Evacuation of Yavin 4

"&hellip;the Empire now knows our location. Therefore, our first priority is to find a new base of operations. To that end, all Rebel fleets have arrived to assist us in evacuating Yavin immediately."

- General Jan Dodonna

The evacuation of Yavin 4 by the Alliance to Restore the Republic took place in 0 ABY, in the days that followed the Battle of Yavin. Having destroyed the Galactic Empire's newest battle station, the Death Star, the Alliance feared reprisal attacks now that their position had been revealed. Therefore, they were forced to abandon the Great Temple on Yavin 4 in order to find a new base of operations. According to the cartographer Emil Graf, the final act of the evacuation involved an attack by an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, which was thwarted by the Alliance pilot Evaan Verlaine.

Prelude
"Thanks to your courage, we have delivered a telling blow to the Empire with the destruction of their Death Star."

- Leia Organa, to the assembled Alliance members

Nineteen years after Sheev Palpatine's rise to emperorship, on a day that was later marked as the start of a new calendar system, the Rebels of the Alliance to Restore the Republic launched an attack on the Galactic Empire's Death Star battle station from their headquarters at the Great Temple, on the fourth moon of Yavin. They managed to destroy the planet-killing battle station, dealing the Empire a major blow. Although there had been casualties, the Alliance happily celebrated their victory. The morning after the battle, the heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were awarded the Medal of Bravery during a ceremony presided by Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, whose homeworld had been destroyed by the Death Star.

Evacuating
As soon as the award ceremony was over, General Jan Dodonna addressed the assembled Rebels, telling them that the base should be evacuated immediately for fear of Imperial retaliation. All Alliance fleets arrived in order to assist with the evacuation, and each Rebel was assigned a station for dismantling and transporting, while some were charged with scouting for potential outposts. Meanwhile, Dodonna began working to find a planet or moon to serve as a new secret base of operations. Against the general's order, Princess Leia Organa left the base under the cover of darkness with a compatriot, Evaan Verlaine of the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Corps. Together, they undertook an unsanctioned mission to rescue their fellow Alderaanians who had survived the destruction of their home planet. When Organa came back alone, Verlaine having remained behind with the newly assembled Alderaan Flotilla, the evacuation of Yavin 4 was still ongoing.

The Flat Mountain of Yavin
"Have you ever heard of the Flat Mountain of Yavin?''" "''I don't believe I have, Sir."

- Emil Graf and his droid CR-8R

According to a tale told by the Wild Space cartographer Emil Graf, the Imperial retaliation strike Dodonna had feared did happen. While most of the Alliance personnel was still inside the Great Temple, an Imperial-class Star Destroyer and a contingent of TIE/ln fighters appeared in the sky of Yavin 4 and started attacking the site. According to Graf, Evaan Verlaine and a few Alliance troopers manage to infiltrate the Star Destroyer and incapacitate its crew. However, the controls were locked, and the capital ship was programmed to shoot at the Great Temple at full power after five minutes. As the troopers could not to bypass the security protocols, Verlaine decided to handle things herself. She ran to the Star Destroyer's hangar, boarded a Raider-class corvette she found there, and took off. Once in the atmosphere, she programmed the corvette to ram into the Star Destroyer before quickly escaping in a life pod. At first, it seemed that her plan had failed, since the capital ship did not change course. However, when the Star Destroyer finally fired, it turned out that it had moved just enough to deviate the blast slightly to the right. It hit a mountain behind the Temple, blowing off its summit and creating the "Flat Mountain of Yavin" in the process. Even though the Empire eventually regained control of the Star Destroyer, Verlaine's audacity and quick thinking allowed the Alliance to complete their evacuation.

Aftermath
"Lotsa bucket heads on this moon, Partner. They really want to get to those data centers. Good thing we're here to stop 'em, eh?"

- Saponza, to his partner

In their haste, however, the Rebels neglected to destroy some of their data centers completely. Suspecting that the Imperials might be on their way to retrieve the secrets of the Alliance, Colonel Jennica Pierce ordered her Tatooinian agent to return to Yavin 4 and destroy the data before it fell in the Empire's hands. When the agent and his partner Saponza arrived at the former Rebel site, the Empire was already there, having massed forces and set up operations all over the moon. Despite the sheer number of Imperial troops opposing them, the Rebel operatives managed to destroy the data centers in time.

At one point, Imperial Captain Magna Tolvan was assigned to a punishment duty on Yavin 4 on Grand General Cassio Tagge's order. She and her men did not find anything of interest left behind in the Great Temple, as Tagge had expected.

In the years that followed, the Rebels headquartered themselves in Echo Base on the snow planet Hoth and later on the small planet 5251977.

Behind the scenes
The evacuation of Yavin was first mentioned in the opening crawl of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and it made its first canonical appearance in the 2015 comic, Princess Leia, Part I.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Princess Leia, Part I
 * Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure
 * Doctor Aphra 3: Aphra, Part III
 * Doctor Aphra 4: Aphra, Part IV
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny: Leia
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back