| Recapturing the Captured
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| Information
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| Date: 25 ABY
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| Location: Aerun Orbit, Dathomir Orbit
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| Combatants
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| Commanders
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| Strength
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- 500 Pirates
- The Treasure Chest
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| Casualties
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- Darias Narius
- All 500 pirates
- The Treasure Chest
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| [ Source ]
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Recapturing the Captured was a race between House Exar Kun Battleteams Exar's Shadow and Blades of Kun to see who could recapture the escaped Alonzo Bodelle first.
Starting above Aerun, the fight eventually found its way over the planet of Dathomir, where, despite the fact that the pirates assisting Alonzo were killed, Alonzo himself escaped. When the two teams returned home, it was declared by the Quaestor that Exar's Shadow had proved to be the braver and stronger, and was declared Protectors of Aerun.
Prelude
Initial Capture
The conflict known today as Recapturing the Captured actually goes back a two months before the actual event took place, to a mission undertaken by Battleteam Exar's Shadow known as Return to Eden. Dispatched to the old home world of House Bane to locate an activated distress beacon, the team eventually came upon troops of the Crimson Tide. They did not directly attack them, but in the end they were able to escape with Calliban Crimson's, at that time, right-hand man Alonzo Bodelle in custody.
They took him back to Diadem Fortress on Aerun, and interrogated him for several weeks, primarily under the charge of Commander Aabsdu Dupar, but they were unable to get any information out of him, despite their more persuasive attempts.
Pirates to Pirates
Meanwhile, on the distant planet of Dathomir, Calliban Crimson had been slowly rebuilding his forces and preparing for yet another attack on Clan Plagueis. He had sent Alonzo to Eden to meet and hopefully contract the ex-Imperial Jonah Kraul, and while Jonah did sign on, bring a large sum of troops, armor, weapons, and an Imperial Star Destroyer, Alonzo did not make it back to Dathomir.
Calliban needed Alonzo, not only because he considered him somewhat of a friend, but also because the work he did as right-hand man. In order to get him back, Calliban enlisted the assistance of a group of mercenary pirates, not associated with the Tide, but more than willing to take on a job with a nice pay (by this time, Zolar Sistros had joined the Tide, bring in a large sum of wealth).
Captain Darian Narios, leader of the pirates, went on his way towards Aerun onboard his command ship, The Treasure Chest. Calliban, meanwhile, continued to rebuild, hoping to get back Alonzo and possibly some more troops as well.
The Steal
The Treasure Chest was ultimately destroyed
The loss of Alonzo Bodelle to the pirates is a blight on House Exar Kun's history, and one it tries not to recount very often. The pirates had already enlisted the assistance of a Novice within the house, and used him to shut off the security systems long enough for them to slip inside one night while most of the Dark Jedi were sleeping or meditating. They only sent in five soldiers, each equipped with a rare artifact that seemed to make then invisible to the force.
While inside, they killed three younglings, including the Novice who had helped them get inside. They freed Alonzo from his cell, and also stole the blueprints to the fortress, and side mission Calliban had given them.
As they escaped, the Dark Jedi were alerted to their presence, and quickly chased after them, but could not stop them from reaching their shuttle.
Not wanting to let them escape with Alonzo, unaware that they had also taken blueprints, Aedile Gaidal Dupar immediately ordered the house's two battleteams, Exar's Shadow and Blades of Kun, to go after the pirates and recapture their prisoner.
Battle Over Aerun
The forces of the two battleteams quickly went into action, with the more ground friendly Exar’s Shadow taking a small corvette while Blades of Kun took their various fighters. By the time they took off from the Diadem hangar, the pirates were still working to escape from the atmosphere, and were easily caught up to in the space above Aerun.
The pirates were ready, though, and launched around fifty fighters to distract the Dark Jedi. While the Kunians were outnumbered, they had the force on their side, and were eventually able to destroy all the fighters. Sadly, by the time they finished, The Treasure Chest had already jumped to hyperspace.
Luckily, the coordinates had been recorded, and the forces of Exar's Shadow and Blades of Kun quickly chased after them.
Blurring Stars
While both sides whirred through light speed towards the distant planet of Dathomir, the situated on The Treasure Chest was an unhappy one. Darian had been contracted to steal the blueprints, free Alonzo, and take them both back to Calliban. What he hadn’t been told, however, was how bossy Alonzo was.
The Devaronian constantly tried to make his own orders on the ship, acting as if he was captain, and not Darian. The motion made Captain Narius extremely mad, and he eventually ordered Alonzo to be locked in a cell, much to the displeasure and threats of Alonzo.
Final Stand
Dogfight
While the pirates made it to Dathomir, they were quickly alerted to the incoming ships of Exar's Shadow and Blades of Kun. Despite the demands of Alonzo to let him take an escape pod down to Dathomir, Darias kept him locked up as he prepared his men, some four hundred and fifty, for battle.
The main battle took place in orbit around Dathomir
Around one hundred of them launched into space and started attacking the Dark Jedi. Despite their rivalries, Commanders Aabsdu and Thran had managed to come up with a plan, and just like their plan Blades of Kun engaged the fighters while Exar’s Shadow moved towards The Treasure Chest, landing in the hangar bay.
In space, the battle was devastating. Despite having the force on their side, Blades of Kun was greatly outnumbered, and were being ripped apart. While they were taking a large sum of the hundred Z-95 Headhunters with them, they were slowly being taken down themselves. Still, Thran and his men only had to hold them off until Exar’s Shadow had finished its half of the deal.
Prepare to Board
When the corvette used by Exar's Shadow touched down in the hangar bay of The Treasure Chest, the twelve Dark Jedi immediately went to work. They jumped into action and fought their way through the hangar and into the hallways of the craft, battling against over three hundred pirate forces.
Two members of the team stayed in the hangar bay, while the other ten dispersed across the ship, armed only with their lightsabers, the force, and bombs. As they moved throughout the command ship, they placed their bombs at various locations, the engine room and navigation room being two of them.
When they returned to the hangar bay, they quickly boarded the corvette and returned to space to assist their brethren.
Left Behind
On The Treasure Chest, Darias was in outrage as he learned of the Dark Jedi invasion, and then leaving, of his ship. While they had not cut down all of his men (the exact number still alive at that time is unknown), he was confused by what their plan was. Still, he knew that no matter what it was it would probably end with his death, so he made the decision to retreat, but not all of his men, only him.
He abandoned the bridge, leaving his men to deal with themselves as he knew this battle would not end up good for him. He fled towards the escape pods, and was outraged when he felt the shock of the first explosion rock his ship.
Meanwhile, the first explosion caused a slight power outage in the detention area, but it was just long enough to cut off the shield blocking Alonzo from freedom. He left his cell, and, knowing what was occurring, quickly fled towards the escape pods.
As explosions continue to rock the ship one by one, Darias reached the escape pods to learn that only one remained. The rest had already been taken by crew, all of which were shot down by Exar’s Shadow. Activating the final pod, he was stopped as Alonzo appeared, and in a final act of treachery left Darias to die as he took the final pod towards Dathomir. Reports of what happened next are not completely clear, but it is rumored that Darias only cursed Calliban Crimson and Alonzo Bodelle as his ship was blown to pieces.
Aftermath
After The Treasure Chest was destroyed, the remaining pirate fighters were picked off by Exar's Shadow, but Blades of Kun had been heavily weakened, something that would effect its downfall during the Assault on Diadem.
Thinking that all escape pods had been launched, they had not seen Alonzo escape down to Dathomir, and as such returned to Aerun thinking he, along with the blueprints of Diadem Fortress, had been destroyed along with the ship.
In truth, Alonzo had survived, and he had even managed to bring the blueprints with him. He flew down towards Dathomir and returned to the secret base of the Crimson Tide. While Calliban was saddened that the pirates had been killed, he was also happy to have Alonzo back, as well as the blueprints to Diadem. Still, the position of right-hand man had already been filled by Fenson Ryburn, so Alonzo was forced to take control of the Tide’s small group of five highly trained assassins.
Neither battleteam returned to Aerun with Alonzo, although both Aabsdu and Thran reported him dead. Technically, this would mean that there was no winner to the contest between the two of them to decide the stronger team, but due to the fact that Blades of Kun received much more damage, it is generally considered Exar's Shadow’s victory.