War against Zakuul

Next	Battle for Iokath
Revolt against the Eternal Empire
Beginning	3632 BBY
End	c. 3630 BBY
Place	The galaxy
Outcome	Alliance victory Death of Vaylin and Vitiate Reformation of the Alliance and Eternal Empire into the Eternal Alliance Galactic Republic and Sith Empire prepare for war
Major battles	Rescue of the Outlander Battle of Asylum Raid on Darvannis Battle of Odessen Invasion of Voss Assault on the Gravestone Grand Festival of Empress Vaylin Assault on Odessen Battle of Zakuul
Combatants
Eternal Empire
Alliance Mandalorians Sith Empire
Commanders
Emperor Arcann (†) Empress Vaylin † SCORPIO (†)
The Outlander Lana Beniko Theron Shan Senya Tirall Koth Vortena Juvard Illip Oggurobb Hylo Visz Sana-Rae Admiral Bey'wan Aygo Mandalore the Avenger Empress Acina

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In 3632 BBY, the Eternal Empire's rule of the galaxy was challenged by a figure known as the Outlander, who had been imprisoned in carbonite since before the Empire's conquest of both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Freed from the Eternal Empire's clutches by a small group of allies, the Outlander—accused of murdering the Immortal Emperor Valkorion by Valkorion's own son Arcann—went on the run from Arcann's forces, uncovering the legendary starship known as the Gravestone and gaining allies. After the Outlander's forces were able to cover the retreat of the populace of Asylum at Battle of Asylum with little losses, rogue elements from both the Republic and the Sith Empire joined the Outlander's cause, forming the Alliance on the planet Odessen and dedicating themselves to toppling Arcann's rule.

Origins

"People of Zakuul. The unthinkable has happened. Our beloved Emperor, Valkorion, is dead—murdered by an Outlander who sought to shake the foundations of our great society. The assassin will receive swift and just punishment. And this act of unprovoked aggression will be answered. As your new Emperor, I can promise you this: Zakuul's enemies will face the full power of the Eternal Throne. They will answer for their warmongering ways. And every last one of the Core Worlds will burn."

―Arcann addresses Zakuul, declaring war on the rest of the galaxy

In the aftermath of his father's death in 3637 BBY, Arcann seized control of the Eternal Empire and launched a devastating assault on the forces of the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire. Attacking both sides at once, the Eternal Empire's forces had achieved naval superiority over both sides after three months, and by the end of the first year, both Coruscant and Dromund Kaas had been blockaded by the Eternal Fleet. The Dark Council continued to fight, but without Darth Marr leading them, they were quickly destroyed. Leontyne Saresh, then Supreme Chancellor, refused to submit the Republic to Zakuulan authority, and waged war against both the Eternal and Sith Empires at the cost of millions of Republic lives. The Galactic Senate managed to overrule her and sued for peace. Similarly, the Minister of Logistics did the same for the Sith Empire.

Following negotiations between Zakuul and the defeated powers, Arcann agreed to a ceasefire, with both sides forced to agree to pay a heavy tribute to Zakuul, and submit to armament restrictions. In the years that followed, the Republic and Sith Empire continued to wage war against each other, with Arcann showing no interest in intervening, provided that the tribute is paid and they continued to acknowledge Zakuul's superiority. Saresh was removed from power by the Senate, but continued to control the Republic through a carefully chosen puppet Chancellor by the name of Jebevel Madon. With all members of the Dark Council dead or in hiding following the war with Zakuul, its last visible member, Acina, declared herself Empress of the Sith.

Instead of leaving armies to control his new holdings, Arcann deployed hundreds of massive battle stations known as Star Fortresses in orbit above key worlds, including Alderaan, Voss, Belsavis, and Bothawui among others. These massive stations, commanded by the Exarchs, powerful Knights of Zakuul with biological and cybernetic upgrades, were used to discourage resistance against the Eternal Empire.

History

Sparking Rebellion

Rescuing the Outlander

Lana Beniko, a key figure in organizing the revolt

With the Eternal Empire holding the Republic and Empire in a stranglehold, slowly depriving the two powers of supplies and resources, Lana Beniko - the former minister of Sith Intelligence - decided that something needed to be done, so she travelled into Wild Space with her personal bodyguard droid HK-55 in search of the figure known as the Outlander, hoping to learn their fate. Along the way, she recruited a former member of the Zakuulan military, Koth Vortena, for help in liberating the Outlander. Lana would eventually learn of the Outlander's location deep within the Spire and soon developed a plan to liberate the last hope of the galaxy.

