Give it your all out there, and if you die, you will die with honor, for your Republic.
—Cordeth Hepen
The Battle of Maryl was a battle in the end of the second year of the Clone Wars. It is considered one of the most important battles that Smide Hepen fought in, and it was his first since his self-created leave of absence.
The battle was almost resolved during a truce three days in, but no agreement could be met, and as such, continued for a week until the Republic finally could push forward and gain control of the planet.
An interesting bit of information is that Cordeth Hepen, who was named as the lead Jedi General in this battle, was the only Jedi not to be wounded, however, every Jedi survived, except Martina Legauken, who died later because of her injuries.
Pre Battle[]
Despite the fact that Maryl was located in the Mid Rim, close to the Outer Rim, the Republic still decided that it would be used as a military restaging base. And so, in 21 BBY, it was converted to a Military Base. It's Ecumenopolis side was split into three sections, two of which stayed residential, while the third was evacuated and turned into a military sector. Included upgrades were a refueling station, a new drydock, several hangers, several new governmental buildings, and a planetary defense force training center. The new planetary defense unit, called Maryl Defense Force (MDF), was also created now. It's leader at the time was Jeanz Xearl, however, by the time of the battle, Xearl was the Senator of the planet, and the new defense force leader was Cullip LeuJah.
The CIS invades[]
About 2.8 years into the Clone Wars, most of the fleet that had been around Maryl was shipped to different sectors to fight in different battles. The only ships left were 5 Victory Class Star Destroyers and about 10 Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser, which were the primary defense craft of the MDF. Each Dreadnaught had about 30 Cloakshape Fighters and 30 Z-95 Headhunters, and pilots that were able to fly said craft in case of battle. And battle did eventually come. The CIS entered the system and hung towards the back, hidden behind a few gas giants.
After 2 days, they made their presents known by capturing several inbound ships. Many high-ranking officials, including LeuJah, were evacuated to the Trippex Star Resort, a space station that was used by wealthy people. Soon after, ground evacuations were started, getting as many people off the planet as possible.
First Attack[]
About two hours after the first evacuations were made, the CIS finally made their move, moving 40 Recusant-class light destroyers into attack range over the planet, and offering the people below and ultimatum; either surrender and accept CIS control, or face an orbital bombing. Their answer came in the form of 2 Dreadnaught unleashing all their firepower and pilots. After a short battle, every single fighter and both Dreadnaughts were destroyed, with no CIS losses. After that, the entirety of Maryl declared their surrender. The CIS turned their attention to the Trippex Star Resort, where LeuJah and several members of the MDF were. Landing several parties of B1-Battle Droids, the CIS stormed the Resort, killing several high-ranking members of Maryl's government. LeuJah, thinking fast, decided to try and rig the station's self-destruct, hoping it would wipe out most of the CIS fleet. However, his attempt was fruitless, because he was killed, and the self-destruct was unset. The MDF, now leaderless, officially stood down and were taken as prisoners. The invasion of Maryl was over, and the CIS had won.
Gaining Power[]
Slowly yet surely, the CIS began to extremely modify several elements of the planets. First, they installed several anti-aircraft cannons on the sides of many skyscrapers. They also turned the hundred of factories on Maryl's surface into Droid and Tank factories. It is mostly speculated that they were hoping to build Maryl as their Capital, but this is a baseless ideal.
As the days passed, the CIS navy surrounding the city grew stronger and bigger. The remaining members of the MDF were laying low, but still trying to contact the Republic.
As more and more Battle Droids and Battle Tanks arrived, the planet's outlook became bleak. Several Thousand "freedom fighters" were rounded up and put into CIS prisons. The CIS officially announced the new governor of the planet; a Human named Rhoda Cone. This was seen as a weak move be many members of the CIS, including the General of the attack force, a Murachaun named Kaz Keizi.
The Republic[]
Learning of the Attack[]
The news of the attack didn't even reach Republic ears until 3 days after it was started. Even then, several bulletins in the Senate that would have sent aid or forces to the planet were denied, with the majority of the Senate not wanting to risk any troopers or ships in what seemed to be a suicide mission.
However, word reached Jedi Knight Smide Hepen, who was at the time only a fw sectors away refueling his fleet. Contacting his brother, as well as the other Jedi he usually worked with, he devised a battle plan that he believed would be able to take back the planet. However, there was a problem; the Council, as well as the Senate, disproved the attack. Knowing he would be stripped of his position of General if he went along with the attack, Smide had quite the emotional struggle.
His brother, however, would be Smide's way out of the mess. Taking full charge of the project, Cordeth Hepen, who wanted out of the order anyway, to raise his family, would face the blunt of the Council's decision.
And so it was set. The Battle of Maryl was starting.
Battle Plan: Maryl[]
Knowing that the planet wouldn't fall easy, Cordeth contacted several Jedi that he trusted the most to use as his "crack team" of Generals. His final crew was himself, his wife Luca-Canta Byroe, Smide Hepen, Cleja Hecam, Martina Legauken, and Lemill Settes, who wouldn't be recognized as a commander. He also got the freelance Republic z-95 Headhunter group, Fire Squadron, to join. To ensure good relations between his troops and Fire Squadron's pilots, he created Blaze Squadron, another Z-95 group, with all clone pilots, who spent weeks training with Fire Squadron. He also made Fire Squadron's leader, Quinipo Kenkins, a Lieutenant of the Republic Navy and a General of the Republic Army.
Cordeth's battle plan went like this: A small scout group would arrive in the Maryl system and launch several groups of Clone Commandos down to the surface to infiltrate the city. The clones would then assemble a priority list of targets and find open landing spots. The next stage would be the big offensive. Cordeth would arrive in his flagship, the Victory Star Destroy Run Support, and most of the 802nd fleet. The fleet would engage any CIS ships around. The next wave would be led by Fire Squadron, and would be several starfighters and Dreadnaughts, as well as a huge amount of landing craft. The last wave would be the ground forces, and the Lancehead, with Smide Hepen at the helm, who would target anything the Clone Commandos put on top priority.
The Battle[]
The battle began not with a grand shootout, but with a Republic dropship dropping off 12 clone commandos near Maryl. The clones, who made up 3 Squads, which were Tiricho Squad, Seer Squad and Minif Squad, landed just outside of the city half of Maryl. They snuck into the sewer system and began their slow trek through the underbelly of the city. They marked several buildings as targets, but they put top priority on the Maryl Denfense Castle, which was the new home of both Rhoda Cone and Kaz Keizi. Two days after they landed, the Clone Commandos had finished their jobs. Now all they had to do was wait for back-up.
Two Victory Class Star Destroyers enter the battle
After receiving this information, Cordeth Hepen decided to go along with Battle Plan: Maryl. Gathering up most of the attacking fleet, Cordeth blasted his way into the system, opening up his ship's guns at every CIS vessel in the area. Meanwhile, several LAATs poured into Maryl's atmosphere and landed, dropping off troops and supplies. Several teams of Clone Troopers freed the captured Maryl Defense Force pilots and soldiers, who either took off in their Cloakshape fighters or grabbed a weapon and charged into battle with the clones.
As the Cloakshape fighters poured in and mixed with the Republic V-19 Torrent starfighters, Fire Squadron flew down into the city and started attacking the Anti-Capital Ship turrets mounted onto the side of some buildings. This didn't come without a price, as several members of the elite squadron were killed in explosions over the city. However, more troopers, and a couple of Jedi, were unloaded and started attacking ground forces both in the city and in the wilderness side of the planet.
About an hour into the battle, Smide Hepen arrived with the Lancehead, blasting all the lasers at full force onto the planet's defenses. He took out many of the top priorites that the clones had listed.
Clones attack a strange CIS tank.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Martina Legauken was leading a large portion of the 610th Infantry Unit through the wilderness. Armed with new, experimental "TIE tanks", the 610 came across several new CIS surprises that cost a lot of clones their lives. The worst lost of life occurred when Martina accidentally led her troopers into a minefield. While several clones died, Martina herself was severely wounded, both internally and externally. Because the CIS had jammed their coms, the clones couldn't get help down to the planet in time, and Martina would eventually die.
Fighting on the city side of the planet continued to be rough. Leading a large amount of troopers through the streets and into buildings was Lemill Settes. Lemill eventually came the famous "Citywalk Bridge". This bridge was a link to the military sector of the city. Securing it would mean a faster victory.
The Republic Forces pushed for the bridge, but could not move the CIS off it. Likewise, the CIS could not stop the Republic assault. 4,000 clone troopers and two days later, the CIS mastermind, Kaz Keizi, had an idea. Aiming several CIS turrets at the bridge, Kaz ordered them to fire, wiping out the bridge, and making the wreckage fall almost 1,000 feet, slamming onto the street, claiming the life of almost 6,000 Republic soldiers and workers. Amazingly, Lemill Settes had been in an AT-XT at the time of the collapse, and survived the giant fall without a scratch on himself.
The Truce[]
Shortly after the bridge was destroyed, the CIS contacted Cordeth Hepen with a wish to have a meeting, and to call a truce. Cordeth, thinking it was a ploy, continued to batter CIS forces, but noticed that they didn't fight with the same gusto as before. And so the True at Maryl started. After sending out the notice to all troops, Cordeth contacted Rhoda Cone, who told them that the truce was real, and invited him to a meeting on the surface of the planet.
Cordeth, Smide, and Cleja, who was still unaware of Martina's death, traveled to the surface, into the city, to the old Grand Maryl Hall. Shadowed by Minif Squad and Seer Squad, the trio entered the meeting with an open mind.
Meanwhile, Luca Canta, who was on her own Victory Class Star Destroyer, was growing worried. She had not heard from her friend Martina in a long time. Reaching out with the force towards the planet, Luca felt Martina, cold and dying. Panicking, Luca, decided to break the truce and land a ship on the planet. Taking a few medical staff clones, Luca took the Consular-class space cruiser Formal Task to the outskirts of the city. Searching for Martina, she felt her death in the Force. An hour later, she met Martina's clone group, who confirmed what she had feared; Martina had died. Taking her body back to the Formal Task, Luca told the pilot to go back to Coruscant, opting to stay on planet with Martina's old legion for the rest of the battle.
Deep in the heart of the city, on ground floor, Lemill Settes was still unaware that a truce had taken place. Still battling aside several groups of droids and droid tanks, Lemill eventually got into one of the several droid warehouses. Unfortunately, he got captured by the enemy, and was taken to an underground bunker until he could be talked to by a higher-up.
Back in the meeting room, the representatives from both sides were not coming to an agreement. After a long night, Smide Hepen declared "It wasn't meant to be, [and] we should finish this like the Force desires". And with that, the Truce had ended. Traveling back to their Capital Ships in different LAATs, the CIS cannons suddenly started to open fire, knocking Cleja Hecam's out of the sky, forcing him to crashland into a building. While he survived, he went into a coma like state, which was solidified when he felt the impact of Martina's death, a person who he had a very close bond with. Cleja was rescued by Smide, who was shot in the chest by a Super Battle Droid. He would survive, however, he was out for the rest of the battle.
The Battle Resumes[]
With one general dead and two injured, Cordeth Hepen was considering cutting loose his loses and retreating. However, rather than doing that, he pressed on. The first order of business was the find and rescue Lemill. Assigning Minif and Seer squads to find him, Cordeth waited while he let the clones do their work. And it didn't take long; they found him, in a bunker, on the plains side of the planet.
Telling Luca Canta to lead the attack, several clones from the 610th Infantry Unit were to attack. The bunker was heavily guarded, and the 610th was decimated. Luca was taken capture and thrown into the same cell as Lemill. However, Minif, Seer and Tiricho Squad were able to stealthily crawl through the bunker and take the two Jedi down into the city. While Luca was wounded and sent back to a medical frigate, Lemill took a speeder bike and went back into the city to finish his business.
Attacking several tank warehouses and tank patrols, Lemill had gained the attention of Rhoda Cone, who was annoyed by the Jedi's actions. Declaring Lemill the number one enemy of the CIS forces, Rhoda personally followed several leads, looking for the man who was frustrating him more than anyone had. He eventually tracked Lemill down, and cornered him in an empty, dead end street. Telling him his time was up, Rhoda shot at Lemill several times with a Grenade Launcher. Hitting him several times, Rhoda was about to go in for the kill when he was shot in the back by Keith, the clone sniper from Seer Squadron. Taking Lemill back to their sewer compound, Seer Squadron's medic, Sallen, nursed him back to health, and evacuated him off planet.
Down another general, and tired of the battle, Cordeth decided it was time for him to take the mantle laid out by Lemill. Landing on planet, Cordeth combined the remaining ground forces and got ready for one final assault, against the old Maryl Defense Castle. Knowing he would lose many of his soldiers, Cordeth dedicated himself to the task, telling himself it was the only thing that would end this battle.
Meanwhile, the CIS snuck several spy droids onto the Victory Class Star Destroyer Moth. These droids then exploded, completely wiping out the Moth and killing all that were on board.
Taking this as the final straw, Cordeth decided to go along with the plan. Leading several thousand clone troopers, Cordeth plowed his way up into the castle. Losing hundreds of troopers a day, Cordeth finally was able to take most of the castle. However, Kaz Keizi and his elite Super Battle Droids were still in one wing of the castle, and would not budge no matter what. Leading one final and last push, Cordeth managed to find and capture Keizi. Taking him back to the Run Support, Cordeth, in a fit of rage, placed him into an escape pod, and fired it an Maryl Prime. In went into the star, killing Kaz and ending the battle of Maryl.
Aftermath[]
While Fire Squadron and Blaze Squadron continued to go on bombing runs, it was widely accepted that the Republic had won the battle. It was at a huge cost; Martina Legauken, almost all of both the 610th and 752nd, 8 of 12 pilots in Fire Squadron, thousands of other clones, 60 of 70 MDF pilots, and 22 Capital Ships.
Cordeth Hepen gained confidence from the battle, and he felt more secure about his ability to be a general. He also was acquitted of all charges of treason for going against Republic Command. Although he had tasted the dark side by putting Kaz to death, he told people that he had just fired Kaz's body into the star, and that Kaz had died in battle.
Eventually, each wounded Jedi made it back to battle. About 2 days after the battle was won, Martina Legauken was given a full Jedi funeral. In a private ceremony, Lemill Settes was established as a general, and part of Palpatine's "Honor Guard" of Jedi.
Maryl stayed under Republic control for the rest of the war, however, it's city was ruined, and it was never really rebuilt.
Behind the scenes[]
- The Battle of Maryl was first mentioned in Smide Hepen: Jedi Warrior #12. It was fleshed out in Smide Hepen: Clone Wars #2 and Cleja Hecam: Clone Wars #1. It last appeared in I am strong: Lemill's story in the Jedi Collection. All of these works were written either by Errick Long or Jacob Hanson.
- Minif Squadron was mentioned again by Cordeth Hepen during the Battle of Alvin Prime.
- Lemill's place on Palpatine's Honor Guard eludes to his position as an Dark Jedi under the tutelage of Palpatine during the Galactic Civil War.