Droid tri-fighter

"They're all over me! Get them off my&mdash;"

- A clone trooper pilot during the Battle of Coruscant, being chased by a droid tri-fighter

The droid tri-fighter was a model of droid starfighter utilized by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Despite being the smallest starship in both the Republic Navy and Confederacy navy, the tri-fighter was heavily armed and possessed an advanced droid brain. It saw use at major engagements, including as the Battle of Sullust and Battle of Coruscant. However, all Separatist units were shutdown Darth Vader at the end of the war.

Five years after the conclusion of the Clone Wars, tri-fighters could still be seen harassing the nascent Galactic Empire under the command of dissidents, with one such cell being led by former Republic Intelligence official Berch Teller.

Characteristics
A standard tri-fighter measured 5.4 meters in length, making it the smallest starship in both the Separatist and Republic navies. A space-faring relative of the Trade Federation's dreaded droideka, the tri-fighter was designed with a sole purpose in mind: total destruction of their adversary. Developed for intense dogfighting and close-range space battles, the tri-fighter, unlike Vulture-class starfighters, featured more advanced brains than standard Separatist droid fighters, which made it harder for an enemy to second-guess the fighter's movements and tactics.

Compact and heavily armed, the tr-fighter possessed four laser canons and discord missiles, which were located on its bottom. Support clamps were connected to its wing cannons, and one of the tri-fighter's weapons, the nose-tip laser cannon, was at the front of the fighter near its photoreceptors and port sensors. The droid starfighter also had a payload of proton torpedos, pistoeka sabotage droids, or concussion missiles. A radiation vent and cooling radiator were on its repulsorlift wings, and these wings were for flying in a planet's atmosphere. The droid also had three drive thrusters and a gyroscopic reactor core. To intimidate organic enemies, the fighter's three-armed design mimicked the skull of a ferocious predator native to Colla IV.

Battle of Sullust
"Trident Group One, attack the starboard engines. Trident Group Two, knock out their port shield generators. I'll go directly for their bridge."

- Asajj Ventress orders the Trident Groups against the Resolute

Manufactured by Plac-Arphocc Automata Industries, Tri-fighters served as part of the Separatist navy during the Clone Wars, a three year long conflict fought between the Separatists and Galactic Republic. During the Battle of Sullust, droid tri-fighters of Trident Group One and Group Two served under dark acolyte Asajj Ventress. During the fighting, Ventress, flying in her Ginivex-class fanblade starfighter, ordered the first team of tri-fighters to attack the starboard engines of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute and had the second team to attack the port deflector shield generators. Ventress herself made a run for the Resolute 's bridge. After a clone navigation officer aboard the Resolute reported the loss of the port deflectors, Ventress fired on the flagship, and this assault on the Resolute was able to cripple the vessel. Afterwards, Ventress, who was followed by several tri-fighters, moved to attack Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

After Ventress hit Kenobi's Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor, the two Jedi split up, resulting in Ventress following Kenobi's starfighter, while the tri-fighters pursed Skywalker's fighter, which the Jedi General joked about. As three of the droid starfighters chased him alongside a Recusant-class Commerce Guild destroyer, Skywalker spotted three other tri-fighters at the other side of the warship. Skywalker used this to trick the three fighters behind him to crash into the other three. Skywalker then moved to help Kenobi, allowing Skywalker to blast Ventress's starfighter. Ventress and Kenobi then both had a crash landing in the Separatist command ship's hangar. Unfortunately for those on-board, Count Dooku, the Separatist Head of State, had been ordered by his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, to kill Ventress, so he ordered that TJ-912 fire on the command ship. After it was destroyed, Dooku ordered the Separatist fleet to withdraw. However, Ventress survived the attempt on her life and went to the planet of Dathomir, where she planned her revenge with the Nightsisters.

Battle of Lola Sayu to the assault on the Nightsisters
"Woah! What the&hellip;"

- Advanced Recon Commando CT-5555 upon seeing starships fight at Umbara

Tri-fighters later took part in the Battle of Lola Sayu as part of the Lola Sayu defense fleet. However, the Republic forces were able to escape the planet. They were also involved in the Battle of Umbara and fought alongside the Umbaran Militia. Despite the betrayal of Jedi General Pong Krell, the Republic managed to win the battle.

Sometime after her plot to use Savage Opress against her former master failed, Ventress returned to Dathomir once again. Unbeknownst to her, Dooku learned this and ordered General Grievous, the ruthless Supreme Commander of the Droid Army, to annihilate the all of the Nightsisters. After the battle droids under Grievous's command had landed on planet, two tri-fighters and two Hyena-class bombers approached the Nightsister lair and fired. Eventually, the Separatists prevailed and wiped out Mother Talzin's clan, although at least Ventress, Mother Talzin, Merrin, and Shelish survived.

Attacks on Kenobi's fleet and Cato Neimoidia
Before General Kenobi could deploy Clone Commander CC-2224 "Cody" to pick up a group of Jedi younglings on the Crucible, a Separatist fleet under the command of General Grievous came out of lightspeed and attacked the Jedi's fleet. Republic forces began to be overrun, and tri-fighters flew alongside Grievous's Sheathipede-class transport shuttle during the battle. Grievous and a force of battle droids soon boarded Kenobi's flagship, the Negotiator, which ultimately made the Jedi General activate the Venator-class Star Destroyer's self-destruct.

Later, the Separatists invaded the planet of Cato Neimoidia, prompting the Republic to launch a defense, with General Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, leading a starfighter squadron and bringing a group of Republic gunships. However, once they were into the planet's atmosphere, several tri-fighters were launched from a Providence-class dreadnought, and three of the droids moved to attack the Republic starfighters. After taking out at least two Z-95 Headhunters, one of the tri-fighters launched buzz droid missiles, resulting in a number of the sabotage droids to land on Skywalker's Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor. The droids forced his astromech droid, R2-D2, to crash land the ship on a cliff.

Behind the scenes
In Star Wars Battlefront II, the droid tri-fighter is in the "Interceptor" class for the Confederacy of Independent Systems faction.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
 * Dark Disciple
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Lords of the Sith
 * Tarkin
 * Dark Disciple
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Lords of the Sith
 * Tarkin
 * Dark Disciple
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Lords of the Sith
 * Tarkin