Battle of Murkhana

A battle took place on the planet Murkhana in 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, nine months after the First Battle of Geonosis. Republic Captain Wilhuff Tarkin led the assault against the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the initial fighting, destroying the HoloNet relay and shutting down the Shadowfeed operations it was being used to transmit. The aftermath of the battle left the planet severely devastated.
==Prelude==
Prior to the Clone Wars, the planet Murkhana was popular with tourists due to its spectacular natural beauty including its coral reefs and marine life. During the Separatist Crisis, Murkhana sided with Count Dooku's secessionist movement that later became known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Murkhana City also hosted a Corporate Alliance presence including Argente Tower, a medcenter, and a Corporate Alliance landing field. During the Clone Wars, Murkhana was used by the Separatists to broadcast their Shadowfeed broadcasts on the HoloNet, making the planet a military target of the Galactic Republic.
==Siege and devastation==
During the early Clone Wars, nine months after the First Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku's scientists succeeded in slicing into the Republic HoloNet by seeding the spaceways with hyperwave transceiver nodes. Instead of using the nodes to spy on Republic military operations, Dooku used the HoloNet to broadcast Separatist propaganda Shadowfeeds. These were done to provide Separatist accounts of military victories, disinformation about Republic war crimes, and to demoralize the Core Worlds.
When the Separatists began using their Shadowfeeds to jam Republic communication relays, the Republic attacked Murkhana. The-then Captain Wilhuff Tarkin along with operatives of the Republic's fledgling cryptanalysis department and elements of the 12th Sector Army were dispatched to Murkhana to spearhead the invasion and to oversee the dismantling of the Shadowfeed operation. For this operation, the Republic forces were equipped with S-thread jammers, signal eradicators, and HoloNet chafing devices.
Captain Tarkin led the first wave of clone trooper platoons which fought their way into the Separatist building that broadcast the Shadowfeeds. For the mission, Tarkin was aided by an undercover Republic Koorivar spy named Bracchia, who subsequently became an Imperial Security Bureau asset. After overpowering the Separatist forces, Tarkin tortured the captive scientists into revealing the secrets of their jamming and steganographic technologies, and the Republic force destroyed the Shadowfeed relay stations, preventing the propaganda from reaching planets along the Perlemian Trade Route. In addition, Tarkin's forces executed thousands of beings who had contributed to Dooku's Shadowfeed program.
==Aftermath==
Tarkin's operation to destroy the Separatist Shadowfeed operations constituted the first of his covert operations undertaken on behalf of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, who was actually the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Following the Murkhana operation, Tarkin undertook several successful missions for the next year. However, Tarkin was later captured by Separatist forces and imprisoned and tortured at the impregnable Citadel prison on the planet Lola Sayu. Tarkin was rescued by a joint Jedi and Republic strike force that including Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Over the next several years, Republic forces would continue laying siege to Murkhana to root out the entrench Confederate forces.Jedi: Battle Scars Orbital bombardment, beam weapons, and orbital bombing devastated the planet's environment, oceans, and much of Murkhana City. As a result of the fighting, much of Murkhana's marine life was destroyed and planet's atmosphere was seriously polluted. Murkhana City was also the site of a battle during the Outer Rim Sieges campaign.Collapse of the Republic Murkhana City was littered with wrecked Hailfire, spider, crab droids, AT-TE walkers, turbo tanks and warships including a Trident transport and a Commerce Guild warship by the time after the war.
Following the end of the Clone Wars, Murkhana fell under Imperial rule. Due to the fighting, Murkhana's environment was severely polluted. Murkhana City was also heavily damaged and ruined by the battles. Stiff Imperial sanctions inhibited the ability of the local government to rebuild Murkhana City and grow the economy. As a result, the impoverished population was forced to depend on smugglers for basic goods and resented the Galactic Empire, the successor state to the Galactic Republic.
In 14 BBY, Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader visited Murkhana to investigate a communications cache. Murkhana's environment and main city were still scarred by the Clone Wars. The communications cache was however a ruse engineered by Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit to enable the insurgent Berch Teller and his rebel cell to steal Tarkin's starship Carrion Spike and launch a series of attacks on Imperial facilities across the galaxy.
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Murkhana first appeared in James Luceno's 2005 Legends novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. The battle was later mentioned in Luceno's 2014 Canon novel Tarkin.
==Appearances==
*Tarkin 
==Sources==
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*Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Murkhana
Category:Battles of the Clone Wars