1:18:44 With these reports coming in, Darth Vader

1:18:47 ordered his personal Black Squadron to attack,

1:18:50 determining that the battle would have to be won in ship-to-ship combat.

1:18:55 Vader’s appearance proved to be enough

1:18:57 to start changing the situation, but wasn’t enough,

1:19:00 as he was fighting the best fighters the Rebel Alliance had to offer

1:19:03 and they were a match for any of the best Imperial Pilots.

1:19:07 Determining the way was safe Commander Vander took Gold 2 and Gold

1:19:11 5 with him to make the first attack run into the trench.

1:19:15 They entered and navigated most of it with relative

1:19:18 ease as the defensive guns stopped shooting at them.

1:19:21 At this point, Darth Vader entered the trench

1:19:24 after them in his TIE Advanced accompanied

1:19:26 by two TIE Fighters and himself destroyed all

1:19:29 three of the ships and exited the trench.

1:19:32 As the battle still raged,

1:19:34 Imperial officers analyzed the rebel attack and discovered

1:19:37 the flaw in the Death Star that could be fatal,

1:19:41 but Tarkin dismissed this saying "Evacuate?

1:19:43 In our moment of triumph?

1:19:45 I think you overestimate their chances!" With three minutes left

1:19:49 for the Death Star to get into the shooting angle,

1:19:52 commander Dreis took Red 10 and Red 12 to begin the second attack run.

1:19:57 Although they knew that the imperial TIE fighters will show up again,

1:20:01 they took the same path, as it was now easy to traverse.

1:20:05 Indeed, Vader was in pursuit again and managed

1:20:08 to destroy Red 10 and Red 12 soon.

1:20:11 Dreis got in range and launched his Torpedoes but was unable to hit the target.

1:20:16 He was then chased down and cut down by Vader.

1:20:20 With only 1 minute to spare Luke took command of the next attack run and entered

1:20:25 the Meridian Trench at a high speed accompanied

1:20:28 by Wedge Antilles’ Red 2 and Biggs Darklighter’s Red 3.

1:20:32 His wingmates hung back to cover him from the enemy fighters,

1:20:36 while Luke himself attacked the target.

1:20:38 Just like clockwork, the guns fell silent and Vader with his support arrived.

1:20:44 The imperials quickly caught up with the X-wings damaging

1:20:47 Red 2 who was ordered to disengage by Luke.

1:20:50 The chase continued on with Vader letting the ship

1:20:53 flee and now it was left to Luke’s

1:20:55 friend Biggs to distract the TIE Fighters long

1:20:58 enough to allow Luke to take his shot.

1:21:01 However, soon his craft was severely damaged

1:21:03 and then destroyed before he could pull up,

1:21:06 leaving Luke as the only fighter left to complete the mission.

1:21:10 He turned on his targeting system knowing at any

1:21:13 moment now the battle would either be won or lost.

1:21:17 But as he drew closer he heard a voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi,

1:21:21 telling him to rely on the Force and trust his feelings.

1:21:25 Vader sensed this disturbance in the Force and became

1:21:28 intrigued by this pilot finding it harder to hit him.

1:21:32 Luke trusted Kenobi and turned off his computer to the alarm

1:21:36 of Rebel base and confirmed he would proceed without it.

1:21:40 Just as Vader had locked onto Luke,

1:21:42 the ship guarding his right suddenly burst into flames catching

1:21:46 Vader off guard- it was the Millennium Falcon arriving overhead.

1:21:51 Its cannons forced Vader’s wingmate to dodge,

1:21:53 and the TIE Fighter hit Vader’s vessel sending it careening into space.

1:21:58 With his flank secured Luke took the shot with both torpedoes finding

1:22:02 their mark and he pulled off accompanied by what remained of the rebel force.

1:22:07 With the Death Star’s laser set to go off,

1:22:10 the station exploded from the chain of reaction caused by Luke’s torpedo.

1:22:15 The explosion sent shrapnel throughout the system and heavily

1:22:19 damaged the nearby Fortitude which forced it to retreat.

1:22:23 Despite the fact that the Empire still retained nearly all

1:22:27 of its fleet and still controlled most of the worlds,

1:22:30 the battle was disastrous for its rule.

1:22:33 The Death Star explosion not only cost them thousands

1:22:36 of highly qualified officers but the political fallout was devastating,

1:22:41 as with no Death Star to serve as a threat

1:22:44 the Emperor’s will would be hard to maintain.

1:22:47 The battle of Yavin was the harbinger

1:22:50 of the new era and the whole galaxy would start

1:22:53 using “After the Battle of Yavin” to denote

1:22:56 the years after this dramatic change in the galaxy.

1:22:59 The Rebel Alliance was now considered

1:23:01 an effective organization and soon those oppressed

1:23:04 by the Empire started to flock to the Rebel cause in the thousands.

1:23:09 However, the rebels knew that the empire would strike back

1:23:12 and that they needed to abandon the main base on Yavin IV.

1:23:17 So, after a brief ceremony in which the Heroes of the Rebel Alliance,

1:23:21 Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo were awarded Medals of Bravery,

1:23:25 they immediately began their evacuation.

1:23:28 During the preparations,

1:23:30 Leia Organa snuck away with her compatriot Evaan Verlaine,

1:23:33 who was the only Gold Squadron fighter to survive the battle.

1:23:37 Both from Alderaan, their mission was

1:23:40 to rescue those remaining Alderaanians who were off-world

1:23:42 at the time of the disaster as they were being hunted by the Empire.

1:23:47 They managed to save a large number of Alderaanians using Sullust as their base.

1:23:52 And after a brief battle above Sullust which saw the Alderaanians victorious,

1:23:57 she left Verlaine in command and returned alone

1:24:00 to Yavin where the evacuation was still undergoing.[1] Meanwhile,

1:24:04 emperor Palpatine was purging many of the old officers,

1:24:08 replacing them with officers who were skilled and daring.

1:24:11 The Navy was reorganized down to the TIE fighter squadrons

1:24:15 so as to combat the quicker X-Wing pilots more efficiently.

1:24:20 Imperial ships were immediately set out to hunt all suspected Rebels.

1:24:24 The prime target was Yavin IV, but the vanguard led by a lone Imperial Class

1:24:30 Star Destroyer was foiled and the Rebel Fleet managed

1:24:34 to escape.[2] General Draven knew that Yavin would mean

1:24:37 nothing if the Rebels do not capitalize on it,

1:24:40 so he urged for an immediate assault to cripple the Empire’s War

1:24:44 Industry and selected Cymoon 1

1:24:46 in the Corellian Industrial Cluster as the target,

1:24:49 as its sabotage would be a setback for the empire.

1:24:53 Captain Solo was to lead the mission

1:24:55 along with the crew of the Millennium Falcon.

1:24:58 He pretended to be the envoy of Jabba the Hutt,

1:25:01 as the Empire was making a deal for resources with the Hutt

1:25:04 and it is known that Solo used to work for the crime boss.

1:25:08 The rebels were able to infiltrate the factory,

1:25:11 setting the reactor to explode, freeing a number of slaves in the process.

1:25:16 However, the arrival of Darth Vader changed things.

1:25:19 The rebels attempted to kill the Sith as he landed, but failed.

1:25:23 The emperor’s enforcer sensed the presence

1:25:25 of the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star,

1:25:29 so he took command of the garrison eager to catch the rebels.

1:25:33 Vader forced his way into the factory,

1:25:35 despite the heavy resistance his troops faced

1:25:38 with the former slaves now aiding the Rebels,

1:25:41 and managed to find Luke and nearly killed him had it not been for Solo’s

1:25:45 intervention with a commandeered AT-AT walker which

1:25:48 they used to blast their way out.

1:25:51 The rebels managed to escape to the Millennium

1:25:54 Falcon after Luke set the reactor off, destroying the factory.

1:25:58 This imperial setback gave the rebels some breathing room,

1:26:01 allowing Luke to continue his mission to find

1:26:04 a suitable location for a new base.

1:26:07 The Rebellion continued its guerilla-style operations and one

1:26:10 of the missions conducted during this period was to free the Senators held

1:26:15 in the Arrth-Eno Prison upon Coruscant to be executed.

1:26:18 The operation was led by Eneb Ray,

1:26:21 who was one of the few Rebel spies on Coruscant.

1:26:24 He was able to infiltrate the facility but soon after learned

1:26:28 that the Emperor was personally visiting the prison to watch the execution.

1:26:32 The spy contacted Leia who gave the green light to alter the plan:

1:26:37 Ray gathered all local agents and they

1:26:39 disguised themselves as the imprisoned Senators.

1:26:42 The rebels ambushed the Emperor as the execution was underway,

1:26:46 seemingly killing him.

1:26:47 But to Eneb’s dismay,

1:26:49 he discovered that it was a decoy and the real Palpatine was aboard

1:26:54 a ship overlooking the facility which exploded

1:26:57 just as he planned with only Eneb surviving.

1:27:00 Palpatine had not only gotten rid of the rebellious

1:27:03 Senators and spies of Coruscant but he

1:27:06 used the event to frame it as a terrorist attack made by the Rebel Alliance.

1:27:11 At this same time, the Emperor blamed Vader for the recent failures

1:27:15 of the Empire and humiliated him

1:27:17 by stripping him of his role as second-in-command,

1:27:20 sending him on small diplomatic missions and checking on garrison commands.

1:27:26 Simultaneously, Palpatine hired scientist Cylo[3]

1:27:29 to create a cybernetic replacement for Vader.

1:27:31 [4] All of this drove Vader to employ bounty hunters Boba Fett

1:27:36 and Black Krrsantan to find the mysterious

1:27:39 force-sensitive pilot who destroyed the Death Star.

1:27:42 In hopes to build his own secret power base,

1:27:45 Vader also recruited the archaeologist and droid expert Doctor

1:27:48 Chelli Aphra to build him a private army of droids.

1:27:52 Despite their best abilities the bounty hunters failed to catch Luke,

1:27:57 with only Fett coming close.

1:27:59 He was able to give Vader the name of his prey- Skywalker.

1:28:03 Vader knew that name from his past life and that sent him

1:28:07 into a ceaseless search for Luke that would

1:28:10 ultimately steer the course of the war.

