Battle of Dorin

"The planet Dorin has been attacked by Grievous. Because of Dorin's orientation between two nearby black holes, we'll need your expert space combat tactics to help guide the command ships and fighter squadrons."

- Plo Koon, to Anakin Skywalker

The Battle of Dorin took place in 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, when General Grievous of the Confederacy of Independent Systems struck at the Kel Dor homeworld of Dorin in retribution for the planet's loyalty to the Galactic Republic. The Separatist invasion also served as a diversion to prevent the Republic from assaulting the Confederacy's new droid foundry on Geonosis, which the Republic had recently discovered. Although the Kel Dors suffered in the defense of their planet and initially began to be overwhelmed by Grievous's battle droid troops, a large Republic fleet under the command of Jedi Generals Plo Koon and Anakin Skywalker, Admiral Wullf Yularen, and Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano arrived to reinforce Dorin. In the subsequent naval engagement, the Jedi and their clone trooper starfighter squadrons were able to turn the tide against the Separatist assault fleet, forcing a Confederate retreat from Dorin. While his remaining forces were routed by the Republic, Grievous managed to escape from the battle in his personal starfighter.

Prelude
"Tactical coordinates for Count Dooku's new droid foundry&mdash;and Clovis and the Banking Clan are behind it. The Jedi Council has to see this evidence."

- Padmé Amidala discovers the existence of the foundry

In 21 BBY, the second year of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems built a series of battle droid foundries on the planet Geonosis, the site of the war's opening battle, to expand the lines of its Droid Army. Although the factories were to be kept a secret from the Republic, they were nevertheless discovered by Senator Padmé Amidala, while on a retreat with Senator Rush Clovis of the InterGalactic Banking Clan at Trade Federation Senator Lott Dod's palace on Cato Neimoidia. Amidala secured a disk containing tactical coordinates for the main droid foundry and passed the information on to the Jedi High Council, which looked to invade Geonosis to shut down the foundries. In order to divert the Jedi's attention from striking at Geonosis, the Confederate General Grievous planned an attack on the Republic-loyal planet Dorin, the homeworld of the Kel Dor species.

The battle
"Yes, Commander, press the attack. I don't want any of that Kel Dor filth to survive. The people of the planet Dorin must suffer the consequences for staying loyal to the Republic.''" "''Roger, roger. The commando droids will hunt down any survivors."

- General Grievous and a battle droid commander

Commanding his troops from the bridge of his frigate, Grievous launched an assault on Dorin with a large fleet of two Lucrehulk-class battleships and sixteen Munificent-class star frigates, deploying his battle droid army to lay waste to the civilian Kel Dor population. Although the Kel Dors valiantly fought back against the Separatists, they soon began to be overwhelmed due to the enemy support of Grievous's invasion fleet. During the fighting, Grievous ordered his battle droid commander to press the attack, seeking to make the Kel Dors pay the price for their allegiance to the Republic. The Commander replied that their BX-series droid commandos would hunt down any survivors of the initial assault. Presently, the Jedi Temple received word of the invasion, and Jedi Grand Master Yoda dispatched Jedi Generals Plo Koon&mdash;a Kel Dor himself&mdash;and Anakin Skywalker along with the latter's Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano; a Jedi Knight; and Admiral Wullf Yularen to lead a Republic fleet to reinforce Dorin. Skywalker in particular was selected for his starfighter piloting expertise, which would be invaluable in leading the task force because of Dorin's orientation between two black holes.

Separatist intelligence received word of the Republic task force's departure from the galactic capital of Coruscant, and Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress relayed the warning to Grievous. To prepare for Skywalker's arrival, Grievous recalled his troops from the surface and deployed his droid starfighters for battle. Koon, Skywalker, Tano, Yularen, and the Jedi Knight arrived at Dorin with their task force of nine Venator-class Star Destroyers, including the Resolute and Unity, and engaged the Separatists in the space above the planet. The Republic flotilla dispatched squadrons of clone trooper–piloted V-19 Torrent starfighters, with one led by Skywalker and the Jedi Knight from their Delta-7B interceptors, and another unit under the command of Tano. Skywalker and Tano made sport of their respective squadrons' number of kills, seeing whose fighter group could tally up more hits.

While the Jedi and their starfighter squadrons combated the Separatists' fighter patrols of Hyena-class bombers and Vulture droid starfighters, the Republic Star Destroyers exchanged laser fire with the Separatist frigates over Dorin. However, the latter vessels used their heavy turbolaser cannons to tear through the deflector shields of the Republic cruisers, destroying the Unity in the process. With Yularen and the Resolute now subjected by enemy fire, Skywalker responded by having his squadron focus on the enemy frigate that was bearing down on the Resolute. The battle soon turned in the Republic's favor as the Confederate forces began to be overwhelmed. When his fleet was forced into retreat from Dorin, Grievous departed from his flotilla in his personal starfighter, and Skywalker and his Jedi Knight compatriot immediately left their squadron to give chase, while Plo Koon took their men to target another enemy frigate. Despite the Jedi's efforts to stop him, Grievous was able to escape to hyperspace, abandoning his remaining forces to be routed by the Kel Dors and the Republic. By the time the battle was over, the Jedi's squadrons had achieved a number of enemy kills, totaling at least 131 between Skywalker's and Tano's men.

Aftermath
With their victory at Dorin, Skywalker, Tano, Yularen, and the Resolute joined the large Republic invasion force at Geonosis, under the overall command of Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Luminara Unduli. Skywalker and Tano briefly recounted their enemy kills at Dorin by comparing them against those of each other, with Skywalker boasting his greater tally, seventy-six, to Tano's fifty-five. After completing a briefing with their clone commanders and forming a plan of attack on the Geonosian surface defenses, the Jedi launched their massive invasion aimed at retaking Geonosis and shutting down its droid factories. Journals written by Jedi who had participated in the Battle of Dorin, as the conflict became known, were eventually published in a collection known as the Jedi Battle Logs.

Behind the scenes
"At the recent Star Wars Fan Days III convention near Dallas, supervising director Dave Filoni reunited most of the cast of The Clone Wars for a table read of a script specially prepared for the event."

- StarWars.com, introducing the script featuring the Battle of Dorin

The Battle of Dorin was created by Series Director Dave Filoni for the 2009 second season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, serving as a lead-in to the episode "Landing at Point Rain." It was introduced at a script reading that was organized by Filoni and was performed by the television series' main voice-acting cast at the October 2009 Star Wars Fan Days III convention. The battle was first depicted in the "Starfighter" mini-game of the 2010 Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures video game, which also provided the "Battle of Dorin" name.