Galactic Civil War/Legends



"If this threat is not stopped, there will be... civil war without end."

- Palpatine

The Galactic Civil War (approx. 1 BBY–19 ABY) was a major galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It finally ended in 19 ABY when the remnants of the Empire signed a peace accord. The war led to the establishment of the New Republic, and was preceded by the Clone Wars and the Great Jedi Purge.

Origin of the Galactic Civil War
The collapse of the Galactic Republic in 19 BBY led to the establishment of the Empire under former Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a Sith Lord who, with extensive planning, took advantage of the corruption and inefficacies of the system and masterminded the Clone Wars in order to obtain more power. Taking the title of Emperor, he established a dictatorial regime that quickly exterminated major resistance, including the ancient protectors of the Republic, the Jedi Order, whom Palpatine accused of conspiring to overthrow the government and install themselves as rulers of the galaxy. Of the several thousand Jedi, very few survived the implementation of Order 66 and the subsequent beginning of the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY, most notably Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

The Emperor's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, was an integral part of the Purge and the establishment of the Empire. Before he turned to the Dark Side of the Force, he was known as Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight and apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Darth Vader sought out and killed nearly all the Jedi, destroying what last fragments remained from the Order. On the planet Mustafar, Vader dueled his old master, Obi-Wan, who inflicted serious wounds on Vader which forced him to wear a black suit of armor and a fearsome breath mask. This new version of Vader helped the Empire strike fear into systems' hearts. His deceased wife Padmé Amidala had born him two children, whom he thought had died along with her. These two children, Luke and Leia Skywalker, would later become leaders of the Alliance and reestablish the Jedi Order. Luke was taken to Tatooine and hidden with his step-uncle Owen Lars, while Leia was adopted by Senator Bail Organa, ruler of Alderaan, and his wife Breha.



After the Empire was established, the Galactic Senate was reorganized into the Imperial Senate. However, it quickly became a rubberstamp assembly. The Empire's New Order also emphasized Human and, to a lesser extent, humanoid supremacy, with other alien species such as Wookiees, Mon Calamari, Yuzzem and Lurrians subjected to slavery. Antislavery laws were repealed and legislation legalizing the persecution of aliens was passed. As a result, the vast majority of the Imperial armed forces and other institutions were composed of humans, with only rare exceptions like Grand Admiral Thrawn climbing in the ranks of the military. Some argue that while the Empire was unquestionably xenophobic, there is little to suggest that the Emperor himself was, as some of his advisors and aides were alien. In fact, some believe that the privy councilors and advisors that filled Palpatine's court and ran the Empire on a day-to-day basis were the xenophobes, and applied "Human High Culture" on their own accord.

This exercise of power was backed up by the use of state terrorism in the form of the Tarkin Doctrine, named for Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. The Doctrine threatened fear of force rather than the use of force to control dissent; the Ghorman Massacre was an example. This event made clear that the Empire had no regard for sentient rights. The justification for the Tarkin Doctrine was the excessive cost and impracticality of the use of pure terror in the form of billions upon billions of troops and spaceships to maintain order. The instrument of enforcing the Doctrine was the Imperial military, which included the Stormtrooper Corps and a large fleet of intimidating warships like the Star Destroyers of the Imperial Navy and dreadful war vehicles such as All Terrain Armored Transports of the Imperial Army, all of which were intended in part to spread fear as well as destroy the enemy. This policy reached its zenith with the construction of the world-destroying Death Star and similar superweapons. The Death Star itself, however, had it's origins in the long-gone Separatist cause. On Geonosis, Archduke Poggle the Lesser was involved in creating a weapon that would evolve to become the Death Star.

Formation of the Alliance
When the dire development became clear, a small group of senators, including Bail Organa, Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma, formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In the wake of the Ghorman Massacre they issued their Declaration of Rebellion to legitimize their uprising against the Empire and list their grievances. Thus began the Galactic Civil War, which was to rage over 20 years.

