It was horrible. Bombs blasted everything, everyone killed everyone. I can still hear their screams. It was horrifying. It never got quiet. The camps were overflooded with screaming injured soldiers and bodies.
—Nicole Kroger to her husband about the battle.
The Battle of Utapau, mostly known as the Utapau Massacre, was a raging battle during the War of Secession between the Galactic Confederate Systems and the Galactic Empire, ending with an Imperial victory. The casualties were heavy for both sides. It was the bloodiest battle of the entire war, possibly in galactic history.
The Battle[]
The Empire’s capital ships descended upon Utapau and began to disgorge squadrons of TIE starfighters and gunships to the surface in heavy numbers, the start of the long and bloody battle. While Captain Joget led the TIE starfighter squadrons in repelling groups of Confederate Nantex-class territorial defense starfighters, Tanst's assault force was the first to take flight, with Tanst leading the way in his gunship. Tanst and her gunships were met with heavy resistance from Confederate proton and LR1K gun emplacements below, as well as the Nantex-class starfighters from above, but they were able to push through with covering fire from the Imperial TIE starfighters, which also targeted the Confederate gunners on the ground. With Tanst's forces underway, Skilletia's detachment departed shortly afterward, followed by the assault group led by other commanders. Once all three strike forces had launched, Tanst recalled his fighter squadrons to the Imperial's command ship for new orders. The gunship carrying Skilletia was one of the first to be shot down, but he and his group managed to break free from the wreckage and use the fallen craft as cover from the nearby Confederate gunners and blaster cannons. Joget, meanwhile, ordered his pilot, Weaver, to land the AT-AT walkers shortly before Veers' own gunship fell to heavy fire as well. Joget landed with his men and AT-AT walkers to be greeted by incoming Nantex-class fighters. Although Joget advised Tanst not to land because of the danger posed by the Confederate fighters, Tanst and his gunship were forced down when the craft was targeted by the Confederates. The gunship hit the surface and skidded across the ground before coming to a stop, leaving only Tanst and trooper Trapper alive. An injured Veers and Jet, a stormtrooper pulled themselves out of the remains of their gunship, which was just one of many to have been shot down in the area. Jet reported that Tanst's forces had been the only ones to reach the landing zone, while Skilletia's AT-AT walkers had been decimated in his ongoing firefight with the Confederates; Jet noted that Skilletia would continue to press on to the rendezvous point to meet with Tanst. Veers ordered the injured men among his own forces to be loaded onto the AT-AT walkers with the objective of pressing on to make for a nearby bridge and join the rest of the troops at the rendezvous site.
As all of the Imperial's main strike teams were dispatched to battle the Confederates, Breaker and the Imperial mercenary were tasked with another mission. They and an elite crew were to take an LAAT/i gunship behind enemy lines to destroy a key Confederate installation; in doing so, they would sever Confederate communications in the area and help to ease Confederate retaliation to the Imperial's primary assault. The elite gunship battled through enemy droid forces—including DSD1 dwarf spider droids, Multi-Troop Transports, jetpack-equipped Confederatess, Vulture droid starfighters, Hyena-class bombers, ARC-130 fighters, B-25 and Y-Wing bombers, X-Wing starfighters and droid tri-fighters—before reaching and destroying the Confederate communications facility. Elsewhere, while overseeing the battle against the Confederates in the area alongside Skilletia, clone stormtrooper Rex contacted Joget to request reinforcements for Skilletia but found that Tanst would be unable to give support, as Tanst's gunship had been shot down. Left on their own, Skilletia provided cover for Rex and the rest of their troops to rush the Confederate blaster cannons. At Point Rain, meanwhile, Joget organized his LAAT/i gunships and AT-AT walkers in a circular defensive formation. In the midst of exchanging heavy fire with the attacking sonic blaster–wielding Confederates and their armored tank]]s, Joget ordered troopers Danny and Rafe to search Tanst's gunship—which had been located five kilometers away—for survivors. The two Advanced Recon Force trooper scouts raced across the battlefield, finding and rescuing the wounded Tanst and Trapper from the gunship's wreckage.
