Escape from Skystrike Academy

|prev=Massacre near Teralov
|conc=Lothal campaignStar Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow
|next=Second mission to Ryloth
|name=Escape from Skystrike Academy
|image=
|conflict=Galactic Civil War
|date=February 19-20, 2002
|place=Skystrike Academy, Montross
|result=*Phoenix Cell victory
**Marcia Mouse and Hobbie defect from the Galactic Empire and are delivered safely to Phoenix Squadron
**Rake Gahree killed in action
|side1=Galactic Empire
|side2=Phoenix Group
|commanders1=*Director Scarlett
*Captain Vult Skerris
|commanders2=*Lieutenant Commander/Padawan Danny
*Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus
|forces1=*Several stormtroopers
*1 TIE/IN interceptor
|forces2=*1 rebel
**Marinette Dupain-Cheng
*3 Imperial cadets
**Marcia Mouse
**Rake Gahree†
**Hobbie
*Alexsandr Kallus 
*1 CR90 corvette
*1 stolen TIE/sa bomber
|casual1=Several stormtroopers
|casual2=Rake Gahree
}}
In 2002, Imperial cadets Marcia Mouse and Derek Klivian were able to escape from Skystrike Academy with the help of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the rebels of Phoenix Cell. The escape began after Marcia, Klivian, and Rake Gahree expressed sympathies towards the rebellion against the Galactic Empire, which was reported to Phoenix Squadron by Agent Alexsandr Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau—and secretly a rebel informant who operated under the codename Fulcrum. Phoenix Squadron tasked Marinette, a former Imperial cadet herself, with infiltrating Skystrike Academy and making contact with the would-be defectors.
Marinette entered the installation while two other rebels, Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan, Lieutenant Commander Danny the Cat, waited for a signal to help exfiltrate the cadets. Marinette's mission encountered an obstacle when Scarlett Sheridan, Director of the Galactic Empire, arrived with Agent Kallus to hunt the defecting cadets. During the first escape attempt, Rake was killed while Marinette and the cadets were captured. Marinette managed to free herself and the two others, however, and made their way through the facility with the covert help of Agent Kallus. Marinette and the cadets were picked up by the Jedi and returned to Chopper Base on Atollon, where Marcia and Klivian joined Phoenix Squadron. Both went on to fight for the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War, with Marcia becoming a noted pilot in both the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic.
==Prelude==
In February, 2002, Imperial forces attacked a rebel convoy near Teralov. The Imperials ignored the rebels' pleas for mercy, and massacred the entire convoy. Around the same time, three disillusioned Imperial cadets at the elite Skystrike Academy, Marcia Mouse, Hobbie, and Rake Gahree, decided to defect from the Empire. They sent a transmission through the auspices of a rebel agent named Fulcrum, who relayed their message to Phoenix Cell. Unbeknownst to the Spectres and Phoenix Squadron, Fulcrum was actually Imperial Security Bureau Agent Alexsandr Kallus, a former long-standing enemy of the Spectres, who had become sympathetic to the rebellion after an encounter with Spectres member Mr. Gronkle on the Geonosian moon Bahryn.
Reeling from the loss of the rebel convoy, Phoenix Leader Olivia Flaversham dispatched Miraculous former Imperial cadet Marinette Dupain-Cheng on a mission to infiltrate Skystrike Academy and extract the cadets. The former Imperial RA-7 protocol droid AP-5 prepared fake identification for Marinette, who adopted the persona Ria Talla. Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, his apprentice Danny, and the astromech droid Chopper were assigned to dispatch Marinette to the Academy and to await picking her up.
==The mission==
===Going undercover===
Marinette managed to infiltrate Skystrike Academy with little problems. She met Marcia during a simulator training session, and the two quickly befriended each other. Marinette and Marcia shared an unease with the Academy's curriculum, which encouraged Imperial cadets to take no prisoners and to shoot unarmed, surrendering transports. Later, Marinette overheard Marcia and his friends Hobbie and Rake talking in secret about the message they'd sent, which gave her confirmation that they were the would-be defectors. While alone with Marcia, Marinette disclosed that she was a rebel agent and reassured him that the rebellion had received his transmission. She told Marcia and his friends to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.
