First Battle of Mon Calamari (Galactic Civil War)
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The First Battle of Mon Calamari, occurred in 10 ABY, when the reborn Emperor Palpatine's forces attacked the temporary New Republic capital Dac.
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[edit] Background
Six years after his technical death at the Battle of Endor, Emperor Palpatine returned in a clone body. He retook control of the Imperial forces and striking from Byss retook the New Republic capital world Coruscant.
Then to punish the Mon Calamari for supporting the New Republic, he unleashed his new super weapons-the World Devastators. These deadly machines were able to recycle an entire world's surface to create weapons of war. Palpatine planned to lead the final attack on the world personally from the Eclipse, but never had the chance.
[edit] The battle
[edit] Opening engagement
The Imperial forces attacked Mon Calamari from Byss, which was the Emperor's capital world in the Deep Core. World Devastators descended to the planet's surface and began devouring shipyards, floating cities and its defenses. The valiant Mon Calamari defenders fought back, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned.
They sent an emergency message to the New Republic High Command, which had reformed at Pinnacle Base. Admiral Ackbar immediately ordered forces to head to Mon Calamari and aid the evacuation of the world. Blue and Green squadrons were dispatched to escort several MC80 evacuation cruisers to Da Soocha V.
New Republic reinforcements arrived quickly and were lead by Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian. Commanding the fleet from the captured Imperial-class Star Destroyer Emancipator, the duo directed a formidable array of warships, including the Mon Remonda, a few of the new MC90 Star Cruisers, several escort frigates, and some small support vessels.
However, there was an Imperial blockade at Mon Calamari to ensure that the World Devastators went unhindered. The New Republic fleet that arrived from hyperspace had to fight through the blockade. Catching the Imperial communications ship Super Star Destroyer Allegiance and its escorting Star Destroyers with their shields down, the New Republic forces managed to shatter the blockade with minimal losses.
The Emancipator then launched its T-65 X-wing starfighter and V-wing airspeeder squadrons to head down to the surface. The squadrons fought hard, ready to battle the World Devastators.
Yet, the World Devastators had already accumulated enough resources to produce hundreds of new assault vehicles, including TIE/D automated starfighters and A-Q5 Waveskimmers. Catching the New Republic squadrons by surprise, the new Imperial fighters destroyed countless starfighters.
[edit] Loss of the Emancipator
Eventually, the Emancipator was consumed by one of the World Devastators, forcing its crew into escape pods or face a fiery death in the superweapon's furnaces.
Onboard the last escape pod, Lando, Wedge, and the surviving bridge crew watched as their flagship was slowly reduced to its most basic elements. The tide of battle shifted in favor of the Empire as the remaining New Republic warships struggled to maintain their attacks and recover escape pods.
Fortunately, the timely arrival of New Republic reinforcements kept the battle from turning into a rout. The New Republic forces consisted of multiple escort and rescue frigates, as well as the new E-wing escort starfighter. The new fighters, led by Knave Squadron, engaged the TIE/D automated starfighters while the rescue frigates gathered the escape pods from the Emancipator.
However, even the E-wings could not penetrate the heavy defenses of the World Devastators, with several of the new fighters being lost. Luckily for the New Republic, Luke Skywalker though having apparently joined the Emperor and become his Supreme Commander, had tampered with the Master Control Signal on Byss. This caused the loss of three Devastators.
[edit] Endgame
Help arrived again in the form of Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Salla Zend, Chewbacca , C-3PO and R2-D2 onboard the Millennium Falcon. Luke had hidden the master control codes for the World Devastators in R2-D2. The droid was able to shut down the World Devastators shields, weapons, and propulsion systems.
The World Devastators still churned out deadly A-Q5 Waveskimmers, which streamed out to engage oncoming water bound New Republic forces. The sea commandos onboard Amphibion transports raced towards the World Devastators while exchanging fire with the Waveskimmers. Soon the fighting moved to the top of the World Devastators themselves, with stormtroopers and sea commandos fighting a deadly close quarters battle.
Meanwhile R2-D2 used the codes stored in his systems to create a virus, intended to interfere with the Devastator's central computers. This code started up the Devastators again, this time tasked with devouring each other.
The mighty World Devastators began devouring each other, accompanied by the cheers of New Republic and local Mon Calamari forces. The defense of Mon Calamari was an important victory against the reborn Palpatine's forces.
[edit] Aftermath
The New Republic had ensured that their Mon Calamari members were safe, though the world would take years to recover from the losses. Several floating cities were damaged or destroyed, with millions killed or wounded. The shipyards themselves suffered moderate damage as well, setting back production of the new MC90 Star Cruiser for over a year.
The Quarren blamed the Mon Calamari for the attack and threatened to move offworld en masse. Several Mon Cals, including Admiral Ackbar, believed that might be for the best; however, few if any Quarren actually carried out their threat. Ackbar himself, although worn out by the experience of the attack to the point of considering retirement, helped lead the reconstruction effort.
A number of Mon Calamari refugees were relocated to Da Soocha by the New Republic during and after the battle.
[edit] Participants
[edit] Galactic Empire
- Deppo
- Commander Titus Klev
- Emperor Palpatine (from Byss)
- Supreme Commander Luke Skywalker (from Byss)
[edit] New Republic
- Admiral Ackbar (coordinating from Pinnacle Base)
- Commander Wedge Antilles
- General Garm Bel Iblis
- C-3PO
- General Lando Calrissian
- General Jan Dodonna (coordinating from Pinnacle Base)
- Kane Griggs
- Knave Leader
- Knave One
- Knave Three
- General Crix Madine
- Kasan Moor
- Shug Ninx
- Han Solo
- Leia Organa Solo
- R2-D2
- General Carlist Rieekan (coordinating from Pinnacle Base)
- Luke Skywalker (from Byss)
- Captain Syub Snunb
- Zevulon Veers
- Salla Zend
[edit] Appearances
- Dark Empire (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Dark Empire (audio)
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
- Jedi Search (Mentioned only)
- Dark Apprentice (Mentioned only)
- Children of the Jedi (Mentioned only)
[edit] Sources
- Dark Empire endnotes
- Dark Empire Sourcebook
- The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
- The Essential Chronology
- The New Essential Chronology
- Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds
- A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition
