Core Campaign

By mid-6 ABY, the New Republic had successfully surrounded the Core Worlds, positioning themselves to finally wrest Coruscant from Imperial dominion. The New Republic understood the significance of Coruscant, which extended beyond its designation as "000" on galactic maps. The planet was the most densely populated ecumenopolis in the galaxy and controlled two of the five most heavily used super-hyperroutes. Gaining control of this system would significantly bolster the New Republic's legitimacy. Consequently, the New Republic initiated a complex strategy designed to isolate Coruscant. General Carlist Rieekan played a key role in devising this plan.

Deployed from Folor Base located within the Commenor system, the starfighter unit of the New Republic, known as Rogue Squadron, relocated to a new base situated on the uninhabited world of Talasea. Their mission was to initiate operations as a diversion, aiming to draw Imperial forces away from Admiral Gial Ackbar's actual target: the Colonies world of Borleias, which was codenamed "Blackmoon."

However, while en route to Talasea Base, Rogue Squadron was unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace within the Chorax system by the Interdictor cruiser Black Asp. The Black Asp was attempting to capture Mirax Terrik's smuggler ship, the Pulsar Skate. During the ensuing battle, the Rogues successfully rescued Terrik. However, this also allowed the Empire to identify the X-wings as belonging to Rogue Squadron. Imperial Intelligence agent Kirtan Loor was assigned by Ysanne Isard with the task of locating and eliminating the Squadron.

Loor tracked Rogue Squadron to Talasea, and the Squadron only survived the subsequent Imperial raid on the planet due to Admiral Devlia's incompetence. Quickly evacuating Talasea, Admiral Gial Ackbar relocated Rogue Squadron to Noquivzor following a retaliatory raid at Vladet that resulted in Devlia's death and compelled the Empire to allocate significant resources to rebuild its headquarters in that sector.

With the Talasea feint having failed, Ackbar dedicated all efforts to capturing Borleias, a crucial stepping stone along the Namadii Corridor leading to Coruscant. Bothan Spynet operatives, under the command of General Laryn Kre'fey, had determined via Imperial HoloNet transmissions that the planet was lightly defended. Unbeknownst to the Bothans, Imperial General Evir Derricote had secretly reinforced Borleias' defenses to safeguard 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 providing them with misleading information for some time.

In addition, Kirtan Loor had previously identified Borleias as a likely target for a New Republic preparatory attack in their advance on Coruscant. Ysanne Isard dispatched him to Borleias, with Loor mistakenly believing that she was also aware of his conclusions. In reality, Isard sent Loor only to observe Derricote, believing he possessed horticultural and scientific skills that could be developed into a bioweapon against the New Republic. Had Loor shared his theory with Isard, she would have deployed a larger defense force with more resources to completely destroy the attacking New Republic forces.

Regardless of Imperial miscommunication, the First Battle of Borleias proved disastrous for the New Republic. The unexpected strength of the deflector shield thwarted Kre'fey's plan to bombard the Biotics facility from orbit. The New Republic lost two capital ships, Kre'fey was killed, and Rogue Squadron had to be rescued by General Horton Salm's Y-wings to escape. However, Loor and Isard's miscommunication 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 feint in the Venjagga system, targeting Jagga II, a missile production center for the Imperial Navy. This attack drew the Eviscerator away from Borleias, and with a refined strategy, Rogue Squadron launched another attack on Borleias. 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 eliminated, the Imperial defense crumbled, resulting in a Republic victory in the Second Battle of Borleias.

With the capture of Borleias, Admiral Ackbar was now positioned to directly assault Coruscant. However, the capital was defended by a formidable planetary shield. The shields needed to be disabled before an attack could commence. Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron were dispatched undercover into Imperial City to sabotage the shield generator. Sixteen of the galaxy's most notorious criminals, including former Moff Fliry Vorru and gangster Zekka Thyne were also released from the prison colony of Kessel and unleashed upon Imperial City to disrupt Imperial authorities.

Meanwhile, Rogue Squadron devised a plan to condense a large amount of water to create a super storm. The lightning strikes from the storm could then destroy the energy shield protecting Coruscant. Rogue operatives hijacked a construction droid to reach the command building, where they remotely took control of one of Coruscant's orbiting solar mirrors. The focused light beam from the solar mirror rapidly vaporized one of the planet's reservoirs, triggering a massive storm and causing the shields to collapse.

With the shields down, a New Republic force, led by Admiral Ackbar, entered the Coruscant system. This task force easily overwhelmed the remaining Imperial forces, as Ysanne Isard had only assigned a few Star Destroyers to defend the capital world. Very soon, Coruscant was under the control of the New Republic.

Concurrent with the operations against Coruscant, Warlord Zsinj, the former Grand Moff of the Quelii Oversector who had established his own dominion following Palpatine's death at Endor, launched 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, ushering in a period of transition across the galaxy. Many former leaders of the fallen regime became independent warlords, with Zsinj emerging as the most dangerous. Isard was not found within the Imperial Palace. To make matters worse, 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 compelled to spend billions of Credits on bacta to treat the plague, which Isard, having manipulated her way into becoming Chief Operating Officer of Thyferra, was able to control. Rogue Squadron collectively resigned their commissions to continue their personal vendetta 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 they would eventually 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]