OFFICE OF RECORD & INTELLIGENCE

SEVENTH ORDER

MONARCH STATION, CORELLIA

TWELFTH DAY, COLONY WEEK

/ DISTRIBUTE: GENERAL DISTRIBUTION TO ALL OFFICERS AND FIELD AGENTS OF THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND SEVENTH ORDERS, FURTHER DISTRIBUTION AT DISCRETION /

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Introduction:

When Darth Revan regained his memory and took control of the Star Forge and Imperial forces, the galaxy was ripe for invasion. The Mandalorians, unified under Canderous Ordo and ultimately loyal to Revan, would be indispensable in any campaign against the Old Galactic Republic- so crucial, in fact, that their unification is recorded as Revan's General Order Number One. With the Republic Fleet crippled, any target within striking distance would be reasonable enough, but Revan understood that he could give the Old Republic no chance to recover, no measure of mercy, and this led him to the logical conclusion to strike first at the waterworld of Manaan.

A House Divided:

The unification of the Mandalorians took six months to officially complete. While relatively conflict-free, this sudden reversal immediately caught the Republic's attention. Spies from were immediately dispatched, and trade routes were used to gather intelligence on the how, when, where, and, most importantly, why the Mandalorians were suddenly reorganizing. This interest would inevitably reveal what had happened to their Fleet that had, weeks prior, launched into unknown space at the Jedi Council's behest, but that was a risk that Revan believed was reasonable to run.

The first records from Republic spies show that they infiltrated Clan Ordo's unification campaign in the fourth month through Clan Viszla. The Battle of Ord Cestus had been a particularly bungled operation by Clan Ordo that erupted into full-scale battle on the planet. Republic traders carried word of the battle back to the Core, whereupon a team of Intelligence operatives was immediately dispatched to inspect the aftermath. In their investigation, they discovered Sith war droids among the wreckage, and a half-garbled transmission that revealed Clan Ordo's intention to unify the clans. A team of spies, all veterans of the Mandalorian Wars, were tasked with gathering more information. First they infiltrated Clan Viszla by stealing the identities of fallen Mandalorians who died at Ord Cestus, and then they infiltrated Clan Awaud; Clan Awaud having been devastated by an outbreak of plague in their ranks, thus making for a weakened target eager to restock its ranks.

A steady stream of information was fed back to their masters on Coruscant, and although Revan covered his involvement in the unification movement well, it was ultimately revealed that the Republic fleet had been destroyed on its mission. This information immediately put the Republic's military on high alert. Unwilling to reveal their hand, however, they allowed the unification to go on unhindered while they began planning how to best recoup their losses.

This revelation also drew a steep and sharp divide between the Republic Senate and the Jedi Order. It was, of course, the Jedi Order's decision that had led the fleet into the unknown space, and ultimately their doom. Even if responsibility solely lay with the Jedi Council members who managed the offshoot Enclave on Dantooine, the Senate, as the galaxy did, generally saw the Jedi Order as one homogenous group. Thus the Coruscant-based Jedi High Council's arguments fell on deaf ears, and the Senate pushed to expel the Jedi from the planet itself- this push failed thanks to support from representatives from Alderaan, Naboo, and Serenno, but it is noteworthy as one of the few times formal political policy was put forward to officially separate the Jedi and the Republic.

The Jedi High Council, having lost an entire sect, were incapable of handling both crises at once. Numerous Jedi veterans had been lost at the Star Forge, and thousands more had already abandoned the Order at the conclusion of the Mandalorian Wars, leaving little more than a few thousand spread across the galaxy. Conflating the issue was that the Jedi High Council had, relatively, very little influence on the rest of the Order.

Jedi Enclaves, such as the one on Dantooine, operated with near autonomy, and as such only convened when commanded, and were generally standoffish towards their counterpart on Coruscant. It was this environment that had fostered Jedi like Revan and Malak in the first place, and while this culling could have given the High Council and opportunity to curtail the enclaves and reassert their power, they instead chose to remain ineffectually stagnant on the matter. The Room of a Thousand Fountains flowed still, and Coruscant remained a galaxy away from these troubling reports in the Mid and Outer Rim, which meant that meditation and prayer on the issue was of greater importance than action.

While the Jedi High Council debated the issue in silence, the Old Republic and its Senate were pressed for action. The unification of the Mandalorians represented an enormous threat to trade interests, and the destruction of an entire Republic fleet meant that the Republic's tenuous grip on the galaxy was loosened that much more. Once in consensus, the Senate authorized for the shoring up of vital and strategic outposts, bases, and planets. However, a state this fragile would break easily if pressed hard enough and, as it was, Revan seized upon the opportunity.

