The Bakura Incident was an event shortly after the Battle of Endor that saw the unprecedented truce between Imperial and Rebel Alliance forces following an attack on the outpost world of Bakura by the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. A series of ensuing events saw both the repulsion of the Ssi-ruuk; ending their campaign of galactic conquest, and the surrender of Imperial forces on Bakura.

Prior to 1 ABY, the remote Outer Rim world of Bakura had been independent of Imperial control but its populace was divided. Seeking to control the planet's industrial base and its moon's mineral deposits, the Imperials had occupied the planet. Meanwhile, in 4 ABY, the reclusive saurian Ssi-ruuk had broken out of their isolated cluster and launched an invasion of the edge of the known Galaxy. The saurians' technology relied on draining the life energies of other living beings via an agonizing and lethal process known as entechment. Earlier, the Ssi-ruuk had found that Humans provided a better stock of entechment since their life energies lasted longer during their conquest of G'rho.

In 4 ABY, the Ssi-ruuk launched their attack on Bakura; quickly destroying much of the Imperial defense force. Desperate, the Imperial Governor Wilek Nereus tried to communicate with the Imperial commands at Coruscant and Death Star II to seek more reinforcements. When these failed, he sent a message drone to the Forest Moon of Endor; the nearest world with an Imperial presence and the site of the Second Death Star. However, an Alliance fleet had defeated much of the Imperial presence during a pitched space battle which also destroyed the second Death Star along with Emperor Palpatine.

The Rebels intercepted and decoded the message ship. Seeking to entice Bakura into their camp and to secure a truce with Imperial forces, the Alliance leadership dispatched a task force to Bakura led by the Heroes of Yavin including Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. Arriving at Bakura, the Rebels were able to secure a temporary albeit shaky truce with Nereus in exchange for support against the Ssi-ruuvi. Together, the combined Imperial and Rebel fleets were able to drive off the Ssi-ruuvi fleet; thwarting their campaign of galactic conquest.

However, Nereus had attempted to back-stab his Rebel colleagues by destroying their fleet and capturing the Bakuran leadership. Ultimately, his efforts were thwarted by a popular rising of the Bakuran people and the last-minute defection of the commander of Imperial forces over Bakura, Pter Thanas. Nereus himself was slain during a failed assassination attempt on the Alliance commander Luke Skywalker. With the defeat of both the Imperials and the Ssi-ruuvi, the Bakurans would join the Alliance and its successor state—the New Republic.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Background 1.2 The invasion 1.3 Alliance intervention 1.4 Arrival of the Alliance 1.5 The Truce 1.6 Working together 1.7 Imperial betrayal 1.8 Aftermath 2 Behind the scenes 3 Appearances 4 Sources 5 Notes and references 5.1 In other languages

HistoryEdit

BackgroundEdit

For millennia, the reptilian Ssi-ruuk had never dared to expand beyond its cluster, partly because of the large distances involved, partly due to their xenophobic nature, and partly because of their religious fear of traveling to 'unconsecrated' worlds. However, the Ssi-Ruuk powered and controlled their ships through a process called entechment, a means of electronically transferring the life-energy of a person into a power source for a mechanical construct. The practice of entechment of lower life forms became common; even the P’w’ecks, cousins of the Ssi-ruu were used. But gradually it was learned that containment of these ‘souls’ for long periods would result in madness and it was decided that the Imperium needed to expand its realm once again. Another reason was due the dwindling resources in their isolated region of space.^[1] As they expanded, they came into conflict with the Chiss, and so began moving towards Imperial worlds to find people for entechment in order to power their ships as part of the escalating conflict.^[3]

In 2 BBY, the Ssi-ruuvi's supreme ruler—the Shreeftut—received visions through the Force of a hooded Human who revealed himself to be Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the galaxy. He offered the Ssi-ruuvi dozens of worlds and millions of Humans to entech, in exchange for the use of Ssi-ruuvi technology. Thus, they decided to venture into Wild Space, where they conquered the small Human colony of G'rho, capturing and enteching numerous members of the populace. Due to their secret agreement with the Ssi-ruuk, the Imperial leadership covered up the incident and blamed the Alliance to Restore the Republic for the attack.^[1]

Among their captives was a Human boy named Dev Sibwarra, whom the Elder Bluescale brainwashed through mind manipulation techniques; what astounded them was the boy possessed strange powers to sense others. It was from this boy that Ssi-ruuk Admiral Ivpikkis discovered that Humans were the galaxy's dominant species. He also discovered that humanoids had longer containment time when enteched and could last longer than most other species. Due to Sibwarra's Force abilities and his ability to communicate with his fellow Humans, the Ssi-ruuk used Dev Sibwarra to calm the subjects being enteched.^[1]

However in 4 ABY, Emperor Palpatine was killed during the Battle of Endor onboard the Second Death Star. With the Emperor unable to fulfill his promise, the Ssi-ruuvi launched an invasion of the edge of the known Galaxy. Due to its proximity to Wild Space and its remote location, the planet Bakura was among the first of those worlds targeted by the Ssi-ruuk along with Cattamascar. Bickering among the planet's ruling upper class, which was dominated by the Bakur RepulsorCorp, and the local Senate had always been an issue, but grew stronger as years went on. It reached the point where the Bakuran Senate could not agree on matters as simple as school schedules, and it was believed that the planet was near to civil war.^[1]

Combined with the facts that the Bakuran Senate directly controlled the small planetary military, and that there was a sense of unrest among the people, Bakura was an easy target for Imperial forces. Desiring control of the planet's repulsorlift industry, the Empire quickly conquered Bakura with two Imperial Star Destroyers in 1 ABY. Wilek Nereus was appointed governor of Bakura and Commander Pter Thanas was made head of the meager garrison. Repulsor coils, and ore from the planet's two mineral rich satellites, were then both exported to help in the construction of the Second Death Star.^[1]

Although there was a short period of violent resistance to the Imperial occupation, and there were several Imperial purges of suspected and actual Rebel partisans, the vast majority of Bakurans were ambivalent about the Imperial occupation. They acknowledged that Imperial control had ended what they considered as near-disastrous infighting, and their major gripe was the increased taxation. At the time of the Second Battle of Bakura, the formal Bakuran resistance numbered only about one hundred individuals and was not very active.^[1]

The invasionEdit

While the Battle of Endor was taking place, the Ssi-Ruuvi invasion fleet invaded the Bakura system; annihilating half of the tiny Imperial-Bakuran defense force and seizing most of the outer system outposts.^[1] The Ssi-ruuk brought a sizable fleet with them, including at least one Ssi-ruuvi assault carrier, as well as large numbers of battle droids.^[4] An outpost in the sixth planet of the Bakuran system was utterly destroyed and a command signal for Ssi-ruuk droids established in its vicinity.^[2] The Ssi-ruuvi fleet then blockaded the space around Bakura. Recovery crew had reported that the Ssi-ruuk had left no survivors or bodies for inexplicable reasons. Later, it was learned that these unfortunate prisoners had been captured by the reptilian Ssi-ruuk and subjected to entechment. The Bakurans also received a transmission from Sibwarra that told them of the fate they soon experience—that of entechment—and although Sibwarra described it as an eternal release, the Bakurans knew that was a lie.^[1]

On Deck 16 of the Ssi-ruuvi flagship Shriwirr, Ivpikkis' Human protege Dev Sibwarra took part in "calming" the entechment subjects. Already, a female prisoner had died while trying to escape. Brainwashed into believing that entechment was beneficial, Dev sighed at the loss. In response to heavy casualties, the Imperial governor Nereus sent an antique Message Droid to the forest moon of Endor after failing to contact Imperial Center and the Death Star II, to contact his Imperial superiors and ask for assistance to fend off the invasion force. Endor was the nearest world with a sizable Imperial presence to Bakura as the site of the Second Death Star.^[1]

Alliance interventionEdit

Around the time Bakura was being invaded, Rebel Alliance forces had launched an attack on the Imperial presence as part of a plot to destroy both the second Death Star and the visiting Emperor Palpatine. During the ensuing Battle of Endor, the Alliance succeeded in these goals and scattered much of the Imperial fleet, though they sustained heavy casualties of their own The day following the Battle of Endor, the message droid arrived over the Forest Moon. The Rebel forces were still there; cleaning up and celebrating their victory,^[1] as well as conducting extensive repair and salvage operations on their weakened armada.^[2]

While conducting an air patrol over the skies of the Forest Moon of Endor, Captain Wedge Antilles' X-wing fighter intercepted the droid. When the captain tried to release its message code, it triggered a self-destruct cycle in the drone. The explosion that would have ensued was only staved off by Antilles jumping out of his fighter onto the drone to manually block its master control with his hand.^[1]

While recuperating from his trials onboard the Second Death Star at an Alliance base, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker received an emergency transmission relaying the details of Antilles' predicament. Skywalker immediately took to his own X-wing and flew to assist his friend. Assessing the situation quickly, Luke ordered Antilles to jump from the drone at his signal while using the Force to use his lightsaber to slash at the drone's master control mechanism. This action saved both Antilles' life while preventing the detonation of the message drone.^[1]

While Antilles was recovering in a bacta tank, Alliance technicians and slicers worked on decoding the antique message drone's coded message. At the war room, the message was finally decoded and its content revealed: Bakura was being attacked by the Ssi-ruuk—a saurian species from the most distant reaches of the galaxy, which attempted to establish a beachhead for an invasion of the known galaxy. Despite their animosity towards the Imperials, the Alliance leadership decided to intervene at the behest of Captain Han Solo and Admiral Ackbar who reasoned that they could get a new planet into their fold, gain access to Bakura's repulsorlift technology, and halt a potential hostile threat. Luke Skywalker himself received a vision from the ghostly specter of his late Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who urged the Jedi Knight to attend to Bakura personally despite the disapproval of his superiors.^[1]

Arrival of the AllianceEdit

An Alliance task force was quickly scrambled under the command of Luke Skywalker and the Virgillian Captain Tessa Manchisco. It consisted of the modified Quasar Fire-class bulk cruiser Flurry along with numerous T-65 X-wings, RZ-1 A-wings and B-wing starfighters. Furthermore, a diplomatic mission was put together to journey to the Bakuran people. It was led by Leia Organa, who was flown to Bakura aboard the Millennium Falcon by the freighter's owner, Han Solo and his first mate, Chewbacca. While the task force traveled through hyperspace to Bakura, the Ssi-ruuvi battle fleet had forced the tiny Imperial force under Pter Thanas into a retreat. Meanwhile on the Shriwirr, Sibwarra conferred with his master Firwirrung over the campaign.^[1]

Arriving in the Bakura system, Luke Skywalker made contact with the Imperial Commander Thanas; stating that the Alliance had received Nereus' distress transmission and had come to propose a temporary truce with the local Imperial garrison in order to fight the Ssi-ruuk. Due to their heavy losses, Thanas gratefully accepted the Alliance's offer,^[1] and the task force moved to microjump in-system to assist the beleaguered Imperials. However, the Millennium Falcon remained outside of the engagement zone, as Solo did not wish to place Organa in danger.^[2] As a confirmation of the agreement, the prototype Battle Analysis Computer's status board on the Flurry turned the Imperial formations from "hostile" red to "friendly" yellow-gold. It was then learned that 80% of the Imperial firepower was concentrated on the downscaled Carrack-class light cruiser Dominant.^[1]

One of the first joint military actions between the Alliance and Imperial forces was the deployment of Alliance ships including the Flurry into the gap between the Ssi-ruuvi's three main cruisers to counter the enemy advance at the request of Thanas. Several Ssi-ruuvi picket ships and fighters were also destroyed by the Rebel Alliance's Rogue, Red and Gold Squadrons under the command of Commander Antilles who had just recovered from his injuries.^[1]

Meanwhile, the Force-sensitive Sibwarra sensed the arrival of a powerful Force-strong Jedi among the new arrivals. However, he refrained from telling his superiors. Already, the Ssi-ruuk had sustained considerable losses including a cruiser and several drone fighters from attacks by the Alliance ships, which led to their temporarily withdrawal.^[1]

Simultaneously, Han Solo had placed the Millennium Falcon in orbit around the sixth moon of the Bakuran system, an icy, inhospitable world, to avoid the fighting. Solo, via a warning from the protocol droid C-3PO, who was part of Organa's entourage, soon discovered that the moon's lone outpost had been destroyed by Ssi-ruuk Ssi-ruuk droid starfighters and that some of the droids were still in the area. The freighter came under attack from the droids, which Solo attempted to fend off with his ship's weaponry while making good his escape away from the droids. Following the Ssi-ruuk withdrawal, Leia Organa contacted the planetary government and was able to arrange a meeting between the Rebel Alliance delegation and Governor Wilek Nereus, as well as the Bakuran Senate.^[2]

The TruceEdit

At Bakura's capital of Salis D'aar, the Bakuran Senate was convened by the Wilek Nereus, who announced the arrival of Rebel Alliance ships in the Bakuran system. Having helped beat off the Ssi-ruu attack on the system, the Alliance ships were holding position near the planet. After Nereus proposed withdrawing the planetary defense forces back to Bakura and breaking off from the main battle, most Bakuran senators including Gaeriel Captison voted to approve the action, though the vote was merely a formality.^[1]

