Chapter 29: Retaking Rhen Var
"What are you doing?" Commander Karl Zako demanded of Major Ashley Katen.
"Uh, preparing for battle?" Katen was not in her KSV-1 combat suit, but her officer uniform. The Separatist forces under the command of General OOM-9 were preparing to engage in space combat as soon as the fleet exited out of hyperspace.
"What's with the fighter?"
"I'm going to fly it, idiot."
"You know what I mean. Why are you taking this thing over a Scarab fighter?" Zako paced about, eyeing the Mankvim-814 light interceptor. The Mankvim-814 light interceptor, also known as the Techno Union interceptor, was a new addition to the Confederacy's starfighter collection provided by the Techno Union.
"Because it's faster than the Scarabs."
Zako ground his teeth together. He saw the new starfighter as a direct snub of the Scarab fighter he was partly responsible for. "Its firepower is cut in half compared to the Scarab." The Scarab had four laser cannons while the Mankvim-814 only had two.
"You're just like the droids. So slow to accept and adapt to change. I remember when 3B3-888 didn't like the super battle droids when they were first introduced. So I'm driving the new fighter, so what? Demand for your pilot-able Scarabs hasn't waned any."
"The 8th Fleet eats up most of the demand for my Scarab starfighters."
"OOM-9 isn't buying them just to humor you. They're durable and hyperspace equipped and are great at shooting down gunship fighters. They aren't going anywhere. So stop worrying so much."
"If you two are done arguing, we drop out of hyperspace in two minutes," the pilot droid KJZ-8267 walked up and informed the two humans.
"Right," Zako turned to the pilot battle droid.
"Hey," Katen yelped, an idea suddenly occurring to her. "How about a contest? See who's squadron shoots down the most enemy fighters!"
"Fine," Commander Zako sneered. He knew he was a better pilot than Katen was, but there was a slight nag of worry tugging at the back of his mind that the new fighters might actually be better.
"Excellent," Katen smiled. Win or lose, Katen knew the contest would knock Zako out of his funk. If the Scarabs won, he'd redouble his confidence in their abilities, if the Techno Union interceptors won, Zako would have to shut up and have to accept the fact that they were better.
The argument diffused, Zako looked across the hanger where an OX9 labor droid was busy buffing the hangar floor. The laboring droid reminded him of his own past when he was a young man, before he had joined the Trade Federation. Karl Zako hailed from a large, working class family. So long ago it was he who was buffing floors to make a living. But that had changed once he got a higher education and joined the Trade Federation. And now he found himself a high-ranking officer in the Separatist Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. When he was younger he would have never guessed where he would end up today. But it was really the only place for him.
Karl Zako liked droids. He liked to fix them. He liked to interact with them. He liked to fight alongside them. If he hadn't wound up in a formal droid army he would have likely ended up as a mercenary with a group of combat droids under his command. Commander Zako understood politics, history and to a lesser degree, galactic economics; and he was always sharing his knowledge with his friends. Sometimes he wouldn't shut up about it. He would have made a fine academic scholar, had his answers to the galaxy's problems not always included violence. The answer that always kept coming back to Zako was that brute force was the way to affect immediate and meaningful change in the galaxy. It was this philosophy that partially attracted Zako to the idea of a droid army. Through force of arms they could achieve equality, justice, wealth, whatever they wanted.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Magna Musai, the command droids OOM-9 and EEK-176 discussed their target planet. They were completely ready for the upcoming battle and were basically engaging in small talk to pass what little time was left before combat operations commenced. Normally, boredom would not be an issue for battle droids, but OOM-9 and EEK-176 were old (by battle droid standards), experienced, highly intelligent, and had accumulated personalities over their lifetimes, as they had never had memory wipes. For them, boredom was indeed an issue, they found it hard to just stand around and do nothing while they waited.
"Rhen Var no longer has any strategic value," Senior Commander EEK-176 stated the obvious. "The Republic has already learned the secrets of the Dark Reaper from Ulic Qel-Droma's tomb." Though the Dark Reaper Project was highly classified, OOM-9 and EEK-176 had access to the information. "Rhen Var no longer has any secrets we need to protect." This was especially true since the Dark Reaper had been destroyed on the planet Thule before it was ever really used.
"I don't understand why the Count doesn't assign me to more important planets," OOM-9 intoned. "I have more than proven myself to be an exemplarily military leader."
"Maybe General Grievous is trying to keep you from gaining more support and prestige in the eyes of the Council," EEK-176 offered.
"General Grievous doesn't even know I exist. He thinks nothing of command battle droids, or battle droids in general."
"Indeed," EEK-176 agreed. It was a conversation of contemplation that occurred often and with increasing frequency. The longer the war dragged on the more problems seemed to arise for the Confederacy. OOM-9 and EEK-176 were kept out of the loop when it came to current major decisions, and their lack of prompt, proper information is what partially led them to believe that the current military leadership was not conducting the war properly. It seemed that they were sent to take Rhen Var merely for the sake of not letting the Republic keep it. Still, they had their orders, and they were loyal enough to obey them.
The 8th Fleet exited out of hyperspace in front of the planet Rhen Var. The CIS capital ships were nearly on top of an Acclamator assault ship.
"What happened?" OOM-9 demanded of the Magna Musai's bridge crew.
"We came in too close to the planet, sir," a pilot droid answered. OOM-9 and his battle droids had come ready to fight to take the snow planet from the Republic, but they were not prepared for an immediate point-blank engagement with an enemy cruiser they nearly smashed into.
"Fire all forward turbolaser batteries! All ships open fire!" OOM-9 commanded.
The Acclamator reacted to the sudden threat quickly and professionally. Its shields had gone up almost instantly. That much was clear from the fact that it was not immediately blown apart when struck by nearly the full force of the 8th Fleet. The Acclamator struck back, firing upon the Enzack, Wertizlan, and Khassez, the three Commerce Guild destroyers of the 8th Fleet. OOM-9 guessed the Republic capital ship targeted them as they were smaller and it therefore had a greater chance of taking them out. Whoever was the captain of that ship was intelligent indeed.
"We've picked up a new group of signals originating from the Acclamator assault ship," a droid crewman announced.
"Starfighters," EEK-176 stated.
"Launch Blue Squadron, Silver Squadron, and Bronze Squadron," OOM-9 ordered.
"Roger roger."
Blue Squadron consisted of Commander Zako and a group of Scarab starfighters. Silver Squadron was led by Major Katen and was comprised of the new Techno Union Mankvim-814 light interceptors. Bronze Squadron was a group of E-STAP droid starbombers with Lieutenant KJZ-8267 as squadron leader. Other than the two human officers, all of the fighters and bombers deployed were controlled by pilot battle droids.
The CIS fighters and bombers blazed toward the incoming V-19 Torrent fighters and gunship fighters. With the Scarabs being the most durable, Blue Squadron went first and led the way, with Silver Squadron's interceptors coming in next and Bronze Squadron's bombers bringing up the rear.
"Force them apart. Break their formations," KJZ-8267 ordered all others as the two starfighters groups came together.
"This is going to be easy!" Major Katen whooped.
Being first, Blue Squadron scored many early kills, but as the dogfight continued, Silver Squadron was catching up fast. Bronze Squadron's primary goal was bombing runs against the Acclamator, though they quickly found themselves having to defend themselves from the Republic fighters.
"Zako, Katen, where's our cover at? Do we have to do everything ourselves?" KJZ-8267 lectured the leaders of the two other fighter groups. The pilot droid lieutenant shot up a gunship fighter before swinging around to blast a V-19 Torrent fighter that was chasing Zako's Scarab.
"That Acclamator's gonna blow! We gotta pull back!" Katen warned as the Republic ship started to lose pieces of its hull.
Just as the lone Acclamator was in its final death throes, two more Acclamators joined in on the battle. The two newcomers came in from opposite sides of the planet.
"General, we have two new ships coming in," a pilot droid told OOM-9.
"Their fleet is sloppy. They're spread too thin," OOM-9 said.
"More likely they were trying to cover as many hyperspace routes as possible," OOM-8 responded from the video screen. OOM-8 was over on the command bridge of the Scrapyard.
"Right right," OOM-9 agreed. OOM-9 resolved to be more careful, it was dangerous to underestimate one's enemy. Though the Republic had failed to impress OOM-9 in the war thus far, that did not mean they might surprise him if he failed to take them seriously. The annoying, yet skillful Jawa Jedi he met on Zesrop came to mind.
"Have the Fleet maintain formation," OOM-9 ordered. "OOM-8, have the Scrapyard and Profiteer concentration on the ship on the right. The Magna Musai and Glaciarium will focus on the one on the left."
"Roger roger."
"What about us?" a hologram of Captain Sledge asked.
"Continue to attack the centermost ship until it has been completely finished," the droid general answered.
"Yes, sir."
"Sir, the new cruisers are launching additional fighters," a pilot droid crewman informed OOM-9.
"Launch Dagger, Hammer, and Axe Squadron," OOM-9 answered. The current starfighters the 8th Fleet had deployed would not be enough to counter the new enemy starfighter groups.
The center Acclamator finally exploded, though now the two newcomers were in prime firing range. Bronze Squadron flew in and assisted the Scrapyard and Profiteer with their Acclamator assault ship. With the added firepower provided by the E-STAP starbombers, OOM-8 was able to destroy his target first.
Left on its own, the remaining Acclamator broke off from the Magna Musai and Glaciarium to flee back to Rhen Var's surface. "Target their engines! Don't let them escape!" OOM-9 commanded. Though the gunners on the Magna Musai and the Glaciarium failed to disable the ship. The CIS fighter and bomber squadrons were too busy handling the rest of the Republic starfighters to do anything about the fleeing cruiser.
