Battle of Teth/Legends

The Battle of Teth took place in 22 BBY on the planet Teth during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Seeking to gain safe passage through Hutt Space, Count Dooku and the Confederacy kidnapped Rotta, son of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, intending to frame the Jedi Order for the crime. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his recently apprenticed Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, were assigned to retrieve Rotta in order to win the crime lord's favor for safe passage through Hutt Space. Skywalker and Tano ventured to the B'omarr Order Monastery on Teth—where Republic scouts had located the Huttlet—with clone troopers of Torrent Company, while Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi negotiated with Jabba on the crime lord's home planet of Tatooine.
Unable to land at the Teth monastery because of the presence of battle droids guarding it, Skywalker and Tano deployed their forces in the jungle below and commenced a vertical assault up the cliff holding the monastery using two AT-TE walkers. After Skywalker and Tano had defeated the droids and retrieved the Huttlet, Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress led several more Confederate units on a renewed assault of the monastery, and the Republic forces were forced to barricade themselves inside the stronghold. The two Jedi went to find a secondary exit to escape the monastery, hoping to find medical support for the Huttlet, while Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex," stayed to command Torrent Company.
Ventress and her forces managed to enter the monastery, and all but six clone troopers were killed, the last six—including Rex—being taken captive. With the help of the astromech droid R2-D2, Skywalker and Tano located a rear exit in the monastery and confronted Ventress herself before escaping Teth in an old freighter. However, the Jedi were forced to continue directly to Tatooine in the ship, as the main hangar of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Spirit of the Republic was severely damaged by Confederate Vulture droids, preventing them from boarding. Meanwhile, Kenobi arrived on Teth with reinforcements, in the form of the 212th Attack Battalion and several LAAT/i gunships. Kenobi also dueled with Ventress, and the Dark Acolyte escaped after she discovered that Skywalker had left the system for Tatooine. With the reinforcements, the Republic forces were able to defeat the Confederacy.
==Prelude==
In 22 BBY, the first year of the Clone Wars, both the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems sought access to the hyperspace lanes passing through Hutt-controlled space. Seven weeks into the war, the Confederacy developed a plan to capture Rotta, the son of Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, and received secret assistance from Jabba's uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure. The Confederacy sought to frame the Republic and the Jedi Order for the crime and return Jabba's son to him themselves, planning to win the crime lord's favor as well as access to the hyperspace lanes. Ziro himself sought to take Jabba's place as leader of the Hutt clans. Once the Jedi had recovered Rotta, the Confederate Head of State, Count Dooku, planned to use a protocol droid, 4A-7, to record a hologram of Rotta in the Jedi's possession, and Dooku would be able to deceive Jabba into granting the Confederacy access through Hutt Space with the recording. The Jedi and the Republic would then punish Jabba severely for his crimes.
The Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress kidnapped Jabba's son on his home planet of Tatooine, spiriting him away to the planet Teth—specifically to a B'omarr Order Monastery that Ziro had previously seized. Unaware of the involvement of both the Confederacy and his uncle in the situation, Jabba employed bounty hunters to find Rotta, in addition to requesting the help of the Republic and the Jedi Order. However, the only Jedi who could be spared for the mission were High General Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Anakin Skywalker, who were at the time battling Confederate forces on the planet Christophsis.
The bounty hunters hired by Jabba tracked Rotta to the Teth monastery. However, they were captured and decapitated, and their heads were sent back to Jabba. Republic Advanced Recon Force trooper scouts also tracked the Huttlet to Teth, and upon the conclusion of the Battle of Christophsis, Kenobi left to negotiate with Jabba on Tatooine on the Republic's behalf. The Jedi were given only one planetary rotation by the crime lord to retrieve his son and apprehend his captors; furthermore, if the Republic and the Jedi could not complete the task, the mission would be given to Count Dooku and the Confederacy. Jedi Grand Master Yoda charged Skywalker and his newly apprenticed Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, with rescuing Jabba's son, and following the scouts' reports, Skywalker and Tano ventured to Teth. However, the Jedi were also unaware of the Confederacy's role in Rotta's capture.
