Chapter 2: Homecoming on Eos
Instead of going to Geonosis to assist the Geonosians hiding in the catacombs, OOM-9 was surprised that Nute Gunray had ordered him to Eos. The loss of the droid foundries on Geonosis right at the start of the war was an unexpected catastrophe. General Sev'rance Tann, currently the star general of the Confederacy and a favorite of Count Dooku had been sent to the Kaer Orbital Platform to produce dwarf spider droids and homing spider droids from previously abandoned factories while OOM-9 was given the more time consuming task of rebuilding completely new droid factories on Eos. The volcanic world of Eos had once hosted droid factories for the Trade Federation but they had long been destroyed by the pirate Nym and his minions. OOM-9 was confident that had he not been away at Naboo, he would have masterfully defended his home planet from the likes of a few ragtag pirates.
Hunter-seeker droids were dispatched to see whether any of the remaining wreckage of the old droid factories was still salvageable. The images the little flying droids signaled to the bridge of the Scrapyard did not please OOM-9. The debris at the old site was little more than shredded scrap and trash. OOM-9 had hoped that the old factories could simply be repaired and refitted but it was now obvious that building completely new factories would be faster and more cost effective than trying to restore the old manufacturing plant to its former glory.
Trade Federation OX9s and PK droids worked tirelessly alongside the larger SRT and Trade Federation loader droids to build the new structures. The overall construction was coming along ahead of schedule.
On a small featureless landing pad away from the constant hustle of the builders Commander Zako was attempting to persuade OOM-9 that the new tweaks he made to the old Scarab starfighter design were worth putting on the production line. Scarab-class starfighters were originally designed to be operated by the Trade Federation's pilot battle droids. In his spare time Zako had modified a Scarab to include a life support system so that organic pilots could operate a Scarab without a bulky flight suit with its own independent life support systems. The problem was that the Scarabs that featured a life support system were more costly to build.
The Vulture droid starfighters had been predicted to make the older Scarab model all but obsolete. But time had been kind to the Scarab starfighter. Strong shields and a hyperdrive kept the model from being completely discarded in the past ten years.
Zako was a skilled pilot but had little choice in the way of standard Trade Federation aircraft to fly since most utilized integrated droid brains with the exception of the Scarab fighters and the E-STAP droid starbomber series. Although they were called droid starbombers this had only meant that the ships were originally intended to be flown by pilot battle droids, as they had no life support systems. The E-STAPs were used mainly by OOM-9's forces during the Naboo campaign and were not as popular elsewhere in the Trade Federation fleet. The old Trade Federation droid bomber had been more popular, though not as successful in combat as the E-STAP series according to battle statistics compiled over the years.
Karl Zako had flown E-STAPs with added life support systems when he signed on with the Federation but felt that a standardized fighter with life support was needed in addition to the three bomber variations. The newly formed Separatist military was a hodgepodge of different groups using different weapons and equipment. Zako didn't trust some other fighter he wasn't familiar with becoming more popular than one he relied on. And while the RH-II Zero fighters originated from the Zalost system, they were an ancient design over two hundred years old. Zako knew they needed something else and the Scarab model fit the requirements. The Scarab fighters with built-in life support systems looked and functioned effectively the same as the original with the exception that it gave organic crews something to fly in the Confederacy. Commander OOM-9 was hesitant at first to the costly new change but Zako was able to convince him that the new feature would increase demand for the Scarab-class starfighter since there would be a lot of organic pilots that would need ships in the new Confederate Navy.
Commander OOM-9 was confident in Zako's reasoning, but also had a personal reason for approving the design without the go-ahead from the higher ups. OOM-9 considered Zako as his friend and vice-versa. It was Zako that had saved OOM-9 from the cold hand of absolute destruction. Years earlier after OOM-9 and his automated forces had been deactivated on Naboo and their inanimate remains were slowly shipped to Raxus Prime to be smelted down. Zako was a young upstart historian at the time and had taken an interest in the history of the Trade Federation—the organization responsible for his system's surge of wealth, which eventually led to his employment in the corporation. Luckily for OOM-9, Zako was interested in very contemporary history and was studying the invasion and blockade of Naboo has it was happening. Zako was impressed with OOM-9's unique success despite OOM-9 being just another expendable battle droid in the vast military machine of the Trade Federation.
As soon as the army was deactivated and Viceroy Gunray taken to Coruscant in shackles, Karl Zako did some political digging and found the now useless war machines were heading for Raxus Prime. Zako had persuaded his life long friend Ashley Katen to fly him to the junkyard planet with a Trade Federation freighter that she had been put in command of. Upon their arrival Zako and Katen bribed the junkyard officials to look the other way as they scrounged and collected the controversial droid remains. The two humans used the freighter's compliment of OX9 worker droids to help them scavenge for the specific battle droid that Zako wanted to retrieve. Through sheer luck, or perhaps will of the Force, OOM-9 was found relatively quickly. OOM-9 was found so easily that Zako surprised Katen with a short list of other specific battle droids that he wanted to rescue: EEK-176, 3B3-888, and SSA-719. Katen wasn't sure why Zako needed these particular droids and he explained why. 3B3-888 had the highest kill count of any B1 battle droid during the Naboo campaign. The security battle droid SSA-719 was tasked with several high-profile assignments and was found to operate excessively aggressively, even during defensive operations. Like OOM-9, EEK-176 performed well beyond expectations as an officer and worked alongside OOM-9 throughout the campaign. The two command droids had a habit of dividing their forces and flanking enemy troops in wildly successful battles. Karl Zako had worked on droids enough to realize that the Trade Federation was cutting corners with their battle droids. Pirate and terrorist activity had been dramatically increasing since the Stark Hyperspace War and Zako knew that being a member of the Trade Defense Force had greatly reduced his life expectancy. At his very core, Zako was acting out of self-preservation: surrounding himself with the most successful battle droids of the Trade Federation's largest military operation to date. One could easily make the argument that any pair of droidekas would make a better choice if one wanted to be safe, but droidekas had exploitable weaknesses. Zako wanted battle droids that had proven themselves and he wanted comrades could think and reason critically.
Zako and Katen had altered the junkyard records to show that the battle droids had been smelted down, so that they could then retrieve the entire invasion force later.
After the specific droids had been found they were immediately transported to the two humans' home world of Zakkudos where Zako set about spending his entire personal life savings fully restoring the droids. The physical damage was almost non-existent; the real challenge was restoring the droids' memories into individual droid brains that Zako had custom built in their elongated heads. It was easier with OOM-9, EEK-176 and SSA-719 as they already had a small degree of independence from the central control computer. It was 3B3-888, being a B1 battle droid, who was more difficult. The long, tedious task of retrieving the personalized information was possible by tracing the system loge from the droids to their droid control ship and transmitting the data to the droid brain. The frustrating endeavor had paid off, as Zako was able to manage to give the original droid bodies their own personal memories back, with the bonus benefit of a new permanent state of the art droid brain capable of learning at a human level.
Karl Zako also selected the pilot battle droid KJZ-8267 for the upgrades, due to the pilot droid having the highest starfighter kill count during the Naboo campaign. KJZ-8267 had been recalled with most of the other droid forces once the planet had been taken and was therefore not subjugated to the deactivation. It was easy enough to get the pilot battle droid transferred over to his group.
Once the restorations and upgrades were complete, OOM-9 and the others were secretly reinstated back into the Trade Federation military. The droids were the Trade Federation's property, but Zako's initiative in restoring and updating the droids of his own volition has impressed his superiors enough that they assigned all of them to his small battle group—just as Zako had hoped. He had succeeded in creating a small cadre of elite comrades.
While the first battles of the Clones Wars were being raged, Ashley Katen found it hard to believe that she had been assigned to such a boring mission. The short-tempered officer would have preferred combat to construction. Ashley let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at her datapad, usually she would leave droid inventory to Karl but he was already busy enough with even more mundane duties. Major Katen had always been bored by administrative duties, which was the reason why she preferred not to rise in rank any further, less she incur more responsibilities than she could push off on Karl. There was only so much her friend would be willing to tolerate. OOM-9 had always been lenient of Katen's laziness provided she was serious when the situation called for it. With a real war going on it was looking like Katen would have to be serious about her duties more often now. She hated that.
