Battle of Coruscant/Legends

"Now is the time to strike. Now is the time to launch our final offensive."

- Darth Sidious

The Second Battle of Coruscant during the Clone Wars, usually referred to as the Battle of Coruscant, was an attempt by the Confederacy of Independent Systems to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and take the Republic capital.

The Separatist invasion of the planet
Prior to the attack, the Outer Rim Sieges had enmeshed millions of Republic and Separatist warships in vast campaigns in the galaxy's spiral arms. As a result of this, most of the Republic's Jedi were locked up in battles far away from the Core, and the general populace believed that a total Republic victory was near.

With the Republic fleets in the Outer Rim and the Home Fleet depleted and off-guard, General Grievous assembled an armada of a few dozen battleships and thousands of destroyers and frigates&mdash;led by the Providence-class destroyer Invisible Hand&mdash;for a bold strike on Coruscant.

Through the use of a secret hyperspace passage through the Deep Core supplied to them by Darth Sidious, the Separatists managed to jump right on top of the Coruscant Home Fleet, catching them completely by surprise. Groups of Confederacy warships managed to penetrate the defensive envelope before the Republic fleet had time to respond. Using a jamming device similar to the one deployed at the Battle of Praesitlyn, the Confederate Navy managed to disrupt all HoloNet transmissions throughout the planet.

General Grievous had timed the strike to coincide with Chancellor Palpatine's State of the Republic Address. Thousands of delegates that would otherwise not have been on Coruscant remained onworld for post-speech celebrations, and were now witnesses to the terrifying attack.

In the first moments of the battle, Grievous' fleet managed to catch several Republic Star Destroyers with their shields down, destroying them with ease. However, once the initial surprise wore off, the Republic fleet closed in on the Confederate ships and positioned themselves in a defensive screen around the planet. Grievous tried to create the impression that his strike was a desperation tactic, as he haphazardly dispersed his warships to target communications satellites, orbital mirrors, and random targets on the surface.



Numerically inferior due to half the home fleet being reassigned to the Outer Rim Sieges, the Republic naval commanders fought conservatively while they awaited for reinforcements to arrive from the distant battlefields. Anticipating this, Grievous positioned warships at key hyperspace reversion points and deployed mass shadow mines to delay the arrival of any additional Republic ships.

The Republic quickly figured that the Confederacy was using the same jamming device as they did on Praesitlyn, and were able to quickly return transmissions to normal. They also began inflicting heavy losses on the CIS fleet, even managing to destroy several battleships. In retaliation, General Grievous ordered Vulture droid fighters to perform suicide attacks on landing platforms, skyways, and pedestrian plazas in Coruscant's Senate District. Separatist landing craft were deployed onto the surface of the planet, unloading hundreds of millions of battle droids to create an elaborate diversion while Grievous attempted to capture the Supreme Chancellor with a raiding party from the Invisible Hand.

Jedi Master Saesee Tiin led a group of twenty-two Jedi interceptors, including Bultar Swan and Agen Kolar, past the Separatist blockade in order to relay a distress signal through the Jedi's emergency HoloNet beacon. Tiin then proceeded to help lead the orbital defense of Coruscant. He landed in the massive hangar of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Impavid. The vessel was critically damaged by enemy turbolaser fire, and Master Tiin and his troops boarded the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Prosperous, commandeering it and using the ship's turrets to blast other enemy ships.

Yoda and Mace Windu led the clone security forces on the surface in the defense of the besieged Senate District. After ordering Shaak Ti and Stass Allie to find and protect the Chancellor, Windu and Kit Fisto boarded Jedi interceptors and engaged enemy starfighters in the skies above Galactic City. Mace's starfighter was eventually overwhelmed by Separatist ships. Though his wings were rammed off, sending his fighter plunging down, he managed to jump out and take control of an enemy Vulture droid.



Elsewhere, Yoda used the Force to throw droidekas into enemy fighters and pull enemy landing craft into one another. Afterwards, he moved to help clone forces being overrun by Separatist super battle droids in Sector Four. Mace Windu crash-landed his Vulture droid in the middle of the battle droid formation and proceeded to help Yoda and the clone troopers, led by ARC Captain Fordo.

Despite their successes, they realized too late that the Republic had been lured into a feint and that General Grievous had outmaneuvered them to reach his primary objective&mdash;Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

The capture of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
As the battle raged around his quarters in 500 Republica, Palpatine's advisors begged him to evacuate his apartment and move to a hardened bunker in the Sah'c District. Soon, Shaak Ti and Stass Allie arrived and ordered the Chancellor to evacuate his apartment.

Before they could leave, Grievous crashed though the apartment window, intent on grabbing the Chancellor right in the midst of his security force. The Jedi managed to escape with Palpatine, while a squad of clone troopers and a Senate Guard remained behind to deal with the General. Disposing of this force with his four lightsabers, Grievous went after the Chancellor and his Jedi bodyguards, pulling off acrobatic maneuvers comparable to the Jedi themselves, but again they managed to elude him.

After alerting Homeworld Security that Grievous had broken through the defenses, Shaak Ti took the Chancellor and his entourage of Red Guards to Republica's sub-basements. There, they met up with Mace Windu and Kit Fisto and commandeered a mag-lev train that would take them close to the bunker complex.

However, battle droids boarded the train, followed by Grievous himself. Fisto took on two of the General's elite IG-100 MagnaGuards while Mace dueled the droid warlord atop the train. After an intense duel and despite his magnetic feet, Grievous was thrown from the roof, but managed to commandeer a Republic gunship while his gunboat led his pursuers on a wild chase throughout the city.

After several duels and narrow escapes, the Chancellor and the Jedi arrived at a turboshaft leading to the bunker. Staying behind to deal with any hostiles, Shaak Ti sent Roron Corobb, Foul Moudama, and Roth-Del Masona and B'ink Utrila down with the Chancellor in case she failed, but it was all in vain.



The captured gunship opened fire on Shaak Ti and Stass Allie, and Grievous emerged. The general and his MagnaGuards cut a swathe through Palpatine's guards, killing more than forty clone troopers. While Shaak Ti fought off dozens of MagnaGuards, Grievous slaughtered all four Jedi Knights inside the bunker and seized the Chancellor. When Shaak Ti finally arrived, having sensed the set-up, she was quickly disarmed, and left trussed up by a force field wire in order to inform her rescuers that the Chancellor was gone.

Master Windu arrived and discovered the slaughter of the Jedi and Red guards. Though Windu was astounded by the General's audacious move, he and Kit Fisto were soon in hot pursuit, along with other Jedi pilots including Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Pablo-Jill.

The mission of the 501st Legion
Meanwhile, the 501st Legion was immediately given mission objectives to board their starfighters in a Venator-class Star Destroyer's hangar and head out to counter the Separatist fighters.

The pilots proceeded to destroy a Munificent-class star frigate, as well as the shields and communications array of a Providence-class carrier/destroyer. Several 501st fighters then landed in the enemy cruiser hangar, exited their vehicles, and manually blew up the inner engine cooling tanks. Jumping back into their fighters, the pilots circled the Providence cruiser, destroying its bridge and leaving it utterly defenseless for some Jedi to board. Meanwhile, Grievous' shuttle sped into orbit, flying through the heart of the battle to reach Invisible Hand, another Providence-class ship.

A failed rescue
As the shuttle carrying Chancellor Palpatine and General Grievous neared the Invisible Hand, several Republic frigates and corvettes diverted from the main battle and joined the Jedi in their pursuit. Unfortunately, just as they were getting close, a swarm of five hundred droid fighters launched from a Trade Federation battleship and enveloped the shuttle in a defensive screen.

As the shuttle neared its destination, the flagship opened fire on the pursuing Jedi fighters. While one of their comrades was killed, Generals Pablo-Jill and L'lacielo Sageon were tractor beamed into the Invisible Hand's hangar bay. The two Jedi attempted to rescue the Chancellor, but were killed by Grievous in a lightsaber duel. Their bodies were jettisoned into space for the entire Republic to see. Safely aboard his command ship, General Grievous broadcast a fear-inspiring message across the HoloNet, revealing the capture of the Chancellor, and proclaiming an end to the Republic's corrupt reign. However, before he could flee, thousands of Republic warships from the Open Circle Armada arrived in system and engaged the Invisible Hand and its escorts. The reinforcements and the beleaguered home fleet trapped the Separatist fleet in Coruscant's upper atmosphere, under the planetary shields.

Meanwhile, on the Outer Rim planet Nelvaan, word of the attack on Coruscant reached Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, who immediately readied their interceptors and prepared for battle. Count Dooku also joined Grievous after he escaped the legendary duo on Tythe.

Skywalker and Kenobi's intervention
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this!"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Unable to escape Coruscant, the Invisible Hand had sustained heavy damage from the guns of the Republic Star Destroyers over the course of a full day of battle. A screen of Separatist battleships, destroyers, and frigates sheltered the flagship from further harm, but after hours of sustained fighting, the craft's deflector shields were failing.

At that instant Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived with a vanguard from the Fifth Fleet of the Open Circle Armada. As they approached, they found hundreds of Vulture fighters and tri-fighters swarming protectively around the General's command ship, and the Jedi engaged the defensive fighters with the help of Clone Flight Squad Seven. As they closed in on the destroyer, Kenobi's astromech droid R4-P17 was destroyed by buzz droids. Soon, the buzz droids disabled Kenobi's Jedi interceptor as well. When Skywalker desperately tried to save his wingman, he smashed into Obi-Wan's starfighter, clipping his upper left stabilizer and destroying the starboard dorsal radiator, but succeeded in knocking the buzz droids off his left engine compartment.

As they hurtled toward Grievous' flagship, Anakin took advantage of the fact that the warship's main deflector shields had been partially compromised and shot out the atmospheric containment shield protecting the hangar bay entrance. The two tiny fighters breached the vessel's defenses and crash-landed in the hangar, eliminating all security droid resistance. After R2-D2 located Palpatine's homing beacon, they headed towards the signal emanating from the upper observation deck.



The Jedi were quickly surrounded by more droids in the hall but sliced their way free. R2-D2 accessed a turbolift's controls and helped bring Kenobi and Skywalker to the top of the Invisible Hand's conning tower&mdash;the location of the General's quarters&mdash;where Palpatine was being held captive.

Before the Jedi could release him, however, Count Dooku arrived, flanked by two super battle droids. Leaping down from the balcony whence he came, he engaged the Jedi in a duel. Kenobi and Dooku seemed to tire as Skywalker furiously pushed the Count up a set of stairs to a balcony. On the staircase opposite, Kenobi took out the two super battle droids with ease, but Dooku caught him off guard and threw him aside with a powerful Force push. Debris toppled over him, leaving the Jedi unconscious. Skywalker was then forced to face the Sith Lord alone. Using his superior strength and aggressive lightsaber technique, Anakin overpowered Dooku's defenses and cut off both his hands.

The shackled Palpatine applauded Anakin's victory and encouraged him to kill Dooku. Anakin initially hesitated, seeing that Dooku was now defeated and claiming that it was not the Jedi way to execute a defenseless enemy. Despite his misgivings, Skywalker soon gave in to his anger and sense of justice and sliced Dooku's head off, bringing an end to the Separatist firebrand's reign.



As the confrontation between the Jedi and Sith ended, the Invisible Hand entered a direct engagement with the Venator-class Star Destroyer Guarlara, exchanging broadsides with the warship. Sustaining crippling damage, the Separatist command ship temporarily fell toward Coruscant before regaining control. However, with artificial gravity, tensor fields, and inertial compensators failing, the ship had become a rapidly decaying spacewreck. Escape was now Anakin's priority. He gathered up the unconcious Obi-Wan, despite Palpatine's demand to leave him, and headed back for the bank of turbolifts.

