Battle of Onderon(Galactic Civil War)

Battle of Onderon

During the battle,Luke Skywalker and hisJedi team engaged Palpatine, his Dark Jedi and Imperial Guards in a fierce duel, which resulted in the final death of Palpatine and his escorts. However, two JediRayf Ysanna andEmpatojayos Brand were killed while several members of the Jedi team received various injuries.

Meanwhile, a Rebel strike team lead byLando Calrissian andKam Solusar struck the Imperial flagshipEclipse II and succeeded in sabotaging the vessel's automatedhyperdrive engines. This set the vessel on a course for the Imperial throneworld ofByss in theDeep Core where it would exithyperspace at the precise location of theGalaxy Gun—another of the Emperor'ssuperweapons. The resulting explosion destroyed the two massive weapons of war while the planet Byss wasdestroyed by a loose projectile.

The death of Emperor Palpatine on Onderon and the destruction of Byss and the surrounding Imperial fleet scored a heavy blow for the New Republic against theImperial Remnant, which fragmented into several factions.

History[]

Background[]

Having returned in another clone,Palpatine continued his campaign against the New Republic. Armed with the deadly superweapons theGalaxy Gun and hisEclipse-class Super Star DestroyerEclipse II, Palpatine forced many New Republic worlds to submit to Imperial rule. In contrast to the growth of his Empire, Palpatine was again growing frail and weak.^[1]

The resurrected Emperor also began to succumb to accelerated aging due to genetic tampering done to his clones by the treacherousSovereign ProtectorCarnor Jax. He tried to clone other bodies so that he could resurrect himself, but Jax had tainted even the genetic source material.^[3]

Even his scientists and doctors were rendered helpless.^[1] With his body wasting away rapidly, he went to the Sith worldKorriban to consult the ancient Sith Lords. Clearly stating that even they could do nothing about his degenerating body, they advised him to gaze into theOracle stone, where he sawAnakin Solo. The Sith told him that this boy would either be his salvation or his doom. They told him where to find him: Onderon.^[2]

Destruction of theEclipse II[]

The Emperor brought theEclipse II toOnderon, where theSolos had relocated their children. While the New Republic engaged the Imperials, a team of Jedi led byLuke Skywalker along withHan Solo sought out the Emperor. Brand sensed the Emperor'sintense darkness in a nearby shuttle. They fought their way to the Emperor's shuttle past hisguardsmen andstormtroopers, but did not find him aboard the ship. Instead, they encountered aDark Side Adept, who informed them that they had been deceived and that the Emperor had slipped down to theKira Fortress to findLeia and her child.^[2]

During the battle, a strike team lead byLando Calrissian andKam Solusar infiltrated Palpatine's flagship, by attaching the freighterMillennium Falcon to theStar Dreadnought's lower hull. Theastromech droidR2-D2 sabotaged the vehicle's automated hyperdrive engines and set the vessel on a course forByss, exitinghyperspace at the precise location of the dreaded Galaxy Gun cannon. Despite theEclipse II crew's attempts to override the command, the Star Dreadnought entered hyperspace.^[2]

The procedure went so fast, the crew of theMillennium Falcon did not have time to detach before the jump, and so went on an involuntary journey towards theDeep Core with the warship. Meanwhile, on the Galaxy Gun, the engineerUmak Leth attempted to aid his Emperor by arming the Gun. As the Galaxy Gun was being prepared, theEclipse II suddenly came out of hyperspace, ramming the cannon and destroying both vessels.^[2]

TheMillennium Falcon disconnected from the Star Dreadnought before impact and prepared to enter hyperspace. As the Gun was struck by theEclipse II, the armed missile was fired by the cannon, in a vain attempt at hitting the ship that was on a collision course. The missile got caught by Byss's gravity well, exploded upon impact and destroyed the planet, taking some of the orbiting fleet along with it, as well as the wrecks of the Galaxy Gun andEclipse II. TheFalcon exited theBeshqek system before being hit by debris from the explosion.^[2]

Claiming Anakin Solo[]

Meanwhile, Palpatine faced Leia and demanded the possession of her youngest child,Anakin Solo, stating that he was no longer willing to be gentle to her. She fought back, knocking the Emperor off his feet with a powerfulForce Push, allowing her children to slip to safety. Enraged, Palpatine stood and unleashed a barrage ofForce lightning. Leia fought back but was no match for the Emperor, and was finally knocked unconscious by one of his lightning bolts.^[2]

With Leia immobilized, Palpatine attempted to enter Anakin's body. Before he could complete his plan, Skywalker and two other Jedi—Rayf Ysanna andEmpatojayos Brand—arrived. Palpatine, along with two Dark Jedi, fatally injured Brand with Force lightning despite his attempts to fight back. However, Palpatine's use ofthe Force drained his weakened clone body.^[2]

The Dark JediT'iaz engaged Ysanna in alightsaber duel but was killed. Rayf was then cut down by the Dark Lord, whom Rayf had underestimated, even stating that a frail old man like Palpatine would be easy to defeat, and that he would protect anyone Palpatine tried to harm. Nevertheless, he could not defend himself from the rage and the tremendous power of the Emperor, despite the inferiority of his clone body.^[2]

After killing Rayf, Palpatine noted that it was not the first time he saw a "poor fool" die with the Jedi fire burning in his eyes. Skywalker tried to stop the Emperor from grabbing Anakin. The Emperor ignored Skywalker's warnings and fought back with all his remaining energy against theJedi Master. Despite the loss of his adepts, he finally grabbed the boy.^[2]

Leia and Han Solo attempted to stop Palpatine's efforts to claim their child. Leia commented that she would only let Palpatine get the baby "over her dead body." Han quickly shot the Emperor in the back, which Palpatine purposely did not block so that he could be free of his physical form and "enter the child as he had promised." Luke knew that this would be the beginning of the end, as they could not fight Palpatine's ghost.^[2]

His last clone body destroyed, the Emperor's cackling spirit flew towards young Anakin Solo, but was intercepted by the dying Brand, who threw himself in the way. ThePurge survivor shielded the baby with thelight side of the Force and bound the Emperor's departing life essence to his own, taking it with him as he became one with the Force. Railing and cursing theSkywalkers, Palpatine's spirit was dragged into the depths ofChaos. There he would experience disembodiment in darkness, perpetual madness as if to always live with an open wound, terror without respite.^[2]

Aftermath[]

Palpatine, considered by many to be the greatestDark Lord of the Sith of all time, was finally dead. With his death, theGalactic Empire splintered again into several factions.^[3] Because of this, as well as the previous losses sustained by theImperial Civil War and the Empire Reborn campaign, the Galactic Empire also permanently lost any chance of reconquering the galaxy forover a century.^[5]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
• Empire's End 2(First appearance)
• Crimson Empire 0(In flashback(s))
• Crimson Empire 3(In flashback(s))
• Junior Jedi Knights: Vader's Fortress(Indirect mention only)
• Young Jedi Knights: The Lost Ones(Indirect mention only)

Sources[]

• "Special Military Unit Intelligence Update" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 15(Indirect mention only)
• The Essential Chronology(First identified as Battle of Onderon)
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• The New Essential Chronology
• Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 413 ("Onderon")
• The Essential Atlas

Notes and references[]