Operation Ringbreaker

Operation Ringbreaker was the brainchild of Everi Chalis, a governor who previously served the Galactic Empire before defecting to the Rebel Alliance. The target was the Kuat Drive Yards, the Empire's primary manufacturing complex located on the planet Kuat in the Core Worlds, and the main source of Star Destroyers for the Imperial Navy. The name "Ringbreaker" alluded to the orbital ring-shaped structure that comprised the Kuat Drive Yards. The strategy involved a series of attacks by the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry, also known as Twilight Company, on vulnerable Imperial assets. The aim was to compel the Imperial Military to redeploy forces away from the Drive Yards, thus weakening its defenses sufficiently for the 61st to launch an attack that would sabotage and disable the Empire's primary source of Star Destroyer production and repair. Chalis also anticipated that the operation's success would limit the Empire's ability to rapidly deploy ground forces.

General Crix Madine of the Alliance outlined Operation Ringbreaker as a two-phase process. The first phase consisted of a series of attacks on nine targets leading up to Kuat. The second phase involved the final assault and sabotage of the Kuat Drive Yards. Chalis selected the initial nine target locations based on her prior experience developing them under the Empire. Each location provided resources for the Empire's war effort and collectively formed an indirect route to Kuat. The locations and their respective regions were as follows:

• Mardona III [1] — Inner Rim [6]
• Najan-Rovi [1] — Outer Rim [6]
• Obumubo [1] —Core Worlds [6]
• Nakadia [1] — Expansion Region [6]
• Naator [1] — Mid Rim [7]
• Xagobah [1] —Outer Rim [6]
• Kuliquo belt [1] —Inner Rim [6]
• Sullust [1] —Outer Rim [6]
• Malastare [1] —Mid Rim [6]

Most of these locations were situated along or near the Rimma Trade Route, while Mardona III (Inner Rim) and Malastare (Mid Rim) were located along the Hydian Way instead.

Around 1 ABY, amidst the Galactic Civil War, the Alliance initiated a campaign into the Mid Rim Territories. This was encouraged by their victory at the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, which resulted in the destruction of the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station. The campaign was halted in 2 ABY, after nine months, and a retreat commenced shortly thereafter. In 3 ABY, nine months into the Alliance's retreat from the Mid Rim, Twilight Company attacked the planet Haidoral Prime, where Governor Everi Chalis decided to defect to the company. Chalis offered her knowledge of the Empire's industrial infrastructure to the Alliance, including detailed schematics.

The Alliance High Command invited Chalis and Twilight Company's Captain Micha Evon to a high-level strategy conference at Echo Base, the High Command's secret base located on the ice planet Hoth. However, shortly after the conference, the Empire invaded Hoth. This scattered the High Command and led to Evon's death. Around the same time, Imperial Prelate Verge and Captain [Tabor Seitaron](/article/tabor_seitaron], tasked with hunting Chalis, dispatched a team of spies to infiltrate Twilight Company's CR90 corvette, the Thunderstrike, while it was operating separately in the Elochar sector. This resulted in further casualties among the company's command structure.

Twilight Company retreated to Ankhural, a remote planet known as a haven for pirate activity. There, they reunited with Chalis and First Sergeant Hazram Namir, the sole survivor of her escort to Hoth. A funeral was held for the late Evon, and the Thunderstrike and its escort, the Braha'tok-class gunship Apailana's Promise, underwent repairs. Meanwhile, Chalis monitored the war's progress through unsecured broadcasts reaching Ankhural. She observed Imperial forces pursuing the Alliance deep into the Outer Rim Territories, including a large-scale manhunt for the rebel figure Princess Leia Organa. The former governor concluded that Imperial forces were being diverted from the Core Worlds for the war effort, weakening the region's security.

Capitalizing on the Empire's newly exposed vulnerability, Chalis developed Operation Ringbreaker. She presented her proposal at the next meeting of Twilight Company's senior officers. She detailed her proposed campaign and the potential impact of sabotaging the Kuat Drive Yards, addressing concerns from those skeptical of the plan's viability. The senior members debated, some discussing invasion tactics for the shipyard. Namir then inquired whether anyone had alternative plans for Twilight Company. After Chalis was asked to leave the meeting, the remaining attendees discussed how they might approve Chalis's plan, which ultimately led to a voice vote in favor of Operation Ringbreaker.

Details of Operation Ringbreaker reached the Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service, which reviewed the campaign. Subsequently, Admiral Gial Ackbar sent a formal proposal for Operation Ringbreaker to Mon Mothma, the leader of the Alliance. The proposal summarized the campaign's objectives and provided information about the Kuat Drive Yards and its thinly stretched security. General Crix Madine also submitted his own report to Ackbar, outlining Operation Ringbreaker's two phases. Despite their analysis of the campaign, neither High Command figure had direct contact with Twilight Company, which had been unable to reach any High Command members after the Battle of Hoth.

