Battle of Kamino (Third Great Galactic War)

The Battle of Kamino was a major space battle fought over Kamino between the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire. The battle was aimed at destroying the Republic.

Prelude
Following the Theed Genocide, Imperial propaganda attempted to cover up the atrocity by blaming it on Jedi terrorists with biochemical bombs. The Galactic Republic's government-in-exile, though, managed to hack into the HoloNet feed, playing actual footage shot by a Republic cruiser posing as a neutral civilian freighter. This caused a massive riot on Coruscant aimed at removing Palpatine from office. This coup failed, many civilians were slaughtered, and order was restored.

The Imperial Security Bureau managed to trace the hacking back to Kamino, discovering the Jedi and traiterous clone troopers who escaped during Operation: Knightfall. Emperor Palpatine summoned Supreme Commander Darth Starkiller and CC-6007 "Rommel" to his office to give them their new orders: go to Kamino, destroy the Republic fleet, and land troops in Tipoca City. He warns Starkiller not to use a Base Delta Zero unless absolutely necessary, since they need Kamino for troops.

The 50st fleet set off for Kamino with a fleet large enough to scare most systems into submission.

Meanwhile, the Republic had set up early warning systems along all hyperspace lanes to and from Kamino, anticipating an Imperial attack. This was the first strategic blunder on the Imperials' part. They assumed the Republic had no knowledge, when in fact, they knew the risk of hacking HoloNet.

Three standard hours before the battle, the Empire shut down all HoloNet channels in the Outer Rim and Wild Space in an effort and broadcast a message using these channels demanding all Jedi and Republic sympathizers turn themselves in. Should they turn themselves in, they will be given due process, a sharp contrast from Order 66's shoot-on-sight policy. Unsurprisingly, no one turned themselves in, but Palpatine did not order a search, stating the Empire was already over-stretched finding the last CIS holdouts.

Early Battle
Two standard hours before the battle, a warning satellite detected the hyperdrive energy of a DP20 cruiser. It soon picked up many, many hyperspace energy signatures. This was the warning the Republic was waiting for. The Republic fleet moved to the exit point of the hyperspace lane the fleet would appear at.

Five standard minutes prior to the Imperial fleets' arrival, the exit points for every ship was predicted, with the Republic's own ships positioned in a way to ensnare and trap the fleet.

The Imperial Fleet finally came out of hyperspace...into a trap. The Republic used several space tugs to tow a derilict Providence-class carrier/destroyer left over from a previous battle on Kamino during the Clone Wars into a position that would cause one of the Imperial ships to collide with it. Sure enough, a ship (an Imperator-class star destroyer) did collide with the derilict ship, causing the destroyer to sustain severe bow damage. Another Imperator was ensnared between two Venator-class destroyers and quickly destroyed by sustained fire and NTB-630 naval bombers.

Starkiller was horrified that the Republic fleet was not only ready for them, but had sprang a trap on them. Three Acclamators were lost to a relentless bombing by NTB-630s and Y-Wings, and half of the DP20s were instantly torn apart by defense satellites. The new TIE/LN fighters were deployed to deal with the bombers, but were no match for the ARC-170s and V-Wings.

The Slaughter
Starkiller attempted to bring his ships into line and engage the Republic. He ordered all ships to divert all power to weapons. This was the second strategic blunder. With no shields, vital hardpoints were exposed. In Starkiller's defense, he had yet to see the full firepower of the Republic Navy. Having better-trained gunners and pilots was one of the main factors in this. The 501st only had fresh clones following losses during Operation: Knightfall, all of whom were relatively inexperienced in space combat.

It didn't take long for 90% of the Imperial starfighters to be destroyed. 60% of the capitol ships were also destroyed. To add insult to injury, Starkiller's flagship was badly listing to port, and Starkiller and Rommel were contemplating abandoning ship.

The Imperial fleet attempted to make a last-ditch assault to open a gap in the Republic blockade to get their ground forces through. It didn't work. What was thought to be a gap was actually intentionally made. This led to Starkiller believing that this was his window of opportunity. Landing craft and gunships began streaming through. In Tipoca City, no one had received word of this deception and actually began training the anti-air weaponry skyward. As the landing party went through, Commanders Andy and Katie Sammonds, Jedi Knights, led a massive stream of starfighters and attacked the poorly-armed transports. The gunships managed to return fire, taking out several fighters, but ultimately succumbed to the superior maneuvering capabilities of the Eta-2 interceptors.

Imperial Retreat
After a half standard hour of sustained fire, only Starkiller's flagship, two cruisers and a few scattered fighters remained. Starkiller ordered a full retreat, which Rommel was not ready to follow, but after seeing the debris field of what was once their fleet, not to mentioned burned, mutilated, and otherwise unidentifiable bodies floating amongst the wreckage. He admitted defeat and gave the retreat order.

The Republic moved to cut off all escape routes, as the last of the Imperial starfighters were destroyed. The last cruisers were also destroyed, and Starkiller ordered an attempt to right the ship from its listing, which was achieved by moving weapons, droids, and dead crew members to the other side of the ship.

Starkiller ordered a transfer to a higher inclination to get above the Republic fleet. Republic bombers attempted to follow, but were forced to disengage when the order was given to let the ship go. Within minutes, Starkiller had left the system, as he retired to his quarters and wallowed in embarrassment.

Aftermath
When Starkiller returned to Coruscant, he reported his defeat to Palpatine. Surprisingly, Palpatine wasn't angry, but rather surprised at how organized the Republic was.

Little did anyone in the Empire know that Yoda had stowed away aboard Starkiller's ship. He later confronted Palpatine, engaged him in a lightsaber duel, and managed to escape in his old Delta-7 fighter.