After rogue Grand Admiral Zaarin escaped Thrawn's attempt to trap and eliminate him using a Missile Boat convoy as bait. Zaarin soon learned that the Vorknkx Project had made a breakthrough on their progress and sent a Modified Frigate Z-Borus to attack the base. Both the circumstances of the failed trap such as the ambush in the Semag system, that prevented the Interdictor Whirlwind from participating in the crucial moment of Thrawn's trap, and the fact that the Vorknkx Project, whose ultimate goal was to create a cloaking device that could be fitted onto an Imperial Starfighter, and was known only to Emperor Palpatine, Zaarin and the project staff, caused speculation that Spies working for Zaarin are feeding him cruicial information about whatever is happening in the Empire.
Thrawn sent Maarek Stele, his best Imperial Ace in a Missile Boat, two Scout craft Sentry to lay Mines around the Vorknkx, a CR90 corvette that was the testbed of the project and some Assault Gunboat squadrons which were to arrive minutes after Stele.
When Stele arrived at the facility the staff, surprised that it was just one fighter and only hearing about its abilities, ordered Stele to intercept the attacking starfighters, while the two Scout craft began to lay the mines around the corvette. Stele engaged the modified TIE Interceptors easily eliminating them while making sure that the unshielded TIE Fighters did not reach the scout craft to attack them. Meanwhile, modified TIE Bombers launched torpedo runs on V1 and V2 scoring hits but the shields still held. Stele helped the station defenses destroy the bombers. Stele then moved onto the Frigate Borus and launched his Heavy rockets at the frigate using his SLAM to inspect the frigate before it was destroyed.
The Gunboat squadrons soon arrived to reinforce the defenses but not long afterwards 4 TIE Advanced squadrons arrived, some engaged the gunboats while others went for the facility. After taking heavy losses a couple try to escape but were ultimately shot down by Stele.
The facility was damaged but remained intact. However, with its security compromised it was only a matter of time before Zaarin would regroup his forces for another attack. Knowing Zaarin's resolve, Thrawn ordered that the research facility to be evacuated.
This battle appears in the 1994 PC game Star Wars: TIE Fighter, in Battle 11 Mission 6. This article assumes completion of all "Primary", "Secondary" and "Bonus" objectives.
- TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM: The Official Strategy Guide