Operation Shadow Hand Operation Shadow Hand or the " Shadow Hand Strategy " was the Imperial name for the section of the Galactic Civil War following in the wake of the Thrawn campaign . It was applied to the collective military campaigns that the reborn Emperor Palpatine launched in an attempt to retake control of the galaxy for the Galactic Empire . These were essentially " wave assaults " from Byss and the rest of the Deep Core . Prelude . Initially , the Galactic Empire retreated from the territory gained during the Thrawn Campaign , the Imperial fleets moving to the Deep Core at Emperor Palpatine ' s secret command . The New Republic Defense Fleet followed the crumbling frontline deep into the Outer Rim Territories , sending more ships rimward to engage the Ciutric Hegemony and the " Restored Empire " in Corva sector , leaving Coruscant and the Core Worlds relatively undefended . The Imperial fleet struck out of the Deep Core , surprising the New Republic . They besieged Metellos and the Kaikielius system , and the New Republic abandoned the capital . The Galactic Empire was restored , and the New Republic became referred to as the Rebel Alliance again overnight . The New Republic government regrouped on Dac in the Calamari sector , and at Pinnacle Base on Da Soocha V in Hutt Space . Not long after the Empire secured the Core , however , disorder and chaos ensued . Any appearance of Imperial unity vanished , and the Empire fell into a catastrophic civil war . Using captured Star Destroyers , the Alliance helped along the anarchy , as entire worlds were destroyed , and warfleets gathered around Imperial worlds such as Gyndine and Aargau . New fortress world s came into being , and Coruscant was turned into a wasteland . The reborn Emperor watched from Byss , claiming such actions thinned the ranks of the weak and the cowards . In a perverse mirror of the numerous Sith Civil War s , Palpatine watched his war machine tear itself apart , destroying entire worlds and massacring civilians . He may even have encouraged the Imperial Mutiny with the dark side of the Force , as it played into Palpatine ' s plans to establish a " Dark Empire " , a galaxy - spanning government ruled directly by the dark side of the Force rather than military might . The campaign . The turning of Luke Skywalker . The New Republic involved itself in the Imperial Civil War by stirring up regional hatred with attacks using captured Imperial starships on rival factions . It was on one of these missions that Luke Skywalker was swept up in a powerful Force storm , which brought him to the Deep Core world of Byss . There , Skywalker met the resurrected Emperor Palpatine . Faced with a resurrected Emperor , Skywalker decided to do what many had tried in the past — to destroy the dark side from within . He agreed to become the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet , and lead the new attack on the Republic . The assault on Mon Calamari . Palpatine retook control of the Empire shortly after capturing Luke Skywalker , sending the Imperial Navy and fleets of World Devastator s to attack the Borderland Regions , pushing on to Dac , and intending to split Rebel territory in half . The World Devastators under the command of General Titus Klev aboard the " Silencer - 7 " proved almost impossible to destroy , and an attempt by Han Solo , Salla Zend , and Leia Organa Solo to rescue Luke on Byss met with failure . However , Luke had successfully smuggled the command codes of the World Devastators to Leia , and the New Republic was able to shut them down remotely . The Battle of Calamari cost the Empire its newest superweapon , but Palpatine managed to truly turn Luke to the dark side as they duelled on Byss . The Battle of Pinnacle Base . With Luke now truly his apprentice , Palpatine personally took him aboard his new dreadnought " Eclipse " to Da Soocha V , demanding the surrender of Leia Organa Solo in return for truce negotiations . However , after Leia came aboard the " Eclipse " , she was able to turn her brother back to the light side of the Force . Enraged , Palpatine summoned a Force Storm to destroy Da Soocha and the New Republic base . However , overcome by Skywalker and Organa Solo , he lost control of his Storm and it consumed the " Eclipse " and himself . Returned to the New Republic , Skywalker began building his own New Jedi Order to defeat the Emperor and his Dark Side Elite . Sedriss ' campaigns . Despite these setbacks , the Shadow Hand campaign was taken over by Executor Sedriss QL , who struck at recalcitrant worlds in the Core and the Colonies lying adjacent to the territory conquered in the initial campaign . He also attacked numerous worlds in the Slice and the industrial worlds of Duro , Kuat , and Balmorra . However , at the Battle of Balmorra , Sedriss ' SD - 9 battle droids and Shadow Droid s were seen off by Governor Hinch Beltane ' s new SD - 10 and X - 1 Viper " Automadon " droids . Captain Maximillian Veers was killed in action , and the campaign stalled long enough to force Sedriss to open truce negotiations : Sedriss accepted a shipment of Viper battle droids from the Balmorran factories in return for accepting Balmorran independence . With Palpatine still convalescing after the defeat at Da Soocha and Sedriss discredited at Balmorra , two Dark Side Adepts , Nefta and Sa - Di , attempted a coup on Byss . Returned from Balmorra , Sedriss duelled and defeated the pair and then submitted himself to Emperor Palpatine , now returned in a second clone body . Shortly thereafter , Sedriss traveled to Ossus aboard an Imperial Hunter to capture Luke Skywalker , who was investigating the ancient library world of the Jedi Order as part of his efforts to rebuild his own . In the ensuing battle , Sedriss ' force was wiped out and the Executor was killed by the Neti Ood Bnar , who had survived there in a tree - like form since the planet was devastated by Exar Kun . The Galaxy Gun . The New Republic pinned its hopes on killing Palpatine , just as they had done at Endor . With the support of Balmorra ' s Governor Beltane , a New Republic commando force led by Lando Calrissian intercepted the shipment of Viper droids arranged by Sedriss and took control of the droids from their internal command cabins . On Byss , they burst from their freighter and assaulted the Emperor ' s Citadel . However , the Viper droids proved to be useless against Palpatine ' s alchemically - enhanced Chrysalide Rancors , which forced the expedition to retreat in defeat after being rescued by a group of smugglers led by Salla Zend . In the aftermath of the raid , Palpatine unleashed the Galaxy Gun , a massive interstellar - range artillery gun which fired planet - destroying missiles . Da Soocha V was obliterated in the Gun ' s first firing , though the New Republic leadership had since evacuated to the Nespis VIII Space City . A plan to attack Byss for a second time to destroy the Galaxy Gun was foiled when it destroyed the troopship " Pelagia " , killing a hundred thousand troops . The Galaxy Gun subsequently destroyed the Space City , scattering the New Republic . The Galaxy Gun turned the tide against the New Republic , as the Emperor used it to destroy worlds like Krinemonen and Hirsi , and thousands of worlds re - submitted to Imperial rule . Endgame . With the destruction of the rebel bases on Da Soocha and at Space City by the Galaxy Gun , the New Republic scattered , vanishing into the galaxy . The Empire , for all intents and purposes , had won , driving the Alliance into complete hiding . However , in opposition to this military victory was the Emperor ' s waning health : Palpatine ' s power in the dark side was slowly causing his mind to degenerate . Faced by the increasing insanity of their Emperor , a cabal within the Imperial Ruling Council composed of the Emperor ' s physician and the traitorous Royal Guard Carnor Jax , who wished to become Emperor in Palpatine ' s stead , poisoned the genetic material used to make Palpatine ' s clone bodies . Palpatine traveled to Korriban to consult the spirits of the Sith Lords there , who advised him to enter the body of Leia Organa Solo ' s newest son , Anakin . Taking the " Eclipse " - class dreadnought " Eclipse II " to Onderon , the Emperor engaged the Alliance and Jedi . Catastrophe followed , with the Emperor being finally defeated and the " Eclipse II " launched towards Byss due to sabotage by the astromech droid R2 - D2 , where it rammed the Galaxy Gun and caused it to fire a missile into Byss . This destroyed the throneworld and the Imperial fleet around it , effectively cutting the heart from the Empire both politically and militarily . Aftermath . The campaign started with the Empire holding half the galaxy at the end of 9 ABY , and saw the Empire lose most of this newly captured territory in the weeks following Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s death , only to consolidate half of the galaxy again under the clone Emperor . Subsequent to expanding further , the Emperor was finally killed and the Empire abandoned Coruscant and the Core Worlds , splitting again yet still consolidating control of a third of the galaxy in the Outer Rim - more than what the Empire initially held before Grand Admiral Thrawn returned . The majority of the Imperial fleet retreated into the Deep Core in the aftermath , Blitzer Harrsk and Treuten Teradoc becoming the primary warlords , the Pentastar Alignment remaining a major Imperial power in the Outer Rim , and fortress worlds with little fleet strength holding out throughout Imperial territory . The Empire proper was held by the Imperial Ruling Council under Emperor Carnor Jax , but that didn ' t last long after Byss ' s destruction . The Empire ' s fleets thereafter , however , were severely reduced , with the most powerful Deep Core warlord , Admiral Teradoc , only fielding seventy " Victory " - class Star Destroyers . The unification of the Deep Core under Admiral Natasi Daala , which held the majority of the Imperial Fleet , saw less than two hundred Star Destroyers gather under her banner . The New Republic was similarly decimated in the fighting , barely claiming membership of 11 , 000 worlds by 16 ABY , and fielding only four fleets as opposed to both sides fielding hundreds of Sector Fleet s . During the Shadow Hand Campaign , the Republic retreated into the Outer Rim , placing its main bases inside Hutt Space , the Cron Drift , and the Corporate Sector , rather than in territory accessible to or largely a part of the mainstream galaxy . The Republic never saw massive membership until it finally defeated the Empire at the Battle of Anx Minor , forcing it back to only eight sectors . The New Republic Navy ' s poor performance against Imperial Star Dreadnoughts during the campaign inspired the development of their own dreadnought analogues , the " Mediator " - class battle cruiser and the " Viscount " - class Star Defender as part of the New Class Modernization Program in the aftermath of Operation Shadow Hand . Operation Shadow Hand was the last major action of a Sith - led Empire , and the following years would see the Empire move further and further away from the Sith , until political relations were non - existent . A portion of the Empire remained under the control of the Sith apprentice Carnor Jax , but his death saw only isolated factions of Sith or Dark Jedi - led Imperials emerge , such as the Empire Reborn and the Disciples of Ragnos . Eventually the relationship soured , and during the Yuuzhan Vong War , the reigning Dark Lady Lumiya attacked the Imperial Remnant in the Battle of Yaga Minor . Eventually , the Second Empire , following the Fel dynasty , would be at war with the Sith by 130 ABY .