Operation Roundabout

Operation Roundabout was a military assault on Corellia launched by the Galactic Alliance, which triggered the Second Galactic Civil War.

The operation was motivated by intelligence indicating that the Corellian government were making military preparations to bolster their political moves towards independence: secretly constructing an assault fleet, and also attempting to render Centerpoint Station operational once again. More generally, the strike was conceived as a show of force, a means of eliminating the problem of Corellia's stridently anti-Coruscant government, and discouraging dissent and unrest within the Alliance.

To this end, a major Fleet operation was mounted, deploying a sizable task force from the Second Fleet into Corellia's orbital space, commanded by Admiral Matric Klauskin. This was largely designed as a psychological move to overawe opponents of the Alliance, however, and in purely military terms, it was intended to serve as a feint and support mission. The main strike thrust of Operation Roundabout was provided by a series of Jedi commando teams, named after various foul-tempered beasts, and designed to cut the heart out of the Corellian government and military-industrial complex.

The operation was a closely guarded secret prior to its launch, and it was apparently regarded as a rational move to the Senate and Defense Force leadership of the Alliance, but it was compromised from the outset on several levels, most fundamentally in attacking an entire member state for what were largely the actions of one political faction: the assault fleet was the private project of a caucus within the system government, led by Corellia's planetary Chief of State Thrackan Sal-Solo, and working behind the back of the Five World Prime Minister, Aidel Saxan and the rest of the administration.

Moreover, the show-of-force strategy also had the potential to cause counterproductive political ramifications throughout the Galaxy, and alienated no less than Han and Leia Organa Solo before it had even begun: in a move that some would consider treason, they met in secret with Prime Minister Saxan to warn her of the military preparations against her government. However, it seems that Thrackan Sal-Solo was already aware of the attack before this juncture, and had planned accordingly; indeed, it was not impossible that he leaked information about the assault fleet to provoke the strike in the first place, in order to draw the Alliance and the Jedi into the trap that they encountered when they arrived at Corellia, and to propel himself to greater power.

Text and facts from the “Operation Roundabout” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.