Battle of Kothlis

The Battle of Kothlis occurred after secret Imperial construction data was secured during the Raid on the Suprosa.

Prologue


The data was moved from Bothawui to Kothlis, a Bothan colony. Koth Melan and Luke Skywalker, while decoding the data in a safehouse down on the planet, were attacked by a team of Barabel bounty hunters looking for the bounty on Skywalker. As fire was traded in the storehouse, Melan fell to Barabel fire, and Luke was captured by the Barabel Skahtul.

Battle above Kothlis
The data managed to reach the CR90 corvette Razor in orbit around the planet. As the freighter proceeded to rendezvous with the Alliance Fleet, an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Motivator jumped out of hyperspace and deployed squadrons of TIE Fighters. The timely appearance of Rebel fighter squadrons and the Redemption turned the tide around, and an attack on the Star Destroyer commenced.

While Redemption traded fire with the Star Destroyer, Rogue Squadron's three flights disabled its major batteries and engaged its TIE fighters. After the Star Destroyer's shield generators had been disabled by damage to its main reactor, it prepared to jump into hyperspace with Razor safely tucked in its main hangar. In a desperate act, Wedge Antilles rammed the bridge windows, trapping the Star Destroyer in the planet's gravity well and pulling it into the atmosphere. Wedge survived, probably by ejecting the cockpit module. His B-Wing, however, was destroyed. He had to switch to an X-Wing.

Battle on Kothlis


As the Star Destroyer crashed into the surface, an Alliance GR-75 transport carrying Crix Madine and a company of soldiers arrived to secure Razor's computer core. Rogue Squadron escorted the transport to the crash site and was surprised to find a portion of the Star Destroyer's ground forces had survived the crash. Crix Nadine, after discovering that the Motivator's core was increasing in temperature, and was most likely going to go critical within minutes, was forced to land the transport as he was unwilling to risk trying to get close to the doomed Star Destroyer.

Still operational AT-ATs and AT-PTs blasted their way through the Star Destroyer's hull and began to attack the rebel transport.

As reinforcements arrived in the orbital battle, Madine and the Rogues were time pressed to upload the data. While Rogue Squadron provided covering fire and targeted the armored vehicles, Madine and his commandos engaged in a firefight with Stormtroopers and their E-web blaster nests. After neutralizing any remaining functional batteries and destroying the Imperial armor, Rogue Squadron covered Madine's charge to the Star Destroyer.

Madine succeeded in retrieving the data from Razor, returned to his transport and fled Kothlis while Rogue Squadron engaged pursuing TIE fighters. Madine and his team finished decoding the data and realized why the Empire wanted it so badly&mdash;it was the technical readout for the second Death Star.

Behind the scenes
The story as described above is the storyline as it appeared in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. In the game Star Wars: X-wing Alliance the story goes a little different, though the outcome is the same:

The surviving Bothan spies flee from Kothlis on Fey'lya's Pride, with the stolen Imperial computer to Kothlis II, a space station in orbit around Kothlis. Around that time, Darth Vader's Death Squadron has arrived and begun it's attack on Kothlis II, where the computer is transferred on to the Razor. Under covering fire from Liberty the Razor makes it safely to hyperspace.

While en route to its rendezvous with the Independence, the Razor, has come under attack by an Imperial pursuit group. The corvette is eventually captured by the Avenger, but managed to launch an escape pod which is picked up by the civilian Dreadnaught Mercury. Mercury escaped to hyperspace to rendezvous with the Independence. While transferring the escape pod to the Independence the Avenger and the Executor emerge from hyperspace and begin their attack. The Mercury and Independence manage to escape once more and thus finally securing the Death Star II plans in the hands of the Alliance.

Appearances

 * Shadows of the Empire (novel) ''
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike