Battle at Ukio

Battle at Ukio

TheBattle at Ukio was a brief battle in theThrawn campaign of9 ABY where Imperial forces underGrand AdmiralThrawn tricked Ukio into surrendering by usingcloaked cruisers to bombard the planet from under the surface of theplanetary shield in coordination with an orbital bombardment by the orbiting Imperial fleet.^[2]

Background[]

Ukio was one of the five major producers of agricultural supplies for theNew Republic and was ruled by theUkianOverliege. Sometime prior to Thrawn's campaign, theEmpire lost its control over Ukio.^[2]

In preparation for his attack on Ukio, theGrand Admiral had deployed some of hisfleet including theImperial-class Star DestroyersBellicose,Judicator andNemesis andDeath's Head on diversionary attacks onAndo Prime,Filve,Crondre andOrd Pardron. This was to distract the already stretched New Republic forces who had already sustained losses at thebattle for the lostKatana fleet. For the attack itself, Thrawn deployed two Star Destroyers including his flagship theChimaera, ten of the KatanaDreadnaughts and an unknown number ofcloakedcruisers. At his helm was theDark JediJoruus C'baoth who would be responsible for coordinating the orbital bombardment of the cruisers viabattle meditation.^[2]

Description[]

As theChimaera and its escort of Dreadnaughts descended on Ukio's surface at high orbit above the sunside equator, Thrawn demanded that the Ukian Overliege submit to the Empire by lowering its planetary shield and withdrawing its military forces to their bases to await Imperial occupation. When the Ukians delayed a response, Thrawn retaliated by ordering theChimaera to fire itsturbolaser batteries on the planetary shield. As expected, the planetary shield deflected the blasts. But under the influence of C'baoth'smind control technique, the two cloaked cruisers hovering beneath the shield at the two points fired upon by theChimaera fired on the planetary surface in turn; obliterating two Ukian military air bases. Thanks to the near-instantaneous timing and the devastation sustained on the surface, the Ukians believed that Thrawn had developed asuperweapon capable of blasting through a planetary shield that could fit on a Star Destroyer.^[2]

Aftermath[]

Rather than incur more destruction, the Ukian Overliege surrendered to Thrawn and subjected to his terms of surrender. These terms included lowering Ukio'splanetary shield and allowing Imperial occupational forces to seize control of theshield generators and all ground-to-space artillery systems. All military vehicles larger than a command speeder were to be confiscated by the Imperial occupatiers. In exchange for accepting an Imperial military occupation, Thrawn also agreed not to interfere in the local political and social administration and to exempt Ukio from war-level taxation and military conscription. However, Thrawn also demanded that a significant proportion of Ukio's food production and processing facilities be diverted for the Imperial war effort. Rumors that the Empire had developed asuperweapon capable of firing through a planet's defense shields spread throughout thegalaxy, although the New Republic, studying amacrobinocular recording of the attack made bySamuel Gillespee and forwarded to them byTalon Karrde, later disproved this belief.^[2]

Appearances[]

• The Last Command(andunabridged audiobook)(First appearance, in book)
• The Last Command 1

Sources[]

• The Last Command Sourcebook(First identified as Battle at Ukio)(First pictured)
• The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
• The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
• The Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Chronology
• The Essential Atlas

Notes and references[]