Massacre at Ossus

"I know the Jedi from old. They could never share my vision. Two days ago the Jedi Temple on Coruscant fell. Today, at their academy on Ossus, the last of the Jedi will die."

- Darth Krayt

The Massacre at Ossus took place in 130 ABY, two days after the fall of Coruscant and the surrender of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances to the forces of the new Galactic Empire.

Much of Galactic Alliance was absorbed into the Empire at the end of the war, but the reigning Emperor, Roan Fel, knew that while the Alliance had surrendered, the Jedi, true to the will of the Force, would not follow suit, certainly not to an Empire that had sided with the Sith. Still, he appreciated their value and had no desire to follow the example of previous Imperial rulers.

"Once, the Empire destroyed the Jedi Order. I will not permit it to do so again. The Jedi will withdraw from the Temple on Coruscant to their academy on Ossus. It is my explicit order that they be allowed to do so."

- Roan Fel

As Fel expected, the Jedi rejected the Emperor's call for surrender and half of them withdrew to the Jedi Academy at Ossus, the remainder scattering across the galaxy. Two days later, an Imperial task force under the command of Moff Rulf Yage was dispatched to Ossus. Fel's order and understanding was that this was to be a diplomatic mission, and his hope was to convince the Jedi to ally themselves with the Empire much as the Imperial Knights had. Under no circumstances, he made clear, were Yage's troops to initiate hostilities.

What Fel did not count on was that the Sith would intervene at a lower level than his. Their leader, Darth Krayt, had known the Jedi from decades ago and knew that even if they agreed to work with Fel, they would never accept the direction Krayt intended to take the galaxy. If his vision of order were to be fulfilled, the Jedi had to die to the last being. His agent, Darth Maladi, approached Grand Admiral Morlish Veed with direct instructions from him: Yage's forces were to attack and destroy the Ossus academy, and Krayt would be sending agents of his own to assist. Lest he be made to appear an idiot later, Veed agreed to countermand Fel's order and make it look like his own idea.

The combined Sith/Imperial attack, commanded by Darth Nihl and Yage, respectively, proved devastating to the Jedi Order. Many Jedi were killed. Kol Skywalker sacrificed himself in the defense of Ossus, giving his son Cade Skywalker and several other Jedi apprentices time to escape during the confusion into hyperspace on various Jedi Shuttles. The Sith suffered their own numbers of casualties, along with the Imperials. But the attack was not the all-destroying blow Krayt had wished. Because they had not waited until all the Jedi had gathered at Ossus, more than half of the order was elsewhere during the attack and remained at large. Not only had Krayt made Darth Sidious' mistake again, but he had been far less comprehensive in destroying the order than Sidious had been.

The massacre was also the event that forced the Sith to move openly against Emperor Fel. Fel's anger at having his specific orders disobeyed outright moved him to assemble the Moff Council in special session to deal with Veed and his lover and ally, Moff Nyna Calixte. Krayt understood that Fel was no longer of use, so before Fel could act, Krayt launched a daring palace revolution to oust Fel and place himself on the throne, the first Sith Lord to rule the majority of the Galaxy since the reign of Palpatine.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 2: Broken, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 3: Broken, Part 3
 * Star Wars Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 6: Broken, Part 5
 * Star Wars Legacy 7: Broken, Part 6
 * Star Wars Legacy 9: Trust Issues, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 11: The Ghosts of Ossus, Part 1