Good lord! They're all droids!
—OOM 33 after using electrobinoculars to look into the Medal's command bridge.
The Second Battle of Providence, also called the Battle over Providence and known to the GDE simply as the Battle of Providence as they didn't know of the First Battle of Providence, was a battle in the Galactic Civil War which marked the first meeting of the Galactic Droid Empire and the Droid Confederacy. The battle was quite different from many other battles because of the number of duels involved in it. Darth Tyler, the leader of the GDE, dueled Q-17, Azz'gabat and a small group of Wipeout droids, bringing the total number of duels to three. Very few other battles in the Galactic Civil War had as many duels.
The battle originated when one of the GDE's rebel prisoners told officers that Providence was allied with the Rebels, making it hostile toward the GDE. Because of this, a large fleet was sent to the planet to investigate. They found that it was inhabited by droids, many of which had been in service to the CIS during the Clone Wars. Despite this, they attacked the starfighters sent up from the planet, causing a fleet larger than theirs to confront them. A large battle began, taking place inside a Droid Confederacy capital ship, a GDE capital ship and in the space in between. Eventually the battle progressed until it was concentrated entirely into the Droid Confederacy's Assassin.
During this time, several attempts were made by the GDE to make their enemies surrender, including Tyler holding OOM 33 at the blade of his lightsaber, but all were foiled by clever counter attacks from the Confederacy. The battle was even during the first stages, with each side never seeming stronger or weaker than the other. The turning point of the battle was the arrival of X'Doc and his platoon, as they formed a phenomenal group when it came to battles. They turned the odds heavily in the Confederacy's favor, and secured their eventual victory against the invading legion of droids.
Prelude[]
At the end of the clone wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems had broken into several smaller factions, the three main ones being the Droid Confederacy, the Galactic Droid Empire and its ally, the New Confederacy of Independent Systems. The GDE and New CIS were allies, but other than that none of the factions knew about the others. As the GDE and New CIS established themselves as major Galactic entities, both of which had a good chance of winning the Galactic Civil War, the Droid Confederacy aligned itself in coalition with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, already a major faction. Still, the Rebels never told their allies about their droid brethren across the Galaxy, simply saying that there were "two empires". This was because they didn't want to lose the support of the Confederacy, who would probably side with the other droids if they knew about them. The Rebels tried to hide the identity of the Confederacy from the GDE as well, but this would prove less effective.
The battle began when Darth Tyler learned from a rebel prisoner that Providence was allied with the Rebellion. He declared war on the planet, and a large part of his fleet set off. The planet's owners, the Droid Confederacy had been building up an army ready to attack the Galactic Empire, but before they could mobilize they were met by the GDE. Many of Providence's inhabitants were confused by the sight of familiar CIS starships in their skies, thinking that possibly more runaway former Separatists had come to join them, but they were proved wrong when they saw their own spacecraft being shot down. This caused much turmoil on the planet, with very few individuals understanding the situation.
Second Battle of Providence[]
Early stages[]
Several OOM Providence battle droids guard the Survivor.
A brief space dogfight began when the DC sent up a large brigade of Draft-class Tri-fighters, which began to attack Tyler's navy. They were soon backed up by capital ships including the Survivor, which served as a main platform for some of the battle. Tyler selected a large group of droids whom he took into the Survivor to try and commandeer it away from the DC, but was met in the hangar by three Wipeout droids which killed many of Tyler's droids with their chainguns. Tyler was easily able to defend himself with his lightsaber (a fact which DC engineers used when upgrading the Wipeout droid) and used Force crush on the one Wipeout droid which had not been killed by his followers.
Meanwhile, Unit 933 was preparing an assault on the Medal alongside Sollas Vikkal and Azz'gabat. They took a Quarren Gunship and directed it into the Medal, only to be countered by a small army of Battle Droids who tried to stop them. Azz'gabat used an incredibly powerful Force push to send them all careering towards a wall. 933 then activated his jetpack and flew right into the middle of the confused droids, using his lightsaber to cut them all to shreds. The three quickly navigated their way into the main body of the ship, attempting to find Darth Tyler. Tyler however, had long since left the ship, and was now outside the command bridge of the Survivor. He was met by what appeared to him as a normal Droideka, but was actually Q-17.
Q-17 advances toward Tyler.
A duel between the two droids began, Tyler thinking he could easily defeat the Droideka, not knowing of its modifications. Q-17 attacked first, using its standard two twin repeating blasters. Tyler did the easiest thing to do, correctly thinking that it would kill a normal droideka. He deflected all the shots straight back at Q-17, whose shield in turn, reflected them at odd angles, making it very dangerous for either of them to move without being hit by a stray blaster bolt. To stop this, Tyler used saber throw, and Q-17 concentrated its attention on the lightsaber instead of shooting at Tyler. Tyler took this chance to use Force lightning on the droideka, which was reflected back at him. He began to realize that any attack he unleashed on Q-17 would be reflected back at him, so instead of attacking Q-17, let Q-17 attack him. He continued using his weakest attacks so that the droid would not deactivate its shield, and after about 10 minutes of defending, Q-17's shield generator ran out, and Tyler short circuited it with Force lightning. He then entered the command bridge, and found one of the confederacy's main military leaders, OOM 33. He held his lightsaber to OOM 33's neck, and threatened him to surrender or die.
Back to the Medal[]
However, Tyler was distracted when one of his remaining strike team members found him and told him that back in the Medal, "a Geonosian, a Human and some sort of droid" had taken the command bridge, and were threatening to self destruct the Medal if Tyler did not return to it immediately. Tyler released OOM 33 and went back to his own ship, followed closely by a now-conscious Q-17 in it's Droideka Interceptor, the Seventeener. When they arrived back in the Medal, Q-17 was met by its fellow Droid Confederacy commanders Sollas Vikkal, Unit 933 and Azz'gabat, who were also returning to their own ship. They loaded the Seventeener into their Quarren Gunship and left, except for Azz'gabat, who had stayed behind to duel Tyler.
The two Sith, one from each main unit of the Clone Wars, began an epic duel. Tyler attacked Azz first, rampaging him with a barrage of furious swipes, all of which Azz parried using the very Am-Makashi that Dooku had taught him. The two masters of their respective forms could have dueled for hours, as Azz's form specialized in exhausting the opponent by making them constantly attack, and Tyler's focussed on exhausting the opponent by making them constantly defend. The duel was cut short, however, when OOM-4 reported to Tyler that a large squad of what appeared to be "Flying Droidekas" were attacking the Medal with proton bombs. Tyler realized that the whole duel had just been a plan to distract him from commanding in the battle, so immediately left the hangar where he had been dueling Azz'gabat and returned to surveying his army. He had a brief conversation with Azz'gabat before leaving, and then commanded AT6-3, an officer in the GDE army, to lock Azz in a the brig of the Medal.
Tyler then commissioned a set of Vulture Droids to combat what he recognized as a squadron of the same things he had seen Q-17 flying. The Droideka Interceptors were almost evenly matched against the Vulture Droids but were all destroyed due to The Vulture Droid's speed. Back in the Survivor, A-10 decided on calling up the Droid Confederacy's strongest weapon: The Assassin. As it was currently in battleship mode rather than core ship mode, A-10 set it into his favorite configuration - attaching the Survivor on to it as well.
This was achieved by attaching one of the Survivor's hangar doors to one of the Assassin's hangar doors, meaning that the droids could cross from the hangar of the Assassin straight in to the Survivor. After this configuration had been completed, all of the remaining Confederate Starfighters returned to the Assassin and prepared barricades in the two open hangars. They knew what was coming. The Galactic Droid Empire was going to send in their entire army. The Droid Confederacy just had one more commander they needed to summon.
Main battle[]
The main battle took place inside the hangars of the Assassin, with each side using almost its entire army. For almost twenty minutes, all was still in the skies above Providence, but that was broken when the GDE, after forming their plan, sent out one hundred transports into one of the hangars. The empire's droids put up a valiant fight, but were no match for the huge numbers of droids loyal to the Confederacy which were waiting behind a large wall of debris they had built in the hangar. Tyler's response was to change his original plan and send out the remainder of the portion of his army that he had brought to the battle - half to one of the hangars and half to another. Tyler himself went with one half of the troops, and the rest of his commanders went with the other.
The great escape[]
Azz'gabat, meanwhile, had been left in a Force cage in the brig of the Medal. He was guarded by nine B2 Super Battle droids, who patrolled up and down the long corridor making sure none of the prisoners escaped. Azz could not use the Force from inside the cage as it would reflect back at him, and his lightsabers had been taken from him. One had been placed on a desk at the other end of the corridor, the other in the Medal's command bridge. He had come up with a plan, which he put into action immediately. When the B2s were a safe distance away from his cell, he removed his jacket and, keeping hold of one arm of it, flung the rest of it out of his cage so that, for a brief moment, the other arm was extended. For that split second, Azz could safely use the Force through the jacket and Force pulled his lightsaber skillfully through the arm into his cell. He then replaced his jacked back on his back. Azz then ignited his saber and destroyed the generator which powered the Force cage. He ran out into the corridor, and destroyed his guards with his lightsaber.
Unit 933 searches for GDE soldiers inside the Assassin.
He freed any rebel prisoners he found but left the imperials to the fate decided for them by Darth Tyler, which Azz thought would not be a pleasant one if Tyler lost the battle. Azz and the Rebels then took a transport and flew it into the hangar of the Assassin which Tyler wasn't in. Luckily, the battle in that hangar had progressed further into the ship, so no-one heard them enter. When they found the battle, it had stopped as one of the GDE soldiers had captured OOM 33 and was holding a gun to his head. He was going to kill him if the Confederacy didn't surrender. Even luckier was that when Azz entered that room, OOM 33 and his captive had their backs to Azz, and he was able to cut down the GDE soldier so that the battle could continue. Azz made a significant difference to that particular half of the battle, as the Confederate forces were performing badly and needed a leader such as Azz to raise morale and improve their chances.
Desperate Armies[]
Now that each army was desperate to win the battle, casualties were occurring by the minute. Huge explosions ripped apart several of each side's ships, demolished small starfighters and destroyed millions of droids on each side. The space battle was getting harder and harder to concentrate in, lasers were literally flying everywhere. Tyler eventually was able to make it through to the Confederacy's control room and disable many of his enemy's ships. But at the same time, Jamba droid commandos destroyed ten of the GDE's cruisers. The battle was almost even. Both sides were exactly equal in power.
The battle on board the Assassin was devastating to both sides. Droids against droids was not common, and very few soldiers of either side had ever been in such a battle. The droids, even though programmed to identify allied soldiers, began not to be able to tell which was which. Every now and then, one soldier accidentally shot another on the same side. The battle was tearing each side apart. What was more, confused Mansau sometimes healed soldiers of the GDE. Yet the commanders insisted the battle go on. Both sides fought furiously for hours, and it seemed that the battle would end in a draw. However, the Droid Confederacy had called upon X'Doc, who was on Lucrehulk at the time, to bring a Quarren Gunship and the best students in his order to the battle.
Jujiah Saol wrenches blasters from three of X'Doc's temple guards with force pull.
