Battle of Corellia

The Battle of Corellia was a large-scale conflict that occurred on the planet Corellia during the Second Great Galactic War between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. As the peace brought by the Treaty of Coruscant collapsed into open war, the Sith Lord Darth Decimus led an invasion force to the prestigious Core World, sparking a lengthy fight for control. After months of planning and forming of alliances with the Corellian Council, Darth Decimus' invasion force descended on the planet just as the Council declared Corellia's allegiance to the Empire, and the invasion was near flawless. However, pockets of civilian resistance soon began to spring up, organized by the Corellian Security Force and the native Green Jedi, and the Empire quickly discovered that the Corellians would not accept Imperial rule so easily.

Under the command of Darth Decimus and his subordinates, Darth Acharon and Darth Hadra, the Imperial Military and the Imperial Guard began to crush the native resistance, but the forces of the Republic soon arrived and established a foothold in the blastfield shipyards on the outskirts of Corellia's capital, Coronet City. The once pristine metropolis, already ravaged by war, quickly became a battlefield as Republic and Imperial forces battled for control, with both sides aided by native corporations and groups of mercenaries. Both forces suffered heavy losses as the conflict continued, with powerful Jedi and Sith falling to battle and betrayal&mdash;but Darth Decimus believed victory was within his grasp after Jedi Master Arfan Ramos and the rest of the Green Jedi Council were killed when an Imperial strike force stormed the Green Jedi Enclave.

As the battle raged in districts of Coronet City like Axial Park and the Government District, both the Republic and the Empire continued to pour resources into the fight in hopes of controlling the planet. The Emperor's Wrath was summoned to the planet in order to dismantle the organization of the traitorous Darth Baras, who was trying to declare himself Voice of the Emperor and therefore de-facto ruler of the Empire itself. At the same time, Darth Thanaton battled his rival Lord Kallig across Corellia as part of the ancient Sith ritual known as a Kaggath, and the power bases of the two Sith waged war upon each other while Republic and Imperial forces fought for control of the capital.

After rescuing the Republic cruiser Valiant in the Inner Rim from the control of fallen Jedi Master Warren Sedoru, the renowned Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython rushed to Corellia to stop a corrupted Master Tol Braga from massacring millions in order to start the Sith Emperor's ritual. Grand Master Satele Shan placed the Knight in command of the recently gathered Outer Rim Jedi Forces, and the Jedi under the Hero's command aided General Var Suthra and the Republic Military in gaining ground against the Empire. With victory in sight, Grand Master Shan and Republic High Command pulled some of their forces off the planet to aid in an all-out assault on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas to serve as a distraction so that the Hero of Tython could face the Emperor, but even with the reduced troops the Republic was still able to push the Empire on the defensive.

The Republic's efforts were aided immensely when the elite Republic Special Forces unit Havoc Squad led an all-out assault on the Bastion&mdash;a Republic military complex that had served as one of the military's main centers of operations before its capture early in the invasion&mdash;and successfully retook the base, capturing General Rakton in the process. The Barsen'thor of the Jedi Order brought the full might of the Rift Alliance to the Republic's aid, with Voss Commandos, Esh-kha, and members of the former Balmorran Resistance joining the fight alongside the Republic Military. The Barsen'thor fought to reclaim the fortresses known as the Guardian Holds from the Children of the Sith Emperor, aiding the Republic in their fight to maintain control of Coronet, and managed to defeat the Children's leader, the First Son, in a fierce duel. With the defeat of the First Son, the Jedi were able to locate the rest of the Children, many of whom were unknowningly traitors within the Republic Military.

The height of the battle saw Darths Acharon and Hadra killed by Republic strike teams, and with the loss of the inside knowledge provided by the Corellian Council&mdash;many of whom defected to the Republic or were killed during the battle&mdash;the Imperial offensive began to lose cohesion and direction. After securing Axial Park and pushing through the Imperial presence in the Government District, a Republic strike force attacked the Corellian Legislature and defeated Darth Decimus in the process, signalling the death blow to the Empire's forces on the planet. Supreme Chancellor Janarus was been assassinated aboard his personal flagship during the long battle, but his successor Leontyne Saresh received the formal declaration of victory by General Aves to the Senate. While pockets of Imperial resistance would remain, the battle ultimately resulted in a Republic victory and the withdrawal or defeat of the majority of Imperial forces.

Prelude
"This planet was ripe for conquering. Darth Decimus plotted our assault, and we moved in."

