Chapter 9: Battle of Reytha

OOM-9 and Lok Durd's forces finally coalesced at the rendezvous point. The two generals met face-to-face to plan their battle strategy.

"If we want to defeat our enemy we must think like our enemy," General Durd stated. The portly Neimoidian looked over at the spindly command droid.

"I don't think I can decrease my cognitive abilities that low," OOM-9 said.

"Yes, I see how that would be difficult," Lok Durd agreed with OOM-9's semi-serious statement. "Perhaps Commander Zako could aid us in this task." OOM-9 complied and called the human commander over to the two generals.

"We are trying to figure out how the clones think, any insights Commander?" OOM-9 asked.

"Why do you think I'd be of any help?"

"You're the same species as the clone troopers are you not?" Durd asked.

"I am not the same species as those disgusting creatures!"

"You're closer than any of us," Durd said. "Any insight on what they are thinking?"

Zako paused for a moment, then answered his superior, "well, if I were in their boots I'd send a diversionary force to attack from the plains while having another group come through the hills to cut across from the side."

"They'd cut their attack power in half and lose both fights," Lok Durd said.

"The clones have an overly high opinion of themselves, and the Jedi are even more guilty of hubris. They believe that they can pull it off."

"The clones' battle skills are less pronounced on an open battlefield, we should divert some legions to block the flankers," OOM-9 said.

"Would the droids be able to hold off the diversionary clones in reduced numbers?" Lok Durd asked.

"The bio cannons should even the odds in our favor," OOM-9 motioned with his hand to the direction where the large artillery droids were.

"Very good. You lead the defenses on the plains while I guard against the flankers from the hills," Durd said.

"Would you like my best commander, EEK-176, to assist you?"

"If that doesn't decrease your fighting power, I will gladly accept his assistance."

"All right, he's with you then." OOM-9 contacted EEK-176 and informed the droid commander of the update.

"Hopefully destroying the clone army does not prove too boring," Durd remarked. OOM-9 thought about suggesting that Lok Durd engage in battle personally if he felt he might be bored, but decided against it as the Neimoidian might misconstrue his advice and take offense. So OOM-9 kept quiet, but silently transmitted the notion to EEK-176, who thought the prospect of the heavy-set Neimoidian actually fighting to be quite humorous.

The clone army did not disappoint, and marched on the droid army's position in divided attack groups. "Just as Commander Zako predicted," OOM-9 stated as he looked through his electrobinoculars.

The main Republic attack group consisted of AT-TEs and SPHA-Vs. The CIS counter was homing spider droids, bio cannons, and GATs.

The ground armored tanks proved easy prey for the AT-TEs. But while the Republic walkers blasted the CIS tanks, the spider droids cut down the all terrain tactical enforcers.

The obligatory masses of clone and droid infantry started to march toward each other and their mutually assured destruction, but were still quite a ways from each other in terms of distance.

The SPHA-Vs were actually doing well against the bio cannons. After losing three of the artillery droids OOM-9 made a decision.

"Bio cannons, fall back," OOM-9 ordered the artillery droids. The bio cannons curled up into ball mode and rolled away in reverse.

OOM-9 handed his electrobinoculars to a PK droid and grabbed an E-5s sniper rifle. The droid general started sniping clone infantry, guided by their convenient rank-based color-coded system. OOM-9 started shooting the yellow marked clone commanders and worked his way down the chain-of-command.

A yellow GAT actually managed to survive the frontal assault and got behind the Republic's walkers. The tank started firing on them from behind, only to be destroyed by the AT-TEs' butt cannons. OOM-9 knew he shouldn't have expected the lightly armored tanks to do well against the walkers, but he was still disappointed in their poor performance nonetheless.

Lok Durd viewed the approaching clone forces from the hills. "Infantry, prepare to charge," he said from the safety of his light gray and blue AAT.

"Clone commandos!" Durd's command droid in the neighboring AAT yelled.

"Blast them!" Durd ordered.

