The attack started when the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier Aerie and a squadron of training drones led by Colonel Soran Keize, lured New Republic starfighters into a Battle above Catadra, forcing the Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ship Lodestar to remain near Troithe and engage the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Edict alone, albeit with limited support from X-wing starfighters launched from the . En route to Catadra with Meteor Squadron, Wyl Lark received a message from Palal Seedia with a warning to return to Troithe, which in reality was a distraction. The Edict emitted system-wide jamming that prevented all ships from communicating or using their sensors and cut off Seedia. On realizing that Shadow Wing was the enemy, Lark raced back to warn the Lodestar, with Nath Tensent following right behind him.
Keize's original plan was for Shadow Wing to destroy the Lodestar and escape to hyperspace on the Aerie, however a freighter flown by Yrica Quell caused catastrophic damage to the hangar bay's magnetic field, so Keize adapted his plan, to stay and fight.
Once all of the New Republic starfighters above Catadra were no longer a threat, all six Shadow Wing squadrons launched out of hiding, hidden by the debris field and the sensor jamming from the Edict, which dropped as soon as the TIEs attacked the Lodestar and started destroying X-wings that protected it.
Tensent tried his best to attack the Star Destroyer, while Lark protected him from TIEs, however the Lodestar was unable to withstand the attack. The ship broke into three pieces and fell toward Troithe below. The Edict also continued its attack, however Troithe's planetary defenses crippled the Star Destroyer as it got too close. Both capital ships impacted Troithe's protective shield, which held only momentarily, but soon collapsed, allowing the wreckage of both ships to fall to the city below. Shadow Wing's TIEs took this opportunity to sneak down to the city before the shield came back online.
The attack on Cerberon first appeared in the 2020 novel Shadow Fall, the second volume of the Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy which was written by Alexander Freed.