The Black Fleet Crisis

Books in the trilogy

1. Before the Storm ISBN 0-553-57273-3, published March 1, 1996
2. Shield of Lies ISBN 0-553-57277-6, published August 1, 1996
3. Tyrant's Test ISBN 0-553-57275-X, published December 1, 1996

Background

The Black Fleet Crisis begins in a time of peace for the New Republic, and the first time a chance occurs for the Rebel Alliance to turn their attention to more personal concerns.

Summary

The outbreak of the Black Fleet Crisis ends a period of relative peace in the galaxy. Yevethan forces (former Imperial slaves who overthrew their masters) using captured Imperial ships begin a genocidal campaign to conquer the Koornacht Cluster by killing all non-Yevethans. The New Republic is forced to fight in its own defense, as well as to rescue hostages held by the Yevethans (including Han Solo). After obtaining an image of Han as a battered hostage, Chewbacca goes on a desperate rescue mission.

Luke Skywalker travels to his mother's homeworld, Fallanassi, in search of her and her people. Luke meets the Fallanassi, a mysterious and secretive sect of Force users who are total pacifists. Luke learns new Force techniques and philosophies from them, and gains their help to aid the New Republic in one battle.

Leia is the only person who doesn't have a chance to rest, who because of her fame, what others expect of her, and her sense of duty and obligation, she has become a prisoner of the Presidency. But she is far too tired, stressed beyond her limits, and emotionally fragile, and she's only two steps away from a serious personal crisis of her confidence.

Nil Spaar, the shrewd, coldblooded Machiavellian Viceroy of the Yevethan Protectorate, sees that as an opportunity he can exploit and an opportunity to destroy the New Republic from within.

Battle

The first act of the Battle of N'zoth was even before the New Republic hyperspaced its warships into the vicinity of N'zoth. Fifty hyperspace-capable stasis probes were launched, and they discreetly monitored the Yevethan fleet and relayed their data back to their mother ships. However, even though they were subtle in pinging their targets, forty-seven of them were eventually detected, or else ran out of power. After General A'baht of the Intrepid, commander of the Fifth Fleet, had a good picture of the enemy strength, he gave the order to attack.

The three last probes formed in a triangle and began to rapidly and crazily ping the Yevethan fleet, bombarding them with scan rays. This of course negated whatever stealth features they had. The Yevethan political and military leader Nil Spaar, commander of the formerly Imperial Super Star Destroyer Pride of Yevetha, immediately brought the Yevethan flagship and the Interdictor Cruiser Splendor of Yevetha on an intercept course.

Before the S.S.D. and the Interdictor could destroy the trio of probes, hundreds of New Republic warships dropped out of hyperspace.

General A'baht of the Intrepid knew that the odds of a New Republic victory were slim, given the number of Yevethan thrustships, the Imperator-class Star Destroyers, and the massive flagship Pride of Yevetha. However, the wily Dornean fleet commander had a card to play, and there was another unknown factor in the battle.

The Black Fleet Crisis had its origins with the enslavement of the Yevetha aliens by the Galactic Empire at a dozen worlds in the Koornacht Cluster. Twelve years before the Battle of N'zoth, a particularly ambitious Yevetha named Nil Spaar led a revolt, and the shipbuilding aliens turned on their captors, capturing dozens of Imperator-class Star Destroyers, three Super Star Destroyers, and also a handful of massive Imperial shipyards.

Imperial High Command immediately withdrew from the Cluster when the danger became apparent, but it was too late, and the Yevetha controlled Black Sword Command and its flagship, the Intimidator, which the Yevetha renamed the Pride of Yevetha.

It was time for the Imperial slaves to now reverse history. Five hundred of them spread on three former Imperial warships: the Pride of Yevetha and the two Star Destroyers Harramin and Valorous rebelled simultaneously, overwhelming their captors in specific locations on the three starships.

Then, the Imperials sent an unjammable hypercomm transmission to all the Imperial-made starships, activating all their hyperdrives, sending them all to the planet of Byss, ironically completing the withdrawal of Black Sword Command from the Koornacht Cluster, which had been ordered twelve long years ago.

The remaining group of over twenty Yevethan thrustships relentlessly advanced. They were outgunned, but had the capability to inflict horrible casualties on the New Republic fleet. However, the New Republic general had a Fallanini Force-caster on board the Intrepid. The Fallanini were a peaceful race of Force-sensitive people before the Yevetha seized control of the Koornacht. They used their powers to hide their small colony in the midst of a jungle world from probing Yevetha sensors, and continued to live as normal. However, Luke Skywalker convinced them to rise against the Yevetha actively and for them to strike the final blow.

One of the Fallanini used a spell, creating the illusions of dozens of New Republic warships, making the Fifth Fleet look fifty percent larger than it really was. The thrustships methodically fired on the phantoms, not knowing that their energy beams were slashing into illusions. However, the Force-caster was overwhelmed, and after a while, the imaginary "Task Force Token" vanished, and the Yevetha fleet concentrated their firepower on the real targets.

There were many casualties: Commander Farley's Star Destroyer Yakez, the fleet carrier Ballarat, the Aboukir, the Banshee, the Fulimnant, the Garland, the Thunderhead, the Werra, and hundreds and hundreds of New Republic starfighters of various classifications.

At the end, the desperate Yevetha even used their trifoil fighters as suicide bombers, crippling several New Republic warships, and used whatever thrustships left to detonate, taking out New Republic starships in their blast radii.

However, the New Republic triumphed, and the Yevetha military was shattered.