The AATs were unable to hit the commandos as the troopers took cover amongst the attacking battle droids.

EEK-176, who was amongst the infantry turned to the B1 grapple droid GD-79.

"GD-79, charge through them!" the command droid ordered the larger grapple droid. The large gray droid complied and ran straight through the group of commandos, knocking them all over. Once GD-79 was clear, EEK-176 threw at thermal detonator in the midst of the commandos. The explosive only managed to strip the clones of their shield generators. EEK-176 and a group of B1s and B2s then proceeded to blast the shield-less commandos.

Durd ordered in hailfire droids to deal with the enemy's small fighter tank escort. The mobile fighter tanks were able to avoid a great deal of the purple missiles, but couldn't avoid them all. The hailfire droids rolled through, and the surviving fighter tanks turned to pursue them. Turning their back to the droid army was a mistake, as Durd's dwarf spider droids and AATs blasted their vulnerable backsides.

Among the infantry masses on the plains were 3B3-888 and the dwarf spider droid DSD-08. The B1 hid behind the spider droid when a flurry of blaster bolts came his way. 3B3-888 chucked a V-1 thermal detonator at his attackers and a few seconds later a trio of clones flew up in the air, caught in the explosion. DSD-08 warbled his irritation at being used as a shield for the battle droid sergeant. The spider droid then proceeded to blast a clone trooper with a charged shot. The powerful charged attack was meant to be used against vehicles, so when used against infantry, it tended to blow them into tiny pieces.

OOM-9 ordered his mounted beetle trooper brigade to attack. The brown kag beetle troopers and heavy beetle troopers were capable of flight, unlike their successor, the advanced beetle troopers. The beetle troopers flew right over the infantry invested battlefield to land on the AT-TEs and SPHA-Vs. The pilot droid riders were armed with acid guns and started burning off the vehicles' turrets and cannons.

Republic gunships had then decided to enter the battle. OOM-9 called up KJZ-8267's awaiting bomber squadron to deal with the enemy aircraft. "We'll neutralize them," KJZ-8267 answered the call to action. The E-STAP starbombers were much faster than the LAAT gunships and were quickly shooting them out of the sky.

KJZ-8267 positioned his own bomber right above a LAAT and dropped a proton bomb. The blue bomb hit the gunship, instantly destroying it.

"Sir, the clone army is in full retreat," a red B1 battle droid informed OOM-9.

"After them, send the STAPs and speeder platforms, don't let any escape," OOM-9 commanded. SSA-719, riding a STAP-2, led the cleanup pursuit.

"Sir, high priority message from General Grievous," a brown B1 battle droid handed OOM-9 an imagecaster.

A small, blue figure of the cyborg general appeared from the circular device. "Droid, you are to mobilize your army and assist me in invading the planet Reytha immediately," the Kaleesh ordered.

"My forces are already deployed to assist General Durd on Chorax. It will take time to reload for Reytha."

"I care not about your insignificant skirmish or petty excuses. You will depart immediately. Count Dooku requests you for this mission and Gunray demands your attendance," Grievous voice was tinged with distaste at the mention of the Viceroy's name.

"If the great General Grievous is leading the assault of Reytha, why does Count Dooku require my services at this inopportune time?"

"The Count is accompanying me on this mission, talk with him yourself," the cyborg said.

The image of Grievous dissipated and OOM-9 contacted the Head of State of the CIS.

"Count Dooku, I am sorry to interrupt your busy schedule but I have an important matter that needs to be resolved."

"What is it General?" Dooku asked with a patient tone in his voice, a stark contrast to General Grievous.

"I have made numerous requests to be given time to deal with the listening post on Kalaan, but I am continually delayed and there are no free units to undertake the mission in my place. The longer that station is in operation the worse off the Confederacy will be. At the rate I'm going, I won't have enough functional droids to destroy the station. I do not have enough time between missions to properly repair and re-stock my troops. I need more droids."

