Battle of Hypori (Clone Wars)

The Battle of Hypori was a battle that took place four months after the Battle of Geonosis. It would prove important as being the first formal appearance of General Grievous.

The Battle
The Battle of Hypori was the result of intelligence gathered by Jedi Master Daakman Barrek and his Padawan Sha'a Gi, which indicated the presence of a large droid factory on Hypori. A Jedi task force, consisting of Barrek and his Padawan, along with Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, K'Kruhk and Tarr Seirr were dispatched to the planet to destroy the factory, reinforced by an army of clone troopers. They were to be led by Barrek, due to his superior knowledge of industrial matters.

The battle was doomed from the beginning. As the Republic ships emerged from hyperspace, orbital mines caused the majority of the transports to crash behind the Separatist's lines. The task force was quickly surrounded by the massive droid army that was stationed on the planet, and all the clone troopers present had been quickly slaughtered. The seven remaining Jedi retreated to an area of the planet where a large number of the Acclamator-class assault ships had crash landed. As they were retreating, Master Barrek attempted to send out a distress call to any nearby Jedi. As Barrek was doing this, he was suddenly attacked by the leader of the droid army, General Grievous. Barrek was able to make contact with General Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Muunilinst and requested an "immediate evac" from Hypori telling Kenobi that "he is hunting us", before he was slain by Grievous.

Duel with the General


The six remaining Jedi were left surrounded by the hordes of super battle droids produced by the factory. Announced to by Grievous that they would receive a 'warrior's death', they waited as Grievous approached. As Grievous' footsteps approached, Sha'a Gi was overwhelmed with fear and charged into the open. Grievous quickly killed him by crushing him with his metallic body, before leaping out of sight.

As the Jedi retreated into the wreckage, Grievous suddenly attacked, dropping from the wreckage above brandishing two lightsabers. After a few moments of fencing, Grievous began to focus his efforts on Mundi. The Cerean promptly leapt onto a ledge above and launched a powerful Force Push at Grievous. The cyborg quickly dodged, leaping onto the side of one of the larger pieces of wreckage before spring-boarding of it and launching himself at the Jedi.

Landing in a crouch, Grievous was promptly engaged by K'Kruhk. Despite the Whiphid's tenacity, Grievous defeated him with a quick slash across the belly and a rapid overhand blow. Leaving K'Kruhk for dead, Grievous turned to the other Jedi.

Defending himself against a telekinetic assault by Shaak Ti, Grievous grabbed Tarr Seirr with his clawed foot and crushed the young Cerean's head against the ground. As Aayla Secura charged, Grievous grabbed her with his other foot and tossed her aside, along with Seirr's corpse.

Left with only Ki-Adi-Mundi and Shaak Ti to battle, Grievous fended them off by spinning his hands, turning the lightsabers in them into buzzsaws. As the two were temporarily taken aback by this, Grievous used the distraction to kick Mundi aside before unleashing a frenzy of blows against Shaak Ti. As Mundi rushed to her aid, Grievous disarmed her and sent a massive finishing blow her way.

While Shaak Ti was able to protect herself from the slash with the Force, the kinetic energy it imparted was enough to pick her up and send her flying into a wall of wreckage. As Grievous turned to Ki-Adi-Mundi, the Jedi attempted to retrieve his dropped lightsaber with the Force, but Grievous pounced on it, seizing it with one of his clawed feet. In response, Ki-Adi telekinetically summoned one of the blades hanging on Grievous' belt. Grievous, not being a Force-sensitive, and having all of his limbs occupied, was unable to prevent this. As Mundi lifted the weapon into a guard, the two, Jedi and cyborg, eyed each other.

Grievous broke the stare and leapt at Mundi.

ARC Rescue Team
"Approaching droid perimeter, we are undetected. Gun it!"

- An ARC pilot and Fordo

While the Jedi had been engaging Grievous, a group of 10 ARC lieutenants led by Captain Fordo had been rushing to Hypori via gunship. As the ship approached the battlefield and wreckage, flying so low that the ship clipped the heads off several battle droids, it dropped a series of command detonation explosives, which the droids ignored as they fired at the gunship. Blowing a hole in the side of the wreckage and swooping in, the gunship dropped off Fordo and his team before hovering up to a large hole in the wreckage to fend off the droid reinforcements.

Fordo and his team charged into the wreckage, coming upon the final bout between Grievous and Ki-Adi-Mundi. Just as he was about to finish the disarmed Mundi, Grievous noticed the ARCs, who promptly began firing. As Mundi reclaimed his discarded lightsaber, Grievous quickly retreated into the wreckage. Dodging fire, Grievous ran up the side of the interior of the wreckage before leaping down at the ARCs.

Landing in their midst, Grievous viciously cut down four of the ARCs before Fordo called in for backup. Backup took the form of a gunship that began firing at Grievous. Again retreating into the wreckage, Grievous dodged the blasterfire and missiles with a number of dazzling leaps and flips, cutting his way through the half-burned durasteel.

With Grievous thus occupied, the surviving ARCs and Jedi retreated, despite Mundi's objections. The ARC troopers, covering their withdrawal, activated the command detonation explosives that their gunship had dropped earlier, destroying many of the droids surrounding the crashed ship to clear an escape path.

Aftermath
"Run, Jedi, run. You have only prolonged the inevitable."

- General Grievous

Other than Ki-Adi-Mundi, the surviving Jedi included Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura. K'Kruhk was thought dead but had in fact gone into a deep healing trance, during which his heart and pulse had decreased to barely noticeable levels.

While they retreated, Grievous quietly claimed his trophies from the slain and defeated Jedi, notably the lightsaber of the fallen K'Kruhk. As he watched their gunship vanish into the distance, Grievous mused that they were only prolonging the inevitable.

Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan later thought that it was unfair that clones had been sent to rescue Jedi on Hypori, as Jedi were never sent to rescue clones.

Behind the scenes
Originally, the last chapter was going to involve Anakin and Obi-Wan having to fight a regenerated Durge. This was changed when George Lucas requested that they introduce General Grievous.

Appearances

 * The Eyes of Revolution
 * Clone Wars Chapter 20
 * Clone Wars Chapter 21
 * Star Wars: General Grievous
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic

Notes and references
Schlacht von Hypori Battaglia di Hypori Bitwa o Hypori (22 BBY)