Separatist holdouts/Legends

"Although the Clone Wars were over, some people didn't seem to get the message."

- Unknown 501st stormtrooper

The Separatist holdouts consisted of various disparate fragments of the Confederacy of Independent Systems that remained active after the execution of the Separatist leadership, trying to preserve their New Order. The Galactic Empire used the existence of such holdouts as one of several excuses to continue production of various warships for the Imperial Navy.

The holdouts consisted of various independent worlds and systems mostly in the Outer Rim Territories. Some notable locations were the planets Mustafar and Enarc.

Beginnings
With the death of the Separatist leaders at the hands of Darth Vader, the deactivitation of the majority of the Separatist droid armies, the dissolution of the Confederacy's major commerical organizations, and the surrender of almost all remaining Separatist planets and forts, the Confederacy of Independent Systems effectively ceased to exist. However, various small remnants, like the Trade Federation resistance, managed to survive.

Acherin
"We didn't dare to hope that we'd beat them. We hoped we would be enough of a nuisance that they'd just go away."

- Toma

At the close of the Clone Wars, the Separatists on Acherin were in the process of negotiating a peace treaty with the Jedi General Garen Muln. After Muln survived an assassination attempt made by his own clone troopers when Order 66 was initiated, the Acherin Separatists retreated to their fortified cities, hid the Jedi until he could be evacuated off-world, and declared war on the emerging Galactic Empire.

For nearly a year, the Separatist resistance managed to keep the Empire at bay, in a war that inflicted great casualties on both sides. In the end, the forces of Admiral Riwwel proved too powerful, and, in retribution for his dead soldiers, he razed the remaining resistance stronghold&mdash;the capital city Eluthan.

Enarc
"Where is Gunray? Where is Haako? A third-tier flunky has no right to negotiate on the Trade Federation's behalf. We have our battleships. We have our droids. If Palpatine wants our wealth, let him come and take it."

- Marath Vooro

Although acting Trade Federation Viceroy Sentepeth Findos had formally dissolved the Trade Federation, others refused to admit defeat. On Enarc, Customs Vizier Marath Vooro explicitly denied the authority of Findos and challenged the new Empire with a show of force. Despite his confidence, Vooro and other Trade Federation factions were defeated by the Empire, ending the Federation permanently.

New Plympto
"I would not throw my life away so hastily&mdash;or so vainly&mdash;but neither am I done fighting for the principles on which the Republic was based."

- Dass Jennir

On New Plympto, the Nosaurian Separatist army fought on against the Empire, even as their chances of winning slimmed each day. They were led by the Jedi Master Dass Jennir, who had survived an assassination attempt on his life during the execution of Order 66 and had subsequently joined forces with the Nosaurians.

The fighting continued for a month, eventually leading to the 501st Legion being sent to assist the Imperial force in ending the uprising. At the Battle of Half-Axe Pass, the last fragment of the Nosaurian army was destroyed, with the surviving soldiers being slaughtered. Only Jennir and Bomo Greenbark survived the massacre.

Mustafar
"Once we arrived on the molten surface of Mustafar, it soon became apparent Dellso had been a busy little bug."

- Anonymous 501st stormtrooper



Another Separatist to resist after the Clone Wars was Gizor Dellso, having arrived on Mustafar some days after the murder of the Separatist Council. Dellso discovered the remains of his former master, Poggle the Lesser, and the others in the control room of the mining complex.

Dellso remained in denial that the Clone Wars was over, and, being the creator of the Separatist Droid Army signal beacon, reactivated the fleet and a droid army that were stationed on the planet before the massacre. Becoming the leader of at least one Confederate remnant, Dellso stayed on Mustafar, plotting to overthrow the Galactic Empire.

Dellso's remnant grows
In the meantime, the Empire tracked down remaining Separatist strongholds and hideouts, either forcing their surrender or destroying them outright&mdash;sometimes even using their own hardware against them, such as reprogrammed DSD1 dwarf spider droids.

On Mustafar, Dellso and his entourage of Geonosian officers activated a hidden droid factory around 12 BBY and created the Gizor Dellso's Remnant Navy and began to create additional soldiers due to needed extra defense after stealing data from the Empire. On top of that, Dellso discovered old battle droid data stored in the data computers of the complex and began to manufacture the experimental droids. The next generation battle droid was to become a major addition to the Confederacy, but the government was dissolved before production began.

Fragmentation
A year later, they revealed themselves to the Galactic Empire, and Darth Vader tracked Dellso's rebellion to Mustafar, where he dispatched the 501st Legion to put down the last remnants of the CIS, once and for all. The Empire established orbital positions, and continued to lay siege to Mustafar. The engineers of the 501st destroyed the experimental droid schematics and planted an orbital beacon in the droid factory while engaging the enemies they had thought they would never see again. Meanwhile, Dellso and his officers desperately launched attacks on the Imperial forces. However, they were all eventually killed, and the factory was destroyed by an orbital bombardment.

Reorganization
Following the signing of the Corellian Treaty and the Declaration of Rebellion in 2 BBY, most Separatist holdouts that had survived 17 years after the Clone Wars' end were absorbed into the Rebel Alliance. The Rebels managed to get their hands on Separatist war material, such as Lucrehulk-class battleships, Recusant-class light destroyers, Providence-class carrier/destroyers and Munificent-class star frigates. Many surviving frigates had roamed the galaxy for years, with their old crews serving as mercenaries or pirates. They modified their vessels to such an extent that many were unrecognizable from their original configuration. As such, they went well with the rag-tag look of the early Alliance Fleet.

Dissolution
On Geonosis, a number of droids left behind from the Battle of Geonosis did not respond to the shut-down order but continued functioning for several decades. These droids managed to survive in functional condition inside undiscovered pockets of Geonosis's canyons, all the way into the Galactic Civil War, along with other relics from the Clone Wars, such as a Lucrehulk-class core ship.

In 3 ABY, the droids opened fire on Imperial detachments that crashed into the trenches in escape pods during a space battle above the planet. Most of the stormtroopers were overwhelmed and killed. A Rebel pilot, Wedge Antilles, was forced to crash-land on the planet after losing his starfighter's stabilizers. Antilles managed to wipe out the remaining stormtroopers and nearby battle droids before escaping the world in a modified Delta-7 that he found, making good use of its seismic charges against Imperial forces. Following the Rebel's retreat from the battle, the Imperials put the droid operations down. This was the last known defeat of the Separatist holdouts and the presumed dissolution.

Military and war material
The military of the various Separatist remnants usually&mdash;but not always&mdash;consisted of droid and ship models that had been used in the Separatist Droid Army and the Confederate Navy. The ground units included B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, droidekas, IG-100 MagnaGuards, and Heavy Missile Platforms. Geonosian warriors were also a part of at least one faction. The navies consisted of primarily Providence-class carrier/destroyers, Lucrehulk-class battleships, and Munificent-class star frigates for support. The holdout navies retained most of the CIS's major starfighters, such as Vulture droids and droid tri-fighter.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241
 * The Order of Outcasts
 * Star Wars: Republic 80: Into the Unknown, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 1: The Path to Nowhere, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 2: The Path to Nowhere, Part 2
 * The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron

Notes and references
Reductos Separatistas