After his discussion with Zako was over, OOM-9 hopped aboard a Trade Federation troop carrier and ordered the pilot to take him to the command center. As the hover transport flew above the lava, OOM-9 watched as he went past the assorted buildings under various states of construction. The command battle droid observed the partly finished railway system that criss-crossed above the lava flows. When he reached the half-spheroid shaped command center OOM-9 went to EEK-176, who was at a command console surrounded by various command battle droids waiting for instructions. The ceiling autoturrets scanned the command center for non-existent intruders as the two high ranked droids exchanged communications.
"EEK-176, I need you to go to Skako. I require the talents of a certain skilled Skakoan scientist, and you're going to hire him for me."
"Roger roger."
"Why didn't we rebuild the Eos factories before the war broke out?" Captain SSA-719 asked Commander Zako.
"Well, mainly for fear that the Republic would be monitoring the planet after they arbitrarily decided to make droid armies illegal. The Republic only knows the location at all since they learned about it after the pirates blew up the original. With Geonosis producing so many droids the Council didn't think we'd need to use Eos again, but now that Geonosis is lost and the war is in full swing they apparently now think its time to utilize this planet's resources once more," the human officer explained.
"They should have just had the two major foundries from the start and then we wouldn't have been in this situation," the security droid stated.
"True, but you know the leadership is slow to approve a decent budget for the droid military. Now that the Confederacy is threatened by both Jedi and these mysterious clones, I think we are going to receive a lot more funding. And hopefully we are going to see more upgrades and respect for droids."
"Similar to our relationship with you and Katen?"
"I don't think it would go that far, SSA-719. We're friends, but our friendship has grown over the course of the past decade. It will take time for bonds of brotherhood to grow, and not all organics are as accepting of droid equality as Katen and I am," Zako explained.
"Then why should we fight for those who consider us inferior?" SSA-719 asked.
"Attitudes will change once people realize how important your services are. Not everyone is so bad. They all have varying opinions that will take different amounts of time to change but things will get better and one day all you and all your brothers will get the respect they deserve."
"I doubt that very much," SSA-719 said. "The Zalost system is the only place that treats droids with any semblance of respect. I doubt a war will change that, even if we are on the right side. And anyone not allied with the Confederacy will grow fearful of droids." SSA-719 didn't necessarily think organic life forms fearing droids on a mass scale was a bad thing.
"We're not trying to change the attitudes of the Republicans. That's why we're leaving the Republic. In any case I think the larger problem is finding out how the Republic was able to create an army so quickly, unless they had been planning a war for some time."
"If we find their clone factory then this war should still be short and decisive?" SSA-719 didn't care about the galaxy at large if the war dragged on or not. But a protracted war meant there was a greater chance for Zako and Katen to perish in battle. And if anything SSA-719 did care about them, humans had short enough life spans as it was—especially when compared to a droids'.
"Provided they only have one clone factory," Zako said, realizing the gravity of what he had just said. Things could prove difficult if the Republic had more than one factory, or had contracted multiple cloning companies to work for them.
The Trade Federation freighter landed on Skako. After being adapted to the planet's pressure, EEK-176, and his entourage of battle droids disembarked by means of a Trade Federation troop carrier that sped towards the private estate of the esteemed Dr. Gatling Quartz. EEK-176 jumped out of the co-pilot seat of his transport and was led inside the manor by a gray LEP servant droid.
EEK-176 was allowed inside Dr. Quartz's private laboratory. The doctor was encased in a pressure suit not unlike that of Techno Union foreman Wat Tambor with the exception that Quartz's suit had a violet tint to the metallic armor. The fact that the Skakoan was dressed in a pressure suit on his home planet confused EEK-176. Dr. Quartz was testing his own personal wrist rocket launcher that was attached to his left gauntlet.
"Ah, you must be one of Zako's battle droids; he had once come to me for advice regarding your memory retrieval. A very complicated endeavor, that was." Quartz said as he ceased fire and allowed his PK droids to attach his gatling gauntlet to his right wrist. Similar devices had been in use throughout the galaxy for generations but Dr. Gatling Quartz was the individual to perfect the technology and was made famous for it.
"Why are you wearing a pressure suit on your home planet?" EEK-176 tactlessly asked.
"To test it, my suit powers my gauntlet weapons and I need to make sure everything is working at peak efficiency for when I journey off world, which is why you're here, is it not?"
"Yes, you have contributed much to weapons designs for the Trade Federation and Techno Union in the past and Commander OOM-9 of the Confederacy of Independent Systems would like to hire you as a weapons and droid designer."
"I think designing weapons of death and destruction during a civilization shattering war would be quite interesting. I accept OOM-9's offer of employment." Quartz answered as he opened fire with his gatling gauntlet and green lasers spewed towards the holographic practice targets.
The Skakoan didn't need any convincing, and looked to be almost ready to leave his home planet. EEK-176 guessed that if he hadn't come to Quartz, then the Skakoan would have come to offer his services to the Confederacy anyway.
OOM-9, 3B3-888, KJZ-8286, and SSA-719 waited patiently for the arrival of Commander Zako, who had summoned them for some unknown reason.
Zako entered the room, "I have an interesting idea, since you will become masters of the Separatist military you should look the part." Zako held a small device that looked like a power stamper.
"Elaborate, Commander," OOM-9 ordered.
"A touch of individuality. The CIS roundel will be proudly displayed in black paint on each of your shoulder plates. Of course you all have your individual names painted on your back but I believe that a small distinctive mark of your elevated status can show the organic populations that droids can be top leaders of the military and command as well as any organic officer. A small change will not significantly alter your appearance so you and others around you will not forget where you came from and who you are."
"Interesting," KJZ-8267 commented.
"Very well, do it," OOM-9 said. Zako stamped both shoulder plates of each of the droids with the symbols in perfect alignment on each shoulder covering, indeed making them stand out slightly from the countless other battle droids. The battle droids looked at each other, studying their minor cosmetic alterations; the seemingly dull ornamental result was a major change in how the droids perceived themselves.
The Trade Federation freighter landed on Eos and was greeted by a formation of B1 battle droids. Major Katen greeted Commander EEK-176 and Dr. Quartz upon their entry onto the planet's surface. Katen led the other two towards the command center. As the high profile trio walked they paused as a trio of T4 turret droids walked single file in front of their path.
Some humans that worked in the Trade Federation military had taken to calling the T4 turret droids "super droidekas," as not to confuse them with the turret droids that were turrets with integrated droid brains that happened to dot the landscape around Eos's droid factories. The super droidekas seemed like a similar upgrade to droidekas that B2 battle droids were to B1s, even despite the fact that the droideka and T4 turret droid designs had nothing to do with one another originally.
When the trio arrived at the command center OOM-9 greeted Dr. Quartz and asked him to design a weapon for his own personal use as a test to see if the doctor was worth the credits. Dr. Gatling Quartz accepted the challenge and after being escorted to a nearby testing laboratory, immediately began his work.
EEK-176 noticed that his commanding officer bore the CIS emblem on his shoulder plates and asked about the visual change. OOM-9 pointed his subordinate toward Zako to get the aesthetic upgrade.
Later, OOM-9 was summoned by none other than Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In an instant, OOM-9 went from being an obscure military officer to suddenly dealing with his government's leader. OOM-9 obediently listened to his orders as the holographic projection of Count Dooku gave him instructions.
"Commander, Mako Woundo is a neutral planet and we need you to go and convince them to join our cause."
"What if they refuse?" OOM-9 asked.
"Failure is not an option; you know what to do if negotiations are short."
"Yes, my lord" OOM-9 answered.
As the holographic image fizzled and faded away OOM-9 turned to Zako, "you're coming with me."
"Yes sir."
Before embarking on his mission, OOM-9 stopped to pay Dr. Quartz a visit. "I require a report on the progress of my weapon," OOM-9 demanded.
"Progress complete," Dr. Quartz answered as he handed an E-5 blaster to OOM-9.
"Would you please explain why you handed me a standard E-5 blaster rifle," OOM-9 dryly said.
"This is no ordinary E-5 blaster rifle, it houses a plethora of E-5 variants insides it. You need only operate the small switch on the grip to choose the weapon type that suits the moment of battle; blaster, elite blaster, shotgun, flechette shotgun, bulldog RLR, flamethrower, they're all there," Quartz explained.
"Interesting, it combines versatile firepower while hiding under the visage of a standard issue weapon. If this firearm is successful in combat, you're hired. I'm been sent on a mission and hopefully it will be the perfect opportunity to test this new weapon," OOM-9 said.
The Scrapyard exited hyperspace in front of Mako Woundo. The planet was mostly known for its dangerous weather which took the form of frequent hailstorms. The sentients that emigrated to the formerly empty planet lived in vast underground cities connected by tunnels in order to escape the nearly constant hailstorms. Fortunately, the forecast for weather on this day was clear. Trade Federation dropships and C-9979 landing craft departed from the control ship hangar to land on the surface. When the dropships began their landing sequence on the planet's surface a pilot noticed that a CEC Consular-class space cruiser had landed not far off from the entrance to the underground capital city. When the pilot informed OOM-9, the battle droid commander called Zako, who was waiting back aboard the Scrapyard, to be ready to send down air support.
OOM-9 and his squad of security battle droids exited from his Sheathipede-class shuttle, the Emerald Slicer and were greeted by an Ithorian representative who led the group to the entrance of the city, where President Umberto, leader of Mako Woundo, was already conversing with a Chadra-Fan guarded by a small group of clone troopers. When the two opposing sides saw each other they went on alert. The clone troopers raised their weapons at the battle droids who responded in kind.
"Wait! This is a mission of peace, please, let us reach a solution without needless violence," the diminutive Chadra-Fan exclaimed to both sides.
"As you wish, General. Stand down men," the clone captain said.
MTTs, MUTs, and Trade Federation troop carriers made their way towards the minuscule collection of clones. The loud rumbles from the convoy of the approaching repulsor vehicles elicited no response from the fearless cloned troopers. Once the mobile CIS forces came to a halt, the three-sided group began their dialogue.
"Allow me to introduce myself; I am Jedi master Blink, ambassador of the Galactic Republic. And judging from your yellow markings I assume you are the leader of this droid army?"
"I am Commander OOM-9 of the CIS Armed Forces and I have come to enlist Mako Woundo to the Separatist cause," OOM-9 intoned.
"How unfortunate, my mission is the same for the Republic," Blink stated. "Interesting that the Confederacy chose to send a droid rather than a true ambassador."
"My organic compatriots fear you may try and use a technique known as a Jedi Mind Trick to influence the negotiations. Any mental machinations you might try and employ will have no effect on me." The reason OOM-9 gave wasn't false, but it was hardly the true cause as to why Dooku had sent a command droid instead of a genuine diplomat. OOM-9 knew the Count was expecting that there was a very high chance that the negotiations might dissolve into violence.
"I will use no such techniques," the little Jedi promised.
"I would hope so, using mind control to force alliances is not good politics, and certainly not sustainable," President Umberto said. "My planet relies on outside trade for much of its food supply and I'm sorry that we cannot join both sides, but I think remaining neutral during this war would be bad for trade. Food and resources become strained during times of great conflict. The people of Mako Woundo have recognized the reality of the situation that we need to choose sides. We know we will not receive favorable deals if we remain neutral. And we will not turn to the Hutts for help. We know any deals with them will not go in our favor."
"I assure you, Mr. President, that if you join the Republic we can work out a mutually beneficial trade negotiation that will meet your people's needs," Blink promised.
"Any trade agreement concocted by the Republic would be crude and inefficient. The top one hundred trade negotiators in the Trade Federation have formally left to join the Separatist movement. Any settlements finalized with the Confederacy of Independent Systems will be professional and satisfactory," OOM-9 blandly stated with all the diplomatic finesse a combat droid could muster.
