Imperial Reclamation Service

The Imperial Reclamation Service was a military unit in the Imperial Army of the reconstituted Sith Empire that conducted archaeological research and field expeditions to recover ancient artifacts and technologies. The unit was active for over 1,300 years from after the time of the Sith resettlement of Dromund Kaas through the Sith Wars and conducted excavations and other archaeological activities on Imperial and non-Imperial planets across the galaxy. These archaeological exploits and the acquisition of powerful relics had the aim of enhancing the power of the Sith but also often required the Service to combat the threats represented by such relics.
==Description==
The Reclamation Service was a unit in the Imperial Army of the Sith Empire commanded by an officer holding the rank of general. From the time of its establishment until the reforms of the Dark Council implemented by Empress Acina, the unit's archaeological activities were subject to the oversight of the Sith Order's Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. After the reforms, control of the unit's operations was assumed by the new Sphere of Sith Doctrine. The unit regularly formed temporary expedition and excavation units for specific operations that were dissolved at the conclusion of the mission. A trackers' committee was a permanent organization in the unit.
The Dark Council founded the Service to search for powerful Sith artifacts across the galaxy. In its early days, its scope was expanded to include any ancient religious or technological relics of any culture that promised to enhance the Empire's power. The service was occasionally regarded suspiciously or derisively by ordinary soldiers, though Sith Lords and senior officers recognized the service's potential to single-handedly change the Empire's war with the Republic.
===Expeditions===
Many of the Service's archaeological field activities such as surveys and excavations were executed by organized expeditions. Expeditions were formed to fulfill a specific mission and were dissolved at the completion of the mission. The expeditions were commanded by either a Reclamation Service military officer or a senior scientist or scholar. The ranks of the expeditions often included archaeologists, researchers and research assistants, historians, consultants, work foremen, workers, explorers, engineers, salvagers, security personnel, and other scientific and support positions. Slave labor was sometimes used for more arduous and mundane tasks.
Since its founding, the Reclamation Service deployed archaeological expeditions during both peace and wartime, though its activities were ultimately aimed to strengthen the Empire in its conflicts with its ancient enemies, the Republic and Jedi. Expeditions were deployed to Imperial-controlled planets and neutral or unaligned planets as well as hostile worlds. On Imperial planets, the Service exercised authority and had access to resources allowing it to conduct large-scale excavations to unearth valuable artifacts. On neutral and hostile worlds, the Service conducted its operations covertly to avoid detection and prevent artifacts from being obtained by hostile forces.
Prior to 3643 BBY, Reclamation Service Captain Barden Golah had led expeditions to Ziost, Malachor II, and Nim Drovis. In 3643 BBY, following an unauthorized breach of the Dark Temple by ambitious Sith Lords, the Dark Council sanctioned follow-on expeditions to discern the temple's status; one of which was led by service Major Swaine Lothar to excavate powerful relics near the temple. Later that year, Cpt. Golah led an expedition on Tatooine investigating leads to a Czerka base containing a Rakatan mind prison housing an ancient intelligence. Sometime before 3641 BBY, service Lieutenant Talos Drellik participated in an expedition to Krayiss II which encountered insane Force apparitions. Lt. Drellik led a team to investigate the possible location of a mysterious Sith temple on Hoth in 3641 BBY.. Shortly thereafter, renowned service scholar Doctor Auselio Gann conducted a solo expedition on Aduba-6 in search of the tomb of Vaius Antinus' apprentice but died defending its secrets from the Sith and Jedi. Before 3640 BBY, a service expedition in the Dead Corals on Rugosa discovered references to an ancient Rakatan warlord. Around 3631 BBY, the Dark Council commanded Talos Drellik to lead an expedition on Yavin 4 to discern similarities in technology associated with the former Sith Emperor to better understand Zakuulan tech.
===Equipment===
A variety of equipment and tools were utilized by Reclamation Service personnel in their archaeological field operations to assist them in activities ranging from surveys and excavations to analysis and research. Scanners were often used to obtain readings and other scientific data about objects of interest. Sonic excavators were available to assist in site excavation. Holopads, signal devices, and other communications equipment was regularly used. Explosive materials such as baradium were used for excavation or containment activities. Some missions required the use of materials specific to an operating environment, such as salt in snowy or icy areas. Reclamation Service personnel also carried personal identification cards.
Many types and models of droids were used by the Service to perform a variety of tasks as well. The types of droids used ranged from hauler, salvage, recon, protocol, and other. Some of the models in use included the Shalora probe droid, the Seneschal-series factotum droid (such as AD-304), K-X29 Excavator excavation droids, OT-13 Exterminator security droids, and P-B12 Detonator remote blasting droids.
Reclamation Service personnel were distinguishable by the unique color scheme of their military uniforms. The cap and trousers bore a tan or brownish color clearly identifying the wearer as a Service member.
===Areas of study===
The mission of the Reclamation Service required its members to develop an intensive historical and scientific knowledge of various ancients civilizations and cultures. Since the Service was initially founded to seek out powerful artifacts associated primarily with the Sith, that was the culture many the Service's personnel specialized in and their operations was centered on. Many archaeologists and scholars in the Service specialized in Sith history and archaeology that covered Sith history since the time before the Great Hyperspace War to its more recent history following the resettlement of Dromund Kaas. The Service was similarly engaged in activities focused on Sith not directly associated with their own empire such as the fallen Jedi Darth Revan and Exar Kun. Because the Sith desired the Reclamation Service to discover and study powerful ancient objects, often with a Dark side association, to be exploited for their use, the Rakata and their technologies were another common area of study for Imperial archaeologists. Powerful relics and artifacts that could enhance the power of the Sith and aid them in their wars were subject to the attention of the Service, and this included non-Dark side cultures such as the Gree and Jedi as well.
In addition to the various cultures under its scrutiny, the Reclamation Service engaged in different types and areas of historical and archaeological study as well. These included fields such as xenoarchaeology, military history, antique weaponry, and archaeological warfare.
===Discoveries===
Some of the various archaeological expeditions deployed by the Reclamation Service across the span of decades uncovered significant archaeological discoveries and artifacts. Many of these relics were delivered to Dromund Kaas after discovery for further analysis.
Image	Discovery 	Year of discovery	Planet 	Culture of Interest
 	Infinite Engine 	c. 3643 BBY 	Nar Shaddaa	Rakata
 	Sadow'een temple 	c. 3641 BBY 	Hoth 	Sith
 	Records of Vaius Antinus	" 	Alderaan 	"
 	"Wraith Box" 	c. 3640 BBY 	Belsavis 	Rakata
 	Eternity Vault 	" 	Belsavis 	"
 	Hypergates 	c. 3639 BBY 	Asation 	Gree
===Locations===
Like any military unit, the Reclamation Service made use of different types of installations to serve as their bases of operations in areas where they conducted archaeological activities.
Among the service's installations active during the Cold War was the Imperial Special Ops Center on the Hutt-controlled moon of Nar Shaddaa from which they attempted to gain access to a facility housing a relic associated with Darth Revan. On the desert planet Tatooine, the service established several bases which supported their main expedition on the world including their research center in the settlement of Mos Ila, a forward outpost in the Jundland Chasm, and a base in the Southern Jundland Wastes which they later abandoned.
==History==
The Service was founded sometime after the establishment of the Dark Council after 4980 BBY by Darth Zavakon.
The Service's mission was to scour the galaxy to recover such ancient relics.
Sometime between the service's establishment and the Cold War, Renigus Wight, a former commander in the Service, designed lightning spires as safety devices to protect future service excavation teams from the tumultuous weather on Dromund Kaas.
===Cold War===
The reemergence of the Sith Empire at the start of the Great Galactic War afforded the Reclamation Service the opportunity to expand its operations to planets across the galaxy that were previously inaccessible. On Korriban, the Service's exploration of Sith tombs was hampered by widespread k'lor'slug infestations, though this this obstacle was offset a little by the availability of acolytes from the Sith Academy. The Reclamation Service was in possession of information indicating the Killiks on Alderaan, who had inhabited the planet for millennia, May have possessed knowledge with potential for extensive historical cross-checking.
====Dromund Kaas====
By 3643 BBY, the Service operated at least two archaeological camps south-east of Kaas City in the Riverfall Wilds just outside the city. That year, a starship carrying Galactic Republic infiltrators crash landed near one of the camps. The survivors proceeded under the cover as spacers to the nearby camp and attempted to obtain archaeological supplies and uniforms from Service archaeological researcher Shellaster. Shellaster, distracted by his work, directed the "spacers" to the next camp over, led by Director Nashal. The infiltrators proceeded to next camp and assaulted it, killing Nashal and all but one member of the camp, research assistant Starforth, and stealing archaeological researchers' uniforms, IDs, supplies, and a map for the purpose of infiltrating Kaas City disguised as Reclamation Service researchers. The map revealed the location of the Jurgoran Maw, a hidden cave at the bottom of a nearby waterfall where the infiltrators proceeded to to regroup. Around this time, four Imperial heroesThroughout this article, the terms "Imperial heroes" and "Republic heroes" are used to signify the four playable classes of each faction in Star Wars: The Old Republic. For the Imperial faction that is the Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent, and Bounty Hunter and for the Republic faction the Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Republic Trooper, and Smuggler. found a datapad at the infiltrators' crashed ship with apparent Republic encryption methods indicating their movement toward the nearby camp. The heroes pursued the infiltrators to the first camp and were similarly directed by Shellaster to Nashal's camp. Arriving at the next camp, the heroes encountered Starforth, who directed them to the Jurgoran Maw which the heroes assaulted, recovering the stolen supplies and returning them to Starforth, thus averting a security crisis.
Security for these Reclamation Service camps and the scientists and slaves working there was assigned to Sergeant Molcarrus of the Third Recon Company. Around this time, local predators in the area, mainly vine cats and yozusks, had been attacking his men and the slaves under their charge, effectively bringing the camp's operations to a halt. In response to Molcarrus' request for assistance, officials in Kaas City issued a bounty on the beasts. Molcarrus enlisted the aid of the four Imperial heroes who killed at least ten of the beasts near the camps and delivered trophies from each as proof to Administrator Reese in Kaas City to collect the bounty. This effort significantly reduced attacks on the archaeological camp personnel by the jungle predators.
=====Dark Temple expeditions=====
An unauthorized expedition of ambitious Sith Lords and their subjects breached the previously sealed and restricted Dark Temple around this time. By the end of the first week following the opening of the temple, no members of the expedition returned and the Dark Council authorized subsequent expeditions to deploy to the temple to determine its status.
One such expedition was an excavation team led by Reclamation Service Major Swaine Lothar. This team uncovered several powerful Sith relics in the caverns of the Dark Temple pass but were attacked by other Imperials suffering from the oppressive Dark Side influence emanating from the temple. The possessed Imperials killed the team and took the relics to the temple grounds. When the four Imperial heroes encountered Lothar outside the Kaas City expansion district, he reported his team as days overdue and solicited their aid in locating the team, retrieving the relics, and delivering them to the Sith Lord Duen, overseer of the nearby Outpost Warden. The heroes entered the cavern and battling through possessed Imperials and Sith, discovered a holopad revealing the archaeological team's fate. Proceeding to the Dark Temple grounds, the heroes defeated multiple possessed and delusional Imperials and Sith, including Reclamation Service foremen and archaeologists, recovering the relics in their possession and delivering them to Lord Duen who quarantined them for further study.
Meanwhile, operating from Outpost Warden, Captain Fizik of the Imperial Military had dispatched three expeditions, mostly comprised of slaves, to enter the Dark Temple to collect data on an increase in seismic activity in the area but none returned. When the Imperial heroes entered the temple and proceeded to the last known coordinates of the last expedition, they encountered a slave named Dorian who had been intermittently possessed by the spirit of long dead Sith Lord Nil Venerous. The heroes struck a bargain with the slave whereby they would recover stone tablets bearing Venerous' mark in exchange for the data sought by the Empire. The tablets Dorian desired had been stolen by other Imperials and Sith in the temple possessed by the spirits of Venerous' enemies who the heroes were compelled to kill to obtain the tablets. This included possessed Reclamation Service explorers.
During this same incursion into the temple, the Imperial heroes accepted a mission from Sith Lord Alaric to recover a plasma torch in the temple and seal three tombs of buried dead Sith Lords within. While securing the Sith Lords' chambers, the heroes defeated nearly forty insane Imperials and Sith that had already escaped the temple. This included possessed Reclamation Service foremen, archaeologists, and explorers.
While completing other missions in the temple, the Imperial heroes encountered another possessed slave calling himself "Lord Pharshol." Pharshol sent the heroes to search the temple for his apprentice, Anyarah, and send her back to him. He claimed she had been led away by his rivals in the Dark Path. The heroes discovered Anyarah on the temple's second level in the Unquiet Chamber. To get to her, the heroes were compelled to defeat around ten Sith and Reclamation Service explorers possessed by Dark Path adepts and assassins.
====Nar Shaddaa: Infinite Engine discovery====
Centuries prior, Darth Revan constructed a complex on Nar Shaddaa and sealed a mysterious device and many alien slaves inside. No one entered or exited the facility since that time on account of its fortifications which included self-repairing automated defense turrets and a seemingly endless supply of assassin droids. As early as 3653 BBY, the Sith Empire attempted to breach the complex but failed repeatedly, losing over 1,000 men and 10,000 probe droids. Finally, around 3643 BBY, the Sith Emperor assigned Reclamation Service General Kolvin as mission leader of the Imperial Special Ops Center in Nar Shaddaa's Upper Industrial Sector near Revan's complex and ordered him to unlock its secrets. Kolvin discovered that three reactors in the sector operated by factions hostile to the Empire powered the complex's defenses. He recruited the four Imperial heroes as a special strike team to assault and shut down the reactors to significantly mitigate the risk of accessing Revan's complex.
While disabling the reactors, the strike team defeated members of each enemy faction protecting them, including around ten members of the Exchange, five Hutt Cartel droids, and ten Republic Special Forces soldiers.
 
After successfully shutting down the reactors and disabling the complex's defenses, the strike team reported back to Gen. Kolvin who sent the team to investigate Revan's complex. Though most of the facility's defenses were disabled following the shutdown of the reactors, numerous droids still patrolled the complex. Upon entering the facility, the strike team destroyed at least fifteen of the droids to pave the way for the Empire to secure the facility. While investigating the facility, the strike team discovered three recordings produced over the previous centuries by Revan's alien slaves as well as Revan's own journal which revealed clues about the mysterious device contained in the complex and its history and that of the slaves. The team finally encountered Ongree slaves protecting Revan's device. One of the aliens, Azraj-Nug approached the team and revealed that the descendants of Revan's slaves still lived and nurtured the mysterious object known as the Infinite Engine, a relic associated with the Rakatan Star Forge. The team defeated the handful of slaves and delivered the Infinite Engine to Gen. Kolvin who arranged for its transportation to Dromund Kaas for further study.
====Tatooine====
=====Main expedition=====
Around this time, the Empire discovered a damaged shuttle in deep space originating from a Czerka Corporation base on Tatooine. Czerka claimed to possess powerful local artifacts. The base disappeared shortly after the shuttle launch and Czerka never returned. Sith Lord Darth Silthar and Reclamation Service Captain Barden Golah led an expedition to Tatooine to discover the base and the artifacts contained within. The Imperial military occupied the Tatooinian settlement of Mos Ila and used the city as the expedition's base of operations.
