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- "This worthless planet's about to become my testing ground -- only there won't be any ground left! The Sith will see this, and know. Respect Zodoh or Drown!"
- ―Zodoh the Hutt
The Aquilaris campaign was a campaign of the New Sith Wars in 1032 BBY. It was centered around the Outer Rim world of Aquilaris Minor in the Grumani sector. It was a three-way campaign which involved the Sith Lord Daiman's Daimanate, Hutt crimelord Zodoh's empire, and the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order represented by Grace Command's Captain Jenn Devaad and Jedi Knight Kerra Holt respectively. Each party had their own vested interests in the planet.
Sith Lord Daiman had recently acquired the planet in the power vacuum following the collapse of the Chagras Hegemony. Zodoh had wanted to expand into traditional Sith Space by using his new Stormdriver superweapons to intimidate his Sith rivals. First, he intended to test them on Aquilaris Minor by using their weaponized vaporators to submerge the planet in water. Meanwhile, Grace Command had intended to drive out the Sith while secretly inundating the population with the narcotic spice Deluge as a means of undermining the Sith war effort under Operation Deluge. Their cover as a paramilitary relief organization concealed the unethical agenda of Baron Lemayne. In contrast, the Jedi Knight Kerra Holt had planned to liberate the planet from Sith occupation and rescue the Aquilarians from the machinations of both Zodoh and the Sith.
Zodoh and Grace Command wiped out Daiman's meager garrison, with the latter taking control of the planet. Zodoh's forces retreated into the far reaches of the Aquilaris system but lured Devil Squadron into a trap. The entire squadron with the exception of Captain Jenn were killed. Zodoh then proceeded to test his fleet of Stormdrivers on Aquilaris, creating a global flood which inundated much of the surface in water. Subsequently, Jenn managed to escaped and disrupted the coordination of the Stromdrivers in the process. Despite this minor setback and the destruction of stocks of Deluge spice during the escape, Zodoh regarded this as a victory since it had proven the effectiveness of his superweapons. He then dispatched his fleet to Darkknell, capital of Daiman's princedom. There, Zodoh was defeated through the combined efforts of Kerra and Captain Jenn, who wanted to avenge the murder of her squadron mates.
History
Background
Following the Jedi Knight Kerra Holt's adventures in various Sith princedoms of the Grumani sector, she received a distress call from a member of the Seacroppers' Guild on Aquilaris Minor. She hitches a ride aboard a transport and lands in Capital Cay, the main city on Aquilaris Minor. In reality, the distress call was just a coded signal calling for spacers to deliver Deluge, a highly addictive spice. Aquilaris Minor had been Kerra's homeworld until she had been forced to flee offworld during an invasion by the Chagras Hegemony in 1042 BBY. In the successive years, this remote watery world had changed hands between various Sith Lords. By 1032 BBY, the planet had fallen under the control of Lord Daiman, the ruler of the Daimanate who saw himself as the "Creator" of the Universe and believed that other sentient beings did not exist. He forced the people of Aquilaris Minor to harvest seafood for him. To cope with the poverty and hunger, many of the planet's inhabitants became addicted to the spice Deluge which became a substitute for food.[1]
Unknown to Kerra and the Aquilaris locals, the planet had attracted the attention of two other groups: the Hutt crime lord Zodoh and Grace Command. The ambitious Zodoh had acquired a fleet of Stormdrivers, tactical warships equipped with weaponized vaporators capable of generating artificial floods and storms. With Daiman preoccupied with consolidating his new territories in the former Bactranate, Zodoh decides to expand his operations into the Grumani sector. He intend to use Aquilaris Minor as a testing ground for his new Stormdriverweapons.[1]
Meanwhile, Grace Command, a seemingly benevolent relief organization, was actually a black operation mounted by the Alderaanian Baron Lemayne. Under the cover of fighting the Sith and distributing relief supplies to liberated populations, Grace Command was actually distributing Deluge spice in Sith worlds. This was part of Baron Lemayne's strategy of sabotaging the Sith war effort without having to waste substantial Republic resources and manpower. Grace Command sent Captain Jenn Devaad's Devil Squadron to "liberate" Aquilaris Minor.[2]
False Dawn
Zodoh's Intruder-class starfighters dropped out of hyperspace inside Arkadia Minor's patrol zone and wipe out the Daimanate starfighter defenses. Zodoh's starfighters then ravage the Daimanate garrison on Capital Cay, driving the Sith into retreat. The garrison commander attempts to leave on a food transport and get reinforcements from Scepter Cay. However, he and his men are ambushed and killed by Kerra, who had been hiding aboard the food transport. Kerra then makes her way to the Seacropper's barracks where she meets her old friends Padgett and Joad Kreel. Kerra attempts to get them to escape Aquilaris with her but discovers that most of the slaves apart from Padgett have become Deluge spice addicts. She also learns that the distress transmission was actually a code signal for more spice.[1]
Shortly later, one of Zodoh's Stormdrivers arrives above Capital Cay and unleashes a deluge over the city, sweeping Daiman's defenders into the sea. Kerra launches a lone attack on Zodoh's Stormtriver with her blaster pistol. While her bolts fail to dent the ship, it distracts the ship's crew and allows Captain Devaad's starfighters to destroy the Stormdriver. Captain Devaad's Devil Squadron had just emerged from hyperspace and attacked Zodoh's raiders. Facing renewed opposition, Zodoh orders a tactical withdrawal. Captain Devaad's Devil Squadron are greeted as liberators by Kerra and the local people. Grace Command poses as a mercy organization helping the civilians in Sith-occupied space. Not realizing Devaad's true intentions, Kerra warms up to Devil Squadron.[1]
In the outskirts of the Aquilaris Minor system, Zodoh contacts the Sith Lords of the Grumani sector. He offers to sell them slaves and munitions if they allow him to annex the Daimanate. Satisfied with the Stormdriver's test demonstration at Capital Cay, Zodoh orders his aide Oon Garat to order a fleet of Stormdrivers from Nal Hutta, the Hutt homeworld.
Appearances
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge 3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge 4
- ↑ Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge 5
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge 2