Battle of Nadiem

In 22 BBY—five months after the Battle of Geonosis and the start of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems—the Confederacy Droid Army, under the command of the Separatist cyborg General Grievous, invaded the planet of Nadiem in the Baxel sector. Even though Nadiem really had no strategic value to either side, the Separatists attacked the planet mainly because the Republic had chosen to defend it. In response to the invasion, the Republic reinforced Nadiem with their clone army, as well as dispatched several Jedi Generals to take command of the situation. Among the Jedi sent to Nadiem were High General Saesee Tiin and Senior General Luminara Unduli, as well as Unduli's apprentice/Jedi Commander Barriss Offee,

Grievous and his Confederate forces managed to grab a strong foothold on Nadiem before the Republic could respond, and landed a large amount of battle droids and tanks. When the Jedi-led support arrived, General Unduli, Commander Offee, and several other Jedi landed on the planet and began to reinforce the Republic's defenses, while General Tinn set up a strong Republic blockade around Nadiem. During the invasion, the citizens' of Nadiem had been caught in the middle of the fighting, killing many and displacing many more. As a result, the Jedi started an evacuation of the planet's residents, with General Unduli and her apprentice personally overseeing the evacuation themselves.

During the invasion, Threadneedle Canyon became a point of contention between the two sides on the planet, with the Republic fortifying their defenses in a valley on one side of the canyon, while the Separatists' controlled the other. Grievous, from a command bunker deep inside Confederate territory, ordered the bulk of his battle droids and heavy tanks to move through the canyon and seize the valley on the other side, and ordered several droid starfighter squadrons to break through the Republic blockade over the planet and provide air support. Meanwhile, the Jedi continued to evacuate Nadiem's populace, with Unduli and Offee focusing her attention on evacuating a small town in the valley.

While General Unduli and Commander Offee were organizing the evacuation of the planet, an advance squad of clone troopers stationed in Threadneedle Canyon that were monitoring the advancing Separatist column from afar reported to Unduli that the battle droids were quickening their pace and would arrive in the valley within an hour. As the Separatist column moved closer to the Republic's position, Unduli allowed any civilian who wanted to abandon their homes a chance to board a Republic LAAT/i gunship and to be transported to a safer location, hoping to get the noncombatants clear before the Confederacy began their assault on the village. However, space and time was limited, so Unduli told the refugees that they were prohibited from taking any personal possessions with them. While most did comply with these order, at least one man tried to smuggle a great amount of wealth in his shirt onto a gunship. Unduli managed to spot the man, and stopped him from boarding an evacuation ship. Even with this rule, however, there were still too many refugees to move with so few gunships, and several had to wait in long lines for a chance to board a ship. In some cases, there were even mad scrambles to board gunships that were lifting off.

Elsewhere on the planet, Crys Taanzer and her son Kennan, both residents of Nadiem turned refugees by the invasion, managed to get to a different Republic evacuation site, but were not able to board any ships due to the long lines. During the Separatist invasion, Cry's had been killed, her home destroyed, and her son's arm injured. Meanwhile, a large amount of Separatist droids were attacking the Republic's outer defense lines at the evacuation site, trying to stop the Republic outpost. The droids were also firing at the landing LAAT gunships, shooting down a number of them.

As the Taanzers were waiting at the boarding site, a Ho'Din Jedi healer who was assisting the refugees noticed that Kennan was not crying, even though his arm was badly hurt. With Cry's permission, the Jedi healer had his Human padawan quickly test Kennan's blood, confirming what the Jedi had originally suspected, that Kennan was Force-sensitive. With this information, the healer offered Crys a chance to let Kennan escape Nadiem, saying that her son could join the Jedi Order and would be given safe transport to the Jedi's temple on Coruscant within two days. Realizing that Kennan and herself would likely both die on Nadiem if she did not take the offer, Crys agreed to the Ho'Din's request and gave her son over to the Jedi.

As Kennan was rushed to an awaiting gunship, the nearby Separatist forces finally overwhelmed the Republic's lines, and began to assault the evacuation site. The Ho'Din Jedi tried to rally the last remaining clone troopers and push back the Separatists, but he too was eventually killed by the numerous battle droids. With the area compromised, Crys Taanzer and the last surviving civilians fled the site to find shelter elsewhere.

