Battle of Berchest
| Battle of Berchest | |
| Second Galactic Civil War | |
| Date | Year 4 Day 126 |
| Location | Berchest System |
| Result | Imperial Victory |
| Belligerents | |
| Rebel Alliance | Galactic Empire |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Unknown | Vir Calder |
| Strength | |
| One Mon Calamari Cruiser Several support ships X-Wing and Y-Wing starfighters | One Imperial Star Destroyer Several support ships TIE starfighters |
| Casualties and Losses | |
| Two corvettes Several starfighters | Many starfighters |
The Berchest System was the seat of the Fakir Sector and housed the headquarters of Imperial Research and Development. The two positions of Moff of the sector and head of IRD were both held by Vir Calder.
On Year 4 Day 123, Emperor J. Charon relayed to Calder that Imperial Intelligence had intercepted Rebel communications on an impending raid on Berchest. While it was unclear whether the main objective of the raid was Imperial defenses or IRD facilities, Calder was ordered to center the system fleet around the main IRD research station.
Three days later, on Year 4 Day 126, Rebel raiders dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of Berchest System. The opening stage of the battle saw Imperial TIE Fighters becoming entangled with Rebel X-Wings and Y-Wings. The TIEs suffered very heavy casualties from concussion missiles, but enough survived to pose danger to the Y-Wings, forcing them to break formation. As the capital ships got in range with each other and the space in-between become littered with blasts, sensor crew aboard Shadowstone, flagship of of the Fakir Sector Fleet, detected two shuttles departing a Rebel Mon Calamari cruiser. The shuttles headed directly for the IRD station, thus making clear that the station was indeed a Rebel objective. Calder transmitted an encrypted order to the station, and a freighter, apparently already loaded and ready to depart, took off from the station and entered hyperspace. The Rebel shuttles, presumably occupied by commandos, were destroyed before they were able to reach the station. The destruction of these two shuttles did not immediately end the engagement, but the weight of turbolasers from the Shadowstone and other support ships wore down the Rebel cruiser, leading to the cruiser's eventual escape into hyperspace. Belatedly realizing that he had failed to pre-emptively seal off the escape route, Calder ordered the sector fleet to give chase, but the fleet could only take down two corvettes which were already damaged during the raid.
The Imperial forces lost many starfighter pilots, but the larger ships emerged nearly unharmed. The Rebels lost two corvettes and several starfighters.
Imperial reinforcements arrived in less than 24 hours from a neighboring system to guard against a second wave of the attack, which did not materialize.
