Second Battle of Fondor

"All ships...we are now at battle stations. I expect this will now be known as the Second Battle of Fondor."

- Admiral Cha Niathal

The Second Battle of Fondor took place in 40 ABY, as part of the Second Galactic Civil War. Fondor had earlier left the Galactic Alliance for the Confederation, and to shore up his prestige Chief of State Jacen Solo decided to retake the world along with it's orbital shipyards. This was the last battle that Jacen Solo and Admiral Cha Niathal would fight together as the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The battle resulted in the division of the Galactic Alliance into forces loyal to Darth Caedus and those who supported Niathal. The Imperial Remnant and the majority of the fleet allied themselves with Caedus. The battle was won when Admiral Natasi Daala arrived with the Maw Irregular Fleet and attacked Caedus which forced him to retreat since he was both outnumbered and outgunned. Niathal and Daala then joined the Resistance against Darth Caedus.

Prelude
"I spied for the enemy. The families of those crews won't be any less bereaved for knowing that I gave intelligence to a decent, honest Jedi to thwart the plans of a little tyrant ready to do anything, expend anyone, to win some ill-defined war on chaos."

- Admiral Niathal

Admiral Niathal saw this as her chance to overthrow Solo, and secretly began communications with Grand Master Luke Skywalker on the Alliance blockade of the world. This ended up in Luke Skywalker informing the Fondorians of the space mines that would be placed around the planet. The ships placing the mines were shot down and the world was preparing for invasion. This greatly affected the battle against the GA forces as the mines could have taken out many ships quickly and improved their odds. Niathal later felt badly about causing the deaths of the hundred soldiers killed as a result of her leaked information.

To assure his victory, Caedus contacted the Imperial Remnant and offered them Bilbringi and Borleias if they would help him take Fondor. Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon quickly rejected his offer. However Caedus expected this and sent Tahiri Veila to persuade him. Pellaeon met with her and then put the proposal to the Moff Council. They agreed with aiding Solo, and he accepted the offer, which received applause from the Moffs. The Grand Admiral committed his forces to the battle, but still did not trust Jacen Solo, so he contacted Admiral Daala and requested the assistance of her personal fleet in case he would need protection against the Sith Lord or any other threat. Daala then contacted Boba Fett, requesting he bring his best men to aid her in the upcoming battle.

Dogfight with Luke Skywalker
As the GA's Fourth Fleet gathered in the space by Fondor, Colonel Jacen Solo decided to scout the area in his StealthX. Niathal and her task force arrived as well but Jacen suddenly saw a huge unknown fleet. It turned out to be the creation of Luke Skywalker, a massive illusion created through the Force. He contacted the crew of his ship, the Anakin Solo, as well as Niathal about the alleged incoming fleet. As no one else could see the illusion but Jacen, Niathal took this opportunity to humiliate Jacen in front of the commanding officers of his fleet. Luke managed to damage Jacen's StealthX severely before he could take it into safety in the Anakin Solo's hangar by ramming it with his own starfighter.

The battle
"Colonel Solo, If you don't honor the ceasefire I'm relieving you of duty. An admiral outranks a colonel, remember, and I will order your ship to be disabled." "I don't recognize your authority" "Stand down, Colonel." "All GA vessels, this is your Chief of State ordering you to fight on. All Imperial vessels-under the terms of our agreement, I insist that you rejoin the battle."

- Admiral Niathal and Jacen Solo end their political partnership

The battle began at midnight, with GA X-wings attacking the shipyards and patrolling frigates, the destroyers moving towards Fondor's north and south poles, and warships gathering in the orbital ring. From the surface of the planet, large numbers of Fondorian starfighter wings attacked. The GA ships did not take heavy casualties from that, but as Colonel Solo saw numerous capital ships, probably ignored by the GA as not operational, starting to move, he realized that his task force was stuck between the orbital shipyards and the planet. The Fondorian fleet split in two groups; one pounding the Fourth Fleet under Jacen Solo and the other attacked the Third Fleet and the Imperial Remnant ships.

Bombarding the planet
"We need to hit Fondor hard now, before their fleet closes in on us."

- Darth Caedus

Niathal wanted Jacen to regroup outside the ring of shipyards but he instead continued to close in on the planet. Using all of his strength, Solo used the Force and mind-tricked the Fondorians so they would lower the planetary shield based in the city of Oridin. That feat drained much of his powers though, and left him utterly exhausted.

