What if….the republic won the first battle of geonosis?

[Disclaimer] This theory will NOT be 100% lore accurate, as some events will be changed to better suit the path the story will take.

The battle of geonosis was the first one in all of the clone wars, and if executed properly, it could’ve ended the war right then and there. However, the galactic republic’s strategic command made multiple questionable decisions during the battle, and today, you’ll be seeing what would’ve happened if a cooler officer was in command of the operation.

“Sir! The venators have begun their assault, the confederacy’s blockade has also been severely weakened, they weren’t expecting us, just like you said” reported a man wearing the uniform of a galactic republic officer. “Good, keep pressuring their capital ship, we must break through quickly and land our remaining AT-TEs and LAATs to destroy their shield generators, General Yoda must’ve already landed and engaged in combat against the geonosians, if we manage to bring in air support, the battle- no, the war will be over” replied a taller man sporting red and blue medals on the left side of his chest

They were all standing and sitting respectively inside the bridge of a venator class star destroyer, coordinating attacks and communicating with the other ships around them to make sure they were always on the same page.

Suddenly, over a dozen ARC-170 starfighters flew out of the hangar like a blaster shot, escorting a group of Y-wing bombers who were ordered to attack the enemy’s capital ship. Less than five minutes later, they were intercepted by a group of twenty vulture droids, forcing them to engage in combat to carry out their mission.

“Vulture droids incoming on my six!” exclaimed one of the pilots, four of the republic fighters breaking formation to lock in combat against the vultures as said droids were shot at by the precise defense systems of the venators.

The rest of the escort team maneuvered alongside the Y-wings and evaded the separatist’s relentless attacks, proving themselves to be able warriors worthy of fighting alongside jedi generals of the highest order.

“A squad of bombers already completed their attack run! Casualties were two escorts and a single Y-wing” said another republic officer through the comms while almost the entire crew looked at a separatist Recusant-class destroyer go up in flames. They cheered and congratulated each other, quickly focusing back on their stations, for as long as the lucrehulk was still standing, the battle wouldn’t end.

Hundreds of headhunter fighters locked in combat with the separatists’ fearsome tri-fighters and hyena class bombers, creating a show of lights that could be confused for fireworks. However, for the officers sitting on the venators, they lost a friend and a brother each time one of their starfighters was destroyed.

Although they were created for deadly combat and the bloodiest of wars, most of them gritted their teeth at what would be known as the first casualties they had faced in the war, but they had to go on, for their fallen comrades, for the republic.

A thundering sound could be heard from parsecs away, as another republic fleet appeared behind the planet, attacking the little separatist defenses that remained on that side, after all, most of them had focused on the other group of venators whilst these reinforcements approached the many battlefields around the planet and frightening speeds.

On the grounds of geonosis, one could see many cities and mountains destroyed by all of the rockets and blaster shots fired by both the CIS and the Galactic Republic who battled it out to decide not only the winner of this fight, but the victor of the war as well. If the Jedi and clone army managed to kill at least most of the confederacy leaders currently stationed on the planet, they could weaken them enough to win the war- perhaps they could even eliminate them all completely.

“Look out!” shouted a man dressed in darkish brown robes pushing a clone trooper away from a tank blast that would’ve killed him on the spot with an invisible power….the force. “S-sir? Why would you save me? Us clones are only expendable!” exclaimed the trooper in a mix of confusion and surprise, standing up and shrugging off the dust and dirt on his armor. “Not to me.” responded the unknown jedi as he ignited his orange lightsaber, blocking multiple blaster shots every second, making an advance on the geonosian and droid forces with a dozen AT-TEs and thousands of soldiers by his side.

Kilometers away, Jedi master Kit Fisto was leading an attack on the shield generator around one of the largest droid factories on the planet alongside fellow Jedi master Luminara Unduli. “Alright boys! We’ve gotta get past the clankers on the right side and climb the hill to the generator, they’ll have the high ground but they’ll be done for if they underestimate our power, monkey here is a madman so he brings explosives everywhere he goes, if we get him in there he’ll blow em to bits” explained one of the clones, distinguished by his unique armor design and coloring.

“Clankers huh? I like the spirit! However, the droids will simply decimate us if we try charging at them from below, we could press an attack from here and have another group circle back to catch them by surprise.” responded Kit fisto.“If we stay close enough to the building, they won’t be able to hit us with those anti-tank guns, but the team with the explosives will be at an extreme disadvantage since we need the group to be smaller in order for them to sneak in, not that we have troopers to spare anyways” continued Luminara, making sure they looked at all aspects of the plan before making any rash decisions.

“I can do it” said Monkey confidently, disregarding any sort of danger his life would be put in. “I’ll go with ‘im, back when we were cadets he slipped on a banana peel during every exercise” added another clone, this one had something on his arm written in Aurebesh; it read…Hyena.

“Alright then, take four more and get ready to move out, we’ll cover you but you’ll have to be fast” said Fisto, soon after splitting the group into two more squads, one of them already sprinting to the other side of the generator unspotted thanks to the rocks that acted as cover.

Then, once the split up group had gotten far enough, a single word came out of Luminara’s mouth, igniting her lightsaber as Fisto did the same, she got on her stance and looked at the troopers they were in charge of one last time before finally speaking…

“FIRE!”