Following the approval of Operation Ringbreaker, the senior Twilight Company members appointed Namir as the acting leader of the company. Shortly after, the Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise departed Ankhural for their first target, the planet Mardona III. At Mardona, which served as an Imperial warehouse hub, Twilight soldiers were deployed to infiltrate the underground systems of the planet's mega-spaceport, where the storage facilities were located. They harassed security and sabotaged the tramways. Twilight squads also planted numerous ion mines in the tramlines, junctions, and underground warehouse entrances.

As Imperial armored worm vehicles began to sweep the underground sectors, Twilight Company occupied a housing block as a fallback position and continued its operations. One worm vehicle nearly annihilated a Twilight squad, leaving only one survivor, the soldier Corbo. Subsequently, other company members hunted down and destroyed the vehicle and its crew before engaging stormtroopers and additional reinforcements. The company departed Mardona III shortly thereafter. As a result of the attack on Mardona, Imperial forces were redeployed to Sullust, a volcanic planet in the Outer Rim, to oversee labor and compensate for the disruption in production.

Twilight proceeded to its next target: the dockyards of the Outer Rim gas giant Najan-Rovi, defended only by Imperial Navy troopers and TIE/ln space superiority starfighters. The company laid waste to numerous Imperial luxury transports serviced there, aiming to compel the Corellian Engineering Corporation to increase its production efforts and force a transfer of security from Kuat. Twilight then moved to the Core Worlds moon Obumubo, where it obliterated the local Imperial garrison. Chalis believed that the death of an Imperial Military figure on Obumubo would lead to a promotion from Kuat, bringing their security personnel with them.

Meanwhile, Prelate Verge and Captain Seitaron had observed Twilight Company's attacks along the Rimma Trade Route and began to narrow down potential targets. The company's next attack targeted the plastoid factories of the agricultural world Nakadia. The company achieved success but suffered significant casualties when the local security deployed its stockpile of bioweapons on Twilight troops. Twilight Company then proceeded to the Mid Rim planet Naator and the Outer Rim astronomical object Xagobah, securing victories at both locations despite the losses incurred.

Subsequently, Twilight Company sought repairs at the junker world Heap Nine for one night. Once completed, the company moved to the Inner Rim asteroid field of the Kuliquo belt, where twenty soldiers were dispatched to sabotage machinery. Chalis then learned that three battalions of the Empire's One-Oh-Seventh Stormtrooper Legion had been withdrawn from Kuat and reassigned elsewhere as a result of Twilight Company's attacks. In the meantime, Verge and Seitaron, who had been unable to intercept the company at Nakadia and the Kuliquo belt, identified three potential targets for Twilight Company: Sullust, Tshindral, and Malastare. Verge secretly positioned TIE/IN interceptor squadrons near each location.

Madine, encouraged by Operation Ringbreaker's initial success, prepared another report for Mothma, listing other Imperial shipyards, drydocks, and mining centers that could be targeted if Twilight Company successfully sabotaged the Kuat Drive Yards. These industrial sites—including Allanteen VI, Balmorra (marked alongside Kuat), Belderone, Champat, the Corellian Industrial Cluster, Gyndine, Karavis, Lothal, Metalorn, Rothana, the Ubrikkian enclave, and Xa Fel—were depicted on a map with color-coded indicators for their production and security levels.

Twilight Company journeyed to Sullust to capture and sabotage the Inyusu Tor mineral processing facility, located on the Inyusu Tor volcanic mountain near Pinyumb, the Sullustan capital. Before the deployment, Namir attempted to contact the Alliance High Command as a last resort to receive new orders from his superiors, only to be informed by a rebel relay station that there were none.

Twilight Company successfully seized the facility, but as the Thunderstrike arrived to pick them up, it was ambushed and shot down by TIE interceptors from Vixus Squadron. The squadron had positioned itself behind Sullust's moon while the corvette and its escorts were on standby away from Sullust. The Apailana's Promise retreated with its two X-wing starfighters, leaving the ground forces stranded on the planet's surface. Rescuing survivors from the crashed Thunderstrike, Namir and his forces established a defensive position at the Inyusu Tor facility, preparing it for defense. The unit commander also led a mission, including himself and Chalis, to the city of Pinyumb to establish contact with the local Sullustan resistance rebel cell. Namir's group discovered that the city was under lockdown due to their attack on the facility.

Namir's group was subsequently attacked by stormtroopers from the 97th Legion, dispersing the rebel team. Although initially captured, Namir was rescued by Nien Nunb, the leader of the Sullustan resistance, who led him on a relief mission to assist Pinyumb residents affected by the Imperial lockdown and raids in the capital. Witnessing the impact of Twilight Company's attack on the civilians, Namir experienced a change of heart and collaborated with the rest of the Sullustan resistance at their hideout to develop a new plan for Twilight Company. The unit commander believed that Operation Ringbreaker would leave his company broken, even if they survived to complete it, and felt that fighting for the people of Pinyumb was a more meaningful objective for his troops.

After coordinating a battle plan with the Sullustan resistance, Namir returned to Twilight Company at the Inyusu Tor facility. Chalis, who had returned the night before, had already devised her own plan for the company, which involved stealing ships from the Pinyumb spaceport and escaping under the protection of the Apailana's Promise to continue Operation Ringbreaker. After discussing his new intentions with his old squad, Namir confronted Chalis, attempting to dissuade her from her plans and Operation Ringbreaker. Chalis dismissed his arguments and pointed a snub pistol at Namir to assert control. Fortunately for Namir, the Besalisk soldier Gadren grappled and immobilized Chalis, allowing Namir to proceed with his plans while the governor was taken away.

With Operation Ringbreaker abandoned, Twilight Company mounted a defense of the Inyusu Tor mineral processing facility. The local Imperial forces, which had been harassing the rebels previously, began their assault on the facility upon the arrival of Verge and Seitaron aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Herald to apprehend Chalis. While Twilight Company repelled waves of Imperial troops and vehicles, the Apailana's Promise and its X-wings returned and distracted the Herald. Additionally, engineers in the company used the facility's magma extractors to channel lava against the Imperials, while the Sullustan resistance used their digging vehicles to channel the lava to flood the Imperial garrison at Pinyumb and ignite a Sullustan uprising there.

Observing Twilight Company's situation on Sullust from battle reports, Madine informed Mothma of the situation in another report, explaining that the setback would allow Kuat to resupply, disrupting the momentum for Operation Ringbreaker's second phase. Unaware of Namir's decision to redirect efforts to fighting for Pinyumb, the general concluded that the campaign could not continue. Madine also expressed his belief that he could assist in evacuating Twilight Company if necessary.

Meanwhile, Chalis escaped from the facility with Twilight Company's remaining ion bombs and made her way to an Imperial transport station by speeder. Stealing a shuttle, she allowed herself to be captured by the Herald and detonated the ion bombs when Verge and Seitaron went to confront her. The resulting power surge forced the Herald to withdraw from Sullust to avoid destruction. Verge was also killed by Seitaron when the captain used his B22 sidearm to stop a fight between the prelate and Chalis. With the Imperial forces defeated, Twilight Company achieved victory at Inyusu Tor and Pinyumb, and further uprisings were reportedly sparked on Sullust.

Having fled Sullust, Chalis sent a final message to Namir, believing that the rebels had ultimately judged her in the same way the Empire had when she chose to defect. She asserted in her message that she could have succeeded at Kuat if Namir had trusted her. Mothma wrote a journal entry reflecting on Operation Ringbreaker, deeming the campaign a defeat despite the final battle not occurring. Presenting the campaign as if it was her own initiative, she blamed a lack of intelligence for the stalling at Sullust and claimed that the Alliance forces would not launch another campaign against Kuat with incomplete data. In her conclusion, Mothma pledged to expand the Alliance's intelligence reach with new assets, including Bothan and Obroan information brokers.

Even though the Empire forced Twilight Company off Sullust, this planet served as the Alliance Fleet's staging ground for their attack on the Empire's DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station in 4 ABY. This battle resulted in the demise of the Emperor Palpatine, and the Empire's military structure subsequently fractured. The Alliance then reorganized as the New Republic, which continued its fight against the scattered Imperial forces, even launching its own assault on the Kuat Drive Yards in 5 ABY. In that same year, the New Republic successfully seized control of these shipyards and achieved victory over the Empire at the Battle of Jakku.

Hendri Underholt, an archivist, eventually came into possession of reports from Ackbar and Madine, along with Mothma's journal entry, all pertaining to Operation Ringbreaker. He then included these documents in a collection of non-electronic materials titled The Rebel Files. During the Imperial bombardment of Durkteel, a planet in the Mid Rim, in 4 ABY, this archive was buried. However, during an excavation in 34 ABY, The Rebel Files was unearthed and came into the possession of Leia Organa. At this point, Organa was leading the Resistance, a private military organization with ties to the Rebel Alliance and support from elements within the New Republic, in a Cold War against the First Order, the Empire's successor. Organa and Ackbar added annotations to the Operation Ringbreaker documents, as did Caluan Ematt, a former rebel who had been present on Sullust during Twilight Company's defense, and Resistance officers Ushos O. Statura and Amilyn Holdo.

The Rebel Alliance Archives also contained a file on Operation Ringbreaker, located within its "Military Operations" section. After reviewing the file, Beaumont Kin, a historian, discussed the campaign in his 35 ABY book, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. In this book, Kin argued that Operation Ringbreaker had a much greater impact on Imperial morale than Twilight Company had anticipated. He claimed that the Empire's swift mobilization in response to the company's guerilla attacks shattered any remaining hope that the war might end after the Battle of Hoth. He concluded that the psychological impact of the operation on the Empire may have been more significant than the damage inflicted on its infrastructure.

The novel Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed, which was released in 2015, was the first appearance of Operation Ringbreaker.