"Once the attack on Reytha is complete you may deal with Kalaan. Other than that, I can only assure you with what you already know. All droids produced at the factories at the Eos and Zalost systems will go towards your armies. For now, I require your assistance in taking Reytha. Viceroy Gunray and Emir Tambor will also be present, which is why I want you there to make sure they are kept safe." Dooku's image faded.

OOM-9 contacted EEK-176 and his other top officers. "Pack it up, we've been assigned a new mission." OOM-9 was having fun sniping clones, and really wasn't in the mood to pack up so quickly, but the droid would never disobey a direct order from Count Dooku.

EEK-176 privately contacted OOM-9. "What's going on General? The battle here isn't complete yet."

"We are to assist Dooku, Grievous, Gunray, and Tambor in invading Reytha."

"An odd move to place so many important figures into one battle," EEK-176 commented.

"I agree, it could potentially be disastrous, but we have no choice in the matter." OOM-9 turned to a nearby command battle droid. "Inform General Durd of these recent updates."

"Roger roger."

Once OOM-9 and the others were back in orbit on the Magna Musai, the droid general explained to his subordinates that they were setting out for Reytha.

"This is an odd move. What value does Reytha have?" Katen asked.

"It is a Republic agriworld known for exporting muji fruit and Reythan berries. The local population is seemingly loyal to the Republic. Also, about three weeks ago, a group of civilian Separatist sympathizers attempted to poison the food supply. They were thwarted, their leader was executed and the rest imprisoned. The planetary government wanted them to serve their sentences on Reytha so they are still held captive there," KJZ-8267 read the report from a datapad.

"Burning their crops and freeing a handful of prisoners does not warrant the combined leadership abilities of Count Dooku, General Grievous, Viceroy Gunray, and Emir Tambor," EEK-176 stated.

"Those are our objectives though," OOM-8 informed the group.

"And what are the others doing?" SSA-719 asked.

"They didn't say."

The display screen activated and OOM-9 addressed the command battle droid left in charge of the Scrapyard. "Z23-Y75, I am taking the Magna Musai, Komusai, Kuzack and Executioner for attacking the planet Reytha. I am leaving you in charge of the cleanup operations on Chorax."

"Roger roger."

Count Dooku, General Grievous, Nute Gunray, and Wat Tambor stood on the bridge of a Munificent star frigate. All four of the Separatist leaders were staring out the viewports to view the space battle. Grievous had little trouble in defeating a couple of Acclamator assault ships.

"This battle bores me," the cyborg declared. And the Kaleesh was correct, it was a by-the-numbers space sortie. Send double the number of droid starfighters to swarm the V-19 Torrent fighters and have the Banking Clan frigates use their Prow heavy turbolaser cannons against the Acclamators. So little skill was needed in executing such a simple battle plan that Grievous believed even the cowardly Nute Gunray could have carried it out competently, had the Viceroy been in command. The Kaleesh cyborg and the Neimoidian didn't get along, but both kept civil while in the presence of Count Dooku.

OOM-9's droid control ship and three Banking Clan frigate escorts exited out of hyperspace. The 8th Fleet was a considerable distance away from Grievous' space fleet. However, there were a few Consular cruisers and Pelta frigates nearby, but the Republic ships chose not the actively engage the superior Separatist fleet.

Scores of Vultures, Scarabs, and E-STAPs exited from the droid control ships to protect the C-9979 landing craft and vehicle armored carriers that ferried ground forces down to the planet. The entire operation was going so smoothly one might think they were landing on a Separatist homeworld rather than a critical Republic food planet.

In the upper atmosphere, gunship fighters tracked the transports all the way down to the ground. The enemy aircraft never engaged; OOM-9 knew their mission was to report the droids' location.

"Shall we engage the enemy General?" KJZ-8267 asked. The pilot droid was once again flying an E-STAP starbomber.

"No, let them follow our movements. We will lead them to us and then crush them. It will be far faster than scouring the planet for their defensive troops."

Reytha was a highly productive agriworld. It had microclimates that ensured an ideal growing season for the entire year. The planet was mainly composed of fields but the Montrosa Islands were a point of interest, which was where Grievous was landing his forces.

The GAR had sent A5-RX battle tanks after OOM-9's ground forces. However the battle tanks were no match for OOM-9's hailfire droids. The hailfire droids were faster and had more potent missiles than the A5-RXs. The big wheeled droids' STAP and AST escorts weren't even required to fire on the failing enemy tanks.

OOM-9's army continued its monitored march toward a small village and agricultural processing center.

The hailfire droids obliterated the clone scout walkers while armored tank droids dealt with the clone personal walkers. The legions of B1s, B2s, and dwarf spider droids far outnumbered the clone troopers.

The clone infantry were quickly forced to take cover in the village. OOM-9 had no qualms about ordering his HAGs to fire on the civilian settlements. Blasting the residential buildings to pieces forced the clones to fall back to the agriculture center. The civilians were left to defend themselves and most chose to run away from the area, which turned out to be the best course of action since the droids didn't follow them.

KJZ-8267 and his squadron of E-STAPs had already started a bombing run on the food production facilities. Despite the clones' bad position they were dealing moderate damaged to OOM-9's infantry.

"Sir, their numbers seem to be thinning. Perhaps the Grand Army of the Republic is running out of clone troopers for us to kill?" EEK-176 said.

"Its possible. The number of clones we encountered at Koru Neimoidia and Kile II were much higher than what we're facing now. But its probably too early to tell at this point," OOM-9 responded.

"These clones are fighting better than previous ones," 3B3-888 reported.

"Yes they keep improving," OOM-9 admitted.

"How can these clones be better if they've spent all their time protecting Reytha?" Katen asked.

"They probably put the clones on rotations between guard duty and invasion forces. Such an important agriworld would likely be guarded by more experienced clones," OOM-9 answered.

Scouts reported the locations of other agricultural centers to the droid control ship in orbit, which then relayed the information to OOM-9, who gave instructions to his officers. "Commander Zako, Major Katen, you two are to split off from the main group and destroy these additional facilities. I am taking the main force to attack the capital city of Yeere."

At OOM-9's request, OOM-8 was called down to the planet to oversee the pilfering and loading of food up to the 8th Fleet in orbit. "Commander OOM-8, you are to take what we can hold on our capital ships and destroy the rest. And make sure you collect our fallen droid forces. I do not believe we will be spending much time on this planet and I don't want to leave anyone behind."

"Roger roger," OOM-9's predecessor answered.

For the sake of speed and efficiency, Trade Federation dropships came to pick up the ground forces and ferried them to their separate destinations.

The Belbullab-22 starfighter of General Grievous, Soulless One, was flying through the sky, barrel rolling out of the way of incoming V-19 Torrent starfighters. General Grievous believed Count Dooku was perfectly capable of piloting a combat starfighter, yet the Sith Lord continually chose to ride in his solar sailer. The cyborg was not happy having to escort the weaponless sloop down to the surface of the planet.

The Vulture droids were performing well against the Torrent fighters. The atmospheric battle had a nice steady pace, and Grievous was pleased that he didn't have to pick up the slack for his droid troops for once. It was as if the droid fighters knew the importance of the mission and were flying better on purpose. The Torrents continued to fall out of the sky like ugly birds.

Once Dooku's solar sailer landed a few of the Vulture droids followed suit and touched down in walker mode, clearing away any clone troopers that might have had a shot at the parked sloop. Dooku himself didn't need the protection, the Sith Lord came running out the ship to the nearest clone trooper and sliced him up the middle.

Zako and SSA-719's group reached their target destination. However, defensive turrets forced the Trade Federation dropships to land further away from the target site than Zako would have liked. "Remember not to destroy the facility, OOM-8 may be by later to pick up the spoils of battle," SSA-719 said.

"Right, targeting combat units only," Zako replied. AATs, GATs, dwarf spider droids, and homing spider droids left the ships and began their slow march against the GAR's turrets.

Zako drove a gray and blue GAT while SSA-719 piloted a red heavy artillery gun. Their main opponents were clone personal and scout walkers, which put up an ineffective resistance. Zako was able to take care of most of the scout walkers himself, using his mobile tank to circle around the clone walkers until he wore down their light armor and destroyed them. The dwarf spider droids were instrumental in rooting out a few hidden clone grenadiers that tried to perform sneak attacks against the HAGs.

The CIS artillery vehicles reached the turrets unscathed and were easily able to bombard them into dust. SSA-719 felt secure enough in the battle to drive his HAG up first, even soaking up some hits before the turrets were silenced.

A half-dozen MTTs unloaded battle droids and droidekas to capture the interior of the facility.

Katen and 3B3-888's group struck with lightning speed, using primarily hailfire droids and NR-N99 droid tanks. The large MTTs moved in at top speed and unloaded their troops with all possible haste. The reckless speed with which the CIS battle group moved caught the clones at a disadvantage. The few fighter tanks the Republic had were swiftly destroyed.

The clone troopers began to fall back to the interior of their building. A trio of droidekas rolled out to halt the clones' retreat. However, two were targeted and destroyed before they completed their transformation into attack mode.

The sole surviving droideka let loose a firestorm of red laser blasts to punish the clones for their transgressions. 3B3-888 and a squad of battle droids were rushing to catch up to the destroyer droid. The clones ran up the stairs, hoping the destroyer would follow them.

With great difficulty, the droideka slowly made it's way up the stairs. The boldly stupid move surprised the clone troopers, who never really believed that their little trick would work. They guessed the destroyer would make way and allow the B1s to transcend the stairs first, but the three-legged droid continued straight after them without thinking. The droidekas were slow and clumsy when trying to ascend stairs and clone troopers all over the galaxy used that fault to their advantage. The concentrated fire from the clones on the landing proved to be too much and the destroyer droid fell limp. 3B3-888 knocked the dead droid out of his way, the metal corpse falling off the stairs. 3B3-888 put a blaster bolt through the head of one clone and through the chest of another. The other clones moved away from the stairs and started chucking thermal detonators down at the advancing droids.

3B3-888 and part of his squad made it pass the gauntlet of explosives and attacked the rest of the clones once he reached the landing where they were nesting. A few frantic shots later and the B1 sergeant was the only one left standing. 3B3-888 was disappointed in the performance of his now-defeated B1 squad. He picked up a decapitated head from one of his B1 comrades. "When this battle's over and you're put back together again we're going to do some target practice," 3B3-888 told the disembodied head he held in his hand.

"Yes sir," the head replied.

OOM-8 was surprised at how fast he was able to collect Reytha's food stores. The planet was so efficient; all it took was some rewiring of a few overseer droids to have the Republic worker droids load the food up for them. This freed up OOM-8's PK and OX9 droids to focus on collecting the remains of fallen battle droids. OOM-8 even sent groups of the CIS worker droids up ahead to Zako's position, and was soon to send a group over to collect Katen's fallen droids.

OOM-9's AAT stood still as the general viewed the battle through his electrobinoculars. OOM-9 was paying particular attention to EEK-176, who had brought a ZGD gatling gun with him to the fight.

The ZGD was a deadly weapon developed by Dr. Gatling Quartz over a decade ago. OOM-9 had a few of the weapons during the invasion and occupation of Naboo. Back then, the ZGD was so valuable that OOM-9 only entrusted heavy battle droids to use them. He didn't want that deadly weapon to fall into the hands of Naboo's security forces. Heavy battle droids were no longer produced, and there were few ZGDs left. If there was anyone OOM-9 could trust to wield a ZGD, it was EEK-176.

