Sky Battle of Quell

By 22 BBY, the inaugural year of the Clone Wars, the Outer Rim planet of Quell—the primary planet within the Quell system—had become a point of contention between the Galactic Republic and the opposing Confederacy of Independent Systems. This dispute intensified when large warship forces from both sides of the ongoing conflict clashed in the upper reaches of Quell's atmosphere.

Jedi General Aayla Secura, while on assignment to Quell, found her group of warships consisting of three Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyers ambushed in the planet's upper atmosphere. The ambush was executed by a Confederate Navy fleet composed of seven Munificent-class star frigates. Each side launched fighter craft units to engage the other. Secura deployed groups of V-19 Torrent starfighters, while the Confederates—under the command of TF-1726, the T-series tactical droid operating from his command vessel—countered with vulture droid fighters. The Separatists lost only one Munificent-class frigate, but the remaining ships concentrated their energy weapon fire on the Republic Star Destroyers. Secura's cruisers, facing a significant numerical disadvantage, began to sustain heavy damage. Eventually, only Secura's own command ship, the Liberty, remained afloat as the other two vessels flanking it were torn apart and dragged through the atmosphere by gravity. The Liberty attempted to return fire but was largely unsuccessful and eventually lost its energy shields.

Soon after, TF-1726 dispatched several hundred rocket pack–equipped B2-RP battle droids through the ongoing aerial battles to board the Liberty. The super battle droids landed on the Liberty's damaged hull and exploited the craters caused by the intense fire to enter the perforated warship. B1-Series battle droids were also deployed to assist in the boarding of the Liberty. Upon spotting the incoming combat droids, Secura instructed her clone officer, Marshal Commander CC-5052, known as "Bly," to repel the invaders. Commander Bly complied and led groups of clone troopers from the 327th Star Corps to engage the droids. Simultaneously, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker—having been informed of Secura's predicament—arrived from hyperspace aboard his own command vessel, the Resolute, with soldiers under his command to reinforce the existing forces. While Admiral Wullf Yularen remained with the Resolute as its acting commander, Skywalker, his apprentice, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano; Clone Captain CT-7567, called "Rex;" and soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic's 501st Legion departed on several LAAT/i transports to board the heavily damaged Liberty and evacuate its crew before the ship was destroyed. Skywalker also sent a Consular-class cruiser to aid in the evacuation.

The Resolute moved into position and deployed its transport reinforcements just as the Liberty began to tilt and descend further into Quell's atmosphere. The heavily armed transports were quickly engaged by the B2-RP battle droids, which launched from the Liberty to intercept the new arrivals and targeted their fire at the transports. The Republic craft returned fire, using both their energy cannons and rocket armaments to break through the attacking Separatist forces. Numerous Delta-7B interceptors—one manned by a Jedi Knight—also fought the rocket droids and Vulture droid fighters attacking the Liberty. A rocket droid landed on the transport carrying Skywalker, Tano, and Captain Rex, tearing off the craft's pilot area canopy and exposing the craft's clone pilot. Skywalker instructed Tano and Rex to deal with their adversary while he proceeded ahead of the rest of his forces. He jumped out of the transport and used a rocket droid to land on the Liberty, directing the droid's fire at its airborne comrades along the way. After penetrating the Liberty's hull and landing in one of the cruiser's corridors, Skywalker began to cut through the droids with his lightsaber. Meanwhile, the rocket droid aboard Tano's transport attacked the craft's clone pilot and forced him out of the cockpit. Although Rex and Tano managed to catch the pilot and pull him into the troop bay, the damage inflicted by the droid caused the craft to plummet and crash into the Liberty's already damaged hull. Once the transport had lodged itself in the Liberty, Rex, Tano, and their clone team disembarked the burning craft and began fighting their way through the cruiser's hallways to join the rest of the Republic forces.

Meanwhile, TF-1726, who had calculated that his forces should have been victorious four minutes earlier, grew increasingly frustrated with the prolonged battle. He changed his strategy and ordered his gunners to target all their fire at the Liberty, despite the presence of hundreds of battle droids aboard. Rex and Tano eventually caught up with Skywalker and found Secura and Bly. The group continued to advance through the Liberty's walkways, cutting down all the battle droids in their path. In response to Secura's inquiry, Skywalker explained his plan to gather all evacuees aboard the Consular-class cruiser, which was docking at the Liberty's lower vehicle bay. Ceasing their fight against the droids, the Jedi and clones headed for the Star Destroyer's lower hold. However, upon arriving there and extending the gangway to the escape frigate, a raging fire caused by the Separatists' increased fire tore through the ship's corridors, consuming all clone troopers and battle droids in its path. Spotting the wall of fire, Skywalker sacrificed himself and used the Force to move Secura, Tano, Bly, Rex, and troopers Lucky, Flash, and Cameron into the gangway sealed area before closing the armored doors behind them. Skywalker then turned around to see the corridor's armored doors seal shut, knowing that the bulkheads would not be enough to contain the blast.

