Battle of Borleias (Yuuzhan Vong War; Second)

"I don't plan to die here, Luke. And while I don't think I can hold Borleias, I might be able to make it a name that causes little Vong children to whimper."

- Wedge Antilles The Second Battle of Borleias consisted of a series of last-stand actions by the New Republic forces during the Yuuzhan Vong War after the Fall of Coruscant. It commenced with the New Republic's Fleet Group Three retaking Borleias from a Yuuzhan Vong occupation force following their retreat from Coruscant. Senator Pwoe and his advisors later arrived on the planet and ordered the commander of Fleet Group Three, Wedge Antilles, to hold Borleias in a delaying action. Antilles complied, but only under the condition that there would be no more political influence in his defensive actions and additionally requisitioned additional military forces for his command.

While the Yuuzhan Vong successfully retook Borleias from the New Republic garrison, they suffered heavy losses, including the death of strategist Czulkang Lah and the loss of a Koros-Strohna worldship thanks to the use of Lusankya as a ramship. As a result of New Republic personnel, volunteers and Jedi such as Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, Jaina Solo, Kyp Durron, and Jagged Fel, the New Republic was able to buy some breathing room from the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, which eventually allowed the election of Cal Omas and the formation of the Galactic Alliance. Also, the battle helped inflate Solo's reputation as an avatar of Yun-Harla.

Prelude
The extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy in 25 ABY. They immediately began a campaign marked by atrocities, such as the destruction of Ithor. The alien species carved a path, taking numerous worlds and devastating others. The New Republic engaged the Yuuzhan Vong, but were unable to prevent the invaders from breaching the Core worlds.

In 27 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong attacked the galactic capital of Coruscant despite opposition from Fleet Groups One, Two, and Fleet Group Three in a sizable engagement. The fleets clashed in space, but Coruscant's defenses were breached and the planet fell to the invaders. The New Republic's Chief of State, Borsk Fey'lya, perished in the battle, leaving it leaderless. Surviving New Republic forces as well as Luke Skywalker and a sizable contingent of Jedi who had been on Coruscant when it fell, abandoned the capital to the Yuuzhan Vong and withdrew. As they took control of the planet, the Yuuzhan Vong began terraforming the galactic capital to resemble their original homeworld of Yuuzhan'tar.

New Republic capture of Borleias
"Rogue Squadron to Borleias: We're back. We kicked your butt twenty years ago, now we're here to do it again."

- Colonel Gavin Darklighter

Having been driven from the galactic capital of Coruscant, elements of the New Republic's Fleet Group Three, without orders, attacked Borleias, which had been used as a staging point for the assault on Coruscant by the Yuuzhan Vong and been granted to Domain Kraal. Knowing that refugees from Coruscant would head to Borleias, and wanting to take revenge on the Yuuzhan Vong, Fleet Group Three's leader, General Wedge Antilles, attacked the planet.

Two Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper starfighters on patrol spotted the vanguard ship of Antilles' force, Mon Mothma, and attempted to engage it, but Twin Suns Squadron under Jedi Master Luke Skywalker destroyed one and forced the other away. Other coralskippers launched from Borleias were quickly defeated and Antilles ordered Twin Suns to escort three transports down to the surface for an assault on the Domain Kraal installation.

Flying in the armed freighter Record Time down to the surface, Lando Calrissian unloaded twenty of his new YVH 1 battle droids. The Yuuzhan Vong initially used the foliage to provide themselves cover, so as to launch thud bugs and razor bugs at their opponents. However, Calrissian had programmed his droids with a unique battle cry: "We are machines! We are greater than the Yuuzhan Vong!"

The warriors, whipped into a frenzy, immediately broke cover and assaulted the droids face to face. The YVH 1s were able to easily defeat them. However, the Yuuzhan Vong had summoned a rakamat to provide better cover. Calrissian, with a team of engineers, buried a load of explosives in the rakamat's path, and detonated them once the creature was above them. The rest of the battle was mostly a mopping up action, as the Kraal survivors were forced to retreat and regroup.

