Operation: Knight Rescue



Operation: Knight Rescue (known as Operation: Knightfall in Imperial records) was a major battle between the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic in 19 BBY. Most historians agree that this was the first battle of the Third Great Galactic War.

Prelude
Following the news that Obi-Wan Kenobi had engaged General Grievous on Utapau, Anakin Skywalker headed to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office. After delivering the news, Palpatine attempted to seduce Skywalker to join the Dark Side of the Force. Skywalker, though, was wise to such tactics, having had it tried on him by Count Dooku several times. Skywalker drew his lightsaber, and stated his intent to kill Palpatine, AKA Darth Sidious. The two engaged in a brief lightsaber duel, before Skywalker escaped, only to be engaged by his former second-in-command Captain Rex. Skywalker struck down all, including Rex, and escaped back to the temple.

At the temple, Mace Windu instructed Skywalker to wait in the hangar of the Republic Executive Building until his signal. In the ensuing arrest attempt, Saesse Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Kit Fisto were killed by Sidious, but Anakin's intervention saved Windu. It was at this time that Darth Sidious introduced his new apprentice, who was also his real apprentice this whole time, with Maul and Dooku being nothing but figureheads. This new apprentice was Darth Starkiller, formerly Galen Marek.

Escaping back to the Jedi Temple, Skywalker and Windu prepared to evacuate the entire Temple to the secret temple on Yavin IV and the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.

But too little, too late. Darth Starkiller marched up the steps of the temple, leading the 501st Legion. What followed can only be described as an attempted massacre.

Jedi Temple
The battle in the Jedi Temple was as crushing to the Jedi as it was to the Republic. Under Skywalker and Windu's command, the Jedi were more well-organized than Sidious expected.

The battle raged in many parts of the temple, though the most intense fighting was in the main halls and the hangar. Many, many Jedi managed to fly away from the Temple, but some shot down by a squadron of V-Wings flown by Dark Jedi. Part of the original plan was to bombard the temple from orbit. Sidious, however, disallowed this, fearing collateral damage and the loss of important information.

After seeing the devestation at the temple, witnessing the death of Zet Juckassa, and being shot at by clones while aiding in the ecape of Jedi Knight Andy Sammonds and Temple Security Commander Anderun Lytton, Senator Bail Prestor Organa formulated a plan with Captain Raymus Antilles, Skywalker, and Windu to escape to a more secure location.

In the meantime, the entire 212th Battalion and 327th Star Corps. returned from Utapau and Felucia, respectively, having secretly disregarding Order 66 due to deep-rooted loyalties to the Jedi. The troops left at both locations ensured the planets would be under the control of the Republic's government-in-exile.

The evacuation operation was soon underway. Using the CR90 Tantive IV, Organa and Antilles crammed many Jedi and Temple Security Officers aboard. Though conditions were a bit cramped, the speed of the CR90s ensured the ship would reach its destination quickly, so the refugees were willing to put up with the conditions.

Space Battle
Having heard of escaping Jedi, Darth Sidious ordered the 501st Legion's fleet conducting mop-up following the Battle of Coruscant to intercept the Tantive IV. However, he had yet to find out about the 212th and 327th's treachery. Elements of both units' fleet were on hand to ensure the refugees escaped safely.

The battle was intense and close-quarters. Jedi Knights Andy and Katie Sammonds manned the Tantive IV's guns, shooting down swathes of 501st starfighters. Andy also fired several shots planetside as punishment to the citizens of Courscant for listening to Sidious' lies, since Skywalker had witnessed civilians taking up arms and killing several defenseless younglings.

Having heard what happened, Admiral Wulff Yularan defected to the government-in-exile, but did not make his treachery known for months. He claimed to be pursuing the refugees and traitors, when in reality, he was travelling to the Outer Rim to pick up injured Jedi he claimed he was taking into custody.

Several 501st Venator-class star destroyers fell to Coruscant, causing destruction on a massive scale.

Eventually, a gap in the line made by the 501st was made, and the refugees and traitors made the jump to lightspeed, off for their first checkpoint on the way to their designated evacuation outposts on Kamino, Polis Massa, Yavin IV, Dantooine, among other secluded Outer Rim worlds.

Aftermath
Though the battle was declared a victory by the newly re-organized Galactic Empire, in truth, the battle was a massive blow to the Empire. Many ships of the 501st Legion had been killed, and 75% of the Jedi Order had eluded being killed. Two entire clone units had also betrayed the Empire.

If there were any bigger losses for the Empire, it was for the people of Coruscant. Over 40,000 buildings had been destroyed, and 6,000,000 civilians had been killed, with a further 13,000,000 civilians injured and 600,000 buildings damaged by falling Venator-class ships. The explosions not only devestated the area around the Republic Executive Building, but also the Senate and Jedi Temple. Surprisingly, though, all three buildings survived.

Chain reactions caused by exploding ship and subterranean reactors caused severe damage to the Lower City, but all throughout the planetary city. For 6 years, constant rubble shifting threatened to cause the entire city to collapse. Several false alarms even caused Palpatine and his cabinet to evacuate Coruscant, in a few cases even being targeted by Zann Consortium hit-and-run attacks.

Following the evacuation, Yularen brought the injured Jedi to the main fleet. After recieving news from Senator Padme Amidala that the Republic had been re-organized into the Galactic Empire, Senator Mon Mothma left the planet and joined the fleet as it was re-fueling and resupplying at Kessel. She and Yoda then set up a government-in-exile for the Galactic Republic, with Mon Mothman as its chief-of-state.

In the hours following the battle, Palpatine sent out millions of humanitarian workers to help injured and homeless victims of the crashes. In later years, Palpatine stated his genuine shock that the "rebels" were extremely well-organized.