Defense of Rykar

The Defense of Rykar was a battle in 149 ABY between the forces of the Golden Empire and the army amassed by the Reawakened. It was a second victory for the Empire, following the successful Defense of Daispin, but the Dark Jedi debuted the Vyrak Legions against the Empire's forces. Three Centurions and thousands of soldiers died before the onslaught was finally stopped.

Setup
After Aria Nikina's victory at Daispin, but before Nikina herself even had time to fully heal from her injuries, Queen Rin Sakaros foresaw the impending battle at Rykar and how terribly it would go without help. With few military resources to spare, she gave Rykar's Consul, the Centurion Noelle, another ten Centurions and the 4th Massassi Cohort. Shaydow, Tribune of Rykar, assembled a force of Drakonus volunteers to supplement the regular system defense militia. Noelle herself was nominally in command of the defense, although the Fyaar Centurion Vem had actual command on the field.

After Sacco Vyrak's failure and death at Daispin, Ador Hentral himself went with the invasion fleet. However, he operated from space, using, while unleashing tens of thousands of Skavik and almost two dozen Vyrak clones.

The field
While Noelle oversaw the arrangement and distribution of forces from her command center, Vem walked among the lines, keeping discipline and morale high. When Hentral's fleet decanted from hyperspace, he immediately launched hundreds of landing pods, each crammed to capacity with Skavik warriors. Some carried blaster rifles, while others had only their pincers and other limbs. All surged toward the Empire's lines.

With Centurions mingled among them, the Massassi and Drakonus took up defensive positions and opened fire, but only succeeded in mowing down a wave before the Skavik entrenched themselves. Those without weapons surged forward, hurling themselves through withering blastefire by sheer weight of numbers and engaging Massassi and Drakonus in melee combat. Many Centurions focused on this threat, using their lightsaber to hack apart whichever Skavik got through the firestorm of blaster bolts.

The battle shifted abruptly when the Vyrak Legionnaires deployed. Possessing Sacco Vyrak's connection to the force, they were able to deflect shots long enough to reach the furthest Massassi lines, where they wreaked havoc. Noelle ordered the Centurions to engage this new threat, with mixed results. The Zyked warrior Rajj-Yo quickly bested his first enemy, and both Sovi Evnairis and Vem escaped with minor injuries. However, veteran Centurion and former Royal Guard Moira Nascall lost a hand before she and some nearby Massassi killed her attacker, and Yuron and two other Centurions were killed.

Jadian Star and her apprentice Kyriel Jynx Windrunner were present for the battle and each killed at least one Vyrak clone. They later ferried a grievously wounded Selish Anteran to the medcenter for treatment.

Attack on the medcenter
"Anzatis die now."

- Rajj-Yo

When three clone Anzati attacked the medical tent where Tillandra Moraes and Rayne Turgachia were treating the wounded, Rajj-Yo and Vem came to their aid. Infuriated into by the threat to Tillandra, Rajj-Yo overcame one of their attackers with his superior swordsmanship, chopping off the clone's hands before he tore off its jaw and then the top of its face. Vem engaged another, sustaining a few bad burns before he grabbed it by the wrists and kicked it; the blow was sufficient that the clone went flying while its forearms stayed in Vem's grip. The clone shrieked in agony until Vem stomped down on its sternum and killed it.

Distracted briefly by Vem's attack, the third clone was vulnerable, and Tillandra paralyzed it with a slash through its spine. Rajj-Yo smashed his lightsaber hilt into the clone's mouth, breaking off several teeth, and ignited his lightsaber through the back of the clone's head before ripping the blade free and splitting its face in two. Vem was injured enough in the duel that he stayed briefly to be administered bacta patches, but Rajj-Yo charged right back into battle.

Holding the city
"It really is a shame you aren't one of us, I could marry you right now."

- Shaydow to Noelle

Shaydow and Noelle had always planned to join the battle, but a landing pod forced their hands. Coming down directly into the capital city the army had been arrayed to defend, it was too deep in the city for the army to reach before countless civilians would be slaughtered. Shaydow went to head the Skavik off with a company of Massassi, engaging them with his paired swords while the Massassi fought them with vibroglaives.

Sensing the danger to her partner's forces, Noelle went the same way, running on the rooftops to arrive more quickly. Looking down on the battle, she created a which blinded many of the Skavik. Leaping to the street, the Iscali fought back-to-back with her Drakonus colleague, using her lightsaber mainly for defense to ward off blaster shots as Shaydow attacked offensively. She did, however, telekinetically pull down a ruined building onto a group of Skavik which had pinned her Massassi forces.

Mopping up
When Noelle, Shaydow, and their Massassi had finished the city's attackers, they joined the main battle, appearing together at the top of the city wall before diving into the fray. Vem recovered enough from his injuries to return to the field, and Rajj-Yo plowed a line of destruction through the Skavik rear ranks. With the Drakonus forces occasionally bombing them from the air and the Massassi pushing their lines back, even the battle-frenzied Skavik eventually broke. Though his rage initially drove them on to suicidal attack charges, eventually Ador Hentral withdrew his fleet. Without his Battle Meditation, the rout became a massacre.

Aftermath
"To the clans I say we have fought and won! We will not vanish as our brethern, this is our time and I will not fail you."

- Shaydow

The revelation that Sacco Vyrak had been cloned en masse was deeply disturbing to many of the surviving Centurions, who had read Aria Nikina's report of her harrowing duel with the template on Daispin. Noelle ordered the corpses of the Anzati frozen in and transported to the Sith Star for further analysis. While the commanders assessed the battle, Rajj-Yo was seen sitting atop a pile of Skavik corpses, eating the pincer from one and a leg from another.

Noelle and Shaydow both gave brief speeches to their troops, broadcast over all of Rykar. Noelle held up the victory at Rykar as an example and encouragement to the Empire, while Shaydow thanked the Massassi and other offworlders for their aid and praised his people for their unity of purpose and resolve.

Moira Nascall and Selish Anteran were both outfitted for cybernetics, while the three dead Centurions were transported back to the Sith Star to lie in state in the Citadel before burial in Keltrayu's Tomb. Through diligent effort, Noelle and Shaydow ensured that all the dead had been catalogued, their families notified, and their remains honorably disposed of within four standard weeks of the battle.