The death of the Emperor

The time of truth arrived, and the Alliance had to face its hardest and most crucial moment: the battle of Endor. The Bothan spies had discovered the location of the Emperor's second Death Star, still unfinished, and the most important data: Palpatine himself was on board, supervising the last stages of construction. Nobody suspected then that  obtaining this information had been possible only at the Emperor's will, and that the Rebel Fleet was heading directly to a deadly trap. What unfolded then is now part of the History as well, but there is another history, with no capital letters, which deserves to be known, and it's that of those who fought in that battle and helped, in most of cases with their lives, to win the biggest victories of all. One of the survivors, a pilot named Rolan Kazanna, who visited the Joan d’Arc shortly after those events, told his particular vision about that day. His tale, The battle of Endor, can also be found in our Reading Room.

White Squadron did not fight at Endor, but they didn't have an easier job. While the main of the Rebel Fleet challenged the Death Star, the rest of the ships and squadrons waited around Mon Calamari, presumed first target for the Death Star if the attack against the battle station failed. In that case, the analysts had calculated they had an standard month, six or seven weeks at best, before the Empire's greatest instrument of terror arrived, escorted by the best of the Fleet. As many other alien races, Calamarian had been often kidnapped and forced to work as slaves for the Empire. They had never presented any resistance, until they secretly started to provide the Alliance with ships and expert crews. The Empire would never tolerate and even less forgive the Calamarian support to the Rebel Alliance, but this time, with the help of their allies, they were going to defend themselves. The tension could be read in the silent comms, everybody waiting for news about what was happening at Endor. And then, something unexpected happened.

When Grand Admiral Thrawn's task force, sent by the Emperor to finish with the renegade Admiral Zaarin, returned victorious, they divided into two groups. The Star Destroyers belonging to Darth Vader's Death Squadron went to Endor, where they would meet the Executor and other ships to close the Emperor's carefully planned trap. The second group, under Thrawn's command, was ordered to jump to a certain rendezvous point, and to wait there for the arrival of  the Death Star and Death Squadron. The Emperor was aware that part of the Rebel Fleet was near Mon Calamari, and had planned to finish them off immediately after doing the same with the main force, not waiting for the completion of his instrument. But he never reached that point. When Thrawn learned about the Death Star's destruction, even before the battle was over (by a transmission from his loyal Captain Paelleon, who was on Endor commanding Thrawn's flagship, the Chimaera), and the presumed deaths of the Emperor and Lord Vader, he decided to accomplish the rest of his orders with his own resources. His six Imperial Class Star Destroyers should be more than enough to bet the Rebel defenses. He calculated that the fleet that had attacked the Death Star must have suffered terrible casualties, so if he was able to destroy what the Rebels had left at Mon Calamari, it would be easy to finish with the Alliance after all, but there would not be an Emperor nor a Lord of Sith to claim the victory.

Thrawn's Destroyers, jamming and interfering the long range communications to prevent the Rebels from receiving any news from Endor, entered the system from four different points, maneuvering against the Calamarian shipyards and the orbital defenses, while his TIE squadrons hunted the Rebel fleet. The battle was short but terribly violent, and finished when,  after losing one of his Destroyers, Thrawn ordered his ships to retreat, not before causing significant damage. White Squadron was there, and the courage shown by its pilots was not one of the lesser reasons for the Grand Admiral to give away his immediate plans.
 
 

[From Wolfshead Sq. IntO's records] 

It was not easy. We had been waiting there for almost two days, sleeping, if you can call that sleep, in our fighters, waiting for news that never came, and wondering when the Empire would show up. When the alarms sounded, we felt almost relieved. There were two Star Destroyers. That was not the force we were waiting for, but White Squadron, among other units, received the order to intercept them. If those Destroyers were allowed to continue in that route, they would have the main shipyard at range in a few minutes. Nevertheless, we did not foul up. It had to be a trap, a distraction, and the few capital ships we had available, an still unfinished Calamari Cruiser and some Frigates, took positions around the perimeter. Our sensors detected two more Destroyers dropping out from hyperspace, exactly from the opposite side. More fighters were launched from our side, but there was not a single TIE on the space, only the Destroyers. We attacked the first pair, fully aware that, without the support of capital ships, the only tactic that would work was destroying their shield generators first. But the gunners from both ships covered each other's weak spots, with a coordination that could only be obtained after intense training. Undoubtedly, Thrawn had learned the lesson from previous Imperial engagements with Rebel starfighters and made his people work on it: we had not the slightest chance to get close to the twin domes containing their shield generators. Our proton torpedoes exploded meters away from their hulls, unable to penetrate their particle field shields, reducing their effectiveness with every new blast, of course, but not fast enough for us. And those gunners were damn good. After the second pass on the Destroyers our own shields, if any, were in the red zone and we had started to suffer casualties. Only then they launched their TIE squadrons. We had lost our advantage and the Imperial pilots knew it. They swarmed around us while the Destroyers kept closing on the shipyards, our main ships unable to stop them. In that precise moment, when we all had our hands full, two more Destroyers appeared perpendicularly to the ecliptic, one from every pole, launching flight after flight of Bombers, with nothing between them and the planetary defenses. With all the tactics we had studied, all the simulations, the war games, and all the combats we had survived to, I had never seen anything so precise, every movement so incredibly exact and calculated, the timing perfect, the results accurate and deadly. Grand Admiral Thrawn was worth his reputation.