The single surviving Acclamator ship fled down to the snow planet below. Pod hunters were deployed to take care of Republic escape pods from to the two Acclamators that had been destroyed. The last of the Republic starfighters were being dealt with. Just as the situation seemed under control, three Venator ships exited out of hyperspace behind the 8th fleet.
"They just keep coming," EEK-176 commented.
"How did they get here so quickly?" the holographic Sledge asked OOM-9.
"It must be a coincidence, there is no way they could have known we were coming, and a planet of this insignificance wouldn't warrant this amount of protection." OOM-9 turned to one of his droid crewmen. "Launch all fighters and bombers."
"Which squadrons sir?"
"All of them!"
"Roger roger."
"Turn the fleet around! Stay in formation." OOM-9 was not about to be defeated by bad luck.
"Roger roger."
Masses of various CIS starfighters joined the ones already in space. They quickly overwhelmed the last of the fighters from the Acclamators and turned to the new horde of Republic fighters being released from the three Venator star destroyers. More of the capital ships of the 8th Fleet also unleashed other fighters.
The 8th Fleet was flawless in their turn to face the new enemy. All capital ships stayed in formation as they made their turn and began firing at the Venators that were previously shooting at their backsides.
OOM-9's decision to unleash all the Magna Musai's fighters and bombers had paid off. The Venators were being choked by swarms of all three models of the E-STAP starbomber series. The bombers had focused on disabling the star destroyers' DBY-827 heavy dual turbolaser turrets, preventing them from doing any more serious damage to the capital ships of the 8th Fleet.
Now it was the three Venators who were turning around. They too stayed in tight formation as they turned to leave. OOM-9 didn't believe that his forces would be able to destroy the ships before they could escape.
The two opposing starfighter swarms broke off from one another, both sides returning to their respective fleets.
The CIS waited for the Venator star destroyers to retreat into hyperspace, but they were taking their time. The Republic fighters had returned to the Venators, but were not going back into their hangar bays. They just kept flying in a holding pattern.
"What are they doing?" OOM-8 asked.
"I don't know. Resume the attack," OOM-9 commanded. If the Republic wasn't going to leave quickly OOM-9 would have to give them a little nudge. The Republic cruisers still didn't flee. They had now turned back around to face the CIS fleet again.
The crews of the two most heavily damaged cruisers began to evacuate. All escape pods, dropships, and shuttles raced toward the third Venator while trying to avoid the wrath of the CIS turbolasers.
"Uh, sir there's a transmission coming through," a pilot droid informed OOM-9.
"Put it through."
The screen lit up with the shadowy face of a white robed Jawa flanked by two female Nautolans also in Jedi attire.
"My my, aren't you a skilled little droid," Del Nittin said in a high-pitched voice.
"You again."
"Yes me. I didn't think I'd be meeting you here on this miserable planet." Del Nittin's forces had gone to Rhen Var to practice cold weather military maneuvers. Instead they found a Separatist fleet attacking the snowy world. "You've showed your brilliance as a general once again, but I'm afraid that you won't escape this time. Too bad, I would have liked to pick your brain to see what makes you tick."
"Jawa scum." OOM-9 thought Nittin was incredibly foolish to so casually reveal that he had other Jedi assisting him this time. Though whether OOM-9 knew his troops would be facing Jedi or not, they always prepared for that possibility when facing off against the Galactic Republic. There was the slight possibility that the Nautolans weren't really Jedi and were just for show to fool the droids. Though such a strategy would provide Del Nittin no advantage over OOM-9. The most likely explanation OOM-9 came to was that they were Jedi, and that Nittin was just careless enough to reveal his strengths to his opponents.
"Goodbye, droid," Del said as the screen faded to black.
"General, the enemy cruisers are on a collision course with us," a crewman said.
"All ships, open fire!" OOM-9 roared. The CIS starfighters screeched back towards the Republic starfighters that were once again approaching the 8th Fleet.
The two Venators were emptied of their crews to be used as projectiles against the 8th Fleet. One Venator pointed itself in the path of the Scrapyard while the other sped towards the Magna Musai. "They're targeting the control ships specifically," OOM-8 declared.
"Full power to the engines! Evasive maneuvers!" OOM-9 yelled at the Magna Musai's crew over the roar of the emergency siren. The tight formation that had served the 8th Fleet so well was now a hindrance. The capital ships were too close to each other too get out of the way of the incoming suicide Venators.
"Rotate the ship twenty degrees starboard, shut off all power to the shields and channel the spare power to the turbolasers," OOM-8 commanded the Scrapyard's bridge crew.
"But sir, without our shields we will be vulnerable in a collision," the pilot battle droid informed Commander OOM-8.
"Our shields will be of no use in a crash of this magnitude. But the turbolasers may be able to soften up our target enough that we would survive the blow."
"Get this ship moving! We gotta get out of their way!" Captain Sledge yelled at the bridge crew of the Kuzack. The Banking Clan frigate lurched forward and upward, though it had to look out for Trade Federation freighters, missile frigates, repair ships, and super freighters along the way.
The 8th Fleet continued to fire on the ships as they promptly approached.
"Shouldn't we help them?" Katen asked KJZ-8267.
"No, our fighters don't have the firepower to destroy those cruisers quickly enough and there is a good chance we'll take friendly fire from our fleet's capital ships."
"We should just focus on their fighters then?"
"We don't have much of a choice," KJZ-8267 shot up a V-19 Torrent fighter while dodging incoming fire from a gunship fighter.
The Magna Musai just barely got out of the way of the Venator's charge. The red cruiser was moving too fast and was under-crewed to adjust its course to match the blue ship's new course. The burning attack cruiser continued on its unchanging path and headed towards Rhen Var's surface.
"Don't get into a smashing match with me little Jawa, I've got a bigger ship," OOM-8 said as the Scrapyard hammered away at the Venator. Moments before impact, OOM-8 ordered the engines to full speed. "Brace for impact!" Having ordered his ship to turn twenty degrees to the left earlier, the Venator impacted on the left cargo arm rather than directly ram the core sphere. Just as OOM-8 had hoped, the Venator broke apart on impact, leaving the Scrapyard's arm with only minor damage.
The 8th Fleet was in complete disarray. The final Venator burst forth in the gap and headed down to Rhen Var. The remnants of the Republic starfighters broke from the battle and followed. The Confederate fighters didn't pursue, instead returning to the hangars of their capital ships for refueling and repairs.
"How many ships did Blue Squadron shoot down?" Major Katen asked Commander Zako once their fighters had landed and they were once again back in the hangar.
Zako asked something of the pilot droid that was the second in command of his squadron and then provided his answer. "Twenty-four." The CCC could keep track of any and all CIS unit's kill count. There was no lying about it. Zako only needed to ask the pilot droid because he (being only human) didn't have a direct link to the network.
"Ha! Silver Squadron shot down twenty-five fighters! I win!" Katen had already asked one of the pilot droids in her squadron how many kills they had accumulated.
"No, I win," KJZ-8267 came up.
"What?" Katen turned with a look of disbelief in her face. The E-STAP droid starbomber model was just as old and aging as the Scarab starfighter; Katen had a hard time believing that it bested the new Mankvim-814 interceptor.
"Bronze Squadron shot down twenty-six Republic starfighters."
"Wha?" Katen was stunned. Commander Zako wasn't surprised at all.
"And we also successfully completed our bombing runs against the Republic capital ships in the process," the pilot battle droid bragged. "What do I win?"
"My everlasting admiration and affection," Katen playfully punched the pilot battle droid in the arm. The contest seemed to have determined that the skill of the pilot was more important than the starfighter they flew. It was either that, or the fact that the E-STAP starbomber was possibly better than both the Scarab and Mankvim-814 interceptor at shooting down Republic starfighters.
Things were less cheerful on the bridge of the Magna Musai. OOM-9 was not pleased with his failure to foresee the actions of the Jawa Jedi. Though in OOM-9's own defense, they were quite unusual for a Republic general.
"Commander OOM-8, give me a damage report."
"Minor damage, General OOM-9."
"Very good, detach your core ship and meet me planet side."
"Yes sir."
At least the Magna Musai hadn't taken damage. The 8th Fleet's Trade Federation repair ships started congealing around the damaged area of the Scrapyard.
The two core ships and four Techno Union ships landed on the snowy surface of Rhen Var. Huge masses of droids and vehicles spilled out from the ships. OOM-9 met up with OOM-8 and waited for the others as they arrived at the frozen plane, ferried by a Sheathipede shuttle.
"Never in my wildest predictions did I imagine seeing that Jawa again so soon," OOM-9 spoke once Zako, Katen, SSA-719, KJZ-8267, and 3B3-888 reached them.
"I'm freezing! This planet is cold!" Katen whined.
"Yes, who would have thought that a planet completely covered in snow would be cold," 3B3-888 sarcastically joked.
"I'm sorry but we have no cold weather gear for organics," OOM-9 admitted. "My army is predominately composed of droids as you well know Major Katen." OOM-9's army had acquired a decent amount of human soldiers lately, but they only had the standard battle uniforms. There was no cold weather gear available. Karl Zako's FR-8 shock trooper armor would have provided warmth if the commander would have taken the time to put it on. But Zako had been left out of frontline combat lately and was eager to get back to fighting. Katen's KSV-1 combat suit also would have helped but she was likewise impatient. So the two humans were wearing nothing but their officer uniforms.
Katen latched onto Zako for warmth. "Ooh, you're so warm."
"Aaagh. You're cold as ice. Get off me!" Zako tried to break away from his friend but couldn't get free.
"Enough," OOM-9 ordered and the two entwined humans shut up.
"We still have a job to do. Our air support for this mission will be minimal due to that massive space battle. We must quickly destroy the Republic's sensor relays that the core ships spotted as they landed to hide the movements of our ground forces. We must not let them hold that advantage. Once they're blinded this entire operation will be much easier. We will branch off to capture the Republic command center, find the Acclamator and Venator ship, and destroy the remains of the Venator star destroyer that crashed down here.
"Roger roger," SSA-719 and KJZ-8267 said in unison. Trade Federation drop ships and landing craft filled the sky, they had been deployed later than the core and Techno Union ships.
"We'd like to lead one of the tank divisions, please," Zako spoke up.
"I might have guessed," OOM-8 almost laughed. An AAT pulled up and its occupants departed.
"I'm driving," Zako told Katen.
"I wanted to man the big gun anyway," Katen shot back.
The different CIS battle groups started to break off from one another and head towards their assigned targets.
The main battle group, led by OOM-9 went for the sensor relays. The battle group consisted of STAPs, heavy STAPs, AATs, GATs, HAGs, AMLs, HAMLs, NR-N99 tank droids, and IG-227 hailfire droids. OOM-9 was piloting a blue and gray GAT. The enormous attack group quickly passed over the snowy plains to the Republic's rotating sensor dishes.
The Republic defenses were mediocre. Mostly there were just sentry posts placed at standard intervals among the rolling plains. The AATs and GATs destroyed them as the army passed. The Republic knew the Separatists movements, though it didn't seem to matter.
A single clone scout walker was caught by the droid army. Though impossibly outnumbered, clone walker was only engaged by OOM-9's ground armored tank. OOM-9 fired four proton missiles while circling around the four-legged walker. The clone scout walker tried to orientate its cannon to the GAT but OOM-9 could pilot the tank faster than it could aim its cannon. OOM-9 finished it off with the ground armored tank's cannons. There was nothing more than a smashed pile of smoking scrap metal where the walker previously stood.
Only a half dozen Republic light turrets protected the sensor relays. The STAPs buzzed through first trying to draw the turrets' attention but the clone gunners weren't stupid. They knew the single trooper aerial platforms were only trying to distract them from the larger tanks. The light turrets fired at the ground armored tanks, the first of the heavy hitters to approach. The GATs responded by firing a flurry of missiles back at them.
It was the heavy artillery guns that brought down four of the six turrets; with the other two being destroyed by the armored assault tanks. Then the HAGs turned to the sensor relays while the STAPs shot at the clone gunners that had managed to escape their turrets before they were blown up.
IG-227 hailfire droids bombarded the station's tiny command center. The center's command staff and clone troopers fled the building to engage the CIS. It was just a few cold assault clone troopers armed with either DC-15S blasters or DC-15A blaster rifles. The officers, clone and non-clone alike, were equipped merely with DC-17 hand blasters. They stood no chance when OOM-9 targeted them with his GAT. The tank's two medium laser cannons make short work of the infantry. The blue blaster bolts that lashed at OOM-9's tank were useless against the armor. A pair of heavy STAPs helped OOM-9 in wiping out the clones. Judging from Rhen Var's pitiful defenses, it was quite clear to OOM-9 that the Republic never expected the CIS to attack the snowy planet again. Though OOM-9 had to give the clones credit, they didn't surrender and fought to the very last man against impossible odds.
The near flawless victory was ruined when a trio of LAAT/i gunships came in to assist their allies. Though they were too late to rescue the stranded clones, now already dead, but they were able to destroy two hailfire droids and an AML before turning around and fleeing.
The battle group was quick to resume travel. OOM-9 wanted to assist EEK-176 in wiping out the main Republic base before the Venator or the Acclamator could provide it with reinforcements.
SSA-719's battle group was assigned to locate and secure the crashed Venator star destroyer. The small army of droids was on its way to the predicted crash site when five gunship bombers intercepted them.
A single gunship bomber wasn't much of a threat. But these particular five bombers were set on being a menace. Blue colored proton bombs rained down as the bombers came in fast and low and destroyed the AMLs. One of the anti-air tanks was able to shoot down one of the Republic air units, but the gunship bomber crashed right on the tank that had hit it. The homing spider and tri-droids were the next to be targeted and destroyed when the remaining four gunship bombers came around again. KJZ-8267's GAT was taken out during the run. An AAT shot down a bomber with its primary cannon on the second pass. Super battle droids fired at the bombers. When the Republic bombers came back for a third bombing run, B1 and security battle droids armed with E-60R rocket launchers shot down two of the bombers. 3B3-888, who was on one of the handrails of SSA-719's AAT, hoped off just before the tank was hit with a proton bomb. The final gunship bomber still came around to attack yet again and was destroyed by the rocket launcher wielding battle droids.
SSA-719 knocked open the hatch to his now-ruined armored assault tank. "That was horrible," the security droid adjusted his head to make sure it was still on properly.
"We needed air support," 3B3-888 stated the obvious.
SSA-719 and 3B3-888 went to see if KJZ-8267 had survived but found that the pilot droid was still functioning and had already cut his way out of his wrecked GAT with a SoroSuub F-187 fusioncutter.
"I cannot connect to the network," SSA-719 stated. "3B3-888, can you?"
"Negative, Captain."
"Anyone?"
No one could get a connection back to the central control computers of the 8th Fleet.
"The Republic's jamming us," KJZ-8267 said.
"That bombing run nearly wiped us out. Strange that they would not then focus on the larger battle groups now," SSA-719 stated. The battle group had lost all its vehicles expect for two AATs and two NR-N99 tank droids, yet the Republic was jamming the droids.
"Captain, over there," the security droid SSA-306 handed SSA-719 a pair of electrobinoculars. SSA-306 was a security battle droid that had served with SSA-719 on Naboo a decade ago. There weren't many droids left after the bombing raid but SSA-719 was glad that he had such a reliable soldiers still standing.
"We can take refuge in those ancient structures," SSA-719 stated after seeing an ancient harbor through the electrobinoculars. Rhen Var was littered with the remains of an ancient civilization. The old structures occasionally poked out of the snow and ice. The battle droids were lucky enough that an entire ancient harbor was poking out of the side of a mountain. It would provide a great place to hide from the Republic.
Before departing the droids scrounged through their disabled or destroyed vehicles, looking for survivors and supplies. Many of the MTTs and MUTs were still in one piece, though not operational. When the droids opened them up they found a few more functioning battle droids, including the super battle droids 8EX and 5TE, as well as PK and OX9 worker droids. They were also able to collect a lot of weapons and ammo, which the worker droids carried in cargo crates. In total, they had one hundred and fifty battle droids operational, ranging from B1 battle droids, security droids, pilot droids, B2 super battle droids, and four droidekas. There were also ten PK worker droids and ten OX9 worker droids up and running. All those droids combined with the two armored assault tanks and two tank droids and they weren't exactly a powerful force to be reckoned with, at least not by conventional Separatist Droid Army standards.
SSA-719, KJZ-8267 and 3B3-888 led the survivors to the remains of the ancient harbor. A trio of gunship fighters flew in and tried to follow the droids but the Republic aircraft were driven away by B1s and security battle droids using E-60R rocket launchers. "They'll send in ground troops next," KJZ-8267 stated.
"They're not going to let us go," SSA-306 said.
"We'll just have to teach them a lesson," 3B3-888 somewhat enthusiastically declared. The B1 sergeant was always up for a fight, he just preferred one he knew he could win. The droids' long-range communications were cut and they were severely limited in number.
It seemed that an ancient avalanche had cut the even older harbor in two. Though there were barely any artificial structures poking out of the snow on the western side, the droids chose to go towards the eastern half where there were more structures to hide in. The battle droids were too few in number to split up and take more territory.
The CIS droids made it to the snowed-in harbor without further problems. The droids initially starting setting up BR-1 repeaters and supply crates as far back into the harbor as they could. Then they started moving into what looked like a fortress, which was connected out to the open plain.
Just as the droids expected, the Republic was not done with them yet. A trio of LAAT/c gunships flew in and dropped off an AT-TE and two IFT-X fighter tanks. The vehicles were dropped closer to the western side of the harbor, so that the battle droids could not immediately attack them. Cold assault clone troopers started spilling out of from the AT-TE's innards while two LAAT/i gunships came down near the western half of the harbor and dropped off a pair of AT-RTs and more clone foot soldiers. The Republic ground forces began their march on the ancient harbor, though some of the clones stayed behind and guarded the western half of the harbor.
"Sir, look over there!" a clone called out to his sergeant.
"What is it?" the sergeant turned to look at where his subordinate was pointing. It appeared to be a cave, but once the clones got closer they realized it was a tunnel. The tunnel looked like it ran right under the snow, towards the eastern half of the harbor where the droids were. "We'll need to look into this, but I think we just found an advantage."
"They're moving fast," SSA-306 observed. The battle droids hadn't even gotten their defenses fully set up yet.
The battle droids took up defensive positions in the old buildings. The two AATs and tank droids that had managed to survive and were kept back in the middle of the harbor for the time being.
"KJZ-8267, 3B3-888, with me," SSA-719 ordered.
"Right away," 3B3-888 complied.
The battle droid trio ran for what looked like a lighthouse, which was west of the fortress. No droids had set to take up positions there but they would need to hold that structure if they were to put up an effective defense against the incoming Republic threat.
The three droids ran up a set of stairs, turned and ran up another set of stairs where they reached the top floor. They ran and took up positions on the western side of the lighthouse tower. More droids were rushing to follow but now the Republic made first contact.
