Liberation of Coruscant (Galactic Civil War)

"I'll let history decide my role in this battle. Like a friend of mine once said, whether I'm a traitor or hero will ultimately be decided by who wins this war. And quite frankly, General, your side isn't looking too good."

- New Republic General Brenn Tantor to Imperial Grand General Malcor Brashin

The First Battle of Coruscant also known as the Liberation of Coruscant and the Siege of Coruscant, was a conflict during the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the fledgling New Republic.

The background
Upon hearing of the death of Palpatine, citizens on Coruscant (then Imperial Center) staged an uprising - attacking Imperial forces in the streets, setting off fireworks, toppling statues of Palpatine, and desecrating other symbols of the Empire. Many citizens died in the resulting Imperial crackdown, and the planet remained in Imperial hands.

Despite Emperor Palpatine's death in 4 ABY at the Battle of Endor, the squabbling Imperial warlords still ruled most of the Galaxy. Coruscant was in the hands of Ysanne Isard, Director of Imperial Intelligence, and with the New Republic realizing the importance of the galactic capital, it was decided that the planet would be captured in order to eliminate the Empire more quickly.

To start off the invasion, the New Republic began capturing strategic worlds near the Coruscant system, including Borleias. In 6.5 ABY the Provisional Council made the decision to have a covert mission sent to Coruscant to guage the Imperial presence on that world in preparation for an invasion.

Sabotage
"It looks as if Rogue Squadron has done it &mdash; they've taken down the planetary shields."

- Beri Tulon to Tyr Taskeen and Brenn Tantor

However, Coruscant was protected by a powerful energy shield. Before the attack could begin, the shields would have to fall. Therefore, Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron were sent undercover into Imperial City to sabotage the shield generator.

Sixteen of the galaxy's worst criminals were also freed from the prison colony of Kessel and loosed on Imperial City so that they could create a diversion to distract the Empire. The Rebels would later regret this; these criminals would go on to resurrect the Black Sun organization.

As the criminal riot continued, Rogue Squadron decided that if they could condense a large amount of water and create a super storm, they could destroy the energy shield protecting Coruscant with lightning strikes.

To do so, the Rogue operatives hijacked a Construction droid to take them to the command building. There, they took remote control of one of the orbiting solar mirrors. The tightly focused light beam from the solar mirror rapidly boiled one of the planet's reservoirs. This caused a huge storm and the shields soon collapsed.

The siege
"We've analyzed Coruscant's defenses, and we've found a weakness."

- General Tyr Taskeen to General Brenn Tantor



With the shields down, a New Republic force led by Admiral Ackbar entered the system. This task force easily overwhelmed the Imperial force, since Ysanne Isard only kept a few Imperial-class Star Destroyers to defend the capital world.

Since any large invasion force would be detected by the Imperial sensor net, General Brenn Tantor landed a very small initial ground force near Coruscant's north pole, which proceeded to capture Imperial command centers and disable sensor nodes. This allowed Tantor to bring down a larger force undetected, which he used to pound away at the defenses between himself and the Imperial Palace. However, the city planet would not be taken easily, as forces under Grand General Malcor Brashin continued to resist the Republic invasion force, leading to intense building-to-building warfare.

One of many obstacles the army faced was the heavily fortified walls barring off the most important parts of Imperial City from the outside world. After a prolonged battle, the New Republic succeeded in breaching Imperial defenses and capturing several important maintenance and command facilities. Then began the extensive cleaning out of the inner defenses, as Republic troops went further and further into the city, getting closer to the Imperial Palace.

Taking the palace
"OK, troops. This is the final battle. Our goal is the Imperial Palace. We need to destroy or capture every unit that stands in our way. Attack!"

- General Brenn Tantor

Nearing the end of the battle, the Imperial Palace was heavily shelled by New Republic forces. After its defenses were weakened, Luke Skywalker, with the help of Rand Talor and the Millennium Falcon, passed through General Tal Ashen's Elite Force and approached the Palace.

Ashen himself rode in an AT-AT, and his Elite Force troops included the finest stormtroopers in the Imperial military. Still, they were defeated. Ashen's AT-AT was brought down, but the General survived the crash. Ashen crawled out of the wreckage, pistol in hand, and began to fire on Republic troops alongside his stormtroopers. Shortly afterwards, Ashen was shot and killed. Not long after this, his remaining troops were either killed or captured.

After fighting with Imperial Guards, the New Republic task force liberated the Palace and rescued Rand's wife, Kath, who was imprisoned there. Brenn Tantor also found his brother, Dellis Tantor, whom he had long thought dead. Aside from the few rescued prisoners, any Imperial officials and functionaries that were found were murdered, regardless of age, sex, position, or innocence.

Aftermath
"Welcome to the next chapter in the history of the Galaxy."

- General Tyr Taskeen to Brenn and Dellis Tantor

Very soon, Coruscant was in the hands of the New Republic. However, Director Isard was not to be found in the Imperial Palace. Worse still, the planet's alien population was being killed by an artificial virus called the Krytos virus.

New Republic

 * Y'ull Acib
 * Ackbar
 * Wedge Antilles
 * Luke Skywalker
 * Han Solo
 * Rand Talor
 * Brenn Tantor
 * Tyr Taskeen
 * Beri Tulon
 * Fliry Vorru
 * Onoma
 * Uwlla Iillor
 * Crix Madine

Galactic Empire

 * Tal Ashen
 * Malcor Brashin
 * Ysanne Isard
 * Karreio
 * Kirtan Loor
 * Virar Needa

Behind the scenes

 * Prior to the X-wing series, the liberation of Coruscant was established as having taken place in 8 ABY, just shortly before the Thrawn campaign.


 * The picture of the New Republic Soldiers hoisting up the New Republic flag bears striking resemblance to the victorious American Marines hoisting the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi during World War II.

Appearances

 * X-wing: Wedge's Gamble
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * X-wing: The Krytos Trap
 * X-wing: Wraith Squadron
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Children of the Jedi
 * Darksaber
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * The Unifying Force