Chapter 3: Battle of Koru Neimoidia

Upon OOM-9's return from Mako Woundo and the factories on Eos were complete Count Dooku had arrived for an inspection. The Count's solar sailer cut through the night sky to settle on the landing platform. Three full squads of battle droids lined up in parade formation to greet the Head of State. The FA-4 pilot droid exited the sloop first, followed by the Count himself. Major Katen greeted Count Dooku in person and led him to the command center where OOM-9 waited.

"As of Viceroy Gunray's urging, Commander OOM-9, given your previous record of success, and the recent acquisition of Mako Woundo, I grant you the rank of General of the Confederacy of Independent Systems." Count Dooku said.

"It is an honor my lord," OOM-9 said with a short bow.

"You are hereby granted full control over the 8th Fleet of the Confederacy to utilize against the Galactic Republic," Dooku continued. "As of the moment, I have no assignment for you General, so you are free to select a target of your own choosing."

"Conquering the planet Chandrila would make a fine example to the Republic of your abilities," EEK-176 suggested.

"Or perhaps I should take my revenge on the planet Naboo," OOM-9 replied.

A battle droid interrupted the meeting, "Sir, we've received a message from Koru Neimoidia that they are under attack by the Republic."

"It appears that your re-conquest of Naboo will have to wait General. We cannot allow Koru Neimoidia to fall to the Republic."

"Understood Count Dooku, the 8th Fleet will depart immediately to counter this attack," OOM-9 answered.

OOM-9's 8th Fleet, was unfortunately, vastly under funded. The assortment of ships consisted of the Scrapyard, four Techno Union ships, and a handful of old Trade Federation freighters, superfreighters, and missile frigates. The fleet was fully loaded with ground troops and entered hyperspace in the direction of Koru Neimoidia.

The group of officers unceremoniously walked up the ramp of a Neimoidian shuttle, their feet clanking on the metal incline. While their shuttle ferried them to the control ship, SSA-719 questioned OOM-9. "It seems odd that the Count would not have a specific mission for you." "No doubt my appointment to general was mostly to appease Nute Gunray. The Count's attention seems fixated on the success of General Sev'rance Tann at the moment. In the end it makes little difference as long as we achieve our objectives."

The 8th Fleet exited hyperspace in front of Koru Neimoidia to be met with only a single Acclamator assault ship blocking their way to the planet. A droid crewman patched OOM-9 through to the local defense forces.

"Where is the planetary defense fleet?" OOM-9 demanded of the Neimoidian officer on the viewscreen.

"They've sustained massive damage and have been forced to retreat, but they were able to eliminate many Republic warships. However, the Republic has managed to land substantial ground forces in the city of Siv and the surrounding area."

"We will send ground forces to alleviate the situation momentarily," OOM-9 replied, then turned to Zako, "Commander, perhaps you would like to deal with this Republic ship for me?"

"It would be my pleasure," Zako answered, turned and left for the hanger and his bomber.

The Acclamator ship and the Scrapyard began firing on one another. The rest of the 8th Fleet held back to let the two large ships fight each other. Zako left the hanger flying an E-STAP shielded droid starbomber followed by a squadron of E-STAP droid starbombers.

Before the bomber squadron could reach the Acclamator, a Jedi fighter started harassing them. The CIS responding to the Jedi by unleashing a wave of droid starfighters to defend the bombers. The droid fighters were unable to take down the agile Jedi craft as it destroyed two E-STAPs.

"ARGH! I'll deal with the Jedi myself! The rest of you continue towards that capital ship," Zako turned around sped toward the enemy. Zako pushed his bomber's engines to the limit to keep up with the Jedi starfighter, but it still managed to evade his blasters and get behind him. After taking multiple hits Zako's shields were gone. The droid fighters bailed Zako out of the bad situation and took up dog fighting the Jedi again.

