First Battle of Kamino

This article is about the Battle of Kamino of 22 BBY. You may be looking for another Battle of Kamino.

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Concurrent

Battle of Atraken^[1]

First Battle of Kamino

Combatants
Galactic Republic	Confederacy of Independent Systems

Commanders
General Obi-Wan Kenobi General Kossex† General Tsui Choi General Shaak Ti General Oppo Rancisis General Aayla Secura Prime Minister Lama Su Commander Anakin Skywalker	Magistrate Passel Argente Commander Merai†

Units
Red Squadron Blue Squadron

Strength
Clone troopers ARC troopers Clone snipers Clone trooper pilots Clone jet troopers At least 12 Jedi^[4] LAAT/i gunships Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptors At least 2 Acclamator-class assault ships	B1-Series battle droids Assault battle droids Engineer battle droids Battle droid assassins B2 super battle droids Droidekas Amphibious fighters Shark Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark Is C-9979 landing craft At least 1 Lucrehulk-class battleship Trade Federation supply ships

Casualties
Kossex At least two ARC troopers Many clone troopers Hyperspace rings 3 Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptors	Merai Majority of the battle droids

"It's a delicate game we play. A precise balance. That balance has been restored, though, and the Separatists' advantage lies dead in the water. With Merai dead, and Kamino still operational, this Clone War will not soon end."

―Darth Sidious^[4]

The First Battle of Kamino, also known as the Defense of Kamino, the Assault on Kamino, or simply as the Battle of Kamino, took place two months after the First Battle of Geonosis.

Background[]

Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, while working deep undercover under the name of Korto, an information dealer with a network of spies and thieves throughout the Republic and Confederacy, came into the possession of the Separatist's battle plans for Kamino. After Korto retrieved and relayed the information to the Jedi Council, his supposedly loyal assistant, Tookarti, reported to Count Dooku that his plans had been compromised.

Dooku appointed Passel Argente, Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance, as the ranking officer for the battle, despite Argente's nonexistent military experience. Commander Merai, an expert in amphibious warfare, received the honor of leading the assault.

After learning of the Confederacy's plans to strike at the nerve center of the Grand Army of the Republic, the cloning facilities on Kamino, the Jedi sent a defense fleet to protect the planet. The Jedi were divided into three groups, one on the ground protecting the facility from invading forces, and two squadrons of Jedi starfighters. Each squadron consisting of four Jedi starfighters, each piloted by a Jedi. One squadron, designated Blue Squadron, was led by Obi-Wan Kenobi, containing Anakin Skywalker, Tsui Choi, and Aayla Secura. The other squadron was Red Squadron, consisting of Jedi Master Kossex, and three other Jedi; this squadron was to engage enemy landing craft and fighters, directly before they could get to land. Blue Squadron was in charge of picking off any surviving landing craft and fighters that made it past Red Squadron's attacks. While the Jedi on the ground, including Shaak Ti, would defend Tipoca City from invading Separatist forces. Oppo Rancisis and a Republic armada would wait out-system until the Separatist forces had fully launched their attack, then they would make a hyperspace jump and ambush the Separatist Fleet.

The battle[]

BattleofKaminospace — The battle in space.

The day of battle dawned, and Commander Merai sent down his landing ships accompanied by a squadrons of droid starfighters. A Jedi piloted star fighter squadron lead by General Kenobi engaged the droid forces as they entered the atmosphere. Despite initially holding the droid forces Kossex's ship was destroyed in a hail of droid fire while Obi-Wan's Jedi starfighter was shot down, with Skywalker sacrificing his in order to save his master. The droid forces then managed to land several troop transports in Tipoca City while the remaining Jedi star fighters pushed the droid fighters back. Jedi Master Shaak Ti and Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su inside a command center worked to protect the fetal and adolescent stage clones from Separatist sabotage, and activated the city's stasis-locked ARC troopers. Under the leadership of Shaak Ti and help from Obi-Wan and Anakin, the ARC troopers advanced through the enemy lines and prevented droid forces from further entering the city. Upon the arrival at the latest generation's labs, Alpha-17 realized that the Separatist forces would overrun the labs. Based on his orders from Jango Fett, he couldn't allow the clones to fall into enemy hands, so he entered in a self-destruct code into a panel on the wall, which would result in a countdown to an explosion destroying the complex. However, due to Shaak Ti's complaints, his quick thinking allowed him to come up with an idea that would satisfy both her ideals, and his orders. He quickly told Shaak Ti, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi to tear down the transparisteel bridge, and hold back Kamino's ocean from flooding the lab. Together the three Jedi successfully held back the water by forming a makeshift plug from the debris of the bridge they had just destroyed. This prevented the advancing Separatist forces from compromising and taking control of the labs. Alpha-17 then quickly deactivated the self destruct sequence, saving both them and the next generation of Clones.

Above the city in orbit, Commander Merai was forced to launch a desperate strike at the supposed location of the city's shield generator when the initial attack failed and Republic ships reinforced the Jedi star fighters. However, the Jedi proved too wily for the Mon Calamari tactician; the data gathered by the Corporate Alliance was false—there was no shield generator—and Merai's efforts were in vain. Realizing his failure, he was forced to collide into the Jedi hyperspace rings lying in orbit to destroy them, in order to buy time for his forces as well as to prevent the fighters from following and attacking his fleet after they jumped from Kamino. He activated his self-destruct system, destroying his ship and the Hyperspace Rings. Upon Merai's death, the CIS retreated on orders from Passel Argente, thus ending the First Battle of Kamino.

Aftermath[]

Though an apparent victory for the Galactic Republic, the battle actually engineered by Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Tyranus, to disgrace the "upstarts" attempting to displace Dooku, to preserve the cloning facility for their future use after the conflict, to weaken the factions that might have been an impediment for them in the future, and most importantly for Jedi to die.^[4]

As a result of the battle, Ko Sai told Yoda that the clone army had been funded by a man named Tyranus.^[5] Ko Sai also deserted after the battle and went into hiding.^[6]