Battle of the Sixela system

Commander Rezi Soresh, after his exile from the Galactic Empire in 0 ABY, escaped to the Outer Rim Territories for twenty-seven days, ultimately finding himself in the Sixela system, where he landed on a moon orbiting the system's third planet. Once there, he began to rebuild his power structure using his stored data, often resorting to bribery and blackmail. Eventually, Soresh seized a colony vessel carrying 100 civilians to entice the Rebel hero Luke Skywalker to his location. Along with some Arkanians, Soresh took other people and drugged them, transforming them into uniformly mindless bodyguards.

Elsewhere in the galaxy, Skywalker and his Rebel companions embarked on a mission to the planet Nyemari. They successfully stole access codes to an important Imperial Installation, but were forced to flee the capital city and return to their hidden starship, the Millennium Falcon, where they were informed that they were being followed. The Rebels confronted the mysterious messenger, who delivered a hologram from Soresh to Skywalker. In the message, Soresh "invited" Skywalker to the Sixela system in exchange for the hostages, setting a deadline of twelve hours. As a warning, Soresh demonstrated his power by causing the messenger to die in front of Skywalker due to a delayed poison. Skywalker knew he had to confront Soresh, but his companions refused to let him go alone.

Before the deadline expired, the Millennium Falcon arrived at Soresh's barren moon. Han Solo disembarked and encountered a hooded figure. The man claimed to be Soresh and demanded Skywalker. Solo stated that Skywalker may or may not be on board, but two X-wings flew down and attacked Soresh's outpost, destroying the laser cannons aimed at the hostages. Enraged, the hooded man raised his triple blaster, but Solo shot him down first. The X-wings landed, and Skywalker and Leia Organa disembarked to join Solo and his copilot, the Wookiee Chewbacca. The Rebels were then surprised by exploding mines in the compound, and they rushed to assist the hostages. Skywalker was grabbed by a hostage, who revealed himself as Soresh. Soresh used a force pike to subdue the young pilot. Soresh's bodyguards then captured the other Rebels, even though Chewbacca took out six or seven of the drugged guards; the Rebel droids C-3PO and R2-D2 remained hidden.

Back at the Rebel's main base on Yavin 4, Alliance command received a secret Imperial transmission stating that Emperor Palpatine would be arriving in the Sixela system with minimal protection for a meeting of the Imperial High Command. This was an opportunity the fledgling Rebellion could not pass up. The message was forwarded from a Rebel scout, who Soresh, unbeknownst to the Rebel leaders, had captured and drugged as part of his plot. Rebel janitor Jono Moroni was talking to Div, a mercenary, and Ferus Olin, a former Jedi and now Rebel operative. Olin used a mind trick on Moroni to force him to reveal the message to them. Div was disgusted with the unnecessary use of the Force, but remained silent. Olin then instructed Moroni to return to his quarters.

Alone in his cell, chained to the wall by his wrists, Skywalker was visited by Soresh, who informed him that his friends had been killed before disappearing. Skywalker later attempted to escape but was stopped by the electrically charged durasteel bars; he was prevented from using the Force by physical pressure. Soresh, who had been watching, applauded Skywalker's attempt and informed him that he had been injected with a ferromagnetic solution, and an electromagnet in the floor could be activated to prevent escape. After deactivating the electromagnet, Soresh presented Skywalker with a tray of food, stating that he would need his strength. He then told Skywalker that he would replace his last assassin, X-7.

Around that time, General Jan Dodonna was briefing the Alliance pilots about the planned attack against the Imperial High Command. Nearly half of the fleet would ambush the two Star Destroyers from five ambush strike points, and they had two weeks to train. After the briefing, Olin spoke with General Dodonna and voiced his concerns about the validity of the information. Dodonna would not trust him with classified information, though. Olin then inquired about the whereabouts of Princess Leia and her companions. Dodonna initially said that she was out of contact on a covert mission. Olin replied that her mission should have ended three days prior and that she should be on a diplomatic mission to the Winagrew system. Dodonna then revealed that Organa had been out of contact since Nyemari.

Solo and Organa later attempted to stage an escape, with Solo feigning illness. When the guards opened the cell door, the Rebels overpowered their guards, but more guards with blasters arrived. Solo grabbed a blaster and took one of the guards hostage. Another guard shot the weapon out of Solo's hands, then executed the guard Solo was holding. The Rebels surrendered and were placed back in the cell by the emotionless guards. Soresh arrived and warned them not to repeat that. When asked about Skywalker, he told them not to worry, because they would soon be dead.

Over the next two weeks, Skywalker was tortured, and Soresh occasionally visited and granted him temporary relief. Eventually, Skywalker began to hope for his visits. One day, Soresh told him that his friends had been killed. Returning to his office, Soresh then used his holoplayer to contact Darth Vader. Soresh prepared his trump card: resonance torpedoes, which would cause the sun to go supernova and vaporize everything in the system. Soresh next gave Skywalker a chemical serum of his own design, used to break down a man's spirit by targeting memories. Visions of his friends helped Skywalker through the procedure, and he vowed to himself to hold on.

A spectral Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared to Ferus Olin back on Yavin 4. By that point, the Heroes of Yavin had been missing for a week. Kenobi encouraged Olin to use his instincts to go out and help them, as Skywalker's connection to the Force was growing weaker. Kenobi then instructed Olin to trust in himself.

Afterward, Soresh gave him back his lightsaber, and Skywalker pretended to be mindless, obeying all of Soresh's commands. Subsequently, the guards took the other three Rebels out into the open air. There, they met Skywalker and Soresh. Skywalker stared blankly ahead. When he asked who they were, Soresh called them miscreants and handed Skywalker a blaster, telling him that it was their time to die. Soresh told Skywalker to fire, and Skywalker did. The shot missed, slamming into the wall above Solo's head. Then Aridinian folk music started blaring. When the guards were distracted, Solo and Chewbacca attacked them and grabbed a blaster. A speeder truck appeared, piloted by the Rebels' droids. Solo rescued Organa from two guards, and C-3PO was firing a blaster in the air as a further distraction, while taking return fire from the guards. Solo then found a hiding spot 50 meters from the others. He found a blaster shoved into the back of his head, and the guard behind him told him to get on his knees. Then there was a blast behind him, and the guard was dead. Skywalker had saved him, acting normal. Skywalker informed him about the ruse and told him that he had to stay with Soresh to find out what the Imperial was planning. Solo promised that the others would be waiting for him and asked for a favor. Solo needed him to shoot him to make it seem as though the Rebels had escaped.

Soresh later found him with a wound in his left shoulder. Soresh said that he had proved his loyalty but needed to be punished for his failure. To Skywalker, all that mattered was that his friends were safe.

The now-escaped Rebels were met on the surface by Div and Olin. Olin had been suspicious of the information from the start and went down to the surface to rescue the others in Div's Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft. Rebel Command had disallowed reconnaissance to avoid tipping off the Imperials, but Div and Olin went anyway and did not find any sign of the Imperials when they arrived. After scanning the moon, they found that all life signs were concentrated in a 10-kilometer radius of duracrete buildings. They then picked up a distress signal on a Rebel frequency. They saw the Millennium Falcon, but the distress signal was originating elsewhere. Landing by the signal, the two immediately found Solo and his companions, who explained the situation to the new arrivals.

In his command center, Soresh contacted Darth Vader again to draw him toward the system. Vader threatened his doom, but Soresh laughed when Vader ceased to transmit and bragged to Skywalker about his grand plan. Shortly after two weeks of training, in which the five attack points and the need for precision were continually rehashed, the Rebel Alliance Fleet reverted from hyperspace into the Sixela system. Then Soresh told Skywalker about the resonance torpedoes he possessed and would give Skywalker his lightsaber back if Skywalker would press the button to launch the torpedoes at the sun. Instead, Skywalker kicked Soresh's knees out from under him. He Force grabbed the lightsaber and started reflecting the blaster bolts that Soresh's guards were sending at him after Soresh ordered them to kill Skywalker; the guards forced Skywalker to give ground. Skywalker used a mind trick to subdue the guards, causing them to flee. In the distraction, Soresh made it to the computer terminal and launched the torpedoes before fleeing. Skywalker's companions then arrived to rescue him.

Darth Vader's Imperial fleet arrived next—six Imperial-class Star Destroyers and an Interdictor-class Star Destroyer to prevent escape. The two fleets started a massive engagement.

Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca then took off to join the battle. Twelve of Soresh's guards had been placed around the Falcon; Skywalker dispatched them with the Force, explaining it as "Jedi hokum" as the guards laid down their weapons.

When they reached orbit, Skywalker joined the fight in his X-wing, outmaneuvering attacking TIE fighters. Organa contacted the Rebel fleet and then attempted to contact the Imperial Fleet, reaching an Imperial on Vader's flagship to warn him of the impending supernova, but she was met with an angry and determined response. Both sides were taking casualties, so Div came up with a plan. He ordered the Rebel Mon Calamari Star Cruisers to launch plasma bombs at an area of space, creating a red cloud of ionized gas 1000 meters across. Skywalker, Solo, Div, and other X-wings led a squadron of TIE fighters through the cloud; as the cloud interfered with electronic sensors, the starfighters were blind. At the other end of the cloud, the Rebels dove downward at Div's signal, but the TIES hit a Star Destroyer hidden by the cloud, causing serious damage.

In the middle of a skirmish with the remaining TIEs, Div was hit by TIE-launched proton torpedoes. He was forced to take his Firespray down to the surface.

The resonance torpedoes hit the star, causing a chain reaction that was calculated to explode in 40 minutes. With the threat of an impending supernova, the Imperial fleet left the system, and the Rebel fleet soon followed.

Skywalker and Solo rejoined Organa on the surface of the moon to finish evacuating the hostages. Darth Vader had also landed on the surface in his shuttle to hunt Soresh. Olin sensed Vader's presence and urged Organa to continue the evacuation, deliberately not telling her that he would be confronting Vader. Olin and Vader traded lightsaber blows and taunts. The aged Jedi was no match for the Sith Lord and was cut down, seeing a vision of his old friend, Roan Lands. Organa came back and found his body, pausing long enough to say goodbye before they had to escape, taking his body with them. Skywalker spotted Vader and wanted to pursue him, but he was convinced that there was no time. Soresh met the Rebels at the Millennium Falcon and attempted to blast Skywalker. In response, Solo gunned him down, ending his machinations and allowing the Rebel operatives to escape. Vader also escaped the system.

The sun went supernova minutes later but did not destroy the fleets as Soresh had intended. With the supernova, his compound and body were destroyed.

The Millennium Falcon reverted to realspace after the supernova. In a moment of catharsis aboard the Millennium Falcon, Solo led a toast to past and present friends. Although the battle had ended in a draw, the Galactic Civil War was still ongoing. The two factions would continue to fight for another four years. Skywalker would bear no permanent scars from Soresh's indoctrination and, in fact, would continue to grow in power.

This battle takes place during the final installment of Alex Wheeler's Star Wars: Rebel Force series. It is the first chronological use of resonance torpedoes in canon. The battle saw the end of the series and the deaths of several characters: Soresh, Divinian, and Olin, the latter two of whom played prominent roles in the Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi series. The book contains a number of errors relating to the identity of the hostages, the placement of Soresh's moon, and the final disposition of Olin's body. The TIE fighters in the battle are erroneously equipped with proton torpedoes.