User:Harrar/Workbench

This page is for my lengthy projects. Please don't edit this page unless you're me! I used to store them in Microsoft Word on my home PC, but now I'm moving them here.Harrar 21:31, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Project Onus/Yuuzhan Vong War
"We do not live side by side with impurity. Your civilization is built on abominations. Your galaxy is polluted. We have come to cleanse it, so that others besides our warrior caste may occupy it and live cleanly here. It is our destiny, according to Supreme Overlord Shimmrra and the priests."

- Warmaster Tsavong Lah to Leia Organa Solo.

The Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY–29 ABY), also called the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, was a galaxy-wide conflict between the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong and the beings of the galaxy proper, whom the Yuuzhan Vong regarded as infidels.

The invasion was the most devastating crisis the galaxy had ever faced in terms of casualties. The cost of the Yuuzhan Vong's actions was very dear to the galaxy, with estimated deaths across the galaxy near 365 trillion sentients, or roughly 61,000 planets with a population of approximately 6 billion each.

Thousands of worlds were also Vongformed, a form of terraformation, by the invaders, including the galactic capital, Coruscant. Others were simply decimated and rendered uninhabitable, such as Ithor.

Origins
"The ancient texts are unclear. It appears we were invaded by a race that was more technological than animate. We called on the gods for protection, and they came to our aid, providing us with the knowledge we needed to convert our living resources to weapons. We defeated the threat, and, empowered by our victory, we gradually became conquerors of other species and civilizations."

- Harrar

The age of conflict
"Some have interpreted the ancient texts to imply that we were...banished...for our infatuation with war and conquest."

- Harrar

Before 15,000 BBY, two droid races fought a devastating war for supremacy in their galaxy. The Silentium, whose organic masters had died in a radiation storm from a nearby supernova, were challenged by another mechanical race, the Abominor, and the resulting conflict embroiled the galaxy. Eventually the living world of Yuuzhan'tar was caught up in the war, and, facing destruction, bestowed upon its peaceful, tribal inhabitants, the Yuuzhan Vong, the means to fight back against the droids whose conflict threatened to render them extinct. The Yuuzhan Vong believed that the gods had granted them these weapons, and led a holy crusade against the two droid races, surprising and defeating them. Having forced the departure of the Abominor and Silentium, the Yuuzhan Vong went on to cleanse their galaxy of all machines. The campaign soon spread to other races, seen as infidels, such as the reptilian Chazrach, who were enslaved as footsoldiers for the great armies of the Yuuzhan Vong. The tribes formed into Domains, and advanced organic technology allowed the Yuuzhan Vong to become great warriors. The campaign against infidels and abominations eventually halted, the now thoroughly warlike race masters of a conquered galaxy, and internecine strife soon began to erupt throughout the species. Eventually, two Warmasters of the strongest domains, Steng and Yo'Gand, led their factions against one another. As the war raged across the galaxy, ruining countless worlds and steeping the Yuuzhan Vong in conflict and brutality, Yuuzhan'tar itself was devastated. Though the history of whatever catastrophe befell the homeworld of the Yuuzhan Vong has been lost, (some Yuuzhan Vong came to believe it was destroyed utterly) in its death throes the living world stripped its wayward spawn of the Force, before dispatching a seed, Zonama Sekot, into the Intergalactic Void in search of another galaxy. The pain caused by this loss of symbioses with life proved the basis of the Yuuzhan Vong's worship of pain, as they attempted to rebuild the link with the Force through sado-masochism. Yet, the conflict continued, with Warmaster Steng gradually eroding Yo'Gand's forces, eventually in the position to conquer his rival. Just as Steng was preparing his warriors for one final campaign, Yo'Gand devised a tactic to triumph in the war. The two factions confronted one another at Ygziir, the homeworld of Steng's domain and, as the hugely destructive battle raged, Yo'Gand defeated Steng in personal combat and took his flayed skin as a trophy. Following the duel, in accordance with Yo'Gand's tactic, Ygziir's moon was ripped from its orbit by a giant dovin basal and brought down upon the planet, wiping out the bastion of Steng's now leaderless forces. Though the Cremlevian War was ended, the toll exacted on the Yuuzhan Vong's galaxy was enormous, and it was no longer capable of sustaining them.

Preliminaries
"We are from another galaxy, Jedi Horn. We crossed the starless night for age upon age."

- Nom Anor, disguised as Yu'shaa.

Possible first contact
There is a slight possibility that, as early as 3,963 BBY, at least one Yuuzhan Vong scout had reached the outskirts of the galaxy. In that year, a group of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders under Canderous Ordo encountered what would later come to be known as a Yorik-Stronha, disguised as an asteroid in the Crispin system. It fled beyond the edge of the galaxy once discovered. The ship may have been the first ever to enter the galaxy, thus making "first contact" millennia before their known arrival. This is not as implausible as it first seems.

Because the Yuuzhan Vong spent thousands of years in transit from their galaxy, a single warship or worldship that traveled fractionally faster than the rest of the fleet would arrive thousands of years earlier. Furthermore, without a large fleet and yammosk coordination, the mothership probably would have been lost transiting the entrance to the galaxy, leaving behind only a few small fighters.

Zonama Sekot
Between 229 and 89 BBY, the living planet Zonama Sekot&mdash;a seed of Yuuzhan'tar&mdash;arrived in the Gardaji Rift.

In 32 BBY, an advanced force of Yuuzhan Vong&mdash;termed "Far-Outsiders" by the planet's inhabitants&mdash;discovered Zonama. Noting the similarity to Yuuzhan'tar (without drawing the connection), the advanced force attempted to colonize it. However, when the Vong attempted to settle, Zonama Sekot's biosphere killed off the Vong flora and fauna, provoking outrage from them. Although Sekot attempted to negotiate with them, they began an assault upon the planet. After two years of Sekotan defense, at a high cost, the assault was called off after the arrival of the Jedi Knight Vergere, who demanded the attack cease in return for going with the Vong. Agreeing with the ceasefire, the Vong force departed with the Jedi towards the Unknown Regions. p.163 Aoc1

Jamaane Coup
Several ambitious factions attached themselves to Domain Jamaane as Shimrra enacted his coup. Domains Shai, Lah and Choka, all known among the Yuuzhan Vong to be powerful and influential, gave the support of their warriors to the cause, and were later rewarded for their allegiance. Others who pledged their support to Shimrra did so for the purpose of self-aggrandizement. The Praetorite Vong, who would be responsible for creating a forward base in the promised galaxy, backed Shimrra for their own reasons. Prefect Da'Gara, who led the Praetorite Vong, hatched an intricate plan which would enable himself and his two peers, Prefects Ma'Shraid and Dooje Brolo, to install themselves as rulers of the galaxy, spreading their influence from the Outer Rim to the Core, and becoming more powerful than the main force they were leaving behind. Da'Gara and his cohorts, however, would have to wait almost half a standard century before their designs could be carried out.

When he learned of Zonama Sekot, Supreme Overlord Quoreal began to waver. The Yuuzhan Vong soon learned that Zonama Sekot was no longer in its original system, and there was no evidence that the planet had been destroyed. Worried about the possibility of once more encountering Zonama Sekot, he developed the opinion that it would be best to move on to another galaxy. However, Shimrra Jamaane, under the influence of Onimi and with the support of some of the more aggressive Domains, launched a coup. Shimrra Jamaane murdered Quoreal and took his place, ensuring that the invasion would go forth as planned.

Praetorite Vong, Lah, Choka

Shadows in the Unknown Regions
Information of Vong activity within the galaxy for the next few decades is scarce. In 27 BBY the Vong engaged in several battles with the Chiss, led by Ar'alani. Around 25 BBY, they established a base on the planet Bimmiel. After the formation of the Galactic Empire, Imperial scientists ran into the Vong on that planet. As one of Emperor Palpatine's justifications for maintaining the Imperial Starfleet after the end of the Clone Wars was to ward off the threat of extra-galactic invasion, he may have known about the approaching Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

Bimmiel
Mongei Shai etc Mongei Shai

Palpatine's agenda
Although it is not known for sure if the upper echelons of the Imperial government knew about the Vong, it is known that at least one officer did. Sometime between being dispatched to the Unknown Regions in 3 ABY, and his return in 9 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn encountered the advanced Vong force hiding in the Unknown Regions. The threat of the advancing invaders was one of his primary motivations to reunify the Empire, as he felt that the Empire stood a much better chance against the Vong than did the New Republic. Furthermore, Thrawn knew about the Yuuzhan Vong, though not by name, when he was a Commander in the Chiss Defense Force. The Vong attacked a fleet under the command of Admiral Ar'alani, and were driven back, though only after a heated battle.

Subjugating the Ssi Ruuk
It is roughly around this time that the Vong began meddling in the high politics of the Ssi Ruuvi Imperium. They installed one of their own, E'thinaa, into a high military position, and manipulated the rise to power of the Keeramak with the goal of eventual use of the Ssi-Ruuvi in their invasion.

The Vong of the advanced scouts themselves shared the sentiment that the Empire would be a strong foe. After the formation of the Imperial Interim Council in 11 ABY, following the final death of Palpatine, Vong agent Nom Anor was tasked to infiltrate the Council. He did so and manipulated its leader, Xandel Carivus, arranging the deaths of many Councilors and furthering the internecine strifes that led to the fatal fracturing of the Imperial Remnant.

Machinations of the Executor
"Your specialty is propaganda and lies."

- Tsavong Lah to Nom Anor

Although his chief project came to be on the desert world of Rhommamool, Anor conducted several other schemes to destabilize the New Republic; schemes which he believed in the long run to be unnecessary, as he felt that the galactic government was destroying itself anyway. Indeed, during the months prior to the invasion, Fey'lya's government was continually rocked with reports of civil wars, strikes and widespread discontent as old conflicts flared up again. As Anor had predicted, many of these conflicts were natural in the growing New Republic, but the Executor, and other agents like him, carried out plots which instigated many conflicts throughout the galaxy. On the smugglers' moon of Nar Shaddaa, a Mandalorian warrior, Goran Beviin, was hired by the Executor&mdash;posing as a businessman known as Udelen&mdash;to assassinate a politician on the industrial planet of Ter Abbes, the result of which was a civil war. Beviin killed the man, Tholote B'Leph, despite his misgivings about the contract. Following this success, Nom Anor made a point of forging ties with the Mandalorians, whom he later saw as viable for domination&mdash; after they had fulfilled their potential in the early stages of the conflict as assassins and mercenaries. Percieving, yet overestimating the pragmatism of the Mandolarians and of the Mandalore, the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, Anor met with the warlike race clandestinely aboard a miid ro'ik cruiser somewhere on the planned invasion path, where he revealed the Yuuzhan Vong and their plans for the galaxy. A pact was formed between the alien invaders and the race which had once dominated much of the galaxy, though the accord remained deeply specious. Anor expected to use and eventually to betray the Mandalorians, and for his part Fett decided to fight the Yuuzhan Vong from within.

