Brief History of Death Squadron

Established in response to the open Rebellion now engaged across the galaxy, Death Squadron was formed as the main force tasked with crushing the head of the Rebel Alliance. Under the command of the Lord Darth Vader, he supported and pushed for the completion of the Super Star Destroyer Executor which would serve as his new flagship as Supreme Commander of Imperial forces. Under him, Executor was planned to lead the spearhead reprisal to destroy the contained Rebel forces at Yavin who were under blockade by his fleet when the Executor was under construction. Due to conflicting interests the plan was thwarted by local Sector Commander Admiral Griff who was in charge of the blockade and sought to claim victory himself, which cost him his life and Vaders chance at capturing the Rebel fleet as it attempted to escape.

After this the Executor would return to Imperial space and Kuat for formal commissioning and the formal creation of Death Squadron under Vaders command. The first fleet action the combined Death Squadron saw after Yavin was at a Rebel rally point known as Deep Space Besh. Thanks to the capture of an alliance agent Jorin Sol who was brainwashed into sabotaging the fleets nav computers and revealing the location of the fleet. The fleet barely escaped thanks to Sol who broke free of his brainwashing, however this severally crippled the alliance who lost a major portion of the fleet against Death Squadron which for this operation had been reinforced with a full Sector Groups worth of Star Destroyers. After this escape the Executor and Death Squadron scoured the galaxy for signs of the Rebels, eventually uncovering their base at Hoth. Admiral Ozzel who had been put in command after a slue of other commanders had rotated through Executors command during her shakedown cruise, made the mistake of going against the Dark Lord too many times and after brining the fleet in close to Hoth and alerting the Rebels of their presence Vader had him executed and had the Executors Captain, Firmus Piett promoted to Fleet Admiral. Following the Battle of Hoth and subsequent attempts to hunt down the Rebels and Luke Skywalker, Death Squadron dispersed again to continue the hunt while Vader was recalled to Coruscant. Piett transferring his flag to the Star Destroyer Accuser, his old command, while Vader took the Executor which ended up under the command of one the Emperors favored Admirals, Ledre Okins, who lead a task force against the rebel shipyards in the Vergesso Asteroids.

Finally the squadron was reunited in the leadup to the Battle of Endor, Executor back under Admiral Pietts command was put in charge of the second Death Stars defense and command of the fleet which once again consisted of over two dozen Imperial Star Destroyers, numerous escort ships, several battle cruisers including the communications cruiser Pride of Tarlandia. This would be the largest and most powerful Death Squadron would ever be. The Battle of Endor however would see the decimation of the fleet. Held back by Emperor Palpatine the fleet did not engage the Rebel Fleet as it fell into the trap. When the Rebel fleet closed with the Star Destroyers to find cover from the Death Star a brawling battle ensued and many Star Destroyers were lost. The Executor was overwhelmed by bombardments from Home One and numerous other starfighters and capital ships causing her bridge shield grid to overload. A single A-Wing unable to pull out of its attack run chose suicide and dove into the bridge. Seeing the oncoming danger too late Admiral Piett and Commander Gherant dove for the safety of the crew pits which would seal in case of a hull breach. No records exist but its likely that with the extensive damage cause by the crash of the A-Wing into the open rear areas of the bridge and consuming secondary explosions that Piett and those few bridge crew in the crew pits likely survived for a few minuets before the out of control Executor crashed into the Second Death Star and exploded.

After this the fleet lost total cohesion, the secondary flagship, the battlecruiser Pride of Tarlandia, which was the main source of the jamming at Endor and relaying communications for the rest of the fleet, was lost as well. The chain of command broke down until the third in command, Admiral Horst Strage, was killed on the Chimaera. Following continual losses the Chimaera's captain, Gilad Pellaeon ordered a retreat. While not the senior most officer in system, including Admirals Adye Prittick, Blitzer Harrsk, and even Grand Admirals who had been in attendance aboard the Second Death Star, the massive jamming from both fleets and the loss of the ships powerful enough to relay orders, the last designated command ship was the Chimaera and those ships followed the retreat orders. Several ships were lost and captured by the Rebels after the withdrawal. The Devastator, Vaders former flagship was destroyed, Accuser was captured, the last ship to fall was the Eleemosynary under Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik who would be executed for war crimes he didn't commit by the Rebel Alliance.

After Endor Death Squadron ceased to be as a fleet, arriving at Annaj the various surviving flag officers from other forces attached to Death Squadron convinced Pellaeon to relinquish his command by dint of their rank. After that the fleet fragmented as chaos caused by the Emperors death left Imperial Center unable to react. Admiral Harrsk absconded with various ships and went on to declared himself the first warlord. The rest of the fleet splintered, some joining warlords, others remining loyal to the Empire, but Death Squadron as a force on paper was dissolved. Many of her ships would continue in Imperial Service. The Chimaera was the last flagship of Death Squadron and would go on along with other Death Squadron ships to form the core of Grand Admiral Thrawn's armada in his efforts to restore the Empire. Only a few would survive until the final peace treaty signed aboard the Chimaera, the last remnant of one of the most powerful armadas in galactic history.