The Clone Wars

The First Battle Of Geonosis

In response to Kenobi's capture, the Republic Senate, at the proposal of Junior Representative Jar Jar Binks of Naboo, granted Chancellor Palpatine the authority to form a Grand Army of the Republic in order to combat the rising Separatist Droid Army as decreed by the government's Emergency Powers Act. As a result, Jedi Grand Master Yoda proclaimed that he would be departing for Kamino to investigate the clone army, while Jedi Master Mace Windu would lead a strike team to Geonosis in an attempt to rescue Kenobi and prevent Dooku from proceeding with his plans. Although ordered by Windu to remain on Tatooine, Amidala, and Skywalker had departed for Geonosis in order to rescue the Jedi Knight, where they, following a prolonged struggle in the droid manufacturing facilities, were also taken prisoner by the Geonosians and sentenced to execution in the Petranaki Arena along with Kenobi.

The Battle of Geonosis commenced when Windu and his Jedi strike team infiltrated the Petranaki arena to save Amidala, Kenobi, and Skywalker from gladiatorial combat with three beasts: an acklay, a nexu, and a reek. While the Geonosian spectators fled the arena, Dooku unleashed a massive infantry of B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and droidekas against the Jedi. During the ensuing ground battle, Council member Coleman Trebor came within seconds of ending the conflict when he nearly managed to kill Dooku, but Jango Fett gunned him down before he could do so. Windu thereafter beheaded Fett, an act that would earn him the ire of his son, Boba. Within a short span, only Amidala, Kenobi, Skywalker, Windu, and a fraction of their Jedi allies were still standing. With his battle droids encircling the ring of survivors, Dooku demanded their unconditional surrender, but Windu refused to allow himself and his comrades to become hostages.

Just as Windu and the other survivors were about to be executed, Yoda swept in with reinforcements, the Grand Army of the Republic: 192,000 clone troopers aboard Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ships, with LAAT/i gunships ferrying them into the Petranaki arena to defend and extract the surviving Jedi. Amidala, Kenobi, Skywalker, Windu, and the other surviving Jedi withdrew from the arena aboard Yoda's gunships and rushed to Geonosis's red sand plains, where a ground campaign was taking shape. Jedi such as Aayla Secura, Kit Fisto, and many others immediately accepted command positions and led the clone troopers into battle against the Separatist Droid Army, working to decimate the enemy infantry and prevent the Techno Union's Hardcell transports from escaping. While Yoda proceeded to the Republic's forward command center, Windu oversaw an assembly area, where Clone Commander CT-411 handed him command of five special commando units. Colonel Meebur Gascon and other top strategists from Republic High Command advised the Grand Army on its battlefield tactics.

A frenetic offensive ensued, as the Republic's All Terrain Tactical Enforcers went head-to-head with the Separatists' IG-227 Hailfire-class droid tanks and OG-9 homing spider droids. Yoda ordered the Grand Army's Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery Turbolaser walkers to ground a number of Trade Federation core ships before they could escape. On the ground, the Jedi and their clone troopers were forced to contend with the enemy battle droids and DSD1 dwarf spider droids, but they made gradual headway against the Separatists. Overwhelmed by the Republic's assault, Dooku and the Separatist Council ordered a retreat. Poggle the Lesser entrusted Dooku with the Geonosians' plans for the Ultimate Weapon, and Dooku headed for a remote hangar where his Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop was docked. En route to the hangar, Dooku crossed paths with Amidala, Kenobi, and Skywalker and they gave chase aboard their LAAT/I gunship. When Dooku's escort of Nantex-class territorial defense starfighters retaliated, Amidala was dislodged from the gunship, while Kenobi and Skywalker pursued the Count.

When Kenobi and Skywalker reached the hangar, Dooku defeated them in a lightsaber duel, injuring Kenobi and severing Skywalker's right forearm. The duel continued when Yoda, Dooku's former Jedi Master, arrived and proved more than a challenge for the Sith Lord. Dooku was able to escape only by collapsing a pillar on top of Kenobi and Skywalker, forcing Yoda to choose between pressing his attack and saving his fellow Jedi. Amidala arrived at the hangar with another gunship, but she and her squad of clone troopers were unable to shoot down Dooku's solar sailer. Although Dooku and the Separatist Council had escaped with their forces, the Republic declared victory in the Battle of Geonosis.

