The Yevethan Uprising, also known as the Day of Retribution, was a brief conflict eight months after the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. At the Black Fifteen shipyards above N'zoth in the remote Koornacht Cluster, the indigenous Yevethans launched an uprising against the Imperial garrison. Future Darama Nil Spaar and other Yevethan nationalists timed their uprising with the evacuation of the Imperial Black Sword Command fleet to Byss and the concurrent Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the New Republic. Due to their numerical superiority, the Yevethan were able to destroy or capture much of the Imperial garrison in a short span of time.
During the reign of Palpatine, the Galactic Empire invaded the Koornacht Cluster, and took control of the planet N'zoth after extensive fighting. The Yevetha were taken as slaves by the Imperials, who stationed the naval forces of the Black Fleet and its support facilities, which together were known as the Black Sword Command, in the cluster along with several shipyards. However, many Yevetha used their enslavement to learn much about the art of shipbuilding.
The Imperial Governor of the Cluster took several females as pleasure slaves for his staff, and gave the males to his stormtroopers for target practice. The mutilated bodies were then put on display at schools and sacred sites. They were also broadcast on public information channels that all Yevetha were forced to watch twice a day. When subjugation was not working as well, children were taken from their parents.
After several years of Imperial rule, they began plotting a rebellion, of which Nil Spaar of clan Spaar was one of the leaders. In his tenure, he put an end to quiet acts of sabotage, encouraging the Yevetha to cultivate the trust of the Empire so they could turn on them later. Over the years, the the Black Fifteen shipyards developed a reputation as the best in the sector due to the efficiency and industriousness of its Yevethan workers. Eventually, after the Yevetha had the virtual run of the shipyards, Spaar had his chance.
Eight months after the Battle of Endor, in which Palpatine was killed and the Empire began a slow decline, the Yevetha seized the moment. The Imperial fleet at the shipyards was undermanned and poorly defended, with many of the ships incomplete or damaged—a perfect opportunity for a surprise insurrection. Imperial forces in the Koornacht Cluster were being withdrawn to assist in the defense of the Core Worlds, and security was lax, so much so that Spaar knew the circumstances, procedure, and schedule of the supposedly sudden Imperial departure.
As the Black Fleet prepared to leave the N'zoth system and the Yevetha behind to aid Director of Imperial Intelligence and de-facto Emperor Ysanne Isard in the defense of the Imperial capital of Coruscant, the Imperial commander, Jian Paret, had ordered an evacuation, sending all Yevetha off the Imperial ships and facilities. He found the aliens despicable, and was happy to leave the Koornacht Cluster. Paret had kept this a secret from the Yevetha, knowing the aliens would interfere if they learned of the Imperials' intent to depart.
Instead, Paret hoped that the keeping the departure secret from the Yevetha would allow a smooth withdrawal for the Imperials on the surface and give time for him to destroy the shipyards and abandoned ships so they would not fall into the enemy hands. However, Spaar was aware of this, and his engineers had altered the sensors on the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Intimidator, flagship of the fleet, so some hatches would appear to be closed when they were not.
Before the Imperials could initiate the mass killing of all slaves as well as the destruction of the shipyard itself, the Yevetha put their plans into action. Two task forces under Spaar and Dar Bille invaded the ship utilizing the rigged hatches. They then made their way towards the bridge with cold efficiency, slaying or capturing any Imperials in their path. Spaar had numerous other contingency plans in effect, including a series of bombs that would destroy the Intimidator if it activated its shields. Spaar's team easily reached the bridge of the ship and took control of the vessel, as Paret and his men were completely surprised by the Yevethan attack.
As the Imperial shuttles rose from the surface of N'zoth in transports per the Imperial orders to withdraw completely from the system, Spaar ordered the batteries on the Intimidator to destroy them. The Yevethan commandos complied, to the horror of Paret, whom Spaar executed thereafter. The Yevetha overtook the yards and captured the other ships at Black Fifteen. The Intimidator, the largest of the ships captured was renamed the Pride of Yevetha and became the flagship of the Duskhan League.