1:28:12 That course would start on the Planet Vrogas Vas.

1:28:15 The planet was used as a refueling depot for Alliance,

1:28:19 housing a few rebel squadrons that included Luke’s Red squadron.

1:28:24 Vader learned from Aphra that Luke was

1:28:27 on Vrogas Vas and that one of his possible

1:28:31 replacements Mon Calamari Cyborg- Commander Karbin was

1:28:33 sent by the emperor to capture the rebel.

1:28:36 In order to get to the rebel pilot before Karbin,

1:28:39 Vader flew to Vrogas Vas on his own without any reinforcements.

1:28:44 Coming out of hyperspace to find three Rebel fighter squadrons in front of him,

1:28:49 Vader initially thought it a trap possibly set by Aphra,

1:28:53 but the latter frantically denied it.

1:28:55 In reality, the Rebels were just as surprised,

1:28:58 as they were doing training maneuvers.

1:29:01 Nevertheless, they engaged Vader thinking he was a scout,

1:29:04 and despite Aphra’s insistence that he retreat,

1:29:07 the emperor’s enforcer charged directly at them citing

1:29:10 it should be they who should run from him.

1:29:13 Thus began the Battle of Vrogas Vos.

1:29:15 The rebel pilots thought that the TIE Fighter they perceived

1:29:19 as a scout would be easy to dispose of, but it was Vader,

1:29:22 who was one of the best pilots in the galaxy.

1:29:26 His TIE Advanced made quick work of Blue Squadron annihilating them with such

1:29:31 precision[5] and speed that they had no time to fall back nor counter him.

1:29:36 Next came the Yellow squadron made of Y-wings,

1:29:39 who targeted him with their proton torpedoes.

1:29:42 This also didn’t work as Vader caused

1:29:45 them to detonate prematurely with the Force,

1:29:48 annihilating the whole in the process.

1:29:50 Before he could do the same to Red Squadron he was charged by a lone

1:29:55 X-wing which broke formation and charged at him dodging all of his fire.

1:29:59 This was Luke, which the sith discovered moments

1:30:02 after their ships collided with one another causing both

1:30:05 to crash down on the planet just as Luke

1:30:08 had intended hoping that it would kill Vader.

1:30:11 The Red Leader Arhul Narra immediately sent out a signal to the rebel command,

1:30:16 informing them that Vader had been shot down on Vrogas Vas and asking

1:30:20 for immediate assistance to get rid

1:30:23 of the Emperor's most capable and deadly asset.

1:30:26 Princess Leia and the crew of Millenium Falcon would answer the call,

1:30:30 departing the main fleet with the land troopers of the Delta Squad.

1:30:35 Simultaneously, Aphra who lost communications with Vader,

1:30:38 decided to join the fray to confirm if he was still

1:30:41 alive and see if she can aid in the capture of Luke.

1:30:45 On the planet, the Rebels were trying to kill Vader and help Luke.

1:30:49 The rebel command then sent the Y-wing Gray Squadron to bomb his location,

1:30:53 but before they started their run,

1:30:56 Vader used the Force to toss stones and wreckage of his fighter,

1:31:00 managing to destroy all the Y-wings.

1:31:03 Eventually, he was surrounded by an entire armored company

1:31:06 that demanded his surrender telling him he is hopelessly outnumbered,

1:31:10 to which he replied “All I am surrounded by is fear.

1:31:15 And dead men”.

1:31:16 A Force user of considerable strength,

1:31:18 Vader was just too strong for the rebel troopers,

1:31:22 despite the fact that they had tanks with them.

1:31:25 Using Force, he detonated their grenades and then used

1:31:28 his lightsaber and force choke to dispose of the remaining troopers.

1:31:32 Despite his power, it took up most of the days fighting

1:31:36 with Vader having to deal with the reinforcing battalion as well.

1:31:40 Meanwhile, Dr.Aphra had arrived accompanied

1:31:42 by her two droids and began hunting Skywalker.

1:31:46 Using subterfuge, she managed to capture the young rebel,

1:31:50 but the timely arrival of Han Solo and Chewbacca

1:31:54 saved the situation and escaped on the Falcon.

1:31:57 On the other side of the battlefield,

1:31:59 Vader was attacked by a rebel T-47 airspeeder belonging to the Cyan squadron[6],

1:32:04 but it wasn’t nearly enough to kill him, and the airspeeder was destroyed[7].

1:32:08 Leia meanwhile had taken the Delta Squad and attacked Vader,

1:32:12 but the troopers were no match for him and were soon killed.

1:32:17 Leia was left as the only survivor,

1:32:19 as Vader hoped that Luke would come to her aid.

1:32:23 She knew this would happen, so she called the Y-Wing Amber squadron to bomb

1:32:27 her position hoping that it would kill Vader in the process.

1:32:31 However, before the squadron started its bombing run,

1:32:34 it was attacked and destroyed by a TIE fighter squadron

1:32:38 belonging to the Imperial force led by Commander Karbin arrived.

1:32:42 The leak picked up by Aphra had been intentional:

1:32:46 Karbin wanted Vader to destroy the rebels and then mop

1:32:49 up what was left on Vrogas Vas and capture Skywalker.

1:32:52 Vader couldn’t leave this challenge unopposed

1:32:55 and as soon as Karbin landed on the planet, he was attacked by the sith,

1:33:00 which in turn allowed Leia to escape to aid Han Solo and Chewbacca.

1:33:05 Although Karbin was cybernetically enhanced,

1:33:07 he stood no chance against a Sith Lord and was quickly killed.

1:33:12 This gave the crew of Falcon enough time to escape the planet

1:33:16 despite the fact that they were attacked by Aphra [8] and Krrsantan,

1:33:20 the former of which they captured.

1:33:22 The battle of Vrogas Vas was one of the worst losses

1:33:25 the Rebel Alliance suffered in the early portion of the conflict:

1:33:28 not only had they lost a refueling depot but also Grey,

1:33:32 Yellow, and Blue X-wing Squadrons, Amber and Grey Y-wing squadrons,

1:33:35 nearly all of the ground forces and equipment were also lost,

1:33:40 while the Imperials had sustained minimal damage.

1:33:44 Despite the losses suffered at Vrogas Vas,

1:33:47 the Rebellion was still capable of hurting the Empire,

1:33:50 and soon was back on the offensive,

1:33:52 starting a campaign within the Mid Rim that would

1:33:55 allow them to steadily gain a foothold in the region.

1:33:59 Meanwhile, the emperor sent Vader to Shu-Torun,

1:34:02 a planet vital for the Empire due to its

1:34:05 richness in ore used for its war machine.

1:34:08 The recently ascendant Queen of the planet

1:34:10 Trios was facing a rebellion of the nobles

1:34:13 led by Duke Rubix who protested her rule and by extension the Empire.

1:34:18 To assist Trios, Vader quickly set about finding dissident

1:34:22 nobles and put down the rebellion by the 1 ABY.

1:34:27 Vader’s ruthlessness rehabilitated him in Palpatine's eyes and he

1:34:31 was once again second only to the Emperor himself.

1:34:35 Once again in command, Vader swiftly purged many imperials,

1:34:38 all of whom were blamed for the successes of the rebellion.

1:34:43 During the Shu-Torun War, the Rebels’ main fleet had made a base in the Outer

1:34:48 Rim at the abandoned Mako-Ta space station and from there

1:34:52 it was able to conduct effective sorties throughout the galaxy

1:34:56 as well as give their ships a much-needed refitting.

1:35:00 They established contact with other rebel cells

1:35:03 and the rebellion was more unified than anytime before.

1:35:07 However, Vader’s purge managed to inspire imperials and the Rebels

1:35:11 knew that he would seek a pitched battle, so they needed a larger fleet,

1:35:16 their next target was to get more allies and a bigger fleet to even the odds.[9]

1:35:21 One of the groups that still hasn’t re-joined

1:35:24 the rebels was the partisans of Saw Gerrera,

1:35:27 who still resisted the empire on Jedha.

1:35:30 The Imperials were still in need of the Kyber

1:35:33 crystals mined on this planet and Vader,

1:35:36 knowing the Shu-Torun's affinity for engineering,

1:35:38 asked Queen Trios to be in charge of this operation.

1:35:42 Leia and Trios initially fought against each other,

1:35:45 but Leia was able to use diplomatic skills and queen’s

1:35:49 distaste for Vader’s tactics to recruit her to the rebellion.

1:35:53 Princess Leia then returned to Mako-Ta.

1:35:56 She and Admiral Ackbar were convinced that the people

1:35:59 of Mon Cala were likely to rebel and the Mon

1:36:03 Cala Mercantile fleet was nothing to laugh at, as their cruisers

1:36:07 were capable of being refitted into effective warships.

1:36:10 This is what led the Empire to subjugate the planet prior to the war

1:36:15 and that event was still fresh in the minds of many of the Mon Calamari.

1:36:20 Taking the crew of the Millenium Falcon as well as Admiral Ackbar himself,

1:36:24 Leia set up a meeting with the regent of Mon Cala,

1:36:28 Dors Urtya, to discuss the transfer of the Mercantile Fleet to the Rebellion.

1:36:32 They were interrupted by an Imperial squadron

1:36:35 while discussing this and barely managed to escape.

1:36:39 Urtya declined to support the Rebellion,

1:36:42 fearing the Imperial retribution and so the rebels returned empty-handed.

1:36:46 This did not deter Leia however and she proposed

1:36:50 to High Command that they free the King of Mon Cala,

1:36:54 Lee-Char, who was imprisoned in an Imperial base on Strokill Prime.

1:36:58 They conducted a brief operation in which they kidnapped Moff Tan Hubi,

1:37:03 the unofficial Governor of Mon Cala,

1:37:05 and replaced him with a recruited changeling who impersonated the Moff

1:37:10 while Leia set off for Strokill Prime with the captured Moff.

1:37:14 Once they infiltrated the base they found Lee-Char in a debilitated

1:37:18 state having never recovered from his wounds during the invasion,

1:37:22 and living only while attached to the life support machines.

1:37:26 Despite this, he was able to give them a message voicing his support

1:37:29 for the people of Mon Cala to rise up and fight their oppressors.

