Skirmish on Concordia

|prev=Bombing of the Memorial Shrine
|conc=
|next=Skirmish aboard the Coronet
|image=
|name=Skirmish on Concordia
|conflict=War of the Ring
|date=November 6th, 1981
|place=Concordia
|result=Duchess Satine Kryze is removed safely to Mandalore
|side1=*Galactic Republic
*New Mandalorians
|side2=Death Watch
|commanders1=*High General Sam Gamgee
*Duchess Satine Kryze
|commanders2=Governor Pre Vizsla
|forces1=*1 Jedi Master
*1 duchess
|forces2=Death Watch warriors
|casual1=None
|casual2=Several Death Watch members injured or killed}}
A skirmish took place in November, 1981 during the War of the Ring when the Jedi Master Sam Gamgee was ambushed by warriors of the Death Watch, a splinter group of the Mandalorian society. Sam was escorting the Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kryze, on a diplomatic mission to Mandalore's moon Concordia to confer with the local governor, Pre Vizsla. The Duchess was unaware of Vizsla's position as the Overlord of the local Death Watch. Vizsla had been conspiring with Saruman the White of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, who had been backing the Death Watch in an attempt to destabilize the pacifist government of the New Mandalorians.
Sam was ambushed by Vizsla's men at a mining facility used by the Death Watch as a base. The Duchess came to his assistance, and this culminated in a large firefight which left several Mandalorian warriors dead or wounded. As the fighting continued, Governor Vizsla decided to go public with his position as the leader of the Death Watch and confronted Gamgee using his Mandalorian battle armor and a lightsaber known as the 'Darksaber'. Sam was forced to flee after Vizsla ordered his men to intervene in the duel, although he successfully extracted the Duchess back to Mandalore, where they departed to Middle-Earth on Satine's personal ship, the Coronet.
==Prelude==
===Mandalore's proposed neutrality===
In approximately 730 BBY, a conflict broke out between the Galactic Republic and the Mandalorians that brought devastation to the Mandalore sector. While many of the warrior clans scattered, out of the ashes rose the New Mandalorian faction. Doing away with many of the old warrior codes the Mandalorians had historically followed, the New Mandalorians put forward the idea that the best opportunity for Mandalorian survival and prosperity would come through being peaceful, neutral, and tolerant.The Essential Atlas This movement, led by Satine Kryze by the time of the War of the Ring, based its values on those of pacifism and nonviolence. Kryze was installed as the Duchess of the new government, and a man named Almec was named the Prime Minister. Under their rule, those within their society who refused to yield to these reforms were banished to Mandalore's moon, Concordia. Following the start of the War of the Ring during the First Battle of Isengard, Kryze formed the Council of Neutral Systems, an alliance of at least 1,500 star systems who wished to remain neutral in the war.
The Governor of Concordia, Pre Vizsla, in the meantime, rallied the surviving members of the Death Watch. The Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group based on brutal violence and dishonorable actions, in contrary to the honorable True Mandalorians and New Mandalorians, expressed their distaste at Kryze's rule over Mandalore by vandalizing public places and committing terrorist acts. When the War of the Ring began, the group received support from Saruman the White of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Saruman encouraged Vizsla to give the Galactic Republic a reason to send a military presence to Mandalore, which would cause the citizens of Mandalore to rebel with the support of Death Watch. Taking Saruman's advice, Vizsla sent a lone Unidentified Death Watch saboteur to attack a Republic cruiser. The saboteur was subdued by the Republic forces onboard the ship. However, unwilling to submit to interrogation, the man chose to take his own life.
In response to the incident, Jedi Master Sam Gamgee was sent to Mandalore by the Jedi Council on a diplomatic mission to reconfirm Kryze's neutral stance. Kryze and Almec assured Kenobi that no member of the New Mandalorian faction would ever take up arms against the Republic. Kryze suspected that the Galactic Senate was trying to intervene in Mandalorian affairs, despite the fact that the investigation was under orders of the Jedi Council.
===Diplomacy to Concordia===
A loyal member Death Watch armed a bomb in the Memorial Shrine in the capital city of Sundari, which detonated while Sam and Kryze were taking a stroll through the area. Kryze coincidentally revealed to Gamgee her growing concern of the recent resurgence of the Death Watch group, which she believed was just a group of "hooligans" who vandalized public places, moments before the explosion. Upon finding the mark of the Death Watch at the site, Gamgee assured Kryze that the Death Watch was more then a mere group of "hooligans" and that the terrorist bombing was a demonstration against her government. Sam ordered the area be locked down, with no one allowed to leave without being questioned. The bomber, hiding in the crowd, fled the scene out of fear. Gamgee gave chase on foot, which would eventually lead to a dead end platform. The bomber opened fire on Kenobi with his pistol. Gamgee managed the deflect the shots and disarm the bomber, but was unable to prevent the bomber from jumping off the platform to his death.
With his dying breath, the bomber told the Duchess his loyalty to Death Watch, in a dialect of Mando'a used on Concordia, confirming the Duchess's suspicions that the group was based on Mandalore's moon. Sam and the Duchess arranged a meeting with Pre Vizsla, the governor of Concordia and secretly the leader of the Death Watch. While the Duchess occupied Vizsla during dinner, Gamgee left to investigate a local mining facility that was believed abandoned.
==The skirmish==
===Mining facility===
Upon Sam's arrival at a local mining facility, which was in reality a Death Watch stronghold, Gamgee concluded that the facility was still operational. Upon further inspection, Gamgee found a rack of jetpacks and an accompanying rack of Mandalorian helmets. A Death Watch member, using Gamgee's curiosity with the helmet to his advantage, ambushed the Hobbit from behind and opened fire with his blaster. Sam's reflexes were quick enough to allow him to block the incoming shots with the Mandalorian helmet, but the Mandalorian quickly lunged at Gamgee, knocking him to the floor. As Gamgee brought himself to his feet and brandished his blue lightsaber, the warrior seemingly disappeared.
