Prior to the battle, Seti Ashgad—who represented the Newcomer colonists on the planet—had aligned himself with Moff Getelles of the Antemeridian sector and Loronar Corporation. Getelles had agreed with Ashgad to devastate the Meridian Sector through the use of the Death Seed.
Seti Ashgad.
His navy would then invade, armed with automated CCIR Needles supplied by the Loronar Corporation. The corporation's CEO had also promised to arm various rebel groups throughout the plague-weakened Sector in exchange for rights to mine Nam Chorios's valuable crystals. If this plot succeeded, Ashgad would be wealthy, Getelles would be considered a hero by the Imperials, and worst of all, millions would be dead as a result of the Death Seed.
Nam Chorios's indigenous and dominant species were the Tsils—unique intelligent, silicon-based creatures. As a result, they were targeted by the Loronar Corporation as programmable matrices used to pilot Synthdroids and CCIR Needles. However, they were blocked by the Oldtimers, the descendants of convicts exiled to the planet by the Grissmath Dynasty. The Oldtimers prohibited any form of technology on Nam Chorios to prevent the Drochs (which carried the Death Seed) from going off-world and spreading the deadly disease.
However, their efforts were blocked by Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. Before the battle, Ashgad had the planetary cannon Bleak Point Station—which was under the control of the Oldtimers—destroyed to provide a safe path into space where Getelles's fleet lay in orbit. This allowed him to escape into space. Luke pursued him on his starfighter, though it was shot down by enemy fire. However, Skywalker managed to convinced the Chorian crystal mind of the threat that Ashgad posed to the galaxy if his plans succeeded. As a result, when Ashgad's vessel was about to dock with a waiting Imperial Star Destroyer, several Needle fighters revolted and opened fire on the vessel. This ended the life of Ashgad though Getelles still had not been defeated.
A New Republic fleet under Lando Calrissian and Han Solo then arrived and encountered Getelles' fleet. Previously, they had been searching for Leia Organa Solo and had discovered entire worlds within the Meridian Sector infected with the disease. Thus began the battle which pitted the New Republic's aging and outdated warships against powerful Imperial Star Destroyers. However, the tide of the battle changed when the former Imperial Admiral Daala arrived. Daala had left the Newcomers after learning about Getelles's power-seeking plot. She was furious and disgusted that supposedly loyal Imperials would align themselves with people like Ashgad and Dzym. Her fleet of warships was essential in defeating Getelles's fleet and letting it go in favor of the New Republic.
After the battle, Skywalker succeeded in negotiating with the Chorian crystal mind which agreed to send hundreds of tsils off world to destroy every droch in the sector, in return that every tsil which had been forcibly installed in a Loronar synthdroid or Needle fighter be returned home. The New Republic punished the Loronar Corporation by forcing it to comply with the decree and canceling a government contract for future shipments of Strike-class cruisers.
General Solo's fleet later went on Nam Chorios for mop-up.
Following the Battle of Nam Chorios, the New Republic attacked Moff Getelles's Antemeridian sector in retaliation with two full fleets. Imperial forces were unable to stop them, and the sector along with a huge part of neighboring space fall in New Republic territory.
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