1:37:33 As he was finishing, Moff Hubi set off the alarm which prompted

1:37:38 a firefight that killed both Lee Char and Hubi.

1:37:41 Nevertheless, the rebels were able to escape the base

1:37:45 with the king’s last words which they took to Mon Cala.

1:37:49 Urtya met them once more, but confiscated the message and arrested them,

1:37:53 not giving them to the Imperials but instead keeping them

1:37:57 detained as he was still trying to protect Mon Cala.

1:38:00 This would never be enough to save his planet,

1:38:03 as he soon learned that the Imperials worried about the rebel

1:38:07 activity in the region were preparing to confiscate the Mercantile Fleet.

1:38:11 Urtya knew that the Mon Cala could bear

1:38:15 no such humiliation and responded by playing Lee-Char message.

1:38:19 This led to the Mon Calamari rising up and joining the Rebels,

1:38:24 killing all the stormtroopers aboard the fleet.

1:38:27 The Mercantile Fleet made up of 13 Mon

1:38:30 Cala MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruisers now

1:38:34 needed to head for Mako-Ta in order to be

1:38:37 retrofitted with turbolasers and other tools of war,

1:38:40 but before the fleet managed to leave the gravity well of the planet,

1:38:45 5 Imperial II-Class Star Destroyers commanded by admiral Tyrus Meori

1:38:49 entered the system and joined the 6th that was garrisoned here.

1:38:53 Meori knew that the Mercantile Fleet lacked weapons and that in their current

1:38:58 form Mon Cala Cruisers were no match for his Star Destroyers,

1:39:02 so he blockaded the rebellious ships and was overall slow to act.

1:39:07 This allowed Admiral Ackbar enough time to respond to the Millenium

1:39:11 Falcon’s plea for help and his own MC80A arrived in the system,

1:39:15 supported by a few wings of Y-Wing bombers and X-Wing starfighters.

1:39:19 Meori recognized that the new enemy ship had changed the balance of power,

1:39:25 but also realized that his 6 Star Destroyers would be

1:39:28 too much for one Mon Cala Star Cruiser to attack.

1:39:31 He still hoped that the Mercantile Fleet can be captured,

1:39:35 so instead of destroying them with his superior firepower,

1:39:39 ordered his contingent of TIE bombers to disable the helpless merchant ships.

1:39:43 All this hesitation allowed Ackbar to bring his forces closer to the planet,

1:39:49 and when the TIE bombers reached

1:39:51 the Mercantile Fleet and started bombing their engines,

1:39:54 they were quickly intercepted by the Rebel X and Y-wings

1:39:57 who had an easy time running the Imperial blockade.

1:40:00 The rebel starfighters were just plainly

1:40:02 better in dogfighting than the TIE bombers,

1:40:05 and soon took an upper hand, crushing the enemy, and creating a new situation.

1:40:10 Our sources are not clear if Meori’s

1:40:13 directive was strictly capturing the Mercantile Fleet,

1:40:16 but we know that he ordered his Star Destroyers to only open

1:40:20 fire in case the Mon Cala ships tried to break the blockade.

1:40:23 The rebels knew that it was only a matter

1:40:26 of time before more Imperials joined this siege,

1:40:29 making their situation even more untenable,

1:40:32 so Ackbar asked captain Pysk Lila of Aurora Flare to act.

1:40:36 Although it was suicidal, Lila knew that she has to sacrifice

1:40:40 her ship to help her people and the Rebellion.

1:40:43 Thus, Aurora Flare started making its way towards Meori’s flagship Aquilifer.

1:40:48 The Imperials opened fire and were close to overloading the ship’s shields.

1:40:54 Lila ordered all energy to be diverted to the forward

1:40:57 shields hoping that they will hold long enough.

1:41:00 At this point, Meori was informed that Aurora

1:41:03 Flare is transporting coaxium- the highly volatile hyperfuel,

1:41:07 which meant that the explosion of the Mon

1:41:10 Cala ship could destroy Aquilifer, too.

1:41:12 Meori commanded his ship to take evasive maneuvers, but it was too late.

1:41:18 Lila ignited her cargo and then rammed into Aquilifer.

1:41:21 The cruiser was gone,

1:41:23 and although the Imperial Star Destroyer was not destroyed, it was disabled,

1:41:27 which broke the blockade and allowed the rebel ships

1:41:31 to first leave the planet's gravity and then join Ackbar.

1:41:35 Soon the rebels jumped to hyperspace on their way to Mako-Ta.

1:41:39 The Imperials, obviously angry with this, bombarded the planet for some time,

1:41:44 killing many locals, including Urtya.

1:41:47 Still, this was a massive victory for the rebels,

1:41:50 who increased the size of their navy twofold.

1:41:53 The ships came to the great satisfaction of both the Rebels at Mako-Ta

1:41:58 and their Mon Calamari crews who could now fight their dreaded enemy.

1:42:03 To refit the cruisers, Leia recruited Queen Trios of Shu-Torun who

1:42:08 she had befriended following a mission on Jedha.

1:42:11 Trios put her Engineers to work making the cruisers

1:42:15 into very formidable warships and at their completion,

1:42:17 they were to be showcased to the allies

1:42:20 of the Rebel Alliance at a grand celebration.

1:42:22 Trios and many other sympathizers were invited.

1:42:25 Morale was high at the base with a fly

1:42:29 by by Luke Skywalker and his fellow pilots,

1:42:31 an overview of the grand fleet which was comprised of 37 Star Cruisers,

1:42:37 including 5 MC75s, 12 MC80 “Liberty”s,

1:42:40 2 MC80A “Home One”s, 3 Mon Calamari “Yavin's Hope” types,

1:42:46 8 Mon Calamari cruisers “Geist” type,

1:42:49 and other Mon Calamari Cruisers, complemented by dozens of starfighters.

1:42:53 With the overview complete Mon Mothma gave

1:42:57 a rousing speech promising that the fleet,

1:42:59 their hidden sword, would free the galaxy

1:43:02 and aid their allies whenever they were in danger.

1:43:05 But just as the selected cruisers were to jump into hyperspace

1:43:09 at the end of the speech they did not move.

1:43:12 Leia tried to contact Queen Trios to see if there was an engineering problem,

1:43:17 but was informed she had left for her ship.

1:43:20 The grim reality of what had happened set in when

1:43:24 Darth Vader’s Death Squadron exited Hyperspace not far from Mako-Ta.

1:43:28 An Executor-class Star Dreadnought, 3 Imperial II-Class Destroyers and a large

1:43:34 complement of starfighters were closing in to the Rebel base led

1:43:37 by Vader and his second-in-command Admiral Kendal Ozzel.

1:43:41 Rebels called for all hands-on deck but found their cruisers locked down,

1:43:46 their weapon systems down, and their engines unresponsive.

1:43:50 As the cargo bay doors would not open,

1:43:53 the rebels would not be able to scramble their fighters.

1:43:57 It was a trap.

1:43:58 That run in Leia had with Trios on Jedha was not by chance:

1:44:03 Vader had given the Rebels time to muster their strength and planted Trios

1:44:07 in the Rebellion so he could find and crush them in one place,

1:44:11 a move not unlike the one Admiral Thrawn had done in the Lothal campaign.

1:44:16 Vader ordered all ships to open fire upon the nearest cruiser,

1:44:20 which was General Vanden Willard’s ship the Yavin’s Hope and it

1:44:24 was destroyed within a matter of seconds killing the crew and Willard.

1:44:28 When Admiral Ozzel asked Vader for the next target Vader responded, “Hope.

1:44:35 Hope Dies”.

1:44:36 Knowing that their situation depended upon undoing

1:44:39 what the Shu-Toruns did Leia and General

1:44:42 Bandwin Cor led a boarding party to capture Trios who had fled to her ship,

1:44:47 which was still docked by Rebel Command.

1:44:49 They were able to take the ship after a brief firefight,

1:44:52 but Trios made it to the escape pod with seconds to spare and escaped.

1:44:57 The rebels searched her ship hoping to find

1:45:00 anything that would free their vessels, but failed.

1:45:03 The only thing the rebels managed to do

1:45:06 was find a way to bypass the Shu-Torun lock

1:45:08 on the bay doors- they could be opened

1:45:11 by a ship by transmitting the codes obtained from Trios’ vessel.

1:45:15 They had to act fast so General Cor took

1:45:18 a small craft and attempted to transmit the codes,

1:45:21 but his ship was destroyed by TIE Fighters,

1:45:24 which were killing anyone who fled the base or the cruisers.

1:45:28 The rebel situation was desperate when the Millenium Falcon appeared

1:45:32 behind the Imperial fleet manned by Captain Solo, Chewbacca and C3PO.

1:45:37 They were immediately informed by Leia, who told Solo what he needed to do.

1:45:41 With nothing else to do Solo made

1:45:44 way for the nearest cruiser- Jan Dodanna’s Republic.

1:45:48 Dodging TIE Fighters along the way as well as destroying

1:45:51 a few Turbolasers on one of the Star Destroyers

1:45:53 they nearly made it to the cruiser before they

1:45:56 were engaged by Darth Vader himself in his Advanced TIE.

1:46:00 Solo tried to shake Vader but was unsuccessful,

1:46:03 as the latter was still the best pilot in the galaxy.

1:46:07 The captain of the Millenium Falcon needed

1:46:09 some kind of distraction to achieve his goal.

1:46:12 And it came when the rebel cruiser of Commander

1:46:15 Lajaia was destroyed by the Imperial star destroyers.

1:46:18 Solo took advantage of the explosion and flew

1:46:21 into the inferno losing Vader in the process.

1:46:24 This gave him some breathing room and he flew towards the Republic.

1:46:29 C3PO was jettisoned from the Falcon in an escape pod directly towards one

1:46:33 of the airlocks of the cruiser

1:46:35 and crawled inside one of the Republic’s airlocks.

1:46:37 The droid found Luke and told him about the bypass,

1:46:41 and the hangar doors were soon open,

1:46:44 allowing the young rebel to immediately board his X-Wing and fly out.

1:46:48 Seeing this Wedge Antilles and the rest of the pilots

1:46:52 followed Luke which all formed up upon him.

