Battle of the Rishi moon/Legends

The Battle of Rishi moon took place in 22 BBY on the moon of Rishi, during the Clone Wars.

Prelude
In 22 BBY, during the Clone Wars, the wars between the Galactic Republic and the separatist faction from the Republic, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Outer Rim of the galaxy was the location of a number of battles. Numerous listening posts, posts designed to watch for any sort of attack from the Confederacy of Independent Systems, were set up on worlds in the Outer Rim, such as the moon of the planet Rishi. If any attack from the Confederacy of Independent Systems were to be launched in the vicinity of the base, the listening post would stop transmitting the “all-clear” signal and would alert the Republic to the incoming threat.

General Grievous, droid General of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, planned with Dark Lord of the Sith Count Dooku to invade the planet Kamino, where the cloning facilities of the Republic were located. This was also considered the “homeworld” of the clones, as the clone army had first been created there. If Kamino were to be taken, the Republic would lose its supply of clones and would no longer be able to create any more, giving the Confederacy of Independent Systems an advantage that might allow them to win the war far quicker than previously thought.

The listening post on Rishi, however, stood in the way of the Confederacy’s invasion of Kamino. In the way of such an invasion, the Rishi moon’s listening post would be able to report any Confederacy attack aimed at Kamino or any other Republic world in the systems. For the Confederacy to be able to attack Kamino and invade it whilst still retaining the element of surprise, the Rishi moon listening post would have to be captured without a warning from the listening post being sent to the Republic. This also meant the base would have to be taken intact, so the broadcast telling the Republic that there was no danger to the base would still continue. If the Confederacy were able to do this, they would be able to attack worlds past the Rishi moon, such as Kamino, with the element of surprise.

Confederacy assault
"You wanted excitement, Hevy." "Right. Oo-ooh, meteor shower."

- Hevy being sarcastic to Cutup's remark



During the war, the number of clones being killed meant that a number of new clones had to be assigned to stations around the galaxy without undergoing the customary clone intensive training. Nicknamed “shinies”, due to their armor being shiny and new, a number of these clones were assigned to the Rishi moon listening post. Those stationed there included the clones Hevy, Echo, Cutup and Fives, in addition to others. Hevy, amongst others, found life on the moon to have been particularly boring and uninteresting with the lack of Confederacy presence in the system. The Confederacy, to take over the base without allowing the clone troopers to sound the alarm, launched a number of pods containing the elite battle droids named the BX-series droid commandos.

Mistaking the incoming pods for the meteors falling at the same time as the pods, the clone troopers inside the Rishi moon listening post raised the shields in case of meteor damage. After landing, the droid commandos emerged from the pods to stealthily make their way to the base, killing the clone trooper on the landing pad first. Making their way into the base, the droids proceeded to kill the clones who they found before them. Sargeant O'Niner and the clone troopers under his command proceeded to fight back, however were unsuccessful against the battle droids, who possessed superior numbers to those of the clone troopers.

During the battle inside the station, Sargeant O’Niner was killed, having commanded the remaining clone troopers in the base to alert the Republic to the incoming threat. Despite the deaths of many of their clone comrades, Hevy, Cutup, Echo and Fives fled the base out of a ventilation shaft, planning to return in order to retake the base and warn the Republic of the threat. The commando droids, however, had taken control of the base intact, keeping the all-clear signal still going. This meant the Republic was oblivious to what was happening, and weren’t aware of the incoming Separatist fleet making its way towards Kamino.

Inspection
"No sign of them. They must have been pulverized. Resume defensive posts."

- A droid commando on the status of Cody and Rex.

The Confederacy, however, weren’t aware of the times of the routine inspections such bases as the listening post on the Rishi moon underwent during the Clone Wars. During the time when the Confederacy had taken control of the base, an inspection was due to examine the listening post and to ensure that all was working correctly. The droids, fearing that they might be discovered and the alarm sounded, tried to dissuade the Republic from sending an inspection team, however were unsuccessful. Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex were sent as the inspection team on the base, despite the protests of the droids.

Upon arrival on the Rishi moon listening post, the clone troopers were surprised to find no sign of the landing pad clone trooper, or any of the other clone troopers. They also weren’t able to contact the clone troopers within the base very well, which the droid commandos in the base, disguised as clones, pretended was a communications malfunction. Upon reaching the doors of the base, a droid commando, dressed as a clone, tried again to dissuade the inspection team from entering, however was unsuccessful again. Rex, realizing that what stood before them wasn’t actually a clone, destroyed the droid, proving to Cody by removing it’s helmet that it wasn’t actually a clone.

The droid commandos, however, had taken up positions on the landing pad in case of not being able to turn the inspection team away. After Rex destroyed the droid commando at the door of the base, the hidden droids ambushed the two clones and triggered a crossfire that the two clones were forced to fight in to try and keep their lives. To stop the two clones from escaping the base and warning the Republic, the droids used explosives, thermal detonators, to destroy the starship that the two clones had come to the moon in. Jumping from the platform and tying themselves to it to ensure they didn’t fall to their deaths, the clones hid from the commandos, who presumed they’d been killed in the explosion.

Retaking the base


During this time, Hevy, Echo, Cutup and Fives had emerged from the ventilation shaft onto the surface of the Rishi moon. Listening post regulations had restricted any personnel in the base from travelling on the surface of the planet, due to the threat of such creatures as the Rishi eel, a large predator. On the planet’s surface, the four clones came under attack from one of the Rishi eels, the eel taking Cutup and killing him before the other three were able to kill it. Rex and Cody, who had rappelled from the landing pad down onto the planet’s surface, encountered the remaining clones. Fearing them to be droids at first, they demanded they removed their helmets. Having proven that the three clones were who they claimed to be, Rex and Cody joined with the remaining three from the base.

The five clones agreed, under the command of Cody, to retake the base from the Separatists. Using a droid’s head and claiming to have a faulty vocabulator, Rex disguised himself as a droid to get the main doors opened. This allowed the clones access and, upon gaining access, the clones killed the three droids inside, before retaking the base by killing the remaining droids. The clones now had control of the base once more. General Grievous, receiving no word from the droids in the base any longer, dispatched a team of reinforcements to investigate the disappearance of the droids in the listening post. The clones, attempting to sound the alarm, found the droids had hard wired the all-clear message into the listening post.

The clones decided, then, to destroy the base, which would cut off the all-clear message and alert the Republic. They resolved to use the thermal detonators in the inventory, coupled with a type of gas called tibanna gas, which was highly explosive and in the base, to destroy the base. Realizing they couldn’t fight all the droid reinforcements, they decided that destroying the base would also destroy the droids with it. Despite attacking the reinforcements at first, the clones had prepared the destruction of the base and could detonate it with a remote, and so retreated to the ventilation shaft they’d escaped from originally. As the clones fled through the ventilation shaft, Hevy realized that the remote wasn’t working, and remained behind. When the remaining clones noted Hevy’s absence, they began attempting to contact him via a comlink, a portable communications device. Hevy, however, refused commands from his superior officers to flee and join them, claiming the remote wasn’t working and he knew what he had to do. Coming under heavy fire from multiple droids, Hevy was shot down, yet remained alive. Whilst the clones ran back to the base in an attempt to rescue Hevy, the droids deliberated on whether to take Hevy prisoner or whether to kill him. During this time, Hevy manually detonated the base, destroying the droids and himself with it.

This cut off the all-clear signal from the listening post, and alerted the Republic to the threat. Republic Admiral Yularen, along with Jedi Generals Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, brought their fleet into combat with the Separatists. General Grievous, realizing they’d been discovered and so lost the element of surprise, ordered a full scale retreat before the Republic could cause major damage to the Confederacy fleet.

Aftermath
In the immediate aftermath, a number of Low Altitude Assault Transports, Republic gunships, were sent down from the Republic fleet above to search for survivors of the explosion. On Rishi moon’s surface, the ships found the surviving clones, and returned them to the fleet above.

Returned to the Republic in the fleet above, the surviving clone troopers received medals for their bravery, and the fallen Cutup and Hevy was honored by the Republic. Having graduated from “shinie” status, Captain Rex stated he would be proud to serve alongside them. This saw Rex promote them to being members of the 501st Legion, the legion of elite clone troopers.

Rishi moon itself sustained little damage but for the destruction of the base, with neither the Separatist fleet nor the Republic fleet having fired upon the moon itself. As such, very little of the aftermath of the battle affected the moon itself at all.

Behind the scenes
The battle of Rishi moon was created for the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which first aired on the television network Cartoon Network. Like other Star Wars animated series or films, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was directed by writer and director George Lucas. The battle of the Rishi moon occurred in just one of the episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, appearing in the fifth episode, Rookies. This meant very little time was given for multiple characters to be introduced and used.

The drop pods used to deploy the droid commandos is an idea similar to that of droids being confused for meteors in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where probe droids, reconnaissance droids, were confused for meteors by the Rebel Alliance. The model of the pod used by the commandos is a re-use of the Droch-class boarding ship seen in the episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Rising Malevolence.

In the base, during the battle, posters of Twi’lek models can be found on the walls. In addition, on the screen of the detonator used by Hevy to destroy the base, the words “ATTE RUL3Z SOME TEXT” can be found.

Notes and references
Scharmützel vom Rishi-Mond Batalla de la Luna Rishi Slaget om Rishis måne