Battle of Fanderium

The Battle of Fanderium was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems for control of the neutral planet of Fanderium. It took place about one year into the Clone Wars conflict, and lasted well over a month and a half. The battle was harsh and long, with both sides losing considerable amounts of forces. The battle also took the lives of a few hundred civilians, most of them likely being tourists visiting the beautiful world.

Monitoring of the Neutral Systems
Many worlds struggled to remain neutral during the Clone Wars, and the planet of Fanderium was one of them. It was a popular tourist attraction, and both sides of the war had their eye on it. The world had already declared itself neutral, joining the Council of Neutral Systems and pushing for a stop to the war. However, due to its popularity, the planet was being watched closely by both factions involved in the war. To be sure the Galactic Republic was not turning neutral worlds to their side, General Grievous hired several bounty hunters, assassins, and spies to monitor some of these worlds for enemy activity. One of these hunters was a man named Draak, and he was stationed on Fanderium. When rumors reached the Republic about possible Separatist activity, they sent Jedi Knight Con Snowder to investigate the situation.

The Spies Collide
Snowder arrived on Fanderium with the idea that the Separatists had already begun to set up a base there. This was not the case, however they did have spies stationed there, one of them being Draak. While walking through a major city, Snowder felt as if he was being watched. He had caught the eye of Draak, who had started following him as he questioned the citizens. To expose the stalker, Snowder lured the bounty hunter away from the city and out into the beautiful grassy hills.

After getting far enough away from the city, Snowder called the hunter out, revealing to Draak that he knew he was being trailed. Confused as to how he gave himself away, Draak drew his weapon and set it to stun. His orders were to capture anyone who was of questionable allegiance, and this man certainly was. Raising his weapon, the Nikto assassin fired a shot at the Jedi Knight. Snowder dove sideways, evading the blast just in time. Draak took several more shots, all of which Snowder dodged. Knowing there was no way he could miss that many shots, Draak realized the man was a Jedi. Snowder had exposed himself, and knew he could not let anyone know that a Jedi was running around on the world. Igniting his lightsaber, he engaged and captured Draak.

The Jedi's Misinterpretation
After capturing the bounty hunter, Con Snowder began to interrogate him. Draak told him that there were no Separatists on the planet, and that his job was to make sure there was no Republic activity here. Snowder didn't believe him, and told the hunter if he wanted out of this situation, he must bring him to the nearest Separatist outpost. After failing to convince him there wasn't one, Draak brought him to his own personal hideout on Fanderium.

Draak had designed the hideout to protect himself from capture. It was filled with traps as well as several IG-100 MagnaGuards provided by General Grievous himself.

As they entered the hideout, the MagnaGuards were activated, dropping from the ceiling and charged the Jedi Knight. Snowder was forced to ignite his lightsaber and duel the guards while Draak made his escape. After defeating the guards, Snowder contacted the Jedi Council, informing them of the supposed Separatist hideout he found on the planet. He assumed that because the bounty hunter lied about there being Separatist holdouts, there were likely many, many more. In actuality, there weren't any. In fact, the hideout wasn't a Separatist base at all, it just housed several droids to protect Draak.

The Republic Blockade
After hearing reports of a droid attack on Fanderium, the Senate voted to send a task force to the world to prevent it from a Separatist takeover. With Con Snowder already present on the planet, the 24th Legion was dispatched to reinforce their General. The Republic sent the legion alongside two Venator-Class Star Destroyers to blockade the world and prevent the arrival of any Separatist reinforcements. They then proceeded to search for any hideouts that may have been on the world.

The people were understandably furious, as their peaceful world of Fanderium was supposed to be neutral. Riots quickly began in the streets as more and more people grew frustrated with the Republic presence.

The Republic continued their search of the world for these Separatist hideouts, and were unable to find any sign of them. Confident they weren't looking in the right place, Con Snowder ordered his men to continue their search despite the growing public resistance.

The people of Fanderium had enough, and began to call on the Separatists to free them from the Republic occupation. Before long, the Droid Army arrived led by General Grievous. The Battle of Fanderium had officially begun.

The First Engagement
The Separatists began their attack on the Republic blockade with the goal of liberating Fanderium. Led by General Grievous, the assault was swift and deadly. The attacking fleet quickly began to overwhelm the clone forces, and they were forced to break their blockade in order to survive Grievous' initial attack. Seeing an opening, Grievous sent a cruiser down to the surface of the planet to combat the 24th Legion, who were still stationed on the ground below. In an effort to keep the people of Fanderium on their side, the droid general reminded the cloaked figure in command of the cruiser to avoid civilian casualties.

Con Snowder and the 24th Legion were now cut off from the rest of their forces as the cruiser bore down on them. Their only choice was to take shelter inside the city, rounding up any vehicles they had left to help defend it from the imminent attack. These consisted of a dozen AT-RT walkers and a single AT-TE.

The shadow of the droid cruiser covered the city as it deployed several MTTs, as well as a handful of Trident assault ships into the ocean which resided on the city borders. The 24th Legion was heavily outnumbered and outgunned, but with Grievous' order to avoid civilian casualties, they managed to hold their own for a time.

As the clones were forced to the out edge of the city, the Trident assault ships revealed themselves, emerging from the water and deploying several waves of aqua droids. Now, not only was the 24th Legion cut off from reinforcements, but they were completely surrounded by the Droid Army.

Republic Reinforcements
The Separatist forces had managed to cut off the 24th Legion from their command ships, and the Republic was in desperate need of reinforcements. Luckily, the 434th Legion led by General Pablo-Jill was ready to go, and they set out to assist in the retrieval of their men.

Back on the surface, the clone army was completely surrounded by the droid forces. As the last of the aqua droids exited the Tridents, they were followed by the cloaked figure that was in command of the droid cruiser overhead. As the figure approached the battlefront, they signaled the droids to hold their fire.

The blaster fire ceased on both sides as General Con Snowder noticed the figure advancing towards them. Lightsaber in hand, Snowder told the figure they weren't going to back down, and that the Republic was going to save this world. The figure laughed, removing her cloak and revealing herself to be the Sith Assassin known as Asajj Ventress.

Snowder issued a challenge to the assassin; the two of them duel here and now. If Snowder wins, the droids let them all go. If Ventress wins, the clone army will surrender. Ventress accepted, igniting her lightsabers and clashed blades with the Zabrak.

The 434th Legion entered the battle aboard a Venator-Class Star Destroyer. The arrival of their cruiser allowed the Republic forces re-engage the enemy, and the battle resumed in space. The 434th's Venator doors opened, releasing several LAAT Gunships into the fray. The one of those gunships carried Jedi Commander Zakar'i alongside Clone Commander Sig. Their orders from Jedi General Pablo-Jill were to extract the ground forces and evacuate Fanderium immediately. With the help of General Jill and a clone escort, three of the four gunships were able to slip past the Separatist blockade.

The Republic Extraction
On the surface of Fanderium the battle between Asajj Ventress and Con Snowder continued. Snowder was keeping pace with the assassin, but was starting to tire from both the earlier battle and his aggressive fighting style. Just as Ventress began to overtake the exhausted Jedi, she was contacted by Grievous, who informed her that several Republic Gunships had broken through the line and were attempting an extraction. Before Ventress could order the droids to open fire on the remaining clones, gunship fire rained from above, wiping out the leading line of battle droids. The gunships landed in the battlefield, and the surviving members of the 24th Legion piled in. Before his gunship touched down to pick up survivors, Zakar'i spotted Ventress in the middle of a heated lightsaber duel with Snowder. Leaping out of the transport, a fresh Zakar'i joined the duel, driving Ventress back. As the last gunship lifted off, the two Jedi used the force to leap on-board, but not before Zakar'i expressed his disappointment in such a short duel with Ventress.

A Failed Escape
As the Republic Gunships extracted the clones, the Separatist frigate overlooking the city deployed several waves of vulture droids to prevent their escape. During the chase, the gunship carrying both General Con Snowder and Commander Zakar'i was hit, plummeting back to the surface below. As their ship went down, the two Jedi urged the other units to press on rather than turn around. While the other gunships were successful in their escape, the two Jedi were not so lucky, crashing in the middle of the rolling hills of Fanderium.

Separatist Takeover
Knowing they still had forces left on the planet, the Republic troops were hesitant to leave once the extraction team made it back to the Venator. Their communications were being jammed, and they weren't even sure if the Jedi had survived the crash or not. Because of this, the Republic forces made the choice to left the system, and the Separatist Alliance had won the battle.

With the battle won and Republic forces gone, General Grievous was called to leave the planet at once for another assignment. Before leaving, he told Asajj Ventress to ensure that the downed gunship had no survivors, and that the transition of power to the Separatists went smoothly.

The people of Fanderium willingly joined the Separatists, feeling as if they saved them from an corrupted government they did not want to live under. With these thoughts in mind, when it was revealed that there were likely survivors on the downed republic gunship, the people took action, volunteering to help the Droid Army in their hunt.

