The Skirmish on Ossus was a battle between Executor Sedriss QL's forces and the Jedi Knights Luke Skywalker, Kam Solusar, and their Ysanna allies. The skirmish saw the elimination of the Dark Side Adepts Sedriss and Goir along with the ancient Jedi Master Ood Bnar, and resulted in a mutual alliance between the Force-wielding Ysanna and the New Jedi Order.
History[]
Prelude[]
Having been guided by a holocron to Ossus, Skywalker and Solusar traveled to the planet on Skywalker's new ship, Jedi Explorer. During the Old Republic era, Ossus had been a center of Jedi learning. Then in 3996 BBY, during the Sith War, Ossus was devastated when the Sith caused the planet's sun to go supernova. As a result, Ossus was reduced to a barren world and was forgotten for millennia.[3]
Luke Skywalker encountering a probe droid.
When Skywalker and Solusar arrived, they were attacked by an Imperial probe droid sent after them by Sedriss. However, the two Jedi defeated the automaton. They then traveled Ossus on their T-77 Experimental Airspeeder. During their journey, they passed through ruins and canyons and they discovered that the Jedi had been strong on Ossus.[4]
They then encountered two Force-sensitive youths tied to a tree at the base of a canyon. Later Skywalker and Solusar would learn that the youths were Rayf Ysanna and Jem Ysanna and that they were members of the Ysanna, a tribe of warrior-shamans who were the descendants of survivors of the destruction of Ossus. Luke freed the two youths though they thought he was trying to kill them.[4]
They then encountered more Ysanna who rode on large beasts. The Ysanna—thinking that Skywalker and Solusar were enemies—attacked them with concussion-fired arrows. This was further enforced by the fact that the Ysanna spoke only Ysannan while the two Jedi spoke only Galactic Basic.[4]
These Ysanna used the Force to guide their arrows to the target. Skywalker and Solusar were forced to defend themselves with their lightsabers as a result. Impressed by the skill the two Jedi displayed, the Ysanna stopped fighting.[4]
The leader of the tribe, Chief Okko, then confronted them with his Force abilities. The other Ysanna, including Murra, joined in, but stopped when they saw that the two Jedi were friends. Though Skywalker did not bring C-3PO, he was able to communicate with Chief Okko through the Force. Okko then realized that they were the long-lost Jedi Knights. Unfortunately, the Chief's cry of wonder was interrupted by the arrival of a long-range Imperial hunter.[4]
The Skirmish[]
- "Curse you Jedi—I don't care if you're a million years old—!"
- ―Sedriss
The Neti Jedi Master Ood Bnar holding Sedriss QL moments before his death.
Upon landing, the vessel deployed a contingent of specially-trained Stormtroopers which were powered by the dark side of the Force. However, the Ysanna and the two Jedi fought them. During the confrontation, the Force-sensitive Ysanna were pitted against the best Stormtroopers in the Imperial arsenal. With the help of Skywalker and Solusar, the Stormtroopers were defeated.[4]
However, Sedriss and his cohort Vill Goir were still alive and they confronted the two Jedi Knights. However, Solusar defeated his former comrade Vill Goir for all time while Luke used the Force to hurl Sedriss to his knees. In desperation, Sedriss took the Ysanna girl Jem hostage.[4]
Unfortunately for him, he was standing behind the same tree the two Ysanna had been tied to and the tree was in reality the Neti Jedi Master Ood Bnar. Ood used his roots to grab Sedriss and then used the Force to disintegrate and destroy Sedriss. Unfortunately, Odd Bnar was killed in the process.[4]
On the positive side, the explosion revealed a vault which contained a wealth of ancient Jedi lightsabers. Also, Ood Bnar left a descendant behind. Skywalker, Solusar, Jem, and Rayf then took a lightsaber each from the treasure vault. They then discovered that the antiques were still operational. With this, Skywalker took Jem and Rayf Ysanna with him as students to start a new Jedi Order.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
The Skirmish on Ossus first appeared in the issue Dark Empire II 3 of the Star Wars: Dark Empire series of comics. The battle was conceived and written by authors Tom Veitch, illustrated and colored by colorist Cam Kennedy. Veitch used this as part of the rising action of the plot; introducing the Neti Jedi Ood Bnar while killing off Vill Goir and Sedriss.
The Skirmish on Ossus would eventually be featured in the Dark Empire II audio drama, which witnessed the skirmish take on a whole new personality through the voice acting of Jim Ward (Sedriss and Kam Solusar), John Cygan (Skywalker, Goir and Okko) and Glynnis Talken (Jem Ysanna).
The audio drama of Dark Empire differs from the original comic Dark Empire II in regards to several aspects of the chronology of events in the battle. In the audio version, Sedriss is bested in duel with Skywalker, rather than being pushed back up against the tree-like Ood Bnar by the Force.