After leaving Kamino, the ship entered Donovia's orbit, and Solo immediately established communication with the base.
A Venator-class and an Acclamator-class ship were stationed in orbit, and over 1,700 clone troopers, led by ARC clones, boarded landing craft and descended.
The base promptly opened its defensive channels. Two V-19 Torrent fighters took off to escort them, guiding the landing craft to a smooth touchdown on the base's landing pad.
In the distance, four Gozanti-class cruisers formed a neat formation, while the remaining combat vessels maintained a vigilant patrol in orbit—everything was meticulously organized.
As soon as he stepped out of the airlock, Solo hurried to Command with Ahsoka and Alpha Squad in tow.
The base's senior leadership and clone commanders had already gathered. Upon seeing Solo return, they all snapped to attention and saluted.
"General, we're relieved to see you safe," Commander Bram said, stepping forward. His gaze inadvertently swept past the ARC clones behind Solo.
"At ease," Solo said, raising his hand in a dismissive gesture before striding toward the tactical table. "Brief me on the latest situation."
Bram tapped the holographic projection on the tactical table, summoning the battlefield status map for Donovia. "Over the past five days, the Confederacy has resumed its attacks on Donovia, with their most recent assault involving six warships. Following our priority directive, all our vessels are guarding the orbital factory, which gave the Separatists an opportunity to deploy a small landing force. However, they have been completely annihilated. The casualty list has been uploaded to your terminal. Currently, twelve battalions are deployed to defend the base, while the remaining personnel are organized into boarding squads stationed on the ships. Four hours ago, we detected a Belbullab-24 bomber equipped with advanced scanning gear, suspected to be conducting reconnaissance."
"Reconnaissance?" Solo said gravely. "It seems the Separatists are preparing a large-scale operation. Perfect timing. Issue my orders: immediately report to Military District Command and contact Commander Rinuan, who oversees coordinated operations in our sector. The ships will continue to defend the orbital factory, and the base will enter Level 1 defense status."
"General, all units have been put on full combat alert ahead of schedule," Bram added, his gaze shifting to the holographic ship models at the tactical table. "What about the Gozanti-class ships?"
"The Warrior Order's secret mission. No need to ask further," Solo replied vaguely, inserting a disc containing core data into the tactical table's interface. He turned to the assembled commanders. "Gentlemen, let's now go over the operational plan in detail—"
The meeting lasted nearly three hours.
Ahsoka, unable to endure the tedium, quietly slipped out of the Command Center and headed to the training chambers deep within the base.
Solo, meanwhile, presented his strategic vision in full to the commanders, covering orbital defense, ground counterattacks, and emergency evacuation plans. The Clone Troopers nodded frequently, and they echoed their collective acceptance of the orders.
After handling routine administrative tasks—such as document circulation and troop deployments—Solo finally left the Command Center.
He had barely stepped into the corridor when a Clone Trooper Engineer hurried over, an R2 astromech droid trailing behind him, his face etched with urgency. "General, my apologies for being late!"
Solo halted, his tone cool. "Captain, a tardiness of this magnitude requires a compelling explanation."
"It was a communication system failure! We just completed the emergency repairs!" the engineer explained hurriedly. Then, as if remembering something, his eyes lit up. "Oh, General, I have good news— we've successfully cracked the database of the 00M-series Commander robots!"
Solo's interest was piqued. "Oh? That's a pleasant surprise."
"With this data, we can unravel the organizational logic of the Confederacy's robot army and develop targeted combat simulation programs!" the engineer said excitedly. "Previously, we were only familiar with the Republic's military structure and operational protocols, but the Confederacy's standards are completely different, and their equipment naming is downright chaotic. Take the Munificent-class frigate, for example. It's over eight hundred meters long and has firepower comparable to a light cruiser, yet they call it a 'frigate.' But the Separatists have always ignored the galaxy's standard conventions, doing whatever suits them best."
