Battle of Nocto

The Battle of Nocto marked the final engagement of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire's Task Force Vengeance. It was the last-ditch attempt of Admiral Senn to destroy the Alliance shipyard in the system with the meager remainders of his task force.

The Battle
Having raided and worn down Senn's Task Force Vengeance during the past few weeks, the Alliance did not expect the Admiral to know where shipyard Calenz was located.

It came as a big surprise to the Alliance crew when the Super Star Destroyer Vengeance, flanked by the Imperial Star Destroyer Rage dropped out of hyperspace; Due to a miscalculation on Senn's part (or not knowing the exact location of the facility) both capital ships dropped out of hyperspace well beyond their weapons range, which bought the Rebels crucial time to scramble both Rogue and Green squadrons.

Only minutes after the starfighter launch the ISD Rage corrected the tactical mishap by performing a microjump, effectively ending up on the opposite side of the facility and forcing the Rebel starfighter squadrons to split up, if they were to defend the facility.

Mon Calamari Cruiser Liberty soon reacted to the distress signal of the shipyard and reached the system soon enough to position itself between Vengeance and the shipyard; However, Rogue and Green squadrons were effectively tied up by the Imperial fighter defenses, and a few Imperial bombers managed to unleash their payload upon the shipyard; Simultaneously the Super Star Destroyer launched a squadron of Assault Transports, loaded with heavy rockets intended to destroy the Mon Calamari warship.

Against great odds, Green squadron managed to knock out Vengeance's shields, at which point an Airam corvette, loaded to the fullest with space bombs, dropped out of hyperspace with the intention of ramming the Vengeance's bridge&mdash;a task in which it succeeded, despite all the Star Destroyer's gunners, killing Admiral Senn on bridge and heavily damaging the vessel, leaving only a small amount of armor to break through for Green squadron.

On the other side of the battle, the ISD Rage closed on the Alliance shipyard, and despite firing on it and accompanied by heavy TIE Bomber attacks, Rogue squadron managed to intercept the bombers and ultimately destroy Rage.

Aftermath
The complete annihilation of Task Force Vengeance's remainders was a significant blow to the Galactic Empire, as it had lost at least twenty-five capital ships over the weeks, including their starfighter complements and the reinforcement fleet sent to assist Senn.

The remoteness of the Airam Sector meant that the Empire was not likely to send another expedition force of significant size to pacify it, thus ensuring both the independence of the people and a safe haven for the Rebel Alliance, where they could regroup and rebuild their strength&mdash;with a fully operational shipyard in their hands, the Alliance now had the means to construct their own medium-sized starships, and conduct repairs and refits independent of the goodwill of other resistance organizations.

Behind the scenes
This article describes the Rebel Alliance mission variant of the Battle of Nocto. The Imperial version lacked the Star Destroyer Rage, and had significantly stronger Rebel forces present at the battle (including three suicide Dreadnaughts and Y-wings as well as the Modified Strike Cruiser Peregrine.

Appearances

 * X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power