Skywalker and Tano arrived over Teth aboard an Acclamator-class assault ship with a unit of clone troopers and rendezvoused with the Republic scouts. The ARF troopers reported that the monastery was being guarded by at least two battalions of battle droids. Furthermore, the monastery was heavily fortified, and the Republic forces would not be able to land there. Skywalker elected to commence with a ground assault, and the assault ship descended into Teth's atmosphere. The transport deployed several LAAT/i gunships with the Jedi and Torrent Company aboard, in addition to several LAAT/carriers bringing two AT-TE walkers. The gunship transporting Skywalker, Tano, and Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex," was piloted by Clone Lieutenant Hawk.
==The battle==
===Vertical assault===
As the Republic gunships approached the monastery, the droids spotted them and opened fire. Closing their blast shields, the gunships were able to safely land, and the Republic forces approached the cliff. The droid forces, under the command of an OOM command battle droid, soon sighted Tano and concentrated fire at her; the Republic forces responded by opening fire on the droids with the AT-TE walkers. In the resulting exchange of laser fire, the Jedi and the troopers were able to reach the foot of the monastery mesa, taking cover in an overhang. The Jedi and clones used vines to ascend the half-mile cliff, and the clone troopers also used the grappling hooks in their blaster rifles, while the two AT-TE walkers used the claws in their footpads to maintain a strong hold on the vertical face. As Skywalker and his troops were ascending the cliff, battle droids launched a ground attack from the rear, but clone troopers on BARC speeders provided mobile combat support and defended the Jedi's assault team. Several DSD1 dwarf spider droids concentrated fire at the climbing AT-TE walkers, breaking one's grip on the cliffside and sending it off the face. Tano defended the remaining walker by jumping onto its windscreen and rebounding the droid fire.
The Republic forces were attacked by several B1-Series battle droids on Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, and the two front legs of Tano's walker lost their grip. Noticing the reeling walker, Skywalker immediately jumped down from above and eliminated the droid pilots by leaping from one STAP to the next, kicking them off one by one, and claiming the last STAP for himself. Ascending the cliff once more, Skywalker used his STAP to eliminate several dwarf spider droids, clearing a path for Rex and Torrent Company,Star Wars: The Clone Wars junior novelization while the AT-TE walker regained its purchase on the cliff face. Skywalker's STAP was shot down just short of the landing pad entrance to the monastery. The Jedi managed to leap the remaining distance and destroyed the remaining droids in front of the monastery. Skywalker was assailed by several droidekas deployed from inside the stronghold, but the arrival of Tano and the AT-TE walker stopped the destroyer droids before they could fire a single shot. The monastery was secured; however, Skywalker and Tano had lost over half their men during the ascent.
After a moment of planning with Rex, Skywalker and Tano entered the monastery and encountered 4A-7, the Confederate spy droid who had been assigned to gather evidence of Rotta in the Jedi's possession. The droid claimed to be the caretaker of the monastery and told them that the droids kept their prisoners in the lower levels. Ordering Rex and his men to stay at the entrance, the Jedi ventured deeper into the monastery to retrieve the Huttlet. Ventress and her droids were waiting, concealed elsewhere in the monastery exterior. The Dark Acolyte prepared to collect the data that her master—Sith Lord Count Dooku—needed to frame the Jedi.
Skywalker and Tano entered the dungeons and were assailed by several battle droids. Tano eliminated most of them before the two Jedi located the captured Huttlet. However, the Jedi realized that Rotta was sick and required medical attention; the Confederacy had deliberately infected Rotta with a bacterial infection, intending to make it harder for Rotta to be returned to his father alive. Upon their return to the courtyard exterior, the Jedi placed Rotta in a backpack for easier transport, despite the Huttlet's resistance. However, they were unaware that their actions were being recorded by 4A-7. The spy droid's holographic recording was transmitted to Dooku, who showed it to Jabba as proof that his son was in possession of the Jedi and was being inhumanely treated by them. The ruse was successful, and Dooku was able to fool Jabba into believing his deception. Ventress was given a new objective—to recover the Huttlet alive so that he could be delivered to Jabba on the Confederacy's behalf.