Though Kenobi believed that the clone troopers had been instrumental to the Republic's victory on Geonosis, Yoda knew that it was not a victory: The Clone Wars had begun. From Coruscant, the Republic deployed tens of thousands of clone troopers and a fleet of warships and assault craft, which formed the Republic Navy, as part of its war machine. The Confederacy, meanwhile, moved its capital from Geonosis to the planet Raxus Secundus, which served as the headquarters of the Separatist Senate.

Battle of Christophsis

Several months after the First Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku and his Separatist Alliance sent an army under General Whorm Loathsom and assassin Asajj Ventress to capture the planet Christophsis, due to its resources and strategic position on the Corellian Run, while Admiral Trench blockaded the planet with a fleet of thirty warships to prevent Galactic Republic forces from intervening.

The Republic responded to the invasion by sending a relief force under Senator Bail Prestor Organa to aid the people of Christophsis, but they became trapped with Republic troops in the eastern exurbs during the invasion. While Christophsian rebels fought the Separatists, the Christophsians eventually pleaded for Republic help, due to worsening conditions and depleting supplies. The Republic dispatched High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker to disrupt the blockade and deliver Senator Organa's relief supplies. The Battle of Christophsis, as it came to be known, was one of the opening salvos of the war. It occurred not long after Skywalker led a revolt on Kudo III.

Skywalker was sent in advance with a fleet of Star Destroyers, while Kenobi and Clone Marshal Commander CC-2224 "Cody" followed behind in Kenobi's flagship, the Negotiator, which carried in its secret cargo an experimental stealth ship with cloaking abilities. Trouble beset the Republic forces as the Separatists possessed a much larger army than anticipated; in addition, one of the clone troopers dispatched to Christophsis, Clone Sergeant Slick, had grown disillusioned with the Jedi and the Republic, believing the clones' lives as soldiers to be little more than enslavement, so he passed vital intelligence to Ventress in exchange for payment.

Upon arriving in Christophsian space, Skywalker and Yularen engaged the Separatist blockade with three Venator-class Star Destroyers against Kenobi's orders not to. Trench's forces, consisting of at least twenty-three Munificent-class star frigates, at least six Lucrehulk-class Battleships, and Trench's Providence-class Dreadnought, the Invincible, quickly overpowered the smaller Republic fleet. Onboard Skywalker's flagship, the Resolute, Skywalker, and Yularen made contact with Senator Organa on the surface as his position was being overrun by Separatist forces, and they were running low on food, water, and munitions. He and his men were close to being overwhelmed by the army on the surface when the transmission cut off, as one of Skywalker's cruisers was hit by enemy fire. As the two sides exchanged heavy fire, the Invincible advanced on the Resolute unopposed. Yularen ordered the Resolute's forward deflector shields to activate just before the Separatist command ship released a barrage of laser fire at the whole task force. Trench also attacked the Pelta-class frigates, separating them from their escort cruisers.

The left supply ship was then hit by the increased fire, being completely torn apart. In response, Skywalker ordered all reactors to be overfired, intending to charge past the Separatist Commander, though he was still unaware of his identity. At that point, Kenobi and Cody arrived on board the Negotiator behind Skywalker's ships, staying close to Leesis, Christophsis' moon. Though his tactical droid, TI-99, informed him that the Resolute was not breaking off its attack, Trench held his ships in line and had his bridge crew intensify forward shields. As their ship took more fire, Skywalker and Yularen holographically counseled with Kenobi. At his friends' request, Skywalker decided to regroup behind the moon, ordering the supply ships to break away first, with the Star Destroyers covering their escape. His cruisers managed to maneuver around and have their hulls take most of the enemy fire, protecting the supply ships and the fleet behind them. Knowing his orders were to simply blockade the planet, Trench, in the belief that he had won the first round of the battle, decided against pursuing the retreating fleet and remained in orbit to wait for the Republic's inevitable second attack. To ready his ships for this, he had his command ship's shields recycled and forward cannons reset to a full charge.

With the Republic fleet recuperating and waiting for the next attack, Skywalker took a Nu-class transport to the Negotiator, where he met Kenobi to see the ship the General had brought. After he had shown Skywalker the IPV-2C Stealth Corvette prototype ship and its stealth capabilities, Kenobi said the ship was completely undetectable to scanners as far as they could tell, but this was its first true field test. Skywalker, despite the ship's size, believed he could use it to take out the blockade from behind; Kenobi instead instructed him to use it to run a mercy mission to drop off supplies at Organa's refugee camp. Though he wished to attack and destroy the blockade instead, Skywalker agreed to carry out the mission. Meanwhile, onboard the Resolute, Yularen researched the markings on the Invincible, having noticed a familiarity with the tactics of the earlier battle. He found that it did indeed belong to Admiral Trench, a foe he had previously faced and presumed to be vaporized in the Battle of Malastare Narrows. Concerned, he requested that Skywalker delay his mission and meet with the General aboard the Negotiator, reporting his findings to him while the stealth ship was being loaded. Because he had engaged the admiral previously, Yularen volunteered himself as consort on Skywalker's mission, believing it would be beneficial in the inevitable encounter with Trench's wit. Skywalker accepted and welcomed him to the mission.

Stealth mission

With one stealth clone pilot, Clone Commander Blackout, and trooper CT-1284, nicknamed "Spark"—the last of the stealth ship's crew— on board, at their stations, and ready for takeoff, the stealth ship powered up and prepared to depart. Skywalker piloted the ship out of the Negotiator's main hangar bay and toward the heavily armored Separatist blockade, activating his craft's cloaking shield just as it came out from behind the moon. Remaining undetected by Trench and the rest of his fleet, Skywalker and Yularen slipped right past an unaware Munificent-class frigate—close enough to leave Yularen worried about alerting the enemy to their presence. Conferring with his tactical droid aboard the Invincible, Trench found that the Christophsian resistance was crumbling, and the droid offered his estimation that it would be a half rotation more before it was completely over. Intending to add some pressure on those who had been sent to rescue Senator Organa, Trench dispatched his Hyena-class Droid Bombers to attack the Senator's camp on the surface in order to draw his enemies out from behind the moon. The squadron of bombers, accompanied by a fighter escort, launched from the Separatist fleet, and their path to the surface inadvertently led them straight to Skywalker's stealth ship, despite Trench's continued unawareness of the spacecraft.

The approaching bombers presented Skywalker with a tough decision to make: because he did not know if the Separatists had learned of their presence, he was uncertain if the bombers were targeting the stealth ship or not. The Republic craft itself was armed with proton torpedoes and anti-aircraft cannons but would have to deactivate the cloaking device to use either—and doing so would allow the Separatists to know of their ship's presence. Yularen noted that an offensive had to be mounted soon if Skywalker decided to do so. As the diving bombers entered within range, Skywalker elected to chance that the blockade was unaware of the stealth ship and thereby ordered his crew to keep the ship cloaked, power it down, and let it drift. Despite Yularen's contrary belief, the bombers did not attack the stealth ship, zooming right by and rattling it but otherwise leaving it unscathed. However, Yularen pushed away the comforting revelation that the Separatists were oblivious to their presence and voiced his realization that the bombers were heading to bomb Organa's command center. The bombers did just that, releasing their explosives on the Senator's camp in the city. With the Separatists approaching both by air and by ground, Organa opened a transmission to Kenobi and told him that without reinforcements, there was not much chance of survival. Kenobi then contacted Skywalker and told him to continue with his mission while he engaged Trench's fleet with the remaining ships of the task force. Both Yularen and Skywalker disagreed with this course of action; Yularen stated that Kenobi did not have the proper resources to openly engage Trench and asserted that it was a trap, while Skywalker affirmed that the proposed tactic simply would not be successful.

Believing that their ship was in the best position to attack Trench, Skywalker, to the surprise of Yularen, had four of the stealth craft's proton torpedoes prepped, intending to go on the offensive and divert Trench's attention from the Christopsians and back to the Republic fleet. He then cut off Kenobi's transmission before he could continue to order Skywalker to deliver the supplies to the surface. Trench, meanwhile, found the Republic fleet's silence odd and mused to himself about their intentions. He soon found out as Skywalker brought the stealth ship around to get a clear shot at Trench's ship. After disengaging the ship's cloaking shields, Skywalker had his crew fire the four prepped torpedoes at the Invincible's bridge. Trench managed to put up his ship's thermal shield, rendering the attack unsuccessful. When the stealth ship began to re-cloak, Trench had his ship fire four missiles at the stealth craft. Skywalker decided to have his pilot launch decoy flares to intercept the missiles and then re-cloaked the ship. Not to be deterred, Trench then ordered a large spread of lasers fired at the ship's last known position, believing he would be able to hit the craft with the sheer number of blasts. In spite of this, Skywalker managed to avoid the laser spread. This did not go unnoticed, as Trench surmised that since no clone pilot would have been able to avoid that many lasers, he must be dealing with a Jedi.

Deciding to speak with his adversary, Trench patched himself over an open frequency and called out to his unseen enemy. Skywalker picked up the transmission and unhesitatingly accessed it, witnessing Trench goading the Republic forces into attacking him and boasting that he had dealt with cloaked ships before. After he had terminated his transmission, Trench was not surprised by his tactical droid's calculation that the Jedi would not turn back as he requested and theorized that the Jedi would attack again. Meanwhile, Skywalker and Yularen were left puzzled by the revelation of the Trench's experience with cloaked ships until Kenobi obtained records of the Trench's past battles. Kenobi reported that Trench had indeed faced such technology and had successfully hit them with tracking torpedoes, though nothing as small as the stealth ship. Skywalker correctly theorized that Trench had homed in on the ship's magnetic signature as a means of targeting the cloaked ships. Skywalker requested that Kenobi hold off his attack until the Trench had been destroyed before ending the transmission. After completing the necessary preparations, the stealth ship de-cloaked once more and fired four more torpedoes at the Invincible. While the torpedoes hit the Invincible's thermal shields and failed to do any damage, the bridge's crew locked onto the stealth ship's magnetic signature and was able to track it. Having to lower his shields in order to fire tracking torpedoes, Trench had his tactical droid do just that and released the four-torpedo volley. With the bait taken, Skywalker began to pilot the stealth ship toward the Invincible.

With the torpedoes following closely, Skywalker deactivated his ship's cloaking device and diverted all the ship's power to its engines. He then steered the ship straight towards the Invincible's bridge. Realizing his error, Trench attempted to raise the thermal shields, but could not because they were still charging. Skywalker piloted the ship across the Invincible's hull, grazing it and leading the tracking torpedoes straight towards the bridge. As the Invincible exploded behind him, Skywalker made for the planet's surface. Giving Skywalker a grudging congratulations, Kenobi engaged the remainder of the blockade with the Negotiator, while the stealth ship continued to the surface to deliver its supplies. Skywalker and Yularen landed at the refugee camp and unloaded their supplies. Organa thanked the General for the lives he saved, and Yularen expressed his impressed view of Skywalker's unusual tactics.

With Trench out of the way, the Separatist fleet was in disarray, and Kenobi pushed his fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers forward to break the enemy blockade, which—in the absence of the Invincible—was now comprised of Munificent-class frigates and Lucrehulk-class Battleships. Skywalker temporarily returned with Kenobi to pilot their respective Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors against the remnants of the blockade. On the ground, Skywalker and Kenobi captured the western district of the capital city of Chaleydonia. The Republic eventually set up a base on the ground for their artillery, LAAT/i gunships, and All Terrain Tactical Enforcers.

Though Kenobi believed that the clone troopers had been instrumental to the Republic's victory on Geonosis, Yoda knew that it was not a victory: The Clone Wars had begun. From Coruscant, the Republic deployed tens of thousands of clone troopers and a fleet of warships and assault craft, which formed the Republic Navy, as part of its war machine. The Confederacy, meanwhile, moved its capital from Geonosis to the planet Raxus Secundus, which served as the headquarters of the Separatist Senate.

The War Reaches Ryloth

The Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth became the next major battlefront of the Clone Wars when the Techno Union invaded the planet, aiming to pillage its wealth and resources. The Separatist navy installed a blockade of battleships in orbit of Ryloth, while the Separatist Droid Army subjected the civilian population to a brutal occupation. Besides losing a number of cities and transport hubs, the Twi'leks were cut off from food and relief supplies and thus began to starve. In response, political activist Cham Syndulla founded a Twi'lek Resistance to combat the Confederate occupation. Jedi General Ima-Gun Di, Clone Captain Keeli, and their unit of soldiers provided aid to Syndulla and his freedom fighters. As open warfare engulfed Ryloth, the Separatist blockade eliminated Admiral Dao's Republic fleet, severing the Republic's supply lines to Ryloth and trapping Di, Syndulla, and their men in a canyon alongside many Twi'lek families.