"The Galactic Republic is more than capable of providing food and supplies," Blink said to OOM-9. "And not all members of the Trade Federation appear to be as extremist as Viceroy Nute Gunray and his ilk. Large portions of the Trade Federation have remained loyal to the Republic. Only a minority comprises this splinter group that supports the Confederacy."
Master Blink had no idea of the truth. The Republic's preemptive strike had caught the Confederacy by surprise. Several prominent corporate benefactors had been revealed before they were ready, causing several corporations to be split in two. But the truth was most of the elements of the Trade Federation that continued to follow the Republic were secret supporters of the Separatist movement, very few were genuine in their belief that the Republic was in the right. The Jedi were blind to the treachery, proving the old myths of their infallibility to be false.
"If I am not mistaken, government incompetence and corruption is one of the primary reasons why Count Dooku founded the Confederacy of Independent Systems," OOM-9 replied.
"I will admit that the Republic has fallen on hard times, but waste and dishonesty is not the rule on Coruscant. There are many good people trying their best to better the conditions in the Senate and return to the task of helping their constituencies."
"So, the Jedi speaks the truth and admits it," OOM-9 said. "They are looking to better the conditions, in the Senate. I think the Republican Senate is wealthy enough as it is."
"I would have to agree with that statement," Umberto said. "There has been a general trend in recent generations that Republican Senators have become grotesquely wealthy. This change has not gone unnoticed by the peoples of the galaxy, Master Blink."
"I'm sorry you feel that way," the Chadra-Fan said.
"It is not how I feel. It's the fact of the matter. The Republican Senate cannot deny the measurable statistics. Just how much of their wealth would they be willing to sacrifice for the betterment of others? For that of Mako Woundo? We will be holding a special election soon, but it is yet to be determined if our senator will be a Separatist or a Republican."
The security battle droids seemed to nervously twitch and tilt their elongated heads in different directions from time to time. The droids were actually running through subroutine programs on possible battle stances should combat break out. The maroon-marked droids contrasted greatly with their leader, who seemed to be stoically bolted to the ground. OOM-9 was trying his best to be diplomatic, a real challenge for a droid created for battle. He recalled what he had learned of politics from his friend Karl Zako, but this polite ambassadorial talk was wearing on OOM-9's nerves and did not give him the confidence that his mission was a guaranteed success. Count Dooku had sent OOM-9 on this particular assignment for a reason. It was time to stop playing nice and get down to the real business at hand.
"How about a dual to see who is worthy? Seeing the combat capabilities of the two sides may convince the President who could better protect his planet should harm come to it," OOM-9 suggested. "One of my droids versus Jedi Master Blink."
"That sounds like a reasonable way to settle who will gain my favor," President Umberto said. "Whoever we side with will have the responsibility of protecting Mako Woundo against the other."
"There are benefits to remaining neutral," Blink suggested.
"I am no fool, Master Jedi," Umberto turned and looked down on the Chadra-Fan. "Remaining neutral leaves Mako Woundo open to attack from both factions. Not to mention the Hutts. Times have changed and we cannot remain isolationist anymore."
"If it prevents any violence against my clone troopers or to this planet, I accept your challenge, OOM-9," Blink said with tired resignation. The Jedi assumed the command battle droid had decided to play to the strengths of droids. But combat prowess was also an attribute of the Jedi.
"Very well, here is my combatant," OOM-9 said as a large plasma battle droid exited from an MUT and lumbered forward through the ranks of the security battle droids. Plasma battle droids were a gargantuan version of the standard B1 model that were distinguished by green markings. They utilized wrist gauntlets that could switch between firing lightning-like plasma blasts, plasma grenades or green plasma bolts. While less destructive the plasma bolts had a much longer range than the lightning blasts.
"You are to kill the Jedi and no one else," OOM-9 told the much taller droid.
"Roger roger," the plasma battle droid gave a short nod of acknowledgement to OOM-9, turned and proceeded to step on the diminutive Jedi, forgoing the impressive plasma based arsenal in lieu of brute force. Blink use the force to stop the droid's foot just as it was about to make contact with his face. As Blink was holding the plasma battle droid's stomp attack at bay OOM-9 set his custom E-5 blaster rifle to the bulldog RLR feature and quickly fired three rockets in rapid succession. The projectiles slammed into the Jedi, propelling him several meters away.
"Hey!" one of the clone troopers managed to exclaim before the security battle droids opened fire. A flurry of red blaster bolts escaped from the droids' E-5 blaster rifles and burned through pristine white armor. The small clone escort was no match for the superior numbers of the battle droids and was easily eliminated. In the blink of an eye, the orderly chaos the battle droids unleashed was over.
"That didn't seem fair," President Umberto calmly commented.
"That's exactly the point; there are no rules in war. The Jedi are not trained soldiers and the clones will fare no better because they will blindly follow the orders of their Jedi generals. That's why the Republic is going to lose this war," OOM-9 confidently explained.
Commander Zako flew in, piloting an E-STAP droid starbomber, escorted by two Scarabs. The standard E-STAP bomber, the first in a series of three bombers, was an unshielded but fast, brown-colored bomber that had two laser cannons and a bomb chute that could carry a variety of payloads. The bomber and two fighters opened fire on the Republic cruiser as it attempted to take off. Once the trio was directly over the cruiser Zako released a flurry of green plasma bombs and the diplomatic ship smashed back onto the planet's soil.
"Your point is well taken; I will gladly join the Confederacy," Umberto said as he looked over at the burning crash. The fact that no droid casualties occurred during the altercation served as an added bonus to further impress Mako Woundo's leader.
OOM-9 was glad the President of Mako Woundo was so agreeable. It saved OOM-9 from expending any extra 'effort' in convincing him to join the Separatist cause.
Author's Note: Karl Zako's last name is homage to the Zako Soldiers of the TV show SD Gundam Force. Zako Soldiers are cannon fodder robotic infantry and are a parody of the Zaku II mobile suit. Zako Soldiers and battle droids serve the same purpose in their respective armies, hence the name Zako seemed appropriate since he hangs around battle droids all day.
Ashley Katen's last name is 'cat' and 'kitten' spliced together.
There's no real significance to Katen and Zako's first names other than it's meant to hearken back to the old days of Star Wars where characters could have normal names (Luke and Leia for example). When I first tried coming up with names for these characters I tried looking through name sites that explained the meaning behind names. The internet is hardly reliable and I got several different answers for the same name depending on what site I went to. Their names were just a minor detail so I didn't ever do any serious research on the subject since it doesn't really make much difference. One of the meanings for Karl I found was "free man, strong," which seemed like a good fit for him since he treats droids as equals and fights alongside them to be free of the Republic. I chose the spelling 'Karl' over the more common 'Carl' to make the name seem just a little weird. One of the meanings of Ashley is "ash tree meadow" but I really just chose the name Ashley because it sounded good to me.
Gatling Quartz's first name is a reference to gatling weapons. Since Richard Jordan Gatling invented the gatling gun, the term 'gatling' is an accidental real world Earth reference.
The E-STAP droid starbomber series first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. I assume the E-STAP series of starbombers to be vehicles and not ships with an integrated droid brain, such as the Vulture droids or Hyena droid bombers. My reasoning is because in the game, the E-STAP speaks Basic as if it were a pilot droid driving the craft, most larger droids and droid fighters tend to speak in beeping droid languages. My other reason is because the voice actor is credited as the 'E-STAP Pilot' in the credits of Galactic Battlegrounds.
The Scarab-class droid starfighter first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Starfighter. A cinematic scene at the beginning of level three shows that the Scarab starfighter is merely operated by pilot battle droids; the fighter itself is not controlled by an integrated droid brain. The Scarab fighters also appear in the sequel, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter.
The plasma battle droid and T4 turret droid first appeared in the videogame Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles.
The planet Eos originally appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Starfighter.
OOM-9's custom E-5 is based off of the weapons system from the videogame Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. In Shadows of the Empire, Dash Rendar has a large arsenal at his disposal, yet no matter what weapon is selected, everything is fired from his blaster pistol. So I took the concept of many different ammo types coming from one gun and applied it to the E-5 that OOM-9 uses.