===Confederacy counter-assault===
Through a holotransmission broadcast through the astromech droid R2-D2, Skywalker and Tano delivered a status report to Kenobi. The Jedi suspected the Confederacy's involvement in Rotta's abduction and also deduced that the Confederacy was using them to convince Jabba—and by extension, the Hutt clans—to join their struggle against the Republic. Before the conference could continue, however, several Confederate C-9979 landing crafts approached the monastery, deploying vulture droids to attack the Republic forces. As several squads of battle droids approached on foot, the Republic battle group attempted to hold its position. The remaining AT-TE walker defended the monastery entrance with Clone Sergeants Coric and Hez and their squads, while the rest of the Republic forces took cover in the building.
The AT-TE walker fell to droid fire, and the Jedi and the clones were forced back into the monastery, barricading themselves inside the stronghold. However, the defense of the monastery caused Skywalker to loose three-quarters of his men. The droids set up a cordon and worked to hack the door controls. As Rotta still required medical attention, Tano convinced Skywalker to look for an escape to find assistance for the Huttlet, while Rex stayed to hold position and command the forces. The Jedi came upon an old Hutt throne room, and R2-D2 analyzed the building schematics from a link to the monastery's systems.
Too impatient to wait for the battle droids to hack through the lock, Ventress sliced through the door's controls with one of her lightsabers, causing it to open from a safety mechanism. B1 and B2 battle droids surged forward with dwarf spider droids following close behind, and Torrent Company was soon overwhelmed, with only six clone troopers—including Captain Rex—surviving the assault. Ventress ordered the droids to seal all exits, but she was suddenly attacked by Rex, who had been feigning death. The clone captain destroyed an OOM command battle droid next to the Dark Acolyte, but Ventress deflected the clone's blaster fire and pulled his blaster out of his hand with the Force. Force-choking Rex, Ventress demanded Skywalker's location from the clone but received only defiance in response. Ventress attempted to perform a mind trick on Rex, but the trooper was able to resist her influence and secretly alerted Skywalker to the Dark Acolyte's presence via comlink. After Ventress had left to find the Jedi, Rex and the other five Torrent Company survivors were taken captive and put under battle droid guard.
===Pit fight===
When Rex contacted Skywalker, he addressed him as "Anakin" instead of his usual "General Skywalker," alerting the Jedi that the Dark Acolyte was in the monastery. R2-D2 was able to find an exterior landing pad at the rear of the monastery, and the Jedi headed toward the exit. However, before they could get far, Ventress arrived with several B2 super battle droids. Surrounded, Skywalker exchanged banter with the Dark Acolyte before R2-D2 suddenly activated a trap door in the floor, sending all of them plunging down a long chute. Skywalker, Tano, Ventress, and the droids landed in a large, round room, and Skywalker immediately engaged Ventress while Tano dealt with the droids.
Skywalker managed to deprive Ventress of one of her lightsabers, only to be knocked down and disarmed himself. Ventress was soon confronted by Tano, who had eliminated the droids. The Dark Acolyte reclaimed her second lightsaber and turned to engage the Padawan, and Skywalker rejoined the fight. As Ventress saberlocked with the Jedi and called on the Force to strengthen herself, Skywalker ordered Tano to escape with Rotta. However, as Tano opened a large door on the side of the room on her way out, she accidentally set loose a captive jungle rancor. Skywalker and Ventress leaped onto the creature's back and continued their duel, and the creature rounded on Tano and the Huttlet. Seeing this, Skywalker slashed at the rancor's back, causing it to violently buck.
