Chapter 13: Battle of Abridon

The planet Abridon was faced with a peculiar challenge at the onset of the Clone Wars. About one third of the population supported the Galactic Republic, another third supported the Separatist movement, and the final third of the population vehemently supported complete neutrality. The pro-Republic and pro-Separatist factions requested military aid while the neutrals started their own Nationalist military bent on keeping out any foreign-armed intervention.

Abridon's local population was more at odds with each other than that of the famously divided water world, Mon Calamari. Cantankerous political disputes threw the planet's government into chaos. Bare-fisted brawls broke out in the streets between loyalist and separatist supporters. The planetary police force couldn't maintain order as a large faction of their officers left to join the Nationalist army. Neither the Republic nor the Separatists originally wanted to be bogged down in a planet so politically divided, as they had to be sure to treat their supporters well while simultaneously suppressing their opponents. It could into a media nightmare if one side accidentally massacred their own followers. The anger of the common masses was at a tipping point, and if the major players didn't send their militaries soon, support for outside intervention was sure to wane if the people continued to see inaction on behalf of the Confederacy or the Republic. Neither the Galactic Republic nor the Confederacy of Independent Systems wanted to lose any followers to the neutral Nationalist party. No member of the two warring galactic governments wanted to see more neutral planets.

Count Dooku knew it was a dire situation that required exact and professional military precision to address. The Head of State of the CIS was well aware that the crass General Grievous could not be trusted to carry out such a delicate assignment; the Kaleesh was only good for destroying everything in his path. Count Dooku chose three of his most trusted and competent officers to conquer Abridon. General Whorm Loathsom, General OOM-9 and Commander Vulpus. Loathsom had won quite a few stellar victories in the Inner Core. OOM-9 had been commanding droid armies a decade before the Clone Wars even began. And Vulpus was perhaps the most levelheaded officer in the entire Confederacy.

"So we're working with Loathsom and Vulpus, huh?" Major Ashley Katen crossed her arms behind her back. "I've heard good things. Looks like Dooku assembled the Separatist dream team, if ever there was one."

"I think the late General Tann would have something to say about that," EEK-176 said.

"Bah. She wasn't so great. Those who die in the first month of the war don't get to be on the dream team."

"Try not to be so heartless, Major." OOM-9 turned away from his work to address the human female.

"That's easy for you to say, you don't have a heart. I have to work at it if anyone's going to take me seriously."

"You could always get an artificial one," EEK-176 suggested.

"Yeah, I'm going to hold off on the unnecessary surgery."

"Then you'll have to make due with the outdated blood bucket you were born with." OOM-9 was only half paying attention to Katen's cheekiness now. "Sev'rance Tann was a fine officer who served the Confederacy well, we should be so fortunate not to meet the same fate that befell her."

"Oh, don't be so serious, Boss." Katen playfully grabbed onto OOM-9's shoulder.

OOM-9 decided to take his subordinate's advice. "Besides, any dream team wouldn't include you, Major. Which of your duties are you currently shirking off now and leaving for Commander Zako to take care of?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I'm sure Karl finished it by now. So, technically I'm not abandoning my responsibilities. Besides, he doesn't mind."

OOM-9 knew laziness wasn't Katen's problem; she was always serious when the situation called for it. Her problem was a lack of ambition for advancement in rank. Ashley Katen had nestled in and was perfectly content with the rank of Major. She could handle the added responsibilities of a Commander, but had no desire to. Forever regulated to be Karl Zako's de facto underling, with Zako doing most of the work. But OOM-9 and the others were guilty of the same thing. All of the droids that Zako and Katen upgraded a decade ago: OOM-9, EEK-176, SSA-719, KJZ-8267, and 3B3-888, were evenly spaced out in rank, in order for them to work together more often. They were habitually in the same squads during missions, when they could be. The droids were friends with each other, friendship one of the few positive things they learned from the two human officers.

Of course their friendships didn't end with their small little group. They had grown accustomed to being around other droids such as OOM-8, Z23-Y75 and GD-79. Though OOM-9 cared for all his droid troops, even the tactical droid TH-1066. OOM-9 was skeptical of that model of droid at first, as they were often cruel military leaders that were quick to sacrifice their troops. OOM-9 saw TH-1066 start to change, following his example of how to run things without a ready sacrifice of one's own soldiers. OOM-9 was glad of the alteration in TH-1066's behavior, it meant that other tactical droids could be turned as well. Unfortunately the same could not be said for many of the bigoted high-ranking organic officers in the CIS. General Grievous came to mind. OOM-9 found it highly doubtful that close-minded organics like Grievous would or could ever truly respect battle droids.

The central control computer wordlessly informed OOM-9 that they would be exiting out of hyperspace in fifteen minutes.

"Major, get to the hanger bay and help prepare the ground troops for invasion."

Ashley Katen knew her small window of free time had closed. "Right, General," the Separatist officer turned and left.

Dr. Gatling Quartz walked onto the bridge just as Major Katen was leaving. "General OOM-9, I have a new toy ready for you." The Skakoan scientist handed OOM-9 a datapad with the readouts of the weapon. "You and any battle droid you authorize can download the interface program from the central control computer. Though it was designed to integrate with the B1 product line, so it is my recommendation that you don't let super battle droids use it. It would prove to be less effective," the Skakoan doctor warned.

"This is more imaginative than the combination E-5 you made for me," OOM-9 commented. OOM-9 wasn't exactly being fair, the custom combination E-5 Quartz had made was an astoundingly dangerous weapon. OOM-9 considered the problem to be one of creativity, the custom E-5 felt like something he could have come up with on his own. OOM-9 needed Quartz to come up with unexpected weapons and gear, that's what organics were known for after all… doing surprising things.

"It's in the hanger bay now. Shall I have it loaded onto a transport, if you chose to use it for the mission?"

"Yes, I may try it out today."

Quartz fiddled with his synthesized vocalizer, as it was malfunctioning again. "I also have another weapon finished. It just needs one last test."

"Very good, Doctor," OOM-9 was pleased the Skakoan's sudden surge of progress. "You're dismissed." Dr. Quartz gave a lackluster bow and departed from the command bridge.