The Techno Union continued to subjugate Ryloth, and Wat Tambor gained an appointment as the emir of the conquered world. The Republic Senate finally authorized an invasion force from the Grand Army to liberate the Twi'lek homeworld, reopening Ryloth as a Republic battlefront. Skywalker, Tano, and Wullf Yularen received the task of eliminating Confederate Captain Mar Tuuk's orbital blockade of Ryloth. The Republic's first assault on the blockade failed since Tuuk's fleet obliterated the Star Destroyer Redeemer and forced Skywalker's other warships, the Defender and the Resolute, to retreat from the Ryloth system. Tano also suffered a devastating blow to her morale when she lost an entire unit of clone pilots, Blue Squadron, as part of her first command position.

Skywalker and Tano's next strategy had better results. Since the Defender had sustained heavy damages, Skywalker sacrificed the cruiser by personally ramming it into Tuuk's Lucrehulk-class Battleship. Tuuk fled from his command ship just prior to its demise, thereby ceding command of the blockade to the six frigates' OOM command battle droids. The ensuing chaos enabled the Resolute to return to the Ryloth system. Tano angled the Resolute's ventral hull toward the enemy blockade in order to lure its droid commanders into a trap. Once the frigates moved in, Tano launched several squadrons of starfighters from the Resolute and bombarded the frigates, leaving the blockade in disarray.

Thanks to Skywalker and Tano's efforts, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu were able to safely enter Ryloth's atmosphere with a force of three Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ships containing the invasion force. However, a Separatist encampment in the city of Nabat precluded Kenobi and Windu from landing their forces on the surface. From Nabat, the T-series tactical droid TX-20 targeted the Republic assault ships with aerial barrages from ground-based J-1 proton cannons. Windu withdrew the transports to a higher altitude until Kenobi, Commander Cody, and the 212th Attack Battalion's Ghost Company could eliminate the proton cannons in Nabat. Once there, troopers Boil and Waxer befriended Numa, a young Twi'lek orphan who had lost her parents when the Separatists stormed Nabat. With Numa's help, Kenobi and Ghost Company disabled the proton cannons and also rescued Nabat's Twi'lek residents, whom TX-20 had been using as living shields to protect his encampment from attack. Once freed, the Twi'leks mobbed TX-20 and destroyed him in retaliation for his subjugation of their home.

Ghost Company's liberation of Nabat allowed Windu and his transports to use the city as a landing zone. While Skywalker and Tano defeated the remnants of the Confederate blockade and secured the space around Ryloth, Kenobi freed more Twi'lek villages from the Techno Union's occupation. Kenobi soon retook the Jixuan desert, bringing Ryloth's southern hemisphere under Republic control. In response to the Republic's rising victories, Wat Tambor entrenched the majority of his droid infantry within the capital of Lessu. It fell to Windu and Commander Ponds to secure Lessu and apprehend Tambor. However, a unit of Armored Assault Tanks inflicted severe casualties on Windu's Lightning Squadron during an ambush at a canyon outside of Lessu. Because the Grand Army could not spare any reinforcements, Windu decided to enlist the help of Cham Syndulla and his Twi'lek Resistance.

When Windu sought him out, Syndulla still had reservations about working with the Republic, since the Grand Army had previously been unable to aid the Twi'lek Resistance. Syndulla also lacked trust in Ryloth's senator, Orn Free Taa, due to their political rivalry before the war. Yet, Syndulla changed his mind when Dooku ordered Tambor to plunder what he could from the Twi'lek villages, and then exterminate everything else. In doing so, Dooku hoped to use Ryloth's demise as a political message about the ramifications of a Republic victory.

Ponds and Lightning Squadron witnessed Tambor's firebombing campaign firsthand, as Hyena-class Droid Bombers targeted all villages within range of Lessu, even those that were filled with innocent civilians. Skywalker and Tano concentrated their efforts on eliminating the bombers, but there were too many for their squadrons to handle. Tambor's ruthlessness reminded Syndulla and Taa of their common desire: achieving liberty for Ryloth. Under Windu's mediation, Syndulla promised not to exploit the situation for political power. Taa, meanwhile, agreed to Syndulla's stipulation to preserve Ryloth's independence, by ensuring that the Grand Army refrained from a post-invasion occupation of Ryloth. With that, Syndulla merged his forces with those of Windu, and the new allies organized a joint assault on Lessu.

Although Dooku ordered him to withdraw from Ryloth, Tambor delayed his departure to maximize the amount of plunder that he could seize from the Twi'leks. As a result, Windu and Advanced Recon Force troopers Razor and Stak infiltrated one of Tambor's inbound Multi-Troop Transports to gain passage across Lessu's plasma bridge, which was the only means of reaching the capital. Once Razor and Stak reactivated the bridge, Syndulla led his Twi'lek freedom fighters and the Republic clone troopers—riding blurrgs and All Terrain Reconnaissance Transports, respectively—as they charged into Lessu. While Syndulla oversaw the ground campaign, Windu arrested Tambor, who had lingered too long and was thus abandoned when his own tactical droid, TA-175, left aboard his shuttle. Despite Tambor's presence in Lessu, Dooku ordered TA-175 to have their Hyena-class bombers lay waste to the capital. However, Skywalker and Tano intercepted the bombers in their Delta-7B interceptors and wiped them out before they reached Lessu. Afterward, Tambor agreed to unconditionally surrender to Syndulla and Windu.

The Battle of Lessu, as it became known, finally brought the lengthy Battle of Ryloth to an end. Now free once more, the Twi'leks held a parade in Lessu to celebrate their victory, with Syndulla, Taa, and Windu in attendance. Syndulla and Windu's accomplishments at Lessu led them to become part of Twi'lek folklore, with songs naming their attack the Hammer of Ryloth.

The Second Battle of Geonosis

It was not long before the Clone Wars returned to Geonosis. Though the Republic had occupied the desert world since the war's outset, the Grand Army's pan-galactic war effort required that much of Geonosis's occupying forces be distributed elsewhere. Thanks to the Republic's waning attention, the Confederacy was able to re-establish a major presence on Geonosis. Archduke Poggle the Lesser oversaw the construction of a series of new battle-droid factories to expand the ranks of the Separatist Droid Army. Poggle's primary foundry earned substantial investments from the Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan. During a visit to Lott Dod's palace on Cato Neimoidia, Padmé Amidala discovered a hologram disc with the factory's coordinates and stole it from the Banking Clan's senator, Rush Clovis. The Republic and the Jedi High Council subsequently learned of the existence of Poggle's new droid foundries.

Already, the Confederacy's total supply of battle droids far outnumbered the Republic's clone troopers, with Count Dooku claiming that the ratio was as high as one hundred to one. Hoping to halt the Geonosians' production of new battle droids, the Grand Army committed an immense Jedi-led invasion force to retake Geonosis. Since Poggle had barricaded himself in his primary foundry, the Jedi mounted a three-pronged assault on the facility's ray shield generator. Jedi General Ki-Adi-Mundi and Clone Commander CC-1993, nicknamed "Jet," led the northernmost strike, while Obi-Wan Kenobi and Commander Cody oversaw the central charge. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano—fresh from routing Confederate forces near the planet Dorin—spearheaded the southward strike with Captain Rex. Wullf Yularen commanded the Republic Navy's efforts, including other areas of the planet-wide campaign.

As the Second Battle of Geonosis began, the Geonosian defenses intercepted the majority of the Republic's LAAT/i gunships. Only Cody and his detachment of AT-TE walkers managed to reach Point Rain, the Republic's staging area near the ray shield generator, where Cody organized his walkers in a defensive formation. The Geonosians' LR1K sonic cannons and Nantex-class starfighters grounded the rest of the Republic's gunships. Kenobi was severely wounded when his gunship went down, and Cody had to send troopers Waxer and Boil to rescue him and Trooper Trapper, the transport's only other survivor. Mundi also sustained injuries when his gunship crashed, but he and Jet cut through a cave of Geonosian soldiers, where their squad of clone flame-troopers used flamethrowers to overwhelm the Geonosians. Rex, Skywalker, Tano, and their troops obliterated an enormous canyon barricade of battle droids and rendezvoused with Jet, Mundi, and their men.