OOM-9 calmly watched as the combination of the Scrapyard's and bombers' combined attacks broke the Acclamator ship into pieces. With the battle finished, the Jedi fighter fled towards the planet. "Send out the pod hunters, I don't want any survivors," OOM-9 ordered. Once Zako returned to the hanger, he was met by OOM-9 and the other high ranking officers.

"Commander Zako, you will attack Siv from the south, I will invade from the east, and EEK-176 will assault Siv from the north. We will advance and meet at the city center. Once we have met at the center we will push westward. There have also been reports of high levels of enemy activity in the plains to the west of the city. Major Katen will deal with that situation before moving on towards the western side of the city. Use caution, that Jedi fighter made it down to the surface and is sure to present a challenge."

Freed from the dangers of space battle, the 8th Fleet began sending out landing craft and dropships to the planet's surface. Almost immediately upon entering the atmosphere, the CIS ships came under assault from Republic gunships. The droid fighter and Scarab escorts did their duty and protected the transports. Both models of fighter proved to be faster and more maneuverable than the gunships.

Katen exited from her dropship, driving a red colored ground armored tank. Her small army of AATs and STAPs followed behind her as she led them across the hilly plains to the suspected enemy location. The CIS group did not have to travel far before being impeded by a force of Republic fighter tanks and speeder bikes. The STAPs engaged the speeder bikes while the AATs fought with the Republic tanks. A group of droid fighters helped destroy the tanks from overhead. The armored assault tanks and TX-130 Saber tanks attacked each other head on while Katen used her mobile GAT to attack the GAR's flank. Both sides took heavy casualties, the Separatist group losing all their armored assault tanks, but Katen managed to emerge victorious. Republic reinforcements in the form of tanks ferried by gunships arrived on the scene and were promptly shot down by the droid fighters.

The only surviving gunship managed to drop off its IFT-X tank just before it was destroyed by a pair of Vulture droid starfighters, leaving Katen with a fresh new enemy to finish off. Katen's GAT and the three remaining STAPs concentrated fire on the GAR tank that responded by firing a pair of missiles, scoring a direct hit on Katen's tank. The CIS fire proved too heavy for the repulsor tank to handle any longer and the IFT-X shut down, smoke slowly billowing from its engine. The clone gunner and pilot evacuated from the now-useless vehicle and began to attack the STAPs. The single trooper platforms killed the gunner with ease but the pilot managed to shoot one of the battle droids off his STAP. Katen's ground armored tank had taken too much damage so Katen turned off the power and the tank came to a rest on the ground. Katen exited through the hatch on the bottom of the tank to find that the surviving clone pilot was running towards the now-empty STAP. Major Katen pulled out her commando SE-14 pistol, fired five shots, and watched the enemy pilot plummet to the dirt. Katen went over and claimed the yellow-hued STAP as her new vehicle.

As SSA-719's battle group approached the suspension bridge, the forward super battle droid line engaged two clone personal walkers that were guarding the connection. An AT-TE on the opposite side of the bridge released its compliment of twenty clone infantry. SSA-719 ordered his front most MTT to release its contingent of one hundred and twelve battle droids to counter the advancing clone troops.

The two infantry groups ran towards each other, guns blazing, meeting at the center of the overpass. The walker supported it troops but the overwhelming number of droids won the infantry battle. The AT-TE retaliated by finishing off the remaining battle droids. Thermal detonator battle droids used their mortar launch tubes against the advancing walker.

The AT-TE concentrated its firepower on one of the MTTs. The droid transport had heavy armor but was outgunned in comparison to the six-legged walker. After incurring several direct hits from the walker's main cannon the troop transport erupted into a fireball. SSA-719 knew it was time for an unorthodox tactic. "Ram the walker off the bridge!" he ordered the pilot of the remaining MTT. The brown transport burst forward and smashed into the walker, sliding the assault vehicle towards the edge of the bridge. The smash attack was not enough to send the enemy mech over the edge. Inside the MTT the droid rack operator activated the rack and it opened the front hatch and extended, pushing the AT-TE off the bridge. SSA-719 looked over the edge just in time as the walker hit the ground below with a loud thud.

The victory was short-lived, as four more AT-TEs approached the bridge. "Retreat! Grenade droids, plant your time bombs on the center of the bridge!" SSA-719 yelled as he turned around and ran. The gray battle droids set their explosives at the middle of the bridge as they were ordered and retreated with the rest of their teammates. Just as the lead AT-TE reached the center, the time bombs went off in a spectacular explosion. The bridge split in two sections, sliding and falling to the chasm below, claiming the two AT-TEs that were behind the lead vehicle. The last AT-TE had yet to lay a foot on the bridge and turned to walk along the edge of the chasm, firing its main cannon at the droids.

The loss of the bridge would do little to stop EEK-176's advance. STAPs and PACs would be able to traverse the chasm with no problem. The troops would then take control of civilian construction vehicles and rebuild the bridge.

But a pair of commandeered Neimoidian construction repulsor trucks with bridge building attachments made their way to construct a new overpass. But the Separatists were not driving the vehicles; it was the Republic. The clones were so determined to get at the battle droids that they never stopped to consider that they could command a better defensive strategy without the bridge.

"Do not fire on the bridge builders!" SSA-719 told his troops. The surviving MTT unloaded its battle droids to assist the droid grenadiers in attacking the AT-TE and clones that were on the other side of the gap.

The construction trucks finished the new bridge, turned and fled from the immediate vicinity. Once out of the line of fire, the thieving clones that used the hover trucks abandoned them and ran back to join their brothers in the fighting. Swarms of AT-RTs crossed the bridge once the trucks were out of the way. While they were nimble, the AT-RTs had no room for maneuvers on the straight bridge. SSA-719's tank droids made short work of the small walkers. With the smaller walkers destroyed the tank droids crossed the bridge and finished off the remaining AT-TE. SSA-719's battle group secured the bridge for EEK-176's troops to transverse the path into the city.

Zako's forward battle group consisted of legions of B1 battle droids, AATs, and homing spider droids. They encountered heavy resistance before even entering the city as an army of clone troopers and AT-TEs blocked the way. The spider walkers and AT-TEs ended up destroying each other, leaving the AATs to support the droid infantry to victory over the clone troops. Edging closer to the city, another large wave of clone soldiers blocked the path. Having better cover, this new group was much more successful against the battle droids than the previous one was, and in his opinion; Zako was taking too many casualties.

"Bring up the super droidekas!" Zako yelled from atop the open hatch of his dark gray and blue AAT. Three turret droids took up the forward positions as ordered and began massacring clones as they quickly pressed into the city. The turret droids smashed through the clone infantry with ease, protected by their powerful shield generators. The B1 battle droids slowly followed, killing any clones that the turret droids missed. The large four-legged turret droids split up and each took a different street leading into the city, and soon came under massive fire. Zako watched helplessly as two of the turret droids lost their shields and were destroyed. A few seconds later the culprits of the substantial firepower were revealed to be AT-TEs slowing marching out of the city to meet the CIS army. Zako had revealed his secret weapons too early in the battle and now had lost them.

"Keep fighting!" Zako ordered. After Zako issued his proclamation, an AT-TE fired its primary cannon at his AAT. The blast missed and impacted on the ground, but it was close enough to the tank that the discharge kicked up dirt at him. Zako climbed down into the tank, pulling the canopy hatch closed above him, and took up operating the AAT's main cannon personally. He aimed at his targets and fired, the GAR walkers' movements proved to be too slow and plodding to avoid the cannon attacks. Commander Zako found his abilities wasted with such a task, as any battle droid could have hit the large walkers.

The next line of spider droids finally managed to crawl their way up to the front line to assist the armored assault tanks against the constantly appearing GAR walkers. Zako fired several volleys, hitting AT-TEs in various locations to see if they had a weak point. Zako tried focusing his fire on the cockpit on a walker, only to find that once it was destroyed, the heavy cannon on top of the walker was still functioning. Zako also experimented with the joints on the walkers legs. Just by sheer luck, Zako decided to hit a tank connected to the underside the walker. The impact on the cylinder proved devastating as the entire walker stopped in its tracks, wobbled for a few seconds, and exploded, showering the nearby clones with shrapnel.

