Galactic City spaceport hostage siege

"Senator Meena Tills is believed to be among six hostages seized by an armed gang at Galactic City spaceport. Police have sealed of the area and all city traffic and interplanetary flights are being diverted."

- HoloNet News

The Galactic City Spaceport Hostage Siege took place in the year 22 BBY, four months after the Battle of Geonosis, when terrorists took control of the Galactic City Spaceport on Coruscant.

Background
"We are citizens of Haruun Kal. The Republic has fueled the civil war on our world and now brings a fresh war to us. Remove your presence from our planet now or your Senator and the passengers die.  Now you know we can reach into the heart of the Republic."

- Nuriin-Ar, leader of the group claiming responsibility for the hostage incident.

Fed up with the Republic's continuing presence on Haruun Kal and its interference in the planet's affairs, Korunnai terrorists under the leadership of Nuriin-Ar seized control of the Galactic City Spaceport and took six hostages, including Mon Calamari Senator Meena Tills, his aide Vun Merett Jai, and a number of civilians. Holed up in a customs clearance corridor in the spaceport's terminal building, the terrorists threatened to detonate explosives—a threat given credence by witnesses who'd seen the men all carrying backpacks—should their demands not be met: the Republic had to immediately remove itself from Haruun Kal affairs. When contacted, the Haruun Kal government denied all knowledge of Nuriin-Ar although the Korunnai ambassador claimed to "fully understand the group's frustrations" and publicly urged the Republic to cease it's interference in the matters of Haruun Kal.

The Standoff
The Coruscant Security Force had cordoned off the area around the spaceport, erecting security barriers under the direction of CSF lieutenant Dovel, who'd been named incident commander. In addition, Senate Guards under the command of Jaller Obrim, himself a commander in the Senate Guard, were stationed on scene due to the involvement of Senator Tills. Despite the combined forces of the CSF and the Senate Guard, the Grand Army of the Republic's Special Operations Brigade was contacted and the clone commandos of Omega Squad dispatched to aid in the effort.

Upon arriving at the scene via a CSF VAAT/e assault ship, Omega conferred with Commander Obrim and Lieutenant Dovel. Despite the Senate Security Committee's desire for the incident to be over quickly as a deterring show of force—to demonstrate that terrorist acts would gain their perpetrators nothing, especially when attempting to hold Republic senators for ransom—Dovel disagreed and refused to endanger the lives of the other five civilians to effect a fast rescue for the senator. While the men of Omega Squad were prepared to begin setting up for an assault on the spaceport to free the hostages, Dovel informed them that a Jedi was being sent to negotiate with the terrorists. It wasn't long before a Twi'lek Jedi Master by the name of Kaim arrived, but he did not do so alone. With him was the Senate Head of Public Affairs, Mar Rugeyan, along with Null ARC Captain N-11—"Ordo", and former Cuy'val Dar commando training sergeant, now special security advisor to the Grand Army, Kal Skirata. As Omega Squad reunited with the man who'd trained them back on Kamino, Master Kaim decided to enter the terminal alone and unarmed to directly negotiate with the terrorists. RC-3222—"Atin" gave the Jedi Master a strip-cam to be placed somewhere inside so that the squad and the CSF officers would be able to get a better look at what was happening inside the terminal, or an audio feed at the very least, should the negotiations and the chance for a peaceful resolution fail and direct action need to be taken.

Kaim attempted to convince the Korunnai to release their captives, asserting that mercy would buy them more sympathy for their cause than brutality. When it was clear that the terrorists were unwilling to give up, and packs of explosives strapped to each hostage seen by all, Kaim suggested that they release the captive elderly couple from Garqi, Joz and Cira Larutur, in exchange for him taking their place as their prisoner. Unfortunately, Kaim was exposed when one of the men spotted the strip-cam, and the Jedi Master was killed. Further, when his body was thrown out of the terminal, the CSF officers who approached found it booby-trapped, rigged with explosives. Before they could detonate, RC-8015—"Fi", threw himself on the body to shield the unprotected cops. Though the bomb did explode, Fi's heavy Katarn-class commando armor spared his life and his body from any serious injury beyond a likely bruise. As a result, Captain Ordo used an electromagnetic pulse to disable the media holocams in the area in a move known as "droiding", effectively shutting down the terrorists' ability to see outside via the viewscreens within the terminal.

As Omega Squad set up charges around the doors for what then seemed an inevitable assault on the spaceport terminal, Skirata turned to ensuring the understandably shaken Fi was alright. As he sat and talked with the man, he overheard Mar Rugeyan refer to the clone commando pejoratively as a "grunt". Angered by the insult, Skirata made a point of forcefully reminding the Head of Public Affairs not to do so again and insisted he leave the scene and allow the clones to carry on doing their job.

The commandos then decided that they would have to go in and kill or contain the Korunnai before they could execute the hostages. When the terrorists requested food, water, and buckets (for 'freshers), Kal Skirata used the opportunity to find out the status of the hostages and to gain valuable intelligence on the terrorists' motives, supplies, and setup.

The Korunnai let Kal into the building, where he was taken hostage as well. The commandos and the CSF could monitor what was happening (via a small listening devices planted on Skirata), and were able to identify who was a terrorist and who was a hostage. Once they'd positively identified all the participants, it was time to act.

Assault


Omega squad burst in through the doors, while Ordo came through the ceiling. Within twenty seconds, the fighting was over; all four of the terrorists were dead, yet there were no casualties among the hostages. In the midst of the short battle, Fi had nearly killed Kal Skirata in a "friendly fire" incident when Kal prevented him from killing a hostage who had been forcibly disguised as one of the terrorists. This hostage turned out to be a member of the Corporate Sector Authority's Direx Board, and was the actual target of the kidnapping, rather than the Mon Cal senator. The Korunnai had hoped that the commandos would accidentally kill the CSA direx board member, causing the CSA to join the Separatist cause.

Appearances

 * Omega Squad: Targets
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero
 * Republic Commando: True Colors