But we were tough people, the Calamarian were tough people, and we resisted. We lost a Frigate, two, the Calamari Cruiser was fatally hit in its unfinished middle section and broke in two parts, exploding in a million of fragments a second later. Pilots and crewmen cried out, new losses were reported every moment, but we resisted. We could not save all the shipyards nor all the orbital stations, but we could for sure make the Imperials hurt before falling. We were ordered to retreat and concentrate on the last two Destroyers appearing, the closest ones to the planet. Captain Orris used the cover offered by the shipyards defenses, before they all were destroyed, and put the Joan d’Arc below one of the Destroyers, the Rancor Claw, closely followed by a second Frigate, like a pair of Mynocks trying to bite a Bantha. He called us back and someone exclaimed "why not?" Soon all of us were hunting that same Destroyer, while Thrawn's Interceptors hunted us. I was hit and had to eject, but not before seeing the fire coming out from the Rancor Claw's main bay. Its lights went down and its batteries ceased firing. Immediately every Rebel cannon, less of them every time but still numerous, turned to aim at the other one. And them they flew away. The TIEs returned to their motherships and abandoned the fight. We had no ships to pursue them; we had lost more than a half of our fleet along with the Calamarian vessel, many shipyards were on fire, as well as an important amount of the orbital platforms, but they still retired. Somehow we had won.

I learned about Endor inside of a bacta tank, while healing a couple of bad looking burns. Vyper had to shout for me to hear, and laughed when I tried to shout back, only to let escape a lot of bubbles from the breathing mask.

I had plenty of time to think in the tank. I wondered why Thrawn had ordered his ships to retreat from Mon Calamari, when it was obvious he was going to win, even if he had to suffer some serious losses in his fleet first. And then I understood. The Emperor was dead. Vader was dead. He would need that fleet if he was going to fight for the absolute power over the galaxy. Now Thrawn has disappeared, supposedly obeying the Emperor's orders, taking with him his Destroyers along with some of the survivors from Endor. He will be back some day, I'm sure of this. He was able to predict what was going to happen with the Empire, the internal fights for the throne, the civilian wars in a hundred of Imperial controlled systems, the revolts, and he preferred to stay far away from all that, to keep his strength intact for the time to come. He will return some day, when things are settled down, and I hope the New Republic will be ready to deal with him…

The New Republic

Those were days of confusion. While the Rebel Alliance dissolved itself and the New Republic was born, its armed forces had more work than ever before. Only then the Rebels understood that they had only faced a minor part of the Empire's strength: most of its vast resources were needed to keep in order thousands of systems, therefore the Emperor could never afford the luxury of dedicate all his power to finish with a Rebel Alliance which, on the other side, he never considered as a major threat. Now Moffs, Generals, Grand Admirals, and the Emperor's closest advisors were fighting for the right to inherit ate his throne, while many others decided to defect from the disintegrating Empire to declare themselves warlords and took the control of local systems. The New Republic Intelligence spent months trying to figure out what was really happening beyond the space controlled by the former Alliance. It took them even more to discover the name of those who, almost unnoticed by the several contending factions, were successfully maneuvering to take the effective control of the Empire: Ysanne Isard, director of the Imperial Intelligence, who had not hesitated to betray her own father, her predecessor in that position, to obtain the Emperor's favor. Her father was executed, and she started to be known as Ice Heart (obviously never in her presence).
 

