In 7 ABY, the New Republic starfighter unit Rogue Squadron flew a mission above Imperial City to eliminate remaining elements of the Palpatine Counter-Insurgency Front in the wake of the Krytos virus incident on the planet Coruscant. As the battle above Imperial City raged, Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard blasted away from the planet in the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya, previously buried beneath the city surface, killing millions of innocent civilians.
In an attempt to provide cover for his impending defection, Palpatine Counter-Insurgency Front leader Kirtan Loor ordered his troops to attack a bacta storage facility in Invisec. This also served as a measure of personal revenge against Fliry Vorru, who controlled the facility. Vorru, however, recognized the signs of the impending attack, and informed Borsk Fey'lya. Fey'lya in turn arranged for Rogue Squadron and a commando squad to thwart the attack. At the PCF base, several civilian airspeeders and a trio of All Terrain Scout Transports were discovered, along with PCF ground troops. The walkers and troops were quickly eliminated, but a single heavily-laden airspeeder, which Wedge Antilles realized contained the bomb meant for the bacta facility, managed to escape. With the aid of observers on an orbital skyhook, Antilles chased down the airspeeder and managed to destroy it before it could reach its target.
At that time, a much greater threat emerged near the Manarai Mountains. Three squadrons of TIE/LN starfighters were launched toward the Rogues, and Executor-class Star Dreadnought Lusankya emerged from beneath Imperial City, propelled toward orbit by a massive repulsorlift platform. The gargantuan warship demolished every structure within over a hundred square kilometers, resulting in millions of civilian deaths. As it ascended into orbit, the Lusankya also destroyed a skyhook with turbolaser fire. The remaining TIEs rushed back to the Star Dreadnought, but only five of the original thirty-six survived the battle. Rogue pilot Erisi Dlarit, in pursuit of the TIEs, claimed to have been caught in a tractor beam. However, her R5 astromech refuted the claim, revealing that she had been an Imperial spy.
While Rogue Squadron returned to base for refueling, the Lusankya continued to climb and turned its weapons toward Coruscant's planetary shields. The ship quickly punched a hole in the shields and passed through, and encountered a Golan III orbital defense station. The station quickly exchanged fire with the Super Star Destroyer, but the Lusankya jettisoned its repulsorlift platform, which absorbed much of the Golan III station's attack. The Lusankya then jumped to hyperspace on a course to Thyferra, where Isard quickly took control of the vital bacta-producing planet, with the full support of the Xucphra Corporation.
In the aftermath of the mission, the New Republic Provisional Council was unwilling to intervene on Thyferra, as they feared interfering with the internal politics of a non-Republic world would cause severe political damage to the fledgling New Republic. Following the lead of Corran Horn, every member of Rogue Squadron resigned in order to stage their own independent effort to overthrow Isard, thus allowing Antilles to keep his promise to Ashern member Qlaern Hirf. The conflict which followed was known as the Bacta War. Nonetheless it was the result of this battle that the New Republic substantially replaced the Galactic Empire as the pre-eminent government of the galaxy, since they had successfully claimed the galactic capital.
- The Essential Chronology
- The Official Star Wars Fact File9
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Essential Atlas