Battle of Alderaan

"For centuries, Alderaan stood as a beacon of hope in the Republic. But the Empire came, and with one savage strike, brought Alderaan to her knees. Now, time is running out, as few are left to face the enemy. For those that remain, there is but one choice. We must fight&mdash;to victory, or death&mdash;for the Republic!"

- Captain Jace Malcom

The Battle of Alderaan was a major conflict between the Galactic Republic and the reconstituted Sith Empire that occurred at the height of the Great Galactic War, in 3,667 BBY. The peaceful and verdant Core World of Alderaan was a founding member of the Republic and widely viewed as an embodiment of the ideals and principles upon which the galactic government was founded. It was that reputation that made it a military target for the Sith Empire. As the Great Galactic War dragged on elsewhere in the galaxy, the Sith formulated a plan to crush Republic morale by invading Alderaan and shattering its serenity. The incursion was led by the Sith Lord Darth Malgus, who planned for it to coincide with a diversionary feint that would pull the ships of the Republic Navy far from Alderaan. As the planet sat undefended by the Republic fleet, it was beset by a massive Sith invasion force that bombarded the planet from orbit, obliterated its local defense forces, and took the royal family of Alderaan hostage.

Unknown to the Sith forces, the Republic had stationed groups of Republic troopers across the planet prior to the invasion. These troopers took to the mountains and forests of Alderaan during the Sith attack and proceeded to wage a guerrilla war against the enemy. As Darth Malgus led his forces in a march toward the planet's capital city, he was ambushed by the troopers of Republic Special Forces' Havoc Squad. Much of the squad was killed during the battle, but with the timely arrival of Jedi Knight Satele Shan to aid the men of Havoc Squad, Malgus and his Sith forces were routed. Following the skirmish outside the city, the Republic fleet returned from the diversionary feint to drive the Empire off of Alderaan. The battle was a major victory for the Republic, but had grave consequences for the future of Alderaan. Although historically a voice for peace, the Alderaanian government became a vocal proponent of harsh military actions against the Empire in the aftermath of the battle. This new stance came into conflict with the peace established by the Treaty of Coruscant in 3,653 BBY, which ultimately led to a bloody planetary civil war.

Prelude
"While Coruscant has always been considered the heart of the Republic, to some extent, Alderaan has been its soul."

- A HoloNet dossier on Alderaan

After its return to galactic prominence in 3,681 BBY, the reconstituted Sith Empire stabbed into Galactic Republic space in a brutal campaign for domination. As the Great Galactic War dragged on, the Sith continued to advance toward the Republic's bastion worlds near the galaxy's center, known as the Core Worlds. In this region lay Alderaan, a verdant and historically tranquil planet that had long been a voice for peace in the Republic's Galactic Senate. Alderaan was seen as the soul of the principles the Republic had been founded on, and it was that reputation that made it a military target for opportunistic Sith commanders hoping to capitalize on what had the potential to be a major blow to Republic morale.

The plan for an Imperial invasion of Alderaan was headed by the Sith Lord Malgus, who had recently been granted the honorific title of "Darth." Malgus specialized in surprise assaults and utilized that ability in planning the attack on Alderaan. The Sith Lord manipulated the forces of the Republic Navy into all but abandoning the planet in order to deal with a situation light years away&mdash;a situation that was in fact nothing more than a diversionary feint fabricated by Malgus to pull defenses away from his target. Unbeknown to the Sith, however, the Republic had stationed numerous groups of Republic troopers on Alderaan's surface, a number of which were part of the Special Forces division of the Republic Military.

The battle
"It was a battle they could not win, and if I had arrived before they launched the attack I would have counseled them to hold back. In retrospect, though, it was the courage and selflessness of those men that changed everything that day."