The expedition dispatched the Imperial heroes to a Sons of Palawa settlement near the city to obtain the verbobrains of experimental battle droids believed to be of Czerka origin to help discover the location of the Czerka base. The heroes then took the verbobrains to a local Jawa camp, whom the expedition had learned had traded the droids to the Sons, and obtained a Czerka lockbox containing an unknown device from them. Next, the heroes followed Silthar into Sand People territory, discovering him fatally wounded in a cave, but having successfully discerned the general location of the Czerka base in the Dune Sea. An accident while analyzing the Czerka device obtained from the Jawas caused an outbreak in a nearby Palawa village which was contained before the expedition continued. Cpt. Golah dispatched the heroes to the Dune Sea to discover evidence of Czerka's presence, and they eventually discovered the base.
=====Other missions=====
In Imperial-occupied Mos Ila, Exchange smugglers were stealing Imperial explosives and selling them to the Republic. Reclamation Service Lieutenant Trason enlisted the assistance of the four Imperial heroes to recover the stolen explosive chemical compounds and break up the criminal smuggling ring in the city. The heroes obtained a signaling device used to alert the smugglers off an Exchange criminal and activated it at the gang's warehouse in the city and ambushed Exchange forces. The heroes destroyed ten Exchange security droids in the warehouse as well to further disrupt their operations.
The Reclamation Service unearthed an abandoned Czerka compound near the settlement of Mos Anek which a band of Jawas entered and stole all the old droids contained therein. The droids activated and began occupying the area around the Jawas' sandcrawler. Reclamation Service Lieutenant Whist observed the droids' behavior developing. He enlisted the aid of the Imperial heroes as they passed through the settlement to destroy some of the droids and scan their memory cores to secure their technology for the Empire.
In the Dune Sea, Reclamation Service officer Vengo and his men were escorting prison laborers to a Czerka dig site when they were ambushed by Jedi-led Republic forces who freed the prisoners. The prisoners were Republic officers detained illegally under the terms of the Treaty of Coruscant. Vengo overloaded the prisoners' shock collars which severely injured them and forced them to take shelter around the wreckage of the Tarsis'Krall. The Imperial heroes were recruited by Vengo to track and kill the escaped prisoners and their Jedi rescuers.
Following the success of the Reclamation Service's expedition on the planet, the Imperial heroes were recruited by Moff Merile Yurrion, Imperial governor of the Arkanis sector, to help secure Tatooine as an Imperial stronghold in the region. In the final part of that campaign, the heroes took on a mission from Reclamation Service Captain Tremont to displace the Exchange from an abandoned Reclamation Service base they converted into an ammunition stockyard in the Jundland Wastes. At the abandoned base, the heroes discovered a survivor from one of the previous Imperial Special Forces teams dispatched to destroy the Exchange's ammo stockpiles and obtained his explosives, using them to destroy the stockpiles. To strike a crippling blow to the Exchange, the heroes defeated over thirty Exchange members and droids at the base, destroyed several of their weapons caches, and killed the local Exchange division commander, retrieving the Exchange's shipping records from his body detailing weapons and ammo shipments the Exchange brought through Tatooine and delivering them to Imperial authorities.
While in the abandoned Reclamation Service base the heroes also destroyed a stockpile of spice the Exchange was selling to Imperial troops and destroyed their anti-aircraft defenses to allow Imperial reinforcements to seize their shipping warehouse. The Exchange had also seized several satellite uplink towers in the base they were using to slice Imperial databases. Reclamation Service Ensign Rosha solicited the aid of the Imperial heroes to acquire satellite uplink access codes from Exchange personnel and sabotage the links. A tracer planted by the heroes revealed that the Hutt's were paying for information on the Imperials collected by the Exchange.
Near the abandoned Service base were ruins Reclamation Service Lieutenant Berrig and his team were assigned to research but they were driven out of the area by Republic archaeologists and their Republic Special Forces escort who sought to excavate the same site. Berrig enlisted the aid of the Imperial heroes to defeat several of the Republic archaeologists and their armed escort to clear the area so his team could resume their work.
====Balmorra====
During the Galactic Republic's final push of support to the resistance on Balmorra in 3642 BBY, the occupying Imperial force shot down the Corvani, piloted by freelance smuggler Ari Skyff who was delivering weapons and medical supplies to the Republic. Skyff convinced four Republic heroes to travel to the Corvani's crash site in the Gorinth Canyon where they retrieved the supplies from encroaching Imperial salvage teams led by Reclamation Service officers. The heroes defeated several Reclamation Service officers and their salvage droids while recovering the supplies.
====The Foundry====
During the Battle of the Foundry, as the four Imperial heroes progressed through the facility, they retrieved data from numerous ancient terminals to provide Reclamation Service officers with insights into the facility's secrets. The Reclamation Service believed the Foundry used a network of tractor beams to retrieve and break down nearby asteroids to provide raw materials for its endless mass production.
====Hoth====
=====Kallig's expedition=====
Around 3641 BBY, service Lt. Talos Drellik commanded a team on the ice planet Hoth in search of a mythical Sadow'een temple. The Sith Lord Kallig arrived on the planet pursuing rumors of the presence of a Force ghost and assumed command of Drellik's team to aid in the search.
Drellik and his team successfully aided Kallig in discerning the location of the Sith temple they had originally been searching for and which Kallig's sought-after Force ghost directed them to in order to desecrate its contents in exchange for the ghost's aid. The mission concluded in the successful discovery of the temple and the recovery of the ancient ghost's sarcophagus.
=====Starship Graveyard missions=====
Around this time, the Empire had been trying for months to lure the Jedi on the planet into a fight without success. Finally, several Jedi masters were spotted leading a detachment of Republic commandos to a site at the north end of the Star of Coruscant. From Frostwake Outpost, Chiss Expansionary Defense Force Captain Vujaar, assigned to the Reclamation Service, enlisted the four Imperial heroes to go to the Jedi encampment and recover whatever they found. The heroes defeated numerous Jedi and Republic assault troopers and recovered several Sith artifacts. Returning the relics to Vujaar, the Chiss officer identified the relics as associated with the Sadow'een and suggested they provided the locations of several Sadow'een temples across the galaxy.
In the Starship Graveyard, White Maw pirates scavenged cargo manifests from crashed ships to gather information on their cargo. As this information was of great value to Reclamation Service excavation teams, the four Imperial heroes defeated numerous White Maw forces in the area, looted their encrypted datapads and a decryption key from their keyholder, and passed these materials on to Imperial Intelligence for decryption so the data could be forwarded to the Service.
As part of the Empire's final push to displace the White Maw from the planet, the four Imperial heroes investigated a pirate hideout called Loramarr where they discovered a battle droid neural chipset, presumably designed by the inventor Loramarr. Admiral Holtz and Fixer 308 alerted the Reclamation Service to the area after it had been cleared to see if anything else might be discovered.
===Galactic War===
====Auselio Gann's last expedition====
Doctor Auselio Gann, regarded as the Empire's premier scholar on Naga Sadow, met his pupil, Lt. Drellik, on Nar Shaddaa just prior to the latter's departure for the expedition to Hoth. Gann informed Drellik he was departing to Malachor III and gave Drellik a medallion before leaving.
The medallion's outer layer responded to heat that melted away revealing a heat-resistant casing containing a datachip. The chip contained information revealing Gann was searching the tomb of Vaius Antinus on Alderaan.
The medallion came with a newer chain which contained a holofrequency with which Gann recorded a message for Drellik. In the message, Gann revealed that after visiting Antinus' tomb, he travelled to Aduba-6 to the tomb of Antinus' apprentice where he found both Sith and Jedi pursuing the tomb's secrets. In an attempt to preserve the history contained in the tomb, Gann used the tomb's traps against both Sith and Jedi but trapped himself in the prison where he died. Drellik discovered Gann's hidden message on the medallion shortly after joining Lord Kallig's crew, and pursued Gann to Aduba-6.
====Belsavis====
During the Imperial invasion of the Republic prison planet Belsavis around 3641 BBY, Reclamation Service special consultant Cpt. Konya Suladi led a team in the planet's Maximum Security Section that translated Rakatan writings referencing a planetary transportation system. They were ordered by Imperial Guard Commander Calum, the leader of the invasion, to get the system operational for Imperial military use in order to bypass Republic defenses. The writings referenced a nearby central transport hub, but none of the personnel Suladi dispatched to find it ever returned. Finally, Suladi solicited the aid of the four Imperial heroes to take a scanner to scan the transport device at the transport center in the Outer Wastes. The heroes successfully scanned the device and returned to Suladi who studied the findings and made the transport network available for Imperial deployment into the Tomb.
Following the successful release of the Dread Masters from captivity in the Republic prison, Imperial Guard Commander Vorel led an effort to claim Rakatan technology on the planet for duplication as a research space station. Vorel dismissed using the Reclamation Service to collect the technology, claiming the mission demanded the best and the Service was unqualified to lead the effort. The four Imperial heroes were recruited to spearhead the initiative, and after the Domination Experiments were brought under Imperial control Vorel's strike team used the previously unlocked Rakatan planetary teleporters to advance into the Tomb to prepare the desired Rakatan tech for extraction. Reclamation Service science officer Specialist Nattis of Vorel's strike team observed that released Esh-kha warriors in the area seemed to be testing advanced alien weapons in their engagements with Imperial forces. The weapons afforded the Esh-kha a considerable technological advantage over Imperial forces which threatened to repel the Empire from the planet. The Imperial heroes proceeded to the nearby weapons vault where the Esh-kha obtained the weapons and seized two dozen of the advanced blasters while defeating over a dozen Esh-kha warriors. The heroes delivered the weapons samples to Nattis who analyzed them to develop a defense against against the new technology.
In the High Security Section of the prison, Reclamation Service Major Gart Charkron and his team excavated a tunnel in a vault housing an ancient Rakatan device of unknown purpose at least 10,000 years old they designated the "Wraith Box" after an old Sith legend. The device, which carvings in the tunnel claimed granted great power, disintegrated three of Charkron's team members before he enlisted the assistance of the Imperial heroes to gather some key components to the device looted by loose prisoner and assemble the device. The device activated briefly after the heroes reassembled it. They delivered it to Charkron who took it to Dromund Kaas for study.
====Voss====
On Voss, Reclamation Service Sergeant Darrst and his team discovered Jedi statues in local ruins indicating an ancient link between the Jedi and the native Voss population. Concerned that a genuine link between the two groups might might make the Voss, whose favor the Empire sought, sympathetic to a Republic alliance, Darrst solicited the aid of the four Imperial heroes to examine the statues so their authenticity could be verified and to clear the area where the statues were located in Serenity Valley in the Old Paths of the Gormak presence to allow for follow-up surveys. After the heroes collected data confirming the authenticity of the statues and defeating over a dozen Gormak fighters in the area, Darrst planned to instigate the destruction of the statues masked as a groundquake to prevent the Voss from discovering their historical association with the Jedi.
After completing several missions to win the favor of the Voss leaders, the Empire refocused its efforts on the planet to suppressing a rising insurgency in the Pelath-Ri Marches led by the Gormak chieftain Raklann. The Imperial heroes were directed to Sith Lord Pallas who instructed the heroes to retrieve Sith artifacts looted by Gormak raiders and assault a Republic archaeological dig. With the ruins secured, reclamation teams moved in to conduct proper surveys.
====Corellia====
Around this time, an ongoing feud between Darth Thanaton, the Dark Council member for ancient knowledge and his rival, Lord Kallig, culminated in Thanaton's declaration of a kaggath and the designation of Corellia, then the site of an ongoing battle between the Empire and Republic, as the battleground. At the conclusion of the conflict, Thanaton invited numerous senior Sith and Imperials on the planet to an audience chamber in Coronet City's government district to witness in person his anticipated victory in a final duel against Kallig. Reclamation Service officials were among the dignitaries present to witness Kallig's defeat of Thanaton and the Dark Councilor's retreat from the battlefield.
====Ilum====
Reclamation Service forces accompanied an Imperial invasion force to Ilum during Operation Dark Ice, the Empire's effort to harvest adegan crystals for use in developing a stealth fleet. Service personnel directly assisted the mission by serving as mine workers operating deep-miners and other equipment in several crystal mines in the Eastern Ice Shelf. Many of these Service personnel were defeated by Republic heroes as they secured the caves.
A sizable Reclamation Service force was gathered along the Road to Glory near the planet's Jedi temple where a Republic pilot was shot down.
Following the defeat of Darth Malgus' failed rebellion, signaled by the self-destruction of the Emperor's space station, the Reclamation Service combed the wreckage for valuable items or information. The space station possessed a considerable amount of ancient technology, including from Gree and Rakata sources.
====Belsavis: Eternity Vault discovery====
Around this time, an Imperial bombing run on Belsavis uncovered a new section of the planet's ancient prison called the Eternity Vault by the Rakata who built it. The section had been sealed for 20,000 years and contained no exit to the planet's surface. It's principal prisoner was an ancient Rakatan warlord known as the Infernal One who was locked away by the Rakata along with his most powerful followers and weapons. To confront this galactic threat and prevent the Infernal One from escaping the prison, Gen. Threnoldt, the commander of the Reclamation Service, recruited a strike team to deploy to Belsavis and defeat the ancient warlord. Once the Infernal One's demise was secured, Threnoldt arranged for the deployment of additional forces to study the vault and its contents.
====Asation====
In 3639 BBY, the Gree planet Asation was attacked by Dread Host forces who opened the planet's hypergate to allow monstrosities through to wreak havoc on the galaxy. Seeking aid, Gree emissaries met with both Republic and Imperial officials to combat the threat on their planet. Administrator General Lalat'k met with representatives from the Sith Empire, signifying the first contact between the two civilizations. After Darth Marr and the Imperial Diplomatic Service gave approval for talks to commence, Reclamation Service Colonel Jadick was brought in as a translator. Jadick recruited a strike team to deploy to Asation to contain and eliminate the threat with the prospect of an Imperial-Gree Enclave alliance if the mission succeeded.
After a successful assault on Asation's hypergate, Lalat'k proposed the Empire commit military forces to Gree space to enforce his rule as a dictator in the Enclave in exchange for allowing the Reclamation Service, which he referred to in his own language as the "Empire researcher caste," access to Gree technology. Darth Nox, formerly Lord Kallig and the recently ascended head of the Sith Order's Sphere of Ancient Knowledge since the fall of Darth Thanaton, agreed to the terms and promised to commit forces to the endeavor. The Dark Councilor ordered Jadick to organize a team and deploy to Asation to undertake a study of the Gree technology.
====Seline====
A few months later, Imperial and Republic forces engaged one another on the planet Seline seeking control of the local Gree hypergate. Reclamation Service officers were present to advise Imperial forces on the capabilities and dangers of the hypergate. Sometime later, they replicated the Seline ruins as a scenario for combat training.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Update 1.6 "Ancient Hypergate"
====Makeb====
The following year, Darth Marr recruited the Imperial heroes to secure a valuable substance called isotope-5 on Makeb which was needed to bolster the Empire's defenses. Reclamation Service personnel were present at the Imperial space station orbiting the planet and the abandoned drill site observation ring above one of the planet's mining mesas where Marr's strike team established its second base of operations.
====Rishi====
In 3637 BBY, Talos Drellik accompanied Darth Nox to a meeting with the Sith Lord Veijel of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge on the planet Rishi. Veijel had been conducting research on the planet for the previous three decades and eventually established contact with presumed inhabitants of the nearby Rishi Maze. The communications included instructions for modifying Veijel's communications arrays, which he followed and later reached out to Darth Nox to examine the machines. Drellik advised Darth Nox to act cautiously regarding Veijel's discovery.
====Yavin 4====
Toward the conclusion of the Revanite crisis a short time later, Imperial and Republic heroes accomplished several missions on Yavin 4 to secure a path to the Temple of Sacrifice and achieve greater cooperation and trust among the temporarily aligned Imperial and Republic forces operating on the moon. Among the missions the heroes accepted was a charge from Reclamation Service Lt. Sabri, the only Service member authorized to be on the moon during ongoing operations against the Revanites, to recover several Sith relics in the ruins around the temple to ensure their preservation. The heroes defeated over a dozen Massassi warriors while securing the relics and after delivering them to Sabri, she ensured they would be studied and delivered to Darth Nox's vaults and that further archaeological pursuits would follow after the Revanite threat was suppressed.
===War against Zakuul===
After the disappearance of his master, Darth Nox, at the start of the Eternal Empire's galactic conquest around 3636 BBY, now Doctor Talos Drellik was ordered by the Dark Council to return to the service to lead an expedition to Yavin 4. Drellik's mission was to study the Temple of Sacrifice's mechanisms which he theorized may have shared traits with other technology constructed by the Sith Emperor, principally that associated with the Eternal Empire. Shortly after the Alliance against the Eternal Empire was founded five years later, the Alliance Commander traveled to Yavin 4 to recruit Drellik after assisting him in recovering several artifacts across the moon.
Drellik's team remained on Yavin 4 under the direction of Dr. Narissa Delau but did not make much progress until the discovery of another artifact several months later. At the request of Drellik, the Alliance Commander returned to Yavin 4 and resumed the archaeological investigation, encountering the Dashade Shadow Killer Ak'ghal Usar held in stasis prison.
===Third Galactic War===
Another outcome of the Battle of Corellia was the disappearance of Darth Malgus. Malgus suffered severe injuries in the assault on the Meridian Complex that warranted immediate medical attention, but after he removed physical loyalty safeguards from his body, he stole an Imperial medical droid and shuttle and abandoned the Empire.
Sometime later, Sith Intelligence intercepted a Jedi transmission revealing Malgus had entered the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. The Reclamation Service proposed deploying a full excavation unit to investigate the ruins and detain Malgus. The Imperial team was led by the since promoted Col. Barden Golah. Golah's forces engaged a small strike team from Task Force Nova in the enclave ruins but Golah escaped after learning new information about Malgus' intentions.
A few months later, Golah updated leaders in the Hand of the Empire on progress in the hunt for Malgus. Golah's team learned that a relic stolen by Malgus in the Dantooine Enclave had an association with an ancient Sith named Darth Nul.
==Members==
The Reclamation Service's ranks were comprised of a mix of archaeologists and scholars working with experienced officers given a crash course in history. Most of the service's members were Humans but the organization also included some Chiss. Professions in the service included archaeologists, researchers, research assistants, directors, commanders, explorers, foremen, guards, engineers, scholars, special consultants, overseers, pilots, and enforcers.
===Threnoldt===
Gen. Threnoldt was the commander of the Reclamation Service at least from the time between the Eternity Vault and Asation crises. As head of the Service, he had been well acquainted with Darth Thanaton, the Dark Council member for ancient knowledge, who oversaw the unit's activities. Threnoldt coordinated the Empire's response to the discovery of deadly threats in Belsavis's Eternity Vault in the first year of the Galactic War and recruited the Imperial strike team that eliminated the danger. When the Empire made its first contact with the Gree Enclave, the general reported on the matter directly to the Dark Council.
===Talos Drellik===
Born to a prestigious Imperial military family, Drellik enjoyed a reputation as an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and skilled archaeologist among his peers. His first discovery was the tooth of a 4,000 year old tamed proto-rancor. The discovery brought him to the attention of prominent Imperial scholar Dr. Auselio Gann, who took him on as a pupil. From that point, Drellik was largely engaged in researching and excavating artifacts associated with the Sith. In the last year of the Cold War, he supervised a Reclamation Service expedition to Hoth in search of a Sith temple later revealed to be associated with the mysterious Sadow'een. It was on that mission that he first met and later entered the direct service of the Sith Lord Kallig who later became Darth Nox and the Dark Council member for ancient knowledge. While a member of Kallig's power base, he departed in search of Dr. Gann, his former mentor, and discovered the Sith genealogical records of Vaius Antinus. After Kallig defeated Darth Thanaton and ascended to the Dark Council, Drellik adopted an old custom and pledged himself and his family to the Sith Lord and the Sith's family as loyal vassals. Sometime after Nox's disappearance during the Eternal Empire's conquest, Drellik wrote his doctoral thesis on the Dashade species which earned him the title "Doctor." With the disappearance of his master, Drellik was ordered by the Dark Council to return to the Reclamation Service and lead an expedition to Yavin 4. From there he joined the Alliance in the war against Zakuul until later returning to the Empire. He deployed to Elom following Darth Malgus' capture to study local Sith ruins snd artifacts in an attempt to discern Malgus' interest in them.
===Auselio Gann===
At the time of his death around the start of the Galactic War, Dr. Gann was regarded as the Reclamation Service's premier scholar on Naga Sadow. During his career, he discovered the wing of Sadow's personal starfighter on Yavin 4. Gann took Talos Drellik on as a pupil and mentored him in the history of the Sith. He perished in a Sith tomb on Aduba-6 where he was caught between Sith and Jedi seeking the tomb's secrets.
===Barden Golah===
Barden Golah was an experienced Reclamation Service commander who, during the Cold War, led archaeological expeditions to Ziost, Malachor II, Nim Drovis, and Tatooine. Golah ran the day-to-day operations of the Tatooine expedition until Darth Silthar's death, after which he took charge of the team and led it until the discovery of the Imprisoned One. He was later promoted to colonel and led a Reclamation Service unit to Dantooine in an effort to apprehend the rogue Darth Malgus.
==Behind the scenes==
The Imperial Reclamation Service first appeared in the BioWare-LucasArts video game Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2011. Imperial player characters first encounter the Service on Dromund Kaas, the Imperial faction capital planet, in the mission Into the Maw, though the organization is not explicitly identified by name until the mission The Accursed, also on Dromund Kaas. The organization appears intermittently throughout the game with varying degrees of emphasis, from minor world missions to full planetary story arcs. Several game updates and expansions have included brief appearances of the Service.
===Alternate stories===
In Gen. Kolvin's mission to obtain the Infinite Engine on Nar Shaddaa, the four Imperial player characters have the Light side option to accept the Ongree servants' proposal to take a small "seed" from the engine as opposed to the device itself. The Ongree servant Azraj-Nug informs the characters that the seed will take a long time to grow and they later take the engine deeper into Revan's complex for safekeeping. Gen. Kolvin expresses dissatisfaction at this outcome.
At the conclusion of the Imperial Tatooine planetary story arc, after initially defeating the Imprisoned One's ambush, Imperial characters may select the Light side option to destroy the Rakatan mind prison to contain the danger posed by the ancient intelligence. This deprives Imperial archaeologists and scientists of the ability to interact with and learn from the Imprisoned One.
When Lalat'k makes his proposal to the Empire to prop him up as a dictator in the Gree Enclave in exchange for information on their technology, Imperial player characters choose the Light side option and reject the proposal. For the Sith Inquisitor character, this deprives Col. Jadick of the opportunity to lead a Reclamation Service team to Asation to study Gree tech.
All eight player character classes have the option to complete or ignore the Fighting Power With Knowledge Alliance Alert that grants Talos Drellik as a companion. Players also have the option of rejecting Talos as a companion. Completing the alert is required to gain access to the Reclaimed Treasure alert which affords all character classes the chance to recruit Ak'ghal Usar. Usar may be rejected as a companion as well.
At the conclusion of the Onslaught expansion, the Sith Inquisitor player character may choose the "loyalist" option to rejoin the Sith Empire for which the character's previous Sith titles and possessions as a Dark Council member are promised to be restored, or choose to keep the Alliance independent of the Empire. If the loyalist option is selected, in Game Update 6.1 "Pinnacles of Power," the Sith Inquisitor is informed that the Reclamation Service and other assets have been transferred to the direct control of the Hand of the Empire. Even in the absence of selecting the Sith Inquisitor loyalist option, the Reclamation Service is seen working closely with the Hand in future updates.
Republic player characters playing through the Secrets of the Enclave flashpoint encounter a sizable Imperial military force in the Dantooine Jedi Enclave led by Col. Golah who is also the final boss of the encounter. Playing the same flashpoint as an Imperial character, a large Republic military force is encountered instead, implying that Col. Golah and the Reclamation Service may not have deployed to Dantooine in the Imperial arc. Dialogue between the Imperial player characters and Col. Golah in Game Update 6.3.1 further seems to imply that in the Imperial story arc, Golah and the Service did not investigate the Dantooine enclave in place of the player character, Darth Rivix, and Darth Krovos.
In the Legacy of the Sith expansion, at the conclusion of the Ruins of Nul flashpoint for either faction, Darth Malgus is captured on Elom and a salvage team from the respective faction deploys to the planet to undertake a study of Darth Nul's temple and its artifacts to uncover the mystery of Darth Nul and discern Malgus' interest in the site. For Imperial player characters, this is done by a Reclamation Service team. In Game Update 7.1 "Digging Deeper," characters from both factions return to the planet for an update on the excavation's findings. For Imperial characters, Dr. Talos Drellik and Col. Golah joined the team and were present when the connection between Darth Nul and the Children of the Emperor was revealed.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: The Old Republic 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Onslaught
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith
==Sources==
*Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
==Notes and references==