In the chaos that followed the hasty retreat from Coruscant, several remaining members of the Advisory Council and a large segment of the New Republic military forces reconvened at Borleias. The newly self-appointed Chief of State Pwoe ordered Antilles to sacrifice Borleias in a holding action long enough for the Advisory Council to flee to heavily defended Kuat. Unaware of the surviving Senate members gathering at Mon Calamari, Antilles grudgingly accepted the order, but followed its letter, not its intent, using it as permission to strike against the centralized Yuuzhan Vong forces. Antilles also ensured he received the material he needed to complete his mission by stipulating to Pwoe that any volunteers from the scattered New Republic Defense Force who wished to join would be allowed to, that no politicians would return to oversee his efforts, and the Star Dreadnaught Lusankya would be given to Antilles. In return, Antilles agreed to hold Borleias and relinquish command of Fleet Group Three.

In a meeting on Borleias, Antilles, Calrissian, Celchu, and other noted veterans from the Galactic Civil War, eventually including Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, agreed to set up a network of Rebellion-style cells on worlds to allow the ideals of the Alliance/New Republic to survive both the devastation of the Yuuzhan Vong and the faltering New Republic government.

Antilles had a number of elite units under his command at Borleias, including Blackmoon Squadron, Twin Suns Squadron, Wraith Squadron, and Rogue Squadron. Wedge would use the services of every one, as well as scientist Danni Quee's yammosk jammers, in the ensuing battle. Another source of intelligence afforded to Wedge was the arrival of journalist Wolam Tser and his aide Tam Elgrin from Coruscant, carrying information and data on the Yuuzhan Vong's activities on the conquered capital. Little did Tser or Antilles know that Tam was actually a Yuuzhan Vong spy.

Yuuzhan Vong response
Due to Borleias' proximity to Coruscant (or Yuuzhan'tar, as it was now called), Tsavong Lah ordered that a fleet under Wyrpuuk Cha, a rival of Domain Kraal, retake the planet. Lah also saw the attack as an affront and embarrassment to the Yuuzhan Vong's fighting prowess. In turn, Antilles anticipated Lah's plan and planned to wear away Cha's forces with little damage to his own, giving Cha the illusion of victory, but draining needed Yuuzhan Vong resources.

This plan was ruined when, during what was planned to be an inconclusive space battle where the New Republic forces would allow the Vong to take a minor outpost, Lusankya and the Millennium Falcon reverted in-system in the middle of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Antilles ordered Rogue and Twin Suns squadrons, Mon Mothma, and Rebel Dream to join the attack. In the resulting barrage from the New Republic forces, Cha's matalok was destroyed, along with most of his fleet.

Antilles was displeased at this turn of events, knowing that a more competent Yuuzhan Vong commander would be sent to retake Borleias with a larger fleet. Additionally, while Pwoe had delivered the Dreadnaught as promised, he had crewed it with an ill-trained and under-qualified skeleton crew. For example, the commanding officer, Eldo Davip, was a mere Commander, on a ship that merited an Admiral.

Meanwhile, while much of the remainder of Wyrpuuk Cha's fleet had withdrawn, some of it had been commandeered by a rogue pilot of the original Domain Kraal occupiers, Charat Kraal, in a harassment and intelligence gathering campaign against the New Republic. Kraal's intelligence would later be put to good use in further Yuuzhan Vong responses.

Arrival of Czulkang Lah
"He's Tsavong Lah's father. An old, fierce, terrifying warrior and teacher of warriors. He's like the Garm Bel Iblis of the Yuuzhan Vong."

- Tycho Celchu

The Yuuzhan Vong did respond, and in force. Advised by Maal Lah that Garm Bel Iblis was in command at Borleias, Tsavong Lah sent Czulkang Lah, his father and one of the most respected strategists in the Yuuzhan Vong armada, to retake Borleias with the entire force of Domain Hul.

Upon arrival, Lah released a number of civilian prisoners into space in ooglith cloakers, dooming them to a fiery re-entry into Borleias's atmosphere. Thanks to trick flying by Kyp Durron, Jaina Solo, and Jagged Fel, the refugees were saved, however, the defenders realized the impossibility of their position. Outnumbered and surrounded, Antilles decided to use a number of deceptions against his opponent.

