Raid on the Black Sun headquarters

"If you surrender now, your soldiers will have died in vain. Is that what you want? What about the man inside that base waiting to be rescued? You'd abandon him? This is a moment of truth, Sergeant. Do you give up and let evil win, or stand up and fight?"

- The Knight inspires Nidaljo to fight

During the Cold War with the Sith Empire, the Republic scientist Doctor Eli Tarnis was kidnapped by the Black Sun criminal syndicate. Tarnis, the creator of the Planet Prison superweapon, had been taken to the gang's territory on the Republic capital of Coruscant, and the former apprentice of Jedi Master Orgus Din&mdash;now a Jedi Knight&mdash; was sent to rescue the scientist. With the aid of the Coruscant Security Force's Special Tactical Unit under the command of Sergeant Nidaljo, the Knight and the astromech droid T7-O1 raided the headquarters of Black Sun and discovered that Tarnis was in fact a Sith Lord. Together, the CSF and the Jedi defeated the Black Sun leader Salarr and put a major dent in the syndicate's operations. While Nidaljo and his men pulled out of the area, the Knight returned to the Senate Building, determined to hunt down the traitorous Tarnis.

Prelude
During the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, a series of incidents befell the Republic's Planet Prison superweapon project. First, the design files for the project were stolen by a Rodian thief named Vistis Garn, who worked for the criminal Migrant Merchants' Guild, but was hired by the Black Sun criminal syndicate to steal the files. While the former apprentice of Jedi Master Orgus Din and the astromech droid T7-O1 was recovering the files, the Republic scientist Eli Tarnis&mdash;the project's creator&mdash;was kidnapped from the Senate Building by Black Sun criminals. Jedi Padawan Kira Carsen and a security team caught up to the kidnappers in Docking Bay 84 of the nearby spaceport, and trapped them in the hangar. When the Jedi Knight and T7 returned with the files to Agent Galen of the Republic Strategic Information Service, Galen sent the pair to aid Carsen, and together the two Jedi and T7 were able to defeat and capture the Black Sun members. Their leader, Zeer, was tricked into to telling them that Tarnis had been taken to Black Sun Territory, and the Knight and T7 returned to the Senate Building to meet with Agent Galen.

There, the duo met with Agent Galen, the Knight's master Din, Carsen's master Bela Kiwiiks, and the Mon Calamari General Var Suthra. The general and the two Masters had just returned from meeting with Supreme Chancellor Janarus in orbit, and Galen's analyst Krand had just succeeded in decrypting the recovered files. Galen was alarmed to discover that the files contained information on not just the Planet Prison, but on all of the Republic's superweapon projects. Since the other projects were located at three offworld facilities with minimal defenses to keep a low profile, the two Jedi Masters and Galen decided to each secure one of the facilities. Suthra escorted the two Masters to their ships, while Galen remained behind to speak with the Knight. He put all of his resources at the Jedi's disposal, and informed the Jedi about the CSF's Special Tactical Unit that had been fighting Black Sun for months. Giving the Knight their location and the name of their leader&mdash;Sergeant Nidaljo&mdash;Galen urged the Knight to hurry. The agent remained behind, waiting for Carsen to return so that he could set her up with the computer systems, and then he would depart for Nar Shaddaa.

Restoring hope
The Knight and T7 took an air taxi to Black Sun Territory and fought their way through the gang-controlled area. In a section of the area known as the "Gangland", the Knight and T7 found Sergeant Nidaljo and the rest of the Special Tactical Unit struggling to hold a CSF barricade. After clearing away the Black Sun members attacking the barricade, the Knight spoke with Sergeant Nidaljo. The CSF had been establishing a perimeter around Black Sun's headquarters for the Knight when the criminals had fought back with military-grade weaponry. Six of his men were dead, and a seventh&mdash;Jorin&mdash;died during their conversation, and Black Sun didn't suffer any casualties. Nidaljo was losing hope, and believed that they were unable to help the Knight any longer.

However, the Knight began to speak to Nidaljo, inspiring him and urging him not to give up. His resolve restored, Nidaljo agreed to help, but refused to order his men to their deaths. He needn't worry, however, as the rest of the CSF team had heard the Jedi's words and chose to join the fight themselves. While Nidaljo readied his men, he told the Knight to take down the base's main security network from the front entrance. The CSF would then attack the back entrance once the network was down, and the two teams would rendezvous inside. The Knight and T7 fought their way through the Black Sun members in the area and succeeded in disabling the base's security system, signalling Nidaljo's men to launch their assault.

A traitor revealed
However, when the Knight and T7 finally reached the command center, they found the leader of Black Sun&mdash;a human named Salarr&mdash;speaking with a hooded Tarnis via holocom. Listening to Tarnis, the Jedi learned that the scientist was in fact a Sith Lord, and that he had traded weapons and armor to Black Sun in return for them faking his kidnapping. Salarr was furious with Tarnis for betraying him, as he thought that the Sith had set him up, but Tarnis denied it. The Knight was outraged that Tarnis had betrayed the Republic, but Tarnis brushed off the insults and warned the Jedi that Coruscant was already doomed.

When Tarnis ordered Salarr to kill the Knight and ended the transmission, one of Salarr's men tried to shoot the Jedi in the back. However, Sergeant Nidaljo and two of his men arrived at that moment and shot the criminal before he could pull the trigger. The Knight greeted Nidaljo and ordered him to surrender, but the gang leader attacked regardless. With the advantage of numbers, Nidaljo and the Jedi were able to defeat Salarr and the other criminals without further loss of life.

Aftermath
"Can't believe it! We just took down Salarr. Black Sun won't forget that anytime soon. We lost some good soldiers, but this victory gives their deaths meaning."

- Sergeant Nidaljo

Nidaljo and his men celebrated briefly before the Knight was contacted by Carsen via the same holoterminal Salarr had been using to talk to Tarnis. She had intercepted Salarr's holocall to Tarnis, and was astonished to learn that the doctor was a Sith. Carsen also had worse news&mdash;the Planet Prison that was in the lab was a fake, and Tarnis had stolen the real one. The Jedi ordered Carsen to trace the holocall, and the Knight and T7 returned to the Senate Building. Despite their victory, Nidaljo knew that his men could not hold the base successfully, and the unit

Behind the scenes
The raid on the Black Sun headquarters was created for Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by BioWare on December 20, 2011. It appears in the Jedi Knight class story mission "Kidnapped!", where the player ventures into Black Sun Territory to rescue the kidnapped Doctor Tarnis. The quest features several points at which alignment choices can affect the outcome, but this article assumes that the Knight choose the light side options as a light side character. The first turning point is when Nidaljo is about to give up hope, and the player can choose how to encourage him. For dark side points, the player can Force Persuade the sergeant to help, or they can choose to insult the officer and leave without him for no alignment points and no aid in the battle with Salarr. The light side option is to inspire Nidaljo to help through words, which will also results in Nidaljo coming to aid the player against Salarr. If Nidaljo is present at the fight, the player can gain additional dark side points by ordering the CSF officers to attack Salarr without asking for his surrender.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic