After much deliberation, Republic High Command and the Jedi High Council have jointly agreed upon a mission that will, the Force willing, blunt the onslaught of the Sith by taking advantage of one of their primary weaknesses. We are going to capture Darth Revan.
—Jedi Master Kavar
The Capture of Darth Revan was a pivotal event that took place at the height of the Jedi Civil War. Set up through intelligence gained by the Galactic Republic in the wake of a data raid on Sernpidal, the plan involved luring the fleet of Darth Revan and Darth Malak into battle over Ord Mantell. Trapping the Sith fleet there with the Interdictor-class cruiser Battleaxe, a force of Republic Navy Hammerhead-class cruisers and Foray-class frigates under the command of Vice Admiral Forn Dodonna would engage in a holding action while the Sith force would be subjected to the battle meditation of Padawan Bastila Shan. Meanwhile a force of Republic Army troopers led by Marine Captain Laera Reyolé, accompanied by more Jedi Knights, would board Darth Revan's flagship and capture him.
The battle erupted when the Republic fleet decanted from hyperspace behind the loitering Sith formation. Though Admiral Dodonna's force possessed more capital ships, her Aurek fighters were greatly outnumbered. Undaunted, the attacking vessels swiftly overpowered the trailing Sith warship, destroying it and carving a wedge through the enemy lines. Captain Reyolé's troops and Jedi were then cleared for launch; escorted by elements of the three Aurek squadrons, they boarded Revan's vessel and began to wreak havoc amongst the crew as the platoon split up into three squads. Heavy fighting ensued both in space and aboard the flagship, with Reyolé eventually ordering the platoon to fall back and regroup. Shan pressed on however, cornering Darth Revan on the bridge.
Darth Malak, sensing what was going on, opened fire on the vessel, damaging it severely and nearly killing both Revan and Shan. She was, however, able to save the Sith Lord's life, rendezvousing with Captain Reyolé's platoon in order to escape the dying warship. The surviving members of the boarding party made their way back to the retreating fleet as the divided Sith force continued to attack itself. With the battle won the Jedi took Revan and, after healing his body, sent him out into the galaxy along with Shan in order to find the means to stop the Sith war effort. This eventually led to the discovery and destruction of the Star Forge, at the height of the last battle of the war.
History[]
Prelude[]
The first three years[]
Kavar: “Not very kindly, I'm afraid. We've been losing far more often than we've been winning, but this you already know.”
―Laera Reyolé and Kavar discuss the war
With the establishment of a Sith Empire by the new Dark Lords Revan and Malak in 3,959 BBY, the Galactic Republic found itself once again embroiled in war barely a year after the defeat of the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders at the Battle of Malachor V. With the Republic's Army, Navy and Marine Corps still recovering from the losses suffered during the Mandalorian Wars, the initial Sith offensive, beginning with the disaster at Foerost and culminating with the bombing of Telos IV, cut deeply into Republic territory. Revan and Malak's armadas seemed limitless, and it was only with the success at Iridonia and the following counteroffensive that the Republic was able to gain breathing room. Nevertheless, the Sith Empire's drive to overpower the galactic government remained strong, with more and more star systems joining their cause through conquest or coercion, or even by voluntary absorption into their ever-expanding territory.
By 3,956 BBY, the Republic was slowly but steadily being rolled up and pushed farther back into the Mid and Inner Rim regions of the galaxy, with Revan's fleets even making inroads into the Colonies and Core Worlds. No one within the Republic's military or intelligence communities was able to account for the volume of war materiel fueling the Sith onslaught, nor were the combined efforts of the Jedi Order. However a plan, broached by veteran strategist and Guardian Master Kavar and accepted by the Republic High Command, was put together to capture Darth Revan and deprive the Sith of a unifying entity while at the same time attempting to learn the Dark Lord's secrets. Ideally, this would then cause the rest of the Empire to splinter as individual Sith Lords attempted to seize control for themselves, a trend that had been observed in past conflicts with dark side organizations and criminal bands, as well as the Mandalorian clans themselves.
Proposals and preparations[]
Master Kavar, are you certain this is the wisest course of action?
—Forn Dodonna, to Jedi Master Kavar
The plan, however, was tenuous at best. The Republic task force that had been gathered to carry out the battle plan, led by Vice Admiral Forn Dodonna and made up of Hammerhead-class cruisers and Foray-class frigates, constituted the last available reserves of the Republic Navy. It also relied on the presence of Battleaxe, an Interdictor-class cruiser that had served in the Mandalorian Wars and was currently assigned to the defense of Corellia, to keep Revan's fleet in place. In addition, the flotilla did not have any Marines attached to it; the boarding party was to consist of a platoon of Army troopers accompanied by Padawan Bastila Shan and four Jedi Knights: Haydin Biddell, Noi-Vas Jenn, Keeh Rha and Georg Oakes. Marine Captain Laera Reyolé, summoned from her position as the 3rd Marine Battalion's commanding officer, was also brought aboard Admiral Dodonna's flagship Vibrosword to serve as the party leader. Upon being appraised of the plan, she was quick to point out these oversights.
Senior naval lieutenant Silas Dan'kre, who had left the Marine Corps in the wake of the Iridonia-Lannik Campaign to work for Republic Intelligence, was able to provide help in the form of useful information about Sith fleet movements, as well as considerable skill at slicing into Sith computer systems. Prior to his having been brought to the flotilla gathering around the Deep Core world of Tython for the attack, the Bothan had deciphered and analyzed the take from a data raid on the recently-established Sith outpost at Sernpidal. Thus, the task force was given the final go-ahead to intercept Revan's fleet at Ord Mantell. With most of the details established, Captain Reyolé, with help from Lieutenant Dan'kre, began to retrain the platoon of Army troopers under the command of Lieutenant Ibratu'na in Marine doctrine and shipboard combat.
While Dodonna's fleet made the nine-day journey to rendezvous with Battleaxe in an uninhabited star system Coreward of Ord Mantell, the final elements were hammered out. At Reyolé's order, Ibratu'na's three squads of troopers came up with a trio of infiltration plans: one covert and circuitous; one direct and obvious; and one designed to cause the most mayhem. Preparations were interrupted when the resurrection technology that had been used to revive Captain Reyolé, who had been killed during the liberation of Onderon, unexpectedly failed due to incompatibility with her Force-sensitive physiology. Lieutenant Dan'kre was able to continue the retraining course as Reyolé healed, however, so that by the day before the rendezvous was to take place the platoon was pronounced ready for action.
On the eve of battle, however, the Republic force received an unexpected boon in the form of Wrangler, an Interdictor cruiser that had served with the Republic during the Mandalorian Wars and had until recently served the Sith as the flagship of the Dark Jedi and former Revanchist Xaset Terep. Though badly damaged and with only half of its crew fit for duty, Dodonna's flotilla was able to supply enough spare personnel and equipment to bring the warship back up to fighting strength. Captain Reyolé, who toured the vessel to verify the story given by Josef Farfax and Secar Dunnigal, Wrangler's highest-ranking survivors, also hit upon the idea of using the cruiser's remaining Sith interceptors as remote-controlled flying bombs filled with baradium explosives. After having accomplished everything that could be done in outfitting and provisioning the fleet for what was to come, the order was given to make the final jump into hyperspace.
The battle[]

Dodonna's fleet engages the Sith.
Opening maneuvers[]
Alright, this is it! Hold on tight!
—Captain Reyolé to her troops
By pure dint of luck, the Republic force reverted to realspace right on top of the rear guard of the Sith formation, swiftly overpowering the hindmost vessel as the vanguard formed a wedge ahead of Dodonna's two Interdictor cruisers, which immediately activated their gravity well projectors. With nine ships remaining, the Sith still possessed a significant advantage in terms of firepower and starfighter capacity. However, Bastila Shan had begun to utilize her battle meditation even as the first shots were fired. Concentrating their turbolaser and ion cannon fire, the Republic capital ships began to form a wedge between the Sith cruisers, which began to fall back; with Revan's flagship exposed, the order was given to launch the Jarhead-class lander containing the boarding party. Escorted in by Aurek tactical strikefighters off of Battleaxe as other warships blazed away at the enemy vessel's shields, the lander swiftly penetrated the hangar and slammed onto the deck.
Fighting aboard the flagship[]
First Squad, direct; Second Squad, circuitous, Third Squad, mayhem. Jedi, proceed at your discretion, but please stay with one of the squads for as long as possible. Dan'kre, stick with me and Second Squad, Ibratu'na, go with Third Squad. Move fast and hit'em hard!
—Captain Reyolé issues her initial orders
Almost immediately Captain Reyolé and the other Jedi leaped out of the lander and set to work overpowering the docking bay's defenses, which consisted of a series of self-powered blaster turrets, while Shan continued to employ battle meditation to aid them as well as the rest of the fleet. Using their lightsabers to destroy the turrets with reflected blasterfire, the five Knights had the bay secured within fifteen seconds of landing; giving the all-clear signal, Reyolé summoned the rest of the platoon. Ordering First Squad, accompanied by Shan, Biddell, Jenn and Rha to follow the direct plan and Third Squad, led by Lieutenant Ibratu'na and including Oakes, to engage in wanton destruction, the Marine captain took Lieutenant Dan'kre and Second Squad down an oblique path through the lower decks. As the squads went their separate ways, the Jedi accompanying each slashed their way through the reinforced doors that sealed the hangar off from the rest of the ship in order to prevent the Sith from venting the bay itself.
Not long afterward, Reyolé and her squad came upon a computer access terminal; after dispatching the Sith techs there, she ordered Dan'kre to interface with the warship's systems in order to take control wherever he could. Not content with sitting around, the captain ordered the rest of the unit to guard the Bothan and his efforts while she sought a way to cause some chaos of her own. Happening upon a room where she sensed the presence of a number of Sith crewers, Reyolé cut her way into the compartment and eliminated them only to discover that it was a repair bay for Sentinel droids. Having penetrated the ship's computer network, Dan'kre relayed the news to Reyolé, who in turn had the Bothan reprogram the droids to fight the Sith as a further distraction. After Reyolé met back up with Second Squad, Ibratu'na reported that Third Squad had successfully disabled the warship's primary life-support systems. However, as the fighting intensified, the captain ordered the platoon to fall back and regroup outside of the warship's auxiliary gunnery control room.

Bastila Shan and her strike team confront Darth Revan.
Shan and the other Jedi accompanying her, now including Oakes, chose to press on ahead toward the main bridge, where Darth Revan could be sensed overseeing the battle in space. Conceding to Shan's desire to press on, Reyolé ordered four troopers from First Squad to accompany them as backup, with the rest making their way to the fallback point. The Sith defenders continued to press the invading Republic troopers back, their efforts culminating in a furious firefight during which two platoons of Sith troopers bracketed Second Squad in the corridor that led to the control room. Though Reyolé did her best to hold them off from one side as her squad fired at the others, she was wounded by a blaster shot that penetrated her armor at the shoulder blade and left her in considerable pain.
Taking fire from both sides, the Republic troopers were close to being overrun when Ibratu'na's Third Squad joined the fray, charging the enemy platoon facing Reyolé from the rear and causing them to break formation and run. Spurred on by the arrival of reinforcements, the two squads' remaining effective combatants surged toward the second Sith force, overpowering them as well. After being joined by the survivors of First Squad, the platoon cleared out the gunnery control room even as Shan and her team forced their way onto the bridge in order to confront the Dark Lord.
The betrayal of Darth Revan[]
The Sith fleet is attacking itself; they've already fired on the flagship and they're about to tear it apart! What's going on over there?
—Vice Admiral Forn Dodonna
In space, the Republic fleet was holding its own against the Sith despite the absence of Shan's battle meditation. Admiral Dodonna, coordinating her efforts with Master Kavar, was using everything at her disposal to keep Revan's fleet at bay in order to buy time for the boarding party to achieve its goal. The flying bombs rigged up by Dan'kre and Wrangler's chief starfighter mechanic, Ato Gerrus, were instrumental in the destruction of two more Sith warships. The three Aurek squadrons, after having escorted the lander to its target, fell back to the vanguard of the Republic formation in order to discourage massed counterattacks from the Sith interceptors. This did not come without cost, however, as several Aureks were destroyed on the initial run in on the flagship; in addition, one Hammerhead cruiser and two Foray-class frigates had been destroyed with several more damaged.

Darth Malak orders his ship to fire on Darth Revan's flagship.
The pitched battle took a sudden turn when, as Shan's team of Jedi Knights and Republic troopers penetrated the bridge of Revan's flagship, Darth Malak ordered his own ships to open fire on the Dark Lord's vessel. The damage that resulted from the barrage was grievous, sending the ship careening away from the battle line. As those among the boarding party who were still alive attempted to make their own escape, thinking that the mission had been scuttled, the Sith force began to turn on itself as ships loyal to Revan fought back against those under the control of his Sith apprentice—who from that moment onward proclaimed himself to be the new Dark Lord. Admiral Dodonna, taking advantage of the confusion, pulled her ships back to a more defensible position, hoping to ward off further attacks on the enemy flagship until she could reestablish contact with the boarding party.
Inside the stricken vessel Captain Reyolé, Lieutenants Dan'kre and Ibratu'na, and the rest of the platoon, finally met up with Shan, Oakes, and two of the four troopers from First Squad. Surprised at first that the two Jedi were carrying the limp form of the comatose Revan between them, Reyolé accepted Shan and Oakes' explanation of what had transpired, informing Admiral Dodonna once the comm channel had cleared. With little time to waste the survivors quickly made their way back to the docking bay, finding that their lander, along with two of the three transports that had been present upon first arriving, were still intact. Intending to minimize the chances of pursuit, Reyolé ordered Shan and the rest of the remaining troopers to take the Jarhead lander back to Vibrosword and Oakes to take a KT-400 military droid carrier back to Battleaxe. Meanwhile, she and Dan'kre commandeered a Herald-class shuttle, intending to make a jump Rimward of the system. As the flagship died around them, the Republic's boarding party made their way to their respective destinations, with Battleaxe and Wrangler moving in to head off any possible Sith counterattacks. The battle, however, soon played itself out, with the Republic retreating to the prearranged fallback point at Ord Cestus.
Aftermath[]
I ordered my own ships to fire on your bridge. I thought I could destroy all my enemies with a single glorious stroke! I never dreamed the Jedi would take you alive from the wreckage.
—Darth Malak, to Revan

Revan went on to defeat Malak.
Though barely alive and saved only through the intervention of Bastila Shan, the fact that Darth Revan had survived the attempt on his life meant that the mission was considered by the Jedi Order to be a resounding success. The Republic military, meanwhile, chose to declare that Revan had in fact been killed, a ruse which for all intents and purposes was considered to be the truth by both sides, much to the joy of most within the Republic. This feeling was short-lived, however; as Darth Malak took over as Dark Lord of the Sith, the Empire's attacks on the Republic increased in frequency and intensity. Though Malak was acknowledged as being inferior in terms of tactical and strategic capabilities to his former master, he made up for this with brute force. Using the Star Forge to increase his forces over and above what Darth Revan had done, Malak redoubled his efforts to conquer the galaxy.
The Order, meanwhile, took over care of the comatose Revan, healing his wounds and drawing what information they could about the factory and superweapon from his damaged mind. The Jedi Council then "reprogrammed" him, suppressing his former identity and making him believe that he was a soldier loyal to the Republic. Once this was accomplished, the Council placed him in the care of Padawan Shan aboard the Endar Spire, where it was hoped that their travels together would draw out more information about what was fueling the Sith war effort and how to put an end to it. These plans took an unexpected but serendipitous turn when the warship, accompanied by the Hammerhead-class cruisers Delta Dagger and Horseshoe, was attacked and destroyed over Taris. The events that would follow led directly to the end of the Jedi Civil War in the space around Rakata Prime, when the Republic, led by the redeemed and remembered Revan, carried out an assault on the Star Forge that saw to its destruction.
Legacy[]
It seems that there is a small portion of [Revan's] holocron's cache that I cannot access. In fact, the holocron has rejected the efforts of every Jedi I could get to attempt an interface with it, insisting that this is a personal message meant for one whose life Revan affected deeply. But surely, she can't still be alive.
—Jedi Master Tionne Solusar to Luke Skywalker
The mission to capture Darth Revan was the key turning point in the Jedi Civil War. Not only did the battle initiate a shift in how the war was prosecuted, but the confrontation also lead directly to the redemption of Revan and the downfall of Malak. Perhaps the greatest impact was felt within the Sith Empire itself; many of Revan's diverse projects, developed in utmost secrecy before his betrayal, went untended and unused. His assassin droids, the ranks of Sith assassins that had been at his command, and indeed his pogrom that targeted Force-sensitives among his forces and other potential candidates for conversion, were left abandoned. It was only after the rediscovery of these projects by Darth Traya and her fellows, the Sith Lords Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, that these were put to use during the Dark Wars and First Jedi Purge.
The impact of this endeavor also had one more far-reaching consequence. During their escape run from the doomed flagship, the shuttle hijacked by Laera Reyolé and Silas Dan'kre was heavily damaged by an errant turbolaser blast of unknown origin. Although the hyperdrive had been damaged, Reyolé had felt that they would yet survive an attempt to enter hyperspace. This proved to be correct, though with repercussions well beyond their imagining. After finally reverting to realspace after having been trapped for sixteen days, they found themselves orbiting an uncharted world in Lahara sector. The two later found out that they had also been catapulted four millennia into the future, and that the redeemed Revan had left a message for Reyolé in a holocron that he had made prior to his departure to the Unknown Regions.
Behind the scenes[]
This battle made its first appearance in the computer and video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic by BioWare. However, this incarnation was introduced in the fan fiction novel The Last Full Measure by Sean "Goodwood" Nash. The mission as written here was first envisioned as a "more realistic" take on The Betrayal of Darth Revan, a supplementary adventure for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition by Wizards of the Coast. Initially, Nash wanted to demonstrate what he saw as a key role for the Republic Marines, a fanon branch of the Republic Armed Forces that he created for the Star Wars Fanon Wiki; they are the shock troops of the Navy, who capture and defend warships and serve as highly-mobile infantry in planetary campaigns.
Eventually, as he wrote the novel in which the battle plays out, Nash shifted his focus more toward character development, particularly that of protagonists Laera Reyolé and Silas Dan'kre, their relationship, and their future. The battle, and the novel that illustrates it, also introduced a number of other characters that Nash hopes to bring back for future works. In Nash's followup novel, The Great Leap Forward, the battle is mentioned several times by many prominent characters, including Revan himself.
Appearances[]
- The Last Full Measure
- The Great Leap Forward (Mentioned only)