- Darth Charnus

The Sith Empire's invasion of the planet Corellia was carefully planned over a number of years during the Cold War by the Sith Lord Darth Decimus. Agents of Imperial Intelligence identified potential turncoats in the highest levels of the planet's government and secretly recruited them, promising the politicians lifetime power in return for loyalty, and the Empire soon had the entire Corellian Council in its pocket. Darbin Sull, one of the youngest individuals ever elected to the council, was quick to pledge loyalty to the Empire when they promised him the position of prime minister in return &mdash;something they refrained from informing the current Imperial-allied prime minister, Cal Falcone. Councillor Belos agreed to aid the Empire out of a belief that their superior military might would inevitably overwhelm the Republic, while Councillor Caicos used a combination of bribes, blackmail, and threats to convince the other council members to back the Empire when the Voidwolf called in a debt.

Around 3,642 BBY, the tenuous peace brought by Treaty of Coruscant shattered under the stress of multiple conflicts both internal and external amongst the Republic and the Empire. Seeing an opening, Decimus put his plans in motion: Imperial Intelligence agents attempted to infiltrate the offices of the Corellian Engineering Corporation in order to seize control of the complex's powerful defense systems to halt any possible resistance. However, Intelligence's operatives disappeared after entering the offices, and CEC's defenses remained under the corporation's control when Decimus ordered the invasion to proceed as planned. Launching an fleet from the heart of the Empire, he signaled the Corellian Council to make their move. The politicians declared a fake emergency that cleared all hyperlanes into the Corellian system and shut down the planet's spaceports, and convened in the Government District of Coronet City for a meeting. There, the Council unanimously voted to submit to Imperial control just as Darth Decimus' fleet arrived above the capital city.

Seizing Coronet City
"The invasion was magnificent, our occupation flawless. Imperial forces filled Corellia's high-speed rocket trams. We began to cover Coronet City."

- Darth Charnus

While the Corellian Council capitulated to the Empire, Decimus' forces attempted to conquer the planet anyway as a show of force. All communications were immediately cut, leaving the Republic unaware of the Imperial invasion. An initial attack on the capital of Coronet City shattered sections of the fabled Coronet Zoo, releasing alien wildlife into the streets of the city, and one of the Empire's primary targets was the district known as the Incorporation Islands. A series of towers occupied by Corellia's largest corporate entities, the sector quickly became a battleground as corporate security forces fought back against the Empire aided by armies of droids.

The Bastion, a massive military complex in Coronet City, was a stronghold of resistance that served as the center of operations for the entire Republic military. Therefore, it was a prime target for Imperial conquest in the eyes of General Rakton, and part of the Imperial invasion involved the reformation of an elite black ops team under the command of Lieutenant Pierce. Pierce's unit, including Captain Lorant, Sergeant Arlos, Lieutenant Tanido, and several other soldiers, infiltrated a Republic shuttle carrying reinforcements to the Bastion mere hours before Darth Decimus' forces arrived in-system, and the team had complete control of the complex a few hours later.

Axial Park was the target of an Imperial force led by the Sith Emperor's own personal Guard, and the captured Museum Republica quickly became an Imperial base of operations. One of the city's high-rise towers was clipped by a damaged Imperial warship, and the near collapse structure killed the founder of the Beharen Droid Factory.

Resistance
"No one expected the transition to be easy. But the Republic turned some minor resistance into an all-out war.''" "''The real Corellia rioted in the streets. CorSec launched full-scale attacks on the Empire. There was nothing minor about it."

- A member of the Corellian Council and Councillor Belos

However, the Corellians were not a culture to submit to Imperial dominance so quickly. As Darth Decimus made his headquarters in the offices of Corellia's Trade Tariff Service at the advice of his lieutenant, Moff Tarandon, the Corellian Security Force immediately realized it would not survive an all-out war with the invaders. Therefore, CorSec commissioner Jonah Carter and his lieutenants sent out a panic alert to all officers, sending them underground, and began to prepare for war. However, some CorSec officers, like Raddus Venn, willingly submitted to the Empire and began to aid the planet's new rulers.

Normal citizens began to band together with freighter crews and unemployed mercenaries in an effort to strike back against their new rulers, and with coordination and training by CorSec the rebels proved highly successful in the early days of the occupation. Over a dozen high-ranking Imperial officers were assassinated, and the group bombed many of the shipyards that the Empire was using as landing pads; rebels would often pretend to cooperate with the invaders in order to access Imperial bases and wreak havoc.

