Battle of Borleias (Yuuzhan Vong War; Second)

Prelude

In 25 ABY, the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong launched an invasion of the galaxy, immediately initiating a campaign characterized by brutal acts, such as the destruction of the planet Ithor. This alien species aggressively advanced through the galaxy, seizing control of numerous planets and devastating others. While the New Republic engaged the Yuuzhan Vong in combat, it was unable to prevent the invaders from penetrating the Core Worlds. Among the planets seized by the Yuuzhan Vong to serve as a staging area for their eventual assault on Coruscant, the galactic capital, was Borleias. Borleias was strategically located at a hyperlane intersection within the Pyria system in the Colonies region, placing it in close proximity to Coruscant. Control of the planet was given to Domain Kraal, which proceeded to demolish the remnants of the New Republic facilities and construct living grashal structures over the ruins.

In 27 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong attacked Coruscant, facing opposition from New Republic Fleet Groups One, Two, and Fleet Group Three in a substantial battle. The fleets engaged in combat in space, but the defenses of Coruscant were breached, leading to the planet's fall to the invaders. Borsk Fey'lya, the Chief of State of the New Republic, perished during the battle, leaving the government without leadership. Surviving New Republic forces, along with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and a large group of Jedi who were on Coruscant at the time of its fall, abandoned the capital to the Yuuzhan Vong and retreated. Upon seizing control of the planet, the Yuuzhan Vong initiated the process of terraforming the galactic capital to resemble Yuuzhan'tar, their original homeworld.

The battle

New Republic capture of Borleias

After being forced to retreat from Coruscant, the galactic capital, elements of the New Republic's Fleet Group Three, acting independently, launched an assault on Borleias. General Wedge Antilles, the leader of Fleet Group Three, knew that refugees from Coruscant would seek refuge on Borleias. His intention was to use Borleias as a temporary haven for these civilians and to divert the attention of the Yuuzhan Vong. Two Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper starfighters on patrol detected the lead ship of Antilles' force, the Mon Mothma, and attempted to engage it. However, Twin Suns Squadron, under the command of Master Skywalker, destroyed one and forced the other to retreat. Other coralskippers launched from Borleias were quickly defeated, and Antilles ordered Twin Suns to escort three transports to the surface for an assault on the Domain Kraal installation.

Flying in the armed freighter Record Time to the surface, Lando Calrissian deployed twenty of his new YVH 1 battle droids. Initially, the Yuuzhan Vong used the foliage as cover to launch thud bugs and razor bugs at their enemies. However, Calrissian had programmed his droids with a unique battle cry: "We are machines! We are greater than the Yuuzhan Vong!" The warriors, enraged by this proclamation, immediately abandoned their cover and assaulted the droids in direct combat, but the YVH 1s easily defeated them. However, the Yuuzhan Vong summoned a rakamat creature to aid in their defense. Calrissian, along with a team of engineers, buried explosives in the rakamat's path and detonated them as the creature passed over, while the rakamat was distracted by X-wings from Twin Suns Squadron providing close air support. The remainder of the battle was primarily a cleanup operation, as the Kraal survivors were forced to retreat and regroup. The New Republic swiftly overran their facility, but Antilles chose not to use it as his base of operations on Borleias. He also rejected the remnants of the previous New Republic outpost, which the Yuuzhan Vong had destroyed and built their structures over. Instead, he chose to refurbish the abandoned Alderaan Biotics facility that had been used years before by Imperial General Evir Derricote. The Yuuzhan Vong installation was stripped of equipment for study and then destroyed. Meanwhile, New Republic forces cleared a kill zone around the biotics facility and established starship repair operations, living quarters, and command facilities inside the building.

Holding the line

In the aftermath of the hasty retreat from Coruscant, several remaining members of the Advisory Council and a significant portion of the New Republic military forces regrouped at Borleias. Pwoe, the newly self-appointed Chief of State, ordered Antilles to sacrifice Borleias in a holding action long enough for the Advisory Council to escape to the heavily defended Kuat. Antilles, unaware that the surviving Senate members were gathering at Mon Calamari, reluctantly accepted the order. However, he adhered to its literal meaning rather than its intent, using it as authorization to strike against the centralized Yuuzhan Vong forces. Antilles also ensured that he received the resources necessary to complete his mission by stipulating to Pwoe that any volunteers from the scattered New Republic Defense Force who wished to join would be allowed to, that no politicians would return to oversee his efforts, and that the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Lusankya would be assigned to his command. In return, Antilles agreed to hold Borleias and relinquish command of Fleet Group Three.