The 8th Fleet exited out of hyperspace in front of the planet Abridon as scheduled. Upon an initial scanning of the planet and surrounding space, OOM-9 found that the Galactic Republic had gotten to the contested world first. An impressive fleet of seven Acclamator ships, twelve Pelta frigates, and ten Consular cruisers were led by a single Venator star destroyer. The fleet was much larger than OOM-9 had expected.

"General Loathsom's forces should be arriving within the hour but they will be on the opposite side of the planet. But Commander Vulpus should be with us in…three, two, one." A fleet under the control of Commander Vulpus exited out of hyperspace a ways to the far edge of the battlefield.

The Republic cruisers split in two groups to engage the separate CIS fleets. Their plan of attack surprised OOM-9, who did not think that they would have so willingly separated their cruisers (and divided their firepower). The Venator broke off from the rest of the fleet and veered to face Vulpus' forces alone while the seven Acclamators headed for the 8th Fleet.

The captain of the Venator must have been semi-sentient, as the star destroyer focused all of its' firepower on a single Banking Clan frigate. Vulpus' capital ships were just as brutal in battle, and had only one target to shoot at. Both sides released their starfighters, but the Republic's Torrents were severely outnumbered by Separatist Vultures.

The Venator opened its ventral hangar bay, revealing a SPHA-T. The artillery piece fired on the targeted Munificent star frigate. The besieged Banking Clan frigate started to go down, though it headed for the Venator. It clipped the Venator's command bridge as it went by, effectively ending the Venator's smooth operation by eliminating the command staff.

Commander Vulpus stood on the bridge of a Munificent star frigate. It was apparently pure luck that the Republic attack cruiser targeted a different ship, or it would have been him hurling towards the planet and a fiery end. The CIS officer was not about to let an opportunity pass by. "Intensify firepower on their exposed hanger."

"Roger roger," a pilot droid answered. After a few intense moments of exchanging turbolaser fire, the Venator lost its shields and then the exposed SPHA-T was torn apart by the cannons of multiple Banking Clan frigates.

Vulpus' attention was momentarily draw to a pair of Vulture droids chasing a V-19 Torrent fighter. The three fighters had flown dangerously close to the frigate's command bridge. Their engines could be heard as they passed by. "Increase power to the bridge deflector shield," Vulpus ordered, he didn't want some snubfighter to be able to come crashing through the viewport.

OOM-9 ordered the Scrapyard, Glaciarium, and Magna Musai to line up with parallel to each other. The two droid control ships, the Scrapyard and Magna Musai, were on the outside, with the Lucrehulk battleship, Glaciarium in the middle. The gigantic Lucrehulk ships were slow to get into formation but the incoming Acclamator assault ships were still far off. The configuration gave the Trade Federation ships a small profile while allowing a wide field of fire for the quad laser batteries on their outer rings. Only ships crewed by droids and aided by three central control computers could have pulled off such a risky maneuver.

The three tight-knight Lucrehulks cut through the Acclamators. The smaller Republic cruisers had to get out of the way or be crushed. One of the Acclamators was particularly close to scraping hulls with the CIS ships. As the Republic cruisers scrambled out of the way, they were battered by the Lucrehulks' quad lasers. One of the Republic assault ships had its' hull ruptured. A keen observer could notice dozens of clones and crew being sucked out into the cold, cruel void that was outer space.

The pilot battle droid KJZ-8267 patiently waited in the cockpit of his E-STAP starbomber. The ship, like so many others, was parked safely in the hanger bay. Finally KJZ-8267 received the signal from OOM-9 and several squadrons of E-STAP starbombers exited out of the hanger bays of the Lucrehulk ships to engage the small but maneuverable Pelta frigates and Consular cruisers. "Take out those escort ships," KJZ-8267 ordered his squadron. The speedy bombers had little difficulty in catching their assigned prey.

KJZ-8267 closed in on a Consular cruiser, the ship spat out blue lasers to deter him, but the pilot droid had no problem outmaneuvering the clumsy turret gunners. First, KJZ-8267 softened up the ship's shields with some blasts from his bomber's laser cannons. The cruiser was fast, but the E-STAP bomber was faster. KJZ-8267 positioned his bomber over it and unleashed multiple plasma bombs. The small cruiser cracked open, but there was no large explosion, just various Republic crewmen sucked out in space.

After they passed the group of Lucrehulks, the weakened and disorderly Acclamators were easy targets for the 8th Fleets Banking Clan frigates and Commerce Guild destroyers.

"All ships, fire your Prow turbolaser cannons, target the damaged vessel first," TH-1066 ordered from the bridge of the Komusai. The tactical droid wanted to reduce the Republic's numbers as quickly as possible and the hurt Acclamator assault ship was the logical choice as the first target. The injured Acclamators unleashed their V-19 Torrent starfighters for protection. The Banking Clan frigates answered the Torrents by releasing a combination of Vulture droids and Scarab starfighters.

The two starfighter groups met in the middle, with neither side gaining the upper hand but both preventing their adversaries access to the others' cruisers. The Commerce Guild destroyers and Banking Clan frigates opened up with their Prow heavy turbolasers. Both CIS and Republic fighters were agile and smart enough to steer clear of the powerful blasts. The Acclamator assault ships lacked any sort of equivalent to the Prow turbolaser and had severely depleted shields, which made for a bad combination. The one thing the Republic ships had in their favor was their numbers. It was seven Acclamators against three Munificent frigates and two Recusant light destroyers. If the Lucrehulks were to turn around, it would take time, especially in their current formation.

Commander Vulpus was the one to rectify the situation. With the Venator destroyed, his fleet was free to join in on OOM-9's skirmish. At top speed, Vulpus' Munificent frigates and Recusant destroyers passed by OOM-9's Lucrehulks and engaged the Acclamators from behind.

The engines of the Acclamators were easy targets and Vulpus took full advantage of the situation. Several of the ships were quickly destroyed. Escape pods started to clog the battle zone.