However, X'Doc was delayed by a strike on his base by Jujiah Saol and some of her Grand Theocratic Empire soldiers. She had been bribed by Tyler to come and side track his enemies, and had been eager to infuriate old enemy Unit A-10. She and her soldiers directly attacked X'Doc's temple, and the students were forced to abandon their current tasks, classes or training sessions and face a battle with the hardened thugs. The order was still quite new, so had few members powerful enough to take on the type of enemies they were faced with, but they put up a good fight and defeated the invading force. Saol herself killed and wounded many students, but was chased away when all of her own soldiers were killed, leaving her outnumbered. She continued to harass enemy forces from space, however, and used techniques such as battle meditation and Force bullet from the safety of the Medal to help her temporary allies.
X'Doc saves the day[]
The forty or so powerful warriors brought by X'Doc fought bravely, and the battle tilted heavily in their favor. X'Doc had done exactly what was asked of him, and brought only the best students. Each of them was easily able to combat three droids at once using telekinetic lightsaber combat, so the GDE's soldiers had little chance of even bringing one down. One of the bravest students X'Doc had brought was Timbe, a Gand Force Warrior who could successfully fight five enemies at a time, not ever faltering or tiring out. She, along with Azz'gabat, was given a very prestigious medal and privileges for services to the Confederacy in times of need after the battle.
The battle continued long into the night, and by the next morning reinforcements from the Galactic Droid Empire's ally, the New Confederacy of Independent Systems', capital of Cato Neimoidia had arrived. They arrived in one of the New CIS' capital ships, and were led by Troyb, who stayed behind in his ship to help in the space battle and command his own forces. This temporarily made the battle fairer to both sides, though it was not long before the Droid Confederacy regained their lead. In one area, the battle had progressed all the way into the Assassin's "danger zone", a huge network of corridors designed by Unit A-10 to defend his ship's control room. It was easy for the GDE forces, who didn't know their way around to get lost in the maze. What was more, A-10 had installed tiny rooms into the walls of the corridors, each housing one Wipeout droid. These were placed at random points along the corridors, and could be triggered by any group of individuals with more than three members.
Strike on the new Confederacy[]
Troyb is startled by Sollas Vikkal.
Now, this gun you're pointing at my head. I suggest that you lower it.
Why exactly should I do that?
Because of them.
—Troyb and Sollas Vikkal before Troyb called in his many guards.
Meanwhile, Sollas Vikkal was determined to make a more useful contribution to the battle. He, as usual, had been overshadowed by his glory seeking colleagues, but this time he had seen something they hadn't. Vikkal had seen Troyb's ship, and had decided it was his duty to capture it and claim it as his own flagship. He found many of his Geonosians and diverted them to his own individual area of the Assassin, which had its own hangar. From here, every one of the Geonosians manned a Geonosian Starfighter and flew into the enemy ship. They were fortunate enough not to lose any men while making the dangerous journey through the battlefield in space, and even destroyed several enemy fighters on the way. The small army guards Troyb had kept back to defend him did not put up much of a fight against the Geonosians, and some even believed that they were members of the new Confederacy - until, of course, it was too late. Many of Troyb's guards were patrolling in groups of four or less, which compared to their enemies was nothing. It was not difficult for the Geonosians to locate the command bridge, as many of them were familiar with the layout of old Confederate ships, so Troyb was in great danger. This, however, was countered by surveillance cameras showing Troyb exactly what was happening. He called all of his guards to his command bridge, and positioned them just outside it. When Vikkal and his team arrived, they dispatched the guards Troyb had directly next to him and held a gun to his head, ordering him to surrender his ship. Troyb advised them not to do something so foolish as kill him, and when asked why, called in his guards who were standing outside. They surrounded the Geonosians, and a shootout began between the two forces. Several men were lost to both sides, but in the end it was the Geonosians who were forced to retreat. However, Vikkal and his party were not entirely unsuccessful, as they managed to capture a few of Troyb's aides, and as a result of their strike Troyb recalled all of his men to come and guard him. Troyb fled the battle shortly after they arrived.
Tyler resigns[]
Eventually, the GDE forces were all but wiped out. Only Tyler, a few generals and a few hundred standard infantry units remained. Tyler was separated from the rest of his allies, and eventually surrounded by several Wipeout droids which he had triggered from the walls of the "danger zone". Yet another duel began, this time between Tyler and a dozen Wipeout droids. Tyler put up a heroic fight, but the supreme number of Wipeout droids almost killed him. Tyler had to use the Force to escape, but was soon captured again by Confederate soldiers.
He was reunited with his generals, but somehow managed a quick escape by using a large scale mind trick. His astonished commanders ran after him as he quickly navigated his way toward a Transport in the hangar of the Assassin. He took one of his own, for fear of an enemy one having a self-destruct mechanism controlled from on board the Assassin, but was forced to leave several of his own starfighters behind. These were used by the Confederacy later for their superior speed and maneuverability to some of the Confederacy's own ships.
Aftermath[]
Sollas Vikkal takes flight to combat GDE forces from the air.
GDE, New CIS and GTE[]
The few remaining Galactic Droid Empire members returned to safety on board the Medal. Tyler was furious with all of his generals, blaming them for relying entirely on him for tactics. This had been true for most of the battle, especially during Tyler's duel with Azz'gabat, when the Confederacy's plan of temporarily distracting Tyler had worked simply because while distracted, Tyler could not command his forces, and there was no one to replace him because of his commanders' foolishness and inability to think up strategies. Tyler degraded several of these commanders to lower ranks, but left certain individuals he believed did not possess that particular trait. Upon returning, the few survivors were met by a very disappointed and unruly crowd. Many were disillusioned about their empire's true greatness, and Tyler knew he would have to do something extraordinary to win back their full support. This, however, he found to be a very interesting task, and he immediately started work on his master plan to avenge his forces and defeat the confederacy. This plan would prove later to be highly successful, and in his next clash with his new enemies Tyler easily claimed victory.
Troyb was quickly escorted back to safety on the nearest world under his control. He was calmer than Tyler, and accepted the fact that his force had been too small and arrived too late to really have had an impact on the battle. This, however, did not stop him getting angry at the Confederacy for destroying so many of his starfighters and soldiers, and he also decided to concoct a plan to eliminate them from the already hectic society that existed during the war. He also decided that he himself had discovered a new nemesis, Sollas Vikkal, the Geonosian who had very nearly managed to take his life and his ship.
Jujiah Saol returned quickly to her capital of Mygeeto. Many of her soldiers were disappointed to see that she was alone, but knew better than to confront her so soon after what had obviously been a defeat. She was less angry than they expected, however, and remained glad at rediscovering her old enemy. She knew peace between them would not last very long.
Droid Confederacy[]
The confederate forces held huge celebrations on board the Assassin, and every individual soldier was congratulated by one of the generals of their army. Many were awarded medals and promoted to sergeant or even lieutenant status. The two most acknowledged individuals were Timbe and Azz, both of whom were given very prestigious awards. Both were also promoted within their own organization: Timbe to knight status, and Azz to the rank of DC Rogue Commander. After this battle, many Droid Confederacy citizens began to have more faith in their army and nation as a whole, as they were based almost entirely on one planet and its single moon.
Because of the incredible skill Timbe showed during the battle, the Confederacy's order had several students who changed their main fighting style from the standard lightsaber combat to the Force Warrior's style of unarmed combat. This made it one of the only Force-sensitive entities in the history of the Galaxy to have a significant number of Force Warrior members.
The rebel prisoners Azz'gabat had freed were taken to Arbra to continue with their duties. The rebels were very pleased to have their soldiers returned to the safety of their base, and the Confederacy's cordial relationship with their allies was strengthened.
Behind the Scenes[]
The Second Battle of Providence was the first fanon battle in JawaChief's galactic civil war. It was created by JawaChief, but Darthtyler also helped write it. When it was first nominated for GA, Troyb voiced his support for the article and also asked to be included in it. This is why the character Troyb ad the New Confederacy appear in the battle.