In the same year, Anor had also poisoned one hundred New Republic diplomats on the Sunesi colony of Monor II. During a ceremony celebrating the ascension of the Priest-Prince Agapos X to the throne, Anor coated the breath masks of the diplomats with coomb spores, a virus of his own creation. Anor in fact had created several poisons, as he was enamoured with the art of shaping, including the brollup and tegnest spores, which he had wished to mass-produce and deploy throughout the galaxy, though this plan never ultimately took place due to his inability to breed the spores as diseases. The deaths of the New Republic diplomats were swift, and by 25 ABY the only exceptions to the poison's lethality were one diplomat, who soon died on Coruscant, surrounded by helpless doctors, and the Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker, who had been acting as a bodyguard to one of the more paranoid diplomats. Having visited planets from Coruscant to Nar Shadaa, from Ord Cantrell to Monor II, in a wealth of disguises, Anor had chosen Rhommamool as the base for his final operation; his objective was to force the New Republic to focus on the Core, ignoring any reports of trouble from the Outer Rim. A world ruled over by its close neighbour, Osarian, Rhommamool stood in utter contrast to its affluent, successful, beautiful parent planet. The Rhommamoolians were not sufficiently represented in the Osarian government on the city of Osa-Prime, and the downtrodden miners who made up the majority of the population of the dusty, desert world, were easily approachable through the rhetoric and false promises Anor had perfected during his many years in the galaxy. Turning their desire for equality into a weapon, the Executor cunningly joined his anti-machine, anti-Jedi, anti-New Republic beliefs with a class struggle. A 'simple life' was espoused, where the trappings of the rich, usually personal droids, mansions and expensive vehicles, were destroyed in a purification process. Thus the Red Knights of Life came into being, a faction of zealots who rapidly attained hegemony over Rhommamool, silencing any moderates who proposed temperance or a diplomatic solution. Redhaven, the capital of Rhommamool, was turned into a charnel house for such abominations, and whole buildings were levelled to pave the way for a rallying square and immolation pits. On a level of foreign policy&mdash;Anor had long ago usurped the city mayor Tamaktis Breetha&mdash;Anor spoke of independence, not only from Osarian, but from the exploitative New Republic as well. Aided by Shok Tinoktin, a man who collaborated with Anor in his crimes without knowing of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Executor's actions quickly attracted the attention of the New Republic.

Vector Prime
"I am Yomin Carr, the harbinger of doom. I am the beginning of the end of your people!"

- Yomin Carr to Mara Jade Skywalker

The point at which the Praetorite Vong were able to penetrate the hyperspace energy field and enter the galaxy was located in the Dalonbian Sector, out on the Tingel Arm, and had been classified by the invaders as Vector Prime. On the planet of Belkadan, the Extragalactic Society's listening post was infiltrated by the Praetorite Vong's scout, the veteran warrior Yomin Carr, sometime during 24 ABY. Carr reported to executor Nom Anor, though his true allegiance lay with Anor's peer, Prefect Da'Gara, the ambitious leader of the Praetorite Vong who had his own plans for the invasion of the galaxy. Anor had helped Da'Gara obtain a yammosk, albeit an imperfect one, so that if the Praetorite Vong's plan to install themselves as the primary conquerors proceded well, he would remain allied to the new power. For the time being, Anor remained on Rhommamool to continue fermenting trouble. When Da'Gara's worldship breached the energy field and appeared out near the Helska system in early 25 ABY, on Belkadan Yomin Carr disabled the communications link to ExGal Command at ExGal-4, and, once he had disabled the vessel's communications as well, allowed the station's Spacecaster to fly out to Helska IV with scientists Danni Quee, Cho Badeleg and Bensin Tomri onboard. All the while, Carr was terraforming Belkadan for its later use as a Yuuzhan Vong shipyard, by letting dweebits loose to alter the atmosphere. A storm soon blanketed the planet, and Yomin Carr set about killing the eleven ExGal members at the listening post, although several took their own lives during their investigation of the noxious storm. One of the slain was an Imperial Remnant spy, and his silence first prompted Grand Admiral Pellaeon's realization that something was amiss on the outskirts of the galaxy. The ExGal Spacecaster was captured by Da'Gara's forces at Helska IV, and although Badeleg died in the crash and Tomri was killed, Danni Quee, proclaimed by Carr himself to be worthy of sacrifice, was abducted and taken to the yammosk recently installed in the planet's icy core. The Praetorite remained secluded at their lone base in the Helska system, however, as they understood that if the full might of the New Republic Defense Force was brought upon them they would fail in their mission.

Diversion at the Core
"What can you contribute, Leia Organa Solo, to the dispute between Rhommamool and Osarian? What flame of hope can you light within the Rhommamoolians that their desperate cry for independence shall not be ignored by the New Republic, who speak of freedom as the greatest of all virtues?"

- Nom Anor

The purpose of the Osarian-Rhommamool conflict was to focus New Republic attention on the Core, while the Praetorite Vong established their forward bases in the Outer Rim. Each decade, the orbits of Osarian and Rhommamool brought the two planetary bodies close enough to each other that missiles launched from one world could hit the other. Thus, as Nom Anor had attained the position of the most powerful politician on Rhommamool by 25 ABY, conflict loomed. Jedi Knight Wurth Skidder had antagonized the situation by prosecuting vigilante action against whichever side showed more aggression, and the Osarian ruler, Shunta Osarian Dharrg, had hired mercenaries led by a Rodian, Grappa, to defend his planet. The New Republic Defense Force dispatched the first of the Mediator-class battle cruisers to prevent the two planets from engaging in open warfare. Commanded by an ambitious Mon Calamari officer, Ackdool, the Mediator maintained its position between the two planets while a diplomatic mission made its way to visit Nom Anor on Rhommamool. Former Chief of State Leia Organa Solo, her sister-in-law Mara Jade Skywalker and Leia's daughter, Jaina Solo, as well as the family's protocol droid, C-3PO, made up the crew of the mission, and they met with Nom Anor in Redhaven following a brief encounter with Grappa and the Osarian First-Force. However, the Yuuzhan Vong executor, disguised to appear similar to the infamous Darth Vader, proved hostile and intractable, as he had no wish to resolve the situation. He demanded that the Mediator fire upon Osarian, and mocked the entourage when he was refused. Organa Solo and her companions soon departed; Anor was pleased by the turn of events, and impressed that Mara Jade Skywalker was still alive. Whipping the Rhommamoolians into a frenzy, he accelerated his plans, arranging for the deaths of several key politicians on Rhommamool as a pretext for an attack on Osarian.

Anor and Tinotkin, after much planning, launched a crippling strike on Osarian with nuclear missiles which the Mediator was powerless to prevent. Soon Osa-Prime was in flames; the war had commenced. The executor had been prepared for a long time, and was now in constant communication with Da'Gara, he now had the opportunity to escape the carnage. Fleeing the planet with Tinotkin in a modified RZ-1 A-wing hidden in an outdated booster rocket, Nom Anor enacted a pseudo-suicidal strike on the Mediator, faking his death when he detonated the rocket in the Mon Calamari cruiser's hangar and appearing as a martyr in the cause against the galactic confederations his Rhommamoolian alter-ego had denounced. In fact, Anor fled the Osarian system with Tinotkin in the A-wing, but not before contacting Da'Gara. Together, Nom Anor and the Praetorite Vong decided to eliminate Sernpidal, the closest inhabited planet to Da'Gara's base on Helska IV, with the intended result of drawing out the New Republic piece by piece to be destroyed. A massive dovin basal was installed on Sernpidal's surface; the long-unused tactic of Yo'gand would be deployed once again, now in a new galaxy. Anor then relocated to another world to foment civil war; he soon disposed of his aide, Tinotkin. The Red Knights of Life continued to carry out Anor's philosoply, and later attempted to invade the stricken Osarian, where they were repulsed by a group of Force-sensitive Shard known as the Iron Knights. Later, at unknown periods during the coming war, the Red Knights of Life also attacked the droid enclaves of Uffel and Kligson's Moon, and on both occasions were once again thwarted by the Iron Knights.

The First Battle of Helska
"Who are these people? Smugglers?"

- Miko Reglia

The first open hostilities between the Yuuzhan Vong and the New Republic were essentially between a squadron of fighters led by maverick Jedi Master Kyp Durron and coralskippers guarding the Praetorite base on Helska IV. Tracking pirates on the Outer Rim, Durron had set up a buoy in the Veragi Sector which observed vessels and their communications in the hope of locating routes the outlaws were using. When the information on Ex-Gal 4's Spacecaster-class shuttle appeared on his screen, Durron decided to investigate where the shuttle had vanished to. At the same time as his squadron, the Dozen and Two Avengers, departed for the Helska system, Durron sent a general message out, which was intercepted by Luke Skywalker and his wife, then residing on Dubrillion, with information on Belkadan, where the scientists had travelled from and which seemed to be undergoing trouble of its own.

Durron's squadron emerged in the Helska system and immediately noticed the gravitic signals emananting from the fourth planet. Imagining it was a pirate base, or an illegal research facility, the Dozen and Two Avengers readied their weapons, only to be approached by a swarm of coralskippers. Da'Gara could not risk the discovery of the Praetorite Vong while they were still securing their foothold, and as many fighters as he could muster were dispatched to see off the threat. Taking moderate casualties at first, the coralskipper pilots soon learnt their enemies' weakness and began to leech the shields of Durron's squadron with their dovin basals. To Da'Gara's delight, the intrusive vessels were rapidly overwhelmed. Ship to ship, Durron's fighters were eliminated, inexperienced in fighting such a different foe, until only three remained. Jedi Knight Miko Reglia, the only other Force-sensitive in the squadron, was captured and taken down to Helska IV. In order to rapidly finish off the remaining A-wing and X-wing, the Yuuzhan Vong unleashed the insectoid grutchins, which quickly destroyed the A-wing before latching on to Durron's X-wing and pursuing it through hyperspace as the Jedi Master initiated a blind jump. Once he had managed to kill the grutchin boring through the hull of the starfighter, Durron and his starfighter limped their way to the Julevian system, where the doomed Sernpidal was located. On Helska IV, the captured Miko Reglia was incarcerated with Danni Quee, with who Da'Gara was developing a deep fascination. The Praetorite soon decided Reglia was, unlike Quee, not worthy, and the process of breaking the Jedi began.

The destruction of Sernpidal
"This moon's been in orbit for a million years. How is this happening, and why now?"

