Battle of Kiros

During the Clone Wars, in 21 BBY, the Togrutan artisan colony world of Kiros's preference for neutrality from both the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic was shattered when the Confederacy decided to invade the world. Having learned of the upcoming attack, the Togrutan leader, Governor Roshti, contacted Jedi Master Yoda and informed him of the invasion. Yoda promised to send help and asked Roshti not to trust the Confederate leader, Count Dooku, who was personally leading the Separatist forces.

As Roshti and Yoda were finishing their communication, the Confederate troops arrived by way of C-9979 landing craft vessels. Upon landing, Dooku disembarked from the YV-865 Aurore-class freighter Tecora, alongside an AAT driver battle droid, a T-series tactical droid, and the ship's owner, the Zygerrian Darts D'Nar. Meeting the Governor, Dooku assured Roshti that the presence of his forces on the planet was not an invasion, but rather a peaceful occupation for the protection of the people of Kiros. Dooku proceeded to offer a sanctuary for Roshti's people for the rest of the conflict, to which Roshti had no other choice but to agree. However, instead of being spirited to a sanctuary, the Togruta were rounded up and secretly transferred to the planet Zygerria, where they were to be sold as slaves at an auction held by the Zygerrian queen, Miraj Scintel. Kiros itself was occupied by the Separatist Droid Army, and D'Nar, as a Confederate commander, was placed in charge of the battle droids.

Ten planetary rotations later, the Republic forces finally arrived, led by High General Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Anakin Skywalker, Captain CT-7567—nicknamed "Rex"—and Skywalker's Padawan, Commander Ahsoka Tano. After a Republic Venator-class Star Destroyer, two Arquitens-class light cruisers, and a Consular-class cruiser approached the planet, the Jedi ordered Rex to deploy ground troops. An Acclamator I-class assault ship entered the planet's atmosphere, and LAAT/i and LAAT/c gunships were used to deliver clone troopers, All Terrain Recon Transports, and All Terrain Tactical Enforcers to the surface. The Jedi and Rex then led the ground assault on Kiros's capital city, approaching the governor's tower. Riding BARC speeders, they managed to destroy many BX-series droid commandos on Flitknot speeders before they were confronted by a pair of Armored Assault Tanks, backed by more commando droids and B1-Series battle droids. After cutting through the infantry droids, Rex was able to destroy one tank with a well-placed shot from a missile launcher, while Tano dispatched the other AAT by tossing a pair of grenades inside it. With the tanks out of the way, the area around the tower was secured, with a safety perimeter preventing anyone from leaving the tower.

While the clone troopers continued to fight through minimal droid resistance, the Jedi noticed that they had not seen any of the planet's inhabitants throughout the whole battle. Kenobi then received word from Marshal Commander CC-2224 that the holed-up D'Nar had sent him a message. CC-2224 played D'Nar's holographic message, who requested to talk to Kenobi alone to discuss the terms of surrender. Skywalker, who had been a slave in his youth and who resented the Zygerrian slavers, wanted to come to the tower instead of Kenobi. However, Kenobi believed that he should come since D'Nar requested his presence specifically. Kenobi instead asked Skywalker to locate the missing colonists, and the latter planned to have Admiral Wullf Yularen in charge of the Republic fleet initiate a planetary bio-scan. Believing that D'Nar wanted to surrender, Kenobi went to the governor's tower alone, although he left his comlink activated so that Skywalker could hear the entire conversation with D'Nar. When Kenobi entered the main room of D'Nar's headquarters, he saw the commander talking to Dooku and the Zygerrian Atai Molec via a holoprojector, assuring them that the situation on the planet was under his control. As Kenobi entered the room, he was taken under guard by two commando droids, and Dooku ordered D'Nar to bring the Jedi to him. D'Nar told Kenobi that he, in fact, wanted the Republic to surrender, revealing that he had planted thermal annihilator bombs throughout the city; D'Nar was intent on activating them and killing everyone if the Republic refused to comply. To prove his point, he ordered the tactical droid, which was also present at the scene, to activate one of the bombs. The bomb detonated near the Republic encampment, injuring a number of clone troopers.

The explosion caused Skywalker to change his plans, believing that the Republic did not have time for the bio-scan. Having heard D'Nar's plans through Kenobi's comlink, Skywalker and Tano immediately assigned Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, to locate the bombs with his scanners. Meanwhile, Kenobi tried to gain time by negotiating with D'Nar. He told the Separatist commander that he could not surrender until he was sure that the Togruta were safe, and to this end, he offered D'Nar to settle their dispute with a duel. Should Kenobi win, D'Nar would reveal the location of the Togruta and the bombs, but if D'Nar emerged as the winner, Kenobi would be brought before Dooku in a cage. The Zygerrian commander agreed on the condition to fight the traditional Zygerrian way, without weapons.

While they fought, Skywalker and Tano took a pair of AT-RTs and defused the bombs one-by-one by using their lightsabers to sever the connection between each bomb and its detonator. At one point during Kenobi's and D'Nar's fight, a B1 battle droid tried to warn his Commander about Skywalker's and Tano's actions via the Commander's holoprojector. However, Kenobi did not allow him to finish, smashing D'Nar onto his table and breaking the projector. Soon, only two bombs located in a courtyard remained, guarded by a large number of B1 battle droids and B2 super battle droids. Skywalker and Tano destroyed all the droids, but discovered that the bombs were chain-linked, meaning that they had to be defused at the same time to avoid explosion. However, the Jedi were then attacked by more battle droids that appeared on an adjacent platform. Skywalker and Tano were able to dispatch of the B2 super battle droids, but were pinned down by two sniper droidekas.

The droidekas' shields proved too strong for the Jedi, and they had to take cover. Taking notice that the sniper droids were vulnerable from the sides, Skywalker and Tano used their lightsabers to deflect incoming blaster fire into the droids, disabling them. They then proceeded to deactivate the final two bombs. Meanwhile, Kenobi, who had not been fighting in full force to prolong the duel, was defeated by D'Nar. However, the tactical droid approached the Zygerrian with another holographic transmitter. A battle droid contacted the Confederate Commander, informing him that the Jedi had disarmed all bombs. Forgetting about Kenobi, D'Nar tried to trigger the bombs, to no avail. Kenobi, who no longer had to feign his fighting ineptitude, used the Force to crush the two commando droids and regained his lightsaber, demanding to discuss D'Nar's surrender. However, the Zygerrian revealed that he had one bomb remaining, planted onto the tactical droid. Activating the explosive, D'Nar threw the droid onto Kenobi, pinning him under the machine, which allowed the Zygerrian to escape via a secret passageway in the floor. Regaining his footing, Kenobi pushed the panicking tactical droid through the tower's window, and it detonated in mid-air.

As D'Nar retreated toward the Tecora, Kenobi followed suit, contacting Skywalker and warning him of the Zygerrian's escape. Kenobi was unable to catch up to D'Nar, who started his ship's engines and took off. However, Skywalker and Tano used their AT-RTs to jump high into the air, and then used the Force to leap from the AT-RTs onto the Tecoras hull, where Skywalker used his lightsaber to damage one of the ship's engines. D'Nar, witnessing the two Jedi on his tactical display, opened the cargo bay doors of the ship. When the two jumped inside, the Zygerrian released the tentacled blixus creature, one of the many animals that he held aboard as pets. Ordering his Padawan to go stabilize the ship, Skywalker remained to fight the blixus. Tano infiltrated the ship's cockpit and deactivated the second engine. Noticing her, D'Nar ignited his shock whip and prepared to battle the young Jedi, but was quickly defeated by her. Meanwhile, Skywalker, having killed the blixus, entered the cockpit. Skywalker demanded that D'Nar reveal the whereabouts of the colonists, but the Zygerrian refused to answer. Angered, Skywalker pressed his deactivated lightsaber to the slaver's neck, threatening to kill him unless he answered. Tano convinced her Master to stand down, and D'Nar then revealed that the Zygerrian queen planned to sell the people of Kiros at a grand auction in order to bring the Zygerrian Slave Empire to its former glory, after it had lost it power following a conflict with the Jedi.

With the capture of D'Nar and the destruction of the Confederate occupation army, Kiros was liberated. However, the colonists were still nowhere to be seen. Yularen performed a planet-wide bio-scan, but it came up with no results, indicating that the Togruta were not on the planet. In order to discuss their next move, Skywalker, Kenobi, and Tano contacted the Jedi High Council. Jedi Master Plo Koon deduced that the Zygerrians were planning to use Dooku's help to aid them in the restoration of their Slave Empire, and Skywalker was determined to stop them. However, Yoda sensed that the colonists were in grave danger, and he believed that their rescue should be the Jedi's utmost priority. To this end, a rescue mission was mounted, with Skywalker, Kenobi, Tano, and Rex infiltrating the Zygerrian homeworld. Records of the Battle of Kiros, as it came to be known, were compiled by the Jedi who fought on Kiros and were later published as part of the collection of datafiles called the Jedi Battle Logs.

