User:AmazinglyCool/SHDraft

|canon=Occupation of Kashyyyk

The Enslavement of Kashyyyk, also known as the occupation of Kashyyyk, was the protracted campaign in which the Galactic Empire subjugated the planet Kashyyyk and subsequently reclassified the native Wookiees as a slave species. The Wookiees became regular hunting prey for Trandoshans and were forced into conscripted labor on Imperial construction projects, including the first Death Star battle station.

Prelude

Kashyyyk was a forest and jungle planet located in the Mid Rim region of the galaxy. Throughout galactic history, the planet was a location of strategic importance, due to its position as a navigational gateway for the southwestern quadrant of the galaxy.^[11] It was located at an intersection linking the Perlemian Trade Route and the Corellian Run, as well as ancient routes running from Hutt Space to the Core Worlds region, and supposed secret hyperspace routes known only to the planet's native Wookiees.^[12]

The world was first discovered^[13] and enslaved by the Czerka Corporation, who exploited Kashyyyk's forests for corporate gain.^[14] The Wookiees rebelled against Czerka in 3956 BBY,^[13][15] and not long after, the planet was admitted into the Galactic Senate as a member of the Galactic Republic.^[16]

In 22 BBY, the galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars broke out in between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.^[13] Although initially a non-aligned world, tensions arose in the area around Kashyyyk during the Dark Reaper crisis, a Separatist plot to assemble an ancient superweapon known as the Dark Reaper.^[17] The following year,^[18] the Separatists invited the Kashyyyk Royal Families to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems.^[19] The Separatists found Kashyyyk particularly desirable, given its location as a central nexus to the Core Worlds offered the Separatists with one of the only potential points to launch an invasion to the Republic homeworld of Coruscant.^[12] Feeling the Wookiee Royal Families' response was too delayed, Separatist General Grievous sent an invading group of viper probe droids. After the droids killed Prince Rikummee, his father King Grakchawwaa felt compelled to join the Republic instead.^[19][20]

Nearing the end of the war in 19 BBY,^[13] Separatist forces began a full-scale invasion of Kashyyyk as a naval fleet entered planetary orbit.^[12] Through the efforts of Republic clone troopers, Jedi Knights led by Grand Master Yoda, and warriors of the Kashyyyk Resistance led by chieftan Tarfful, Separatist ground invasions were successfully quelled at the coastal city of Kachirho. It was during the Battle of Kashyyyk when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious who led the Separatists from the shadows, brought the war which he had orchestrated to an end. Through the execution of Order 66, a directive^[21] in the inhibitor chips of clone troopers which outlined the Jedi as traitors to the Republic and marked them for termination,^[22] and the manipulation of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Sidious was able to destroy both the Jedi Order and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Though Republic victory was achieved at Kashyyyk, the planet was left to the mercy of Sidious, who reestablished the Republic as his Galactic Empire.^[21]

Campaign

Subjugation of Kashyyyk (19 BBY)

Formative stages

Though Order 66 was successful in most part, there were still a handful of Jedi who survived the attack. One group of survivors—Olee Starstone, Siadem Forte, Deran Nalual, Klossi Anno, Iwo Kulka, Jambe Lu, and Nam Poorf—teamed up with the slicer Filli Bitters on a quest to discover any other survivors. Their search brought them to Kashyyyk, where they ventured to Kachirho and met with chieftan Tarfful. Tarfful confirmed with the group that Jedi Master Yoda survived the Jedi slaughter^[1] earlier that year,^[3] and offered them a safe haven to lay low.^[1]

Having successfully tracked the Jedi's transport to Kashyyyk, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin relayed this information to Darth Vader, the man-turned-cyborg Anakin Skywalker who had become the apprentice of Darth Sidious. Vader personally sought to hunt down and kill the Jedi as part of his Great Jedi Purge, while Tarkin hoped to control Kashyyyk and enslave the Wookiee population. In specific, he hoped to speed up the construction of the Death Star I battle station and superweapon, as the project was falling far behind schedule and lacked a large number of skilled labor. The two made an agreement, and together they decided to launch an Imperial campaign for the enslavement of Kashyyyk.^[1]