"Looks like I found a weak point," Zako said.

OOM-9's tank line advanced against their Republic walker counterparts. Thermal detonator battle droids hiding safely behind OOM-9's tanks lobbed their mortars at the walkers. The lines of opposing mobile armor destroyed each other. OOM-9 ordered his MTTs to unload their battle droids and march on the clone infantry. Enemy speeder bikes attacked OOM-9's flanks and he responded by sending his STAPs to eliminate them.

"KJZ-8267 it is time to commerce your attack," OOM-9 ordered.

"Roger roger."

KJZ-8267 led a large squad of armored scout tanks to attack the clone troopers. After a few passes at the enemy, KJZ-8267's swift repulsor tank squad disappeared into the city to wreak more hit-and-run havoc.

OOM-9 sent his squads of droidekas rolling after the scout tanks to support them in their assignment. The battle droids mopped up the remainder of the clones and OOM-9's second armored line of armored assault tanks penetrated the city.

OOM-9's forces found it immediately easier to do battle in the city. Neimodian snipers attacked from open windows in buildings several stories high. The clones had yet to clear Separatist allies from the tall buildings and were paying the price for it. The further OOM-9 went into the city the more he found pockets of surviving Neimodian soldiers that joined his battle group. The Neimodian warriors fought with courage and bravery uncharacteristic of most their species.

A platoon of clone troops supported by heavy clone personal walkers fired on OOM-9's personal tank. From the top open hatch, OOM-9 fired back at them. His tank nearly invincible against small arms fire, OOM-9 did not fear to have his tank at the forefront of his assault group. KJZ-8267's tank group arrived behind the clone walkers and started to hammer away at them. The walkers were torn about what to do. A few turned around to engage the scout tanks while most concentrated their fire toward OOM-9's direction. The small walkers' firepower was meant for an anti-infantry role, and wasn't performing well against the AATs' armor.

OOM-9's battle group turned onto the main street leading towards the center of town, eliminating pockets of clone infantry as they went.

Commander Zako was not so fortunate. His army was facing heavy resistance in the form of AT-TEs and fighter tanks. Despite the overwhelming odds, the homing spider droids continued to advance with no thought of their own safety. Zako called up his super battle droid reserves to relieve the remainder of the spent B1 forward infantry line.

Zako popped open his hatch again to see the battle with his own eyes, occasionally taking pot shots at clone troopers with his E-5. His forces were advancing slowly, taking heavy casualties. OOM-9's hologram appeared before Zako. "Commander, your troops are falling behind schedule. I still expect to see you at the city center at the same time as Commander EEK-176 and myself."

"Yes sir. My troops will not fail you. I will not be tardy."

"Very good, Commander." OOM-9's holographic image disappeared.

"You heard the General, we need to move, all units double time!" Zako bellowed to the infantry within earshot of his tank. As an added measure, Zako ordered all his baron battle droids and half his dwarf spider droids to the front line.

EEK-176's GATs outnumbered the clones' fighter tanks and with supporting fire from the armored tank droids and infantry; EEK-176 was having a relatively easy time approaching his destination. To increase his supporting fire further, EEK-176 ordered his beetle troopers to scale the walls of the city buildings and shoot down at the clone attackers from above. The brown, six-legged, organic beetles effortlessly climbed up the smooth industrial surfaces. Once at an appropriate height, the pilot battle droid riders would rain down a storm of blaster fire from their E-5 blaster rifles. EEK-176' own reddish brown colored AAT was engaged in a showdown with a clone scout walker protected by two AT-RTs. EEK-176's AAT had a blue CIS roundel painted on its right side. The AAT's main cannon destroyed the four-legged walker while battle droids armed with sniper rifles killed the pilots riding the AT-RTs.

