Battle of Gall (Clone Wars)

A battle was fought around 21 BBY on the moon of Gall during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Separatists invaded the moon in C-9979 landing craft protected by an experimental Geonosian shield technology, which prevented the Confederate vessels from taking any damage from Gall defenders' blaster fire. However, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who were on the moon at the time of the attack, managed to infiltrate the lead craft that was projecting the shield and destroyed it with explosive charges from within, leaving the planetary defenses to destroy the rest of the invasion force.
==The battle==
Around 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems attacked the gas giant Zhar's moon of Gall with a force of Vulture droid starfighters, 2 C-9979 landing craft and a lead landing craft, which was equipped with an experimental deflector shield of Geonosian origin. The shield extended itself onto the entire Confederate force and allowed the Separatist forces to shoot through it while at the same time protecting them from enemy fire. Gall planetary force under the command of a sergeant engaged the enemy, attacking with artillery and starfighters, but were not able to penetrate the shield.
At the time of the attack, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano were stationed on the moon. After being informed by the sergeant of the shield's capabilities, Skywalker came up with a plan to lower it. Taking a pack of explosive charges, Skywalker and his Padawan piloted two jet-wings, which were normally used for spraying fertilizers, and used them to reach the lead landing craft. The jet-wings were not detected by the ship's sensors, and the two Jedi were able to land on its hull. They managed to infiltrate the craft, although the jet-wings were destroyed by enemy fire in the process. Inside, they found stacks of deactivated battle droids, but Skywalker considered them not to be a threat, since he believed that all energy had been diverted to the shield. Skywalker and Tano reached the controls of the shield and started planting explosives.
Once the explosives were set and the five-minute countdown began, an intruder alert was sounded and the Jedi were attacked by a large number of B1-Series battle droids, B2 super battle droids and B2-HA series super battle droids. Hoping to escape from the vessel, Skywalker and Tano tried to reach the airlock, but were overwhelmed by droids. As the countdown to the explosion continued, they took a defensive stance and fought for their lives against the Separatist forces, until Skywalker concentrated on coming up with an escape plan and remembered the behavior of womp rats from his native planet of Tatooine; when in danger, the womp rats burrowed into the sand.
Following the womp rats' example, Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut a hole in the ship's floor, and he jumped into the hole with Tano right before the landing craft exploded. The Jedi used the Force to slow their descent and landed on top of their Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors, which had just been refueled and piloted there by Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2. With the lead landing craft destroyed, the shield was gone, and Skywalker was assured that the planetary defense force would be able to repel the rest of the invasion force.
==Behind the scenes==
This battle was featured in Inside Job, a short comic published the UK-exclusive magazine Star Wars: The Clone Wars Comic UK 6.1 in December of 2009.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Gall
Category:Battles of the Clone Wars