The first of these deceptions was the "incarnation" of the Yuuzhan Vong trickster goddess Yun-Harla in Jaina Solo. Jaina Solo, with the aid of Wraith Squadron, was placed in command of Twin Suns Squadron. She was also given top priority and command privileges, and placed over more experienced pilots such as Jagged Fel and Kyp Durron, as well as given tutelage from Wraith Squadron pilots in psychological warfare.

Additionally, other familiar tactics such as yammosk jamming, stutter firing, and Jedi shadow bombs were also employed. Jaina, Kyp Durron, and Jagged Fel also worked on using the Force to coordinate firing times to deliver damage at exactly the same time and location.

Another fraud perpetrated on the Yuuzhan Vong by the New Republic defenders was "Operation Starlancer", which was a fake long range weapons system supposedly formed by the merging of Yuuzhan Vong lambent crystals and superlaser technology. In a demonstration, the pipefighters involved "fired" on the Yuuzhan Vong fleet over Coruscant. Actually, the weapon was a pure fake&mdash;the damaging blast fired at the Yuuzhan Vong fleet was actually a long range turbolaser burst from a New Republic warship. The Yuuzhan Vong were even more convinced after Tam Elgrin spotted Danni Quee working on the plans for the large lambent crystals needed in the pipefighter.

In response to the attack on his worldship, Tsavong Lah ordered his father to destroy the garrison in a swift, all-out assault. Reluctantly, Czulkang Lah complied, though he disagreed with the hastiness of the Warmaster's orders. However, during one preliminary demonstration of the pipefighter, the Yuuzhan Vong set a trap for Jaina Solo in an effort to capture her for a twin sacrifice with her brother Jacen. Keyed onto Jaina's location thanks to a bug planted on her X-wing by Tam, the Yuuzhan Vong concentrated groups of coralskippers and interdictors on Twin Suns' position. Cut off from reinforcements, a desperate unorthodox combat maneuver by Jagged Fel which involved him flying interference for a pair of shadow bombs destroyed enough of the Vong forces to allow the rest of the squadron to escape. However, the maneuver left Fel himself surrounded, and Jaina refused to abandon him. To save Fel, Kyp Durron manipulated the dovin basal on an interdictor ship until it destroyed itself and Fel, Jaina and Durron escaped. Though Wedge had originally planned on disciplining Jaina on her return to Borleias for insubordination, his nephew convinced him not to do so.

Czulkang Lah, undaunted, launched a combined ground and space assault on the Borleias garrison, landing troops in multiple locations to encircle the Biotics facility. Lah's initial plan had involved distracting the garrison with a space assault while his troops advanced on the Biotics garrison relatively unnoticed, but he failed to achieve the element of surprise. However, the sheer number of troops and rakamats overwhelmed the beleaguered defenders and their accompanying dozen starfighter squadrons. However, he lost a source of intelligence when Tam Elgrin confessed his role as a spy.

Despite these new innovations and tactics, Antilles continued to withdraw his forces until they were concentrated in a tight perimeter around the old Alderaanian Biotics facility, which was slowly being surrounded by concentrated Yuuzhan Vong ground troops. Many of his pilots chafed under the constant retreating, until Operation Emperor's Hammer was initiated&mdash;the use of Lusankya to deliver an orbital bombardment to the massed Yuuzhan Vong ground troops, a tactic which they had never encountered. After the loss of so many ground troops, the Yuuzhan Vong temporarily withdrew.

Second offensive
Through the use of the new pipefighter and Jaina Solo's growing reputation as the avatar of Yun-Harla, Antilles drew the focus of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet to Borleias. When a sufficient portion of the Yuuzhan Vong had gathered in the Pyria system, Wedge knew the time had come for the Vong to launch their final assault.

Despite his success in defending the besieged Pyria system against Lah's first major attack, Antilles knew he would not be able to resist a full scale assault by the Yuuzhan Vong forces. In the ensuing skirmishes, the Yuuzhan Vong targeted the space fleet, slowly whittling away at the numerically inferior New Republic forces.

Final engagement
The Yuuzhan Vong had slowly drawn the noose around the Borleias garrison and finally launched their final all-out assault. Antilles rapidly began evacuating as many troops as he could off the surface of the planet. In doing so, Wedge intended for the Yuuzhan Vong to believe the battle was going their way, and even drew off part of his forces.