A major target of the Empire's first strikes was the enclave of the Green Jedi, a group of Corellian Jedi who wore green cloaks to symbolize the fact that they valued their loyalty to their native world over that of the Republic. A first attempt to bombard the structure was halted by the Enclave's powerful shields, powered by internal reactors, and the Green Jedi quickly erected offensive weapons emplacements. The Imperial warship sent to attack the Enclave a second time was shot down by the base's defenses, and the section of the vessel that did strike the structure failed to weaken it or inflict heavy casualties. The Green Jedi's leader, Arfan Ramos, quickly allied with the resistance and the group began aiding their fellow Corellians in the fight agaisnt the Empire.

Fighting back
"Then rebellion erupted. Unruly Corellians knocked out the rocket trams. Now our soldiers are stranded."

- Darth Charnus

Despite small errors, the Imperial invasion was progressing almost perfectly until rebels knocked out Coronet City's rocket tram system, which the invaders had been using to quickly move their troops. Corellian Engineering Corporation targeted the trams with ion weaponry, freezing the invasion and stranding different sections of the Imperial forces across the city. Fighting soon began to erupt in the Incorporation Islands as powerful companies began aiding those Corellians who resisted the Empire.

Upon learning of the situation with the rocket trams, Darth Decimus ordered his subordinate Darth Charnus to rectify the problem. At the Sith Lord's directive, Imperial operatives struck a blow against the Czerka Corporation by eliminating several of its weapon caches in the Incorporation Islands as part of an operation to seize the company's Hull Cracker weapon. Charnus continued to direct operations from orbit aboard his flagship, the Tears of Taris, and directed a strike force to aid Commander Jastal at Imperial Outpost Alpha in the Imperial Guard's attempt to retrieve the Hull Cracker. After retrieving the codes for the weapon from the Czerka employee Brall Tavor, the strike team seized the Hull Cracker and prepared to use it against the Corellian Engineering Corporation.

By disabling two of CEC's signal towers, the Imperial operatives shut down the corporation's massive army of security droids, and Commander Jastal initiated his siege of the CEC complex. A CEC employee by the name of Benton Maas desperately attempted to save himself by offering the Empire access to the complex's back door in exchange for safety, but Charnus's forces chose to continue the original plan&mdash;blasting through the building's main door with the Hull Cracker. Commander Krade and Charnus' forces defended Imperial explosives experts while they planted charges, and the Sith Lord's operatives stormed the company board room itself. After defeating the prototype C-9X droid sent by Maas, the Imperial forces killed the CEC board and overloaded the ion cannons targeting the rocket trams.

A major rebel assault on the occupation forces was averted when the Imperial agent Hazeen, who had infiltrated the resistance, managed to alert other Imperials to the rebels' blind drops and thereby put a stop to the attack. As they had in several other regions, the Empire offered bounties on groups of rebel saboteurs in the Incorporation Islands when the resistance members became especially troublesome.

When Raddus Venn learned that groups of heavily-armed CorSec officers were still resisting Imperial control in the Incorporation Islands, he helped an Imperial strike team draw out and kill several of them, hoping that his former comrades would see reason and surrender to Imperial rule. However, CorSec continued to resist&mdash;an elite CorSec unit gained access to high-grade explosives and used them to bomb Incorporation Spaceport, destroying an entire squadron of Imperial transports and forcing the Empire to use the nearby Coronet Spacecport instead. An Imperial squad under Randun were ordered by Junia Tavrak to eliminate the CorSec officers, but when the squad failed Tavrak was forced to enlist the help of other agents of the Empire in order to stop an attack on Coronet Spaceport.

A group of Drall&mdash;a species native to the planet of the same name in the Corellian system&mdash;under the leadership of a Drall named Aerowynn resisted initial attempts by Lieutenant Veet's squad to take their weapons factory, but further attacks by the Empire allowed the invaders to successfully take control of the explosive mines and munitions stored in the factory. A unit under Captain Helricks encountered a group of Wookiee factory workers within the magnogravitics plant in the Incorporation Islands. The Wookiees quickly decimated the squad, and Helricks was forced to retreat and seek help from other Imperial operatives. Despite their size and ferocity, the Wookiees eventually fell in battle, and the Imperials gained control of most of the planet's industry.

War begins
When the Republic finally restored communications with Corellia and learned of the situation there, they immediately mobilized a significant military force to aid the besieged planet. Arriving on the planet, the military quickly established a beachhead in Coronet's blastfield shipyards and withstood all Imperial attempts to force them off the planet. Before long, the shipyards served as the main entry point for Republic forces, and their presence has survived the numerous bombing runs made by the Imperials across the sector. The Empire established its own beachhead in the area by seizing the Coronet Shipping trade hub, destroying the main ground approach to the facility's landing pads and maintaining constant aerial patrols to dissuade Republic assault shuttles.

