Battle of Foerost ( Great Sith War ) A battle at the planet Foerost occurred in 3996 BBY during the Great Sith War . It began as a raid carried out by the Krath forces of Sith Lord Ulic Qel - Droma and the Crusaders of Mandalore the Indomitable . Qel - Droma planned to seize the many ships under construction for the Galactic Republic , and instead use them in his bid for galactic domination . At Qel - Droma ' s behest , Krath sorceress Aleema Keto created an illusion that allowed their forces to slip into the Foerost shipyards unchallenged . Bolstered by the armies of Mandalore , Qel - Droma ' s forces stormed the facility and secured the operational codes for the newly - completed vessels . Fleet Captain Orley Vanicus was dispatched to interrupt the raid with a contingent of Republic reinforcements , but was too late to stop the theft of over three hundred warships . A recording of Qel - Droma from the attack was later discovered , finally leaking the secret identity of the Republic ' s new enemy . Prelude . By 3996 BBY , the shipyards maintained by the Galactic Republic at Foerost had been established as one of the oldest and most successful starship construction facilities in the galaxy . For hundreds of years , the facility had produced warships for the Republic Navy with raw materials from the surface of Foerost , an uninhabited planet . The vessels built there were prized by the Republic as some of the most advanced warships in their fleets . More than three hundred of the ships , most either newly completed or nearly so , sat relatively unguarded in the shipyards . Leader of the dark side Krath cult of the Empress Teta system , Sith Lord Ulic Qel - Droma desired the vessels for use in the coming war between the Sith Brotherhood and the Republic . He gathered his fleet , bolstered by the Crusaders of his newly - sworn ally Mandalore the Indomitable , and set out for the Foerost shipyards . Upon arrival , the lover of Qel - Droma , sorceress Aleema Keto , conjured a Force illusion that disguised the Krath armada as a single , large vessel , called the " " Golthar ' s Sky " . " The illusion , which thwarted the monitors ' sensor systems and gave the impression of a massive vessel exiting hyperspace , approached the shipyards and requested clearance to dock for repairs . Dock supervisors in Tower Bravo noticed the ship ' s density and offered to dispatch an inspection crew , as none of the Foerost docks were able to support the vessel . The battle . Keto dropped the illusion at that moment and revealed a fleet of Tetan attack ships . Krath - dispatched CX - 133 Chaos fighter s swarmed and strafed the shipyard , which resulted in the swift destruction of the facilities ' defensive emplacements . Basilisk war droid - mounted Mandalorians penetrated the modules and stormed the control decks and operations centers . Tetan troops , equipped with jetpacks , also boarded the stations to reinforce overwhelming force of the Mandalorian offensive . While the Republic forces attempted to fend off the Krath assault in futility , one of their number , a Human named Dace Golliard , fled the battle in an attempt to save his own life . The shipyards were quickly overrun , due largely to the ferocity of the Mandalorian assault . Qel - Droma , Aleema Keto , and Mandalore the Indomitable boarded the station assumed command at the control center . The Sith Lord demanded the operational codes of the newly - completed warships , and killed the first person to deny knowledge of said codes in order to demonstrate the gravity of his request . The other technicians present quickly realized their predicament and fully complied , and Qel - Droma was given the access he sought . During the battle , Qel - Droma proved that he was an excellent strategist : one hundred and fifty vessels were captured before the end , and the Mandalorians noted that it would be sufficient to attack Kemplex IX . He also confronted Jedi Master Sli ' Lon Tahar and killed him in a duel to stop him from using battle meditation to weaken the Sith attack . Tahar just had time to inform some adventurers where the tomb of an ancient Sith was located before being struck down by the fallen Jedi , but accidentally revealed it to Qel - Droma as well . Communication was soon established with Exar Kun , the Dark Lord of the Sith and Qel - Droma ' s Master . Kun had managed to sway twenty Jedi Knights to their side of the war , which Qel - Droma found to be rather meager in comparison to the two armies and now the three hundred vessels that he had acquired . The Krath leader announced to Kun his plans to attack Coruscant , the seat of galactic power . The Krath forces then pulled out and abandoned the shipyards . Aftermath . Upon receiving news of the attack , the Republic Navy sent a fleet under the command of Captain Orley Vanicus to try and interrupt the raid , but the reinforcements arrived too late . All of the complete and near - complete warships had been stolen , the facilities largely destroyed — the scene was a graveyard . Corpses of slain yard workers floated among the wreckage . Vanicus resolved to salvage as much as he could and investigate the scene in the hopes of discovering the identity of the attackers . Few rescue pods remained to be recovered , leaving very few witnesses to the raid . Searching through the control centers , Vanicus ' men discovered that the attackers had damaged as much computer hardware as possible in an attempt to erase all evidence of their identity . However , one file was found , recorded by the station ' s automated security systems . Vanicus , who had fought at the Battle of Koros Major alongside the Jedi , recognized Qel - Droma — the secret was out . Qel - Droma ' s treachery was not the only one exposed either ; the Republic also learned of Dace Golliard ' s absconding from the massacre at Foerost . He was branded a criminal of the Republic and spent the next several decades of his life as a fugitive . Thirty - three years after the raid on the Foerost shipyards , Dace Golliard — who had since turned to a life of crime as a slaver — was apprehended by Admiral Saul Karath of the Republic Navy . Karath was especially eager to capture Golliard , since the Admiral ' s father , Craddock Karath , was one of the many Republic soldiers who had perished while Golliard had escaped to safety . Karath vowed that the outlaw would finally face the court - martial that he had tried so desperately to avoid . Behind the scenes . The events of the battle took place in the comic book " " , which was written by author Kevin J . Anderson and drawn by artist Dario Carrasco , Jr . Several of the characters and story elements of the issue were developed by previous " " writer Tom Veitch in the preceding story arc , titled " " . The forty - ninth issue of the " " comic series , entitled " " , revealed that " Knights of the Old Republic " character Dace Golliard participated in the battle . The death of Craddock Karath during the battle , who was the father of " KOTOR " mainstay Saul Karath , was also brought to light in the same issue . " Demon , Part 3 " author , John Jackson Miller , identified Craddock Karath as the dock employee who was gunned down by Mandalore and Ulic Qel - Droma upon their entry into the shipyard control room .