Battle of Abregado

The Battle of Abregado was a naval engagement that took place in 22 BBY, early in the Clone Wars after Jedi General Plo Koon's fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers discovered Confederate General Grievous' new warship, the Malevolence. As Koon's fleet attempted to contact Republic forces, the fleet was fired upon by the Malevolence ion cannon. The entire fleet was disabled and quickly torn apart by turbolasers. In the midst of the battle, multiple escape pods, including one carrying Plo Koon and a small group of clone troopers, managed to escape the doomed fleet. However, keen on allowing no survivors to inform Republic forces of their fleet-killer, Grievous sent out B1-series rocket battle droids to find and kill the survivors. Picking through the wreckage, they killed multiple clones until they were stopped by Koon with the help of troopers Boost and Sinker. Eventually, the group was located by the Twilight, piloted by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. The ship narrowly escaped the Malevolence's ion cannon and escaped to warn the Republic fleet.
==The battle==
===Destruction of Plo Koon's fleet===
When dozens of Republic warships were destroyed in merciless surprise attacks by Separatist General Grievous' secret weapon, the Jedi High Council sent Jedi Master Plo Koon to track the weapon. Along with Commander Wolffe and the 104th Battalion's Wolfpack, Koon's forces tracked the weapon to the Abregado system aboard the Triumphantand two other Venator-class Star Destroyers. Upon arrival, Koon contacted Jedi General Anakin Skywalker in the Bith system for support and to relay their position. However, Skywalker told to Koon that he had to ask the Council before he could support him. At Count Dooku's behest, Grievous then jammed Koon's transmissions.
Seeing this as another opportunity to test the Malevolence ion cannons, Grievous ordered them to be fired at Koon's ships. The Malevolence then moved to attack Koon's fleet. Seeing this, Koon prepared the Triumphant and the other two cruisers for battle. However, they were out of range. The Malevolence fired its ion cannons, sending a wave towards Koon's fleet. Koon and his men braced for impact. The wave passed over Koon's fleet, brought their ships' shields down, making them vulnerable to the Malevolence numerous turbolasers. Before the Triumphant was completely destroyed by enemy fire, Koon and several clone troopers and navigation officers were able to get to the escape pods. Koon, Wolffe, Clone Sergeant Sinker, and trooper Boost watched as the fleet was torn to pieces and became a debris field from their escape pod. Worst of all, the pod, like the fleet, had also been damaged in the attack. They had no power for life support or communications.
Following Koon's last transmission, Skywalker and Padawan Ahsoka Tano spoke with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi High Council. Skywalker told them of Koon's position in the Abregado system before his transmission was cut and that without signals from the distress beacons, Koon's fleet was certainly destroyed like the others, with no survivors. Skywalker was assigned to protect the Republic's supply convoys and ordered not to search for survivors. However, Skywalker left Admiral Wullf Yularen and Captain Rex to deal with the supply convoys while he, Tano, and R2-D2 would scout ahead for enemy activity in the Twilight. In reality, Skywalker traveled to the Abregado system to search for survivors. Once there, they searched for survivors in the debris field, but found none. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered Skywalker's mission, and urged him to return to his fleet. R2-D2 then picked up an emergency signal, so Skywalker and Tano went to investigate.
===Hunt for the escape pods===
To ensure the secrecy of the Malevolence ion cannons, Count Dooku dispatched rocket droids using a boarding ship to hunt and kill any survivors. The droids, known as the hunters, split several pods open for the clones to die in the vacuum of space. During this time Koon and his men were able to restore their pod's power and communication. They then received a distress signal from Pod 1977 and then spotted it. They watched as a droid cut into the pod and the officers were sucked into space. The droids then spotted Koon's pod, seeing it as the last one.
Koon, knowing he could survive the pressure, decided to destroy the enemy battle droids. Sinker and Boost went out with him, while Wolffe stayed in the escape pod to keep their distress signal going, as it was their only chance to survive. As the hunters' ship closed in and latched onto the pod, Koon and his men attacked the droids. The droids retreated to their ship and squeezed the pod. Koon then Force-pushed Sinker behind the ship and he destroyed all but one of the battle droids.
Wolffe finally managed to pick up a transmission from Tano, but was unable to respond due to the hunters' ship. Koon then cut the hunters' ship's pincers, pulled Sinker back to the pod and Force-pushed the hunters into the debris, destroying the remains of the boarding ship. However, General Grievous and Count Dooku became suspicious when they lost contact with the pod hunters.
===Rescue===
Chancellor Palpatine contacted Skywalker and urged him to return to his fleet. Skywalker thus conceded to his wishes and decided to end his search for good. However, Tano sensed Master Koon and was able to find his pod and bring him and the others aboard the Twilight. Wolffe and the other clones were then treated by the medical droid TB-2 while Koon joined them on the bridge, telling them of the Malevolence ion cannons.
The Twilight soon detected the Malevolence approaching their position. Koon shut down all the Twilight systems and R2-D2 in an attempt to avoid detection. However, they forgot to turn TB-2 off, and were thus detected. As the Malevolence moved in to attack, Skywalker, Tano, and Koon turned all the ship systems back on and made their escape through the debris field. Dooku wanted Grievous to make sure there were no witnesses and ordered Grievous to destroy the Twilight. Thus, Grievous fired the ion cannons, and the wave made its way through the debris field towards the Twilight. However, Skywalker was able to get through the debris field and activate the hyperdrive, thus escaping the wave.
==Aftermath==
Koon, Skywalker and Tano were able to inform the Jedi High Council of the secret weapon. Because of this, Dooku saw this battle as a defeat, now that the Republic knew about the Malevolence. Thus, he decided he would speak with Darth Sidious. Despite his setback, Grievous continued his swath of destruction by attacking medical convoys with the Malevolence. Following his attack on a medical convoy in the Ryndellia system, the Galactic Senate authorized Skywalker to lead Shadow Squadron's BTL-B Y-wing starfighter/bombers to destroy the Malevolence before it could attack. Skywalker's mission was able to disable the Malevolence weapons and hyperdrive. However, Grievous was able to use Senator Padmé Amidala as a hostage to stop the Republic Navy's attack. Skywalker and Kenobi were then able to infiltrate the ship, rescue Amidala, and reprogram the hyperdrive. The Malevolence was then destroyed when it crashed into the Dead Moon of Antar.
The 104th would be reinforced with new members after the losses it sustained at Grievous's hands in the Battle of Abregado, with Koon also being assigned a new fleet. For a time, the 104th retained its maroon markings, with 104th troopers who wore that gear appearing at the First Battle of Felucia to fight against Grievous's forces. However, sometime after that battle, the 104th elected to redesign their armor in the name of remembering the many killed at Abregado. To do so, the 104th adopted a blue-grey color scheme.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles in the Abregado system
Category:Battles of the Malevolence Campaign
Category:Rescue missions