1:46:54 Needing a call sign Luke dubbed them Rogue Squadron

1:46:58 in honor of Jyn Erso’s squadron and immediately formed around Solo,

1:47:02 in order to allow the damaged Falcon to escape the battle.

1:47:05 With the rest of the squadron fighting the enemy starfighters,

1:47:09 Luke activated his light trail in order to catch Admiral

1:47:13 Ackbar’s attention and demonstrate how to open the hangar doors.

1:47:17 This succeeded and the fighters on Ackbar’s Home One joined the Rogue Squadron.

1:47:22 Solo managed to land his vessel[10],

1:47:25 and as the rebels needed all the help they could get,

1:47:27 so the captain of the Millenium Falcon manned an X-wing and entered the combat.

1:47:32 Meanwhile on Mako-Ta, the Rebels finally caught a break:

1:47:36 as they were searching through Trios’ files

1:47:38 they discovered a way to free their ships,

1:47:41 as there appeared to be an override code that would reboot the systems.

1:47:45 The bad news was that those codes were aboard the Executor.

1:47:49 It was becoming clear that the release of the Rebel

1:47:53 starfighters was not enough to save the day,

1:47:56 as even more cruisers were going down: Vader ordered all of the TIE Squadrons

1:48:01 to leave their carriers and join the battle,

1:48:03 which allowed the Empire to recapture the initiative yet again.

1:48:07 It was time for desperate action,

1:48:09 so General Draven and Leia took Trios’s ship accompanied

1:48:13 by Draven’s Special Forces and started making way towards the Executor.

1:48:17 Leia pretended to be the queen and as they had the correct responder codes,

1:48:22 the rebels were able to successfully land aboard.

1:48:25 The time they had was short,

1:48:27 as Vader decided that his personal involvement was no longer needed,

1:48:31 so he was on his way to Executor to greet Trios.

1:48:35 The team was able to get the codes,

1:48:38 but they were soon discovered and the emperor’s

1:48:40 enforcer was now hot on their trail.

1:48:42 Still, Leia was able to escape with the codes using a commandeered TIE Fighter,

1:48:48 while the rest of the special forces

1:48:50 and Draven stayed behind to slow down Vader.

1:48:53 The Sith killed all of them.

1:48:55 This was not the end of danger for the Alderaanian princess.

1:48:59 As she had no way to signal her allies, Solo and Skywalker almost shot her down.

1:49:05 However, Leia used the fact that the Imperial

1:49:08 starfighters considered her to be one of their own.

1:49:11 She shot down a TIE fighter,

1:49:13 which convinced the rebels in her friendly intentions.

1:49:16 Luke and Solo picked her up and escorted her to the Republic.

1:49:20 The rebels started the transmission process.

1:49:23 Unfortunately for them, it would take some time for the weapon and other systems

1:49:28 to come online and the Death Squadron continued to pound the cruisers.

1:49:32 Trying to salvage his ship, Dodonna immediately jumped to hyperspace.

1:49:36 Vader, however, was not concerned by this, as he had already caused a severe

1:49:42 blow to the Rebels and he just ordered his Star Destroyers to keep firing.

1:49:46 Thankfully for the Rebels,

1:49:48 Luke and Leia managed to convince Dodonna to return to the fight.

1:49:52 Returning to the system from another angle,

1:49:54 Republic made a strafing run over the top of the Executor,

1:49:58 damaging Vader’s flagship and grabbing the attention of the Imperial fleet.

1:50:02 The Death Squadron was forced to reposition in order to cover the Executor,

1:50:07 and this gave enough time for the remaining

1:50:09 cruisers to come back online and join the fight.

1:50:13 But Dodonna knew that the battle was

1:50:15 already over and ordered the fleet to disperse.

1:50:19 With his cruiser’s engines destroyed,

1:50:21 he intended to hold the Imperials off and his crew fought

1:50:25 to the bitter end as the rest of the fleet escaped.

1:50:28 The battle of Mako-Ta was a severe blow to the Rebel Alliance,

1:50:33 as they lost 90% of their starfighters,

1:50:35 18 of their cruisers, as well as many of their veteran commanders,

1:50:40 while the Empire’s losses were limited to TIE fighters and stormtroopers.

1:50:44 The Rebel Fleet dispersed and was ordered to fight separately,

1:50:48 with no base to link up at and no plan.

1:50:52 They were divided and scattered and were once again at square one.

1:50:56 The battle, while not the total

1:50:59 annihilation Vader had hoped for, was satisfactory

1:51:01 to the Emperor as the rebels no longer posed the threat they once did.

1:51:07 Indeed, this led to a steady weakening of the rebellion

1:51:10 with the beginning of the “Mid Rim retreat”.

1:51:13 While the Alliance would try to outrun the Empire and could hide effectively.

1:51:18 Vader promised that they couldn’t hide forever.

1:51:23 The empire was on the offensive.

1:51:26 After the disastrous ambush at Mako-Ta,

1:51:29 Mon Mothma ordered the Rebel Alliance to once again go back

1:51:33 to the “separate fight” strategy they had used before the Battle of Yavin.

1:51:37 This meant the cancellation of all Rebel Offensives:

1:51:40 a defensive stance once again was taken and minor

1:51:43 guerilla-style operations were the order of the day.

1:51:46 While on paper this seemed to be easy,

1:51:49 the reality of it was much different as the largest campaign,

1:51:52 that of the one within the Mid Rim,

1:51:55 had been going on for 9 months and this new order turned everything around.

1:52:01 The early accounts of the Rebel offensive are lost to us,

1:52:04 as is much of the retreat and actions

1:52:06 taken during the remaining months of 2 ABY,

1:52:09 but from what we do know this was a colossal undertaking.

1:52:13 Not only did the Rebel Alliance bring

1:52:16 thousands of spacecraft and material to bear,

1:52:18 but as they pushed forward and liberated worlds they

1:52:21 also fortified them and were connected with the independent native

1:52:25 rebel cells helping to establish governments on the planets

1:52:28 and supplying them making any withdrawal a long and arduous process.

1:52:33 To this end, they ordered a number of battle companies

1:52:36 to screen their retreat as the fleet withdrew from the Mid Rim,

1:52:40 accompanied begrudgingly by some of the Native

1:52:42 rebels with many instead remaining.

1:52:44 The one we know the most about in this campaign, and the one we’ll be following,

1:52:50 is the 61st Mobile Infantry under Captain

1:52:52 Micha Evon which formed both the Vanguard

1:52:54 in the offensive stage and would be the rear guard in the retreat.

1:52:58 They are better known by their second name, Twilight Company.

1:53:02 Battle companies, such as Twilight Company,

1:53:04 were not your standard Infantry unit.

1:53:07 Being designated as “Mobile” they were used

1:53:10 as infiltrators and were equipped as such,

1:53:12 having a number of fast corvettes to move them from planet to planet,

1:53:16 making any attempt to take a system from them a time-consuming task.

1:53:20 Twilight company was equipped with 1 CR90 Corvette known as “Thunderstrike”,

1:53:24 which served as their HQ,

1:53:27 1 Braha’tok- class gunship called “Apailana’s promise”,

1:53:29 accompanied by two X-wing fighters and a number of smaller land craft.

1:53:34 The company’s strategy was very similar to the rest

1:53:37 of the Mobile units in that each operation was

1:53:40 a distraction but a distraction that couldn’t be ignored such

1:53:44 as the seizure of depots or positions on a frontline.

1:53:48 These dangerous missions led to high casualty

1:53:51 rates but made these men deadly fighters.

1:53:53 Their mobility and equipment made them forces that couldn’t be ignored.

1:53:58 This coupled with native resistance,

1:54:00 from which they drew most of their recruits, made them extremely formidable.

1:54:04 as Captain Evon put it “Twilight Company

1:54:07 is fighting for the heart of the galaxy.

1:54:10 For the spirit of every ordinary man and woman and imperial stormtrooper.

1:54:14 Stealing food won’t help us win.

1:54:16 Killing enemies won’t either.

1:54:18 Against might on the scale of the Empire,

1:54:21 conventional victory is impossible- When our objectives become purely military,

1:54:25 we’ve already lost”.

1:54:26 Their ultimate goal was to win the hearts of the people,

1:54:27 counting rescues as far more valuable than casualties inflicted.

1:54:28 In this, they did well as we can see their progress during the initial offensive

1:54:31 of the campaign has taken much of the Mid-Rim in little more than a year.

1:54:36 Twilight company followed this same strategy

1:54:38 throughout much of the retreat as well,

1:54:41 targeting Imperial-occupied planets in need and then moving

1:54:44 to the next once the rescue was complete.

1:54:47 They became so proficient at it that they

1:54:50 delayed the Empire for nearly two years,

1:54:52 allowing much of the fleet and their allies to escape to various outposts.

1:54:56 But by the middle of 3 ABY much of the Mid Rim

1:54:59 had been taken back by the empire save for the last outer remnants.

1:55:03 During these last fights, namely the Attack on Haidoral Prime,

1:55:07 they had gained an unexpected ally

1:55:09 in the imperial Governor of the Planet, Everi Chalis.

1:55:13 She would provide critical intel for Twilight Company which

1:55:16 they would use to great effect in the Coyerti Campaign,

1:55:20 defeating the Imperial garrison there and destroying a biotoxin

1:55:23 that would have been deadly for the native Coyerti.

1:55:26 They would do a number of missions after

1:55:28 this, but with the main commander of the retreat, General Amrashad,

1:55:32 being killed and most of their forces had pulled out,

1:55:36 they followed suit heading to the rebel Echo Base on Hoth.

1:55:40 The Mid Rim retreat was over.

1:55:42 The Main fleet during all of this time had still been searching for a new base,

1:55:46 hopping from system to system, while avoiding Vader's relentless search.

1:55:50 They were still undergoing various small-scale missions to other planets so

1:55:55 as to undermine the empire and serve as a distraction for the main fleet.

1:55:59 One of these missions was directed towards Shu-Torun,

1:56:02 as it was a valuable planet for the Empire.

1:56:05 The mission would be a success temporarily knocking it out of commission

1:56:09 for the Empire and it resulted in the death of Queen Trios,

1:56:12 the catalyst for their defeat at Mako-Ta.