Back at Threadneedle canyon, the advance squad came across a group of civilians from an outlying settlement in the canyon that been trying to reach Unduli's evacuation point. An elder refugee in the group was very ill, and had delayed the others' progress to the valley. The clone squad's ARC trooper commander contacted General Unduli and informed her of their situation and requested for a gunship to pick the squad and the refugees up. When Offee heard about this, she asked her master to let her go along with the gunship, believing she could help load the refugees in faster. Unduli permitted Offee to go, but only if she took a squad of clone commandos along with her for protection.

As Offee's gunship left to airlift the stranded refugees and clones, the Confederate column reached a point in the canyon which they had designated as sector five, with the a droid reporting back to Grievous about their progress via hologram. Grievous, from his bunker, told his column that the Republic would likely ambush them later on, at the narrowest part of the canyon, designated as sector seven. The cyborg general told the column to move their heaviest tanks to the front, ordering them to smash through the ambush when it happened.

Meanwhile, above Nadiem, General Tiin's fleet was engaged by Separatist Fighter Wing Zero-Zero as the Confederate vessels tried to break through the Republic blockade. The Republic fleet was too strong for the droid starfighters though, and the Separatists were forced to turn back. Grievous was angered upon hearing this news, knowing that he would not have air support for the upcoming battle.

In the canyon, Commander Offee and her gunship arrived to pick up the marooned clones and civilians. However, Offee discovered that there were more refugees than she had anticipated and there was not enough room for both her troopers and the refugees aboard the gunship. The civilians were loaded into the ship, and, realizing that she could not abandon her own soldiers, Offee decided to stay with them. Offee planned that she and her troops would try to hold off the Separatist droids from the canyon as long as possible, so to buy more time for Unduli to evacuate the civilians in the valley.

When General Unduli was informed about General Tiin's success over the planet, she contacted her apprentice about the development over their comlinks. Glad to hear the news, Offee told her master about her being stranded in the canyon and about her plan to hold back the Separatists. She also asked that Unduli not send another gunship to pick Offee's squad up, believing the Separatist column would be upon them before it would arrive. Unduli was heavily disappointed by this news, knowing that Offee would almost certainly die fighting the Confederacy army, but knew that her apprentice was correct in her assertion.

As Offee closed her comlink the advance squad's ARC trooper told the Jedi Padawan that his squad had been planning an ambush for the Separatist column already. The squad had set up explosives at the narrowest part of the canyon, and had been going to detonate them as the enemy column approached, hoping to delay the droids' advance and make a stand. Commander Offee knew that the plan would only slow the Separatists for a short time, and would result in their own deaths. However, she had a different plan, one that would possibly preserve their lives.

As the Separatist column approached sector seven, Grievous ordered his droids to be prepared for the predicted Republic ambush. Commander Offee's troops began to fire on the droid forces from farther afar, destroying a few B1-Series battle droids. The Confederate battle droids and their Armored Assault Tanks began to fire back blindly, and after a short pause where the clone troopers did not return fire, continued marching forward. Meanwhile, the Republic forces back in the valley lost contact with Offee's men, with Unduli fearing that her apprentice had been killed. As the droid column moved through sector seven, they passed Offee and her clone troopers, lying motionless on the ground. Believing the Jedi and clones to be dead, the droids moved past and continued on towards the valley.

However, Offee and her troops were not dead, but just pretending to be so. Offee had realized that she and her troops would be killed if they engaged the Confederate army directly, and instead fooled the droids into thinking they were dead. Once all the droid had passed the squad, Offee ordered her men to get up and grab the explosives they had originally planned for the ambush.

By the time the Separatist army arrived at the Republic controlled town, Offee and her troops had climbed to the top of the canyon's right wall, and had positioned themselves towards the back of the Confederate column. Meanwhile, the droid forces emerged from the mouth of Threadneedle Canyon and engaged Unduli's forces. The Republic were well dug in and prepared for the Confederacy, using their Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery tanks to cut into the droids' flanks. However, the Separatist's own Hailfire droid tanks fired back with deadly accuracy, destroying at least one Republic AT-TE tank and killing several clones. The droid forces began to overwhelm the Republic's position with their superior numbers, and it seemed that the Separatists would win the battle.

