The Battle of Korriban was a battle that took place near the end of the year 14 ABY and marked the end of the Sith cult known as Disciples of Ragnos. In addition to being the final conflict between the cult and the New Jedi Order, it was also the first large-scale battle between Force users since the Seventh Battle of Ruusan of the New Sith Wars.
Prelude[]
The Disciples of Ragnos, a cult of Force-users who followed the dark side of the Force, emerged near the beginning of the year 14 ABY. Leg by the Dark J edi Tavion Axmis and assisted by the military forces of Imperial Remnant Admiral Rifa Sabol, they spread across the galaxy in search of locations with high concentrations of Force energy. At these locations, Tavion used an artifact called the Scepter of Ragnos to drain the Force energy from the nexuses at these locations, storing it in the device for the time being.
The New Jedi Order, under the leadership of Grand Master Luke Skywalker, discovered this cult after their first operation on Yavin 4. Skywalker dispatched numerous Jedi Knights and apprentices to sabotage their activities. The cult itself took heavy losses in the resulting conflicts, with the majority of its Inner Rim Mid Rim outposts neutralized, while Admiral Sabol's forces enjoyed few victories against the New Republic. Despite this, the cult succeeded in draining Force energy from most of their targeted Force nexuses. Their ultimate goal was to use the scepter to resurrect a Sith Lord named Marka Ragnos. The Jedi learned of this plan as well as the identity of the cult's leader, however, and Grand Master Skywalker personally led an army of Jedi to Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords, the site of Ragnos' tomb, to end Tavion's plans and destroy the cult. At the Jedi's request, the New Republic Navy also ordered the assembly of a task force of three Liberty-class Star Cruisers to assist in the attack. However, this task force was delayed by Imperial forces which attacked it while it was mobilizing.
The Battle[]
Deployment[]
The Valley of the Dark Lords was surrounded by numerous caves, catacombs, passages, temples, and small tombs, almost all of which were underground. The tombs of the Dark Lords themselves were immense and built into the east and west sides of the valley wall, with the south side an impassable cliff. A slope at the north valley wall, which led directly into the valley, was the only place to make an effective direct ground assault at. However, the numerous underground passages surrounding the valley provided multiple entrances to the valley.
The Imperial and cult forces arrived via the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Dark Hand, consisting of one regiment of stormtroopers and sandtroopers, making for a total of 2,500 men. Armor support was provided by twenty All Terrain Scout Transport walkers. Due to the ineffectiveness that larger assault vehicles would have in the valley, no AT-ATs were deployed. To compensate for this, the Imperials hastily set up a perimeter of prefabricated anti-air turrets around the valley. Shortly after the deployment of the troops, Tavion Axmis herself disembarked, leaving Captain Kel Brenston in command of the Dark Hand. Tavion was accompanied by several hundred Dark Jedi, comprising a large percentage of the Cult of Ragnos' membership. The Imperial troops and cultists gathered inside the valley itself, with twenty AT-ST walkers stationed around the northern slope. The others were stationed around the north side of the valley.
The Jedi forces, consisting of six hundred Jedi-piloted starfighters, arrived in the Horuset system shortly before Tavion entered Ragnos's tomb to begin the resurrection process. After spotting the Jedi, Captain Brenston ordered the Dark Hand's starfighter group to scramble. In addition to its six TIE squadrons, the Star Destroyer also launched its complement of assault transports, gunboats, and even unused shuttles and ground transports to defend against the Jedi forces.
Short Orbital Battle[]
These ships approached and engaged the Jedi fighter force, taking care to stay within range of the Dark Hand's guns, which provided long-range fire support. The Jedi initially held their own against the Imperial fighters, but began to take rapidly increasing losses once the Gamma-class assault transports arrived, which made heavy use of concussion missiles to combat the Jedi's Force-assisted piloting skills. Despite their losses, the Jedi fighters overpowered the Imperial ships with their major advantage in numbers, and they retreated back to the Dark Hand's safety. Deciding that an attack on the Star Destroyer would be futile, the Jedi managed to escape the vessel's weapon range and headed for Korriban's surface.
Planetside[]
The Jedi forces, now totaling a force of five-hundred and seventy-three fighters, then approached the Valley of the Dark Lords. After being informed of the imminent attack, Tavion entered Marka Ragnos' tomb and left her second in command, Remus Corona, in charge of the defense. Imperial walkers and anti-air guns opened fire on the approaching enemy forces. Several Jedi fighters were downed, but they soon split up and performed strafing runs on the Imperial forces. Most of the walkers were undamaged, but Imperial infantry took much more significant losses and were soon scattered. The Jedi then split into two groups, the first of which continued drawing Imperial anti-aircraft fire, while the second group, comprising most of the Jedi, landed outside of the valley, where they entered the underground tunnels which led to the valley.
