The Second Battle of Fondor took place in 41 ABY, as part of the Second Galactic Civil War. Fondor had earlier left the Galactic Alliance for the Confederation, and to shore up his prestige, Chief of State Jacen Solo decided to retake the world, along with its orbital shipyards. This was the last battle that Jacen Solo and Admiral Cha Niathal would fight together as the Joint Chiefs of State, as the battle resulted in the division of the Galactic Alliance; there were forces who remained loyal to Darth Caedus, and those who supported Niathal. The Imperial Remnant and the majority of the Alliance fleet allied themselves with Caedus, while Niathal only rallied a third of the remaining Alliance ships to her cause.
The battle was won when Admiral Natasi Daala arrived with the Maw Irregular Fleet, and attacked Caedus, which forced him to retreat, since he was both outnumbered and outgunned. Niathal and Daala then joined the resistance against the Sith Lord.
Fondor, with its shipyards visible from space
Admiral Niathal saw this as her chance to overthrow Solo, and secretly began communications with Grand Master Luke Skywalker on the Alliance blockade of the world. This ended up in Luke Skywalker informing the Fondorians of the space mines that would be placed around the planet. The ships placing the mines were shot down and the world was preparing for invasion. This greatly affected the battle against the GA forces as the mines could have taken out many ships quickly and improved their odds. Niathal later felt badly about causing the deaths of the hundred soldiers killed as a result of her leaked information.
To assure his victory, Caedus contacted the Imperial Remnant and offered them Bilbringi and Borleias if they would help him take Fondor. Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon quickly rejected his offer. However, Caedus expected this and sent Tahiri Veila to persuade him. Pellaeon met with her and then put the proposal to the Moff Council. They agreed with aiding Solo, and he accepted the offer, which received applause from the Moffs. The Grand Admiral committed his forces to the battle, but still did not trust Jacen Solo, so he contacted Admiral Daala and requested the assistance of her personal fleet in case he would need protection against the Sith Lord or any other threat. Daala then contacted Boba Fett, requesting he bring his best men to aid her in the upcoming battle.
As the GA's Fourth Fleet gathered in the space by Fondor, Colonel Jacen Solo decided to scout the area in his StealthX. Niathal and her task force arrived as well but Solo suddenly saw a huge unknown fleet. It turned out to be the creation of Luke Skywalker, a massive illusion created through the Force. He contacted the crew of his ship, the Anakin Solo, as well as Niathal about the alleged incoming fleet. As no one else could see the illusion but Solo, Niathal took this opportunity to humiliate Solo in front of the commanding officers of his fleet. Luke Skywalker managed to damage Solo's StealthX severely before he could take it into safety in the Anakin Solo's hangar by ramming it with his own starfighter.
Admiral Cha Niathal
The battle began at midnight, with GA X-wings attacking the shipyards and patrolling frigates, the destroyers moving towards Fondor's north and south poles, and warships gathering in the orbital ring. From the surface of the planet, large numbers of Fondorian starfighter wings attacked. The GA ships did not take heavy casualties from that, but as Colonel Solo saw numerous capital ships, probably ignored by the GA as not operational, starting to move, he realized that his task force was stuck between the orbital shipyards and the planet. The Fondorian fleet split in two groups; one pounding the Fourth Fleet under Jacen Solo and the other attacked the Third Fleet and the Imperial Remnant ships.
Niathal wanted Solo to regroup outside the ring of shipyards but he instead continued to close in on the planet. Using all of his strength, Solo used the Force and mind-tricked the Fondorians so they would lower the planetary shield based in Oridin City. The feat drained much of his powers, however, leaving him drained and exhausted.
After ensuring that the shield could not be activated again by ordering his forces to launch missiles at it, Solo instructed his ships to begin bombarding the city. The bombardment damaged six cities in the whole region and started large firestorms. Niathal immediately contacted Fondorian President Shas Vadde and offered him a chance to surrender the planet, promising that the GA would provide disaster relief efforts for Oridin. After a few minutes of thought, Vadde surrendered and both commanders ordered their forces to ceasefire. Solo was informed of the surrender but refused to accept it after he spent so much energy into bringing them to their knees and continued his attack. Niathal, using her position of Supreme Commander, relieved him of command for disobeying the laws of war, and ordered the Alliance fleet to disobey him. However, two-thirds of the fleet remained loyal to Solo.
The battle marked the death of Gilad Pellaeon.
At the same time, Pellaeon refused to continue attacking the world that had surrendered and instead ordered all Imperial Forces to take commands from Chief of State Admiral Niathal. Some of the Moffs aboard the Bloodfin with Pellaeon objected to these orders. Grand Admiral Pellaeon stated very sternly that the Imperial forces would honor the Fondorian surrender. Tahiri Veila tried to persuade him into helping Jacen who was now outnumbered, but Pellaeon refused. He was then murdered by Tahiri who was officially named Darth Caedus's Sith apprentice after she reported his death.
After that, Grand Moff Quille along with some other Moffs tried to take control of the Imperial Remnant warships and fight for Jacen Solo. But the crew of the Bloodfin mutinied and the Moffs loyal to Quille along with Tahiri Veila barricaded themselves in the central command sections of the ship.
After gaining the loyalty of the Imperial Remnant and the majority of the GA fleet, Caedus attacked Niathal. But just as Caedus began the attack, Admiral Daala arrived commanding the Maw Irregular Fleet that Pellaeon prepared as personal backup. They supported forces loyal to Niathal in attacking Caedus's forces. Meanwhile, Pellaeon's new flagship, the Bloodfin, was successfully taken by Mandalorians led by Boba Fett. Quille and those officers loyal to him were killed in gunfights aboard. Tahiri Veila was successfully extracted by her new master and brought to safety as the Mandalorian commandos handed the Bloodfin over to Daala.
The remaining Imperial/Alliance forces loyal to Caedus were repelled from the system and retreated to Coruscant after Darth Caedus came to realize they were outnumbered by thirty percent and many of Daala's ships were armed with powerful Metal-Crystal Phase Shifters and other unconventional weapons which they were not prepared to fight against. Luke Skywalker negotiated with the President of Fondor for Niathal to use Fondor as her base of operations for her faction of the Galactic Alliance, forming a united front against Caedus.
After the battle, the Imperial Remnant demanded the return of Pellaeon's body, but Daala declined to honor their wishes, and instead, sent them bodies of the Moffs, burying Pellaeon on his home planet of Corellia, afterwards.
Four days after the battle, Darth Caedus controlled the Galactic Alliance from Coruscant. He now ruled alone, as he wanted all along, and promptly started showing signs of his plans for the galactic government, by erasing laws that were in his way, such as the legal requirements for Security Council meetings.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Atlas
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- "10 Key Battles" — Star Wars Insider 133
- The Essential Reader's Companion