Battle of Ebaq

Following a string of defeats, including the loss of Coruscant, the New Republic teetered on the brink of collapse. The government's relocation to Mon Calamari, made possible only by the rearguard action in the Pyria system, highlighted the precariousness of their situation. Another major defeat threatened to shatter the Republic's remaining strength. However, technological advancements following the fall of Coruscant, coupled with the revitalization and consolidation of heavy industry across Republic-controlled regions of the galaxy, provided the government with a much-needed respite.

The total destruction of Supreme Commander Komm Karsh's reinforcement fleet at Obroa-skai, along with the rise of heretical movements within the newly established Yuuzhan'tar, disrupted the Yuuzhan Vong's momentum. The New Republic now had an opportunity to capitalize on this disarray. The election of Cal Omas as the new Chief of State helped to stabilize the government, and Luke Skywalker's commitment to working alongside the Jedi further boosted morale. However, the losses sustained at Coruscant had severely weakened the military. Admiral Ackbar, returning from retirement to lead the fight, determined that engaging weakly defended Yuuzhan Vong worlds and retreating upon the arrival of relief fleets would be the most effective strategy for rebuilding the military's strength and confidence.

To lure the Yuuzhan Vong into a strategically chosen battleground, the New Republic needed to manipulate its extensive spy network. Ayddar Nylykerka, Director of New Republic Fleet Intelligence, partnered with Mara Jade Skywalker to achieve this objective. Through careful deception and skillful manipulation, Yuuzhan Vong spies were identified and fed false information. Nylykerka and Jade meticulously planned their operation, releasing small amounts of information to different agents to allow the Yuuzhan Vong to develop their own plan. Rumors of the Final Redoubt, a fortress located in the Deep Core, began to spread. The rumors indicated that Jacen and Jaina Solo, the twins coveted by Shimrra and his council (Jacen due to his conversion to and subsequent renunciation of the Yuuzhan Vong religion, and Jaina for being declared an avatar of Yun-Harla), were present at this fortress, along with the newly elected New Republic command. Executor Nom Anor fell for the deception and reported his 'findings' to Shimrra, who subsequently authorized Tsavong Lah to pursue the engagement.

The fleet that Warmaster Lah assembled to destroy the New Republic at Ebaq 9 was smaller than the massive Coruscant invasion fleet, but it was still described as the largest fleet since the Battle of Coruscant, surpassing the fleets deployed at Hapes, Borleias, and Obroa-skai. It consisted of various battle groups named after Yuuzhan Vong deities. Lah's fanatical nature was a trait that the returning Admiral Ackbar recognized and sought to exploit.

Despite his physical frailty and advanced age, Ackbar retained his strategic brilliance. Although he had spent the war in his home on Mon Calamari, current Defense Force officers, including Supreme Commander Sien Sovv and Fleet Intelligence Director Ayddar Nylykerka, regularly provided him with intelligence on the Yuuzhan Vong and the progress of the invasion. Following several meetings with Jacen Solo to gather additional information about the invaders, Ackbar requested a meeting with Cal Omas. Ackbar realized that the Yuuzhan Vong's greatest strengths also constituted their greatest weaknesses: their unwavering loyalty to their leaders and their refusal to retreat made them predictable, as did their propensity for mass slaughter and sacrifice. Omas and the High Council approved Ackbar's plan, and its implementation began. Sien Sovv offered to resign so that Ackbar could reassume the position of Supreme Commander, but the aged Calamarian declined, preferring to serve in an advisory role.

After training the Defense Fleet at Duro, Wayland, Ylesia, Nal Hutta, Bimmisaari and Gyndine, the time was deemed right for the decisive battle at Ebaq.

Upon arriving at Ebaq 9, Lah's armada found only General Farlander's battle group in orbit. As the Warmaster's massive force spread out, the yammosks were jammed. However, the sheer size and power of the fleet led Lah to believe this was insignificant. Farlander's squadron was severely outnumbered. Lah ordered the Battle Group of Yun-Yammka to advance and engage Farlander's force, while the Battle Group of Yun-Txiin and Yun Q'aah were instructed to flank and encircle the defense force. The Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan and the Battle Group of Yun-Harla were held in reserve to pursue any fleeing New Republic forces through hyperspace. The voxyn onboard signaled the presence of Jedi on the moon, and the Warmaster was content to proceed at his own pace.