The surviving V-19 Torrent fighters broke off from the battle with the Vultures and Scarabs, leaving the doomed Republic capital ships to their fate. The Torrent fighters started heading in the direction of the Lucrehulk ships, which were still close together. The large ships wouldn't be able to defend themselves with their turrets as they risked hitting each other.

"E-STAP squadrons, move to intercept the incoming fighters," OOM-9 ordered. While it was unlikely the small fighters could do any real damage, OOM-9 was not going to take any chances, he did not want a repeat of what happened during the space battle over Naboo when a single starfighter was responsible for destroying an entire droid control ship.

The E-STAP bombers abandoned the few Pelta frigates and Consular cruisers that remained to meet the Torrents head-on. A few Torrents were destroyed in the initial attack, but the Republic fighters didn't engage the CIS bombers, nor did they attack the Lucrehulk ships.

"They're retreating to the planet," KJZ-8267 said over the comm. The Pelta frigates and Consular cruisers had also turned around to run away to Abridon's atmosphere.

Inevitably, one Acclamator remained.

"They're trying to escape, block their path," TH-1066 ordered.

"Target their engines," Commander Vulpus ordered his crew. The Republic ship maneuvered around the Komusai and tried to escape into hyperspace but was destroyed by Vulpus' Munificent star frigate before it could get away.

With the Republic blockade destroyed, the Separatist ships were free to do what they pleased. Vulpus ordered pod hunters to eliminate the Republic escape pods.

"Begin the planetary invasion," OOM-9 ordered. "Double the fighter escort for the first wave of transports." OOM-9 did not want the few Republic fighters and frigates that escaped to cause him serious trouble later.

C-9979 landing craft, Trade Federation dropships, Neimoidian transports, and vehicle armored carriers spilled out of the various hanger bays and descended to the atmosphere under escort of several squadrons of Vulture droids and Scarab starfighters.

The various CIS transports began landing on the grassy plains of Abridon. The Vulture droids and Scarabs flew in a holding pattern to protect the landing craft as they unloaded their cargo. STAPs, heavy STAPs, ASTs, and speeder platforms were the first to exit from the drop ships and scoured across the countryside searching for enemy positions.

After the high-speed recon units left, medium armor vehicles started to curse the land with their presence and promise of ruination of the local environment. NR-N99 tank droids started to move about the grassy hills, crushing the planet's native plants underneath as they traveled. Streaks of smashed grass cut through the formerly untouched landscape. The effect made it look as if the tank droids were giant lawnmowers. The armored assault tanks and ground armored tanks had much less impact than the treaded tank droids.

Coming down with the first wave, Commander Zako surveyed the progress of OOM-9's army from the top hatch of a dark gray and blue armored assault tank.

"General, we've lost contact with the fleet," a clone commander reported to Bultar Swan.

"A minor communications disruption, it should pass quickly," a nearby clone captain was quite confident.

"No, they're gone," the Jedi Guardian corrected. Swan could feel it in the Force; the Republic lives up in space had been silenced for good.

"General," a clone lieutenant cut in the conversation.

The outburst was rude but Swan knew clones didn't interrupt unless it was important. "What is it trooper?"

"The droids have begun landing ground troops in the countryside."

"Prepare to move out, we will engage them before they reach the major urban centers."

"But General, shouldn't we stay in the city? We hold a fortified position. We could just let the droids come to us rather than risk fighting them on the open plains."

"Excellent advice, Commander, if circumstances were different. We can't let civilians become casualties in this battle. The Nationalists are sticking to urban fighting. And if we hold in the city we'll likely end up fighting both enemies at the same time," Bultar Swan explained. "The Nationalists field the smallest army and are sure to jump at the chance to participate in a three-way battle."

"If we send the bulk of our forces out to fight the droids the Nationalists may very well retake the city, and then we'll have to capture it all over again," the clone commander protested.

"That is a very real possibility. But it is still preferable to fighting both enemies at once. The Nationalists seem to prefer hit-and-run attacks to taking and holding territory. I think they will scatter again once we've returned."

"As you say General." The clone commander disagreed but ultimately carried out the Jedi's orders regardless of his own judgment, the Kaminoans had bred the clone troopers to be obedient. And for the time being, the Jedi were their masters.

It took the Republic several hours to responsibly pull their troops out of the cities. All the while CIS patrols were gathering information on GAR and Nationalist movements. As the clone army left the city, Nationalist convoys started to enter. Contrary to General Swan's prediction, the pro-Abridon soldiers were intent on taking and keeping their cities.

Rather than let the Nationalists have a free pass to cause OOM-9 grief later, the battle droid general sent several squadrons of E-STAP starbombers to destroy the supply convoys.

"Just as you predicted, General." Zako looked through a pair of electrobinoculars. "The clone army is coming out to meet us."

"The Jedi Code is easy to exploit. They are trying to keep the heavy fighting away from heavily populated areas," OOM-9's tank pulled alongside Zako's. "They do not wish to see the innocent slaughtered in battle."

"General, enemy fighter tanks coming in fast," Katen reported.

"Send in our armor to hold them off."

"Engaging." The swift ground armored tanks got there first, but the Republic tanks blew right past them, intent on breaking up the droid army's formations. The tank droids and AATs proved harder for the IFT-Xs to ignore. Most of the GATs turned around to help the AATs and tank droids against the Republic fighter tanks.

"Deploy the infantry," OOM-9 ordered his MTTs.

"General, we have incoming V-19 Torrent fighters," SSA-719 reported. "Likely the group that fled the space battle."

"Launch all Vultures." The droid starfighters had been waiting around in walking mode until they were needed. Now that they had been given a purpose the Vulture droids took to the sky to attack the V-19 Torrent starfighters.

OOM-9 looked through his electrobinoculars. The main GAR attack force was approaching. It was primarily made up of clone infantry, AT-TEs, AT-RTs, and clone scout walkers.

The all terrain recon transports broke away from the main group and charged ahead at top speed. The nimble walkers ran in between the IFT-Xs and CIS tanks still fighting each other. The smaller walkers were trying to get at the battle droid infantry.

"Infantry break formation," OOM-9 ordered. He was not going to let the AT-RTs have an easy time of it. The B1 battle droids spread out, forcing the walkers to hunt them down individually. OOM-9 sent his own AAT into battle to assist his infantry against the all terrain recon transports. Zako's tank stayed back, as to allow the commander to continue to survey the broader battle situation.

Battle droids armed with E-60R rocket launchers combined with dwarf spider droids and thermal detonator battle droids proved to be an effective counter to the AT-RTs. The small walkers were popping like zits amidst all the CIS anti-armor units. It was going so well that OOM-9 didn't even get the chance to destroy a single AT-RT with his own tank.

"General, the heavy walkers are in firing range and have begun attacking," Zako informed his superior via hologram.

"Roll out the bio cannons," the battle droid general commanded.

"With pleasure."

The bio cannons, as always, were swift to deploy. Red artillery fire arced over the grassy battlefield. An extremely unlucky Torrent fighter was hit midair by one of the powerful blasts. The initial volley missed most of the Republic ground troops. The bio cannons adjusted their aim, and fired again.

The CIS vehicles and Republic walkers exchanged fired with one another as the infantry began to close in on one another. It was an odd site as the clone troopers were in strict formation while the battle droids were scattered about.

SSA-719 and 3B3-888 led the droid infantry. 3B3-888 shot at high-ranking clone troopers with an E-5s sniper rifle. The GAR's continued use of a rank-based, color-coded armor system made 3B3-888's task easy. SSA-719 wielded an E-60R rocket launcher loaded with remote rockets. Remote rockets for the E-60R were expensive, which prohibited widespread use on a weapon the CIS already lacked in large quantities.

SSA-719 fired his first remote rocket, guiding it into a large formation of clone infantry. The resulting blast took out twenty clone troopers at once. Blood and body parts rained down on the clones that survived. SSA-719 fired another remote rocket, killing a squad of nine clones. He fired a third, and only managed to hit three. The clones were spreading out to reduce the casualties caused by the explosions. SSA-719 was down to his final remote rocket; he fired again and guided the projectile at some clones that were trying to board an AT-TE. The rocket hit and tore the clones apart, but the armored walker was unaffected. Remote rockets were better used against infantry than vehicles.

Bultar Swan rode in on a 74-Z speeder bike straight into the heart of the droid army. She knew she needed to do something drastic if she was going to turn this fight around.

She leapt off her speeder bike and let it crash into a droid transport carrier loaded with super battle droids. The insane stunt caught EEK-176's attention. The droid commander's AAT turned to target the Jedi.

Without hesitation, Swan used the Force and yanked EEK-176 from atop his armored assault tank. The AAT fired its main cannon at the Jedi, who leaped away just in the nick of time. EEK-176 crashed to the ground where Bultar Swan and an explosion had been just milliseconds before. The ground was hot and smoky from the blast, but that didn't bother the command droid any.

EEK-176 got to his feet, and had managed to hold on to his SE-14 blaster pistol. The command droid fired a series of shots at the Jedi but missed repeatedly. EEK-176 threw his only V-1 thermal detonator, but that also missed the Jedi. Swan ran up the tank to the open hatch where EEK-176 had been and slid into the tank.

Three pilot battle droids came running out the back hatch as the Jedi went in from the top. The AAT began to turn and started attacking battle droids.

As much as OOM-9 hated to destroy one of his own tanks, he couldn't let his infantry be shot to pieces. OOM-9's AAT moved to distract the stolen tank. The two tanks circled each other, firing wildly. OOM-9's AAT, being fully crewed, was performing much better than Swan's stolen one. OOM-9 threw one of his thermal detonators and it landed in the other tank's open top hatch. The stolen AAT was rocked by an internal explosion, and fell silent, but OOM-9 noticed that the Jedi had escaped through the back hatch and was running away again. EEK-176 jumped on the side of OOM-9's armored assault tank and they went on after the Jedi again.

A clone scout walker moved into OOM-9's way, halting his pursuit of the fleeing Jedi. The scout walker was no match for the armored assault tank, but provided a short distraction that allowed Bultar Swan to return to the folds of the clone infantry. While she stuck out among the white armored clones like a sore thumb, OOM-9's tank was now occupied with other Republic vehicles. The dangerous skirmish forced EEK-176 to abandon the side of OOM-9's tank for fear of being blasted apart by strong vehicle laser fire.

A clone commander riding a 74-Z speeder bike pulled up alongside Swan.

"It is my recommendation that we retreat General."

"That would be the wisest course of action," the Jedi agreed, knowing that fighting a losing battle to the end was foolish. Bultar got on the bike behind the commander and the two took off.

Various types of LAAT gunships approached the battlefield. But rather than drop off reinforcements, they landed to pick up existing troops.

The Torrent fighters had done a marvelous job of keeping the Vulture droids busy the entire battle. The droid fighters did not have the chance to target the parked gunships as they loaded their troops. However, the dogfight lasted long enough for AMLs to move into position to help the droid fighters finish off the rest of the V-19 Torrents.

As his army was wiping out the clone stragglers, OOM-9 received a transmission from Commander Vulpus. "What can I do for you, Commander?" OOM-9 asked.

"The frigate from my fleet that was blasted down to the planet made a successful crash-landing, but I do not have enough spare troops to retrieve the survivors. And according to the dossier, you and your human subordinates have a history with the ship's captain."

The file was uploaded to OOM-9 and the droid immediately knew what was going on.

"Yes, I understand, Commander. I will send some troops to retrieve the survivors."

"Thank you for your assistance, General OOM-9."

Once the battle was completely over, OOM-9 waited as EEK-176 once again hopped on the side of his tank for a brief meeting. The sun was falling in the sky as the day was coming to an end.

"Commander, I want you to capture the city Sayan. I will conquer Cayla. I'm going to send Katen and Zako to the wrecked Munificent star frigate."

"Right right."

OOM-9 then contacted his two human officers. "I have a new assignment for my two most favorite humans in the entire galaxy," OOM-9's holographic visage came in clear over the imagecaster.

"Sir?" Katen looked confused.