However, the entire final engagement was a massive trap by Antilles. First, thanks to Danni Quee, Han Solo launched four missiles that mimicked the gravitic signature of the Millennium Falcon, which caused dovin basals to enter the system in an attempt to capture the Falcon. This prevented the withdrawal of Yuuzhan Vong forces from Borleias, a critical factor in the battle's outcome. Also, members of Twin Suns Squadron changed the role of "Jaina" around, simulating her behavior so she could escape Yuuzhan Vong attacks.

The battle came to a head when New Republic forces began yammosk jamming and brought in the rest of the fleet, including the battered Lusankya. In preparation for Operation Emperor's Spear, Lusankya had been slowly stripped of useful components and weapons while being converted into a massive, explosive-filled, spear with only one purpose: the destruction of the Yuuzhan Vong worldship. Using the lured-in dovin basals to disrupt the maneuvering dovin basals of the worldship, the New Republic forces pinned the worldship in place while Eldo Davip drove the massive Lusankya deep into the heart of the worldship, where it detonated, destroying it and killing Czulkang Lah. For his efforts, Davip was promoted to major general.

Lah had realized that his vessel was doomed, and contacted his son in his last moments, informing the Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong success at re-taking the planet and his imminent death, as the worldship's ability to maneuver and escape the oncoming Dreadnought had been severely hampered. Having locked Lusankya into a collision course, Davip escaped from the massive suicide vessel in a BTL Y-wing starfighter that had been concealed in Lusankya for his escape just as the prow of the Star Destroyer rammed into the worldship. Meanwhile, having coordinated the evacuation from the biotics facility, Wedge Antilles found himself as the last man remaining on the planet's surface. With Vong forces approaching, he took off in the last remaining X-wing and set off to join the fleet when he came across a stranded transport undergoing repairs. Risking his life to defend the evacuees, Wedge single-handedly held off Yuuzhan Vong ground forces and coralskippers. The pilot was able to add over a dozen coralskipper kills to his name and saw the transport to safety before his ship succumbed to battle damage. As his fighter was about to be destroyed however, Rogue and Blackmoon Squadrons returned in the nick of time and drove off his attackers.

Aftermath
The Yuuzhan Vong were thrown into confusion by these losses and the surviving New Republic forces withdrew without any further major engagement. While they were successful in retaking Borleias, the Vong suffered heavily in terms of ships and personnel, including the legendary Czulkang Lah. This blow was enough to shake the confidence of Warmaster Tsavong Lah and blunted the Yuuzhan Vong offensive.

The time it took them to recover allowed the New Republic to recoup, recover, and reorganize itself into the Galactic Alliance while planning new engagements against the Vong. The election of Cal Omas as Chief of State over other rivals such as Pwoe meant that the galaxy was able to be unified against the Yuuzhan Vong and the respite gained from the hitherto relentless Yuuzhan Vong offensive allowed the New Republic to implement a strategy of harassment and training until the Yuuzhan Vong ready fleet could be smashed at the Battle of Ebaq 9, which would also see the death of Tsavong Lah.

Behind the scenes
The Second Battle of Borleias was created for the Enemy Lines Duology by Aaron Allston as part of the New Jedi Order novel series. According to Allston's website, the first book, Rebel Dream begins a few days after Luke and Mara Skywalker's departure from Hapes as recorded in Dark Journey, while the end of Rebel Stand overlaps the beginning of the next book in the series, Traitor. Despite the backdrop of war and in particular the Battle of Borleias throughout the duology, Allston said that both novels are about families.

Allston also said on his website that he didn't specifically name Operation Emperor's Hammer, which was featured in the Battle of Borleias, after the Emperor's Hammer fan group, but said it was possible there was a connection. Allston also described some of the backstory for the Yuuzhan Vong military commander in charge for most of the Battle of Borleias, Czulkang Lah. Lah was established as having earned his military reputation during internecine clashes within the Yuuzhan Vong, wargames, and against any other enemies that the Vong encountered during their flight to the galaxy.

The Second Battle of Borleias was mentioned several times in later New Jedi Order books and also in several subsequent reference works, including The New Essential Chronology, The New Essential Guide to Droids, and the The Essential Atlas. References in other works have also been made to Battle of Borleias, an in-universe documentary produced by Wolam Tser about the course of the battle.

Appearances

 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force