While Danny and Rafe helped the injured Tanst and Trapper back to the landing zone, Joget had his men and AT-AT walkers provided the group with covering fire from the advancing Confederate tanks and Flitknot speeder–mounted Confederates. Upon his arrival, Tanst was treated by a medic and was updated on the situation by Joget. With his men surrounded by the Confederates, Tanst noted that they simply had to hold out until Skilletia and Veers arrived for support. Veers himself was in the process of cutting through a massive caltrop field so that his AT-AT walkers could move through the obstacles. Jet conferred with Admiral Yularen, a Clone War veteran, via comlink to request air support, but all of the starfighter forces were engaged in the planetary invasion elsewhere. Yularen was only able to offer his vantage point as a resource to locate Skilletia, whom he found pressing toward the eastern barrier—the site of the Confederates' armored barricade. Skilletia, Rex, and their men arrived at the heavily entrenched fortress and were forced to take cover from the assailing Confederate forces high above. With the large amounts of incoming laser barrages, Skilletia and Rex each took a backpack filled with thermal detonators and ran toward the adjacent cliff, using grappling hooks to scale the face in order to set their charges to topple the wall. With the rest of the troops continuing to exchange fire with the Confederates, Weaver joined Skilletia on the top of the barrier, helping them to sever a pair of droidekas that were soon deployed from hatches along the barrier. Once Skilletia and Rex had tossed their primed detonator–full backpacks into the hatches, they and Weaver jumped off the wall shortly before it exploded. Skilletia used the Force to slow their fall before landing and employing the same method to hold back the rubble. With the wall destroyed, Skilletia, Rex, and their forces pressed toward Point Rain. Meanwhile, Veers split up his own troops, sending his AT-AT walkers to take a longer route to the rendezvous point, while he took a squad to examine a shortcut through a clifftop cave. There, Veers and his men were besieged by groups of Confederate warriors who depleted the Imperials’ numbers in a banzai charge led by Kroger. Although his men sustained heavy casualties and losses from the Confederates, Veers was able to cut through the cave. At the other side, Veers had his flame troopers fire their flamethrowers at the Confederates, killing most of them and unblocking the path out of the cave. Kroger and a few others managed to escape.
Securing Point Rain[]
Skilletia, Rex, Weaver, and their squad, who were making their way to Point Rain, happened upon the clifftop cave where Veers's forces were just finishing off the smoldering Confederates. Joining forces with Veers, Skilletia contacted Yularen to request air support for the push to Point Rain, where Tanst was in dire need of assistance. Having spent the time reallocating resources since Jet's previous request, Yularen dispatched an available TIE squadron to Point Rain to reinforce Tanst's depleted strike force, which had become separated from the Imperial's main forces. Commanding the small fighter contingent, Captain Breaker and his mercenary compatriot led the TIE bombers through small arms fire from the Confederates' LR1K and proton cannons and armored tanks. After cutting through the Confederate ground artillery, the TIE squadron proceeded to Point Rain, where Tanst and Joget were suffering numerous casualties at the hands of the Confederates; the warrior insurgents had surrounded the Imperial's staging area and were initiating flying attacks from the sky and speeder assaults on the ground. With his men pushed on all sides, Tanst prepared to take up arms alongside his men in what he believed would be a final stand against the Confederates. At that moment, the TIE bombers arrived at Point Rain, dropping their munitions on the advancing Confederate tanks and halting the Confederates' advance. With the rest of his troops pressing on, Tanst was greeted by the arrival of Skilletia, Rex, Veers, and their strike teams. The Imperials regrouped and convened with their officers on the task still at hand: destroying a fort’s shield generator at the Ray Shield Fortress, as the Confederates were now finally in retreat. It was decided that Skilletia would lead a small squad into the shield and jam the Confederates' scanners, rendering them unable to target the incoming AT-AT walkers. Once the walkers had taken out the shield generator, Veers would then bring in the rest of the troops with the gunships. With little time to spare, the Imperial forces quickly moved into position; after everything was ready, Skilletia and Rex initiated their attack, charging through the shield with their men. Though pressed with heavy fire from the Confederates, the Imperials pushed through the fortress's defenses and took cover in an outcrop close to the generator. From there, the team threw EMP grenades at the proton and LR1K cannons, temporarily disabling the Confederate guns.