After taking additional losses from fighter attacks, Remus Corona ordered all troops and cultists to retreat into the underground passages and structures that surrounded the valley, anticipating the Jedi's attempts to penetrate the valley. Meanwhile, Captain Brenston ordered the Dark Hand's remaining fighters and transports to regroup and provide air support for the Imperial ground forces. As a result, the remaining Jedi fighters, numbering seventy-eight, were unable to land. The majority of them had already managed to land, however, and spread throughout the underground chambers. Squads of stormtroopers sent to delay their advance sustained heavy casualties, and were forced to retreat, making room for the cultists. The two Force-wielding groups engaged each other, and although the cultists were mostly outmatched by their Jedi opponents in terms of skill, they managed to keep the attackers from entering the valley.
Jaden's arrival[]
This segment of the battle lasted for several hours at the end of which Grand Master Skywalker and several other Jedi Masters managed to penetrate the cultists' perimeter, allowing them to gain more ground. This happened concurrently with the arrival of Jaden Korr on Korriban. Jaden, now a Dark Jedi, had turned to the dark side of the Force after killing the unarmed Rosh Penin on Taspir III. Believing that the Jedi Order would never accept him back after what he did, Jaden abandoned his past and traveled to Korriban, where he planned to stop Tavion Axmis' plans and take control of her organization.
Korr landed his ship in one of the temple structures near the valley. Immediately afterward, he was confronted by two Jedi who sensed the dark side within him. Jaden killed the two in order to get past and headed toward the valley via the underground tunnels, fighting his way through cultists and Jedi alike. As he neared the valley itself, the cultists gradually began to lose their advantage over the Jedi and the fighting spread to the valley itself. The cultists managed to keep the Jedi spread thin, however, so they were unable to mount an assault. Nevertheless, Jaden managed to penetrate their defenses and entered Ragnos' tomb.
Inside, Jaden confronted Tavion and demanded that she turn the Scepter of Ragnos over to him. Tavion refused and was subsequently killed in a duel by the Dark Jedi. Immediately afterward, Jaden himself was confronted by his former Master, Kyle Katarn, who had followed him to Korriban. Kyle attempted to convert Jaden back to the Light side of the Force, but failed and the two attacked each other. Jaden was on the defensive for most of the fight due to the Jedi's greater experience and as a result could not find a weak spot in Katarn's defenses.
Meanwhile in the valley, Remus and his cultists were scattered by the Jedi forces, who had converged on the tombs. As the Jedi forced the Dark Jedi, who were rapidly decreasing in numbers, back into the catacombs, Luke Skywalker approached Marka Ragnos' now-undefended tomb. Sensing his arrival, Jaden chose to escape before he could be overwhelmed. Taking the Scepter of Ragnos from where Tavion had dropped it after her death, Jaden used to device to overpower Katarn. He then blasted a hole in the tomb's wall and escaped.
Jaden then made haste back to his vessel, which he used to transport to the Star Destroyer above the planet, masquerading as one of the cultists to gain access. Once aboard, he told captain Kel Brenston that he was Tavion's successor. Brenston refused to believe the Dark Jedi and was subsequently executed. The rest of the ship's crew gave no further objections. After the evacuation of all ground forces and recall of the Dark Hand's fighter complement, the Star Destroyer then left the system, ending the Battle of Korriban.
Aftermath[]
One-hundred and fifty-one Jedi were killed during the battle and approximately one hundred were wounded, leaving Skywalker's army at approximately three quarters' strength. The cultists and Imperials themselves sustained heavy casualties, with nearly their entire stormtrooper regiment wiped out and many of the cultists dead, drawing a clear victory for the Jedi Order. Unfortunately for them, however, the New Republic task force was unable to arrive until after the Dark Hand had left the system.
When Luke Skywalker arrived at Kyle Katarn's location, the dejected Jedi Master told Luke of Jaden's turn to the dark side and Rosh's death. Almost overwhelmed with guilt for having lost both of his apprentices, Katarn confessed to Luke that he was unsure if he should be a Jedi Master at all. Although Skywalker attempted to convince him that any Jedi Master could lose a student, Katarn left his responsibilities and position at the Jedi Praxeum behind for the time being, resolving to personally hunt Jaden down and correct his failure.
With Tavion's death, Jaden Korr was able to take command of the Disciples of Ragnos, which he reformed into the Dark Order of Korr after recalling the majority of its fleet to Thule. The cult underwent a major military reorganization, with most of the Dark Jedi given military ranks. Rifa Sabol, formerly the commander-in-chief of the cult's military forces, begrudgingly accepted her new rank as a General, one of several new ranks Jaden put into practice. Despite their disapproval of the sudden turn of events, Sabol and her subordinates tolerated Jaden's sudden ascension. Some did so out of fear, while others simply felt little reason to protest. The cultists themselves were eager to support Korr's rule, however, respecting his strength in the Force. After this reorganization was completed, Jaden began the Dark Order War.
Cult of Ragnos Campaign |
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Mos Eisley, Tatooine - Dune Sea, Tatooine - Bakura - Blenjeel - Corellia - Hoth - Byss (First) - Wayland - Nar Kreeta - Zonju V - Kril'dor - Coruscant - Nar Shaddaa - Dosuun - Vjun - Chandrila - Taanab - Yalara - Byss (Second) - Ord Mantell - Taspir III - Korriban |