The Showdown on Ruhnuk was a duel between Mandalore the Avenger and Heta Kol on the planet Ruhnuk and the subsequent decisive battle between both their forces which took place during the Third Galactic War.
Prelude[]
After the attack on the Spirit of Vengeance II,[6] Shae Vizla has tasked herself with finding Heta Kol and ending it with either's death. She started going around Mek-Sha and questioning the local Dar'manda leader Indigo[7] who was not involved in the attack but did not deny his organization's involvement as Dar'manda expanded on the level of having multiple leaders with their own way of conducting business while still sending reports to the Alliance of her whereabouts and plans.[8][9] Eventually she tracked Heta to Ruhnuk but was not willing to risk exposure and thus informed the Commander of her discovery and made her way to Odessen for an attack plan.[10]
The Alliance Commander meets with Shae Vizla on Odessen who briefs them on the information she gathered on Heta Kol but was unable to find Heta's past clan affiliations despite her fighting style being Mandalorian. Shae then states that Ruhnuk is where the Hidden Chain operate and she has Jekiah Ordo and her fleet on standby while she, the Commander and Rass Ordo infiltrate Ruhnuk to locate the main base.[11]
The vessel carrying Mandalore, Commander and Rass Ordo approaches Ruhnuk.
Upon arriving on Ruhnuk, the strike team had to make a crash landing as Shae had to evade a probe droid and later embarked on a mission to slice the probe droids and locate where the signal was being sent while Rass prepared the landing zone for reinforcements. Upon reaching a droid workshop, Shae and the Commander located two technicians hired by Dar'manda with one being killed by Shae and the other being dealt with by the Commander but not before the latter technician revealing that the Hidden Chain had a relay station for communications that can cut through interference from the storm. With that Shae and the Commander went back to Rass to ready a new plan.[11]
Mandalore threatens Sa'har Kateen at blasterpoints.
Meanwhile, Rass Ordo had received Mandalorian reinforcements in the form of Akaavi Spar and Torian Cadera just when the Commander and Shae returned whom Rass notified that he may have found a way to locate the relay station and proposed that Shae and the Commander go to the relay station while the rest secure their position. At the relay station, Shae and the Commander confronted Sa'har Kateen, who disappeared after the capture of Darth Malgus on Elom,[12] on a holocall with Ri'kan Kateen. Shae demanded that Sa'har point her to Heta while the Commander attempted to reason with Sa'har on Darth Nul's artifact[10] before Shae opened fire and Sa'har took the opportunity to escape from the duo. Shae and the Commander dealt with the relay station and went to find Heta Kol.[5]
Sa'har Kateen escaped despite the Commander and Mandalore's efforts.
Shae and the Commander entered a compound when Shae decided to have a look around only for the doors to close and the Commander being incapacitated by four sonic weapons by Dar'manda leader Bask Sunn and confronted by Heta Kol, Ri'kan Kateen and a portion of Hidden Chain members. Heta informed that she was aware of the relay station and the Commander's involvement from Sa'har and that his efforts on the Padawan were in vain. Heta continued to admonish the Commander who remained helpless thanks to the sonic disruptors until Shae's arrival who challenged the leader of the Hidden Chain on one-on-one combat to which Heta agreed and escorted Shae to the battle arena while leaving the Commander to Ri'kan who ordered two Dar'manda members to dispose of them.[5]
As the two Dar'manda members were taking the Commander through the compound, they were intercepted by Rass Ordo which allowed both of them to kill the soldiers. The Commander was still recovering from the effects of withstanding four sonic disruptors and told Rass of the situation to which they made their way through the compound and splitting when Rass requested that the Commander oversee the duel while he contacts Jekiah and their fleet.[5]
The battle[]
Heta Kol is presented with her dueling blade.
In the arena with the Hidden Chain as the audience, Heta Kol arrives and begins a speech on a Mandalorian weapon of devastating effect: the banner of Clan Cadera. Heta announces that when Mandalore the Vindicated announced his allegiance to the Sith Empire, Jicoln Cadera and his clan rebelled with Heta's parents being part of the uprising which was inevitably defeated and that the late Mandalore went on to make the Mandalorians into obedient puppets to the Sith just as Shae did with the Alliance,[13] while unaware and ironically that Jicoln and his group wanted to support the Galactic Republic instead. Heta then stated that the banner of Clan Cadera remained as a symbol of shame and a bloody reminder to treachery. Then Heta ends her speech by saying that they were Mandalorians, the greatest warriors in the galaxy, and that they would fight their enemies by destroying the Hidden Chain's obedience to Mandalore to which Heta burned the banner of Clan Cadera.[2]
Shae Vizla is paralyzed by Bask Sunn's sonic weapons.
