Battle of Sagma

The Battle of Sagma was an engagement of the Listehol Campaign of the Galactic Empire's Reconquest of the Rim that took place in the Outer Rim Territories' Sagma system in 18 BBY. In the battle, Imperial Admiral Wullf Yularen and Captain Bannidge Holt commanded a fleet of Invincible-class Dreadnaught Heavy Cruisers augmented by Venator-class Star Destroyers and TIE/ln space superiority starfighters. The Imperial force faced a swarm of Sikurdian pirates and emerged victorious. After the Battle of Sagma, the Empire's Commission for the Preservation of the New Order made Captain Ganig and Sergeant Stecker of the Imperial Army famous heroes.

Prelude

By 18 BBY, a union was formed between pirates of the Sikurdian^[1] species^[3] and enslavers of the Tervig and Zygerrian^[1] species.^[4][1] The united gangs carried out raids in^[1] the Galactic Empire–allied^[5] Corporate Sector and endangered commercial shipping along the Listehol Run and Shaltin Tunnels hyperspace routes.^[1]

Consequently, in 18 BBY, the Empire launched the Listehol Campaign as part of its Reconquest of the Rim. Imperial Admiral Wullf Yularen was given a fleet of ancient Invincible-class Dreadnaught Heavy Cruisers originally reserved for the Corporate Sector, which he and the young Captain Bannidge Holt complemented with a small number of Venator-class Star Destroyers.^[1]

The battle

In the Sagma system^[1] of the Outer Rim Territories' Illisurevimurasi sector,^[6] the Imperial fleet commanded by Yularen and Holt faced a swarm of Sikurdian pirates. Launching squadrons of TIE/ln space superiority starfighters from the Venators, the Imperial force prevailed in the engagement.^[1]

Aftermath

Advancing along^[1] the Listehol Run,^[5] Yularen and Holt's fleet subsequently passed through the Sikurd system before going on to interdict^[1] the planet Zygerria.^[7] After the Battle of Sagma, the Empire's Commission for the Preservation of the New Order made Captain Ganig and Sergeant Stecker of the Imperial Army famous heroes, a fact that Mar Barezz, an officer of the Imperial Security Bureau later noted to Imperial Commodore Bevven and High Colonel Theol Drost during a battle fought on^[2] the planet^[8] Picutorion^[2] by 17 BBY.^[9]

Behind the scenes

The Battle of Sagma was first mentioned in "Picutorion Viewed From the Top," a short companion narrative included in the 1989 Imperial Sourcebook that was written by Greg Gorden and published by West End Games for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[2] The Essential Atlas, a 2009 reference book by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry, subsequently noted a battle in the Sagma system—in which the Galactic Empire was victorious—on a map of Galactic Civil War engagements taking place between 2 BBY and 4 ABY.^[5]

On that map, the Sagma system battle was placed spatially close to Galactic Civil War battles in the Praadost, Doniphon, and Telos systems.^[5] Fry's Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Miniatures scenario series The Hunt Within: Valance's Tale, published on Wizards.com between December 2, 2004^[8] and January 27, 2005,^[10] had previously established that the Imperial campaign known as the Kwymar Suppressions—preceded by the pacification of Praadost II—included engagements on the celestial bodies Doniphon and Telos^[8] as well as the battle on Picutorion^[8][10] which, per "Picutorion Viewed From the Top," took place after the Battle of Sagma.^[2] In addition, The Hunt Within: Valance's Tale established that the Imperial stormtrooper officer Beilert Valance had participated in the Picutorion battle before being wounded and fitted with cybernetic prosthetic parts.^[8]

However, the 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare, authored by Fry and Paul R. Urquhart, introduced a "Battle of Sagma" in which the Empire was also victorious but which was set in 18 BBY.^[1] Furthermore, a section was created for the book in which Valance's fitting with cybernetics was dated to 17 BBY. Although the section was cut from The Essential Guide to Warfare, it was later released in 2014 as part of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, a series of articles published on the StarWars.com Blog by Fry and^[11] Del Rey editor^[12] Erich Schoeneweiss containing various cut content from the book. Thereby, the Picutorion battle was also dated to approximately 17 BBY, and the Galactic Civil War battle in the Sagma system from The Essential Atlas was retroactively established to have been a separate engagement from the Battle of Sagma from "Picutorion Viewed From the Top."^[11]

Appearances

• "Picutorion Viewed From the Top" — Imperial Sourcebook (reprinted in Second Edition) (First mentioned)

Sources

• The Essential Guide to Warfare

Notes and references