Siege of the New Jedi Temple

Around 43.5 ABY, some Jedi Knights located on the galactic capital of Coruscant started succumbing to a Force psychosis, which led them to believe that everyone they knew had been replaced by imposters. To better understand the psychosis and potentially find a cure, the Jedi Order wanted to study the psychotic Jedi. However, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances decided to encase the affected Knights in carbonite. Several of the psychotic Knights were successfully smuggled to a safe location on the planet Shedu Maad, but the psychosis continued to affect other Jedi.

During a meeting with Wynn Dorvan, an aide to Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala, the Chev Jedi Knight Sothais Saar contracted the psychosis. Soon after, he was captured by Jedi Master Cilghal. As Jaina Solo prepared to move Saar off-world, Mandalorians attacked the Jedi Temple under Daala's orders. This raid severely damaged the Temple's communications and coordination. A subsequent Galactic Alliance blockade of the Temple prevented Solo from escaping with Saar. Meanwhile, the Jedi had become aware of a new Sith threat and were preparing a strike team of StealthX starfighters to assist exiled Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, in dealing with the Sith. However, during the Mandalorian raid, footage of the StealthXs preparing for launch was captured, leading Galactic Alliance Admiral Nek Bwua'tu to fear that the fighters were being prepared for an attack against the government. Shortly after the raid, in 44 ABY, Jedi Knight Turi Altamik also developed the psychosis and was pursued outside the Temple in full view of the media before being captured by the Jedi.

While the Galactic Alliance demanded that Saar and Altamik be handed over to government custody, the Jedi prepared to launch their StealthX strike team to assist the Skywalkers. Daala, frustrated by the Jedi's lack of cooperation, arranged for Mandalorians to compel the Jedi to surrender the psychotic Knights. Before the StealthX wing could launch from the Jedi Temple's hangars, the Temple was attacked by a large force of Mandalorian Protectors. This force, led by Commander Belok Rhal, consisted of approximately one thousand warriors, at least half a dozen Tra'kad starships, several Canderous-class assault tanks, numerous ground vehicles, QuickStryke assault sleds, and several bombers, including Vyrhawk fighter-bombers.

Shortly before the siege began, Jaina Solo left the Temple and went to the Galactic Empire Embassy on Coruscant, where she found her fiancé, Jagged Fel, the Head of State of the Imperial Remnant. She requested his help in launching the StealthXs, and when he hesitated, she revealed the Sith threat involved. Fel assured her that he understood her motives but insisted that he could not risk initiating a diplomatic incident and potentially a war. They were interrupted by Kthira'shi'ktarloo, Fel's aide, who showed them a news report of the developing siege on a viewscreen. Fel was shocked and said he would speak with Daala but could not promise anything more. Consequently, Solo ended their engagement and left to assist the Skywalkers independently.

Meanwhile, the Mandalorians intentionally delayed responding to the Jedi's attempts to establish contact for several hours to unsettle the Order. Eventually, Rhal introduced himself to the Jedi and stated the terms of his mission, threatening consequences if Saar and Altamik were not surrendered within thirty-six hours. The Jedi Council quickly convened and began discussing ways to communicate their need for supplies, which were running low. However, Kani Asari, Kenth Hamner's apprentice, reported that the Mandalorians were jamming external communications, preventing those inside the Temple from contacting anyone outside, although those outside could still contact the Temple.

The Masters then decided to send a Jedi out to negotiate with Rhal, passing over Hamner's offer to go, as he was too valuable to the enemy. When Hamner asked who would go instead, Asari volunteered. Hamner initially opposed this, but Asari convinced him and the rest of the Council that she was the best choice. As she emerged from the Temple's entrance, Rhal quickly approached her and pointed out that she was neither Saar nor Altamik. When she replied that she was there to negotiate, the Mandalorian commander shot Asari at point-blank range, killing her. Rhal then announced that any Jedi leaving the Temple other than Saar or Altamik would meet the same fate and gave the Jedi twenty-four hours to comply before the Mandalorians destroyed the Temple and massacred the Order. He also decided that Asari's body would remain on the steps as a reminder to the Jedi, and that if anyone attempted to recover her body, the Mandalorians would attack the Temple.

