Battle of Ciutric

The Ciutric Hegemony was under siege by New Republic forces, but the advance stalled when evidence surfaced suggesting Krennel was developing a new 'Death Star' type weapon called the Pulsar Station. When Rogue Squadron disappeared during a reconnaissance mission into the system believed to house the weapons shipyard, supposedly destroyed in an ambush, Krennel saw an opportunity. He aggressively attacked the New Republic's foothold, disrupting supply lines intended for the invading forces to keep them off balance.

Unbeknownst to Krennel, Rogue Squadron survived the ambush, rescued by two TIE Defender squadrons that intervened at a crucial moment. These squadrons escorted them to a nearby base, where Wedge Antilles encountered Ysanne Isard, whom he believed was allied with Krennel. Isard revealed that the individual working with Krennel was actually a clone of herself. She had activated the clone and tasked it with dispersing the Lusankya prisoners during the Bacta War to prevent the Rogues from claiming them. The clone, unaware of its true nature, survived Isard's initial attempt to eliminate it after completing its task. Isard, claiming disillusionment with restoring the Empire, offered to help the New Republic capture the Hegemony and recover the prisoners in exchange for peaceful retirement.

Despite initial distrust, Wedge agreed to Isard's terms, viewing it as a necessary evil to swiftly end the war. The Rogues would train with the Imperial pilots who rescued them, mastering the TIE Defenders Isard provided. Disguised as an Imperial Squadron seeking a home, they would join the Hegemony's forces as an elite unit under Krennel's command. Subsequently, a full-scale New Republic assault would target Ciutric IV. During the ensuing chaos, the Rogues, acting as insiders, would disable the planetary shields, allowing an Imperial Commando unit commanded by Isard to liberate the prisoners, whose location she knew due to her clone's security access. This plan would secure the planet and the prisoners for the New Republic simultaneously.

Predictably, Isard had no intention of aiding the New Republic or retiring. She was merely manipulating them for her own purposes. While Rogue Squadron, now known as Requiem Squadron, successfully infiltrated the Hegemony thanks to Isard's meticulous planning, the former director of Intelligence considered both the Hegemony and Rogue Squadron expendable, hoping to eliminate her clone permanently. She leaked information about the planned attack to Krennel, hoping to weaken both the New Republic fleet and Krennel's forces, but more importantly, the attack would draw response forces away from her true objective: the Bilbringi Shipyards and her former Star Dreadnaught Lusankya.

Consequently, when the New Republic assault force emerged from hyperspace, they were surprised to find not only the expected Reckoning, Decisive, and Binder, but also the Victory-class Star Destroyer Emperor's Wisdom, summoned by Krennel. This addition significantly boosted the Imperial fleet's firepower with its concussion missile launchers. Furthermore, the promised Imperial Commando Team failed to appear after Requiem Squadron disabled the shield generators protecting the prison area. Forced to adapt, the Rogues deployed their own ground team under the cover of the TIE Defenders, fighting their way into the prison.

In space, Admiral Ackbar initiated a withdrawal shortly after arriving. Facing two Imperial Star Destroyers and a Victory-class Star Destroyer with only his Star Cruiser and Star Destroyer, Ackbar was clearly outmatched. Several of his escorting frigates and corvettes sustained damage in the initial exchange. Although Home One and Emancipator scored hits on Reckoning, the battle favored the Imperial defenders. Eagerly, Krennel ordered Binder to activate its gravity well generators to prevent Ackbar's escape, unknowingly sealing his own fate.

Krennel was unaware that Ackbar had a contingency plan. Distrusting Isard, Ackbar had a reserve force of two Victory-class Star Destroyers under the command of Garm Bel Iblis waiting outside the system. Mimicking tactics recently employed against him by the late Grand Admiral Thrawn, Ackbar ordered the two Star Destroyers into hyperspace as soon as the gravity wells were activated. Their trajectory would intersect the gravity well projected by Binder, bringing them out directly behind Krennel's ships. General Bel Iblis immediately ordered them to open fire, focusing each ship's eighty concussion missile launchers on Krennel's flagship, inflicting catastrophic damage. One missile overshot and looped back, striking the bridge where Krennel was personally directing the battle, killing him and ending the space battle.

As the space battle reached its abrupt conclusion, the battle at the prison continued. Corran Horn successfully led a strike force into the prison and located the prisoners, but they were pinned down by rallying Stormtroopers. Rogue Squadron intercepted and destroyed a ground convoy heading to reinforce the prison. Wedge then moved to intercept an Assault shuttle also approaching. Suspecting something, he opened a channel to the shuttle and was unsurprised when Isard—or rather, her clone—responded, before launching two concussion missiles at the prison to destroy it. Wedge managed to intercept one missile, and fortunately, the second missile missed the prison block holding the prisoners and ground team.

The Rogues quickly surrounded the Assault Shuttle in their TIE Defenders. Wedge, acting on instinct, had his pilots use their sensors to detect and triangulate all communications signals to and from the shuttle as it was forced away from the prison and bombarded with ion cannon fire. Simultaneously, Wedge taunted the clone with the truth of her existence, causing her to suffer a mental breakdown. Wedge terminated the channel, filled with her screams, and destroyed the shuttle.

Moments later, Wedge triangulated the origin of the datalink the clone used to remotely pilot the shuttle, recognizing the same tactic Isard used to fake her death at Thyferra. He launched a volley of concussion missiles into the building, instantly killing the clone.

Simultaneously, Kapp Dendo, arriving with the New Republic fleet, landed at the prison with six Noghri Commandos. The Noghri, renowned for their ruthless efficiency, swiftly overwhelmed the Stormtroopers, effectively ending the ground battle.

Leaving only the question of where Isard was now.