Unopposed by the enemy's heavy fire, Joget led the AT-AT walkers[1] in their march through the shield, and the walkers concentrated their fire on the shield generator and its artillery stations. As the shield was deactivated, Veers, Rex, and their gunships landed with additional clone reinforcements to secure the Confederate facility. All of the Confederates at the Ray Shield Fortress were forced to surrender, and the injured Tanst and Veers returned to the fleet with the rest of the wounded for treatment.[2] Left in charge of the Imperial forces, Skilletia set out for Kroger the Lesser's primary droid foundry with Rex, Rex, and their assault force.[3] However, the Imperial's hold on Point Rain was not to go unchallenged—Kroger soon set her sights on Point Rain and launched a surprise counterattack to overrun the Imperial's crucial landing zone. With Skilletia's forces already on the move, Breaker and his mercenary associate were given command of the ground forces at Point Rain and were tasked with defending the site. As the Confederates began to march on their position, Breaker had engineers prepare some blaster turret defense platforms to hold the line. The Imperial forces used their blaster turrets to great effect in eliminating the deployed Confederate forces, which included ranks of BX-series droid commandos, ARC troopers, Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, and IG-227 Hailfire-class droid tanks and imported Rebel tanks. As the Imperial defenses increased in strength, Kroger sent out more droid forces in retaliation, including shielded Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighters and massive OG-9 homing spider droids, but Breaker and the Imperial mercenary were able to secure Point Rain and ensured that it would not fall to Confederate control.
When Kroger stopped the Imperials' advance toward the droid factories, Yularen and the recovering Tanst sent the Imperial mercenary to clear out the resistance that was halting the Imperials' assault. The mercenary complied and proceeded to the battlefield's front lines, cutting through Confederates and providing support where needed. Elsewhere, Imperial troops made significant progress; Skilletia's forces closed in on Kroger's primary weapons foundry and began preparations for their assault. The Confederate General meanwhile dispatched a battalion of Confederates to retake the heavily damaged Ray Shield Fortress from Imperial control, as putting the facility back online would cut off Skilletia's forces. Unwilling to let the Confederates overrun the fortress and subsequently break the Imperials’ supply lines, Breaker and the Imperial mercenary mobilized their forces to defend the facility. Beginning their assault on the Ray Shield Fortress, Kroger dispatched a large wave of confederate forces and NR-N99 Persuader-class enforcers to recapture the facility, and the Imperial forces retaliated with a number of blaster turret emplacements. After having mobile super tank shield generators protect their ground troops, Kroger sent out a large squadron of shielded Porax-38 starfighters for air support. However, the Confederates were unable to retake the Ray Shield Fortress, and Breaker and the Imperial mercenary forced them to recall their depleted troops.
Assault on the main foundry[]
Skilletia and Rex mobilized their men and marched their troops and AT-AT walkers toward the bridge parade-style. Despite their risky lack of cover, Skilletia and Rex intended to make their frontal assault tempting enough to draw the factory's confederate defenders into a fight. With ten garrisons of Confederates ready, Kroger took the bait and deployed a large army of soldiers to defend the foundry. As Skilletia and Rex led their men to charge the Confederates, they found themselves confronted by groups of jet-packed Confederates launching a surprise attack from several spires behind them, and they were caught in a crossfire.