Shortly after, Hamner was contacted by Chief of the Navy Nek Bwua'tu, who revealed that recordings made by Mandalorians during their earlier raid on the Temple showed evidence of the StealthX strike team preparing for an attack. Bwua'tu questioned their intent, and Hamner explained that the strike was not aimed at Daala or the Galactic Alliance, but at a mutual enemy. Bwua'tu told Hamner that Daala was unaware of the situation and preferred to keep it that way, as he believed she would only see it as an impending attack on the Galactic Alliance. Bwua'tu offered his assistance in dealing with Daala, suggesting that if the Jedi delayed the launch until he gave the go-ahead, he would ensure the complete cooperation of the Galactic Alliance Navy.

Meanwhile, Wynn Dorvan contacted Rhal on Daala's orders to organize a Mandalorian team to suppress a revolt on the planet Blaudu Sextus. However, Dorvan suddenly remembered that his friend, Jedi Knight Raynar Thul, with whom he had lunch on the Temple steps every day, would be taking his lunch within fifteen minutes. Dorvan quickly ordered Rhal to hold his fire when Thul emerged, and when the Mandalorian was reluctant, he falsely claimed that the order came directly from the Chief of State. However, Rhal refused to retract his earlier demand that no Jedi other than Altamik or Saar would be allowed to leave the Temple alive, and Dorvan rushed to the scene to prevent the Mandalorians from harming Thul. Dorvan made his way through the Mandalorian ranks and climbed to the top of the steps just as Thul emerged from the Temple's entrance. Dorvan's presence prevented the Mandalorians from firing on Thul, and the two had their lunch on the steps.

The scene became an instant sensation among the reporters covering the siege, including Javis Tyrr, who had been negatively portraying Daala's actions throughout the event. Meanwhile, Leia Organa Solo, watching the event on the news with her husband, Han, noticed that Dorvan was feeding his food to his pet chitlik, Pocket. This inspired her to devise a plan to smuggle supplies into the Jedi Temple using rodents, and the Solos immediately put the plan into action. They tied vials filled with the medications needed to sedate the captive psychotic Jedi onto the backs of rodents, and Leia guided the animals into the Temple using the Force. The rodents were soon discovered in the underlevels of the Temple by Master Octa Ramis and her Padawan, Seha Dorvald, and Master Corran Horn noticed the vials the rodents were carrying.

After Dorvan and Thul finished their lunch, the Chief of Staff removed Asari's body from the steps, overriding Rhal's decree that it should remain as a reminder to the Jedi of the Mandalorian's terms, and issued a statement sympathizing with Kani and her family. Later, the Solos received a message from Kenth Hamner, attached to one of the returning rodents, stating that the Order was standing firm and not canceling the strike force's mission. The Solos then established consistent contact with the Jedi in the Temple, enabling them to send many supplies that the Order was running low on.

Eventually, Luke Skywalker succeeded in his mission to defeat Abeloth, the being responsible for the psychosis, and the psychotic Jedi were immediately cured. Jedi healer Shul Vaal and Cilghal discovered that Saar, Altamik, and Kunor Bann, a Jedi who had developed the psychosis in the Temple (and whose condition the Galactic Alliance was unaware of), were all free of the psychosis. After confirming this with numerous tests, Cilghal immediately reported the news to Hamner.

The Jedi then arranged a meeting with Daala to end the siege by releasing Altamik and Saar, and the Chief of State requested that the Jedi be released publicly. Daala, accompanied by Galactic Alliance Security forces under the command of Captain Oric Harfard, arrived in Fellowship Plaza outside the Temple and met with Han Solo. Solo instructed Harfard to order the Mandalorians not to open fire, as Altamik and Saar would be arriving soon. When the two Jedi Knights emerged from the Temple, Harfard quickly ordered his troops to form a guard around the Chief of State. Solo suggested that Daala was scared, and she ordered Harfard to have his men stand down. Upon examining Altamik and Saar from a distance, Daala claimed they must be impostors and suggested that the Jedi were creating an illusion using the Force.

