Liberation of Lothal

"It's for Ezra. We are liberating his home."

- Hera Syndulla

The liberation of Lothal was a battle during the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire in 1 BBY which resulted in the liberation of the Lothalians and their homeworld of Lothal.

Before the Empire
The Clone Wars saw the Outer Rim world of Lothal untouched by war, but devastated by a drought and plague. Lothal's pleas for help were ignored by the Senate of the Galactic Republic, but later the government successfully petitioned for aid from the Republic's successor, the Galactic Empire, which resulted in the annexation of Lothal by the Empire in 19 BBY.

Imperialization of Lothal
By 18 BBY, the Empire had dispatched an Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility and planted it in Capital City, almost immediately asserting Imperial dominance on the world and projecting Imperial strength. The presence of the Empire was not favored by all Lothalians, however, which included Ephraim and Mira Bridger, who had begun conducting underground transmissions with the support of the Governor of Lothal Ryder Azadi. Within a month, Azadi had been ordered by the Empire to end the transmissions, though Azadi did not obey, ultimately resulting in his arrest alongside Ephraim and Mira Bridger, leaving their son, Ezra Bridger, orphaned.

Azadi would be supplanted by one of his rivals, the Lothalian Arihnda Pryce, who after acquiring significant influence on Coruscant, had attained the temporary position of acting governor while she trained for the governorship of Lothal, bringing with her starship manufacturing contracts for Lothal, including the expansion of naval facilities and factories. The imperialization of Lothal saw a further expansion of mining operations, as beneath the vast grasslands of the planet laid large veins of doonium, a metal that was primarily used for the construction of starships and a secret project. This expansion resulted in the eviction of farmers and the interest of megacorporations, resulting in anti-Imperial sentiments. By 6 BBY, a bombing attempt of Imperial seismic surveyor droids led to a massacre of peaceful protesters, and culminated in a small-scale skirmish between Imperial forces and a handful of insurgents, eventually resulting in the capture of the group.

Growing dissidence
By 5 BBY, another rebel group, the Spectres, led by the former Jedi padawan Kanan Jarrus and the Twi'lek Hera Syndulla, and consisting of the droid C1-10P, the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, and the Lasat Garazeb Orrelios, had begun operations on Lothal after successful small-scaled operations against the Empire on other worlds such as Toydaria and Christophsis. Their early attacks, including a raid on an Imperial supply convoy, an attack on a Lothal airfield, and a heist in Capital City, which saw them collaborating with the Force-sensitive city orphan Ezra Bridger, resulted in the attention of Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus. After further operations resulted in the attraction of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and The Grand Inquisitor, and culminated in the capture of Kanan Jarrus and the Spectres broadcasting a call to action to Lothal and nearby planets, the Spectres were able to defeat Imperial forces above Mustafar and rescue their friend with the help of the rebel cell Phoenix Cell and the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano.

The events above Mustafar saw the destruction of the Sovereign, Grand Moff Tarkin's flagship, the death of the Grand Inquisitor, the attention of Darth Vader and the induction of the Spectres into Phoenix Squadron. Whispers of what had occurred above Mustafar eventually reached the citizens of Lothal, which according to Agent Kallus, made some believe that the Empire was weak and vulnerable. Consequently, the Empire's grip on Lothal tightened, imposing a siege in an effort to route out the insurgents. By this time, Emperor Sheev Palpatine, secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, had become interested in Lothal, a secret known by a few, including Lothal's Minister of industry Maketh Tua who sought to exchange that information with Phoenix Group in exchange for safe passage off of Lothal.

After Phoenix Group's flagship, the Phoenix Home, was destroyed during the siege by Darth Vader and their hideout on Garel City was discovered by the Inquisitorius, Ezra's broadcast would eventually reach his parents, Ephraim and Mira, who were imprisoned with former governor Azadi. Hearing his rallying call, they instigated in a revolt, and although they lost their lives, Azadi was able to escape and begin a quest to search for their son, Ezra.

The actions of the rebels consequently resulted in Governer Pryce requesting the Seventh Fleet and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn designed and built TIE/D Defenders on Lothal and the Spectres were keen to put a stop to it. Their first attempt had the unification of Phoenix Group, Massassi Group and the Lothal resistance to take out the factories. However, Thrawn learned of their location and ambushed them, destroying all but a handful of ships.

