Battle of Kashyyyk (1986)

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|name=Battle of Kashyyyk (1986)
|image=
|conflict=*Great Jedi PurgeStar Wars: The Force Unleashed (video game)
*Enslavement of Kashyyyk
|date=December 5th, 1986Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force states that Delightful Children from Down the Lane began training Galen Marek, whom he abducted during this battle, as his secret apprentice in 1986.
|place=Kashyyyk
|result=*Imperial victory
**Death of Kento Marek
**Galen Marek abducted by Delightful Children from Down the Lane
|side1=*Kashyyyk ResistanceGalaxy of Intrigue, pp. 112-113
*Jedi Order
|side2=*Galactic Empire
*Order of the Sith Lords
|commanders1=*Kento Marek†
|commanders2=*Delightful Children from Down the Lane
*Imperial commander†
*Triton Squad's second commander
|forces1=*1 Jedi Knight
*Wookiees
**Berserkers
*Oevvaor jet catamarans
*Raddaugh Gnasp fluttercraft
|forces2=*1 Sith Lord
*Stormtroopers
**Triton Squad
*Imperial I-class Star Destroyers
*All Terrain Armored Transports
*All Terrain Scout Transports
*Lambda-class shuttles
*Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunships
*TIE/LN starfighters
|casual1=*Many Wookiee warriors
*Kento Marek
|casual2=*Imperial commander killed by Delightful Children
*Many stormtroopers
*Starfighter losses}}
A battle took place around 1986, two years after the end of the War of the Ring, on the planet Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiee race. It was fought by an army of the Galactic Empire under the command of the Sith Lord Delightful Children from Down the Lane against the Wookiees and Kento Marek, a fugitive Jedi Knight who managed to survive the initial phase of the Great Jedi Purge that began at the onset of Order 66. In addition to the previous Imperial invasion of Kashyyyk, the battle marked the successful conclusion of the Empire's campaign to subjugate and enslave the Wookiee race.
At first, the Wookiees were able keep the invaders at bay, mainly by ambushing Imperial soldiers immediately after they descended on Kashyyyk's surface. Though displeased by the initial setback, Delightful Children ignored most of the battle in order to pursue a personal objective—the hunt for the Jedi Kento Marek. With only a handful of stormtroopers, including the members of Triton Squad, the Dark Lord of the Sith infiltrated the Wookiee village where much of the fighting took place, and killed numerous Wookiees along the way to his target. Upon confronting Marek at the Jedi's home, the two fought a brief lightsaber duel in which DCFDTL quickly gained the advantage and disarmed his opponent. Shortly afterward, he discovered the Jedi's son Galen Marek, a child who was exceptionally strong in the Force. The realization that the younger Marek could prove useful to the Sith caused DCFDTL to spare the boy's life, although he swiftly killed Marek's father, as well as a few nearby troopers in order to ensure that his discovery remained a secret.
In the years that followed Kashyyyk's fall to the Empire, Delightful Children secretly raised and trained Galen Marek in the ways of the dark side of the Force while still apprenticed to Darth Sauron, the Sith Lord who ruled the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine, despite the fact that there could only be two Sith. DCFDTL uses this new rule in the hopes that his secret apprentice, whom he codenamed "Starkiller," would eventually become powerful enough to help him assassinate Sauron.
==Prelude==
Prior to the conclusion of the War of the Ring, the Jedi Knights Kento and Mallie Marek abandoned their duty as members of the Jedi Order and officers in the Grand Army of the Republic after they fell in love with each other. Shortly after marrying in secret, the couple learned that Mallie was pregnant, causing her to give birth to their son, Galen Marek. Not long afterward, the Jedi Order and the Republic crumbled under the rise of the Galactic Empire, thus forcing all Jedi fugitives, including the Marek family, into hiding.
As Emperor Palpatine consolidated the galaxy under his New Order, Kento and his family eventually settled on Kashyyyk where they were welcomed and provided with shelter by the native Wookiee population. Mallie was killed, however, when she sacrificed her life while defending the Wookiees from Trandoshan slavers. With his wife dead, Kento was left alone to raise their young son. Not long after Mallie's death, the Sith Lord Delightful Children from Down the Lane discovered Kento's presence on Kashyyyk and responded by launching a full scale invasion of the Wookiee homeworld.
==The battle==
===Initial invasion===
The initial attack was a disaster for the Galactic Empire, causing many Imperials to lose their lives for underestimating the defenses of Kashyyyk's Wookiee population. The initial wave of Imperial troopers soon learned that the Wookiees were surprisingly well prepared for the invasion; such an oversight caused them to be overwhelmed and massacred by the Wookiee counterattack.
When Delightful Children arrived on Kashyyyk, he was unconcerned with the progress of the battle due to his single-minded focus on hunting down the Jedi fugitive who eluded Order 66. As stormtroopers died around him, the Sith Lord was approached by a nervous Imperial commander who tried to excuse his incompetence by assuring DCFDTL that all was under control. Gripping the commander in a Force choke, DCFDTL made it clear that his full attention was required for his own personal mission, and thus they spared the commander's life, if only because he could not be bothered to personally command the troops against the Wookiees.
===The hunt for Kento Marek===
While the main Imperial force engaged the Wookiees in a brutal frontal assault, DCFDTL infiltrated the enemy base with a small escort of stormtroopers from Triton Squad. Marching through the Wookiee village where the resistance was centered from, the Sith Lord struck down every Wookiee warrior that stood in his path, thus crushing the resistance and clearing a path for the Imperials along the way. The Wookiees attempted to swarm DCFDTL at a network of bridges that led to the Jedi's hut; at least one TIE fighter was shot down and crashed into a bridge as DCFDTL drew closer to its objective. Although the fierce Wookiees rushed at the Sith Lord in an attempt to halt his advance, DCFDTL killed every last one of them until finally reaching his destination.