The two IFT-X fighter tanks attacked first. SSA-719 sent his two AATs to destroy them. The four tanks fought, trying to bob and weave out of their enemies' fire with dishing out their own punishment. From up in the lighthouse area, SSA-719 aimed and locked his rocket launcher onto one of the Republic fighter tanks and fired. The rocket hit, but didn't destroy the IFT-X.
The four tanks ended up canceling each other out. Both the AATs and their opposing tanks had all destroyed each other. SSA-719 had not calculated this outcome. He was sure his tanks could have handled it, especially since he was assisting them with his E-60R rocket launcher. Then the AT-TE starting plodding along the battlefield, the clone troopers running out ahead of the slow walker.
The battle droids hiding amongst the ruins fired upon the clones. It wasn't a fair fight, the droids had lots of cover and hiding places while the clone troopers were stuck on an open plain. But the clones were smart; they spread themselves out, purposefully avoiding from being in clustered groups. This way they made the droids work hard for each kill, and made sure that any battle droid who did score a kill would have to drastically alter his aim to target a new clone trooper.
It was a sound strategy, but 3B3-888 was rather skilled with the E-5s sniper rifle he wielded. Currently, more clones fell to his sniper rifle than anything else. A PK and OX9 worker droid finally came up to the lighthouse, carrying a BR-1 repeater with them. The two worker droids set up the gun and KJZ-8267 manned it. The pilot droid tried to gun down a pair of clones, but both dived out of the way of his shots. A sniper shot from a clone nearly hit KJZ-8267, forcing the pilot droid to abandon the repeater or risk being hit.
The real threat was the AT-TE. Its cannons unleashed a blue flurry of fury at the droids, though most of the shots never found their targets. The battle droids had plenty of time to change their positions if they found themselves singled out by the walker.
SSA-719 tried to fire his E-60R's guidable rockets at the clone infantry, but found that there was a malfunction in the launcher and they wouldn't work. It was lousy timing that the guidable rockets wouldn't work when the Separatists were actually in a battle they might lose, but SSA-719 just had to deal without them.
SSA-719 found himself wishing that Veronica Vex were still around. OOM-9 had privately informed SSA-719 and some of the other droids that he thought another high-ranking Separatist officer was trying to dump the hyper-violent Vex under his command. But OOM-9 had guessed wrong, Lieutenant Vex really was just observing the new HouseKarl battle droids at the request of Baroness Zada Zincer. SSA-719 could have certainly used Vex's help now. She was unquestionably good in a fight. But she wasn't here, and no amount of wishing on SSA-719's part would change that fact. It was funny; Vex had a way of irritating SSA-719, yet now the security battle droid was wishing she were still around.
The clone troopers were getting closer to the harbor, there numbers still strong. They were doing much better than SSA-719 thought they would. A blue missile whizzed right above 3B3-888 and SSA-719's heads. The security droid backed to the right while the B1 got down in a prone position and sniped the clone that was firing a PLX rocket launcher. The clone took the shot square in the chest, but he didn't go down. He did drop his rocket launcher and stumble around, prompting another clone to come to his aid. 3B3-888 scored a headshot on the assisting clone and then put another shot into the injured clone, finally killing him.
More rockets from other E-60R launcher wielding battle droids flew towards the AT-TE. The purple rockets all hit the walker, but it wasn't enough. SSA-719 signaled the two NR-N99 tank droids to up out of hiding from the harbor to take care of the walker.
The AT-TE was only too happy to focus its firepower on the tank droids. A couple of clone troopers tossed thermal detonators towards the tank droids, but most of the clones chose to ignore the tanks and continue closing in on the battle droids in the harbor.
SSA-719 fired another rocket, and the AT-TE finally went down, though not before it destroyed one of the NR-N99 tank droids.
"For the Republic!" a clone yelled as he ran up the stairs leading to the lighthouse. The clones were nearly on top of the droids defending the lighthouse. SSA-719 fired his rocket launcher and blew apart the first clone up the stairs. 3B3-888 got up from his prone position and tossed a V-1 thermal detonator down at the charging clones, killing two.
The clones fired back, one super battle droid being taken down. Most of the droids avoided taking hits. It wasn't difficult with the battle droids still holding the high ground. But the clones were eager to take away that particular advantage. Three clones were charging up the second set of stairs, and then they could fight the droids on equal ground.
The first clone came up to the top of the stairs, and was immediately shoved off by KJZ-8267. The pilot droid had been hiding just out of view from the stairs, and had charged forward and knocked the clone off with his RD-4 radiation launcher. KJZ-8267 then quickly aimed the launcher and killed the other two clones with a single toxic grenade.
Now most of the clones that had made it to the lower level of the lighthouse were dead, but more were closing in on the harbor. A clone sniper shot took out a security droid near KJZ-8267. Now two AT-RTs came into view.
KJZ-8267 got back on the BR-1 repeater and aimed at the first recon walker. The pilot battle droid tried to lead his target, but the AT-RT made a quick turn that rendered his shots useless.
A sniper shot came at SSA-719, narrowly missing. "Terminate that sniper!"
3B3-888 finally found the annoying clone sniper. When the B1 battle droid fired his sniper rifle, he did not miss.
The two AT-RTs ran past the remaining NR-N99 tank droid and headed straight into the harbor. If the AT-RT drivers thought that they would gain any short of advantage from breaking past the droids' first line of defense they were dead wrong. There were plenty of battle droids, many of them with BR-1 repeaters, were lined up in the towers of the fortress and along the upper wall of the small citadel in the back of the harbor. The AT-RTs were out in the open and had no clear targets to shoot at. They tried to keep moving, towards a staircase leading up to the interior of the citadel in the back, but the vast number of droids was able to take them out before they could do anything.
KJZ-8267 found himself being shot at by a Republic R-1 recon droid. He quickly aimed his radiation launcher and destroyed his target with one well-placed shot, an impressive feat, considering the small size of his target. "Their recon droids aren't going to tell them anything the clones don't already know, that they are not going to take us in a fight," the pilot droid declared.
"Sirs," the B1 battle droid 3B3-2998 came up to SSA-719 and KJZ-8267. "The pilot droids in the wrecked AATs are still operational."
"We must get them out of there," SSA-719 said. SSA-719 was surprised that he didn't detect that the droids were still functioning. Though the B1 model had the power backpack with a stronger comm signal. "Come on, let's go." KJZ-8267, 3B3-888, and 3B3-2998 followed SSA-719 as they left the safety of the lighthouse complex and ran out onto the plain where the wrecked AATs lay.
They blasted clones as they went, and the four-droid squad was very successful as they ran for their downed tanks. The clones were used to the droids being bunkered down in the harbor at this point and were greatly surprised when four came barreling out onto the plain. To assist with the sudden rescue mission, two droidekas rolled out onto the plain and started blasting at the clone troopers. The two destroyer droids drew away a lot of attention that would have been directed at SSA-719's squad.
Just as the four battle droids had reached the first tank when a LAAT/c gunship came and dropped down a new AT-TE assault walker.
"We better hurry," 3B3-2998 said.
"If only I had the doomseeker cannon with me," 3B3-888 lamented.
"I'll get the crew out of the other tank," KJZ-8267 left the others for the second wreck.
"It's stuck," 3B3-888 stated when he realized the rear hatch was jarred shut. SSA-719 and 3B3-888 pried back the back hatch of the armored assault tank as the pilot droids on the inside of the tank pushed outward on the panel. It came off and the four pilot droids that were operating the tank were freed.
KJZ-8267 was much faster in helping the crew of the second tank. He simply blasted the rear hatch open with his radiation launcher and the pilot droids were out.
The new AT-TE was still coming up, but it had chosen to focus its firepower at the two destroyer droids still out fighting on the plain. After barely surviving the first barrage, the two droidekas rolled up and retreated back into the harbor. SSA-719's squad and the pilot droids ran for the NR-N99 tank droid and got on its tread covers. The tank droid pulled into reverse back into the harbor as the AT-TE tried to blast it with its main cannon. The shot barely missed, and the tank and its passengers made it back into the interior of the harbor.
The battle droids got off the tank droid and hurried back up the stairs to the lighthouse. SSA-719's squad was back up with the other droids defenders quickly and saw that the new AT-TE had unleashed its clone troopers, with a Nautolan Jedi as a bonus.
The clones were moving fast and doing much better now that they had a Jedi to support them. The female Nautolan attracted a lot of fire from the battle droids, who were eager to kill her before she got in close and really caused them problems. But the Jedi kept deflecting any blaster bolts that flew her way, including those from 3B3-888's sniper rifle.
A new pair of AT-RTs came up to help the AT-TE. The clone infantry were close to the mouth of the harbor. The AT-TE was constantly firing at the droids in the lighthouse area. SSA-719 and the others ended up using the flying buttresses on the eastern side of the lighthouse for cover. They worked surprisingly well. Even the AT-TE's mass-driver cannon wasn't strong enough to take down the buttresses. The ancient structures of Rhen Var were built well, they had been unattended in the freezing ice and snow for thousands of years and yet they still stood strong.
"Target acquired." 3B3-888 sniped the clone riding the AT-RT as it passed into the mouth of the harbor. The recon walker instantly ground to a halt. The Nautolan Jedi propelled herself forward with immense speed and leapt on top to take control of the now vacant recon walker. But before the Jedi could make use of her new walker, she too was shot and killed by 3B3-888's E-5s sniper rifle.
"Ha! Stupid Jedi!" 3B3-888 laughed as a clone sniper tried to take him out. But the B1 went back to cover behind a flying buttress. 3B3-2998 shot the clone that had tried to destroy 3B3-888.
"Super battle droid! Take him down!" a clone yelled as 8EX blasted him. Clones had begun spilling out of the ice cave and the eastern side of the harbor held by the battle droids. 8EX and 5TE had stopped the first four clones that had come out, and two droidekas came up to the entrance and mowed down the other clones moving through the tunnel. The clones were stuck; they could go forward into the droidekas line of fire or retreat back from where they came. Those up front didn't live long enough to make the obvious choice to retreat. Though those in the back were quick to withdraw. As the clones ran, 8EX and 5TE led a small force of battle droids after them.
The battle droids quickly came up to a fork in the tunnel. 8EX led some droids left while 5TE and the others went right. They soon found that it didn't matter as both tunnels curved around and nearly instantly reconnected with each other in a small cavern.
The clones were preparing to make a stand in the cavern but were caught by super battle droids firing at them from two different directions. The EWHB-12 repeater they were trying to set up was never finished, and the IM-6 medic droid that was roaming the cavern was shot up. The surviving clone troopers pulled back to a tunnel on the left, though there was also one on the right.
The super battle droids followed them every step of the way until they came across a long, straight stretch of tunnel where the clones made their stand. The clones feverishly shot up the entire tunnel, preventing the battle droids from pressing on. Rather than risk a firefight that was sure to accumulate many casualties, 8EX pulled the battle droids back up to the cavern to hold their position. The battle droids didn't have the numbers to engage in a fight clearly skewed in their enemy's favor. While they holed up in the cavern, 8EX sent one of the destroyer droids to find out where the cavern's left tunnel led.
Back outside on the eastern side of the harbor, the battle was starting to deteriorate for the Separatists. The AT-TE was right in the mouth of the harbor now. Many clone troopers were advancing up the stairs of the fortress. Though the particular position of the walker and many of the clones made for easy shooting for the droids in the lighthouse. The battle droids had clear shots of the clones below, and ample protection from the flying buttresses. But the AT-TE was continuing to be a problem. Backed up into the harbor with nowhere else to go, the last NR-N99 tank droid was destroyed by the AT-TE.
KJZ-8267 tossed a detpack right over the ledge and it landed on top of the all terrain tactical enforcer. The pilot droid then detonated the explosive, but that didn't stop the walker. SSA-719 grabbed a Conner Ship Systems HX2 mine from a supply crate, ran over and took cover behind a buttress as the AT-TE's main cannon tried to track him. When the clone gunner lost interest and turned to find other targets, SSA-719 came out of cover and underhandedly tossed the mine right on top of the walker. The mine detonated the moment it touched the walker, impacted right behind the main cannon on top. The clone gunner was killed instantly. The walker shuddered for moment, and then its legs gave out. Once the body of the walker it the snow the whole vehicle exploded, catching many clones in the blast as bits and pieces of metal flew everywhere.
The clones' deadly push to victory had suddenly reversed. Many of the clones were disoriented, not from the chaos and confusion of what had just happened, but from the actual force of the blast when the walker blew up. The clones made easy targets for the battle droids. And the two destroyer droids that hadn't come into the ice tunnels rolled up into the open right in front of the main mass of clones, soaking up fire with their shields and allowing the battle droids in the fortress towers to sniper or grenade the enemy infantry.
The last remaining AT-RT managed to destroy one of the droidekas before it was blown up by a B1 battle droid wielding an E-60R rocket launcher. The clones never hesitated the whole time. They kept pushing forwards and upwards to the stairways. Some even made it up to where the droids were hiding but were quickly put down. Soon the battlefront was devoid of any living clones on the eastern half of the harbor. The clones holding the western half of the harbor weren't making a move until more reinforcements arrived.
The battle droids finally had a chance to gather themselves up to reassess their defenses. Weapons were reloaded; worker droids were repairing battle droids that had taken damage.
5TE returned from the ice tunnels to inform SSA-719 that one of the droidekas found a pathway that led under the mountain. SSA-719 considered it to be a likely escape route if the Republic continued to be a pain in the ass.
"Captain! We have three Republic troop transports incoming!" SSA-306 warned his commanding officer.
The battle droids were still cut off from the network, but SSA-719 knew that they would be massively outnumbered if they stayed and fought the clones that were sure to be in the RTTs. The droids still had a wireless connection to each other in the immediate area that was the harbor and the ice caves. There were only one hundred and one battle droids left operational. All the PK and OX9 worker droids had survived. But the Separatist defenders simply stood no chance. "Fall back into the ice tunnels," SSA-719 told his soldiers. "Pack up all remaining supplies for transit, we have to go!" Some of the battle droids assisted the PK and OX9 worker droids in transporting the supplies. The droids took everything they could, an easy task, as they had carried it all to the harbor in the first place.
All of the Confederates had packed up and left into the ice caves by the time the three RTTs had breached the interior of the harbor. Clone cold assault troopers spilled and filled every nook and cranny of the ancient harbor, searching for clone survivors and enemy battle droids. Once they found that the battlefront was barren of any living allies or functional enemies they quickly realized the rest of the droid forces had fled by way of the ice tunnels.
OOM-9 had called in VACs, vehicle armored carriers, to quickly pick up his tanks and transport them to the main Republic base. VACs were short-range transport ships designed specifically to pick up and drop Separatist vehicles. They were slow, lacked shields, a hyperdrive, or any kind of defense turrets, but they were heavily armored. VACs were vulnerable to aircraft, specifically the well-armed LAAT gunships. OOM-9 had hunter-seeker droids protecting the carriers, six of the small, flying droids assigned to each transport ship. Not exactly a strong defense, but OOM-9 soon learned that even the hunter-seekers droids were completely unnecessary once they neared the Republic base.
All the Republic's aircraft and vehicles were already preoccupied with EEK-176's army. Nothing even threatened to bother OOM-9's VACs as they dropped off their cargo. The Republic units had noticed their arrival; they just couldn't do anything about it.
EEK-176's STAPs, AATs, HAGs, AMLs, and homing spider droids had already covered the battlefield. The Republic's IFT-Xs and AT-TEs were outnumbered four to one. The GAR vehicles weren't even concerned about dealing with the hordes of B1, B2, and crab droids that marched across the rolling hills towards the base. The GAR had a few CK-6 swoop bikes roaming about the battlefield, but they proved to be ineffective at everything they attempted, but they did manage to stay alive.
The clone infantry, what precious few of them there were, were busy defending the base from HAGs. Any time one of the Confederate artillery guns got too close to the base the clones sent out strike teams to blow up the tanks with time bombs.
But the biggest threat to the Separatists was the LAAT/i gunships flying through the air. They targeted their natural adversaries first, the AMLs. Once a specific area was clear of the anti-air tanks, the gunships would go after the heavy artillery guns, the ones likely to do the most damage to the Republic base.
And yet there was another new threat to the droid attackers. Almost as soon as OOM-9's forces had all deployed and the now-empty VACs were pulling away that a convoy of RTTs was entering the area.
The convoy of Republic troop transports came in north of the base, right near where OOM-9's vehicles had landed. OOM-9 pulled his GATs, AATs, and STAPs to specifically attack the convoy. There were five RTTs in total, but they were no real threat to the CIS tanks. It was the AT-RTs escorting them that the Separatists focused on. There were two recon walkers for every troop transport, but those numbers quickly became smaller thanks to the AATs' primary cannons. While the recon walkers represented small targets, the pilot droids manning OOM-9's tanks were excellent shots.
When the AT-RTs were all destroyed, the CIS tanks focused on the last RTT in the convoy, pulling their firepower all on one target they destroyed it quickly. Then they moved to the next transport in the convoy. The drivers of the RTTs realized they weren't going to make it back to the base, especially since a pair of homing spider droids had just cut them off and were directly in the way. The RTTs opened their side cargo doors and let the clone troopers out, better to have them die fighting on the battlefield rather than sitting in a troop transport.
It made little difference to the AATs and GATs. Most of the clones were only equipped with DC-15S blasters or DC-15A rifles. The few that had PLX rocket launchers were targeted first and eliminated before they were able to cause much damage. OOM-9 found the change enjoyable. Firing upon clone infantry was much more challenging and fun than mindlessly shooting at the broad side of a RTT, especially since his GAT's missiles sent the clones so far up into the air we they made contact. It was hilarious to see the clone bodies soar though the air and smash back into the snow at interesting angles. OOM-9 noted that there was such variety in how the clone troopers died. The different angles they came down at, whether they were in one piece or not, the way they screamed. It was all very entertaining.
The two homing spider droids blocking the convoy's way destroyed the front most RTT. OOM-9's attack group knew the convoy was finished when the clone pilots abandoned the transports they were operating. They came out onto the snowy battlefield to help the other clone infantry. Though they were armed with nothing but DC-17 hand blasters, they still fearlessly attacked the tanks anyway. The GATs and AATs rewarded their bravery and valor with death.
A new C-9979 landing craft touched down and AMLs started filing out. The droid anti-air tanks joined in with the hailfire droids that had arrived with OOM-9's group to reinvigorate the Separatist attack on the Republic's aircraft.
The gunships focused on the biggest threat to their existence, the AMLs and hailfire droids. They also occasionally sent a few rockets towards the HAGs when they had the opportunity. The gunships had continued to handle the situation in the exact same manner they had before OOM-9 and his reinforcements had arrived. Only now the gunships were starting to run low on rockets, and thus their ability to swiftly take out Separatist tanks greatly diminished. However, the AMLs and hailfire droids were not stingy with their missiles they flung up at the LAAT/i gunships.
There was an ancient Jedi temple to the northeast of the base. This was the same Jedi temple the Separatists overrun the first time they had taken Rhen Var from the Republic back near the start of the Clone Wars. In fact, the base OOM-9's and EEK-176's armies were attacking was built right where the old Republic outpost had been, before the CIS had destroyed it. Once the Republic had retaken Rhen Var from the Separatists it seemed that they had rebuilt everything just as it was before, but with a few more defenses. This led the droids to believe that the old Jedi temple had been repopulated, so OOM-9 had sent the tactical droid TH-1066 to deal with it.