1:56:15 Eventually, the Rebels were able to make a base and settled for Hoth,

1:56:19 an ice planet in the Outer Rim.

1:56:21 The base itself had been in the works for years but this residence as HQ

1:56:25 had only been a month old by the time the retreat in the Mid Rim ended,

1:56:30 showing just how long they’d been on the run

1:56:33 and how hotly Vader was on their tail.

1:56:35 With their forces pulled out and everyone hid more or less,

1:56:39 the Rebels called a conference at Hoth to hear the defector,

1:56:42 Everi Chalis’s information on the Imperial War Machine,

1:56:45 so as to understand the Imperial strategy and plan

1:56:48 their next move- the first offensive operation in nearly two years.

1:56:53 But they wouldn’t get their chance.

1:56:55 Soon after this meeting ended,

1:56:57 a probe was downed at the Ceyan Range not far from Echo Base

1:57:01 by Han Solo and Chewbacca while they were on a routine scouting operation.

1:57:05 The base commander General Carlist Rieekan deduced that this must

1:57:09 have been an Imperial Probe and, taking Solo advice,

1:57:14 ordered Code K-One-Zero, the Base evacuation protocol.

1:57:18 This probe classed as Viper Probe XJ9-CS14 was indeed

1:57:22 an Imperial probe and was part of Project Swarm,

1:57:26 which had started not long after the Battle of Yavin,

1:57:29 in the search for the newest Rebel base, and whilst it failed to find the second

1:57:35 base at Mako-Ta it would reap the fruits now.

1:57:38 It belonged to the Death Squadron

1:57:40 which proved to be Rebellion’s ever-vengeful nemesis.

1:57:44 Death Squadron had been scouting the nearby area

1:57:46 since they ambushed a Rebel convoy at Derra,

1:57:49 and was alerted by increased Rebel activity in the region.

1:57:53 The Squadron’s make-up at this time was certainly formidable,

1:57:56 as they were led as always by Darth Vader himself,

1:58:00 supported by the commander of the fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel,

1:58:04 and Flag Captain Firmus Piett, all three were on the Flagship-

1:58:09 an Executor-class Star Dreadnought, named the Executor,

1:58:11 and were accompanied by Vader’s personal ship an I-class Star Destroyer,

1:58:16 the Devastator, 3 II-class Star Destroyers, among them Tyrant and Avenger.

1:58:21 This was of course supplemented with a large

1:58:24 number of starfighters and ground forces,

1:58:26 among these the Infamous 501st Legion, also known as Vader’s Fist.

1:58:32 The Rebel forces stationed on Hoth meanwhile had much of their fleet,

1:58:36 such as the Mon Cala cruisers, elsewhere as mobile units,

1:58:39 as they deemed putting them in a permanent base again too risky.

1:58:43 So most of their forces were grounds troops and craft to support them,

1:58:48 Commander of the base was the aforementioned

1:58:50 General Carlist Rieekan and under him General Organa, Commander Skywalker.

1:58:54 They were supplemented with 30 GR-75 transports,

1:58:59 a moderate number of wing fighters such as T-65B X-wing Starfighters,

1:59:04 BTL-A4 Y-wing Bombers, and T-47 Airspeeders.

1:59:07 Among these were Luke’s Rogue Squadron and various others.

1:59:12 Having been able to send the information

1:59:14 it gathered before it initiated its self-destruct sequence,

1:59:17 the Imperial Probe had alerted Avenger as to the location of a Power

1:59:21 generator on Hoth which Captain Piett believed was a Rebel base.

1:59:26 This was denied by Admiral Ozzel who thought there isn’t enough

1:59:29 evidence to support that, believing it to be a smuggler base.

1:59:33 Vader however overturned Ozzel’s order and told

1:59:35 the fleet to set a course to Hoth immediately, hopeful to surprise the Rebels.

1:59:40 Meanwhile, on Hoth, there was a hurricane of activity as the Rebels began

1:59:45 loading their transports which were stationed at the North entrance of the base.

1:59:49 Many of them were initially noncombatants as many had come for the conference

1:59:54 and the rest were medical staff

1:59:56 and family members who had fled Imperial persecution.

1:59:59 They had just finished loading the non-combatants when Death Squadron appeared

2:00:03 in the system and General Rieekan ordered the Base shield to be put up.

2:00:08 This was a formidable shield and would resist

2:00:10 any attempts made for Orbital bombardment and was

2:00:14 in turn protected by a V-150 Planet

2:00:17 Defender ion cannon situated on the South Ridge,

2:00:19 a powerful gun built as a planetary defense to disable capital ships.

2:00:24 Having lost the element of surprise due to Ozzel’s

2:00:27 coming out of lightspeed too close to the planet,

2:00:30 Vader had to settle on a costly ground assault,

2:00:33 but not before executing Ozzel and placing

2:00:36 the newly promoted Admiral Piett in overall command.

2:00:40 The ground assault was to be led by the decorated

2:00:43 Officer Maximilian Veers and he was given command of Blizzard Force,

2:00:46 an Elite unit of the 501st which was specialized

2:00:49 in fighting in the cold environments such as Hoth.

2:00:52 As they had just arrived to this planet,

2:00:54 they had little in the way of scouting information and settled

2:00:58 for landing at a suitable place outside the shields perimeter,

2:01:01 that being the Moorsh Moraine.

2:01:03 Having landed with the assistance of their Gozanti-Class cruisers, and escorts,

2:01:07 the Imperials took a bit longer as Veers deemed the larger

2:01:12 Y-85 Titan dropships to be too vulnerable to attack in Hoth’s conditions.

2:01:16 During this the Rebels were able to get

2:01:19 one of their transports the Quantum Storm out,

2:01:21 as it escaped with its escort after the Ion Cannon had disabled the Tyrant.

2:01:27 The Imperials had 12 AT-AT walker groups,

2:01:30 which each being given code name Blizzard with Veers commanding Blizzard 1.

2:01:35 Each AT-AT walker was complemented with several

2:01:38 AT-ST walkers and a number of Snowtrooper squadrons.

2:01:42 Blizzard 4’s group, under Colonel Starck,

2:01:45 attempted to impress Vader by going through

2:01:47 the Kerane Valley but was turned back to the main group after having lost three

2:01:52 of their walkers due to the treacherous terrain.

2:01:55 Blizzard Force eventually emerged from the fog atop

2:01:58 the North ridge of the Nev Ice Flow, a valley which led directly to Echo Base.

2:02:03 Once there they were able to spot not only Echo Base but the defenses which lay

2:02:08 in front of it and realized that the land

2:02:11 defenses of the Rebels were rather rudimentary:

2:02:14 small trenches guarded by 1.4 FD P-Towers and D.F9 Turrets,

2:02:18 as they had been constructed only recently and were divided into Outposts:

2:02:23 Beta, Echo, and Delta with the latter being the last before the base.

2:02:28 But the soldiers manning them were battle hardened troops

2:02:32 with some fighting even before the recent Mid Rim campaigns.

2:02:36 However Outpost Beta was quickly overwhelmed

2:02:39 by the swarming AT-ST walkers and Snow troopers,

2:02:43 and its defender fell back to Echo.

2:02:45 Here the defense held up for a little longer.

2:02:48 The rebel infantry knew they couldn’t defeat

2:02:50 the AT-ATs with their near impervious armor,

2:02:53 so they resolved to hold up the AT-ST’s and ground troops.

2:02:57 Still, eventually they were also pushed

2:02:59 back having bought the transports valuable time.

2:03:02 As Blizzard force was now closing in on Outpost Delta,

2:03:06 Rebel Command sent their T-47 airspeeders out to stall the AT-ATs,

2:03:10 hoping as well that these could destroy them.

2:03:14 Among these were Rogue Squadron with Skywalker in command.

2:03:18 They quickly found that their ships too

2:03:20 couldn’t destroy the slow behemoths that trod

2:03:22 ever close towards the base and settled

2:03:25 for attacking the legs in hopes of stalling.

2:03:27 This led to the destruction of more AT-ATs

2:03:30 two of these being Blizzard’s 2 and 4,

2:03:33 as the clever rebels disabled the walkers’ legs

2:03:36 with a tow cable in one case and another,

2:03:39 that of Colonel Starcks with a Thermal grenade.

2:03:42 This caused Veers to begrudgingly accept the Rebels

2:03:46 as far more competent than he’d anticipated.

2:03:48 This heroic defense however only delayed the inevitable,

2:03:52 as the Airspeeders failed and Blizzard 6,

2:03:54 8, and 9 cut through the Delta outpost.

2:03:57 A general panic ensued within the base,

2:04:00 as the Command itself went dark possibly due

2:04:03 to a shot from one of the AT-AT walkers.

2:04:05 This led to a frantic retreat to the base

2:04:08 and many rebels were cut down during this.

2:04:11 Just as this was going on, Blizzard 1 got

2:04:14 within sight of the Power generator and Veers gave

2:04:17 Vader the okay for landing as shortly after he

2:04:20 fired upon the generator and Echo Base’s last defense fell.

2:04:25 Almost instantaneously Blizzard 1 was disabled when a damaged

2:04:29 Airspeeder flown by Derek Klivian crashed into its

2:04:32 cockpit severely injuring Veers and knocking it out

2:04:35 of the fight but it had done its damage.

2:04:38 Vader soon made landfall near the base accompanied

2:04:41 by a small retinue of Snowtroopers and joined

2:04:43 the main assault by punching a hole

2:04:45 into the base on the eastern side of the mountain.

2:04:48 From there the battle turned into a wholesale slaughter with many scrambling

2:04:53 to the remaining transports while Vader

2:04:55 searched for Rebel Command and Skywalker.

2:04:58 During this chaos, many of the Rebels escaped

2:05:01 from the South entrance in the Clabburn Range

2:05:03 to the Evacuation site behind the South Ridge

2:05:06 which the Empire had neither found nor guarded,

2:05:09 while the rest put up a makeshift defense, albeit not intentionally.

2:05:13 Among them was the Twilight Company and its captain Evon.

2:05:18 Their resistance continued until Vader found

2:05:20 and killed most of them including the captain.