However, as one of the battle droids was reporting the column's progress back to Grievous, Offee's squad began to fire down on the Separatist's tanks from behind. The droids were confused by this, having thought they had left no one alive back in the canyon, and were not able to fire back at Offee's men, too preoccupied with fighting the main Republic forces in front of them. Commander Offee's squad destroyed the column's rear Hailfire tanks and dwarf spider droids one by one, thinning the Separatists' ranks. Meanwhile, Unduli's troops continued to fire on the Separatists' frontward rows, mowing down the column from both sides. With their front and rear guards gone, the droids' progress was stopped, forcing them into a frantic retreat. With the Confederate army now in disarray, Unduli and her clone troopers launched a charge against the withdrawing droids.

The Confederate retreat played right into Offee's plan, who had her squad place their explosives at the top of the canyon, farther behind the Separatists column. As the droids passed under where the explosives were planted, Offee's troops detonated them, loosening the rocks in the canyon wall and causing an avalanche that crushed many of the battle droids, leaving the remaining Separatists trapped between a wall of rubble and the charging Republic clones. Back in his bunker, Grievous watched his hologram of the battle, seeing as his army was trapped and destroyed. The cyborg general smashed his hologram projector in anger, knowing that the Separatists had lost Nadiem.

Unduli and her soldiers destroyed the remaining battle droids when Commander Offee and her squad emerged from the smoke and dust created by the avalanche. Unduli was glad and surprised to see her apprentice alive, asking Offee how she had survived. Offee told her master about her plan, joking that she and her troops had hid in plain sight from the Separatists as they passed by.

With the majority of their army destroyed, the Confederacy was forced to abandon Nadiem and leave it to the Republic. Grievous chose to leave Nadiem in his personal Belbullab-22 starfighter, the Soulless One, trying to clear the Republic blockade on the far side of the planet. However, as he entered space, Grievous was attacked by Jedi Master B'dard Tone and his apprentice Zephata'ru'tor—a Duinuogwuin who was able to survive in the vacuum of space—attempting to prevent the cyborg's escape.

After a short space battle above the planet, Grievous was able to dispatch Tone, seriously injuring the Jedi Master. Shortly afterwards, Grievous killed Zephata'ru'tor, and jumped into hyperspace, fleeing Nadiem.

B'dard Tone was later rescued by the Republic, and was forced to undergo several cybernetic replacements due to the injuries he had sustained at the hands of Grievous over Nadiem. This included a metal plating covering the left side of his face, as wells as a robotic right arm. For the death of his Padawan at Nadiem, as well as the injuries he received, Tone held a personal vendetta against Grievous, desiring the Jedi Order to track and kill the cyborg. This feeling of revenge would lead Tone, his new apprentice Codi Ty, and fellow Jedi Flynn Kybo to desert the Order to personally hunt down the Separatist general in 20 BBY. Tone and his companions tracked Grievous to the moon of Belsus, where Grievous killed Tone and Kybo in a lightsaber duel.

Following the end of the battle, Nadiem was freed from the Confederate invasion, but a majority of the planet's infrastructure and housing was left in ruin. Despite the fact that most of Nadiem's surviving civilians were now left homeless, the planet was abandoned by the Republic and the Jedi, unable to assist Nadiem's populace, being to busy fighting the Clone Wars across the galaxy. Crys Taanzer, who was able to survive the fighting, grew a large amount of animosity towards the Republic and the Confederacy, blaming both fractions equally for the destruction that raged across Nadiem.

Kennan was safely evacuated from the planet and brought into the Jedi Order, becoming a member of the Soaring Hawkbat youngling clan during his early training in the Force. In 19 BBY, Kennan and the Soaring Hawkbat Clan were staying at a Jedi chapter house on the planet Bogden 3, awaiting transportation to Coruscant, when Order 66—a Republic contingency order that made the entire Jedi Order an enemy of the state—was declared. With Order 66 initiated, the clone troopers stationed at the training facility were ordered to kill all of the Jedi there, including the younglings. Although many of the clan's members were killed in the resulting skirmish, Kennan and the remaining younglings were rescued by Jedi Master K'Kruhk and Padawan Chase Piru, who escaped the carnage on Bogden 3 and safely transported Kennan and the other surviving younglings to a moon. When Crys—who by now had left Nadiem and was working as a pilot for the smuggling freighter Uhumele—heard about the destruction of the Jedi, and not knowing that Kennan had survived, assumed that her son had been killed. This news devastated her and caused her to regret the decision to give Kennan over to the Jedi on Nadiem.

• The New Essential Chronology
• "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" — Star Wars Insider 86
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 30
• Star Wars Character Encyclopedia
• The Official Star Wars Fact FilePart 54