Battle of Endor/Legends

"It's a trap!"

- Admiral Ackbar

The Battle of Endor was the final major engagement of the Galactic Civil War fought by the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire.

Prelude
The prelude to this battle came when the Alliance learned that Empire was constructing a second version of the Death Star space station (under supervision by Moff Jerjerrod). The Alliance leadership soon discovered that this version had corrected the design flaws in the original Death Star, that the Alliance had exploited in the Battle of Yavin. It was decided that the station would have to be destroyed before it became operational.

With the loss of the lives of many Bothans, the space station was found to be orbiting the forest moon of Endor. In addition, they learned that, although the station was protected by a powerful deflector shield projected from a base on the moon, the station's weapons were not yet ready for service. Furthermore, they also learned that the Emperor himself would personally oversee the final completion of the station. Destroying the station while he was still aboard would deliver a massive crushing blow to the Empire.

With a golden opportunity too good to miss, the Alliance planned a two pronged attack. A commando squad, led by appointed General Han Solo, would land on the moon in a stolen Imperial Shuttle and disable the Imperial base's deflector shield projector. This would allow a Rebel fleet to attack the station and destroy it. Meanwhile, several rebel ships massed near the planet of Sullust, attempting to lure Imperial ships away from Endor. It was a miscalculation made by the rebels, Palpatine devised and strategy to maintain the fleet close to Endor to provide security and support for the Death Star II, instead of engaging the Rebel Fleet. This was later shown in the battle, as the rebels where cought in a trap while attempting to attack the station.

Unbeknownst to them, the Rebels were falling into a grand trap devised by the Emperor himself. In an attempt to effectively eliminate the Rebel Fleet, Palpatine planned on drawing it and its command personnel to Endor using simple disinformation: he hid the fact that the station's primary systems were already operational (and had dispatched Darth Vader earlier on to ensure that the systems were ready on time). With a large naval force hidden on the far side of the moon and an elite legion of Imperial troops standing by on the moon's surface, he was ready to crush the Rebels once and for all.

The Battle
The Rebels took the bait and the trap was sprung with the commandos captured at the moon's base and the Rebel fleet trapped by the Imperial Navy, which was ordered to hold position and prevent the Rebels from escaping. To make things worse, the Death Star's superlaser was already fully operational and was re-designed to be an irresistible anti-ship weapon, destroying Rebel ships at will. General Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar closed with the enemy fleet to buy time, but the situation was hopeless. The Rebellion never knew that the station had the capacity to fire its main weapon system far more often and more accurately than ever before. The point blank range tactic planned by the rebel command was a disaster, but it also reduced the Death Star's firing rate by mixing up with the Imperial Fleet while engaging it. The rebels came under limited fire from the Imperial Fleet, as Fleet Admiral Piett was under direct orders from the Emperor to not attack the Rebels. Still, outgunned the many Rebel frigates, and corvettes were lost in the engagement, and Imperial TIE fighter wings decimated the Rebel fighter force.

However, unknown to the Emperor, the Rebel commandos had made an alliance with the indigenous Ewok tribe on the moon. Their warriors ambushed the Imperial stormtroopers soon after the Imperials had captured the Rebel commandos. Although initially surprised by the ambush made by the Ewoks, the Imperials regained the upper hand and squads of stormtroopers chased the Ewoks into the forest. Despite being vastly outnumbered by the natives, the stormtroopers were forcing the Ewoks back into the forest, and Imperial AT-ST scout walkers were decimating Ewok holdouts.

A squad of Ewoks led by Chewbacca were able to capture one of these walkers. The tide of the battle began to turn as Chewbacca used this AT-ST to take out isolated Imperial units as well as other Imperial walkers. The sight of this, rallied the remaining Ewoks, who had been retreating into the woods, and they doubled their efforts behind the stolen AT-ST. This allowed the Ewoks to spring a number of traps that had been set up with hopes of toppling any Imperial walkers. The tactic worked, and together, the traps and the commandeered walker defeated the remaining scout walkers. With the Imperials in disarray, Han Solo posed as an AT-ST pilot, informing the Imperials within the bunker, that the battle was over.

Three squads of reinforcements were sent to help search for the rebels. The Rebels, however, were waiting, and the Imperial reinforcements, sorely outnumbered and under the guns of an AT-ST, surrendered to the Rebel/Ewok force. The Rebels, led by General Solo, proceeded to infiltrate the Imperial facility and managed to destroy the bunker with many Proton Bombs. The destruction of the facility brought down the deflector shield surrounding the forest moon and the Death Star.

Taking advantage of the new tactical situation, swarms of Rebel fighters targetting the Death Star. Although many were destroyed by TIE fighters and the Death Star's surface guns, a small group of fighters and the Millennium Falcon dove into the uncompleted Death Star's superstructure, leading them to the main reactor. Several TIE fighters and TIE interceptors went after the Rebels. This threat drove some of the Rebel Fighters to pull back to the surface of the station luring some of the Imperial fighters away from the primary mission; protecting the main reactor.

In order to dissuade more Imperials from swarming the Rebel fighters within the Death Star's superstructure, Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Imperial flagship, the Executor, and with a combined effort of an entire Rebel flotilla of capital ships her bridge shields were temporarily brought down. This allowed several fighter squadrons to target the Executor's main sensors and its bridge deflector-shield projectors. After A-wing squadrons destroyed one of the giant sensor spheres, Green Leader, after taking critical damage, kamikazied his fighter into the bridge and killed much of the command staff (including Admiral Piett). The crippled ship's engines misfired as a result of the loss of navigation, and the careening vessel collided into the Death Star's surface, destroying Executor and all her crew as well as causing some damage to the Death Star's surface.

Meanwhile, Moff Jerjerrod had orders from the Emperor to destroy the forest moon should the Rebels manage to deactivate the shield. As the Death Star began to rotate its primary weapon towards its target, the Rebel fighters sped towards the main reactor. Jerjerrod responded by flooding the area with interference to hinder the Rebel's progress, and (presumably) issued an evacuation order to non-essential crew.

Meanwhile, the Emperor, who was attempting to turn Luke Skywalker with the dark side of the Force, was killed by Darth Vader when he rebelled against the Emperor in order to save his son from Palpatine's Force-lightning barrage. Unfortunately, that final act was one of self-sacrifice, as Vader, reborn again as Anakin Skywalker, free from the evil curse that had consumed him throughout the Galactic Civil War, died in the arms of his son before he could board his shuttle. All the while Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles were approaching the main reactor. Using concussion missiles and proton torpedoes, they detonated the Death Star's power regulator, and the main reactor itself, causing a massive explosion which led to a chain reaction that destroyed the station. Luke was able to escape in Vader's shuttle just before the explosion reached the equatorial docking bays. Gold Leader narrowly made it of the superstructure as the fireball ripped through the doomed space station.

Demoralized by the loss of the Executor, the Emperor and the Death Star, the majority of the Imperial Fleet retreated deeper into Imperial Space, believing that the Rebels could not take the war deeper into Imperial space or to the Imperial Center itself. After the battle's conclusion, the Rebels command staff celebrated on the forest moon of Endor in Bright Tree Village, while the remains of the Rebel Fleet screened the space directly above Bright Tree Village to avoid any debris from the Death Star blast from harming that area.

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik escaped the destruction of the Death Star and instead of retreating, fought on for several more hours until his flagship, Eleemosynary succumbed to barrages of Ion Cannon fire and was captured. He was later executed for war crimes by Rebel authorities.

After the destruction of Executor, command should have properly passed from Fleet Admiral Piett to Teshik. Gilad Pellaeon, senior surviving officer of the Imperialclass Star Destroyer Chimaera inexplicably ordered an illegal retreat from Endor. This action is most curious: despite the loss of Executor, the numerical and qualitative advantages of the Star Destroyers should have permitted the Imperial fleet to maintain tactical superiority over their Rebel foes. It is even more curious that the retreat order from a junior officer out-ranked by many other present Imperials was widely heeded by other fleet commanders.

The battle was thus sealed for the Rebellion. It has been theorized (by none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn) that with the death of Emperor Palpatine, the subtle influence he exercised on his troops through the Force (battle meditation) was removed and the Imperial Navy's fighting ability was dramatically reduced, allowing the Rebel fleet to scatter them; it is known, however, that Grand Admiral Nial Declann perished with Palpatine aboard the Death Star, and that he had been using the rare Force-skill of Battle Meditation to aid the Imperial Fleet.

