[Extract from: Death of the Dream – the Rise and Fall of the Confederacy of Independent Systems]
[Authored by Idris lu Shann, Professor of Political History, University of Raxxus Secundus, Confederate Educational Directorate, Restored Confederacy, Member of Commonwealth Alliance, Year 24 Imperious Calender]
…breakdown of effective governmental structure in the galactic south-east-trailing as the initial clashes between loyalist and federation forces grew into a full-fledged civil war. With this breakdown had come the concentration of remaining Over-Sector power in, unfortunately as time would tell, Bothawui for the loyalist cause, and Druckenwell for federation forces. Other Sector Commands had devolved to Geonosis and Rodia, the first of which had declared effective neutrality in the conflict, and the second which would rapidly undergo violent revolution, followed by Imperial occupation.
This occupation of Rodia as such can be seen as a tipping point in the border conflict between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and United Federal Empire from low level piracy to active invasion, despite claims to the contrary. Similar troubles persisted on many other border sectors of the divided Confederacy by this point, with several systems actively switching allegiance to other Republic successor factions, but Rodia was a massive escalation from such difficulties. Primarily as, unlike the other Republican factions, the Imperial Fleet was sufficiently isolated from the galaxy at large to concentrate a significant portion of their mobile reserves, under their two most aggressive Admirals (Moffs), towards Rodia and surrounding Sectors.
Such deployment, and the reinforcement, of Stormcrow and Zsinj, was under the aegis of Operation Clean Sweep which was, officially at least, aimed at the surviving Chancellorist Republican faction strongholds in those regions. This can be shown to be a misdirection by the level of firepower and logistical support brought to bear into this operation, with only a portion of what was being deployed actively needed to overwhelm the remaining Chancellorist strongholds. It also vital to point out that said Chancellorist forces were already evacuating and redeploying under the ever-infamous Operation Stardust Memories – a fact that the Imperial Fleet was very aware of according to numerous sources. Aware of and manipulating to their advantage despite the horror that such actions would indirectly lead to.
In some dark irony, it is these two Republican Successor State military operations that would achieve far more decisive blows on the cause of confederate freedom than previous large-scale military efforts by the defunct Galactic Republic. Operation Clean Sweep as it would completely destabilise the galactic south, leading to the Second Secession Crisis and near complete collapse of the remaining state infrastructure within the following months. This allies with the horror of Operation Stardust Memories that, will devastating to the Republican factions in its destructiveness and revelation of the dark heart of the Republic to the galaxy at large, served to restore a united Core-based Republican Successor State within a year of its nightmarish conclusion.
This returns us to the fall of Rodia to violent, Imperial-backed, revolution that took place as the civil war unfurled within the Confederacy. With the violent overthrow of democracy on the planet, the Imperial Fifth Fleet under the tyrannical and bloodthirsty raider Admiral (Moff) Stormcrow swiftly arrived to brutally suppress any protests and remaining military resistance. This occupation served to place the infamously piratical and deep raiding Imperial Fifth Fleet on a hyperspace hub, one with clear intentions to perform significant military operations over the Confederacy's hyperlanes. With the arrival of Admiral (Moff) Zsinj soon after the events of the Rodian Revolt, the fleet commands of both factions in the Civil War rapidly grew concerned and planning for the official beginning of the Unspoken War.
Such was not the intention of the invaders of course, with an espionage and diplomatic war being waged even as more and more forces were deployed into the campaign theatre where no, official, war existed. This was a major deployment by the Imperial fleet, which was facing a series of significant border incursions in what was known as the Border Wars. When allied with the fact records indicate that they were aware of the redeployments of Operation Stardust Memories by their, supposed, intended enemy. This is comical to state when considering nearly half of the Imperial mobile fleet strength was deployed in two of their five 'mobile' Strike Fleets into the theatre, when the Chancellorist forces were reduced to skeleton garrisons.