Knowing the people had too little experience and would likely find nothing, Ventress put a bounty on their head, knowing bounty hunters would soon join the search as well. She wanted the people of Fanderium to think they were doing something right, so she let them go, knowing it would only strengthen their faith in the Separatists.

Jedi Manhunt
The two Jedi did manage to survive the crash along with 4 clone troopers. The group was wandering the plains, and were now being pursued by bounty hunters, battle droids, and the people of Fanderium. They knew it would not be long before they were found, and decided to take shelter for the night in a small cave.

The clones seemed to have lost all hope, with one of them suggesting that even if they do survive, no one will come looking for them. Zakar'i disagreed, telling the clone that his master would never abandon him like this. Snowder agreed, but still questioned how they would be able to receive help. The Republic would not send an army to rescue two Jedi and a few troopers, even if they were high ranking officers. The world was under full control of the Separatists, and they had no way to send a clear transmission without giving away their position. Zakar'i prompted them to not give up, and told them they would get out of this, one way or another.

During the night, they heard the marching of droids outside. Taking positions inside the cave, the Jedi and clones prepped themselves for the droid assault. It got closer and closer until it appeared to come from just outside the cave, then it stopped. The troopers waited several minutes in silence without making a sound in case the droids were still out there. Eventually, Snowder checked to make sure they were gone, and upon stepping out the cave was assaulted by a squad of advanced droid commandos. After defeating them, Snowder suggested that they were no longer safe there, and that they had to keep moving.

Just before leaving the planet, Ventress received word that an entire squad of commando droids was lost. After hearing this news, she knew that there had to be a Jedi survivor. She requested to stay to help hunt down and kill the Jedi, and permission was granted to her by Count Dooku.

After it was revealed that there were Jedi survivors, the bounty drastically increased, and many more bounty hunters went to Fanderium in search of these wanted troopers. Ventress joined the hunt as well, eager to find the Jedi before anyone else did.

A Criminal Rescue
The news of the large bounty eventually reached the criminal world of Seenen Drawth, which was home to the criminals known as Khalmirrin and Drant Gyger. The two of them had worked briefly with the 434th Legion in the past, and noticed the bounty on the Jedi Zakar'i. Zakar'i had asked for the criminals' assistance during the Drawth Rebellion, and in return helped to secure their home from attack and pardoned them of their crimes. When Khalmirrin saw the bounty, he realized he had to do something to help in return. When Gyger refused to join him, Khalmirrin took several of his assassin droids and set a course for Fanderium.

After arriving on Fanderium, Khalmirrin was questioned about his presence by battle droids. Telling them he was there to collect the bounty on the surviving Republic forces, his ship was cleared for entry.

Far into the fields of Fanderium, a battle broke out between the surviving Republic troopers and a group of Fanderium volunteers. Zakar'i told the troopers not to harm them, but when the Fanderium people did not let up their fire and a clone trooper was hit, General Snowder went on the offensive. He cut down several of the Fanderium people, and let those of them who ran to escape.

The engagement alerted nearby forces of the survivors' location, and the Republic troops were in danger of being surrounded by enemy forces. They made a break for a nearby cave, where their adversaries would be forced to attack from one direction. After holding down the cave from the advancing battle droids for a time, Ventress entered the cave, cutting down one of the clones and engaging the Jedi in a lightsaber duel. The Jedi took turns during the confrontation, switching between battling the droids and dueling Ventress.

All hope seemed lost for the Jedi until the battle droid forces began to turn around. Assuming they were told to retreat for some reason, Ventress order them to continue to attack on the Jedi rather than leave the cave. The droids obeyed, turning back around and continuing the attack. Their reason for "retreating" soon became clear, as the battle droids began to be destroyed from behind until there were none left. It was Khalmirrin and his assassin droids, there to rescue the Jedi and get them off the planet. Sending the assassin droids to deal with Ventress, Zakar'i and the surviving clones boarded Khalmirrin's ship and escaped the planet with their lives, but not before Snowder was cut down by Ventress in lightsaber combat.

Aftermath
The Battle of Fanderium resulted in a complete Separatist takeover of Fanderium. Although the people of Fanderium wanted to remain neutral in the war, after the Republic blockade of their planet, the people grew a hatred for the faction. After the Separatists came in and liberated the people from Republic rule, the people felt as if they owed the confederacy, and joined their cause. The battle itself left thousands of units destroyed on both sides and took hundreds of civilian lives. Most of these lives were taken during the engagements in the major cities, and the rest by General Con Snowder while his forces were on the run from the Separatists.