Offering whatever reinforcement he could with the Force, Skywalker found himself unable to hold back the inferno. The armored doors buckled, and the force from the blast slammed him against the sealed area, gravely wounding the Jedi and knocking him unconscious. Unwilling to abandon her Master, Tano instructed the Consular-class cruiser's clone pilots via communication device to maintain their position and opened the sealed area's doors, which opened just enough for her to see the injured Skywalker. Using her lightsaber to cut a hole through the doors, Tano, with Secura's assistance, pulled Skywalker's inert form onto the small vehicle. Bly then closed the gangway's doors behind them and ran to the cockpit to activate the frigate's energy shields. With explosions continuing to rock the Liberty and sending unavoidable fires raging through the Star Destroyer, the Consular-class cruiser detached from the ventral hold and sped away, heading through the ongoing starfighter engagements toward the Resolute.

While Skywalker was taken to the frigate's medical bay, Secura and Bly went to the ship's command center, where Secura contacted Admiral Yularen aboard the Resolute. Yularen advised against docking in the middle of the battle, but Secura insisted, as Skywalker required medical attention beyond what their frigate could provide. At Yularen's request, the Jedi Knight with the Republic's starfighter forces cleared a path through the opposing rocket droids and Vulture droid starfighters, allowing Skywalker's evacuation ship to safely approach the Resolute. As the craft maneuvered to dock with the Resolute, a squadron of Vulture droid starfighters approached and unleashed a barrage of fire at the frigate's cockpit. The attack slammed one of the pilots into the ship's controls, accidentally activating the frigate's faster-than-light drive, which Bly was unable to disable. Through the still-open connection to Yularen, Secura hurriedly informed the admiral that their frigate was entering hyperspace. With the uncontrollable frigate preparing for a hyperspace jump while still in the Resolute's hold and therefore posing a danger to the Star Destroyer, Yularen ordered the Resolute to be moved out of the way. The Resolute moved just in time as the frigate jumped to hyperspace. Despite knowing that the Jedi's chances of survival were slim, as a jump through a gravitational field like the one the Jedi had executed was extremely dangerous, Yularen ordered his crew to plot every course along their last known trajectory, as the Republic forces needed to finish the battle and find the Jedi. The battle did not end well for the Republic, resulting in a Separatist victory.

With their crippled ship soaring through hyperspace, Bly met with Tano and Secura in the ship's medbay, where Skywalker's condition was being monitored by the craft's resident 2-1B surgical droid. Bly reported that the coordinates for the hyperspace jump had been entered incorrectly into the frigate's navigation system and stated that they were on a direct collision course with a star. To reset the navicomputer's coordinates, the Jedi restarted the frigate's power, bringing the ship out of hyperspace into the Maridun system in time for Tano to pilot the craft out of its path into the star. Nevertheless, Tano was unable to prevent the frigate from crash-landing on the nearby grassy world of Maridun. Stranded on the little-known world, Tano and Secura sought medical attention for the wounded and still unconscious Skywalker from the world's inhabitants. Yularen eventually found the Jedi on Maridun following a battle against Separatist forces, arriving with a fleet of three Venator-class Star Destroyers to rescue the Jedi.

The Aerial Clash over Quell served as the opening sequence of "Jedi Crash," the thirteenth episode of the first season of the 2009 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. It marked the series debut of Aayla Secura, a well-established character from Star Wars canon, and the introduction of the planet Quell. The T-series tactical droid and B2-RP battle droid models were also introduced in this battle. The battle itself laid the foundation for a story that tested the bond between Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano by placing the former in a near-death experience.

The battle has been mentioned and featured in numerous sources, including the StarWars.com Databank, Visual Guide: Ultimate Battles, The Essential Atlas, The Official Episode Guide: Season 1, and The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which officially named it. In 2010, the battle was included in the "Starfighter" mini-game of the Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures video game, and in 2011, it was one of the playable missions in the non-canonical LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars video game. The main versions of the game largely follow the storyline of "Jedi Crash," but the Nintendo DS version of the game features several changes. In this edition, the Confederacy uses Hyena-class bombers against Aayla Secura's fleet, and Anakin Skywalker—rather than Ahsoka Tano—crashes on the Liberty via the LAAT/i transport.

Due to a lack of conclusive evidence in "Jedi Crash," no definitive outcome beyond the destruction of Secura's fleet could be determined. However, the young readers' book The Clone Wars: Planets in Peril stated that the battle did not "end well" for the Republic forces, suggesting a Separatist victory. Chronologically, the Aerial Clash over Quell occurs after the battle featured in The Clone Wars: Headgames, the webcomic that precedes the episode. Originally conceived as a space battle similar to the Battle of Coruscant from Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the engagement was moved to Quell's upper atmosphere during pre-production for a more dramatic effect. Series Development Artist Matt Gaser subsequently created a series of concept paintings for the battle. This shift introduced some canonical inconsistencies with the hyperdrive jump, as Star Wars canon had established that hyperdrives encountered issues when operating near planets.