The Battle of Kiros was first depicted in the 2008 comic book The Clone Wars 1, written by Henry Gilroy and illustrated by Scott Hepburn. It was mentioned several times in the subsequent issues of the Slaves of the Republic story arc of The Clone Wars comic series. In 2011, after Gilroy's story proved popular with the animation team of The Clone Wars television series, the writer adapted The Mystery of Kiros into the episode "Kidnapped" of the series. "Kidnapped" followed the same storyline, but featured a number of differences from the comic, the most noticeable being the replacement of the Besalisk Xerius Ugg with the Zygerrian Darts D'Nar as the Confederate commander, which was done because the production team felt that Ugg too closely resembled fallen Jedi Pong Krell, who had appeared in the series' preceding storyline.

This article currently follows the events as portrayed in "Kidnapped," in accordance to Lucasfilm Ltd. Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee's statement that the TV series supersedes the comic books in terms of continuity. Although neither the comics nor the TV series provided a canonical name for the battle, it was later officially dubbed the "Battle of Kiros" in the second volume of the "Jedi Battle Logs" collection of the Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures online multiplayer video game.

As "Kidnapped" takes place during season four, it features all the main characters in new outfits, which were introduced in mid-season three. This conflicts with the comic, which depicts the characters in their pre-redesign costumes. In the comic book, Dooku arrives on Kiros in a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop and tells Roshti that the Separatists have learned that the Republic is planning to establish a stronghold on Kiros in order to attack nearby colonies. After Kiros is taken under Confederate control, a Besalisk named Xerius Ugg is placed in charge of the occupation army. The Republic forces arrive nineteen planetary rotations later instead of ten. The comic also portrays V-19 Torrent starfighters engaging Vulture droid starfighters over the planet.

The Confederate forces also include some regular droidekas stationed in Ugg's quarters. After the city's north quadrant has been quickly secured, the Jedi reach the Separatist headquarters as Commander CC-2224 and Ghost Company approach from the south with minimal resistance. Ugg requests to talk with "the Negotiator," a nickname Kenobi has earned for his diplomatic skills. Kenobi and Ugg agree to fight, although the winning conditions are slightly different. As Ugg converses only with a Zygerrian before the fight, Dooku does not order him to bring Kenobi to him. As such, Ugg proclaims that should he win the fight, Kenobi will order his forces to surrender.

Skywalker and Tano disarm the bombs with the help of Rex, who provides covering fire from the roof tops, destroying a single sniper droideka. At one point during Kenobi's and Ugg's fight, a B1 battle droid tries to warn his Commander about Skywalker's and Tano's actions via the commander's holoprojector. Kenobi, however, crushes the projector with the Force before the droid can finish. Soon, however, another droid comes in and interrupts the fight to tell Ugg that the Jedi are disarming the bombs. Having discovered that, Ugg rushes to trigger the bombs, hoping that at least one of them will explode.

However, the only bomb that does is the one planted in Ugg's own ship. Kenobi offers Ugg one last chance to surrender, but the Separatist commander refuses and attacks him. Kenobi then grabs Ugg and throws him out the window. Ugg falls from the great height of his headquarters and receives heavy injuries upon hitting the ground, although he remains alive for some time. Kenobi tries to ask him about the Togruta once again, but the Besalisk refuses to reveal anything and dies.

After the planetary bio-scan initiated by Yularen has revealed that the Togruta are not on the planet, Kenobi analyzes records copied from Ugg's transmitter and notices that the late Commander has frequently made contact with someone in the Zygerria system, well known for its reputation as a system of slave traders. Using this clue, the Jedi decide to infiltrate the system, proceeding to the remains of the Shi'kar homeworld in order to gain more intelligence from Zygerrian slavers who pass through that sector. Meanwhile, the Separatists falsify the Jedi Order's reputation by spreading propaganda that the entire population of Kiros has been killed by the Republic during their assault.