Late in the Clone Wars, a battle took place on the Colicoid spawnworld of Colla IV when the Galactic Republic launched a strike on the Colicoid Creation Nest, a corporation that manufactured battle droids for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. While Republic assault ships shelled the planet's surface, four platoons of clone troopers infiltrated the Colicoids' shielded factory. There, they were attacked by a Scorpenek annihilator droid that took out three platoons within minutes. After the surviving members had fled from Colla IV, ARC trooper Sergeant Stec reported on the failed mission to his superiors and brought back information on the first-ever encounter with the annihilator droid. Meanwhile, expecting the return of the Republic forces, the Colicoids brought the droids to the front lines to support the Separatists' war effort.
A Scorpenek annihilator droid
On the Inner Rim world of Colla IV, the insectoid Colicoids developed an advanced technological society divided into a hierarchy of specialized nests. The Colicoid Creation Nest was responsible for the manufacture of higher technology, including droids. During the Clone Wars, it supported the Confederacy of Independent Systems in its war effort against the Galactic Republic and provided battle droids for the Separatist Droid Army. To guard their spawnworld, the Colicoids created the Scorpenek annihilator droid, a larger, more powerful version of the droideka, another Colicoid Creation Nest combat droid. The annihilator droid was armed with rapid-fire, high-intensity laser cannons capable of destroying enemy tanks. Due to the expensive production, fewer than one hundred were deployed on Colla IV, most of them stationed on strategic or political positions. Because of the Colicoids' hostile nature, only a few strangers visited their homeworld, and the annihilator droid's existence was kept secret.
Late in the Clone Wars, the Galactic Republic decided to launch an attack against the Colicoid Creation Nest, and sent in a strike force consisting of Republic assault ships and four platoons of clone troopers to Colla IV, the site of the firm's manufacturing facility. The Grand Army of the Republic intended to eliminate a major source of combat automata for the Separatists when storming the planet, and take control of the world in the same breath.
Upon arrival on Colla IV, the Republic assault ships shelled the planet's surface with turbolaser bombardment. Meanwhile, a landing force composed of the four clone trooper platoons, including ARC trooper Sergeant Stec, advanced on the shielded Colicoid Creation Nest factory and infiltrated it. As the soldiers reached the inmost wall, they were attacked by an annihilator droid that the Separatists had deployed to defend the manufacturing facility. The droid destroyed a duracrete barrier, hereby dashing the troopers' cover, and killed most of the troopers—three of the four platoons assigned to the task—within minutes. Upon this, the surviving clone troopers retreated.
Stec, one of the few survivors of the Colla IV mission
After the failed mission to capture Colla IV, Sergeant Stec, one of the few surviving troops, brought back information on the Scorpenek annihilator droid and reported on the recent encounter to his superiors. Though he did not know exactly what droid their enemy had deployed to repel the landing force, he recommended not letting the Colicoids take them off-planet, bringing to mind that a single one had taken out three platoons.
Meanwhile, the Colicoids expected the Galactic Republic to return to Colla IV. Guarded by an orbital screen that had been established by a Separatist naval task force, they used freighters to ship the annihilator droids to the front lines. Their deployment ensured Separatist victories on Palanhi and Formos. The Separatist forces also benefited from the droids' firepower during the Outer Rim Sieges.
The battle of Colla IV was first mentioned in The New Essential Guide to Droids, a 2006 reference book by Daniel Wallace. Colla IV's entry in the 2008 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia indicated that the Separatists used several annihilator droids against the clone troopers during the battle. This contradicts with the information given in The Essential Guide to Droids, which states that a single droid attacked the landing force. This article assumes the latter is correct.
- The New Essential Guide to Droids
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Guide to Warfare