What Was The Battle Of Mako-Ta?

Star Wars

Jan 21

A conflict that played out in the Hope Dies arc of Star Wars (2015), the Battle of Mako-Ta was a pivotal point for the Rebel Alliance. After finding themselves a powerful ally, and on the eve of christening at least a dozen new capital ships alongside their fighter complements, they were betrayed.

All of these brand new ships were paralyzed and left at the mercy of the approaching Imperial Navy, which destroyed ship after ship, killing much of the Alliance’s major leadership as seen in A New Hope, and those beneath them in the chain of command. But, the Rebels survived, weakened and scattered, leaving Darth Vader to spin the event as a win to his master, and putting the traitor to the Rebellion in Leia’s crosshairs: Queen Trios.

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Inciting Incident

The leadup to Mako-Ta was a time of growth for the Rebel Alliance. Despite some wins against the Galactic Empire in the months following the destruction of the first Death Star, they needed to properly grow their fleet and its resources. To this end, they found an unexpected ally in the form of Queen Trios of Shu-Toran, who met with Leia on the shattered remains of Jedha where her people had been sent to aid the Empire’s excavations of the moon. Trios spoke of her previous encounters with Vader, and how she strongly desired for there to never be another Alderaan. She offered to help the Alliance, and so she did quickly, aiding their mission to gain the support of the Mon Calamari with high-security information and her presence on Mon Cala itself to ease any suspicions after the Rebels abducted and replaced the world’s leading Imperial official.

But her main support was through raw resources and technical ability. Transporting key supplies to the Rebel spacedock at Mako-Ta, Trios had her engineers work on the Alliance ships, many of them recently stolen from the Empire and requiring upgrades and repairs. When these ships were finally finished, a grand celebration was put into motion to inaugurate the new capital ships, alongside celebrating the gathering of dozens if not hundreds of Rebel starfighters and smaller ships who would be stationed on and with these larger vessels. Trios met and spoke with Leia, the two affirming their commitment, and there was the sense that nothing could go wrong…except it did.

The Trap Is Sprung

When the capital ships attempted to jump into hyperspace as the crowning achievement of the ceremony, nothing happened. Confused, the spacedock was suddenly cut off from the ships surrounding them as communications stopped working. Leia put two and two together, realizing that the now-vanished Trios was responsible for what had happened. Indeed, she was. Vader had come to her before Jedha and specifically ordered her to do everything she had done up to this point, for the sake of protecting her world from the same destruction as faced Alderaan. She had played the Alliance, especially Leia, for months, following Vader’s directives by having her engineers sabotage the Rebel capital ships.

Now activated by the treacherous monarch, the Shu-Toran improvements ensured communications, ship guns, hyperspace capabilities, and propulsion would all remain down. Even the bay doors of each ship were locked tight, with their fighter compliments trapped inside. As Death Squadron jumped into the system, Vader specifically took his time in his approach, waiting for the Rebels to realize the depths of their situation.

Immediate Consequences

Soon satisfied with what he sensed in the Force, Vader ordered the destruction of the nearest cruiser to the Imperial flotilla, with the Empire targeting and destroying Vanden Willard’s Yavin’s Hope where it lay vulnerable.

The Imperial vessels then began to indiscriminately bombard the trapped ships scattered around the spacedock on Vader’s command, which for many meant withstanding sustained fire from multiple Imperial Star Destroyers at once. Fortunately, Trios hadn’t sabotaged the shields, so some ships stood a chance.

Aboard Jan Dodonna’s ship, the Republic, Luke Skywalker and other pilots remained trapped but sought solutions to join the fight. Elsewhere, Leia stormed Queen Trios’ ship, still connected to the spacedock, and helped overwhelm its defenses though the queen herself escaped. Still, the information gleaned from the captured ship helped Leia’s group realize if a Rebel vessel flew at the bay doors of any of their ships, safety protocols would cause them to open and let the pilot enter the battle.

Just then, Han Solo arrived, his arrival delayed by a small Rebel mission he’d been undertaking. Getting into contact with Leia, Han flew through the Imperial fleet and a pursuing Darth Vader, attempting to fly at the bay doors of the Republic, only to be forced to pull away. Evading Vader, Han launched C-3P0 in an escape pod to serve as a messenger, who successfully told Luke and his fellow pilots what they had to do. Disobeying Dodanna, Luke launched, and many fighters followed him, as part of a force he christened Rogue Squadron. Han soon crashed the Millennium Falcon into the hangar and quickly jumped into an X-Wing as well to participate in the fight.

Almost immediately, the group fell under fire as TIE wings poured out of the ISDs and the Executor, but at least the Rebels had an offensive force in the field. Many of the ships independently realized that the doors would open, sometimes with the aid of the now-launched fighters of the Republic, and were able to launch their own fighter wings, greatly bolstering the Rebel presence.

The Escape

Elsewhere, aboard Trios’ captured ship, Leia concocted a plan to infiltrate the Executor and steal the override code stored in its computer. Her plan worked and Trios’ ship gained access to the ship with the lie they had been delayed, but they were directed to Darth Vader’s private hanger with the explicit message that he was on the way to meet the queen. The Rebels quickly rushed through the ship, with Vader in pursuit, though he failed to stop them from gaining the code. Leia took off in a lone TIE fighter, while General Draven gave his life to ensure her survival.

Now jetting through an active battle, and unable to raise anyone on the comms due to her lack of a pilot’s helmet, Luke himself almost destroyed her TIE. Able to sense something was off, he hesitated, allowing Leia to fire and destroy a TIE of her own, leading to the X-wings escorting her home to the Republic. Finally able to fully access their systems, Dodanna immediately ordered a jump to hyperspace, leaving the rest of the Rebel fleet at the mercy of the Imperial Navy.

The Return

Despite having successfully escaped the trap laid by Trios and Vader, as well as showing the surviving Rebel ships that escape was possible, the crew of the Republic could not in good conscience leave everyone behind. They had the key to fixing the paralysis across the new fleet, and after some hesitation on the part of Jan Dodanna, he agreed to return to Mako-Ta. While the Republic would act as a major distraction for the Executor, a complement of small transport ships guarded by Rebel fighters would jump into the system, and spread out, each transport containing the override code necessary to free up the crippled Rebel ships and the spacedock.

Within minutes, the majority of Rebel ships left were free of their Shu-Toran-born restraints, and many were jumping away. While Luke and Leia saw to the evacuation of the political leaders of the Alliance in the form of Mon Mothma and many envoys who had attended the now thoroughly ruined celebrations, Han flew into the fray, still piloting an X-Wing. However, his ship was disabled as the last of the Rebel forces began to retreat, his friends came for him and R2-D2, who had been Han’s astromech. Grabbed by a tow cable and hauled into the hanger of a Rebellion-operated Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier Luke and Leia had commandeered for their rescue mission. Without Chewbacca or the Millennium Falcon, they jumped into hyperspace, leaving behind many fallen comrades but keeping hope alive in the face of Darth Vader’s wrath.

Aftermath

Mako-Ta devastated the Rebel Alliance, but it was not the killing blow Darth Vader had hoped. While many of the key Rebel military leaders were lost with the destruction of the new capital ships, many political leaders escaped alongside the remaining military heroes of the Alliance. Hera Syndulla, for instance, was among those to make it out alive, alongside Admiral Ackbar, while Leia, Luke, and Han all received promotions to fill in the missing gaps created after the attack. While the deaths the Rebels suffered were a tragedy, the event did clear the way for the rise of new leaders within the Alliance. The event also marked the formation of Rogue Squadron, which would go on to play an important role in the Alliance.

This event also painted a target on Trios’ back and led Leia to plot a mission against their recent ally, and her world of Shu-Toran. Leia worked hard to bring her plan to fruition and would ultimately succeed in sabotaging the world’s unique industrial capabilities, slowing the Imperial war machine in the process. Trios also died during the Rebel operation, though that was not Leia’s goal or intent.

Mako-Ta should not be forgotten, as an example of the Empire’s cruelty and treacherous ability, but also the tenacity and ingenuity of the Rebel Alliance in the face of impossible odds. It was a battle as significant as Hoth, yet much like that conflict, saw a tactical loss for the Empire with the escape of so many Rebels despite them sitting in the open with many of their greatest ships disabled. It would be fights like Mako-Ta, where the Rebels lived to fight another day, that would continue to slowly wear away at Imperial resolve, because if the Empire couldn’t win in cases with such overwhelming odds…could they ever truly win the wider war?

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