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The Corellian Resistance was an Imperial resistance movement, led by Garm Bel Iblis on Corellia during the early years of the New Order. It later became one of the founding members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
History[]
Foundation[]
During his time as senator for Corellia, Bel Iblis was an outspoken critic of Emperor Palpatine's rule. Forced into hiding after a failed assassination attempt on Anchoron, Bel Iblis was no longer able to use his position to undermine Palpatine's influence. Unwilling to do nothing to oppose the Empire, Bel Iblis began to consolidate small pockets of resistance in the Corellian sector into an organized force.
The Resistance started with little more than unhappy dissidents gathering for meetings in cellars but increasingly gained support among the general population until their were several thousand members with cells located in most major Corellian cities.
Cells were kept separate, with members knowing only those within their cell. Only Bel Iblis, and a few trusted commanders, knew the full extent of the Resistance, having made the decision to restrict the amount that most members knew to prevent them revealing anything to the Empire if captured. This technique proved vital, as the rebels struggled to keep ahead of the Empire and meetings of cells were often raided after the Empire cracked rebel communications codes.
Armed resistance[]
Over time, the Resistance became better organized and began conducting active operations ranging from intelligence gathering to small hit and fade strikes. Intelligence operatives infiltrated the civilian staff at the largest military base on Corellia and began to feed information back to the Resistance and Bel Iblis led a small fleet of starships and an assortment of sabotage and guerrilla ground forces in a series of strikes against key Imperial outposts in the Corellian Sector.
Though their operations were mostly directed against the Empire, the Resistance also took action against slavery operations, most notably those being conducted by the Hutt Besadii kajidic on Ylesia disguised as a religious group. In a campaign led by Bria Tharen, the Resistance attempted to assassinate the Ylesian priest, Veratil, and later conducted a raid to liberate slaves from Ylesia itself. Though the raid liberated ninety seven slaves, the rebels initially had difficulty persuading the freed slaves of the truth about Ylesia. The pull of the Exultation proved too strong for many and, within a month, fifty-three had run away to return to Ylesia. This, combined with the turbulent atmosphere on Ylesia, which had destroyed one of the rebel ships, discouraged further attacks on Ylesia itself for the time being. Within a couple years the resistance decided to attack Ylesia in force and, with the help of Han Solo and other smugglers, they freed thousands of slaves, at the cost of losing trust from the smugglers.
Birth of the Alliance[]
Though the Resistance continued to conduct independent operations against the Empire, it was clear to Bel Iblis that his organization could not defeat the Empire alone. Aware that similar resistance groups existed on several other planets, Bel Iblis planned to consolidate them into one unified group. To this end, he dispatched operatives to meet with members of other resistance groups. At these meeting the Corellians would offer support in better organizing the other groups and attempt to gather support for an alliance. Though Resistance agents met with groups from, among others, Devaron, Sullust, Kashyyyk, Duro, and Teth they generally enjoyed little success in persuading the groups to unite with most willing to commit themselves no further than increasing their own actions and the occasional sharing of intelligence. At one meeting, Bria Tharen successfully argued the case to Winter, a representative of the Alderaanian Resistance who, upon her return to Alderaan, helped convince Bail Organa that more open resistance was needed.
Meanwhile, Bel Iblis contacted his former Senate colleagues, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, leaders of the Alderaanian and Chandrilan resistance movements. During a series of meetings on Corellia the three resistance leaders agreed on the need to formally unify their movements and signed the Corellian Treaty, the founding document for the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Appearances[]
- The Hutt Gambit (First appearance)
- Rebel Dawn
- † Star Wars: The Force Unleashed