From the beginning, the Alliance was vastly outmanned and outgunned by the much more powerful and better organized Imperial Navy, supplied with powerful warships by companies such as Kuat Drive Yards. The secret defection of the Incom Corporation added The advanced X-Wing, while the Dac supplied badly needed capital ships to combat the Star Destroyers. However, the Rebels were still forced to rely on hit and run tactics, which were orchestrated primarily to harass Imperial shipping and operations. Leia Organa became an Imperial Senator for Alderaan and used her diplomatic immunity to conduct secret Rebel missions aboard her corellian corvette Tantive IV.

As the Rebellion grew, so too did the ferocity with which it was hunted. Entire sectors were set upon by Imperial forces, whenever they were identified as hotbeds for Rebel activity. The pacification of the Nembus Sector and the Kwymar Suppressions examplified this brutal approach to stifling dissent in the Empire.

A slight turning point in the war was the Battle of Turkana, where the Imperials, finding and attacking a Rebel fleet, discovered the Rebels' new 'weapon', the X-wing starfighter, which tipped the scale towards the Alliance at this time. Angered by that defeat, the Empire proceeded to the Operation Strike Fear. Planets and systems members of the Alliance like Rudrig, Briggia and Orion IV were lost or suffered casualities. Luckily, due to the defection of Imperial Crix Madine and the newly forged alliance with the Sullustans the Rebels once again surprised the Imperials by sabotaging and finally destroying the leader of the operation, the Star Destroyer Invincible.

Disappearance of the Death Star plans


The Rebel Alliance operated an efficient and widespread intelligence network of Bothan spies. Through this network, the Alliance learned of the construction of the Death Star, an extremely powerful space station capable of annihilating planets with its superlaser.

Rebel prisoners aboard the Death Star managed to riot (the Death Star Uprising) and got control of a technical readout while Imperial-turned-Rebel Kyle Katarn retrieved further plans (the Battle of Danuta) and a the main set retrieved during the Battle of Toprawa. From there they beamed it to Leia's ship, the Tantive IV, while the 501st Legion, under Darth Vader, tracked Rebels to Polis Massa, leading to the Battle of Polis Massa; however this was only a set-up for the Empire. Even so, the Rebels, who fought with the defensive upper hand, were crushed. Imperial forces soon discovered the true plot and the Star Destroyer Devastator, under the command of Darth Vader himself, captured the Tantive IV in a space battle above Tatooine, where Leia had been trying to reach. She hoped to enlist the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was a fugitive Jedi in hiding on the planet and was watching over the young Luke Skywalker.

As Vader's forces entered her ship, Leia Organa made a last desperate gamble and hid the plans of the Death Star aboard the astromech droid R2-D2. R2-D2, along with C-3PO, a protocol droid on the ship, used an escape pod to travel to Tatooine, where they were purchased from the Jawa scavengers who found them by Owen Lars, uncle of Luke Skywalker.

Skywalker soon discovered a portion of the message in R2-D2 and became interested. However, R2-D2, operating under programming included with the plans, escaped and tried to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Skywalker, who conveniently met up with Kenobi in the Dune Sea, tracked him down. R2-D2 then played back for them Leia Organa's desperate plea for help. The two discovered that Imperial stormtroopers had attacked the Jawas who had sold them the two droids in a search for the plans. Luke returned to his home to find his aunt and uncle slaughtered at Imperial hands. He then accompanied Kenobi to Mos Eisley, where, evading Imperial troops, the two chartered space pirate Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca to take them and the plans to Alderaan aboard the Millennium Falcon.

In the meantime, Palpatine used the crisis as a pretext for dissolving the Imperial Senate.



Meanwhile, Darth Vader had taken Leia Organa to the Death Star, which was under the control of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. When she refused to yield the location of the Rebel base or the whereabouts of the plans voluntarily or through tortutre, Tarkin threatened to destroy Alderaan in an attempt to force her to confess. Fearing that Tarkin would use the superweapon on hers and other peaceful worlds, she offered the false location of Dantooine. Thinking that he and the Empire had won, Tarkin went ahead and destroyed Alderaan. The Millennium Falcon arrived in the midst of the destroyed planet, after having barely escaped Imperial clutches above Tatooine. There, they followed and tryed to capture an Imperial TIE fighter, but end being captured by the Death Star's massive tractor beam. However, they managed to disable the tractor beam and free Princess Leia through an elaborate series of tricks. As they were escaping however, Darth Vader confronted Kenobi in a lightsaber duel that ended in Kenobi's death (or, apparently, his ascencion into becoming one with the Force). The Millennium Falcon escaped, only to be tracked by Imperial troops to the Rebel base on Yavin IV. To confirm Rebel activity, a platoon of Stormtroopers were sent to Yavin IV and besieged the Massassi Arena outpost. In the Massassi Temple, the technical readouts of the Death Star were analyzed for a weakness, and the Rebels sent ships to destroy the Death Star, which was attempting to obliterate the Rebel base. Luke Skywalker managed gain a direct hit on a thermal exhaust port, which caused a chain reaction and destroyed the battle station at the last second (Battle of Yavin), just before the space station itself could fire on the Rebel base.

Capture of Yavin base
After the destruction of the first Death Star, the Rebel Alliance prepared to evacuate the jungle moon, fearing Imperial reprisals. Fortunately, most of the Rebel fleet, including the Mon Calamari Star Cruisers under Ackbar and the refugee ships containing the Alliance government, had not been present during the battle and were scattered throughout the Galaxy.

Several garrisons of troopers escaped the Death Star, and their escape pods crashed into the moon. They combined their ranks and started to move toward the Great Temple. General Dodonna supervised the evacuation of the Yavin base. Members of the 501st Legion participated in the orbital battle, immobilizing a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser and destroying countless starfighters, and besieged a Rebel ground vehicle hangar. Several key members of Alliance High Command stationed at the Rebel base were killed by the 501st Legion during its vengeful assault against the Rebel forces. Darth Vader led a TIE Squadron himself in his TIE Advanced, destroying several supply transports leaving the planet.

General Dodonna supervised the evacuation of the Yavin base after these skirmishes. However, before the base's support staff could be evacuated, an armada of Imperial ships including Immobilizer 418 cruisers appeared in the Yavin system. Instead of attacking, the Imperial ships formed a blockade that prevented the Rebels from escaping into hyperspace.

In fact, this blockade had been ordered by Darth Vader himself, who wanted to capture leading Rebels. Meanwhile, the Super Star Destroyer Executor was nearing completion at the shipyards of Fondor. This mighty ship could take on an entire armada of smaller vessels and would serve as Vader's flagship. In retaliation for the destruction of the first Death Star, Vader wanted to use the Executor against the Rebels.

Later, Luke Skywalker and other Rebels continually evaded the Imperial blockade. First, they tried to sabotage the completion of the Executor, though they were betrayed and most of the task force was killed. Luke, however, managed to escaped and return to the Alliance with intelligence on the behemoth warship. During a second mission, Luke discovered the arctic planet of Hoth. After returning, he suggested to the Alliance that they evacuate to Hoth and set up another base there.



These evasions angered and frustrated the Imperial armada's commanders who eventually persuaded Darth Vader to launch an assault on Yavin 4. Meanwhile, the Rebel leaders including Dodonna were concerned, because while smaller ships could slip through the blockade, larger ships would be destroyed or captured. Dodonna then contacted Mon Mothma and Ackbar and arranged for them to stage a diversional assault. Rebel forces under Ackbar engaged Imperial forces in the Vallusk Cluster to divert Imperial forces at Yavin 4. Seeing the need for a stronger and unified Rebel fleet, Mon Mothma promoted Ackbar to full admiral. Furthermore, Mothma appointed Ackbar to be the Supreme Commander of the Rebel Fleet, as well as the head of the Alliance military.

However, the completed Executor finally arrived at Yavin 4 with Lord Vader's Death Squadron fleet, as well as elements of the personal fleet of the Baron Orman Tagge, and the battle began. During the assault, the Empire launched an array of vehicles including A5 Juggernauts and AT-STs. TIE fighters and TIE Bombers would shell the jungle area.

Dodonna evacuated the base's fighters and transports though he refused to evacuate himself until everyone had left. Instead, the general planted several concussion charges that decimated a whole squadron of TIE Bombers. It was believed that he had died in action, though it was later revealed he had been captured and imprisoned in the Star Dreadnought Lusankya. Many of the surviving Rebels eventually made their way to the icy world of Hoth where they established a new base.

Dark troopers
"Dark trooper: Release."

- General Rom Mohc

The new secret weapon, the Dark Troopers would be used as the Death Stars replacement, but this time coherent to Mohc's ideals of hand to hand combat. Imperial factory ship Arc Hammer and Darth Vader's new flagship Executor formed a blockade of the planet Talay.

The dark troopers pierced Tak's shields, and attacked with presicion and speed - the assault was so sudden that the Rebels had no chance to defend themselves let alone retaliate. Toka managed to transmit a general distress signal, however the transmission was cut short. The dark troopers destroyed the base and its surrounding city, resulting in a massive amount of Rebel and civilian casualties. Darth Vader was most impressed with the assault, and gave Mohc full support for the project.

Shortly after the battle, Mon Mothma received Toka's distress signal, in addition to a communication from Crix Madine, regarding the dark trooper project. She recruited Kyle Katarn to infiltrate Tak Base in order to gather information. Katarn discovered an abandoned firearm that no humanoid was capable to hold. The weapon was confirmed to be used by dark troopers.

After sabotaging two stations, the mining facility on Gromas and the Ice Station Beta, delaying thus the production, Katarn stole a Nava Card which revealed the next rendezvous of the Arc Hammer with the Executor. Hijacking a smuggler ship, he met up with the rendezvous. Katarn placed sequencer charges in the Arc Hammer's power grids. Fighting off General Mohc in his Phase 3 suit, he escaped before the ship exploded. Katarn was awarded the Star of Alderaan by Mon Mothma.

With the death of Mohc and the destruction of Arc Hammer, as well as billions of credits, a furious Emperor refused to refund the project. All research into other battle droid programs ended.

Imperial repercussions
Meanwhile, unrest began to arise in several worlds like Zaloriis and Vader went to investigate. The Zalorans declared their indepedence but Vader suppressed all opposition and freed the abducted Maximillian Veers who was working on a new war project, the AT-AT. During an assault on Zaloriis City to punish the Zaloran separatists, Vader and Veers discovered archives of the library which showed the new location of the Rebel base to be somewhere near Elrood system. Meanwhile Vader became obsessed with finding Skywalker and used Imperial probe droids in the area, launched from his the Executor of the Imperial Death Squadron, to seek him and the Rebel Alliance out. The Rebel base on Hoth was discovered, and the Rebels fled while they fought a stalling effort which would become known as the Battle of Hoth. After much pursuit, Darth Vader captured Skywalker's friends on Cloud City, where they had been hoping to seek temporary asylum from Han Solo's friend, Lando Calrissian.

Luke, under the advice of the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, had traveled to Dagobah and had become a Jedi apprentice to Jedi Master Yoda. Through the Force, Luke became aware of his friends' suffering and, despite the pleas of Yoda and Kenobi to stay and complete his Jedi training, left Dagobah for Cloud City in an attempt to save his friends, who ended up saving him after he confronted Darth Vader. Vader also revealed to Luke in their battle that he was his father. At the last second, the friends escaped aboard the Millennium Falcon, though Han Solo was taken in carbonite to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Regrouping
Following the Bespin conflict, the Rebel Alliance set out to save any Rebel prisoners from the Battle of Hoth. Rogue Squadron besieged a small Imperial detention facility in the Maw system, freeing all captives. A distress transmission was intercepted coming from a group of captive scientists from a Bakura orbiting detention facility. Besieging the center, Rogue Squadron lost a group of scientists who were abducted by a rogue escort carrier. Tracking it to Geonosis, the attacker revealed himself to be Sarkli, a former Rebel. He was thought dead after Wedge Antilles shot his LAAT gunship down. Now, there was one more prisoner in need of rescue: Han Solo.

The Battle of Gall
Dash Rendar confronted IG-88 on Ord Mantell and learned the whereabouts of Boba Fett who had Han Solo as a captive; he was repairing his ship on Gall. Rogue Squadron and Rendar attacked the Imperial Enclave situated on the moon. However, this rescue mission was confounded by the presence of an Imperial Enclave, with two Star Destroyers on patrol. Luke concocted a risky plan, utilizing the combat skills of the Rogues to keep the Enclaves' fighter complement at bay while counting on the piloting ability of Dash to lead Lando and Leia to Fett's ship. Despite the obvious danger of thirteen X-wings taking on a hundred and forty four TIE fighters, it was, as Luke pointed out, the only plan they had. The rescue attempt was launched, with the Rogues flying in on a strafing run against the dayside Star Destroyer. Only twenty fighters were scrambled to meet the threat - the pilots no doubt thinking it was only a drill - though an additional squadron was soon launched. The Rogues did an impressive job of keeping the fighters away from the Grand Trench - where Rendar's Outrider was leading the Millennium Falcon towards the spaceport city - only losing one pilot when Will Scotian was forced to return to base after sustaining damage to his craft.

The Rogues' luck could not last, however. Another wave of TIEs approached - among them several TIE Interceptors, and Rogue Six was destroyed in the battle. Worse, the second Star Destroyer joined the battle, launching its own fighters into the fray. Fortunately, the Falcon reached the spaceport after a harrowing run through the Grand Trench, though Dash decided to leave the Rebels to face Fett alone - as he later remarked, he was paid only to guide, not shoot. And with a dozen TIE fighters on their tail, the crew of the Falcon was in dire need of help.

Over the Enclave base, the Rogues, like Dash, decided to cut and run, preparing for a mock hyperspace jump to fool their pursuers into believing they had left the system. Plotting a course towards their base on the moon of Kile, the Rogues were shocked to see Wes Janson's X-wing firing on Luke. The frantic Wes realized his astromech droid had taken control of his ship, and Luke was forced to disable his fellow pilot's fighter, before towing him back to base. There, in a disturbing development, Luke found that the astro-droid had been programmed to kill him. Fett escaped, and the mission failed.

The Rebels triumph


After freeing Han Solo on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian (along with the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO) met up with the Rebel Alliance near the system of Sullust. The Rebels were amassing their entire fleet for a new strike. Admiral Ackbar, the commander of the Rebel fleet, along with General Crix Madine, developed the plans for the battle. The Bothan spies had reported that the Empire has begun construction on a new space station, the Death Star II, which would be much larger and much more powerful. The Rebels had determined to destroy it by launching a last ditch attack against it before it could be completed. The sense of urgency was heightened by the fact that the Emperor himself would be aboard the station, making a shot at the head of the Empire himself possible.

The Death Star was protected by force field generated from the forest moon of Endor. Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and C-3PO led an expedition to disable the shield and allow the attack to occur. Once on Endor however, Luke turned himself in to Darth Vader, his father, hoping to rescue him from the clutches of the Emperor and the Dark Side of The Force. Vader took him aboard the uncompleted Death Star and before the Emperor, who attempted to lure him to the Dark Side by placing him in combat with Vader, whom he defeated. However, instead of killing Vader, he renounced the Dark Side. Palpatine then attempted to kill him with a shower of deadly Force lightning, but Darth Vader threw him into a reactor core shaft, killing the Emperor. At this same moment, the Rebels managed to deactivate the shield. The resulting Battle of Endor led to the destruction of the Death Star, although Skywalker escaped with Vader's body. The Emperor was dead and the main Imperial fleet was defeated.

Incident at Bakura
Like in most rebellions, the last battle did not end the civil war. Just days after the Battle of Endor, an Imperial Emissary Droid Ship arrived in the Forest Moon carrying a message from the Imperial outpost of Bakura. Bakura was under attack by an unknown species from the Unknown Regions. Since the Emperor's fleet had been defeated, no Imperial troops were available to come to the aid of Bakura. In response, Mon Mothma gathered a small Rebel fleet to come to the defense of Bakura. Skywalker, still reeling from his battle with the Emperor, received a visit from the ghost of his mentor Kenobi. Kenobi commanded Skywalker to go to Bakura.

