Battle of Bahlah

A battle took place at the Stronghold of the Morubas crime family, on Bahlah between Maul's Shadow Collective and the Morubas crime family. The crime family, led by Jjan, had taken Maul hostage and the Shadow Collective, led by Maul's brother Savage Opress arrived to rescue. But Maul had intentionally allowed for himself to be captured in order to easily get into the stronghold. Maul was able to free himself and fought off the guards. Opress and his fighters managed to infiltrate the stronghold and take out the remaining guards, leaving Jjan to pick up the remains of his once profitable criminal family.
==Prelude==
In 19 BBY, during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the former Dark Lord of the Sith, Maul had formed the Shadow Collective to disrupt the plans of his former Sith Master, Darth Sidious and to compete with Sidious for galactic domination. During this time Maul and his brother, Savage Opress rallied the forces of the Death Watch, the Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Clan, and the Nightbrothers. He then moved onto the Morubas crime family.
While at a cantina, Maul told his brother that he will gain the favor of the leader of the Morubas crime family, Jjan by presenting him with an offer too good to refuse. After they had earned his favor they would kill him and take the families soldiers and credits for themselves. But a patron at the bar snitched on Maul to Jjan who then prepared to poison him when he arrived.
Shortly after at the Stronghold of the Morubas crime family, Jjan held a toast with Maul. When Maul took a sip of his beverage he got poisoned by it. Jjan told him that it was a sedative and ordered his soldiers to subdue and disarm him.
==The battle==
Outside of the stronghold, Opress lead the Collective fighters in breaking down the large door. The fighters fired on the door as Opress ordered for the fighters to use more firepower to bring down the defenses.
As the attack increased, Jjan boasted to Maul about his capture and all his family's achievements. But Maul believed that Opress and his fighters will breach his defenses that Jjan believed to be impenetrable. But Maul noted that he had allowed him in. He then broke his resistraints and used The Force to reach for his lightsaber. He then proceeded to take out all the soldiers sent after him and revealed that he had allowed for his capture in order to gain access into the stronghold.
After all the soldiers were killed, Opress appeared and reported to Maul that they had breached the defenses and were spreading their forces throughout the stronghold. The fighters were taking out small pockets of resistance but would gain full control of the place within the hour. Maul then proclaimed that he had taken the Morubas crime family's power.
==Aftermath==
After the battle, the forces of the Shadow Collective banded together to takeover the planet Mandalore. But his rule of the planet would come to an end when his former master, Darth Sidious arrived and dueled Maul and his brother. Opress would be killed and Maul was captured.
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Bahlah appeared in the comic story, Tales of Villainy: The Hostage in the third issue of the anthology comic series Star Wars Adventures. The story was written by Shane McCarthy, illustrated by Charlie Kirchoff, and published on February 3, 2021
==Appearances==
* 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Timelines 
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of the Republic Era
Category:Events during the Clone Wars