Massacre at Ossus

"I know the Jedi from old. They could never share my vision. Two days ago the Jedi Temple on Coruscant fell. Today, at their academy on Ossus, the last of the Jedi will die."

- Darth Krayt

The Massacre at Ossus was a conflict that occurred in 130 ABY, two days after the fall of Coruscant. With the capture of the galactic capital world, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances was forced to surrender to the forces of the new Galactic Empire. With this action, it appeared that once again the galaxy was under the control of a single organized government. Nonetheless, Darth Krayt influenced events, staging a coup d'etat in order to take over the Empire and institute himself as Emperor of the galaxy. Krayt believed that in order for his coup to be successful, he should first eliminate any potential threats to his takeover&mdash;thus, he reasoned, the Jedi Order had to be destroyed. Once he became Emperor the Jedi would be the only opposition he would have to face, since the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances had already surrendered.

The attack on Ossus was originally supposed to be a simple diplomatic meeting between the Jedi and Fel's Empire in order to fix ties and maybe even form an alliance. However Darth Krayt pulled his strings by having the Imperial forces attack the Jedi, so that it turned into a conflict that would mark the beginning of Krayt's Jedi Purge. Unfortunately for Darth Krayt's plan, about half of the order remained at large, as they had left for other planets after the fall of Coruscant, and he had not waited for all of them to gather in Ossus.

The Massacre at Ossus witnessed the deaths of countless Jedi at the hands of the Sith who attacked. Darth Krayt was successful at raiding the temple, yet many of the Order was elsewhere in the galaxy, as they had not all gathered there yet. Among those killed was the Jedi Master Kol Skywalker, as he made a defiant last stand against the superior numbers of the Sith forces in order to save Padawans. Master Wolf Sazen assisted Kol and was struck down by Darth Nihl, yet was able to survive thanks to Cade Skywalker. Although many were killed, several Padawans were able to escape in Jedi Shuttles. Many Sith and Stormtroopers were also killed during the Massacre. This conflict also witnessed the death of several Yuuzhan Vong warriors and shapers who were present at the time because of their terraforming activities.

Prelude
"Once, the Empire destroyed the Jedi Order. I will not permit it to do so again. The Jedi will withdraw from the Temple on Coruscant to their academy on Ossus. It is my explicit order that they be allowed to do so."

- Roan Fel

Much of the Galactic Alliance surrender at the end of the Sith-Imperial War and was absorbed into the Empire, but the reigning Emperor, Roan Fel, knew that while the Alliance had surrendered, the Jedi would stay true to the will of the Force and would swear allegiance to no man. The Imperials had strengthened themselves with the Sith's help and Fel knew that the Jedi would, under no circumstances, ally themselves with an Empire that had sided with the users of the dark side of the Force. Still, he appreciated their value and worth, and had no desire to follow the example of previous Imperial rulers.

As was expected, the Jedi rejected the Emperor's call for surrender and half of them withdrew to the Jedi Academy at Ossus, while the remainder of the Order scattered across the galaxy. Two days later, an Imperial task force under the command of Moff Rulf Yage was dispatched to Ossus. Fel's order and understanding was that this was to be a diplomatic mission, and his hope was to convince the Jedi to ally themselves with the Empire much as the Imperial Knights had. Under no circumstances, he made clear, were Yage's troops to initiate hostilities.

What Fel did not count on was that the Sith would intervene at such a crucial point for the Empire and the Jedi Order. Their leader, Darth Krayt, had known the Jedi from decades previous and knew that even if they agreed to work with Fel, they would never accept the direction that Krayt intended to take the galaxy, as he intended to follow the footsteps of rulers such as Darth Caedus and Dath Sidious, and the Jedi had been the major victims of these Sith. He intended on taking Fel's Empire for himself. The Jedi would never allow a Sith as Emperor after the damage past Sith rulers had done, so if his vision of order was to be fulfilled, the Jedi had to die to the last being. His agent, Darth Maladi, approached Grand Admiral Morlish Veed with direct instructions from him: Yage's forces were to attack and destroy the Ossus academy, and Krayt would be sending agents of his own to assist. Lest he be embarrassed later, Veed agreed to countermand Fel's order and make it look like his own idea.

The massacre
"I am Kol Skywalker, servant of the living Force! None of you will pass!"

- Kol Skywalker

The combined Sith/Imperial attack, commanded by Fist Darth Nihl and Yage respectively, proved devastating to the Jedi Order. Many Jedi were killed, along with numerous Yuuzhan Vong warriors and shapers. The Vong were present at the time of the attack since the Galactic Alliance and the New Jedi Order permitted their Shapers to use a desolate portion of Ossus as a test site for terraforming. Kol Skywalker, understanding that the odds against the Jedi were insurmountable, chose to fight by himself to hold back the joint Sith/Imperial force, giving his son Cade Skywalker and several other Jedi apprentices enough time to escape into hyperspace on various Jedi Shuttles. Kol was aided by Cade's Master, Master Wolf Sazen, who dueled Darth Nihl.

Cade Skywalker, however, could not stand by and watch his father die at the hands of the Sith. Disregarding his father's orders to flee, Cade left the shuttle containing the apprentices and proceeded to fight by his father's side. They were able to hold back some Siths and Stormtroopers. Meanwhile, Master Sazen was overpowered by Darth Nihl, and Nihl had cut Sazen's right arm used the Force to hurl him back behind Kol. Kol reasoned with Cade and was able to convince him to take Master Wolf Sazen. Sazen needed to leave the planet because of his injuries. Obeying his father, Cade boarded the last Jedi shuttle to leave Ossus, not knowing what would soon become of his father.

Meanwhile, Kol made a last stand against the overwhelming numbers of advancing enemy forces, and though he was able to inflict a large number of casualties, he was eventually felled by Darth Nihl in a duel. Cade, however, upon sensing his father's death in the Force, took a X-83 TwinTail starfighter docked on the shuttle he was aboard, and attempted to make his way back to Ossus. The ensuing dogfight with a number of enemy Predator-class fighters witnessed the apparent death of Cade, although he managed to escape by sealing his flight suit and jettisoning just as the ship he was on exploded.

Aftermath
The Sith suffered their own casualties, along with the Imperial forces, but the attack was not the all-destroying blow Krayt had wished, because they had not waited until all the Jedi had gathered at Ossus and more than half of the order was elsewhere during the attack and remained at large. Krayt had not been patient for the rest of the Order to arrive on Ossus. This was a good time, however, as the Imperial forces were on Ossus, and without the Imperial forces the attack might have not favored the Sith as much. The rest of the order would go into hiding throughout the galaxy, with many members taking refuge in the Hidden Temple on Taivas.

The massacre was also the event that forced the Sith to move openly against Emperor Fel. Fel's anger at having his specific orders disobeyed outright moved him to assemble the Moff Council in special session to deal with Veed and his lover and ally, Moff Nyna Calixte. Krayt understood that Fel was no longer of use, so before Fel could act, Krayt launched a daring palace revolution to oust Fel and place himself on the throne, the first Sith Lord to rule the majority of the Galaxy since the reign of Caedus. Some Jedi would later defect to Fel's Empire and become Imperial Knights.

Behind the scenes
Though the Massacre itself only appears in the first and eighth issue of the Legacy comics, it is often used as a flashback point for Cade, signifying the major impact it had on him and the series, as it is mentioned or shown in flashback nine times. In one of those times it was a flashback of his father's death that made Cade help the Imperial Princess Marasiah Fel. It also garnered an appearance in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, in which it is not mentioned as "Massacre at Ossus", but it is described, as well as in the preview issue of Legacy.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 2: Broken, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 3: Broken, Part 3
 * Star Wars Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 6: Broken, Part 5
 * Star Wars Legacy 7: Broken, Part 6
 * Star Wars Legacy 9: Trust Issues, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy: Ghosts
 * Star Wars Legacy 15: Claws of the Dragon, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 25: The Hidden Temple, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 28: Vector, Part 9
 * Star Wars Legacy 29: Vector, Part 10