The Raid on the Death Star was an operation executed by operatives from the Alliance Special Forces, specifically Kyle Katarn, Corwin Shelvay, Shira Brie, and Erling Tredway. They embarked on this mission aboard the Second Death Star. Shelvay conceived the plan with the intention of preventing the Galactic Empire from obliterating the Rebel supply depot located on D'rinba IV by utilizing the superlaser mounted on the battle station.
Following a failed attempt by the Alliance to Restore the Republic to destroy the Galactic Empire's Second Death Star, Galactic Emperor Palpatine gave the order to relocate the space station to the Outer Rim's Endor system, in proximity to the forest moon of Endor, for clandestine completion.
However, while en route from the Mid Rim, Sith Lord Darth Vader received intelligence from probe droids indicating the presence of a substantial Alliance to Restore the Republic supply center on the planet D'rinba IV. He subsequently informed Emperor Palpatine about the Death Star's temporary deviation to the D'rinba system, situated within the Mid Rim's Sombure sector. Driven by his animosity towards the Rebellion, Vader commandeered two Star Destroyers as escorts, his personal flagship, the Executor, and the Colossus. The Sith Lord's intention was to position D'rinba IV within the operational range of the battle station's superlaser, enabling the complete annihilation of both the Rebel base and the planet itself.
The Rebel Alliance, however, intercepted the Empire's strategy and assembled a highly skilled team: a compact group of Force-sensitives and members of the Alliance Special Forces. Their mission was to render the Death Star's superlaser inoperable before it approached the planet too closely. Commander and Jedi Knight Corwin Shelvay orchestrated the undertaking, and he was accompanied by fellow operatives Shira Brie, Erling Tredway and Kyle Katarn.
Using a hijacked Imperial freighter, the team successfully infiltrated the space station via the Shuttle Bay, which was located on the Outer Level. Shortly after their arrival, Darth Vader reached the Death Star from the Executor aboard a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle. Subsequently, Vader instructed the admiral in command of the battle station to prepare for the destruction of D'rinba IV and soon sensed the presence of the Rebel intruders. The Sith Lord promptly alerted security, and stormtroopers initiated a search for the operatives.
Despite Vader's awareness of the Rebels' presence, Brie, Tredway, Katarn, and Shelvay successfully gained access to the Death Star's Inner Level and strategically placed six explosive devices within five control rooms and the station's reactor core. Concurrently, the Star Destroyer Colossus reported that the Rebellion was initiating an evacuation from D'rinba IV. Ultimately, the team managed to disable the Death Star's superlaser before it could approach the planet too closely.
The Assault on the Death Star first appeared in Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game, which was written by Christian Marnham and released in 1996. It was later referenced in the first part of The Dark Forces Saga, an online series of adventure scenarios for the Wizards of the Coast RPG line, published on their website. Authored by Abel G. Peña, it established Kyle Katarn (from Star Wars: Dark Forces), Shira Brie (from the Marvel Comics Star Wars series), Corwin Shelvay (from West End Games' Star Wars RPG material), and Erling Tredway (also from West End Games' Star Wars RPG material) as the four playable characters within the established canon. However, the mission's final outcome was intentionally left unresolved.
The opening crawl and instruction manual of The Interactive Video Board Game both indicate that the Rebel Alliance's objective in the mission was to disable the Death Star entirely, whereas The Dark Forces Saga specifically states that the Rebel objective was solely to disable the battle station's superlaser. This article aligns with the more recent source material.