Raid on Coruscant (3 BBY)

"All fighter wings launch and head for that station! We've got a Jedi to rescue!"

- Robert MacTavish

The Raid on Coruscant was an engagement between the Rebellion and the Empire over the galactic capital Coruscant in 3 BBY, a year prior to the start of the Galactic Civil War.

The origins of the engagement began on Taris, where a mission to the Jedi Temple went wrong. Commodore Robert MacTavish brought Mary to the planet with the aim of bringing her to the temple to continue improving her power and strength in the light side of the force. However, Mandalorian bounty hunter and former clone Kazan was there waiting with a large contingent of Imperial forces. While those forces were swiftly expired, Kazan was able to kidnap Mary and bring her to Excelsior over Coruscant, where he could collect his prize from the Emperor himself.

While MacTavish was distraught and desperately searching to find his padawan, he got a clue from a friendly face that Mary was on the all-too-familiar station and was in active danger of falling to the Emperor's whims. Thus, MacTavish took Jedi Master Rahm Kota and a contingent of his armada and assaulted Coruscant in an all or nothing attack to rescue Mary. Under the command of Han Solo, the rebels took the fight to the hangars of the Excelsior in a raid aimed at taking the station's reactor and destroying it, while MacTavish pushed to confront the Emperor and Kota pushed to annihilate the defense fleet and swarm the station.

The Empire had the upper hand with its battlestation, but not for long, as Han and Chewbacca set the station's reactor to overload. The confrontation with the Emperor led to a full-on duel with Palpatine, resulting in the defection of Piett and the corruption of Mary's mind. The latter two, however, were rescued in the end, and the engagements all around left both Piett and Palpatine severely wounded. Meanwhile, as MacTavish ordered an evacuation of the station via the central computer, the discombobulated ensigns set the station to fire on the Imperial fleet instead of the Rebels, who were just outside the range of the weapon. Thus, at the end of the battle, both Excelsior and the Imperial fleet were left devastated.

However, MacTavish had little clue as to what went down between Mary and Palpatine prior to his arrival, leaving to the corruption of Mary's mind and her later defection to the Empire.

The Prelude
Just hours before the engagement, Kazan arrived on the Excelsior battlestation with Mary in tow. Being met with an array of stormtroopers, Kazan proceeded with her to the bridge to meet Piett, who, after some standard conversation, had Mary interned in the station's brig. While none but Kazan knew yet, the Emperor was inbound and coming to the station to sort his potential Sith spawn out.

Meanwhile, MacTavish was in a state of disarray over Yavin. He gave several orders out at once from the bridge of the Independence before going down to the surface; he ordered spies to head out to the Imperial prisons on Kessel, and sent ships to scout the areas around Taris. However, given his past aboard the Excelsior and his many engagements there, it became clear where Mary ended up. Later, in the Alliance War Room, he professed the occurrences on Taris to his fellow high command, to which he was expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment, only to be followed up with rejections to any sort of move on the Excelsior, or potentially Kessel, without solid confirmation that Mary was there. Thus, defeated, and once more on the bridge of the Independence, MacTavish attempted to reach out with the force to find his lost padawan.

The Emperor soon arrived on the Excelsior to meet his captive, greeted by a surprised contingent of Stormtroopers who gladly lead him to the brig.