Battle of Yaga Minor (Galactic Civil War)

The Battle of Yaga Minor was fought in 19 ABY between New Republic forces under General Garm Bel Iblis and the forces of the Imperial Remnant loyal to Moff Disra. Together with the Battle of Bothawui which was fought at the same time, it marked the end of major combat operations in the Galactic Civil War.

The New Republic, despite being on the verge of victory over what remained of the Galactic Empire, was in a state of turmoil due to two crises. The first was the apparent resurrection of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who Disra had hired the con-artist Flim to impersonate. The second was the discovery of the Caamas Document in the ruins of the Imperial storehouse of Mount Tantiss on Wayland, leading to anti-Bothan tensions which were expertly manipulated under the direction of the third member of Disra's triumvirate, Major Grodin Tierce. These tensions threatened to pull the New Republic into civil war.

In order to protect Bothawui from possible attack from anti-Bothan forces, General Bel Iblis's task force, led by his flagship Peregrine, was supposedly sent to the nearby Kothlis system. However, Bel Iblis' forces actually gathered on a different mission which the New Republic hoped would end the crisis. The plan was to seize a copy of the Caamas Document from the Ubiqtorate base orbiting Yaga Minor, thus hopefully allowing the New Republic to discover exactly which Bothans were to blame for the destruction of Caamas.

For the raid on Yaga Minor, the New Republic enlisted the aid of the smuggler Booster Terrik. Terrik's vessel, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Errant Venture, was parked in the outer Mrisst system. Bel Iblis, together with two hundred New Republic personnel to partially refit the vessel and supplement the crew, took control of the vessel, leaving Terrik in the captain's chair. A small task force of New Republic capital ships, led by the Peregrine under Captain Tre-na, also gathered in the Mrisst system. Rogue Squadron, under the command of Wedge Antilles, was also part of the task force.

Bel Iblis' plan was for the Errant Venture to impersonate an Imperial vessel on the run from a New Republic task force. This task force, led by the Peregrine, would jump out of hyperspace soon after, engaging the base's perimeter defenses. While the Imperials were distracted, a slicer team would be sent in to the orbiting Ubiqtorate station to download the Caamas Document. If the deception was uncovered, the Errant Venture would try to hold off the Imperial forces just long enough to transmit a copy of the document to the New Republic forces in the perimeter and surrender. In an unlucky coincidence, Bel Iblis chose to have the Errant Venture impersonate the Tyrannic, a vessel which had been sent to the Both system under Disra, Flim, and Tierce's direct orders. Since the Imperial triumvirate was in system on board the Imperial-class Relentless, Bel Iblis' ruse was immediately discovered.

Flim, presumably on advice from Tierce, identified the Errant Venture as a ship under Bel Iblis' command, and ordered the vessel caught in the tractor beams projected by the Ubiqtorate base and its defense perimeter. Furthermore, a group of Immobilizer 418 cruisers soon arrived to trap the rest of the New Republic task force in interdiction fields. This quick reaction impressed Karoly D'ulin and Paloma D'asima, two members of the Mistryl Shadow Guard who were on board the Relentless to discuss the possibility of working with the Imperial Remnant.

Bel Iblis correctly surmised that the Imperials wanted to capture the Errant Venture and use its crew as valuable hostage. Accepting the probability of being killed, he ordered the Errant Venture to destroy the tractor beam emplacements holding it, and then to ram the Relentless in order to disable it long enough for a slicer team to get inside the Ubiqtorate base. His hope was that the slicers would be able to hold out long enough to transmit the Caamas Document, and that at least some of the diversionary task force would be able to escape.

At this point, Talon Karrde's smuggling vessel, the Wild Karrde, arrived from hyperspace. Karrde had recently returned from his own mission to the Kathol Sector, where he and the former Mistryl Shada D'ukal had attempted to recover a copy of the Caamas Document from former smuggler kingpin Jorj Car'das. Though Car'das did not have a copy, he did provide Karrde with records exposing Flim as a con-artist and Tierce as a flawed clone. After giving this information to Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, Pellaeon accompanied Karrde to Yaga Minor to confront Disra.

As the New Republic fighters tried to go in and assist the Errant Venture, Talon Karrde convinced Wedge Antilles to allow the Wild Karrde through the New Republic lines to dock with the Relentless. There, Pellaeon and Karrde confronted Disra, Flim, and Tierce. Tierce attempted to escape, attacking the two Mistryl observers. Shada D'ukal saved their lives by killing Tierce. Flim, relieved to end his charade, gave the Imperial forces the command to stand down, and turned command over to Pellaeon. Paloma D'asima decided that since Shada D'ukal had saved her life and helped to stop a disatrous alliance between Emberlene and the Imperial remnant, she could honorably end her association with the Mistryl. Admiral Pellaeon and General Bel Iblis went on to discuss peace between the New Republic and the Imperial Remant.

It should be noted that the raid on Yaga Minor and Talon Karrde's mission to the Kathol Sector were not the only New Republic attempts to gain a copy of the Caamas Document. Soon after Bel Iblis left on his mission, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were returned from a covert mission to the Imperial capital world Bastion. Unknown to Bel Iblis, the slicer Zakarisz Ghent had also infiltrated the Yaga Minor base with help from Admiral Pellaeon after Pellaeon's secret peace negotiations with Elegos A'Kla and Leia Organa Solo. Both the Bastion and Yaga Minor copies had been secretly altered under Disra and Tierce's orders, and would turn out to be useless to the New Republic. However, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, and R2-D2's raid on the Hand of Thrawn fortress on Nirauan would recover an unaltered copy.