Battle of Otavon XII

"Fortunately&hellip;I've kept a second blade" "So have I."

- Hylon and Darth Vader

The Battle of Otavon XII was a skirmish which took place in 19 BBY and involved the Sith Lord Darth Vader. During the battle, Lord Vader supervised the construction of AT-AT's on Tremor Base, located on the planet of Otavon XII. In the start of the battle, the Ovoni rebels attacked the base and the stormtrooper soldiers present there, then Vader made his appearance and killed the whole Ovoni rebels present there. After that, he spoke with the Commander in charge of the mission, Crik, who was speaking with Vader about the schedule of the construction of the AT-ATs on the Tremor Base, but shortly after that brief chatter, a clone soldier of the empire came from the forest, very wounded, and saying that the Ovoni rebels had a Jedi Force with them. When Vader received that information he inmediately began his search for the Jedi present of the planet, although Crik didn't liked the idea at all. Vader traveled across the planet's jungle in search of the jedi, and he first encountered the padawan Dendro with some Ovoni rebels with him. After he killed the four rebels, he fought with the padawan and quickly killed him. When Vader finished that short duel, he found a native creature of the planet, a Sugati, who was in attack position, but before it could harm and kill vader, he discovered that it was weak-minded, and fooled it with a jedi mind trick. After that he travelled over to a mount, where the Dendro's Master was hiding. When vader found the jedi, the two had a brief conversation, before to fight in a duel. In the fight, Vader cut-off the jedi's lightsaber, and then the jedi released a second blade, but the Vader, released a second blade too, the Dendro's lightsaber, weapon used by the Sith Lord, to kill the Jedi Master behind the whole Ovoni operation, who before to die, revealed his name: Hylon. Vader then returned to base, and found that it had been destroyed by Ovoni rebels and that the Jedis were just a merely distraction for him. Soon after the Emperor arrived and ordered Vader to stay and meditate on his failure there.

The battle
"Lord Vader! You can't keep taking these unnecessary risks!" "The Ovoni pose no threat to me, General Crik."

- Crik and Darth Vader, following an Ovoni attack

In 19 BBY, on the remote world of Otavon XII, Darth Vader was assigned by Emperor Palpatine to protect an AT-AT manufacturing facility from anti-Imperial natives. The planet was choose as a good secret place for construct the AT-AT walkers, hidden from the eyes of the galaxy. During one attempt by Ovoni rebels to destroy the facility, they were surprised by Darth Vader. Vader killed many of them and forced the others rebels to retreat and to hide in the jungle.

After the little battle General Crik shared his worries about endless natives assaults with Vader, who told him not to worry and to focus on finishing the production of various walkers, then a stormtrooper came from the forest, very wounded, and he said, that the Ovoni had jedi with them, after Vader listened that, he traveled across the jungle of the planet, looking for the remaining Jedi of the Order 66.

Discovering of the Jedi presence
"You're leaving?!? You're here to protect us!" "Tremor Base is well-defended, and you are in no danger, General. Unless you fail to complete the walkers by the time I return."

- Crik and Darth Vader

A short time later, Vader discovered jedi presence on the planet, and traveled across the jungle in the search of the jedi. He first surprised the Padawan Dendro and a group of rebels away from the base, when he killed the Ovoni rebels, he fought against the jedi padawan Dendro, who Vader killed moments after the duel begin. After that brief duel, he encountered with a Sugati, a native creature of the planet, who was about to kill Vader, until he realized that those beasts were weak-minded, and easy to foolish, for that Vader performed a Jedi Mind Trick to deceive the beast. After he traveled over that creature, he arrived to the place were the Jedi Master of Dendro was hiding, on the Mount Dijandi. Once Vader step on the mountaint, he had a brief chatter with the Jedi Master, who was the first in begin the duel. In the fight Vader managed to cut the lightsaber of the jedi, but then he released another sword, but then vader released another lightsaber, belonging to the padawan of the Jedi Master. Ironically, the jedi was killed by the weapon of his own padawan. Before Vader killed the Jedi Master, he revealed his name: Hylon, the man behind the whole Ovoni operation. After the duel, Vader traveled by feet across the jungle of the planet, until arrived to the Tremon Base.

Aftermath
"Meditate on your failure here."

- Palpatine to Darth Vader after the Battle of Otavon XII

However, when he arrived back to the AT-AT plant, he found that the Ovoni had used sugati to destroy the base, and that the Jedis Dendro and Hylon had merely been distracting him, sacrificing their own lives, allowing to the Ovoni warriors to destroy the base and making Vader fail on his mission. After that, the Emperor arrived to the Tremor Base with two of his royal guards at his side, when he watched the disaster of the battle that turned against the Empire, for the lack of force of Vader, he punished him by leaving him there on the destroyed base with remaining Ovoni enemies for meditate on his failure and for not repeat that act again on further Empire campaigns.

Behind the scenes
The first appearance of the Battle of Otavon XII, including the Ovoni and the Sugati, was in Jedi Purge comic series, Star Wars Purge: The Hidden Blade, released on April 7 of 2010, written by Haden Blackman and pencilled by Chris Scalf. It is unknown what happened to Commander Crik in the aftermath of the battle, as the casualties of the battle were never mentioned on the comic, allowing for the possibility of the death of the commander.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Purge: The Hidden Blade