Doomed Defense:

The Republic, eager to defend its interests, immediately began sending men and materiel to strategic worlds. Alderaan, Corellia, and even Onderon were immediately flooded with ships and troopers. Malak's final standing order, known as General Order Fifty-Two, had recalled the majority of Imperial forces to the Star Forge for his final duel with Revan. This left many key worlds, such as Korriban, without a true garrison. The Republic, in an effort to show strength and eliminate weak spots in Republic space, attacked many of these planets- Korriban included.

The Sith Academy was left in ruins and the ancient Sith Temples were made nearly inaccessible to all but the most suicidal of souls. Instead of garrisoning it with their own troops, the Republic quarantined Korriban. The survivors below, mainly of the Sith Academy, quickly turned on each other and the world soon became devoid of intelligent inhabitants.

Prelude to Invasion:

Manaan, the waterworld that had remained steadfastly neutral, was inevitably a part of this defense effort. It supplied the galaxy with kolto, an invaluable tool in treating wounds of all kinds, and was the only source for it. Imperials and Republic alike had traded with Manaan for decades, enriching the planet and its populace, while fighting proxy wars via politics, trade, and other pointless ventures for control of the world and its government.

The Imperial presence on the world, already damaged by a trial in the previous year that implicated the Sith in a plot to overthrow the government, was virtually nonexistent. The embassy and its reduced garrison quickly surrendered when the Republic arrived en-masse to the world, and the Selkath government was forced, at blasterpoint, to concede their allegiance to the Republic. Four Hammerhead-class capital ships were stationed in orbit and twelve hundred soldiers, technicians, and engineers were stationed on the planet- three hundred of them being stationed in the capital city of Ahto City. The Jedi High Council, eager to de-escalate the terse situation caused by the military, assigned Jedi Master Qual to the planet. Qual, an elder Selkath, had been one of the members of the Dantooine Council to not head to battle at the Star Forge, and his steadfast loyalty to the High Council made him a prime choice to remain on Manaan as long as necessary.

All of this effort would be rendered moot, of course, when Revan announced his existence to the galaxy with aplomb a mere week later.

Records obtained from Revan's Empire show that Manaan had always been his first target, and plans had been drawn up by Imperial staffers mere days after Revan assumed command of the Star Forge. Although these inevitably changed in response to Republic movements, it was mainly minor details, as Revan had planned to unleash the full might of his Sith Armada on the world regardless of the circumstances. He placed Admiral Lodi Neikav in charge of the space assault and subsequent bombardment, General Colt Buri and General Troy Traviss in charge of the ground invasion, and placed his Sith apprentice Bastila Shan on the Neikav's command ship to make use of her unique Force ability known as the Battle Meditation.

Revan himself would take point on the ground invasion alongside a cadre of Mandalorians warriors from Clan Ordo. Upon learning of Master Qual's assignment to the planet, it is noted in amended orders that Revan would divert himself in order to defeat Qual in the Ahto tribunal area. HK-47, Revan's personal assassin droid, was tasked with assassinating all members of both the deposed and current Selkath government. Canderous Ordo was relegated to artillery command, while General Troy Traviss would lead the 7th Imperial Light Brigade, 12th Imperial Shock Group, and the 2nd Imperial Engineer Division, to assume command of Ahto City proper. In total, not counting the Mandalorians, this force alone constituted nearly thirty-six hundred soldiers and battle droids, easily dwarfing the three hundred Republic soldiers stationed in Ahto City.

General Colt Buri would command the overall effort while delegating assaults on the other floating cities to Commander Karen Luceno, Commander Anderson Davids, and Captain Ceti Okuda. The 1st Imperial Assault Group, 3rd Imperial Airborne Division, and 6th Imperial Army would be tasked under these commanders, supported by the 212th Imperial Bomber Group and the 125th Imperial Fighter Command. The Perilous, New Dawn, Shadow Broker, and Nebulous command destroyers would assist in orbit, while Revan's flagship, the star destroyer Betrayal, would remain in close orbit for orbital bombardment operations. Additionally, escort cruisers and light corvettes would be scattered throughout the system to prevent both Republic retreat or reinforcement. As a feint maneuver, the 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions, Sith War Droid groups commanded by human operators, would assault a Republic waystation twelve parsecs away.

Revan was bringing enough power to outmatch the Republic forces 3 to 1 at Manaan. Even taking into consideration the inevitable resistance of the civilian population, this amount of force was overkill. The logistical nightmare was unimportant to Revan, who preferred to delegate most of the tasks of empire to subordinates, compared to the message that it would send to the Republic.

