Capture of Ali Tarrak The capture of Ali Tarrak was the final battle that put an end to the Renegade proliferation of the TIE Defenders , the capture of the Nami leader Ali Tarrak and the conclusion of the New Threats campaign . Prelude . Grand Admiral Zaarin was the head of the Empire ' s Starfighter research and development . His latest creation was the TIE Defender , a fighter with more shields , speed and weaponry then any other straighter ever made . However , after developing both the TIE Defender and Beam weapon system installed onto his fighters . Emperor Palpatine believed that Zaarin would serve him well . Unfortunately Zaarin had been planning a Coup d ' état to become the leader of the Empire himself . His attempted kidnapping had failed , thanks to Imperial Ace Maarek Stele , who had served Zaarin in gaining the Hyperdrive Technology . After destroying all the Empire ' s TIE Advanced factories in the Omar system . Zaarin focused his attention to his Research platform as there was still TIE Defender technology to loot and destroy to deprive the Empire of any TIE Defenders . However , loyalist forces , with the help of Maarek Stele thwarted his attempts and after the second attempt also failed , Zaarin took up himself to destroy the facility himself in his flagship " Glory " . However Stele held off Zaarin long enough for two prototypes to be loaded onto a freighter and staff , one of which was the Chief Scientist onto a shuttle G ' nabgib . The attempt to bring the prototypes to Admiral Thrawn was not without serious problems . The Chief Scientist was kidnapped by Rneekii Pirates , while a prototype was stolen by Nami raiders lead by Ali Tarrak . The Empire had rescued the scientist from the Rneekii pirates , only to be tricked into handing the Chief scientist to Zaarin . Zaarin then gave the scientist to Tarrak who decided to proliferate the TIE Defender technology , in particular to the Rebel Alliance and arranged a demonstration to the Rebels to showcase their power . Admiral Thrawn had developed a trump card by developing a new fighter called the Missile Boat and its first two sorties proved it to be useful . After tracking down Tarrak ' s factory , Thrawn prepared a full scale assault in his Star Destroyer Grey Wolf . Thrawn had saw in Tarrak a resemblance of himself and convinced Palpatine that she could prove useful , and was ordered to capture Tarrak and bring her to Coruscant so that she be given the opportunity to serve the Emperor . The Battle . Thrawns TIE Interceptors had engaged Tarrak ' s T - wings from Pincer Squadron . When Stele launched from the " Grey Wolf " , " Pincer " was down to two fighters . Stele engaged SLAM to get past the T - wings and engage the Y - wings that were called Gold Devil Squadron . Afterwards he tried to destroy TIE Defenders from Red Devil Squadron and Blue Devil Squadron but found difficulty as the Mines deployed around the Deep Space Manufacturing Facility " Tarrak " intercepted the Warheads , before they could reach them . The Defenders soon launched from the containers , despite not having full shields . Red Devil engaged Stele in a dogfight and was defeated while Blue Devil attempted to attack the " Grey Wolf " but were intercepted by Stele . After clearing the mines , the " Grey Wolf " launched TIE Bombers to destroy the " Tarrak " . The shields soon fell and Tarrak , abandoned the factory with the Chief scientist in a YT - 1300 light freighter " Dhoora " Stele launched missiles at the freighter and Tarrak warned them to " stay back or your precious scientist dies ! " but Thrawn called her bluff assuring her that such an action would cause her to die as well . Assault Gunboats were then launched and disabled the freighter then a Stormtrooper Transport Epsilon 1 was launched to board and capture the freighter . As this was going on a Rebel strike force consisting of X - wings , A - wings , then the Independence with two Strike - class medium cruiser s Lonsigar 1 and 2 . The " Grey Wolf " launched TIE Fighters to help Steele as he destroyed both Strike Cruisers and damaged the Independence enough to prompt it to jump to Hyperspace . The area was secure . Aftermath . The battle was a huge success for the Empire , preventing the potentially uncontrollable proliferation of TIE Defenders to many factions , including , but not limited to the Alliance . Once again , the only TIE Defenders that were a threat to the Empire are the ones under the Command of Zaarin . Thrawn was promoted to Grand Admiral by Palpatine himself and tasked to locate and destroy Zaarin and his loyal command . Thrawn resumed his efforts into tracking down the traitor . Stele himself was presented the Medal of Horror . He would soon return to duty to help Thrawn hunt down Zaarin . Behind the scenes . This battle appears in the 1994 Computer game " Star Wars TIE Fighter " as Battle 10 , Combat 6 . The battle raises concerns as the cruiser " Independence " must be destroyed as part of a " Bonus " objective . This article assumes that the Independence has escaped destruction as the ship is depicted in subsequent media , including but not limited to , " " . The TIE Defender group " Blue Devil " is seen in game as " Blue Devl " . This is assumed to be a typo . The " Independence " also suffers as it is in the game as " Independenc " , because of issues .