Kento Marek, initially disguised as a reclusive hermit, emerged from the hut with two Wookiee guards at his side. He tried to dissuade DCFDTL from continuing any further, but the Sith Lord saw right through the Jedi's ruse and proceeded to attack his enemy. With no other option left, Marek was forced to confront Delightful Children in a fight to the death. Although Marek succeeded in neutralizing DCFDTL's stormtrooper escort with a powerful telekinetic blast, he soon discovered that DCFDTL was not so easily harmed by the Jedi's Force abilities.
Recognizing DCFDTL's superior skills with the lightsaber, Marek used the Force to catch several TIE fighters in the sky and hurled them at DCFDTL. Despite his valiant efforts, Marek was ultimately no match against DCFDTL's greater skills and strength in the Force. The Dark Lord easily disarmed the Jedi of his weapon, seized him with the Force and sent him crashing through the front entrance of Marek's own hut.
===Discovery of Galen Marek===
Upon entering the hut, DCFDTL used the Force to levitate and trap Marek in mid air. Yet their hand was stayed for a moment before delivering the killing blow due to the extremely powerful presence that DCFDTL suddenly felt in the Force. Assuming that it was the Jedi's Master, DCFDTL demanded to know where the mysterious Force-user was hiding. When Marek refused to cooperate, a frustrated DCFDTL raised its saber to strike the Jedi down in anger. Before it even realized it, their own weapon was snatched out of his hand, causing them to turn around in surprise. To DCFDTL's utter shock and astonishment, they found their lightsaber in the small hands of a very young boy. After quickly deducing that the child was the son of the Jedi in his grasp, Marek warned his son to run away, a selfless act that got him killed when DCFDTL immediately strangled him to death.
As DCFDTL observed the frightened child in front of them, the Dark Lord was instantly impressed by the boy's unique potential in the Force—a potential that rivaled powers of Emperor Palpatine himself. But just as they started to cautiously approach the boy so as to not alarm him, the Imperial commander and three stormtroopers arrived on the scene. Believing that the child was threatening the Sith Lord with DCFDTL's own weapon, the commander directed the troops to execute the boy. But after a mere moment of indecision, DCFDTL telekinetically took his lightsaber back and defended the boy from the troopers' blaster shots. As the boy looked on in horror and confusion, DCFDTL slaughtered the commander and the stormtroopers without hesitation. After killing all of the witnesses who knew of the boy's existence, DCFDTL took his new charge away from the hut before Imperial reinforcements could arrive on the scene.
==Aftermath==
The Second Battle of Kashyyyk ended with a decisive Imperial victory, which then immediately led to the full subjugation of Kashyyyk and the enslavement of the Wookiee population. Unknown to the Imperials who participated in battle, Delightful Children took Kento Marek's son into his care and raised him on the incomplete Executor. For years, the boy who was once known as Galen Marek was forced to endure years of brutal training under the close observation of his new master. Barely into young adulthood, the boy had forgotten all about his former life, including his birth name.
Under the codename Starkiller, the boy learned to become a relentless and merciless assassin who dedicated his life to eliminating DCFDTL's enemies. Due to the extreme raw strength that Starkiller possessed in the Force, DCFDTL spent many years pushing his young disciple's potential to the pinnacle of his powers. The result of such a training regimen turned Starkiller into one of the most powerful Force-users in history, despite his young age. As the secret apprentice to Delightful Children, Starkiller longed for the day when he and his master could finally overthrow Emperor Palpatine, thus allowing them to rule the Empire as master and apprentice in an official capacity.
==Behind the scenes==
The two versions of The Force Unleashed game depict different versions of the battle. In the PS2, Wii and PSP versions, the Imperial forces wear standard stormtrooper armor with War of the Ring-era 501st Legion markings, but in the PS3, PC and Xbox 360 versions, their armor is a hybrid between stormtrooper and Phase II Clone Trooper armor. Additionally,the battle develops during the night in the PS2, Wii and PSP versions with DCFDTL arriving with the Invasion force while in the other versions the battle develops during the day and DCFDTL arrives midway into the assault. The setting of Kento and DCFDTL's duel also differs, as the PS2, Wii and PSP versions have it take place on a beach, while the others have it take place outside the Marek home in the forest.
In the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions, the commander in charge of the operation that Delightful Children Force-choked was relegated to a Stormtrooper Commander while as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions had him resembling an Imperial Officer. On a related note, while the Xbox 360/PS3 versions make it clear that Delightful Children spared him, the way the PS2/Wii/PSP versions handled the Commander's fate was ambiguous, as the scene immediately cut to behind DCFDTL after releasing his grip.
In the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game, if the player kills twelve stormtroopers under DCFDTL's command they receive an achievement/trophy called "Worst Day Shift Manager Ever," which is part of the subtitle of an award winning fan film series called Chad Vader. Coincidentally, Matt Sloan, the voice of Chad Vader,Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager also portrayed one of the Delightful Children's in The Force Unleashed. Another achievement called "Bossk" is awarded for killing 200 Wookiee warriors.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
*The Force Unleashed novel 
*Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic 
==Sources==
*Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force 
*
*Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
*The Essential Reader's Companion
==Notes and references==
Category:Great Jedi Purge battles
Category:Duels