Battle of Christophsis

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|next=*Battle of TethThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring film
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|name=Battle of Christophsis
|image=
|conflict=War of the Ring
|date=June 3-8, 1981, 10 weeks after the First Battle of IsengardThe Essential Reader's Companion
|place=ChristophsisThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring film
|result=Galactic Republic victory
*Admiral Trench defeated; Separatist blockade of Christophsis penetrated and forced to retreat
*Sergeant Slick apprehended and General Whorm Loathsom captured
*Separatist occupation of Christophsis ended
|side1=*Christophsian rebels
*Galactic Republic
*Jedi Order
*Rohan
|side2=*Confederacy of Independent Systems
*Goblins from the Misty Mountains
*Retail CaucusThe Clone Wars Campaign Guide
|commanders1=*Jedi Grand Master Bilbo Baggins 
*High General Sam Gamgee
*General Frodo Baggins
*King Theoden
*Another Jedi Knight
*Admiral Wullf Yularen
*Commander Eowyn
*Marshal Commander CC-2224
*Commander Eomer
*Commander Blackout
*Captain Rex
*Sergeant CoricThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring novelization
*Senator Bail Prestor Organa
|commanders2=*Commander Jinx
*General Whorm Loathsom
*Admiral Trench
*Sergeant Slick 
*TI-99†
*TJ-55†The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring The Complete Season One, "Jedi Temple Archives" Blu-ray feature for "The Hidden Enemy"
*T-series tactical droid
|unit1=
|unit2=*Separatist Droid Army
**TJ-55's battle droid battalion
**Whorm Loathsom's army
*Confederacy of Independent Systems Navy
**Christophsis blockade
|forces1=*5 Jedi
*Clone naval officers
*Clone tank gunners
*Clone troopers
**7th Sky Corps
**212th Attack Battalion
**501st Legion
**Torrent Company
**Jet's battalion
**Slick's platoonStar Wars: The Clone Wars – The Official Episode Guide: Season 1
**At least 1 Clone Comms Technician
*62,000 Rohirrim cavalry
*Clone trooper pilots
*Stealth operations clone troopers
*1 stealth clone pilotStar Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles
*All Terrain Recon Transports
*All Terrain Tactical Enforcers
*4 AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons
*Several blaster cannons
*Low Altitude Assault Transports/infantry
*Open Circle Fleet
**Sam Gamgee's taskforce
**Baggins's fleet
**Wurtz's fleet
*Nu-class attack shuttles
*5 BTL-B Y-wing starfighters
*3 Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors
*V-19 Torrent starfighters
*6 Acclamator-class assault ships
**Hunter
*3 Pelta-class frigates
*1 IPV-2C Stealth Corvette
*Numerous support ships
*10 Venator-class Star Destroyers
**Dauntless
**Negotiator
**Resolute
|forces2=*1 Dark Witch
*B1-Series battle droids
*B2 super battle droids
*74,500 Goblins
*68 BX-series droid commandos
*35 Droidekas
*32 Cave Trolls
*DSD1 dwarf spider droids
*LR-57 combat droids
*10 OG-9 homing spider droids
*1 OOM command battle droid
*9 Octuptarra magna tri-droids
*3 T-series tactical droids
*Armored Assault Tanks
*10 Oliphaunts
*NR-N99 Persuader-class droid enforcers
*6 Super tank shield generators
*Single Trooper Aerial Platforms
*12 Droid tri-fighters
*10 Hyena-class bombers
*Vulture droid starfighters
*At least 7 C-9979 landing craft
*At least 12 Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ships
*At least 19 Munificent-class star frigates
*1 Providence-class carrier/destroyerStar Wars: The Clone Wars Official Episode Guide Series 1 & 2
**Invincible†
*1 Recusant-class light destroyer
|casual1=*Some Christophsian resisters
*Many clone troopers
*Many Rohirrim riders
*Most LAAT/i gunships, AT-TE walkers, and other supplies deployed with the initial force
*1 Pelta-class frigate
*2 Venator-class Star Destroyers severely damaged; another destroyed
*All support ships
|casual2=*The Invincible and her bridge crew, save for Trench
*At least 1 Munificent-class star frigate
*The Recusant-class light destroyer
*The majority of the Confederate and Goblin forces based on Christophsis
|civilian=Some non-combatant Christophsians}}
The Battle of Christophsis took place at the planet Christophsis in 1981, ten weeks into the War of the Ring. Seeking to gain control of the strategic world's resources, the Confederacy of Independent Systems' Droid Army, led by General Whorm Loathsom, invaded and seized Christophsis. Responding to a plea for help from the world's inhabitants, the Galactic Republic and the Jedi High Council dispatched Jedi Generals Sam Gamgee and Ringbearer Frodo Baggins and Admiral Wullf Yularen with a clone trooper contingent from the Grand Army of the Republic to liberate Christophsis. After penetrating Confederate Admiral Trench's massive naval blockade of the planet and delivering supplies to Senator Bail Prestor Organa's refugee camp on the surface via an experimental stealth ship, the Republic forces attempted to ambush the Confederate battle droid army from a business center in one of the plazas of the capital city, Crystal City. Acting on information from one of its spies, Clone Sergeant Slick, the Separatists foiled the Republic's attack. Despite the turn of events, the Jedi and clones managed to escape and retreated back to their base.
Alerted to the possibility of a spy amongst their men, Frodo and Sam went to search for more information behind enemy lines while Clone Commander CC-2224 and Clone Captain CT-7567—nicknamed "Cody" and "Rex," respectively—stayed at the base to root out the agent. Upon arriving at the Confederacy base, Frodo and Sam confronted the Dark Witch Jinx and discovered the presence of an invasion goblin force in far greater strength than they had originally believed. Back at the Republic base, Slick was revealed to be the spy and sabotaged the Republic's weapons depot, destroying most of the Republic's supplies, before Rex and Cody apprehended him. Raising the stakes with its full strength, the main body of Confederate troops launched an assault on the Republic forces. After three days, the Separatists were forced to retreat. When Loathsom mounted a second assault, his forces' advance was halted by the Republic's heavy cannons, and he and his droids pulled back to their base to set up a deflector shield to counter the Republic's artillery.
The renewed Separatist blockade of Christophsis drove Yularen and the Republic fleet away from the planet, but Frodo's newly assigned Jedi Padawan, Eowyn daughter of Eomund, was able to land on the world. Loathsom and the Confederacy mounted yet another assault, this time advancing behind their shield, which effectively negated the clone artillery. While Sam, Theoden, Eomer, Rex, and 501st Legion troops defended the heavy cannons, Frodo and Eowyn proceeded to sabotage the Confederacy's shield generator. After Sam pretended to surrender to Loathsom to gain time for his comrades to complete their mission, Frodo and Eowyn were able to eliminate the shield. Yularen returned to the Christoph system with Jedi Grand Master Bilbo Baggins and a fortified fleet and broke through the Separatist blockade, driving the enemy armada away from Christophsis. In addition, the Republic's renewed artillery usage proved instrumental in annihilating the Separatists and Goblins in Crystal City. Gamgee captured Loathsom, and the Republic emerged victorious and landed further reinforcements to secure the victory.
==Prelude==
===Target of riches===
In June 1981, ten weeks after the outbreak of the War of the Ring, the Confederacy of Independent Systems targeted the Outer Rim world of Christophsis. With the Confederacy and the Galactic Republic already embattled for control of crucial hyperlanes, Christophsis's strategic position on the Corellian RunStar Wars: The Clone Wars: New Battlefronts: The Visual Guide would allow the Confederacy to cut off Republic forces from the Outer Rim, while at the same time providing a staging point for strikes on the planets Kamino, home to cloning production for the Grand Army of the Republic, and Rothana, the headquarters of Rothana Heavy Engineering, which provided for the Republic war machine.The Essential Guide to Warfare The Separatists hoped to gain controlThe War of the Ring: Shadowed of the resource-rich world for its supply of crystals, which attracted them as a power source for weaponry.The Clone Wars: Planets in Peril They also sought to capture or kill the prominent Republic Senator Bail Prestor Organa, who was on the planet with a city-based refugee camp as part of a behind-enemy-lines effort that the Galactic Senate had authorized.
The infamous Admiral Trench led a Confederate Navy fleet to besiege Christophsis, blockading the planet with a massive flotilla over thirty warships strong. The Confederate General Whorm Loathsom then launched a planetary invasion, securing the surface with the Separatist Droid Army and additional forces from the Retail Caucus, a conglomerate within the Confederacy. Organa and his forces were subsequently trapped on the planet's surface and were cut off from the Republic's resupply efforts. The oligarchs of Christophsis's government fled off-world with what riches they could gather, leaving the remaining Christophsian inhabitants to fend for themselves. A number of Christophsians attempted to defend themselves by mounting blaster attacks on the Separatist battle droids as they advanced through the planet's streets, but the resisters were unable to hold out against the Confederacy. Via a planet-wide holotransmission that obtained the Jedi Order's attention, Loathsom told the civilian populace that they were under Separatist rule, ordering them to submit to the occupation and remain vigilant for Republic reprisals before ending the transmission. Most of the Christophsians soon went into hiding.
===Republic response===
Unable to defend themselves any longer, the beleaguered Christophsian citizens appealed directly to the Jedi High Council at the Jedi Temple for help. In response to their request and Organa's dire situation, the Council of Elrond dispatched High Jedi General Sam Gamgee and Jedi General Frodo Baggins to assist in disrupting the Separatist invasion and to mount a rescue mission to deliver Organa's relief supplies through the blockade. Because the Separatists were reportedly small in number,The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Frodo and Sam were only equipped with a small team of clone troopers from the Grand Army of the Republic and 60,000 Rohirrim horses, and expected to retake the planet with relative ease.The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Troops from the 212th Attack Battalion were provided for the campaign, in addition to forces from the 501st Legion.
On Sam's orders, Frodo and the recently appointedStar Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded Admiral Wullf Yularen set off for the Christoph system with a Republic Navy task force of Star Destroyers, with Sam and Marshal Commander CC-2224, nicknamed "Cody," and the King of Rohan, Theoden preparing to follow in Sam's flagship, the Negotiator. Gamgee elected to bring along an experimental stealth ship, a prototype with cloaking capabilities. However, the Confederacy and Goblins of the Misty Mountains was preparing a larger army to seize Christophsis. Additionally, among the Republic troops was Clone Sergeant Slick, who, unbeknownst to his comrades, had developed a grudge against the Jedi by equating the clones' service to them with enslavement. Infuriated with what he perceived to be corruption, Slick began to pass inside information to the Dark Witch Jinx on Christophsis, and in return, he was paid for his assistance.
==The battle==
===The Republic's arrival===
====Offensive on the blockade====
Upon arrival at Christophsis, Frodo, Yularen, and their fleet of three Venator-class Star Destroyers engaged the Separatist blockade in battle, despite a previous order from Sam not to. However, the Republic forces were quickly outnumbered by Trench's fleet, which was comprised of numerous Munificent-class star frigates, Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ships, and Trench's flagship, the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Invincible. From the Star Destroyer Resolute, Frodo and Yularen contacted Organa, whose position had been overrun by Separatist forces; running low on food, water, and munitions, Organa and his men were close to being overwhelmed by the vast droid armies on the planet's surface. Organa's transmission was soon cut off just as another of Frodo's cruisers was hit by enemy turbolaser fire. As the opposing sides continued to exchange heavy fire across the space above Christophsis, the Invincible advanced unopposed on the Resolute, and Yularen ordered all of the Resolute forward shields to be activated just as the Separatist command ship released a full barrage of laser fire at the entire task force. Trench additionally targeted the Pelta-class supply ships, separating them from the escort cruisers that were protecting them.
One of the transports was picked off by the heavy fire, being blasted to bits. In response to the enemy offensive, Frodo ordered his men to over-fire all reactors, intending to charge the Separatist commander, whose identity he was still unaware of. At that point, Sam, Theoden, Eomer, and Cody arrived out of hyperspace aboard the Negotiator behind Frodo's forces, staying closer to the moon of Christophsis. Despite being informed by TI-99,The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring The Complete Season Two his T-series tactical droid, that the Resolute was not breaking off from its attack, Trench continued to hold his own ships in line and had his battle droid bridge crew intensify the Invincible forward deflectors. As the Resolute took more turbolaser fire, Frodo and Yularen conferred with Sam through a holographic transmission. On the advice of his comrades, Frodo agreed to regroup behind the moon and ordered the supply transports to break away first, with his own three Star Destroyers covering their escape. Frodo's cruisers maneuvered around and took most of the enemy fire with their hulls, effectively protecting the supply ships and fleeing behind them. Recalling his orders to only blockade the planet, Trench, believing that he had won the first round of the battle, chose not to pursue the retreating Republic fleet and instead remained in orbit of Christophsis to wait for the Republic's imminent reprisal. To ready the Invincible for the enemy's inevitable return, Trench had his command ship's shields recycled and forward cannons reset to a full charge.
While the Republic fleet recuperated and waited for the next engagement to begin, Frodo took a Nu-class attack shuttle to the Negotiator, where he met with Sam to see the new ship that the Hobbit had brought with him. After showing Frodo the stealth ship prototype and its useful cloaking abilities, Sam stated that the craft was undetectable to scanners as far as they knew, but noted that this was essentially the ship's first real field test. Although Frodo wanted to use the ship to sneak past the blockade and take the Separatist fleet out from behind, Sam instead intended for him to run a mercy mission down to Christophsis's surface to deliver supplies to Organa's headquarters. Despite his desire to openly engage and obliterate the Separatists, Frodo agreed to execute this assignment. Back aboard the Resolute, Yularen, who had noticed a familiarity with the enemy's tactics during the morning's engagement, researched the markings on the Invincible and confirmed that it belonged to Trench, whom he had personally fought in the Battle of Malastare Narrows. Concerned by his findings, Yularen requested that Frodo postpone his departure and joined his general on the Negotiator, where the stealth ship was being loaded with the relief supplies for Organa. Yularen reported his suspicions that the enemy commander was none other than Trench and, because he had seen the admiral's work firsthand at Malastare, volunteered himself as a consort to Frodo's mission; he believed that he could be of service to Frodo during the inevitable encounter that they would have with Trench's cunning. Frodo accepted Yularen's offer and welcomed him to his crew aboard the stealth ship.
====A stealth mission====
With Clone Commander BlackoutAlthough the references Blackout as a mere trooper, his rank of commander is referred to in dialogue during the episode. and trooper CT-1284, nicknamed "Spark"—the last of the stealth ship's crew—at their stations and ready for takeoff, the stealth ship powered up and prepared for departure. Frodo piloted the ship out of the Negotiator main hangar bay and toward the heavily armored Separatist fleet, engaging his craft's cloaking shield just as it came out from behind the moon. Remaining undetected by Trench and the rest of his blockade, Frodo and Yularen slipped right past an ignorant Munificent-class frigate—with enough alarming closeness to leave Yularen worried about alerting the enemy to their presence. Conferring with his tactical droid aboard the Invincible, Trench found that resistance on Christophsis was crumbling, and the droid offered his estimation that it would be a half rotation more before it was completely over. Intending to add some pressure on those who had been sent to rescue Organa, Trench dispatched his Hyena-class bombers to attack Organa's camp on the surface in order to draw his enemies out from behind the moon. The squadron of bombers, accompanied by fighter escort, launched from the Separatist fleet, and their path to the surface inadvertently headed them straight for Frodo's stealth ship, despite Trench's continued unawareness of the craft.
The approaching bombers presented Frodo with a tough decision: because he was unaware if the Separatists had learned of their presence, he was uncertain if the bombers were targeting the stealth ship or not. The Republic craft itself was armed with proton torpedoes and anti-aircraft cannons, but would have to decloak to use either weapons—and doing so would alert the Separatists to the ship if they had not yet been. Yularen noted that an offensive had to be mounted soon, if Frodo decided to do so. As the diving bombers entered within 5,000 range, Frodo elected to chance that the Confederacy was unaware of the stealth ship and thereby ordered his crew to stay cloaked, power the ship down, and let her drift. Despite Yularen's belief of the contrary, the bombers did not hit the stealth ship, zooming right by and rattling it but otherwise leaving it unscathed. However, Yularen pushed away the comforting revelation that the Separatists were oblivious to their presence and voiced his realization that the bombers were heading to bomb Organa's command center. The bombers did just that, releasing their munitions on Organa's camp in the city. With the Separatists approaching by air and by ground, Organa opened a transmission to Sam and stated that without reinforcements, there was little chance for survival. Gamgee then contacted Frodo and told him to continue with his mission while he himself engaged Trench's fleet with the remaining ships of the task force. Both Yularen and Frodo advised against this course of action; Yularen stated that Gamgee did not have the proper resources to openly engage Trench and asserted that it was a trap, while Frodo affirmed that the proposed tactic simply would not be successful.
Believing that the stealth ship was in the best position to take out Trench, Frodo, to Yularen's surprise, ordered four of the craft's proton torpedoes to be prepped, with the intention of going on the offensive and drawing Trench's attention away from the people of Christophsis and back to the Republic fleet. Frodo additionally cut off Sam's transmission before he could continue to tell him to deliver Organa's supplies. Meanwhile, Trench found the Republic fleet's stagnancy unusual and mused over their intentions. He found out soon enough, as Frodo brought his stealth ship around to get a clear shot at the Invincible. After disengaging his ship's cloaking shields, Frodo ordered his crew to fire the volley of torpedoes at the bridge of the Invincible. The attack proved unsuccessful, as Trench was able to activate his command ship's powerful thermal shields in time to repel the blasts. Just as the stealth ship began to recloak, Trench fired four discord missiles at the enemy craft. Frodo had his stealth pilot launch decoy flares and recloaked his ship, causing the missiles to hit the flares instead of the ship. However, Trench was not finished just yet. He ordered a large spread of lasers to be fired at the area where the stealth ship had just vanished, attempting to hit the craft with sheer numbers. Frodo managed to evade the incoming barrage, avoiding destruction at Trench's hands. Frodo's skills did not go unnoticed; despite the indications that he had missed, Trench surmised that he was facing a Jedi, as no clone pilot was skilled enough to avoid that many lasers.
Deciding to speak with the enemy, Trench patched himself over an open frequency and called out to his invisible enemy. Frodo picked up the transmission and unhesitatingly accessed it, bearing witness to Trench as he goaded the Republic forces into attacking him and boasted that he had dealt with cloaked ships before. After he had ended his message, Trench was unsurprised with his tactical droid's calculation that the Jedi would not turn back as he requested; the admiral theorized that the Jedi would attack once more. Meanwhile, Frodo and Yularen were left puzzled with the revelation of Trench's experience with cloaked ships until Sam obtained records of Trench's battles. Sam reported that Trench had indeed faced such technology and had successfully hit them with tracking torpedoes; Frodo theorized—correctly—that Trench had homed in on the ship's magnetic signature as a means of targeting them. Frodo requested that Sam hold off his attack until Trench was destroyed before ending the transmission. After completing the necessary preparations, the stealth ship decloaked once more and fired four more torpedoes at the Invincible. While the torpedoes hit the Invincible thermal shields and failed to do any damage, the bridge crew locked onto the stealth ship's magnetic signature and was able to track it. Forced to lower his shields in order to fire the tracking torpedoes, Trench had his tactical droid do just that and released the four-torpedo volley. With the bait taken, Frodo began to pilot the stealth ship toward the Invincible.
With the torpedoes following at a close range, Frodo had his ship's cloaking device deactivated and diverted all power to the engines. Frodo headed the stealth ship straight for the Invincible bridge, where Trench found that the shields could not be raised because they were still in recharge. Frodo sped the stealth ship straight across the Invincible hull, grazing it and leading the torpedoes straight into her bridge. Frodo quickly made for the surface as the Invincible was torn apart by explosions along its spine. Issuing Frodo a somewhat reluctant congratulations, Sam engaged the remainder of the Separatist fleet with the Negotiator while Frodo and Yularen continued for the surface to deliver the relief supplies to Organa. The stealth ship landed at Organa's refugee camp, where the supplies were unloaded. Organa thanked Frodo for saving a great many lives, and Yularen relayed his impressed views with the unusual Hobbit.
With Trench out of the way, the Separatist fleet was in disarray, and Gamgee pushed his fleet of ten Venator-class Star Destroyers forward to break the enemy blockade, which—in the absence of the Invincible—was now comprised of Munificent-class frigates, Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ships, and a Recusant-class light destroyer. Ordering all of his ships to fire at will, Sam launched V-19 Torrent starfighters and BTL-B Y-wing starfighters—led by a Jedi Knight who was piloting a Delta-7B interceptor—to combat the Separatists' Hyena-class bombers, Vulture droid starfighters, and droid tri-fighters. While the opposing capital ships exchanged heavy fire, the Jedi Knight wove through the battle and targeted one of the Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ships, fighting through the pursuing droid starfighters. Taking losses, the Separatist fleet began to retreat, and Gamgee, determined to break the blockade, had his forces target the Separatist command ships. At Gamgee's behest, the Jedi Knight who was with the starfighter forces executed an attack run on the Recusant-class light destroyer, destroying the cruiser. The remnants of Trench's fleet were soon in full retreat, and Sam sent support ships down to Christophsis's surface to assist in the relief efforts. Frodor—who had returned from the planet's surface—and Sam both piloted their Delta-7B interceptors against the Separatist fleet's remaining ships. With the Jedi's securing of a "rare Republic victory" over the Separatist space forces, the Republic detachment prepared to mount an assault on the Separatist army in the planet's capital city, Chaleydonia, more commonly known as Crystal City.
===Separatist manipulations===
====Foiled ambush====
Sam, Eomer and Cody joined Frodo; Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex;" and the rest of the Republic forces on the surface, while Yularen eventually returned to the fleet as its acting commander in the continuing struggle against the Separatist blockade. After the Republic established a networked base—built from materials aboard their fleet—beyond the outskirts of Chaleydonia, Sergeant Slick and his clone platoon were sent to perform a reconnaissance of the planet in order to locate a strategical ambush site from which to attack the Separatist droid forces. Slick and his men found an ideal location: a business center with adjacent north- and south-facing towers in Crystal City.The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars As they returned to the Republic base, the clone troopers came across a squad of B1-Series battle droids that was attempting to clear one of the city's main boulevards of Christophsians. When the droids discovered a crippled refugee and discussed killing him, the clones intervened and eliminated the droids. However, once he and his men returned to the base, Slick secretly transmitted the Republic's intended strategy of attack to Jinx. With Slick's information, Jinx and Loathsom were able to devise a plan to thwart the Republic's trap, thus ensuring that they would stay a step ahead of the Jedi and clones.
Sam, Cody, Eomer, and Slick stationed their men in the south tower, while Frodo, Theoden and Rex became based in the parallel north tower. While Confederate B1 battle droids and Armored Assault Tanks passed through the plaza below, Sam's men set up several repeating blaster cannons, ready to ambush the advancing enemy troops. As the clones kept watch on the droids, the column of droids—unexpectedly to the Republic—split into two. B1 battle droids took a turbolift up to the level of the south tower where Eomer's forces were based and ambushed them, surrounding and converging on the clones. The backfired ambush made it apparent to Sam that their tactic had been compromised. Watching the transpiring events from the north tower and confirming the situation over comlink with Gamgee, Frodo contacted clone pilot Hawk and ordered an evacuation from the south tower. Frodo then cut through the window overlooking the plaza with his lightsaber and used the Force to blast a hole through it, enabling his men to fire their blaster rifles' grappling hooks across to the south tower. Frodo, Theoden, Rex, and the clone troopers crossed the divide and sustained minimal casualties from the battle droids that opened fire on them from the plaza below.
Frodo, Rex, and Theoden troops joined Sam and Eomer in the south tower and cut off the battle droids that were attempting to attack Sam from behind, and Gamgee threw a blaster cannon at the droids with the Force and temporarily halted their advance. The Jedi and clones entered a turbolift and proceeded to evacuate from the roof of the tower, where the Separatist droids pursued them in alternate turbolifts. As the clone troopers provided covering fire for their Jedi Hobbits to assault the droids at a closer proximity, the T-series tactical droid TJ-55 arrived on the roof with more droid troops. Presently, Hawk's LAAT/i gunship arrived and hovered near the roof of the tower. The Republic forces began to board the craft and backed into the gunship while continually focusing their blaster fire on the droids. In a last act before retreating, trooper Gus attacked TJ-55 and ripped the droid's head off, taking the severed cranial unit onto the gunship. The Republic forces vacated the ambush site and returned to the base, where they contemplated their foiled ambush. Cody and Rex analyzed the tactical droid's head in the base's control center and accessed its memory banks. However, the droid only confirmed that the Confederacy had been aware of the Republic's plan and stopped processing before it could reveal any more information or shed more light on the matter.
When the clone officers reported their findings to the Hobbits, Frodo suggested that a breach in security systems had been the source for the Confederacy's acquisition of the plans. Sam himself went so far as to suspect that there was a spy among the Republic forces and believed that action behind enemy lines was necessary to uncover information. Before leaving with Frodo to investigate behind Separatist lines, Sam ordered Cody and Rex to keep the mission confidential and remain behind to find and apprehend the spy. Using a still-active comlink in the control center, Slick was able to eavesdrop on the entire conversation. Rex spotted Slick in the hallway and ordered the spy to stop, although Slick was too far away to be recognized. Slick fled, and Cody and Rex pursued him but lost his trail. However, because the spy's route through the base's labyrinthine hallways led to the mess hall, Cody and Rex deduced that the Separatist agent had definitely gone there and entered it themselves. The pair discovered that the only people there were their clone brothers. Deducing that the spy was one of their brethren, both officers returned to the base's communications center and continued their investigations. Through the astromech droid R2-D2, a number of external communications were discovered, taking place every few days in an irregular pattern. The wavelength was traced to a terminal in Slick's barracks. Cody and Rex decided to individually interrogate Slick's men under the belief that one of them was the spy.
====Deceptions revealed====
Under the cover of night, Frodo and Sam approached the Confederacy base—where the main Separatist invasion force was landing and preparing to march on the city—on BARC speeders through the streets of the crumbled Crystal City. The two Hobbits noticed an increasing number of goblins observing them, but because the goblins were not attempting to stop them, the pair deduced that they were heading into a trap. Upon arrival at the base, Frodo and Sam were greeted by the hooded figure of Jinx, and all three adversaries ignited their lightsabers on sight of each other. Taunting her assailants with the knowledge of the spy, Jinx climbed nimbly to the top of the base's stairs. A lightsaber duel ensued when Frodo slashed at Jinx, who drove him down to the foot of the stairs. Sam joined the fight and attacked Jinx as well. Jinx fought Frodo and Sam simultaneously with her dual lightsabers and used the Force to telekinetically throw a piece of crystal rubble at the duo. Gamgee sliced the projectile in half, and he and Frodo gradually drove Jinx back up the stairs.
Jinx fled into another room, to where the Hobbits pursued her. She summoned numerous books off their shelves and hurtled them at her pursuers; Gamgee stopped them with the Force, and Frodo's added telekinetic assistance forced the books back at Jinx. As the Goblin's army witch assumed a submissive seated position, the two Hobbits approached her with lightsabers ignited. However, Jinx suddenly activated her own lightsabers into the floor and opened up a hole, causing Frodo and Sam to drop into the room below. Jinx mocked the two before fleeing, and the two Jedi jumped back up into the room above and followed Jinx as she broke a window and hurtled out of it. While Jinx landed on the head of an Octuptarra magna tri-droid attached to the side of the building, Frodo and Sam walked onto the balcony and discovered the full scale of the Confederate and Goblin invasion force: numerous C-9979 landing craft were landing, bringing more and more battle droids and goblins to the surface, and many troops had already been deployed and were marching in formation on the ground far below. Despite the appearance of the invasion force, Frodo and Sam continued the duel and jumped onto the legs of the tri-droid, severing two of its legs and breaking its hold on the building. Jinx jumped off the droid's head and briefly engaged Frodo upon one of the droid's remaining legs. As the droid plummeted to the ground, Frodo Force-pushed Jinx away, and he and Sam each commandeered a Single Trooper Aerial Platform from the B1 battle droids piloting them.
Jinx landed on the ground just as the tri-droid slammed to the ground with a crash behind her. The Dark Witch relayed orders to Loathsom through a tactical droid and told him to march on the city in order to keep the Jedi occupied while she departed to execute the next part of the plan devised by her Dark Jedi master, Saruman the White—a plan that involved turning Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure against the Jedi Order. Jinx then departed in her starship, the Trident, and left Loathsom in command of the Separatist occupation. Meanwhile, Cody and Rex began to interrogate Slick's men at the platoon's barracks despite protest from Slick, who claimed that the prospect of a traitor would undermine his men's morale. As investigations of troopers Jester, Sketch, Punch, and Gus proceeded without incident, trooper Chopper was forced to reveal that he had been making a necklace of droid fingers, an act forbidden by war protocols. Seeking to ensure that he himself was not framed, Slick put Chopper's credibility in question. However, while stating to Chopper his right to silence, Slick accidentally revealed that he was aware that the Jedi were absent from the base—knowledge that he would have only obtained if he had been listening on the Jedi's conversation earlier through the activated comlink. When Cody pressed him further on the matter, Slick struck out at Cody and Chopper and bolted for the exit, his allegiances revealed. Cody and Rex tracked Slick to the base's gunship landing pad, but instead of finding the spy, they discovered a primed thermal detonator.
Rex and Cody took cover moments before numerous explosives went off and completely destroyed the landing pad, the All Terrain Tactical Enforcers, and the weapon supply depot. Slick ran into the command center and hid in the vents above the room, and Cody and Rex pursued him there. The two officers engaged in a ploy to bait Slick out of the vents—while Cody left his DC-15S on the table and secretly removed the ammunition from his weapon, Rex appeared to leave for the south exit to restart the generators. Slick forsook his hiding spot, stole Cody's blaster, and pointed the weapon at Cody, at which point the commander revealed that it was empty. Rex re-entered the room, and the officers effectively surrounded Slick. The sergeant stole Rex's blaster, and Cody lost his own blaster while disarming the Separatist agent. Cody knocked Slick down as the latter headed for the exit, and the two engaged in close combat before Rex pulled the clone traitor off Cody. Slick head-butted Rex and employed the "groin popper" maneuver to dislocate his leg. As Slick revealed the intentions behind his treason, Cody knocked him out and locked him in handcuffs. Once the Jedi returned to the base, the apprehended Slick accosted them on their "enslavement" of the clones before he was taken to lock-up.
===The stakes are raised===
====Battle in Crystal City====
Although the Republic forces were only able to salvage the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons from the destroyed weapons depot, they regrouped and prepared for an attack. As the clone detachment, including troops from the 501st Legion and Rohan, became based near Crystal City's main street and established a makeshift medical station, Sam, Frodo, Theoden, and their men fought the first wave of battle droids under Loathsom's command. While Cody and the Jedi Knight who had assisted Sam in defeating Admiral Trench's fleet oversaw the Republic's establishment of a base in Crystal City, Loathsom set out to destroy the Republic's command center with his troops before the base could be completed. Loathsom deployed his forces at the Republic's landing zone, but after his B1 battle droids, BX-series droid commandos, droid-piloted Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, and NR-N99 Persuader-class tanks did not succeed in breaching the Republic's tower-mounted turret defenses, he sent more powerful droidekas, cave trolls and tougher OG-9 homing spider droids to cut through the Republic's blaster emplacements. His assault still failed, however. Loathsom then targeted a Republic refugee camp and besieged it with his forces just as Cody and the Jedi Knight were setting up a defense of the camp. Despite Loathsom's deployment of droid starfighters and his advance of his ground troops under mobile super tank shield generators, Cody and the Jedi Knight managed to repel his droid forces.
With his army spread thin over the world, Loathsom dispatched his droids in two groups to meet up at a rendezvous point on the planet. When Republic forces ambushed his battle groups, Loathsom pressed his attack and sent several large tri-droids forward to assist in the battle. However, the Republic Star Destroyer Dauntless arrived over the battlefield, and Cody and his Jedi Knight compatriot put the cruiser's heavy turbolaser fire to good use in destroying Loathsom's forces. After three days, the Confederacy was forced to retreat, though the lull in fighting did not last long. Once the Republic cruiser Hunter had been dispatched for supplies and reinforcements, Loathsom launched another attack. B1 and B2 battle droids and a trio of tri-droids advanced in the front lines, with Armored Assault Tanks following close behind in large numbers. In response, Sam and Cody led the main force of clone troopers—some mounted on All Terrain Recon Transports in a head-on charge against the droids and the goblins in the main street.
Meanwhile, Frodo, Rex, and a clone platoon proceeded through a route parallel to the central boulevard and made their way behind the droid lines. Rex, Eomer, and the rest of the men accompanied Frodo through the desecrated streets of the city to an energy sphere tower. Leaving the majority of the troops at the tower to ambush the street-level droids, Rex took a small group of clones to accompany Frodo to the roof. The group surprised the Separatists' three advancing tri-droids from above; the clones used JT-12 jetpacks to safely descend to the ground below, while Frodo landed on one of the droids himself. The squad's combined efforts brought the three droids down, and the clones and the Rohirrim proceeded to attack the still-advancing droid and goblin lines from behind. Realizing that the Republic's heavy cannons were the main obstacle to his forces' advance, Loathsom once again pulled back to set up a deflector shield. An OOM command battle droid relayed Loathsom's order to retreat to the droids and the goblins on the front lines, and the battle droids pulled back to regroup in the Separatist-controlled part of the city. However, the battle over Christophsis continued to rage on between the opposing Republic and Separatist armadas.
With squadrons of opposing starfighters waging dogfights across the space over the planet, Admiral Yularen and King Theoden quickly sent the young Padawan learner Eowyn daughter of Eomund, and the lady of Rohan to the surface aboard a Nu-class attack shuttle from the Resolute as a messenger from the Council of Elrond with important orders for the Jedi Generals, as disruptions in the system's star had led to a communications blackout between Christophsis and the Jedi Temple. Eowyn landed in City Plaza, which the Republic had commandeered as a landing site,The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring junior novelization and was greeted by a surprised Frodo, Eomer and Sam, who had expected reinforcements instead of her. Eowyn revealed to Frodo that Jedi Grand Master Bilbo Baggins had apprenticed her to him, much to Frodo's surprise and alarm.
Back in City Plaza, Frodo, Eowyn, and Sam contacted Bilbo at the Jedi Temple through the Resolute—which was being pounded by intense turbolaser fire from several Munificent-class frigates of the Separatist blockade, itself numbering less than Admiral Trench's fleet but still posing a threat—and, with all of their support ships already destroyed, requested reinforcements for the battle. Frodo and Sam discovered that the Jedi Council had been unaware that the Republic forces had engaged the Confederacy but were able to get the request for assistance across to Bilbo. Before the conversation could continue, increasing enemy fire caused the Resolute to drop the transmission. More Separatist ships arrived, and Yularen and the Resolute were forced to retreat from the Christoph system to avoid further damage. Without the Republic armada to provide support or transportation away from the planet, the Jedi were left trapped on Christophsis with limited supplies against the large goblin army.
====Confederacy counterattack====
While the Republic kept watch on the Separatist forces by utilizing several towers throughout Crystal City as lookout stations, Loathsom finished setting up a deflector shield generator and launched yet another attack by advancing his forces in two groups from the south and east. In response, Sam led Alpha Squad to disrupt the advancement of the south force, while Bravo Squad was assigned to block the Separatists from the east. Kenobi and a rookie trooper charged the droids from two separate walkways and reached a tall Christophsian building. The trooper used a thermal detonator to topple the building and blocked the way of the Separatist troops. Bravo Squad, however, did not succeed in its mission, and the east Confederate forceStar Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, Nintendo DS edition advanced behind its deflector shield, which negated the Republic's use of long-ranged artillery. The Confederate battle droids, goblins and Armored Assault Tanks advanced through Crystal City, followed by several lines of NR-N99 Persuader-class tanks.
Meeting at the Republic's comm station, Frodo, Sam, Theoden, Eowyn, and Rex devised a plan of attack: while Frodo and Eowyn would infiltrate the Separatist-held ground and eliminate the shield generator, Sam, Theoden and Rex would gain time for them by defending the base. With Sam and Rex marshaling their men in a defense of the Republic's position, Frodo and Eowyn proceeded with multiple explosives to the advancing Separatist lines. The pair hid underneath a large box in order to sneak past the advance droid forces. Once the shield and the droid troops had passed over them, Frodo and Eowyn made their way to the generator but bumped into a droideka and a cave troll along the way. Forced to abandon their cover, Frodo and Eowyn drew their lightsabers and succeeded in defeating the enemy droid and the troll. They then reached the generator site, which, unbeknownst to them, was being guarded by numerous LR-57 combat droids. Meanwhile, Sam, Theoden and Rex attempted to use the base's heavy cannons to defend their position in Crystal City but only verified that the weaponry was indeed useless against the droids' deflector shield. Over an unencrypted comlink channel to make it appear more convincing, Rex ordered the clones to fall back before switching back to a secure channel. Loathsom, meanwhile, ordered his troops to target the heavy cannons, and Rex learned of the Separatists' new targets by eavesdropping on their voice traffic.
As soon as the droids' deflector shield passed over them, Sam and Theoden led a charge on the droids and jumped straight into the fray. Rex and his men began to lure the Separatist troops into the buildings, where the clones had the advantage. The droids fired a missile at the Republic's comm post and inflicted further losses. With his forces overwhelmed by the Separatists, Rex was forced to order his men to retreat. Sam met with Rex at the comm station and ordered the captain to organize his troops in a defense of the heavy cannons while the Jedi General himself delayed the droids. Rex reluctantly agreed and retreated as Gamgee battled the droids alone. However, Sam was soon surrounded by a large squad of B2 super battle droids and DSD1 dwarf spider droids, as well as Loathsom and his own Armored Assault Tank. At the generator site, despite Frodo's warning for caution, Eowyn accidentally alerted the pre-planted LR-57 combat droids to their presence. As the droids emerged from their guard position just below the surface, Frodo engaged them in combat so that Eowyn could place the charges around the generator. While evading one of the retail droids, Eowyn cut off her adversary's cranial unit and Force-pushed it away, inadvertently activating more droids in the process.
As Frodo was surrounded by the combat droids, Eowyn noticed a wall behind her Master with a hole in the middle. Eowyn carefully brought the wall down with the Force, crushing the droids around Frodo without hurting him. Despite the fact that Eowyn had saved his life, Frodo was infuriated with her recklessness and believed that he could have been killed. Meanwhile, in order to gain time for Frodo and Eowyn to eliminate the shield, Sam pretended to surrender to Loathsom. Sam was brought to a crystal table and patiently discussed the "terms of surrender" with Loathsom over a cup of tea, to the Confederate general's increasing impatience. Continuing to defend the heavy cannons with his men from their cover behind some fallen rubble at the end of the city's main street, Rex discovered that Gamgee had been captured but rallied his men and the Rohirrim to continue fighting. Loathsom finally realized that Gamgee was stalling and angrily overturned the table. Loathsom ordered two super battle droids to seize the Hobbit and demanded that the Jedi General immediately call off his troops under the threat of being eradicated. At that moment, Frodo and Eowyn detonated their charges and destroyed the shield generator, and the shield began to recede. Sighting the disappearing shield, Sam grabbed Loathsom around the neck. As the battle droids took aim, Loathsom ordered his troops not to attack and surrendered to Gamgee.
Back at the heavy cannons, Rex also saw the shield begin to dissipate and ordered the heavy cannons to target the exposed battle droids and goblins, and the clone artillery opened fire on the enemy forces and began to annihilate them. Yularen—accompanied by Master Bilbo Baggins himself—returned to the system and dropped out of hyperspace with a fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers and Acclamator-class assault ships as reinforcements. With the cruisers protecting the transports, Yularen's battle group engaged the Confederate blockade, which consisted of several Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ships and Munificent-class frigates. Yularen was able to break through the Separatist defenses and forced the enemy armada to retreat from Christophsis. LAAT/i gunships were deployed from the Republic fleet and assisted the heavy cannons in bombarding the droid forces. An Acclamator-class transport landed in Crystal City and dispatched clone trooper units for further reinforcements on the planet, thus securing the Republic's victory over Loathsom and the Confederacy.
==Aftermath==
In defeating Loathsom, the Republic had turned what would have been a sure Separatist victory into a gain for the Republic. Rex took an LAAT/i gunship to retrieve Frodo and Eowyn from the generator site and brought them back to the Republic's base. Meeting with Frodo, Eowyn, and Sam, Bilbo informed them that the son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt, Rotta the Huttlet, had been kidnapped by a group of renegades. Because rescuing Rotta was necessary to gain Jabba's favor, due to ongoing efforts for Grand Army access to hyperspace lanes in Hutt-controlled space, Frodo and Eowyn's mission would be to rescue the captive Huttlet, while Sam would enter into negotiations with Jabba on his home planet of Tatooine. Based on clone intelligence reports, Frodo, Eowyn, Theoden, and Rex ventured to the Wild Space planet Teth to rescue Rotta with the 501st detachment Torrent Company. However, they were unaware that they were heading straight into a trap set by Saruman the White and Jinx, who were intent on claiming the hyperlanes for the Confederacy and had orchestrated Rotta's capture with help from Jabba's own uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure, in order to manipulate the Jedi and turn Jabba against them.
Republic High Command used the victory as an example of what Clones and Jedi, when together, could do. The battle had shown that a single Jedi and an armed squad of clone troopers could take out an entire column of battle droids. The Separatist realized this as well and began to research Jedi-proof biological weapons. Examples of this project were the Defoliator and the Blue Shadow Virus. These two weapons would see use as soon as later in the first year of the war. Despite this boost to Republic, the CIS received a propaganda boost as well, in the form of Gamgee's false surrender, which Separatist-controlled media used as a clear sign of Republic duplicity. Nearly no more conditional surrenders were offered by either side throughout the remainder of the War of the Ring.Star Wars: On the Front Lines
The Republic was able to cover up all evidence of Slick's betrayal, and his motivations were kept a secret from all except Republic High Command in order to make sure that the knowledge that clones weren't 100% obedient stayed secret to stop any possible similar sentiments throughout the trooper ranks. While before the Jedi had viewed their leadership of organics to be more noble than the Separatists use of droids, they now realized they would have to deal with the factor of freewill.
Admiral Trench somehow managed to escape the destruction of his flagship, though he was forced to undergo cybernetic reconstruction to replace several limbs and a part of his head. Loathsom was held in the prison of the Republic Center for Military Operations.
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Christophsis first appeared in legends in the 2008 The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring film. As the film led into the 2008 television series of the same name, the battle was the first to be featured in the series. The battle introduced both the planet Christophsis and Frodo Baggins's new Padawan, Eowyn, both subjects of which were expanded upon in the series. The series' January 2009 first season episode "The Hidden Enemy," was created as a prequel to the film at series producer George Lucas's request for Christophsis's backstory to be expanded upon.The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars The battle was additionally featured in the "Republic Defender" mini-game of the Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures video game, which specifically detailed Whorm Loathsom's campaign against the Republic. In March 2010, the battle made an appearance once more in The Clone Wars television series, this time in the second season episode "Cat and Mouse," which occurred chronologically before "The Hidden Enemy," and detailed Admiral Trench's blockade of Christophsis. Including the portion of the battle featured in The War of the Ring film, the episode marked the third such one to expand upon the Battle of Christophsis, stretching it out over a three-part story arc throughout the television series.
The battle was originally to appear in a "flashback" episode, entitled "The New Padawan," that was produced in the television series' first season. After Lucas decided to merge several episodes together for a theatrical release of The War of the Ring, however, the episode was moved to its correct chronological placement with other episodes from the first season, and became the film's opening act.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars Battlefront II 
*The War of the Ring: Shadowed
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*The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring novelization
*The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring film 
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*The War of the Ring: Wild Space 
*War of the Ring Gambit: Stealth 
*War of the Ring Gambit: Siege 
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*Dark Disciple 
*Eowyn 
*Tarkin 
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*Battlefront: Twilight Company 
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:War of the Rings battles
Category:Duels