Had the Rebels failed at destroying the station, the results would have been far worse than they thought. In the years beforehand, the assassin droid IG-88 was preparing to launch a droid revolution. The last surviving model, IG-88A, built a duplicate of the Death Star's computer core and switched his fake one for the real system, downloading his consciousness as well. When the Imperials installed the core, IG-88A literally became the Death Star, with complete access and control to all systems. None of the Imperial personnel knew, although Palpatine suspected his presence when a series of doors in his throne room opened and closed wildly. When the Rebels arrived, IG-88A fired the superlaser at the Rebel fleet, letting the Imperials believe they were in control, while he prepared to transmit his master control signal that would cause all droids to turn on their master. When the Death Star core collapsed, all power was lost and the destruction of the station wiped out IG-88A for all time. It is unknown what would have been done to stop the rogue droid entity if the Empire had been victorious at Endor. One would think the Empire could simply replace the Death Star's computer core and dispose of the infected one.

As for Rebel losses, they were quite severe. One-fifth of the Alliance fleet was destroyed, along with at least 2 Mon Calamari Cruisers (one a sister ship of Home One) and many smaller ships. At some point Admiral Ackbar was apparently forced to transfer his flag from RAS Home One to RAS Independence, probably due to severe battle damage in combat with Executor.

Fleets
Over 500 starfighters from the Rebel fleet participated in the battle. There were five main attack groups: Gold, Red, Green, Blue and Grey Squadrons. The known pilots assigned to them are:

Gold Squadron:


 * Gold Leader: General Lando Calrissian/Nien Nunb/Colonel Cracken (Gunner)/Lt. Blount (Gunner)

Rogue Squadron (as Red):


 * Red Leader: Wedge Antilles
 * Red 2: Wes Janson
 * Red 3: Unknown
 * Red 4: Derek 'Hobbie' Klivian
 * Red 5: Unknown
 * Red 6: Unknown
 * Red 7: Keir Santage
 * Other Pilots: Lak Sivrak, Randi, Grizz Frix

Green Squadron:


 * Green Leader: Arvel Crynyd
 * Green 2: Unknown
 * Green 3: Unknown
 * Green 4: Tycho Celchu
 * Other Pilot: Commander Jake Farrell

Blue Squadron:


 * Blue 5: Ten Nunb

Grey Squadron:


 * Grey Leader: Colonel Horton Salm/Kin Kian
 * Grey 2: Lt. Telsij/Karie Neth

Aftermath
The Imperial Fleet regrouped and repaired near Annaj following the battle; several days after the defeat, Admiral Prittick notified the rest of the Empire of the crushing defeat. Presumably by that point, Prittick has assumed command of the Fleet, however temporarily.

The disintergration and collapse of the Galactic Empire began shortly after the Battle of Endor as news of the Emperor's death became widespread. As HIM Palpatine deliberately did not plan for succession of rule, numerous Imperial leaders began carving out personal fiefdoms. This decay and collapse accelerated approximately six years after Endor during the events surrounding the clone Palpatine and his eventual defeat. Years later, the small (and mostly ignored) Imperial Remnant signed a peace treaty.

As for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, they would go on to form the Alliance of Free Planets and, soon thereafter, the New Republic.

Imperials

 * Councillor Sim Aloo
 * Corporal Avarik
 * Councillor Kren Blista-Vanee
 * Captain Brandei
 * Grand Admiral Nial Declann
 * Captain Dorja
 * Councillor Janus Greejatus
 * Harrsk
 * IG-88A
 * Moff Jerjerrod
 * Jhoff
 * Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati
 * Emperor Palpatine
 * Captain Gilad Pellaeon
 * Admiral Firmus Piett
 * Admiral Prittick
 * Major Rhymer
 * Sarkli
 * Commander Sitchei
 * Grand Admiral Miltin Takel
 * Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik
 * Darth Vader
 * Major General Maximilian Veers

Rebels

 * Admiral Ackbar
 * Wedge Antilles
 * Lieutenant Blount
 * C-3P0
 * General Lando Calrissian
 * Tycho Celchu
 * Chewbacca
 * Chief Chirpa
 * Colonel Cracken
 * Arvel Crynyd
 * Lieutenant Delckiss
 * Major Bren Derlin
 * Ibitsam
 * Kin Kian
 * Derek Klivian
 * General Crix Madine
 * Captain Tessa Manchisco
 * Corporal Marmor
 * Corporal Midge
 * Chief of State Mon Mothma
 * Karie Neth
 * Nien Nunb
 * Ten Nunb
 * Princess Leia Organa
 * Lieutenant Judder Page
 * Paploo
 * R2-D2
 * Lieutenant Gayla Riemann
 * Romba
 * Colonel Horton Salm
 * Keir Santage
 * Lak Sivrak
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Commander Luke Skywalker
 * General Han Solo
 * Lieutenant Telsij
 * Thaneespi
 * Lieutenant s'Too Vees
 * Wicket W. Warrick

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * ''Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi