Battle of the Axe

"Whoever takes the Axe controls this entire sector. I will take this system and destroy anyone who stands in my way."

- Imperial naval commander Gieg Brillith

, also known as the Massacre of the Axe was a battle in the Axe system that took place between the forces of the, two rival rebel factions and a Vinn mining guild. The forces clashed in space across the system, leading to a massacre, with all surviving forces fleeing and no clear winner.

Prelude
Gieg Brillith, new captain of the Vektek-class stealth cruiser the Arconoss, was tasked by the to transport the cremated remains of the cyborg general,  from the  to  in secret, and was given an escort of two. As Brillith passed through the strategically vital system of the Axe, he picked up a distress signal from the system's furthestmost planet, Misstis, and diverted his course to investigate.

Unbeknownst to him, the signal was a fake, and had been sent by the rebel faction led by Bolo Artel, the Admiral-in-Exile, in order to lure Imperial forces down to the planet. Brillith sent his second-in-command, the Ivikapivi, who was captured by the rebels. Receiving a ransom demand from Artel's rebels, Brillith moved to attack the rebels. However, as he moved in to assault the rebel fortress, he was attacked from behind by a coalition of Vinn rebels and a Vinn mining guild. The Battle of the Axe had begun.

The battle
The battle opened well for the Imperial troops, sustaining some heavy damage but no casualties. The Vinn rebels, however, were forced to retreat back into the system. Brillith, arrogantly believing he had stopped the rebellion, ordered one star destroyer to follow the retreating forces, while he directed his remaining resources towards rescuing Ivikapivi and destroyed Artel's rebel faction.

Sending down several shuttles to the planet, Brillith ordered his troops to enter the facility on Misstis and recover the captured Imperial troops. However, he did not account for the strength of Artel's forces, and his troops were all killed or captured by the rebels. Artel then ordered his four battleships to launch and engage with the Imperials above the planet, with Artel himself manning his flagship, the Stranger-class Star Destroyer, the Akarak. Now it was the turn of the Imperials to flee.

Hoping to reunite with his other star destroyer, Brillith fled to the third planet of the system, a small, volcanic rock, swiftly followed by Artel's forces. There, he found his star destroyer had been destroyed, and the Vinn forces were closing in on him. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, he tried to escape to hyperspace, but found his had been damaged in the battle. Refusing to surrender, he sent his remaining star destroyer to engage the Vinn rebels, while he enabled the Arconoss's cloaking device, hoping to escape the system and call for reinforcements.

With his star destroyer surrounded, Brillith's ally and Imperial captain, Senn Schorn, surrendered to the approaching forces. With victory in their sights, Artel and the Vinn commander, Konan, along with Ac-Ren, the head of the Vinn mining colony, agreed to meet on board the leading Vinn ship, the Eye of Terror, to arrange a potential alliance against the Empire.

The Alliance Falls Apart
Although progress was made, eventually talks between the factions broke down, as the Vinn rebels were adamant that the captured Imperials should be executed, while Artel and the Vinn miners argued that they should be taken to trial for their crimes. Eventually, Konan forced his former allies off the ship, and pledged he would take on the Imperials himself.

Returning to the Akarak, Artel and Ac-Ren opened fire on the Vinn rebels. Konan fired back. In the ensuing chaos, the Imperials held captive on their own star destroyer regained control and began firing on Artel's forces, crippling one of the mining vessels and sending it crashing down onto the planet below. Artel, too, lost one of his Outcast-class frigates, while inflicting critical damage on the star destroyer.

Ac-Ren, feeling that Artel was not prepared to protect his own small battleships, broke off the alliance and opened fire on the Akarak. Artel was now fighting a battle on three fronts; diverting his forces, he sent one of his remaining frigates to engage each enemy force, drawing the Akarak out of the crossfire. This proved to be disastrous; two of his frigates were destroyed within minutes, while the remaining starship managed to take down another mining vessel before it, too, was destroyed. Artel, his ship crippled, was forced to flee.

The combined Vinn forces then opened fire on the star destroyer, crippling its life support systems and watching as it burned up in the atmosphere. Konan then turned on Ac-Ren, at first offering another alliance, which was swiftly refused, before attacking the miners. Within hours, the entirety of the mining guild had been wiped out. Konan then bombarded the mining facility on the planet from orbit, before turning towards the centre of the system, where the Arconoss was now fleeing.

The final battle
"I want them to know that the Axe is mine!"

- Konan

Konan, his forces depleted but his will unbroken, found and engaged the Arconoss above the first planet of the system. At first thinking it would be an easy victory, he lowered his shields and gave Brillith the option of surrender. Brillith refused, sending a wave of torpedoes towards Konan's ships. This proved to be deadly; the Arconoss was a prototype Imperial starship, equipped with the latest in advanced weaponry, which wreaked havoc on the Vinns' forces. A number of the frigates were completely destroyed, while the Eye of Terror remained intact, but was badly damaged. Konan, injured by one of the torpedoes, opened fire on the Arconoss, destroying it and sending it crashing down to the planet below. Then, believing Imperial reinforcements to be on their way, he quickly abandoned the system, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

Aftermath
The Battle of the Axe was a veritable massacre, with no clear winner. Although Imperial forces quickly recaptured the system, they were unable to keep the peace on the lawless outer planets, and so were forced to abandon the system.

The destruction of Artel's fleet signalled the end of his career as a rebel. Cast out from his own rebel faction, which would go on to score some victories against the Empire before being absorbed by the, Artel would wander the galaxy before being called to the to serve the being known as Cor'Eil.

The massacre also ended the Vinn rebellion's chances of gaining support in the sector. Having failed to score a major victory for many years, the rebel faction faded away, with many of its members turning to the larger Rebel Alliance. The Vinn mining guild, however, while badly crippled by the massacre and the damage wreaked on their mining facilities, managed to recover, and were a significant corporation in the galaxy by the time of the emergence of the.

With the destruction of the Arconoss, the Emperor was left without his prize -- the remains of. The remains mysteriously survived, however, and were recovered many centuries later by a team of archaeologists, who didn't understand the significance of their discovery and left it stored away for many years.