Heta then announced she would then destroy the Mandalorians by exposing their weakness then calling out to Shae Vizla to come and face her to which Shae loudly expressed her pleasure and named her opponent as "pretender". Both Heta and Shae faced each other and were presented with Beskar short swords to use as their primary weapons, then the arena fell silent as the Hidden Chain began their chant by striking their armor and stomping their feet. The duel began with both fighters utilizing all of their weapons but striking with the Beskar sword. But when Shae managed to gain the upper hand, suddenly she felt almost paralyzed, a secret trick by Bask Sunn with one sonic disruptor, to which Heta took advantage of by pressing the attack with Shae managing to hold off as best as she could.[2]
Jekiah Ordo watches over Mandalore amidst the battle.
Unaware of the Commander's presence who not only saw the duel but witnessed Bask Sunn's treachery and went to confront him. Bask Sunn told the Commander that Heta is not aware of his treachery as he needed Heta to win to earn a huge profit and tried to reason with the Commander to leave the disruptor as is and in return Bask would pull Dar'manda from the Hidden Chain and support the Commander's faction in the war while alerting to the Commander that Heta's fleet has arrived with the Commander responding in kind by alerting Mandalore's fleet. The Commander destroyed the weapon and dealt with Bask which freed Shae and allowed her to overpower Heta and win the duel in sight of the Hidden Chain. But the duel was interrupted with the arrival of both fleets and Shae's Mandalorian reinforcements who took on the Hidden Chain thus beginning the battle.[2]
Loyalists protect the Mandalore while she is incapacitated.
Mandalore the Avenger's forces led by Jekiah Ordo, assisted by Rass Ordo and Akaavi Spar, invade the arena to take on the Hidden Chain while both fleets engage one another in orbit. Jekiah's priority is the protection of Shae Vizla, who is left incapacitated, while taking out the enemy. Meanwhile Torian Cadera moves to assist the Commander against the Hidden Chain and make their way to Shae Vizla's position. Ri'kan attempts to take out the opposition before noticing Rass Ordo's presence citing it as his lucky day to which Rass also acknowledges his enemy. Rass attempts to fend off Ri'kan with his blaster rifle and is initially successful but when the weapon ran out ammo Rass was then wounded by Ri'kan using his large vibrosword which prompts the intervention of the Commander who easily overpowers Ri'kan until Sa'har arrives to save her brother by Force pushing the Commander away only for the two to escape in an Eternal Empire shuttle.[2]
Heta then attempts to finish off Shae, who recovers, and is able to fend off Heta's attacks and manages to land a striking blow to Heta who is forced to retreat in the shuttle with Shae angrily declaring that this was not over. The battle ends with the Hidden Chain escaping Ruhnuk to an undisclosed location leaving only Mandalore's forces in the arena and in orbit and Jekiah ordering the fleet to not pursue the enemy. Jekiah and the Commander rally to Shae Vizla and assist her off Ruhnuk while Torian observes the destroyed banner of Clan Cadera in shock.[2]
Aftermath[]
Shae Vizla and Jekiah Ordo discuss the events as the Mandalore recuperates.
Shae Vizla is then taken to a medical facility attended by medical droids as Akaavi Spar and Torian Cadera stay with her while Rass and Jekiah remain outside to inform the Commander of Ri'kan's past vengeance with Clan Ordo as well as being involved in the death of their sister. Jekiah then suggested they go to Mandalore which Akaavi and Torian excused themselves from and discussed that Shae's victory over Heta is spreading throughout the galaxy and that Shae is unwilling to disclose that Heta unknowingly cheated via Bask Sunn's sonic disruptor and that her hunt is still in-progress.[2]
Ri'kan Kateen and Heta Kol in the aftermath of abandoning Ruhnuk.