Republic forces soon managed to gain a foothold in Axial Park, and quickly erected shied generators and weapons emplacements to secure the region. Fighting also spilled over into the Government District, and a Republic command center was established in the Drall Library as the resistance and military besieged the Legislature buiding. The heavy fighting for Axial Park soon came to be called the "Battle of Axial Park" by the natives, as both the Republic and the Empire deployed significant portions of their forces and their military hardware to the fight for control of the region.

A strike to the heart
"A compact will be signed, publicly. Corellia's governor will demand the Supreme Chancellor ratify the treaty and withdraw Republic forces. The Supreme Chancellor will have to acknowledge that the Corellians have chosen Imperial rule, but not before Jun Seros convinces him that his Jedi can turn the tide."

- Darth Tormen

When the Sith Lord Darth Tormen learned that of the Corellian resistance to the occupation, he transferred his forces under General Krau from the recently-conquered planet Rabaan to Corellia. He also utilized a bounty hunter, who had been publicly disgraced and criminalized by Supreme Chancellor Janarus and the Jedi Master Jun Seros, to advance the Imperial cause on the embattled Core World. Tormen intended to crush the Corellian resistance before the Republic could marshal a military response, which would force the Republic to recognize a treaty declaring Corellia an official subject of the Empire, and therefore draw out the Chancellor so that the bounty hunter could eliminate him.

On Corellia, the hunter was employed by Tormen to capture several influential leaders of the rebellion so that the Empire could force them to publicly surrender. Working with Tormen's forces, the mercenary successfully captured Chairman Harlon Fane of the Corellian Corporate Council from his stronghold in the executive offices of the Corporate Council's tower in the Incorporation Islands. The bounty hunter also captured the Selonian Shrona Bel-Il, a raider who was aiding the resistance in breaking the Imperial lines, and delivered her to Tormen in the Sith Lord's headquarters in Axial Park. Tormen's third assignment was to capture Commissioner Carter from the CorSec Headquarters itself, and Prime Minister Falcone broadcasted the trio's surrender from the Grand Assembly of the Corellian Legislature itself. To Falcone's suprise, Tormen killed the man immediately after the address as punishment for allowing the Corellian resistance to take shape.

Tormen's plan worked perfectly&mdash;the Republic responded to the surrender by mobilizing a fleet to the Corellian system that included the Supreme Chancellor's personal Valor-class cruiser Founder. In the midst of the renewed fighting, the bounty hunter's enemy Jun Seros&mdash;the Jedi Order's own renowned battlemaster&mdash;landed a small force of Jedi in the Green Gardens outside of the Green Jedi Enclave, intending to lead the Green Jedi against the Empire in concert with the Republic's planned offensives. However, the hunter infiltrated Seros' headquarters and killed the experienced Jedi Master before he could complete his preparations.

Not long after Janarus arrived in the Corellian system, he and Jedi Master Syo Bakarn learned that an Imperial fleet composed of over thirty troop transports, carrying thousands of reinforcements, was on its way to Corellia, led by a dreadnaught named the Javelin. Fortunately, the Javelin was captured by a strike team led by the Jedi Master who held the title of Barsen'thor, or Warden of the Order.

However, Tormen detected the Chancellor's transmission and gave the bounty hunter the assignment of assassinating Janarus himself&mdash;gaining access to the cruiser using a fake emergency signal, the hunter cut a path through the Supreme Guard and killed Janarus while the Founder was still in orbit.

The loss of Janarus dealt a great political blow to the Republic, but in the days that followed his assassination the battle for Corellia continued. Leontyne Saresh, the former governor of the resettlement initiative on the ruined world of Taris, was elected as Supreme Chancellor, and she continued to send resources and men to aid the Corellian resistance. The Barsen'thor, meanwhile, traveled to Corellia to recover one of the members of the Javelin strike team, who had been ejected in an escape pod that had crashed in the Blastfield Shipyards. The Jedi Consular was engaged in a hunt for the mysterious Children of the Emperor, sleeper agents amongst the Republic who were extensions of the Emperor's will, and the companion who had crashed had managed to recover data vital to the search from the Javelin computers before ejection.

Political intrigue
"Darths Thanaton, Baras, Vowrawn... half the Sith on the planet are expending Imperial troops on power plays instead of the war."

