Huk War

Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Canon version of this subject.  This article covers the Legends version of this subject. 

OnALegendsArticleGoToCanon

The Huk War, also known as the Huk Wars or the Yam'rii crisis, was a prolonged conflict waged between the Kaleesh of the planet Kalee and the Yam'rii of the planet Huk.

Prelude

The conflict lasted for generations as the greedy and technologically-superior insectoid Yam'rii overran neighboring planets (such as Abbaji and Tovarskl), ruthlessly colonizing them and plundering their wealth. The insatiable Yam'rii eventually attacked nearby Kalee, seeking to enslave the native Kaleesh.[2] They captured hundreds[6] of millions[7] of Kaleesh and sold them into slavery.[6] Not ones to be oppressed, the Kaleesh rebelled and the two races soon became locked in violent combat. This led many Kaleesh to derogatorily refer to the Yam'rii as Huks, translating as "soulless bugs".[2]

The war

The Galactic Republic arrived at the planet Kalee.

The Galactic Republic arrived at the planet Kalee.

Out of this carnage arose two seemingly invincible Kaleesh warriors, the deadly Qymaen jai Sheelal and Ronderu lij Kummar. The two fought courageously together, butchering thousands of Yam'rii in countless campaigns, their reputations raising to the level of demigods.[2]

Unfortunately, Ronderu lij Kummar eventually fell in battle against the Yam'rii on the beaches of Kalee, and a distraught Sheelal soon came to adopt the name "Grievous," surrounding himself with a legion of equally tortured handpicked "elite," known as the Izvoshra, and becoming an even more violent and rageful warlord. Leading the brigades of the kolkpravis fighting force, Grievous massacred large numbers of Yam'rii in revenge, finally driving them from Kalee.[2] In the process, the Huk were entirely devastated, pushed back to their own world and even beyond, while Grievous, seeking retribution, co-opted Huk technology and ships for his own use, capturing all of their systems and attacking both their colonies and the Huk homeworld.[6]

His bloodlust and thirst for revenge did not end with the planetary retreat, and Grievous led his warriors on a campaign on the Yam'rii colony worlds, decimating both military and civilian targets. He came as far as Tovarskl, when the Yam'rii, using their connections with the Trade Federation, desperately petitioned the Republic for help.[2]

The Senate inserted itself into the conflict and believed the Yam'rii's tall tales of the Kaleesh starting the conflict.[8] Ruling on behalf of the Yam'rii and moving to stop the war, the Republic dispatched a Jedi task force of[2] fifty Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters[5] led by Masters T'chooka D'oon and Jmmaar[2] and—following a precedent established during the Stark Hyperspace War—paramilitary forces.[1] The Republic leveled harsh sanctions and reparations against the Kaleesh for their aggression, ending the Huk War. Grievous, bred for battle, was forced to return to his family as the war ended.[2]

Aftermath

Grievous (right), veteran of the Huk War and a being with great hatred for the Jedi

Grievous (right), veteran of the Huk War and a being with great hatred for the Jedi

After the war, because of the Republic's sanctions, Kalee descended into economic devastation.[2] In the opinion of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, a diplomatic solution was reached to the Huk War after Republic intervention.[1] On the ground of Kalee, however, Grievous watched helplessly as his wives, offspring and fellow people starved, suffered and slowly died, his hatred for the Republic growing. Having little choice, Grievous became an enforcer for the InterGalactic Banking Clan, which promised to help alleviate Kalee's plight in turn for his services. This arrangement lasted until Grievous learned that the Yam'rii went unpunished by the Republic while they desecrated Kaleesh burial grounds established on the colony worlds.[2]

Around 29 BBY,[3] Grievous broke his commitment to the IBC, and he and his Kaleesh elite boarded a troop shuttle, preparing to reinitiate the Huk War. Grievous's plans were aborted, however, when his shuttle was destroyed by an ion bomb, secretly planted by the Banking Clan and its Separatist allies. Grievous had to be reconstructed as a cyborg as a means of clinging to life.[9][2]

During the Yinchorri Uprising, Valorum regarded the "Yam'rii crisis" as a recent precedent for how paramilitaries were used by the Republic to stop a problem, with a diplomatic solution following that deployment.[1] Though the Huk War finally seemed over, the war's legacy was touched upon during the Clone Wars when Grievous returned to Tovarskl with his droid armies, and destroyed the Yam'rii populace, finishing what he had started years earlier.[2]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Darth Plagueis
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 SWInsider "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" — Star Wars Insider 86
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader states that transformation of General Grievous on Geonosis took place "a decade earlier" than 19 BBY per The Essential Reader's Companion, which would place The Eyes of Revolution and Grievous's attempt to restart the war around 29 BBY.
  4. ↑ Galaxy at War
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Labyrinth of Evil
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
  7. ↑ The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
  8. ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
  9. ↑ "The Eyes of Revolution" — Star Wars: Visionaries
In other languages