C3P1 - Battle of Kamino

It has been almost a year, a little over eight months since my…inception into the Confederacy's ranks of battle droids. Six months of working as Asajj Ventress' right hand and her trusted confidant, though she rarely actually said anything of her past.

Being someone who had distinctively metaphorical future knowledge of the future to come, many would have expected me to have changed things.

But the sad truth is, history always seems to have the means to ensure that certain events happen despite what little changes there were.

Such as the assault on Tipoca City on Kamino, the primary source of highly trained clone soldiers that served the Galactic Republic.

Which led me to ask Ventress to back me up in convincing Grievous to alter his plans to include me. Ventress had agreed. Her words, as I recall were something along the lines of 'more competent than that cyborg abomination of Dooku's'.

"General Grievous, I have concerns regarding the operation on Kamino, sir."

The cyborg general turned away from the holoprojector, which featured what appeared to be a web of moving arrows along the Outer Rim, to glare at me with undisguised annoyance. "The operation will proceed perfectly, so long as you follow my directives."

"I am coordinating strikes on several other targets in the Outer Rim - by the time the Republic learns of Kamino's attack, they will have no reinforcements to send," he continued, flourishing his claw to the projector, showing flotillas of Confederate warships striking multiple outposts and a major shipyard; Rothana.

Grievous clearly thought the Core Fleet wouldn't send reinforcements to Kamino because the Senate feared an attack on the inner systems. It was a valid concern to them, as the General had indeed done this before. His last attack devastated an entire star destroyer task force near Carida, as dozens of other ships nearby had responded to aid other worlds that he had attacked.

Unlike Carida and Rothana, however, Kamino was a key piece of the Republic's war machine. They were it's only source of clone troopers, whereas all other major core systems Grievous had attacked weren't unique.

Kamino however, fit that word perfectly.

"Sir, with all due respect, there are several critical flaws in the plan," I protested, forging ahead despite the growl of annoyance from the former kaleesh warlord. "Firstly, the leaked transmission will alert the Republic an impending attack on a key world absolutely critical to their war machine. They will reinforce Kamino with all available ships and clones. Second, they will be expecting a large attack force; any less would invite suspicious. Thirdly, your plan of attack involves sacrificing as many transports as possible, which is extremely out of character for you General; quite unlike your normally resourceful strategies. Jedi will be expected to be present and if they don't become suspicious, the enemy military leaders will be."

By now, General Grievous was looking affronted by my insistence there were flaws in his plan to attack Kamino and Tipoca City, judging by his narrowed eyes and growling.

"Finally, the attack force to assault the city is an obvious distraction, they will wonder why it is so small. They will know something is wrong. A larger assault force should be sent to occupy their attention entirely."

Inwardly, I was glad I had Ventress here to support me, it prevented Grievous from simply destroying me on the spot; even now I could imagine Ventress idly fingering her lightsabers behind me, in plain view of the kaleesh cyborg.

"I propose this. Allow me to take command of the fleet with the additional craft. Alter the transmission to include me, as an 'inexperienced' and 'incompetent' commander. Imply that you will expect me to botch the operation and lose all the transports in a futile attack." I spread my metal hands and mentally smiled. "The Republic will believe me reckless as you say and losing the transports will result in them believing that I cannot attack their city any longer, whilst you, General will lead a direct assault on their city right under their noses while I distract them in space."

"And why should the Republic believe that I would leave an incompetent commander in charge of such an important assault?" Demanded Grievous mockingly. Still, it was a good sign. He wasn't outright rejecting my words. That meant he was going to test me. "The assault is designed to lure the Republic into a false sense of security; if we were to send a larger force, then they would devote their full might into the defense of Kamino. Instead, they will triumph over a smaller force, and become overconfident. After that, word will reach them of my attack on Rothana - having overcome a weak foe at Kamino, the Republic will see no harm in sending their ships to defend the shipyards there. We will take their manufacturing capability one way or the other, but if I give you more ships, the attack on Rothana will not be successful."

Well…damn. That was a valid point.

"And if the assault on Rothana is not large enough, then the Republic will grow suspicious, and the entire plan will be destroyed. A good distraction, commander, should work in your favor no matter the scenario. If the distraction at Rothana fails, then the Republic will still have their full manufacturing capability. If the distraction at Kamino fails, we can still destroy the cloners with the troops that have already landed."

"Your 'improvements' would render our plan flimsy and weak, rather than giving it the flexibility you desire," he concluded, condescendingly.

Mentally, I flinched, but pressed on with a reasonable tone, hoping Grievous would consider my points more as suggestions for improvement than an outright attack on his martial prowess.

"I concede on the point of the distraction, however, the primary objective is the clones and the cloning facilities on Kamino. While Rothana has sizable shipyards, more than seventy percent of the Republic's warships are from Kuat Shipyards. Rothana has less priority than Kamino due to Kamino's importance in the war. From a purely logistical viewpoint, there is only one world with cloning facilities to fuel the Republic's Grand Army, and it is Kamino, whereas they have many more shipyards on other worlds."

"As for my 'inexperience', the Republic knows of your pride in your tactics and strategies. They will know that you would not allow such a commander in charge of the operation. But they do know of my existence as the right hand of Asajj Ventress. And they will take this into account."

For the first time since we had confronted Grievous, Asajj spoke up."Well, you do seem to have a liking for

throwing ships away like no one else, my dear Toy General."

Grievous started at her nickname for me, appearing insulted for a brief moment before understanding flashed in his eyes, turning to eyeing me with new interest.

"You sacrificed half a dozen Munificents last month, I believe. Three to die and the other three to ram their star destroyers in order to board them? Your tactics always seem to revolve around capturing their ships; and you have captured quite a fleet with your forces. I'm certain the Republic will believe you may attempt to board their ships with the transports."

I nod. "And knowing that I am leading the attack, they will prioritize their destruction."

The General regarded me, and Ventress behind me, with a moment of consideration.

"You believe that if I alter the transmission, they will be more likely to fall for the trap?" Grievous replied, his eyes narrowing.

I nodded and the cyborg growled softly through his vocorecorder. After a moment, the General nodded slowly, but his voice held a dangerous edge to it as he agreed to the changes in the plan. "Very well, commander. Do as you wish... but know that if your trick fails, I will hold you personally responsible."

My wide photoreceptors narrow into slits of light as I returned the glare. "If the trick fails, chances are General Grievous, you will never see me again. After all, I will have valiantly sacrificed myself to destroy Tipoca City."

Behind me, I felt Ventress shifted slightly. "By ramming my ship into their primary cloning facility and detonating it's reactors."

I stand straight and tall, my eyes meeting Grievous' with conviction.

"If it does fail General, I will see to it's destruction personally. In which case, we will still deal a fatal blow to the Republic. And I will complete my mission."

"By any means necessary."