- Keeper

As the conflict escalated, certain high-ranking Sith Lords decided to take advantage of the chaos to pursue their own ends. Darth Baras, who was attempting to declare himself Voice of the Emperor, but had tried to kill his apprentice in order to silence the younger Sith. Baras' apprentice had been appointed to the position of Emperor's Wrath by the servants of the Emperor, and the Emperor's Hand had ordered the Sith to protect the Dark Councillor Darth Vowrawn from Baras' assassins on Corellia. The Wrath foiled several assassins in the Incorporation Islands before making contact with Vowrawn in the elder Sith's base within one of the nearby towers.

Allying with Vowrawn, the Wrath began to target Baras' subordinates on Corellia, starting with Colonel Senks, a spy planted in the Corellian resistance. After killing the spy in a resistance stronghold located in the Labor Valley, the Wrath exposed the traitorous Jedi Master Injaye to her comrades Rubatin, Tatham, and Joce before killing all four of the Jedi in their secret bunker. The Sith Warrior's final actions against Baras involved storming the Sith Lord's secret base on the planet, defeating Baras' servant Lord Draahg and releasing the mysterious Entity the elder Sith used to gain visions of the future.

Around the same time, the Dark Councillor Darth Thanaton declared a Kaggath&mdash;an ancient Sith rite that involved a battle between two Sith and their power bases&mdash;against a young Sith Lord named Kallig, and declared Corellia to be their battlefield. On Corellia, Kallig's first strike was to kill Thanaton's apprentice Lord Skar in the Incorporation Islands, and Thanaton responded by trying to destroy a fuel refinery needed to refuel Kallig's fleet. Thanaton briefly confronted the younger Sith as Kallig raced to disarm the explosives in the refinery, but instead of fighting he sprung a trap that would have caused destroyed the structure with a series of explosions if Kallig had not shut down the refinery.

Seeking to claim victory, Kallig enlisted the help of Major Ilun's forces after defeating a Republic strike force in Axial Park, and with the support of Ilun's troops the Sith Inquisitor stormed Thanaton's headquarters in the Museum of Corellian Industry. After destroying the DP-6 Guard Droid Thanaton left to defend his headquarters, Kallig deactivated the museum's shields so that Moff Pyron and the Inquisitor's fleet could bombard the structure. However, Thanaton took advantage of his opponent's absence to attack Moff Pyron's headquarters in Capitol Square, forcing Kallig to defend the Moff before meeting the elder Sith for a final duel. But instead of facing Kallig himself, Thanaton first unleashed his subordinate Darth Kallous and cyborg soldiers upon his opponent, and when Kallig succeeded in defeating Thanaton in combat the Dark Councillor fled the planet. Fleeing to Korriban to seek aid from the Dark Council, Thanaton was pursued by Kallig, who fought and killed him in a final confrontation in the Council chambers.

Storming the Bastion
With the information gained from Master Braga, Grand Master Shan and General Suthra withdrew a significant part of the Republic's forces from Corellia in a risky gamble&mdash;an attack on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas itself, as a way of buying time for the Hero of Tython to confront the Sith Emperor in his Dark Temple. However, the Hero's Jedi forces remained on the planet to aid the military, and Supreme Commander Rans directed reinforcements to Corellia so that the Republic would not lose its advantage. The first of the two waves of reinforcements was a significant deployment of armor and infantry, led by General Garza and the elite Special Forces unit Havoc Squad.

The Rift Alliance
A second wave of reinforcements came from the Rift Alliance, a coalition of worlds considering secession that had recently returned to the Republic fold thanks to the Barsen'thor

Aftermath
With the death of Darth Decimus and the public declaration of a Republic victory, Imperial forces were thrown into confusion across Corellia. The Dark Councillor Darth Marr, recognizing that the issues in Hutt Space and the ongoing attempt to capture Denova had left the Empire vulnerable and unable to sustain the Core offensive, appointed General Adele Konya as acting commander and ordered her to withdraw all Imperial forces, redirecting them with General Hesker to Ilum.

The Black Hole
However, Konya was also given the assignment of staying behind with a task force on a suicide mission - to take control of the Black Hole hypermatter refinery.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Corellia appears throughout the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, released by BioWare and LucasArts. The events of the invasion are detailed throughout the in-game Codex, while the events of the occupation and the battle are described through the Imperial and then Republic world and class missions.

All missions can be completed by a group of players, and any class can complete both the world missions and side missions. Therefore, this article refers to the player characters in each quest as a group of Imperial or Republic operatives, and assumes that each faction completes their respective missions according to their respective alignments.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic

Notes and references
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