The ZGD gatling gun had five barrels and required no time to warm up before firing, unlike it's Republic counterpart, the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. The difference in power was obvious, especially as OOM-9 watched EEK-176 cut down a clone that happened to be wielding a Z-6. A maelstrom of red lasers cut the clone to bloody pieces before the Z-6 even had a chance to fire.

OOM-9 turned his attention back to the larger battle, which was going in his favor. The tank droids were rolling over enemy infantry while spider droids blasted the vehicles. And of course, the HAGs dealt with the turrets.

OOM-9 was contacted by OOM-8. "General, the ships are stuffed with foodstuffs. We need to halt our food intake or there will be no room for our troops to board the ships."

"Very good. Begin destroying the rest, I want this planet to starve," OOM-9 commanded.

"Roger roger."

General Grievous landed his starfighter near Dooku's solar sailer. The battle in the sky had become uninteresting as the Republic ships continued to fall and fail miserably. Grievous decided to pit his lightsaber skills against Dooku's in the form of an unofficial contest to see who could slice up the most clone troopers.

Four clone jet troopers decided to spoil the Kaleesh's fun. They fired EMP launchers, something Grievous couldn't easily defend against, forcing the cyborg to back off.

Dooku gripped one of the flying clones with the Force, and then rammed the makeshift missile into the other airborne clones. Once they were all swatted out of the sky, Dooku let a smile of satisfaction cross his face.

"We don't have enough time to destroy all their food stores," OOM-8 informed OOM-9. Flame battle droids around OOM-8 were busy burning everything they could.

"Perhaps Dr. Quartz could assist us in this matter. Get him down here immediately."

Dr. Quartz hadn't planned on fighting. Now that Quartz knew he had to directly participate in the Battle of Reytha, the Skakoan would have preferred to have been left behind on Chorax with Z23-Y75. Rather than entrust his luck to a shuttle, the doctor flew down to the planet in his own personal Belbullab-22 starfighter. The starfighter was painted black but was starting to show signs of rust. Dr. Quartz's escort comprised of a squadron of Scarabs followed by a horde of hunter-seekers, the Skakoan didn't trust his flying skills alone to keep him alive.

"We've found the prison General," a STAP mounted pilot droid informed OOM-9.

"Send in the marines! I want those prisoners rescued alive." OOM-9 also ordered his tank brigades to press the attack to keep any extra pressure off the rescue team. AATs, GATs, and tank droids had more trouble with the clone infantry than the enemy vehicles. A few additional droidekas into the fight helped put the clone soldiers down.

Within ten minutes the droid marines were exiting the prison guarding the CIS sympathizers.

"I see only five prisoners, where is the sixth?" OOM-9 asked the lead marine battle droid.

"The prisoners say he committed suicide in his cell a few days ago."

Quartz's fighter touched down in the city of Yeere. The Skakoan doctor was met by EEK-176. "We need your assistance in killing the planet's food supply."

"Yes, yes, I already know that," the doctor adjusted the settings on his pressure suit.

"General OOM-9 thinks there might be a central control complex for the whole planet somewhere in Yeere."

"A logical assumption," Quartz agreed. "And I trust you're here to make sure I'm not killed?"

"That is correct. Now if you would walk this way," EEK-176 motioned to a nearby gray and blue MTT, "we can make our way to the administrative building."

SSA-719 had to maintain a healthy trot in order to keep pace with the large, long-legged plasma battle droids as the green-marked droids were clearing up the last of the clone resistance. One clone was brave enough that he ran right up to the plasmas, but was swiftly kicked out of the way by one of the large droids. Zako and SSA-719's group had to deal with clones that recently arrived via RTTs, slowing their progress.

"Hmmmm, call Wat Tambor and see if he is available. I could use some assistance," Quartz said as he studied the computer readouts. "Of course I could do this on my own but it will go faster with some competent help."

"Yes, Doctor," EEK-176 replied as he turned and left the control room. Assisting Dr. Quartz seemed a bit below the station of the Head Foreman of the Techno Union but EEK-176 was not going to ignore Quartz's request.

The city of Yeere was getting an extra dose of battle droids as Katen's troops began landing on the outskirts. Dropships and Neimoidian transports released the droid infantry while VACs unleashed the vehicles.

Katen and 3B3-888 walked out with their infantry soldiers. "A fine day and a great battle," Katen said with a smile on her face.

"Sorry to dampen your mood Major, but OOM-9 wants you to take over operations in Yeere," 3B3-888 responded.

"Why me?"

"Zako's not here yet. That's the price you pay for finishing off your clones so quickly."

"Why can't you do it?" Katen grumbled.

"I'm just a Sergeant."

Katen groaned. She felt more inclined to fight than fulfill a large leadership role. "And where is General OOM-9 going?"

"To meet up with General Grievous and Count Dooku."

"Lovely," Katen grumbled. "Because all three of them just have to participate in the exact same fight."

"OOM-9 does want to see Grievous' abilities for himself," 3B3-888 answered. "Doesn't hurt to study the competition."

"Oh please, as if Grievous stands a chance. He can barely survive a shuttle ride," Katen remarked, aware of what had happened to the Kaleesh.

Protected by two super battle droids, the Foreman of the Techno Union entered the control room.

"Ah, Emir Tambor, it is a pleasure to see you again," Quartz said.

"Yes, likewise," Wat replied. "What is it you would have me do, Doctor?"

"Take a trip back to a time when you were still an engineer. I was thinking we could slave rig the planet's worker droids to poison the food supply."

"Have it all worked out do you?"

"Not entirely."

"And if I didn't take the bureaucratic leaderships positions you might have been stuck with them," Tambor replied to Quartz's comment about him not being a true engineer anymore.

Zako moved toward SSA-719. "We need to hurry up, Major Katen requests our assistance at Yeere."

"She'll have to wait, enemy gunships are inbound and I'm sure they're carrying clone infantry with them." SSA-719 turned to the squad of baron battle droids. "Open fire!" The orange colored droids let loose their anti-air missiles at the incoming LAATs.

A group of clone troopers broke into the command room where Tambor and Quartz were holed up. The battle droids and super battle droids put up an inadequate defense and were being beaten back.

"I'm too intelligent to die!" Quartz wildly fired his gatling gauntlet at the clone troopers. Wat Tambor ducked behind a computer console and sent out an emergency message.

"General, Emir Tambor reports that he is under attack," a B2 informed OOM-9.

"No harm can come to the Foreman of the Techno Union. The Count will hold me accountable."

"Don't worry sir, I'll take care of it," EEK-176 promised. OOM-9 originally wanted to bring EEK-176 along with him but decided it was better to make sure the Techno Union Foreman would be safe.

"Very well, I will continue on my own," OOM-9 said. OOM-9's troops started to load onto various air transports when a Republic A-6 Juggernaut appeared. The arrival of the large tank halted the loading procedures.

"Attack, destroy that tank!" OOM-9 declared.

The primary cannons of the AATs swiveled and opened up on the multi-wheeled tank. Hordes of infantry quickly reacted and fired on the Juggernaut, but the small arms fire proved ineffective. A few B1s were carrying BAW E-60R rocket launchers but the purple missiles still didn't stop the turbo tank.

"STAP squad three, attack from above," OOM-9 declared.

The STAPs did as instructed and were able to avoid and attacks from the gigantic tank, but their own firepower wasn't strong enough to penetrate the tough armor. Tank droids surrounded the tank but were as worthless as everything else that challenged the A-6.

KJZ-8267's E-STAP bomber squadron flew in and deployed their plasma bombs against the gargantuan tank. The Juggernaut exploded as the hailstorm green bombs made contact.

"It took us three minutes and fifty-three seconds to destroy that tank. That is unacceptable," OOM-9 declared.

"But we destroyed it with minimal casualties sir," a B2 said.

"Next time we need to do better. We might not always have air support against those things. Load up, we need to get to the Montrosa Islands," OOM-9 ordered.

EEK-176 ran through the door, gatling gun firing. He quickly took down four clones and Dr. Quartz finished off the remaining two. The command droid was surprised at how long the two Skakoans were able to hold out and at how many clones they managed to kill on their own. "All you fully functional?" EEK-176 asked.

"Oh we're fine, where were you?" Quartz demanded in a frustrated voice.

LAATs from around the globe converged on the Montrosa Islands to deliver much needed reinforcements. KJZ-8267 noticed the gunships and his squadron bombed the air transports as they tried to unload their troops.

Instead of clone reinforcements, the battlefield was inundated with OOM-9's freshly arrived troops. The TX-130 fighter tanks that were already preoccupied with homing spider droids now had to deal with OOM-9's newly arrived armored tank droids and AATs. The Republic was so hard pressed that they could only spare two gunship fighters to harass OOM-9's air transports, and they were shot down by the C-9979 landing crafts' turret mounted laser cannons.

OOM-9 found another command droid under the control of Grievous' group, who finally downloaded the Separatists' real objective to him. The CIS had come to Reytha to assassinate a turncoat Aqualish technician named Fo Kudu. "Thank you," OOM-9 said, grateful to finally know what was going on.

"You're welcome," the other droid sincerely said. OOM-9 got back in a dark gray and blue AAT and made his way towards Grievous and Dooku's location.

OOM-9 did not have to travel far. Grievous and Dooku had made their way to an airfield. OOM-9 guessed the GAR was trying to get the Separatist traitor off planet. Various CIS and Republic vehicles were engaged in battle with one another, but none paid any attention to OOM-9's tank.

OOM-9's AAT and it's two AST escorts destroyed a parked Nu attack shuttle. OOM-9 predicted that's where Kudu was heading. OOM-9 got visual confirmation of Dooku and Grievous, who were chasing four Jedi protecting an Aqualish. OOM-9 guessed that Aqualish was Fo Kudu. The command droid abandoned his AAT and went to assist the other two Separatist leaders on foot.

Dooku fried a Jedi Master with his Force Lightning while Grievous held off two others. OOM-9 fired his blaster at the forth Force user, but each shot was deflected. OOM-9 switched to the elite rifle mode, predicting the Jedi didn't have the reflexes to deflect three shots in rapid succession. The droid was correct, but the Jedi merely avoided the attack altogether rather than try to deflect it. As the Jedi got closer OOM-9 again changed his blaster's function and fired a series of shotgun blasts. The last one caught the Jedi in the chest, dropping the robed warrior instantly. Not to be outdone by the others, Grievous quickly tore apart the last two Jedi.

Even without his bodyguards, the traitor didn't plan on giving up. Fo Kudu aimed his pistol at the cyborg. Grievous' armored chest plate absorbed the blast with ease. "You've caused me enough grief." Grievous drew his own pistol and shot the Aqualish technician.

Dying on the ground, Kudu asked Dooku a question. "How…how did you know where I was?"

"My knowledge is beyond your comprehension, pitiful creature." Dooku make a gesture for OOM-9 to finish the technician. OOM-9 dutifully marched over and gave Fo Kudu a shotgun blast in the face.

Dooku turned to OOM-9. "You're free of your obligations General OOM-9. You may attack the listening post on Kalaan at your own discretion."

OOM-9 called Dr. Quartz, who assured the droid that the planet's remaining food stores had been poisoned and made completely useless.

OOM-9 then contacted EEK-176 and OOM-8. "We're done here, it is time for us to depart. Gather up the troops, we don't want to be here when the Republic sends reinforcements to the planet."

Author's Note: The planet Reytha first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. The Montrosa Islands actually exist on the planet.

The ZGD gatling gun first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, though it was unnamed. It was used by the Trade Federation's 'heavy trooper' class. Like with the E-6, it seemed a waste not to use the ZDG so I put it in the Confederacy's arsenal.