Raid on Chelloa

During the era known as the Republic Dark Age, the New Sith fractured into several independent groups, notably the Chagras Hegemony. These factions engaged in prolonged conflict with both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, resulting in a protracted stalemate. By 1040 BBY, the Hegemony had disintegrated into numerous warring factions, each under the control of rival Sith Lords such as Daiman and Odion. By 1032 BBY, the planet Chelloa, situated within the Grumani sector, had evolved into a key exporter of baradium, a material integral to the production of weaponry, for Daiman's war efforts against the Republic and his estranged brother, Lord Odion, who governed a competing Sith principality known as the Odionate. This perilous mining undertaking relied heavily on the exploitation of slave labor.

The Jedi took notice of Daiman's mining endeavors and dispatched a contingent of Jedi Knights, under the command of Vannar Treece, with the mission to disrupt the shipments and liberate the enslaved workers. Master Treece conceived a three-part strategy named Operation Influx. The initial phase involved the infiltration of the Daimanate transport hub located on Oranessan by his Jedi strike team. Their goal was to seize one of the massive ore transports that regularly made trips to Chelloa. The second phase entailed a rapid assault on Chelloa to disrupt a portion of the baradium being transported to Daiman's munitions factories situated near the front lines. The final phase required the Jedi team to depart Chelloa via a direct hyperspace lane leading to neutral territory, from where they could return to the Galactic Republic.

Given the Republic's strained financial situation, Treece personally secured the necessary funding for the mission and recruited Jedi volunteers. The operation was designed as a swift raid to sabotage the export of baradium from Chelloa. By cutting off supplies to the front lines, the Jedi aimed to thwart Daiman's ambitions of galactic domination. Gorlan Palladane, a relief worker and former Jedi, provided the Jedi with information regarding Daiman's baradium mining operation. To maintain communication with his Jedi allies off-world, Palladane and the local Rodian mechanic Skodo reactivated one of the dormant hyperspace relay networks within the Chelloan system. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, their communications had been intercepted by Lord Odion. Despite their familial connection as brothers, both Sith Lords harbored intense animosity towards each other, with Daiman, in his delusion, viewing himself as the Creator of the universe and Odion as the "evil" Destroyer. Conversely, Odion led a Sith death cult that celebrated death and destruction as a means of achieving personal peace.

The first stage of Operation Influx proceeded smoothly, encountering no significant setbacks. The Jedi traveled to Oranessan aboard one of their own starships. During their descent, they downed a small Daimanate personnel shuttle. Master Treece, the Jedi Knight [Kerra Holt](/article/kerra_holt], and two other Jedi, including the Celegian Dorvin Eltrom, approached the wreckage and retrieved cloaks and identification badges from the deceased flight crew. Disguised as pilots, the Jedi advance team eliminated a group of Daimanate sentries and commandeered an empty Daimanate Heavy-Lift Starcrosser from the Sith transport landing zone. After signaling the other Jedi to board the transport, they intended to use it to reach Chelloa but discovered that the transport's navigation computer lacked its activation cylinder. Holt obtained a replacement cylinder from a nearby hangar, and after installing the device, the Jedi departed Oranessan.

Under the watchful eyes of several Sith troopers, Daiman's enslaved workers were loading crates of baradium onto cargo liners bound for the war effort. During this operation, Treece's Jedi team utilized their Starcrosser cargo liner to collide with several waiting liners, igniting multiple baradium crates and causing widespread chaos among the Sith forces. With the support of the enslaved workers, the disembarking Jedi swiftly overwhelmed the Sith defenders before tending to the wounded. Amidst the conflict, Treece dispatched Kerra to rendezvous with Gorlan Palladane in the South Work Yard. She arrived just in time to prevent him and his companions from being executed by a T'surr Sith trooper and his Human counterpart. Despite a heartfelt reunion between Treece and his longtime friend Gorlan, tensions arose when Gorlan realized that Vannar's mission was merely a "filibustering raid" rather than an effort to evacuate the Chelloan people. As a compromise, Treece agreed to evacuate those Chelloans who were willing to accompany them to Republic Space. Simultaneously, the other Jedi began to dismantle the spaceport facilities.