- Han Solo

Dobido, the smaller of Sernpidal's two moons, was fast decaying in its orbit by the time Han Solo and the crew of his light freighter, the Millennium Falcon, arrived in the Julevian system. On a supply mission for Dubrillion-based businessman Lando Calrissian, Solo, his son Anakin and the Wookiee Chewbacca were faced with the bizarre events occurring on Sernpidal. The Praetorite Vong had installed the dovin basal not far from Sernpidal City, upon which the Yuuzhan Vong planned to crash the satellite. The Sernpidalians responded to the impending cataclysm in different ways; some heralded the fatal arrival of Dobido as the advent of the goddess Tosi-karu, and were alternatively praying or panicking. Many Sernpidalians decided to leave the planet altogether, and this mass exodus left the capital city reeling; the speed at which the moon approached the planet it its ever failing orbits had caught much of the populace unawares and the result was chaotic. By the time the Millennium Falcon reached Sernpidal, the world had only seven hours. Solo and his son Anakin, both of whom played major parts in the war, eventually discovered the source of the gravitic disturbance which was dragging Dobido towards the surface and set off with the enigmatic mayor of Sernpidal to eliminate the mysterious threat. With a thermal detonator in hand, the mayor leapt down the crevasse which housed the dovin basal and destroyed himself and the creature&mdash;it was too late, however, to save Sernpidal. With his son and his companion, the Wookiee Chewbacca, Solo hastily organized a refugee convoy and evacuated as many Sernpidilians as possible. Although many escaped, Dobido's descent had begun to wreak havoc on the surface, tumbling buildings and wracking the ground with huge quakes. Tsunamis tore inland, and in places fissures split the crust wide open. In the chaos of the evacuation, Chewbacca was lost, and died roaring defiance at the onrushing moon. The Yuuzhan Vong then assaulted the fleeing convoy with a swarm of grutchins, destroying a shuttle, the Juliupper, and attacking several other craft. Durron, in his X-wing, was recovered by the Millennium Falcon and the grutchin were repulsed, but the Praetorite Vong had dispatched four full battle groups of coralskippers to prey on the convoy, which limped its way to the closest world, Dubrillion, with the swarm in close pursuit. Now that the second worldship, that of Prefect Ma'Shraid, had arrived, more brazen military activity could be coordinated and conducted by the Praetorite Vong. In the face of the victory at Sernpidal, however, Da'Gara's forces suffered a relatively minor defeat, but a defeat nonetheless. Heading out to the now smog-shrouded world of Belkadan in response to Kyp Durron's general message, Jedi Masters Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker landed at the abandoned ExGal-4 station. The scout Yomin Carr was still present on the rapidly changing planet, awaiting extraction by Da'Gara, and witnessed the approach of the Jade Sabre, the Skywalkers' shuttle. The two Jedi Masters discovered several of Carr's dweebits writhing in the soil and took several for samples as they investigated; it was not long before Carr revealed himself and engaged Mara Jade Skywalker in a brutal duel. Eventually, after a gruelling battle, during which Jade Skywalker had to adapt to the biotechnology the warrior deployed, and fight him without being able to utilize the Force, the Jedi severed Carr's legs at the knees and impaled him through the heart. Abandoning the facility, the Skywalkers took the mysterious alien's body back to Dubrillion, but not before reviewing Ex Gal-4's logs and witnessing the landing of Da'Gara's worldship on Helska IV. Travelling to the frozen planet in his X-wing, Skywalker, much like the Ex Gal scientists and the Dozen and Two Avengers before him, noticed scores of asteroid-like craft rising up to intercept him. Fortunately for the Jedi Master, he flew well enough that the coralskippers were unable to overcome him as they had with the previous intruders, and the Jade Sabre quickly came to his aid. The two Jedi Masters returned to Dubrillion.

The Battle of Dubrillion
"The New Republic has got its own problems, and closer to home. I don’t think they'll send out half the fleet to worry about some minor problem at the Outer Rim."

- Leia Organa Solo

As a haven for smugglers and shady characters, Dubrillion was not a well defended world. Most of the reprobates who had made Calrissian's twin-planet establishment their haunt over the past months vanished when word arrived, though coralskippers accosted a number of craft on the way out of the sector. The invasion force coming was composed only of coralskippers, but the cannons salvaged from old starship hulks were not deemed by Calrissian and his support to be able to repel the waves of starfighters. It was decided by the defenders that Dubrillion's own starfighters would engage the enemy, supported by Belt-Runner I, an old asteroid mining facility which was used to grant shielding to craft as they attempted to run Dubrillion's main attraction&mdash;the asteroid field known both as the Belt and Lando's Folly. To muster more support, Organa Solo searched for elements of the New Republic Defense Force which were nearby, locating only the Imperial-II class Star Destroyer Rejuvenator and its support vessels, out at Ord Mantell, and still three days away. The coralskipper armada flooded into the Dubrillion system and clashed with the meagre defense force Calrissian had fielded; both sides were soon inflicting heavy casualties on one another. Coralskippers began to strafe Dubrillion's surface, and although Calrissian's defense towers swatted the first craft out of the sky with relative ease, the Yuuzhan Vong pilots pressed the attack, igniting fires in the city and defeating the TIE bombers which attempted to draw them away from the civilian population. Eventually, however, the turbolaser batteries, as well as the Solo children who defended the city in TIE fighters, forced the coralskippers to break off the attack and re-group in space. The renewed assault saw Dubrillion's protectors overwhelmed; Belt-Runner I had long since gone up in flames, more than half of the turbolaser batteries were destroyed and the city buildings were rapidly collapsing in flames. The city was only spared total ruin by the actions of the Solo children; Anakin and his siblings entered a Force Meld and led the Yuuzhan Vong into Lando's Folly. The eager coralskipper pilots pursued the TIE fighters through the lethal asteroid field, losing dozens of craft before retreating. Overall, however, Dubrillion was doomed; with its defenses in tatters it was only a matter of time before Da'Gara attacked again. The world's sister planet, Destrillion, was assaulted by the retreating Yuuzhan Vong, more as a parting gesture than a concerted military strike. Reinforced by the arrival of the final worldship, that of Prefect Dooje Brolo, the fleet of coralskippers had been swelled by one thousand. The three leaders of the Praetorite Vong had created their foothold; Helska IV was fortified and Belkadan was ready to be seeded for use as a shipyard. Da'Gara and his cohorts planned to draw out the approaching New Republic forces and destroy them at Helska, before moving on to capture Dubrillion and Destrillion, establishing a forward base in the system with a second yammosk&mdash;soon to be spawned by the first war coordinator.

Clash at Helska IV
"The Ranger gunships will handle any of the smaller&mdash;what did you call them? Coralskippers?&mdash; while Rejeuvenator takes out whatever base those barbarians have set up. It will be a clean sweep, I assure you, and then we can get on with the more important issues facing the New Republic."

- Commander Warshack Rojo

The Rejeuvenator and its escorts arrived at Dubrillion with the Star Destroyer's captain, the Corellian Warshack Rojo, eager to take the fight to the enemy. A coralskipper, crashed on the surface of Dubrillion during the battle, had been studied by Luke Skywalker and Calrissian's scientists, and the technology in the starship; gnulliths and protective organic sheaths, confirmed Skywalker's suspicions that the Yuuzhan Vong base was located not on the frozen surface of Helska IV, but underneath the planet's crust. A plan was composed by the Solos and the Skywalkers in which the Merry Miner, one of Calrissian's vessels, would drop off an iceborer which would tunnel into the planet's surface containing Luke Skywalker. Once inside, Skywalker planned to determine the threat posed by the mysterious Praetorite Vong and possibly try to incapacitate its leadership. While the adults conferred with Commander Rojo&mdash;Leia Organa Solo attempted in vain to persuade the over-confident Corellian to postpone the attack until more warships arrived&mdash;Jacen and Jaina Solo took the Merry Miner and the iceborer to the Helska system themselves, in the hope of completing their uncle's mission for him.It forced Rojo's hand, and the New Republic task force set off to aid the Merry Miner on its mission.

In the iceborer, Jacen Solo's approach was noticed after his sister fired the iceborer towards Helska IV, and the Yuuzhan Vong flew up to investigate in coralskippers. They pursued the Merry Miner across the system, before being startled by the sudden emergence of the Rejeuvenator and its support ships from hyperspace. The rapid destruction of the coralskippers fired Rojo's confidence, and he led his force to Helska IV itself, where the yammosk had collected itself and was fast coordinating its vessels; the coralskippers served the purpose of drawing the New Republic ships in range of Helska IV's now formidable defenses. Once the Rejeuvenator and the gunships were close enough, the yammosk swamped the New Republic vessels with coralskippers. Although the Ranger gunships performed well against the starfighter threat, they were soon overcome. Coralskippers deploying large dovin basals attacked the vessels, and two of the modern gunships were destroyed when a gravity well forced them to collide. It was the Rejeuvenator, however, which attracted the most attention; the mighty Star Destroyer was soon totally immersed in a mass of expertly coordinated coralskippers, which carried out destructive strafing runs across every part of the capital ship's shields and hull. Rojo blazed towards Helska IV itself, and ordered his gunners to fire upon the planet. The resulting strikes pulverised the ice and created a blanketing fog across the face of the planet, but the yammosk remained untouched. The war coordinator then gripped the mighty vessel in a colossal gravitic field and brought it within range of the surface defenses; the Yuuzhan Vong pilots continued to harass the Star Destroyer, but it was a wave of organic missles from Helska IV's frozen surface which dealth the Rejeuvenator its death blow. The flaming hulk hurtled past the ice planet, and the New Republic called for a retreat.

Under Helska IV's crust, Jacen Solo had managed to infiltrate the Yuuzhan Vong base and assault the warriors defending Danni Quee and Miko Reglia. Reglia had long since been broken by continued telepathic torture sessions with the yammosk, though Quee was being withheld from the process in order to be sacrificed. The scientist was able to help Solo as he fought off the enemy, and when both she and her rescuer were overwhelmed, Miko Reglia gave his life to allow the others time to escape. Solo and Quee made it to the iceborer and fired out from the planet's surface to be extracted by the Merry Miner and returned to Dubrillion; the sole respite for the New Republic in the face of a massive defeat.

Praetorite's end
"Prefect Da'Gara and the Praetorite Domains&mdash;what did their blasphemous actions earn them but ice graves on what little remains of Helska IV, so far removed from Yuuzhan'tar it might as well be in the galaxy we left behind?"

- Supreme Overlord Shimrra

Danni Quee was able to give the shocked remnants of Rojo's task force vital information on the Praetorite Vong and, more importantly, explained to Skywalker and the others the importance of the yammosk. They quickly decided that the yammosk was the ultimate threat, but it was too well defended for a surface assault, and it had demonstrated its formidable powers in defeating the Rejeuvenator. As Da'Gara and his forces prepared to continue with their invasion, it was the youngest Solo, Anakin, who realised that the yammosk, cocooned in the volcano-warmed waters below Helska IV's crust, could be killed by means of freezing its surroundings. Lando Calrissian held the answer; years ago, during a business venture on hellish Nkllon, the entrepreneur had used shieldships to reflect the energy of Nkllon's star. Calrissian had several of the massive vessels docked at Destrillion, where he kept a fleet of his former inventions. Six of the shieldships joined the small force which returned to the Helska system; the Millennium Falcon, Jade Sabre, Durron and a squadron of fighters and several of the remaining New Republic vessels initiated a dangerous hyperspace jump which brought them out directly over the ice planet. Several losses were sustained in the process, but Skywalker had managed a successful surprise insertion which caught Da'Gara off guard. Many of the coralskippers were out harassing other planets and shipping lanes, but Da'Gara, in communion with a yammosk as confident as the late Commander Rojo had been, was largely unconcerned, if not bemused by the second attack. He only worried that the X-wing which had broken through the light coralskipper screen was attempting to rescue his escaped prisoner, Danni Quee&mdash;for the prefect now assumed she remained hidden on the frozen world&mdash;and thus he recalled the majority of the fighters present to defend the planet's surface closely.

Fog began to build up on Helska IV as the shieldships evaporated the ice with the energy of the system's star. As the planet began to lose any heat it possessed, the innards of the world rapidly froze. The warm volcanic water which encased the yammosk turned cold at first, before slowly beginning to freeze. Although the coralskipper defense was coordinated, with three shieldships destroyed in quick succession, the evaporation had reached a self-perpetuating level. The waters around the yammosk froze instantaneously, killing Da'Gara's war coordinator, and in the phenomenal cold the entire planet halted its natural rotation. In droves, the confused coralskippers raced back to the world; the New Republic forces rapidly retreated, having come to understand that the planet was doomed. The expansion of the ice, coupled with the titanic stress fractures webbing Helska IV, blasted the planet apart. The Praetorite Vong was decimated; its leadership, its yammosk, its fleet and its warriors lost in an instant. The remaining, uncoordinated vessels were destroyed by residual New Republic presence in the surrounding sectors. Later, Yuuzhan Vong tacticians made note of the New Republic ships which had been present, by means of villips Da'Gara had left in the system. The Millennium Falcon was recorded as having been present, and so the light freighter entered the Yuuzhan Vong database as a key threat.