White Squadron found no rest after the battle of Mon Calamari. They had lost several pilots, and the Joan d’Arc had barely received all the repairs which were badly needed too keep her afloat. The first menace they had to confront after covering their losses was one of Palpatine's last evil projects, something known like the Emperor's voice. To make things worse, Grand Admiral Thrawn, before leaving, had personally given instructions for the destruction of White Squadron and the Joan d’Arc, probably considering them among the main responsible for his partial failure at Mon Calamari.  That all leaded to a dangerous situation, which details can be found in the POV Call to Silence.
 

That was the last mission White Squadron flew with Shok'wave in command. When the pilots were celebrating their return, New Republic officers arrived to the Joan d'Arc searching fro White commander. Some of the veterans remembered when she had been falsely accused of treason, and wondered if someone had opened the can of worms again, but the worst presentiments were not confirmed. She had been called to be offered an administrative task at the Starfighter Command, and surprisingly, she accepted. White Squadron affronted the next assignments with Foxfire as temporary commander, and Vyper as executive officer. New pilots kept coming, transferred from other units or directly recruited wherever they could be found. Sparks and Solo arrived in time to flight in the last and more dramatic of these missions, the hunt of Admiral Garil.

One of the most respected officers of the New Republic Navy seemed to have lost his senses during a high risk mission behind the Imperial lines, and started a campaign of terror attacking everything between the external frontiers and Coruscant. Military or civilian did not mean a difference for his apparently indiscriminate raids. White Squadron was sent after him, to convince him to surrender and to return peacefully, or to destroy his task force if he did not collaborate. That was one of the more dramatic missions most of White pilots, now Wolfshead, can remember. What happened then, in the middle of the Imperial controlled space, was related in the POV The Price.
 

The end - and a new start ...
 

After returning, things changed unexpectedly. The definitive command of White Squadron was about to be offered to Foxfire, but Shok'wave, from her seat at Starfighter Command, did not allow it to happen. She emphasized  that she had never resigned from her position as White commander, just given it away temporarily, while she had a different job to do. There was a clause in the Alliance's regulations, still valid, which gave commanders the privilege to keep the command of their units, unless they were officially relieved from it. Nobody could nor wanted to force Shok'wave to reconsider her decision. Why she acted that way, is something we can only speculate about. Only she knows for sure. The fact was that in this moment a new squadron was about to be created, intended as a fast intervention force, prepared to assist wherever it was needed inside the frontiers of the New Republic. White pilots were offered to be transferred to the new squad, and most of them accepted. The option was to stay in a squadron without a permanent commander, and probably destined to disappearance sooner or later. The new squadron received the name Wolfshead, and Foxfire was promoted to its command. (More information about Wolfshead Squadron's creation in the Bridge section).

Wolfshead Squadron

A brand new Nebulon-B Frigate was assigned to host the new fighter unit. Its name was Wolf's Den. The old, battered and unforgettable Joan d’Arc could receive - at last - the rest it needed. It? The rest she needed. Captain Orris and his crew accompanied her in her last trip (details can be found in the POV Bye, bye, Joan d’Arc), before being assigned to new ships. The last we learnt about the Joan d’Arc was that she had left the dry dock and been temporarily assigned to the New Republic's Naval Academy as a teaching ship. Not a bad destination for such a vessel.

Wolfshead Squadron started to receive new missions as soon as their fighters were on board. Patrolling the frontiers with the Empire or with warlords’ controlled space, defending the New Republic against their constant raids, jumping to those places where local disputes threatened to break the peace so hardly gained, escorting diplomatic delegations to or from new candidate systems to join the New Republic… or just fighting their way out of the messes they put themselves in (see POV Sympathy for the Darth).

New pilots were accepted in Wolfshead's ranks, like Rooster (who usually is in charge of the search&rescue operations), Cardinal and Sacart (check the Ready Room and POVs Rooster's Tale and Sacart's Story). They were badly needed, as the squadron's new functions demanded more of it than what a single starfighter unit can usually accomplish. One of the best remembered campaigns of the squadron finished with the destruction of an Imperial controlled Sienar Systems facility, in the borders of New Republic space, ready to produce TIE Advanced starfighters in important quantities (TOD missions for X-Wing simulator available in the databanks section).  

