Raid on Polis Massa

The Battle of Polis Massa was a minor skirmish between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance on the mining asteroid colony of Polis Massa. This colony was being used by the Rebels in the early days of the Galactic Civil War.

The Empire had discovered that a few Rebels were able to escape the detention center on the first Death Star with vital information on Imperial plans during an attempted prison break. Imperial intelligence uncovered an active base on Polis Massa and Darth Vader decided to send troops from his elite fighting legion, the 501st Legion, to recover the plans there, before the Rebels decoded them.

Once the 501st Legion arrived at the asteroid base, they executed their raid, taking control of the Rebel radar facility effortlessly. The Imperial commanders didn't seem to notice how easily they had captured the area and so didn't suspect a trap that had been set. Next, they then stormed an elevated command room where the holodisk, supposedly holding the stolen plans, had been located. The Empire utilzed early prototypes of dark troopers, unexposed to the Rebels, to retrieve the important disk. The data was then removed from the disk and uplinked to the Imperial systems while the 501st were forced to hold strong the radar-communications facility which was now surrounded on all sides by Rebel soldiers.

Meanwhile, Imperial agents analyzing the data on the holodisk were shocked to discover it was a decoy. The 501st were left entirely corned in the radar area. For one of the first times, Imperial defeat seemed imminent. However, the 501st wasn't just the average Imperial legion...

Rebel charges were held off until uplink was complete. When 501st were contacted about the questioned legitimacy of the holodisk&mdash;now fighting for a lost cause and without further orders&mdash;their leaders commanded the men to fight on nevertheless. The tides turned miraculously and the 501st, in an astounding maneuver, broke free and scattered into the rest of the base with surprisingly few deaths.

While regrouping in different sections of the base, the 501st Legion was thankful to be at last given further intructions: they had to destroy a databank, in an area called the Cavern, through which Rebels were using to eavesdrop on the Empire's transmissions. Determined to stop this, the stormtroopers of the 501st fought their way deep into the base and detonated the databank, both sides of the battle now taking heavy, head-on casualties.

Secretly, exhausting stealth work by Bothan spies, on the Rebel side, had enabled them to beam the plans, once again, out of the Empire's grasp, substituting them with the copies on the holodisk.

However, if with no other objectives, the 501st Legion at least wanted to crush the Rebels of this base&mdash;who had humiliated their legendary reputation in an obvious ambush&mdash;and escape from the asteroid with their lives. In the end, both would occur.

Rebel and Imperial sides piloted the same AAC-1 hovertanks, resuting in some friendly fire, in the outside perimeters of the base until Rebels captured the central hangar. Always prepared, stormtroopers raided the hangar furiously, though, and it was firmly secured.

When fighting died down, 501st officers now realized how much they had really diminished the Rebel defenders. With just a few more firefights, the base had been eradicated of Rebels completely. The conquered strtonghold was not occupied for much longer, however, before the 501st shut it down and were shipped off on another mission to the Tatooine system. It was there that a rogue ambassador corvette, the Tantive IV of Alderaan, had been traced by the Empire-acquired holodisk and was suspected to be the location of the genuine plans. The Empire was not about to be fooled again. Darth Vader would be leading the next attack personally.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront II