Massacre on Abridon The Massacre on Abridon took place in 3 ABY when the Galactic Empire attempted to take back Abridon from the Abridon Nationalists , who were supported by the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Imperial general Brenn Tantor won great victories in the battle , destroying the Alliance presence and capturing Luke Skywalker . However , he also lost his command as a result of his refusal of orders to destroy a refugee camp . The battle . Taking back the capital . Around the time of the Battle of Hoth , the Abridon Nationalists revolted against the Galactic Empire . With the help of the Rebel Alliance , they won the uprising on Abridon , seizing the capital and destroying the Imperial presence on Abridon . Grand General Malcor Brashin and General Brenn Tantor were sent to investigate the situation . Swiftly realizing that the planet was in the hands of Rebels , Tantor landed his troops on the outskirts of the capital city and proceeded to retake the Imperial base on the south end of the city , which had been occupied by Rebels . Tantor used the base as a rallying point to call down more reinforcements , weathering repeated assaults from Rebel armor , until he burst out of his fortified position to crush the Rebel base that had been set up near the Government Mound . Tantor then proceeded across the river , where he seized the Abridon Government Center . In the course of the fighting , he completely cleansed the city of Rebels . With the Government Center taken , his troopers reported the capture of Hamman Flatt , the lieutenant governor of Abridon and a senior Nationalist . Terrified of an Imperial execution , Flatt attempted to trade information for his life . Tantor simply told him , " I don ' t negotiate with terrorists . " Despairing , Flatt simply blurted out his information : the Rebels had sent five high - ranking dignitaries to negotiate with the Abridon Government Council for the planet ' s entry into the Alliance . Brashin dispatched probe droids to confirm Flatt ' s story . If true , he promised Flatt a swift , rather than prolonged , execution . Meanwhile , Flatt was simply imprisoned . The capture of Luke Skywalker . Tantor set up a forward base in the gardens at the foot of the Government Mound . With the setting of the sun came numerous Rebel assaults . Tantor was forced to build a strongly fortified base before he was able to send out patrols into the northern outskirts of the city looking for the five dignitaries , whose presence had been confirmed by Brashin ' s probots . Tantor was forced to face a still - strong Rebel presence in this area , but his forces eventually tracked down four of the five diplomats , who were brought back to a landing platform to await transfer to a prison ship . The fifth dignitary , however , proved by far the most valuable . When finally captured , earlier half - fantastical reports by befuddled stormtroopers were proved true : Luke Skywalker , the galaxy ' s most wanted man , was one of the dignitaries . Tantor raced to capture him . Surrounded by Imperial armor and stormtroopers , Skywalker was forced to surrender . Tantor received the exhilarating honor of capturing the man most desired by Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine . The test of loyalties . Tantor was sent to destroy the final Rebel position : a strong base to the southwest of the capital . For this mission , he commanded from the Tracked Mobile Base , or TR - MB , a miniature command center inside an armored crawler . Tantor ' s forces were to meet up with a task force under the command of Colonel Beri Tulon , Tantor ' s old mentor . However , before Tantor ' s forces could rendezvous , Tulon ' s walker , Annihilator 1 , turned on his detachment , killing them all and heading for the Rebel base . Tantor , fearing that his mentor had been killed or captured by traitors , pursued and brought the walker down . He was shocked and distressed to discover that Tulon himself was the traitor , attempting to defect to the Alliance after years of dissatisfaction with the Empire . Tantor , despite his own private doubts about the Empire , dutifully arrested Tulon , who was sent to Tarkin Detention Facility on Ruul . Tantor proceeded onwards , destroying the base even without Tulon ' s forces . However , that was not enough of a statement to the people of Abridon for Brashin . The grand general demanded that Tantor destroy a refugee camp to the east of the base in order to demonstrate the consequences for anyone who allowed traitors to operate freely . Tantor had finally had enough . Citing the words of the mentor he had just imprisoned , Tantor refused to murder civilians . Infuriated , Brashin locked Brenn out of communications with the army and issued the order to destroy the camp himself , claiming it was filled with Rebels . Helpless , Tantor watched as his soldiers massacred civilians . It was at that moment that Rebel general Tyr Taskeen contacted him . Taskeen , the man whom Tantor had defeated , offered him a frequency on which to contact him if he ever wanted to defect . Aftermath . For his disloyalty , Tantor was sent to Kalaan , where he was to be court - martialed . En route , he contacted Taskeen to arrange his defection . From Kalaan , Tantor rescued Skywalker and joined the Alliance . With Tantor and Brashin gone , the Empire was unable to maintain complete control of Abridon . Despite the total defeat of the Alliance , the Empire still had to contend with the Abridon Nationalists , who turned the industrial city of Sayan into an urban war zone . Street fighting with Imperial troops lasted for months , until artillery platforms were stationed in the city and ordered to level it completely . The fighting would go on , until the Rebels initiated a counter - offensive in the liberation of Abridon , under Taskeen and a newly Rebel Tantor . Behind the scenes . The Second Battle of Abridon first appeared in " " , a 2000 video game from Ronin Entertainment . It was later mentioned in " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " , published in 2008 .