Sabotage at Rhen Var

The Sabotage at Rhen Var occurred on the ice planet of Rhen Var in 0 BBY during the Galactic Civil War. The battle followed an Rebel Alliance attack which captured an Imperial listening outpost. The Galactic Empire sent a force to recapture it, which succeeded, although the resulting battle led to the destruction of the outpost.

Prelude
The Galactic Empire had long operated a listening outpost out of a derelict citadel on Rhen Var, an ice-covered Outer Rim world deeply entrenched in history surrounding the Galactic Republic, the precursor government to the Empire. In 0 BBY, early in the Galactic Civil War &mdash;a conflict between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance freedom fighters&mdash;the outpost was able to monitor Rebel fleet activity. The Rebel Alliance subsequently launched an attack to prevent the outpost from tracking them. The Rebels captured the facility from the Imperial garrison stationed there and held it for a few days before the Empire launched a counterattack.

The battle
The Imperial attack force&mdash;consisting of snowtroopers, Imperial Army pilots, and Phase Zero dark troopers&mdash;arrived and was ordered to seize the section of the outpost called the Keep. They advanced against the Rebels, who had deployed at a tower below the station. The Rebel force was comprised of troopers, vanguard division soldiers, snipers, Wookiee smugglers, and pilots.

The Imperials retook the Keep, while both sides defended their positions with laser turrets.

The Imperial counterattack overran the Alliance forces, with the strike resulting in the destruction of the outpost.

Aftermath
Shortly thereafter, the Rebel Alliance faced the Empire in an assault on the moon Yavin 4, leading up to the pivotal Battle of Yavin.

Behind the scenes
"Our long-standing listening outpost on the high peaks of Rhen Var is under Rebel attack. This outpost is key to monitoring the local systems for Rebel activity. Defend the monitoring station from the Rebel attack."

- Emperor Palpatine briefs the player before the mission

The Sabotage at Rhen Var appears in the mission "Sabotage at Rhen Var" in the Galactic Civil War campaign of the 2004 video game Star Wars: Battlefront. Since the game delegates no specific battle plan for the player (playing from the Imperial perspective) to follow, this article was written to be as vague as possible. The game tells the player to retake the Keep, which is one of the command posts, but the player can still win the level without doing so. The Imperials have 250 reinforcements available, while the Rebels have 200. When either side reaches zero, the game ends, but the Imperials must win for the campaign to continue.

The game's campaign is considered to be secondary continuity by Leland Chee, the keeper of Lucasfilm Ltd.'s Holocron continuity database, who replied to a question about whether games like Star Wars: Battlefront are canon by saying, "Story is S, but locations, characters, and technology are C. And by extension, Battlefront II Story is C." The game says the Imperial forces were defending, but this was overwritten by 2009's The Essential Atlas, which says that the Rebels captured the outpost before it was retaken.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront