Battle of Calamari The Battle of Calamari , also known as the Battle of Mon Calamari or the Second Battle of Calamari , occurred in 10 ABY , when the reborn Emperor Palpatine ' s forces attacked the temporary New Republic capital Dac . Prelude . Six years after his technical death at the Battle of Endor , Emperor Palpatine returned in a clone body . He retook control of the Imperial forces and , striking from Byss , retook the New Republic capital world Coruscant . To punish the Mon Calamari for supporting the New Republic , he unleashed his new superweapons — the World Devastator s . These deadly machines were able to recycle an entire world ' s surface to create weapons of war . Palpatine planned to lead the final attack on the world personally from the " Eclipse " , but never had the chance . The battle . Opening engagement . The Imperial forces attacked Mon Calamari from Byss , which was the Emperor ' s capital world in the Deep Core . World Devastators descended to the planet ' s surface and began devouring shipyards , floating cities and its defenses . The Mon Calamari defenders fought back , but they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned . In one sector , only the Third Battalion under Captain Gammack was left alive , and losing soldiers by the minute . They sent an emergency message to the New Republic High Command , which had reformed at Pinnacle Base . Admiral Gial Ackbar immediately ordered forces to head to Mon Calamari and aid the evacuation of the world . Blue and Green squadrons were dispatched to escort several MC80 evacuation cruiser s to Da Soocha V . New Republic reinforcements arrived quickly and were lead by Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian . Commanding the fleet from the captured " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer " Emancipator " , the duo directed a formidable array of warships , including the " Mon Remonda " , a few of the new MC90 Star Cruiser s , several escort frigates , and some small support vessels . However , there was an Imperial blockade at Mon Calamari to ensure that the World Devastators went unhindered . The New Republic fleet that arrived from hyperspace had to fight through the blockade . Catching the Imperial communications ship Super Star Destroyer " Allegiance " and its escorting Star Destroyers with their shields down , the New Republic forces managed to shatter the blockade with minimal losses . The " Emancipator " then launched its T - 65 X - wing starfighter and V - wing airspeeder squadrons to head down to the surface . The squadrons fought hard , ready to battle the World Devastators . Yet , the World Devastators had already accumulated enough resources to produce hundreds of new assault vehicles , including TIE / D automated starfighter s and AQ - 5 Waveskimmer s . Catching the New Republic squadrons by surprise , the new Imperial fighters destroyed countless starfighters . Other starfighters were lost attacking the World Devastators . Loss of the " Emancipator " . Eventually , the " Emancipator " was consumed by one of the World Devastators , forcing its crew into escape pods or face a fiery death in the superweapon ' s furnaces . Onboard the last escape pod , Lando , Wedge , and the surviving bridge crew watched as their flagship was slowly reduced to its most basic elements . The tide of battle shifted in favor of the Empire as the remaining New Republic warships struggled to maintain their attacks and recover escape pods . However , the timely arrival of New Republic reinforcements kept the battle from turning into a rout . The New Republic forces consisted of multiple escort and rescue frigates , as well as the new E - wing escort starfighter . The new fighters , led by Knave Squadron , engaged the TIE / D automated starfighters while the rescue frigates gathered the escape pods from the " Emancipator " . At some point , Antilles took direct command of Rogue Squadron , part of which assailed a triad of smaller World Devastators in V - wing airspeeders and part of which undertook a separate offensive in X - wing superiority starfighters . The Rogues engaged took out three of the Devastators and destroyed squadrons of droid TIE fighters which were attacking Mon Calamari cities on the land . Kasan Moor flew a V - wing with Rogue Squadron at the behest of Antilles , though she had not flown with the squadron for years . In addition , three smaller - scale World Devastators were also destroyed by Rogue Squadron , exploiting their weak deflector shields by destroying two of their " legs . " Even the E - wings could not penetrate the heavy defenses of the World Devastators , with several of the new fighters being lost . Luckily for the New Republic , Luke Skywalker though having apparently joined the Emperor and become his Supreme Commander , had tampered with the Master Control Signal on Byss . This caused the loss of three Devastators . Endgame . Help arrived again in the form of Han Solo , Leia Organa Solo , Salla Zend , Chewbacca , C - 3PO and R2 - D2 aboard the " Millennium Falcon " . Luke had hidden the master control codes for the World Devastators in R2 - D2 . The droid was able to shut down the World Devastators ' shields , weapons , and propulsion systems . The World Devastators still churned out deadly AQ - 5 Waveskimmers , which streamed out to engage oncoming water bound New Republic forces . The Sea Commando s , led by Gammack , raced towards the World Devastators aboard Amphibion transports while exchanging fire with Waveskimmer units . Soon the fighting moved to the top of the World Devastators themselves , with stormtroopers and sea commandos fighting a deadly close quarters battle . Meanwhile , R2 - D2 used the codes stored in his systems to create a virus , intended to interfere with the Devastator ' s central computers . This code started up the Devastators again , this time tasked with devouring each other . The mighty World Devastators began devouring each other , accompanied by the cheers of New Republic and local Mon Calamari forces . The defense of Mon Calamari was an important victory against the reborn Palpatine ' s forces . Aftermath . The New Republic had ensured that their Mon Calamari members were safe , though the world would take years to recover from the losses . Several floating cities were damaged or destroyed , with millions killed or wounded . The shipyards themselves suffered moderate damage as well , setting back production of the new MC90 Star Cruiser for over a year . The Quarren blamed the Mon Calamari for the attack and threatened to move off - world en masse . Several Mon Calamari , including Admiral Ackbar , believed that might be for the best ; however , few if any Quarren actually carried out their threat . Ackbar himself , although worn out by the experience of the attack to the point of considering retirement , helped lead the reconstruction effort . A number of Mon Calamari refugees were relocated to Da Soocha by the New Republic during and after the battle . One of the World Devastators ended up surviving the battle , to which New Republic Forces captured it and used it as a method of disposing of derelict vessels at their base at Pinnacle Moon . Behind the scenes . The First Battle of Mon Calamari first appeared in the issue " " of the " Dark Empire " series of comics . The battle was conceived and written by authors Tom Veitch , was drawn by artist Dave Dorman and colored by colorist Cam Kennedy . Veitch used this as one of the early conflicts of the subplot to bring about the conflict between Palpatine ' s Imperial Remnant and the New Republic . The First Battle of Mon Calamari would eventually be featured in the " Dark Empire " audio drama . The audio version also includes an additional character Captain Gammack who does not appear in the original comic version . The last campaign level of the " " video game featured the First Battle of Mon Calamari and allowed the player to assume the role of Wedge Antilles , leading several members of Rogue Squadron in an audacious counterstrike against World Devastators on the planet ' s surface . The presence of Antilles aboard the " Emancipator " in " Dark Empire " , as well as the fatal susceptibility of the Devastators to precision attacks by player craft in the game , renders the canonicity of the level to be somewhat questionable . It is probably safe to assume that Antilles did fly a V - wing airspeeder into battle against the Devastators , likely after the loss of the Star Destroyer he was seen commanding in " Dark Empire " , but the question of how the Rogues were able to destroy the supposedly nigh - invulnerable Devastators with their V - wings has never been definitively addressed and this element of the mission " may " be non - canon . The strategy guide for the game , however , rectified the confusion by stating that they were smaller - scale , weaker versions of the World Devastators with the shields being in a different location .