Operation Yellow Moon

After the Bothan spynet provided obtained information to Alliance High Command regarding a new and improved Death Star under construction over the remote Outer Rim world of Endor, an emergency summit was convened on the remote trade world of Zastiga, where General Leia Organa, Chancellor Mon Mothma, Admiral Gial Ackbar and numerous other commanders discussed how best to destroy the Emperor's new weapon, knowing that their failure to do so would result in the very destruction of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

A select few leaders—Mothma, Ackbar, and General Hera Syndulla—had already learned of the battle station's existence from rebel pilot Luke Skywalker, who had rescued Crimson Dawn agents Jon Melton and Bevelyn and learned of the new Death Star's existence from them. Needing time to assemble the Alliance Fleet, which was scattered after the Battle of Hoth in an effort to deny the Empire another major propaganda victory, Organa devised a strategy to divert Imperial attention to the Corva sector, where she would place hyper-transceivers and attract Imperial attention to her, and not at the fleet's gathering over Sullust. The Alliance had previously launched a plan to reassemble the fleet in Operation Starlight, but Mothma and other rebel leaders had ultimately decided to keep the fleet separated to keep their forces safe. The plan to stop Death Star II, however, called for the fleet to finally reassemble.

Organa's plan was disguised as a recruiting run. Many began to voice protest over knowingly misleading potential recruits to their possible deaths over Galaan, as the Alliance would use codes it knew the Empire had cracked in order to capture its attention. With knowledge that the Empire planned to blockade the rebellious worlds of Mon Cala and Chandrila following the station's construction, upon which it would annihilate them just as its predecessor had destroyed Alderaan, Mon Mothma green lit the mission shortly afterwards, seeking to save countless more lives than those that would be lost.

Being piloted by ex-smuggler Nien Nunb in his starship, the Mellcrawler, Leia and her new team composed of ex-Imperial Survey Corps signals analyst Kidi Aleri, Dressellian commando Lokmarcha and tech specialist Antrot made their way to the planet Basteel where they would meet up with ex-rebellion contact Bon Yoth to place the first transceiver. A frigid and rocky, inhospitable world, the team landed in its capital, Eladro City, where they were aided, albeit reluctantly, by Bon Yoth at his house. With the city being underground, numerous smuggling tunnels were carved in the rock in which Bon Yoth told them they could set up their hyper-transceiver. Climbing up through his chimney, the team successfully placed the first transceiver in a dark passageway, where they then climbed to the surface, almost killed after native bugs attempted to kill them after climbing out of the walls. The pickup would not go as smoothly, with Imperial TIE fighters already in the sky and forcing Nien Nunb to remain grounded as stormtroopers began checking every ships registration and captain's license. Nevertheless, Nien was able to slip through the inspection owing to forged documents, picking up Leia and the others before they succumbed to hypothermia.

Only hours after escaping Basteel, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Shieldmaiden led by the formidable Captain Khione arrived in the system, punishing the world and its inhabitants by rounding up civilians and driving them in binders onto waiting shuttles. With Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service General Airen Cracken having already planted rumors of the operation into communications networks, the Imperials were already taking the bait. Despite the moral weight of the mission, of which Major Lokmarcha and Leia only knew the true purpose, the team continued onto the ocean resort and Imperial pharmaceutical research world of Sesid. After contacting Sesid Traffic Control and landing in a tourist town near the island of Thrinaka, the outfit donned civilian clothes, bought a repulsorcraft boat and headed towards nearby a volcanic island in order to meet their local resistance contact and place the transceiver. The contact failed to arrive, and after successfully placing the beacon, the team headed back towards the city before being contacted by Nunb, who informed them of the Imperials having locked down the port and the Shieldmaiden having arrived in orbit. Before they could make their escape, several Imperial stormtroopers on waveskimmers and an Imperial amphibious transport them across the tropical sea, exchanging blaster fire along the way. With their boat severely damaged, the group was suddenly rescued by their late resistance contacts, Aurelant and his submersible vessel the Daggadol. After formalities, the captain agreed to help them escape the system by launching them into space on one of the many escape pods on the planet, being placed there for speedy civilian evacuation in case of a volcanic eruption. Launching them and several hundred others, the Imperials were overwhelmed and distracted long enough for Nunb to make his escape.

The next day, reports of the Empire's reprisals against the civilian population had reached the team. Utilizing TIE/sa bombers and rounding up citizens onto waiting transports, the captain threatened to punish the entire planet if the whereabouts of Leia's crew were not revealed. Arriving at the farming communities of Jaresh and touching down outside of Jowloon, the team met up with their local contact Nyessa in the village's general store, where she announced her communities intention to rise up against the Empire who had recently occupied the planet, believing that the rebels had come to help them in their revolution. After providing Leia and her team with native urdas to ride on to a nearby communication's tower, the team successfully placed the third and last hyper-transceiver, before Leia, now morally conflicted over the purpose of the mission and knowledge of the villager's inevitable deaths in their attempt to fight the Empire, convened the entire team to inform them of the true nature of their enterprise. Resolved to do right, the team agreed to help Nyessa and the natives in a against a small Imperial contingent on the planet, freeing their livestock in the process. Blasting off into orbit, the team ran into the Shieldmaiden who attempted to hail them and ordered for their immediate surrender. Refusing, Nien Nunb skillfully escaped the Shieldmaiden's tractor beams by diving under a nearby freighter, causing the Star Destroyer to capture it instead of the Mellcrawler.

In hyperspace, Leia, conflicted by knowingly leading potential recruits to their possible deaths over the gas giant Galaan through the hyper-transceivers they had placed, decided to arrive in the system and warn the newcomers to flee. Arriving an hour before the arranged rendezvous, the crew planned on sending a tightbeam transmission from ship to ship, giving them a means to listen to her encrypted broadcast upon which they could be warned of the true nature of the mission. With more than a dozen ships arriving, Leia managed to warn them of a possible Imperial arrival, allowing the ships to successfully flee, but not before the Shieldmaiden could capture Leia's ship, and begin interrogations on her and her crew. With Major Lokmarcha having hidden an EMP device inside his chest, he managed to send out an electric pulse, disabling much of the ships systems and allowing Leia and the rest of her team to escape, at the cost of his life. With the ship now under attack by an amalgam of vessels, Leia impersonated the unconscious Captain Khione and led her 'prisoners' to the Mellcrawler. The ruse was short lived, as a stormtrooper recognized the imposter, forcing them to flee onboard the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle Tydirium, while Antrot sacrificed himself by blowing a hole in the Star Destroyer's hull with the Mellcrawler, which was packed to the brim with an unstable fertilizer picked up on Jowloon that Nunb was hoping to sell back on Sullust. Escaping the ship, the crew realized the attackers were the vessels they had previously warned had returned to help them, with them escaping into hyperspace, destroying the Shieldmaiden just as another Star Destroyer arrived.

The operation was a complete success for the Alliance, owing much thanks to the bravery of Lokmarcha and Antrot; without their sacrifices the mission could not have succeeded. Following the operation, Leia Organa would meet with Luke Skywalker on Kothlis to discuss rescuing Han Solo from Jabba's palace, owing to Lando's earlier infiltration and intelligence regarding his whereabouts. Nonetheless, with the Alliance Fleet nearly assembled over Sullust, as well as the destruction of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Shieldmaiden, the rebellion had gained valuable time before its ultimate victory against the second Death Star at the Battle of Endor.

Thirty years after the operation, a much older Leia Organa, now a general, would reflect upon the valuable lessons learned in the operation, and have them recorded as the first part of her much delayed memoirs, considering the story one in which all members of the Resistance would do well to remember.

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