Battle of Sullust/Legends

"Master, I need your help quickly. I am surrounded.''" "You have already lost the battle, child. I've ordered your reinforcements to return." "No! I will destroy the Jedi. I'll show you!" "''You have failed me for the last time. You are no longer my apprentice. And now, you shall die."

- Asajj Ventress is betrayed by Count Dooku

The Battle of Sullust took place around 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, when the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic clashed in the Sullust system. While the Confederate and Republic Navies engaged one another in a fierce battle for survival, the Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress personally led the vicious Separatist assault on the Republic task force commanded by Admiral Wullf Yularen and Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Spearheading droid tri-fighter attacks, Ventress destroyed the Resolute, the flagship of Skywalker and Yularen, before moving in to challenge Skywalker and Kenobi in starfighter combat, dealing heavy losses all the while. However, her push for success soon saw interference from her own Master, Count Dooku.

Charged by his Sith Master, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, with killing Ventress to prove his true allegiance to him, Dooku ordered an attempt on her life. After recalling Ventress's reinforcements, Dooku had tactical droid TJ-912 and her Separatist destroyer directly assault the Separatist command ship, where Ventress had engaged Skywalker and Kenobi in a lightsaber duel. Dooku then had TJ-912 to recall their armada from the system. However, both Ventress and the Jedi escaped from the command ship prior to its destruction. Betrayed by her Master, Ventress turned to her people, the Nightsisters of Dathomir, for aid in taking revenge on Dooku.

Prelude
"There is a disturbance in the Force&mdash;your assassin. She has become very powerful.''" "Yes, my lord. She is quite important to me." "Too ''important."

- Darth Sidious and Count Dooku, on Asajj Ventress

By around 21 BBY, the second year of the Clone Wars, the Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress had grown to become the most trusted assassin of Count Dooku. As a Sith Lord and an apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, Dooku considered taking Ventress as his own Sith apprentice to overthrow his Sith Master, in accordance with the Sith's Rule of Two. To that extent, Dooku trained Ventress in the Sith arts, though he abstained from officially taking her as his Sith apprentice, a decision that Ventress came to resent.

Growing strong in the Force, Ventress supported Dooku's breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems in its many wartime campaigns against the Galactic Republic. When the navies of the Republic and the Confederacy met in the Sullust system of the Outer Rim Territories to do battle, it was Ventress who led the Separatists' assault.

The battle
"Yes, my lord. Ventress is battling the Jedi on board the command ship.''" "Turn your guns on our command ship and open fire!" "But my lord, I calculate that will destroy Ventress, the Jedi, and all our forces." "''Precisely."

- TJ-912 is ordered by Count Dooku to betray Asajj Ventress

The Sullust system became a battlefield when a fleet from the Confederate Navy&mdash;led by a Providence-class carrier/destroyer and supported by two Recusant-class light destroyers and six Munificent-class star frigates&mdash;launched numerous droid starfighters against a task force from the Republic Navy. Commanded by Admiral Wullf Yularen from the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, the Republic flotilla deployed squadrons of ARC-170 starfighters, BTL-B Y-wing starfighters, and V-19 Torrent starfighters to combat the Confederacy's Vulture droid starfighters and Hyena-class bombers. The Republic's escort ships&mdash;comprised of a Consular-class cruiser, a Pelta-class frigate, and a trio of Arquitens-class light cruisers&mdash;additionally provided supporting laser fire against the converging Confederate armada. While the T-series tactical droid TJ-912 oversaw the Separatist fleet from one of the Recusant-class destroyers, Asajj Ventress led their droid starfighters in a vicious assault on the embattled Republic task force.

Launching from the Confederate fleet, Ventress took several squadrons of the Confederacy's new, formidable droid tri-fighters to challenge the Republic's naval defenses. Spearheading the charge from her Ginivex-class starfighter, Ventress singled out and targeted the Resolute &mdash;the flagship of Yularen and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker. Ventress had Trident Group One attack the Resolute starboard engines, while she sent Trident Group Two to assault the cruiser's port shield generators. Once the tri-fighters had done their work, Ventress brazenly maneuvered through the Resolute intense turbolaser fire and blasted away at the battleship's bridge, where Yularen and several clone naval officers were overseeing the battle. While Yularen was able to escape from the cruiser, the Resolute was hit by a series of explosions and was destroyed. Generals Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi soon joined the battle in their Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors, though they too ran afoul of Ventress and her armada of droid starfighters.

When Ventress chased after the two Jedi and targeted Kenobi's Delta-7B interceptor, Skywalker and Kenobi split up to divide the Dark Acolyte's pursuant forces. Driving the Jedi into the space occupied by the Separatist fleet, Ventress personally went after Kenobi, while her tri-fighters were sent to assail Skywalker. Two trios of tri-fighters split up to pursue Skywalker, but the famed Jedi pilot was able to maneuver around one of the Recusant-class destroyers, causing them to crash into each other. Meanwhile, the Separatists began to require assistance for the battle, and reinforcements were dispatched to the Sullust system. Ventress proved to be relentless in her pursuit of Kenobi and eventually hit his starfighter. As Ventress followed Kenobi's out-of-control interceptor toward the Confederacy's Providence-class command ship, Skywalker caught up with them and targeted the engines of the Dark Acolyte's Ginivex-class starfighter. Their ships badly damaged, both Kenobi and Ventress crash-landed in the main hangar of the Providence-class flagship. Meanwhile, Darth Sidious sensed a disturbance in the Force, one that turned out to be of Ventress and her growing prowess, as displayed in the ongoing battle. Suspecting that Count Dooku was training her as an apprentice to overthrow his Sith Master, Darth Sidious demanded that Dooku eliminate Ventress to prove his loyalty to him.

Not wishing to lose his valuable assassin, but unwilling to disobey his Sith Master, Dooku complied with Sidious's wishes. He recalled Ventress's reinforcements, and Ventress discovered as much when she contacted him for assistance from her damaged starfighter. Betrayed by her Master, the Dark Acolyte was left to face the Jedi alone aboard the Separatist flagship. Before long, Skywalker joined Kenobi in the command ship's hangar, freeing him from his damaged fighter with the help of his astromech droid, R2-D2. The two Jedi then confronted Ventress, who&mdash;despite being injured&mdash;refused to surrender and began a lightsaber duel with her opponents. When Skywalker and Kenobi knocked her against her starfighter, Ventress unleashed a wave of dark side energy, capturing both Skywalker and Kenobi in a Force choke. However, Dooku's campaign to kill Ventress was not over. He ordered TJ-912 to open fire on the Providence-class destroyer, where Ventress was dueling the Jedi, despite the fact that such a move would compromise all of the Separatists' forces. As TJ-912 had her B1 battle droids target the command ship and its hangar, Ventress lost her hold on the Jedi. Despite the distractions caused by the failing cruiser, the duel continued, though all three opponents were forced to dodge around the Dark Acolyte's damaged Ginivex-class starfighter as it began to drift with the swaying cruiser.

Eventually, Skywalker and Kenobi disarmed Ventress of both of her lightsabers, and the unarmed Ventress was left cornered at lightsaber-point. At that moment, TJ-912 ordered a Hyena-class bomber to terminate its flight path in the main hangar, right at the location of the duel. The bomber crashed into the hangar on a suicide run, forcing Skywalker, Kenobi, and Ventress to dive out of the way for cover. With the damage to the Separatist command ship increasing, Skywalker and Kenobi abandoned their duel with Ventress and fled from the ship in their Delta-7B interceptors. Ventress, meanwhile, piloted the still-flyable wreckage of her Ginivex-class starfighter out of the hangar, moments before the command ship was destroyed.

Aftermath
"In the past, only Dooku's assassin was capable of such an effort, but she was presumed dead at the Battle of Sullust."

- Adi Gallia

Notes and references
Schlacht im Sullust-System