Solo asked, "Is the data ready?"
"It was finalized three days ago! All the information has been loaded onto the large-scale tactical simulator, supporting real-time simulations." The engineer pointed to the R2-unit beside him. "It will take you there."
Solo followed the R2-unit through more than twenty levels of the base complex, walking for nearly ten minutes before finally arriving at a dedicated command hall.
At the center stood an opulent tactical table five meters in diameter, its holographic projection module flickering with standby lights.
He tapped the keyboard, retrieving information from the Confederacy's database. His brow furrowed as he read the first line.
The core combat unit of the Confederacy was the B-1 battle droid, not only its main force but also the most numerically dominant component of its military.
As he scrolled through the data, he gradually deciphered the structure of their formations:
* Squad: Eight B-1 droids, requiring no commander and capable of independent operations. This compared to the Republic's clone squads, which consisted of nine clone troopers.
* Platoon: Seven squads, totaling fifty-six droids.
* Company: Two platoons, comprising 112 battle droids, supported by maintenance robots. Their transport vehicles were either heavy Multi-Troop Transports (MTT) or light Troop Fighter Transports (TFTT). Commanded by a robot sergeant, they typically operated from Armored Assault Tanks (AAT), though a few were stationed within MTTs.
Battalion: 7 companies, totaling 784 battle droids, equipped with 7 Multi-Troop Transports (MTT) and a company of 24 Armored Assault Tanks (AAT).
Vanguard Force: 1,232 battle droids, equipped with 11 MTT, a company of 18 AAT, and 112 Single Trooper Aerial Platforms (STAP), specialized in breaching fortified lines and prioritized for planetary landings.
Regiment: 4 battalions + 1 vanguard force, totaling 4,368 robots, exactly the capacity of a single Trade Federation C-9979 landing ship, typically commanded by a 00M-series droid.
Division: 5 regiments, totaling 21,840 robots.
Corps: 5 divisions, totaling 109,200 robots, requiring 25 C-9979 transport ships for deployment.
Army Group: 2 corps, totaling 218,400 battle droids + support units, equipped with 550 MTT and 6,250 AAT, capable of being carried by a single outdated Lucrehulk-class warship, commanded by the ship's captain or a 00M-series droid.
"The organizational logic is truly chaotic, as headache-inducing as currency conversion in Harry Potter," Solo grumbled inwardly.
He noticed that during the war, the Separatists had modified the Lucrehulk-class ships. The central spherical hull, originally not designed as a transport, had been converted into a robot bay, allowing a single warship to carry up to 329,000 B-1 battle droids.
Although the B-1's individual combat capabilities were weak, and the loss ratio between clone troopers and B-1s was roughly 1:15 to 1:20, the Confederacy's rapid replenishment capabilities allowed it to withstand such losses.
To compensate for the B-1's shortcomings, the Confederacy often paired them with other heavy battle droids. While this took up more space, the impact was negligible given the Lucrehulk-class battleship's 5 million-tonne cargo capacity.
After further analyzing the data, Solo discovered that the Confederacy had over thirty different models of humanoid battle droids. This meant that even two identical transport ships could carry completely different unit configurations.
On average, each Lucrehulk-class battleship could carry approximately 180,000 battle droids.
He immediately loaded a past battle into the simulator, combined it with the unit composition rules, and instantly deduced the Confederacy's tactical logic.
The Confederacy's ground tactics were simple and direct, resembling a combination of Napoleon's dense formations and the ancient Greek phalanx, relying on numerical superiority to overwhelm the enemy.
More troublesome was their logistics system. Destroyed robots and equipment were either repaired and reused, dismantled for spare parts to repair damaged units, or recycled for remanufacturing. DUM-series maintenance robots even ventured onto the battlefield during the fiercest fighting, ignoring the danger to perform emergency repairs, achieving nearly zero waste in their recycling process.
