The battle above Taloraan took place during the Galactic Civil War. Following the rescue of Wedge Antilles, which brought the elite Rebel starfighter squadron Rogue Squadron to its full potential, the Rebellion began to target Imperial property under the command of Moff Kohl Seerdon, who was in the process of consolodating his forces to launch an attack on the Rebel's bacta supply on Thyferra.
The first target of these hit and run missions was Taloraan, where the Empire ran tibanna gas mining operations to power their blasters. Rogue Squadron destroyed the Empire's supply of tibanna gas canisters stored in floating platforms, and dealt as much damage possible to the local TIE/LN starfighter squadron stationed on the planet.
During an assault on the Imperial spaceport situated in the canyons of the planet Kile II, Wedge Antilles, member of Rogue Squadron, was shot down and taken by the Empire as a prisoner of war to the spice prisons of Kessel. In the absence of Wedge's remarkable piloting skills, Rogue group's potential was greatly diminished. Luke Skywalker, commander of Rogue Squadron and a close friend of Antilles, led Rogue group to Kessel, where they saved Antilles and several other Rebel prisoners.
Rogue Squadron in the clouds of Taloraan.
With Rogue Squadron once again at its maximum strength, the group's efforts were beginning to be aimed at the Imperial Moff Kohl Seerdon. Seerdon was plotting to consolidate his forces to lead a large scale attack on the Rebel bacta supply on the jungle world Thyferra. Bacta, a chemical used to treat the wounded, was essential, and the Rebellion began their efforts to inflict damage to the Moff's resources in a series of hit and run attacks on various Imperial installations. The first target of these hit and run missions was the gas giant Taloraan, which housed the Moff's tibanna gas mining programs, which was used to power Imperial weapons. Taloraan was chosen as the mining operation center due to it having among the highest-quality Tibanna gas in the galaxy, and planned to overrun the harvest facilities while otherwise letting civilian operations continue. They also augmented the local squadrons guarding the tanks by including various TIEs, largely because of the newfound importance of Tibanna gas to the Imperial war machine, and it was expected to fall under Imperial control by 2 ABY if it didn't experience any problems. It as projected that disrupting the Empire's mining operation would not only curb Imperial expansion within the Kelavine system, but also set back the Empire's weapons program by at least three months. Because the Empire was unable to figure out a way to implement shields on their own Tibanna gas canisters (which could ignite if hit by a single blaster bolt), they compensated for the lack of shields by implementing strategically placed compact turbolasers on the various platforms.
Since the tibanna gas interfered with Rogue group's A-wing starfighters, the scanners installed on the starfighters were recalibrated to Seven-Mark-Nine. As there were numerous gas canisters owned by civilian organizations installed in the same platforms as the Imperial owned gas, their fire was to remain in check.
By the time they reached the fourth platform, Rogue Squadron used seeker missiles to take out the turbolaser defenses in order to ensure their success in destroying the Imperial gas containers at minimum risk.
After taking out several platforms of Imperial gas, a squadron of TIE fighters began to swarm Rogue Squadron from below, a standard Imperial maneuver used on gas giants. Due to knowledge of this tactic by Kasan Moor, a former TIE interceptor pilot who defected to the Rebellion, Rogue group avoided the ambush and continued to a floating city, where the last target was situated.
During their raid on the last platform, Skywalker broke off and proceeded to retrieve some advanced blasters that were situated within Taloraan City's town square.
After Rogue Flight's mission was accomplished, Wedge Antilles speculated that the local Imperial governor would be afraid to report his failure to his superior, Moff Seerdon. Kasan Moor speculated that the governor would not live through this confrontation with Seerdon, as the Moff had a notorious reputation for being unforgiving.
During the operations on Taloraan, a Rebel commando force infiltrated Seerdon's research facility on Fest, and attempted to escape with a group of three stolen AT-PT walkers. Immediately after their victory on Taloraan, Rogue Squadron was deployed to provide support.
The battle above Taloraan was depicted in the videogame Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, as the eleventh mission of the game's campaign.
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide