Attack on the Executive Center

Around 19 BBY, shortly before Separatist Reintegration Day, the former Separatist Alliance operative Soujen Vak-Nhalis attempted an attack on the Imperial Executive Building on the Galactic Empire's capital of Coruscant, hoping to kill Emperor Palpatine. However, Vak-Nhalis's efforts were thwarted by Senator Mon Mothma, who had attempted to convince him to testify before the Imperial Senate but had instead been taken captive. Mothma was in possession of the trigger words for the explosive built into Vak-Nhalis's body and, in an effort to prevent the chaos that would follow from Vak-Nhalis's attack, used them to detonate the former Separatist while he was still approaching the Federal District in an airspeeder.

Events leading to the attack

In a desperate attempt to clear the name of the Jedi, Senator Bail Prestor Organa allied himself with Soujen Vak-Nhalis, A Separatist assassin who held proof that Jedi Archive seals could be forged, just before the destruction of Eyo-Dajuritz. The two escaped Eyo-Dajuritz together and headed to Coruscant. Upon approach, Organa's ship was approached by two Imperial airspeeders attempting to arrest them. Realizing their plan to exonerate the Jedi would no longer work, Vak-Nhalis pretended Organa was his hostage both to clear Organa's name and use him as a human shield so he could disappear into a crowd of protesters and regroup. In an attempt to regain contact with Vak-Nhalis, Senator Mon Mothma had Tychon Nulvolio, who had recruited Soujen to join the Separatists, to set up a meeting in an attempt to get Bail's plan back on track. Nulvolio told Mothma how to activate Vak-Nhalis's self-destruct mechanism, using the word "oubliette" to prime the explosive, then "sublime" to initiate it 5 minutes later.^[1]

A failed assassination attempt

When Vak-Nhalis met with Mothma, he came to the conclusion that clearing the Jedi's name wouldn't be enough to destabilize the Galactic Empire and instead he was going to kill Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine and as many senators as he can in a final desperate act to keep the Separatist cause alive and get revenge for his people. Mothma pretended to go along with the plan so she could stay with him long enough to activate his self destruct. They then headed to the Imperial Executive Building in an airspeeder Vak-Nhalis stole to get to their meeting point. During the drive, Mothma used the priming word "oubliette" into the conversation. Using Mothma's credentials, they passed through the security perimeter and stopped outside a data-processing center affiliated with the Department of Agriculture and Non-sapient Creatures. Vak-Nhalis then gave Mothma a comlink to use to guide him through the building and began to cross the pedestrian bridge towards the building. When the bridge was nearly empty, she said "sublime", activating the self destruct, destroying the bridge, and nearly causing her own death. The explosion caused a momentary standoff between the Imperial Army and former Separatist systems as well as a loss in confidence in the Imperial Rebirth Act until Organa did damage control and used it to bolster the bill, himself, Mothma, and Nulvolio's reputation with stories of their heroics.^[1]

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Appearances

• Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear (and audiobook) (First appearance)

Notes and references