First landing

As part of the first step of Tarkin's plan, an Imperial platoon of two-hundred stormtroopers led by Captain Janzor was tasked with setting the stage for a much larger Imperial invasion. During a briefing Janzor informed his platoon that they would land at a specific set of coordinates, and then march north to secure the site and herd the Wookiees in the vicinity. While marching, the troopers were instructed to destroy communication arrays, so that Wookiees could not have contact between their separate communities. The Imperial War Center determined that traveling through the Kashyyyk terrain was the best transport option, deeming that AT-AT walkers and TIE fighters would have issues traveling through the planet's forests, and that other heavy ground transports would be susceptible to Wookiee traps.^[23]

The toopers of Janzor's platoon were mostly GeNode clones,^[23] genetically engineered stormtroopers made using cloning technology pioneered by the Arkanian species,^[24] except for seemingly trooper Wayson Dower. These troopers were additionally briefed on Wookiees and their weapon of choice, the bowcaster. The soldiers made many negative racial remarks about the Wookiees, considering them primitive. The mission was expected to be swift and within the span of a day, and thus the platoon was only provided with one crate of supplies. Shortly after, the entire platoon boarded a transport ship en route to Kashyyyk.^[23]

As the transport arrived at Kashyyyk and descended onto the planet surface, the Imperials encountered several Wookiee, whom they swiftly killed. However their attempt to land in the dense foliage proved to be turbulent, and Sergeant Tak Bazierre fell out of the ship's hatch in the process, the first Imperial casualty of the campaign. The soldiers then decided to lower themselves and their supplies to the surface through the use of their transport's skylift. When reaching the ground, a single Wookiee attempted to assault Dower, but was killed by First Sergeant Oswald Strepp. Following this, the platoon was ordered to attack a small Wookiee outpost nearby to stop outgoing distress and warning transmissions. As they arrived they were spotted by the Wookiees, and an altercation began. A group of five soldiers were selected to storm the outpost, while the others would circle around and shoot any retreating Wookiees. Janzor instructed his troopers not to use thermal detonators, as to maintain the building's structure and stability.^[23]

Janzor's forces successfully killed the Wookiees of the outpost, and set up barracks. Shortly afterwards, a group of Wookiees ambushed the outpost. After another fight, Sergeant Strepp then decided to disobey Janzor's orders and activated a thermal detonator. The detonator's explosion nearly destroyed the outpost, killing many stormtroopers including Janzor and Strepp, but many Wookiee as well. This provided the five remaining stormtroopers with time to escape, though they had gone off in separate directions. They attempted to regroup at their previous drop zone, but two of the five surviving soldiers were killed by Wookiees on their way. The final three soldiers—Dower, private Sterns Yennich, and corporal Milo Strander—decided to wait until nightfall until planning their next course of action. However, during night, one of the planet's Wyyyschokk spiders killed Yennich.^[23]

Main invasion at Kachirho

It was only a few hours after Janzor's platoon's landing, when the main Imperial invasion force arrived.^[23] The Imperial fleet arrived above the planet, with Vader stationed on the Star Destroyer Executrix and Tarkin stationed on the Star Destroyer Executor. Not much later, a CR25 Imperial troop carrier was spotted arriving at Kachirho by the Wookiees and Jedi.^[1]

The situation had soon become tense as more than one hundred Wookiees faced the blaster rifles of two stormtrooper squads exiting the troop carrier. A clone commander spoke with the Wookiee's translator Cudgel and informed him that Imperial entry into Kashyyyk was authorized by Sector Three Command and Control. Tensions began to rise as the commander established that the community held Jedi, stating that either the Jedi would have to immediately surrender, or the Empire would tear the city apart. Then, the stormtroopers were ordered to spread out and search the city for the Jedi, as well as to bring all the Wookiees back to the landing zone. As the commander began to raise his blaster to shoot Cudgel, a Wookiee knocked it out of his hand and threw the trooper into the CR25 carrier. As several Kashyyyk clarions sounded, the Wookiees began to advance on the troopers. Two Imperial gunships dropped from the western treetops to assist the troopers on the ground, and stormtroopers repelled down to the landing platform. It was at this moment, when the Jedi of the village ignited their lightsabers, revealing themselves to the Imperial forces.^[1]

