Rescue on Kessel The Rescue on Kessel was an operation that took place around 1 ABY . During the Rebellion ' s assault on Kile II , Wedge Antilles ' s Y - wing starfighter had been disabled by Imperial forces . Antilles was smuggled into an evacuation shuttle and shipped to the prisons of Kessel . Rogue Squadron commander Luke Skywalker led a raid on the prisons using modified X - wing starfighters , equipped with ion cannons . He and Rogue Squadron disabled the Armored hovertrain carrying Wedge using their ion cannons . Soon after the rescue of Antilles , Rogue group returned with a commando team commanded by General Crix Madine and freed the remaining prisoners using Wedge ' s knowledge of the prison . They disabled the shield generator protecting the prison centers , evacuated the Rebel prisoners , and proceeded to rendezvous with the Rebel fleet . Prelude . Following the defection of Kasan Moor , the Imperial commander of the 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron , to the Alliance to Restore the Republic , the Alliance used her knowledge of Imperial bases and operations to their advantage , and won a string of battles striking against Imperial installations . During an assault on the Imperial spaceport in the canyons of Kile II , Wedge Antilles , of the elite Alliance starfighter unit Rogue Squadron , was shot down by Imperial forces , and was taken as a prisoner of war . Antilles was scheduled to be transferred to the prisons on the spice planet Kessel . Rogue Squadron , under the command of Luke Skywalker , refused to let this happen , and a rescue operation was initiated to safely extract Antilles from the hovertrain transferring him and other prisoners to the main prison facility . The rescue . Rescue of Wedge Antilles . Using modified X - wing starfighters equipped with ion cannons , which shuts down the electric systems of whatever it impacts , Rogue Squadron deployed to disable the hovertrain carrying Wedge Antilles and other prisoners . The Imperials attempted to use a secondary convoy to mislead Rogue group ' s on - board lifesign scanners . Kasan Moor , Rogue group member and a former Imperial pilot , recognized this tactic and persuaded Rogue group to ignore it . Skywalker destroyed the convoy before moving onto the hover train carrying the prisoners . Zev Senesca ' s long range scan confirmed Antilles to be on the train , and a barrage of ion cannon fire caused the train ' s systems to shut down , allowing Antilles and the train ' s passengers safe passage to escape . Extraction of other prisoners . Based on advice given to him by Antilles , General Crix Madine organized an operation to free other Rebel prisoners of war held on the planet . The prison camp Antilles was to be taken to , situated in a series of canyons , had three main facilities protected by a main DSS - 02 shield generator , turbolasers , and a missile turret . The battle plan called for Rogue Squadron to knock out the main power generator , allowing Madine to deploy his commandos via a landing craft into the prison facilities and free the prisoners . Skywalker and the Rogues protected the transport while it traveled to each of the three facilities and disembarked the Rebel commandos to free the prisoners . While liberating the second facility , Rogue Squadron , after making sure any threats to the escape transport were neutralized , proceeded to destroy a bunker nearby , retrieving advanced seeker missile s in the process . The rescue mission succeeded , and the Rogues and the transport returned to the fleet . Behind the scenes . The Rescue on Kessel appears in two consecutive missions in the 1998 video game " " . It was also mentioned in the game ' s , " " , and Wedge Antilles ' entry in " The New Essential Guide to Characters " . During the first mission , there is a secondary convoy which the player may ignore or destroy . This article assumes the Rogues skipped it and went to the hovertrain . It takes 129 enemy forces destroyed to win a gold medal . The player can optionally retrieve the advanced seeker missile tech upgrade . The guide likewise suggests doing so in order to ensure a Gold Medal win . This article assumes the player did so . The guide suggests the V - wing airspeeder would be necessary to win a gold medal in the mission . However , the article assumes the player did not use a V - wing due to it not being developed yet at the time of the mission .