Obi-Wan soon regained consciousness and the Jedi headed for the hangar with the Chancellor. Before they could reach the main hangar bay, a ray shield trapped them in one of the ship's many hallways. The Jedi, along with the Chancellor and R2-D2, were captured and taken to the Invisible Hand's bridge and brought before General Grievous.



The droid general took Kenobi and Skywalker's lightsabers, boasting about adding them to his collection, but with a sudden lifting of the shroud of the dark side, an inspired Obi-Wan managed to retrieve them as he freed Anakin and himself. Grievous summoned his MagnaGuards to dispose of the troublesome duo, but the skilled Jedi soon defeated them. The two closed in on Grievous, intent on capturing or killing him, but the cyborg warlord threw an overloaded electrostaff into the damaged bridge viewport, shattering it violently. Grievous allowed himself to be sucked out into space, and later re-entered the ship through an escape pod hatch. In an attempt to foil the Jedi and Chancellor's escape, he launched every escape pod on his flagship and fled to a nearby Trade Federation battleship. Simultaneously, a communications error between Republic forces led to Home Fleet Strike Group Five savagely attacking Invisible Hand, this time dealing fatal damage to the ship's systems. The Separatist command ship began a meteoric plunge toward Coruscant.

Taking control of the helm, Skywalker attempted to pilot the wreck to a safe landing on Coruscant. Losing structural integrity, the entire rear end of the Invisible Hand tore off due to atmospheric stresses. Despite this, Anakin successfully crash-landed the ship on a long runway in Galactic City. With the loss of their flagship and the recovery of their supreme commander, Grievous, the surviving elements of the depleted Separatist armada retreated in disgrace to the Outer Rim.

Aftermath
It was later revealed that the battle's only purpose was to get Darth Sidious off the capital to thwart the Jedi's attempts to track him down. Sidious also used the capture of his alter ego Palpatine to see if Anakin Skywalker could use his anger to defeat Count Dooku and become the perfect apprentice for Sidious. He was able to create a ruse so effective that even the most focused of Jedi were fooled.

The loss of Count Dooku made General Grievous the head of state of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, but it greatly destabilized the Separatists' power structure. Without the assurances of victory from the Sith Apprentice, the members of the Separatist Council began to doubt the abilities of their new leader to keep them safe for much longer. The Jedi Council made tracking down Grievous and bringing him to justice their utmost priority.

The chaos of the battle left Coruscant's populace shaken and frightened of more Separatist attacks. This left them all the more willing to cede more power to the Chancellor's Office for their security, and it caused them to celebrate when Palpatine declared an end to the Galactic Republic and the beginning of the First Galactic Empire a week later.

Galactic Republic

 * Stass Allie
 * Alpha-77
 * CC-4477
 * Roron Corobb
 * Davijaan
 * Dyne
 * Kit Fisto
 * Armand Isard
 * Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Ki-Adi-Mundi
 * Agen Kolar
 * Plo Koon
 * Drake Lo'gaan
 * Roth-Del Masona
 * Foul Moudama
 * Lorth Needa
 * L'lacielo Sageon
 * Barrow Oicunn
 * Lari Oll
 * Pablo-Jill
 * R2-D2
 * R4-P17
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Bultar Swan
 * Shaak Ti
 * Saesee Tiin
 * B'ink Utrila
 * Valiant
 * Mace Windu
 * Yoda

Confederacy of Independent Systems

 * Lushros Dofine
 * Dooku
 * Nas Ghent
 * Grievous
 * IG-101
 * IG-102
 * R77

Galactic Republic

 * Guarlara
 * Impavid
 * Indomitable
 * Integrity
 * Mas Ramdar
 * Perseverance
 * Ro-ti-Mundi

Confederacy of Independent Systems

 * Invisible Hand
 * Patriot Fist
 * Prosperous
 * Tide of Progress XII

Behind the scenes
The New Essential Chronology states that the battle lasted for a week. However, most other sources indicate it lasted for a much shorter time, with the Revenge of the Sith novelization stating it lasted only a "long, long day."

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * "Chapter 22"
 * "Chapter 23"
 * "Chapter 24"
 * "Chapter 25"
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II