Aboard the Exactor, Commander Appo informed Vader that the conflict had begun. Vader and Appo then ventured to the ship's situation room where they met with holograms of the war theater commanders. The fleet commanders sought to do a full orbital bombardment of the planet, but Vader instead opted for full assaults of the planet's major cities including: Kachirho, Rwookrrorro, Kepitenochan, Okikuti, Chenachochan, and more. Vader also ordered the deployment of a Detainer CC-twenty-two-hundred Interdictor cruiser, as to prevent any ships from jumping into hyperspace. The Sith Lord intended not to occupy the planet, but to merely enslave its native Wookiees, and as such troopers were instructed to kill as few Wookiees as possible.^[1]

By this point at Kachirho, the first wave of soldiers had already been killed. More Imperial gunships and troop carriers poured into the city from the sky however, and the invasion had spread to the other cities which Vader outlined. The Jedi Knight Starstone took notice that large Imperial vessels would have difficulty hovering anywhere other than the landing platform or the lake, and that storming the city from the shore would be difficult due to it's protection from the formidable wroshyr trees. Through this analysis, Starstone deduced that the assault would be grueling without the help of turbolasers, and thus believed that the Imperials were likely relying on the lack of ranged Wookiee weaponry and anti-aircraft defense for victory. Imperial gunships were unable to descend below the tree-top level without being shot out the sky by artillery on the city's many platforms. The Wookiees also deployed Raddaugh Gnasp fluttercraft equipped with laser cannons. Gunships that were able to make it to ground level were assaulted by Oevvaor jet catamarans with missile launchers and repeating blasters. Some troopers who repelled from incapacitated were immediately shot, while those who reached the ground received blankets of blaster fire from the tree canopies. Wookiee forces utilized various carved shields and blasters, and their ranks were joined by off-world merchants. Wookiees also utilized weapons concealed in dropships and transports, much of which came from the Battle of Kashyyyk during the Clone Wars only a few weeks previously. Many Wookiee females and younglings evacuated from the city's lower levels to the higher levels for refuge, aided by the warrior Chewbacca.^[1]

Vader's arrival on Kashyyyk

It was at this moment however, when Darth Vader arrived in a Theta-class T-2c shuttle, and the six Jedi rushed towards the city's central wroshyr where it landed. The ship faced heavy anti-aircraft fire, but its defensive shields protected it. The shuttle shot at IG-227 Hailfire-class droids and destroyed the missle platforms. Wookiees rushed across the city with backpacks of food and rations, as the Imperial explosions devastated the city. In the ship's cockpit, Vader was addressed by a holoimage of a task force commander who explained to him that their attacks were being repulsed planetwide. The commander continued that Wookiees were beginning to abandon their cities for the planet's forests, and established that if they did not act quickly it could take several months to find the Wookiees.^[1] By this point, the Empire had succeeded in capturing one of Kashyyyk's continents. In the Kashyyyk forests, several speeder bike scouts found Milo Strander and Wayson Dower still alive, and informed them that their platoon's deployement was only intended to serve as a distraction for the main invasion force. The two were then taken off-world and returned to an Imperial Cruiser.^[23]

