Battle of Gazzari

In 1032 BBY during the second Charge Matrica, Narsk Ka'hane, a Bothan agent secretly in the employ of Sith Lord Vilia Calimondra, was enlisted by Calimondra's grandson, the Sith Lord Odion. Odion tasked Ka'hane with gathering intelligence on Daiman, Odion's younger sibling, specifically regarding his starship, the Convergence, which was under construction at the Daimanate Dynamic Testing Facility on the planet Darkknell, with the ultimate goal of destroying the vessel. Utilizing a Cyricept Personal Concealment System, Mark VI cloaking suit, Ka'hane infiltrated the testing grounds and downloaded the Convergence's technical specifications onto a datapad. After planting several baradium detonation charges near the ship, Ka'hane attempted to depart the facility. However, he was observed by Jedi Knight Kerra Holt, who sought to acquire the Mark VI for her own purposes against Daiman. Following a pursuit through the streets of the urban center Xakrea, Holt subdued Ka'hane and activated his remote detonator, resulting in the destruction of the testing complex. Holt, seizing Ka'hane's Mark VI and detonator, abandoned the Bothan in a refuse container, where he was apprehended by Daiman's police force, the Correctors.

Daiman, suspecting Odion's involvement in the facility's destruction, conceived a plot to ambush his brother. He transported Ka'hane to his stronghold, the Sanctum Celestial, where he contacted Ayanos Bactra, a Quermian Sith Lord who favored acquiring power through corporate machinations rather than military force. Daiman had recently permitted one of Bactra's enterprises, Industrial Heuristics, to recruit students from Darkknell and other regions within his territory, known as the Daimanate, in exchange for the benefits derived from the students' research. Daiman requested an arxeum, a mobile institution of higher learning dedicated to the science of warfare, as well as recruits that Industrial Heuristics had gathered from the Daimanate. In return, Daiman granted Bactra safe passage through the Daimanate to target Vellas Pavo, a planet rich in gadolinium. Bactra agreed to deliver the arxeum and the students to the volcanically active world of Gazzari, situated on the frontier of Daiman's border with the Odionate, Odion's domain. Intending to lure Odion to Gazzari, Daiman allowed Ka'hane to overhear his conversation with Bactra and secretly instructed the guards to loosen the Bothan spy's restraints, enabling Ka'hane to escape and inform Odion of what he had overheard. With the assistance of Holt, who infiltrated the Sanctum using Ka'hane's Mark VI, the Bothan fled and relayed Daiman's plans to his master.

Daiman had also extended invitations to several mercenary forces to the Sanctum Celestial to aid him in executing the ambush. Among them were Brigadier Jarrow Rusher, Mak Medagazy, Kr'saang the Togorian, and an unidentified Nosaurian contract soldier. Following his meeting with Bactra, Daiman hired the mercenaries and directed them to Gazzari, where they were to deploy their forces and await Odion's arrival. Kr'saang, however, refused to work for Daiman, insisting that he only participated in direct engagements, not in ambushes. Rather than permitting Kr'saang to depart, Daiman terminated the Togorian with his lightsaber. He then dispatched Correctors to seize Kr'saang's elite soldiers and his ship, the Dar'oosh, incorporating them into his enslaved military. Daiman also encountered resistance from Rusher, who expressed discomfort with the notion of utilizing young students as bait. When Daiman began to telekinetically constrict the brigadier's airway, Rusher relented and agreed to participate. The mercenaries departed for Gazzari, as did Daiman, unaware that the Jedi Holt, in possession of several baradium nitrate charges pilfered from Darkknell, had stowed away aboard his ship, the Era Daimanos, with the intention of assassinating the Sith Lord. Holt, however, was unable to locate Daiman aboard the ship during its voyage to Gazzari.

The Era Daimanos landed upon its arrival, although Daiman maintained the remainder of his armada outside the solar system, while Rusher's Brigade landed in the ship Diligence. Rusher's eight companies, Coyn'skar, Dematoil, Flechette, Rantok, Ripper, Sat'skar, Serraknife, and Zhaboka deployed their Kelligdyd energy cannons on the eastern ridge of a massive bowl-shaped crater spanning several kilometers. The Nosaurian mercenary positioned his Brock-Eight cannons on the northern ridge, and Medagazy's combat automatons were arrayed among the crevasses within the crater. Due to the constant ash and precipitation on the planet, the crater floor had transformed into a thick, viscous substance, rendering starship landings or structural construction virtually impossible within the crater. However, Daiman and his mercenaries erected several temporary structures to convey the opposite impression to enemy vessels. Daiman's forces, concealed from orbital observation by dense clouds of volcanic ash, lined the ridge on all sides, encircling the crater where the trap for Odion was to be sprung.

