Liberation of Gial Ackbar

Prelude

News reached the Rebel Alliance that Grand Moff Tarkin would be journeying with Bevel Lemelisk to the first Death Star, prompting them to initiate a plan to capture both individuals. The Rebels intended to attack a squadron of Lambda-class T-4a shuttles, including the one carrying Tarkin, as they headed towards the Nebulon-B frigate named Vehemence in the Eriadu system.

The battle

To obscure Tarkin's presence and reduce the risk of discovery during a potential ambush, five Lambda-class shuttles were scheduled to travel from Eriadu to the Death Star. Tarkin and Lemelisk were assigned to a shuttle identified by the call sign Epsilon 5. The shuttles received an escort consisting of six TIE Fighters, with three fighters each from Alpha and Beta squadrons. Tarkin intentionally limited the number of guards accompanying him, believing that a smaller contingent would allow for greater freedom of movement and avoid drawing unwanted attention to the Death Star's location. The shuttles departed from the Eriadu Governor's Palace, with Ackbar at the controls of Epsilon 5, and Tarkin and Lemelisk seated beside him. As the shuttles neared the Vehemence, three BTL Y-wing starfighters from Red Squadron entered the system and commenced their assault, supported by several X-wings. The starfighters engaged and eliminated the TIEs, while the Y-wings targeted the escort shuttles with their laser cannons.

Tarkin gave Ackbar the order to evade. Instead, Ackbar calmly deactivated the shuttle's shields, intending to allow the ship's destruction and thereby eliminate Tarkin, Lemelisk, and himself. Red Three identified Epsilon 5 and confirmed Tarkin's presence on board. The Y-wings then fired precise shots that impacted the rear of the shuttle, causing it to spin out of control. Ackbar mocked Tarkin, revealing his intention to deliberately cause their deaths as retribution for the suffering Tarkin had inflicted on him and others of his species. Tarkin and Lemelisk abandoned ship in an escape pod, intentionally leaving Ackbar behind to face his likely demise. They launched the pod, which spun violently into space, and activated a distress signal. The pod was designed for a single occupant, causing discomfort and minor injuries to the two passengers, with Lemelisk suffering a broken nose. Meanwhile, the Y-wings continued to bombard Epsilon 5 until it was rendered inoperable.

After the shuttle was disabled, the Hasti emerged from hyperspace accompanied by two Y-wings from Blue Squadron. The Vehemence responded by launching nine additional TIE fighters – three each from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma squadrons – to engage the Rebel starfighters. The Red Squadron Y-wings joined Blue Squadron in battling the TIEs and providing cover for the Hasti. The Hasti successfully boarded Epsilon 5, discovering Ackbar still alive but finding that Tarkin and Lemelisk had already escaped. The two Imperials observed the boarding and expressed surprise that the Rebels would bother rescuing Ackbar, whom Tarkin dismissed as a "worthless alien."

Before the Rebels could focus on Tarkin's escape pod, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti arrived in the system aboard his flagship Star Destroyer, the Steel Talon, despite Tarkin not having requested assistance for the escort. The Star Destroyer unleashed its turbolasers upon the Rebel forces, preventing them from pursuing and capturing the escape pod. With Ackbar safely extracted from Epsilon 5, the Y-wings resumed their attack on the shuttle, ultimately destroying it. The Rebels then jumped into hyperspace and fled the system, leaving Motti's Star Destroyer to recover Tarkin and Lemelisk.

Aftermath

The successful rescue of Ackbar, along with his valuable knowledge of the Death Star, overshadowed the Alliance's setback at Eriadu. Ackbar returned to his people as Admiral of the Mon Calamari fleet. While many planetary resistance movements initially approached the Alliance to Restore the Republic with caution, Ackbar provided unofficial support and tacitly endorsed the decision of some Mon Calamari to contribute their starships to Mon Mothma's cause.

The historical significance of Ackbar's rescue and subsequent recruitment into the Rebel Alliance led to its recreation as a simulation for BTL Y-wing starfighters, a simulation in which Keyan Farlander briefly participated.

Behind the scenes

The liberation of Ackbar was initially detailed in the 1987 first edition of The Star Wars Sourcebook, which established Ackbar's status as Grand Moff Tarkin's slave and his rescue during an attack by an elite Rebel force on Tarkin's shuttle en route to the Death Star. The location of this event was not specified in that book. The battle itself was first depicted in the 1994 Collector's CD-ROM edition of the LucasArts computer game Star Wars: X-Wing, serving as the final of six "historical missions" playable with the Y-wing starfighter. This battle was later revisited in the 1995 novel Darksaber by Kevin J. Anderson. In that book, set in 12 ABY, Bevel Lemelisk recounted the event in a flashback. This book was the first to establish the setting as the Eriadu system, a detail later confirmed in The Essential Guide to Characters (1995) and The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons (1998). A conflicting account of Ackbar's liberation appeared in the 2006 LucasArts computer game Star Wars: Empire at War, where Ackbar is rescued from one of Tarkin's research stations orbiting the planet Corulag. However, this version is not considered canon, as the narrative of Ackbar's rescue during an assassination attempt against Tarkin has been consistently maintained in various Star Wars reference books, including The New Essential Guide to Characters (2002), The New Essential Chronology (2005), and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (2008).