Skilletia and Rex continued to cut through the opposing Confederates, and a trooper used a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon to take out the airborne Confederate insurgents. With the appearance of several droideka squads, Rex sent trooper Draa forward with a rocket launcher, and Draa quickly destroyed the droids. The Confederates' advance forces were further depleted by heavy fire from the Imperial's AT-AT walkers. In response, Kroger authorized Cody to send out twenty units of their newly arrived super tanks. The ray shielded vehicles were deployed from the foundry, and despite the Imperial forces' attempt to halt the tanks' advance with AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons manned by clone tank gunners, Skilletia, Rex, and their men were unable to stop the shielded tanks' approach. With the battle turning in the Imperial's favor, Kroger and Cody made one last attempt to outflank Skilletia's forces, sending out an army to cut off his battle group. Once the Confederates' attack route had been identified, Captain Breaker and his Imperial mercenary compatriot set out with an Imperial assault force to intercept Kroger's army; the Imperials’ engineers provided an array of turret defense platforms for use in combating the incoming Confederates. After breaching the Imperial defenses with armored tanks, mobile shield generators, starfighter squadrons, and a multitude of ground troops, Cody deployed a super tank to compromise the Imperials’ position. Although the tough super tank did significant damage to the Imperials’ turret emplacements, Breaker and the Imperial mercenary were able to destroy the Confederates and the super tank before the latter could move on to target Skilletia's forces, and Kroger's deployed army was defeated. In the meantime, Danny and Rafe arrived at the primary foundry's control room and planted their thermal detonator charges around the large main generator. Learning of the two Imperial's presence from the Confederate spy, Kroger and Cody personally took a squad of Confederate warriors and a super tank to greet the intruders. After activating their explosives, the Imperials' escape was cut short by the arrival of the Confederate General and her super tank. Outside the foundry, Skilletia and Rex learned from their chronometer readings that Danny and Rafe had placed and activated the bombs. Immediately thereafter, the Separatist tanks released a barrage of rockets that annihilated the Imperials’ artillery line and AT-AT walkers, dealing heavy casualties. While Kroger and her super tank kept Danny and Rafe occupied in the control room, other Confederate warriors collected the primed explosives from around the reactor. Kroger entrusted Cody and his troops to thwart the Imperials’ plan while she departed for other parts of the battle. After destroying Cody with an explosive charge but barely putting a scratch on the super tank, Rex made to retrieve the bombs from the Confederates, jumping and hanging onto two of the flying warriors before they could escape from the Imperials. However, the Confederates knocked Danny against the reactor, temporarily rendering him unconscious. Forced to defend the fallen Danny from the super tank's laser fire, Rafe was unable to prevent the Confederates from escaping into a hatch with the primed bombs. Meanwhile, Skilletia and Rex ordered their men to fall back in order to lure the tanks onto the bridge, which the two Imperial generals intended to collapse to eliminate the tanks. The Imperials' retreat baited the tanks onto the pass, and Skilletia and Rex swung hand-over-hand under the bridge and across its underbelly planting explosives at key points along its length. Reaching the other side of the bridge, Skilletia and Rex detonated the charges, destroying the span and sending the tanks into the abyss below.
Even with the arrival of evacuation ships, Tanst refused to leave without Danny and Rafe, who was unresponsive to his transmissions. The two Imperial generals' refusal to retreat forced them to face more Confederates from Kroger's foundry. Inside the control room, Rafe cut his way into the super tank and disabled its operators, commandeering the vehicle and saving Danny from being killed by the vehicle's cannon. A revived Danny joined Rafe inside the tank, where the pair contemplated their dilemma: without the bombs, they would be unable to destroy the foundry and complete their crucial mission. Danny and Rafe chose to instead use the super tank to fire at the generator, despite knowing that they would be unable to escape the subsequent explosion. Once Danny had relayed this decision to Skilletia and Rex, who were battling the Confederates outside, he and Rafe opened fire on the reactor, causing a massive chain of explosions to bring the foundry down. Unable to help their Imperials, a dismayed Skilletia and Rex took cover as their Confederate adversaries were crushed by the debris from the collapsing droid foundry. After the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, Skilletia desperately tried to contact Danny with his comlink, to no avail. Determined to rescue the buried Imperials from under the layers of rubble, Skilletia ordered the Imperial's LAAT carriers to begin lifting the debris to search for Danny and Rafe.
Trapped with Rafe in the super tank deep below the surface with a limited supply of air, Danny used a power cell to boost his communicator's reception and signal Skilletia to their position. Skilletia, Rex, and a squad of Imperials quickly proceeded to the indicated area, and with time running out, Skilletia used the Force to levitate the heavy debris away from the Imperials' super tank. The freed Danny and Rafe emerged from the wreckage, coughing and grimy but alive, and were reunited with their superior officers. Following their success and ordeal in destroying the foundry, Danny and Rafe were sent back to the fleet for some much-needed rest and accompanied a convoy of LAAT/i gunships ferrying the Empire’s wounded troops back for treatment. Kroger and the survivors managed to escape Utapau.
Aftermath[]
Nicole: “What'd you call me? I fought the Imperials at Utapau. I fought 'em in the trenches. And I pray to God no one else ever has to see the things that I saw.”
―Nicole Kroger denouncing a cocky Rebel trooper at Bastion.
During Operation Detachment, a Rebel trooper insulted Nicole Kroger for being a former Imperial. Nicole denounced him, mentioning the horrors of the Empire's wrath she witnessed at the bloody Battle of Utapau.