Battle for Kowak

The Battle for Kowak
Date	22.331 — 22.337 (CGT)
Location	Kowak
Result	Blue Star Dominion control of the system and liberation from criminal elements
Belligerents
Blue Star Dominion The Resistance The Antarian Rangers -ARK- Rebel Alliance Jedi Order DOM Trading Company The Exchange The Grand Duchy of Foz The Invid Order Mando'ade Rogue Squadron Stryker Military Services Ternion Corps TIEFE	Void Wolves Various criminal elements
Commanders and Leaders
Cerdon Tryonel General Gand Xitwa General Crueya Vandron Major General William Siethr Major General Eli Descartes Andre Archer Va`Li Owa Belwarmec Al-Thorac Jaria Feri Jedi Master Thragg Craghorn Ranger One Char`Cargis Olort Trorgg Krogg Marshal Tomas o'Cuinn Arbiter Kara DuMonte Arbiter Kaze Zill Grand Adirmal Jake Azzameen Blot Hlidskjalf John Calay Supreme Commander Orion Chran

The Battle for Kowak, also known as Operation Kowak, was the liberation of the planet Kowak from the criminal elements governing it by a large Rebel coalition. The operation officially lasted six days from Day 331 to 337 of Year 22, though clean up operations continued through Day 339 and the establishment of a new civilian government extended further.

Early on Day 331, merchant vessels operating near the Woldona system intercepted urgent cries for help from somewhere deep in the Sevetta sector. These messages were relayed to the Blue Star Dominion, the governing body in the sector, who dispatched reconnaissance teams throughout the Sevetta's uncharted regions to search for the signal's origin. That evening (local time), Dominion Warden Pursh Greene discovered the Kowak system in a StarSpeeder 3000 and sent the astronavigation data back to Dominion headquarters, opening Kowak to greater galactic travel. Pursh's team was able to make contact with the originators of the distress call who described a dire situation on the planet's surface. Like many planets in the deep Outer Rim, Kowak was a neglected world; its location was first described by explorers centuries ago, but it was lost in the shuffle of the nearly-constant discovery of new worlds and the growing prosperity in the Core Worlds. By the modern era, Kowak found itself far off from popular trade routes and saw little intersystem travel or trade. With no allies and little in the way of infrastructure or defense forces, Kowak was an easy target for various criminal cartels that plagued the region and wanted a base of operations beyond the arm of the law.

Greene's attempts to land were met with heavy arms fire and ordinance, forcing her to abort and withdraw to a safe distance from the planet while relaying her findings to the Dominion. Back in Woldona, Marshal Cedron Tryonel reviewed the preliminary reports and made the decision to call in allies to ensure they could not only swiftly handle the situation on Kowak, but also shield the system from potential incursion from opportunists who might attempt to pillage the planet once its location became more widely known. Tryonel made calls to the Dominion's Rebellion allies and soon a coalition was formed to liberate Kowak. Hours later, vanguard forces from the Dominion the The Exchange arrived and a travel restriction was placed on the system, warning outside forces not to intervene in the operation. Within twenty four hours of the vanguard's arrival, starfighter squadrons and corvettes began to arrive from other allied groups; the various commanders met aboard the Dominion bi Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Bastion to plan their campaign. Dropships and their starfighter escorts deployed from the rapidly-growing coalition fleet, with many units using equipment and ships supplied by the Dominion or Resistance until their own could arrive. In the chaos of the assembling fleets and rapidly-changing situation, a C-3 cruiser registered to the Smugglers Incorporated and YT-series light freighter attempted to enter the system, but both were intercepted by fighter squadrons and escorted away without incident.

On the ground, the situation was brutal; while coalition forces had superior training and equipment on hand, they were heavily outnumbered during the first few days while assaulting fortified positions. The various planetary militias controlled by the criminal gangs and their enforcers were heavily entrenched and proved to be ferocious adversaries. The planet's minimal development had also resulted in an overabundance of local wildlife with overaggressive tendencies. It took two standard days of fighting for the ground forces led by Dominion Aribter Kara DuMonte to secure a safe landing zone on the planet. The Dominion led the first wave of attacks in the southern hemisphere, while the Exchange and the Resistance launched nearby assaults soon after. Engineering teams were able to establish fortifications and a command post for the coalition, which would direct combat operations throughout the southern hemisphere. Given the difficulty of fighting both aquatic creatures and amphibious pirate forces, naval warfare was delegated to the DOM Trading Company and their marine commandos.

On Day 333, the Void Wolves arm of the terrorist Zann Consortium announced to the galaxy that it was in touch with and providing support to the Kowakian cartels. However, no evidence was ever uncovered linking the Wolves to the various gangs and enterprises on Kowak, and the nature of their support remains a mystery and was eventually proven to be of little effect as the tide turned against the cartels.

By Day 334, the coalition fleet had organized itself under the command of Dominion Arbiter Kaze Zill and established patrols of both the system and outlying coordinates around the clock. Nearby asteroid fields were scouted for lurking pirates and an array of satellites were placed to monitor the entire system for incursion. Late on Day 334, the final incursion into the system occurred when the Retribution, a Crusader-class corvette registered to Spectre, arrived and set course for planetary orbit. Unresponsive to direct hails and warnings, the ship was either flying on autopilot or its captain undeterred by the allied fleet. A squadron of A-wings commanded by Bram Dupol of The Resistance fired warning shots across the corvette's bow, which swiftly changed course and departed the system.

Hour by hour throughout the operation, allied ships arrived in Kowak carrying additional starships, personnel, and equipment from more than a dozen Rebel groups. These reinforcements quickly changed the situation on the ground; now, with the numerical advantage in many instances, coalition forces combed through Kowak's dense jungles and coordinated with bombers and fighter craft for air support as, one-by-one, the cartel strongholds fell. By Day 337, the Rebel coalition had eliminated or captured the last of the criminal warlords; Marshal Tomas o`Cuinn declared a victorious outcome and an end to formal operations. Fighting continued in the more remote regions through Day 339 when the Resistance and the other allies began to establish plans to withdraw and depart, leaving the Dominion to work with the local population and establish a government of their own.