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The Battle of Scarif was the first major battle fought between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire. The battle, fought in 0 BBY, marked the beginning of the Galactic Civil War and the five-year period in which the Alliance successfully fought to replace the Empire with the New Republic. It was preceded by years of coordinated attacks of various rebel cells and the formal Rebel Alliance against the Empire. Near the end of this early Rebel movement, and sparked by a devastating defeat at the hands of Grand Admiral Thrawn that left the Alliance crippled, there was disagreement within the Rebel ranks as to whether the Alliance should engage in full-scale war against the Empire, a debate that was settled during the Battle of Scarif.

Prior to the battle, Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service intercepted information suggesting that renowned Imperial scientist Galen Erso was building a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. Alliance leadership sent Galen Erso's daughter, Jyn Erso, and Captain Cassian Andor to learn more about her father's involvement, and their subsequent efforts saw the Alliance discover the existence of the Death Star, as well as a fatal flaw in the design placed there by Galen Erso. The Alliance initially refused to send their forces to steal the Death Star plans on Scarif, wary that it could lead to more crippling losses.

Though the Alliance leadership refused to openly oppose the Empire, Erso and Andor led a small unit of Rebel soldiers and other allies in defiance of their orders, taking it upon themselves to infiltrate the heavily-guarded Citadel Tower base on Scarif to steal the plans to the superweapon. Under the callsign Rogue One, the unit infiltrated Scarif's planetary shield in a stolen cargo shuttle and proceeded to wage a guerrilla assault on the Citadel's outskirts, drawing away Imperial forces so that Erso, Andor, and the droid K-2SO could infiltrate the facility. Director Orson Krennic, the former commander of the Death Star, attempted to stop Erso and Andor from stealing the plans, but the heavily-outnumbered Rebels received support from the Alliance Fleet under Admiral Raddus, whose forces, in defiance of Alliance High Command, engaged the Imperial Star Destroyers above Scarif and worked to destroy the Shield Gate protecting the planet.

With the Shield Gate's destruction, Rogue One was able to transmit the stolen plans to the fleet above, though all remaining Rebel ground forces were eradicated by a low-powered blast from the newly-arrived Death Star that destroyed the Citadel and surrounding area. The Sith Lord Darth Vader's forces made short work of the rebel ships that did not manage to retreat, but Princess Leia Organa managed to escape the battle in the Tantive IV. Vader pursued her to the planet Tatooine and captured her there, but the plans were already out of his reach. The plans eventually found their way to the Alliance, who used them to pinpoint the Death Star's weakness and destroy it at the Battle of Yavin, marking a turning point in the Alliance's efforts to topple the Empire.

Prelude

During the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, the Alliance to Restore the Republic suffered a devastating loss at the hands of Grand Admiral Thrawn during a battle on Atollon, the location of a Rebel base operated by the the Phoenix Squadron cell. The battle was the culmination of Imperial efforts to locate Phoenix Squadron and other Rebel cells,^[11] and it set back the Alliance's plans for larger-scale attacks against the Empire, such as the planned attack to free the planet Lothal from Imperial rule. This sparked a debate within the Alliance. Some, including the Alliance's leader, former Senator Mon Mothma, believed that Thrawn's victory showed that the Alliance was not yet ready for open warfare against the Empire. Others, such as the extremist leader Saw Gerrera, believed that open war had already begun, while Lieutenant Commander Ezra Bridger advocated for larger operations such as the one to free his homeworld of Lothal.^[12]

The Alliance continued engaging in their typical missions to disrupt Imperial targets, all while continuing to rebuild their broken Alliance Fleet. Gerrera, at one point with the help of Bridger and the Mandalorian Rebel Sabine Wren, followed clues that hinted towards an Imperial superweapon that utilized massive kyber crystals, but limited evidence of the weapon's supposed existence remained unpersuasive to Alliance leaders.^[12] This changed when Galen Erso, an Imperial scientist who built the planet-killing weapon known as the Death Star, recorded a message from his daughter, Jyn Erso, and sent Imperial cargo pilot Bodhi Rook to Jedha, a source of kyber crystals, to deliver the message to Gerrera and his forces; Gerrera was an old friend of the family, and Galen hoped his daughter would be with the Rebel fighter.^[1]

The Alliance learned of Rook's defection and Galen's message, so they rescued Jyn from Imperial custody on Wobani in the hopes that she would be able to meet with Gerrera, no longer a friend of the Alliance, and learn what the message contained. She was personally assigned the mission by Senator Mothma and was accompanied to Jedha by Captain Cassian Andor and the reprogrammed Imperial protocol droid K-2SO. Once there, Jyn viewed the message from her father and learned about the existence of the Death Star, including a fatal flaw that Galen built into the weapon. He urged her to recover the Death Star plans from Citadel Tower on the planet Scarif. The Death Star, which was in orbit of Jedha, fired on the moon shortly thereafter in the hopes of covering up the Death Star's existence, but Jyn and her allies escaped. They soon tried but failed to recover Galen from his installation on Eadu, but he was killed by Director Orson Krennic, the head of the Death Star's development.^[1]

Jyn returned to the Rebel base on Yavin 4 and shared the contents of her father's message. Some on the Alliance Council,^[1] still shaken by their loss to Grand Admiral Thrawn,^[13] remained skeptical of the Death Star's existence. Others that accepted the evidence believed it was proof that the Alliance could never withstand open warfare against the Empire and believed that their rebellion was finished. Despite Jyn's pleading to send a team to Scarif to steal the plans, the Alliance Council opted not to take any action against the Death Star—seemingly bringing an end to the Rebel Alliance. Andor, however, organized a team that he and Jyn decided to lead to Scarif in violation of the Alliance's decision, and they named themselves Rogue One.^[1]

The battle

Infiltration

The Alliance arrives

Ground assault

Destroying the shield

The hope of Rogue One

The fall of the Shield Gate gave Jyn and Andor the opportunity they needed to transmit the Death Star plans into orbit. As the plans were transmitted, the Death Star dropped out of hyperspace, having learned of the assault on the Citadel Tower when it commenced. Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the station's commander, chose to ignore the Rebel ships due to the impending arrival of the Sith Lord Darth Vader aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator. Instead, Tarkin ordered a single reactor ignition aimed at the Citadel Tower. Krennic regained consciousness just in time to look to the sky and witness his creation fire upon the base, killing him as the Death Star blast grazed the tower before striking in the ocean. The resulting shock wave engulfed the beachfront and vaporized all of the Rebels and Imperials in the area, including Jyn and Andor. They died, however, with the hope that their transmission was received and their sacrifice was not in vain.^[1]

Once the Profundity received the Death Star schematics, Admiral Raddus ordered the fleet to jump into hyperspace. Several ships were able to escape, but others were intercepted and destroyed by the Devastator as it jumped into orbit. Destroying everything in its path, the Star Destroyer soon turned its attention to the Profundity as other ships scattered. Knowing that the plans had been sent to the Rebel flagship, Vader led a boarding party to the Profundity to personally retrieve the schematics. He slaughtered countless Rebels in pursuit of the plans, but Rebel troopers were able to hand the plans over to the Alderaanian forces aboard the Tantive IV. The Tantive IV disembarked before Vader could reach it.^[1]

As the Tantive IV fled the Profundity, Captain Raymus Antilles handed the plans to Princess Leia. He questioned what Rogue One had sent them, to which the princess replied with only one word: hope. The corvette jumped into hyperspace^[1] towards Tatooine,^[2] bringing an end to the Battle of Scarif.^[1]

Aftermath

Behind the scenes

Rogue One development

Star Wars Rebels threads

Origins in Star Wars Legends

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references