Battle of Pinnacle Base The Battle of Pinnacle Base was fought between the New Republic and the forces of the Reborn Emperor Palpatine over the Republic base at the Pinnacle Moon . Some event of the battle was foretold by Bodo Baas ' s Master . Prelude . After Luke Skywalker was taken to Byss and became the reborn Palpatine ' s apprentice , Luke ' s twin sister Leia Organa Solo traveled there to attempt to rescue him . Unfortunately , she only succeeded in getting herself and her companions captured . However , Luke aided their escape and provided them with the command codes that controlled the World Devastator s ravaging Mon Calamari , allowing the New Republic to win the battle . However , when Luke attempted to openly rebel against the Emperor , he was beaten into submission by the Sith Lord during a contentious duel at the Emperor ' s Citadel on Byss . Palpatine ' s arrival . Arriving above Pinnacle Moon in the " Eclipse " accompanied by two " Allegiance " - class battlecruisers , a third ship and a subservient Luke in tow . Palpatine ' s sudden arrival caught the New Republic defenders off - guard , allowing the Sith Lord to make his demands unchallenged . He demanded that Leia Organa Solo surrender to him and board his vessel , and bring along the Jedi Holocron she had stolen from him . He also promised that if the Republic complied with his demands , he would discuss a truce . After studying the prophecy of Bodo Baas ' s Master told her by Baas ' s hologram , Leia willingly boarded " Eclipse " , where Palpatine held her brother , Luke , under his influence . Attempting to break Organa and bring her unborn child under his influence , Palpatine goaded Skywalker into attacking her and proving himself still worthy of following the way of the dark side of the Force . Parrying his attack with her new lightsaber , Leia reached out to Luke ' s lingering good side , and managed to bring Luke out of his mental captivity . The Jedi Master turned on his former master . The battle . The duel . Enraged , Palpatine brandished a blue - bladed lightsaber and attacked Luke . The two then engaged in a vicious lightsaber duel . The fight was powerful and brutal , with both combatants changing battle positions , utilizing several fighting styles and trading numerous blows . Even Leia , who was watching the fight , could not even see any movements ; but she could feel the tremendous power of the clash , as titanic waves of light and darkness ; eventually , the light was winning . Despite his viciousness and tremendous power , Palpatine was finally driven off guard and defeated by Luke , who was aided by his sister ' s Force harmony , losing his left hand . Force storm . Despite losing his hand , the Sith Lord was hardly defeated . He claimed that he saw through the dark side that Luke wanted to overthrow him and take his place as Emperor . Declaring that the Jedi underestimated his power , and enraged by the loss of his limb , Palpatine summoned a Force storm and began to destroy the New Republic fleet . Using the Force , Skywalker and Organa Solo surrounded Palpatine with a wave of light side energy , cutting him off from the dark side , and , thus , his power . With Palpatine unable to control the storm , it spun out of control and began to devour the " Eclipse " . The Skywalker siblings escaped the ship as it was torn apart , taking Palpatine ' s current incarnation with it . After destroying the " Eclipse " , the storm quickly dissipated . It is unknown if " Eclipse " escort fleet retreated or engaged the remnant of the Republic fleet , or were destroyed when Palpatine lost control of the Force storm . It is probable that they retreated , as the Republic fleet still held numerical superiority , meaning an eventual New Republic victory . Aftermath . At the time , it was believed that the Emperor was destroyed aboard his capital ship . However , Palpatine ' s spirit survived , eventually transferring his essence to a new body . Pinnacle Base , and the entire planet of Da Soocha V were later destroyed by a single projectile from the Reborn Emperor ' s new superweapon ; the Galaxy Gun . Behind the scenes . The Battle of Pinnacle Base first appeared in the issue " " of the " Dark Empire " series of comics . The battle was conceived and written by authors Tom Veitch , illustrated by artist Dave Dorman and colored by colorist Cam Kennedy . Veitch used this as the climax of the story ; pitting the Sith Lord Palpatine against the Jedi Skywalker and his sister Leia . The Battle of Pinnacle Base would eventually be featured in the " Dark Empire " audio drama , which witnessed the climax take on a whole new personality through the voice acting of John Cygan ( Luke Skywalker ) , Ann Patricio ( Princess Leia ) and Nick Jameson ( Emperor Palpatine ) . This duel features an interesting reversal in that the Jedi involved is wielding a red lightsaber and the Sith involved is wielding a blue - bladed weapon .