The invaders prepare
"An invasion has been mounted from outside this galaxy, and it will destroy the New Republic if you do not act to stop it now."

- Leia Organa Solo

Following the treachery of the Praetorite Vong and their failure to establish a firm strategic foothold in the galaxy, events moved quickly among the Yuuzhan Vong military command. With Warmaster Tsavong Lah and the Supreme Overlord still in transit in the void, a warrior had to be nominated to take the reins of the invasion and ensure that when the main body of the fleet arrived, it would not be endangered. The commander chosen was Shedao Shai, the grandson of Mongei Shai, who had remained behind on Bimmiel fifty years earlier. However, Shedao Shai's reputation among the warrior caste was insecure; many perceived the vain Yuuzhan Vong, whose extreme devotion to the worship of pain was often a cause of mockery, as one who could be easily manipulated. Tsavong Lah himself closely monitored Shai's progress through the commander's ambitious subordinate Deign Lian, wary lest Shai and his domain become too powerful, or delude themselves into believing a similar tactic to the Praetorite Vong could be attempted. Shai's forces did not commit to fullscale hostilities for some time however; nor did the commander immediately rally all Yuuzhan Vong forces to his banner in order to continue the invasion en masse. Before Shai pressed the assault&mdash;the first target of which was Dubrillion&mdash;the Mandalorians, with whom Anor had entered his duplicitous alliance months before, aided the Yuuzhan Vong in the course of the invasion.

At his secret meeting with Mandore Boba Fett prior to the Praetorite Vong's defeat, Anor had requested that the Mandalorians seize the spaceport on the Outer Rim world of Birgis. Fett had decided to use the Mandalorian attack as an opportunity to pass on information as to the Yuuzhan Vong's next target, New Holgha, to elements of the New Republic. As Fett's Mandalorian Protectors seized the spaceport, a Yuuzhan Vong force attacked Birgis, routing the meagre New Republic presence in orbit around the planet before landing troops at the spaceport and killing all present. Fett had managed to warn a pilot during the battle that New Holgha was the next location the invaders would attack, and his subterfuge went undetected. However, prior to the assault on Birgis, Fett had endeavoured to make it clear to the galaxy that the Mandalorians had sided with the Yuuzhan Vong; this, among other factors, led to the New Republic discarding Fett's intelligence and eventually drawing forces away from New Holgha to defend another Outer Rim world, Pedd IV. New Holgha was not the only world which went undefended by the New Republic. Several days after the Battle of Birgis, Shai moved on Dubrillion. Although his command ship, the Kor Chokk grand cruiser Legacy of Torment, remained elsewhere, a sizeable force assembled in the asteroid belts which encircled the Dubrillion system and launch raids on the planets, culling the weak from the defenders before they moved in. Calrissian's pilots, mostly fighting in Uglies which were hard pressed to match the coralskippers, attempted to lure the Yuuzhan Vong in the range of Dubrillion's defenses, but Shai's forces were of a different breed to the Praetorite Vong. Coralskippers harried outbound vessels while Dubrillion was slowly evacuated. The once affluent city was gradually reduced to rubble as more and more of the defenses were destroyed. "I know who's coming out on top in this one, and I'll do whatever I have to, to live happily ever after."

- Peace Brigader Reck Desh

In preparation for the all-out invasion which was to come&mdash;Shai had been forced to re-conquer the planets Da'Gara had lost &mdash;Nom Anor attempted to redeem his status by the creation of a group of criminals and outcasts who would serve the Yuuzhan Vong in destabilizing the New Republic further. Contacting those who held little loyalty to the galactic government was simple, and the avarice and selfishness which guided the members of what was to become the Peace Brigade proved an abundant resource. Believing that the Yuuzhan Vong would ultimately triumph, many joined the Peace Brigade, which soon came to be headed by a council known as the Alliance of Twelve. Disgruntled soldiers, war-profiteers and outcasts became the backbone of the Brigade, and they carried out several operations to aid their new masters in the invasion. The Inner Rim world of Atzerri was the victim of one such strike, its defenses weakened and its government undermined. However, it was some time before the Peace Brigade's reputation became established across the galaxy; many could not come to terms with the ignorance of the collaborators. Essentially, the Peace Brigade were sealing their own doom, for the Yuuzhan Vong believed peace to be equivalent to wilful submission, and saw the collaborators as unworthy fools who deserved less leniency than the galaxy's defenders.

Response to the threat
Unfortunately for the beleaguered worlds which lay in the Outer Rim Territories, the strong hand of the New Republic military was not present. Organa Solo, returning to Coruscant as the ambassador for Dubrillion, was finally granted an audience with the New Republic Senate, a full two months after Danni Quee had first been captured by Da'Gara. Once she had submitted her claims, several senators condemned her as a manipulator, accusing her of being a sensationalist attempting to aggravate the Senate into giving her a position of greater authority; as a former Chief of State, Organa Solo was perceived by her detractors as desperate to return to power. The anti-Jedi bloc, championed by Sullustan senator Niuk Niuv, criticized the Order's actions at Rhommamool, and denounced Organa Solo's information as a ruse to deflect the New Republic's attention from Jedi misdeeds. With her vital intelligence discredited, even an attempt from Caamasi senator Elegos A'Kla to support Organa Solo could not sway the minds of Fey'lya and the influential senators. Indeed, it was not the politicians who would take action, but factions within the military. A Bothan admiral in the New Republic Defense Force, Traest Kre'fey, realised the threat which was faced by his government, and began to prepare to engage the mysterious invaders. Two days after Organa Solo's failed address, he used data she had left behind to create a simulation in which pilots could fight the coralskippers. To do so, Kre'fey was risking his command, but the admiral was renowned for his intiative and innovation, and having his current command out on the Outer Rim enabled him to pursue a more flexible course of action. The Yuuzhan Vong forces had stepped up their campaign in the region, preying on convoys and supply shipments. The routes connecting the New Republic to the Imperial Remnant were threatened and frequently assaulted, and this action put an end to the piracy which had, ironically, been persistently plaguing the New Republic, and been the focus of Kyp Durron's ill-fated Dozen and Two Avengers' actions prior to the war. Kre'fey had the famed Rogue Squadron, under the command of veteran pilot Gavin Darklighter, train against the coralskippers in simulators, before heading out with Darklighter's pilots in his flagship, the Bothan Assault Cruiser Ralroost, to a crossroads system between Bastion and the Corporate Sector. There they discovered the shattered forces of a pirate of relative fame, Urias Xhaxin, and took the outlaws in for questioning. Xhaxin and his crew had ambushed a Remnant convoy, only to be attacked by Yuuzhan Vong who had already destroyed the freighters. In the face of these developments, Kre'fey deployed Rogue Squadron in the region to scout the threat.

Outcasts themselves, the Jedi Order convened at the Praxeum on Yavin IV to discuss the Yuuzhan Vong. A schism was forming between Master Skywalker's moderate bloc and Kyp Durron's more belligerent faction, who wished to fight aggressively against the invaders. Skywalker dispatched the Jedi on several missions to determine the extent of the forces arrayed against the New Republic; he and Jacen Solo travelled to Belkadan, where the Yuuzhan Vong shipyards were under construction. Skywalker's wife and Anakin Solo went to Dantooine, which had also been scouted by the Yuuzhan Vong, so that Jade Skywalker could overcome her illness. Jedi Knights Corran Horn and Ganner Rhysode followed up on a lead from the University of Agamar, which had sent a team of researchers to Bimmiel only to have them drop out of contact. In fact, it was only Bimmiel's peculiar weather patterns which had disrupted communications, but Doctor Anki Pace and her assistants had discovered the mummified remains of Mongei Shai. Two other Domain Shai members, Neira and Dranae Shai, had been sent by Shedao Shai to Bimmiel to recover Mongei's bones, but the fluctuations in Bimmiel's gravitic field had offset the search parameters. The two warriors created a small base on the planet as they continued the hunt for the holy relics which were their kinsman's bones.

Skirmishes
Bimmiel Dantooine Belkadan Dubrillion

The Battle of Dantooine
The Yuuzhan Vong then began attacking worlds in their path with much ease. They conquered Dubrillion and Destrillion before moving onto Dantooine, where refugees from Dubrillion evacuated by Lando Calrissian were being housed. Thus, the Battle of Dantooine was a horrible massacre. During the battle, the Yuuzhan Vong first unleashed legions of reptoid Chazrach slave soldiers and beetle-like Thrall herders from their galaxy. Among those on the New Republic side were Anakin Solo and his older brother, Jacen. The two brothers would discover that these Chazrach were entirely mindless and were merely the Yuuzhan Vong's equivalent to battle droids. They slaughtered dozens of Chazrach and Luke Skywalker also destroyed a thrall herder, causing much of the enemy force to scatter and allowing the refugees to escape Dantooine before the enemy took it.

The Battle of Ithor
This was followed by the Battle of Ithor. During the battle, the extragalactic invaders attacked the beautiful, untouched jungle world of Ithor and the floating city of Tafanda Bay until Jedi Knight Corran Horn offered to duel the Yuuzhan Vong leader Shedao Shai in single combat

If Corran defeated Shedao, the Yuuzhan Vong would withdraw from the planet; however, if Corran lost, Shai would get back the body of his ancestor Mongei Shai and have Ithor. Though Corran bested his rival, Shai's second-in-command Deign Lian answered to a higher authority, Tsavong Lah. The latter ordered Lian to unleash a biological weapon from the Kor Chokk flagship Legacy of Torment which reduced all life on the planet to little more than black swamps of acidic ash.

The Legacy was later destroyed when it crashed on Ithor, causing more carnage and contributing much to the Anti-Jediism of the galactic public. Many people came to revile the Jedi, blaming them for the invasion. Domain Shai disgraced (EOVII)

Turning against the Jedi
Despite this, some came to admire the Jedi, particularly Anakin. His heroic acts led many citizens to regard him as a galactic hero and the freshest face of the New Jedi Order — much like his grandfather was during the Clone Wars. There were many whispers that Anakin would one day take his uncle's place as the most powerful Jedi. The Jedi Order was also the target of the Yuuzhan Vong, who saw them as their greatest obstacle to galactic domination.

The Hutts betrayed
The Yuuzhan Vong eventually struck a deal with the Hutts that allowed them to pass through Hutt Space unharmed. But the Hutts were betrayed, and their worlds were attacked.

The Battle of Fondor
During the Battle of Fondor, Anakin would have nearly wiped out the assembled Yuuzhan Vong fleet at Fondor through the use of Centerpoint Station had it not been for Jacen's intervention. However, an old enemy in the form of the infamous Thrackan Sal-Solo fired the weapon, destroying the Yuuzhan Vong fleet while taking much of the allied Hapan fleet in the process. Drall and Selonians forced out (Balance Point)

The Corellian Run theater
"It's the heavy end of the hammer, pounding and pounding."

- Jaina Solo

In response to the disaster at Fondor and the loss of the shipyards, New Republic forces were deployed at Kuat, Dac and Bilbringi to defend the facilities there. Luke Skywalker positioned members of the New Jedi Order, which was becoming increasingly unpopular as the war went on, across regions thought to be the next possible targets of the invaders, though Jedi Knight Daye Azur-Jamin went missing on Nal Hutta as Nas Choka's massive fleet laid waste to Hutt space. A disinformation campaign was prosecuted by NRI Major Hallis Saper against the Yuuzhan Vong, to little effect. It was rumoured that Adumar had launched a flanking attack on Yuuzhan Vong positions near Bilbringi, though its success remained unknown. Warmaster Tsavong Lah, now personally overseeing the push towards Coruscant, was warned by his tacticians to locate a forward base which could not be threatened by Centerpoint Station. The target chosen was Duro, a world poisoned by decades of industrial pollution, and the new location for the thousands of New Republic refugees. It also boasted a ship-building industry which presented a threat to the Warmaster's advance, and could be used as a staging point for assaults on Kuat and Corellia. However, prior to advancing on Duro and the Core, Tsavong Lah's forces acted to disable the Corellian Run, a major trade and hyperspace route which led from Ryloth to the Corellian sector.

In part of the operation to sever the Corellian Run, the planet of Kalarba was targeted for attack and destruction, the invaders disinterested in utilizing it as a base. Ten months after the destruction of Sernpidal, the tactic of Yo'Gand's Core was used once again, this time on Kalarba's artificial moon of Hosk Station, which was seen by the Yuuzhan Vong as a deeply heretical construction. The New Republic forces, under the command of Brevet Admiral Glie'oleg Kru, were unable to prevent the infiltration of the dovin basal which allowed the tactic to be carried out. Kru commanded the task force was which to defend Kalarba, including the Bothan Assault Cruiser "Champion" and Rogue Squadron. Although Kru was to die during the battle, his forces ensured the evacuation of a large number of refugees before the artificial moon crashed into Kalarba, devastating the planet.

From Druckenwell to Kubindi
"Once again a Mid Rim world is sacrificed in the name of protecting the Core…or Bothawui."

- Senator Navik of Rodia

The Corellian Run was poorly defended by the New Republic, and its worlds fell with ease. The New Republic Fifth Fleet had been allocated to the defense of Bothan space, on the behest of Chief of State Fey'lya, and therefore there was little to no military presence at many of the worlds along the Corellian Run. Following the battle at Kalarba, Druckenwell, once a key Imperial manufacturing planet, fell to the invaders. The planet was terraformed and, although much of the population was evacuated by SELCORE to Duro, many were killed. The Force-sensitive Cerean Ka-Tu-Un was also captured by the invaders during the battle. As the Warmaster's subordinate Nas Choka laid waste to Hutt space, the Yuuzhan Vong forces took Falleen. The reptilian aliens were unable to use their pheromones in their defense, and as Falleen had never joined the New Republic, the planet did not warrant a military presence. On Coruscant, matters grew worse for Fey'lya's administration as world after world continued to be lost to the invaders. Senator Navik of Rodia heavily criticized the Chief of State as his planet too was conquered in the seemingly ceaseless Yuuzhan Vong advance. Under the leadership of Master Shaper Taug Molou the Rodians were shaped, and turned into the Vagh Rodiek, mindless warbeasts whose prowess in battle superseded their heretical nature. Rodia itself had its crust cracked, its cities levelled and vast numbers of its population massacred. The desert-world of Tatooine was also threatened along with Bothan space, as well as the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, though all three would eventually be spared the depredations of the war. At this point, communications with the water-world of Dac had also been lost, though the homeworld of the Mon Calamari was spared invasion too, allowing it to operate later as a major base for the Galactic Alliance. Kubindi, the home of the insectoid Kubaz, was also attacked, the Yuuzhan Vong thought to have been intrigued by the species' history of genetic engineering. However, Mujmai Iinan, the Yuuzhan Vong warrior in charge of the assault, called for only half the usual number of coralskippers to be allocated to the capture of the world. He had not counted on the intervention of Kyp Durron's Dozen and Two Avengers, stationed out near Bothawui, who leapt to the defense of Kubindi and ensured that every spaceworthy vessel made it off the planet. Thus the Kubaz and Verpine who were present on Kubindi were able to evacuate in time. Iinan was later executed for his failure by Tsavong Lah. The Corellian Run had now been cut, and was seeded with dovin basal interdiction mines.

Senator Shesh and CorDuro
"You are to be praised for helping to bring about a lasting peace for your people. Your role will be widely honoured, among us and your own folk."

- Tsavong Lah to Senator Viqi Shesh

Senator Viqi Shesh was by this time deep in collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong, and was now reporting directly to the Warmaster. While her colleagues only grew concerned at her lack of effectiveness in her role as head of SELCORE, a few notable persons, among them Leia Organa and Jacen Solo, began to take a closer look at Shesh's seeming inability to direct resources to Duro, a world which she herself had in fact advocated to the Yuuzhan Vong for invasion. The Senator had hoped to spare Kuat and its shipyards, believing that Lah would stop his invasion with the capture of Duro. However, Shesh was not the only collaborator involved with Duro. CorDuro Shipping, SELCORE's contractor for outsystem goods and a key client of the Duros High House, was diverting resources from refugees to its orbital cities, amassing those on the planet's surface for sacrifice to the Yuuzhan Vong. So much was the extent of the collaboration that a young Jedi apprentice, Thrynni Vae, had been killed by Peace Brigade operatives when she had strayed too close to the truth. The Duros were by and large bitter about the forced immigration of refugees to their homeworld, which they orbited in great cities such as Bburru. They planned to stockpile SELCORE's supplies on the orbital cities, predominantly the luxury and subspace-capable city of Urrdorf, and leave Duro for a safe haven elsewhere. They saw themselves as protected by their deal, although they were willing to sacrifice at least one orbital city to the Yuuzhan Vong if it served their purposes. They knew that if Duro was made habitable again, the Yuuzhan Vong might target it; indeed, Senator Shesh had instructed SELCORE to allocate refugees there on the proviso that the Yuuzhan Vong would not be interested in the lifeless planet, knowing that this was not the case. Yet, for all their subterfuge, both CorDuro and Shesh were unaware of Warmaster Lah's true plans, and would be used solely for the purposes of the Yuuzhan Vong, who had no interest in halting their advance, nor sparing the Duros in their abominable orbital cities, and were fully capable of terraforming Duro themselves to suit their needs.

The punishment of Nal Hutta
Randa information in Balance Point Hutt space was subjected to vicious retribution following their betrayal of the Yuuzhan Vong. Unifying Force EOVII Booster Terrik & Corran ran weapons to Hutt underground

The invasion of the Core
"You, who mock death, will meet it very soon. Then, for Yun-Yammka&mdash;the true master of war&mdash;we will purify this world of the abominable machines in their orbits. We will preserve the people you call refugees, though. Their labor is needed for the task of cleansing this world. Finally, Duro will become our platform to take other worlds. The ones you call the Core."

- Warmaster Tsavong Lah to Leia Organa Solo at Duro.

Nom Anor, masquerading as a Duros scientist named Doctor Dassid Cree'Ar, had already infiltrated the terraforming process and begun to convert Duro to a habitable planet for the Yuuzhan Vong. He had engineered the destruction of Settlement 32, by releasing naotebe winglings into the dome, and thus forced the evacuation of the settlement's Vors, Vuvrians and Ryn to Gateway, the major refugee camp. Anor had also attempted to secure Jacen Solo for the Warmaster by ordering CorDuro's vice-director, the collaborator Durgard Brarun, to place the Jedi under house arrest. The Executor was also poised to bring down the planetary shields, and had arranged for riots to take place among the Duros, with demagogues like Brarun's sister Ducilla whipped into a frenzy by his rhetoric. Randa Besadii Diori's promise that the entire Solo clan was on Duro along with several other Jedi provided the impetus for Tsavong Lah to come personally to the planet, intrigued as he was by the Jedi and their constant hindrance of the invasion of the promised galaxy. His priestess, Vaecta, aboard his personal warship Sunulok, had told him his chances of a successful invasion increased with every Jedi captured, and thus the Warmaster's fatal fascination with the Order began. Having departed subjugated and broken Rodia, Tsavong Lah's forces reverted on the outskirts of the system. The Duro Defense Force immediately acted to protect the orbital cities instead of the refugee settlements below. The planetary shield, sabotaged by Nom Anor's agents, failed to rise over the orbital city of Bburru and the refugee hub of Gateway, and the Warmaster and his forces, in yorik-trema were guided down by coralskippers to the surface; the B-wings, E-wings and other ships of the DDF were powerless to prevent the landing. The evacuation of refugees from the planet began, as coralskippers attacked the Gateway settlement. Many Duros attempted to flee the orbital cities to the safety of hyperspace. Communicating over an oggzil, Tsavong Lah ordered the inhabitants to remain where they were or face destruction, to which many complied. He dispatched the two bio-engineered beasts, Sgauru and Tu-Scart, to attack refugee domes on the ground, and an ychna was released upon the orbital city of Orr-Om. Although on Coruscant Jedi liaison officer Kenth Hamner requested reinforcements, senator Shesh was able to deliver a persuasive argument on how diverting defense from other shipyards would leave Kuat and Bilbringi open to attack, and the Quarren senator Pwoe reminded the council of the false alerts which Randa the Hutt had broadcast from Duro. Fey'lya ultimately left the planet undefended, save for the Mon Calamari cruiser Poesy under Commander Mabettye and Admiral Darez Wuht's Defense Force. However, Wuht ordered Mabettye to stand down and guard the orbital cities following Lah's broadcast. Refugees were attacked upon the ground and in space whilst the Warmaster established his beachhead. Leia Organa Solo tried to evacuate the refugees on the ground, though Lah was already collecting a mob of captives to be incinerated along with machinery in a fire-pit dug into the rotten surface of the planet. Organa Solo was captured by Lah's forces and interrogated by the Warmaster himself. Lah revealed the extent of the Yuuzhan Vong's plans, including the destruction of the orbital cities, the sacrifice of the refugees and the impending march on Coruscant. This information, reported clandestinely to Admiral Wuht, galvanized the Duro Defense Force into action, and during the skirmish near the orbital city of Orr-Om, Anakin Solo was able to destroy the ychna in his X-wing. However, many continued to die on the surface, among them the Hutt Randa Besadii Diori, who sacrificed himself in vain to give Organa Solo a chance to escape. Refugees were pushed into the fire-pit in scores. Amidst the chaos of the surface battle, Jacen Solo renounced his avoidance of the Jedi ways and went to his mother's defense. Bursting into her office and using his innate communion with the Force, he created a maelstrom of objects and used them to defeat the warriors torturing his mother, and knock the Warmaster out of a high window to the ground below, ruining Tsavong Lah's leg. It was a slight victory, for in space Orr-Om was finally destroyed and fell out of orbit&mdash;the other cities were suddenly assaulted by the Warmaster's massed forces as he committed them to the attack. Several were dragged down by dovin basals. At least one was rammed by a massive coral vessel, and Bburru was splintered by explosions before being dragged down into Duro's orbit. Eventually, only Urrdorf escaped, protected by Admiral Wuht and his forces, and carrying the Duros High House&mdash;infiltrated by at least one spy. The Poesy was destroyed over the planet, though a cargo-hauler carrying thousands of refugees led by Han Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon managed to flee the system, and the quasi-Jedi Uldir Lochett rescued three extravehicular pilots during the intense space battle. The CorDuro collaborators, along with vice-director Brarun, were sacrificed to Yun'o by means of Tu-Scart. Duro itself was remodelled both by the invaders and the captured refugees; testament to the enormous capacity the Yuuzhan Vong had for bio-technology and terraforming, and would see two further conflicts before the war had ended. However, the latest battlefield saw the implementation of a new strategy by the Warmaster, one which would eventually shape the direction and final outcome of the war. Still seething from his encounter with Jacen Solo and his mother, Lah called for the citizens of the galaxy to relinquish their Jedi, to give over the Force-wielders as never before, and in return the invasion would cease.

