Second ambush in the Graveyard

The Battle of The Graveyard was the result of an ambush mounted by Ysanne Isard against the Rogue Squadron during the Bacta War.

Background
After the successfull strike at Qretu 5, Rogue Squadron launched a hit-and-fade campaign against the Thyferrans bacta shipments. In each attack, the Rogues showed up only for the time needed to force the Star Destroyers to scramble their fighters, launch some proton torpedoes to take out a few TIEs and the scatter.

As this tactic was costing the Bacta cartel in both credits and prestige, Ysanne Isard attempted to mount an ambush against the Rogues. Thanks to Fliry Vorru, Isard was able to locate the rendez-vous point in the Alderaan system where the Rogues were to receive from Talon Karrde's group a big shipment of munitions and spare parts. An Interdictor cruiser leased by High Admiral Teradoc would assure that the Rogues could not be able to escape from the battle zone.

The battle
The Graveyard was the place choosen for the rendez-vous between the twelve freighters led by Pulsar Skate and escorted by Rogue Squadron and its allies and Karrde's half-dozen ships led by Queleve Tapper on the Starry Ice.

As the two groups were beginning the transfer operation, the Interdictor cruiser Aggregator and the Victory II-class Star Destroyer Corrupter left their concealed position. The Corrupter positioned itself between the Interdictor and the Rebel snubfighters, begun to launch its starfighters and opened fire against the freighters.

Wedge Antilles led the first run against the Corrupter. The proton torpedoes volley collapsed the ship's port shield and some of the torpedoes hit the destroyer's hull, blasting apart armor plates and crushing turbolaser batteries. To protect ist unshielded flank, the ship rotated on itself to present the starbord shields to the attackers. While Tycho Celchu was nearing to order the launch the second volley, an unidentified ship similar in size to a Carrack-class cruiser ranged up from The Graveyard and opened fire against the unshielded flank of the Corrupter. Then the second proton torpedoes volley arrived adding up its damage to the doomed ship.

The unidentified ship then attacked the Aggregator's starbord shield, while the Rogues launched proton torpedoes against its port shield. With its shield beginning to collpase in several points, the Aggregator jumped away without waiting to pick up the surviving TIE fighters and the escape pods launched from the Corrupter.

Aftermath
After the battle, Tycho Celchu reported to Commander Antilles that the misterious ship was the Valiant, an automated Thranta-class War Cruiser originally slaved to the Alderaanian War Frigate Another Chance as one of its escort ships. Having lost contact with Another Chance, the Valiant had returned to The Graveyard and was waiting for the return of its flagship. As the IFF of Captain Celchu was trasmitting using an old Alderaanian code and its fighter was broadcasting tactical targeting data, the Valiant had picked them and joined the fight.

Appearances

 * X-wing: The Bacta War