Battle of Abrion Major

The Battle of Abrion Major, also known as the Siege of Abrion Major, was one of the final battles of the Clone Wars as apart of the Outer Rim Sieges, which took place on the planet Abrion Major between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Three years after Republic forces were sent to Abrion Bridge to steal the plans of a mega-ion cannon, the Confederacy expanded its military research campaign on Abrion Major. In order to prevent further Republic interference, General Greez Findo and his droid army were sent to protect the Separatist Research Center, which housed an advanced weapons factory. The Republic and the Jedi High Council responded by sending Jedi Generals Ran-Bo Nori and Del Morrigan, Jedi Commander Kenan Verso, and a clone trooper contingent of the Grand Army of the Republic to liberate the planet from Separatist control. After managing to break through Commander Mok Tuka's massive blockade surrounding the planet, Nori led his battalion and the 401st Legion to engage Findo's droid army while Morrigan and Verso stayed aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Integrity. The two Jedi prepared to invade the Separatist Research Center and apprehend Findo, who was commanding his army from within the fortified stronghold.
As Nori and his forces pushed back against the Separatists' counterattack, Morrigan and Verso were aboard the Integrity discussing invasion strategies with the troopers of the 401st Division. However, in the midst of preparing to invade the Abrion Major base, Clone Commanders CC-7713 "Apollo," CC-7427 "Rayvis," and Torch received a message from Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, ordering them to execute Order 66. According to the secret protocol, all clone troopers of the Republic were programmed to execute the Jedi for acts of treason. After fighting their way to the rendezvous point, Nori was suddenly surrounded by his clone forces and fired upon once they received the protocol. Unable to fend off the excessive fire power of the clone troopers, Nori was shot and killed after attempting to flee. Morrigan was still aboard the Star Destroyer attempting to contact Nori, who unbeknownst to him was executed, and he assumed the worst after failing to reach contact with Nori.
Soon after, Rayvis and his men turned their blasters on Morrigan and Verso. The pair was able to fight their way through the Integrity with the help of two astromech droids and made their way to the main hangar of the ship. While attempting to retrieve a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle to escape, Rayvis and a large unit of clone troopers were waiting for them in the hangar. Morrigan and Verso were forced to reveal themselves, but had R4-P11 prepare a shuttle while Morrigan attempted to reason with Rayvis. However, the distraction failed almost instantly, forcing the Jedi to defend themselves from the clones. As more clones were called into the hangar, they shot down the escape shuttle, destroying R4 in the process, which led R3-D3 to retrieve another one. Afterwards, the trio swiftly escaped the onslaught and went into hiding in the Outer Rim Territories. After their failure to eliminate the Jedi, the remaining clone troopers were ordered to arrest Findo and capture Abrion Major, placing the planet under a military occupation.
==Prelude ==
Sometime after the outbreak of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Republic received intel regarding the Separatist Research Center, which housed an advanced weapons factory on the planet Abrion Major. The factory was used to build the mega-ion cannon for Count Dooku and General Grievous. The Republic sent High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and the 212th Attack Battalion to intercept the plans to the superweapon. Following the battle, the Confederacy continued its military research in secrecy and dispatched a droid army under General Greez Findo to protect their operation. To further prevent the Republic from intervening, the Confederacy established a massive blockade of warships under Commander Mok Tuka. Three years after, Republic Intelligence discovered that the Confederacy had intensified its defenses on Abrion Major to mass produce weapons. 
The Republic responded by dispatching Jedi Generals Ran-Bo Nori and Del Morrigan with Jedi Commander Kenan Verso to disrupt the blockade and liberate Abrion Major from Separatist control. Morrigan and Verso were sent in advance with a task force of Star Destroyers, while Nori followed behind in his flagship, the Pacifier, which supported Morrigan's attack on the blockade. Upon their decent, the Republic forces were met with a larger army than anticipated and the research complex heavily fortified. 
==The battle==
===Attack on the blockade===
Upon arriving in Abrion Major space, Del Morrigan and Kenan Verso engaged the Separatist blockade with four Venator-class Star Destroyers of the five they were given, one of which being Nori's flagship, taking the blockade head on. As the two sides exchanged heavy fire, the Lucrehulk-class Battleship of Mok Tuka advanced on Morrigan's flagship, the Integrity, unopposed. Nori ordered the other Star Destroyers to focus fire on the battleship to cover Morrigan while he activated the Integrity's forward deflector shields. To reinforce his offensive, Tuka's command ship unleashed a barrage of blaster fire and vulture droids to attack the entire task force, as well as, targeting the Consular-class cruisers to cut them off from their escort frigates. As the support frigates began to take heavy damage, Morrigan called off his offensive and ordered all forces to retreat to a safe location.