2:05:23 But the ultimate goal of the emperor’s enforcer-

2:05:26 the crew of the Millenium Falcon and Rebel Command, escaped,

2:05:29 with the grounded Skywalker taking an X-Wing while

2:05:33 the Imperial forces ransacked the base for information, ending the engagement.

2:05:37 The Battle of Hoth was a devastating blow for the Rebel Alliance.

2:05:41 While not as costly as Mako-Ta in terms of men and materiel,

2:05:46 this was another hard blow creating a feeling

2:05:49 that nowhere is safe for the rebels.

2:05:53 17 GR-75 transports, Echo Base,

2:05:55 and 1000s of Rebels had died and were scattered while

2:05:58 the Empire had lost as little as 7 walkers and 500 men.

2:06:03 Still, Vader’s insistence on immediate action without having done any scouting

2:06:09 and a poor blockade of the planet led to many of the Rebels escaping.

2:06:13 The remnants scattered and went to secret locations where they would

2:06:17 be given a rendezvous point and able to meet up again.

2:06:20 The Rebels were defeated yet again but not destroyed and their next

2:06:25 plan would not only turn their demoralizing streak of defeats,

2:06:29 but the whole war, on its head.

2:06:33 Following the action on Hoth and the chaotic retreat in its aftermath,

2:06:37 most of the established rendezvous assignments made

2:06:39 by the Rebels were not being executed, as the command structure broke down when

2:06:44 Base Command was destroyed during the Battle.

2:06:46 This left the last of the Rebels to fend for themselves

2:06:50 until they could reach safety and reestablish contact with the Alliance.

2:06:53 The Crew of the Millenium Falcon was not as lucky as most,

2:06:57 as they were the most infamous of the Rebels within

2:07:00 the Empire and a constant thorn to many Imperial plans,

2:07:03 so they, of course, were hotly pursued.

2:07:06 Despite having a damaged hyperdrive they were able to escape from this force

2:07:10 with the use of an Asteroid field

2:07:12 and Han Solo’s clever use of Imperial procedure.

2:07:15 Having gotten the Imperials off his tail Solo then headed to Bespin

2:07:20 home to Cloud City which was governed by an old friend of his.

2:07:24 As this was transpiring, the soldiers of the 61st Mobile Infantry,

2:07:29 also known as the Twilight Company, were facing problems of their own.

2:07:33 After leaving Hoth with their iconic commander dying in the fight,

2:07:37 Twilight Company and their ship Thunderstrike regrouped with the flotilla

2:07:40 and decided to aid one of its allied ships,

2:07:43 the Trumpet’s Call, as its life support systems had failed.

2:07:46 But this turned out to be a ruse as the crew

2:07:50 was already dead and in their place were Imperial Spies,

2:07:53 who flooded onto the Thunderstike’s bridge killing all of their officers.

2:07:57 Luckily, one of them, Lieutenant Sairgon,

2:07:59 was able to message the flotilla about what had happened and they,

2:08:03 with the exception of Apailana’s Promise, scattered.

2:08:06 They were able to regain control of the vessel again and jumped

2:08:10 to hyperspace just as Imperial Prelate

2:08:13 Verge arrived aboard the Star Destroyer Herald.

2:08:16 Having narrowly dodged this trap they rendezvoused on Ankhural

2:08:19 for repairs where many Rebels

2:08:21 were considering quitting the Rebellion altogether.

2:08:24 This shows the demoralized state in which the Alliance was,

2:08:28 as even their veteran and most loyal Company was considering abandoning

2:08:32 the cause they had fought so hard for and for so long.

2:08:36 But they came together nonetheless under

2:08:38 the command of acting Captain Hazram Namir, who knew that in order for Twilight

2:08:43 Company to remain intact they needed a distraction.

2:08:46 To this end, he conducted a meeting with the imperial defector Everi Chalis,

2:08:50 who urged him to go with the target she had

2:08:53 urged Rebel Command to attack at the Kuat Drive yards.

2:08:56 These shipyards were within the Core region and produced a massive amount

2:09:00 of the ships used by the Empire as well as many of their vehicles,

2:09:04 so a successful attack on such

2:09:06 an objective would cripple the Imperial war effort

2:09:09 as more ships were needed to deal with the unrest generated by the Rebellion.

2:09:14 Kuat Drives however was protected,

2:09:16 making a direct assault impossible with a 400-man force and two ships,

2:09:21 but it still was not impossible to take as most of the Imperial Fleets were

2:09:25 in the Mid and Outer Rims hunting the Rebels

2:09:28 with the Core Worlds only having Garrisoning forces.

2:09:31 So the plan was to attack a series of targets,

2:09:34 around but not near Kuat as to avoid suspicion and get

2:09:38 the defending force out of Kuta and afterward attack Kuat.

2:09:42 The rebels dubbed it Operation Ringbreaker and started waiting

2:09:45 for their ships to finish repair to begin the operation.

2:09:49 Meanwhile Han Solo had managed to get to Bespin safely, meeting with his friend,

2:09:54 the Administrator of Cloud City Lando Calrissian, who accommodated them.

2:09:58 But it was a trap.

2:10:00 Solo had escaped from the Imperials,

2:10:02 but didn’t realize that he was being tailed by none other

2:10:06 than the bounty hunter Boba Fett who informed Vader of Solo’s most

2:10:09 likely location and arrived there with Vader forcing Calrissian to agree

2:10:13 to help them trap Solo or face the wrath of the Empire.

2:10:18 Knowing a threat from Vader was never idle Calrissian

2:10:21 agreed and the crew of the Millennium Falcon was captured.

2:10:25 After interrogating and torturing Solo,

2:10:27 Vader had him frozen in carbonite to test the trap he had intended for Skywalker

2:10:32 and then handed Solo over to Fett as the Hutt Clan still had a bounty on him.

2:10:37 The rest of the crew, including Chewbacca and Leia,

2:10:40 was kept on Bespin to await the arrival of Skywalker,

2:10:43 and he didn’t have to wait long.

2:10:46 After Skywalker had arrived and began battling the Sith,

2:10:49 Calrissian had found his opportunity to switch sides

2:10:52 and free the remaining prisoners and then joined them,

2:10:55 after issuing a general evacuation order for the Cloud City.

2:10:59 They made the way for the Falcon having barely

2:11:02 missed rescuing Solo and not knowing that Skywalker had arrived.

2:11:06 After some fierce fighting with the Imperials,

2:11:08 they were able to board the Falcon.

2:11:11 Its hyperdrive was now reactivated and they

2:11:14 quickly left picking up the wounded Skywalker, who had been defeated by Vader.

2:11:19 During the battle, Vader severed Luke’s hand and told him that he was his son.

2:11:24 As all of this was transpiring,

2:11:26 the 61st had gone on the offensive attacking targets along the Rimma

2:11:30 Trade route such as the Warehouses on Mardona III, the Obumubo moon,

2:11:35 the Najan-Rovi Dockyards, Nakadia, Naator, Xagobah, and the Kuliquo belt,

2:11:39 succeeding in all of these missions with minimal loses

2:11:43 and dodging all of the Imperials attempts to catch them.

2:11:47 With these targets successfully destroyed they would proceed to Sullust

2:11:51 and the Malastare and after that, Chalis promised, Kuat would fall.

2:11:55 But the Imperials wouldn’t allow that to happen and they were

2:11:58 now commanded by a member of Emperor Palpatine's ruling council Prelate Verge,

2:12:02 who had been tracking Twilight Company since

2:12:05 they had recruited Chalis to their cause,

2:12:08 knowing that she possessed substantial information.

2:12:10 To this end, he convened with Captain Seitaron to determine their next move.

2:12:15 They quickly realized that Twilight Company was

2:12:17 here and that Chalis was certainly among

2:12:20 them as their successful attacks were all

2:12:22 against the crucial Imperial infrastructure of the region.

2:12:25 Seitaron had guessed a handful of their next targets, including Sullust,

2:12:30 Malastare, and Tshindral, and prepared each for an impending attack.

2:12:33 Soon the 97th Legion stationed on Sullust alerted the star destroyer Herald

2:12:38 that it was being attacked and Seitaron

2:12:41 quickly dispatched Vixus Squadron to Sullust.

2:12:44 As this message was going out,

2:12:46 Thunderstrike and Apailana’s Promise had just exited

2:12:49 hyperspace over Sullust and the 61st was rapidly

2:12:51 deployed on the planet giving no time

2:12:54 for the Imperials to concentrate and respond effectively.

2:12:57 Their objective was the mining facility on Mount Inyusu Tor.

2:13:01 Having deployed their troops,

2:13:03 Thunderstrike and its escorts left Sullust a safe distance

2:13:06 away and let the ground troops commence their assault.

2:13:10 The Imperials were quickly pushed back,

2:13:12 retreating into the facility and locking it down.

2:13:15 They called on reinforcements from the nearby capital city of Pinyumb,

2:13:19 but these were scattered before they could regroup with the facility’s garrison.

2:13:23 Not being able to break through the facility doors the rebels hijacked

2:13:28 the mining equipment outside and burrowed their way into the mines below.

2:13:33 With their defenses broken,

2:13:34 the Imperials inside were either killed or fled to the forces assembling

2:13:38 down the mountain slope and the Rebels spent the night rigging the facility,

2:13:43 in order to blow it up once they left come morning.

2:13:46 With their mission successful, they recalled their ships to pick them up,

2:13:49 but after beating off a few tie-fighters and entering the atmosphere,

2:13:53 the spaceship squadron of the 61st realized

2:13:56 this is exactly where the Imperials wanted them,

2:13:59 as Seitron’s plan sprung into action.

2:14:02 The Vixus Squadron emerged from behind Sullust’s

2:14:05 moon and attacked the Thunderstrike with overwhelming fire,

2:14:08 causing it to crash on the surface.

2:14:10 With the rest of the ships retreating on Namir’s orders,

2:14:13 the 61st was stranded on Sullust

2:14:16 and at the mercy of the soon-to-be-arriving Prelate Verge.

2:14:19 They first went to the wreck site and rescued

2:14:22 and scavenged what they could all the while

2:14:24 fighting the 97th Legion which had regrouped and continually

2:14:27 harassed them in conjunction with the Vixus squadron.