"A Banking Clan frigate crashed on the planet. You two are going to rescue any survivors. I am uploading the coordinates."

"This is a ways away," Zako spoke to the hologram.

"We can use some air transports," Katen added.

"Negative. None can be spared at the moment. You will have to take the ground troops to the crash site the hard way, and I want you there by morning."

"By morning?" Zako asked.

"No breaks."

"No breaks?" Katen asked dumbly.

"Make sure you bring adrenalin with you, I expect to hear that both of you are leading the troops when you reach the frigate," OOM-9 said.

"Why is it so important that we're in direct command when we get there?" Zako asked.

"You will know when you get there," OOM-9's hologram dissipated. The battle droid could have told the two humans what was going on but felt it would be more fun to surprise them. Whether they knew or not wasn't going to affect their willingness to follow his orders, so OOM-9 opted to have a little fun keeping it a secret.

OOM-9's giant army broke up into smaller pieces as the various officers led their troops to separate destinations. After losing so many valuable troopers and vehicles, the Republic did not immediately attack again.

Night fell as OOM-9's army approached the city of Cayla. Clone personal walkers, scout walkers, AT-RTs, AT-TEs, and heavy anti-air tanks approached OOM-9's forces. Once again, the Republic seemed intent on preventing a fight inside the city.

"Concentrate fire on their anti-air units," OOM-9 issued the order to his armored assault tanks. From the top of his tank, OOM-9 fired an E-60R rocket launcher. The battle droid general chose smaller targets like AT-RTs, which he could destroy quicker. The AT-RTs bolted up and started harassing OOM-9's multi-troop transports. It was quite comical to view the small walkers surround and attack the large transports. OOM-9 chose not to deploy his infantry, and it had paid off. But the stubborn all terrain recon transports seemed intent on attacking CIS infantry anyway, even when they were protected inside the MTTs. Multi-troop transports were armed with two twin 17 kv blaster cannons, which had more than enough stopping power to shred the fragile AT-RTs.

An overzealous AAT charged into the heart of the Republic formation. All available weapons blazing, the armored assault tank was able to destroy an AT-TE walker before it too, was destroyed.

The CIS ground armored tanks circled around the Republic group, strafing around enemy heavy fire while attacking with their missiles. The Separatist fighter tanks eventually drew away the clone scout walkers from the main group. The Confederacy's fighter tanks were outflanked by TX-130 tanks. The Republic fighter tanks had purposefully stayed out of the battle until then. The TX-130s quickly cut through their rivals and started hammering away at homing spider droids.

Overall, OOM-9 perceived the Republic's strategy as directionless, until he noticed a SPHA-I moving into position. The ion cannon artillery piece would spell doom for OOM-9's mechanized forces.

Luckily, the shielded E-STAP bomber squadron OOM-9 had been waiting for had finally appeared, and the Republic had only two anti-air tanks still operational. OOM-9 fired his rocket launcher and destroyed one of the remaining anti-air tanks.

"Commencing attack run," one of the E-STAP pilots notified OOM-9 over the comm. Green plasma bombs lit up the night sky as the droid starbombers demolished the clone armor columns. After the first successful run, the shielded E-STAP bombers turned around again and targeted the SPHA-I before it could attack the droid ground forces.

The remaining clone anti-air tank was hard-pressed to handle so many aerial units on its own. Their shield generators protected the bombers that the anti-air tank did manage to hit. While the clone walkers were being blown to pieces, the TX-130 tanks were agile enough to elude the hail of ordinance.

The 8th Fleet's four Techno Union ships, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death began landing around the outskirts of the city and began deploying large quantities of battle droid infantry units. The droid foot soldiers marched into the city unopposed while OOM-9's armor units kept the heavy Republic vehicles occupied.

As the main Republic defense force took heavy casualties, some of the TX-130 tanks turned and went to attack the droids deploying from the Techno Union ships. A combination of baron battle droids, thermal detonator battle droids, and dwarf spider droids were enough to take down the already softened up fighter tanks.

Commander EEK-176 called in an orbital strike to demolish the line of eight SPHA-Cs that barred his way to Sayan. The artillery units were packed tightly together, which made it easy for them to be destroyed in a single swift strike. The two speeder platforms that acted as spotters for the orbital strike returned back to EEK-176's main battle force. A group of five Republic 74-Z speeder bikes chased the CIS speeder pair, but turned around and fled before EEK-176's heavy vehicles could target them.

EEK-176 sent a trio of AATs and a MTT to guard his western flank while the rest of his army continued to slowly approach the city. EEK-176 kept his anti-air missile launchers and heavy artillery guns in the rear while the armored scout tanks went ahead to search for enemy emplacements.

EEK-176 encountered a few scattered heavy clone scout walkers along the way. The HAGs softened them up with a few artillery rounds and then the AATs and NR-N99 tank droids finished them off.

The armored scout tanks discovered a small Republic outpost barring the way into the city. Once again the heavy artillery guns hammered at the GAR vehicles, enticing them to abandon the turrets and attack the CIS battle group. EEK-176's assorted vehicles fought with clone scout and personal walkers while the HAGs then switched their attention to the Republic's turrets.

Once the turrets were obliterated, a platoon attack craft rushed the Republic command center and dropped off a group of battle droids. The B1 infantry units marched in to take control of the base, but the outnumbered clone troopers put up a valiant fight. Of the one hundred and twelve battle droids that went in, only twenty remained by the time the command center was secured.

A group of five gunship fighters came in to harass the droid forces but were driven back by the AMLs. A wave of IFT-X tanks that tried to reclaim the Republic base were beaten back, followed by a wave of clone scout walkers. The GAR seemed intent on not allowing EEK-176 to keep their base. The HAGs camped out around the command center and eventually provoked a genuine retreat from the Republic forces.

Once the fighting had died down, EEK-176 left SSA-719 in charge of the captured Republic command center while he went in to the city itself. EEK-176 split up his army to infiltrate the city from multiple points. His hope was that the Republic couldn't engage them all and that small groups of battle droids would go unnoticed and could stage lethal surprise attacks on clones that were attacking larger groups of CIS droids.

The armored scout tanks went in first to provide general information on enemy troop placement within the city. Various artificial light sources in the industrial city made it easy for both droids and clones to fight in the dead of night.

KJZ-8267 joined in with the scouting teams by trading in his brown-colored E-STAP starbomber for a beige armored scout tank. KJZ-8267 thought it better since bombing runs were currently forbidden within city limits. KJZ-8256 led two other ASTs, and in no time, the trio ran into a pair of 74-Z speeder bikes. KJZ-8267 was able to blast one of them with his tank's laser cannons but the other managed to escape thanks to his teammates' inaccuracy.

KJZ-8267's small group chased after the speeder bike only to run into a legion of Nationalist soldiers. Abridon's Nationalist soldiers were distinct in that they wore orange armor. The local soldiers managed to shoot the clone off his speeder bike. The ASTs then had a go at the foot soldiers. Sporting mainly blaster pistols and rifles, the Nationalist soldiers would be ineffective as long as could only shoot at the front of the armored scout tanks. AST pilots were protected in the front, but vulnerable from the sides, forcing the scout tanks to speed through the infantry ranks and disappear from sight. That or risk being shot from behind. The CIS repulsorcraft pulled it off, and managed to kill a few troopers in the run. They kept going, not stopping to let the soldiers take shots at their backs.

The armored scout tank trio then ran into a Republic troop transport that was headed towards the Nationalist infantry. The scout tanks fired upon the armored transport as they passed, but they did no real damage. The ASTs were so fast that the RTT did not even bother trying to shoot back.

Clone troopers soon emerged from the RTT. The white-armored soldiers engaged the ones clad in orange. Back on the other side of the street where KJZ-8267 had originated from a CIS platoon attack craft arrived and deployed its complement of B1 battle droids, including Sergeant 3B3-888.

The Nationalist infantry were now trapped in-between an army of battle droids and an attack force of clone troopers. The Nationalists fought bravely and died quickly, prompting a laugh from 3B3-888.

Once the Nationalists were out of the way, 3B3-888 quickly tossed two of his V-1 thermal detonators into the clone trooper crowd, causing confusing and mass death. The battle droids took advantage of their superior numbers and swept over the clone ranks like a whirlwind of death. The RTT proved more of a challenge since no one in the infantry group had enough firepower to pierce the armor. That soon changed as 3B3-888 called in a squad of eight heavy beetle troopers. The large bugs flew over and swarmed the slow transport, slowly eating away at it with their riders' KGB acid guns.

The fight inside the city of Cayla was exactly what both the CIS and Republic hoped to avoid. At the very least, the civilians had the good sense to stay bolted up in the buildings. Between the clones, droids, and Nationalists the battle had denigrated into a three-way brawl. OOM-9's army had numerical superiority, but after a bout of devastation, the Republic and Nationalists seemed to have engaged in an unofficial truce while they dealt with their larger, common enemy.

OOM-9 had his beetle troopers fly up to the tops of buildings and report the movements of enemy troops below. OOM-9 tried to maneuver his army to force the clones and Nationalists onto the same streets, compelling them to confront each other. It was a difficult task as the heavier Republic vehicles often stood their ground and the Nationalist infantry were too eager to retreat.

After chasing his enemies around the city all night, OOM-9 took and held the center. So many of his vehicles were occupied with skirmishes around the city that OOM-9 had to use pilot droids armed with BR-1 repeaters to defend the center. The BR-1 repeater was the CIS equivalent of the Republic's EWHB-10 repeater. The BR-1 was basically a heavy gun mounted on a tripod, though it could be carried and deployed by a single battle droid, a distinct advantage over the EWHB-10, which had to be put together by a team of troopers before it could be used.

OOM-9 eventually left the safety of the city center, preferring to personally engage in the skirmishes that were popping up around various sections of the city.

Precisely at the crack of dawn, Katen and Zako had reached their destination. The Banking Clan frigate had crashed in the middle of a city. Several buildings were damaged or knocked over, filled with dead civilians. Clone personal and scout walkers surrounded the grounded Banking Clan frigate, mindlessly firing at the vessel's hull while clone infantry marched inside. "Aren't they afraid the structure will collapse on their infantry if they hit it with vehicle fire?" the baron battle droid E2BA-89 asked.

"They are obviously a bunch of idiots," Katen remarked. The walkers were slow to respond to the approaching CIS army and were no match for Zako and Katen's vehicles. Two groups of three NR-N99 tank droids each split up and cleared the enemy vehicles around the ship.

STAPs and AATs cleared away the clone troopers that were outside the ship. Zako and Katen personally led their battle droid troops inside the Banking Clan frigate. The hadn't encountered any of the ships survivors on the outside but there were scattered droid remains, showing that some did survive the crash, if only to be destroyed by the clones.

The squad intermittently found small pockets of clone troopers in various passages and corridors. The clones were easy prey, as their numbers were diminished by the ship's droid defenders. Yet, Katen and Zako's squad never found any functional survivors.

The Separatist team neared the command center, and they still hadn't found any survivors. "Split up into teams of four and search the lower decks. Katen and I will investigate the command bridge," Zako ordered.

"Roger roger," a few of the B1s answered.

Once the droids were out of earshot Katen turned to interrogate Zako. "What we don't get a team of four?"

"We don't need it."

"When'd you get so brave? You always travel with battle droids."

"The droids need each other more than we need them. We have to split up the group to cover more sections of the ships faster; we aren't finding any survivors at the rate we were going. I don't want to tell OOM-9 and Vulpus that we were unable to rescue anyone. Besides, we can handle any clone dirt bag that crosses our path," Zako explained as the two kept walking.

"What if we run into a Jedi, huh, smart guy? We're in our officer uniforms right now, not our combat suits."

"When did that stop us before? You have your electrostaff and I have my axe, if we run into a Jedi it will be a fair fight for once. Those idiots never wear armor, it will put us on equal footing."

"Provided they don't use the Force," Katen shot back at her superior officer.

"I must admit, the Jedi we've fought in this war are far weaker than those that have rampaged around the galaxy throughout history."

"You can tell that to Mace Windu when we run into him. With our luck, we would run into the most powerful Jedi Master of this time period—" A blue blaster bolt whizzed by Katen's face. The Major's response was quick and accurate. She hit the clone square in the chest with her commando SE-14 blaster pistol.

The clone trooper dropped to the floor. Katen and Zako scanned the area for more opponents. The clone trooper had been alone. "I surrender," the clone sat upright and rose up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Major Katen turned and gave Zako a look. The expression he gave back told her all she needed to know: they had no time to baby-sit a low-ranked clone on this current mission. "Oh, so sorry, we're not in the mood for cannon fodder prisoners right now, come back when you're a captain or higher." Major Katen shot the clone trooper in the face.

Katen found it easy to shoot unarmed clone troopers in cold blood. For one thing, she, like all those in the Confederacy, did not consider them to be real humans, just semi-sentient goo wrapped up in an armored shell. Humans in the Confederacy had a particular hatred for them. Since the clone troopers were designed after a human, it made the whole species look bad to non-humans. Fighting against an army of "humans" forced CIS humans to have to fight that much harder to prove their loyalty to the Confederacy.

Zako and Katen finally made it onto the bridge. The door had been blown open by a detpack. Several clone and droid corpses littered the floor like so much trash.

"We got here too late," Commander Zako was angered by the sight of pilot droids dead at their stations. The pair heard movement on the lower floor of the bridge, near the front where the center viewport was.

A B2 super battle droid came out of cover and cocked his right arm into firing position.

"Hold your fire, 8EX!" a human voice shouted. It wasn't a clone's voice.

Major Katen was surprised, but not by the droid that nearly shot her. She recognized the voice. "Melissa!" Katen shouted.

"Ashley!" The two officers ran up and hugged each other, squealing in delight.

"Can we at least pretend that we're professional officers in the Separatist Droid Army?" Zako asked with disdain.

"Technically I'm a member of the Navy," Captain Melissa Sledge corrected. The human CIS officer had a slender build and short, black hair. "And we're not professional at all," the female officer jokingly added. "Zako, since when do you not travel with battle droids at your side? I thought those things were glued to you."

"Hey, I can get along fine without the help of battle droids." Zako didn't understand why all the women he knew thought he was useless on his own.

"And what's with the wait? I thought you guys cared about me. I thought you would have sent more droids and gotten here sooner." Sledge pointed accusingly.

"We didn't know you were the captain of this ship," Katen admitted.

"You're awful, you wouldn't have tried as hard for another officer? I'm shocked." Sledge pretended to be appalled.

"The rescuee is supposed to be grateful to the rescuer," Katen said. "Or have you forgotten proper protocol regarding rescue operations?"

"Yes, a lesson in proper protocol from Ashley Katen. You'll have to forgive me; I've been under a lot of stress recently. I joined the Navy so that I wouldn't get shot at in person on a daily basis." Sledge kicked a clone corpse in the head. "Because unlike you two, I'm not completely insane yet."

"We love you too," Zako replied. "We better get going and help the search teams look for more survivors. Know where any might be?"

"Nope. Been out of contact with the rest of the ship for a while. Lost the bridge staff to the damned clones. It was just me and 8EX for the longest time."

"Let's get moving."

8EX took point while Zako brought up the rear. Sledge, who had more than her fill of fighting, stuck close to Katen in the middle of the group formation.

"Stop looking at my ass," Sledge told Zako.

"Bah, you wish."

Safe inside a beige-colored GAT, Commander Vulpus led his droid army against a massive force of clone infantry and vehicles. He had expertly maneuvered his troops and trapped the clone army in a pincer movement. He was losing a lot of droids keeping the clones trapped, but it was worth it to keep them confined for a bombing run. Only a single advanced E-STAP bomber could be spared for this particular battle, but the lone air unit was quite adept at destroying the large swaths of tightly packed clone infantry with its plasma bombs.

After the advanced E-STAP bomber completed three strafes, there was nothing but scrap and broken bones where an army of clones used to be. Super battle droids, flame battle droids, and dwarf spider droids moved in to search the area for any enemy survivors. Vulpus was being tidy, he didn't want any leftovers free to escape to make trouble in the cities, where they would be much more difficult to deal with.

The Separatist Commander received an incoming transmission from Karl Zako reporting that the survivors from the crashed ship had been rescued. Vulpus was glad, though he wished the ship hadn't gone down in the first place. Vulpus felt secure in allowing OOM-9's subordinates to watch over the survivors. They seemed competent enough and Vulpus really didn't have the time to deal with it himself.

OOM-9 held the majority of Cayla, however, there was one particular section that the Republic refused to give up. OOM-9 figured the human Jedi that had escaped before must be personally leading the enemy troops in that location, he could think of no other reason why the Republic was doing so well in that particular area, especially since they were falling apart everywhere else.

"The third wave has been destroyed General," a red B1 battle droid informed OOM-9.

"I will deal with this myself," OOM-9 dismissed the droid. "Bring me my new weapon." The MUT pulled alongside OOM-9's armored assault tank. OOM-9 left his tank to the care of pilot droids and entered the MUT as it opened up.

A team of Trade Federation OX9 worker droids carried out the Skg-1 scorpion walker backpack. The worker droids snapped it onto OOM-9's back. Four long, gray, metal legs protruded from the backpack that lifted OOM-9 several meters off the ground. A tail protruded from the center of the backpack that ended in a stinger harpoon mounted on a laser cannon. Two arms came out of the top sides of the backpack that ended in large pincers that housed dual laser cannons built in each claw. The device left OOM-9's hands free to clutch his custom E-5 blaster rifle.

OOM-9 moved around on his new insect-like legs for a bit to make sure that his operational program was downloaded properly. The long legs made a distinctive noise as they moved. When OOM-9 was satisfied that everything was working properly, he went to join his troops in battle.

OOM-9's attack wave did no better than previous ones, until OOM-9 entered the battle personally. OOM-9 skittered across the battlefield with astounding speed; easily avoiding laser blasts from enemy infantry and vehicles alike.

OOM-9 swiftly skittered up to a squad of clone troopers and sent his pincers crashing down on them. The two clones troopers he caught were instantly and bloodily torn apart. OOM-9 fired the built-in pincer lasers at the others, purple blaster bolts tearing through the clone armor as if it were cloth.

A trio of AT-RTs stomped over to OOM-9. With his backpack, OOM-9 was taller than the recon walkers. OOM-9 used his pincers to server the legs of the first walker. The next one he grabbed the driver right out of his seat and snapped him in two. The last walker he cut up the middle with his tail's stinger harpoon.

The impressive feat caught the attention of Bultar Swan. The Jedi ordered an AT-TE and AT-XT to fire on OOM-9. OOM-9 fired his tail harpoon into a building, a long metal chain kept the disembodied stinger and tail connected. OOM-9 blasted himself over to the building with astounding speed when he reeled himself in. The AT-TE and AT-XT couldn't even keep up with the movement, but Bultar Swan did.

The Jedi Guardian ran for the droid general, but he used his insect-like legs to shimmy up the building. Once high enough, OOM-9 leaped off the building and landed on the AT-TE. He used the pincers to tear off the walker's main cannon, and then bashed open the cockpit and killed the pilot. OOM-9 attracted the notice of several clone troopers, none of whom were accurate enough to hit him.

OOM-9 went about killing a few dozen more clones before Bultar Swan finally caught up to him. She thrusted her green lightsaber forward, trying to hit OOM-9's long legs, as she couldn't reach the droid himself. She dared not throw her lightsaber, for it would leave her vulnerable to attack. OOM-9 slashed his pincers at her, but missed the nimble Jedi every time. OOM-9 fired the tail cannon and pincer cannons at the same time, but Swan deflected all purple-colored laser bolts that came her way. Some of the redirected shots even came close to hitting OOM-9.

Swan's clone commander fired an EMP launcher from behind, nailing OOM-9 in the back. OOM-9's walker weapon short-circuited, but the droid himself remained operational.

OOM-9 ejected from the scorpion walker backpack. He turned and shot the clone commander that had ruined his scorpion walker backpack. OOM-9 then fired his E-5 at Bultar Swan, who continued to elude his blaster bolts. The female Jedi ran up and attempted to decapitate the command battle droid. OOM-9 ducked out of the way and punched the Jedi in the shin. Swan stumbled back and OOM-9 hit her with the butt of his E-5 blaster rifle, causing her to drop her lightsaber.

Weaponless, Bultar Swan used the force to yank the gun from OOM-9's hands. OOM-9 immediately charged ahead to tackle her, forcing Swan to move out of the way. Instead of landing in her hand, OOM-9's E-5 ended up on the ground. The Jedi then used the Force to pull over her own weapon, but OOM-9 got in the way and swatted the lightsaber down before it reached Swan's grasp.

"They certainly don't make battle droids like you anymore," Bultar Swan admitted to OOM-9. "If they ever did at all."

"And you've lasted longer than any other Jedi I've encountered so far. But I can keep this up all week, you organics always get tired eventually."

The battle droids and clone troopers were still keeping each other occupied, preventing either side from helping their general. Even without her lightsaber, Swan did not quit. She engaged OOM-9 in hand-to-hand combat, landing several kicks and punches. However, none of her strikes damaged the battle droid. She kept it up, hammering away with her fists. It was all she could do to prevent him from landing a blow of his own.

OOM-9 was getting aggravated. He stomped his metal foot down, trying to crush the Jedi's foot. Swan, of course, eluded the attack at the last possible millisecond. Bultar answered with a punch to the chest, which succeeded only in hurting the Jedi's hand. Swan flinched from the pain, and that slight lapse in her combat stance allowed OOM-9 to tackle her. She tried to struggle, but OOM-9 had a death grip on her left arm. He spun her around a few times and used the momentum to toss her aside. OOM-9 made a dash for his E-5 still on the ground.

OOM-9 reclaimed his weapon. When he turned to aim it, he saw that Bultar Swan had also recovered her lightsaber. The telltale snap-hiss sound accompanied the appearance of the glowing green blade.

"Right back to the start, only you're running out of energy," OOM-9 proclaimed.

"Not exactly. You had that walker backpack and an army of droids at the start," Swan shot back.

"Shut your mouth!" OOM-9 fired his gun with the elite E-5 function.

A clone threw a thermal detonator at OOM-9, who kicked the explosive back towards the clone. "Back off meatbag," OOM-9 warned the clone. Bultar Swan grabbed the detonator with the Force and heaved it back at OOM-9 again. At the moment before impact, OOM-9 threw up his arms to protect himself.

The explosion still blew OOM-9 to pieces. OOM-9's limbs, head, and torso were all scattered in different directions. The great General OOM-9 had been reduced to scrap metal. With their general defeated, the CIS attack group began to falter and fail, as had other attack waves before it.

Author's Note: Commander Vulpus originally appeared in the 4-part comic series Star Wars: General Grievous. Though he only has a short appearance, his actions reveal a lot about his personality. Vulpus always keeps a level head and is even able to diffuse a situation in which he and Grievous have an argument and the General brandishes his lightsaber at the Commander. In the comic, his species is never explicitly stated, though Vulpus looks entirely human. Thus I assume him to be a human.

Vulpus' officer uniform is the same design worn by Zako, Katen, and Sledge as I assume that it is the standard for human Separatist officers.

Melissa Sledge is a character of my own creation. Her last name is a reference to the fact that she is crude and violent when in charge of a capital ship, even purposefully crashing into enemy ships as demonstrated in the chapter.

8EX originally appeared in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Bultar Swan also appeared in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

The planet Abridon made its first appearance in the videogame Star Wars: Force Commander. Sayan is an actual city on Abridon while Cayla is a city of my own creation.

In Force Commander, Abridon had Nationalist soldiers that fought against the Galactic Empire. These troopers inspired me to create the Abridon Nationalist faction in the three-sided battle for Abridon in OOM-9's Revenge. The armor of the Nationalist soldiers from both Force Commander and OOM-9's Revenge are intended to look the same.