The Yavin Retaliation: Fleet Ambush (Star Wars: Armada)

 
In the long days of chaos following the destruction of the first Death Star, the Empire tried to make sense of what had happened. Grand Moff Tarkin had arrogantly rushed into destruction without accurately reporting the location of the rebel base. A great number of high-ranking Imperial officers had gone missing, including the dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Emperor Palepatine had withdrawn, and the remaining Imperial authority was in disarray.

The rebellion, as surprised at their own success as any Imperial command, fought to maintain the secrecy of their Yavin base. For months, they continued to operate, rallying from the battle and trying to hold on to their momentum. Eventually rebel command had to concede that the secret location of their base had once again been compromised and a general evacuation was ordered.

Darth Vader suffered several difficult trials following the Battle of Yavin, but ultimately the fallen Jedi survived and managed to reassume his position within the Empire. Impatient to enact his vengeance, Darth Vader assembled a retaliatory strike force of several Star Destroyers that he lead back to Yavin.

Having been forewarned of the Empire’s knowledge of their base, the rebels were fortunately in the final stages of evacuation when Darth Vader’s fleet arrived. As the Star Destroyers erupted from hyperspace, a stern guard fleet of rebel frigates and corvettes moved to intercept: their mission to buy the evacuation a little more time.

The Objective: Fleet Ambush

The Imperial Fleet:

 Victory II-class Star Destroyer "Dominator" (Admiral Screed, Expanded Hanger Bay, XX-9 Turbolasers)

Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer (Assault Concussion Missiles, Nav Team) (see below)

Howlrunner

2x TIE Interceptor Squadrons

7x TIE Fighter Squadrons

Fidor Draygan - Captain of the Gladiator II-class "Vindictive" (free Officer upgrade - no ability)

Draygan is a son of Denon, born to a middle-class family of that Imperial world. Although never considered brilliant, his focus and diligence earned him a commission from the Imperial Academy. His work ethic saw him rise steadily through the Naval ranks, but never earning particularly prestigious assignments. This did not bother Daygan, however; who was proud of eventually earning command of the Vindictive. He was content to fulfill his career diligently carrying out Outer Rim patrol duties, but the events following the Battle of Yavin saw him thrust into unforeseen circumstance. As Darth Vader hastily assembled a retaliatory force to strike at the rebel base of Yavin, the Vindictive was near-at-hand and ordered to support the Dominator.

Although uncomfortable with the situation, Draygan nevertheless recognized the opportunity this presented should he perform to the Sith Lord's satisfaction. Darth Vadar was not known for his forgiving nature, but Draygan put his trust in the stoic work ethic that had seen him successful this far.

The Rebel Fleet:

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (Mon Mothma, Nav Team, Veteran Captain)

2x CR-90 (Overload Pulse)

CR-90 (Nav Team, Enhanced Armament)

Wedge Antilles (see below)

X-wing Squadron

2x Y-wing Squadron

Edaara Durgen - Pilot (Wedge counts-as)

Edaara hails from the Talay system in the Mid Rim. Her parents were dengu farmers. A local algae grown in large shallow lakes. At the age of seventeen Edaaras family lakes were the victims of an imperial take over to turn the lake districts into a new star port. During the protests that followed, her father was killed by the imperial suppression force. Edaara and her mother fled the system as stow aways to Najiba of the Faj system in the Outer Rim Territories.

Growing up Edaara spent much time to care for her mother. She came to work as a co-pilot on a freighter. At the age of 24 she decided to join the rebel alliance. She quickly displayed a great talent for piloting and has since risen to become commander of Firewing Squadron.

First Player: Rebel player (Marw)

Battle Report:

The Imperial fleet arrived in a tight formation, pouncing upon the lone CR-90 that had strayed too far into the ambush zone.

The force was with the blockade runner, as it escaped Imperial fire relatively unscathed and came about on an escape vector. Meanwhile, the rest of the Rebel fleet began to respond.

The escaping CR-90 came about again, looking to out-flank the Imperial fleet. Although tempted to pursue and box in, Admiral Screed decided against it in favor of maintaining a strong defensive stance against the remaining Rebels.

Seeing an opening and loosing patience, the Admiral ordered the fighters in to clear out the X-wing and Y-wing nuisance. Although successful, the Imperial squadrons got caught in a brutal Rebel crossfire and were mostly wiped out. This opened a clear path to the Vindictive, and in a heroic act of sacrifice another CR-90 shot forward and hit it with a pulse overload, disabling its defenses.

Although the Dominator obliterated the courageous corvette, the damage was already done. Combined fire by the remaining Rebel ships disabled the Vindictive even as they struggled to regain shields. The fire from the Dominator was relentless, but the Rebel pilots did their utmost to escape the worst fields of fire and thus managed to keep their ships intact.

Victory Points: Rebels 135 vs. Imperials 99

Conclusion:

The fierce Rebel counter-assault had robbed the Imperial fleet of their initiative and a great number of their fighter squadrons. The Vindictive was disabled and Howlrunner barely able to limp back to her Dominator.

The Rebels had all reason to be relieved that they had won the opening moves of the battle, but the evacuation of Yavin was still ongoing and there were several Star Destroyers in the system, including an unscratched Dominator.

Edaara had punched out of her X-wing and was fortunate to be amongst those EVA pilots rescued. Captain Draygan found himself in a less fortunate circumstance, however; having failed to anticipate the Rebel's gambit and greatly displeased Lord Vader. The officer knew that unless he got the Vindictive repaired and back in the fight his career would literally have a short life expectancy.