Insurrection on Aaloth

An insurrection took place on the Twi'lek colony planet Aaloth during the High Republic Era. Aaloth had been in a state of famine for several seasons, causing the hungry populace to lead demonstrations and riots against the ruling family. Keeper of Aaloth Yudiah Dee opposed developing Aaloth's economy around spice mining, but his daughter Lourna Dee believed it necessary to feed and control the hungry and discontented populace.
Lourna's boyfriend, Bala Waleen, a spicerunner in league with the Zygerrian Alliance, induced Lourna to support a coup d'état he would lead to depose her father, promising he would install Lourna in her father's place as Keeper and that the couple would rule Aaloth together. Waleen explained that rioters, in league with the Palace Guard, would storm the palace that night, and Lourna's family would be escorted to a safe room for a change in government where they would be unharmed. Believing Waleen, Lourna unlocked the doors to the safe room, but Waleen nonetheless ordered the guards to execute Lourna's family.
Captain of the Guard Kalla Secaria referred to Waleen as "Keeper," a role Waleen had promised to Lourna. Waleen and Secaria then demanded Lourna sign a document abdicating her right of succession as Keeper and installing Waleen in her place. Lourna refused, so Waleen drugged his girlfriend with glitterstim and sold her as a slave to the Zygerrian enslaver Lady Vardem Kroleyic.
==Prelude==
===Context of Aaloth===
Aaloth was a colony planet of the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth. Like Ryloth's other colonies, Aaloth was ruled by a First family led by a Keeper. Although most of Ryloth's other colony planets based their economies on trade in spice or slaves, Keeper of Aaloth Yudiah Dee refused to allow spice mining or the slave trade on Aaloth.
Prior to the insurrection, Aaloth was in a state of famine for at least three harvest seasons, leaving the population starving and angry. The common people often led demonstrations that sometimes became riots against the planet's ruling family. Lourna Dee, Yudiah's younger daughter,The High Republic: Tempest Runner script believed her father should "control" the discontented population. Lourna's older sister Haleena asked how Lourna would control the people when they had no food, to which Lourna replied "then feed them!" However, the state of famine on Aaloth prevented such a course of action. Lourna suggested they mine the planet's ryll and sell spice to develop their economy, but her father refused to hear of it.
===Enter Bala===
Lourna Dee's boyfriend, a Twi'lek spicerunner named Bala Waleen, had previously left Aaloth to explore other planets colonized by Ryloth. He had visited the Assembly building in Ryloth's capital city Lessu, where he saw representatives of the Zygerrian Alliance making deals with the Clan Assembly; the ruling body of Ryloth. Having once ruled a slaving empire, Zygerrians were known to have a reputation as enslavers in the galaxy. Nominally, the Zygerrian Alliance declared itself to consist of "legitimate merchants;" however, they continued to conduct the slave trade. Waleen sought to open up Aaloth to spice mining, and was supported by Zygerrian business leaders such as Lady Vardem Kroleyic.
One day between around 272 BBY and around 255 BBY, following some demonstrations against the First family which Lourna characterized as riots, Waleen appeared at Lourna's family's palace. He kissed his girlfriend and argued in favor of starting spice mining operations on Aaloth. Waleen told Lourna of his journeys in the galaxy, including his encounter with Zygerrian representatives on Ryloth. Lourna was surprised to learn that the Twi'lek government would be supporting or even turning a blind eye to slave trafficking, but Waleen assured her that that was the way things were going. He also removed a spice spider from Lourna's skin, noting that that species of spider produced webs of pure glitterstim. He asked her where she may have found the spider, and she told him she'd been at the Sal Plains earlier, leading the couple to identify the area as rich in spice spiders.
Keeper Yudiah Dee appeared and briefly argued with Waleen, noting that the Clan Assembly had recently signed the articles of membership making Ryloth and other Twi'lek planets members of the Galactic Republic. The Keeper stated that the Republic would never allow slavery or spice trade concerns on its member worlds, but Waleen asserted that neither the Republic nor the Clan Assembly would care as long as Aaloth paid taxes to Ryloth and Ryloth paid taxes to Coruscant. Yudiah then ordered Captain of the Guard Kalla Secaria to banish Waleen from the palace grounds, and ordered Lourna grounded without access to a comlink. Furthermore, Yudiah ordered his guards to burn the Sal Plains to exterminate the spice spiders.
===A lovers' plot===
Unbeknownst to the Keeper, the Palace Guard did not remove Waleen from the palace, as they secretly supported him and had been planning an insurrection with the protesting commoners. Lourna's brother Inun snuck her a comlink their father had forbidden her, and Waleen called Lourna to explain his plan. The hungry commoners were sure to breach the palace gates one day, and Waleen and the guards figured they could hasten the insurrection by opening the gates. He told his girlfriend that the insurrection would come tonight. Waleen promised Lourna that he and the Guard would install her as Keeper in her father's place and her family would not be harmed; and all she would have to do would be to allow the guards entry to the safe room in the palace where the first family would be kept in case of insurrection.
==The insurrection==
Starving protesters reached the gates of the palace, and the Palace Guard opened the gates for them. Lourna's family retreated to a safe room deep within the palace. Lourna's sister Haleena thought her suspiciously calm, unaware Lourna knew more than she let on. Yudiah opened an arsenal to search for blasters or lyaer'tsas for defense, but the arsenal had been emptied. Lourna then opened the door and Palace Guards entered the safe room. Lourna met Waleen outside the room, when her boyfriend ordered the execution of her family, to her anger. The guards killed her father, brother, and sister, and Lourna expected to be treated as Keeper. Nevertheless, Secaria addressed Waleen as Keeper of Aaloth instead of Lourna.
==Aftermath==
After having Lourna's family executed, Waleen assumed the mantle of Keeper of Aaloth. He and Guard Captain Secaria demanded Lourna relinquish her rightful succession as Keeper to Waleen. Lourna refused, angry that she had been betrayed and deceived. As a result, Waleen drugged his girlfriend with glitterstim and sold her into slavery to Zygerrian Lady Kroleyic. Lourna was fitted with a shock collar, labeled as "grade one," designated "Unit 4978/7179," and marked for sale to the Hutt Cartel. With Waleen in control of Aaloth, the world quickly began producing and exporting glitterstim and spice.
For much of her life, Lourna Dee sought revenge on Waleen. Jedi and non-Jedi alike sensed her deep-seated anger, though she was reticent to explain even to friends why she fostered such apoplexy. Lourna was later freed from enslavement and enrolled in the Republic's military academy on Carida. Lourna's anger at Waleen contributed to her disrespect for the chain of command despite her consistently high aptitudes in all other aspects of her training at the academy. Eventually, Dee attacked two higher-ranked cadets and deserted the academy, stealing a starfighter and becoming a mercenary.
After Dee donned Mandalorian armor, she crossed paths with Waleen again, unknown to the man who had betrayed her. He hired Lourna's mercenary services to protect shipments of glitterstim from Aaloth to the Hutt Cartel, where she led a counter-ambush against a Nihil raid on the cargo cruiser Tycoon Trader. She defeated and destroyed the forces of Jinnix, a Colicoid Cloud serving in Pan Eyta's Tempest before the Dowutin Tempest Runner boarded the Trader himself and took her captive. Lourna Dee had sought to betray Waleen after defeating the Nihil, so she cut a deal with Eyta to help coordinate a raid on Aaloth where she killed Waleen and helped the Nihil gain control of Aaloth's mines. In the process, Dee joined the Nihil.
Following the Battle of Galov in 231 BBY,Star Wars: Timelines Dee and her Cathar Storm Tasia were taken prisoner by the Republic and brought aboard the space station Starlight Beacon. During bouts of unconsciousness, Dee muttered "Bala, Bala" audibly, leading Tasia to ask Dee who Bala was. Dee did not explain, but harbored anger at her ex despite having already killed him. Later on, as a prisoner aboard the Restitution, Dee reflected how Waleen had stolen her life from her though the insurrection on Aaloth, and others had forced her to change who she was to their benefit in the time since.
==Behind the scenes==
The insurrection on Aaloth appeared in flashbacks in the 2021 audio drama The High Republic: Tempest Runner, written by Cavan Scott and performed by a full voice cast.
==Appearances==
*The High Republic: Tempest Runner 
*The High Republic: Tempest Runner script 
*The High Republic (2023) 3 
*The High Republic (2023) 8 
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Aaloth
Category:Battles of the High Republic Era
Category:Changes of government
Category:Rebellions and uprisings