While awaiting an aggressive counteroffensive from Morrigan, the tactical droid TA-20 implied that the Republic had given up, but Tuka assured the droid that Morrigan always had unorthodox methods in warfare, therefore, Tuka kept his ships in line and ordered his bridge crew to intensify forward shields. While regrouped away from the action, Morrigan and Verso holographically counselled with Nori. The Jedi Master requested that the supply ships break off first with a Star Destroyer covering their escape. The cruisers managed to maneuver past the blockade with their hulls taking most of the enemy fire, protecting the supply ships entirely. Knowing his orders were to simply blockade the planet, Tuka was in the belief that he had won the first round of the battle and decided against pursuing the retreating fleet and remained in orbit to wait for the Republic's inevitable second attack. To ready his ships for this, he had his command ship's shields recycled and forward cannons reset to a full charge. 
With the Republic fleet recuperating and waiting for their next attack, the Jedi formulated a strategy to take out Tuka's command ship, believing that to be the only way to defeat the blockade. While talking it over, Morrigan, who was known for his aggressive and unorthodox battle tactics, suggested a strategy to overwhelm the blockade and send BTL-B Y-wing starfighter/bombers to take out the control ship. Although Nori and a few of Morrigan's bridge officers questioned the viability of the tactic, Morrigan impressed upon them the critical urgency of the situation, considering their current retreat. Nori reluctantly concurred with his bold and unorthodox strategy, and followed behind the Integrity as the fleet approached the blockade again. 
As Morrigan led the fleet with the remaining Star Destroyers followed behind closely, he ordered all the ships to activate their forward deflector shields and brace for impact. With Tuka believing he had the upper hand, he ordered his ships to open fire and sent out swarms of more vulture droids and Hyena-class bombers to attack the Republic fleet. Morrigan responded by sending out Arrow Squadron under his apprentice and Bravo Squadron under Clone Commander CC-0835 "Cruz." The two squadrons worked in tandem to wipe out the numerous waves of fighter droids, although, some of the bombers managed to damage the Star Destroyers. While flying alongside the clone veteran, Verso displayed his superb pilot and leadership capabilities as his squadron made waste of the fighter droids. 
As the battle coincided outside, Morrigan put his strategy into action by ordering all the Star Destroyers to focus their main cannons on the droid control ship. The Integrity as well as the other capital ships received damage from the droid bombers, however, Morrigan continued to focus all fire on Tuka's ship and sent squadrons of bombers to distract the opposing frigates. As the central core of Tuka's ship began to explode from the Republic's heavy firepower, he attempted to escape the ship after realizing that the Separatist frigates were unable to destroy the Star Destroyers, which were slowly approaching. Ultimately, the control ship exploded on impact and Tuka failed to escape, along with his crew. After successfully destroying the blockade's command ship, Morrigan ordered the remaining Star Destroyers to fall back and focus fire on the remaining Separatist ships, completely destroying the rest of the blockade. Verso and Cruz were finishing up the remainder of the fighters until the control ship was destroyed, which deactivated the droids. With the Republic forces seizing victory, they cleared the space surrounding Abrion Major and prepared for their descent. 
=== Invasion of Abrion Bridge ===
As the Republic forces made their descent on the planet, Nori, and the clone troopers of the 401st Legion and 224th Strike Battalion were sent to capture Abrion Bridge, the site of the previous battle in 22 BBY. As Nori and his troopers made their way to the bridge aboard LAAT/i gunships, the tactical droid Captain TB-33 received orders from Findo to repel the Republic's landing. The droid assured the General that the Republic invasion would fail as he was confident in the massive army guarding the entrance to the Separatist Research Center.
=== Order 66===
As Nori and his troopers pressed onward towards the Separatist base, Findo intensified his defenses and began gathering all the valuables. The Republic forces managed to fight their way to a safe location that Nori used as a rendezvous point to meet with Morrigan and Verso. Just before contacting Morrigan, Commander Apollo received an urgent message from Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, who was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, ordering him to execute Order 66. The secret protocol activated a behavioral inhibitor chip that was implanted in the brains of all clone troopers during birth, which caused them to execute the Jedi for treason against the Republic. Programmed to believe Nori was a traitor of the Republic, Apollo, Commander "Torch," and the rest of the clones turned their blasters on the General and opened fire on Apollo's command. Nori ignited his lightsaber and attempted to fend off his troopers, however, they overpowered and eventually killed him. To fully complete the protocol, Apollo sent Torch and troopers of the 224th to the Integrity, where Morrigan and Verso were waiting, to help the 401st Division execute the two Jedi.
===Skirmish aboard the Integrity===
====Betrayal====
While aboard the Integrity, Morrigan, Verso, and Rayvis were still waiting on word from General Nori regarding his current status when Rayvis received word of an urgent transmission. Assuming that the incoming message was from Nori, Rayvis answered the transmission from Sidious, ordering him to also execute Order 66. As the transmission played, Morrigan sensed something was terribly wrong and prepared himself for any possibilities. Once his inhibitor chip was activated, Rayvis was also manipulated into believing that his long-time comrades were traitors of the Republic which caused him to betray them. All the other clone troopers onboard the Star Destroyer were also programmed to follow the protocol after Rayvis received Sidious' message. Three more troopers in the ship's bridge entered the briefing room and focused their blasters on Morrigan and Verso. Rayvis then put his helmet back on and drew his DC-17 hand blasters on the Jedi he once admired and respected. Morrigan and Verso immediately ignited their lightsabers and began deflecting shots as the clone troopers opened fire on them. Morrigan continued deflecting the troopers' shots and pushed them back with the Force, knocking them all to the ground. Morrigan ordered Verso to leave out the door behind them and he followed behind, sealing the bridge doors to trap Rayvis. 
However, the respite only lasted for a moment as more clones rushed to the bridge to help Rayvis. The troopers surrounded Morrigan and Verso and began firing at them, so they started deflecting shots again while managing to kill most of the troopers. After finishing off the rest of the troopers, Morrigan and Verso dashed farther down the aisle and Morrigan used his lightsaber to cut through the ceiling, creating an exit hole. After recovering from his fall, Rayvis attempted to open the bridge doors only to find they were sealed shut. After calling for help, more clones rushed in to save their commander and managed to blast the door open. Rayvis was greeted by his saviors as he looked upon all the troopers who were killed by Morrigan and Verso. Rayvis informed all the other clone troopers onboard the Star Destroyer that Morrigan and Verso were marked for death according to Order 66 and any soldier who refused to carry out the order would be executed for treason. He ordered the rest of his men to form search parties and fan out across the Integrity to search for Morrigan and Verso. Just as Rayvis' message went out, Torch and his troopers entered the hangar aboard LAAT/i gunships and they were briefed by Clone Lieutenant Stinger. 
====Escape to the hangar====
Morrigan and Verso snuck around the Integrity to a droid storage room, where their astromech droids, R3-D3 and R4-P11, were located. As Verso activated R3-D3 and Morrigan activated R4-P11, the droids began beeping with joy after seeing the Jedi for the first time in a while. Morrigan told the droids to quiet down so they wouldn't make so much noise, then informed them about the clone troopers' sudden betrayal. Morrigan desperately asked for the droids' help, but despite the danger, the droids were more than happy to assist them. Verso had R3 access the ship's database and intercept the trooper's communications systems to gather enough information to formulate an escape plan. Morrigan and Verso discovered that all the escape pods were released and the hangar bay was placed under maximum security, all at Rayvis' command. With the entire ship on high alert, the group searched for a weakness in the clone's plan, but was unable to find a clear means of escape. Verso pointed out that most of the ships in the hangar bay had been cleared out, leaving no opportunity for escape, however, he suggested that they take one of the remaining Nu-class attack/transport shuttles left behind. Morrigan admitted that they had little choice and put together a plan to takeover the hangar control room and retrieve a shuttle that they could use to escape the Star Destroyer. 
Morrigan, Verso and the droids stormed the hangar control room, quickly killing the clones inside. Noting that the hangars had been locked down, Morrigan admitted to being impressed by the clones' effort, despite them trying to kill him. He ordered R3-D3 to open up the hangars and tasked R4-P11 with preparing a shuttle, while he listened in on the troopers' comms with Verso. Rayvis attempted to make contact with hangar control, but received no response, so he presumed that Morrigan and Verso intended to escape that way. Planning to entrap the Jedi in the hangar, Rayvis ordered multiple units of clones and not to act until he gave the word. As the group overheard Rayvis' message, they frantically waited for R4 while coming up with a plan to buy his some time. R4 reported back to hangar control, informing the group that he located the attack shuttles and was preparing one for them. 
As R3 opened up the bay doors for R4, the group looked down to see Rayvis enter the hangar with a large unit of clone troopers, lying in wait for them to make a move. The clones gathered in formation at the center of the hangar and Rayvis ordered them to stand their ground, noting that anyone trying to escape would have to go through them. Morrigan and Verso had a disagreement over how they were going to get to the shuttle. Verso pointed out that their only choice was to face the clones and try to take them head on, while Morrigan insisted they take a more strategic approach that wouldn't be so risky. Although hesitant to accept their fate, Morrigan had no choice but to agree with his apprentice's counsel, but still searched below for a way to take out most of the troopers, so they could stand a chance. Morrigan ordered R4 to return with the shuttle as quickly as he could and told the droid to fire the shuttle's cannons at the clones when he gave the signal. Morrigan led the way out of the control room and told Verso to pretend that they were surrendering, while R3 flew to the side of the hangar as instructed. 
====Fight in the hangar====
Morrigan and Verso entered the hangar with their hands up, stating that they surrendered. Rayvis ordered his men to hold their fire as he reminded the Jedi that they were branded traitors of the Republic and were therefore sentenced to death. Attempting to stall for R4, Morrigan attempted to reason with Rayvis, stating that they never did anything to betray the Republic and their pursuit was unnecessary. Morrigan begged his old friend to snap out of the trance he had been succumbed to, however, Rayvis stated he was under strict orders and ordered the clones to open fire on them. The duo ignited their lightsabers again to deflect the incoming shots, which was far more overwhelming than before. Shortly after, R4 arrived in the hangar with the shuttle, and as soon as Morrigan ordered him to open fire, the droid fired the cannons at the clones below. The clones were distracted by the shuttle firing at them from behind, which caused Rayvis to call in more reinforcements to take out the shuttle. With the Jedi fighting off the clones towards the front and R4 clearing multiple clones from the rear, Rayvis' men were falling at an alarming rate. However, his reinforcements charged into the hangar and immediately began firing at the shuttle as Rayvis instructed. As the shuttle began to take more damage, R4 was unable to control it anymore and it eventually crashed into the side of the hangar, with the explosion killing more clones. R3 was close enough to the wreckage, but flew away before getting caught in the explosion. With R4 and the shuttle destroyed, Morrigan ordered R3 to retrieve another shuttle, confident that him and Verso could handle the remaining clones. 
With the fate of the mission resting on R3, the droid made an urgent trip back to the bay with the remaining ships to retrieve another shuttle. Morrigan and Verso continued to decimate the troopers that relentlessly attacked them, using teamwork and expertise to ensure survival. The two were still saddened by the death of their troopers that used to fight by their side, and now turned to fight them instead. Eventually, R3 returned to the hangar and Verso pushed Rayvis and a few clones behind him before running over to the shuttle. Morrigan covered Verso until the boy boarded the ship, then Morrigan deflected more shots as he ran to the shuttle. R3 flew closer to the Jedi Knight with the boarding ramp still open and waited for Morrigan to get inside before departing. Morrigan continued fighting off the clones as he noticed the shuttle approaching with the ramp opening. He jumped onboard and ordered R3 to take off immediately as the shuttle fled the Integrity. Rayvis and the remaining troopers watched as their targets escaped and fled to safety, angered by their failure. 
==Aftermath==
After the skirmish aboard the Integrity, Rayvis and the remaining clones returned to the surface of Abrion Major to inform Apollo about what happened. Despite failing to execute the Jedi, the clones were under orders to arrest General Findo and place Abrion Major under a military occupation. As the Republic was publicly transformed into the Galactic Empire, the 401st Legion and 224th Strike Battalion laid siege to the Separatist Research Center and arrested Findo. With the research complex in their control, the clones were ordered to extract all the valuable equipment and research stored within the base, then they destroyed the facility. During the occupation, more Imperial forces were dispatched to Abrion Major and the planet continued to serve as a center for military research and advanced weapon development. 
Meanwhile, Morrigan, Verso, and R3-D3 fled the Abrion sector and searched the Outer Rim Territories for a place to hide from the Empire. Their search led them to the planet Batuu, a remote world that was known for visitors who were on the run, figuring it would be a fitting place to live in exile.
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Abrion Major will appear in the upcoming film Star Wars: The Fallen Order. The battle was first called the "skirmish aboard the Integrity" when it was first created, with the intent being that Del Morrigan and Kenan Verso would be onboard the Integrity preparing for a battle above a random planet, and then Darth Sidious would enact Order 66, leading to their escape and survival. However, it was rewritten and expanded to be an actual battle and Order 66 would take place later on in the battle, still onboard the Star Destroyer. With the expansion of the story, more supporting characters were created to appear in the battle and take part in Order 66 along with the 401st Legion.
==Appearances== 
*Star Wars: The Fallen Order 
Category:Battles in the Abrion sector
Category:Battles of the Great Jedi Purge
Category:Battles of the Outer Rim Sieges
Category:Blockades