This is even more obvious when viewing the results of Operation Clean Sweep against the supposed intended targets of the operation – the only engagement of note being the one-sided clash at the Rishi Moons. Something that was a slaughter instead of a battle, and had been preceded by, just as it was followed by, a string of negotiations between the Chancellorist strongholds of Rothana and Kamino. These actions show the lie of Operation Clean Sweep, in that the offensive itself faced limited opposition, a fact that the Imperial Navy was well aware of. Merely diverting a potion of the already in theatre Fifth Fleet should have been sufficient to achieve these intended objectives after all.
What this display of Imperial might did serve to do was to further destabilise the surrounding Sectors, whether they be loyalist or federationist. Or, in certain situations such as Geonosis, important systems that had attempted to maintain neutrality in the conflict caused by Bothan greed and intransigence. Geonosis is important to note as it is, and remains, a strongly anti-Imperial stronghold due to the brutal Republic, then Imperial, occupation during the Clone Wars, and then Republican Collapse, stages of the Republic-Confederate War. Despite this situation, and strong antipathy, the Geonosisian Queen and government would engage in various settlements with their enemies – showing the collapse of a united defence front, even amongst those most violently opposed to enemy encroachment.
This was a result of the seemingly overwhelming display of force by the invading fleets, something that served to overawe local Sector Defence Commands, especially in conjunction with the recognition of the Fonder Abomination and its so-called Protectorate. The threat of violence as such became the primary weapon wielded against both loyalist and federationist, with secret negotiations occurring on, and with, Bothawui led to the continued fracturing of the once duracrete strong coalition behind confederate freedom against the oppression of the Galactic Republic. With this in mind we can see the true purpose behind the Imperial's invasion of Confederate space and hyperlanes, despite all public claims, then and now, over 'limited local stabilisation' efforts, or targeting enemy Republicans.
One primary target on this invasion was Molavar, in the Abrion Sector, which while a backwater system in terms of development lay astride both the Trelius Trade Route and the Manda Merchant Route. All very convenient then that the system lay astride the route to the Rishi Moons, and therefore to the hyperlane out of the galaxy to Kamino. Such was the case when elements of the combined fleets of Stormcrow and Zsinj arrived in system, lavishly bribing planetary leaders while their warships interdicted traffic on these routes. This move served to destabilise remaining Confederate Sectors, primarily Albrion itself, prompting panicked diplomatic correspondence, followed by a wave of defections to the Unified Federal Empire. All in line with the usual rise in 'piracy' along the expanded disputed territories that now lay deep inside formerly solid CIS territory.
Chaos, lies, and betrayals, were the result of these dark days as the Imperial fleet easily overran the Rishi Moons despite a fanatical resistance from the Mind-chipped Slave armies of Kamino. Primarily as the majority of the Chancelloriest forces in the OverSector were undertaking the March to the Core as part of Operation Stardust Memories. This, in of itself, was devastating to any system caught in the path of this offensive-retreat, with over a dozen systems of the Confederacy being raided and looted of all available spacecraft or supplies while 'silencing' these systems comms. As such we see a double blow to the entire quadrant, OverSector Commands of both the loyalist and federationist causes thrown into chaos, and often defaulting to local governors or defence fleet commands in response.
Albrion Sector to use a major example had been a hot of the early, then Separatist, cause, yet with the fall of Rodia and Molavar in swift succession were one of the first to seek out admission, formally, into the invading forces overlord. This would have the knock-on effect of cutting supplies, primarily agricultural and mineral, from this Sector and surrounding Sectors into the Confederacy proper, further damaging the loyalist cause and aiding the traitors such as on Bothawui that would follow. Further towards the galactic edge the Chancellorist 'Fifteenth Fleet' was meanwhile inflicting significant damage till disappears from records for several weeks, before reappearing at the disastrously horrifying Final Battle of Coruscant.
So, even as greater damage was done to the divided Confederate cause by its enemies, the path to the eventual horror of the New Republic and the growing power of the United Federal Empire was born in the wake of these two operations. This was the beginning of the death spiral of freedom in the galactic south, and the beginning of another bloody year in the period we now know as the Galactic Civil War. It is a reminder of the duplicity of the Imperial Reconquista, and of the dark heart that lurks within the so-called Republican Restoration, no matter which of the Republican Successor States call for such actions. For in listening to their lies and threats freedom was lost from Rodia to Molavar, from Leritor to Excarga…
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