One year after the end of the Clone Wars, the Raada Uprising took place against the Galactic Empire on the agricultural moon Raada. In response to Imperial restrictions and the introduction of soil-destroying crops, the local farmers organized a resistance movement under the leadership and tutelage of the Great Jedi Purge survivor Ahsoka Tano. Tano's plans went awry when the farmers Kaeden Larte and Hoban launched an unsanctioned attack on the Imperial administrative building. The rebels proved no match for the Imperial garrison and several fighters including Hoban were killed. Tano used her Force powers to save the rebels but exposed herself to both the Empire and the Jedi sympathizer Senator Bail Organa, who was organizing a rebel movement.

Tano and the surviving rebels fled to a network of cave hideouts near the moon's main settlement. After rescuing Kaeden from Imperial captivity, Tano went into hiding offworld at Kaeden's advice. However, the Empire sent the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother to hunt Tano. The Sixth Brother discovered the rebel hideout, captured Kaeden, and killed most of the rebels except Kaeden's younger sister Miara Larte. At the request of Senator Organa, Tano returned to Raada to investigate the Sixth Brother. After killing the Sixth Brother, Tano managed to rescue Kaeden again and took part in helping to evacuate the moon's population with the help of Senator Organa's rebel forces.

Prelude[]

A pastoral retreat[]

Following the Clone Wars and the Great Jedi Purge, the Togruta former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano fled into hiding in the Outer Rim Territories. Adopting the pseudonym "Ashla," she first settled on the planet Thabeska and found work with the Fardi clan as a mechanic. Tano befriended Fardi's daughters, particularly the youngest, Hedala. On one occasion, Tano saved Hedala from being crushed to death by a crate. When the Galactic Empire began to establish a presence on Thabeska, Tano fled offworld on one of the Fardi clan's freighters during the Empire Day festivities in 18 BBY.^[2]

After some travels, Tano settled down on Raada, a sparsely populated farming moon which lacked any centralized governing authority. There she set up shop, posing as a droid mechanic known as "Ashla." Shortly after her arrival, Tano began scouting the numerous rock outcroppings, cave systems, and canyons that surrounded the outskirts of the settlement. Within the space of a few standard weeks, Tano befriended the local farm worker Kaeden Larte, her younger sister Miara, and their guardian Vartan, who introduced her to the small farming community. Tano found work as a mechanic repairing threshers and other farming equipment. In her free time, Tano also explored the hills and caves near Raada's sole settlement, which she identified as a potential hiding place in the event of trouble.^[2]

Imperial occupation[]

Shortly after Tano's arrival, the Imperial bureaucrat Jenneth Pilar recommended that the Empire exploit the moon for agricultural production due to its small population. The Empire wanting to grow soil-killing plants for rations without attracting the Imperial Senate's attention. These modified plants were for the consumption of Imperial personnel working in low gravity environments. As a result, the Empire set up a presence on Raada including an administrative building, prison, and a base at Raada's spaceport which housed several military walkers and tanks. Under the leadership of Pilar, the Imperial administration introduced several new restrictions on the local population including night curfews, rules forbidding large group meetings, and restrictions on local cantinas' operating hours, food, and alcohol.^[2]

Non-clone, recruited stormtroopers enforced the occupation;^[2] while the Stormtrooper Corps was not yet formally established^[4] by the Defense Recruitment Bill^[5] at that time,^[4] an early generation^[6] of recruits^[7] known as TK stormtroopers^[8] were already active under Project War-Mantle.^[7] Such troopers would begin seeing certain deployments in the place of clone troopers^[9] before the bill's formal passage.^[5] Stormtroopers in armor closer to^[10] the final stormtrooper armor design^[11] were also seen in the invasion of Mon Cala.^[10] The Imperials also conscripted the local farmers into work crews to plant their new crops. The farmers were required to work for long hours with insufficient rations and rest. Due to the harsh working conditions and restrictions, local resentment towards the Empire grew. This which was exacerbated by the fact that the new Imperial crops were leaching the soils of their nutrients, rendering them unproductive. When one local farmer named Tibbola drunkenly confronted an Imperial officer, he was summarily executed in public as a warning that the Empire would not tolerate trouble.^[2]

In response to the Imperial occupation, Tano advised the farmers to slow down crop production as a form of non-violent resistance. She also encouraged the local farmers to form a resistance movement among the work crews. Vartan managed to recruit forty resistance fighters from the farming workers. As a Clone Wars veteran who had trained Felucian farmers and the Onderon rebels, Tano felt sufficiently experienced to lead the Raadian farmers. To prepare for the impending uprising, Tano smuggled food, medical supplies, and water recyclers into the caves with the help of Kaeden and Miara. For a fortnight, Tano and the Larte sisters assembled explosives and corrosive charges. The farmers also obtained old blasters.^[2]

The uprising[]

The premature uprising[]

Tano's plan was to plant corrosive charges on the Imperial walkers stationed at the spaceport. She led a team consisting of Miara, Neera and the Rodian Kolvin and managed to infiltrate the hangar bay due to the lax security measures. While planting the charges, Tano discovered that Miara had smuggled real explosives against her orders. After evading stormtrooper sentries, Tano and her fighters managed to return to Selda's cantina where they discovered that Vartan had sent Kaeden and Neera on an unsanctioned mission to storm the Imperial administrative building with explosives.^[2]

Since the Raadian insurgents were still too weak militarily to attack the Empire, Tano ordered the fighters to return home and to disavow any knowledge of the attack. However, Miara was unwilling to abandon her sister and Tano decided to cast a lot with the Raadian farmers. Meanwhile, Hoban split his group into thee teams and forced their way into the Imperial admin building with explosives. Though Tano's team had disabled the walkers with corrosive charges, the Imperial garrison still had tanks, which inflicted heavy casualties on the Raadian fighters.^[2]

Tano and her team entered the fray and managed to distract the tanks by hurling explosives. This allowed five survivors including Kaeden and Hoban to escape. Tano also fought with a stormtrooper and stole his blaster. While fleeing the battle, Tano and the fleeing farmers were trapped by a crater created by one of the tanks. Stormtroopers then approached the fighters and gunned down Hoban when he tried to surrender. Unwilling to see others die as a result of her actions, Tano used the Force to fling the blasters out of the stormtroopers' hands. Tano and the farmers then fled to the caves.^[2]

As a result of the uprising, the Imperial walkers were destroyed. While the tanks were damaged, they could still be repaired. In response to the two-pronged rebel attack, Pilar tightened the curfew, increased the patrols, and gave orders for troublemakers to be tortured in order to break the morale of the local population. Pilar also tasked the local Imperial commander with reporting the encounter with the Jedi to their superiors. Reports of the Jedi presence reached both the Imperial government and the Jedi sympathizer Senator Bail Organa, who was organizing a secret resistance movement against the Empire. The Empire dispatched the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother to hunt the Jedi.^[2]

Retreat to the hills[]

Tano and the Raadian resistance fighters retreated to the caves where they tended to the wounded including Neera. With little choice, Tano revealed her true identity as a Jedi fugitive to Kaeden and Miara. Kaeden was angry that Tano had not revealed her true identity earlier since she could have helped them more. Tano felt guilty about not being able to save Hoban's life. Shortly later, Kaeden headed back to the main settlement and tried to enter Vartan's house. However, she was captured by eight stormtroopers, who recognized her as one of the rebel fighters due to the wound on her forehead.^[2]

Kaeden was interrogated by two sets of Imperial interrogators, but refused to give in despite being tortured with an apparatus, injections, and sustaining a broken arm. The Imperial commander questioned her about the identity of the Jedi and the location of her fellow rebels but she refused to cooperate despite facing the threat of execution. Tano managed to use her Force powers to infiltrate the building and rescue Kaeden from her cell. Despite being cornered by stormtroopers, Tano managed to escape with Kaeden by Force jumping out of a high window. After escaping into the wilderness, Kaeden advised Tano to leave since the Imperial commander was after her. Tano promised to return and help her Raadian friends.^[2]

After Tano had departed offworld in her freighter, Kaeden and her fellow rebels hid in the caves for several weeks. By the time the Sixth Brother arrived on Raada, Tano had fled offworld. After meeting with the military commander and Pilar, the Inquisitor learned that the Imperial base on Raada was understaffed and lacked sufficient resources to fully patrol the moon. Since Raada's agricultural region and town was too well patrolled, the Sixth Brother considered searching the hills for the insurgents. However, after receiving reports of a series of seemingly random heroic Jedi actions offworld, the Inquisitor decided to investigate Tano's presence first before returning to Raada to finish his work.^[2]

Hunting the insurgents[]

When the Sixth Brother's offworld investigations failed to turn up new leads, he decided to return to Raada to deal with the Jedi fugitive's local insurgent allies. Since the local garrison had made no inroads in capturing them, the Inquisitor met with the chief interrogator and queried about Kaeden, the girl who had escape Imperial custody. After learning of Kaeden's physical description, the Inquisitor headed for the hills to hunt the rebels. Meanwhile, with the artificial crops due to be harvested in a few days time, Pilar departed Raada, leaving behind a ruined world and a resentful populace.^[2]

Elsewhere, Kaeden and the other rebels spent their time hiding in the caves. Due to their limited medical supplies, Kaeden's broken arm had not yet fully healed. Kaeden, Miara, and Neera bid their time playing the game crokin. As a result of the injuries sustained during the attack on the admin building, Neera shambled around the cave repeatedly. While the girls were playing another round of crokin, the sentry Kolvin reported that something was approaching the cave entrance, which was locked. While the other camouflaged entrances were secured, the sentry door was not.^[2]

The three girls and Kolvin decided to secure the sentry door. Miara wanted to come along but Kaeden objected to it. Before the older girls could stop her, Kaeden rushed to the sentry door. Before they could collapse the tunnel leading to the entrance, the Sixth Brother discovered their presence and ordered Kaeden to surrender under the threat of collapsing their hiding place. After some argument, Kaeden decided to surrender herself in order to save the lives of her comrades. When Miara insisted on coming, Kaeden gestured to Neera, who stunned Miara with her blaster.^[2]

With much difficulty, Kaeden managed to crawl out of the cave and surrendered to the Sixth Brother. However, the Inquisitor reneged on his promise and used the Force to drag Kolvin out of the cave and Force choke him. The remaining insurgents tried to shoot the Sixth Brother but he slaughtered them all with his double-bladed spinning lightsaber. The Inquisitor announced that this would be the punishment for those who resisted the Empire before slicing the fallen Kolvin's body in half. Knowing that Neera had saved her sister Miara's life by stunning her, Kaeden allowed the Sixth Brother to take her into custody. The Inquisitor hoped to use Kaeden to lure Tano out of hiding.^[2]

Evacuation of Raada[]

After establishing contact with Organa, Tano agreed to take part in a mission on Raada. Organa's contacts had transmitted visual footage of a new mysterious Imperial agent, who turned out to be the Sixth Brother. Through the visual footage, Tano learned that her friend Kaeden had been captured by the Empire and decided to honor her promise to return to Raada. Tano traveled to Raada in a freighter and parked the ship on the far side of the moon. After walking for two hours, Tano encountered Kaeden's sister Miara, who updated her about the recent events on Raada. By that stage, the Empire had finished harvesting Raada's fields, leaving much of the moon as a wasteland.^[2]

As they approached the main settlement, Tano instructed Miara to bring the holo she had recorded in space to Seldar or Vardan. Tano then went to confront the Sixth Brother in the settlement's streets. Following a verbal exchange, the Sixth Brother activated his double-bladed spinning lightsaber and attacked her. Despite lacking her former lightsabers, Tano managed to fend off his attacks using the Force. After hearing the Kyber crystals inside the Inquisitor's lightsaber sing to her, Tano used the Force to amplify her touch and destroy his lightsaber hilt. The Sixth Brother was killed when his lightsaber hilt exploded. After tending to her fallen foe, Tano used the Force to purify the kyber crystals, turning them from red to white.^[2]