Thus, Luke Skywalker was named the commander of a fleet of five DP-20 Corellian Gunships, 1 modified Bulk Cruiser Flurry, 20 starfighters, and the Millennium Falcon. Upon arriving, they discovered that the attackers were an unknown reptilian species called the Ssi-ruuk. The Ssi-ruuk practiced entechment which involved transferring the life energies of a captive into a battle droid, starship or computer. At Bakura, the Rebel fleet signed a truce with the local Imperial garrison under Nereus. The Rebels and Imperials then fought to defend Bakura from the reptilian invaders. It was during this time that Leia received a visit from the ghost of her father Anakin Skywalker, who had been the infamous Darth Vader. She had only recently learned of her parentage recently and was unable to forget that Darth Vader had committed many atrocities including the destruction of Alderaan. The ghost vanished and never appeared to Leia again.

On the Ssi-ruuvi flagship Shriwirr, Admiral Ivpikkis prepared for battle. One of his officers owned a brainwashed Force-sensitive Human slave named Dev Sibwarra, who sensed the presence of Luke and alerted his masters. The Ssi-ruuk had intended to use his Force abilities to entech beings by proxy. To do this, Dev Sibwarra secretly contacted the Imperial governor Nereus and offered to leave Bakura alone if they handed Skywalker over. So, Skywalker was captured by the Ssi-ruuk and brought to a laboratory where they intended to entech him. However, he broke free of the entechment lab onboard the Shriwirr and together with Dev Sibwarra, the duo defeated the Ssi-Ruuk onboard the ship.

The Ssi-Ruuk then abandoned the Shriwirr rather than face the Jedi Knight in battle and the Shriwirr was then captured by the Rebel forces who refitted it and made part of their fleet. The Ssi-Ruuk were defeated and then the Imperial Commander Pter Thanas under orders from the Nereus, turned the turbolaser batteries of his flagship the Dominant on the Rebel Alliance ship Flurry, destroying it along with several Rebel starfighters.

The Bakuran resistance cells, however, under leadership of Eppie Belden, overthrew their Imperial rulers (in what was referred to as the Bakuran Revolution) and the Governor was slain. The Imperial garrison in Bakura then surrendered to the Rebel Alliance and Bakura became a member of the fledgling Alliance of Free Planets. New Republic Intelligence later referred to the battle as the "Bakura Incident", and believed that it would be best if the New Republic attempted to prevent widespread public knowledge of the Ssi-ruuk - advise that was taken controversially at best.

The Alliance also sent a fleet consisting of Nebulon-B frigates and other smaller vessels under the captured Shriwirr which had been renamed Sibwarra. Upon arriving in the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster, they discovered that the Ssi-ruuk had been attacked by an unknown foe, later revealed to be the Chiss Ascendancy. During an assault on the Ssi-ruuvi capital of Lwhekk, the Alliance fleet engaged Ivpikki's fleet though both sides eventually reached a standtill. Seeing a weakened foe, the fleet retreated and assisted in the libration of Clak'dor VII. It would be years until the Yuuzhan Vong War that the Ssi-ruuk resurfaced.

The Empire fragments


Following the Rebel Alliance's victory at the Battle of Endor and the death of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, riots and uprisings took place on a multitude of Imperial-held worlds, as the news spread across the Galaxy. Even Palpatine's home-world of Naboo could not escape a liberation struggle. What remained in Imperial hands would quickly begin to disintegrate into sectors controlled by rival warlords.

On Coruscant, billions revelled in their new-found freedom, and an armed uprising sprang out from the non-human-dominated sectors. Imperial patrols were attacked in the streets, statues of Palpatine were toppled and other Imperial symbols were desecrated.

In the midst of all the celebrating and rioting, Imperial authorities ordered a massive crackdown on the rebellious elements in the city-planet's population and gave full power to the local military force to end the uprising and restore order to the system. The military retaliation was horrendous and the death-tolls rose as the Empire struck down the insurrectionists and brought the populace back under its control. Following this, Grand Vizier Sate Pestage assumed control over Coruscant. However, various members of the Inner Circle opposed his reign and he would later be betrayed by the Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard.

