Sky Battle of Kashyyyk

The Sky Battle of Kashyyyk took place in the thrid year of the Clone Wars in the skies over the contested world of Kashyyyk when Jedi Commander Padmé Skywalker and her Republic fleet were ambushed by a Confederate Navy flotilla. Meeting in Kashyyyk's upper atmosphere, each faction launched starfighter squadrons that engaged their enemies in combat. Although both sides took losses, it was Skywalker's forces that suffered greater casualties when two of her three Star Destroyers fell to the Confederate frigates' heavy turbolaser fire. As the Separatist tactical droid commander dispatched B2-RP battle droids to board Skywalker's crippled command ship, the Ryloth, Jedi General Aayla Secura arrived with reinforcements aboard Anakin's own flagship, the Resolute. Launching in LAAT/i gunships, Skywalker boarded the Ryloth with her Padawan, Maria Solo, and troops of the 501st Legion led by Clone Commander CC-5052 to evacuate the cruiser before it could be destroyed. Secura, Solo, and CC-5052 were able to catch up with Skywalker and her clone commander, Aphla, during the fight to repel the Confederate battle droid invaders from the Ryloth. Although Secura was seriously wounded while attempting to help her comrades evacuate the Star Destroyer, she, Skywalker, Solo, and several clone troopers successfully escaped from the Liberty aboard a Consular-class cruiser. Yet, when the frigate attempted to dock to the Resolute so that Secura could receive proper medical attention, the small vessel's hyperdrive was inadvertently activated from an attack by a Vulture droid starfighter squadron. The three Jedi and the clones were unable to prevent their ship from jumping to hyperspace, leaving Admiral Wullf Yularen and the Resolute to continue the battle against the Separatist armada with the remaining Republic forces.

Prelude
By the third year of the Clone Wars, the Mid Rim world of Kashyyyk—the wookiee planet of the Kashyyyk system—had become a contested site between the Galactic Republic and the opposing Confederacy of Independent Systems. However, Kashyyyk's state of contention soon escalated when capital ship forces from both sides of the ongoing war met in the highest levels of the planet's atmosphere to engage in battle.

The battle
While over Kashyyyk, Jedi Commander Padmé Skywalker and her flotilla of three Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyers were ambushed by a Confederate Navy fleet of four Munificent-class star frigates. Both sides launched starfighter units in opposition to the other, with Skywalker deploying groups of V-19 Torrent starfighters and the Confederates—led by a T-series tactical droid from his command ship—sending out Vulture droid fighters in retaliation. While the Separatists lost only one Munificent-class frigate, those remaining concentrated intense turbolaser fire on the trio of Republic Star Destroyers. Heavily outnumbered, Secura's cruisers began to take heavy losses. Eventually, only Secura's own command ship, the Ryloth, was left maintaining altitude as the other two ships flanking it were ripped apart and pulled down through the atmosphere by gravity. The Ryloth attempted to return the enemy ships' fire but remained largely unsuccessful, eventually losing its deflector shields.

Soon, the T-series tactical droid dispatched a force of several hundred rocket pack–equipped B2-RP battle droids through the continuing starfighter dogfights to board the Ryloth. The super battle droids landed on the Ryloth's battered hull and exploited the craters caused by the intense fire to enter the perforated warship. B1 battle droids were also sent to aid in storming the Liberty. Catching sight of the incoming battle droids, Skywalker ordered her clone officer, Commander Aphla, to repel the invaders. Commander Aphla complied and led groups of clone troopers to fight the droids. At the same time, Jedi General Aayla Secura—having received word of Skywalker's plight—arrived out of hyperspace aboard Anakin's own flagship, the Resolute, with troops under her command to reinforce those already fighting. While Admiral Wullf Yularen stayed with the Resolute as its acting commander, Secura departed with her Padawan, Jedi Commander Maria Solo; Commander CC-5052, nicknamed "Bly;" and troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic's 501st Legion aboard several LAAT/i gunships to board the heavily damaged Ryloth and evacuate its crew before the ship could be destroyed. Secura also dispatched a Consular-class cruiser to assist in the evacuation.

The Resolute moved into place and deployed its gunship reinforcements just as the Liberty began to list and enter further into Kashyyyk's atmosphere. The heavily armed gunships were soon met by the B2-RP battle droids, which launched from the Liberty to intercept the new arrivals and targeted their fire at the gunships. The Republic craft returned the droids' fire, using both their laser cannons and rocket armaments to cut through the attacking Separatist forces, and numerous Delta-7B interceptors—one piloted by a Jedi Knight—also fought the rocket droids and Vulture droid starfighters that were attacking the Ryloth. A rocket droid landed on the gunship carrying Secura, Solo, and Commander Bly, tearing off the craft's cockpit canopy and exposing the craft's clone pilot. Ordering Solo and Bly to take care of their adversary, Secura herself chose to go ahead of the rest of her forces. He jumped out of the gunship and used a rocket droid to land on the Liberty, focusing the droid's fire at its airborne comrades along the way. Upon penetrating the Ryloth's hull and landing in one of the cruiser's corridors, Secura began to cut through the droids with her lightsaber. Meanwhile, the rocket droid aboard Solo's gunship attacked the craft's clone pilot and forced him out of the cockpit. Although Bly and Solo were able to catch the pilot and pull him into the troop bay, the damage to the gunship that the droid had inflicted caused the craft to soar downward and slam straight into the Ryloth's already damaged hull. Once the gunship had lodged itself in the Ryloth, Bly, Solo, and their clone squad disembarked their flaming craft without pause and began to fight their way through the cruiser's hallways and join the rest of the Republic forces on board the Star Destroyer.

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