Battle of Korriban (Galactic Civil War)

"It was a crazy, foolhardy mission. Every member of Renegade Squadron volunteered without question."

- Col Serra telling Tionne Solusar about the battle.

The Battle of Korriban occurred during the Galactic Civil War, shortly before the Battle of Endor when the Rebel Alliance's elite fighting unit, Renegade Squadron, attacked the Sith planet of Korriban. Under the command of Commander Col Serra, Renegade Squadron hoped to capture data concerning the second Death Star from Emperor Palpatine himself while he was visiting the planet. After a brief battle, Renegade Squadron was able to capture a data holocron from the Emperor's shuttle. The battle was seen to be one of the most dangerous and challenging Renegade Squadron ever faced, and Col Serra would latter recount the battle to Jedi archivist, Tionne Solusar years later after the fall of the Empire.

Prelude
During the Galactic Civil War, right after the Skirmish at Carkoon and the rescue of Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance began to plan their assault on the newly discovered second Death Star that was stationed over the forest moon of Endor. To do this, the Alliance needed to gather more intel about the Imperial superweapon. Commander Col Serra, the second in command of Renegade Squadron, and the man who formed the elite fighting squadron out of smugglers and spacers, offered an idea. Palpatine, one of the Dark Lords of the Sith and the Imperial ruler of the galaxy, was due to make a pilgrimage to the Sith tomb world of Korriban. Serra believed that the Sith Lord was likely carrying at least some information concerning the Death Star, so the Alliance planned to lure the Emperor into a trap and contain him while they stole the secret data about the Death Star.

Making the trap
Renegade Squadron landed in the Valley of the Dark Lords near the ancient Sith Academy shortly before Palpatine had touched down. Col Serra quickly put his plan into action. He ordered his unit to capture the old Sith Academy and the communication station there so that they could stop the Imperial garrison from warning Palpatine of how big a threat the Rebels were. Serra knew that the Sith Master had probably already sensed Renegade Squadron, but he hoped that the Sith Lord would think they would be too insignificant of a threat to worry about, and that his Stormtroopers would take care of the Rebels.

After the Rebels successfully capture the academy, the Imperial soldiers regrouped for a counterattack against the invaders while the Emperor entered the atmosphere of Korriban in his Lambda-class shuttle. Serra ordered his men to hold the academy for a few minutes while Palpatine landed. The Stormtroopers then launched a large wave of attacks to cripple Renegade Squadron, but the Rebels were able to hold out and push the Imperial forces back to the nearby tombs.

Commander Serra then told his men to capture the Sith tombs to obtain a stronger foothold. As Renegade Squadron surged forward, the Imperials were slowly pushed back deeper into the tombs. After some brief fighting, Serra's men were able to capture the entrance of the tombs, and the small room nearby the academy. The Imperials still held the main entrance to the larger main room which held all the valuable Sith artifacts and the small side room dug into the ground in which the Palapatine had landed.

Col Serra then decided to carry out the second part of his plan, which he found almost too crazy and dangerous to do, but it was necessary if the Alliance wanted to capture the information. The Rebels were going to trap the Emperor inside the Sith burial chambers by luring him inside and then blowing the three entrances. Serra had already placed explosives at all three entrances, and sent a member of Renegade Squadron to go and set the three explosives. The first two were easy to set for they were located in the atrium, which the Alliance had already captured. The last set of explosives were the difficult ones, they were in the back entrance, located deep inside Imperial controlled main room. There were two equally dangerous ways to get to the explosives; one was through the highly dangerous tombs, and the second was through the small cave system that led to Palpatine's landing site. Renegade Squadron were able to successfully set the explosives and continue with their plan.

Setting the trap
To lure the Emperor inside the tombs, Serra decided to destroy several ancient and valuable Sith artifacts scattered all around the main room of the tomb. Col ordered his men to destroy the artifacts, because it would anger the Sith Lord and cause him to come inside the tombs to save the priceless relics. Renegade Squadron began to push farther up into the main room, using their blasters and grenades. To make Palpatine even angrier, they blew up the biggest and most valuable Sith artifact in the middle of the tomb using a detpack. Furious, Palpatine came charging into the tomb, killing a Mon Calamari Rebel Vanguard and any other Rebel he saw with Force lightning. Renegade Squadron were unable to harm Palpatine because he had created a strong Force barrier around him that none of their attacks could penetrate, but it didn't matter because the Emperor was now inside the tombs.

This played right into Serra's plan, and now Renegade Squadron could finally set the trap. Col ordered the remaining members of Renegade Squadron out of the tombs and as soon as everyone was out safely, he blew all three explosives. The doors caved in, trapping the Emperor and most of his forces inside the tomb momentarily. However, Col knew that the rocks wouldn't hold a strong Force-sensitive like Palpatine for long. He told Renegade Squadron to go get the data holocron that he had located inside Palpatine's shuttle. The Rebels had to go through the cave system to the landing site to retrieve it.

The few Imperial troops that hadn't been trapped with Palpatine tried to defend the holocron but the Alliance forces were able to capture the holocron. The member of Renegade Squadron who retrieved the holocron from the shuttle ran it back to the LAAT gunship waiting for him at the evac zone. When he returned, Col Serra quickly looked over the holocron, and his search turned up that the Emperor was planning to go to the Endor system to overlook the final construction work on the Death Star. Serra said that maybe the Alliance could kill two birds with one stone, by destroying the Death Star and the Emperor all at once. The surviving members of Renegade Squadron quickly left Korriban and the Valley of the Dark Lords soon after everyone was safely aboard the evac ships.

Aftermath
Renegade Squadron soon returned to the Alliance fleet and gave the holocron to Mon Mothma. It revealed to the Alliance important information about the second Death Star and that the Emperor had made a crucial mistake in planning. This was most likely a trick by Palpatine to draw the Rebel Alliance into his own trap, that which would become known as the Battle of Endor. Renegade Squadron and Col Serra soon would be ordered to Sullust to distract the Imperial fleet and bring them away from Endor. This would be a useless gesture, as the Empire wasn't fooled at all and sent the bounty hunter/assassin droid IG-88 to stop Renegade Squadron instead.

Years after the Battle of Endor and the rise of the New Republic, Jedi Knight Tionne Solusar tracked down Col Serra to ask him about Renegade Squadron for her archives. Col Serra described to her many of their battles, including the Batttle of Korriban.

Behind the Scenes
The Battle of Korriban made its first and only appearance in Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, which recounts the various battles and exploits of Renegade Squadron during the Galactic Civil War. The battle itself makes up the ninth level in the game's campaign mode.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron