With the Rebel Alliance attempting to find the location of the Death Star, Alliance Intelligence discovered that Imperial ships were using the base near Kalla VII for supplies and repairs on their way to the Death Star. General Jan Dodonna proposed to destroy the Imperial base to strand any passing ships heading for the battlestation, leaving them open to capture.
The plan involved three stages; destroying the base itself, conducting a raid to remove the escorts of the target ship and leave it defenseless and disabling and capturing the ship itself.
A group of starfighters was assembled for the first stage of the battle, with Keyan Farlander leading three X-wings from Red Squadron to destroy the base.
The mission was successful as the Rebels destroyed all supply containers, the defensive minefield and two BFF-1 bulk freighters from Diputs group. As the Rebels were preparing to leave, the Imperial EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Priam came out of hyperspace, killing Breth Gart in a freak collision when his fighter hit the ship.
With the Priam now stranded the Rebels prepared to move against it. In order to protect the stranded vessel, the Empire moved quickly to dispatch three CR90 corvettes from Dar Es group to protect it and also deployed a minefield around the ship. A Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transport was also dispatched to deliver supplies and personnel. The Rebels, meanwhile, prepared an assault to remove these defenses. Two R-22 Spearheads from Blue Squadron were to engage the Priam's TIE fighters while two Y-wings from Red Squadron, again led by Farlander, were to destroy the corvettes with their proton torpedoes.
All three corvettes were quickly destroyed, as was the incoming transport and the Rebels withdrew leaving only the minefield and a handful of TIEs to defend the Priam. One R-22 was lost during the battle but a subsequent rescue operation retrieved the pilot who had been able to eject.
With the escort destroyed, General Dodonna gave the order for Alliance Special Forces to conduct a "board and capture" operation against the Priam. The Rebels sent a complete squadron of Y-Wings from Gold Squadron to disable the Priam, attacking in two groups of six. Keyan Farlander, having just returned to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence from the previous mission, immediately launched to support the operation, flying the only craft available, an R-22 Spearhead.
Farlander moved quickly to destroy the few remaining TIE/LN starfighters before they could pose a threat to the Y-wings and then proceeded to destroy the minefield while the Y-wings used their ion cannons to disable the Priam. The Priam made one last attempt to fight back, launching two TIE/sa bombers but they too were quickly destroyed.
After losing many Y-Wings, the Priam was finally disabled. The Y-wings withdrew while the Special Forces team moved in with transports from Assault group carrying commandos to board the frigate. Once captured, Lambda-class shuttles from Panda group delivered the new crew for the ship while transport group Jordi delivered supplies. Once all the transports were aboard, the Rebel forces, along with the newly captured frigate, jumped to hyperspace.
Despite Farlander having not been scheduled to fly in the final part of the battle, Commander Lagrane acknowledged during his debriefing that his actions had helped keep Rebel losses lower than expected.
Examining the frigate's database, the Alliance learned that the Death Star was located above Despayre. Corvette group Ethar was dispatched to the Horuz system to investigate.
- X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide
- X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM: The Official Strategy Guide
- Star Wars Encyclopedia