Black Fleet Crisis

Following the conclusion of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire expanded its reach into the Koornacht Cluster, leading to the discovery of the Yevetha species. The Empire quickly recognized the Yevetha's exceptional aptitude for acquiring new skills. Subsequently, the Imperials enforced their dominion over the Yevethan homeworld of N'zoth and the surrounding star systems. They established the Black Fifteen shipyards and coerced the Yevetha into serving as highly skilled slave laborers, tasked with the construction, repair, and modification of vessels belonging to the Imperial Navy.

Approximately eight months following the Battle of Endor, the Imperial garrison stationed on N'zoth received orders to retreat and obliterate the repair facilities. However, before the withdrawal could commence, a daring assault masterminded by chief commando Nil Spaar exploited the Empire's underestimation of the Yevetha's capabilities, seizing control of the vessels undergoing repairs, the operational warships, and the shipyards themselves. All Imperial personnel were eliminated.

Over the subsequent fifteen years, the Yevetha significantly enhanced their technological prowess, pioneering advanced technologies such as starship shielding, gravity bombs, Aramadia-class thrustships, and D-type fighters. They established the Duskhan League, which expanded to encompass thirteen worlds.

In 16 ABY, the Duskhan League emerged from its self-imposed isolation to confront the New Republic, which was experiencing a period of tranquility characterized by a surge in membership applications, economic prosperity, and advancements in military technology, alongside the growth of a cumbersome and internally divided bureaucracy. A delegation, headed by the now-Viceroy Nil Spaar, journeyed to Coruscant, ostensibly seeking peaceful coexistence. Nonetheless, given their deeply ingrained xenophobia and their perception of all non-Yevethan species as "vermin," it is more probable that their true objective was to sow discord and disruption in preparation for their planned war of extermination.

Capitalizing on the New Republic's limited intelligence regarding the Duskhan League and the political infighting within the Senate, Nil Spaar prolonged his negotiations with Chief of State Leia Organa Solo over several weeks. Under pressure from military and intelligence advisors seeking answers and potentially an ally against the Core Imperial strongholds, Organa Solo engaged in discussions, only to find herself ensnared in a political scheme designed to plunge the New Republic into chaos. During this period, Spaar manipulated her empathy towards a species that had been subjugated by the Empire, enabling him to cultivate assets on Coruscant.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the Yevetha), General A'baht, the Commander of the Fifth Fleet, had dispatched astrographic survey ships to the regions surrounding the Duskhan League's territory. The New Republic lacked precise star charts of the deep core areas formerly controlled by the Empire, a fact that made the General uneasy during the Fifth Fleet's search for the missing Black Fleet. While the fleet itself, including the Prowler, was conducting its search outside the space claimed by the League, a Yevethan warship nonetheless destroyed an unarmed surveying vessel, alleging that it had violated their territory.

Spaar seized this opportunity to initiate a series of political maneuvers that created confusion within the New Republic. He began by accusing Organa Solo of "warmongering" and pleaded for the Yevetha to be left in peace. Weary of engaging in war, many New Republic citizens voiced their outrage towards the Chief of State, and several member worlds even went so far as to submit articles of withdrawal. With the diplomatic outcome a complete disaster, Leia ordered the Fifth Fleet to return from the Falax sector to Coruscant—leaving the Black Fleet now completely unhindered to carry out Spaar's plans.

Eventually, Nil Spaar returned to his people, and with the New Republic in disarray, the Yevetha initiated a campaign of aggressive expansion and colonization, utilizing the lost ships of Black Sword Command. The Yevethan Purge, known as the Great Purge, the Cleansing, or Second Birth by the Yevetha, involved the annihilation of entire species, such as the Corasgh, and communities, like the Norat Sovereignty, as well as the colonization of numerous nearby star systems within the Koornacht Cluster. Plat Mallar, an inexperienced Grannan pilot, emerged as the sole survivor of one of these raids on his home planet of Polneye—and would later become the public face of the Great Purge.

Upon receiving news of these events, Organa Solo was understandably incensed by the extent of her manipulation. Initially hesitant to take action, she was ultimately persuaded by the efforts of Alpha Blue director Admiral Drayson after he presented her with footage captured by an Alpha Blue recon drone, depicting the Yevetha moving into planets from which they had just exterminated the population, and she redirected the Fifth Fleet back to the Farlax sector.

Upon discovering this, Spaar used agents on Coruscant to hack the New Republic Holonet "Channel One" which he used to broadcast a message to the entire New Republic. Spaar claimed to be defending the Yevethan people against New Republic aggression from several planets in the Cluster, a plot which had been hatched against his people from Coruscant. He then declared that the Daughter of Vader was seeking to follow in her father's footsteps, that the Fifth Fleet was on its way to conquer his people. For the Chief of State, this was a disaster. Spaar preempted a public press release about the events Leia and her administration had been planning to make public that very day, turning public opinion against her instantly, the Genocidal actions utterly failing to rouse the New Republic, unlike Zsinj, Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign, the Reborn Emperor Palpatine's insurgency, and Daala.

