Battle of Scarif

The Battle of Scarif was a defining battle of the Galactic Civil War, one in which the Alliance to Restore the Republic won their first victory over the Galactic Empire by stealing the plans to the Death Star from the Imperial Citadel tower.

Prelude
The battle began with Rebel Marines setting off multiple explosives on the landing pads at the base on Scarif. This was followed by endless amounts of Galactic Empire soldiers attacking the pockets of rebels at the landing pads. While this was happening, Jyn Erso, Captain Cassian Andor, and K-2SO were inside the base searching for the Death Star plans. Soon after, the rest of the Alliance to Restore the Republic's fleet arrived to support the initial assault squadron. The initial assault squadron did not expect reinforcement.

The battle
Following the arrival of the Alliance's fleet, they attempted to send multiple starfighters into Scarif's deflector shield to reinforce the ground assault. Only 3 X-wings and 2 U-wings made it through the opening in the deflector shield before it was closed.

Once inside the base on Scarif, Andor, K-2SO, and Jyn made their way to the archives of the base. K-2SO began searching for the files as Andor and Jyn entered the vault. Waves of stormtroopers began entering the main archive room and K-2SO fought them off with a single blaster pistol. After withstanding what seemed like endless blaster fire, K-2SO located the Death Star plans and told Andor and Jyn to climb to it. K-2SO then locked them in the vault and was killed fending off stormtroopers.

Following this, Bodhi Rook, a former Imperial pilot, was tasked with opening the deflector shield so that the plans could be transmitted to the Rebel Alliance Flagship above the planet. Bodhi directed Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus to the master power switch for communications on Scarif. The two managed to turn off the signal disruptor but both perished to the hands of the Galactic Empire. Bodhi managed to contact the Alliance Flagship and told them they have to open the deflector shield to allow the Death Star plans to be transmitted to them. Shortly after, a thermal imploder was thrown into his ship, killing him and destroying the shuttle.

The Alliance fired multiple ion torpedoes at a Star Destroyer, disabling it. After doing so, the Alliance rammed a Hammerhead corvette into the side of the Star Destroyer, sending it on a collision course to destroy another one. Once the two Star Destroyers made contact, they were pulled in by Scarif's gravitational pull and crashed into the orbital docking station that controlled the deflector shield. Tearing the station to pieces, the Death Star plans were free to be transmitted.

Inside of the Scarif Citadel tower, Orson Krennic, along with two death troopers, opened a security door to the archive vault and began to shoot at Andor and Jyn. Andor managed to kill the two death troopers, but was hit by Krennic, rendering him unconscious. Jyn continued her ascent to the escape hatch at the top of the vault and exited onto the roof of the Scarif Base. On top of the base was the communications satellite. After reorienting the satellite, Jyn was about to send the plans to the rebels when Krennic interfered. Whilst Krennic confronted Jyn, declaring the Empire's inevitable victory, Andor regained consciousness and made his way to the roof of the station. Right before Krennic was about to kill Jyn, Andor shot Krennic. Jyn and Andor, together, successfully transmitted the Death Star plans to the Alliance flagship above Scarif.

Immediately after the transmission of the plans, the Death Star came out of hyperspace along with Darth Vader aboard The Devastator and additional Imperial reinforcements. The Death Star targeted the Scarif Base and fired. Jyn and Andor were killed along with everyone else at the Scarif Base. Once the Alliance forces had the Death Star plans, they attempted to jump to hyperspace, but a number of the fleet's ships didn't make it out, due to collision with an incoming Star Destroyer. One of the ships that remained was the Alliance flagship.

Aftermath
The Galactic Empire disabled the Alliance's flagship and began to board the ship. Led by Darth Vader, the Empire forces boarded the ship and began to attempt to regain control of the Death Star plans. The Death Star plans made it to the Tantive IV, but multiple rebel soldiers were slain by Darth Vader in the process. The Tantive IV, captained by Leia Organa, jumped into hyperspace and narrowly escaped, ending the Battle of Scarif.

Behind the scenes
The first footage of the battle was shown in the Rogue One teaser trailer on April 7, 2016. The battle of Scarif will make its first appearance in Star Wars Battlefront as a a free downloadable level available on December 6, 2016 for season pass holders. On December 16, 2016, the battle made its first formal appearance with the release of the first Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The battle ends where A New Hope begins, with Leia Organa narrowly escaping the battle aboard the Tantive IV, on route to Tatooine in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi, closely pursued by Vader himself.

Appearances

 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (novel)
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – A Junior Novel
 * Star Wars: Rogue One Secret Mission
 * Star Wars Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope