Core Campaign

By the time 6 ABY had reached its midpoint, the New Republic had successfully surrounded the Core Worlds, positioning themselves to finally wrest control of Coruscant away from the Empire. The New Republic understood that Coruscant was important for more than just being designated "000" on galactic charts. The world was the most densely inhabited ecumenopolis in the galaxy, and it also controlled two of the five most heavily used super-hyperroutes in the galaxy. Gaining control of the system would significantly bolster the New Republic's legitimacy. Therefore, the New Republic initiated an intricate campaign designed to isolate Coruscant. General Carlist Rieekan played a key role in developing this strategy.

The New Republic's premier starfighter squadron, Rogue Squadron, was redeployed from Folor Base within the Commenor system to a new operating base located on the deserted planet of Talasea. Their mission there was to launch a diversionary operation, intended to distract the Empire from Admiral Gial Ackbar's real target: the Colonies world of Borleias, known by the codename "Blackmoon".

However, while en route to Talasea Base, Rogue Squadron was unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace in the Chorax system by the Interdictor cruiser Black Asp, which was attempting to capture Mirax Terrik's smuggler vessel, the Pulsar Skate. During the ensuing battle, the Rogues successfully rescued Terrik, but this action also revealed the X-wings' affiliation with Rogue Squadron to the Empire. Imperial Intelligence agent Kirtan Loor was then assigned by Ysanne Isard with the task of locating and eliminating the Squadron.

Loor was able to track Rogue Squadron to Talasea, and the Squadron only managed to survive the subsequent Imperial raid on the planet due to the incompetence of Admiral Devlia. Following this, Admiral Gial Ackbar promptly evacuated Talasea, and Rogue Squadron was relocated to Noquivzor after a retaliatory raid that resulted in Devlia's death at Vladet and compelled the Empire to allocate substantial resources to rebuilding their headquarters in that sector.

With the Talasea feint having failed, Ackbar focused all his efforts on capturing Borleias. This planet was a crucial stepping stone along the Namadii Corridor leading to Coruscant. Agents of the Bothan Spynet under the command of General Laryn Kre'fey had determined, using Imperial HoloNet transmissions, that the planet's defenses were weak. However, the Bothans were unaware that Imperial General Evir Derricote had secretly strengthened Borleias' defenses to protect his illicit Alderaan Biotics facility, among other things, significantly boosting the power of the planet's deflector shield. Furthermore, Derricote had discovered the Bothans' spying operation and had been intentionally feeding them misleading information for some time.

In addition, Kirtan Loor had previously identified Borleias as the likely location of a New Republic attack preparing for an advance on Coruscant. Ysanne Isard dispatched him to Borleias, and Loor wrongly assumed that she was also aware of his conclusions. In reality, Isard only sent Loor to monitor Derricote, believing that he possessed horticultural and scientific expertise that could be developed into a bioweapon for use against the New Republic. If Loor had shared his theory with Isard, she would have deployed a larger defense force with additional resources to completely annihilate the attacking New Republic forces.

Regardless of this Imperial miscommunication, the First Battle of Borleias proved to be a disaster for the New Republic. The unexpected strength of the deflector shield meant that Kre'fey's plan to bombard the Biotics facility from orbit failed. The New Republic suffered the loss of two capital ships, Kre'fey was killed, and Rogue Squadron required rescue by General Horton Salm's Y-wings to escape. However, the miscommunication between Loor and Isard meant that the Star Destroyer Eviscerator was absent from the system during the battle, when it could have destroyed the entire New Republic force.

Several weeks later, the New Republic launched a diversionary attack in the Venjagga system, targeting Jagga II, a planet that produced missiles for the Imperial Navy. This attack successfully lured the Eviscerator away from Borleias, and with a revised strategy, Rogue Squadron launched a second assault on Borleias. By concealing themselves behind a meteor shower originating from the planet's moon, Rogue Squadron successfully severed the deflector shield's power conduit. With the core of their defenses destroyed, the Imperial defense collapsed, and the Second Battle of Borleias resulted in a Republic victory.

With Borleias under their control, Admiral Ackbar was now positioned to launch a direct assault on Coruscant. However, the capital world was protected by a formidable planetary shield. Before any attack could commence, these shields needed to be disabled. Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron were sent undercover into Imperial City to sabotage the shield generator. Furthermore, sixteen of the galaxy's most notorious criminals, including former Moff Fliry Vorru and gangster Zekka Thyne, were released from the prison colony of Kessel and unleashed upon Imperial City to create chaos for the Imperial authorities.

Meanwhile, Rogue Squadron determined that by condensing a large volume of water and generating a super storm, they could use lightning strikes to destroy the energy shield protecting Coruscant. The Rogue operatives hijacked a construction droid to reach the command building. Once there, they seized remote control of one of Coruscant's orbiting solar mirrors. The intensely focused light beam emitted by the solar mirror rapidly vaporized one of the planet's reservoirs. This action triggered a massive storm, leading to the swift collapse of the shields.

With the shields down, a New Republic force commanded by Admiral Ackbar entered the Coruscant system. This task force easily overwhelmed the remaining Imperial forces, as Ysanne Isard had only allocated a limited number of Star Destroyers to defend the capital world. Consequently, Coruscant quickly fell into the hands of the New Republic.

Simultaneous with the operations against Coruscant, Warlord Zsinj, the former Grand Moff of the Quelii Oversector who had created his own dominion after Palpatine's death at Endor, conducted a series of raids into the New Republic's rear. Battles at Mrisst and Noquivzor solidified Zsinj's growing reputation as a formidable adversary to the New Republic.

Following the New Republic's liberation of Coruscant, the Empire disintegrated, and the galaxy entered a period of transition. Many former leaders of the fallen regime became independent warlords, with Zsinj emerging as the most dangerous among them. Isard was not discovered within the Imperial Palace. Adding to the crisis, the planet's non-Human population was being decimated by an artificial pathogen known as the Krytos virus. This virus represented Isard's final attempt to undermine the New Republic's leadership, and she fled to Thyferra to continue her struggle. The New Republic government was forced to expend billions of Credits on bacta in an effort to combat the plague, which Isard, having manipulated events to be elected Chief Operating Officer of Thyferra, was able to control. Rogue Squadron collectively resigned their commissions to continue their personal war against Isard, and the "Bacta War" concluded with Isard's defeat at the Battle of Thyferra and the Republic securing the bacta supply.

The Republic would later come to regret its decision to release criminals onto Coruscant, as these criminals would later revive the criminal syndicate Black Sun.

• Battle in the Chorax system (41:10:10) [1]
• Rout of Hensara (41:10:24) [1]
• Raid on Talasea (41:10:24) [1]
• Defense of Vladet (41:10:26) [1]
• First Battle of Borleias (41:11:9) [1]
• Second Battle of Borleias (41:11:30) [1]
• Skirmish near Borleias (c. 42:1) [1]
• Battle of Mrisst (42:1:7) [1]
• Mission to Kessel (42:1)
• Liberation of Coruscant (42:1:23 - 42:2:17) [1]