Battle of Gazzari

The Battle of Gazzari took place in 1,032 BBY during the Second Sith Civil War. After the destruction of the ship Convergence and the factory Black Fang on Darkknell, Lord Daiman captured Narsk Ka'hane, the Bothan operative behind the bombing. As Daiman suspected Ka'hane to be working for Odion, Daiman's brother, Daiman plotted to set a trap for Odion. He allowed Ka'ahne to overhear a conversation between himself and Lord Ayanos Bactra, in which Bactra agreed to deliver an arxeum, a massive, mobile university, to Daiman on the volcanic planet Gazzari. Daiman then allowed Ka'hane to go free, expecting the spy to deliver that information to Odion. He also hired numerous independent mercenaries, including Jarrow Rusher, Mak Medagazy, and a Nosaurian mercenary to prepare an ambush for Odion.

Daiman sent the mercenaries to Gazzari, and then traveled there himself, unaware that Jedi Knight Kerra Holt had stowed aboard his ship using a Cyricept Personal Concealment System, Mark VI, which she had stolen from Ka'hane. Holt also had a number of baradium nitrate explosives which she had stolen from a factory on Darkknell. Daiman landed on Gazzari, but left the bulk of his fleet away from the system. Once on the surface, the mercenaries prepared for the ambush, assembling themselves on the walls of a massive crater. Four transports from Industrial Heuristics, carrying with them over a thousand students which Daiman intended to use in the arxeum, arrived and set down inside the crater. As the students began departing the transports, the arxeum itself arrived, followed closely by Odion’s forces, including Ka'hane. Odion saw Bactra's forces, which had delivered the arxeum, near Gazzari’s sun, but did not attack them. Instead, he descended into Gazzari’s atmosphere and lowered a Death Spiral, a massive siege tower, directly between the Industrial Heuristics transport and the arxeum, cutting the students off from their intended destination. The Death Spiral exchanged fire with the mercenaries on the ridge, and raised a shield which made it impervious to energy attacks. While Rusher's Brigade began launching projectiles closed in on the Death Spiral, Odion's ship landed, carrying the Sith Lord and his Thunder Guard units, many of which fought from speeder bikes. Once Odion had landed, Daiman's fleet came out of hyperspace behind Odion's, cutting off their retreat.

However, Odion was winning the battle on the surface, as the Death Spiral destroyed all four Industrial Heuristics transports as well as the bulk of the arxeum itself. Unable to withstand the fire of the Death Spiral, Rusher ordered his troops to retreat back to his ship, the Diligence. Holt managed to capture one of the Thunder Guard speeder bikes, and began shepherding the students from the transports off the battlefield. With the arxeum destroyed, Holt led the students toward the cliffs where Daiman's mercenaries were retreating. Before leaving the battlefield, Holt strapped the baradium nitrate explosives to her speeder bike and sent it toward the Death Spike, using a detonator to set off the explosion, which destroyed Odion's massive weapon. She then convinced Rusher, who had lost more than half his forces, to allow the students aboard the Diligence.

Meanwhile, Ka'hane received a signal from his true master, Vilia Calimondra, the grandmother of Daiman and Odion. Ka'hane was to deliver a message to the brothers to fire on Bactra's forces. Once the message was delivered, the forces of Daiman and Odion fired on Bactra's ships, still in orbit above Gazzari. Bactra's ships retreated into hyperspace, followed by Daiman and Odion, while the Diligence, too damaged to continue fighting and crowded with student refugees, made for Byllura, in the Dyarchy.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Gazaari was created by John Jackson Miller for use in his first professional novel, Knight Errant.

Appearances

 * Knight Errant