Strategic Warfare

Zaarin's military forces launched an assault on the TIE Avenger production complexes located within the Omar system. The Imperial Navy demonstrated considerable resilience, managing to inflict substantial damage on Zaarin's forces. Despite this resistance, Zaarin ultimately succeeded in destroying all the production plants, marking a significant achievement for his campaign.

Prior to the Omar attacks, Demetrius Zaarin, an Imperial Grand Admiral and the former head of research and development for the Galactic Empire, plotted to overthrow Emperor Palpatine and claim the title of Galactic Emperor for himself. Zaarin initiated a coup against the Emperor, successfully capturing Palpatine and nearly executing him. However, the kidnapping plot failed due to the intervention of Darth Vader and Vice Admiral Thrawn. The coup's failure forced Zaarin's loyalists to retreat to the Outer Rim Territories to avoid Imperial retribution. Still determined to seize control of the galaxy, Zaarin launched a campaign of terror targeting the Empire's starfighter and warship manufacturing centers, aiming to weaken the Emperor's forces to the point of collapse. Zaarin's initial target was the Empire's capacity to produce the TIE/ad starfighters, a fighter design he himself had created. This began with the destruction of the TIE Advanced facilities on Omar, which produced most of the Empire's TIE Advanced starfighters.

Zaarin deployed the frigate Raptor to strike the lightly defended TIE Advanced plants on Omar. The Raptor was loaded with TIE Bombers and Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports to support the assault. The bombers, deployed in groups of five, unleashed a heavy barrage of rockets targeting the facilities designated Omar 1, Omar 2, and Omar 3. The Imperial personnel stationed at these facilities lacked defensive capabilities and immediately requested reinforcements. The Imperial fleet responded by dispatching a force of TIE Defenders, led by Emperor's Hand Maarek Stele, to protect the facilities while transports evacuated personnel. The evacuation involved bulk freighters, Container Transports, and YT-1300 light freighters.

By the time Stele's squadron arrived at Omar, Omar 3 had been completely evacuated, while Omars 1 and 2 were still in the process of being vacated. Stele and his wingmen engaged the TIE Bomber squadrons, destroying them as they attacked the facilities. Zaarin's forces managed to destroy Omar 3 before it could be saved, prompting Stele's squadron to focus on defending Omars 1 and 2. As they fought, Imperial freighters and transports arrived sequentially to evacuate the station personnel. After the bombers were eliminated, Stele's squadron attacked the Raptor, ultimately destroying the frigate under concentrated fire. Despite this, multiple waves of Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports arrived to launch their own attacks on the Omar facilities, forcing Stele's squadron to split up and engage different squadrons. After Omar 2 was abandoned, evacuations focused solely on Omar 1. However, an Imperial officer radioed an SOS, reporting that he and some of his comrades had been left behind on Omar 2. Despite Stele's efforts to defend it, the station was soon destroyed.

Stele eliminated the remaining transports and assisted the evacuation ships at Omar 1. His squadron held off several counterattacks while Omar 1 was finally evacuated. With the operation's success, the Imperials abandoned the area, and Omar 1 was later destroyed by Zaarin.

Although the Imperials successfully saved many lives during the battle, the loss of all three Omar facilities significantly hampered the Empire's ability to produce the TIE Advanced. Zaarin then shifted his attention to the remaining stations spread across Omar. Eventually, only one plant, ZA-13, remained operational, forcing the Empire to defend this station to maintain TIE Advanced production.

The First Battle of ZA-13 transpired during the Zaarin insurrection at the Imperial facility known as ZA-13.

At the time, ZA-13 was manufacturing Hyperdrive units for Demetrius Zaarin's rogue Imperial forces. Subsequently, Vice Admiral Thrawn received orders to seize the facility, as Zaarin's forces had already destroyed numerous Imperial manufacturing plants.

Maarek Stele spearheaded the attack, leading three TIE/D Defender starfighters to clear the area of enemy forces. The factory was relatively lightly defended, primarily by TIE Avengers, which Stele and his wingmen easily dispatched. The factory itself remained neutral during the battle, as its personnel were not uniformly loyal to either Zaarin or the Empire.

Stele also disabled various freighters and transports attempting to abscond with equipment. Imperial forces arrived to take possession of the stolen goods, leaving Stele to eliminate the ships themselves.

Stele would soon return, leading the attack force in the Second Battle of ZA-13, which resulted in the capture of the station.