Sam assured to the Death Watch his protection under Duchess Satine of Mandalore. Another Death Watch member denounced Gamgee and Satine, asserting that the Death Watch did not recognize Satine's rule. The warrior lunged at Gamgee over a conveyor belt, firing two shots at the hobbit. Sam deflected the two shots with his lightsaber, and countered the Mandalorian with a kick, but the warrior fired a third shot at the Jedi which disarmed him. Gamgee quickly grabbed the Mandalorian and threw several punches at the warrior's face. However, the other Mandalorian reappeared and grabbed Sam's right arm, allowing both warriors to land a punch at Sam simultaneously, knocking him to the floor. As Gamgee attempted to regain himself, he was incapacitated by a kick to the face.
The two Death Watch stole Sam's lightsaber and hooked him to a rock crusher machine. Under Pre Vizsla's orders, the two proceeded to survey the area for signs of other Jedi. Sam regained consciousness as the two left and contacted Satine, who at the time was having a dinner conversation with Pre Vizsla about the current political atmosphere surrounding Mandalore's neutrality. Satine left the dinner table under the guise of a sudden feeling of sickness, and used a speeder to travel to the mining facility, utilizing a tracker in her comlink to find her way.
The two Death Watch activated the rock crusher machine, hoping to make the hobbit's death look like a fatal accident. However, they were distracted by a false alarm triggered by Satine, and left the room to investigate. In their absence, Satine managed to deactivate the rock crusher before it killed Gamgee. The two Death Watch members returned to the machine and restrained Satine, who managed to kick a metal canister into the rock crusher's gears, allowing Gamgee to detach himself. Gamgee used the metal canister to launch himself to the ceiling, using the ceiling to launch himself into a spring kick, incapacitating the Mandalorian restraining Satine. As the other Mandalorian attacked Gamgee, Sam grabbed him and threw him into the wall, incapacitating him as well. Sam and Satine proceeded to escape the mining facility in an elevator.
===Firefight===
As the elevator reached its destination at the surface of the planet, Gamgee quickly knocked out a Death Watch member guarding the elevator door with two swift punches to the head. A squad of Mandalorians nearby witnessed this and opened fire, causing the elevator to detach itself and fall. Sam then realized that his lightsaber had been stolen, and uncharacteristically instead utilized the blaster weapon of the Mandalorian he incapacitated. As three Death Watch members flew towards Satine and Gamgee using their jetpacks, Gamgee managed to land a shot on one of them.
As the two remaining Mandalorians approached, Gamgee used the unconscious Mandalorian's jetpack as an improvised explosive. He threw the jetpack at the two Mandalorians and landed a blaster shot on it, causing the jetpack to explode, taking out one of the Mandalorians. However, the other survived the blast and lunged at Gamgee. As he approached Gamgee for the kill, Satine distracted the Death Watch member by throwing a rock at his head, giving Gamgee a few seconds to sweep the Mandalorian off his feet and knock him out with a kick to the stomach.
===Duel with Pre Vizsla===
As Vizsla monitered his men losing the battle to the Jedi, Vizsla ordered the rest of his men to retreat while he personally confronted the hobbit. Flanked by three of his Death Watch warriors, Vizsla displayed his ruthlessness by executing the Mandalorian who Gamgee had just knocked out with a single blaster shot. He then exposed his true identity to Gamgee and Kryze, explaining his bitter feelings towards the Duchess and the New Mandalorian culture. Vizsla returned Sam's lightsaber, asking Sam to defend the Duchess in an honorable duel. Vizsla's weapon of choice during the battle was a unique black lightsaber known as the "Darksaber," which was passed down to Vizsla after it was stolen from the Jedi Temple during the fall of the Old Republic.
Sam managed to disarm Vizsla, but Vizsla quickly countered and knocked Gamgee off his feet, giving him time to recover his weapon. Vizsla activated his jetpack and attempted to execute Gamgee with a jetpack enhanced jump, but Gamgee managed to gather himself off the floor and grabbed Vizsla, throwing him to the ground. Vizsla realized that Gamgee had the upper hand in the duel, and ordered his Death Watch warriors to finish him off. The three warriors fired their jetpack mounted rockets in unison, which initially missed Gamgee. However, when the rockets looped back around to track Gamgee, Sam was forced to escape with Satine down an elevator shaft. Vizsla ordered the warriors to not pursue.
==Aftermath==
Sam escorted the Duchess back to Sundari on Mandalore, meeting with the Jedi Frodo Baggins, and the two clone troopers Rex and Cody. They were assigned to escort the Duchess to Middle-Earth in her starship, the Coronet, in order for her to find her new home of the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor and to assert her neutral views on the war to the Galactic Senate. However, the Senator representing Mandalore, Tal Merrik, was secretly in league with the Death Watch and smuggled crates of SD-K4 assassin droids into the cargo hold of the ship, resulting in a number of assassination attempts on the Duchess en route to Middle-Earth.
==Behind the scenes==
Sam Gamgee's battle with the Death Watch on Concordia was first featured in a season two episode of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring, "The Mandalore Plot". During the climactic duel between Gamgee and Vizsla, Vizsla was originally to use an vibroblade. However, George Lucas decided that only a lightsaber could stand against a lightsaber, and with that in mind, helped the show's crew conceive the idea for the Darksaber.Star Wars: Are You Ready for the Mandalorians?
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
==Notes and references==
Category:Missions
Category:Duels