Second Battle of Balmorra

With the fleets of Corellia and Bothawui preparing to strike against the critical Core world of Kuat, the responsibility of capturing Balmorra fell to the forces of Commenor and their allies, the Hutt fleet. The Confederation fleets intended to launch a large-scale assault on Kuat following the capture of Balmorra, before advancing to attack the galactic capital, Coruscant.

By the time the Fourth Fleet of the Alliance had begun its approach towards Balmorra, the world's planetary shields were being overwhelmed by concentrated fire from the Confederation. Balmorra's renowned defense platforms had been destroyed, and a Hutt invasion force was in the process of landing on the planet's surface. The Commenorian Star Destroyers served as a defensive barrier to hold the Alliance at bay, and succeeded in inflicting significant losses on the Fourth Fleet as it advanced. The Confederation employed long-range turbolaser technology as part of its defensive strategy, an element that the Alliance battle strategists had not anticipated. Consequently, Admiral Ratobo's forces were unable to return fire without halting their advance. As the frigate Zoli was destroyed by Commenorian fire, Admiral Ratobo disregarded Chief of State Solo's orders, which forbade retreat, and instead ordered the battered Fourth Fleet to turn back. He believed that the slow advance toward the doomed planet was a wasteful expenditure of lives and resources.

However, Jacen Solo managed to dissuade Ratobo from retreating, utilizing his skill in battle meditation to restore the admiral's confidence. Shortly thereafter, concentrated fire from the Confederation's Star Destroyers overwhelmed the Peacebringer's shields and destroyed it, compelling Solo to transfer command to Rear Admiral Gavin Darklighter on the Trucemaker. Darklighter immediately deployed the fleet's starfighter squadrons to overwhelm the Star Destroyers, a tactic that would force the Confederation ships to cease using their long-range turbolasers, as they consumed too much power from the shields. Faced with the Alliance starfighter assault, the Confederation commanders determined that they could not risk the core of the Commenorian fleet on the skills of its starfighter pilots, leading the Star Destroyers to begin a withdrawal. However, this did not further Solo's ultimate goals, as he never intended to save Balmorra, and thus, Gavin Darklighter's daring tactics proved to be counterproductive.

As the defensive screen continued its retreat, a wing of StealthXs, led by Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker, arrived to spearhead the fight against the Commenorian Star Destroyers. This was another action that contradicted Jacen Solo's pragmatism, as he had no interest in rescuing Balmorra. Having accepted that Balmorra would fall and that he could not prevent it, Solo decided that the Alliance's primary objective should be to inflict such heavy casualties on the Confederation forces present that they would be of no use to their allies in the upcoming Battle of Kuat. Solo considered this battle to be the decisive turning point of the war.

However, as the StealthXs continued their attacks on the Confederation Star Destroyers, the Fourth Fleet managed to break through to where the Hutt fleet had begun to launch an invasion force aimed at capturing the planet's surface. In an attempt to save Balmorra from a Hutt occupation, Darklighter ordered his gunners to target the shuttles descending upon the planet below—however, he was shocked when Solo ordered him to wipe out the fleeing Confederation forces, thus abandoning the Balmorrans to their fate.

Solo's orders were logically sound; the Commenorians and the Hutts, having sustained significant damage during their retreat from the battle, would be of little assistance to their allies at the Battle of Kuat. However, Solo had lost a substantial portion of the Fourth Fleet, as well as its commander, which earned him the animosity of the surviving crew members. Furthermore, this battle marked another step away from his familial ties and the Jedi Order. His continued decisions led to increasing distrust from the Order's leading Masters, who disapproved of his actions—his ultimate decision to sacrifice Balmorra would further alienate him from those he had once served alongside. Additionally, this battle would be one of the key factors that directly contributed to the Jedi's withdrawal from the Galactic Alliance.

The Battle of Balmorra was first depicted in the sixth novel of the nine-part Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, Inferno, authored by Troy Denning and released on August 28, 2007.