Operation Skyhook

Operation: Skyhook was the codename given to the Rebel Alliance's operation to obtain the Death Star plans and ultimately destroy the Imperial battlestation Death Star I.

Operation Skyhook would become one of the most devastating series of battles of the war. The entire population of the Alliance-allied planet Alderaan would be wiped out by the superlaser of the Death Star. During the Battle of Yavin, the Death Star was destroyed by a "lucky shot" by Luke Skywalker, wiping out hundreds of thousands of Imperial personnel, including Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.

Learning about the superweapon
Rumors about the existence of a massive Imperial construction existed since the rescue of the Genue; Rebel escapees from the Stars' End, informed the Alliance about Wookiee slaves working for a secret project. After rescuing Wookiee slaves from Toral and examining its documents, the Alliance learned of the existence of a convoy of weapons near Orron III. An assault against that convoy resulted in the obtaining of Imperial satellites.

The existence of the Death Star became known after the stolen satellites transmitted the schematics to the Rebel outpost AX-235 and the Rebel spies who manned it got find of the space station.

About the same time, Princess Leia Organa went on a mercy mission to deliver medical supplies and equipment to the Ralltiiri High Council. She was permitted to land by Lord Tion himself. There, Leia rescued a wounded Rebel soldier, Basso, who later revealed the existence of the first Death Star.

The Operation
When the Death Star whereabouts became more well known, the Rebels proceeded with the Mission to Danuta, during which Rebel operative Kyle Katarn (who had recently defected from the Empire) was sent to retrieve the plans from a secret Imperial base in the city of Trid. Due to their importance, these plans were transported physically to Princess Leia aboard the diplomatic vessel Tantive IV. Tantive IV would then go on to the planet Toprawa, where it obtained other parts of the plans for the new battle station. In addition to the fragments gathered from Danuta and Toprawa, it seems a third piece of the plans were delivered from a rebel base on Polis Massa.



Ultimately, the information was to be delivered to the Star Cruiser Liberty, but a sudden appearance of the Star Destroyer Immortal caused the transfer to stop, and Tantive IV moved to Tatooine instead, in an attempt to fulfill its secondary objective: Former Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi had survived the Great Jedi Purge and was now hiding on Tatooine. Princess Leia had been instructed by her father to seek him out if she had no other option. Leia would now attempt to bring Kenobi to Alderaan, along with the stolen plans. Unfortunately, before the ship ever reached Tatooine, it was intercepted by the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator, the flagship of Darth Vader.

The Tantive IV was quickly disabled and captured, and though a small struggle was made by Rebels on board, the stormtroopers of the 501st Legion quickly eliminated the Rebel troops and captured Princess Leia. However, the boarding party was unable to find the plans, which had been secretly uploaded to the astromech droid R2-D2, who then made his getaway in an escape pod.

While the Alliance was looking for the location of the Death Star, Jan Dodonna proposed that if the base of Kalla VII was destroyed, any passing ships heading for the Death Star would be stranded there. According to this, Red Squadron assisted to its destruction while Priam arrived and as predicted, it was stranded. After the capture of Priam, its computer revealed to the Alliance that the location of the Death Star was Despayre. The rebel carrier Fortressa made a ill-fated solo attack on the Death Star at Despayre and was completely destroy along with her starfighter compliment. Afterward, when Rebel scouts Ethar went to investigate, the Death Star had already left the system and they were captured by lingering Imperial forces.

With the Death Star complete and on the move, Imperial forces started to attack the Rebels in several sectors, forcing the Alliance to go to Condition Yellow and increase protection of storage areas.

Conclusion
Following the Destruction of Alderaan, a tracking bug was placed on the Millennium Falcon, which led the Imperials to the moon Yavin IV. To confirm Rebel presence on the moon, Palpatine ordered an expeditionary force to go to the moon and gain a stronghold on the planet. Following a rough skirmish in the vicinity of the Massassi Arena, Rebels were confirmed to have been on the planet.

With the Death Star en route to Yavin IV, Jan Dodonna devised a complicated plan to destroy the Death Star with only one pair of proton torpedoes. Red Squadron and Gold Squadron would fly into the Death Star Trench and fire into the main exhaust port of the battlestation, which would cause it to explode from within.

The Battle of Yavin started soon after. The Alliance would emerge victorious as Luke Skywalker, Red Five, fired successfully into the Death Star through use of The Force. The threat of the Death Star was vanquished thereafter. But the Empire would later respond with other special projects, including the Dark Trooper production line, the development of Phantom TIEs and the Tarkin battlestation. Their efforts would conclude with the TIE Experimental Project and finally the construction of the Death Star II.

Behind the scenes

 * An operation with the same name is featured in the 1953 B-movie Earth vs the Flying Saucers and the John Wayne movie In Harm's Way.
 * A skyhook is also type of vehicle.
 * The campaign of Empire at War has an alternative version of the above timeline, without mentioning any of the above battles and events, established in Star Wars: X-wing and Dark Forces. In EaW, the Alliance learned about the project from a pirate, and later employed Han Solo to obtain part of the plans. Due to the many canon-contradicting elements of the game, its events are often considered doubtful. It's possible however, that since the name 'Skyhook' is never mentioned, the events were outside the Operation and parallel to it, therefore 'unofficial'.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Dark Forces
 * Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
 * Lethal Alliance
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Battlefront
 * Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?
 * Star Wars Empire 14: The Savage Heart
 * Tag & Bink Are Dead
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault