Great Campaign

The Great Campaign was an Imperial Military campaign launched in 9 ABY, aimed at splitting the New Republic in two and seizing Coruscant. Sometimes referred to as Valak's Campaign, planning for the campaign began in late 7 ABY while production of the Death Star III was underway. The centerpiece of the campaign would be the new Death Star, utilizing advanced features and correcting mistakes of its predecessors.

As the Imperial Civil War drew to a close and the Republic grew more and more complacent, the Empire, under Bacharan Valak's direction, began collecting resources for the project and revamping the weakened Imperial Military. To help fund the development of the Death Star and the military, the Empire launched Operation Stardust, its goal to capture Pride-1, a strategic station at the center of Tallon's Cut which saw massive amounts of traffic and trade daily.

Stardust proved somewhat successful - Pride-1 was captured, renamed to OS Redemption, but it would not be very long before a joint Griffon-Republic task force liberated the station from the hands of the Empire. Nevertheless, the Empire managed to garner enough resources to satisfay High Command for the time being.

Construction of the Death Star went underway, and programs were initiated to restore the Military to its former might. Warlords, however, still plagued the Empire, and slowed down progress. High Command, however, continued with their plans. They targetted select planets in the Republic that would be prioritized and necessary for occuption: Sluis Van, for its vital shipyards; Mon Calamari, for its shipyards and military support to the Republic; and, of course, Coruscant, home to the New Republic Senate and considered the capital of the galaxy.

Attempts at seizing Sluis Van in the past had failed; now High Command hoped that with the Death Star all would be possible. As for Mon Calamari, however, High Command saw the need to circumvent the massive Republic territory from Imperial territory to Mon Calamari, deep in the Outer Rim. The best possible vector would be through Caspian space. In 8 ABY, Valak, months away from his coronation as the new Emperor, assigned his close friend and advisor, Grand Moff Jarl Rellik, the task of annexing the Caspian Democratic Union. Given a sizeable and powerful task force, Rellik set out on the Caspian Annexation Campaign. The campaign would prove futile, however, and after months of brutal conflict, both sides would sign a non-aggression pact ending the war.

With their detour to Calamari now inaccessible, High Command would have to do without it and fight the long way to the water world. After eliminating the final opposition to the Interim Ruling Council and Valak, the Vigiliant Movement, Valak was coronated Emperor and the Empire was finally reunified. The Death Star was operational and ready for use, and the Military more ready than ever. Valak gave the green light for the start of the Great Campaign.

Gastus IV was chosen as the first target of the military. While of little strategic value, High Command decided to utilize Gastus IV as a testing ground for the superlaser of the Death Star. Gastus IV was not as heavily defended as Sluis Van or other important Republic worlds, and a failure of the Death Star at one of these other worlds could prove disastrous. The Battle of Gastus IV was short and concise, and a complete success. The Death Star III succeeded High Command's expectations; the world was instantly vaporized, and the Republic fleet mopped up in a matter of hours.

With the Death Star proven successful, the Empire turned to more important worlds. As the main Imperial battle fleet and the Death Star itself prepared for an attack on Mon Calamari, other elements of the Military spread out. Worlds along the Perlemeian Trade Way fell at a devastating pace, and Imperial operations throughout the Mid Rim were larger than successful: the Republic was on a full route. High Command had not anticipated such a fast advance; they had pushed through a massive amount of Republic territory too fast for their own supply lines to keep up, and Calamari was in line for invasion.

The need to capture resources and resupply the Imperial Military before it hit Calamari was seen, and the main battle fleet, led by Valak himself, was divided. One portion would head ahead and continue towards Calamari, capturing planets along the way, while the other would turn about and, in a joint task force assisted by the Corporate Sector Authority, once again attempt to capture Pride-1.

The advance towards Calamari continued successful, but at the Third Battle of Pride-1, the joint Imperial-Authority task force were repulsed and forced to rejoin their main fleet. Although they had failed to capture Pride-1, Valak ignored the warnings of High Command and went ahead with the invasion. Republic resistance was heavy, as expected; but the Death Star III would once again prove its worth. The Mon Calamari shipywards were vaporized, and the Republic fleet was yet again defeated and routed. Calamari would soon be occupied.

Shockwaves coarsed throughout the Republic. The Death Star instilled fear throughout the galaxy, and the Republic saw no way of destroying the station for the time being. Their military was too unprepared and the Senate complacent in their mind set that the Empire was gone for good during the Civil War. Valak, however, had proved them all wrong. With Calamari and most of the Mid and Outer Rim subjugated, the Empire turned its attention towards one of the last remaining "priority" worlds: Sluis Van.

The Second Battle of Sluis Van would find the Death Star III's superlaser destroying the world, and the Imperial military seizing the shipyards (which would later be turned to Imperial use). After several more months of fighting and subjugating further worlds, the Empire advanced full speed onto Coruscant.

The Third Battle of Coruscant was vicious and massive in its scope; the Republic Defense Fleet was routed within the first few days of combat, and the Imperial Navy soon enacted a blockade over the world, sieging the planet for a full month. At the end of the month, however, the Imperial Army invaded the world. Capturing strategic objectives, including the Imperial Palace and the Senate, Imperial control over the world was finalized. The campaign came to an end, and the Imperial Military settled for much needed rest as they went to fortifying their recent conquests.

The campaign achieved much for the Empire: it saw the capture of a vast stretch of territory and resorces, the destruction of the vital Mon Calamari shipyards and the occuption of the world, and the capture of the vital Sluis Van shipyards, which would, in turn, prove invaluable for the Empire. It also saw the elimination of most of the Republic Senate and the death of its President, Woren Isaal, and reestablished the Empire as power house to be reckoned with. However, most of what the Great Campaign achieved would be reversed within the coming years. Many historions and military analysts would later argue that if the Empire had continued its advance against the Republic, rather than stop and fortify after capturing Coruscant, it would have wiped out the remnants of the Republic and secure total victory for the Empire in the Galactic Civil War.

Battles

 * Battle of Gastus IV
 * Third Battle of Pride-1
 * Battle of Mon Calamari
 * Second Battle of Sluis Van
 * Third Battle of Coruscant

Leaders

 * Emperor Bacharan Valak
 * President Woren Isaal
 * Admiral Ba'el Korr
 * General Beaubos Calhoun
 * Vice Admiral Airion Cimber
 * Commodore Danik Kreldin