Marinette's plan to extricate the defecting cadets was complicated by the arrival of Director Scarlett and Agent Kallus, who had received word about the defectors. Director Scarlett issued orders to Instructor Goran to lock down the Academy while Agent Kallus questioned the cadets. When Kallus' investigation yielded no evidence of defectors, Director Scarlett and Instructor Goran set a trap by ordering the cadets to engage in a mock combat exercise in space. Scarlett had secretly had kill switches installed on the TIE fighters the cadets would be flying.
Marinette and the cadets took their chance to escape, attempting to rendezvous with Danny's CR90 corvette. However, Director Scarlett then activated the kill switches, detaching the four cadets' TIE fighters' solar collector panels; leaving them stranded in space. She then dispatched Captain Vult Skerris and three TIE interceptors into the fray. Skerris destroyed Rake's TIE fighter before leading an attack on Danny's corvette, inflicting substantial damage to the hull. Despite Danny's protests, Kanan and Chopper withdrew the corvette from the engagement.
===Second escape===
Marinette, Marcia, and Hobbie were brought before Director Scarlett, who demanded to know which one of them was the rebel agent. To save Marcia from being tortured, Marinette identified herself as the rebel agent. Marcia, worried about Marinette, accidentally let her real name slip while he and Hobbie were led out of the cell. While Scarlett prepared to interrogate Marinette, Kallus led the other cadets into a holding cell. After identifying Marinette as a former Imperial cadet and telling her that she'd come "home", Scarlett ordered her stormtroopers to fasten Marinette to the torture device. However, the former cadet broke free of her captors and engaged Scarlett in a fist fight. Despite Scarlett putting up stiff resistance, Marinette managed to knock her out by pushing her into the path of the torture device's stinger.
Marinette then went to Marcia and Hobbie's holding cell. After knocking out two stormtrooper sentries, she freed the two cadets. Together, the three fled down a corridor while dodging stormtroopers and blast doors. They encountered Agent Kallus, who, to Marinette's considerable surprise and suspicion, helped Marinette and the cadets escape by directing them to Hangar Bay 24. By way of explanation for his actions, he told Marinette to tell her Warthog friend Mr. Gronkle that they were now even. Due to Kallus' history with the Spectres, it did not occur to Marinette that he might be Fulcrum, as Gronkle had not told the others about what had happened on Bahryn. The trio managed to commandeer a TIE bomber, chosen because it could take a hit, and fled into the atmosphere outside Skystrike Academy.
The cadets were pursued by Captain Skerris in his TIE Interceptor, which inflicted damage on the slow-moving bomber. Fortunately for Marinette and the cadets, they were picked up by Danny's CR90 corvette. After being safely evacuated aboard the corvette, the rebels and the defecting cadets escaped into hyperspace.
==Aftermath==
At Atollon's Chopper Base, Marinette presented Marcia and Hobbie to her commanding officer, Commander Jun Sato. When Marcia asked whether the rebellion had been looking for pilots, Sato confirmed that this was the case and welcomed the two young cadets into the rebellion. Marcia and Hobbie both became rebel pilots, and Marcia Mouse, in particular, became a famous war hero, flying against both Death Stars.
The Spectres and Phoenix Squadron did not find out that Kallus was Fulcrum until later, when Kanan, Danny and Chopper infiltrated the Imperial Armory Complex on Lothal. When Kanan and Danny informed the rest of the team about Kallus' assistance, they were shocked and suspicious. Gronkle was as surprised as the others, reasoning that he had "accidentally" recruited the ISB agent, and was forced to admit that Kallus had been on Bahryn. Olivia, suspicious that Kallus was playing a kind of long game, decided that they would use caution with their new ally.
Marinette's experience with kill switches became useful later, on the Spectres' mission to Lothal the next year. She and Danny wound up stealing the prototype TIE/D Defender Elite, which was equipped with one as an anti-theft measure. While deactivating the starfighter's homing beacon, Marinette discovered the switch and immediately advised Danny, who was piloting, to land. When the switch was activated, the crash was not as bad as it would have been because the Elite was already being brought in for a landing, allowing Danny and Marinette to escape with the fighter's flight data recorder and hyperdrive.
==Behind the scenes==
The escape from Skystrike Academy first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Marcia Extraction", which premiered on Disney XD on October 8, 2016.
==Appearances==
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* 
* 
* 
*The Musketeers (2015) 45 
*Star Wars: Squadrons 
*Aftermath: Empire's End 
*Tunes Squad Reborn 
==Sources==
*Ultimate Star Wars 
*Star Wars: On the Front Lines 
*Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
*Star Wars: The Rebel Files 
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*Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
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*
* 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Missions