Later, an Alliance delegation consisting of the Heroes of Yavin arrived at Salis D'aar onboard the Millennium Falcon. Upon landing at the spaceport, they were greeted by an Imperial delegation led by Nereus. Per local custom, C-3PO and R2-D2 were fitted with restraining bolts. To Nereus' shock and outrage, Organa informed him of the death of Emperor Palpatine at the hands of Darth Vader. The Rebels were then brought to speak at a special session at the Bakuran Senate. During the session, Imperials, Bakurans and Rebels alike were shown a recording sent by the Ssi-ruuk by Sibwarra and were horrified to see how entechment worked; the individual's life energy was sapped from his body and used to power war machinery. When C-3PO expressed his shock and outrage on behalf of droids, this led to an outburst of anti-droid sentiment from some Bakuran senators. The Alliance party then iterated that they were there to help Bakura and offered an official truce, which Nereus said would be discussed.^[1]

After that, the Alliance delegation went to retire at the second floor of the Bakur Complex's apartment block to await the decision of the Bakuran Senate. Later, Skywalker was invited to meet Thanas at the local Imperial military base where the two discussed their tactical battle plans and intelligence. Thanas also compelled a demonstration of Skywalker's skill with a lightsaber by ordering his stormtroopers to open fire on Skywalker after the Jedi had refused an initial request for showing his swordplay. Across Bakura, there was a general feeling of paranoia among the populace who feared the terror of entechment. Meanwhile, Sibwarra revealed to Master Firwirrung of the presence of another Force user.^[1]

That evening, the Bakuran Prime Minister, Yeorg Captison, organized a dinner where both the Rebels and Nereus were invited. Among those who attended were his wife Tiree and niece Gaeriel. Tiree stressed the importance of the dinner, which would give the Imperials and Rebels a chance to discuss matters privately, and also expressed concern for Nereus's interest in Gaeriel; the latter sentiment was also held by Gaeriel. Though her aunt had originally planned on seating Gaeriel by Princess Organa, Yeorg had other ideas and placed her next to Skywalker. Skywalker struck up a conversation with Gaeriel, asking her about her preconceptions about Jedi and Gaeriel admitted that she had religious objections to his kind being an adherent of the Cosmic Balance creed.^[1]

Midway through the dinner, Nereus received a transmission from Imperial Admiral Prittick informing him of the veracity of the Rebels' claims of Imperial defeat at Endor. Faced with the prospect of no Imperial aid to stave off a full Ssi-ruuk attack, Nereus agreed to an official truce. For the first time, representatives of the Alliance and Empire shook hands,^[1] though Nereus was far from happy about the deal. Nereus also warned the Rebels that any attempts at what he considered treasonous or seditious activity would be met sternly.^[2] Following that announcement, Skywalker asked Gaeriel how much she believed in the Empire, and she replied that it was a balance of things light and dark. As the evening wound down, Skywalker resolved to continue his conversation with her later, and kissed her hand, as he had seen other diplomats do, before departing.^[1]

Working togetherEdit

Licking their wounds from the joint Alliance-Imperial attack, the Ssi-ruuvi leadership decided to make a covert deal with Nereus by proposing a full withdrawal in exchange for the handover of the Force-strong "Outsider"—Skywalker. As part of Firwirrung's plan, Skywalker would be bound to a modified entechment rig and forced to drain the life energies of millions of sentients from light years away. Given that their physiology made them incapable of communicating directly with Nereus, Sibwarra contacted the Governor to make that offer. Nereus accepted the offer; given his hatred of the Rebels and as part of his secret plan to stab his Rebel colleagues in the back. However, Nereus also had no intention of allowing the Ssi-ruuk to survive, and decided to double-cross the aliens. Nereus would then add the Ssi-ruuk's jaw bones to his collection of animal bones.^[1][5]

Sibwarra also initiated some sort of telepathic contact with Skywalker, warning him of Ssi-ruu intent on capturing the Jedi, as well as giving him a vision of how dangerous the Ssi-ruu could be to the larger galaxy if left unchecked.^[2] Skywalker was also called in to deal with a diplomatic incident at Salis D'aar Spaceport, where a pair of Mon Calamari pilots had come under attack by Bakurans who feared that they were Ssi-ruuk. The Mon Calamari had returned fire and killed two of the Bakurans by the time Skywalker, accompanied by Chewbacca, arrived.^[1] Skywalker later learned that the Bakurans who had been at the area had been encouraged to be there by Nereus. The next day, Leia Organa made a formal apology to the Bakuran Senate over the incident. Organa also offered the services of two Alliance droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, to assist with efforts to translate intercepted Ssi-ruuk transmissions.^[2]

Concurrently, Skywalker, based on his intuition with the Force that told him Orn Belden might be sympathetic to the Alliance, decided to visit the Beldens. Upon arrival, he learned that Orn Belden was absent, but Belden's wife, Eppie Belden, was present, as was Gaeriel Captison. Skywalker learned from Gaeriel that Eppie had some sort of mental illness.^[1] In response, he asked for and was granted permission to look into her mind with the Force. The Jedi found that some connections between her mind and senses had been damaged and he communicated with the infirm woman how to at least partially repair the damage.^[2]

After covertly obtaining information that suggested Governor Nereus had ill designs on Skywalker, Gaeriel, who had developed a nascent attraction for Skywalker, went to visit the Jedi at his apartment. She ordered lunch for them, routing the meal through a different location so as to avoid attracting attention. However, she was unsuccessful in escaping Nereus's attention, as the governor had the meal intercepted and inoculated with parasitic Olabrian trichoid, which would eat into Skywalker's body upon hatching. Nereus's plan was to allow the Ssi-ruuk to capture Skywalker, only to have the trichoids hatch and begin multiplying and killing the Ssi-ruuk.^[2]

Meanwhile, Leia Organa, Yeorg Captison and Orn Belden were out on a private airspeeder cruise. Using a disruption bubble generator to prevent Imperial eavesdropping, they discussed the status of the Bakuran resistance, as well as the likelihood of Bakura revolting against Imperial rule. However, the Imperial presence soon realized that no conversation at all was occurring in a crowded speeder. Nereus had stormtroopers arrest them on suspicion of treason, and despite Organa's brief attempts at resistance, the entire party was captured.^[1] Orn Belden was killed during the interrogation by Nereus.

At the same time, C-3PO and R2-D2 had managed to translate the Ssi-ruuk communiques, and learned that not only did the Ssi-ruuk plan on capturing Skywalker, but also intended on attacking Bakura an hour later. They also learned the precise location and time when the Ssi-ruu planned on seizing the Jedi.^[2] The droid met up with General Solo, who had just learned of the arrest of Organa, Belden, and Yeorg Captison. Solo learned from C-3PO that Organa had been taken to a rural retreat used by Nereus, and was also apprised of the Ssi-ruu intention. After first cutting Solo a highly illegal override code, C-3PO was then ordered to dress in a suit of stormtrooper armor forcibly acquired by Solo and proceed to the Millennium Falcon to rendezvous with Chewbacca and warn Skywalker. However, upon arriving at the light freighter, C-3PO was mistaken for a stormtrooper by Chewbacca and shot down. Although he had sustained only minor damage and was able to warn Skywalker about the capture attempt, the protocol droid was indignant.^[1]

For his part, Solo embarked on a single-handed rescue attempt aimed at freeing Organa from Nereus' custody. Using his override code, he seized an airspeeder and proceeded to the retreat where Organa was being held. Crashing the airspeeder as a diversion, he was able to move in and disable the lone security droid, only to find that Organa had already begun an escape attempt of her own. They were able to escape the retreat after Solo narrowly avoided being detected by a pair of guards sent to inspect Organa's room for intruders. They then cut through the roof and gained access to an overhead crawlspace via a repulsorchair in Organa's room. Slipping out through a vent, they engaged a group of five troopers, until Solo stole a speeder for their escape, which the two Rebels used to flee. They were pursued by armed Imperial speeders, but the auspicious arrival of two X-wing fighters which had been sent by Skywalker to assist them scared off the Imperial craft, allowing Solo and Organa to escape back to the Millennium Falcon.^[1]

As word of Belden's capture spread, pockets of resistance began springing up around Bakura, as the statesman's capture had ignited flames of defiance in the Bakurans. Protests occurred, and only worsened after news of Orn Belden's death was leaked. Nereus placed Salis D'aar under curfew, but the measure was of little effect.^[1] Gaeriel Captison was present at the Beldens' house when the resistance sprang into action, on her way to tell Eppie about the death of her husband, who had died after being captured by the Empire on charges of sedition. Instead, she was surprised to see a recovered Belden, successfully healed by Skywalker, leading the resistance effort and already cognizant of her husband's death. After some persuasion from Belden, Gaeriel agreed to help the resistance. Belden gave Gaeriel a computer chip that allowed her to access Imperial stormtrooper communications, which she used to send fake distress calls to Imperial forces across Salis D'aar. She then destroyed the chip and went to warn Skywalker of the impending Ssi-ruuk attack.^[2]

