Siege of Lothal

The Siege of Lothal was a siege ordered by the Galactic Empire on the planet of Lothal in the fourth year prior to the Battle of Yavin. The Siege came about as a reaction to the ongoing insurgency and unrest on Lothal, particularly the success of a rebel operation in the Mustafar system that led to the destruction of the Sovereign, the flagship of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the Governor of the Outer Rim Territories. Since Lothal presented industrial interests that played a vital role to the Empire's expansion throughout the Outer Rim, Emperor Palpatine sent his enforcer Darth Vader to end the local rebel activity and hunt down Jedi Knight Jarik Shan. 
As the Empire cracked down on Lothal, bringing numerous Star Destroyers over Capital City as an intimidation tactic, the demands on the garrison to locating the rebels, their sympathizers, and Shan intensified. Minister Maketh Tua, who was acting in the absence of Governor Arihnda Pryce, was unable to produce the results Vader and Governor Tarkin expected. Fearing her execution for failure, she contacted the Phoenix Cell and requested assistance for her defection, in exchange for a list of names of rebel sympathizers on Lothal and neighboring systems, as well as Emperor Palpatine's ulterior motive for occupying Lothal. The crew of the Ghost, a rebel cell based on Lothal, agreed to rescue Tua alongside Shan's adoptive daughter Mara Jade, and returned to Lothal aboard a commandeered Star Commuter 2000 shuttle, subsequently intercepting the Minister. However, the Empire became aware of Minister Tua's plan to defect after tracking her communications. Imperial Security Bureau Agent Alexsandr Kallus then escorted her to a shuttle she was supposed to take to visit Governor Tarkin, but it exploded in an act of Imperial sabotage, which Kallus blamed on the rebels to turn public opinion against the Rebellion.
Vader moved to lock down the planet, dictating that no ship could leave the surface without Imperial authorization. The rebels, effectively trapped on Lothal, hid within Capital City. They devised a plan to infiltrate the Imperial Dome, where they intended to steal a shuttle near the Imperial Armory Complex and leave the planet, though Jade advised caution, having sensed Vader's presence on Lothal upon arrival. They successfully made it through the Dome and found a shuttle, as well as six Imperial military-grade shield generators that they stole on the Rebellion's behalf. As they prepared to escape they were confronted by Darth Vader, who engaged Jade and two of the rebels — Jedi survivor Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger — in a lightsaber duel. Vader, whom Jarrus learnt from Jade was a Sith Lord, quickly overpowered them but allowed them to leave, as Vader placed a tracking device on it to locate the rebel fleet and Shan. Before they could escape, the rebels contacted Lando Calrissian, a smuggler they had dealt with in the past, for assistance in escaping Lothal. In exchange for three of the generators, Calrissian provided the rebels a number of masking transponders that could duplicate the shuttle's signal and scatter the Imperial forces. The Empire had meanwhile rounded up the citizens of Tarkintown, a refugee camp the rebels had previously helped, and burnt it to the ground as Vader's retribution for the Rebellion's activities.
As the rebels returned to the fleet after using their jammers to escape from Lothal, Vader followed them on his personal TIE Advanced x1 starfighter, and engaged the A-wing starfighters of Phoenix Squadron in combat, as well as significantly damaged the rebel command ship Phoenix Home. The Spectres, alongside Jade and her mother Ahsoka Tano, boarded the Ghost and engaged Vader’s fighter. During the fighting, Jarrus, Jade, and Tano used the Force in an attempt to ascertain the Sith Lord's true identity. What Tano sensed overwhelmed her, while Vader realized that Tano, whom he trained when he was a Jedi Knight, lived. Soon thereafter, the command ship was destroyed and the entire fleet retreated. Vader reported to Emperor Palpatine that Tano had survived Order 66, and like Shan, Sidious believed was an opportunity for the Empire to find other Jedi who survived the Great Jedi Purge, such as Shan and Vader's former teacher, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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Category:Events
Category:Conflicts
Category:Imperial Era
Category:Early Rebellion