Chapter I, Part I:
The nature of the One Force differs from that of other attempts past and present to blend the Light and the Dark Sides. Attempts to do that dated all the way to the Sith Lady Kreia in the time of the Sith Wars. In this case, the obvious difference was that there had just been an atrocity, and that the Bando Gora were a threat both to the Order I headed at the time and to the Jedi. We chose what was at first an alliance of convenience. At the time of the First Battle of Geonosis we had not the least idea what the Great Clone War would become.
-Darth Sidious, Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor.

Across the Senate chamber, time stood still for a moment. Yet none of the observers noted so much as a twitch from Windu or from Yoda. The only movement was when the lips of the Supreme Chancellor began to speak in a thunderous voice:

"It is indeed true that I am the leader of the Order of the Sith Lords. The Light and Dark War devastated us also. For the last several years I have led the Jedi and the Republic, and have made no gestures to harm either. The only crime that was committed was that of a sect of Dark Siders envious of the power that we Sith have developed in the Dark Side.

The Bando Gora disfigure themselves, and speak in terms of reviving independence of Droids from rule. The armies sent by the Trade Federation to occupy my very homeworld itself were powerful when directed by sapients. If droids are granted rule of themselves they could easily become a fifth column of traitors in our very midst.

Should the corporations assure their "Rights" the result would be an oligarchy of the wealthy, who rule us all with the same iron fists. We have seen the kindness of Trade Federation rule on one planet, Naboo, where several million of our citizens died in the Theed region alone in a few weeks of occupation.

That madwoman whose authority rules this "Confederacy of Independent Systems" has claimed that all the Confederates wish is to be let alone. Yet we see them torturing and mutilating Jedi, who even I must admit have done brave, even impossible things in pursuit of the Republic, and reducing one of the bravest senators of the Republic to a gibbering piece of insanity.

We have just this very day passed a Military Creation Act, and as my first act with this new authority, I announce a Grand Army of the Republic, designed to counter these threats of the Confederacy. I have nothing to offer except blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We shall fight in space, we shall fight in cities, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength against this colossus of corporate greed and utter horror. We shall fight on Geonosis, we shall fight on Aargonar, we shall fight in Dathomir we shall fight to our last breath, whatever the cost may be.

Disputes over the role emotion and the self play over the Force cannot divide we citizens of the Republic. The Jedi and Sith share a history more in common than either of us shall ever admit. We cannot let those mystic chords of memory lose their significance, yet in the spirit of the ancestral Jedi and Republican armies and also those of my predecessors, we must stand against this infamous and treacherous act of the Confederacy.

Citizens of the Republic, in answer to this act of brute force, bad faith, injustice, and malice on the part of the treasonous inhabitants of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, I will dispatch a group of Jedi under members of the Council Depa Billaba, Adi Gallia, and Yarael Poof with the first trained detachments of our Grand Army of the Republic to the world of Geonosis, that we may confront these traitors, and deal to the forces of treason a death blow from which they may never recover!".

And with the sudden finish of Palpatine's speech, Darth Sidious noted that Masters Yoda and Windu rose by him and shouted "For the Republic and victory!".

And at the order of the Chancellor 200 million GAR soldiers under command of three members of the Jedi Council began their journey to the world of Geonosis. The shroud of war had fallen on the Republic, and neither the clones impassive behind their masks nor the forces of the Droid Army under command of the first Sectorial General of the Confederacy, the bounty hunter/mercenary Durge had any idea what lay in store for them...

Part II:
It must be noted at the time of the Battle of Geonosis that both sides were expecting a short war. We did not believe that a corporate oligarchy would either afford or maintain a long one. We also did not understand that Vosa's actions had changed war dramatically from the last large Darkside War. For the Confederacy's part it underestimated the role religion played in the war on our side...
-Darth Sidious, Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor

The Grand Army of the Republic had arrived over the world of Geonosis. This first detachment included the largest gunship class then-available for use by the Republic. These began to engage the first trifighters, as the Republic's army headed for the planet surface. Geonosis, the Jedi had briefed the clones, was a harsh and barren world where the native lifeforms concentrated extremely densely in hives.

One of the most prominent hives on a level plain was where the Separatist leadership was meeting. The objective was to head down, destroy the Separatist leadership, and rescue the Jedi and Senator. With these objectives duly noted the Grand Army of the Republic dispatched its Ground Assault Force toward the planet's surface.

On that planet's surface, the half-droid general, Grievous, snarled. He turned to Vosa and said "They have sent too much too fast. We must make a strategic withdrawal to our capital world of Korriban and there prepare to launch our first offensive. Shall I kill the Jedi and the Senator?".

In response to Grievous' statement, Vosa cocked her head in thought, briefly turning it up as if she was trying to bite her ear off. After a few minutes' pause she said "No, let them be saved. It is agreed that we shall achieve this withdrawal and that we shall join the Council on Korriban."

And with this noted the the two turned to the broader battle itself, as the signal was sent for the Droid army to begin its withdrawal.

By the other Hives where the Grand Army of the Republic had not gotten anywhere near entire intact army groups were beginning to take off into orbital space, there for some of their hyperspace-worthy ships to take them, or alternately to get into the large Trade Federation Troop transports.

Near the Central Hive, Vosa smiled as she left the two Jedi and the Senator, all of them unconscious and having been given enough Force lightning to handicap them for at least a year, heading to her flagship, The Iron Dream.

For the Clone Troopers this first battle was more than any of their training had prepared them for. The droids were fighting hard and were coming at them in ways no organic army could have done, without need for much of a pause. The clone troopers turned to their artillery to try to halt these attackers and maser energy struck out, tearing through entire Droid Army lines with the image of a glowing scythe.

In response the wheelfire missile droids from the InterGalactic Banking Clan hurled entire volleys of cluster-bomb missiles, which led the GAR to decide on a new tactic. By this point the Jedi had succeeded in forcing away the Separatist Navy in the space battle, and so were radioing to the clones, who in turn requested two orbital strikes on the strategic reserve of the clone force.

The bright energy of turbolasers hurled down through the Geonosian atmosphere, and in the resulting explosion and shockwave the Droid Army was halved in terms of its sheer numbers. Noting one of the Clones who had sent the message, a particular B-2 Battle Droid suddenly turned and started firing directly at him.

The clone felt darkness closing in on him and the B-2 Droid began to radio to its comrades to attack any and all visible Republic Communication Centers. In response the Republic began to fire a sustained volley of blaster rifles, which kept the Confederacy's forces fighting this rearguard action from making the best of it.

Aware their purpose was to buy time for as much of the Droid Army to withdraw as possible, the Droid Army itself chose to fall back on the battlefield into the crater created by the orbital strike. The GAR began to advance, now with its Jedi Generals in command of it.

But then the Droid Army revealed the purpose of the withdrawal: it had achieved a perfect cover and began to fire on the GAR. The Jedi managed to deflect some of the blaster bolts, but as the GAR's full ground assault force headed toward the crater, Gallia shouted to Poof that perhaps a second orbital strike would do.

Poof refused, stating use of the weapon the first time was a stain on the Jedi Order. Thus the GAR proceeded on its attack, though the casualties among the clones began to mount.

The Droids then revealed once the Jedi were in range that Vosa had chosen to start reviving some rather older weapons. Booming began to echo, as opposed to the crackling sound and ozone smell produced by the laser tanks. A screeching began and shells began falling among the clones, who began to be mowed down by the ruthless progression of the canister rounds of the Droid Army's artillery.

Poof then said to Gallia "OK, you win." And with that Depa Billaba sent the second strike that ended up destroying the Droid Army detachments near the Central Hive.

But when the GAR had begun to search the hives throughout Geonosis there was no trace of the Droid Army. It was only then that Gallia, Poof, and Billaba had realized what the Confederacy's intentions were.

It was a joke among the Clone Troopers for days that not only did the acronyms SNAFU and FUBAR come into being as GAR trooper rhetoric, but the looks on the faces of all the Jedi followed by the facepalming became a memetic mutation.

The Jedi and the Senator returned to Coruscant, where the Supreme Chancellor greeted them along with Masters Yoda and Windu: "It is a pleasure to see you again, Jedi Councilmen. I have unfortunate news...

A week ago the Confederacy began to embark on a large offensive into the Halla Sector. They have managed to land on every single world at once. I am afraid my friends that this war is far from over.

I am afraid also I have no idea how much chance of victory we truly have."

_

Part III:
I often wondered what Master Yoda must have thought in those early days of the war. So many good friends of his were already dying. The Lost 20 seemed a nostalgic memory. It must be said, however, that birth is always painful, and like all things of the past, the rise of the One Force is one thing that none can truly attribute to any one thing. Yet it can be said that the name Galidraan will forever haunt the One Force as the shatterpoint of all things.
-Lord Rorqual, On the Rise of the One Force.

In the hallowed halls of the Jedi Council the mood was somber. The victory at Geonosis had been dearly bought. 200 million troops had struck, but only 170 million had returned, as the Droid Army had chosen to fight until the very last droids were fully obliterated, and they were such determined fighters that the battle had lasted a week's time.

The news of the vast Confederate offensive all across the Halla Sector had also darkened the mood of the Council. It was known now that Palpatine had been a Sith Lord, but there was nothing in his behavior to attribute to him a desire to overthrow the Republic. He seemed sickened by everything, older. So did the Council member who spoke:

"I do wonder how our old friend Count Dooku would have seen this?".

The members of the Council shifted uneasily. Ki-Adi-Mundi continued: "According to his old Padawan he'd died an honorable death defeating the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus on Galidraan, having returned there to look for her upon leaving the Jedi Order. Vosa is a madwoman, and I cannot think of a political idealist like Dooku approving of what she's done with this Confederacy.

Nor can I imagine the Jedi Master of Qui-Gon turning to evil."

Master Yoda remained shrouded in thought.

"A thought, I have," he spoke.

"Dooku, Count of Serenno, he was. Formed this Confederacy from his own funds, he could have."

Ki-Adi Mundi sighed. "I cannot see a political idealist like him embracing a Droid Army. Nor capturing and torturing Jedi. Vosa claims herself as Supreme Commander. I could never see Dooku doing something so terrible as this."

Master Windu spoke in turn "To think of the past and might-have-beens is a foolish, distracting endeavor. Vosa wished this when she renamed the old Sith World Dooku instead of Korriban. We must not let this get in our way.

Now, I believe the intention is to dispatch Jedi forces along this route, with GAR detachments, each of 200 Units like on Geonosis. The Confederacy has just consolidated this, and certainly will not expect us to retaliate immediately to that wide an offensive.

I agree with you, though, on a final note: Dooku was a good friend of mine. It would be impossible for the shroud of the Dark Side to come from him. A pity he did not survive to tell us who Darth Tyranus was..."