With help from Koth, HK-55, and T7-O1 - former companion to the Hero of Tython - Lana freed the Outlander from their prison and fled the Spire, with High Justice Vaylin in pursuit. Crash landing in the Endless Swamp surrounding the Spire, the small crew - minus T7-O1, who had remained in the Spire to achieve a secondary objective - located the ancient warship known as the Gravestone, the only ship in the history of Zakuul to stand a chance against the unstoppable Eternal Fleet.

After repairing the Gravestone, the Outlander's team soon found themselves under attack from the forces of the Spire, nearly being overrun by Skytroopers and Knights of Zakuul, only to be saved at the last minute by the intervention of Senya Tirall. As they fled the planet, Koth used the Gravestone's omnicannon on the Eternal Fleet, destroying more than two dozen ships in a single shot. Jumping to hyperspace, the Outlander's team made their way towards Asylum, a shadowport and safe haven for those who oppose Arcann's rule.

Asylum

Having to through deep space without the hyperdrive, due to many of the Gravestone's systems cutting out mid-flight, the group eventually arrived on Asylum, where Koth reunited with his old crew, including Len Parvek and Ralo - a former Republic soldier who served on Darth Marr's flagship five years earlier. After rescuing one of Koth's engineers, Tora, from Tanno Vik and his mercenaries in the Free Zone, the Outlander was led by Senya to the Scions of Zakuul - led by Heskal - a group of prophetic protectors of Zakuul who were hunted to near extinction by Arcann. After being tested by the Scions, the Outlander was forced to duel Heskal, a duel that only ended after Lana and Koth's crew intervened.

Following the fight with Heskal and the Scions, the crew of the Gravestone received a message from the Lady of Sorrows - an information broker on Zakuul - and left for Zakuul's Old World district to find her. While the Outlander was gone, Heskal had a vision of the future and told Arcann that the Outlander was on Asylum, prompting the Emperor to prepare the Fleet for combat before personally travelling to the shadowport.

Following their mission to meet with the Lady of Sorrows - who in reality was the highly advanced droid SCORPIO - the Outlander and Senya returned to Asylum with their new ally. While SCORPIO worked on upgrading the Gravestone, the Outlander went to meet with Heskal in the Scions' hideout. At the same time, Arcann arrived on Asylum and beat the Outlander to the Scions' hideout, allowing him to massacre the group and mortally wound Heskal. A fight broke out between the Outlander and Arcann while the Eternal Fleet bombarded the shadowport. A shuttle crashing into the hideout abruptly ended the fight, leaving Arcann buried under the collapsed building, allowing the Outlander to return to the Gravestone.

The Outlander made their way to Asylum's Control Spar - with assistance from Beniko, Vortena and HK-55 - to unlock docking clamps grounding the frigate - while Senya engaged her daughter. Arcann, who had survived the collapse of the Scions' hideout, pursued the Outlander all the way to the Control Spar, where the two resumed their fight, this time with the Outlander receiving aid from HK-55. After Arcann destroyed HK, the fight ended when the Emperor was thrown from the platform, though he managed to survive the fall. With the Gravestone free, the Outlander's forces fell back to their ship and barely escaped the Eternal Fleet.

The Alliance

"The Battle of Asylum showed the galaxy Zakuul isn't invincible. My contacts in the Core Worlds have thrown their support behind us. Behind you. You're about to become the leader of an alliance dedicated to bringing down the Eternal Throne once and for all."

―Lana Beniko to the Outlander

Though the Eternal Empire took control of Asylum, the battle showed the galaxy that Zakuul was not invincible, and members of the Republic and Sith Empire voiced their interest in an alliance against a common enemy, gathering on the planet Odessen to establish a base.

Upon the arrival of the Outlander, the Alliance got to work building a base out of a cliff face. Once the groundwork was established, the Outlander - who was operating as the Commander of this Alliance - got to work recruiting noteworthy individuals from across the galaxy to add to the efforts of the new faction.

Reports of this new faction spurred others across the galaxy to take action, with resistance fighters gathering on planets under the threat of a Star Fortress. One such resistance cell on Bothawui was making significant progress, prompting the Eternal Empire to demonstrate their power by firing a massive laser from the Star Fortress, wiping out the cell. In response, the Outlander infiltrated one of these Star Fortresses, hoping to deal some damage. Learning valuable information about the inner-workings of the Star Fortresses, the Alliance made contact with resistance fighters on Alderaan, Belsavis, Hoth, Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine and Voss to destroy shield bunkers protecting the sun generators powering the battle stations, and systematically destroyed the Star Fortresses above each of the aforementioned planets.

At the same time, the Eternal Empire continued their search for the Outlander and the Gravestone, only for their searches to continuously come up empty. Growing frustrated with the lack of progress, Arcann ordered Vaylin to have the Eternal Fleet bombard one planet in five different sectors until they were dust, knowing that someone will tell them where their targets are if they give them a reason.

