In order to destroy Death Star II, the Rebel Alliance developed a two-pronged strategy: Han Solo and his strike team would destroy the superweapon’s shield generator on Endor, while Lando Calrissian, piloting the Millennium Falcon, would lead an aerial assault. But when the Alliance came to mount its attack, the Emperor revealed a terrible surprise: though it remained structurally incomplete, the Death Star II was still a “fully armed and operational battle station.” He gave the order to fire at will, and easily destroyed one of the Rebel fleet’s large Mon Calamari star cruisers. Yet Lando refused to retreat, and instead engaged the Empire’s TIE fighters and Star Destroyers. This improvisation gave Rebel ground forces more time, and Han was eventually able to destroy Death Star II’s shield generator. Lando and Wedge Antilles (in an X-wing) both flew inside the superstructure, knocking out its main reactor and finally destroying Death Star II.

Large pieces of the second Death Star landed in the oceans of the moon Kef Bir, poisoning the waters around them. Decades after the Battle of Endor, Rey explored these ruins in search of a Sith wayfinder hidden away in Palpatine’s vault.