As Cody and Kenobi continued to defend Point Rain from oncoming waves of Geonosian soldiers, Mundi and Skywalker combined their forces and pushed onward to reinforce their comrades. At the same time, Yularen was able to spare a single squadron of Y-wing starfighters to provide aerial support for Mundi and Skywalker's advance. Consequently, the Jedi and clones were able to secure Point Rain. For the final stage of their operation, Skywalker and Tano led a small squad of troopers through the ray shield, and they used a volley of Electro Magnetic Pulse grenades to disable the Geonosians' J-1 proton cannons. Once they had done so, Cody moved in with a detail of AT-TE walkers and eliminated the shield generator. The ray shield dissipated, allowing Rex, Mundi, and the main body of troops to land there aboard their gunships. The remaining Geonosians surrendered, thus ending the first phase of the Republic's invasion.

While Kenobi, Mundi, and the other wounded troops returned to the Republic fleet for medical treatment, Rex, Skywalker, and Tano undertook the next phase of the invasion: crippling Poggle's main droid foundry. Luminara Unduli; her Padawan, Barriss Offee; and Commander Gree brought in infantry reinforcements to support Skywalker's assault. However, a single bridge was the only means of crossing the chasm that isolated Poggle's factory from the surrounding area. Since the bridge formed a natural bottleneck, the Republic's clone troopers would be completely exposed during their advance on the foundry. As a result, Unduli had Offee memorize the entire labyrinth of catacombs beneath the facility. While Offee and Tano infiltrated the foundry from the catacombs below, Unduli and Skywalker collaborated with Gree and Rex to lead a frontal assault on the facility as a diversionary tactic. Yet, though the droid factory was operating at only half-capacity, Poggle and his tactical droid, TX-21, had already amassed ten garrisons of new troops that were ready for deployment.

As Unduli, Skywalker, and their soldiers made headway against the foundry's droid defenses, Poggle allowed TX-21 to deploy twenty units of their newest creation: the super tank. The super tanks' ray shields enabled them to withstand barrages from the Republic's AV-7 Anti-Vehicle Cannons. In return, the super tanks launched a devastating volley of missiles, inflicting heavy casualties on the Republic troops. Gree and Rex led their soldiers into retreat, thereby drawing the super tanks onto the bridge across the chasm. Skywalker and Unduli climbed across the underside of the bridge, planting thermal detonators on their way to the other side. Once they had reached the factory, Skywalker and Unduli used the explosives to collapse the bridge, plunging the super tanks into the abyss.

Meanwhile, Offee and Tano reached the foundry's reactor via the catacombs, but TX-21 intercepted them with a super tank and a squad of Geonosian soldiers. Though Tano destroyed TX-21, the Geonosians purloined her and Offee's supply of thermal detonators. Unable to devise another means of eliminating the reactor, Offee and Tano commandeered the super tank and fired upon the reactor. Their attack generated a chain of explosions that ruptured the foundry's internal structure, bringing it plummeting to the ground.

Although Unduli accepted Offee's fate, Skywalker was unwilling to let go of his own pupil, and he frantically joined his troops' search for the lost Padawans. Trapped with Offee in the wreckage of their super tank, Tano used a power cell to boost her comlink's reception, leading their Masters to their location. As a result, Unduli and Skywalker were able to rescue Offee and Tano from the mounds of debris. While the main body of troops continued their cleanup efforts, Offee and Tano returned to the fleet for temporary recuperation.

The Battle of Mon Calamari

The Quarren and Mon Calamari had coexisted on the planet Dac; however, their relationship had always been in shaky waters. The Quarren's anger, mistrust, and jealousy against the Mon Calamari people had grown within the ranks of their neighbors, the collective intelligence of the Moappa. The Quarren Isolation League was established to counter the apparent Mon Calamari domination over the Quarren race.

Eventually, Count Dooku of the Confederacy of Independent Systems intervened in the political turmoil, pledging support to the Quarren secessionist movement. Now backed by a droid army, the Quarren moved against the Mon Calamari, intending to start a civil war. Unwilling to lose a powerful ally in the Mon Calamari people, Grand Master Yoda of the Jedi Order sent a detachment of the Grand Army of the Republic led by Jedi Master Kit Fisto to assist the Mon Calamari.