STAPs, heavy STAPs, speeder platforms, and ASTs patrolled around the perimeter of the Jedi temple. TH-1066 wanted to make sure that no one inside the temple would be able to escape undetected. There was also a pair of GATs and an AAT protecting three MTTs, but they were doing nothing but holding their positions.
TH-1066 halted his custom colored armored scout tank as he watched a class type B escort shuttle touch down on the surface near the entrance to the temple.
All twelve HouseKarl battle droids in existence exited from the shuttle. Armed with a variety of weaponry, they came prepared to kill Jedi. KV-11 and KV-12, the two HouseKarls armed with RW-B power war-hammers, started pounding down on the giant stone door of the temple. After seven hard knocks the door went down and the battle droids rushed in. Equipped with a bulldog RLR, TH-1066 came in last after all the other droids had entered. TH-1066 looked to be a natural leader of the HouseKarls; he was adorned with purple markings just like the HouseKarls that he led.
It was somewhat dark inside so TH-1066 turned on the brights of his photoreceptors, using his eyes lights as flashlights. The tactical droid heard small signs of combat for a minute before KV-4 reported to him.
"Commander, there are no Jedi present in this temple."
"What were you fighting then?"
"Republic worker droids. They appear to be caretakers to the temple, but I doubt the Jedi still use it."
"Understood. Have all the HouseKarls report back to the shuttle."
"Yes sir."
What a waste, TH-1066 thought, the temple of devoid of any real threat. The HouseKarls' power was wasted on worker droids. A brown command battle droid came through the massive doorway.
"Captain, have your droids tear this temple apart. Make sure it is vacant. And collect any Jedi artifacts you find."
"Roger roger," the command droid nodded.
TH-1066 turned to leave with the HouseKarls. The incoming squad of B1 and B2 battle droids could handle the empty Jedi temple on their own.
A pair of LAAT/c gunships flew in near the Republic base. AMLs shot down one of the gunships. A lucky hailfire droid managed to hit the AT-TE walker the other gunship was carrying. The walker blew up and fell down to the snow below, the LAAT/c, now without anything to deploy, tried to turn around and flee but was shot down by a combination of firepower from AATs and AMLs.
"Where did they come from?" EEK-176 wirelessly asked OOM-9. "This is their main base, where are they getting such reinforcements?"
"The Venator that escaped down to the planet must be deploying units to hotspots," OOM-9 answered.
"That thing's going to be a problem if we don't find it soon."
Soon enough the Venator would be the only real threat to the Separatists. The base was now nearly overrun. Most of the LAAT/i gunships were now destroyed, but so were most of the HAGs. Bio cannons had now rolled up as the Confederates' main artillery pieces. They were more powerful than the HAGs, but also more expensive. EEK-176 had purposefully kept them back until most of the gunships had been destroyed. The HAGs were cheaper and easier to replace, which is why they were sent to soak up the missiles first. But it was also a brave move for EEK-176 personally, since he was piloting a gray and blue HAG. Though he made it through the worst of the battle, and there was nothing much left but to but destroy what little remained of the base. All the Republic vehicles were destroyed, and the clone infantry were busy fighting the legions of battle droids and crab droids that had finally reached the edge of the base.
The one hundred and one survivors of SSA-719's battle group finally finished their long trek through the ice tunnels. The ice tunnels had emptied them out onto an ancient citadel on the opposite side of the mountain from where the harbor was.
"It will not take them long to find us," KJZ-8267 stated.
"Those mines we planted in the tunnels will slow them down," 3B3-888 said.
"We will hold out against the clones again," SSA-719 stated.
"We still can't get a connection to the network," 3B3-2998 added.
All the CIS droids suddenly heard the familiar sound of a LAAT/i gunship's engine. The noise spurred the battle droids to action. They began spreading out to quickly explore the citadel and set up defenses.
KJZ-8267, SSA-306 and 3B3-2998 went up a series of staircases on the left. Then they took another left to another series of stairways that led them down into a crypt. There was an ancient, and open casket in the middle of the room. There were also several pillars where the droids could hide behind.
The droids started opening up supply crates while KJZ-8267 scouted ahead beyond the crypt. A short hallway opened up back outside towards a terrace up above. KJZ-8267 was nearly upon the next stairway when he encountered a cold assault clone trooper. KJZ-8267 brought up his radiation launcher but the clone fired first, hitting the launcher and causing it to malfunction. The radiation launcher wouldn't fire, forcing KJZ-8267 to discard the weapon and flee back towards the crypt. The clone fired again, hitting the pilot droid in the back. KJZ-8267 stumbled, but regained his balance and made it back into the crypt in one piece.
The clone chased after him but was quickly repelled when SSA-306 and 3B3-2998 attacked him with their E-5 blaster rifles. The clone backed off, but was soon joined by others as the clones and droids shot at each other from opposite ends of the hallway. KJZ-8267 grabbed an E-5 shotgun from one of the open supply crates the worker droids had carried into the crypt.
SSA-719, 3B3-888, 8EX, and 5TE had taken a series of stairways on the right that led them upwards. The series of ruined stairways took them to the far edge of the entire citadel. There was a steep drop to the snow below, with no guardrails. The battle droids saw a gunship take off but knew that there were clones nearby.
The battle droids were correct in their assumption, as clone troopers started scrambling up the stairs on the eastern side of the citadel. SSA-719 hit the clones with his rocket launcher, blowing the first three up into the air. 8EX and 5TE started blasting at the clones while 3B3-888 moved up a series of stairs to get an angle on the clones with his sniper rifle.
Another gunship dropped down on the eastern side of the citadel. More cold assault clones came out, accompanied by another Nautolan Jedi. Two more LAAT/i gunships soon came down. The clone troopers were slowly outnumbering the battle droids.
There were many clones, armed with a variety of weaponry, from DC-15A rifles and DC-15S blasters, to DC-15x sniper rifles and PLX rocket launchers. But it was the Nautolan Jedi that was the biggest problem. The Jedi kept the clones pushing onward, leading the fight from the front.
SSA-719 finally signaled the last three droidekas to terminate the Jedi. The destroyer droids all rolled in together. One of the droidekas was shot up by a clone cold assault sergeant while in transit. The clones knew what the destroyers were after and knew the Jedi was the best chance for their success.
The other two droidekas deployed into attack mode to repel the clones, the Jedi was close enough and they would get to her sooner or later. But the Jedi called on the Force, knocking over an aging pillar and crushed the droideka duo. That was the final straw, SSA-719's group had lost all of their droidekas and the clones were steadily taking and holding ground. SSA-719 fired his rocket launcher at the Jedi at the same time 3B3-888 tried to snipe her and 8EX and 5TE tried to hit her with wrist rockets.
The Jedi did a series of back flips that propelled her away from the explosions, though she inadvertently sent herself falling down towards the bottom of the terrace where KJZ-8267's squad was still holding out against the clones.
The Nautolan Jedi decided to make the push in the new direction of the crypt, feeling that it was the will of the Force that she had ended up in the new position on the battlefront. She pasted the clones bunkered down, deflecting blaster bolts with her lightsaber.
"Jedi!" SSA-306 warned. SSA-306 had been defeated by Jedi before, back on Naboo a decade ago. He was not looking forward to repeating the process. The droids backed up further into the crypt; trying to hide behind the room's many support pillars.
The Nautolan Jedi threw her lightsaber at SSA-306, who dived behind the casket. Just as the weapon left the Jedi, KJZ-8267 dashed up and blasted the Jedi from the side with his E-5 shotgun, catching her in the chest. The Nautolan crumpled onto the stone floor, dead. When she had died, her lightsaber was in the process of returning to her. Without the Force user to guide it, the weapon fell and rolled across the floor. KJZ-8267 scooped it up and handed it to a PK worker droid. "Keep track of this." The clones hadn't followed the Jedi in, and were still a problem to be dealt with.
"Incoming explosion!" a battle droid warned as a clone tossed a thermal detonator. 5TE killed the clone that had thrown the detonator. But the battle droids were falling back away from the citadel center and back towards the ice tunnel where they had come from. But the clones that followed them through the ice tunnels had broken through and destroyed the battle droids guarding the area.
There were two more LAAT/i gunships in the air, likely bringing in yet more Republic reinforcements. It looked like the battle was hopeless, though the droids would fight until the end.
But then something unpredicted happened, one of the Republic gunships blew up. It was destroyed before it could even land and drop off its troops. The other LAAT gunship tried to fight off a trio of MAFs that had shown up in the sky. The droid gunships took out the second LAAT/i with a combination of their laser cannons and missile launchers.
"Our reinforcements have arrived!" 3B3-888 yelled.
"They're reinforcements are falling!" SSA-719 added.
The MAFs' beam cannons cut into the clone troopers on the ground. A few clone rockets came up at the droid gunships, but they weren't enough to instantly destroy them.
The MAFs came in close to the citadel and marine battle droids jumped out from the ship's rear hatches. The droid marines had a vast array of weapons at their disposal, including: E-5 blaster rifles, E-60R rocket launchers, V-1 thermal detonators, and RD-4 radiation launchers. There was also a command droid with the marines, OOM-8, who had armed himself with an elite E-5 blaster rifle.
"We have the battle under control," Commander OOM-8 declared when he reached SSA-719. All of a sudden the course of the battle had changed. Now it was the clones that were outgunned and fighting for their very survival.
The clone reinforcements that came in through the ice caves had stumbled into a killing zone. The battle droids may have abandoned the observatory, but had taken positions on the stairways above it. The high ground made it easy for the droids to toss V-1 thermal detonators down at the clones.
But the clones were not about to roll over dead just because they had lost their advantage of a Jedi and air support. A clone with a Z-6 rotary cannon gunned down three marine battle droids and a security droid before being taken down by OOM-8.
"How did you find us?" SSA-719 asked OOM-8 when the battle had dwindled down to nothing.
"I deployed air units to search for your battle group after we had lost all your army's signals. We found the wrecked vehicles and overrun the clones guarding the old harbor where you held out. It was easy enough to identify that this citadel had become the new battlefront, the clones had kept a steady supply of gunships headed in this direction."
"Those Republic cruisers are to blame for all these clone reinforcements."
"They will be dealt with soon enough," OOM-8 stated.
Zako and Katen's AAT destroyed a clone scout walker. Their battle group had faced a steady increase in the number of enemies they encountered. An AST patrol had earlier confirmed that they were indeed heading towards the Acclamator assault ship, which had parked itself on the planet and was spilling GAR military units onto the snowy world. An AT-TE and clone infantry could be seen in the distance. Two IFT-X tanks passed by their comrades to attack the droids first. Karl Zako called up two AATs to help him deal with the Republic fighter tanks. Zako was a good pilot and Katen an excellent gunner, but they had no intention of engaging against IFT-Xs without superior numbers. The Republic's Saber-class tanks could be devastating if they weren't taken seriously.
The battle droids riding on the outside of the AATs got off right before the AT-TE fired at long range to help the IFT-Xs. The battle droids were only armed with E-5 or E-6 blaster rifles, hardly weapons appropriate for destroying tanks, but they fired at the IFT-Xs anyway.
One of the IFT-Xs blew up, destroyed by the primary cannon Katen was controlling. Ashley Katen liked blowing things up, and she felt quite at home using the tank's primary cannon to wreak havoc on her enemies. The second Republic fighter tank was destroyed by one of the other armored assault tanks.
The AATs had won; but the small skirmish had bought the Republic time. The AT-TE was even closer now, with two AT-RTs coming up from behind it. But it all made little difference as a trio of hailfire droids came up from behind the AATs. A barrage of purple missiles flew all about, most of them missing and damaging nothing but the snow. But finally one of the missiles made contact with the AT-TE walker, instantly destroying it. The two AT-RTs didn't stand a chance against the three AATs.
The battle group didn't have to travel much further. The Confederates could now see the Acclamator parked in the distance. The only problem was that there were about twenty AT-TEs between the Separatist forces and the cruiser. The Separatist army kept pushing forward anyway. Commander Zako had more than just three hailfire droids under his command, and the AT-TEs were numerous but closely clustered together.
Zako sent all the hailfire droids under his command up front to attack the all terrain tactical enforcers first. The battle amounted to twenty AT-TEs against sixteen hailfire droids. Countless trailing wisps of black smoke polluted the air as the purple missiles soared and smashed in the walkers. The hailfire droids made a straight drive right into the walker formation. Though no hailfire tanks survived the assault, only two AT-TEs remained. The last two walkers were easily dealt with by the AATs and GATs.
The Separatist troops were now closer than ever to the Acclamator. It appeared that the Republic had no defenses left, though it only looked that way because the cold assault clone troopers blended into their snowy environment so well.
PLX rocket launchers and mortars assailed the CIS tanks. The firepower from the CIS tanks was more than enough than the clones could handle, but they were destroying more Separatist armor than Zako cared for. The human commander wasn't very good at handling casualties, even if those destroyed could be repaired later. Thus, Zako continued to keep his tank out in the front of the pack, even taking a few rockets. But Zako was able to keep the tank strafing enough that over half of the projectiles coming his way missing him, an masterful feat considering that AATs weren't particularly fast when it came to strafing from side to side. His tank almost always just barely made it out of the way.
The PACs in the rear of the Separatist formation finally unloaded their B1 battle droids to help wipe out the clones. But all the CIS had really done was given the clone troopers targets they could actually destroy.
Still, even against such impossible odds the clone troopers held the line. They became so infuriating that Zako ordered the tank divisions to proceed to the ship and just ignore the infantry. Even without the heavy armor, the B1 battle droids still had assistance in the form of STAPs and speeder platforms to help them against the cold assault clone troopers.
The CIS tanks finally began firing on the assault ship itself. A pair of AT-XTs came down the cruiser's ramp, likely the last of the ship's defenses, or so Zako thought. His AAT tangled with one of the walkers, but when they started taking too many hits from the walker's guns Zako pulled his AAT back and hid it behind one of the Acclamator's landing gear legs. The walker turned to face three GATs that were annoying it rather than chase down the cowardly AAT. The AT-XT destroyed all three GATs with a well-placed mortar followed by its laser cannons. Zako edged the AAT out from the landing gear and Katen blasted the walker's cockpit with the AAT's main cannon. The AT-XT's head blew up, leaving the legs just standing there in place. The other Separatist tanks quickly overwhelmed the remaining AT-XT.
Then the Separatist artillery came up: HAGs, HAG-Ms, HHAG-Ms, and bio cannons. They would have certainly been useful in the previous skirmishes, but Zako was saving them to make sure he brought down the assault ship.
Zako thought the Acclamator might try to run when his army defeated the Republic troops, and it did. Despite all the firepower from all the artillery and the tanks, the Acclamator assault ship still managed to take off, though it was shedding pieces of its hull and belching smoke heavily.
"No! No! It's getting away!" Zako turned his AAT and tried to chase after the ship, a rather comical sight. Soon the Acclamator was out of range, but a squadron of shielded E-STAP droid starbombers had shown up and showered the Republic ship with green plasma bombs. After only a single pass the assault ship came crashing down. Commander Zako's army did most of the damage, but the bombers had to seal the deal.
"Relax," Katen said to her friend. "The ship didn't make it."
"We should have been the ones to destroy that ship."
"Since when do you care? You never cared much when others take your kills in the past."
"We can't keep going this way. We can't keep relying on the others to bail us out. They have to be able to rely on us." Karl Zako had no idea of the irony of his words, since he and Katen had been unaware of SSA-719's group's plight the whole time.
"What's this we stuff? Sounds like your personal problem, not mine."
Zako slammed on the tank's accelerator, trying to jerk Katen into hitting her head on the wall. Katen was surprised, but it didn't work. Ashley gave her friend a kick in the shoulder.
"What? Our job here is done. We need to hurry up and regroup with the others."
Hunter-seeker droid patrols found the location of the crashed Venator, and soon afterward all the CIS forces coalesced at the crash site of the Republic star destroyer. But it was not going to be an easy fight. The Venator that was still functioning had shown up, coming to the assistance of its downed brethren.
When OOM-9 learned that the two Venators were together, he launched a massive attack. They were the last Republic scum on Rhen Var, and OOM-9 wanted as many of his troops to have a shot at them as was possible.
Massive columns of CIS vehicles attacked. AATs, AMLs, ASTs, GATs, HAGs, STAPs, MTTs, NR-N99 tank droids, hailfire droids, homing spider droids, and bio cannons were all present. Hordes of droid infantry marched in grotesquely large numbers. B1 battle droids, security droids, pilot droids, droid marines, B2 super battle droids, droidekas, dwarf spider droids, crab droids, baron battle droids, thermal detonator battle droids, grapple battle droids, flame battle droids, plasma battle droids, rocket battle droids, T4 turret droids, and LR-57 combat droids all trampled their way across the snow.
AT-TEs, AT-XTs, IFT-Xs, and clone scout walkers stood their ground in front of the downed Venator. CK-6 swoops were buzzing all about, generally being useless. There were also legions of cold assault clone troopers of every rank and stripe, wielding a vast variety of Republic weaponry.
The two massive armies engaged, but it was soon painfully apparent that the Separatist army was winning. The sheer variety of vehicles and troops the CIS had committed to the battle were astounding, and the tactic worked well. There were so many different droids and tanks, so many different attacks and abilities. The clones simply could not effectively react to them all at once.
Though the Separatists had the upper hand, OOM-9's GAT had been hit by a rocket from a LAAT/i gunship. The rocket struck the front left of the tank, sending it into a spin that ended when the GAT crashed and shattered onto a snowy hill. OOM-9 pulled himself out of the snow; he was completely undamaged. The droid general then merely joined in with the CIS infantry.
Del Nittin had been watching the whole thing from the safety of the functioning Venator star destroyer. He did not like what he saw. He hadn't liked what he had witnessed all day. His troops had failed in every assignment he had given them, even the two Nautolan Jedi were now dead. His forces had been getting their asses kicked every step of the way since they reached Rhen Var; it reminded him of the disaster at Zesrop. It was almost exactly like Zesrop, except with much more snow and ice. Del Nittin's patience had run out, and he was angry enough to tread upon that miserable snowball himself if that's what it took to do the job right. And once he touched down on the surface, Del was sure that all the blaster fire coming his way would negate Rhen Var's cold climate.
"Captain," Del addressed the Rodian officer in charge of the ship. "I'm going down there to deal with those droids personally. You are free to conduct the operations of the your cruiser in any way you wish so long as you do not retreat. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Master Jedi," the Rodian bowed.
"Very good," Del turned. "Commander, come with me."
"Yes sir," Nittin's clone commander obediently followed.
The wrecked Venator had help in the form of its functioning counterpart, but the attacking droid army received its own aerial assistance in the form of the Kuzack. At the request of OOM-9, Captain Sledge had sent her Munificent frigate down to the planet below. She was more than happy to comply with the order; sitting around in orbit while the others got to fight on the planet was boring her. Despite Sledge's reckless predisposition to violence when it came to starships, not even she could lead a Munificent star frigate to defeat a Venator star destroyer one on one.