Farlander's squadron surprised the Battle Group of Yun-Yammka by rapidly shifting from a line formation to a wedge and piercing through the approaching Yuuzhan Vong ships. Within moments, eight large vessels were disabled, demonstrating that Tsavong Lah had underestimated his opponents. To compound his error, Farlander repeated his wedge attack before the Battle Groups of Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah could execute their flanking maneuver. Madurrin, the Anx Jedi practicing battle meditation on the bridge of Farlander's command ship, proved to be a formidable adversary for the uncoordinated Yuuzhan Vong forces. However, the sheer strength of the invaders began to take its toll. Jaina Solo's Twin Suns Squadron was among the starfighter squadrons that sustained heavy damage. Solo sent a message through the Force to Madurrin requesting assistance, and Admiral Traest Kre'fey's task force jumped in from the outskirts of the system.

Kre'fey's force was designed to appear as a convoy that had stumbled upon the engagement. As the Ralroost and its battleships moved into the rear of the Battle Group of Yun-Txiin, Tsavong Lah was forced to abandon his flanking maneuver to prevent the new arrivals from attacking his rear. To compensate, Lah moved the Battle Group of Yun-Harla in for support, while his other forces continued to engage Farlander's tenacious squadron. The Warmaster kept his group in reserve. Unbeknownst to Lah, the large transports that had arrived with Kre'fey's force and promptly disappeared into hyperspace were not part of a supply convoy. Thirty light-years from the battle, they re-emerged from hyperspace and deployed an interdictor mine. Around the interdictor, they proceeded to lay tens of thousands of mines in a massive field across the space corridor. The complex navigational routes of the Deep Core were ideally suited for such a trap.

To save the rapidly failing squadron, the Ralroost launched a dovin missile near Farlander's fleet. Farlander banked all his ships around and headed for the dovin mine. To Tsavong Lah, it appeared as though he was fleeing the battle, but without losing velocity, Farlander's entire force slingshotted around the mine, leaving the pursuing Battle Group of Yun-Yammka behind, and advanced towards the Battle Group of Yun-Txiin, hoping to crush it between itself and Kre'fey's force. As Lah was ordering his forces to maneuver, another New Republic fleet emerged from hyperspace. Led by Captain Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon and spearheaded by Booster Terrik on the Errant Venture, the new fleet appeared on the flank of the Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah and began to attack. Lah ordered the Battle Group to turn and eliminate the newcomers, preventing them from reinforcing the besieged Battle Group of Yun-Txiin. The fanatical Warmaster had failed to recognize that Ebaq 9 was a trap. He had missed the opportunity to withdraw, had he been willing to do so.

From concealed locations within the hyperspace lanes, a massive New Republic force entered the engagement zone. The sheer number of ships overwhelmed Lah's blaze bugs, and the number of Jedi among the new arrivals reduced the voxyn howls to whimpers. The Warmaster belatedly realized that he had been ensnared. He ordered the Battle Groups of Yun-Harla and Yun-Txiin to finish the fight against Farlander and Kre'fey's squadrons and committed his personal Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan to supporting them. However, he chose to sacrifice the reformed Battle Group of Yun-Yammka, ordering them to attack the new reinforcements. Commander Droog'an and the Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah were instructed to ignore the Smugglers' Alliance fleet and attempt to tie up as many of the new arrivals as possible.

Garm Bel Iblis, leading his three fleets with Luke Skywalker at the helm of the Harbinger, converged on the Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah. Skywalker had persuaded the reticent General, ostracized following the Battle of Coruscant, to rejoin the Defense Fleet. However, before Droog'an's fleet could be properly engaged, Lah issued new orders to his commander.

