Battle of Hypori/Legends

"New droid general. He's unstoppable. Can't hold out for long. General Grievous is hunting us. Must hurry."

- Master Daakman Barrek

The Battle of Hypori was a battle that took place four months after the Battle of Geonosis. It would prove important as being the first formal appearance of General Grievous.

The battle
"Jedi, you are surrounded. Your armies decimated. Make peace with the Force now, for this is your final hour. But know that I, General Grievous, am not completely without mercy. I will grant you a warrior's death. Prepare."

- General Grievous

The Battle of Hypori was the result of intelligence gathered by Jedi Master Daakman Barrek and his Padawan Sha'a Gi, which indicated the presence of a large droid factory on Hypori. A Jedi task force, consisting of Barrek and his Padawan, along with Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, K'Kruhk and Tarr Seirr were dispatched to the planet to destroy the factory, reinforced by an army of clone troopers. They were to be led by Barrek, due to his superior knowledge of industrial matters.

The battle was doomed from the beginning. As the Republic ships emerged from hyperspace, orbital mines caused the majority of the transports to crash behind the Separatist's lines. The task force was quickly surrounded by the massive droid army that was stationed on the planet, and all the clone troopers present had been quickly slaughtered. The seven remaining Jedi retreated to an area of the planet where a large number of the Acclamator-class assault ships had crash landed. As they were retreating, Master Barrek attempted to send out a distress call to any nearby Jedi. As Barrek was doing this, he was suddenly attacked by the leader of the droid army, General Grievous. Barrek was able to make contact with General Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Muunilinst and requested an “immediate evac” from Hypori telling Kenobi that "[he] is hunting us", before he was slain by Grievous.

Duel with the General


The six remaining Jedi were left surrounded by the hordes of Super Battle Droids produced by the factory. Announced to by Grievous that they would receive a 'warrior's death', they waited as Grievous approached. As Grievous's footsteps echoed, Sha'a Gi was overwhelmed with fear and charged into the open. Grievous quickly killed him before leaping out of sight. As the Jedi retreated into the wreckage, Grievous suddenly attacked. Despite their valiant efforts, they were unable to best Grievous.

He defeated five of the Jedi and was about to finish Ki-Adi-Mundi when a rescue team of ARC troopers led by Fordo came to their aid. Ultimately, only three Jedi present were rescued by Fordo's team: Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti. Those killed included Daakman Barrek, Sha'a Gi and Tarr Seirr. K'Kruhk was thought dead and left behind, but survived.

The ARC troopers, covering their withdrawal, activated small detonators that they dropped from their gunship, destroying some of the droids surrounding the crashed ship. But seeing as there were many more battle droids surrounding other wrecked transports, these casualties were relatively small.



Behind the scenes
Originally, the last chapter was going to involve Anakin and Obi-Wan having to fight a regenerated Durge. This was changed when George Lucas requested that they introduce General Grievous.

Appearances

 * The Eyes of Revolution
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * "Chapter 20"
 * "Chapter 21"
 * Star Wars: General Grievous
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel

Notes and references
Schlacht von Hypori