Elsewhere, the Hidden Chain's fleet exits hyperspace visibly damaged from the battle. Ri'kan and Sa'har meet with Heta on the bridge of a ship and discuss the duel to which Ri'kan states that, regardless of the results, it would only help their cause as Shae could only leave the duel and planet with the aid of her army but Heta retorts that as a result they have lost their base of operations and must prepare for war even whilst retreating. Ri'kan states he knows of how to further help Heta and reveals that Sa'har, much to her shock as she disclosed that knowledge in secret to only Ri'kan, is aware of the location of a weapon that even the rogue, now captured, Sith Lord Darth Malgus greatly covets and Sa'har holds the key to it. Heta is intrigued by it and orders Ri'kan not to disturb them as Heta leaves with Sa'har to converse in secret much to Ri'kan's frustration.[2]
Though the bulk of the Hidden Chain were forced off Ruhnuk, remnants, led by Kur Ha'rangir,[14] stayed behind to sabotage Ruhnuk's infrastructure,[15] as well as gather their resources. Most of Shae Vizla's forces had since withdrawn from Ruhnuk, so Lane Vizla was assigned to prevent the remaining Hidden Chain soldiers finding a way to retake Ruhnuk.[16] Meanwhile, Kur became engrossed in a hunt for Basilisk droids, much to the irritation of his peers, who objected to the diverting of forces to his excavation project. With Kur distracted and without Heta and Ri'kan to keep the disparate groups in line, the various Mandalorian groups turned to infighting, actively trying to kill off their Dar'Manda colleagues to avoid paying them, undermining the Ash'ad due to looking down on them and their desire to preserve Mandalorian lore, and disparaging their commander, Rubassa, for what they saw as attempting to curry favor with Heta.[17] Arla Ha'rangir commanded Ha'rangir troops in repairing parts of the water treatment plant, which annoyed those under her as she had previously ordered them to destroy the very things they were now being rushed to repair.[16]
Behind the scenes[]
If Torian Cadera was previously killed in Knights of the Eternal Throne then he will not be present in the storyline, otherwise he is present and makes it a personal vendetta against the Hidden Chain due to the theft of the Clan Cadera banner.[18][19]
When the player is onfronted by Heta Kol she will refer to them accordingly to their class:
- Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular - Heta will refer to them as jetti.[2]
- Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor - Heta will refer to them as dar'jetti.[2]
- Bounty Hunter and Smuggler - Heta will state that they are different from the usual hired guns.[2]
- Imperial Agent and Republic Trooper - Heta will state that they are different from the usual cannon fodders.[2]
During the duel between Heta Kol and Shae Vizla, the player takes notice of Bask Sunn using a weapon to hinder Shae Vizla, without Heta's knowledge, so that Bask can gain a huge profit over Shae's defeat and he gives the player three options on how to proceed regarding the duel:
- Disable the weapon for light side points - Shae Vizla overpowers and defeats Heta Kol in front of the Hidden Chain. Bask will then attempt to hurt the player to which the player can either knock him out or kill him. When the battle is over, Rass states that word of Mandalore's victory is spreading thus solidifying her leadership and hurting Heta's cause.[2]
- Turn the weapon on Heta Kol for dark side points - The Commander knocks Bask Sun and then points the sonic disruptor on Heta who is suddenly unable to move freely, and Shae manages to defeat her, but the Hidden Chain does not acknowledge the victory and neither does Shae. Bask will then attempt to hurt the player to which the player can either knock him out or kill him. The aftermath is nearly identical as in the light side playthrough but with Shae commenting on the Commander's lack of honor despite the goal being achieved.[2]
- Leave the weapon as it is for dark side points - Shae will lose the fight and Bask Sunn promises to have Dar'manda not only leave the Hidden Chain but also support the player's faction in the war. Saboteurs have the modified option where they leave the machine but tell Bask Sunn to support the opposing faction (Republic for Imperial saboteurs and Empire for Republic saboteurs) instead to his confusion to which he agrees to regardless. In the aftermath of the battle, Rass states that many clans have heard of Shae's defeat and therefore have begun to join the Hidden Chain with others rallying by Shae's side. Shae noticed that something was amiss and asked the Commander if anything was amiss to which they keep the details to themselves.[2]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith (First appearance)
Sources[]
Game Update 7.2 "Showdown on Ruhnuk" is live! on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)- Game Update 7.2: Showdown on Ruhnuk Patch Notes on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Showdown on Ruhnuk Teaser on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.4: Chains in the Dark Patch Notes on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
