Battle of Balmorra

The Battle of Balmorra was fought in 10 ABY between the forces of Dark Empire commanded by Executor Sedriss QL and the defenders of the factory world of Balmorra. A part of Operation Shadow Hand, the battle was fought in the wake of Galactic Emperor Palpatine's latest death in a clone body. Believing the Emperor to be gone forever, the governor of Balmorra, Hinch Beltane, started supplying the New Republic, the Dark Empire's enemy in the Galactic Civil War, with his war droids.

Beltane's defiance drew attention from Sedriss, who stayed loyal to Palpatine and awaited his Master's return in another clone body. Sedriss arrived at Balmorra with a fleet of Star Destroyers and gave Beltane a chance to resolve the conflict without too much bloodshed; the Governor needed only to place his factories under Imperial control and surrender himself for execution. Having long ago dreamed of achieving independence for Balmorra, Beltane refused the terms. Even though Sedriss had the ability to annihilate Balmorra through orbital bombardment, he preferred to capture the planet's factories intact, even though that meant losing a large number of Imperial troops in a ground assault.

The Dark Empire deployed a large force on the surface of Balmorra, commanded by Captain Maximilian Veers. Beltane and Sedriss engaged in a back-and-forth display of secret weaponry. Beltane's SD-10 battle droid outmatched Sedriss' outdated SD-9 model, but they were in turn demolished by the Imperial cybernetic Shadow Droid starfighters. The battle culminated with Beltane releasing his experimental X-1 Viper Automadon droids, which repelled the Shadow Droid attack. Willing to obtain such powerful machines at any cost, Sedriss ceased all hostilities and signed a peace treaty with Beltane, granting Balmorra freedom. Sedriss then procured a cargo of X-1 Vipers from the governor, although the latter betrayed the agreement by allowing the New Republic to intercept the shipment mid-flight to Byss and place commando teams inside.

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