However, this brief triumph was cut short by the arrival of Lord Odion's forces above Squatter's Hill. Odion's forces included a massive kinetic corruptor, a formidable mobile machine capable of igniting baradium deposits. During the ensuing battle, Odion's forces overwhelmed the unsuspecting Jedi team. Master Treece and Jedi Knight Kerra engaged Lord Odion in a lightsaber duel. During a lull in the duel, Treece instructed Kerra to proceed with her mission to evacuate the Chelloan slave miners they had encountered. Kerra returned to the freighter only to find Gorlan hesitant to leave, as he still had family in Jenith. Gorlan also emphasized the presence of sixty thousand people in the slave cities of Chelloa and his continued role as the de facto leader of the Chelloan resistance. Upon learning this, Kerra correctly deduced that Odion intended to destroy Chelloa, as it was too distant from his supply lines to defend effectively. She then rejoined the battle, attempting to eliminate Lord Odion.

Meanwhile, Vannar's duel with Odion led them to the top of an automated repulsorlift platform. Simultaneously, the Kinetic corruptor initiated its activation sequence. Kerra interrupted the duel and attempted to disable the Kinetic corruptor by damaging its cables. However, Odion hurled the young Jedi onto the repulsorlift platform. During a break in the fighting, Vannar ordered his former apprentice to carry out her orders to evacuate the civilians. Amidst the conflict, Odion's kinetic corruptor generated a massive explosion, obliterating much of the surrounding area and killing many assembled workers and combatants. While Treece was distracted, Odion seized the opportunity to kill him with his lightsaber. Gorlan rescued Kerra, taking her aboard the Starcrosser transport, which was protected from the resulting magma flow due to its distance from the site. As a consequence of Odion's attack, Treece's entire Jedi expedition, with the exception of Kerra, perished in the molten explosion.

Gorlan Palladane, Kerra Holt, and several workers managed to escape the kinetic corruptor's explosion by taking refuge inside the cargo liner. In the aftermath of Odion's attack, Kerra and Palladane began to care for the wounded, including both slaves and Sith troopers. The blast from the kinetic corruptor had ignited the extensive baradium deposits beneath Jenith's surface. While the survivors attended to the wounded, Lord Daiman arrived on a repulsorcraft. Disregarding the plight of his subjects, Daiman demanded to see Palladane, the leader of the Jenith workers. Palladane pleaded for assistance in treating the wounded, but Daiman was more concerned with discovering how his rival Odion and the Jedi had uncovered his secret baradium mining operations. When Palladane claimed ignorance of the matter, Daiman used Force choke to strangle the former.

However, Kerra intervened, attempting to compel Daiman to cease tormenting Palladane at gunpoint. Amused by her courage and dismissing her as an orphan, Daiman released his grip on Palladane and toyed with her. He mockingly encouraged her to embrace her anger as a distraction and released her, as he was preoccupied with the threat posed by Odion to his goals. Showing little regard for the well-being of his subjects, Daiman ordered them to erect one of his statues in the village square before dismissing the crowd. Following Daiman's departure, Palladane held a public meeting outside his Jenith home, instructing his fellow workers to utilize the runoff water from the electric fuel cells on the excavators for essential purposes such as washing food, clothes, and bathing. Consumed by hatred for the Sith, Kerra embarked on a mission to assassinate Lord Daiman.

The Raid on Chelloa made its initial appearance in Knight Errant: Aflame 1, which premiered on October 13, 2010. Functioning as a plot device, it introduced the central characters of the comic series, including Kerra Holt, Gorlan Palladane, Daiman, and Odion. It also served as the exposition for the comic arc's plot, which was presented from Kerra Holt's perspective. Furthermore, the battle introduced several new plot elements, such as the planet Chelloa, the particle baradium, and the kinetic corruptor.