In the ensuing uprising, the Yevethans exterminated most of the garrison, colonial administration and civilian colony. When the Imperial garrison finally reached the shipyards, they found seven thousand freed Yevethan prisoners, as well as the remains of over fifteen thousand dead Imperial soldiers. Fearing the same fate, the Imperial garrison never returned.
By the time the dust had settled, three hundred thousand Imperial personnel and civilians were captured and interned at a labor camp on Pa'aal. There, the Yevetha forced them to divulge information on hyperdrive and turbolaser technology. Due to faulty intelligence, Imperial Intelligence believed the fleet had actually been destroyed at Cal-Seti.
Due to the extreme xenophobia of the Yevetha, they ensured that all non-essential captives were killed once they had fulfilled their tasks. Over the next decade and a half, the Yevetha developed their technical capabilities. They created new starship shielding, gravity bombs, Aramadia-class thrustships, and D-type fighters. They also established the Duskhan League, which grew to encompass thirteen worlds. The Yevethan fleet was dubbed the Black Fleet, in a twisted version of its predecessor, the Galactic Empire Black Sword Command.
During this period, many prisoners would die from ill-treatment, suicide, or were murdered by the Yevetha. Over time, Sil Sorannan became the de facto leader of his fellow Imperial prisoners and formed a secret command group, plotting to strike against their Yevethan overseers when the moment was right. Throughout those years, Sorannan and his shadow command adopted the Yevethan tactic of pretending to collaborate with the enemy until the time was right to turn the tables on them.
On a political level, the Koornacht Cluster came under the control of the newly formed Duskhan League—the interstellar Yevethan government. Shortly afterwards, the ambitious Yevethan leader Nil Spaar took advantage of his own popular clout following the uprising to kill the reigning Viceroy Kiv Truun of the Duskhan League, and become viceroy himself. Spaar became known as the darama, the chosen one of the Yevetha. As viceroy, his rule over the Duskhan League of all Yevethan worlds was nothing short of autocratic.
In 16 ABY, Nil Spaar opened communications with the dominant galactic government in the neighboring Core Worlds – the New Republic. Spaar himself arrived on the capital Coruscant, supposedly to seek peaceful coexistance but actually to sow confusion and disruption prior to the planned Great Purge of all non-Yevetha in the Koornacht Cluster. Taking advantage of the Republic's lack of information on the Yevetha and Chief of State Leia Organa Solo's plans to seek an ally against the Imperial Remnant, Spaar sought to play into Organa Solo's empathy for species subjugated by the Empire.
Following the destruction of a Republic survey ship by a Yevethan patrol, Spaar initiated several political machinations that threw the Republic government into disarray. With the New Republic forced to withdraw its forces from the Cluster, Spaar returned to N'zoth and launched the Great Purge against all non-Yevethan colonies in the region. After a heated diplomatic offensive, the New Republic moved against the Dushkan League following the testimony by Purge survivor Plat Mallar and the beating of a captive Commodore Han Solo being released on the HoloNet.
After a series of battles, the New Republic Fifth Battle Group arrived over the Duskhan League's capital of N'zoth in 17 ABY and demanded their surrender. Defiant to the last, Nil Spaar mustered a war fleet including the former Imperial vessels of the Black Fleet. For the war effort, the Imperial prisoners were dispatched to the ships of the Yevethan fleet, allowing them to put their plan into action. He himself commanded the Yevethan forces from the Super Star Destroyer Intimidator, which was crewed by 513 Imperial prisoners—including Sil Sorannan.
During the Battle of N'zoth, the Imperials used a built-in slave circuit to gain control of the Imperial starships in Yevethan hands. Armed with blasters and the element of surprise, the Imperials quickly gained the upper hand over the Yevetha. From the bridge of Intimidator, Sorannan informed the New Republic that he and "Camp Pa'aal Squadron" were rejoining the Empire, and the fleet entered hyperspace for the Deep Core. En route to their destination, Sorannan saw to it that Nil Spaar was deposited into hyperspace aboard an escape pod in revenge for his atrocities. Years later, the Intimidator was found in the Unknown Regions where she was damaged beyond repair, and abandoned.
- The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
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- The Official Star Wars Fact File7
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- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
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- Galaxy at War