The second attempt involved an Alliance X-wing squadron but Thrawn destroyed them with ease. The Spectres were there for both failures but refused to give up. When rescuing one of their own, Hera Syndulla, the Governor Arihnda Pryce open fired on the Lothal City fuel depot to stop them, killing Kanan Jarrus but also halting TIE Defender production. This had completed their initial mission and infuriated Thrawn.

Preparing for the Attack
With Thrawn not on Lothal for the time being, the Spectres had an opportunity to liberate Lothal from the Galactic Empire. Ezra had Hera round up all their old friends from their past missions over the years including Hondo Ohnaka, Clones Rex, Wolffe and Gregor, Ketsu Onyo and Alexsandr Kallus. With Thrawn preparing to return, they needed to work quickly.

The first step was to capture someone who could get them into Lothal's Imperial command center, or command dome. Lothal resistance leader Ryder Azadi contacted Governor Pryce pretending to turn in the rebels. Pryce fell for it and brought her forces to their location and attacked. The rebels were easily defeated, losing at least three of their resistance fighters and their Ore crawler, and were rounded up. But then Hera arrived with reinforcements on the Ghost and Ezra brought the Loth-wolves to attack the Imperial forces. Pryce soon found herself defeated and surrendered.

Taking the Dome
Using Governor Pryce, the rebels got their stolen Patrol transports onto the domes landing pad and then ambushed the inspecting stormtroopers. They then stormed the control room taking the command center. Their next move would be to order a code 13 to have the Imperial forces evacuate to the command center before the rebels locked it down. The Imperial officers were confused about this but Ryder pretended to be Colonel Wullf Yularen to verify it for them and they started the evacuation. They then planned to launch it back into the air with it's thrusters. But Thrawn had returned and he and parked his Imperial-class Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, above the dome. The rebels attempted to get the shields up to protect the city but Thrawn's Noghri assassin Rukh had shut down the domes shield generator. He wanted Ezra to surrender himself and started bombarding the city, killing many civilians.

Ezra ultimately surrendered and went up there to meet Thrawn. There Thrawn took Ezra to see the Emperor who was in the form of a hologram. The emperor took him to a piece of the Lothal Jedi Temple and offered him the chance of seeing his parents again. It was really a ruse to make Ezra open the portal to the Cosmic Force. Ezra almost took the bait but let go of his parents and collapsed the piece of the temple. The emperor then had his guards attack Ezra with Force pikes but he threw rocks at them with the force to stop them.

Meanwhile, Zeb Orrelios Gregor and a few others went down to the generator to get it back online. The Ugnaught Melch was injured and Gregor was shot dead in the ensuing firefight, but Zeb managed to trap Rukh on one of the power beams and Onyo activated the shield generator, frying Rukh to death in the process. With Ezra on the loose again, Thrawn prepared to bombard the city for a second time. With the shield generator back online, the remaining citizens of the capital were safe. Ezra got to the Chimaera's bridge and faced Thrawn. Thrawn was convinced he wasn't going to win, but then Ezra played his final card&mdash; the purrgil.

At his words, the purrgil suddenly arrived above Lothal and destroyed the Imperial blockade, as they had been contacted by Ezra's fellow rebel Mart Mattin. They then entered the atmosphere and attacked the Star Destroyers, bringing down two of them. The purrgil then latched onto the Chimaera and jumped it to hyperspace. With no Imperials left to stop them, the rebels launched the dome and blew it up in the sky. Pryce and many Imperials died on the dome. The citizens then captured the remaining Imperials in the city and Lothal was Liberated from their control.

Aftermath
The citizens of Lothal prepared for the Empire to return and take it back. However with the Battle of Scarif and the Galactic Civil War, the Empire became too preoccupied too quickly and therefore never got the chance. Lothal soon prospered again, and the Empire would eventually fail and collapse at the decisive Battle of Endor. The Spectres went their separate ways, while Sabine Wren stayed on Lothal and hoped to find out where the Chimaera had gone, to find Ezra again.