Katen and her two STAP wingmen were reinforced with an army of hailfire and tank droids to attack the approaching enemy force of fighter tanks and clone mounted blurrgs. The hailfire droids unleashed a massive wave of missiles that turned the plains into a smoking hellscape. The tank droids and fighter tanks met each other in a confusing close range battle. Katen flew in close to a fighter tank, leaped from her STAP and landed on the clone gunner. The two enemies fought for a moment then Katen clonked the Jango Fett replica on the head, pulled out her pistol and shot him point blank range. The Confederate officer dumped the limp body over the side of the tank.

"What the?"

"Taste my boot you clone freak!" Katen stomped on the clone pilot's head, knocking him out cold. The blond unbuckled the pilot from his safety straps and threw the unconscious body overboard. Katen took control of the IFT-X turned it to the left and fired on another GAR tank. Incorrectly assuming the attack was accidental friendly fire, the Republic tank didn't retaliate and was destroyed without putting up a fight. The next tank Katen fired upon did reorient itself and return fire. The two STAPs made a run against Katen's enemy tank, trying to shoot the tank's exposed gunner. They missed and flew by; the clone pivoted the beam turret and engaged, managing to destroy one of the STAPs. The surviving STAP made another pass and managed to kill the clone gunner. Katen finished off the rest of the tank with a pair of missiles.

The three battle groups converged on the metropolis' center at the exact same time as planned. OOM-9's, EEK-176's, and Zako's different colored tanks each were at the front of their groups and converged together, Zako pulling his tank up to OOM-9's armored assault tank from the left, and EEK-176's AAT came in from the right. The three leaders were each peeping out from their top hatches, firing their E-5 blaster rifles.

The Republic control staff evacuated from their command center as clone infantry and armor attempted to impede the attackers' tireless advance. The city center battle was a mess as several different CIS units fought with the GAR. The droids were victorious and the variety of infantry and vehicles seemed to have paid off. Only a few AT-RTs managed to flee the fight and move westward. A few light-footed clones were close to escaping but were assassinated by CIS snipers still hiding in the upper levels of the city buildings.

With the clones dispersed the CIS leaders had a short opportunity to reorganize.

"3B3-888, you and Commander Zako will lead the army westward while SSA-719 and I will bring up the rear. Commander EEK-176, you will hold the city center for us," OOM-9 instructed. As General OOM-9 finished his orders the group attention was turned to the sound of starfighter battle overhead. The Jedi ship that had escaped before was being chased by two vulture droids and a scarab.

After being pursued in circles the fighters flew out of sight of the ground troops.

"That Jedi can't win the whole battle for them; its time to finish off these Republic scum," OOM-9 declared.

The legions of battle droids in parade formation were pushing the clone army away from the city. The battle marching of the droids was almost rhythmically perfect. In-between the legions of mechanized infantry were armored tank droids advancing slowly in order to keep ranks with the foot soldiers. Behind the infantry formations, AATs fired their primary canons.

In safety far from the front line, from the comfort of his old, dull yellow-beige colored AAT, OOM-9 watched the battle through his pair of electrobinoculars. OOM-9 opened up a communication line and appeared as a hologram in front of Commander Zako, who was in a dark grey AAT with blue CIS markings in the middle of the attacking battle line.

"Fall back to position as planned, Commander," OOM-9 ordered through the hologram.

"Yes, General OOM-9," Zako curtly nodded his head.

Zako opened a link to 3B3-888, who was leading the infantry. "Sergeant 3B3-888, it is time to pull back."

"Roger roger." Zako heard the response from his comlink as he sent the order to the tank droids and other AATs as well. The infantry formations started to back step march and the vehicles geared in reverse. Now the clone infantry and their supporting clone scout walkers started to advance. Soon the droid army was back to the debris at the western edge of the city. Hiding amongst the wreckage were security battle droids armed with BAW E-5s sniper rifles who started to pick off high ranking clone infantry.

OOM-9 watched the events take place before him, his ruse had worked; the Republic believed their retreat was genuine as he saw the clones bring up their artillery guns to begin shelling the city. Now only if the optional objective would be accomplished OOM-9 would be very pleased. OOM-9's expectations were met as he received a call from SSA-719 that the snipers had managed to kill at least four clones ranked lieutenant or higher. The fact that the clones wore color-coded armor corresponding to their rank only made the task easier. The Republic artillery guns were nearly in position and were about to deploy when OOM-9 ordered his bio cannons, that had been hiding in the city, to roll up to the wreckage at the outskirts. The bio cannons were large artillery vaguely resembling droidekas that were controlled by a droid integrated brain. Responding to their master's order the bio cannons rolled swiftly through the vacant streets of the city and quickly deployed in their assigned positions. The bio cannons fired on the republic artillery guns that were exposed out in the open and the droid army that had previously retreated to the city began to advance on the clone army again. Getting the republic artillery to expose themselves on the open plain outside the city and the clone infantry close enough for concealed snipers to pick off the top officers was the crucial key in OOM-9's battle plan. The whole event unfolded flawlessly in front of OOM-9's sensors as the Republic artillery was being blown to pieces. The clone troopers kept their vigilance and did not panic, still fighting with the now advancing droid army. The rearmost clone infantry realized their artillery was being destroyed and were expecting new orders to the changing situation. No new orders came, the clones were so focused on fighting the droids that they didn't realized their command structure was crippled. No clones had shown initiative to replace their fallen commanders since they were so concentrated on the task of fighting the droid army. Once the bio cannons turned their attention to the enemy infantry, some of the clones realized something was wrong when a retreat order wasn't given when faced with such overwhelming firepower. A clone sergeant finally took control and ordered a full retreat. It was too little too late, the clones had to cover a large expanse of open terrain to get back to their parked acclamator assault ship while being shelled by artillery and chased by the droid army. What remained of the clone army was being slaughtered.

3B3-888 jumped on the side of an armored tank droid and ordered it to charge at the fleeing clones. Realizing a safe retreat was impossible the clone sergeant and his squad halted their retreat, turned around and put their hands in the air as a sign of surrender. The sergeant and his compliment of clones were promptly run over by the tank droid carrying 3B3-888.

"Great, now we'll have to clean your treads of clone entrails later," 3B3-888 joked with the tank droid as it beeped in response in its droid language.

Completely empty of ground reinforcements the acclamator assault ship decided to cut its losses and began to launch, abandoning what was left of the clone infantry. The bio cannons managed to get in a few good hits on the Republic ship but not enough to seriously cripple it before it flew out of range.

OOM-9 ordered his artillery, "let them go, the fleet will deal with them."

Nine other locations on the planet reported clone aggression and OOM-9 sent forces to deal with the various situations. When all the clone stragglers left on the planet's surface were rounded up, a new droid control ship exited from hyperspace to meet with the 8th Fleet to accept the prisoners. The Magna Musai was a new droid control ship fresh from the construction yards from the Zalost system. It proudly displayed the blue markings of the CIS navy, in contrast to the dull white-gray of the older Scrapyard.

They had no formal torture droids, but EEK-176 quickly became adept at torturing information from the clone troopers. The brown and white droid commander volunteered to personally interrogate the prisoners. EEK-176 experimented, observed, and recorded the various responses he received from breaking fingers and toes, shattering bones, and yanking teeth. The droid knew better not to remove the tongue, or the clones would have a difficult time spilling their secrets verbally.

After several hours of enhanced interrogation, OOM-9 called EEK-176 to tell him to report to the Magna Musai's bridge and that they were leaving Koru Neimodia for the planet Kile II.

Author's Note: The city Siv is Vis backwards. Vis was a city on Naboo and one of the first to be attacked by OOM-9 during the Naboo invasion, due to the fact that it was home to a powerful communications transmitter. Vis was also the city where EEK-176's battle group joined up with OOM-9's.

The bio cannons first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. OOM-9 used them during the invasion of Naboo. Since OOM-9 had used them before, I thought it appropriate that he still maintains a large number of bio cannons in his army.