Warmaster Lah had intended to reinforce the rapidly faltering Battle Groups of Yun-Txiin and Yun-Harla. However, he now realized that this would be a futile endeavor. Everything around him was collapsing; the Battle Group of Yun-Yammka had sacrificed itself as ordered, but it was a pointless gesture. Too far out to retreat when Lah finally issued the order, it was pinned down and destroyed. Lah knew that he would face execution upon his return. But his mind still worked; he remembered that the voxyn had wailed when he first arrived, indicating that Tsavong Lah's most hated enemy—the Jedi—were on the planet. Ordering the Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah to follow him at maximum speed, he headed for Ebaq 9, where the exhausted Twin Suns Squadron was recuperating. The Smugglers' Alliance fleet moved perpendicularly across the path of the approaching Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah, and after a protracted engagement, they finally forced them to turn around as the enemy sped towards the moon. However, Lah's undamaged Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan was moving unhindered towards Ebaq 9, carrying twenty thousand warriors in transport ships. Lah ordered frigates to dive into the moon's shields and overload them, while simultaneously ordering his remaining forces to retreat. The Blood Sacrifice and one-third of the Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan would cover their retreat.

As the ten thousand warriors Lah deployed on Ebaq 9 began their assault on the bunkers, the Battle Groups of Yun-Harla and Yun-Txiin entered the minefield. Caught by surprise and overwhelmed, all of the already damaged ships were destroyed. Those that remained undamaged fared better, although no ship escaped unscathed. The Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah was more prepared and managed to fight its way out of the trap largely undamaged. The same was true for two-thirds of the Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan; forewarned, they were able to defend themselves. However, the troop transports suffered a different fate, with ten thousand warriors perishing among the mines.

Another ten thousand would die on Ebaq 9. As the situation became increasingly dire for Colonel Jaina Solo, her brother arrived by X-wing to reinforce her, using his blaster and then Jedi lightning against the Yuuzhan Vong. The Fosh Jedi Vergere feared that her pupil would die needlessly and fail to fulfill his destiny. Stealing an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, she accelerated to thirty-five thousand kilometers per hour and crashed into the central shaft of the moon. The resulting explosive decompression caught the Yuuzhan Vong warriors completely unprepared; ion storms, vaporizing heat, syncope, and embolisms wiped them all out. Only Tsavong Lah survived, only to be defeated in a duel with Jaina Solo, who fatally impaled him through the neck with her saber throw. Above the moon, the Blood Sacrifice exploded under concentrated fire. The remaining Yuuzhan Vong ships were constantly broadcast an offer to surrender. There was no response. All of Lah's forces remaining in the system were destroyed.

The battle resulted in a resounding victory for the New Republic. Nearly half of Warmaster Lah's armada had been destroyed, along with its commander, and the tide of the war had finally shifted in the Republic's favor. Capitalizing on this triumph, Chief of State Omas reorganized the New Republic into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, hoping that a new government would demonstrate to the galaxy that it would not repeat the mistakes of its predecessor. The battle also served as a significant morale boost for the newly formed government. Moreover, it demonstrated once again that the Yuuzhan Vong could be affected by the Force.

The defeat had multiple repercussions for the Yuuzhan Vong. Realizing that he had been deceived, Nom Anor was forced to kill High Prefect Yoog Skell to cover his escape, as Shimrra soon demanded his head. While on the run, Anor assumed the identity of Yu'shaa and began transforming the Jeedai heresy into a genuine threat to the Yuuzhan Vong leadership. Having lost two senior members of the Elite, Shimrra escalated Nas Choka, Supreme Commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, to the position of Warmaster, while Drathul, Prefect of the Harla, was promoted to High Prefect. Unlike Tsavong Lah, Choka knew when a battle was unwinnable and instructed his subordinates to act accordingly. Drathul was secretly a Quorealist, one who opposed Shimrra's ascension and the invasion itself. Under normal circumstances, the Galactic Alliance could have anticipated a brief respite, but the Yuuzhan Vong were no ordinary enemy. In an attempt to solidify his position, Shimrra ordered new campaigns to be launched, including an invasion of the Imperial Remnant.

The Battle of Ebaq, along with its development, forms a significant part of the novel The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way and is referenced throughout the rest of the New Jedi Order series. The battle also results in the deaths of two major characters in the series: Tsavong Lah, the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster, and Vergere, a former Fosh Jedi. To the delight of fans, it also marks the return of Admiral Ackbar, who had been absent for much of the series. Due to its importance in the Yuuzhan Vong War, the battle is also featured in the sourcebooks The New Essential Chronology and Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force.

In early drafts of Destiny's Way, Ackbar was originally intended to die during the battle.