Battle of Althir (first)

The Battle of Althir was a naval battle that occurred at the planet Althir III, the first battle of the Mandalorian Wars before the invasion of the Galactic Republic, as the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders under the leadership of Mandalore the Ultimate conquered worlds just outside of the Republic space. It involved a massive fleet confrontation in orbit over the planet and in nearby space.

During the battle, many Mandalorian soldiers under the command of Canderous Ordo (including his friend and comrade Jagi) battled with the massed Althiri vessels that were arrayed in defense of their planet. For five days, the Althiri managed to hold off the Mandalorian forces. They kept them to the outer rings of their world and prevented them from attacking Althir directly. Ordo's task was to assault one of the Althiri flanks with a feint in order to draw the Althiri fleet out of formation. Once surrounded, the bulk of the Mandalorian forces could attack them from the rear and defeat them en masse.

However, things didn't go as originally planned. Canderous saw an opening in their flanks and disobeyed his orders by launching a direct frontal assault upon the central Althiri fleet. By attempting to fend off the main Mandalorian force, the Althiri allowed their fleet to get split in two with their vulnerable center exposed. Ordo turned his forces and attacked these center groups, utterly decimating them. Several of the surviving ships scattered and fled, with a number of them attempting to dive through the plane of the planetary rings in order to escape.

For defeating an Althiri fleet approximately ten times the size of his own forces, Canderous was given command over an entire subsect of clan Ordo. Jagi forged a personal vendetta against Canderous for abandoning the battle plan and allowing his command to be devastated unnecessarily during the confrontation. During the Jedi Civil War, Ordo recalled the battle to Revan. Another Battle of Althir occurred around fifteen years later, where the Republic annihilated the Mandalorian ground forces.