2:14:30 Still, the rescue was nevertheless successful,

2:14:33 and the rebels managed to retreat to the facility.

2:14:36 Chalis proposed that they should look to the city of Pinyumb and look for help,

2:14:41 as there was a local resistance cell there.

2:14:44 Deciding that it is the best course of action, Namir, Chalis,

2:14:48 and Twitch’s squad left for the city aboard a captured troop transport,

2:14:52 leaving engineer Vifra with an order to fortify the facility.

2:14:56 Once they got to the outskirts,

2:14:58 they ditched the transport and disguised themselves.

2:15:01 They found the city on lockdown due to their recent

2:15:04 attack but continued on, managing to evade the light patrols

2:15:07 and looking for an old safehouse which was supposed

2:15:10 to be there according to the files of their old captain,

2:15:14 Evon, all the while keeping an eye out for the Sullustan resistance.

2:15:18 Not long after getting to the safehouse, they were beset upon by Stormtroopers

2:15:22 and during the skirmish, Namir was captured.

2:15:25 However, his captivity was brief as he was soon saved

2:15:29 by the Sullustan resistance and they took him to their base

2:15:32 where he found out that the resistance would be of no

2:15:35 use in helping them as it consisted of only four people.

2:15:39 But these fighters were now emboldened to fight for their planet

2:15:42 as Twilight company’s arrival was a spark of hope for them.

2:15:46 Namir proposed a plan to unite with the other cells and take Pinyumb,

2:15:50 deciding that it was better to die fighting for the people

2:15:53 of Sullust than continue the campaign and harass the Empire.

2:15:56 The cell then assisted him in his return to the facility.

2:16:00 Back there, he was told that Chalis and one of the scouts

2:16:04 had made it back and in his absence, she took over.

2:16:08 Namir immediately started regaining command and making plans,

2:16:11 however, Chalis ignored him and showed insubordination,

2:16:14 for which she was immobilized by the soldiers, allowing Namir to regain control.

2:16:19 The rest of the officers agreed to make their last stand on Inyusu Tor.

2:16:24 They knew that the Empire will arrive and so they made preparations.

2:16:30 Arriving above the planet,

2:16:31 Verge dispatched his forces to take the facility via ground assault.

2:16:35 But, the Twilight Company expected this and decided

2:16:38 to use the fact the Empire wanted the facility intact.

2:16:41 The Imperial forces consisted of the 97th Legion which had already

2:16:46 established a siege line as best they could around the facility,

2:16:50 a large but unspecified number of spaceships

2:16:52 and stormtroopers sent to the surface

2:16:54 by the Herald as well as several Airspeeder bombers and AT-ST walkers.

2:16:59 The Rebels meanwhile had only around 370 or so men,

2:17:03 but they were nearly all veterans and were prepared to make

2:17:07 the Imperials pay for every inch of ground they crawled up the mountain.

2:17:12 The assault began with a general bombardment of the area up

2:17:15 around the facility and then the imperials advanced up the slop.

2:17:19 Soon they came into contact with the first rebel line situated behind rocks

2:17:24 and various sorts of cover which sprang out with each shot finding a mark,

2:17:28 stunning the advance.

2:17:29 The bombing had done little to no damage to any of the Rebels.

2:17:33 Despite the heavy losses,

2:17:35 the imperials continued advancing slowly getting closer,

2:17:37 but as they did that, the Rebels began to fall back.

2:17:41 Once the Imperial advance reached the first line abandoned by the rebels,

2:17:46 Namir’s soldiers detonated the leftover ion mines,

2:17:49 killing all nearby stormtroopers and downing an AT-ST.

2:17:52 This caused massive casualties and allowed the Rebels

2:17:56 to fully retreat to the second line.

2:17:59 This line was much more heavily fortified with blaster cannons

2:18:02 and mortars dotting all along the newly dug trench line.

2:18:06 The stormtroopers were ordered to attack and they started

2:18:09 crossing the gorge under a hail of fire, losing many.

2:18:13 When they were 50 meters from the trench,

2:18:15 they let their AT-STs overtake the advance line and storm the trenches.

2:18:19 The walkers were able to breach the line losing only one

2:18:23 in the advance and began wreaking havoc among the rebels and pinning them down.

2:18:28 Namir knew that he'd have to destroy the walkers or lose his entire unit,

2:18:32 so he ordered the squads to fall back to the perimeter

2:18:35 of the facility and commenced a general bombardment of the second line.

2:18:39 This worked, destroying nearly all of the Imperial walkers,

2:18:43 but also cost the lives of several rebels who could not escape.

2:18:47 Namir now gathered his men on the perimeter

2:18:50 line and moved the wounded inside the facility, as the Imperials regrouped.

2:18:54 It was becoming clear that taking the facility fully intact will be impossible,

2:18:59 so the Herald entered the atmosphere and began blasting

2:19:03 the outer defense line of the rebels, killing many.

2:19:06 However suddenly, the Herald stopped:

2:19:08 the Apailana’s Promise has returned along with its

2:19:11 two X-wing escorts and began harassing the ship.

2:19:15 It by no means could take out a Star Destroyer,

2:19:18 but the Braha'tok gunship could not be ignored,

2:19:20 so the Herald turned its attention to the rebel vessel,

2:19:23 giving the rebels on the ground some reprieve.

2:19:26 This boosted the morale of the defenders and left

2:19:29 the imperials on the ground to fend for themselves.

2:19:32 The Imperials resumed their advance up the slope,

2:19:35 but were suddenly counter-attacked by the 61st

2:19:38 and the rebels temporarily halted the stormtroopers, forcing them to fall back.

2:19:43 Soon, the emperor’s henchmen received the order

2:19:46 to push again and restarted their advance.

2:19:48 This counter-attack, however,

2:19:49 was a delaying tactic by Namir and as soon as the enemy attacked,

2:19:54 he ordered his soldiers to fall back.

2:19:56 As soon as the rebels were back to the perimeter,

2:19:58 he ordered Vifra to initiate her plan,

2:20:01 and the lava channels that her team had spent days rechanneling,

2:20:04 burst onto the mountain side sending the Imperials

2:20:07 into disarray and dividing them in two.

2:20:10 Those it failed to kill fled down the mountain,

2:20:13 while others were forced to run towards

2:20:15 the facility where brutal close quarters fighting broke out.

2:20:19 The Imperial group left advancing on the facility

2:20:22 was still substantial and so all

2:20:24 of the Twilight Company ran into the fray knowing this to be the pivotal moment.

2:20:28 Casualties were mounting rapidly for both sides

2:20:31 as the Rebels tried pushing the enemy down the slope,

2:20:35 while the Imperials with nowhere to go advanced with determination.

2:20:38 Gradually the Rebels were forced back into the facility and eventually

2:20:42 had to fight in the halls of the compound itself.

2:20:45 Now, we have to go back for a moment.

2:20:48 While the battle for the second line had been going

2:20:51 on, Chalis had escaped custody and took a speeder to Pinyumb.

2:20:54 Here she stole a shuttle loaded with ion bombs,

2:20:57 and tricked the Herald into locking on to the ship and allowing her to dock.

2:21:02 Thus she brought the bombs on board.

2:21:05 She was by Prelate Verge and Seitaron and ignoring pleasantries,

2:21:08 used the detonator in her hand to set off the bomb,

2:21:12 crippling the ship's systems and causing it to descend.

2:21:15 Verge ordered the crew to continue the battle

2:21:18 and began fighting Chalis to bring her to heel,

2:21:21 but was stopped when he was shot in the back by Seitaron,

2:21:24 who knew that it was time to get rid of Verges’ obsession and save the ship.

2:21:29 This allowed Chalis to escape.

2:21:30 Without its weapons working,

2:21:32 the Herald was not going to win even against a small gunship,

2:21:36 so Seitaron gave his command to leave the system immediately.

2:21:40 To the imperial forces on the ground, this escape looked like a betrayal

2:21:44 and they started losing heart in their battle.

2:21:47 Soon, the rebels turned the tide and finished

2:21:50 off the doomed Imperials, winning the battle.

2:21:52 The Twilight squadron had suffered heavily from their stand at Inyusu Tor,

2:21:57 with roughly 120 being killed and 100 more being wounded,

2:22:01 but the Imperials had it far worse with all

2:22:04 of the ground troops stranded on Sullust killed or captured.

2:22:08 The resistance was able to group up with other

2:22:11 forces and take Pinyumb during the Battle causing a series

2:22:14 of revolts to break out all over the planet

2:22:17 eventually culminating in the planet's liberation within a few weeks.

2:22:21 Twilight Company acted as a temporary police

2:22:24 force for Sullust until the Rebel Alliance reestablished

2:22:27 contact with them taking over the protection

2:22:29 of the planet and allowing the 61st to depart.

2:22:33 While the overall goal of Operation Ringbreaker failed,

2:22:36 the Siege of Inyusu Tor would be a rallying cry to the people of the Galaxy

2:22:41 showing that the Rebels were not spent and morale

2:22:45 among the previously demoralized troops was high again.

2:22:50 With the crack that the 61st had made in the Imperial armour,

2:22:53 the Rebel Alliance was invigorated to strike at their foe once again.

2:22:58 Their series of defeats had not made them abandon the cause, far from it,

2:23:03 Vader's relentless pursuit and brutality in stamping

2:23:06 them out only ever served to enrage them,

2:23:09 and the 61st had given them hope again.

2:23:12 But before they could strike, they would have to reunite.

2:23:15 This was not easy to do,

2:23:18 as many rebel groups had reservations about such a maneuver,

2:23:22 worried that an Ambush at Mako-ta might be repeated.

2:23:25 But nevertheless, they had all put their reservation aside,

2:23:29 as Sullust had given the Alliance a high

2:23:31 to ride on, and it was a do-or-die moment.

2:23:35 To this end, the Rebels held an emergency conference at Zastiga in 4 ABY,

2:23:40 during which the nature of their strategy was about to change.

2:23:44 Alliance intelligence had discovered the Imperials were building yet

2:23:48 another Death Star near the Outer Rim planet of Endor.

2:23:51 Its targets were the worlds of Chandrila and Mon Cala,

2:23:55 but it was largely incomplete and would take a while to be completed.

