Battle of Nar Shaddaa (Galactic Civil War)

The Battle of Nar Shaddaa was one of the earliest battles in the Galactic Civil War. At the time, an Imperial task force under Darth Vader's command was searching for Rebel bases in an effort to uncover their supply lines. At the Attack at Datar, a previous engagement in this campaign, Imperial forces managed to defeat the Rebels, but no Rebels were taken alive. Without prisoners to interrogate, the Empire was unable to determine where the Rebels were shipping their weapons.

Meanwhile, the Alliance was busily using a warehouse in Level 88 of the Corellian Sector of Nar Shaddaa as a major node in its supply network. Weapons would arrive hidden in a variety of cargo shipments, and be transferred to blockade runners which delivered them to Rebel bases all over the galaxy. An aspiring bounty hunter, Greedo, learned about the Rebel activities on the moon. Greedo informed two more-experienced bounty hunters, Spurch Goa and Dyyz Nataz, who relayed this information to the Imperial authorities.

Lord Vader personally took command of the mission, in order to avoid another debacle like the one on Datar. The Imperials disguised two Gamma-class assault shuttles as civilian light freighters, and obtained the proper landing codes from the Corellian Sector's Port Control. The plan was for the disguised shuttles to secure the area and capture as many Rebels as possible, with Lord Vader to follow once the area was secure. However, Rebel SpecForce sentinel Spane Covis spotted the two ships, realized that they were not civilian vessels, and alerted his cadre commander, "Stardog One." The Empire had once again lost the element of surprise.

While twenty Rebel commandos, armed with a C4-CZN ion field gun, prepared to fight the Imperials off, other Rebel soldiers loaded a Z-10 Seeker transport preparing to escape with as much of the warehoused supplies as possible. The Rebel ion gun destroyed both assault shuttles, though the second shuttle managed to offload some of its troopers first. In a short but fierce firefight, the Imperial troops were either killed or taken prisoner. With the battle seemingly over, the Rebels broke off to help the local firefighters who had raced to the scene when the Rebel warehouse and other nearby buildings were set ablaze.

However, a second wave of Imperials soon arrived, aboard a vehicle described as a "Death Engine." These Imperials may have been led by Lord Vader himself. Unconcerned with civilian casualties, or apparently with taking prisoners, the crew of the Death Engine fired its heavy weapons into Level 88.

It is not clear if the Imperials took any prisoners, or if any Rebels managed to escape. It is known that an entire quarter of the Corellian Sector collapsed, destroying an estimated twenty levels.

Text and facts from the “Battle of Nar Shaddaa (Galactic Civil War)” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.