During a meeting on Borleias, Antilles, Calrissian, Colonel Tycho Celchu, and other notable veterans from the Galactic Civil War, eventually including Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, agreed to establish a network of Rebellion-style cells on various worlds. This network was intended to ensure the survival of the ideals of the Alliance/New Republic, despite the devastation caused by the Yuuzhan Vong and the weakening of the New Republic government. As part of his planning, Antilles also arranged to role-play the Yuuzhan Vong commander, while Celchu assumed the role of Antilles, to facilitate a strategy of a punishing defense of Borleias against the inevitable Yuuzhan Vong response. At Antilles' request, Skywalker took it upon himself to involve the Jedi present in the defense of Borleias and in the establishment of the resistance network. However, the Jedi Master began to experience troubling visions of darkness on Coruscant.

On the fifth day of the New Republic's re-occupation of Borleias, holodocumentarian Wolam Tser and his aide, Tam Elgrin, arrived on Borleias from Coruscant. They provided Antilles with updates on the Vongforming process occurring on Coruscant and decided to stay on Borleias to document the defense. Unbeknownst to Tser and the New Republic officers, Elgrin had been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong while on Coruscant and forced to serve as a spy through mental conditioning that caused him severe headaches if he failed to comply.

Another arrival on Borleias following its occupation was Wraith Squadron, the New Republic Intelligence unit that Antilles had founded years earlier. The Wraiths, under the command of Garik Loran, also brought Antilles' wife and two children to Borleias. Their arrival eased Antilles' mind and allowed him to transfer command of intelligence operations to her, knowing that she had extensive experience in that field.

An unexpected victory

In response to the New Republic's seizure of Borleias, Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah and his analysts concluded that Borleias held some significance for the New Republic. In a gesture of contempt towards Domain Kraal, which had lost the world, the warmaster dispatched a fleet under Wyrpuuk Cha, a member of a rival domain, to reclaim the planet. Cha arrived in the Pyria system and was informed by his spies that Antilles was defending two locations: the biotics facility on Borleias and a sensor station on one of its moons. Cha launched an aggressive assault on both locations with coralskippers. While his forces attacking the biotics facility were repelled with heavy casualties, the sensor station's defense proved far more vulnerable to his onslaught. Unbeknownst to Cha, the weak defense of the sensor station was a ruse devised by Antilles to lull Cha into a false sense of security and reinforce the idea that the biotics facility was the only location of importance.

However, while Antilles had planned for an inconclusive engagement to prolong the conflict with Cha in a war of attrition, he did not anticipate the arrival of the Lusankya amidst Cha's fleet. The massive warship, under the command of Commander Eldo Davip, immediately crippled Cha's flagship and killed the Yuuzhan Vong leader. Accompanying the Lusankya was the Millennium Falcon, which had recently arrived from Hapes. Both ships came under immediate Yuuzhan Vong assault. Antilles dispatched two Star Destroyers, the Mon Mothma and Rebel Dream, along with starfighter units, including Twin Suns and Rogue Squadrons, to clear a path for the new arrivals. The Lusankya and its escort inflicted severe damage on the Yuuzhan Vong fleet until its remnants retreated. Meanwhile, the Millennium Falcon and its passengers, Jedi from the Mission to Myrkr, outmaneuvered pursuing coralskippers to escape unscathed. The Jedi aboard the Millennium Falcon remained on Borleias, increasing the number of Jedi at the garrison.

Antilles and his defense had successfully repelled the first Yuuzhan Vong response to the seizure of Borleias, but he was not pleased, knowing that the Yuuzhan Vong would return with a larger force. Furthermore, while Pwoe had delivered the Star Dreadnought as promised, it was crewed by an ill-trained and under-qualified skeleton crew. The commanding officer, Eldo Davip, was only a commander on a ship that warranted a full admiral as its commander.

While much of the remainder of Wyrpuuk Cha's fleet had withdrawn, some of it had been commandeered by Charat Kraal, a rogue pilot from the original Domain Kraal occupiers, to conduct a harassment and intelligence gathering campaign against the New Republic. Kraal's intelligence would later be used in further Yuuzhan Vong responses against the garrison.

In the lull following Cha's destruction, Tam Elgrin was employed as a spy by the Yuuzhan Vong. He received orders remotely from Viqi Shesh, the traitorous New Republic senator, who instructed him to get close to Danni Quee, a scientist who was a lead developer of anti-Yuuzhan Vong technology. Shesh also had Elgrin plant listening devices to create the impression that high-ranking members of the garrison were spying on each other, in an effort to sow distrust. Antilles and his wife were puzzled by the appearance of the devices, but countered them by scripting conversations for people to have around them. Eventually, Danni Quee deduced from a recording Elgrin had made on Coruscant that he had been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. She reported this finding to Iella Antilles, who began monitoring Elgrin.

To distract members of the garrison, lingering Yuuzhan Vong forces under Charat Kraal, based out of the captured lunar station, harassed the Borleias garrison to test its weaknesses. Their assaults were directed both against the ships in orbit and the biotics facility, but were fended off by the garrison. Kraal's intent was not to inflict harm, but rather to obtain information to deliver to the next Yuuzhan Vong commander sent to reclaim Borleias.

Crafting a goddess

Shortly thereafter, Jedi Knight Jaina Solo, along with fellow Jedi Kyp Durron and starfighter pilot Jagged Fel, arrived on Borleias from the Hapes Cluster. After meeting with Antilles and her parents, Solo stated her intention to assist on Borleias. She also wanted to form a new starfighter squadron to experiment with tactics using Force-based coordination. As Luke Skywalker desired to visit Coruscant to investigate his visions of darkness, he turned over command of Twin Suns Squadron to Solo, and Durron and Fel joined the unit as well. Solo also proposed cultivating the idea among the Yuuzhan Vong that she was the personification of Yun-Harla, the Yuuzhan Vong goddess of deception. During actions at Hapes, Solo had used trickery to thwart the Yuuzhan Vong and implied that she was associated with Yun-Harla. With the help of Wraith Squadron's psychological warfare experts, Solo decided to intensify her efforts. To facilitate this deception, she was given top priority in weapons and repairs for her unit, as well as special command privileges, even a porter.

To prepare for the arrival of more Yuuzhan Vong, Antilles deployed a wide sensor net to augment his ground patrols, enlisting the help of the Jedi to do so. Luke Skywalker, his wife Mara Jade Skywalker, and the newly arrived Tahiri Veila roamed the jungle, planting stakes containing gravitic sensors, knowing that they were being observed by the Yuuzhan Vong. While the Yuuzhan Vong dug up the stakes, they didn't notice that the three Jedi were also deploying portable burrowing droids containing the same sensors. Attempts to engage the Jedi were unsuccessful and resulted in the deaths of several Yuuzhan Vong warriors. In order to manipulate the next Yuuzhan Vong commander, Antilles developed a scheme that would dictate the Yuuzhan Vong's reactions when he wanted them to. The "Starlancer Project" was a fake long-range weapons system supposedly created by merging Yuuzhan Vong lambent crystals and superlaser technology. The project was allegedly facilitated by crudely constructed spacecraft dubbed pipefighters. Their test flights were closely observed by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Arrival of Czulkang Lah

The Yuuzhan Vong did respond, and with significant force. Tsavong Lah, advised by Maal Lah, one of his aides, that Garm Bel Iblis, the tactician most respected by the Yuuzhan Vong, was likely in collusion with the garrison on Borleias, felt that he needed a mind of equal strategic prowess to command the counter-attack, and did not have the time to attend to the conquest himself. Lah personally visited his father, the retired warmaster Czulkang Lah, to enlist his help. The elder Lah, a warrior considered among the greatest strategists of the Yuuzhan Vong but relegated to training duties due to his age, agreed to take command as long as he was allowed to remain on the front lines after the recapture of Borleias. The warmaster agreed, and Czulkang Lah departed to retake Borleias with the entire force of Domain Hul.

Upon arrival, Lah released a number of civilian prisoners into space in ooglith cloakers from a Yuuzhan Vong vessel, condemning them to a fiery re-entry into Borleias's atmosphere. At the time of his arrival, Solo, Fel, and Durron were in space, practicing Force-based coordination of their starfighters' weapons to fire synchronized laser blasts. Several coralskippers were sent to distract Solo and her flight from attacking the larger ship. They succeeded in doing so, but all of the Yuuzhan Vong starfighter analogs were destroyed. As the hostages floated towards Borleias on a trajectory that would cause them to burn up during re-entry, Fel innovated a tactic to save them. With precise, low-powered maneuvering, he used his starfighter to alter their momentum away from Borleias, buying time for shuttles to arrive and save most of the hostages. While his actions were applauded, Antilles and Celchu interpreted this as a sign that the Yuuzhan Vong had returned with a more formidable fleet and commander.

Upon arrival, Lah was briefed by Charat Kraal on the disposition of the New Republic garrison, including the pipefighters. Instead of executing him for suborning elements of Cha's fleet, Lah promoted Kraal for his initiative and assigned him to help capture Jaina Solo. Because her twin brother, Jacen Solo, was in Yuuzhan Vong custody and twins held special significance for the Yuuzhan Vong, her capture was deemed an important war objective to facilitate a twin sacrifice.

During a simulated combat exercise, the pipefighters found themselves under the protection of Rogue Squadron, the Twin Suns Squadron, Blackmoon, and the Wild Knights. Simultaneously, the Millennium Falcon transported a group of Jedi initiates to a clandestine Jedi sanctuary located within the confines of the Maw Cluster. For each pipefighter, two squadrons of coralskippers were deployed, only to be met by the New Republic's defense forces, with Twin Suns being the last to engage. The New Republic's defense was easily successful in repelling the attacks. However, the unexpectedly low intensity of the conflict raised suspicions in the mind of Voort saBinring, the tactics expert from Wraith Squadron, who was flying alongside Twin Suns, leading him to believe they were walking into a trap. His intuition proved correct when two Yuuzhan Vong interdictors, accompanied by additional coralskipper reinforcements, appeared to ensnare Solo. Elgrin had flung a creature onto her X-wing, which led to its identification.

Isolated from any support, Jagged Fel executed a daring and unconventional maneuver. He flew interference to allow Solo and Fel to deploy a pair of shadow bombs, destroying one of the interdictors and diverting the Vong forces, creating an opportunity for the rest of the squadron to escape. This left Fel vulnerable and surrounded. Jaina, defying explicit orders, refused to abandon him. To rescue Fel, Kyp Durron manipulated the dovin basal on an interdictor ship, causing it to self-destruct, allowing the three pilots to escape just as New Republic reinforcements arrived. Although Antilles initially intended to discipline Solo for her insubordination upon their return to Borleias, Fel intervened on her behalf after discovering her feelings for him, ensuring that her actions went unpunished.

However, Antilles had orchestrated another objective within the engagement. During the test flight, the pipefighters unleashed a blast directed towards the Yuuzhan Vong worldship orbiting Coruscant. While the actual damage inflicted upon the Yuuzhan Vong vessel came from a long-range turbolaser burst from a New Republic warship, Tsavong Lah was tricked into believing that his worldship was under attack by a new type of superweapon. The Yuuzhan Vong's conviction grew stronger when Tam Elgrin observed Danni Quee working on plans for the massive lambent crystals required for the pipefighter. Elgrin was compelled to assassinate Quee, but found himself unable to carry out the act. His forced role as a spy was a source of immense guilt, yet he felt trapped by his pain-inducing conditioning.

Emperor's Hammer

Reacting to the assault on his worldship, Tsavong Lah commanded his father to obliterate the garrison with a swift and total offensive. Czulkang Lah reluctantly complied, despite disagreeing with the warmaster's hasty orders. Thanks to both manned patrols and the sensor network established by Antilles, the New Republic garrison was aware of Lah's impending assault, but they opted not to engage the landing forces, preferring to allow the Yuuzhan Vong to come to them.

As the opposing forces braced for battle, Tam Elgrin mustered the courage to confess his role as a spy to Jaina Solo, even as his disobedience triggered cranial hemorrhaging due to his conditioning. He was then taken for medical attention. Simultaneously, Luke and Mara Skywalker, accompanied by members of Wraith Squadron and Tahiri Veila, embarked on an intelligence-gathering mission to Coruscant, using the chaos of the assault to slip past the defenses. Lando Calrissian flew them out on the Record Time and covertly inserted them into orbit before the Record Time was destroyed and Calrissian returned to Borleias in a B-wing starfighter.

On the forty-eighth day of the New Republic's occupation of Borleias, Lah initiated a combined ground and space assault on the Borleias garrison, landing troops in multiple locations to encircle the biotics facility. Lah's original strategy involved diverting the garrison with a space assault while his troops advanced on the biotics garrison with minimal attention, but he failed to achieve the element of surprise. Antilles deployed his ground forces and some starfighter forces, including Twin Suns, to defend the garrison. Under Solo's command, the squadron successfully navigated through the tree canopy and placed a pair of shadow bombs beneath two rakamats, destroying them. However, their success was curtailed when Antilles ordered a retreat to align with the rest of the defensive perimeter. The sheer number of troops and rakamats overwhelmed the beleaguered defenders and their accompanying dozen starfighter squadrons.

Antilles continued to withdraw his forces, concentrating them in a tight perimeter around the old Alderaanian Biotics facility, which was gradually being surrounded by concentrated Yuuzhan Vong ground troops. Many of his pilots grew restless under the constant retreats until the Yuuzhan Vong were in close proximity to the biotics facility. At that moment, despite Eldo Davip's reservations, Antilles initiated Operation Emperor's Hammer—the deployment of Lusankya to deliver an orbital bombardment upon the massed Yuuzhan Vong ground troops, a tactic they had never encountered. Following the heavy losses of ground troops, the Yuuzhan Vong temporarily withdrew.

Reinforcements

Both sides, weakened by the major clash on Borleias, soon received reinforcements. The volunteer starfighter unit Taanab Yellow Aces, led by Wes Janson, arrived, along with the supply transport Reckless Abandon, and were escorted through a wave of coralskippers by Rebel Dream and Twins Suns Squadron. Janson had served with Antilles in Rogue Squadron years prior, and Antilles was pleased to have the veteran pilot's assistance.

Czulkang Lah also received reinforcements in the form of a substantial Yuuzhan Vong force dispatched by his son. Tsavong Lah also sent a priest devoted to Yun-Harla, Harrar, to aid in the capture of Jaina Solo. Upon Harrar's arrival, the elder Lah placed Charat Kraal under Harrar's command. With his forces strengthened, Lah prepared to launch his next sortie, which would both test the defenders and introduce a new intelligence asset following the neutralization of Tam Elgrin.

Two matalok capital ships were deployed to attack the biotics facility from low atmosphere and were engaged by New Republic starfighters, including Twin Suns and Rogue Squadrons. Several coralskippers rammed the protective shield surrounding the biotics facility, allowing one to crash-land and deposit a disguised Yuuzhan Vong agent onto the biotics facility grounds. However, Solo employed her newest weapon, a missile that launched dozens of decoy projectiles designed to mimic proton torpedoes and confuse the Yuuzhan Vong defensive dovin basals. With the defenses distracted, the real torpedoes fired by her squadron successfully mortally wounded the matalok, destroying the vessel. The Yuuzhan Vong, demoralized by the loss of the warship, withdrew, having successfully inserted their operative.

The Yuuzhan Vong operative, tasked with locating and destroying Project Starlancer, managed to infiltrate the biotics facility and even captured a Bothan mechanic who had been working on the pipefighter. However, he was discovered by a newly-freed Elgrin, who recognized the Yuuzhan Vong biots that the operative was using in his espionage. Elgrin followed the agent down a tunnel where the Yuuzhan Vong was torturing the mechanic for information. Elgrin distracted the warrior and freed the mechanic but was unable to subdue the Yuuzhan Vong. However, security forces arrived and killed the infiltrator before he could kill Elgrin or escape.

Solo continued to develop innovative methods for confusing and deceiving the Yuuzhan Vong. After receiving a B-wing starfighter from Antilles, she recruited a shuttle pilot named Beelyath to fly it as an assault starfighter. However, the special privileges and resources granted to Solo and her unit caused resentment among some of the other pilots. Furthermore, Jagged Fel was urged to return to Chiss space by Nuruodo, from whence he and his subordinate Shawnkyr Nuruodo had come, who believed that their mission to report on the Yuuzhan Vong threat was complete. Although he decided to remain on Borleias and assist in the defense, Nuruodo made him promise that if she died, he would return in her place.

