Battle of Ossus (Sith Crusade)

The Battle of Ossus, also known as the Attack on the Jedi Praxeum and the Jedi massacre, was the most devestating battle in terms of Jedi casualties in the entire war.

Prologue
Following the Battle of the Cron Drift the Jedi found themselves on the very edge of Sith space. Fearing for the population of Ossus Luke Skywalker ordered an immediate evacuation of the planet and sent a request for the Galactic Alliance to send a relief force to their aid.

As soon as the last evacuees had left the planet the Ossus sensor array located on Ossus' moon detected a lone Sith vessel on a course to the planet. The lone Sith vessel informed the Jedi that it wished to discuss peace negotiations. Although suspicious, the Jedi allowed the vessel to land.

Upon landing it quickly became apparent who exactly was on board the Sith vessel. It was Darth Abeonis. Unsurprisingly most of the Jedi said that they should take him prisoner and attempt to end the war, but Luke Skywalker decided against this. He took Abeonis to the Jedi council room and asked him what he wanted.

It was then that Abeonis informed the Jedi Knight the reason he had gone to war in the first place. Not to destroy the Jedi and conquer the galaxy, but ironically, to install the Jedi as masters of the galaxy. He informed Luke in a vision he had had before the conquest of Csilla, Cal Omas, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Alliance, would be responsible for the destruction of the Jedi Order by turning the galaxy upon the Jedi much like Palpatine had done eighty years before.

He then said that, in his mind the only way to prevent this was to make heros of the Jedi once more; and the only way to do that was to show the peoples of the galaxy that even after the Jedi have been almost utterly decimated, they could still fight on.

So he gave Luke a choice. The Jedi could leave Ossus without fear of Sith attack and travel to Coruscant. Once there they were to remove Cal Omas from power and secure control of the Galactic Alliance; only then would peace between the Sith and the Jedi be possible. The other choice was that the Sith attack Ossus before the releif fleet arrived and kill as many Jedi as possible. Once the releif fleet arrived the Sith would leave and the Jedi would be shown as heros.

Reluctantly, Luke choose the second option, saying; "Although i see you point of view, my loyalty to the Alliance, and its Supreme Chancellor is beyond question."

Enraged at this defiance Abeonis left, and the Sith fleet arrived.

The battle
As soon as Abeonis left the planets atmosphere the Ossus sensor array detected a great mass of Sith warships on an intercept course with the planet.

Skywalker ordered everyone on the planets surface to the Jedi Temple in order for it to be defended properly. The only troube with this was that it left the city wide open to be occupied by Sith forces, something pointed out by both Jacen and Ben. Acknowledging this Luke then ordered several detachments of Alliance troopers to defend the few blocks around the entrence to the Temple, but by then it was too late; the Sith had already landed and those few troops that left the safety of the temple were instanly killed by the Sith Knights leading the attack. Then they attacked the temple itself.

Wave after wave of Sith struck the great doors of the Jedi Temple and, at first it look as if the Jedi would hold; but slowly they began to fall back. Eventually the Sith broke through and into the central courtyard of the Jedi Temple, killing many hundreds as they went. Determined to hold the assault Kyle Katarn ordered his men to hold firm and stall the assault, with some degree of success.

After a furthe two hours of duels and battles the Sith fell back slightly to secure their gains in the temple. The Jedi took this advantage to fortify their positions and regain their strength.

The second wave
On the second day of the battle the Jedi suddenly found themselves being overrun by a new wave of Sith lead by Darth Micail. They quickly breached the Jedi defences and, before long, were at the far end of the main courtyard. Desperate to hold Kyle ordered his non-force sensitive units to pull back and leave then "job" to the Jedi.

Over the next few hours the attacks slowed down in numbers and frquency until, finally, they stopped altogether. Suspicious, Kyle and Jacen (who had recently joined him) left their positions to find the areas of the temple under Sith control empty. The Sith had fled because the Alliance releif fleet had arrived.

The space battle
Although the Alliance releif fleet had arrived the Sith could not pull out until their entire force on the planet had been retreived.

Over the next few hours, as the Sith warriors returned to their vessels the Sith fleet battled with the Republic releif force. Many warships were lost on both sides until the Sith retreated, leaving the planet below devestated.

After the battle
Following the battle Luke called all the Jedi commanders present into the Jedi Council room to tell them what Abeonis had told him beforehand. Many of them dismissed this new revelation as a ploy to capture the planet or make conquest of the Alliance easier. Katae-muri however disagreed saying;

"Jasca's a good man who only has the best for the galaxy at his heart. Its only he goes about different means in acheiving his aims. Think about it Luke, you once told me that the truth depends greatly on our own points of view. What if; in his point of view, this is the only way to acheive peace?"

At this, all of the Jedi present took a second thought.