The Mandalorian Blockade is Broken

The Starwars: The Old Republic official site has released a brand new holorecord. Watch the second holorecord entry, The Mandalorian Blockade is Broken, narrated by actor Lance Henriksen. As part of his accounting of recent events in the galaxies timeline, Master Gnost-Dural, Keeper of the Jedi Archives, has entered a new holorecord on the subject of the Mandalorian Blockade. We will be adding a section here on our site in the future for this new segment. Here is the text version to check out: After the sacking of Coruscant, the Jedi council agreed that the Republic had been undone by the bold cunning of the Empire's strategy. A closer look, however, suggests the sacking of Coruscant was not the crowning moment of the Empire's campaign, but rather a risky maneuver undertaken after all other efforts had failed. The Sith only considered turning to such measures after their efforts were undermined by an unlikely Republic ally - The criminal smuggling contingent that broke the Mandalorian Blockade. The blockade choked the primary trade route for providing Republic military support to the outer rim… and the main hyperlane for bringing raw goods from the colonies to the core worlds. Long standing holdouts in the outer rim began folding to the Empire, and critical supplies vanished from the core worlds almost overnight. As starvation swept through the lower levels of Coruscant, riots broke out planetwide. Talk in the senate veered sharply toward a complete surrender to the Sith Empire. It was at this critical hour that a Mirialan smuggler named Hylo Visz recognized an extraordinary business opportunity for her and her partners. With the Republic willing to pay any price for raw goods, Hylo's plan was simple - Break the Mandalorian Blockade. Loading massive freighters with all the goods the outer rim had to offer, Hylo and her fellow smugglers hauled their loads to within a parsec of the Blockade and stopped still. Distracted by suspicious freighters, the Mandalorians never knew what hit them -  A motley fleet of small starships dropped out of hyperspace and opened fire. A massive space battle ensued. The smugglers’ light fighters ran rings around the Mandalorian cruisers - But even so, Hylo Visz and her band were outmatched. Fortunately, Republic strategic information systems was tipped off and starfighters were scrambled from nearby systems. With their assistance, the Mandalorians were quickly overcome. The Blockade broken, Hylo Visz brought freighters full of raw goods into Coruscant and walked away with more wealth than she had ever imagined. An elaborate medal ceremony was held in her honor, but Hylo never showed - She was long gone. Rumor has it Hylo Visz was killed a tear later for double-crossing the hutts. Regardless, through this unlikely hero's efforts, the Republic war effort gained a reprieve.

At the time, many believed the Empire was behind the Mandalorian Blockade. My research indicates a far more elaborate explanation. I will share that in my next report.