While Solo was occupied with aiding the defense of Borleias, her parents were establishing resistance cells on other worlds. Upon their return to Borleias, they found the planet under siege by the Yuuzhan Vong. Dovin basal minefields and coralskipper patrols were layered around the world. They also informed Antilles that the dovin basals were now capable of tracking specific spacecraft deemed valuable by the Yuuzhan Vong, such as the Millennium Falcon.

Despite his success in defending the besieged Pyria system against Lah's initial major assault, Antilles recognized that he could not withstand a full-scale assault by the Yuuzhan Vong forces. In the ensuing skirmishes, the Yuuzhan Vong targeted the space fleet, gradually depleting the numerically inferior New Republic forces. Lusankya was heavily targeted, sustaining significant damage, leading Antilles to repurpose the Star Dreadnought for a different role rather than continue repairing it. The return of Luke Skywalker and his party from Coruscant coincided with the near-constant bombardment of the biotics facility and ships in orbit. Due to casualties in Blackmoon Squadron, Skywalker and his wife were appointed as the replacement commander and executive officer, respectively.

As Antilles prepared for the final confrontation with Lah, he had his wounded secretly transported to ships in orbit in preparation for an escape. The general also revealed his battle plan and the true nature of Project Starlancer to his staff. While Pwoe had insisted that Borleias be defended to the end, Antilles had chosen to inflict heavy losses on the Yuuzhan Vong and then retreat with as much of his command as possible.

Final engagement

The Yuuzhan Vong had gradually tightened their grip on the Borleias garrison, but it was Antilles who determined the timing of the final assault by launching his pipefighters and evacuating the installation. Convinced of the validity of the threat posed by Project Starlancer, Czulkang Lah dispatched his forces to destroy the pipefighters before they could fire. Charat Kraal and a substantial force of specially-trained coralskipper pilots were sent to attack the elite squadrons protecting the pipefighters and specifically attempt to capture Jaina Solo. As the pipefighters reached orbit, Antilles also ordered Lusankya to break orbit and head for space. While the Yuuzhan Vong were focused on the pipefighters, Antilles had different objectives for the battle.

The escort starfighters safeguarding the pipefighters executed a hyperspace jump to rendezvous with Lusankya, which had been pulled from hyperspace near a dovin basal mine and close to the Domain Hul worldship. While the Yuuzhan Vong effortlessly destroyed the pipefighters, they were caught off guard by Lusankya's sudden appearance near the worldship. Another surprise awaited the Yuuzhan Vong when the Star Destroyer Errant Venture, fortified with defensive batteries removed from Lusankya, destroyed two mataloks before escaping into hyperspace. In reality, Lusankya was only lightly armed and manned by a single individual. The entire final engagement was a carefully orchestrated trap by Antilles, who had transformed Lusankya into an explosive-laden ramming ship designed to destroy the worldship in a plan he called "Operation Emperor's Spear." Utilizing technology developed by Danni Quee, Han Solo launched four missiles that mimicked the gravitic signature of the Millennium Falcon, prompting dovin basals to enter the system in an attempt to capture the Falcon. This action prevented the Yuuzhan Vong worldship from retreating.

Coralskippers from the Yuuzhan Vong worldship, soon reinforced by Charat Kraal's force, engaged the six squadrons protecting Lusankya, but suffered heavy casualties. While Lusankya sustained significant damage, its engines remained operational, propelling it towards the worldship, which was hindered from jumping to hyperspace by the dovin basal mines. As the Yuuzhan Vong attempted to capture Solo, members of Twin Suns Squadron imitated her behavior and ship's gravitic signal, enabling her to evade Yuuzhan Vong attacks. In another act of deception designed to exploit the Yuuzhan Vong's obsession with Solo, she developed a weapon called the goddess missile, which emitted the same gravitic signal as her X-wing. Wraith Squadron pilot Sharr Latt controlled the missile from the B-wing flown by Beelyath and used it to lure numerous Yuuzhan Vong pilots, including Charat Kraal, to their demise in a dovin basal minefield.

The battle reached its climax when Luke Skywalker signaled for reinforcements to aid Lusankya as the Star Dreadnought approached the worldship. Mon Mothma arrived, activating its gravity well projectors to further impede the worldship's movement. Quee's advancements also enabled Mon Mothma to jam the yammosk war coordinators, disrupting Yuuzhan Vong synchronization. The New Republic forces pinned the worldship in place and defended Lusankya while Eldo Davip steered the massive Lusankya deep into the heart of the worldship, where it detonated. Lah realized that his vessel was doomed and contacted his son in his final moments, informing the warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong's success in retaking the planet and his impending death. Having locked Lusankya into a collision course, Davip escaped from the massive suicide vessel in a BTL Y-wing starfighter that had been concealed within Lusankya for his escape, just as the prow of Lusankya slammed into the worldship and destroyed it. For his efforts, Davip was promoted to major general.

Meanwhile, having coordinated the evacuation from the biotics facility, Wedge Antilles found himself as the last man remaining on the planet's surface. With Yuuzhan Vong forces approaching, he took off in a remaining X-wing and set off to join the fleet when he came across a stranded transport undergoing repairs. Risking his life to defend the evacuees, Antilles singlehandedly held off Yuuzhan Vong ground forces and coralskippers. The pilot was able to add over a dozen coralskipper kills to his name and saw the transport to safety before his ship succumbed to battle damage. As his fighter was about to be destroyed, Rogue and Blackmoon Squadrons returned and drove off his attackers.

Aftermath

The Yuuzhan Vong were thrown into disarray by these losses, and the surviving New Republic forces withdrew without any further major engagement. While they succeeded in retaking Borleias, the Vong suffered significant losses in terms of ships and personnel, including the renowned Czulkang Lah. This setback was enough to undermine the confidence of Warmaster Tsavong Lah and slow the Yuuzhan Vong offensive. Left in command of the remnants of Charat Kraal's group, Harrar chose not to pursue, preferring to retreat to Coruscant.

Antilles and his fleet withdrew and continued to serve throughout the Yuuzhan Vong War. Jaina Solo's reputation among both the New Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong grew significantly as a result of the engagement. The Yuuzhan Vong came to view her as an avatar of Yun-Harla, a concept she exploited. The resistance network established by the Solos and other defenders of Borleias would also prove valuable in the war effort.

Both Wolam Tser and Tam Elgrin escaped Borleias after remaining for most of the siege to record holo footage of the battle and the defenders. This footage was later compiled into a holodocumentary titled Battle of Borleias. This documentary depicted the defenders of Borleias as heroic figures and boosted both morale and recruitment for the New Republic's defense forces.

The time it took the Yuuzhan Vong to recover allowed the New Republic to regroup, rebuild, and reorganize itself into the Galactic Alliance while devising new strategies against the invaders. The election of Cal Omas as Chief of State over other contenders such as Pwoe ensured that the galaxy could unite against the Yuuzhan Vong, and the respite gained from the previously relentless Yuuzhan Vong offensive allowed the New Republic to implement a strategy of harassment and training until the Yuuzhan Vong ready fleet could be smashed at the Battle of Ebaq 9, which would also witness the death of Tsavong Lah.

Behind the scenes

The Battle of Borleias was conceived for the Enemy Lines Duology by Aaron Allston as part of the New Jedi Order novel series. According to Allston's website, the first book, Rebel Dream commences a few days after Luke and Mara Skywalker's departure from Hapes, as documented in The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey, while the conclusion of Rebel Stand overlaps with the beginning of the subsequent book in the series, The New Jedi Order: Traitor. Despite the backdrop of war and the Battle of Borleias throughout the duology, Allston stated that both novels are fundamentally about families.

Allston also mentioned on his website that he did not intentionally name Operation Emperor's Hammer, which was featured in the Battle of Borleias, after the Emperor's Hammer fan group, but acknowledged the possibility of a connection. Allston also provided some background information on the Yuuzhan Vong military commander in charge for the majority of the Battle of Borleias, Czulkang Lah. Lah had established his military reputation through internal conflicts within the Yuuzhan Vong, wargames, and engagements against other enemies encountered by the Vong during their journey to the galaxy.

The Battle of Borleias was referenced multiple times in later New Jedi Order books and in several subsequent reference works, including The New Essential Chronology, The New Essential Guide to Droids, and The Essential Atlas. References in other works have also been made to Battle of Borleias, an in-universe documentary produced by Wolam Tser about the course of the battle.