2:23:59 That made it vulnerable,

2:24:01 and the rebels knew this was the opportunity they had been waiting on.

2:24:05 They decided to concentrate the fleet on the newly

2:24:08 captured planet of Sullust and attack with their full force.

2:24:11 But to assemble without detection, they needed time and secrecy to this end,

2:24:17 they concocted Operation Yellow Moon and Operation Starlight.

2:24:20 The latter was devised by the Rebel cell known

2:24:24 as the Fourth Division to deal with their code encryption problems,

2:24:28 as without reliable codes, the Imperials were able to intercept them

2:24:32 and take out the scattered Rebels one by one.

2:24:35 The plan was to steal a droid from the Imperial Museum,

2:24:39 specifically a Talker Droid or Autonomous Translator Module Mark II.

2:24:42 Droids of this type were not special in their own right,

2:24:46 as most of them were scrapped long ago, but this one spoke the Trawak,

2:24:51 a reclusive language that had never before been

2:24:53 cracked by the linguists and had long died out.

2:24:56 So, the Fourth Division sent their pathfinders

2:24:59 to Coruscant accompanied by Calrissian aboard the Falcon,

2:25:02 and they were able to retrieve the droid, suffering only one casualty.

2:25:07 Sending the codes was another challenge all to itself as the Fourth

2:25:11 division was being hunted by Commander Zahra and her formidable ship,

2:25:15 the Tarkin's Will, and this is exactly who

2:25:18 Starlight Squadron ran into while carrying the codes.

2:25:21 They attempted to contact the Sixth Division and give them the codes but found

2:25:26 only the debris floating around the planet and realized it was a trap.

2:25:30 It was too late to retreat,

2:25:32 and a skirmish broke out between the squadron and the Star Destroyer,

2:25:37 but Starlight Squadron, under the command of their Ace Sharon Bey,

2:25:41 was able to disable the ship's tractor beam and escape,

2:25:44 albeit without their commander, whose ship was shot down.

2:25:48 After this, Starlight Squadron went to Ab Dalis under the command

2:25:52 of Luke Skywalker to deliver the codes to the 11th Division,

2:25:55 which included Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar.

2:25:58 But upon arriving, they found them grounded and being heavily

2:26:02 bombarded by the Star Destroyer Ultima II under Admiral Kalaxo,

2:26:06 who was part of Zahra’s group hunting the Rebels in this sector.

2:26:10 But despite their nearly hopeless situation.

2:26:13 the 11th was able to escape

2:26:15 with a cunning plan transmitted to Starlight Squadron,

2:26:18 which involved the volcano in which the Ultima II

2:26:21 was situated over being erupted and within a few

2:26:24 passes by, they were able to hit the target

2:26:27 destroying the ship and allowing the 11th to escape.

2:26:29 With the Ultima II destroyed and the Tarkin's Will disabled,

2:26:32 the rebels were able to have a little

2:26:35 more freedom of movement to send the codes.

2:26:37 With that, the entirety of the Rebel

2:26:39 Alliance was given orders to assemble at Sullust.

2:26:42 The other Operation being conducted, that being Yellow Moon,

2:26:46 was to be a distraction that would grab the Empire's

2:26:49 attention away from Sullust and to the Corva sector.

2:26:52 It was led by General Organa, who proposed the plan.

2:26:56 She initially faced criticism as the loss of life she’d incur by using

2:27:01 lightly encrypted codes would be high and new recruits would be killed,

2:27:05 but Organa reminded them of Alderaan, and the lives that were at stake should

2:27:10 the new Death Star be allowed to be completed.

2:27:12 Only after this, she got the green light from Mon Mothma gave the green light.

2:27:16 The plan called for a series of missions

2:27:18 to be conducted on Basteel, Sesid, and Jaresh.

2:27:22 During each, they would meet the resistance leaders

2:27:25 on each world and place hyper-transceivers that would generate

2:27:29 transmission activity calling the rebels for a rendezvous

2:27:32 over the planet Galaan to conduct an unspecified operation.

2:27:36 The plan worked, and the rebels were able to successfully

2:27:39 distract the Empire in all three of the missions,

2:27:42 but they were also being hunted by Captain Khione and his Imperial-class

2:27:46 Star Destroyer Shieldmaiden the whole way and were nearly caught several times.

2:27:52 Upon arriving over Galaan, Leia ordered the ships to disperse.

2:27:56 She knew Khione would not be far behind.

2:27:59 She arrived soon, capturing Leia’s ship and taking

2:28:02 her and her crew aboard the Shieldmaiden to interrogate them.

2:28:05 But their stay was brief,

2:28:07 thanks to the sacrifice of some of the members of Leia’s team.

2:28:10 They could disable the ship,

2:28:12 kill Khione and escape aboard an Imperial shuttle before

2:28:16 the Shieldmaiden exploded and another Star Destroyer came to the scene.

2:28:21 With both operations conducted successfully,

2:28:23 all they had to do now was wait for the fleet to be fully massed.

2:28:27 This gave time for General Organa,

2:28:29 Skywalker and Calrissian to find the location of their captured friend Han Solo.

2:28:34 Calrissian had discovered he had been taken to Tatooine and was

2:28:37 put on display in the Palace of Jabba of the Hutt Clan.

2:28:41 They were able to rescue Solo but not before they were captured after

2:28:45 a brief hiccup that almost got them

2:28:48 executed in a Sarlacc pit outside the Palace.

2:28:51 Luke and Calrissian had anticipated this and were able to break free,

2:28:55 destroying Jabba’s Sail Barge and killing

2:28:57 the crime lord himself before escaping.

2:29:00 With the Rebel fleet nearly gathered,

2:29:02 all of the leaders of the fleet were convened to discuss the plan of attack.

2:29:07 The Imperial station itself was still under construction

2:29:10 but was protected by a deflector shield generator

2:29:12 that was based on the forest moon

2:29:15 of Endor which the station itself situated next to.

2:29:18 The incomplete Death Star was already tempting target,

2:29:21 but the Rebels have also learned that the Emperor

2:29:24 himself was there to oversee its final construction,

2:29:27 making this was an opportunity that could not be missed.

2:29:31 The plan called for Rebels to divide their forces:

2:29:35 General Solo was to command the ground forces that would infiltrate

2:29:38 the moon using the Lambda Class shuttle Leia stole from the Shieldmaiden,

2:29:42 the Tydirium, and destroy the deflector shield generator.

2:29:46 The ground forces consisted of many elite scouts from the entirety of the fleet,

2:29:51 as well as the team of the Millennium Falcon that being Organa,

2:29:54 Chewbacca, and Skywalker.

2:29:55 The next day, once they had destroyed the base at the specified time,

2:30:00 the Fleet would follow.

2:30:02 The Fleet was itself commanded by Supreme Commander Admiral Ackbar

2:30:06 and consisted of at least 4 MC80A Home One-type Heavy Cruisers,

2:30:11 including Ackbar’s command ship the “Home One”,

2:30:15 5 MC80 Liberty Type Heavy Star Cruisers,

2:30:18 16 GR-75 medium transports, 4 Braha’tok Class gunships,8 CR90 Corvettes,

2:30:25 10 EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, 4 DP20 Frigates,

2:30:29 a few X4 Gunships, and a YT-2400 light freighter.

2:30:34 Attached to them were Btl-A4 Y-wings, A/SF-01 B-wings, RZ-1 A-wings,

2:30:40 Ut-60D U-wings, and T-65B X-wings all divided into Red Squadron,

2:30:47 Blue Squadron, Gray Squadron, Green Squadron, Riot Squadron,

2:30:51 Corona Squadron, Blade Squadron, and Gold Squadron.

2:30:53 The latter was put to be under

2:30:56 the command of General Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon

2:30:59 and they were given the task to take out

2:31:01 the Death Star itself while the fleet covered them.

2:31:05 Come morning, the Strike team reached the forest moon

2:31:08 and was given clearance to pass onto Endor by the Executor,

2:31:11 as Vader sensed Luke aboard the ship.

2:31:14 Luke in turn feared he had endangered the mission by coming,

2:31:18 as he sensed Vader, too but he was calmed by Solo.

2:31:21 They were able to infiltrate the moon without much of a problem,

2:31:26 but almost immediately were forced to fight

2:31:28 the imperials in a speeder chase and then

2:31:30 Solo’s group was captured by the Natives known

2:31:33 as Ewoks and taken to Bright Tree Village.

2:31:37 Initially the Ewoks were adamant on eating the Solo and his friends,

2:31:41 but their fondness for C-3PO, who they called a “Golden Deity” and a little

2:31:46 force demonstration by Skywalker convinced them to let them go.

2:31:50 The Rebels explained to the Ewoks why they were there and that the Imperials,

2:31:54 whom the Ewoks had been fighting all this time, were their enemies too.

2:31:58 This led to the Ewoks convening a council

2:32:01 of war in which they agreed that this was the time to strike and they would do

2:32:06 so unanimously with the support of all the tribes.

2:32:09 Before dawn broke they left into the forest.

2:32:12 Skywalker too left during the night knowing

2:32:15 he had to face his father and allowed

2:32:17 himself to be captured and come morning was brought to the Death Star by Vader.

2:32:23 Meanwhile, Solo’s team departed the village with their gear and the supplies

2:32:27 given to them by the Ewoks and linked up with their remaining squads,

2:32:31 making their way to the generator.

2:32:33 The Ewoks led them to the rear entrance which was lightly defended and after

2:32:37 one of the Ewoks stole a speed bike and diverted the guards’ attention,

2:32:41 the Rebels stormed the base and started setting explosives to destroy

2:32:45 the installation and disable the shield defending the Death Star.

2:32:49 Unfortunately for them, but were then set upon by the Stormtroopers

2:32:53 of the 501st Legion and forced to surrender.

2:32:56 Just as this was happening, the Rebel Fleet entered the system,

2:33:00 and Gold Squadron led the way, with all wings reporting in.

2:33:04 Calrissian commenced his attack, but immediately something was awry.

2:33:08 His co-pilot, Nien Nunb, detected their signals were being jammed,

2:33:13 Calrissian immediately knew what was going on and called

2:33:16 his squads to retreat and signalled Home One to fall back,