In terms of specific unit compositions:
Each B-1 infantry company was supported by 8 to 48 B-2 super battle droids, enhancing their ability to breach enemy defenses.
DSD-1 dwarf spider droids and 0G-9 tracker spider droids operated in small groups, coordinating their efforts. A single 0G could carry up to 6 smaller spider droids.
The deployment of Destroyer Droids was even more formidable. A single Multi-Troop Transport (MTT) could carry 20 of them, equivalent to the firepower of an entire B-1 company, posing a significant threat to infantry.
In space warfare, the Confederacy's fleet configuration was equally challenging. Lucrehulk-class cruisers carried large numbers of Vulture droid fighters, while Munificent-class frigates formed the backbone of their fleet. Defiant-class cruisers had already entered combat, and the Providence-class cruisers, developed concurrently with the Republic's Hunter-class, had also made their debut.
In contrast, the Republic's military organization was simple and standardized:
- Platoon: 9 clone troopers - Company: 4 platoons - Battalion: 4 companies - Regiment: 4 battalions - Brigade: 2,304 clone troopers - Legion: 4 brigades - Corps: Nearly 37,000 clone troopers (including armored support units)
A standard All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) was typically accompanied by 2 clone trooper platoons.
Solo reviewed his forces: 14 fully manned combat brigades, 1 understrength brigade with only 3 battalions remaining, and nearly 5,000 battle droids—just enough to cobble together a corps-sized force.
Even with the clones transferred from Kamino, their overall combat strength remained lacking. They currently had only 78 AT-TEs, 78 Armored Assault Tanks (AATs), approximately 150 light walkers, and 500 speeders—half the standard complement of armored vehicles, with only speeders exceeding the expected numbers.
"It looks like we'll need to make good use of the hacked database to develop targeted tactics," Solo said, closing the simulator. His eyes sharpened. The Battle of Kamino had just concluded, and the Separatists' large-scale offensive was imminent.
This battle would be a defensive engagement, but Donovia's defense differed from the Kamino battlefield, where a large number of Jedi had participated. Here, they could only rely on their limited forces.
Although they possessed ample heavy firepower, the defensive positions could only maintain relatively low casualties by relying on pre-established defensive positions.
But once they transitioned to offense—the casualties would double.
"We need to find a way to reduce casualties during the offensive."
Solo closed his eyes in meditation, using the Force to review famous battles from his past life.
He had already made one attempt, deploying emplaced six-barreled blaster cannons. This weapon was highly effective against robot formations, but relying solely on this equipment was too risky.
Carpet bombing seemed to be the optimal solution, especially suitable for dealing with dense clusters of robots.
However, high-explosive shells were unsuitable here, and he didn't have any decent bombers at hand. Unless bombers could be quickly deployed, this plan would have to be temporarily shelved.
At that moment, images from Earth flight simulation games flashed through Solo's mind: Il-2 attack planes unleashing a torrent of small bombs on tank formations. Those bombs were called PTAB shaped-charge anti-tank bombs.
But proton bombs were difficult to make small enough. You couldn't expect soldiers to throw hand grenades at robot swarms.
"What else is there?"
Solo forced himself to focus.
Bombers, robot swarms, hand grenades—
Boom—Boom!
An idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
The blue glowing orbs used by the Gungans—those weapons could melt robots, short-circuit their circuits, and even destroy armored vehicles.
He understood little about how they worked, only vaguely remembering the term "plasma," but their effects were undeniably devastating.
"If we loaded thousands of these plasma orbs into specially designed dispersers and air-dropped them into the robot swarms—"
The more Solo considered it, the more feasible it seemed. He immediately decided to find a Clone Trooper engineer to discuss the possibility of implementation.
"Damn it, Hutts! And the armor! The lightsabers!"
The Battle of Kamino was one of the reasons he had chosen to participate in the air war. The issues with lightsabers and armor had not been resolved, and fighting on such a meat grinder of a battlefield was indeed risky.
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