Gaeriel, aided by Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, traced his location and were able to find him at a local cantina. She warned him of the capture of the Rebels and Bakuran officials, as well as the insurrection, and asked him to come back once the conflict was over, to talk with her personally. Shortly after she arrived, though, a party of Ssi-Ruuk, along with Dev Sibwarra and a group of Imperial stormtroopers, tried to capture them with the permission of Nereus. Skywalker attempted to fight them off, defending Gaeriel as best he could, but was overpowered after a brief struggle. While the stormtroopers were unable to defeat him, his lightsaber was unable to block Ssi-ruuk paddle beamers, and though he slew one of the saurian aliens and tried to heal Sibwarra of the brainwashing he had undergone, Skywalker was rendered unconscious by one of the Ssi-ruuk. However, his efforts were not in vain and Gaeriel, though stunned, was not taken. Instead, R2-D2 helped her out of the cantina, and she received medical attention at the Imperial garrison as the Ssi-ruuk commenced a full-scale attack, striking at the orbital station that hovered over Bakura. Furthermore, Skywalker's ministrations with the Force on Sibwarra's mind had successfully broken the mental bonds enslaving the other man, who resolved to aid the Jedi however he could.^[1]

Meanwhile, Skywalker was brought onboard the mighty Ssi-ruuvi flagship Shriwirr where he was bound to a modified entechment rig. When all seemed lost, Dev Sibwarra—awed by the Jedi's heroism and longing to fellowship with a fellow Force-user—threw of the shackles of Ssi-ruuvi indoctrination and rebelled against his masters. He freed Skywalker from his bonds and the pair fought their way across the stun trap-littered corridors of the battle cruiser. During the fight, the pair defeated three Ssi-ruuvi security droids and several P'w'eck and Ssi-ruuvi crew. Fearful of dying on an unconsecrated world, Ivpikkis and the surviving crew escaped the vessel in life-pods and were recovered by the other warships. Firwirrung was also slain by Sibwarra during the fight.^[1][5]

Unfortunately for the Imperials, the arrest of the Bakuran leadership provoked much public outrage among the Bakuran public and rioting broke out in the streets of the capital Salis D'aar. During the ensuing chaos, Solo rescued Leia and the pair boarded the Millennium Falcon to join the space battle above. In the space above Bakura, the joint Alliance and Imperial warships launched a devastating counter-offensive against the Ssi-ruuvi fleet. Due to the chaos onboard the flagship Shriwirr cause by Skywalker's escape and their fear of dying on an unconsecrated world, the Ssi-ruuvi were unable to continue the fight and were forced into a retreat. Every ship in the fleet fled for the safety of Ssi-ruuvi home space except the flagship Shriwirr. For a moment, it seemed that victory would be achieved with the vanquishing of the Ssi-ruuvi threat.^[1][5]

Imperial betrayalEdit

With the vanquishing of the Ssi-ruuvi, Nereus then hatched his secret plan of back-stabbing his enemies by ordering Thanas to turn his flagship Dominant's turbolaser batteries on the Rebel Alliance flagship Flurry; destroying it along with several Rebel starfighters. The remaining Alliance ships were trapped in a bottleneck between Bakura and the Imperial fleet. It seemed the only way for the Alliance ships to escape was for a suicide run on the Dominant. Using the Millennium Falcon, Solo would ram a small Imperial vessel into the main generator of the Carrack-class light cruiser. This sacrifice would allow the Alliance fleet to flee into space while destroying the Falcon and all onboard.^[1][5]

However, Luke Skywalker had used the Force to persuade the Dominant's captain Thanas to come on their side by sending feelings of peace and serenity. Admiring the heroism of his former foes and seeing the underlining flaws in his superior Nereus, Thanas ordered his ship to break formation and open fire on the Shriwirr; as a gesture of cooperation with the Alliance. Unfortunately, Dev Sibwarra was mortally wounded during the bombardment of the Shriwirr.Sensing the presence of the Olabrian trichoid larvae in his body, Skywalker used the Force to eliminate the parasites.^[1][5]

Luke then contacted Thanas to request a boarding crew to rescue him and the mortally wounded Sibwarra. As a good will gesture, the Imperial commander agreed to come in person. Thanas also agreed to surrender himself and the Dominant to the Alliance authorities in exchange that his men be sent to a neutral pickup point and allowed to return home, and that Sibwarra be put on trial. Solo also added that the boarding crew be unarmed over the intercom. When the local Imperial Security Bureau operative among the bridge crew tried to intervene, Thanas quickly stunned the man. Thanas dispatched a two-man evacuation pod and placed Captain Jamer in de-facto command of the vessel.^[1][5]

