Monday, October 20, 2008

Rescueing Rotta the Hutt

Battle of Christophsis
The battle of Christophsis had raged for some time, with Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker having seemingly scored a victory against their opposite number, Confederacy General Whorm Loathsom.
But Loathsom's retreat was a ploy. Once the
Republic Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute had been dispatched for supplies, he launched an attack, battle droids advancing on the front while Tri-droids brought up the rear. He succeeded in catching Republic forces off guard. Despite Loathsom's surprise attack, Kenobi and Skywalker were able to beat back the droids, using artillery barrages to halt their advances while Obi-Wan lead a charge and Anakin and Torrent Company took out the Tri-droids. Loathsom once again pulled back, and it was during this lull in the fighting that a shuttle from Coruscant landed in City Plaza, bearing young Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's new apprentice. From the shuttle, they contacted Admiral Wullf Yularen to ask for reinforcements.
Loathsom soon launched yet another attack, this time advancing his forces behind an expanding deflector shield, negating the Republic's artillery batteries. Whilst General Kenobi and Rex marshaled a defense of the Republic base, Anakin and Ahsoka infiltrated the Separatist positions by hiding under a box. Once the advance forces passed them by, the pair slowly made their way to the shield generator but ran into a destroyer droid. After defeating it, they arrived at the generator but Ahsoka accidentally alerted retail droids. As she set the charges to destroy the generator, Anakin held off the droids. But, seeing her master in trouble, Ahsoka brought down a wall with a convenient hole on the droid without hurting her master.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan "surrendered" to Loathsom and was brought to a crystal table to discuss "terms of surrender". After having a few cups of tea, Obi-Wan requested to have his troops properly fed if taken prisoner. But Loathsom knew he was stalling and demanded he call off his troops. Just then, Anakin and Ahsoka destroyed the shield generator. The clone artillery then annihilated the droid armies, just as Republic reinforcements arrived and Loathsom was forced to surrender.

Aftermath
Following the battle,
Grand Master Yoda arrived planetside to inform Obi-Wan and Anakin that Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta, had been kidnapped by a group of renegades and they were called upon to rescue him.
Battle of Teth
Working with Ziro the Hutt, the Separatists kidnapped Rotta, son of Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Jabba sent bounty hunters out to find his son, as well as request the Republic's help. But the Jedi Order could only spare Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan went to Jabba, promising to save Rotta in exchange for passage through Hutt space. But when he left, Count Dooku then entered the palace, convincing Jabba that the Jedi were the kidnappers.
The bounty hunters and Republic scouts tracked Rotta to a
Bo'marr Monastery on Teth. The former were captured and decapitated, their heads sent back to Jabba.
The battle
For much of the battle, the clone troopers and walkers used special grappling technology to go up almost completely vertical cliffs, to reach a citadel at the top. The droid forces at the very top had a major advantage as just a few shots from a DSD1 dwarf spider droid could send an AT-TE plummeting backwards to the ground. But with the skills of the two Jedi, the battle became easier and in the midst of the fighting, Skywalker stole a STAP, using it to great effect. Unfortunately, Skywalker lost a large number of men before reaching the top of the cliff.
Later when Republic forces reached the top, they faced even greater competition than before from more droids until finally the Republic pulled through and captured the
B'omarr Monastery. As Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano went into the castle, they found a silver droid named 4A-7. The Droid told them that the Separtist kept their prisoners in the lower levels. Little did they know, the droid was a spy droid working for Asajj Ventress. Captain Rex and his men held their guard at the door. But outside, Asajj and her droid battalions were waiting. When her droids failed to open the door, she literally sliced through it with her lightsaber. Due to overwhelming numbers of enemy forces, Torrent Company was defeated and captured. The two Jedi found Rotta and made their way to the back landing pad and called for a backup medical crew to help Rotta. As the gunship arrived, a Vulture Droid destroyed the ship. As Asajj tried cutting through the door to the palace, the Jedi then jumped onto a can-cell, a large flying insect, and flew to another mesa. There they captured the freighter Twilight and attempted to rendezvous with the Spirit of the Republic. However, a squadron of Vulture Droids destroyed the hangar, forcing them to go directly to Tatooine in the freighter. Meanwhile, Rex and the five remaining members of Torrent Company were making a defiant last stand against Ventress' droid armies. They managed to hold out until Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on the Spirit of the Republic with the 212th Attack Battalion. While the 212th cleared away the remaining the droid forces, Kenobi pursued Ventress inside the monastery. There, the two dueled before he managed to defeat the Dark Jedi and she was forced to make a quick escape.
Duel on Teth
After the Galactic Republic was offered an alliance with the Hutt clans by Jabba Desilijic Tiure, in return for their recovering of his kidnapped son, Rotta, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, were dispatched to Teth, where clone troopers had tracked the Huttlet. Skywalker's forces engaged in a brief battle with Separatist battle droids, before he and his apprentice rescued Jabba's son.
However, the Jedi suspected this was a trap, designed by
Count Dooku to frame the Republic for the Huttlet's demise, and hence cause the Hutt clans to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems; which was proven correct after they were confronted by Dooku's Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, who saught to destroy the young Hutt. The Jedi escaped with Rotta, while reinforcements arrived under High General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who proceeded to confront Ventress himself.
The duel
As the Jedi Master entered the B'omarr Monastery, Ventress had her bodyguards, two B2 super battle droids fire on him and used the time it took him to destroy them, to flee further into the fortress. As Kenobi searched for his foe, he taunted her; telling the Dark Jedi he could feel her frustration, at failing to capture the Huttlet, through the Force. Ventress leaped from her hiding place, bringing down her two lightsabers atop Kenobi's. The Separatist commander then leapt away from her enemy, before flinging her skirt into the path of the Jedi Master, blocking his sight. Ventress then leapt at him, however, despite the interference he easily parried her blows.
Kenobi again taunted his foe, however, she disarmed him. Whilst Ventress attempted to destroy him, Kenobi held her back, despite being weaponless. Calling his lightsaber back to his hand, the duel continued into the center of the monastery, both combatants using Force acrobatics to leap and evade each other. Kenobi leaped atop a bridge, before Ventress followed, and had her slashes continuously parried. Ventress then surprised the Jedi by forming her lightsabers into a
saberstaff.
Avoiding his foe, Kenobi leapt out of a window onto another bridge. Whilst the pair did battle atop the bridge, they sensed Skywalker leaving the system; meaning he had successfully escaped with Rotta the Huttlet. Ventress activated a beacon, before a droid controlled ship arrived. Kenobi then watched as his enemy leaped from the bridge onto the safety of the ship and escaped.

Aftermath
While the
Battle of Teth was ultimately a victory for the Republic, Skywalker and Tano faced trouble on Tatooine. While attempting to return Rotta to his father, the pair sensed the presence of Count Dooku, who planned to rectify Ventress's failure by killing Rotta, and so split up. Skywalker ultimately confronted the Sith, before escaping. Tano defeated three of Dooku's droid bodyguards and successfully arrived at Jabba's Palace; returning his son to safety.
Though Jabba originally believed the Separatist fabrication that the Republic was behind his son's kidnapping and attempted murder, a timely communication from
Senator Padmé Amidala, which implicated Jabba's uncle Ziro, ultimately absolved Tano and Skywalker, who were scheduled for execution for their perceived part in the plot. Amidala then proceeded to negotiate an alliance between the Republic and the Hutt's, which gave them an advantage in the Clone Wars.
Battle of Tatooine
The Battle of Tatooine during the Clone Wars comprised three separate skirmishes starting with a dogfight in orbit between two MagnaGuards in Porax-38 starfighters and Anakin Skywalker's commandeered freighter, Twilight. Skywalker and R2-D2 were able to destroy their attackers, though they were shot down in the process and forced to crash land in the Dune Sea. This event led to the following duels:
Duel on the Dune Sea
As night fell over the desert, Count Dooku intercepted Skywalker. He then unleashed a barrage of Force lightning at him, though Skywalker deflected the attack with his lightsaber. The Dark Lord then engaged Skywalker in a battle of blades. Skywalker used the Force to hurl a torrent of sand at Dooku, who retaliated with a blast of his own that knocked the Jedi off his feet, knocking his lightsaber from his hand. Dooku used that moment to bring a killing overhead strike down on Skywalker who, at the last moment, called his weapon back to his hand in time to block the attack.
As they continued battling one another, the
Sith Lord showed Skywalker a hologram of Ahsoka Tano fighting three IG-100 MagnaGuards elsewhere in the desert. Knowing that his new Padawan was in danger, Skywalker quickly disarmed his opponent and disengaged from the fight in order to help Tano. He departed on Dooku's own speeder.
duel outside Jabba's Palace
As night fell, Ahsoka approached the cliffs leading up to Jabba's Palace. Just as she sensed danger, three IG-100 MagnaGuards sprang up from concealment under the sand. Ahsoka drew her lightsaber to contend with the electrostaffs wielded by the MagnaGuards. R2-D2 attacked one of the droids with his charge arm, but his bravery was short-lived as he was quickly disabled by a strike from an electrostaff. Ahsoka was able to hold her own against the battle droids, but was unable to gain an upper hand.
At the same time as her own duel, Anakin had been battling Dooku, during which the
Sith Lord showed Skywalker a hologram of Ahsoka battling the Magnaguards. Knowing that his padawan was in peril, Skywalker disarmed Dooku and departed to help Tano using Dooku's own speeder.
As Ahsoka began to tire, she saw her master fly by on the hillside above. Though she called out to Skywalker, he did not hear her and continued to Jabba's Palace. Knowing she was on her own, Ahsoka regained her focus and was able to at last vanquish her droid enemies.

Aftermath
Having defeated her foes, Ahsoka arrived in the throne room to return Jabba's son. Upon arrival in the throne room, she found Skywalker seized by Jabba's henchmen, about to be executed. Still believing the Jedi plotted to destroy him, the gangster ordered both padawan and Master to be killed immediately.
A timely communication from
Republic Senator Padmé Amidala revealed Jabba's own uncle, Ziro, to be the culprit behind the kidnapping along with Count Dooku. Jabba, now acknowledging the Jedi truly had rescued his son, granted the Republic safe passage through Hutt space. Skywalker and his padawan were then retrieved by Jedi Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

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