During the evacuation of Yavin 4, the Alliance High Command requested her presence in order to protect the Rebel ships about to hyperspace away from the Imperial blockade.
Defiance with a refitted stern.
The vessel performed numerous missions, both individually and as part of a battle line. The Defiance was commanded by Admiral Nammo throughout the Galactic Civil War. Her Tactical Officer was Commander Devers, who assumed his position following the capture and brainwashing of his predecessor, Commander Kupalo.[3]
Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, the Defiance was trapped in the Anoat Sector with her task group, hunted by Imperial Admiral Garreth Holtz and his Corruptertask force. Defiance was eventually able to escape deep into the Outer Rim Territories, where she and her task force were able to recover from their campaign, this was accomplished thanks in part to pilot Ace Azzameen.[3]
The vessel later participated in the Battle of Endor, and pursued Imperial ships after the victory of the Alliance.[4]
A common fan theory held that the Defiancewas destroyed in the Battle of Endor by the second Death Star. This theory was based on the fact that there were only three named Home One type cruisers known at that time. Her sister ships, the Independence and the Home One, are known to have survived the battle, leaving the Defiance the one most likely to have been destroyed. This was supported in the game X-wing Alliance, in which the Defiance will be destroyed by the second Death Star if the player fails the third Battle of Endor mission.
Additionally, six years after the Battle of Endor, the New Republic built a new type of Mon Calamari cruiser: the MC90 Star Cruiser and the first ship constructed was called the Defiance. This led to the belief that the first Defiance was indeed destroyed and that the second one's name was a tribute to the first. However, in addition to being incorrect, the assumption that the name of the MC90 Defiance is a tribute is not logical if one looks at the real-world sources for these ships—the MC90 Defiance is from 1991/1992Dark Empire, while the first Defiance is from the 1993X-wing game.
Issue 99 of Computer Gaming World, released in October1992, featured a preview of Star Wars: X-wing which described transitions between missions taking place on the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Dreadnought and at a Calamari space port. The Independence and the Defiance appear to take the place of these in the finished game, with the Defiance replacing the Dreadnought.