- Grand Master Satele Shan recounts the efforts of the Republic Army at the Battle of Alderaan

With Alderaan's naval defenses far from their charge, the forces of the Empire invaded the world in a swift and savage assault. Prior to landing their vessels, the Empire initiated a heavy orbital bombardment of the world, which decimated a number of townships and filled much of the atmosphere with ash and thick black smoke. Darth Malgus himself led the incursion force, which consisted of several thousand assault droids, hundreds of fellow Sith, large numbers of Imperial soldiers, and a bounty hunter. The ground forces were joined by vessels of the Imperial Navy, including starfighters and battlecruisers. Once his forces were on the planet, Malgus began a devastating campaign across the once-tranquil world. The Sith forces obliterated the local Alderaanian defense forces and continued on to burn entire cities to the ground. Jedi Knight Aryn Leneer participated in the conflicts on the planet, alongside Knights Satele Shan, Warren Sedoru and other Jedi defenders. During the assault, the Imperials captured Alderaan's royal family, holding them hostage for a period of time and earning the ire of the Alderaanian government.

As Malgus continued his brutal campaign across the planet, he set his sights on Alderaan's planetary capital city. While he led his forces in a march toward the city, the Republic forces that had been stationed on Alderaan's surface mobilized. Up until the Sith advance on the capital, the soldiers of the Republic Military had been recovering from the wounds of battle and awaiting orders from their superiors. In response to Malgus's overtures, they took to Alderaan's forests and mountain ranges in preparation to fight a guerrilla counter-campaign against the Sith invaders. While the rest of the Republic personnel on the planet set out to repel the Sith across Alderaan, it fell to the elite Special Forces group Havoc Squad to defend the capital by engaging the Imperial forces under the direct command of Darth Malgus.

Commander Jace Malcom of Havoc Squad led his forces into position on a ridge overlooking the forest route that was to be traversed by Malgus's troops. As the Imperials marched past the Republic's position, the trooper commander opened fire with a blaster cannon, initiating the ambush. The rest of Havoc Squad leaped down from the ridge to join their commander in battle against the Sith through the forests of Alderaan. The troopers were able to destroy a number of assault droids with thermal detonators and blaster fire, but were eventually engaged by Darth Malgus himself. Upon seeing the Sith Lord impale one of his comrades, the commander took aim at Malgus, though his first several shots were ineffective. The trooper's final cannon blast engulfed the enemy commander in flames, badly damaging his face. When Malcom attempted to rush the Sith Lord and finish him off, Malgus assaulted him with Force lightning and threw him across the battlefield.

The remaining Sith forces gained the upper-hand in the skirmish, eventually forcing the Republic soldiers on the defensive. Havoc Squad troopers that fell behind were systematically executed by the Sith, until intervention from Satele Shan. The Jedi Knight allowed Havoc Squad the opportunity to press their attack once more while she engaged Sith Warriors, their war droids, and Malgus himself. Shan and the Sith Lord's fierce melee was nearly ended when Malgus disarmed his opponent and attempted to stab her with his lightsaber. His attack was unsuccessful however, as Shan was able to absorb the energy from Malgus's lightsaber, essentially catching the blade. While the Sith attempted to penetrate the Jedi's defenses, he was tackled by Malcom, whom he had faced earlier. While they grappled, the Havok commander activated a grenade, sparking a blast that threw the two combatants apart, and grievously injured both.

Jace Malcom was rendered unconscious, though Malgus quickly recovered. Despite surviving the explosion, the Sith Lord was again assaulted by Satele Shan, who threw him with the Force into a large rock face. As Malgus struggled against her telekinetic attack, the Jedi mustered power through the force and delivered a powerful Force Wave, impacting the Sith Lord and shattering the rock around him. With the Imperial commander incapacitated, Republic forces continued to wipe out the Sith forces both in the forest battle and across the rest of Alderaan. Malcom later recovered to find the Imperials defeated, along with many of his own men. Upon being joined by his savior Shan, the commander fired a signal flare into the sky to indicate the Republic victory. The flare was matched by dozens of others across the planet that were immediately followed by the arrival of the Republic fleet, which had returned from addressing Malgus's diversion.

The return of the Republic's naval forces prompted the surviving Sith invaders to initiate a full retreat from the Alderaan theater. The seriously wounded Darth Malgus was rescued from the battlefield by his subordinates and loaded into his personal shuttle, bound for safer regions. While the Sith Lord recovered in his escaping vessel, he felt the presence of a Jedi in the ruins of a township destroyed by the orbital bombardment. Furious over the failure of his invasion, Malgus was determined to take the life of the Jedi in revenge. The Sith Lord ordered his pilot to reduce their speed and lower the shuttle before he jumped from the airborne vessel into the streets of the devastated town. On the surface, Malgus encountered a Zabrak Jedi who had planned a trap for the Sith Lord. When Malgus charged at the Zabrak, the Jedi quickly overwhelmed him by using the Force to crush the Sith beneath the rubble of surrounding buildings. The Imperial commander survived the attack and reciprocated with a flurry of lightsaber strikes that beat the Jedi into a defensive stance. Malgus realized that his target was simply baiting him into an ambush, and so used the Force to discern his plan: there was another Jedi lying in wait, hoping to strike at the Sith while he was distracted. Darth Malgus responded by kicking the Zabrak into a building while seeking out the other Jedi, the Human Vorin, and crushing his windpipe. The Zabrak Jedi, angered by the death of his comrade, charged at Malgus in a desperate attempt to finish the Sith. Malgus easily broke the attack with a concentrated blast of Force lightning, which drove the Jedi to the ground in pain. The Sith Lord executed his ruined opponent before rejoining his forces in retreat. With the full might of the Republic Military focused on Alderaan, the Sith were driven from the planet and the royal family was rescued from captivity.

Aftermath
"The Imperial invasion was not forgotten, though. For the first time in history, Alderaan’s leaders became a voice for aggressive military action in the Senate."

- A HoloNet dossier on Alderaan during the Cold War

Although Alderaan was safe from Imperial aggression for the remainder of the war, the invasion had a profound effect on the once-peaceful planet. Alderaan's leaders, who had previously been renowned for their pacifism, began to advocate aggressive military operations against the Empire in the Republic's Senate, as a response to the damage the Sith had inflicted on their homeworld. In 3,653 BBY, the Sith Dark Council was growing increasingly desparate for an end to the war, particularly after the debacle on Alderaan, a failed conquest of Rhen Var, and the loss of a blockade on the Hydian Way. Thusly, the Council called for a peace summit to convene on Alderaan to discuss the terms of a possible termination of hostilities between the Republic and the Empire. The summit ultimately yielded a peace agreement known as the Treaty of Coruscant&mdash;a document that later had severe consequences for the galaxy at large, and Alderaan in particular.

By all measures, the Sith had won the Great Galactic War, and the Treaty of Coruscant was little more than a concession of defeat for the Republic. The agreement was heavily biased toward Imperial interests &mdash;a fact that outraged Alderaanian politicians who had taken a hardline stance against the Sith. In protest of the Republic's establishment of peace with the enemy, Gaul Panteer, the Crown Prince of Alderaan, stormed out of the Senate and declared his planet an independent system. The secession was met with mixed reaction from the people of Alderaan and chaos broke out on the planet following the prince's assassination. The queen died in the following days, leaving the Alderaanian throne vacant and Alderaan's parliament unable to appoint a new ruling family. Several noble houses competed to become the new royal family, but the competition quickly became violent, with Republic and Imperial interests both trying to influence the outcome of what became one of the bloodiest planetary civil wars in galactic history.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Alderaan was created as a background event for the upcoming LucasArts video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The battle was first mentioned on the Alderaan page of the Holonet, an online feature available on Star Wars: The Old Republic official website. The Holonet is intended to provide information regarding the history of the galaxy prior to the game's starting point. With regard to the Battle of Alderaan, the Holonet explains the reasons for the Alderaanian civil war found in the game.

The information on the battle was dramatically expanded upon with the release of Hope, the second cinematic trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The trailer revealed that Havoc Squad and the Jedi Order were involved in the battle, as well as Darth Malgus&mdash;a character who was first introduced in the previous cinematic trailer. The trailer was narrated by a Havoc Squad trooper, Jace Malcom, whose voice actor has yet to be confirmed by official sources. The release of Hope also confirmed the conflict's name as the "Battle of Alderaan." In March of 2011, eight months after Hope release, BioWare senior creative writer and author of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire confirmed via The Old Republic online message boards that the unidentified Jedi female in the trailer is Satele Shan, a prominent character in the game itself.

Appearances

 * Hope
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic 8: The Lost Suns, Part 2
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic