Battle of Coruscant (Conquest War)

The Battle of Coruscant, fought in the Coruscanti Winter of 102 ABY between the forces of the Galactic Republic and the Imperial Remnant. It was not fought in Coruscant's main city, but on a small stretch of open ground, enclosed by the city.

Battle
From all accounts, the defending forces were caught entirely off guard to find a large force, well disposed and prepared for battle, with high ground, directly opposing their defence of Coruscant. Jask had achieved the total surprise he hoped for. He then chose to begin the battle in a defensive formation. According to Republic sources, the Imperials drew up in a large square, with the trees and upward slope to break any speeder bike charge.

For seven days, the two armies watched each other with minor skirmishes. The Republic waited for their full strength to arrive, which it did, but they were still uneasy. Kimm Fare, despite being a good commander, had managed to let Jask bring his army to full strength and pick the location of the battle. Furthermore, it was difficult for the Republic to judge the size of the army opposing them, since Jask had used the trees and forest to make his force appear larger than it probably was. Thus, Fare recalled all her troops, which did give her an even larger army — but it also gave Jask time for more of his veteran infantry to arrive from the closest locations of his Empire. These infantry were all the hope for victory he had. Seasoned and battle hardened, most of them had fought with him for years, some as far back as 86 ABY and the Sacrificial Conflict. Further, he also had levies of militia arrive, but the militias were virtually worthless except for gathering food, and harassing the Republic. Unlike his infantry, which was both experienced and disciplined, the levies were neither, and Jask had no intention of depending on them to stand firm against speeder bike charges. Jask gambled everything that Fare would in the end feel compelled to battle. Neither of them wanted to attack - but Fare felt in the end obligated to return to the city, which meant literally going through the Imperial army on the hill in front of her. Jask's decision to wait in the end proved crucial, as it forced the Republic to rush uphill, against the grade and the woods, which in and of themselves negated a large part of the natural advantages of a speeder bike charge.

Jask had been preparing for this confrontation since Korriban two decades before. He was well aware that if he failed, no other Imperial force remained able to defend the Imperial Remnant against the inevitable Republic retaliation.

The Imperials well dressed for the cold, and had the terrain advantage. The Republic were not as prepared for the strength-sapping cold, as they had not been warned and had no winter gear, despite having tents, which the Imperials did not, but did not want to attack an Imperial army they believed may have been numerically superior. Essentially, the Republic wanted the Imperials to come out in the open, while the Imperials, formed in a tightly packed defensive formation, wanted them to come uphill, into the trees, diminishing at once the advantages of their speeder bikes. It was a waiting game which Jask won: the fight began on the seventh day, as Fare did not want to postpone the battle indefinitely with winter approaching.

Engagement
Fare trusted the tactical superiority of her speeder bikes, and had them charge repeatedly. This time the faith the Republic had in their riders, armed with their long force pikes, blasters and vibroswords which had brought them victory in previous battles, was not justified.

In one of the instances where infantry stood up against speeder bike charges, the disciplined Imperial soldiers withstood the assaults, though the Republic speeder bikes several times broke into the interior of the Imperial square.

Despite this, the Imperials did not break. It appears that the years of year-round training that Jask had bought with extortionate funds from the people, paid off. His hard-trained soldiery accomplished what was not thought possible at that time: infantry withstood the Republic speeder bikes.

The battle turns
Republic troops who had broken into the square had tried to kill Jask, but his Dark Jedi bodyguards surrounded him and would not be broken. The battle was still in flux when a rumor went through the Republic army that Imperial scouts threatened the loot that they had taken from previous engagements. Some of the Republic troops at once broke off the battle and returned to camp to secure their loot.

Jask supposedly had sent scouts to cause chaos in the Republic base camp, and free as many of his imprisoned men as possible, hoping to draw off part of his foe. This succeeded, as many of the Republic riders returned to their camp. To the rest of the Republic army, this appeared to be a full-scale retreat, and soon it became one. While trying to stop the retreat, the Republic second-in-command, General Lorn Sosk, became surrounded, which led to his death, and the Imperial troops then withdrew altogether to their camp, celebrating victory.