Assault on the Death Star The Assault on the Death Star was a mission carried on by Alliance Special Forces operatives Kyle Katarn , Corwin Shelvay , Shira Brie and Erling Tredway aboard the Second Death Star . Shelvay devised the operation in order to thwart the Galactic Empire ' s plans to destroy the Rebel supply base on D ' rinba IV using the battlestation ' s superlaser . Prelude . Sometime after a failed mission by the Alliance to Restore the Republic to destroy the Galactic Empire ' s Second Death Star , Galactic Emperor Palpatine ordered that the space station be relocated to the Outer Rim ' s Endor system , near the forest moon of Endor , so that it could be completed in secrecy . En route from the Mid Rim , however , Sith Lord Darth Vader was informed that probe droids revealed the existence of a large Alliance to Restore the Republic supply base on the planet D ' rinba IV , and notified Emperor Palpatine of the Death Star ' s temporary diversion to the D ' rinba system , within the Mid Rim ' s Sombure sector . Vader , driven by a hatred for the Rebellion , took two Star Destroyers as escorts , his personal flagship " Executor " and the " Colossus " . The Sith Lord intended to have D ' rinba IV close enough to be within the battlestation ' s superlaser range , so that both the Rebel base and the planet could be completely destroyed . The Rebel Alliance , however , managed to intercept the Empire ' s plans , and assembled some of their best troops : a small team of Force - sensitives and Alliance Special Forces members , with the objective of disabling the Death Star superlaser before it got too close to the planet . Commander and Jedi Knight Corwin Shelvay set up the operation and was joined by fellow operatives Shira Brie , Erling Tredway and Kyle Katarn . The mission . Aboard a stolen Imperial freighter , the operatives infiltrated the space station through the Shuttle Bay , located on the Outer Level . Shortly thereafter , Darth Vader arrived at the Death Star from the " Executor " , aboard a " Lambda " - class T - 4a shuttle . Vader then ordered the admiral in charge of the battlestation to prepare for D ' rinba IV ' s destruction , and soon felt the presence of the Rebel infiltrators . The Sith Lord quickly alerted security , and stationed stormtroopers began to search for the operatives . Despite Vader ' s awareness of the Rebels , Brie , Tredway , Katarn and Shelvay soon managed to access the Death Star ' s Inner Level , and planted six explosives in five control rooms and the station ' s reactor core . Meanwhile , Star Destroyer " Colossus " reported that the Rebellion was preparing an evacuation from D ' rinba IV . The team was able to disable the Death Star ' s superlaser before it got too close to the planet . Behind the scenes . The Assault on the Death Star was introduced in " " , scripted by Christian Marnham and released in 1996 . It was later referenced by part one of " The Dark Forces Saga " , a series of online adventure scenarios for the Wizards of the Coast RPG line published on their website . Written by Abel G . Peña , it canonized four of the playable characters as Kyle Katarn , ( from " " ) , Shira Brie ( from Marvel Comics " Star Wars " series ) , Corwin Shelvay ( from West End Games ' Star Wars RPG material ) and Erling Tredway ( also from West End Games ' Star Wars RPG material ) . " The Interactive Video Board Game " s opening crawl and its instruction manual both reveal that the Rebel Alliance ' s goal in the mission was to disable the Death Star , while " The Dark Forces Saga " specifically states that the Rebel objective was only to disable the battlestation ' s superlaser . This article favors the newer source material .