Battle of Endor/Legends

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 making of this battle began when the Rebel Alliance learned that the Empire had begun construction of a second version of the Death Star space station, this time supervised by Moff Jerjerrod. The Alliance leadership realized that this version would likely have corrected the design flaws in the original Death Star that the Alliance exploited in the Battle of Yavin. It was decided that the station would have to be destroyed before it became operational.

With the sacrifice of the lives of many Bothan spies, 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 Rebel Alliance planned a two pronged attack. A commando squad led by Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker would land on the moon and disable the Imperial base's deflector shield projector which would allow a Rebel fleet to attack the station and destroy it.

Unbeknownst to them, the Rebels were falling into a grand trap devised by the Emperor. In an attempt to effectively eliminate the Rebel Fleet (the Imperial Navy had thus far failed to do so), Palpatine planned on drawing the fleet and command personnel to Endor using simple disinformation: he hid the fact that the station's primary systems were already operational (he had dispatched Darth Vader earlier to ensure 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 Stormtroopers standing by on the moon, 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 naval force. To make things worse, the Death Star's superlaser proved to be an irresistible anti-ship weapon, destroying Rebel capital ships at will. General Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar closed with the enemy fleet to buy time, but the situation was hopeless. The Rebellion had no idea that the station had the capacity to fire its main weapon system far more often and accurately than ever before.

The tide turned when, unknown to the Emperor, the Rebel commandos made an alliance with the indigenous Ewok tribe on the moon. The warriors ambushed the Imperial Stormtroopers soon after the Imperials captured the Rebel commandos. Although initially surprised by the cunning and ferocity of the Ewoks, the Imperials attempted to regain the upper hand when they brought their armoured AT-STs to bear. However, a squad of Ewoks led by Chewbacca managed to capture an AT-ST, which then quickly destroyed much of the remaining Imperial armour. In addition, the Ewoks were partially prepared for the fighting machines with a number of traps that successfully downed a number of them. With the Imperials in disarray, Han Solo posed as an AT-ST pilot, informing the commander of the bunker, Major Hewex, that the battle was over. Hewex then ordered three squads to help search for the rebels. The Rebels caught the forces by surprise and destroyed the bunker, which brought down the Death Star's deflector shield.

Taking advantage of the new situation, a small squadron of fighters and the Millennium Falcon dove into the incomplete Death Star's superstructure, leading them to the main reactor. Several TIE Fighters and Interceptors pursued the strike force in an attempt to prevent the attack. This drove some of the Rebel Fighters to pull back to the surface of the station in order to lure some Imperial fighters away, while others remain and pursued the other rebels. In the meantime, Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Imperial flagship, the Executor and while two A-wings destroyed the vessel's bridge deflector shield, Green Leader, after taking critical damage, guided his fighter into the bridge, killing the command staff, including Admiral Piett. The crippled ship went out of control and, falling into its gravity well, collided with the Death Star, causing massive structural damage as well as eliminating the senior fleet command. After the collision, several Imperial personnel realised that the battle was lost and some were able to evacuate the doomed battle station.

Meanwhile, the Emperor, who had been attempting to corrupt Luke Skywalker with the Dark Side of the Force, was killed by Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker when he, turning back from the Dark Side himself, rebelled against the Emperor. Unfortunately, that final act was one of self-sacrifice as Anakin, free from the evil curse that had consumed him throughout the Galactic Civil War, died in the arms of his son Luke before he could board his shuttle. As this was occurring, Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles approached the main reactor. Using concussion missiles and proton torpedoes, they caused a chain reaction which destroyed the space station. Luke was able to escape in Vader's shuttle just before the docking bay exploded, with Gold Leader narrowly making it out as well.

The Fleets
Imperial forces at Endor consisted of Death Squadron and an augmented Sector Group, totaling at least forty Imperator-class Star Destroyers, one Tector-class Star Destroyer, one Executor-class Star Dreadnought, and a large Star Cruiser of unknown class acting as the primary communications ship. There was extensive fighter support from the Imperial fleet and possibly also from the Death Star itself. This fighter support consisted of numerous wings of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors, along with TIE Bombers.

The main Alliance capital ships were Mon Calamari Star Cruisers. The large Home One was the flagship of the fleet. Other star cruisers included the Liberty and the Independence. Numerous frigates, corvettes and fireships were also in the Rebel fleet. Rebel fighter forces were split into at least four ad-hoc fighter wings (Red Squadron, Blue Squadron, Grey Squadron and Gold Squadron), with Gold Leader assigned to lead the penetration mission to destroy the second Death Star.

Summary

Imperial Fleet (Excluding DSII)
 * ~40 Imperator-class Star Destroyers (ISD-Is and ISD-IIs, 1,600 meters)
 * At least 1 Tector-class Star Destroyer (1,600 meters)
 * 1 Star Cruiser (communication ship, unknown class) (~6,000 meters)
 * 1 Executor-class Star Dreadnought (17,600+ meters)


 * At least 700 TIE Fighters (probably several thousand)
 * At least 150 TIE Interceptors (probably several thousand)
 * At least 150 TIE Bombers
 * At least 12 TIE Defenders

Death Star II


 * One planet-destroying superlaser (used against Mon Calamari Star Cruisers)
 * At least 30,000 Turbolasers on the surface
 * Thousands of ion cannons and tractor beams (Not seen)

Rebel Fleet


 * At least 3 Home One-class Star Cruisers (3,800 meters)
 * at least 22 Mon Calamari Star Cruisers (various classes, ~1500 meters)
 * At least 10 Nebulon-B-class Star Frigates (300 meters)
 * ~100 Corvettes (~150 meters)
 * ~100 Medium Transports (90 meters)
 * At least one Bulk Cruiser
 * At least one Dreadnaught-class Star Frigate
 * At least one Corellian Gunship
 * At least one Quasar-Fire-class bulk cruiser/starfighter carrier
 * At least one Assault Frigate
 * At least one Action VI Transport


 * At least 500 Rebel starfighters (various types)

Expanded Universe
More details of the battle were revealed in Expanded Universe literature. It was revealed that Grand Admiral Teshik had escaped the destruction of the Death Star. After the destruction of Executor, command should have properly passed from Admiral Piett to him. Gilad Pellaeon, senior surviving officer of 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 was widely followed. 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.

The Fleet regrouped and engaged in repair work 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.

Teshik did not retreat with the rest of the Imperial squadron and fought on for several more hours until his flagship, Eleemosynary, was captured. He was later executed for war crimes by Rebel authorities.

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.

As for Rebel losses, they were quite severe. One-fifth of the Alliance fleet was destroyed, along with at least 2 Mon Calamari Cruisers and some 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.

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. However, it was an extremely weak government and its rule was quite ineffective. It would collapse during the events of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

Imperials

 * Councillor Sim Aloo
 * Councillor Kren Blista-Vanee
 * Captain Brandei
 * Grand Admiral Nial Declann
 * Captain Dorja
 * Councillor Janus Greejatus
 * Harrsk
 * IG-88A
 * Moff Jerjerrod
 * Jhoff
 * Emperor Palpatine
 * Captain Gilad Pellaeon
 * Admiral Firmus Piett
 * Admiral Prittick
 * Major Rhymer
 * Commander Sitchei
 * 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
 * Kin Kian
 * Derek Klivian
 * General Crix Madine
 * Captain Tessa Manchisco
 * Corporal Midge
 * Chief of State Mon Mothma
 * Karie Neth
 * Nien Nunb
 * Ten Nunb
 * Princess Leia Organa
 * Lieutenant Judder Page
 * Paploo
 * R2-D2
 * Lieutenant 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 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi