The freeing of Bespin took place some months following the Rebel Alliance's triumph at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. In this event, Bespin, the gas giant, was captured from the Galactic Empire by Rebel General Lando Calrissian. Capitalizing on the Empire's disorganized state after Endor and intelligence regarding Bespin's defenses that was leaked by Alliance supporters Willrow Hood and Tian Chyler, the general initiated a campaign with the unconventional unit called "Lando's Commandos." This campaign was aimed at expelling the Empire from Bespin and ultimately led to the rescue of his former aide Lobot by the cloned Jedi Knight X2.
While the Jedi inflicted significant losses on the remaining Imperial troops within the planet's atmosphere and the tibanna gas mining settlement of Cloud City, Lobot gained control of the city's computer systems. He then re-established Calrissian as the Baron Administrator, a position he was compelled to relinquish when escaping the Imperial occupation of Bespin back in 3 ABY.
Lando Calrissian abandoned his role as Baron Administrator of Cloud City, a facility mining tibanna, used as a coolant for hyperdrives and also as blaster gas. This facility was located above the gas planet Bespin, in order to evade the Galactic Empire's occupation of Bespin in 3 ABY. He then allied himself with the Rebel Alliance and participated in the Galactic Civil War against the Empire. Calrissian, alongside his cyborg former aide Lobot, Rebel pilots Luke Skywalker and Shira Brie, and the Ugnaught population of Bespin, overthrew the Imperial garrison at Cloud City.
However, the Empire regained control of Bespin, maintaining their hold on Cloud City until after the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. During that battle, Calrissian, who had become a general, spearheaded the Rebel starfighter attack, which resulted in the destruction of the second Death Star above the forest moon of Endor. Following the battle, Admiral Gial Ackbar promised the general all available Alliance fighters. However, with the Rebellion's resources stretched thin due to the defense of the temporary Rebel capital on Endor and a mission to Bakura, an Imperial-controlled planet in the Outer Rim, Calrissian devised his own strategy. He assembled a group of mercenaries and soldiers known as "Lando's Commandos" for this purpose. Although he was briefly occupied with assisting his friend and fellow Rebel Han Solo in suppressing a failed resurgence of the Black Sun crime syndicate, the former Baron Administrator prioritized the liberation of Cloud City, exploiting the Empire's disarray following the Battle of Endor.
The population of Cloud City celebrated the Rebel victory at Endor with a jubilant display of fireworks. As the Alliance gained the advantage in the war, Tian Chyler, a disgruntled agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, defected to the Rebellion. He enlisted the help of Alliance sympathizer Willrow Hood to provide information on Cloud City's defenses, which proved crucial for the liberation of Bespin.
Over a campaign lasting months, Calrissian and his Commandos forced the remaining Imperial forces to leave Cloud City. In the concluding operation, the Alliance aimed to free Lobot, who was being held prisoner by the Imperials in Cloud City, and utilize his expertise with computers to seize control of the city. A Rebel force, consisting of an MC80 Star Cruiser, several EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, and a group of T-65 X-wing starfighter pilots including the general and the clone Jedi Knight X2, engaged the occupying forces in an aerial battle. The Imperial forces consisted of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, several Vindicator-class heavy cruisers, and their complement of TIE/LN starfighters. Under Calrissian's direction, the Jedi shot down a Tibanna gas platform, causing it to crash into and destroy a Vindicator-class cruiser. After eliminating several pursuing TIEs, X2 landed his starfighter on a landing platform and joined General Calrissian on the colony's surface.
As they made their way to a computer terminal, the clone Jedi battled stormtrooper forces while the general located Lobot. After traversing a carbon-freezing chamber to reach the cyborg's cell, the Jedi escorted Lobot to the central computer, defending him from attack as he bypassed ray shield defenses and gave Calrissian control of the city. A pair of Sentinel-class landing craft launched a counter-attack, deploying a stormtrooper detachment and six dark troopers to landing pads on opposite sides of the complex. X2, Calrissian, and Lobot defeated both forces, liberating Cloud City from Imperial control.
The liberation of Bespin was initially mentioned in the 1993 novel The Truce at Bakura written by Kathy Tyers. It then appeared in the "Bespin" level of the 2009 LucasArts video game Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron's PlayStation Portable version. The conflict was officially named in the Databank entry for Tian Chyler, authored by "yoda's waiter," a member of Hyperspace, and published on StarWars.com in 2007. Although Elite Squadron identifies the occupying force of Cloud City as the Imperial Remnant, this faction wasn't established until 12 ABY, several years after the liberation took place. Therefore, this article considers the reference to be an error.