Armed with her new white lightsabers, Tano then fought the stormtrooper sentries guarding the main admin building. She freed the prisoners including Kaeden and led them to Selda's cantina. At the cantina, Selda reassured Tano and Kaeden that Miara had transmitted Tano's message and that Vartan was gathering the farmers for an evacuation. As the population headed to the edge of the town, six or eight of Organa's A-wing starfighters attacked the Imperial compound and destroyed several parked Imperial starfighters. A few of the Imperial starfighters managed to get airborne, but were pursued by the A-wings.^[2]

Two of the A-wings were shot down during the dogfight. The first A-wing's pilot managed to eject to safety but the second crashed with his starfighter into the Imperial compound. Several rebel transports and cargo ships including the CR90 corvette Tantive IV led by Organa's lieutenant Captain Raymus Antilles then landed at the edge of the settlement. Tano then helped Antilles to evacuate the farmers aboard the ships. Before they could evacuate the remaining hundred aboard the three remaining ships, three Imperial tanks opened fire on the refugees.^[2]

Using her Force powers, Tano charged at the tanks. She jumped onto the leading tank and sliced off its gun turret. After throwing out the pilot, Tano overloaded the cannon and destroyed the tank. The explosion toppled one of the two remaining tanks, causing it to crash into one of the houses. The third tank headed towards Vartan, who was coordinating the refugee evacuation. The tank opened fired on Vartan, seriously wounding him. Tano used her Force powers to crush the tank turret out of shape, destroying the gun and incapacitating the vehicle. Tano then helped Antilles evacuate the grievously wounded Vartan aboard the Tantive IV.^[2]

Aftermath[]

Following the Raada evacuation, Antilles' medical crew treated Kaeden's broken arm and fitted Vartan with prosthetic limbs. While most of the Imperial facilities and forces were destroyed, the rebels only lost one pilot and fourteen evacuees during the evacuation. Tano managed to convince Organa to resettle the Raadian refugees on remote worlds that could be used to supply agricultural produce for the rebellion. Organa also agreed to train the Raadian volunteers who were interested in becoming pilots or soldiers. After some discussion, Tano agreed to join Organa's rebel movement as his spy coordinator. She adopted the code name "Fulcrum."^[2]

Meanwhile, the main settlement on Raada was destroyed during the fighting. By the time Imperial Star Destroyers had arrive to provide backup, the buildings and former farmlands had been razed. The Grand Inquisitor visited the ruined moon and concluded that Tano posed a major threat to the Empire due to her ability to train insurgents and call large numbers of ships to help her, although the Empire still had no idea of the identity of the "Jedi" involved. After finding the corpse of the Sixth Brother, the Grand Inquisitor informed Darth Vader that he had found evidence of another Jedi Purge survivor.^[2]

Despite her alliance with Organa,^[2] Tano ended up living in another farm village^[12] sometime after the Raada Uprising.^[1] However, her existence was reported to the Empire by an Imperial-loyal citizen, resulting in another Inquisitor tracking her down and slaughtering the village. However, she quickly killed the dark side adept and contacted Organa, whom she agreed to work with in an active role.^[12] She subsequently became a key member of the rebellion.^[13]

Behind the scenes[]

The Uprising on Raada first appeared in E. K. Johnston's young adult novel Ahsoka, which was published on October 11, 2016. The Uprising is split into the abortive uprising attempt and the Evacuation of Raada in the book. The Uprising serves as the rising action and climax of the novel. Besides Ahsoka, the events of the uprising are also told from the point of view of the secondary characters Kaeden Larte, Jenneth Pilar, and the Sixth Brother.

An X-wing starfighter is pictured as part of the Raada Uprising on the cover of Ahsoka.^[2] Given how early the uprising is in the context of the rebel movement, it is unclear if this is meant to be taken literally or is simply an artistic choice to represent rebel involvement.

Appearances[]

• Ahsoka (First appearance, simultaneous with audiobook)
• Ahsoka audiobook
• "By Whatever Sun" — From a Certain Point of View (Mentioned only)
• "By Whatever Sun" — From a Certain Point of View audiobook (Mentioned only)

Sources[]

• Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
• Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy
• Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
• "Rebel Rousers: Our Top Ten Rebels" — Star Wars Insider 203 (First identified as Raada Uprising)

Notes and references[]