OOM-9/Legends

"You have performed beyond your parameters."

- Nute Gunray

OOM-9 was a B1 battle droid created by Baktoid Combat Automata prior to the invasion of the planet Naboo in 32 BBY. OOM-9 was selected to serve as a command battle droid for the invasion, leading Trade Federation forces into battle and achieving great success during the early stages of the campaign. Under OOM-9, Trade Federation troops defeated the forces of the Naboo at the First Battle of Harte Secur and the First Battle of Spinnaker, before capturing the capital city of Theed. With news of a primitive species residing in the planet's swamps&mdash;the Gungans&mdash;reaching the Trade Federation, OOM-9 was charged with hunting them down, and he subsequently forced the evacuation of the underwater city of Otoh Gunga.

The invasion ultimately turned against the Trade Federation when the Gungan Grand Army rallied to the cause of Naboo Queen Padmé Amidala and moved to engage the Trade Federation Droid Army on the Great Grass Plains. OOM-9 was once again charged with leading the battle droids to victory and soon overwhelmed the Gungan forces. However, the concurrent Naboo Space Battle went against the Trade Federation, seeing the destruction of a Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship. With the loss of the control ship, OOM-9 and his troops all powered down, halting on the verge of victory.

Invasion of Naboo
Originally a standard B1 battle droid, OOM-9 was created by Baktoid Combat Automata for the Trade Federation some time prior to 32 BBY to serve in their Droid Army under the Neimoidian Viceroy Nute Gunray, along with his senior staff Rune Haako and Lott Dod. Since the B1 droids did not have a standard alphanumeric series designation, the name "OOM-9" was selected for the unit from a shortened version of the unique identification code assigned to the battle droid. In 32 BBY, Viceroy Gunray, having led the Trade Federation into a pact with the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, initiated a blockade of the Mid Rim planet Naboo as a protest to the new taxation of trade routes. The Sith Lord, who was secretly Senator Palpatine of Naboo, had an ulterior motive&mdash;the blockade would serve to undermine the leadership of Galactic Republic Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum and allow him to advance his own position. In anticipation of the imminent invasion of Naboo, OOM-9 was specially programmed to serve as a command droid and lead Trade Federation forces against the Naboo and Gungan population. His first assignment as a commander was to organize the Trade Federation forces for the invasion.

Supreme Chancellor Valorum, hoping to resolve the crisis, sent two Jedi&mdash;Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;to settle the dispute. This bold action had an adverse affect&mdash;on Sidious's instruction, Gunray stepped up the invasion plans and ordered his forces to begin landing. However, the Jedi were able to stow away aboard one of the Federation's C-9979 landing craft and reach the surface of the planet. As OOM-9 oversaw the disembarkation of his forces from their landing craft, Gunray and Haako contacted him to inform him of the Jedi's escape. OOM-9 assured his superiors that, if the Jedi were on the planet, his forces would find them, and ordered the patrol grid for Single Trooper Aerial Platforms and ground battle droids to be doubled.

Early battles
The Jedi, however, were able to elude capture by OOM-9's forces. Unconcerned by this failure, the Trade Federation continued their invasion. Fearing that the Naboo would try to contact the Republic capital world of Coruscant to plead for help, Gunray promptly ordered the destruction of Naboo's offworld communication capabilities. OOM-9 was selected to lead the mission. Gunray gave OOM-9 his orders personally: to occupy the Naboo settlements of Parrlay, New Centrif, and Vis, and raze their communications buildings to the ground. His small force of STAPs, beetle droids, battle droids, and his personal Armored Assault Tank was unprepared for a major fight and was told to avoid direct confrontations with the Naboo until reinforcements could arrive. Since the Trade Federation could not afford to alert the Naboo to their presence on the ground, they could not risk conducting long-range scans, leaving OOM-9's forces to locate the settlements without reconnaissance data.

They soon came upon New Centrif, but the settlement was too heavily defended, and OOM-9 decided to continue on and seek reinforcements before attacking. Upon OOM-9 reaching the smaller settlement of Vis, Gunray contacted him to alert him to the arrival of the promised reinforcements. OOM-9 led his unit into the town, converging upon it with the newly arrived forces, including droidekas. After destroying Vis's communication transmitter, OOM-9 took his combined forces back to New Centrif before moving toward his final goal, the larger town of Parrlay, encountering several Naboo patrols along the way. After locating Parrlay, OOM-9 was once more contacted by Gunray, who instructed him to destroy its transmitter before the inhabitants could contact their capital city, Theed. All Naboo resistance was to be eliminated. To assist OOM-9 in his task, Gunray dispatched further reinforcements, including pummels, and Parrlay was quickly subjugated.

The victory at Parrlay was just the beginning of the Trade Federation's plans. The invasion, however, soon caught upon a snag. One of the five droid control programs sent to Naboo with the initial landing force was captured by Naboo troops from Harte Secur when another command droid, OOM-14, suffered a malfunction. The loss of the control program rendered OOM-14's forces useless. Furthermore, Gunray knew that, if the Naboo could replicate the technology, they could take control of the Trade Federation's own battle droids. With the control program in enemy hands, the Trade Federation could not risk a large force to retrieve it. Instead, Gunray contacted OOM-9 and told him to escort a Neimoidian technician to the research center near Harte Secur where the control program was being held, retrieve it and use it to reactivate OOM-14's forces and their command center. Once they were reactivated, he was to lead OOM-14's forces in the destruction of Harte Secur and the nearby Harte Secur Airbase. He was assigned a group of droidekas to assist in the attack, while Gunray ensured that Harte Secur's transmissions were blocked to prevent it summoning reinforcements.

The attack on the research center proceeded quickly, and the technician soon reactivated OOM-14's forces. Despite the threat of Harte Secur Airbase, along with a nearby Gungan settlement, OOM-9 was able to gather his forces and sweep into Harte Secur, destroying much of the city's architecture and obliterating its town center. Gunray complimented the droid on the impressive nature of the victory and announced that he had been selected to spearhead the attack on Spinnaker.

Spinnaker was Naboo's chief supply center, and most goods being transported between Naboo and other worlds passed through the coastal town's spaceports. With the Trade Federation's blockade in place, the spaceports were fully loaded with valuable materials, including nova crystals, which could be used to fund the invasion. Gunray wanted to see direct evidence of Naboo's wealth and so ordered OOM-9 to lead an attack on Spinnaker, occupy the town, and collect its supplies of nova crystals to present to him. A small Trade Federation presence had already been established near Spinnaker, under the command of the battle droid officer YIN-762. OOM-9, however, led his forces into a lightly defended Naboo village outside the town. The pacifist villagers, following Queen Amidala's lead, offered little resistance, and the village quickly surrendered to the battle droids, relinquishing their resources and personnel to OOM-9's command. Despite counterattacks from the Royal Naboo Security Forces based in and around Spinnaker, OOM-9 was ultimately successful in pacifying the town and capturing its resources. The Trade Federation forces began preparing to take Theed and end the campaign, using Spinnaker as a launching point for the impending First Battle of Theed.

With the surrounding countryside occupied, the Trade Federation forces approached Theed. Queen Amidala ordered Captain Panaka and his Royal Naboo Security Forces to stand down, but a signal jammer in the city prevented the approach of the Trade Federation's droid starfighters and transports. OOM-9 was ordered to lead a battalion of elite units into the city to eliminate the jammer and allow reinforcements to be sent in. He was also instructed to eliminate any military facilities they encountered and to avoid civilian casualties, so as to prevent full-scale resistance. Despite Amidala's orders, the battle droids encountered scattered resistance from the Naboo military forces as they made their way through the city to the signal jammer. With OOM-9 leading the way from his AAT, the battle droids quickly eliminated their target. With their objective achieved, reinforcements were sent in and OOM-9 was given a new objective&mdash;to proceed to the Theed Royal Palace, capture it, and prepare for Gunray's arrival. The droid once again proved capable of the task and led his forces through the city and into the palace grounds, securing it despite heavy counterattacks from Naboo forces.

Occupation
"My troops are in position to begin searching the swamps for the rumored underwater villages. They will not stay hidden for long."

- OOM-9

By the time of Gunray's and Haako's arrival, the capital was firmly under Trade Federation control. OOM-9 remained in Theed, serving as personal guard to the viceroy. He was present in this capacity when Gunray met with Amidala and her senior aides. Gunray required Amidala to sign a treaty legitimizing the occupation but, when she proved uncooperative, he instructed OOM-9 to take her for processing. Rumors passing through the Federation-controlled Theed about an amphibious species residing out in the swamps, however, led OOM-9 to consider finding this threat to be his top priority. He therefore delegated escorting the queen to a detention camp to a squad of his troopers. OOM-9 monitored the operation on a secure channel while remaining in the palace with the Neimoidians to remotely control the search for the Gungans. The transport operation, however, did not go as planned when Amidala was rescued by the two Jedi, who escorted her safely off Naboo.

