The Jazbina Rescue Operation involved Luke Skywalker journeying to the world of Jazbina with the goal of liberating Princess Syayna. However, this endeavor turned out to be an elaborate scheme orchestrated by Lord Prepredenko with the intention of capturing local members of the Rebel Alliance. Eventually, Darth Vader himself arrived on Jazbina to seize Skywalker, but the young Jedi successfully escaped thanks to the assistance of the rebel pilot Jal Te Gniev and the unified support of the Jazbina populace.
Luke Skywalker made a trip to Jazbina to converse with Lord Prepredenko, the planet's leader, regarding Jazbina potentially joining the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Prepredenko's true motive was to apprehend Skywalker and deliver him to the Galactic Empire. To achieve this, he dispatched Skywalker on a mission to eliminate Jazbina's Rebel cell, falsely claiming they were a band of kidnappers responsible for abducting his daughter, Princess Syayna.
Skywalker ventured into the sun crystal mines, where he engaged in combat with a tikulini worm before discovering the Rebel cell's location. Temporarily blinded by the activation of his lightsaber amidst the sun crystals, Skywalker nonetheless managed to fend off the Rebels until Syayna, who was herself a Rebel, revealed her father's treachery. Prepredenko's forces then stormed in, capturing both Skywalker and the Rebels, with Syayna being returned to the palace.
Prepredenko requested Darth Vader to retrieve Skywalker. However, just before Vader's arrival, Prepredenko's droid, 3DVO, secretly resentful of its master, fabricated a transmission claiming Vader had ordered Skywalker's execution, instead of relaying Vader's actual instruction to keep Skywalker alive. Syayna, feigning loyalty to her father, volunteered to "execute" Skywalker herself, but only stunned him. After her father departed to meet Vader, she freed Skywalker and the Rebel cell members. Upon arriving, Vader, enraged, imprisoned Prepredenko. A contrite 3DVO then broadcast a message from Prepredenko across the planet, in which he confessed his errors and professed his love for his daughter. Stormtroopers destroyed 3DVO after the broadcast, but public sentiment on Jazbina had shifted against the Empire.
Syayna guided the Rebels to the spaceport, hoping to facilitate Skywalker's departure from the planet. There, they encountered Jal Te Gniev, a Rebel Alliance pilot who had arrived after inadvertently compromising Skywalker's mission while intoxicated on Dubrava. He had evaded Vader's TIEs to land on Jazbina, maneuvering beneath Vader's shuttle and then using cloud cover to escape pursuit. Just as Skywalker met Te Gniev, Vader and a squad of stormtroopers arrived, but a large gathering of Jazbinans surrounded the stormtroopers. Te Gniev took off in his X-wing, while Skywalker surrendered to prevent the stormtroopers from firing upon the crowd. Te Gniev then made the ultimate sacrifice, destroying the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer by flying into its hangar bay. The explosion briefly diverted the stormtroopers' attention, allowing the crowd to overwhelm them. Surrounded by the Jazbinan populace, Vader determined that capturing Skywalker was impossible and departed, unhindered by the crowd. Skywalker was then able to rejoin the Rebellion.