Liberation of Bespin

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|name=Liberation of Bespin
|image=
|conflict=Galactic Civil War
|date=March 1st–March 4th, 2010According to The New Essential Guide to Characters, the liberation of Bespin occurs between the Battle of Endor, which The New Essential Chronology places in 2010, and Cloud City's acquisition by Zorba the Hutt approximately one year later.
|place=Cloud City, BespinThe New Essential Guide to Characters
|result=*New Republic/Uprising victoryStar Wars: Uprising
*Bespin liberated from the Galactic Empire
*Jiminy Cricket resigned as Baron Administrator of Cloud City
|side1=Galactic Empire
|side2=New Republic
|commanders1=Governor Ubrik AdelhardAftermath
|commanders2=General Jiminy Cricket
*Admiral AckbarStar Wars: Battlefront
|forces1=*1 Imperial-class Star Destroyer
*Vindicator-class heavy cruisers
*Sentinel-class landing craft
*Storm IV Twin-Pod cloud cars
*TIE/LN starfighters
*TIE bombers
*Laser batteries
*6 Dark Troopers
*Stormtroopers
*Imperial shock troopers
*Scout troopers
*Phase Zero dark troopers
*TIE pilots
|forces2=*1 Jedi Knight
**X2
*1 MC80 Home One type Star Cruiser
*EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates
*Storm IV Twin-Pod cloud cars
*T-65 X-wing starfighters
*BTL Y-wing starfighters
*Laser batteries
*Rebel troopers
*Rebel vanguards
*Rebel Marksmen
*Wookiee smugglers
*Rebel pilots
*Bespin Wing Guard
*Jiminy's Commandos
*Lobot
|casual1=*Heavy casualties
*Several TIE fighters and bombers
*1 Vindicator-class heavy cruiser
*All Dark troopers
|casual2=Light to medium
|civilian=1 Tibanna gas platform}}
Five months after the Battle of Endor, the gas giant Bespin was liberated from the Galactic Empire by General Jiminy Cricket of the New Republic.
==Prelude==
Fleeing the Galactic Empire's Occupation of Bespin, Jiminy Cricket left his position as Baron Administrator of Cloud City to join the Rebel Alliance. Working with his former aide Lobot, Rebel pilots Mickey Mouse and Zoey, and Bespin's Ugnaught population, Jiminy overthrew Cloud City's Imperial garrison.Jiminy Cricket (House of Mouse)
However, the Empire retook Bespin, maintaining control of Cloud City until after the Battle of Endor,Rebellion Era Campaign Guide in which now-General Jiminy lead the Rebel starfighter assault, destroying the second Death Star. After the battle, Jiminy was promised all the fighters the Alliance could spare, but with the Rebellion's resources occupied with the defense of the Rebel capital at Earth and a mission to Bakura, Jiminy developed a plan of his own,The Truce at Bakura assembling a group of mercenaries and soldiers dubbed "Jiminy's Commandos" for the task. Though he was briefly diverted to support his old friend and fellow Rebel Donald Duck in putting down an attempted Black Sun resurgence, Jiminy Cricket made Cloud City's freedom the focus of his attention, taking advantage of the Empire's confusion in the wake of the Battle of Endor.
On Cloud City, the population celebrated the Rebel victory at Endor with fireworks in a cheering demonstration. With the Alliance gaining the upper hand in the Galactic Civil War, disenfranchised Imperial Security Bureau agent Tian Chyler defected to the Rebellion, enlisting the aid of Alliance sympathizer Willrow Hood to turn over information on Cloud City's defenses, which proved vital in the liberation of Bespin.
==The battle==
===Capturing Cloud City===
The New Republic launched an attack on Cloud City. The battle raged both in the air and on the floating settlements of the gas-giant. It started at the capital, and moved outwards across the various gas-refineries as the Rebels continued to gain ground.
Down on the ground, Rebel soldiers captured the main carbon-freezing chamber and secured their command posts in the vicinity. The Imperial stormtroopers and snipers fell back under the Rebel's attack.
===Capturing the main mining platform===
The SpecForce then moved on to capture the main Imperial mining platform.