OOM-9 got a lead on the Gungans' location when a captured mariner from Harte Secur informed his captors of a Gungan named Boss Ganne based near the Rellias channel. OOM-9's forces set out to begin the search there and were joined by Sidious's apprentice Darth Maul, recently arrived on Naboo. With the Sith Lord's help, the battle droids located and captured Boss Ganne. Maul then used the Force to manipulate Ganne into opening the Gates of Rellias, the only obstacle preventing Federation forces from accessing the Rellias channel. After eliminating all resistance from several small Gungan communities, the troops proceeded to the channel.

Maul's participation was short-lived, and the Sith Lord soon departed in search of the escaped Amidala. OOM-9, however, continued to Lake Paonga, location of the Gungan city of Otoh Gunga. On the shore of the lake, the Trade Federation established an outpost, and OOM-9 sent patrols to locate any Gungan settlements on the mainland and the islands located in the lake. Resources collected on the land were being used to supply Otoh Gunga, so OOM-9's forces destroyed the settlements and secured the resources, cutting the supply lines to the underwater city. The Gungans retaliated by sending their naval forces to attack the Trade Federation outpost, but OOM-9 repelled the counterattack and his forces soon located Otoh Gunga itself. Though scans quickly determined that the city had been virtually abandoned, OOM-9 proceeded to eliminate the remaining resistance and laid waste to much of the city. With the apparent defeat of the Gungans, Naboo was firmly under Trade Federation control.

Battle of Grassy Plains
"Open fire."

- OOM-9 commanding the Battle of Grassy Plains

OOM-9 returned to Theed but was soon called into action once more. Amidala had returned to Naboo after failing to secure help from the Galactic Senate and united the scattered Naboo forces with the Gungan Grand Army. The Gungans had been recapturing city after city and were gathering near the swamps in preparation for an assault on Theed. In response to the new threat, the battle droid commander increased security at the Naboo detention camps before preparing to meet the approaching Grand Army.

OOM-9 led the Trade Federation forces that finally engaged the Grand Army on the Great Grass Plains. Upon receiving the command from the Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship in orbit, OOM-9 ordered his AATs to open fire on the Gungan forces, but the Gungans' deflector shield successfully absorbed the barrage. Seeing the ineffectiveness of the attack through his electrobinoculars, OOM-9 eventually ordered his forces to hold fire and deployed his battle droids, sending them through the shield to engage the Gungans. As OOM-9 looked on, his forces proceeded to demolish the outgunned Gungans, sending them into a retreat after their shield finally fell to the onslaught. The commander reported the Gungan retreat to his command ship and received orders to send his AATs in pursuit. Before long, the surviving Gungans were forced to surrender to the advancing battle droids. Only the actions of Anakin Skywalker, in the space battle that was raging above, cost OOM-9 this final victory. Skywalker unintentionally managed to destroy the Trade Federation's droid control ship, deactivating OOM-9's army as well as the commander himself.

Characteristics
Like all battle droids, OOM-9 was created solely to wage war. The droid's programming was based around collecting and compiling tactics and plans for battle, and his personality was limited. His metallic face bore no expression and there was no inflection in his voice. Starting out as a regular battle droid, OOM-9 was retrofitted following his promotion to command. He wore markings painted a dull mustard yellow, designating him as a commander. His original back plating was removed and replaced with the standard command backpack, including an advanced power supply and several antennae to allow him to communicate with the Central Control Computer located in planetary orbit. In battle, OOM-9 coordinated the Trade Federation forces from his personal Armored Assault Tank, which was fitted with additional weaponry and enhanced armor.

Behind the scenes
OOM-9 was created for George Lucas's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, in which he commands the battle droid army at the climactic Battle of Grassy Plains. According to The Internet Movie Database, the character was voiced by Taylor Murphy, though he is uncredited in the film. He also appeared in the novel and comic adaptations of the movie. Terry Brooks's novelization mentions OOM-9's presence at a conversation between Darth Sidious, Darth Maul and the senior Neimoidians, during which the droid reports on his response to the threat of the Gungan Grand Army. However, he was omitted from the film's depiction of the scene.

The character's background was expanded in the 2001 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, in which he was voiced by Charles Martinet. The game presented a biography of the character, and the player controlled OOM-9's forces in its first campaign, which depicted the early battles of the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo. The game also featured a "what if" scenario in which Anakin Skywalker does not destroy the droid control ship. In the scenario, the player can lead OOM-9's forces to victory over the Gungans on the Great Grass Plains.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novelization
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novelization
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace PhotoComic
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic adaptation
 * I Am a Droid
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Jedi Quest: The Way of the Apprentice