The EXALT Crisis

Total strength| * EXALT loyalists
	+ Spire
	+ "Tucker"
	+ 1x Strident-class "heavy" freighter
* Darren Edermath
* Aris Vion
	+ Donathan Hawthorne
	+ Laurents Vion
	+ EXALT naval fleet

Casualties| * "Tucker"
* Spire (assumed)
* Donathan Hawthorne (imprisoned)

**The EXALT crisis** (904 ABY - 909 ABY) was a small, yet lengthy, intrafactional crisis over the control of the EXALT Organisation. When Donathan Hawthorne was recruited to the organisation, he quickly rose through the ranks and rapidly increased in both influence and ranks. At the climax of this increase in fame, he staged a succesful mutiny and overthrew the current EXALT leadership.

The EXALT loyalists, led by "Spire", managed to escape the Dauntless in a *Strident*-class "heavy" freighter, succesfully evading capture by EXALT. Upon finding strong support in the many hidden hide-outs of EXALT, the loyalists conspired to fight against their former organisation and try to retake command.

What followed were a series of attacks and counter-attacks on safehouses and EXALT naval craft, culminating in a last stand at the EXALT hide-out on Yavin IV, where the EXALT loyalists found themselves supported by Jedi Master Darren Edermath and Jedi Padawan Aris Vion. The EXALT loyalists managed to trap and defeat Donathan and his forces, retaking control over the EXALT organisation. In 909 ABY, the EXALT Organisation would return to their usual command structure and duties.

## **Origins**

### **Uncertainty amongst the ranks**

After the New Mandalorian War, EXALT vanished into obscurity, vowing to watch and protect the Jedi Order at Cade "Corde" Tennants command. Yet, as EXALT remained relatively inactive during some of the larger battles and events in recent history, some of its members began to plead for a more active approach to matters of "aiding the Jedi". These request were ultimately denied, which only caused more uncertainty to spread through the ranks.

### **The recruiting of Donathan Hawthorne**

When he entered EXALT, it was clear than Donathan was a Force-sensitive. Due to the organisation's founding based on cooperation with Force-sensitives and succeses based on this founding in the past, Donathan soon rose in popularity, being hailed as the next in line of a series of sucesses with Force-sensitive commanders such as Cade and Eron Tarimo. EXALT leadership recognised this along with Donathan's successes in the field, which resulted in Donathan not only rising in popularity, but also in ranks rather quickly.

## History

### **Mutiny aboard the Dauntless (904 ABY)**

Donathan, now a high-ranking officer in the EXALT Organisation, would stage a mutiny with some of his most trusted men. When Spire entered the bridge, Donathan confronted him and tried to coerce him into surrender. Spire refused, which caused a shoot-out on the bridge of the Dauntless. Spire and all of his loyalists survived, being woefully aware of the ambush and having prepared beforehand. After Spire and his loyalists escaped aboard one of the Dauntless' freighters, Donathan coerced the men present during the shoot-out into cooperation, or (presumably) executed those whom he did not trust. After this, he tampered with the recording of the incident, claiming that Spire had attacked *him* and that he would right EXALT's recent wrongs, "carrying on with business as per usual."

### **Skirmishes through-out the Galaxy (905 ABY - 908 ABY)**

#### **Gathering loyalist support**

The EXALT loyalists found themselves easily supported by operatives whom had "seen" Spire attack Donathan, with Spire dying in the process. Little proof was required that Spire was in fact not dead, easily refuting Donathan's claims of Spire's corruption. Though Donathan had initially no seen the EXALT loyalists as a threat, this view began to change as he lost contact with more and more EXALT hide-outs and sleeper cells. Quickly coming to the conclusion that his deception had failed, Donathan went on to search and destroy any traces of the EXALT loyalist forces.

#### **Shoot-out on Nar Shaddaa**

Donathan, in a fit of hubris, had also meddled with the Jedi Order in the meantime. In order to prove that the Jedi duo, consisting of Darren Edermath and Aris Vion, were wrong about their beliefs. While hoarding the duo to their hide-out, known as "Orso's Bar", EXALT was also planning to assault an EXALT loyalist hide-out nearby. The process of leading the Jedi duo into a trap by pressuring them in a certain direction with blasterfire backfired, however, as EXALT loyalists recognised their own training in the patterns of EXALT, presuming that an attack on their hide-out was imminent.

After the Jedi duo managed to defeat Donathan, the EXALT loyalists had already called for and been evacuated by the sole *Strident*-class "heavy" freighter. EXALT, realising that their attack had been foreseen, tried to chase the freighter and a short naval battle above Nar Shaddaa broke out, but eventually the loyalists managed to escape thanks to their headstart.

Due to Donathan having to recover from the wounds he had received at the hands of the Jedi duo, EXALT search and destroy missions regarding the EXALT loyalists were halted, which provided the EXALT loyalists with a lucky break for a few months. While it has been reported that several other hide-outs were raided, these reports have been fabricated by Spire to allow Donathan to perceive the loyalists as "weak".

### **Last stand on Yavin IV (909 ABY)**

#### **Preparation; Recruiting the Jedi duo**

With the support he had gained throughout the years, Spire knew that it was time to lure Donathan into a trap. Emitting a heavily encrypted signal, Spire prepared his forces to ambush and eliminate Donathan on Yavin IV. While doing this, he made sure that this signal also reached multiple Jedi planets: having researched Darren and Aris, Spire knew that Darren could not resist a "strange signal" originating from Yavin IV. Knowing that one freighter could not stand up to the EXALT fleet, Spire ordered for its absence during the battle and hoped that Donathan would be arrogant enough to come to the battle on the surface himself.

#### **Battle on the Surface**

With EXALT loyalist striketeams spread throughout the familiar terrain of Yavin IV, Spire "visibly hidden" the largest bulk of his forces outside the entrance of an old Jedi academy. When the Jedi duo arrived, he explained that he had lured and manipulated them to help his cause. The Jedi duo proved extremely reluctant and ready to leave until Donathan himself showed up to taunt the EXALT loyalists. The Jedi duo, having a history with Donathan, tried to reason, but found that Donathan could not be reasoned with. The ignition of Darren's blade started the last stand of the loyalists. While many EXALT loyalists ambushed and tried to disable their former comrades (whom fought in significantly larger numbers), the Jedi duo faced off against Donathan.

#### **Jedi versus "Sith"**

Donathan proved far more capable than he was on Nar Shaddaa: carrying a lightsaber and utilising the Force. Though this surprised Darren, he still utterly outmatched his relatively unskilled opponent. Yet, aiming to disable Donathan rather than killing him, Darren met a vital flaw: he struck a cortosis-layered shoulderpad, which resulted his lightsaber's blade being shorted out. Darren, now without any defense against a lightsaber, had to sacrifice his physical health for connection to the Force in order to negate the energy of a lightsaber's blade. Instantly knocked out of the battle, it was up to Aris to combat Donathan alone. She pulled Donathan away from her master, which enraged Donathan as he pointed his attention to her. Though skilled, Aris was no match for the brute strength of her enraged assailant and was wounded superficially. As Donathan was about to kill Aris, Darren threw his blade to block Donathan's blow. Donathan quickly lashed out against the Jedi Master, severely wounding him with a slash that cut across his entire chest diagonally. Aris tried to protect her fallen master, but failed. As Donathan revered in his victory over the two Jedi, both Jedi unable to continue the fight, he realised that the battle around him had fallen silent.

#### **Loyalist Victory**

Returning to his senses, Donathan found himself surrounded by loyalist forces. Shocked at the realisation that a seemingly small band of loyalists had overcome his superior numbers and that this band of loyalists was led by someone whom had bested him before, Donathan was unable to react to Darren reaching for his blaster and putting several stunbolts in his back. As Donathan collapsed, EXALT forces moved in to recover the Jedi duo, marking the end of the EXALT crisis.