The assault on the Aparo sector was an offensive launched by the Sith Empire in the early days of the Great Galactic War. Following the Sith's return to known space, the Galactic Republic was slow to mobilize an effective defense. As a result, the Republic's allies in the Aparo sector of the Outer Rim Territories were wholly undefended and one of the Empire's first targets. The Imperial assault on the sector was a success, forcing the Republic's allies to give in to the Sith and change allegiances.
The Republic's allies in the Aparo sector
Following centuries of seclusion in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, the ancient Sith Empire returned to known space and waged war against the Galactic Republic. The Sith first reappeared on the fringes of the Tingel Arm, where a fleet of Harrower-class dreadnaughts engaged and destroyed a diplomatic envoy from the Republic, initiating the Great Galactic War. The Sith's next target was the Outer Rim Aparo sector, a region of the Tingel Arm that was allied with the Republic.
The Imperial assault was swift and effective, beginning and ending before the Republic was able to mount an organized defense of the sector. The Imperial military invaded the worlds of the Aparo sector with Sith soldiers and war droids, quickly overrunning the native defenders. As a result of the Republic's inability to combat the Empire, the governments of the Aparo sector abandoned their ally and defected to the Sith Empire.
The people of the Aparo sector after defecting to the Empire
Following the assault on the Aparo sector and the defection of the governments of Aparo, the Republic attempted to launch an offensive against the Empire throughout the Tingel Arm. However, the Republic's former allies on Belkadan and Sernpidal of the Dalonbian sector, and Ruuria in the Xappyh sector, had also fallen to the Sith. Much like the Aparo sector, these worlds had become subservient to the Empire. As a result, instead of combating the Empire alongside the natives of these worlds, the Republic fleet was caught within enemy territory, fighting for survival. These opening battles of the Great Galactic War put the Republic on the defensive for several decades and contributed to the Empire's ultimate victory twenty-eight years later. Following the close of the war, the assault on the Aparo sector was included in Jedi Master Gnost-Dural's recounting of the beginning of the Sith invasion.
The assault on the Aparo sector first appeared in the sixth installment of the Galactic Timeline, titled Onslaught of the Sith Empire. The timeline is a series of web videos presented as historical accounts on the story behind the computer game Star Wars: The Old Republic. The installments are available on the game's official site and are narrated by the Kel Dor Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, who is voiced by actor Lance Henriksen.
- The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded