"No. Leave them to me, I will deal with them myself...&

[The Original Nex]

Why not jam their transmissions before getting a tractor lock?

Would still look suspicious. Maybe the landing party had to check in at appointed times? I don't know.

Maybe the landing party had their own probe droid to be launched in case of the operation failing? Its kind of stupid to assume they had no way of warning the fleet in the event they didn't make it to Endor.

I was under the impression tht the Rebels were completely on their own after leaving the fleet. There's no indication anywhere that they had checkpoints to contact the fleet, nor that they had some sort of probe.

As to it being stupid, this was to be the Rebellion's last hurrah. They were going all in, no going back.

When Han and Co. are waiting in suspense for the confirmation of their code, Han never says, "If they don't go for this we'll have to contact the fleet." He says "If they don't go for this we're gonna have to get outta here pretty quick."

It seems their contingency plan was blasting out of there as fast as their little shuttle would take them.

And remember, the Rebels don't think the Empire knows about their little attack, so they wouldn't risk ANY sort of transmission that they thought would have any chance of giving the Empire the entire Rebel fleet's position away.

[Darth Servo]

I was under the impression tht the Rebels were completely on their own after leaving the fleet. There's no indication anywhere that they had checkpoints to contact the fleet, nor that they had some sort of probe.

It doesn't say explicitly either way.

As to it being stupid, this was to be the Rebellion's last hurrah. They were going all in, no going back.

but still, it would be stupid and a waste to send in the fleet if the shield wasn't knocked down.

When Han and Co. are waiting in suspense for the confirmation of their code, Han never says, "If they don't go for this we'll have to contact the fleet." He says "If they don't go for this we're gonna have to get outta here pretty quick."

Well, sure, Han would certainly prefer escape to capture, but if capture is inevitable, they would still need a back up plan. Afterall, we leave the stupidity to other sci-fi franchises (no names though).

And remember, the Rebels don't think the Empire knows about their little attack, so they wouldn't risk ANY sort of transmission that they thought would have any chance of giving the Empire the entire Rebel fleet's position away.

The intelligent thing to do is to always plan for the worst. IF their signal was tracked, the fleet could always scatter.

[vakundok]

And the 'he will seek you out' is very different from 'you capture him', so it would crush the emperor's plan for Luke (but not his plan for the battle).

Well, it all depends on how you interpret "seek out" It oculd mean subconciously being drawn to Vader, or actively looking for him. In the end, it turned out to be the latter, but, it could be taken either way.

EMPEROR: Then you must go to the Sanctuary Mon and wait for him.
VADER: (skeptical) He will come to me?
EMPEROR: I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you, and then you will bring him before me.

It ment 'active seek'.

Whoever had full command of the garrison was most likely ordered to not impede the Rebels until the final attack was made, but his underlings, like the scout troopers, the AT-AT commander etc. would not be aware of any of the plan. No doubt if the Emperor wanted the Rebels caught on Endor, they would have been whenever the Imperials decided to.

I have doubts about it. That 'whenever' would have required continous tracking of the rebel team. Something I have no evidence for.

COMMANDER: ... Although he denies it, I believe there may be more of them and I request permission to conduct a further search of the area.

To me it does not sound as the imperials would have sucessfully tracked the rebel team.

As to the AT-AT not being present at the battle, it's a simple matter that an AT-AT walker was not deemed a necessity by the Imperial Garrison commander to capture a dozen Rebel Commandos. And therefore, was elsewhere with the rest of the Garrison's forces.

Some of the imperials escaped back into the bunker before it was closed again. So, the base commander knew quite soon after it that there were not only the rebels.

I think you overestimate the scouts. Do not forget that the imperial forces with many scouts were definitely surprised by masses of ewoks from a couple dozens of meters. (Not to mention the six stormtroopers wo went even closer to capture the droids.)

My point was that Imperials surely knew exactly where the Ewok villiage was.

And my point was that it was not that sure. Fact: We saw quite a number of scouts in an area. Problem: That area was where a shuttle had been lost, so it was not necceserely a sign of a complete scouting network. Or is the ITW book more precise?
Fact: The scouts were unable to detect ewoks (or a mass of them) even from very close /remember the scout(s) who wanted to capture Leia/. Problem: Why do you think they would have been able to detect ewoks from likely longer distance when that distance is vertical as an addition?

[Tychu]

I belive that Vader just needed to get Luke alone. He knew Luke was on board and he knew Luke was going to go to him.

Its also the old make your enemy belive they succeded but you actually have them in a trap. They call their friends to come on in "the doors open" then you crush them in your fist