The Ssi-ruuvi Incursion was a war in the Unknown Regions between the Golden Empire and the remnants of the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. It took place around the Romasi sector border of the Empire from 141 ABY to 142 ABY.
Course of the incursion[]
Surprise attack[]
While the Golden Empire was still in the early stages of the Vagaari War, the Ssi-ruuk, fleeing their former P'w'eck slaves, crossed into the Empire's territory in the Romasi sector. Having established an entechment facility on Shest Minor, they began raiding Royal systems for resources and slaves to create more ships and battle droids. The startled worlds under attack called the Prime Fleet for help.
Tariun Sakaros, Prime Legate of the Golden Empire, decided to remain in command of the Vagaari front. He sent Sorrik south with a thousand capital ships, along with hundreds of Centurions of the Order of Keltrayu. Queen Rin Sakaros herself also decided to accompany Sorrik; Tariun knew the enemy he was facing and had some understanding of their tactics, while Sorrik knew nothing about his threat. Rin's Battle Meditation would be more valuable against the unknown quantity.
Playing defense[]
Much of the early campaign was reactive in nature, with Sorrik spreading out his fleet to intercept Ssi-ruuvi raiding parties whenever they occurred. Vem and Breek Zagrev were both given major commands. Most of the space south of the Empire remained uncharted, even by the Exploration Corps, leaving the Umdal Legate with few options for taking the fight to the enemy. His forces successfully stopped an invasion of Zorabos and defended Iomis, but failed to take any Ssi-ruuk alive.
In the course of Battle Meditating during a battle, Rin found that she could feel more minds among the enemy than she had expected—more than the fleet's lifeform sensors picked up. In the next engagement she could actually feel the presence of life inside the ships and battle droid starfighters themselves. Instructing her forces to take some of the Swarm-class battle droids intact, Rin discovered that the fighter, though unpiloted, still had a faint Force signature of its own. Unaware of the process of entechment, Rin still deduced that her Battle Meditation could affect the droids; in essence, she could make enemy starfighters and even capital ships lose the will to fight, which interfered with their efficiency in battle.
Royal Intelligence operatives, backed by Centurions, ventured into the unknown to identify enemy worlds. Several teams were lost or killed, but one managed to capture a slave shipment and bring it back to Sorrik. When she discovered the details of entechment, Rin was furious at the idea of her people enduring such a fate and ordered Intelligence to dedicate itself to finding the entechment facility.
The Battle of Shest Minor[]
The Empire continued to fend off attacks by the Ssi-ruuk, which became fewer as the enemy decided the Empire was more trouble than it was worth. Having been attacked, however, Rin refused to let the enemy escape without punishment. In mid-142 ABY, Intelligence finally pieced together enough chatter and hyperspace vectors for a 91.2% probability that the entechment facility was located on Shest Minor.
Breek Zagrev was given command of the assault fleet, along with hundreds of thousands of ground troops and seven fellow Centurions. The three-day Battle of Shest Minor resulted in tens of thousands of fatalities among Royal troops, including all seven Centurions, and even more injuries. But the Ssi-ruuvi army was decimated, the enemy admiral killed in the battle, and the entechment facility captured.
Allies[]
The loss of the major world wreaked havoc on the Ssi-ruuvi war strategy, and the line they themselves had been holding against the P'w'ecks to the south disintegrated. Pursuing the Ssi-ruuk, Sorrik's fleet encountered a fleet from the P'w'eck Confederation. Using her ability to "download" their language and "upload" Orhyo into their minds, Rin conferred with Kweerikirr, Crees'tuf of the Confederation. While the Empire had so far conquered and absorbed all systems it encountered, Rin recognized that her military was far too strained to continue fighting a second front; Tariun was barely holding the line against the Vagaari.
Rin and the P'w'eck leadership formed an alliance instead, born of their mutual hatred for the Ssi-ruuk. Rin agreed to keep the border secure against the Ssi-ruuk and given them no safe haven in her territory, while the P'w'ecks would continue their fight. Rin offered the P'w'ecks the option to visit the Empire for supplies and resources—with the understanding that such visits would be few and far between—and the P'w'ecks in turn agreed to keep Rin apprised of any developments outside her territory.
Leaving the hunt for the Ssi-ruuk to her new allies, Rin ordered a battle group of ships to remain in the Romasi sector and shore up defenses, but took the rest back to aid Tariun.