The New Republic captures Coruscant


In 6 ABY, the New Republic would seize Coruscant from Imperial rule. The New Republic realised the importance of Coruscant as “000” in galactic charts, the center of the Galaxy. To control the Galaxy, one needed to control its capital. The New Republic decided to capture the planet in order to eliminate the Empire and began capturing strategic worlds near Coruscant, including Borleias.

However, Coruscant was protected by a powerful energy shield. Before the attack would begin, the shields would have to fall. So, 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 trouble. The government would later regret this, since these criminals would later resurrect Black Sun. These criminals included former Moff Fliry Vorru and gangster Zekka Thyne.



Meanwhile, 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. 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.

With the shields down, a New Republic force led by Admiral Ackbar entered the Coruscant system. This task force easily overwhelmed the Imperial force, since Ysanne Isard kept only a few Imperial-class Star Destroyers to defend the capital world. Very soon, Coruscant was in the hands of the New Republic. However, Isard was not to be found in the Imperial Palace. Worse, the planet's alien population was being killed by an artificial virus called the Krytos virus. The virus was Isard's final attempt to undermine the human leadership of the New Republic.

The New Republic, however, would face its two greatest threats: Grand Admiral Thrawn, possibly the greatest commander of the War, and Emperor Palpatine, reborn into a clone body. The Republic survived, but barely. Fifteen years after Endor, they signed a peace accord with the remains of the Empire, the Imperial Remnant, in 19 ABY.

Legacy of the Galactic Civil War
The Rebels formed the New Republic after the Battle of Endor, which eventually encompassed much of the Galaxy. It included a new Senate and a more powerful chief executive, the first of which was Mon Mothma. However, it was hampered by both fear of dictatorship and corruption, proving that the Galactic Civil War had not completely succeeded in its quest to restore the Old Republic. The New Republic ended with the invasion of the alien Yuuzhan Vong, when it was reorganized into the Galactic Alliance.

Politics of the Civil War
Many different species and planets supported the Rebel Alliance's bid to overthrow the Emperor, including the Mon Calamari and Bail Organa's own home planet of Alderaan. Although early on the Rebels used positions in the Imperial Senate to gain influence and took advantage of the diplomatic immunity provided, the Senate was abolished in 0 BBY and many Rebel Senators were discovered. Mon Mothma, leader of the Rebel Alliance, barely escaped capture by the Imperial Security Bureau, the Empire's ruthless secret police force.

The Empire continued to erode freedoms during this period, using the conflict as an excuse. Under Tarkin's suggestion, the Emperor mandated the Tarkin Doctrine, which stated that the Empire would use fear of force rather than force itself to control dissent. This culminated in the construction of the first Death Star. Its use at Alderaan was to be one of its only uses; its purpose was to demonstrate Imperial power, not to eliminate countless worlds. The Emperor also began to come under the influence of what became known as his Inner Circle. These men, including the devious Sate Pestage, eventually took control of the day-to-day operations of the Empire. Although evil enough in his own right, Palpatine allowed his bureaucracy to grow exceedingly large and corrupt under the influence of these men. The Empire also instituted a system of xenophobic racism, which left only human beings in control of most Imperial operations. This encouraged species like the Mon Calamari to support the Rebel Alliance.

Key Rebel Alliance figures

 * Luke Skywalker
 * Mon Mothma
 * Admiral Ackbar
 * Wedge Antilles
 * Han Solo
 * Chewbacca
 * Leia Organa Solo
 * Kyle Katarn
 * Corran Horn
 * Biggs Darklighter
 * Crix Madine

Key Empire figures

 * Darth Vader
 * Emperor Palpatine
 * Grand Admiral Thrawn
 * Admiral Piett
 * Admiral Ozzel
 * Gilad Pellaeon
 * Warlord Zsinj
 * Ysanne Isard
 * Lord Hethrir
 * Brakiss
 * Admiral Daala