Due to the Koornacht Cluster's isolated location within the Deep Core, many individuals refused to sacrifice the lives of countless New Republic soldiers to defend such remote worlds that were not even members of the Republic, and were furious with Organa Solo for suggesting so. However, the Chief of State presented the Yevetha with an ultimatum, demanding that the Duskhan League withdraw from conquered territories. Should they refuse, war would be declared on the Yevetha. Nil Spaar responded by calling her bluff. Consequently, a full-scale war became inevitable for the New Republic.

At the colony world of Doornik-319 in the system of the same name in the Koornacht Cluster, the New Republic's new Fifth Battle Group and the Duskhan League engaged in combat. Prior to the battle, Morning's Bell, a Kubaz colony world within the system, had been razed by the Yevetha during the Great Purge.

The New Republic attempted to blockade the system in an effort to halt the Yevethan progress across the Koornacht Cluster, bringing in an impressive task force of overwhelming force when the Yevetha brought in their own small fleet, deploying the new K-wing bombers in one of its earliest combat missions.

However, the Yevetha had anticipated such a response and having compromised the New Republic communications systems, they broadcast a message across all wavelengths which contained the plea of countless captives inside the Yevethan capital ships, who begged for the New Republic to retreat from the Koornacht Cluster lest they die along with their Yevethan captors. This tactic worked and greatly demoralized the New Republic forces. Enough of the K-wing bomber pilots and enough of the gunners on the capital ships hesitated in the face of the pleas, and the Yevethan fleet attacked. Morale low, some ships spontaneously started to retreat while others fought back ineffectively. In the end, despite their superior firepower, the New Republic didn't manage to eliminate a single enemy ship and retreated in disgrace.

In response, several disgruntled New Republic senators began petitioning a recall against Organa Solo on charges of incompetence and for the endangerment of the lives of Defense Force personnel. Though the petition failed, it was a harbinger of more to come. In the face of opposition, the Chief of State was unwilling to back down and the incident only increased her legendary resolve, but now she walked alone with very little political support from the New Republic Government.

In the weeks that followed, long-range reconnaissance efforts conducted by the New Republic within the Cluster revealed that every warship from the lost Black Fleet, including the Super Star Destroyer that had been renamed Pride of Yevetha, was under the control of the League. The Fifth Battle Group received reinforcements from task forces drawn from various other fleets, bolstering its strength to the equivalent of two complete task forces, which were deployed to closely patrol the borders of the Koornacht Cluster. The renowned Han Solo was temporarily promoted to the rank of commodore and placed in command of this force. However, en route to assuming command of the Fifth, his shuttle was forcibly extracted from hyperspace by a Yevethan Immobilizer 418 cruiser and he was brought before Nil Spaar on N'zoth.

Upon learning of this, one of Organa Solo's staunchest remaining allies within the government, Senator Doman Beruss of Illodia, presented a Vote of No Confidence to the New Republic Senate, with Borsk Fey'lya eagerly rallying support to install himself as interim Chief of State. With her husband held captive by the enemy, some senators speculated that the Chief of State would sacrifice the lives of countless Defense Force personnel in a campaign to rescue him, while others argued that Organa Solo should be replaced by someone else.

Despite this setback, with the encouragement of retired Chief of State Mon Mothma, Leia refused to yield her stance on the Duskhan League and also declined to dispatch her brother Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his Jedi on a mission to rescue Han and infiltrate the Duskhan League's territory.

Meanwhile, on N'zoth, Han rejected an offer from Nil Spaar to persuade his wife to alter her position on the Yevetha. Spaar cautioned Solo that the New Republic would succumb to the fanatical Duskhan League, that his people would never surrender, and that they would fight to the very last. Han was subsequently transferred to a cell aboard the Pride of Yevetha.

While patrolling the star-dense cluster in Triangle-High Forward formation, Commodore Brand's patrol group discovered the ILC-905 system was being used by the Yevetha as a jump point. In addition, Folna was able to detect two docked starships at the shipyard around Prildaz.

Indomitable and Vanguard engaged the docked thrustship, but were in turn engaged by another pair protecting the shipyards, Tholos and Rizaron. Vanguard engaged the two thrustships but soon found herself outclassed, unable to breach the advanced shields of the enemy starships. At this point, Indomitable and her bomber wings moved into engage.

The battle lasted just 11 short minutes. Vanguard succumbed to a brace of enemy fire at the same time she and a flight of K-wings destroyed the lead thrustship, a K-wing of Red Flight, piloted by Esege Tuketu and Skids, got close to the shipyard and were able to find a weak spot in the shield grid to concentrate their firepower, destroying the shields and crippling the shipyards. Indomitable fired her main batteries against the shipyard, completely destroying it and sending the docked freighter thrustship spinning into the planet they were orbiting. Black Nine had been destroyed.

This engagement proved crucial in the New Republic's campaign against the Yevetha by providing knowledge on how to defeat their advanced deflector shield technology, providing a solid victory against the Yevetha for morale purposes, and destroyed a major strategic asset at minimal cost to the New Republic. But while a New Republic victory in the conflict, it further worsened the hostilities between the Duskhan League and the Republic.

In retaliation, Nil Spaar transmitted a private hologram to Organa Solo which showed him brutally assaulting Han Solo for twenty minutes. At the end, Spaar spoke only three words: "Leave Koornacht now." This wound up being the worst tactical decision Spaar ever made: Organa Solo's advisors united against the personal attack and supported a Republic invasion of the Koornacht Cluster. With her advisors at her side, Leia bypassed the Senate and addressed Beruss's petition of no confidence and declared war on the Yevetha by invoking Article Five of the Common Charter. During her speech before the assembled ranks of the Senate, she asked the senators not to forget the thousands killed during the Great Purge and to do something to stop the expanse of the Yevetha. This inspiring speech was given in the annals of modern oratory and received a standing ovation from just about the entire Senate, which had been ready to impeach her only days earlier.

Luckily for the New Republic, several Wookiees including Chewbacca displayed the courage typical of their species by making a run on the Super Star Destroyer Pride of Yevetha to rescue Han Solo. Covertly aided by Alpha Blue, who had passed on such tidbits as NRI assault plans for an Executor-class Star Dreadnought through various third parties and a member of the White Current, who hid the Falcon from frantically searching fighter craft while Chewbacca and his young son fought their way forward to rescue Han. In the process, the young Wookiee achieved his Rite of Passage into adulthood and it was discovered that there were no hostages on board the Super Star Destroyer, the White Current adept had generated them as an illusion, sacrificing her life for theirs as she refused to leave the ship.

With full-scale war inevitable, the Fifth Battle Group entered into conflict with the fanatical Yevetha deep in the Koornacht Cluster. The fighting grew fierce but the New Republic would receive help from two surprising sources: the Fallanassi and Camp Pa'aal Squadron—a secret group of surviving Imperials led by Sil Sorannan. Soon, the fight would take place at the Yevethan capital of N'zoth itself.

The Fallanassi Wialu and Akanah Norand Goss Pell, found by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, used their powers to generate an illusory "phantom fleet" at the Battle of N'zoth which made the New Republic fleet appear larger than it actually was and diverted enemy fire, saving the lives of many New Republic crewbeings. This cut off much of the coordination with other Yevethan warships in the Koornacht Cluster. The Yevethan fleet was severely beaten by the Republic's ships, due mainly to the data gathered by the Republic at the preceding Battle of ILC-905.

As the Yevetha formed up their fleet, Sil Sorannan and the Camp Pa'aal Squadron used a hidden command override to retake the Imperial vessels in the Yevethan Fleet, including the flagship Pride of Yevetha, which had previously been Intimidator, in the name of the Empire.

This left the Yevetha without a central fleet and without a leader, for their commander, Nil Spaar, was ejected into an escape pod and stranded in hyperspace by Sorannan. The remaining Yevethan ships refused to surrender, forcing the New Republic fleet to destroy them completely. Losses were heavy for the Republic, as midway through the battle the phantom fleet disappeared as Wialu became fatigued.

Near the end, the remaining thrustships launched fighters on kamikaze missions, damaging a number of Republic vessels. Despite the heavy losses, which included the Star Destroyer Yakez and a number of smaller ships, the New Republic fleet destroyed the entire Yevethan fleet present at the battle, ending the Black Fleet Crisis.

The conflict concluded with a Yevethan loss at the Battle of N'zoth and the death of Nil Spaar at the hands of Sil Sorannan. A victorious New Republic disarmed the Yevetha and kept them under close watch. It is unclear how long the New Republic's close watch of the Yevetha continued, but active patrols were removed by at least 25 ABY. However, no one actually entered the N'zoth system in that decade, during which the Yevetha built up an even larger force than the Black Fleet, consisting of thousands of Aramadia-class thrustships.

It was then that the Galantos Guard encountered the Yuuzhan Vong. In exchange for what the Galantos believed to be protection from the extragalactic invaders, they informed the Yuuzhan Vong of the brutal Yevetha and the threat they may pose. Taking heed, the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the N'zoth system. The details of the battle may never be known, but if the Yevethan and Yuuzhan Vong tactics say anything, the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed every single ship in the system, and unleashed a horrible orbital bombardment on N'zoth that rendered the planet a molten wasteland. At the end of the conflict the Yevetha were either extinct or severely endangered.

Historians would compare the Black Fleet Crisis to the Stenax Massacres and note similarities between the two conflicts.

• Yevethan Purge
• Battle of Doornik-319
• Battle of ILC-905
• Battle of N'zoth