Whatever answer arose had to fit within 3 major guidelines;
1. The solution must fit the Canon
2. Defending forces must be believable and portray a realism similar to other worlds
3. Alderaan must be sufficiently protected from major Imperial raids and still be balanced in the Mod for sensible campaigning
In the original campaign map, Alderaan was directly connected to the Imperial Fleet over Kashyyyk, giving a major challenge to point no 3. This was fairly easily fixed with the addition of buffer worlds between Alderaan and Kashyyyk, and to date Kattada has been added as a minor Rebel world, and there is the possibility of yet more neutral worlds being added, thereby delaying the contact between these two key locations.
Basic research provided good background material to expand point no 2. Alderaan is a popular trading loction, and would attract a sizeable independent trading fleet, which naturally would require at least a basic planetary defence force to keep order and ensure a flourishing trading economy. Furthermore, the planet is home to the Alderaan Royal Engineers, with a history of starship production dating back 30,000 years to the start of the Old Republic. While these shipwrights designed such craft as the Thranta-class War Cruiser and the Alderaanian War Frigate, the majority of these ships were scrapped when Alderaan demilitarised after the Clone Wars. Despite this political maneuver, Alderaan retained one of the best defensive forces in the Empire, but of what?
Demilitarised ships can only mean one thing – all lethal weaponry has been removed and replaced with ion cannon. While you can’t kill with an ion cannon, it forms the basis for a superb defence system. With no more Thranta’s we have assumed that the Royal Engineers have taken damaged Clone-Wars stock and refurbished/refitted with ion cannon armaments, giving a basic defense fleet of over 150 elite Delta-7 Aethersprite Interceptors; supported by half a dozen ion cannon armed DP-10 Gunships, whose warheads have been swapped out for plasma torpedoes instead of the standard concussion missile systems.
In addition, the Rebel Alliance has also secretly negotiated the purchase of merchant stocks from the bankrupt Gallofree Yards, including the perfect craft for a defensive fleet – the Gozanti Cruiser.
Non-lethal Gozanti Cruisers at work
This heavily armed modified transport was originally designed to defend merchant vessels from piracy and part of the design specification required slow sublight speeds to make it useless for raids and therefore prevent it being used by the pirates themselves. In addition, its configuration often tricks pirates into believing it is a nice fat merchant, instead of an armed cruiser! Although the original armaments included multiple laser and quad laser cannons, conversion of these to ion cannon has not reduced its efficiency and this is a deadly opponent to all but the best starfighter pilots. If that was not enough, the standard proton torpedo system has been upgraded to take magna-pulse warheads.
Although highly effective against pirates and other small craft, the Gozanti cruisers are no match for heavier warships. To handle this threat, Alderaan maintains several dozen ARC-170 bombers, also sporting ion cannons and magna-pulse armaments, to swiftly immobilise any Star Destroyer captain foolish enough to threaten Alderaan’s peaceful existence. A quartet of converted Carrack Light Cruisers provide long range supporting turbo-ion fire.
Star Destroyer in trouble
The covert presence of pro-Alliance and independent freighter pilots, some of which are very well armed, add a final sting in Alderaan’s tail, and these can easily cause heavy hull damage to any cruiser that has been immobilised with a magna-pulse strike.
Finally, with Bail Organa’s Tantive IV and Raymus Antilles’ Sundered Heart in orbit, and with the Royal Engineers providing superb construction yards in support, Alderaan can easily provide excellent intelligence gathering activities to Rebel Commanders, and with a little time, this defensive fleet could be augmented with traditional warships to provide the Alliance with a formidable strike force.
The Alderaanian fleet on a strike mission