In the shuttle Vader than spoke to Commander Appo, who convinced him to give the fleet commanders the order to commence orbital bombardment, though Vader instructed them to do Kachirho last. As the boarding lamp lowered, Appo and Vader's elite 501st Legion exited with Vader right behind them, deflecting blaster fire. Three troopers were immediately shot by Wookiees aiming from barricades above the landing platform. The clone trooper pilot of Vader's shuttle began to hover and then did a 180-degree sweep, opening fire in the process. Two Wookiees hurled explosives into the shuttle as it arose, and the resultant explosion blew off one of the ship's wings, leaving the craft spinning around the area. Vader than began to advance, killing groups of Wookiees who attempted to hold their positions, before motioning his troops to follow behind him. At this moment however, the Jedi revealed themselves and killed a portion of Vader's troops. Olee Starstone, Siadem Forte, and Iwo Kulka then rushed to directly confront Vader. Forte and Kulka attempted to use differing lightsaber styles in an attempt to confuse and overwhelm the Sith, however the attempt was futile and Vader was still able to defend against all three Jedi. Vader wounded both Kulka and Forte, which caused Klossi Anno to step in, however she also ended up wounded as well. Then, Vader decapitated both Forte and Kulka, before he amputated Jambe Lu's right arm and Nam Poorf's right leg.^[1]

Vader than signaled his troops to leave Starstone to him, and the two engaged each other. The Jedi Padawan was initially aggressive in her approach, but eventually decided to retreat and calm herself. Starstone attempted to get under Vader's guard several times, but each attempt was unsuccessful. At that moment, Starstone's companion Jedi Master Roan Shryne arrived on the freighter Drunk Dancer. Taking use of Forte's lightsaber, Shryne killed Commander Appo. Beside him, the freighter's security chief Archyr Beil held blasters in both of his hands and gunned down several stormtroopers, and Starstone was ordered to put all the wounded Jedi on the Drunk Dancer. Vader and Shryne then began their own confrontation.^[1]

Orbital bombardment

Meanwhile, first mate of the Drunk Dancer Skeck Draggle piloted the ship to landing platform, but it sustained heavy fire. By this point, it was fading into nighttime and groups of Wookiees were carrying those wounded to shelter. Many of the traders decided to take off and abandon the planet, but some were unable to leave as their ships were shot down or trapped under rubble. The majority of the fighting had moved closer to the lakefront, leaving the landing platform with less action. Piles of bodies were stacked high, and Imperial forces began closing in on the city from all sides, as more forces continued to arrive on swamp speeders and other watercraft. Gunships slowly began driving Wookiees to the ground where they were more vulnerable. The crew of the Drunk Dancer prepared to abandon the conflict as well, but Starstone insisted that they stay and help fight. Eventually, the crew decided to pack as many Wookiees and traders as they could onto the Drunk Dancer and the Vagabond Trader docked within, and then take them all off-world. However, Imperial gunships began to break off their attack on the city, as the orbital bombardment of the city began, leaving large portion in flames and ruin. Wookiees began to scatter in multiple directions, and the transports prepared to take off.^[1]

Vader attempted to sweep Forte's lightsaber from Shryne's hands, but the Jedi was able to regain his balance. During the fight, a large section of the central wroshyr broke off, leaving Vader's shuttle to tumble down with it. The two entered an interior area, where they dueled and Shryne hoped to plunge his blade into Vader's control panel. It was around this time, when those aboard the Vagabond Trader decided to instead turn around and assist Master Shryne. However, gunships arrived near the location where Vader and Shryne were dueling and ultimately escaped into orbit. The ship encountered a deployed Detainer CC-twenty-two-hundred commanded by Captain Ugan, which had captured many vessels as well as Separatist warship wreckages in its interdiction field. In an attempt to destroy the Interdiction field, the ship's crew boarded a Recusant-class light destroyer, and fought through waves of reactivated battle droids. When they arrived in the command bridge, the ship's droid brain believed it was still fighting in the Battle of Kashyyyk, and primed the entire vessel to self-destruct. The crew was able to redirect the ship's target to the Detainer, and then left the warship, docking the Vagabond Trader back within the Drunk Dancer.^[1]

Kashyyyk captured

Much of the Kashyyyk cities were left in ruin, with many of the wroshyr trees charred and a lot of spilled blood. Stormtroopers began to repel into the planet's forest and tactically chased Wookiees back to the landing platform, where Imperial vessels enclosed in on all sides. As Victory I-class Star Destroyers descended from the sky, and many Wookiees were stunned or killed. While not all of the Kachirho's residents were rounded up, the Empire had successfully captured a large amount, including chieftan Tarfful.^[1]

Vader and Shryne continued to fight on, standing across each other on a suspension bridge. The Sith was initially forced to adopt a more defensive style, until he decided to turn his lightsaber off. He began to use the Force to dismantle a nearby ramp and fling its planks at Roan, which severely wounded the Jedi. Falling to his knees, the Jedi fought to remain conscious, and he began to die. Before he died, Shryne spoke with Vader, who revealed himself to have formerly been Anakin Skywalker, and explained his master's role in galactic conflict since the Clone Wars. Aboard Captain Ugan's Detainer, the technician Ensign Nullip that the Separatist warship was headed towards the Interdiction ship. As they discovered that the ship's main reactor was in critical condition, the ship exploded, destroying the Interdictor cruiser.^[1]

As Shryne's body collapsed, a group of several stormtroopers emerged from one of the city's turbolifts and informed Vader that with the Interdictor destroyed, hundreds of evacuation ships were able to escape the system through hyperspace. Vader still ordered the continuation of the planet's orbital bombardment, and sought for every Wookiee to be flushed out of hiding, regardless of the state of the forests afterwards.^[1]

Early-Imperial Kashyyyk

Aftermath of the Imperial subjugation

Directly following the Imperial attack, Grand Moff Tarkin spoke to Darth Sidious, and informed him that the planet sustained more damage than he originally planned. Around two-hundred thousand Wookiees were rounded up in the entire attack and placed in camps on the Wawaatt Archipelago. Tarkin received permission from the Emperor to begin transporting enslaved Wookiees to begin work on the Death Star, informing the regional Moff^[1] Kohl Seerdon^[24] of the mass transport, but not of the Wookiees' final destination.^[1] Many Wookiees were transported to other worlds to work as laborers.^[25] The Empire placed bounties on Wookiees who had been freed from their enslavement.^[26] Many of the fleet commanders present at the battle were unhappy with Vader's involvement, given the general secrecy revolving around his identity.^[1] As part of their contribution in the subjugation of Kashyyyk, Wayson Dower and Milo Strander were promoted to First Sergeants, given medals, and neither would see action in the rest of the Kashyyyk campaign.^[23]

On the HoloNet, reports began broadcasting detailing the battle on Kashyyyk. One such report compiled information from several sources, detailing the rogue Jedi's involvement in the breakout of the planet's capture. According to the report, the event tens of thousands Wookiees lost their lives during the battle, and hundreds of thousands were enslaved in its aftermath. It was also reported that on Coruscant, Senator Yarua and the rest of the Kashyyyk delegation was placed on house arrest. Such reports also revealed Darth Vader to the galactic eye for one of the first times, with little public detail known surrounding him other than a holocamera capture of his likeness. It was while watching HoloNet reports, that the crew of the Drunk Dancer decided to work with Chewbacca to help liberate the Wookiees and to discover why the Empire invaded the planet at all.^[1] Upon being informed of the Jedi involvement at Kashyyyk, the Jedi-in-hiding Obi-Wan Kenobi privately criticized the six Jedi, believing that they should've known that their presence on Kashyyyk would jeopardize the safety of the Wookiees.^[27]

Casualty Report: Order 66, an official Imperial report compiled by Moff Marcellin Wessel, detailed how the exact way in which Roan Shryne was killed by Lord Vader and featured partially-correct information on the events at Kachirho. Though only initially intended for the Emperor's consumption alone, the report was eventually released to the public on the Imperial HoloVision entertainment service.^[28] One Imperial propaganda holovid about Lord Vader featured several moments of footage of the battle of Kashyyyk, and attempted to paint the Sith Lord's involvement in the event positively.^[29]

Aftermath

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

External links

• Daniel Wallace's Geekosity — Endnotes for Star Wars: The Essential Atlas (part 4 of 5) on Blogspot (backup link)

{{Interlang |es=Esclavitud de Kashyyyk }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kashyyyk, Enslavement of}} [[Category:Battles of Kashyyyk]]