Battle of Scarif

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."

- Jyn Erso

The Battle of Scarif was the first major battle of the Galactic Civil War, marking the outbreak of open war between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire. The battle followed years of attacks by the fledgling Rebel Alliance against the Empire and began the five-year period in which the Alliance successfully fought to replace the Galactic Empire with the New Republic.

Prior to the battle, Alliance Intelligence intercepted information suggesting that renowned scientist Galen Erso was building an Imperial superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. Chancellor Mon Mothma, leader of the Alliance, sent Galen Erso's daughter, Jyn Erso, and Captain Cassian Andor to learn more about her father's involvement. They discovered the existence of the Death Star and brought the information to the Alliance Civil Government, which initially felt that the odds in successfully challenging the Empire were too great. Erso, Andor, and a number of their allies&mdash;the Guardian of the Whills Chirrut Îmwe and his companion Baze Malbus, former Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook, the droid K-2SO&mdash;joined several Rebel soldiers in forming a squadron known as Rogue One and took it upon themselves to infiltrate the Citadel on Scarif, where they hoped to locate the Death Star plans so the Alliance could find a critical flaw that Galen had built into the superweapon.

Rogue One arrived on Scarif soon thereafter, and Erso, Andor, and K-2SO infiltrated the Citadel while the rest of the squad fought Imperial forces to distract their attention. Director Orson Krennic, formerly the commander of the Death Star until his position was taken by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, attempted to stop Erso and Andor from stealing the plans but, with the help of Rogue One, she was able to transmit the plans to the Alliance Fleet, which joined the battle in orbit and was engaged with Imperial forces. Hoping to eliminate the threat, Tarkin ordered that the Death Star fire a low-powered blast at the Citadel. The surrounding area was destroyed and the entire Rogue One squad was killed. The Sith Lord Darth Vader attempted to secure the plans aboard the Rebel flagship Profundity, but they were successfully given to Princess Leia Organa aboard the Tantive IV. The ship undocked from Profundity and traveled to the planet Tatooine where the princess hoped to deliver the plans to the exiled Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Vader followed Tantive IV to Tatooine aboard the Devastator and intercepted it above the planet. Organa sent her father's astromech droid, R2-D2, to the surface with the plans to find Master Kenobi. This set off a chain of events that ultimately led to the Battle of Yavin, where newly-commissioned Rebel pilot and fledgling Jedi Luke Skywalker exploited the weakness Galen Erso built into the Death Star's reactor and destroyed the battle station.

Prelude
Following the Mission to Eadu, Jyn Erso, and Captain Cassian Andor participated in an Alliance Council meeting, where they told the gathered beings what they had learned about the Death Star, and that they needed to get the plans held at Scarif; however, most were skeptical that such a weapon existed, and those that believed it did were did not believe that it had a deliberate weakness-on account of the fast that the news came from a criminal who was the daughter of an Imperial engineer-and thought that it would be better to hide or surrender. Disheartened, Erso walked away from the meeting, only to find that Andor and many others were still willing to go with her and fight. Together, they took the Imperil cargo shuttle that had been stolen earlier, and headed to Scarif.

Once there, Bodhi Rook transmitted the shuttle's clearance codes, which got then through the planetary shield and onto the planet.

The battle
"Make ten men feel like a hundred."

- Cassian Andor, to the soldiers of Rogue One

The battle began with Rebel Marines setting off multiple explosives on the landing pads at the base on Scarif. This attracted most of the troopers at the base, allowing Erso, Andor, and K-2SO to get inside the base and search for the Death Star plans.

Reinforcements
Soon after, the rest of the Alliance to Restore the Republic's fleet arrived to support the initial assault squadron. 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, 2 Y-wings, and a U-wing made it through the opening in the shield before it was closed.

Following this, Rook was tasked with opening the deflector shield so that the plans could be transmitted to the Alliance flagship above the planet. Bodhi directed Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus to the master power switch for communications on Scarif. The two managed to turn off the signal disruptor, but perished doing so. Rook managed to contact the Alliance flagship and told them they had 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.

Once inside the base, Andor, K-2SO, and Erso made their way to the archives. After disabling the technician, K-2SO began searching for the files as Andor and Erso entered the vault. After noticing the dead technician, a multitude of stormtroopers besieged the main archive room, with K-2SO held them off with a single blaster pistol. After withstanding heavy blaster fire, K-2SO located the Death Star plans and marked the canister. He then locked Erso and Andor in the vault to allow them enough time to retrieve the plans, and was subsequently destroyed fending off stormtroopers.

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 Erso. Andor managed to kill the two troopers, but was hit by Krennic, rendering him unconscious. Erso 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 dish. After reorienting it, Erso was about to send the plans to the rebels when Krennic appeared.

Far above, the Alliance fleet fired multiple ion torpedoes at a Star Destroyer, disabling it. After doing so, a Hammerhead corvette rammed into the side of the disabled ship, sending it on a collision course for the other one. As the two Star Destroyers collided, they broke apart and fell towards Scarif, crashing into the orbital docking station that controlled the deflector shield, disabling it

Whilst Krennic confronted her, 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 Erso, Andor shot the director. The two, together, successfully transmitted the Death Star plans to the Alliance flagship above Scarif.

Final Actions
"Prepare a boarding party."

- Darth Vader to Captain Shaef Corssin

Immediately after the transmission of the plans, the Death Star came out of hyperspace along with Darth Vader aboard the Devastator. The Death Star targeted the Scarif Base and fired, killing everyone at the base, including Erso, Andor, and Krennic. Once the Alliance forces had the Death Star schematics, they attempted to jump to hyperspace, but a number of the fleet's ships were intercepted by an incoming Devastator, including the Alliance flagship.

Aftermath
After disabling the Alliance's flagship, Darth Vader, along with other Imperial forces, boarded the ship and attempted to regain the Death Star plans. The schematics made it to the Tantive IV, but multiple rebel soldiers were slain by Darth Vader in the process. The corvette, captained by Leia Organa, jumped into hyperspace and narrowly escaped, ending the Battle of Scarif.

With the Death Star plans in the hands of the Rebellion, the Tantive IV was pursued by the Devastator, where Vader personally oversaw the operation. The Devastator followed the Tantive IV to the desert world of Tatooine, where Vader captured the princess and brought her to the Death Star. Imperial forces, meanwhile, searched for two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, the former of whom held the Death Star plans. The droids came into the possession of Luke Skywalker, who, along with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the smuggling partners Han Solo and Chewbacca, made his way to the Death Star and rescued Organa. Although Kenobi was killed by Vader, his former apprentice, during the escape, the princess and the others traveled to the Rebel base on Yavin 4 and participated in the Battle of Yavin. The battle was conceived after the Rebels analyzed the Death Star plans and discovered the weakness-an exposed exhaust port-which Skywalker exploited to destroy the Death Star during the battle.

Behind the scenes
"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

- The Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope opening crawl

The event that became the Battle of Scarif was first described in the opening crawl of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The event is the central plot of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In Star Wars Legends, which is non-canon in the official Star Wars continuity following 2014, the battle where the plans were stolen was identified as the Battle of Toprawa, while the operation as a whole was identified as Operation Skyhook.

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

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Lost Stars
 * 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
 * Episode IV: A New Hope Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
 * Star Wars: The Original Trilogy: A Graphic Novel