Upon reaching Gazzari, Kerra Holt exited the Era Daimanos and discarded her Mark VI, which had become ineffective due to the volcanic ash adhering to the suit. Carrying the baradium nitrate in a bandolier she had acquired from Ka'hane on Darkknell, Holt proceeded toward Daiman's command center, intending to utilize the baradium and the remote detonator to eliminate him. She was spotted by a Nautolan soldier, but swiftly dispatched him by suffocating the soldier with his own head appendage. She retrieved the soldier's blaster and reached the command center, where she overheard Daiman conversing with his aide, Uleeta. Before Holt could detonate the explosives, however, four shuttles from Industrial Heuristics arrived and descended into the crater. Within moments, the arxeum landed a kilometer east of the transports. The transports lowered their ramps, and the young students within disembarked, proceeding toward the arxeum. Holt, realizing that the students were being used as bait, resolved to protect them. Felling two Daimanite soldiers with her lightsaber, she sprinted toward the students in the valley but was hampered by a sharp pain in her chest caused by Lord Odion's arrival in the system.

Aboard his capital ship, the Sword of Ieldis, Odion, who had brought Ka'hane to Gazzari with him, instructed his Givin navigator, Jelcho, to locate Daiman's forces. Although they detected no trace of Daiman's fleet within the system, they did observe approximately a dozen of Bactra's ships near Gazzari's sun, where they could observe the events on the planet from a safe distance. Despite knowing that Bactra had just delivered the arxeum, Odion ordered his fleet not to engage the Quermian's forces. Instead, his flotilla, comprising a quarter of his home fleet, established an orbital perimeter around the planet and awaited the arrival of his most potent weapon, a massive siege tower known as the Death Spiral. Once the Death Spiral exited hyperspace behind Odion's fleet, the Sith Lord ordered his Thunder Guard units to their transports. He then boarded his own transport, instructing Jelcho and Ka'hane to accompany him.

The Death Spiral landed in the crater, directly between the Industrial Heuristics transports and the arxeum, severing the students' path to their intended destination. After deploying numerous reconnaissance vehicles, attack aircraft, and three-legged armored transports from its base, the Death Spiral erected a powerful energy barrier. The artillery units of Rusher and the Nosaurian mercenary began to bombard the Death Spiral with energy blasts, but when Rusher observed the Death Spiral continuing to advance and fire, he demanded a damage assessment from his spotter, Sergeant Wenna'lah. Wenna'lah reported that the Death Spiral had sustained no damage, and Rusher ordered Ripper and Sat'skar Battalions to concentrate projectile attacks on the Death Spiral. He also commanded his energy weapons crews to target Odion's vehicles and personnel, which were spreading across the valley toward the arxeum and the Industrial Heuristics transports.

Once Odion's forces had landed, Daiman's fleet executed a hyperspace jump to Gazzari, hoping to trap Odion's forces within the system. On the surface, members of Odion's Thunder Guard, many on speeder bikes, engaged Medagazy's battle droids, which were charging into the valley from the east. Three members of the Thunder Guard on speeder bikes detached to engage Holt, who was still attempting to reach the students. Holt eliminated the three soldiers and commandeered one of the speeder bikes, using it to reach the students. She guided them toward the arxeum, where they could utilize its massive structure for protection from the Death Spiral.

The Death Spiral, meanwhile, continued to unleash fire upon Daiman's forces, disabling many of Rusher's Kelligdyd cannons. Tun-Badon, commander of Serraknife Battalion, was instructed by Rusher to unload the Gweith Brothers explosive missile launchers from the Diligence. However, the constant fire from the Death Spiral had rendered Serraknife, Flechette, and Sat'skar Battalions inoperable. While Rusher searched for a safe route to withdraw his battalions back to the Diligence, Ryland Dackett, the Diligence's captain, led a recovery team to Serraknife's position, hoping to salvage equipment and rescue survivors from the battalion. Although Dackett had intended to remain on the ship, Odion's presence was, unbeknownst to many, causing troops on the battlefield to act recklessly, even suicidally. Dackett was injured before he could reach Serraknife but was rescued by the clumsy Duros recruit Beadle Lubboon, who pulled him to safety with a transport vehicle and a makeshift stretcher. Rusher, meanwhile, ordered a general retreat, utilizing the battalions on either side of the Diligence to protect the ship and the forces returning to it.