Not as well known by the public, but probably one of the most dramatic actions ever assigned to the New Republic Starfighter Command, started when several pilots from Blue Squadron were mysteriously hijacked, and Wolfshead Squadron was sent to help Blue to find and rescue them. This led to the discovery of an Imperial conspiracy to capture a Calamari Cruiser intact, the Stjimsenka'at, with the still unexplained collaboration of her captain. At the end Blue and Wolfshead people had to face the most terrible order a pilot can receive: to open fire against a friendly ship to prevent it from falling in enemy hands (learn more about these events and fly the TOD missions in Blue&Wolfshead TOD page).

In these times, it was frequent that part of the squad was dispatched to special missions, while the rest of the unit traveled to a different place. That was almost a relief: A single Nebulon-B Frigate was not enough to host that many fighters: when the Wolf's Den was loaded with its complete fighter complement, no less than six crafts had to keep permanently in flight or docked externally to the hull, along its middle section. Unknown to everybody, with the only exception of Captain Gen'yaa and the Chief Engineer Boradelis (who knew it from her own sources), a new ship was about to be designated to serve as Wolfshead's mothership: the first prototype of the Mon Calamari Strike Carrier. Designed to contain two regular starfighter squadrons, several utility ships, like light transports and shuttles, and provided for its self-defense with a weaponry similar to that installed on Lancer or Nebulon-B Frigates, only slightly less fast, and almost as maneuverable, it was the perfect ship for an unit like Wolfshead's Squadron.

That project had begun months before the battle of Mon Calamari, and only luck made that the shipyards where they were working on it was one of those that were not hit by Thrawn's Destroyers. That was precisely the shipyard where the Joan d’Arc and White Squadron's remaining fighters were hosted while they were repaired, and some of the pilots were brought back to health and active service. Some of the engineers who were designing and constructing the Strike Carrier got to make friends among White pilots and the d'Arc's crew. When they learned who would be the first squadron based on one of their ships (the fact that most of White pilots had been transferred to Wolfshead was not a secret), they even made last hour modifications on the basic design, including, for example, a compartment that was not included in the schemes nor in the on board maps, intended to become the pilots' private and secret lounge, a Bomb Shelter, like the one they had visited (without their managers’ knowledge) on the Joan d’Arc. The only thing that they didn't like that much was learning that her captain was going to be a Bothan, instead of a Calamarian…

What made them accelerate the plans and put the Wolf's Lair into service two months ahead of scheduled was the destruction of the Wolf's Den during the battle of Iberya, Ibero's home planet, shortly after the arrival of Parody and Groznik to the unit.

Since he reached the Intelligence Officer position, first in White Squadron, and later in Wolfshead, Ibero had dedicated most of his spare time to analyze every single piece of information available about the situation in his planet, trying to figure it out how the New Republic could liberate it. Part of these data had been provided by the source known as agent Luna, who was not other than Ibero's wife. She leaded one of the Resistance cells, sabotaging Imperial interests and gathering information for the New Republic's Intelligence. Ibero's private activities had become an obsession when he learnt that her wife was pregnant. Seven months before, shortly after Endor and Mon Calamari, the days when Wolfshead Squadron was created, he distracted a shuttle during the transfer to Wolf's Den and used his knowledge of Rebel Intelligence's contacts to deceive the Imperial blockade and to land on Iberya. He was able to spend three days, only three days, with his wife Marife, mostly known as Luna, although they were worth the effort and the risks he took to get there. Only Vyper's and Arachnoids help, covering his absence, and Foxfire's understanding (she looked the other way and preferred not to know) saved him from possible consequences (nothing like a court-martial, in any case. To make use of those contacts, he had accepted to act as General Madine's private courier, but that is another story).

Now one of the bits of information obtained by agent Luna suggested that Iberyan navy officers, recruited under menaces by the Empire after taking the planet, and loyal ever since (fully aware that their families were permanent hostages), were planning their defection and mutiny. That was the fruit of desperation, because they had almost no hope to succeed. Scattered as they were along separate ships and units, they would never be able to take the control of even a single ship. Until Ibero came up with an idea to help them, and help Iberya to set free from the Imperial dominance. He had to use all his persuasion to convince Generals Madine and Cracken, commanding the New Republic's Intelligence, of his plan, but when they accepted it as a viable one, the strategic position of Iberya, door to the best route to Sesswena sector, was enough to make the Inner Council to approve and dedicate the resources they were going to need.

