Alliance to Restore the Republic

The Alliance to Restore the Republic was a fictonal military organization featured in the Star Wars film franchise. They comprised the central protagonists of the original three feature films Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Informally known simply as the Rebel Alliance, members of the organization have been prominently featured in the novel adaptations of the films, the Star Wars radio dramatizations and comic book adaptations of the films published by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

Foundation
The Alliance to Restore the Republic was an unlawful military organization formed as a resistance against the forces of the evil Galactic Empire. The seeds of the Rebellion began as far back as the formation of the Empire at the end of the Clone Wars, but it did not become a solvent body until shortly before the dissolution of the Galactic Senate in 0 BBY. The architects of the Alliance were Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, Senator Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia and Mon Mothma of Chandrila. Another important figure in the creation of the Alliance was Dark Force apprentice Galen Marek who, under orders from his Sith master Darth Vader, was to help the foundation of a resitance group as a means of distracting the Galactic Emperor, allowing Vader the chance to engineer his own plots against the Emperor. Encouraged by Marek, the three Imperial Senators signed the Corellian Treaty in 2 BBY; a formal declaration of war against the Empire. Bail Organa's vast resources helped to finance the resistance while Senator Iblis provided resources to construct their fleet. Mon Mothma was tasked with recruiting soldiers and commanders.

Within the span of two years, the Rebel Alliance grew in size and scope and they headquartered themselves on the fourth moon of the planet Yavin. As their influence began to spread across the galaxy, they eventually attracted the attention of Emperor Palpatine. The Emperor knew that the Alliance had high-ranking officials within the Galactic Senate, so he dissolved the senate, handing territorial reign of the various space sectors to regional governors known as Moffs. The greatest deterrent against a rebel uprising however was the Emperor's super-space station, the Death Star. Staffed by thousands of officers and soldiers, the Death Star was a mobile command center equipped with the power to destroy planets through the use of a massive super-laser.

When the rebels learned about the existence of the battle station, they put together a strategy known as Operation: Skyhook. Operation: Skyhook involved stealing the design schematics for the Death Star so that Alliance engineers could analyze the data in the hopes of finding a vulnerability that they could exploit. An Imperial defector named Kyle Katarn, having only recently thrown in with the Rebel Alliance, went on a mission to the planet Danuta, where he acquired a partial schematic of the Death Star blueprints. He delivered them to Alliance agent Leia Organa aboard her consular ship, the Tantive IV. More information relating to the Death Star was obtained on the planet Toprawa.

Delivering the stolen plans to Alliance leaders on Yavin IV proved successful and represented the Alliance's first decisive victory against the Empire.

The Battle of Yavin
On Yavin IV, Alliance leaders Jan Dodonna, Vanden Willard, Bob Hudsol analyzed the recovered data and determined a weakness in the structure's design. General Dodonna called a meeting of all the fighter pilots in attendance, which consisted of members of Red Squadron, Gold Squadron and Blue Squadron. Among the group was a young moisture farmer from Tatooine named Luke Skywalker, a man who had only recently began studying the mystical disciplines of the Force.

Using a holographic projection of the station, General Dodonna pointed out a small thermal exhaust port, which led directly into the Death Star's reactor chamber. In theory, a precise hit from a proton torpedo would cause a chain reaction which would destroy the entire station. However, the port itself was only two meters wide. Some pilots, such as Wedge Antilles, were skeptical as to their ability to accurately shoot such a remote target. As it was however, this was the only option they had.

A fleet of starfighters, consisting of twenty-two X-wing fighters, eight Y-wing fighters and two R22 Spearhead fighters launched from Yavin IV to combat Imperial forces as the Death Star loomed into view. During the initial phase of the attack, the Death Star was still obscured by the planet Yavin and was not yet in range to fire its super-laser. As the Death Star skirted the perimeter of the planet, the Rebel squadrons entered the trench canyons that ran across the meridian of the station. The Death Star trench was defended by ion cannons and turbo laser turret cannons. This arsenal however, was designed for combat against capital starships and was virtually ineffective against smaller snub fighters. From within the safety of his command center, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin felt that the Rebel fleet presented no threat to the station and was confidant that the Death Star would destroy the Alliance in "one swift stroke". Tarkin's second-in-command, the Sith Lord Darth Vader however, was not as quick to dismiss the material threat the Alliance presented as Tarkin had.

When the laser batteries failed to destroy the Rebel ships, the order came down to assemble the TIE fighter crews. The turbo lasers were de-activated, allowing the TIE fighters the ability to combat the Rebels ship-to-ship without risk of being shot down by friendly fire. Darth Vader chose to join the battle, piloting his personal TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter along with the Black Squadron TIE fighter group down the trench run.

While the ships engaged one another, Red Leader Garvin Dreis made a bombing run towards the exhaust port. He was the first to reach the zone, but his shot missed, impacting the surface of the Death Star. The Rebels managed to clear the trench of TIE fighters, but Vader, and two pilots of Black Squadron were still doggedly pursuing them. Vader shot down Red Leader as well as Biggs and one by one, the other Rebel ships began to fall. Wedge Antilles' X-wing suffered critical damage, forcing him to drop out of the battle. Wedge survived however, and managed to get his crippled ship back to base. Within short order, the only pilots left were Vader and Luke Skywalker.

Vader sensed the power of the Force with this sole remaining pilot, but he had no idea that the man he was about to fire upon was actually his own son. During the second bombing run, Vader got a lock on Luke's ship and prepared to blast him into pieces. As it turned out, Luke's newfound friends, Han Solo and Chewbacca, on board the Millennium Falcon arrived just in time to save Luke. The Falcon shot one of the Black Squadron TIEs and sent into colliding into the second, which exploded on the walls of the trench. He then fired on Vader's ship, disabling it and it spun out of control, flying away from the scene of battle. With no more enemy combatants to concern himself with, Luke concentrated on completing the mission. Relying upon the Force to guide him, he switched off his targeting computer and manually fired the "kill shot" that destroyed the Death Star.

Back on Yavin IV, a large celebration was held at the Great Massassi Temple. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were awarded medals of valor for their participation in the destruction of the Death Star.