Operations on Zakuul

Anarchy in Paradise

A few months after the formation of the Alliance Theron Shan learned of an anarchist on Zakuul known as Firebrand dedicated to bringing down Arcann's "perfect society". Believing it might be beneficial to bring her into their ranks, Shan brought this information to the Commander, labelling her a potential ally, with Beniko backing him up by noting that she has survived on Zakuul for over two years, as well as being connected to the populace. Deciding that Firebrand was at least worth investigating, the Outlander travelled to Zakuul to meet her.

SCORPIO, using her Lady of Sorrows alias, sent a message to Firebrand offering her high-yield explosives. After being saved from Skytroopers by Shan and the Outlander, Firebrand revealed her true identity as Kaliyo Djannis. As they helped Kaliyo set up some explosives around the Spire the Commander got a better understanding of the workings of Zakuul, in particular, the command centre of the Spire known as the Overwatch, where most of the droids in the Spire's are operated from. Kaliyo explained that the Overwatch was where the Alliance could collect complete schematics of the Spire, which would be crucial should they ever need to raid it.

After invading the commander centre and downloading the schematics, the Outlander soon learned from the Overwatch administrator, Tayvor Slen, that he had sponsored Kaliyo two years earlier to bomb small targets to rid the people of the Spire of their "darker urges." Upon killing Slen, Kaliyo revealed her true plan of disabling the droids that practically ran the city before bombing the Spire, causing mass panic.

After the raid on the Overwatch, the Commander returned the schematics to Odessen and Kaliyo joined their ranks. At the same time, an outraged Arcann had the Knights of Zakuul battle to the death in the duelling circles, effectively halving their ranks.

Havoc Squad

After the raid on the Overwatch, Shan was spending some time analysing the data the Commander had secured and passed some of it through to Jonas Balkar, a member of the SIS, who passed it on to Aric Jorgan, the new commander of Havoc Squad, convincing the Squad to conduct an unsanctioned mission on Zakuul, an act that was essentially treason. With the information Balkar had supplied him with Jorgan was able to organise an operation to plant a wiretap on a planetary transmitter within a Zakuul Knight outpost in the Endless Swamp. Shan and the Commander travelled to the Swamps where they met with Jorgan and the reformed Havoc.

Before they could discuss the operation details however, a small force of Zakuulan droids intervened and forced the Alliance force to separate to ensure their base was not discovered, delaying Jorgan's operation to the following day. As Jorgan and the Commander made their way through the swamps, they were forced to rescue a group of Zakuulan refugees, providing them shelter at their camp.

The next day, the Alliance put their plan into action. In order for Jorgan and the Commander to infiltrate the outpost and plant the wiretap, a sizeable Alliance force travelled to the Swamps and launched a major assault on the outpost, forcing the Knights to move to combat them. While the Commander succeeded in planting the wiretap, the assault was costly for the Alliance, with nearly all of their forces wiped out, only surviving through the intervention of the refugees.

As a result of the refugees actions, Jorgan decided to keep Havoc Squad in the Swamps to train the refugees into a proper fighting force. As soon as the Commander returned to Odessen, they had already started receiving information from the transmitter, making the mission a costly success.

The GEMINI Frequency

Following the operation in the Endless Swamp, SCORPIO was put in charge of monitoring the signals they were receiving from the outpost, and discovered the "GEMINI Frequency", transmissions broadcast from the Eternal Throne to every ship in the Eternal Fleet. With this information in mind, she cross-referenced this information with the schematics of the Spire, revealing a hyperwave relay station ten kilometers beneath the Spire, which she identified as the source of the GEMINI Frequency.

Seeing an opportunity, the Alliance pieced together a plan to infiltrate the relay station. Major Jorgan and Kaliyo both offered to complete the mission, with Jorgan offering to destroy the station while Kaliyo insisted that she could get them control of the Frequency. Once the decision of who would carry out the task was made, the mission began while the Commander consulted Valkorion in the Odessen wilderness for potential information on the Spire. However, they disappeared not long after, forcing the strike team to improvise without them.

By the time the Commander returned - having been attacked and seemingly abandoned by Valkorion and saved by Satele Shan and the ghost of Darth Marr - the strike team had entered sublevel four of the relay station, where they lost contact with Odessen. In response to the team being cut off, other members of the Alliance moved in to support them, completely cutting off Odessen from all of their forces on Zakuul.

Due to Jorgan and Kaliyo being unable to cooperate with each other the strike team was unable to secure the Frequency. While four members of Havoc Squad were killed in the chaos, Kaliyo managed to steal a datacore from a security console outside the relay station, containing a large file archive on the Eternal Empire's droids. This would be the last major Alliance mission on Zakuul for some time.

Appearances

• Template:TOR (First appearance)
• Template:TOR

Notes and references

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