Capture of ZA-13

After stopping Zaarin's attempt to loot ZA-13. Maarek Stele was assigned to lead a new strike force to capture the plant. Emperor Palpatine had ordered that TIE Advanced production be a top military priority and ZA-13 was one of the few remaining plants that could be used to build more as many such as the Omar facilities were destroyed by Zaarin.

The Imperial attack was again led by Maarek Stele, who again led a group of 3 TIE/D Defenders into the area. Due to the fact that ZA-13 was not entirely loyal to Zaarin, the factory did not need to be disabled. There were also no craft defending the station. Once the capture operation began, however, some Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wings arrived, and began harassing Stele and his wingmen. Soon after the arrival of the Gunboats, CR90 corvettes from Caplure group arrived, to provide heavy fire support. As Stele's flight group had been armed with proton rockets, however, they proved no threat.

Once the Corvettes were dispatched, the Carrack-class light cruiser Jumimi entered the battle zone. This was again not much of a threat to Stele and his colleagues, who were able to use their remaining rockets to lower its shields, before disabling it and finishing it off with lasers.

During the battle, several Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports arrived and fired rockets at ZA-13. They were supported by a small number of TIE Avengers, making it tricky for the loyalists to destroy them without being eliminated themselves.

Throughout the battle, craft were docking with the factory to re-staff it, to supplement the staff onboard that had remained loyal to Palpatine. Zaarin's forces harassed a number of the shuttles, meaning Stele had to keep an eye on both them and the capital ships attacking the factory.

After all of Zaarin's forces had been destroyed, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Render arrived to relieve the Defenders.

With the capture operation complete, ZA-13 was now under Imperial control and was to be upgraded and retrofitted to manufacture TIE Advanced. a Convoy designated Rope 17 was to be deployed to bring the necessary materials and supplies, but was soon under Rebel attack by Rebel forces.

This battle appears in Star Wars: TIE Fighter. It is Battle 8 Mission 3.

• TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire: Official Secrets & Solutions
• TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM: The Official Strategy Guide