RECOVERY

The persecution of the Jedi
"We will content ourselves with Duro, if you will help us make one final sacrifice. Give us your Jeedai. All of them without exception. Any species, any age, any stage of training. Hold them back, hide them, and you will see how your worlds will be treated."

- Tsavong Lah

Many in the galaxy readily complied with the ultimatum, as the Yuuzhan Vong's advance appeared to have ceased. Seeing the Jedi as threats living among them, a persecution of the Force-wielders began, gradually at first, before rising with the continued inactivity of the Yuuzhan Vong fleets. In reality, the invaders were only consolidating their positions and amassing their resources. A list of names was propagated by the Peace Brigade, and soon Jedi were being assaulted, captured and turned over to the Yuuzhan Vong. On Ando, in the city of Imthitill, an Aqualish mob killed the Khommite Jedi Knight Dorsk 82 along with thousands of other droids in an attempt to appease the invaders who had set foot upon the planet's surface. Uldir Lochett, who had never completed his Jedi training, narrowly avoided a Peace Brigade ambush, and the Devaron government attempted to appease the Yuuzhan Vong by handing over the Devaronian Jedi Hivrekh'wao'cheklev, though he was able to escape. Others were not so lucky, such as the Etti Jedi Knight Seyyerin Itoklo, who was killed during this dangerous time. On Cujicor, Peace Brigade operatives captured the Twi'lek Jedi Swilja Fenn and turned her over to the Warmaster himself. However, these deaths were only preliminaries in a concerted attack against the New Jedi Order which left Skywalker's Jedi reeling. The persecution of the Jedi may have been carried out by Peace Brigaders and paranoid citizens, but it was aided and abetted by those in highest office. The purge of Jedi soon provoked a schism in the New Jedi Order, with Kyp Durron, Octa Ramis and others advocating a ‘Jedi for Jedi’ response and cohesive direct action against the Yuuzhan Vong. Master Skywalker continued to search the Force for answers, though the persecution eventually reached the Jedi at their Praxeum on Yavin IV.

The destruction of the Jedi Praxeum
Chief of State Fey'lya supported the truce with the Yuuzhan Vong. It allowed the New Republic a chance to recuperate, and the invaders' advance had seemingly halted at Duro. The Yuuzhan Vong had informed him that they would be present at Yavin extracting water from the asteroid Stroiketcy, though he knew full well that they were searching for the Praxeum on Yavin 4. As the planet was not a member of the New Republic, it warranted no defense, and Fey'lya did not see fit to warn Skywalker of the impending danger his trainees faced. In fact, the New Republic government in part viewed the Jedi as responsible for provoking the invasion and aggravating the Yuuzhan Vong, backing up these claims by citing Kyp Durron's and Jacen Solo's actions. Skywalker was forced to ask Talon Karrde and Booster Terrik to safely transfer his students to another location. However, scouts of the collaborators working alongside the Yuuzhan Vong finally discovered the academy on Yavin IV, which had until then been hidden by a Force-illusion.

Thus, a motley fleet of Peace Brigade vessels emerged over Yavin IV in the latter months of 26 ABY. The flotilla of thirteen ships was led by the former Imperial and New Republic soldier Imsatad, and landed on the jungle moon following a brief skirmish with Anakin Solo's X-wing. Other than the children and apprentices, only Masters Kam and Tionne Solusar and Ikrit were present on the jungle moon, with no ships with which to evacuate the planet. Talon Karrde and his vessels were still some hours away, with Terrik still in Hutt Space unlocated, and as such the Jedi were relatively defenseless. Anakin Solo attempted to delay the Peace Brigaders while the Solusars led some of the children to safety, but was forced along with Ikrit to care for several others; his friend Tahiri Veila, the Melodie Sannah and Corran Horn's son, Valin. Although they were able to commandeer a Peace Brigade ship and subdue its pilot, Remis Vehn, the collaborators were soon onto them. Master Ikrit was killed during the pursuit, and Tahiri lost, later captured by the Brigaders. Talon Karrde managed to fool Imsatad and land his forces on the moon, rescuing the Solusars and the Jedi trainees. He was able to call in the remainder of his flotilla and lead the fight against Imsatad's forces. However, their negotiations over the safety of the Jedi remaining on the surface degenerated into a stand-off, eventually interrupted a week later by the arrival of a large Yuuzhan Vong force. Meanwhile, Anakin, Sannah and Valin remained on the planet, cut off from aid. Luke Skywalker petitioned Chief of State Fey'lya for aid, but was rebuffed, and told that if he or any Jedi entered the system, they would be arrested.

Creating a Yuuzhan Vong Jedi
"They will not break your Jedi; they will reshape her."

- Vua Rapuung to Anakin Solo

The Yuuzhan Vong who led the fleet, Commander Tsaak Vootuh, had brought his forces to capture the Jedi, unaware that the Peace Brigade had attempted to curry favor by taking the Praxeum hostage themselves. When he learned that Imsatad and his forces had allowed the Jedi to escape, Vootuh swiftly had the Brigaders executed and their ships wiped out. With Karrde's forces skulking at the outskirts of the system, he prosecuted an invasion of Yavin IV. Supreme Overlord Shimmrra himself had given the shapers orders, in particular the often heretical Domain Kwaad, to study a Jedi and mold one to their needs. Master Shapers Yal Phaath and Mezhan Kwaad, along with the Initiate Nen Yim, arrived on the planet with many others of their caste to oversee the shaping of the Jedi, in this case the captured Tahiri Veila. The Great Temple, built by the Massassi for the Sith Lord Naga Sadow over five thousand years before, was crushed to make room for five expansive shaper damuteks. Search parties were dispatched to locate Anakin Solo, though Field Commander Sinan Mat and his forces met their deaths at the hands of the young Jedi, on his quest to rescue his friend. Sannah and Valin Horn were meanwhile safe with Remis Vehn and Yavin IV's hermitic inhabitant, the ex-Imperial pilot Qorl. In events which were to have a profound affect on the outcome of the war, Anakin Solo was aided by the most unlikely of allies, the Yuuzhan Vong warrior Vua Rapuung. Rapuung had sacrilegiously had an affair with Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad, and she had afflicted him with the marks of a Shamed One when he had ended their relationship and learned of her heresy. To regain his honour, Rapuung allied himself with Solo in his own quest; to confront the Master Shaper. "The new project awaits me, a shaping which will end this Jeedai threat forever."

- Master Shaper Yal Phaath on the voxyn project.

The shaping of Tahiri Veila continued, bordering heretical margins as it did so. Yet, in their interrogation of the Peace Brigade members from Imsatad's forces and information subsequently provided by Senator Shesh, Vootuh and Yal Phaath had learned of the vornskrs and the ysalamari, two creatures native to the conquered world of Myrkr. Phaath was withdrawn from the project on Yavin IV to create the voxyn, creatures bred from vornskrs and the Yuuzhan Vong fero xyn and designed specifically to hunt and kill Jedi. The project initially saw several setbacks, as Phaath refused to violate the Shaping Protocols which governed his caste, though eventually a prize specimen was created, from which all others were cloned. Karrde allowed Phaath's warship to leave the system as it was heavily escorted. The Master Shaper's absence allowed Kwaad and Nen Yim to shape Veila according to their needs, though Commander Vootuh had them closely observed. The began to mould Tahiri into Riina Kwaad, implanting memories into her brain. However, the Yuuzhan Vong sent to patrol the forests were unable to prevent the gradual approach of Rapuung and Solo, who eventually infiltrated the damuteks. The young Jedi Knight acted as a captive slave, and the Yuuzhan Vong warrior continued to carry out the duties of a Shamed One. Among the Shamed with whom he worked, Anakin Solo learned from one, Uunu, that rumors had spread among her caste that the Jedi were ordained by Yun'o and were the saviours of the Shamed.

The portentous partnership
"Many feel that Vua Rapuung was redeemed from Shamed status by the Jeedai Solo. Many fell their own redemption lies not in prayer to Yun-Shuno, but in the Jeedai."

- Nen Yim

As Tahiri was transformed into Riina Kwaad, Vootuh infiltrated the Initiate Tsun Qel into the shaping process to observe and report back on the heresy taking place. Yal Phaath distracted Kwaad, and Nen Yim soon revealed that she and her master were disobeying the protocols. Commander Vootuh had the two shapers taken into custody, but his personal guard was soon attacked by Solo and Rapuung. As the Commander led the heretics and Veila to his shuttle, the young Jedi Knight and his ally fought their way through the guards. On the ramp of the Commander's shuttle in the main square of the damutek, surrounded by Shamed Ones, shapers and warriors alike, the two groups confronted one another. Though Rapuung was wounded by his brethren, he demanded that Mezhan Kwaad reveal her heresy and the truth. The Master Shaper did so, before murdering Tsaak Vootuh and several of his guards, claiming that Shimmrra ordained her heresy, though Tahiri was able to regain some semblance of her former self and decapitated Kwaad with Anakin Solo's lightsaber. What transpired following the Master Shaper's death was told and re-told, forming the basic legend of the Jeedai heresy. Vua Rapuung stood before his fellow warriors; his status regained, and attacked them, giving his life in order to grant Anakin and Tahiri enough time to escape. They were eventually rescued by Vehn and Qorl while Talon Karrde engaged the Yuuzhan Vong forces in space. Vootuh's forces dedicated a cruiser to re-capturing Vehn's freighter with the four Jedi still on board, unwilling to allow Tahiri to escape, though the majority engaged Karrde's ships. The Idiot's Array and Demise were both destroyed and the Etherway disabled, and soon only Karrde was fighting on alone aboard his personal vessel, although in its death throes the Idiot's Array had destroyed a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser. The arrival of Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer, the Errant Venture, from Hutt space, along with Corran Horn and Jacen and Jaina Solo in X-wings, turned the tide of the battle in the Jedi's favor. After hours of fighting the Yuuzhan Vong retreated. Terrik destroyed the damuteks on the moon and the slaves were freed.

From then on, the Jedi Praxeum went mobile, remaining on the Errant Venture and other secret bases until the war's end. Shortly afterwards, Luke Skywalker would create the Great River network in order to keep the Jedi safe from its enemies and persecution. The ramifications for the Yuuzhan Vong were far more serious. Warmaster Tsavong Lah arrived on Yavin IV shortly after Karrde, Terrik and the Jedi had left, and questioned Nen Yim, who had survived the chaos, on what had occurred. Although the young Yuuzhan Vong was a heretic, Supreme Overlord Shimmrra's hand moved in the Adept's destiny and instead of being executed she was allowed to return to the Koros-Strohna along with Domain Kwaad in order to preserve the ailing vessels. When he learned of the heretical whispers which had begun to circulate among the Shamed Ones, Lah ordered every member of the caste on the moon executed. However, as Nen Yim guessed, rumors escaped the slaughter and spread among the Shamed; that Vua Rapuung had been redeemed by a Jedi, and that the Jedi were the caste's salvation. The Jeedai heresy had begun.

