Quesh war The Quesh war was a battle between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire over the valuable planet Quesh in the early days of their Galactic War . Imperial forces under the leadership of Moff Dracen attacked the planet and established a beachhead , intending to destroy the Republic ' s Quesh venom mining operations and thereby lead the Republic into open war against the Empire . Prelude . Around 3642 BBY the tense Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire began to dissolve into the Galactic War . While the Treaty of Coruscant that had ended the Great Galactic War a decade earlier was still in effect , the Empire began launching military campaigns against the Republic with the intention of drawing them into open warfare , while the Republic began to supply aid to the Balmorran resistance on the Imperial - occupied planet of Balmorra more openly . Upon learning of the existence of Quesh , a planet that contained the valuable chemical venenit queshaaga — better known as Quesh venom — which could be refined into military adrenal s , the Empire decided to launch a campaign to destroy the Republic ' s mining operations there and provoke a military response . The battle . Imperial invasion . Upon arriving on Quesh , Imperial tacticians believed that they could launch a single swift strike to devastate the Republic presence on the sparsely populated world . However , the Imperial Military only succeeded in capturing a few Quesh venom mines and a single processing station before the forces of the Republic Military and the Three Families — a trio of Hutts who had split from the neutral Hutt Cartel to profit from Quesh and an alliance with the Republic — pushed back the Imperial offensive . Moff Dracen , the Imperial commander , ordered the processing station and its warehouses converted into an Imperial Garrison . Moff Dracen and his subordinates , including General Koloch , Major Faradin , and Colonel Drefin , set up headquarters in one of the storage warehouses from which he conducted the Imperial offensive . The Republic ' s defense of Quesh was placed under the command of the experienced General Korvan and his subordinate Major Treeg , and the miner barracks at the Republic Operational Headquarters were converted into a full military base . The Three Families initially conducted their part of the defense of Quesh from their Palace , but several factors led them to move their command center to a new war camp to the south . The Three Families Palace was largely off - limits to Republic personnel , as the Three Families kept their sensitive files in the building , and the Hutt Portho Kaltemmic ' s addiction to adrenals had been a source of embarrassment to the other members of the Three Families , Jeelta Urdosh and Broga Masrii . The palace was also not a strategic or efficient operational headquarters , and so the Three Families established their new war camp between Broga ' s palace and the Republic Operational Headquarters . The Empire also established an outpost that they intended to use as a base for venom research , but setbacks and attacks by the Republic forces greatly hampered the Empire ' s efforts . As a result , the Hutt Cartel stationed some of their forces at the outpost , and the base became more of a staging point for Cartel battle droids than a research base as the battle went on . The Three Families made preparations to move an experimental adrenal formula to Attis Station , and when Captain Franges intercepted their transmissions , he dispatched an Imperial force to retrieve the formula samples — though he ended up keeping the formulas for himself , as he was addicted to adrenals . Sergeant Molvar and Alpha Squad was deployed to secure an area for a supply depot so that the Empire could move troops and equipment deeper into the nearby mines , but they encountered Republic defenders who had been injected with powerful adrenals . The Republic soldiers tore apart Molvar ' s squad , killing all twelve of his soldiers , and Molvar only survived because he was knocked unconscious by a grenade . Severely injured , Molvar sought aid from other Imperial forces in the area , and they were able to secure the site for the supply depot . The Republic began building a powerful shield generator to protect their mining operations using a large crane , and Sergeant Darro — who was in charge of organizing raids against the Republic ' s mining operations — dispatched a complement of soldiers to destroy the crane . However , his reconnaissance was not accurate , and his forces were wiped out by three times the amount of Republic defenders they were told to expect . As a result , he sought help from other Imperial forces to destroy the crane , and the loss of the crane severely damaged the Republic mining efforts . After the Republic ' s " Manka " - class Armored Transports began to disrupt Imperial mining operations , Moff Dracen dispatched Bravo Team on Operation Tripwire . The Imperials were ordered to plant proximity explosives , specially calibrated to cripple the Republic walker convoy , at checkpoints along a bridge on a walker route . However , Bravo Team was killed before they completed their mission , and Moff Dracen was forced to rely on other Imperial operatives to plant and detonate the explosives . Early in the invasion , the Republic admiral Monk — actually a spy in the service of the Sith Lord Darth Baras — foiled an attack on outlying star systems by Baras ' s former Sith Master , Darth Vengean of the Empire ' s ruling Dark Council . Baras dispatched his apprentice to pursue Monk as part of Plan Zero , Baras and Vengean ' s plot to reignite war , and the Sith Warrior located Monk at Fort Phalanx on Quesh . Baras ' s apprentices was successful in the mission to kill Monk , though the admiral revealed that Baras had manipulated the entire affair to make Vengean look like a fool in the eyes of the Dark Council . Major Faradin wanted to lure the Republic leaders into an ambush using false peace negotiations , but Moff Dracen decided to dispatch Imperial forces to destroy the specialized filters that the Republic were using to keep their mines clear of noxious gas . Imperials attacked the Yuna Bore mine and destroyed the filters , depriving the Republic of a valuable source of Quesh venom . By that time , the Hutt Cartel sent the Hutt Graag to oversee Cartel forces on Quesh until the Three Families were destroyed , as a way of making amends with the Empire and protecting their neutrality . However , Graag and his Cartel droid armies were unable to make progress against the Three Families because of their factories were defended by Jedi , prompting Dracen to send Imperial forces to target the Republic ' s adrenal synthesis factory . Upon penetrating the factory , Dracen ' s forces either destroyed the production equipment or killed the Selkath scientists working there , striking a significant blow against the Three Families ' s finances . Dracen also secured the allegiance of Portho Kaltemnic , and with the aid of the Hutt and his Chevin adviser Norvaan Kel , the Empire either smuggled a small force into the Three Families ' s palace or simply stormed the structure ' s entrance . However , Jedi Master Berin Fraal had personally evacuated Broga from the palace before the Empire moved to take the structure , and Dracen ' s strike force was only able to kill Jeelta during their raid . The squad also killed Portho , as the Hutt outlived his usefulness , and then transmitted the Three Families ' s data on processing adrenals to Moff Dracen . As part of his final strikes against the Republic and the Three Families , Dracen dispatched Imperial forces to hunt down Master Fraal and Broga at the Quesh Venom Refinery . Dracen ' s forces killed Fraal but spared Broga , as the Hutt agreed to work with the Empire . Republic resurgence . Broga did not remain loyal to the Empire , however , and returned to the Republic ' s fold not long after his release . As a result , Moff Dracen ordered a siege of Broga ' s palace that ended in the capture of the structure , and a furious Broga was forced to command the Three Families ' s remaining forces from their war camp as the Moff set up the palace as his personal fortress . Senior Field Agent Suria of the Republic Strategic Information Service , the Republic ' s covert intelligence agency , was tasked with aiding the defection of Doctor Orlian , a key scientist at the Empire ' s Quesh venom processing lab . Suria sent Agent Meldo undercover into the factory to handle the operation , but when he failed to report at two consecutive check - ins , Suria sent in another Republic operative to knock out the Imperial facility ' s security station and meet with Meldo at a rendezvous point . It turned out that Meldo had been unable to respond because of tightened Imperial security , but Meldo decided to take advantage of the operative ' s presence and extract Orlian . The operative was successfully able to extract the scientist , despite an attempt by an Imperial Captain Jesh and his security team to stop them , and Meldo removed Orlian to one of the SIS ' s safe houses . Gallia , the foreman of one of the Republic ' s mining crews , was sent by General Korvan to drill a tunnel underneath a nearby Imperial base so the Republic could attack it from below , but the crew ' s drill broke down . In order to acquire replacement parts for the drill , Republic forces raided one of the Imperial mining operations , allowing Gallia to continue the plan for using the drill . When the Ithorian Jedi Goonawaro discovered that the Imperial method of extracting Quesh venom — carving massive pits into the ground to reach the chemical — was releasing clouds of noxious gas into the environment , he sought aid from General Korvan ' s forces to plant explosives on Imperial storage tanks and thereby cripple the Empire ' s production . Lieutenant Meric identified Imperial activity on the rooftops of several captured Republic factories , and when the soldiers he dispatched to investigate did not return , additional forces stormed the roofs of the factories and were able to prevent Imperial war droids from detonating explosives that would have destroyed the structures . Republic Major Donovan dispatched the Safecrackers , a platoon in the Republic Special Forces Division that specialized in assaulting enemy bunkers , on an assignment to raid an Imperial bunker , but the mission went wrong and the platoon became trapped . The head of Special Forces , General Elin Garza , dispatched the elite Havoc Squad to aid Donovan in the rescue operation , and Havoc attacked an Imperial command bunker to draw away enemy forces from the Safecrackers . Despite the overwhelming number of Imperial forces that assaulted Havoc Squad in the command bunker , the squad was able to overcome the enemy and distract them long enough for Lieutenant Coria to lead the rest of the Safecrackers back to Republic lines . A Republic privateer named Captain Ozzik , who had been running combat meds and adrenals to anti - Imperial organizations in the Outer Rim Territories , was pinned down on Quesh when the Imperial admiral Harridax Kirill , better known as the Voidwolf , attacked Ozzik ' s convoy with turbolasers . Trapped in the hangar that his convoy normally used , Ozzik sent out a distress signal that was picked up by a smuggler in the employ of Senator Bevera Dodonna , and the smuggler ' s crew came to the privateer ' s aid . After rescuing Ozzik , the smuggler destroyed the Voidwolf ' s Planetary Sensor Station , which was tagging starships for the Imperial turbolasers to target , and Ozzik ' s convoy was able to depart Quesh . As war ignited across the galaxy , Darth Baras — newly ascended to Vengean ' s place on the Dark Council — sent his apprentice once more to Quesh in order to aid the Imperial offensive there . Commander Ollien became aware of a Republic strike force that was attempting to detonate a series of caverns under an Imperial command center , and the Sith located Captain Trey - yen and his men just as they finished installing the explosives . However , Trey - yen ' s attempts to detonate failed , and the warrior eliminated the Republic strike team — only to be contacted by Baras ' s other apprentice , Lord Draahg . Draahg revealed that Trey - yen had been sent by one of Baras ' s Republic moles , and the entire operation was a trap for Baras ' s first apprentice . Draahg promptly detonated the explosives , but the Sith was barely able to escape the collapsing caverns and survive . Behind the scenes . The Quesh War appears throughout the " " , released by BioWare and LucasArts . The events of the War are detailed throughout the in - game Codex , the Imperial and the Republic world and class missions . All missions can be completed by a group of players , and any class can complete both the world missions and side missions . Therefore , this article refers to the player characters in each quest as a group of Imperial or Republic operatives , and assumes that each faction completes their respective missions according to their respective alignments .