Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/June 2, 2009

The Battle of Taris was an event that took place during the height of the Jedi Civil War. Intending to capture the Jedi Padawan Bastila Shan, whose talents with battle meditation had been crucial to the Galactic Republic's effort against the Sith Empire led by Darth Malak, the Dark Lord of the Sith set his fleet around the Outer Rim world of Taris. After successfully ambushing the vessel under Shan's command, the Hammerhead-class cruiser Endar Spire, Sith troopers led by Darth Bandon boarded the ship, intent on seizing her alive. However, Shan, Carth Onasi and the amnesic ex-Sith Lord Revan were able to escape before the vessel's destruction. Afterwards, Malak ordered the conquest and blockading of Taris in order to search for the Jedi. The escape pod bearing Shan crashed in the Undercity, however, and she was taken prisoner by the Black Vulkars swoop gang.

With support from the Hidden Beks swoop gang, Revan found and freed Shan. Impressed, the Mandalorian mercenary Canderous Ordo offered Revan an opportunity to leave the planet by stealing Exchange boss Davik Kang's flagship, the Ebon Hawk. Accepting the offer, Revan raided the main Sith base to acquire codes to bypass the blockade; Ordo then brought him to Kang's estate to steal the ship. Malak, meanwhile, grew weary of the protracted search. Seeking to eliminate Shan, he ordered Admiral Saul Karath to thoroughly bombard the surface. As the Sith fleet in orbit repositioned itself, Ordo and Revan succeeded in accessing the Hawk. However, they were confronted by Kang and the bounty hunter Calo Nord. After a brief firefight as the bombardment began, Kang was killed and Nord incapacitated; with the way clear, the party boarded the freighter, picking up Onasi, Shan, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, and T3-M4, and blasted off for space. The Ebon Hawk eluded a vanguard of attacking Sith fighters before fleeing into hyperspace, en route to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. Despite their escape, the bombardment continued until the entire world was virtually scoured of life, killing billions of beings.