This attack immediately followed the First Battle of ZA-13. Maarek Stele once again led the Imperial assault, piloting a group of three TIE/D Defenders into the area. Given that ZA-13 was not entirely loyal to Zaarin, disabling the factory was unnecessary. Additionally, there were no craft defending the station. However, as the capture operation commenced, some Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wings arrived and began harassing Stele and his wingmen. Shortly after the arrival of the Gunboats, CR90 corvettes from the capture group arrived to provide heavy fire support. Stele's flight group, armed with proton rockets, easily neutralized these threats.

Once the corvettes were dispatched, the Carrack-class light cruiser Jumimi entered the battle zone. Stele and his colleagues quickly dealt with this threat, using their remaining rockets to lower its shields before disabling and destroying it with lasers.

During the battle, several Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports arrived and fired rockets at ZA-13. They were supported by a small number of TIE Avengers, making it challenging for the loyalists to destroy them without being eliminated themselves.

Throughout the battle, craft docked with the factory to re-staff it, supplementing the personnel who remained loyal to Palpatine. Zaarin's forces harassed several of the shuttles, requiring Stele to monitor both them and the capital ships attacking the factory.

After all of Zaarin's forces were destroyed, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Render arrived to relieve the Defenders.

The final objective at ZA-13 involved retrofitting and upgrading the factory to enable it to manufacture TIE Advanced fighters, as Palpatine prioritized their continued production. To this end, a Convoy named Rope 17 was tasked with delivering the necessary supplies and materials. However, the convoy soon came under attack from Rebel raiders exploiting the situation.

Stele once again led a group of three TIE/D Defenders to escort and protect the convoy as it delivered cargo to ZA-13. Upon Stele's arrival, Rope 17 was fending off two Y-wings. Shortly thereafter, B-wings, more Y-wings, and Z-95 Headhunters arrived, followed by four Corellian corvettes from Cobra escorted by Z-95s. Despite the escort and the missile launcher-equipped corvettes, Maarek Stele destroyed them all. Finally, a final wave of fighters consisting of Y-wings, A-wings, and X-wings arrived to attack ZA-13, only to be destroyed by Maarek Stele. Imperial High Command noticed that some of the fighters were equipped with Mag Pulse Warheads and sought to acquire the technology to gain an advantage over Zaarin.

With the factory receiving the supplies, two Nebulon-B escort frigates were assigned to guard the factory from future attacks.

After tracking the Rebel attack to a space platform called RS-32, the Empire dispatched a strike force led by Thrawn aboard the Victory I-class Star Destroyer Sceltor. Maarek Stele and his wingmen initiated the attack by destroying Escort shuttle TT-109 and the Z-95 Headhunters. Stele then launched a proton rocket barrage at the station, overwhelming its shields. The station called for reinforcements and launched T-Wings that the Alliance had recently acquired to evaluate as a potential replacement for their A-wings. However, the T-Wings proved ineffective and were easily destroyed by Stele, revealing multiple flaws that led the Alliance to abandon them. The station's call was answered by multiple fighters and two CR92a Assassin-class corvettes called Rampart. The station also launched a transport called Blue carrying officers and technicians. Despite the reinforcements, they were insufficient; the transport and the station were disabled, and the reinforcements were defeated. The Imperials captured the station and acquired the Mag Pulse technology.

However, before the Imperials could celebrate, Zaarin launched a counterattack. He exploited Stele's and Thrawn's focus on ZA-13 to send an assault force that successfully destroyed ZA-13. He dispatched three ships—the Nebulon-B2 frigate Shadow, the Strike-class medium cruiser Serpent, and the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Grappler—to trap Thrawn's ship. Stele, piloting his TIE Defender and armed with Mag Pulse Warheads, attacked Zaarin's starfighters with the support of a few friendly starfighters. He used the Mag Pulse warheads to disable the Serpent's weapons, allowing the Sceltor to destroy it. He then hit the Grappler with a warhead, enabling the Sceltor to launch three TIE/sa bombers to destroy the ship, and finally targeted the Shadow with the help of the bombers.

The campaign resulted in a victory for Zaarin. The destruction of all factories in the Omar system severely compromised the TIE Advanced production line. He ordered commander Raveen to relocate his forces to the Outer Rim to launch further attacks from there.

Following this campaign, Maarek Stele received the Medal of Dignity for his success in repelling Zaarin's attacks against the Empire's TIE Avenger production facilities.