Nar Shaddaa Rescue

The Nar Shaddaa Rescue was a quasi-suicidal mission led by Tak Sakaros to rescue his friends Arba the Hutt and Astariax Drago from Nar Shaddaa during the Yuuzhan Vong attack.

Prelude
Tak Sakaros had a deep-seated distaste for the Vong. He viewed their detachment from the Force as a sign that they were an abomination unparalleled in the known galaxy; even droids were affected by it, if not part of it. However, his bitterness toward the Jedi after the Battle of Dorian IV was so great that he was willing to overlook the Vong's detestability if they smashed the Republic. Nevertheless, he advised his friend Arba not to trust them.

The Hutts had offered a deal to the Vong; safe passage through the Y'Toub System in exchange for peace. Against Tak's advice, Arba supported this deal, and like many Hutts he aimed for a double-cross, selling information to agents of the New Republic. When the Vong learned of the betrayal, however, they set to destroyed Nar Shaddaa and its planet, Nal Hutta.

The Rescue
"Tak, my boy! You're absolutely insane to come here. It's why I love you." "Get in the damn ship!"

- Arba the Hutt and Tak Sakaros

The Sith Star received a distress call from Nar Shaddaa shortly after the Vong attack began. Irritated at the Hutt complicity in their own downfall, Tak briefly considered leaving Arba to his fate. In the end, however, respect for Arba's useful and extensive wealth coupled with loyalty to his old friend left Sakaros with no alternative but to aid the gangster.

In the five years since his defeat by the Republic, Tak had rebuilt parts of his fleet and added captured Star Destroyers to his contingent. He took the entire 32-craft fleet to Nar Shaddaa, discovering with stoic irritation that, of the 650 Vong ships detailed to Nal Hutta and its moon, the majority were currently focusing on the moon. Tak and Tariun nonetheless braved the withering Vong attack in a stream of fighters toward the planet, making for Arba's fortified palace. Unusually, Tak flew a Hadrago instead of his own Z-95 Headhunter, assuming the fighters would not survive the raid.

Arba, protected by his bodyguard Astariax Drago and a few remaining Gamorreans, was trying to reach his docked gunship, the Sleight of Hand, but they were cut off by Vong warriors. When the Sakaroses landed, they immediately tore into the Vong with lightsabers, hacking apart the surprised warriors before most of them could react. In a series of skirmishes, the Sith fought their way down to Arba's docking bay. Abandoning their Sith fighters as Tak had predicted, the father and son boarded the Sleight of Hand and took up gunning stations.

The Space Battle
Needing the extra firepower his son provided, Tak had left the Sith fleet under the command of his Massassi general, Kartok. The second the fleet reverted to realspace, it was obvious that a fight would become a massacre. The Vong turned their weapons on the Sith within moments, and Kartok had difficult decisions to make.

Though his master prized the captured Star Destroyers, it became apparent after a few moments of battle that the Vong considered them the greatest threat, having encountered them in the Republic fleet. Consequently, Kartok reasoned, they would be inclined to treat them more seriously than the rest of the fleet. He ordered all seven captured Destroyers on a suicide course with the Vong worldship. Alarmed, the Vong directed the vast majority of their ships toward the Star Destroyers, leaving the remainder of the Sith fleet with a more manageable Vong force to fight.

Four of the Star Destroyers were destroyed en route to the worldship, and the Vong sacrificed a Kor Chokk to absorb the suicide blows of two more. The last, disabled and burning apart, crashed into the worldship, leaving it badly injured, but not destroyed or even killed. Meanwhile, two Sith cruisers fell under Vong fire, but a number of Vong capital ships were destroyed by the Sith Star.

The Escape
Just as the Vong were prepared to attack the Star after the last Star Destroyer had exploded, the Sleight of Hand blasted off Nar Shaddaa with all guns blazing. Aided by their Force-enhanced reflexes, Tak and Tariun were able to carve a path through the Vong Coralskippers, with Drago expertly weaving the nimble gunship through the blockade. Upon receiving orders from Tak, Kartok turned the fleet to flee. The Sleight of Hand had not even docked, merely blazing into the Sith Star's hangar bay, when the fleet escaped to lightspeed.

Aftermath
"Didn't I used to have more ships?"

- Tak Sakaros, surveying the casualties after the rescue

The entire Nar Shaddaa rescue took less than a standard hour. Disappointed at the loss of his entire Star Destroyer corps, Tak nonetheless praised Kartok for his ingenuity in enabling the Sith escape.

Arba the Hutt was relocated to Borgo Prime and told to wait out the war there. Grateful for being saved, the Hutt crimelord made no objection, and in fact devoted a considerable part of his personal wealth to finding more Star Destroyers for his old friend and paying to repair the Sith fleet.