Battle of Talus The Battle of Talus occurred during the Galactic Civil War . History . Prelude . With direct orders from the Emperor himself , Imperial Special Forces had established a head hunter squadron on the planet of Corellia . Their mission was to seek out and destroy a secret Rebel base on the nearby Talus . Long rumored to be just a reconnaissance post , the Imperials had learned that the base instead acted as a launching point for Rebel sabotage efforts in the Corellian system and was harboring one of the last known Jedi Knights , Rachi Sitra . At the Imperial Academy on Raithal , a week - long briefing was held about an upcoming operation in the Corellian system . The Academy was even attacked by Alliance forces , who tried to disrupt the planning , but were repelled . At the Imperial headquarters on Corellia , an attack was being planned on the base . Onyx Squadron , a group of TIE bombers , was going to escort a flight of landing craft to land near the Rebel base . It was hoped that a sudden strike , carried out in secrecy , would disable the Rebel operations . However , the Rebel spies managed to acquire the plans for the operation . A lone operative in a Z - 95 Headhunter landed near Imperial outpost and was able to sneak in through an unguarded entry point previously scouted by Rebel agents . Inside the outpost , he was able to download the planning documents for the upcoming operation and , after a quick firefight with Lieutenant Jeffren Brek , made a hasty escape with the information . Having analyzed the data , the Rebels concluded that they could not properly defend the facility and prepared to evacuate all personnel . Initial assault . The quickly assembled Imperial strike force traveled to Talus , where Onyx Squadron laid down a barrage that allowed the transports to land beside the Rebel facility . Imperial troops disembarked and immediately engaged the Rebel defenders . However , the Imperials were caught by a surprise when a group of Jedi , led by Rachi Sitra , joined the fight . The Imperials had already engaged the Rebels at the base , but the band of Jedi was too much for their forces . The combined troops of the Rebel Alliance and their Jedi supporters had successfully defended their base on Talus , and the Imperials were forced to retreat back to the Imperial outpost . The defenses available to the Rebel base were severely underestimated , and the Imperials considered themselves lucky to conduct a successful retreat . Garrison attack . While the Imperial forces were forced to fall back , the retreat was in good order . The damage to the troops and facilities at the Rebel base had thinned the ranks of the defenders there . It was the unexpected presence of the Jedi , both their numbers and their tenacity , which doomed the operation . However , before the troops could get a night ' s rest , the blaring of alarms throughout the Imperial outpost signaled a Rebel counterattack . Barn Sinkko , who only recently arrived at the outpost , had jumped into the fray and began organizing the defenses . The Rebel attack force , led by captain Coret Bhan , consisted of Rebel commandos , supported by heavy troopers and Y - wing bombers . All available Imperial soldiers rushed to defend the outpost , while Snopel made sure that they were deployed correctly . The defense of the barracks and armory of the Imperial outpost was successful . As Imperials began to make headway against the Rebels , captain Bhan gave the order for the Alliance forces to fall back . The Rebels quickly escaped back to their base , while the Imperials were in no shape to pursue them . Second assault . The next morning the Imperials saw the arrival of reinforcement troops and TIE / LN starfighter s to bolster the upcoming second assault . A coordinated assault was planned , including two squadrons of TIEs operating in concert with troops on the surface of the moon itself . Later that same night , the operation began . The TIEs had detected a group of transports evacuating from the Rebel base and gave chase , but the ground troops reported that most of the Alliance personnel on Talus had already escaped . In a battle against the escorting Y - wings , the TIE fighters managed to hit several the Rebel transports , forcing them down in a remote part of Corellia . A landing craft was redeployed and headed for the location of the evacuated Rebels . The troops on Talus reported that the Rebel base was sparsely defended and was already in Imperial hands . The evacuees in the shuttles remained as the only Rebel presence in the Corellian system . One group of grounded rebels , which included Luke Skywalker , put forth a stable defense , but the Imperials pressed on and prevailed . Skywalker and his companions were able to escape in a hastily - repaired Y - wing before they could be chased down . Another group , led by Rachi Sitra , was confronted by the troopers led by none other than Darth Vader himself . The fight was fierce and brutal , with heavy casualties from both sides , but eventually Sitra provided a distraction long enough for the remaining forces to escape into the wilderness and eventually to reach a local spaceport . Aftermath . Only a handful of Rebels and Jedi were apprehended during the mission . Despite the crash landing and attack of the Dark Lord , most of the Rebels and Jedi survived . Even though the Rebel base on Talus was destroyed , key personnel have been evacuated and soon reconnected with the main Alliance forces . With the destruction of the Rebel base on Talus and the victory over the escaping Alliance troops on Corellia , the entire system was thought to be cleansed of Rebel presence . Behind the scenes . This battle is featured in both Light Side and Dark Side scenario campaign of " Squadrons Over Corellia " , the second expansion of the " Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game " .