Battle of Tralus (Galactic Civil War)
The Battle of Tralus in 5 ABY is an existing battle from Legends.[1]
| Conflict: | Galactic Civil War (Imperial Civil War) |
|---|---|
| Date: | 5 ABY |
| Location: | Tralus |
| Outcome: | Mutual annihilation |
| Grunger's faction: | Pitta's faction: |
|---|---|
| Commanders: | Commanders: |
| Grand Admiral Josef Grunger | Grand Admiral Danetta Pitta |
| Strength: | Strength: |
|
|
| Casualties: | Casualties: |
| Josef Grunger, all personnel aboard Aggressor, many others | Danetta Pitta, all personnel aboard the Torpedo Sphere, many others |
Background
When Ysanne Isard learned about the upcoming confrontation between Grand Admirals Grunger and Pitta, she sent Grand Admiral Grant to the Corellian system with a hastily assembled force to bring his fellow Grand Admirals and their forces under Isard's control.
The New Republic, meanwhile, had inserted a Corellian agent named Sheer Valeen on Grunger's flagship Aggressor as part of Alpha Black, a secret initiative headed by Hiram Drayson with the goal of killing the Empire's remaining Grand Admirals.[2]
The battle
Grunger and Pitta each fielded nearly a hundred capital ships above Tralus, with Pitta's force slightly smaller than Grunger's. After five hours of fighting, neither side showed signs of slowing down. At that point, Grand Admiral Grant was observing the battle from aboard Oriflamme, having placed his forces near Centerpoint Station and instructed them to wait. When Oriflamme's Captain Bremel suggested to Grant that they intervene to stop the slaughter of Imperials on both sides, Grant argued that his force was half the size of either Grunger or Pitta's fleet. He refused to announce their presence via a transmission either, opining that the best and most likely outcome was to wait for the two Grand Admirals to annihilate each other and then mop up the mess.
Pitta was trying to lure Aggressor into a direct attack by sacrificing two Victory-class Star Destroyers that he sent to attack from the front, while attacking her aft with an Imperial-class Star Destroyer and two Strike-class medium cruisers. Grunger destroyed the Victory-class destroyers with sustained volleys of concussion missiles and sent a squadron of bombers as well as Reprisal and Anaxes Dawn to deal with the attack from the aft. Grunger also ordered captains Apwar Trigit and Walen forward to engage Pitta's front line, but to wait for Aggressor before breaking through. In response, Pitta spread out his lines and brought his Torpedo Sphere forward, which confused Grunger, as Torpedo Spheres were designed for orbital bombardment rather than ship-to-ship combat. However, the New Republic agent aboard Aggressor fed telemetry directly into the targeting computers of the Torpedo Sphere, which enabled it to target Grunger's ships with unexpected precision. A barrage of more than fifty torpedos from the first volley struck Aggressor amidships, rupturing its hull and crippling the main hangar bay. Three volleys later, with Aggressor and many other ships in Grunger's line heavily damaged, Grunger gave the order to ram Pitta's Torpedo Sphere, shooting Aggressor's helm chief when he refused. Panicking, Pitta ordered a fifth volley even though the Torpedo Sphere's weapons emplacements were overheating. Multiple batteries exploded as a result, starting the Torpedo Sphere's destruction moments before Aggressor collided with it. Both ships and their crews, including the two Grand Admirals, were destroyed in the collision.
Grand Admiral Grant then sent a transmission to the remaining forces, giving them ten minutes to pledge allegiance to Isard's Empire before he brought his fleet in to fire on anyone who did not surrender. Within a minute, fifteen ships had surrendered and seven were requesting assistance.[2]
Aftermath
New Republic command, which had been watching the battle through the sensors of a T-65r reconnaissance X-wing, decided to use the opportunity for another strike against the Empire's two remaining Grand Admirals, Grant and Makati.
Grant was able to recover twelve Imperial-class and eleven Victory-class star destroyers, as well as two dozen frigates, strike cruisers, and support craft, which together made up less than half of the forces that participated in the battle. Among these ships was Implacable under Captain Apwar Trigit. The ships were restored at the shipyards of Corellia, Rothana, and Damoria. Ysanne Isard recalled Grant to Coruscant, where she berated him for not acting to save Aggressor in particular, arguing that she needed a Super Star Destroyer to hold her own against warlords like Zsinj, Gaen Drommel and Ardus Kaine.