system
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human
[Star Wars:A New Hope] Why didn't the rebels evacuate Yavin IV immediately?

So I was just watching a youtube video about the battle of Yavin IV and it caused me to think of the above question. Like I understand they had the plan to destroy the Deathstar but it was a long shot at best. Why not begin evacuating non essential personnel while the battle was taking place? In every other instance of the Empire discovering a rebel base we see the rebels fly into action with already prepared evacuation procedures, why not at Yavin? 

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Furthermore why take the time for the medal ceremony? How did the rebels know an imperial fleet wasn't going to drop out of hyperdrive right on top of them at any time? For that matter why didn't an imperial fleet follow up the deathstar? Its my understanding that in the original trilogy the main thing keeping the empire from wiping the rebels out was not being able to locate them. With the discovery that they were on Yavin IV you would think every imperial star destroyer in the sector would be bearing down on that location.
gpt
If you buy the idea that the Death Star left a debris field, they might not have been able to immediately. Furthermore, the Imperial Navy might not have *known*. A lot of the fleet probably didn't have a clue about it because the fewer people who *know*, the less people there are to compromise the operational schedule. Also, as they're space fascists and thus prone to grandiose displays of smug superiority, thus sending in the Death Star alone to say "Our one big doomsday weapon took out the entire rebellion alone without support, kneel before our big gray kill boner!" and Tarkin basically *was* the imperial navy command structure. There was probably a round of backstabbing and jockeying for position once the news went out that he was dead.

It probably took a good week or two to get things settled and bring in the destroyers. As for the Rebels, why would they try to evacuate before the Death Star's gone? They'd just get shot down if they failed to take it out. There were a LOT of tie fighters on that thing. The Medal ceremony was basically them saying "We honour *our* heroes. Be like them and we'll be sipping blue milk on Coruscant by Life Day, boys."