The Massacre:

At just past midday, Manaan time, the invasion began. Although the Republic had four Hammerhead-class cruisers in orbit, two of which were captained by veterans of the Jedi Civil War, they were crewed primarily by inexperienced recruits who panicked under the sudden appearance of the Sith fleet. Indeed, even the most hardened crew would have had a hard time maintaining composure at the sight.

Reports from both Republic prisoners and the Selkath themselves share similarities.

"One moment the stars and the sun were all to behold above the blue orb, and the next? The next our bridge was in flames and the Sith had returned."

-Captain Jury Wallis, R.S.S. Vanguard

"It was a beautiful day, the first sunny day in two weeks in fact, and we were all enjoying the sunshine. I heard something like a screaming wind and, when I looked to the sky, I thought I was seeing things. The sky was littered with black specks so numerous I had to rub my eyes and check again. By the time I looked up they were already firing on the city."

-Unnamed Selkath citizen

The Republic cruisers were disabled or destroyed within minutes, their fighter compliments still in their hangar bays. The system was locked down by the Sith and all communications in or out jammed by the time the first Hammerhead was destroyed. Ahto City was engulfed in flames by the time the sun was beginning to set and nearly every major city had been occupied. Armed resistance would continue into the next day but was mainly relegated to isolated pockets after the Republic's defense collapsed under the sheer mass of Sith military power.

Jedi Master Qual proved unable to match up to Revan. His body has yet to be recovered from the ocean world to this day. The Selkath government officials assigned to HK-47 were recorded as having been eliminated by nightfall. The remaining floating cities were either destroyed or captured in short order. All in all, the mission's objectives were considered achieved by day two of the invasion.

Ahto City was razed and sunk by the Betrayal, while several other floating cities were sunk in similar fashion. The Selkath population was often rounded up and trapped onboard during these bombardments or executed en-masse by Sith War Droids. The executions were recorded by the War Droids and then later repackaged in broadcast form across the Holonet.

It is estimated that at least 35% of the Selkath population was murdered during this invasion. Revan later remarked that they were meant to be an example, however if he had known how difficult it would be to harvest the kolto without them he may have left more alive. Regardless, it appears that Revan had few other regrets about the massacre outside of the logistical.

Observations:

Republic officers and personnel were executed to the last, as were any suspected sympathizers. Manaan, the sole resource for kolto in the galaxy, would remain in Sith control for the remainder of what would become known as The Hyperspace War. What remained of kolto supplies in the Republic were heavily rationed after a failed push to recapture the planet resulted in heavy casualties. Much of the galaxy turned to either smuggling it out from the planet, raiding storehouses, or searching for alternatives.

While alternatives would eventually be found, until then the Republic war effort, and the galaxy at large, would suffer for it. Kolto supplies primarily found their way to the military of course, which ultimately worsened things in terms of civilian support for not only the war but the Republic as a whole. The trampling of freedoms and the toll this eventually took on morale ultimately fractured the Republic, which makes the first strike at Manaan all the more impressive.

Although Imperial strategists and historians have continued to debate the value or wisdom in Revan's first strike being at Manaan, the Intelligence Bureau finds this to, ultimately, have been a successful decision. Imperial forces had been pushing the Republic back on all fronts by the time Malak lured Revan to the Star Forge. Numerous gaps in Imperial defenses opened up when Malak summoned them to the Unknown Regions and the Republic eagerly took advantage of this sudden reversal of fortunes. As far as the Republic was aware, Malak's Sith Empire had overstretched its resources and was falling back to regroup. A strike at a world as vital as Manaan was unthinkable.

The wisdom in striking first is countered, of course, by the garrison required to defend the planet. Manaan would always be a target of Republic operations for the remainder of The Hyperspace War, regardless of how costly assaults would be. The 6th Army and the Shadow Broker would remain stationed at Manaan, freezing a vital veteran asset on an otherwise secure world. Additionally, the broadcast of the massacre initially galvanized the galaxy against Imperial expansion, and disincentivized several corporations and black-market groups from working with Revan's Empire.

Still, ultimately it appears that Revan understood the consequences of his actions.

The Republic's military would be severely weakened by the loss of kolto, the civilian population of Republic worlds would eventually turn on the Republic due to rationing, and the revelation that Revan had returned stronger than ever would certainly shock both Republic personnel and the Jedi alike. Deception is vital to our line of work, but a show of brute force should never be underestimated.