Battle Name : | Defend Cruiser Independence [Tour of Duty 3 (The Gathering Storm Campaign), Mission 11]
Battle Location : | Near the planet of Bestine
Battle Occurred : | Just before time before the Battle of Yavin, hours after the Death Star destroyed Alderaan
Battle Type : | Defence (For the Rebels)
Force Making Attack : | Galactic Empire
Opposing Forces : | Galactic Empire / Rebel Alliance
Victorious Force : | Rebel Alliance
Imperial Personnel : | Unknown
Imperial Force Composition : | ISD Immortal, 32 TIE Bombers (Have Proton Torpedoes and Concussion Missiles) and 4 Assault Gunboats (Have Concussion Missiles)
Rebel Personnel : | Mon Mothma and Captain Keyan Farlander (Red 1)
Rebel Force Composition : | MC80a Independence (Mon Mothma), Red Squadron (X-Wings, have 6 Proton Torpedoes) and Blue Squadron (A-Wings, have Concussion Missiles)
Battle Outcome | Battle Outcome
Imperial Survivors : | Unknown
Surviving Forces : | ISD Immortal and TIE Bombers
Imperial Loses : | TIE Bombers and 4 Assault Gunboats
Rebel Survivors : | Mon Mothma and Captain Keyan Farlander
Surviving Forces : | MC80a Independence, Red Squadron and Blue Squadron
Rebel Loses : | 2 A-Wings

The Rebel Alliance Flagship MC80a Independence fell under attack by Imperial Forces. All available Rebel forces were being scrambled to help the Rebel Flagship. The Rebel leader Mon Mothma believed that this attack was the opening phase of the Empire's grand offensive. The MC80a Independence was carrying members of Rebel High Command and they had to escape to Yavin to co-ordinate the Rebel Alliance's defence. Red Squadron came out of hyperspace about 3 km away from the MC80a. The ISD Immortal was more than 32 km away and had already launched 14 TIE Bombers. There were 4 Assault Gunboats escorting the TIE Bombers. The incoming Imperial fighters had three parts, with TIE Bomber group Beta and Assault Gunboat group Nu on one flank, with TIE Bomber group Gamma and Assault Gunboat group Mu on the other, with TIE Bomber group Alpha in the middle. However the Imperial fighters were still 17 km away.

Blue Squadron was already going to engage TIE Bomber group Beta, so Farlander led his flight group towards TIE Bomber group Gamma. To get to them as quickly as possible, Farlander redirected all shield power to the engines and boosted the cannon recharge rate by one. On the way, Farlander constantly kept transferring energy from the lasers to the shields so that he would have fully charged shields when he got in range of his target. He switched to proton torpedoes and ordered Red Two to attack Gamma 3, while Farlander targeted Gamma 1. As soon as he started to get a lock, he reset the shield recharge rate to one above normal and the cannon recharge rate to maximum. He fired his proton torpedo as soon as he had a solid lock. He then switched to lasers to immediately disrupt the TIE Bomber's attack, but he was too late. The surviving TIE Bombers had began to fire their proton torpedoes at the MC80a.

The Assault Gunboats kept on the X-Wings, hitting them with their concussion missiles. Farlander kept getting hit by them, even though he evaded several. After taking a third hit, Farlander engaged the Assault Gunboats. He fired a proton torpedo at the first Assault Gunboat he saw and finished it off with his laser cannons. Using a similar tactic he destroyed another Assault Gunboat. With the TIE Bombers all around the MC80a, Farlander redirected the shield power to the engines and he closed in on the TIE Bombers. With the Rebel fighters within range of the MC80a Independence's guns the combined Rebel force quickly destroyed the TIE Bombers. More TIE Bombers were launched, but the MC80a had reached its hyperspace jump point and was able to escape before they could arrive. The MC80a Independence had lost its shields and had taken some hull damage. Two A-Wings were destroyed and were replaced by a second wave before the MC80a jumped into hyperspace. The Rebel fighters continued the engagement with the nearest Imperial fighters and then they disengaged and hypered out of the area.

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