War against Zakuul

The war against Zakuul and the tyranny of its Eternal Empire was a major galaxy-wide conflict that raged between 3631 BBY and 3630 BBY. After the Empire led by Eternal Emperor Arcann dominated both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire in the Eternal Empire conquest of 3636 BBY, both sides were forced to pay heavy tribute to Zakuul, which remained the dominant power in the galaxy for the next five years. Rebels and dissidents who opposed Arcann's rule were left with no choice but to flee from his Eternal Fleet and scatter to avoid retaliation. Things changed when former Sith Intelligence Minister Lana Beniko released a figure known as the Commander from imprisonment in carbonite by Arcann and during escape from pursuing forces located the legendary starship Gravestone with the power to face the Eternal Fleet in open battle. During the battle of Asylum Beniko's group escaped with minimal casualties on the Gravestone, which destroyed several Eternal Fleet warships, showing the galaxy that Zakuul was not invincible. In response, Beniko's multiple contacts from the Core Worlds answered her call and gathered on a remote Wild Space planet Odessen, where they formed an Alliance dedicated to end Arcann's reign, of which the Outlander assumed command with Beniko as his right hand. Initially, the new Alliance was strained for funds, resources and personnel, equipped only for small surgical strikes against the might of Eternal Empire, while desperate to keep the location of the Alliance base a secret.

Over time several bold strikes made against the Eternal Empire attracted to the Alliance multiple new contacts and recruits from the Republic, the Sith Empire and criminal underworld, who brought with them starships, weapons and ammunition, allowing the Alliance to grow into a power that could seriously threaten Arcann's rule. In a bid to remove Arcann's advantage of the Eternal Fleet, the Alliance allied with Mandalorian clans led by Shae Vizla for a raid on Darvannis and agreed to SCORPIO's plan to remotely take control of the GEMINI captains that controlled the Eternal Fleet. However SCORPIO followed her own agenda and used that opportunity to take over the Eternal Throne for herself. In the resulting battle of Odessen the Commander injured and defeated Arcann, who was taken by his mother Senya Tirall into hiding to recuperate. Arcann's sister Vaylin allied with SCORPIO and proclaimed herself the new Eternal Empress, and the cruelty of her reign quickly exceeded even that of her brother's. Meanwhile Alliance victories inspired the Sith Empire led by Empress Darth Acina to join in the revolt, waging open war against the Eternal Empire while the Galactic Republic kept away from the conflict and continued to pay tribute to Zakuul.

An attempt by Vaylin and SCORPIO to take over of the Gravestone led to the discovery of Vaylin's mental conditioning placed upon her by her father, while a visit to the artificial world called Iokath uncovered the true origin of the Eternal Fleet and allowed the Alliance to upgrade the Gravestone to better withstand its firepower. Holding a key to Vaylin's mental conditioning, the Alliance Commander attempted to subdue the Empress during the Grand Festival in her name and ended up recruiting Arcann himself into the Alliance, after the former Emperor was healed and redeemed by his mother's sacrifice on Voss. During a visit to Nathema Vaylin broke her mental chains, while the Alliance obtained Dramath's holocron which held the power to destroy the spirit of Sith Emperor Vitiate once and for all. In the following assault on Odessen Vaylin was killed, leading to mass surrender of Zakuulan military forces. However, with the Eternal Throne empty, the GEMINI captains of the Eternal Fleet went rogue and began bombarding inhabited worlds, seeking to annihilate all complex life in the galaxy. The Alliance engaged the Eternal Fleet in the battle of Zakuul, where the Commander destroyed the spirit of Vitiate and claimed the Eternal Throne. The Alliance relocated the Throne to Odessen, established full control of the Eternal Fleet, absorbed the remaining Zakuulan military forces and re-organized itself into the Eternal Alliance, which then held enough territory and firepower to be considered one of the major galactic governments.

Text and facts from the “War against Zakuul” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.