EMISSARIES OF THE VOID Uldir arched an eyebrow. That was surprising. "They're a collaborationist organization," he told her. "They figure we can't beat the Yuuzhan Vong, so they might as well join them, get in their good graces while it's still possible. Sometimes they infiltrate local law enforcement." Klin-Fa snorted. "Nobody in the Corporate Authority ever needed prompting when there was any potential for profit, and the 'zecs don't deal with middle-men unless they have to. There's a Yuuzhan Vong executor on this planet even as we speak. I'm guessing the 'zecs cut their own deal." The Yuuzhan Vong watched her go, black eyes glittering with hatred. "Jeedai," he growled. "Your days are drawing to a close." "Not as quickly as yours," she said. Her voice was colder than night on the dark side of an airless moon. The Yuuzhan Vong spat blood. "Your blow was skilled," he said. "I salute you. But you will die. All of your kind will die. Even your own kind has turned against you." The warrior smiled strangely. "It is not your galaxy," he said. "You have merely infested it for a time. We have come to end the infection, in the name of glorious Yun-Yuuzhan."

Battle of Yag'Dhul
"At this moment, our fleet is thinly scattered, more thinly than the infidels know. One misstep now, before the shipwomb again swells our fleet, could be costly indeed."

- Qurang Lah

As Lah felt that galaxy believed his forces had ended the invasion at Duro, he authorized an attack on the Givin homeworld of Yag'Dhul, located at the juncture of the Corellian Trade Spine and the Rimma Trade Route. Conquering Yag'Dhul would give the Warmaster another world within striking distance of the Core, as well as a base with which to threaten Thyferra, where the majority of the Galaxy's healing substance, bacta, was produced.

Raid on the Shipwomb
Gavin Darklighter had attempted to warn the New Republic Senate of what he and Rogue Sqaudron had witnessed at the ruins of Sernpidal. The Yuuzhan Vong had constructed a shipwomb among the remnants of the planet, and were extracting materials from the star to create, among other vessels, a new worldship. With the ancient vessels failing and dying in the void or across uninhabited areas of the galaxy, and Domain Kwaad's efforts to save them useless, a new, modern worldship was required to facilitate the training and upbringing of the next generation of the Yuuzhan Vong. As Quarang Lah revealed to Nom Anor; the Yuuzhan Vong were overstretched and needed to be reinforced. The Sernpidal system was sealed and a constant military presence maintained. And yet, events were to conspire against the invaders; Executor Nom Anor's scheme to attack Yag'Dhul drew the reserves from the shipwomb to the battle, and Sernpidal was left open to a New Republic attack. Unsanctioned by the senate, Admiral Traest Kre'fey, Wedge Antilles and Gavin Darklighter joined with the maverick Jedi Kyp Durron to carry out a raid on the shipwomb. Due to the secretive nature of the plan, the Yuuzhan Vong did not learn of the attack, and the task force was able to enter the system by means of an aged Interdictor. Through Durron's misleading information, the elements of the New Republic Defense Force present believed that the worldship was a gravitic-based superweapon able to swallow planets and stars with colossal dovin basals. Thus Kre'fey's assault was swift and unrelenting. The Ralroost and the other elements of the New Republic force routed the Yuuzhan Vong presence in the system, though several casualties were sustained. The worldship was destroyed unfinished in the lifeless grasp of Sernpidal's ruins. It was a crucial setback for the Yuuzhan Vong, coupled with their failure at Yag'Dhul. The New Republic now realised they would not honor the truce, yet instead of capitalizing on this surprise Yag'Dhul remained unconquered and the worldship destroyed. The Baanu Miir and other ailing vessels across the galaxy slowly deteriorated as their rikyams failed, and thousands of Yuuzhan Vong died unaided as the invasion continued. Sernpidal marked a change in tactics for the New Republic, in that the battle was an assault on Yuuzhan Vong civilians. The 'truce' which had been in operation since Duro was now over, and Tsavong Lah abandoned his dogged pursuit of Jacen Solo and the Millennium Falcon to lead the push on Coruscant.

The razing of New Plympto


Frustrated by the stubborn, Jedi-supplied resistance movement on conquered New Plympto, a planet in the Corellian sector which had a record of partisan violence dating back to the days of the Galactic Empire, the Yuuzhan Vong unleashed a biological agent upon the world which rendered it uninhabitable. Seven million died during the attack, though the resistance leaders, Twi'lek Jedi Knights Alema and Numa Rar, managed to escape the planet with thousands of refugees before its ruination. The razing of New Plympto served once again to aggrieve citizens of the New Republic over the Jedi's actions, as the invaders had intended. It was closely followed by the killing of ten thousand refugees aboard the starliner Nebula Chaser in reprisal for its sheltering of the Rar sisters; the first in a new series of massacres of innocents which drove a wedge between the Jedi and the government; again, in return for giving up the location of the Jedi base, citizens were promised the sparing of many more lives.

Elimination of the Jedi
The Peace Brigade, an organization of galactic beings that supported Yuuzhan Vong operations, was formed through Yuuzhan Vong agents. This organization also helped the Yuuzhan Vong capture Jedi. On Yavin 4, Yuuzhan Vong of the oppressed Shamed Ones came to admire the Jedi after a shamed Vong Vua Rapuung helped Anakin rescue Tahiri Veila, and Anakin helped Vua Rapuung gain redemption. As a result, a heresy was formed that infiltrated all the levels of Yuuzhan Vong society, particularly the underclass

Myrkr
With Coruscant rapidly becoming surrounded, the Yuuzhan Vong created the fearsome voxyn beasts that hunted Force-sensitive individuals. A Jedi strike team led by Anakin that consisted of Jedi like the Solo twins, Tenel Ka, and Zekk went to Myrkr and destroyed the voxyn breeding facility, though most of the team was slain. Anakin himself died while covering the retreat of the remaining Jedi after his body overflowed with the Force.

The Fall of Coruscant
The Yuuzhan Vong captured Coruscant after a long battle, which saw the suicide-sacrifice of Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, and had it Vongformed, renaming it Yuuzhan'tar.

Respite
"The end of the world. Who'd've thought we'd live to see it?"

- Han Solo

With the capture of Coruscant, the New Republic was thrown into disarray. Although localized victories were scored in the Hapes Cluster and other areas, the Vong fanned out throughout the galaxy, taking worlds almost at will. Planets that were not conquered outright often capitulated, or collapsed internally due to the efforts of collaborators. At this time, the Vong controlled most of the Core, the Inner Rim, and the galactic eastern area of the Mid and Outer Rims.

Deadly balance
The New Republic was reduced to a wedge of the southwest outer Rim, a small pocket connecting Kashyyyk and Mon Calamari, the Deep Core, and other minor areas. With its numbers shrinking from the past years at war, the New Republic now was being faced with unified forces as their enemies conquered more planets. However, the Vong also began to experience internal difficulties, as the stress of gaining an Empire so large and so quickly, as well as reduced military strength, began to take its toll.

Rejuvenation


"Do not assume I am a fool! You have won your victories by sending your troops over a rampart of our own dead!"

- Shimrra Jamaane

Obroa-skai revisited
Supreme Commander Komm Kharsh had held his fleet in reserve as per his orders from Shimmrra. When the Surpeme Overlord arrived on the reincarnation of Yuuzhan'tar, Komm Kharsh's fleet was not far behind. However, New Republic Intelligence had learnt that the fleet was carrying Shimmrra himself, and therefore, utilizing the new technology developed since the loss of Coruscant, a New Republic force under General Farlander struck at the Yuuzhan Vong over Obroa-skai.

Exploiting divisions
"There are three ways to destroy your enemy. The first, and most obvious, is to better him in a trial of force. The best way is to have him destroy himself…The middle way is to destroy your enemy from within. Judicious application of the middle way shall make your blows more effective if you later take the way of force. From the middle way it is also possible to push your enemy on the path of self-destruction."

- The fifty-forth Emperor of Atrisia, Uueg Tching

At some point prior to his disappearance, Nom Anor had advocated to the Yuuzhan Vong High Command the tactics he had used prior to the Praetorite Vong's invasion, most notably during the Osarian-Rhommamool conflict, to be continued, and utilized in further destabilizing the New Republic. The communication blackouts which had plagued the infrastructure of the New Republic had, by 28 ABY, been present in some areas for two years. Although Anor had fled the ranks of the Yuuzhan Vong to seek shelter in the underbelly of Yuuzhan'tar, where he began to take control of the stirring Jeedai heresy, the Elite decided to continue to prosecute such a strategy. By sowing discord and exploiting tensions, in its infancy the Galactic Alliance could be destroyed from within. The penultimate year of the war saw the fruits of the implementation of this tactic, along with attempts, some successful and others not, to swiftly eliminate further potential threats to the newly-christened Yuuzhan Vong Empire, and gain slaves for use in the drone armies they increasingly needed to utilize in battle instead of the depleted Warrior caste. In the opening stages of the strategy, the planet Rutan and its rivals on its moon Senali had been divided by the Peace Brigade before being enslaved or wiped out by the Yuuzhan Vong. On Belderone, tensions between the Belderonians and the Firrerreo had been exploited and the planet conquered. The Yuuzhan Vong were also rumoured to have utilized the same strategies in the Senex and Juvex Sectors.

The razing of Barab I
"If anyone can hear this broadcast, please respond. Anyone."

- Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne attempts to contact a burning Barab I.

Three months before their invasion of the Imperial Remnant, the Yuuzhan Vong rendered Barab I, a planet in the Albanin Sector, a molten wasteland. The homeworld of the Barabels was razed; its spaceport of Alater-ka reduced to a crater, its seas boiled and shenbit plains turned into endless fields of lava. Although due to their accustomed manner of hibernating underground during the day a remnant of the planet’s populace was able to seek safety in their caverns, thus surviving the attack which devastated the surface above them, the Yuuzhan Vong managed to load much of the planet’s population onto a slaveship, mistakenly destroyed by returning Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne. The death of thousands of Barabels among the stars, and an untold number on the surface of the planet, drastically thinned the population.

Assault on the Remnant
"Anyone with half a brain should have seen the flaw in the reasoning that, if we hadn’t been attacked yet, we were unlikely to be attacked at all. Our refusal to join with the rest of the galaxy didn’t make us safe. That type of logic didn’t work for the Hutts, so why should it have worked for us?"

- Captain Arien Yage of the Widowmaker

The Imperial Remnant had been bypassed in the opening stages of the invasion, with the New Republic deemed to be the major threat at the time. Although Nom Anor had spoken of the Empire in its former glory and the danger it would have represented, the Yuuzhan Vong ignored the Remnant in the first three years of the war. Yet, under the command of Supreme Commander Pellaeon and later Vice Admiral Poinard (two men who represented the minority of Imperial officers who were willing to confront the inevitability of the invasion), the Remnant had fought at Garqi, Ithor, Exodo II and Ord Mantell, as well as providing hyperspace routes through the Core which enabled the New Republic to trap and defeat Tsavong Lah at Ebaq 9. Through these actions they had proven themselves adept adversaries, and thus it was expected by both the Yuuzhan Vong and the Remnant that a full invasion would eventually be prosecuted. In 28 ABY, Pellaeon was proved correct. Kashyyyk, an increasingly isolated and threatened Galactic Alliance stronghold, was for the moment ignored, and the Chiss, up until then harried by Yuuzhan Vong forces, were also momentarily left alone. Treated as an afterthought to be rapidly addressed, and already infiltrated by disguised Yuuzhan Vong or collaborative spies, the Remnant was now assaulted. It warranted only the attention of the hirtherto unseen commander B'shith Vorrik, whose fleet was nevertheless easily large enough to realise his objectives; wiping out the Imperial Starfleet and the Yaga Minor shipyards, taking slaves where possible and eliminating the last vestiges of the Empire, before re-committing his forces elsewhere.