When Solo countered that such illusions only worked on the weak-minded, Daala insisted that the Jedi must have used plastic surgery. Solo reasoned that Thalleus Tharn, the Bith chair of xenopsychiatric medicine at the Greater Coruscant University whom Daala had brought to examine the patients, would be able to tell the difference. As Solo began to wave the two Jedi forward, Harfard held him at blasterpoint, insisting that he would not let Solo endanger Daala. Despite Harfard's concerns, the Chief of State waved the captain aside and suggested that Tharn examine the Jedi then and there.

The Bith was hesitant to do so outside of his hospital, but Solo pointed out that it would be far more dangerous to examine them in the hospital with only a few Mandalorian guards than in the Plaza with all the Mandalorian warriors present. Tharn finally agreed and, after examining the Jedi, declared Altamik and Saar completely cured. Daala ordered Harfard to lift the siege, but she refused to release the Jedi Knights Valin and Jysella Horn, who had been captured earlier by the Galactic Alliance and remained frozen in carbonite in government custody, until she knew more.

Following these events, the majority of the Jedi Council wanted a more offensive stance against Daala, including launching the StealthX wing and staging a rescue of the Horn siblings. However, Hamner resisted these demands, wanting to wait for Bwua'tu's word as he had promised the Admiral, even though a recent assassination attempt had left the Bothan in a coma. As tensions rose between Hamner and the rest of the Council, Zekk and the Hapan Taryn Zel brought the Jedi Knights who had been smuggled to Shedu Maad back to Coruscant.

Meanwhile, on Blaudu Sextus, Daala had secretly sent Rhal in command of a group of Mandalorians to suppress the Octusi slave revolt. When the Octusi refused to end their uprising, Rhal began to massacre them, an event caught live on the news by reporter Madhi Vaandt. Rhal soon discovered Vaandt and ordered her to stop recording the events. When she refused and began to question Rhal, he shot and killed her. However, Jedi Knights Sothais Saar and Avinoam Arelis, who had been dispatched to mediate the situation, arrived and attacked the Mandalorians, capturing Rhal. The Jedi watched these events live from Coruscant as Zekk and Zel arrived at the Temple's Pinnacle Platform with the Jedi from Shedu Maad. As the events on Blaudu Sextus continued, Hamner preached patience to the Jedi, but the Council had grown tired of his inactivity. Led by Master Saba Sebatyne, they called for a more active approach in dealing with Daala.

When Hamner continually denied their appeals, Han Solo, who had learned about Hamner's secret deal with Bwua'tu during a meeting with Alliance Senator Luewet Wuul, requested that the interim Grand Master tell the Council about the deal. The Council was outraged that Hamner had acted unilaterally and lost faith in him. Sebatyne suggested that Hamner resign his post as acting Grand Master, and the Council decided to confine him to his quarters while they prepared to launch the StealthXs. However, Hamner escaped from his quarters and attempted to prevent the launch, fearing that without Bwua'tu's support, it would lead to war with the Galactic Alliance.

He was confronted by Sebatyne, and in the ensuing fight, he fell to his death from a catwalk as the StealthXs successfully launched and safely broke orbit with the help of Valin and Jysella Horn's grandfather, Booster Terrik. Sebatyne was deeply upset by her failure to save Hamner's life, but the rest of the Council voted her in as the acting Grand Master in Hamner's stead nonetheless. Sebatyne then decided that the Jedi needed to find a way to remove Daala from office if they were going to prevent war from coming to Coruscant. The Jedi soon executed a successful coup of the government, resulting in the deposing of Daala and the installation of a Triumvirate of Sebatyne, Senator Haydnat Treen, and General Merratt Jaxton.

The siege of the New Jedi Temple was first introduced in Fate of the Jedi: Allies, the fifth novel in the Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi series, written by Christie Golden and released on March 25, 2010. The event was later brought to an end in the subsequent novel, Fate of the Jedi: Vortex, written by Troy Denning and released on November 30, 2010.