A number of battle droids entered the overhead gallery and opened fire on Skywalker as he continued to duel Ventress, but the battle droids above were assailed by R2-D2, who pushed them into the arena below. Tano attacked the rancor, stabbing it in the foot, and the rancor threw off the two duelists on its back. The creature rounded on Tano; however, as it leaned toward her, Tano brought up her lightsaber and drove her weapon into its nose. The rancor fell back in pain, right onto Ventress, and with the Dark Acolyte distracted, the Jedi were able to escape. As Ventress ignited her lightsaber into the rancor's rear, the creature reared up and clung to the ceiling, allowing the Dark Acolyte to escape.
===Republic reinforcements===
As Ventress renewed her pursuit of the Jedi, she received word that Republic reinforcements had arrived, in the form of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Spirit of the Republic under the command of Admiral Wullf Yularen. Kenobi, who was aboard the Star Destroyer, led several squadrons of V-19 Torrent starfighters in his Delta-7B fighter. In response, Ventress ordered an OOM command battle droid to launch all of their vulture droids. Kenobi's starfighters approached the monastery, and the Jedi and his forces engaged the droid fighters. Meanwhile, Skywalker, Tano, and R2-D2 arrived at the monastery's rear landing pad and signaled an LAAT/i gunship for an extraction. The gunship arrived and hovered near the platform, but before the Jedi and Rotta could board the craft, a Confederate vulture droid swooped in and destroyed the gunship. The vulture droid landed on the platform, and Skywalker and Tano engaged it in combat before severing its legs and sending it off the platform.
Skywalker attempted to contact Kenobi for backup but found that the Confederacy was jamming their transmissions. Meanwhile, the remaining six captives of Torrent Company broke free of their battle droid guards, stealing some of the droids' blasters for themselves. The clones used the fallen AT-TE for cover and engaged the battle droids in a crossfire, and the troopers even went so far as to plant thermal detonators within an eviscerated super battle droid. The droid was sent back into the Confederate lines, and the explosives planted inside of it were remotely detonated, destroying many of the droid's unsuspecting comrades. However, the battle droids returned to converge on the clones. After receiving a status report from Rex, Skywalker prepared to head back to help the clones, while Tano believed that they needed to search for a ship to deliver Rotta back to Tatooine alive. Before they could escape, Skywalker and Tano found themselves confronted by a pair of droidekas with Ventress following close behind. R2-D2 quickly closed the landing pad door, and Ventress immediately began to cut through the door with her lightsabers.
Skywalker prepared to retreat into the jungle, but the appearance of two dwarf spider droids stopped him. The droids began to climb up the cliff under the platform and fired at the platform's supports, upsetting several can-cells that were nesting under the platform. Skywalker and Tano believed that they were out of options, but Rotta alerted them to the presence of another landing pad on a nearby mesa, with an old freighter docked on it. Skywalker jumped on a can-cell, commandeering it with the ForceStar Wars: The Clone Wars: Who Are the Jedi? and intending on using it to get to the nearby platform. Ventress was able to cut through the door and engaged Tano in combat, and after several blows were exchanged, the young Jedi was driven to the ground. As Ventress demanded Skywalker's location, Skywalker himself appeared, having successfully gained control of the can-cell. The Jedi attacked the Dark Acolyte with the beast, knocking her backward. As the droids' fire destroyed the platform's supports, Tano and her master flew over to the other mesa on the can-cell with R2-D2 following with his booster jets. Unable to pursue, Ventress was told by a battle droid that Dooku demanded a status report. The Dark Acolyte took her frustration out on the droid by seizing it with the Force and hurling it off the platform, and she reentered the monastery.
4A-7, who was preparing to leave on the old freighter, detected the approaching Jedi and contacted Ventress; the spy droid resolved to delay the Jedi. When the two Jedi reached the secondary landing platform, they encountered 4A-7, but the spy droid was given away by the presence of battle droids. Tano eliminated the droids before decapitating 4A-7. Still fighting the droid starfighters above, Kenobi and his squadron noticed Torrent Company's engagement of the droids on the east side of the monastery and headed over to help them. Marshal Commander CC-2224, nicknamed "Cody," deployed several LAAT/i gunships from the Spirit of the Republic—containing troops from the 212th Attack Battalion—to give aid to Torrent Company.
Rex and Torrent Company managed to defeat an approaching vulture droid and surged forward, using the fallen droid starfighter for cover. As Kenobi's fighter flew over the monastery, he ordered his astromech droid, R4-P17, to take control of the fighter. The droids surrounded Torrent Company, but Kenobi fired at them before jumping out of his fighter and joining the Torrent Company survivors. Cody and the reinforcements arrived, and while the gunships ravaged the Confederate C-9979 landing craft, the clone trooper reinforcements were deployed to assist Torrent Company. Kenobi left to search for Skywalker in the monastery while the clones engaged the droids.
Skywalker and Tano headed in the freighter toward the courtyard to reinforce Rex and his men. However, Tano convinced Skywalker of the importance to keep the Huttlet alive and safe. Skywalker reluctantly informed Rex that they would be unable to help him, and the Jedi headed to rendezvous with the Spirit of the Republic. However, as they approached the Star Destroyer, the freighter was harassed by several Vulture droids and the cruiser itself, which believed the freighter to be an enemy ship. After receiving clearance from Yularen aboard the Star Destroyer, Skywalker attempted to land the ship on board the rear hangar of the cruiser. However, the Vulture droids forged past the ship and destroyed the hangar before the Jedi could land, forcing Skywalker to take the freighter directly to Tatooine, and Tano emptied the contents of the cargo hold before the ship jumped to hyperspace.
===Kenobi vs. Ventress===
Upon entering the monastery, Kenobi encountered Ventress, who left her two super battle droid bodyguards to fight Kenobi, using the time it took the Jedi Master to defeat the droids to flee. Kenobi followed Ventress into another room, and the Dark Acolyte appeared from above and attacked Kenobi. As the two exchanged lightsaber blows, Ventress pulled off her skirt and flung it at Kenobi, taking advantage of his momentarily blocked sight to lunge at him. However, Kenobi was able to block her oncoming blows. When Ventress disarmed Kenobi and drove a lightsaber toward his throat, the Jedi Master ducked, and after taking hold of her wrists, he was able to drive her backward. Kenobi called his lightsaber back into his hand and continued the duel.
Backing Kenobi against a pillar, Ventress lunged forward, but Kenobi ducked, and Ventress slashed the pillar instead of her intended target. After bladelocking with the Dark Acolyte, Kenobi Force-pushed Ventress backward. Continuing the duel, Ventress charged at Kenobi, and the Jedi Master used two pillars to jump onto an upper platform on the side of the room. Ventress followed, and Kenobi affirmed to Ventress that the Confederacy's plan to turn the Hutts against the Jedi would not succeed. Ventress retorted that the plan would be effective when the truth died with him, and the Dark Acolyte dragged her lightsabers across the platform as she leaped into the air and unleashed a series of overhand attacks. Kenobi was able to block the blows and countered a powerful downward slash from the Dark Acolyte.
Kenobi pushed his adversary backward, and Ventress joined her lightsabers to form a saberstaff. Kenobi leaped through a window to an external rampart of the monastery, and Ventress immediately gave pursuit. However, as Skywalker's freighter made the jump to hyperspace, both Ventress and Kenobi sensed Skywalker's departure. Enraged, Ventress continued to drive Kenobi backward, but Kenobi was able to disconnect his adversary's saberstaff. Kenobi blocked the Dark Acolyte's lightsabers and pushed them against the sides of the platform, flicking one out of her hand and into the jungle below. Deprived of one of her weapons, Ventress summoned a vulture droid for an escape before continuing the duel. Kenobi forced Ventress backward, but as he ordered her to surrender, the summoned vulture droid suddenly approached. Ventress escaped aboard the droid starfighter, and Kenobi returned to the courtyard, rejoining the fight. Without Ventress to lead them, and with their troop ships destroyed, the remaining droids were defeated by the Republic forces.
==Aftermath==
Much of the monastery was left damaged from the intense battle that had raged across it. Ventress sent a ship in pursuit of Skywalker's freighter, but she recalled it on Dooku's order. To assist the Sith Lord in his deception of Jabba, Ventress piloted the vulture droid back to the monastery and reported via hologram to Dooku and Jabba that the Republic had killed Rotta, enraging Jabba further. Although displeased with Ventress's failure, Dooku used the situation to his advantage by convincing Jabba that the Jedi were coming to Tatooine to eradicate the Hutt clans and the crime lord himself, and that they sought to gain complete control of Hutt Space without Jabba's interference. To please Jabba, Dooku intended to confront Skywalker himself using several IG-100 MagnaGuards.
With the help of a hologram of a 2-1B medical droid and medical supplements, Rotta was saved from near death onboard Skywalker's freighter. Skywalker and Tano arrived over Tatooine, preparing to land and return Rotta to his father. Several MagnaGuard-flown starfighters attacked the freighter, and the Jedi engaged the droid fighters. Meanwhile, on the galactic capital of Coruscant, Senator Padmé Amidala received word from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of Jabba's erroneous beliefs of the role of the Jedi and the Republic in his son's kidnapping. Amidala sought to reopen communications between Jabba and the Republic and decided to enlist the help of the crime lord's uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure. The senator headed to Ziro's Palace, unaware of Ziro's allegiance with Dooku and the Confederacy.
Ultimately, Teth was removed from direct Hutt control, with the Republic expelling longstanding criminal activity out of the entire system.Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Teth appeared in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and also appeared in the film's novelization and junior novelization, as well as the young-reader's book Battle at Teth. The events of Rotta the Huttlet's capture were originally a three-episode story arc in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' first season, but after producer George Lucas decided to debut the series with a theatrical release, the episodes were combined with another first-season episode entitled "The New Padawan" to form The Clone Wars film. Both of the duels that occurred during the battle were featured in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels.Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
Three notable parts of the battle were cut from the final movie, despite being shown in the promotional material for the film: the duel in the monastery rancor pit, Skywalker and Tano's fight with the Vulture droid on the monastery's outer platform, and Tano's emptying of the Twilight cargo hold. Director Dave Filoni later commented that he removed the rancor sequence because rancors were already common in Expanded Universe stories, such as The Force Unleashed video game, and he had wanted to tell new stories that "feel" like Star Wars without repeating the original Star Wars itself. All three scenes were included in the "Deleted Scenes" feature of the film's DVD release.Star Wars: The Clone Wars film The duel did not appear in the adult novelization or the film; however, it was described in the junior novelization, the young-reader's book Anakin in Action!,The Clone Wars: Anakin in Action! and the reference book Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide, which made the duel part of the Legends continuity. The fight with the Vulture droid and the emptying of the Twilight cargo hold also happened in the adult novelization of the film, making them canonical within Legends as well.
The battle droids encountered by Republic forces on Teth were originally supposed to bear purple markings, similar to those stationed in Ziro's Palace. Because the droids would not be typical droid-army models, it was intended to hint that Ziro was behind the kidnapping of Rotta. However, the regular battle droid models were used during the film's animation process.
The 2009 book The Clone Wars: Decide Your Destiny: Tethan Battle Adventure expanded upon the Battle of Teth, from an appearance by Jedi Master Plo Koon to a more prominent role for Asajj Ventress. However, because of the book's composition as a Decide Your Destiny installment without a definitive path, no single storyline in the book can be treated as official within Legends.The Clone Wars: Decide Your Destiny: Tethan Battle Adventure
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 
==Sources==
===Non-canon sources===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary 
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Teth
Category:Battles of the Clone Wars
Category:Duels
Category:Rescue missions