Thought exercise, to make sure I'm right about a timing issue that hasn't really mattered before.

After defending, you may perform a free action.

Action: Choose 1 ship at Range 1-2 that has a lower pilot skill than you.

The chosen ship may immediately perform 1 free action.

As I understand it, if you attack Valen Rudor...

• ...and he survives, he can Squad Leader a free action to a buddy.
• ...and he is destroyed, he is removed from play before his ability can trigger so he can't Squad Leader a free action to a buddy.
• ...and he would be destroyed, but is kept in play by the Simultaneous Fire rule, he can Squad Leader a free action to a buddy.

Yes.

Destruction takes place immediately so there's no time for his ability to trigger.

Now to be honest the Simultaneous Fire rule, that's questionable, the rule states...

During the Combat phase, all ships with a pilot skill value equal to the active ship have the opportunity to attack before being destroyed. If a ship would be destroyed and it has the same pilot skill value as the active ship but has not had an opportunity to attack yet, it is not destroyed.

Then it also says...

After a ship has resolved its opportunity to attack, before it is destroyed, it can resolve any abilities that trigger after performing an attack.

So, I'm not sure that RAW you can use his ability if he's still around due to the simultaneous fire rule. It says nothing about being able to perform free actions, only that you can resolve abilities that trigger after performing an attack.

This is a case where I think a FAQ is needed, because although I think RAW is at least semi clear, I think RAI would allow you to.

He'd only be able to get off the action post-mortem if killed in Simultaneous Fire.