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Destruction of Byss

Battle of Onderon

Attack on the Imperial Royal Guard Academy

Destruction of Byss

Conflict

Galactic Civil War (Operation Shadow Hand)

Date

11 ABY

Place

Byss

Outcome

New Republic victory, Byss, Eclipse II and the Galaxy Gun destroyed.

Combatants
Galactic Empire	New Republic
Commanders
Umak Leth	Lando Calrissian Kam Solusar Wedge Antilles
Strength
Galaxy Gun Super Star Destroyers Star Destroyers	Reprogrammed Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought Eclipse II Millennium Falcon
Casualties
Umak Leth Significant portion of orbiting fleet Byss Every living sentient on Byss who could not escape	Eclipse II

[Source]

"To go from unimaginable triumph to utter ruin in less than a year…it was more than many officers could bear. When word reached us of Byss's destruction, I knew in my heart that the Empire had died with it."

―Captain Sergus Lanox^[src]

The Destruction of Byss was a cataclysmic event that marked the end of Operation Shadow Hand, along with Emperor Palpatine's final death.

1 Infiltration of Eclipse II
2 End of Byss
3 Appearances
4 Sources

Infiltration of Eclipse IIEdit

During the Battle of Onderon, a strike team lead by Lando Calrissian and Kam Solusar infiltrated Palpatine's flagship, Eclipse II, by attaching the freighter Millennium Falcon to the Star Dreadnought's lower hull.

The astromech droid R2-D2 sabotaged the vehicle's automated hyperdrive engines and set the vessel on a course for Byss, exiting hyperspace at the precise location of the dreaded Galaxy Gun cannon. Despite attempts from the Eclipse II's crew to override the command, the Star Dreadnought entered hyperspace.

The procedure went so fast, the crew of the Millennium Falcon did not have time to detach before the jump, and so went on an involuntary journey towards the Deep Core with the warship.

End of ByssEdit

While the events on Onderon unfolded and Eclipse II sent out a call for reinforcements, the engineer Umak Leth, architect of the Galaxy Gun, decided to risk arming the Gun to aide his Emperor and gain some of the esteem he had lost following the Nespis VIII blunder.

As the Galaxy Gun was being prepared, the Eclipse II suddenly came out of hyperspace, ramming the cannon and damaging both vessels. Millennium Falcon managed to disconnect from the Star Dreadnought before impact and prepared to enter hyperspace. As the Gun was struck by the Eclipse II, the armed missile was fired by the cannon, in a vain attempt at hitting the ship that was on a collision course.

The missile got caught by Byss's gravity well, exploded upon impact and destroyed the planet, taking some of the (vastly thinned, being in other locations of the galaxy) orbiting fleet along with it, as well as the wrecks of the Galaxy Gun and Eclipse II. The Falcon managed to exit the Beshqek system before being hit by debris from the explosion.