The invasion caught the Imperials off-guard, as according to their spies the approaching fleet was preparing to strike the Empire of the Hand at Nirauan. When Vorrik’s fleet, led by the great cruiser Kur-hashan, first appeared at and attacked the Imperial capital of Bastion, the Imperials under Grand Admiral Pellaeon beat them back. In truth, Vorrik was only investigating weak points in the Imperial defense. His forces retreated and the Remnant assumed the Yuuzhan Vong were on the run, but the commander unleashed thousands of grutchins, sending the poorly prepared Imperial Starfleet into disarray. The Star Destroyer Chimaera, one of the only vessels to respond adequately to the sudden attack, and its twin ship the Superior fought a rearguard action as Bastion’s civilian population was evacuated under cover of the still intact planetary shields to Muunilinst, which was subsequently devastated in the second offensive of the two-pronged Yuuzhan Vong attack. At Bastion, a heavy toll was exacted on Vorrik’s fleet, although eventually the Superior was destroyed and the Chimaera crippled; the extraction of thousands of slaves from the planet was also unpreventable. Pellaeon was presumed dead in the battle, as while his command was fighting alone against the vastly superior numbers of Vorrik's forces the command bridge of the aged Star Destroyer was destroyed by a suicidal coralskipper. The Imperial fleet regrouped at Moff Kurlen Flennic's personal holding of Yaga Minor, the strategically positioned, heavily fortified neighbour of the ruined Muunilinst. During the Imperials' absence from their capital, Bastion was laid to ruin. The assault on the Remnant caused the Galactic Alliance grave concern; the Chiss were already having to repel incursions and if the Empire fell the Yuuzhan Vong would have a clear path into the Unknown Regions; commander Ekh'm Val's forces and his own search for Zonama Sekot were unbeknownst to them. Believing that the Yuuzhan Vong were now stretched across an even greater number of military theaters, Chief of State Omas ordered Sovv to step up the guerrilla warfare, though Jedi liaison officer Kenth Hamner realised that Omas was far more worried by the invasion of the Remnant than he let on.

"The Yuuzhan Vong are stretched to the limit right now. Thanks to our hit and run campaigns, the forces they've assembled to knock out the Empire are badly needed elsewhere. They can't afford to commit here for too long. Knocking out your fleet quickly is their top priority. Wherever it is, they'll go."

- Jacen Solo to Moff Kurlen Flennic.

Only the cooperation between Luke Skywalker's Zonama Sekot search party, which had happened upon the Battle of Bastion, and Pellaeon's loyalist captain Arien Yage of the Widowmaker, delayed Moff Flennic's plans. Following Pellaeon's unknown status, Flennic was now in the position to command the Imperial Starfleet, and advocated an all-out defense of Yaga Minor which would have dissolved into a pitched battle with Vorrik's forces; a battle which would have seen the Remnant doubtlessly defeated and the Yaga Minor shipyards destroyed. Once those two objectives had been achieved, Vorrik could return to the main theaters of conflict. However, Grand Admiral Pellaeon's life was saved by the Jedi healer Tekli, and the Supreme Commander ordered Flennic to call for a stand to be held at Borosk, where the Yuuzhan Vong could be tied down and possibly defeated. Thus Yaga Minor would be spared a full-on assault and the Remnant would remain capable of re-joining the war.

At Borosk, B'shith Vorrik's fleet was ultimately defeated. The world was better defended than any other in the Remnant, being as it was located on the border with the New Republic. Commanding from a bacta tank aboard the Widowmaker, Grand Admiral Pellaeon had arrayed his nine Star Destroyers in strategic positions throughout the system, with four committed to the battle and five to the defense of the world. Vorrik, in turn, had two prongs of an attacking force, each boasting three carriers, a battleship, and numerous cruisers and support analogs. His reserve force of five cruisers and destroyers, along with interdictors and a filled slaveship, provided him with numerical superiority, enough so that the engorged slaveship was primed and ready to raid Borosk. Yet the Yuuzhan Vong commander was disadvantaged by Jedi Knight Jacen Solo's smashing of his spy ring aboard the Imperial Starfleet; as Pellaeon's forces retreated from all four fronts throughout the system back towards Borosk, Vorrik's fleet approached the minefield dispersed in orbit over the planet.

Observing the retreat of the Imperials, Vorrik broadcast an ultimatum for surrender, demanding also that the Jedi among the Imperials were to be given over to his forces. Vorrik had been alerted to the presence of Jedi when a masterful surgical strike had been launched on the slaveship at the rear of his fleet by the aged Katana fleet Dreadnaught Braxant Brave, and the commander was infuriated by the re-capture of those whom he had thought of as his slaves. In the face of this triumph, however, Pellaeon's forces had suffered at the hands of Vorrik's larger fleet, the battle groups of the Star Destroyers Stalwart and Protector taking heavy losses. The Yuuzhan Vong breached the minefield at one point during the battle, but the tide turned when Captain Essenton led the Defiant into the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships, where a yammosk had been located by Skywalker's party. Attacks upon the cruiser had until then been unsuccessful, but with a Gravitic amplitude modulator (GAM) installed upon the Defiant, Essenton jammed the war coordinator's signals and tore a hole in the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, before attacking another yammosk-bearing warship. Vorrik called for a retreat, having failed in his directives, but not before contacting Pellaeon to threaten the Imperials with destruction.

It would not come to pass; the invasion of the Imperial Remnant had failed. In recompense for his losses at Borosk, Vorrik attempted to knock out the shipyards at Yaga Minor, but Moff Flennic was able to stave off the attack until reinforcements arrived from Borosk. Another victory was scored at Yaga Minor, however. Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya, lost to the galaxy for so many years, used the distraction of the Yuuzhan Vong attack to steal samples of baffor tree pollen from the world in order to facilitate the creation of her own bio-weapon for use against the invaders. ADD INFO ON IMPERIAL REMNANT & Hreven Karsh Following Yaga Minor, Vorrik's forces left the Remnant to take the fight back to the Galactic Alliance. However, his failure to achieve the destruction of the Imperials weighed heavy on the Yuuzhan Vong. Throughout the remainder of the war, Pellaeon led his forces alongside those of Sien Sovv and Galactic Alliance command.

Yevetha, no more
"There is nowhere to run. The galaxy belongs only to those who had the power to destroy our once-mighty race!"

- The last Yevethan, prior to his suicide.



The Yevetha had posed a great threat to the New Republic during the Black Fleet Crisis. Under the leadership of Darama Nil Spaar, the Duskhan League had practised genocide and attempted to cleanse the Koornacht Cluster of other races who, much like the Yuuzhan Vong, they perceived as infidels. Chief of State Organa Solo had then prosecuted a war against the Yevetha for their actions, and the New Republic only emerged victorious due to the timely intervention of Imperial prisoners who had infiltrated the command structure of the Yevethan fleet. In the twelve years following their ignominious defeat at their desert homeworld of N'zoth, the Yevetha had rebuilt their fleets of thrustships, in preparation for a new age of military expansion. The Yuuzhan Vong, however, had learned of the threat posed by such a race as the Yevetha, and did not wish to see their nascent Empire besieged by a species so similar in their tenacity, conviction and brutality. The Fia of Galantos, a neighbouring world of the Koornacht cluster once threatened by the xenophobic Yevetha, had been approached by the Peace Brigade, ever the intermediaries of the Yuuzhan Vong, some time before 28 ABY, and Councilor Jobath Knox had struck a deal with the collaborators; in return for resources and information, Galantos would be spared invasion, the Yevethan threat would be eliminated, and the New Republic, as it then was, would not carry out reprisals. Concurrently with the invasion of the Imperial Remnant, in possession of detailed intelligence on the Yevetha provided by the naïve Fia, the Yuuzhan Vong struck against an unprepared foe, eradicating the two Yevethan fleets in orbit around N'zoth. Dozens of capital ships, over a thousand thrustships, along with a battlestation and shipyard complex, all unversed in warfare against the extra-galactic invaders, were destroyed over the Yevethan homeworld. The surface of N'zoth was pulverized by the falling debris and further bombarded by the Yuuzhan Vong, resulting in the eradication of all life on the planet. A trio of Galactic Alliance scouts reconnoitred the system, led by Jaina Solo, and bore witness to the suicide of the final Yevetha, an injured warrior who detonated his thrustship's drives, killing one of the GA pilots in order to ensure the Yevetha were remembered as a race of warriors until the end. With his death, the species became extinct.

Assault on Galantos
The Fia, although they had respected their side of the bargain, had severely underestimated the content of their deal with the Yuuzhan Vong and their intermediaries. Councilor Knox, in his talks with the invaders, had assumed their request for resources had referred to the bountiful minerals which could be harvested from the planet. When two slaveships and their escorts appeared above the planet, Galantos was a practically defenseless target. Fortunately for the Fia, the Galactic Alliance frigate Pride of Selonia, on its mission to discover the reason behind the communications blackout which had left Galantos silent for the past two years, was present along with the Millenium Falcon and Twins Suns Squadron, later reinforced by the Galantos Guard, captained by the Fia Syrtik. The yammosk coordinating the force was jammed by Captain Todra Mayn and her crew aboard the Pride of Selonia. With this combined strength the Yuuzhan Vong force was repulsed. Councilor Knox subsequently declared Galantos' loyalty to the Galactic Alliance.

The Sekot Accords
After the cease-fire, the remaining Yuuzhan Vong were recalled from across the galaxy to Zonama. Zonama, with its Yuuzhan Vong, disappeared back into the Unknown Regions, so that the Vong could live in peace and renew their relationship with Sekot. They planned to abolish their caste system and eliminated the posts of Warmaster and Supreme Overlord, although Choka seemed to remain their de facto leader. A few dozen shapers remained behind on Coruscant to assist in the rebuilding, and scattered Yuuzhan Vong forces in outlying portions of the galaxy refused Choka's call to surrender, and continued fighting for at least several more months.

Restructuring
The Galactic Alliance moved its temporary capital to Denon, and eventually went back to Coruscant after the rebuilding was complete.

Resentment
Many Bothans, however, were unforgiving for the death of Fey'lya, and refused to end their state of ar'krai genocide against the Yuuzhan Vong, sending ships into the Unknown Regions to hunt for Zonama. By 36 ABY, however, their primary efforts had been foiled by the Alliance, which had impounded the ships detailed for the expedition.

Peace Brigade
"They figure we can't beat the Yuuzhan Vong, so they might as well join them, get in their good graces while it's still possible."

- Uldir Lochett

Behind the scenes
The war originally spanned five years, from 25 to 30 ABY. The timelines presented in each of the novels, as well as comments in The Unifying Force, supported this. However, following the end of the series, it was retconned to have taken place across only four years.

Rathalay, Grant info

Appearances

 * Boba Fett: A Practical Man
 * Vector Prime
 * Star Wars: Chewbacca
 * Revenants
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Balance Point
 * Recovery
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Emissary of the Void
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * The Apprentice
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * Equals and Opposites
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Betrayal
 * Bloodlines
 * Tempest
 * Sacrifice
 * Inferno
 * Fury
 * Revelation
 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1