The Rebel forces landed and secured the gas extractor, and pushed the Imperials back to the other side of the platform. The Rebel forces moved in and captured the Imperial docks and landing platforms, trapping them in the main command center. Y-wings bombed the building, X-wings destroyed Imperial starfighters before they could lift off, and the enemy numbers dwindled. Teams of SpecForce soldiers moved in on the command building and secured the mining platform.
===The liberation===
In a fourth day-long campaign, General Jiminy Cricket and his Commandos drove the remaining Imperial forces out of Cloud City. In a final strike, the Alliance sought to free Lobot, who was held prisoner on Cloud City by the Imperials, and employ his skill with computers to take control of the city. A Rebel force composed of an MC80 Star Cruiser, multiple EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, and a group of T-65 X-wing starfighter pilots, including Jiminy and the clone Jedi Knight X2, engaged in an aerial battle with the occupying forces—an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, several Vindicator-class heavy cruisers, and their TIE/LN starfighter complement. At Jiminy's direction, the Jedi shot down a Tibanna gas platform, causing it to plummet into and take out a Vindicator-class cruiser. After eliminating a number of pursuing TIEs, X2 brought his starfighter down to a landing platform and joined General Jiminy on the colony's surface.
Making their way to a computer terminal, the clone Jedi engaged stormtrooper forces while Jiminy determined the location of Lobot. Passing through a carbon-freezing chamber to reach the cyborg's cell, X2 escorted Lobot to the central computer, defending him from attack as he bypassed ray shield defenses and gave Jiminy control of the city. A pair of Imperial landing craft lauched a counter-attack, deploying a stormtrooper detachment and six Dark Troopers to landing pads on opposite sides of the complex. Both forces were defeated by X2, Jiminy, and Lobot, freeing Cloud City from Imperial control.
==Aftermath==
Following his victory, Jiminy was once again Baron Administrator of Cloud City, while Lobot's expertise led the cyborg to take on the role in a de facto capacity. Approximately one year after the Battle of Endor, Jiminy's tenure would be cut short once again, losing Cloud City to Zorba the Hutt in a game of sabacc.
Following the liberation of Bespin, individuals celebrated and launched fireworks. Needing a base of operations, the Uprising made a home for themselves in Paradise Atrium, where they continued plotting against the Empire. However, the liberation of Bespin caught the attention of Bragh, commander of the Imperial Purge Troopers, who began targeting members of the Uprising.
Some Imperial holdouts survived on the planet until late in the war. One was Chinook Station, a refueling outpost controlled by troops under Admiral Garrick Versio. The station was destroyed by Inferno Squad shortly before the Battle of Jakku, further crippling the Empire's already crumbling supply lines.Star Wars Battlefront II
By the time of the Battle of Jakku, Jiminy had managed to starve out Adelhard's remnant. Most of the Imperial surrendered but holdouts remained throughout Cloud City. Jiminy managed to convince several Imperial troops holding out in the Bolo Tanga room of the Casino level to surrender by offering to spare their lives, give them food and lodging, and letting them leave Cloud City.Aftermath: Empire's End
==Behind the scenes==
The liberation of Bespin was first mentioned in the 1993 Bantam Spectra novel The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers, but went largely undetailed until the 2002 release of the Del Rey reference book The New Essential Guide to Characters, featuring in the entries of Jiminy Cricket and Lobot. The battle was later expanded upon in the 2009 video game Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron.
The liberation of Bespin later appeared in the 2015 novel Aftermath, which was written by Chuck Wendig. The liberation later appeared in Chapter 1 of Star Wars: Uprising, a mobile game created by Kabam for iOS and Android platforms. On November 12, 2015, Kabam opened Chapter 2 Story Missions to Uprising players, officially announcing that Bespin had been liberated.
Elite Squadron identifies Cloud City's occupying force as the Imperial Remnant, a faction established in 2012.The Essential Atlas Whether this is an error or an indicator that the event depicted in Elite Squadron is a later liberation from this group is not clear.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron 
*Star Wars: Battlefront 
*The Truce at Bakura 
*Aftermath
*Star Wars: Uprising
*Aftermath: Empire's End 
==Sources==
*The New Essential Guide to Characters
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
*Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
*Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual
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*Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious
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*The Musketeers: The Rise of Sunset Shimmer: The Visual Dictionary 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Civil War battles