But OOM-9 never intended for Sledge's frigate to destroy the Venator on its own. The Kuzack was merely a distraction. As OOM-9 had hoped, the Scarabs and Vulture fighters launched from the Kuzack prompted the Venator to open its hangar bay doors and let loose its own fighters.
Originally, OOM-9 was going to have his bio cannons take down the functional Venator, but he saw a quicker option. There were remains of a destroyed hailfire droid nearby; one of the missile racks had been thrown loose from the body. The rack looked like it had almost all fifteen of its missiles still loaded. OOM-9 requested a squad of B2-RP battle droids, which arrived quickly due to the fact that they had built-in jetpacks. OOM-9 ordered the B2 rocket droids to pick up a missile rack from the destroyed hailfire droid.
"There," OOM-9 pointed. "The starboard hangar bay is open. Take the missile rack inside that cruiser and detonate it."
"Yes sir." The rocket droids lifted off carrying the explosives. To OOM-9, this was a much better idea than trying to get the bio cannons to hit the open hangar bays.
In the devastating chaos of the battle, the rocket droids were completely ignored as they made their way to the Venator. And once they made it to the still open hangar, they quickly flew in, dropped off the missile rack, and left. The non-clone hangar workers didn't even have any firearms in which to shoot the droids with. Once the B2-RP droids were hovering outside the hangar bay, they fired at the missile rack.
After a few hits, the missile rack detonated. The powerful explosion did severe internal damage to the Venator. The starboard hangar was completely gone, and from the outside of the Venator it looked as if it had been cracked it two. Combined with the constant stream of firepower from the Kuzack, the Venator was finished.
A Nu attack shuttle managed to take off out of the Venator's main hangar before the cruiser crashed into the ice and snow. Del Nittin realized that his anger and lust to fight had just saved his life.
OOM-9 watched the beautiful spectacle. With both Venators now scrap metal sticking out of the snow like the ancient structures of Rhen Var, the Republic had no hope of putting up a challenging fight. Even with the Venator functioning OOM-9 calculated that the Republic couldn't win the battle. As far as the droid army was concerned now, this battle was nothing more than pure pleasure.
But OOM-9 caught sight of the shuttle that had escaped the Venator just in time. It was very peculiar, but the shuttle landed down right in front of OOM-9, as if it knew precisely who OOM-9 was amidst the thousands of other droids on the battlefield.
Del Nittin stomped out of the shuttle. Two clone pilots armed with DC-15A blaster rifles and a commander with a Z-6 rotary cannon come down the ramp after him.
"I thought you would have run away like last time," OOM-9 taunted.
"I hate snow," Del Nittin bitterly complained.
"Just pretend it's cold sand and you'll feel right at home," OOM-9 offered.
"That it! I've had it!" The Jawa had lost all trace of the calm demeanor that the Jedi were famous for. "My forces were obliterated not once, but twice! Defeated by an army under the leadership of a droid no less! I will not let this stand! Jawas are the masters of the droids! Hell, any organic is superior to any droid! You foul machines need to be taught who's in charge!"
"I thought those who were the property of the Jedi Order weren't allowed to feel anger," OOM-9 commented on Del's demeanor.
"To hell with the Jedi Order! This is personal, droid!" Del Nittin activated his yellow lightsaber. "Just you and me."
"I don't think so," OOM-9 countered. A pair of baron battle droids fired their dual missile launchers and a thermal detonator battle droid fired his mortar simultaneously and destroyed the parked Nu attack shuttle. The blast knocked the clone trio and the Jedi to the cold, snowy ground.
"You won't escape this time."
"Face me coward!" Del got up on his feet.
"Do you think I'm as stupid as you are? Why would I face you one on one? Especially since I have so many droids ready to kill you," OOM-9 gave a hand signal and all the droids opened fire at once on the Jawa. The two clone pilots were not ignored, one was killed by a super battle droid and the other was hit by a RD-4 radiation launcher from a pilot battle droid.
Del Nittin ducked, dodged and deflected everything that came his way. He was just as annoying to fight as he had been on Zesrop. But his movements were just slightly slower than before; OOM-9 guessed that the Rhen Var's cold climate was adversely affecting the Jawa.
The clone commander tried to fire his rotary cannon, but was shot by OOM-9 before he could unleash his blue fury upon the battle droids.
Del Nittin cut up two super battle droids almost at the exact same time. Then he moved on to a droid marine, and then a security battle droid. Then the Jawa faced the fire from a pair of flame battle droids. Unable to deflect or avoid the flames, the Jawa ran. B1 and B2 battle droids fired at him as he ran. A plasma battle droid Del ran past tried to step on him.
The Jawa Jedi then had to instantly jump up to avoid being incinerated by an armored assault tank. Del landed right on the front of the tank and ran straight up to the top hatch, which opened up revealing Major Ashley Katen. She didn't have her electrostaff with her, but she had borrowed Zako's ZK-II war-axe.
"Ohhhh, not the angry human female again," Del lamented as Katen swiped at him. The Jawa propelled himself over Katen's head, landed behind the tank, and started to cut a hole in the back of the AAT, trying to get inside. But the hatch opened up, and Nittin found himself being shot at by Zako wielding his E-5 blaster rifle.
The Jawa deflected the first four shots but had to bounce away again as SSA-719 had nearly hit him with his E-60R rocket launcher. Del had to flee again as 3B3-888 almost nailed him with a toxic grenade from a RD-4 radiation launcher. Nittin then had to duck as KJZ-8267 passed over him on an armored scout tank.
The Jawa then kept on the move, evading shots from 8EX, 5TE and OOM-8. The three clones from the shuttle were already dead, and his opponents were much tougher than he thought. Del's anger and rage wasn't giving him the power he thought it would.
Del ran at the dwarf spider droid DSD-08, who tried to blast him with a charged power shot. The Jawa leapt and snagged onto DSD-08's antenna. Though OOM-9 saw what was happening and was already running for the spider droid when Del had made the Force jump. OOM-9 nearly obliterated the Jawa's body with the flechette shotgun feature from his custom E-5, but just barely missed. OOM-9 was practically on the spider droid now, and slapped the Jawa off his antenna.
"Utinni!" Del crashed into the snow.
When Del Nittin got back up there was a peculiar site before him. EEK-176 was dual-wielding ZGD gatling guns and had a ZPR gatling gun affixed on his back. The command battle droid brought his three gatling guns up and aimed them at the poor Jawa.
"Utinni!"
EEK-176 opened fire with all three gatling guns. The red and violet lasers spelled certain death for the Jedi. Del deflected and dodged and ran as fast as he could, but another rocket from SSA-719 exploded right in front of where the Jedi was running.
Del Nittin soared through the air. An echoing "Utinni…." could be heard over the sounds of the fierce battle still being waged between the Confederacy and the Republic.
Del had landed somewhere far off, and his original adversaries couldn't find him. OOM-9 and the others couldn't look for long, there were still clones to kill and they assumed whoever in the droid army who found Nittin would take care of him.
Though no one did find the annoying Jawa Jedi. As soon as he had careened into a snow bank, he didn't pull himself out. The Jawa Jedi instead started tunneling under the snow, leaving the battle behind him.
Once Del Nittin had snuck away, the battle had only lasted another five minutes. It was a complete and total Confederate victory.
Del Nittin finally came up out of the snow. The poor Jawa was freezing to death, but was alive. He tried to contact his troops on his comlink but there was no answer. The Jawa Jedi set out to find help but found no surviving Republic forces. Nittin found himself having to avoid and hide from numerous droid patrols. The Separatist Droid Army was relentless in their search for him. They hadn't much else to do on Rhen Var after obliterating the clone army.
Del's search turned up nothing. No surviving clones, or at least none that the Separatists hadn't captured. There were no usable vehicles or aircraft that the Jawa could use. The damaged Republic vehicles he was able to find were beyond the repair of even the most skilled Jawa mechanic. The CIS had collected all their damaged droids and vehicles so there was nothing to scavenge from their faction. Though the Jedi was fortunate enough to find clone rations to sustain himself. Agonizingly cold days went by.
Del would have to find the locals if he were ever to get off the planet. But then he learned that the Confederacy had left a garrison on the planet after OOM-9's army had departed. Large armies of snow droids policed the locals of Rhen Var now. Though Del guessed that there weren't enough civilians on Rhen Var to fill a Consular-class space cruiser.
Del Nittin was severely weakened and could not stand against such odds alone. He couldn't get near civilization and he couldn't get off the planet, a miserable planet of snow and ice, the very environment the Jawa Jedi detested.
Author's Note: The planet Rhen Var appeared in the video games Star Wars: The Clone Wars and both Battlefront I and II.
OOM-9's army destroying the Republic's sensor relays at the beginning of the ground battle is a reference to the Orbital Sensors bonus in the Galactic Conquest mode for Star Wars: Battlefront. The Orbital Sensors bonus prevented the enemy from seeing their units on their mini-map, and was available once your faction held Rhen Var.
The harbor and citadel where SSA-719's troops defend against the Republic are the same as the level Harbor and Citadel from Star Wars: Battlefront I and II.
In Star Wars: Battlefront II, the Rhen Var levels Harbor and Citadel are only available as downloadable content. Corners were cut on the quality of the content, as the guided rockets didn't work for the CIS or the Republic on the Harbor map, though they worked properly for the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. Hence in the story, I had SSA-719's guided rockets malfunction as a tribute to this glitch that has irritated me for years.
SSA-306 originally appeared in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.