After the Battle of Yavin, the Galactic Empire decided to launch heavy assaults on many worlds as a show of strength and to root out any possible Rebel elements. Governor Malvander Bren, responsible for governing the Imperial outpost-world of Solem, sought to gain favor from his Imperial masters by destroying the Rebel presence on his world using "scorched earth" tactics. The purgings he initiated would come at a heavy price: about ten innocent civilians died for every Rebel killed.
An Imperial skim fighter is downed.
Even though the Solem resistance fighters were outgunned they fought viciously, inspired by their leader, the poet Yolan Bren. During the purging, Bren was wounded and secretly brought to the Imperial stronghold of G'ai Solem, where Rebel-friendly inhabitants arranged a secret hiding-place for him and his troops, while he was being operated. Meanwhile, the bounty hunter Boba Fett was hot on the trail of Yolan, having been hired by Malvander to end the conflict by bringing in the Rebel leader. Fett tracked Yolan down, killed several of his men and forced him to surrender to spare the rest. With the on-going purges, Malvander's palace was relatively unprotected, and as Fett was handing the Rebel over, Yolan's troops stormed the palace and fought their way into the reception hall, thus capturing the governor.
Having done his job and being initially cheated out of most of the reward due to Malvander's excessive spending on war materials, Fett ignored the governor's pleas to stop the Rebels from taking him prisoner. With the governor in custody, the Battle of Solem was effectively over. Rather than be executed outright, Yolan forced his brother to live as his people had been forced to live, among poverty and suffering. Whether he learned anything from this new experience is unknown, though it had been agreed that if he did not change, the Rebels would be allowed to execute him.
- The Essential Atlas