Gaeriel was taken to appear before Nereus, who had been trying to ally her with his faction in the government. She was initially repulsed by his mannerisms and iron-fisted plans for Bakura, but managed to maintain a diplomatic front. Nereus then revealed to her the existence of the larvae embedded in her and Skywalker's lungs, and had the larva in Gaeriel removed. Upon her questioning him, the Imperial governor also intimated that he had used a parasite to debilitate Eppie Belden years earlier as punishment for her seditious activities. Giving her the chance to join him and approve the governor as Prime Minister, Nereus also threatened Gaeriel should she not cooperate. He then threatened to shoot Yeorg Captison, whom he accused of treachery, unless the two yielded to his demands.^[1][2]

Luckily for the Captisons, the underground Bakuran resistance under the leadership of the elderly Eppie Belden sprang into action and began fighting the Empire. Wilek's personal Stormtrooper bodyguards were incapacitated by a painful electronic alarm system ringing through their helmets. The elderly 123-year old Eppie Belden and several other resistance members entered the room. Much to Nereus' surprise, she was fully recovered, leading the resistance effort and already cognizant of her husband's death. Outnumbered, Nereus surrendered to Belden and her resistance fighters.^[1]

By now, the space battle was truly over and the Millennium Falcon had landed at Salis D'aar. During a brief war of words, Nereus announced to Leia and her companions that he still commanded 3,000 ground-based troops and claimed that Imperial survivors were landing on Bakura in escape pods. Leia responded that the Dominant had submitted to Rebel control and that its weapon systems were aimed directly at the garrison. It was then that Luke Skywalker arrived. The young Jedi had already convinced the space-based Imperial military forces to surrender. Horrified and thinking that Skywalker was still infected, Wilek Nereus yanked a blaster rifle from Gaeriel Captison and tried to kill Skywalker. Unfortunately for him, the Jedi merely deflected the laser blast with his lightsaber back at Nereus, killing him.^[1]

Meanwhile, Luke and Thanas confirmed the official surrender and withdrawal of all Imperial forces on Bakura. The planet's citizenry would be allowed to choose whether to rejoin the Empire or the Alliance of Free Planets and to conduct their own affairs free from foreign intervention. As a gesture of good will, the Imperials would be allowed to transit at a neutral pick-up-point for a return to Imperial space or their homeworlds. Prime Minister Captison's government was reinstated and the planet reverted to the status quo bellum before the Imperial invasion. Awed by the gallantry of the Heroes of Yavin, Pter Thanas would defect to the Alliance.^[1][5]

AftermathEdit

The Bakura Incident resulted in both the repulsion of the Ssi-Ruuk, the liberation of Bakura from the Empire and Bakura joining the Alliance of Free Planets. Voren Na'al of New Republic Intelligence later referred to the battle and as well as the surrounding events to it as the "Bakura Incident", and believed that it would be best if the New Republic attempted to prevent widespread public knowledge about the Ssi-Ruuk, advice that was taken controversially at best. While Bothan Councilor Borsk Fey'lya disagreed with Na'al's assessment, Na'al reminded the Bothan that knowledge of the Ssi-ruuk and their activities could easily incite public unrest, leading to a reduction of support for the Alliance. He also alternately speculated that Imperial commanders would gladly capture Ssi-ruuvi technology for their own and employ it against the Alliance.^[2] To prevent a second Ssi-ruuvi attack on the worlds on the edge of Wild Space, the Rebel Alliance's successor state—the New Republic—organized an invasion force for an expedition into the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium's territory. This task force consisted of the captured Shriwirr which had been renamed Sibwarra, 12 Nebulon-B escort frigates and several escort warships.^[5]

During the expedition, several crew onboard the Sibwarra were injured or even killed due to their unfamiliarity with the unfamiliar alien devices onboard the vessel. The New Republic also provided the fragmented Imperial warlords with intelligence on the Ssi-ruuk in the hopes of a securing a second joint attack on the Ssi-Ruuk. However when the New Republic fleet emerged in Ssi-ruuvi space, they discovered that the Chiss Ascendancy under Force Commander Thrawn had already launched a blistering campaign in Ssi-ruuvi territory; devastating the Imperium capital of Lwhekk and fragmenting of the Ssi-ruuvi socio-economic caste system. The Chiss had attacked in retaliation for attacks on several Chiss worlds which had seen several of their citizens enteched.^[5]

