The brief engagement known as the raid on the initial Death Star was executed by X2 in the year 0 BBY. Acting on the directives of General Rahm Kota, members of the fledgling Rebel Alliance launched an assault against the Imperial battle station. Inside the station, X2 liberated captives, assessed the capabilities of the superlaser, and procured crucial data that would subsequently prove useful during the Battle of Yavin.
The founding members of the Rebel Alliance were previously held as prisoners aboard the Death Star while it was still under construction, until Galen Marek heroically rescued them, sacrificing his own life in the process. After discovering that the Death Star was being built at Despayre, a Rebel strike force was dispatched to further investigate the Death Star and to rescue captured Rebel soldiers. When X2, a Force-sensitive clone trooper from the Clone Wars, learned about the mission, he immediately volunteered to lead it, feeling a sense of obligation to both the Republic and the Jedi Order.
Upon their arrival at the Death Star, the Rebel forces, under X2's command, were forced to engage a Star Destroyer along with a number of TIE fighters. After destroying some TIE fighters and weakening the Star Destroyer's defenses, Rahm Kota instructed X2 to infiltrate the Star Destroyer and commandeer its orbital strike cannon to inflict damage on the Death Star by destroying its defensive laser turrets. Kota also suspected that the Death Star's creation, even without knowing all the details, would have negative consequences for the Galaxy. As several of the rebels were holding off the Stormtroopers, X2 successfully hijacked the cannon and destroyed four of the defensive turrets, and disabled the hangar bay shield. X2 then proceeded to board the Death Star and infiltrate it.
While battling the Stormtroopers, X2 unexpectedly came across the command center, where X1, via holographic transmission, was reporting that the Tributary Laser was ready for delivery. However, the station commander was unable to respond because the stormtroopers were engaged in combat. X2 and Kota realized he was still alive, but had no time to ponder it at the moment: Kota then directed X2 to test the Death Star's superlaser on the Star Destroyer they had previously infiltrated, as a diversion. Upon witnessing its operation, Kota was astonished by the immense power contained within the Death Star's superlaser, even in its incomplete state, and intended to report these findings to the high command. He then instructed X2 to rescue the prisoners. X2 then had to take out a few Red Guardsmen upon leaving the superlaser control area. He then proceeded to the detention block and freed the prisoners. The prisoners thanked him, and told him that he would need to shut down the tractor beams if they were to escape the Death Star. X2 then went over to the tractor beam room and shut down one of the tractor beams. Subsequently, the Rebels made their escape in two Sentinel-class landing craft, with Kota declaring that they needed to find a way to destroy the Death Star.