Aboard one of Odion's transports, Narsk Ka'hane, under the surveillance of navigator Jelcho, received a signal from his true master, Vilia Calimondra. The Sith Lord desired her grandsons to unite against Bactra, who was still observing the battle from outer space, and she ordered Ka'hane to deliver her message to them. However, the Bothan's communications device was malfunctioning due to his proximity to the Death Spiral's energy shield. Convincing Jelcho to abandon him and join the battle against Daiman, Ka'hane proceeded south of the Death Spiral, where he hoped the reception would be clearer. However, he delayed delivering the message, as both Odion and Daiman were on the battlefield, approaching each other and preparing for a confrontation. With both Sith Lords engrossed in the battle, Ka'hane deemed it unlikely that either of them would receive his message.

Meanwhile, Holt, who was still attempting to lead the students to safety, also experienced the subconscious suicidal effects of Odion's presence. As she leaped off her speeder bike to impale one of Odion's Vodran soldiers, she noticed Daiman's command center, untouched beneath its raised energy shield. Believing she had left the baradium nitrate just outside the dome, Holt prepared to detonate it, unaware that the bandolier was still slung over her shoulder. She was saved by Tan Tengo, a Sullustan student, who distracted Holt and prevented her from detonating the explosives. Holt, suddenly realizing that the bandolier was on her shoulder, saw a speeder bike flying toward her, piloted by Jelcho. Standing her ground, Holt used the Force to telekinetically propel the bike to the ground and then render the Givin unconscious. Utilizing her bandolier to secure Jelcho to the bike, Holt jammed the bike's accelerator and sent it hurtling into the speeder bays of the Death Spiral. Once the explosives were inside the speeder bays, Holt detonated them using the detonator she had stolen from Ka'hane, destroying the siege tower. She then led the students to the east, where the laser fire from the Death Spiral had created a path to the top of the ridge. Ascending to the top, Holt encountered Jarrow Rusher and the remnants of his brigade, whose members were now loading their weaponry onto the Diligence. Following a protracted argument, Holt convinced Rusher, who had lost five-sixths of his forces, including all of Dematoil, Sat'skar, and Serraknife Battalions, to permit her student refugees aboard his ship.

After the destruction of the Death Spiral, Ka'hane was able to deliver Calimondra's message to Odion and Daiman. One ship each from the Odionate and the Daimanate met on the surface of the planet as the Diligence, carrying Rusher, Holt, and the arxeum students, made for space, where the battle had been just as intense. Several ships from both sides had been destroyed, while Bactra's forces observed the carnage untouched. As Daiman's mercenaries fled the planet, ships from both the Daimanate and the Odionate fired on them, unsure of whose side they were on. Witnessing the destruction of the personnel transport Remorseless, Rusher ordered that the Diligence be brought closer to Bactra's forces, hoping to conceal itself there for safety. However, Calimondra's order was finally received and transmitted to the fleets of both Daiman and Odion, and their forces began firing on Bactra's ships, destroying half of the Quermian's flotilla in under a minute. Nevertheless, the Diligence survived the onslaught as Bactra's forces fled to hyperspace, and Daiman and Odion ordered their troops to the planet Jutrand, Bactra's primary settlement. As the forces of all three Sith Lords made for Jutrand, the Diligence, too damaged to continue fighting and carrying over a thousand students seeking refuge from the battle, fled to Byllura, a planet in the Sith state known as the Dyarchy, where they hoped they could find safety for themselves and the refugees.

The forces of Daiman and Odion spearheaded an assault into Bactra's holdings, known as the Bactranate. Numerous Sith of the Calimondra lineage, including Daiman, Lioko, and Malakite, all seized portions of Bactra's territory, and Odion himself seized the capital of Jutrand.

On Byllura, Holt and Rusher discovered that the planet's entire population were slaves to the Sith siblings Quillan and Dromika, and as a skirmish erupted, they fled, taking Quillan with them. The planet was then captured by Arkadia Calimondra, Vilia Calimondra's granddaughter and the older sister of Quillan and Dromika. Arkadia, offering protection for Holt, Rusher, and the students, transported the Diligence to the planet Syned in her own territory, the Arkadianate. According to her, Bactra had fled to a Quermian retirement colony following the fall of his capital.

Vilia Calimondra later initiated a Bequest, a gathering of her family, in which she commended her Sith grandchildren for their destruction of the Bactranate and distributed Bactra's various corporations to them. Vilia permitted Odion to retain control of Jutrand, but granted control of Industrial Heuristics to Daiman. The Diligence later escaped the Arkadianate with the assistance of Narsk Ka'hane and fled to Republic space.

The Battle of Gazzari was conceived by John Jackson Miller for use in his first professional novel, Knight Errant, which was released in January 2011.

Although the timing of the battle aligns with the Sith civil war of the Republic Dark Age, Miller prefers to categorize the battle as part of the second Charge Matrica. While this does not negate the possibility that the battle is indeed part of the Sith civil war, the novel identifies the second Charge Matrica as the foundation of the conflict between Daiman and Odion.