The rumor was spread that the New Republic was going to attempt  to liberate Iberya (one of the ways to create and propagate such a rumor was precisely an interview with Lt. Ibero, published in the Helm&Rudder Gazette, the fleet internal magazine, which, of course, was also received by the Imperial Intelligence), and that was requested when all the information available about the location of the several Imperial fleets suggested that those ships carrying a largest number of Iberyan would be among those theoretically sent to defend the planet. The idea was to set the conditions for the Iberyan officers mutiny to succeed, and use that moment to actually attack the Imperial occupation forces.  Weeks before the planned assault, a New Republic special team was sent to prepare the ground for the final stages of the operation. Its components were chosen from Lynx commandos, along with the three pilots from Wolfshead who knew the Iberyan language: Ibero, Arachnoid and Foxfire, although this last would not deceive a local.
 
 

[From Wolfshead Sq. IntO's records] 

We were infiltrated separately, with the help of the Resistance. Their hackers had sliced into the Imperial planet-based network long time before (many of them had helped to construct and maintain that network before the arrival of the Imperial troops, like it was my own case), but had almost not used that advantage to avoid being detected, waiting for a good opportunity. Like this one. We sent false instructions for transfers of crewmen from certain ships to others, camouflaged between completely legitimate orders, and managed to concentrate a significant number of Iberyan on just two ships, the Imperial Class Star Destroyers Black Storm and Formidable. When the New Republic fleet exited from hyperspace, they would have their chance to act, as they did. They rapidly took the control of the Black Storm, and although they failed on the Formidable, the mutineers managed to incapacitate it before being killed by the security detachment. When the Imperial fleet was maneuvering to intercept the New Republic ships, the Black Storm opened fire against the closest Destroyers, breaking havoc between their defensive line. The few Iberyan fighter pilots also abandoned their formations, announcing their intention on a New republic frequency. On board Home One, the bridge communications officer marked every new ship defecting as friendly and transmitted that data to the rest of ships’ computers, so their sensors would identify them as allies in the fierce combat that started. It was the biggest space battle since Endor, but the initial advantage was well used by our side. Meanwhile, on the planet, Lynx commandos and the Resistance captured several vital Imperial installations, their garrisons caught off guard in the first moments of the fight. Arachnoid and Foxfire were even able to join the battle taking place over our heads after stealing a pair of TIE Fighters, while I helped my wife’s group to disable the planetary defenses, allowing our troops to descend and land safely (we had to deal with a platoon of stormtroopers first, and, how else, my wife chose the worst of the fight to start with contractions).

Finally, the Imperials were forced to abandon the system (we kicked them out of it) and Iberya was free again. This time, the price we had to pay for this victory was the death or capture of many of the Iberyan officers, crewmen and pilots that mutinied, not only then and there, but on every Imperial ship or garrison all throughout the galaxy within the next days, when the Empire decided (not without reason) that no Iberyan was trustworthy. Some few succeeded, though, like those on board the Black Storm, the captured Star Destroyer, which was not destroyed during the battle (as it happened unfortunately with the Formidable), although it resulted damaged beyond repair. Other ships were lost that day, and among them, the Wolf's Den, fatally hit during the struggle and finally evacuated. The last abandoning her were captain Gen'yaa and her bridge officers, saved in the last moment by our squad-mate Rooster and her shuttle Compassion. Nevertheless, the Wolf's Den had scored two victories on enemy capital ships before falling, and Gen'yaa would get another medal for her collection. Wolfshead Squadron had an important role in the battle, and several of its pilots received official commendations (none of them saw a rise in their salaries, though). All of them enjoyed a forced, but well deserved leave on my planet.

Half an hour after the last Imperial ship left Iberya system, and approximately at the same time when the Provisional Iberyan Government was instituted and took its first decision, to send an official request to join the New Republic, my wife gave birth to our precious daughter, Lucia. Wolf's Den's doctor, Ben Al Saruff, assisted them. In a single day, I had recovered my planet, my wife, and had seen my daughter born. As dramatic as most of it was, I remember that day as the happiest in my whole life.
 

Wolfshead Squadron and the Wolf's Den's crew were picked up at Iberya two weeks later by the first Mon Calamari Strike Carrier, the Wolf's Lair, its hull still fresh painted, and the engineers and mechanics hurrying to put every system into service. The transfers of some new pilots to complete the roster (Hawk, Gandalf, and Raiven) were immediately approved. They inaugurated the new Bomb Shelter (more space, less light) inviting the veterans (along with Ibero, who spared a month salary before considering he had celebrated conveniently his paternity) and, how else, telling their stories (check the Ready Room and POV Raiven's Flight).