After ensuring that the shield could not be activated again by launching missiles at it, he began bombarding the city. The bombardment damaged six cities in the whole region and started large firestorms. Niathal immediately contacted Fondorian President Shas Vadde and offered him a chance to surrender the planet, promising that the GA would provide disaster relief efforts for Oridin. After a few minutes of thought, Vadde surrendered and both commanders ordered their forces to ceasefire. Solo was informed of the surrender but refused to accept it after he spent so much energy into bringing them to their knees and continued his attack. Niathal, using her position of Supreme Commander, relieved him of command for disobeying the laws of war, and ordered the Alliance fleet to disobey him. However, two-thirds of the fleet remained loyal to Solo.

Imperial Remnant loyalty to Darth Caedus
"The Imperial fleet will withdraw immediately, and respect the cease-fire."

- Grand Admiral Pellaeon

At the same time, Pellaeon refused to continue attacking the world that had surrendered and instead ordered all Imperial Forces to take commands from Chief of State Admiral Niathal. Some of the Moffs aboard the Bloodfin with Pellaeon objected to these orders. Grand Admiral Pellaeon stated very sternly that the Imperial forces would honor the Fondorian surrender. Tahiri Veila tried to persuade him into helping Jacen who was now outnumbered, but Pellaeon refused. He was then murdered by Tahiri Veila who was officially named Darth Caedus's Sith apprentice after she reported his death.

After that, Grand Moff Quille along with some other Moffs tried to take control of the Imperial Remnant warships and fight for Jacen Solo. But the crew of the Bloodfin mutinied and the Moffs loyal to Quille along with Tahiri Veila barricaded themselves in the central command sections of the ship.

Ending the battle
"This is Admiral Daala, flag officer of the Maw Irregular Fleet, and I ask that you stand down and leave Fondorian space now."

- Natasi Daala to Darth Caedus

After gaining the loyalty of the Imperial Remnant and the majority of the GA fleet, Caedus attacked Niathal. But just as Caedus began the attack, Admiral Daala arrived commanding the Maw Irregular Fleet that Pellaeon prepared as personal backup. They supported forces loyal to Niathal in attacking Caedus's forces. Meanwhile, Pellaeon's new flagship the Bloodfin was successfully taken by Mandalorians led by Boba Fett. Quille and those officers loyal to him were killed in gunfights aboard.

Tahiri Veila was successfully extracted by her new master and brought to safety as the Mandalorian commandos handed the Bloodfin over to Daala.

The remaining Imperial/Alliance forces loyal to Caedus were repelled from the system and retreated to Coruscant after Darth Caedus came to realize they were outnumbered by thirty percent and many of Daala's ships were armed with powerful MCPS (metal-crystal phase shifters) and other unconventional weapons which they were not prepared to fight against. Luke Skywalker negotiated with the President of Fondor for Niathal to use Fondor as her base of operations for her faction of the Galactic Alliance, forming a united front against Caedus.

Aftermath
"It really wasn't personal revenge, Captain. That's for small people. It was part of my path to Sith ascendancy." "That must be very distressing, sir, being one of your family." "Yes. I'm putting it out of my mind as best I can, because we were very close once."

- Darth Caedus and Captain Lon Shevu, discussing the murder of Mara Jade Skywalker during a conversation that Shevu was recording

After the battle, the Imperial Remnant demanded the return of Pellaeon's body, but Daala gave them a simple no, and sent them bodies of the Moffs instead. She buried Pellaeon on his home planet of Corellia.

Four days after the battle, Darth Caedus controlled the Galactic Alliance from Coruscant. He now ruled alone as he had planned and started showing signs of his plans for the galactic government by erasing laws that were in his way, such as the legal requirements for Security Council meetings. He also had a conversation with Captain Lon Shevu about how he was hurt by the media depicting him as a ruthless killer when they didn't know why he really had to kill people. He then proceeded to tell Shevu the why he killed Mara Jade Skywalker. Caedus however wasn't aware that the captain he so respected was recording this conversation and would soon send it to his cousin Ben. In the same conversation, Caedus asked Shevu to call him by his new title Darth Caedus and that he would only be identified in future by his Sith name.

After getting the recording of the conversation from Shevu, Ben Skywalker set up a meeting with Luke, Leia, Han, and Jaina via hologram and showed them the recording, a hair sample he collected from Jacen's StealthX, and other evidence he collected over the past few weeks. They took the news better than he thought they would, and Leia embraced him as she wept.

Galactic Alliance

 * Darth Caedus
 * Cha Niathal
 * Kral Nevil
 * Makin
 * Tahiri Veila

Jedi

 * Luke Skywalker
 * Jaina Solo (fought with Mandalorians)

Imperials

 * Natasi Daala
 * Gilad Pellaeon†
 * Quille†
 * Rosset
 * Vitor Reige
 * Siralt

Mandalorians

 * Boba Fett
 * Mirta Gev
 * Novoc Vevut
 * Baltan Carid
 * Ghes Orade
 * Ram Zerimar
 * Isko Talgal

Appearances

 * Revelation
 * Invincible