Liberation of Lothal

"It's for Ezra. We are liberating his home."

- Hera Syndulla

The liberation of Lothal was a battle during the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire in 1 BBY which resulted in the liberation of the Lothalians and their homeworld of Lothal.

Before the Empire
After the Clone Wars, which saw the Outer Rim world of Lothal untouched by war, but was devastated by a drought and plague, their pleas were ignored by the Senate of the Galactic Republic, yet Lothal later successfully petitioned for aid from the Republic's successor, the Galactic Empire, resulting the annexation of Lothal by the Empire in 19 BBY.

Imperialization of Lothal
By 18 BBY, the Empire had dispatched a Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility and planted it in Capital City, almost immediately asserting Imperial dominance on the world and projecting Imperial strength. The presence of the Empire was not favored by all Lothalians, including Ephraim and Mira Bridger, who had begun conducting underground transmissions with the support of the Governor of Lothal Ryder Azadi. Within a month, Azadi had been ordered by the Empire to end their transmissions, though Azadi did not obey, ultimately resulting in his arrest, along with Ephraim and Mira Bridger, leaving their son, Ezra Bridger, orphaned.

Azadi would be supplanted by one of his rivals, the Lothalian Arihnda Pryce, who after acquiring significant influence on Coruscant, had attained the temporary position of acting governor while she trained for the governorship of Lothal, bringing with her starship manufacturing contracts for Lothal, including the expansion of naval facilities and factories. The imperialization of Lothal saw a further expansion of mining operations, as beneath the vast grasslands of the planet laid large veins of doonium, a metal that was primarily used for the construction of starships and a secret project. This expansion resulted in the eviction of farmers and the interest of megacorporations, resulting in anti-Imperial sentiments. By 6 BBY, a bombing attempt of Imperial seismic surveyor droids led to a massacre of peaceful protestors, and culminated in a small-scale skirmish between Imperial forces and a small rebel cell, eventually resulting in the capture of the rebels.

Growing dissidence
By 5 BBY, another rebel group, the Spectres, led by the former Jedi padawan Kanan Jarrus and the Twi'lek Hera Syndulla, and consisting of the droid C1-10P, the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, and the Lasat Garazeb Orrelios, had begun operations on Lothal after successful small-scaled operations against the Empire on other worlds such as Toydaria and Christophsis. Their early attacks, including a raid on an Imperial supply convoy, an attack on a Lothal airfield, and a heist in Capital City, which saw them collaborating with the Force-sensitive city orphan Ezra Bridger, resulted in the attention of Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus. After further operations resulted in the attraction of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and The Grand Inquisitor, and culminated in the capture of Kanan Jarrus and the Spectres broadcasting a call to action to Lothal and nearby planets, the Spectres were able to defeat Imperial forces above Mustafar and rescue their friend with the help of the rebel cell Phoenix Squadron and the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano.

The events above Mustafar saw the destruction of the Sovereign, Grand Moff Tarkin's flagship, the death of the Grand Inquisitor, the attention of Darth Vader and the induction of the Spectres into Phoenix Squadron. Whispers of what had occurred above Mustafar eventually reached the citizens of Lothal, which according to Agent Kallus, made some believe that the Empire was weak and vulnerable. Consequently, the Empire's grip on Lothal tightened, imposing a siege in an effort to route out the insurgents. By this time, Emperor Sheev Palpatine, secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, had become interested in Lothal, a secret known by a few, including Lothal's Minister of industry Maketh Tua who sought to exchange that information with Phoenix Squadron in exchange for safe passage off of Lothal.

After Phoenix Squadron's flagship, the Phoenix Home, was destroyed during the siege by Darth Vader and their hideout on Garel City was discovered by the Inquisitorius, Ezra's broadcast would eventually reach his parents, Ephraim and Mira, who were imprisoned with former governor Azadi. Hearing his rallying call, they instigated in a revolt, and although they lost their lives, Azadi was able to escape and begin a quest to search for their son, Ezra.

The actions of the rebels consequently resulted in Governer Pryce requesting the Seventh Fleet and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn designed and built TIE/D Defenders on Lothal and the Spectres were keen to put a stop to it. Their first attempt had the unification of Phoenix Squadron, Massassi Group and the Lothal resistance to take out the factories. However, Thrawn learned of their location and ambushed them, destroying all but a handful of ships.

The second attempt involved an Alliance X-wing squadron but Thrawn destroyed them with ease. The Spectres were there for both failures but refused to give up. When rescuing one of their own, Hera Syndulla, the Governor Arihnda Pryce open fired on the Lothal City fuel depot to stop them, killing Kanan Jarrus and halting TIE Defender production. This had completed their initial mission and Thrawn was very unpleased.

Preparing for the Attack
With Thrawn not on Lothal for the time being, the Spectres had an oppotunity to liberate Lothal from the Galactic Empire. Ezra had Hera round up all their old friends from their past missions over the years including Hondo Ohnaka, Clones Rex, Wolffe and Gregor, Ketsu Onyo and Alexsandr Kallus. With Thrawn preparing to return, they needed to work quickly.

The first step was to capture someone who could get them into Lothals Imperial command centre, or command dome. Lothal resistance leader Ryder Azadi contacted Governor Pryce pretending to turn in the rebels. Pryce fell for it and brought her forces to their location and attacked. The rebels were easily defeated and rounded up. But then Hera arrived with reinforcements on the Ghost and Ezra brought the Loth-wolves to attack the Imperial forces. Pryce soon found herself defeated and surrendered.

Taking the Dome
Using Governor Pryce, the rebels got into the dome and took the command centre. Their next move would be to launch it back into the air with it's thrusters. But Thrawn came back and parked his Imperial-class Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, above the dome. The rebels attempted to get the shields up to protect the city but Thrawn assassin Rukh had shut down the domes generator. He wanted Ezra to surrender himself and started bombarding the city, killing many civilians.

Ezra ultimately surrendered and went up there to meet Thrawn. There Thrawn took Ezra to see the Emperor who was in the form of a hologram. The emperor took him to a piece of the Lothal Jedi Temple and offered him the chance of seeing his parents again. It was really a ruse to make Ezra open the portal to the Cosmic Force. Ezra almost took the bait but resisted. The piece of the temple then collapsed. The emperor then had his guards attack Ezra but he threw rocks at them with the force to stop them.

Meanwhile, Zeb, Gregor and a few others went down to the generator to get it back online. Gregor was ultimately shot dead but Zeb managed to trap Rukh on one of the power beams and when the generator went up again, Rukh was fried to death. With Ezra on the loose again, Thrawn prepared to bombard the city for a second time. But with the power generator back online, the rebels could activate the shield and save the remaining citizens. Ezra got to the Chimaera's bridge and faced Thrawn. Thrawn was convinced he wasn't going to win but then Ezra played his final card.

Many Purrgils suddenly arrived at Lothal and destroyed the Imperial Blockade. They then entered the atmousphere and attacked the Star Destroyers, bringing them down two of them. They then latched onto the Chimaera and jumped it to hyperspace. With no Imperials left to stop them, the rebels launched the dome and blew it up in the sky. Pryce and many Imperials died on the dome. The citizens then captured the remaining Imperials in the city and Lothal was Liberated from their control.

Aftermath
The citizens of Lothal prepared for the Empire to return and take it back. However with the Battle of Scarif and the Galactic Civil War, the Empire never got the chance. Lothal soon prospered again and the Empire would eventually fail and collapse under the foot of the Alliance. The Spectres went their separate ways and Sabine Wren hoped to find out where the Chimaera had gone and find Ezra again.