The Rescue on Kessel transpired circa 1 ABY. During the Rebellion's assault targeting Kile II, Wedge Antilles's Y-wing starfighter was rendered inoperable by Imperial forces. Antilles was then secretly moved into an evacuation shuttle and subsequently transported to the penal facilities of Kessel. Rogue Squadron's commander, Luke Skywalker, spearheaded a strike on these prisons, employing modified X-wing starfighters outfitted with ion cannons. He, alongside Rogue Squadron, used their ion cannons to disable the Armored hovertrain transporting Wedge.
Shortly after Antilles's recovery, Rogue Squadron returned accompanied by a commando unit led by General Crix Madine, freeing the remaining inmates by using Wedge's inside knowledge of the prison. They successfully deactivated the shield generator protecting the prison complex, evacuated the Rebel prisoners, and then proceeded to meet up with the Rebel fleet.
Following the defection of Kasan Moor, the Imperial commander overseeing the 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron, to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, the Alliance leveraged her insights into Imperial installations and strategies, securing a series of victories by attacking Imperial sites. During an assault aimed at the Imperial spaceport located within the canyons of Kile II, Wedge Antilles, a member of the elite Alliance starfighter group Rogue Squadron, was shot down by Imperial forces, resulting in his capture as a prisoner of war. Antilles was scheduled for transfer to the prisons on the spice planet Kessel. Rogue Squadron, under the direction of Luke Skywalker, was determined to prevent this, initiating a rescue mission to safely extract Antilles from the hovertrain conveying him and other prisoners to the primary prison facility.
Rogue Squadron utilized modified X-wing starfighters armed with ion cannons, capable of disabling the electrical systems of targeted objects, to neutralize the hovertrain transporting Wedge Antilles and other prisoners. The Imperials attempted to deceive Rogue Squadron's onboard life-sign scanners by deploying a decoy convoy.
Kasan Moor, a member of Rogue Squadron and a former Imperial pilot, recognized this ruse and convinced the group to disregard it. Skywalker eliminated the decoy convoy before focusing on the hovertrain carrying the prisoners. Zev Senesca's long-range scan confirmed Antilles's presence on the train, and a concentrated barrage of ion cannon fire caused the train's systems to fail, enabling Antilles and the other passengers to escape safely.
Acting on intelligence provided by Antilles, General Crix Madine orchestrated an operation to liberate other Rebel prisoners of war held on the planet. The prison camp designated for Antilles, located within a series of canyons, comprised three main facilities safeguarded by a primary DSS-02 shield generator, turbolasers, and a missile turret. The battle plan called for Rogue Squadron to disable the main power generator, enabling Madine to deploy his commandos via a landing craft into the prison facilities and liberate the prisoners. Skywalker and the Rogues provided protection for the transport as it moved between the three facilities, delivering the Rebel commandos to free the prisoners.
During the liberation of the second facility, Rogue Squadron, after ensuring the neutralization of any threats to the escape transport, proceeded to destroy a nearby bunker, recovering advanced seeker missiles in the process.
The Rescue on Kessel is depicted in two successive missions within the 1998 video game Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. It also received mention in the game's strategy guide, Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 12, and Wedge Antilles' profile in The New Essential Guide to Characters.
The initial mission features a secondary convoy which the player has the option to either ignore or destroy. This article assumes the Rogues bypassed it, focusing instead on the hovertrain.
Achieving a gold medal requires the destruction of 129 enemy forces. The player also has the option to acquire the advanced seeker missile tech upgrade. The guide also recommends doing so to guarantee a Gold Medal win. This article assumes the player did so. The guide suggests the V-wing airspeeder would be necessary to win a gold medal in the mission. However, the article assumes the player did not use a V-wing due to it not being developed yet at the time of the mission.