Capture of the Link

Namuura Din, the commanding officer of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Zeplin, sympathized with the Rebel Alliance's cause. Consequently, he chose to abandon the Galactic Empire's Zaarin faction, as well as the Empire itself, and join the Rebellion. To demonstrate his loyalty to the Rebels' MC80 Star Cruiser, named the Link, he provided intelligence indicating that Emperor Palpatine had set a trap at Endor, where the Death Star II was located. He also revealed information about the Missile Boat prototype, the Sealion. However, Imperial forces discovered and apprehended Din and his vessel. The Link successfully escaped with the intelligence regarding Endor and the Sealion, a fact Din confessed during Vader's interrogation. This prompted the Empire to prioritize the capture of the Link. Tau Squadron, under the leadership of Maarek Stele, was tasked with reducing the Link's shields to zero. Subsequently, Mu Squadron would disable the cruiser, and Omega 1 would board and seize it, while Alpha Squadron provided starfighter support.

Immediately after Stele's departure from the hangar, he was pursued by Z-95 Headhunters. Disregarding them, he advanced towards the Link. However, the Sealion executed a jump to Hyperspace, prompting the Garrett to follow in pursuit.

Stele eliminated the transport Fetch, which was transporting Fuel Rods from the Class-C container. The container was also destroyed, preventing a suspected engine overload. With the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Bew'a preventing the Link from escaping, Stele engaged numerous Z-95s, X-wings, A-wings, T-wings and R-41 Starchasers. As the number of enemy fighters decreased and the cruiser's shields weakened, the modified corvette Crater arrived to reinforce the Link, followed by B-wings targeting the assault transport Omega 1. Shortly after, the Muurian transport Confal arrived to provide transport assistance. All reinforcements were destroyed, and Omega 1 successfully boarded the Link. Following the capture of the Cruiser, the Garrett dispatched two additional transports to the Link as two Y-wings launched from the cruiser, succeeded by A-wings, which were swiftly neutralized. Soon a Nebulon-B2 frigate Qork, and then a Ton-Falk-class escort carrier Mist arrived to replenish the Garrett. A final wave of B-wings attacked the ships, only to be destroyed.

The Link was successfully captured. However, the Sealion was dispatched to a Rebel Base for reverse engineering, prompting the Imperials to pursue it, aiming to either recover or destroy the Sealion.

Concurrently, Emperor Palpatine summoned Grand Admiral Thrawn to his throne room. He informed Thrawn that preparations for the final assault on Endor were complete, and that the Rebels would soon realize the futility of their resistance against his authority. He then instructed Thrawn to bring the hunt for Zaarin to a definitive conclusion, emphasizing that failure was not an option. Thrawn responded that he had closely studied Zaarin's strategies and devised a solution to the conflict, one that would ensnare Zaarin in a fatal trap. Palpatine expressed satisfaction with Thrawn's progress, declaring that with Zaarin and the Rebel Alliance eliminated, the Galactic Empire's triumph would be absolute.

This conflict is depicted in the 1994 PC game Star Wars: TIE Fighter, specifically in Battle 13 Combat 3. This analysis is based on the "medium" difficulty setting. Notably, on "hard" difficulty, R-41 Starchasers and T-wings are absent.