Above the wrecked Ssi-ruuvi capital world, the New Republic fleet clashed with the remnants of the Ssi-ruuvi fleet under Ivpikkis. Having reached a stalemate, the New Republic attempted to negotiate unsuccessfully with the Ssi-ruuk. With the Ssi-ruuk unable to mount another campaign for an unforeseen period and with the growing conflict with the fragmented Imperial warlords looming in the horizon, Chief of State Mon Mothma ordered the withdrawal of the New Republic fleet from Ssi-ruuvi space for an attack on imperial-held Clak'dor VII.^[5] The devastation of the Chiss attack was to a degree that it was not until many years later that the Ssi-ruuvi contemplated renewing their expansion. Two major events occurred in that time. One was the birth of the Keeramak, an event of major significance in the Ssi-ruuvi religion. The Keeramak himself, a mutant Ssi-ruu, was a skilled strategist and politician. The other event was the secret takeover of the Imperium by the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong, who secretly placed one of their own, E'thinaa, into the ranks of the Ssi-ruu as a ranking general.^[6]

Meanwhile on Bakura, when her uncle Yeorg retired from public life, Gaeriel won the election to succeed him as Prime Minister,^[7] and had the distinction of being Bakura's youngest Prime Minister.^[8] One of her main accomplishments was the establishment of the Bakuran Defense Fleet; she placed Pter Thanas, the former commander of the Imperial garrison on Bakura, in command of it.^[5]In 18 ABY, Bakura withdrew from the New Republic in protest of the misuse of its Defense Force during the attack on Centerpoint Station during the First Corellian Insurrection. Unwilling to make the same mistakes as the Old Republic which adopted a hard-nosed attitude towards the Separatist movement, the New Republic did not interfere with Bakura's decision.^[6]

In Ssi-ruuvi Space, E'thinaa and the Keeramak devised a new strategy for continuing the invasion. They made a secret deal with the Prime Minister of Bakura, Molierre Cundertol, and engineered a faux P'w'eck slave uprising by the P'w'eck Emancipation Movement under Lwothin, positing the Keeramak as its leader. Together, they succeeded in consecrating Bakura and launching a second invasion of the planet in 23 ABY during the devastating Yuuzhan Vong War, but when the P'w'eck's actually did revolt and managed to kill the Keeramak, all was lost. Cundertol himself fled back to Lwhekk, where E'thinaa—revealing himself to have been a disguised Yuuzhan Vong agent—killed him.^[6]

Behind the scenesEdit

The Bakura Incident was written and conceived by author Kathy Tyers in her novel The Truce at Bakura, which was published in 1993.^[1] In an interview, Tyers stated that she was given "fairly free rein (sic)" with writing The Truce at Bakura.^[9] Tyers was contacted about writing the book by an editor friend of hers, Janna Silverstein, who worked at Bantam Spectra.^[10]

When writing the book, Tyers said in an interview with Ilene Rosenberg for Star Wars Adventure Journal 4 that her editor had asked her to have five concepts for the storyline, and the one that Tyers liked the most involved an alien menace that would force the Rebel Alliance and the Empire to briefly work together. Tyers also stated that her original intention was for Dev Sibwarra to survive, and stated that his death was one of the unpleasant parts of The Truce at Bakura for her. Tyers also said that her characterization behind Sibwarra was to portray him as an abuse victim.

In the interview, Tyers said that the Ssi-ruuk were influenced by dinosaurs, specifically books of dinosaurs that had belonged to Tyers's son, while Nereus's affinity for dentistry came from the fact that her father was a dentist.^[11] Tyers also wrote several character vignettes for the follow-on work Truce at Bakura Sourcebook, which dealt with supporting characters involved in the Bakura Incident.^[10]

AppearancesEdit

• The Truce at Bakura (First appearance)
• X-wing: Rogue Leader (Mentioned only)
• X-wing Rogue Squadron: The Rebel Opposition (Mentioned only)
• X-wing: Rogue Squadron (Mentioned only)
• Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (Mentioned only)
• Tatooine Ghost (Mentioned only)
• Force Heretic II: Refugee (Mentioned only)

SourcesEdit

• The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook
• The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
• The Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
• The New Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 23
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Forgotten War: The Nagai and the Tofs on Hyperspace (article) (content now obsolete; backup links 1 2 on Archive.org)
• The Unknown Regions

Notes and referencesEdit

Ssi-ruuvi invasions
2 BBY: G'rho 0 ABY: B'Knos 2 ABY: Kammia 1 BBY–4 ABY: Cattamascar 4 ABY: First Bakura · Bakura-6 · Second Bakura · First Lwhekk · Second Lwhekk 28 ABY: Bakura
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