Everything after was pure mayhem, clones were being shot down one after another, burn marks from the blaster shots that hit them left to forever scar their now lifeless bodies. Fisto clenched his teeth and gripped his lightsber tightly, these were real people just like him that were dying for the same cause.

He screamed at himself in his mind to do something, to protect them, to destroy all of the droids that killed his companions, but there was nothing more he could do. He felt such rage for thinking that they were emotionless soldiers, they had emotions, a past, a life, a dream, they were all their own unique and irreplaceable person.

He wouldn’t forgive anyone who’d take all of that from them, he’d erase every speck even remotely related to the separatists from the face of the galaxy and make sure this didn’t have to happen to anyone aligned to the Jedi order, not again.

On the generator hill, Monkey and Hyena’s group was making their way to the generator, they’d completed another mission before and they’d have to run off to another one right after…if they survived, that is.

“ Nade!” screamed one of the clones as he threw a grenade at a group of over a dozen droids, the rest of the team taking cover from the heavy fire they were under. “Where is Rand’s group?! At this rate we won’t make it to the generator!” asked a trooper, turning to the left side of the rock and taking a peek at the droids, taking two down with his weapon and quickly getting his whole body behind the cover, avoiding the death that awaited if he’d remained there for even a second longer.

“We got another Gunship down! Only six of us left in this area, we need to take down those A.A guns, how’s it looking down there?” asked one of the clone pilots through the comms. “Not too good, the shields on the factory are still up and we’ve got trenches dealing heavy fire on us, we can’t get over there without air suppo-” reported a soldier before he was cut off by the sound of an explosion.

“Damn it…” cursed the pilot, evading shots from the A.A guns that relentlessly attacked the republic airships. Suddenly, over twenty LAATs descended from the planet’s atmosphere to the battle below, flying besides the pilot as two venators made their way to the area, hundreds of ships practically spilling out of them like bees leaving their hive.

“All gunships in the area, we’ve just received orders to pick up general Plo-Koon and storm the separatist fortress protecting an underground base! He’s already been informed of the plan, let’s get this over with before the tin cans fight back” said one of the clone troopers inside an LAAT.

Right after, a large explosion was seen where the factory’s shield generator was. ‘That must be General Fisto’s group!’ thought the man, surprised at how fast the mission had been completed.

“Get up Hyena!”

A cold feeling embraced his body, contrasting the hot liquid that wet the insides of his armor, slowly spilling out it as he clenched his fists.

“Get your lazy ass up!”

He wondered if the cause they were fighting for was really the right one. This was his first battle, and yet he felt as if he’d fought a war. He didn’t choose to fight for the republic, he was created to do so, and that was the root of his doubts.

“If you don’t get up I’m leaving you here and reporting you as MIA”

Then, he remembered all of his comrades who had given their lives for the very same banner he was questioning. After bearing presence to their courage, their nobility, and their bravery…could he really give up now?

“I’ll shoot you, and I’m not joking”

No. This was no time to hesitate, he had to stand up and live the life his friends, his brothers, would’ve wanted him to live. One full of exciting battles which he’d win to bring peace to the galaxy, to the republic.

“That’s it! You’re de-” started Monkey before abruptly stopping after seeing Hyena rise from the ground and to his own height, said clone grabbing his blaster and turning his head to face his friend. “We need to get out of here, the factory will get bombed any second now and being near it’s blast radius won’t do us any good, let’s get back to the Generals and the rest of the group to report the casualties. Don’t forget we got another mission after this, don’t slack off” he said as he began making his way down the hill, gesturing for his companion to follow him.

“Huh?! You’re the one who was laying down besides that rock seconds ago! And don’t think about going out in the field with that injury, we’ll get it patched up by a medical droid quickly, skipping one of the ten assignments we got today won’t kill you, you can join the rest of the team with a few reinforcements after it’s closed” He spoke, not receiving any kind of reply.

Back in one of the many venators still fighting outside of the planet’s atmosphere, multiple officers were discussing the best way to advance their offensive, and one of them stood out with proposals that seemed as if he’d already used the tactics he mentioned hundreds of times by how well he knew them.

“There are many shield generators on the planet, and we have almost the entire Jedi order down there with infantry, vehicles, and ships, some of them as large as the one we’re currently inside of. Ground Command is already putting into motion many of the strategies I mentioned. Our job will be to create a blockade around the planet to prevent their escape and execute an orbital strike once our troops have evacuated the planet. We’ve jammed their interplanetary communications and have all but decimated their fleet, but we cannot allow ourselves to let our guards down, always be ready for an enemy attack and keep enough ships in orbit to defend ourselves should reinforcements arrive.” he explained, surprising many of the other clones who belonged to the same rank as him. He thought this up while dealing with everything that had happened throughout the battle, and it was perceived as an incredible feat by those around him since they couldn’t even begin to look that further into the future while solving the already complex problems in front of them which only seemed to be multiplying with each passing moment.

Although more ideas were proposed and his plans were polished by the rest of the officers, no one opposed his idea. It may have seemed obvious to take that course of action but for those who were actually fighting, it was different, the entire environment, the stress, the emotions, the pressure…it was hard to conquer, but now they were united under one man, and that made them stronger.

Down on the fortress above the underground base guarded by both geonosians and droid forces, Jedi Master and general Plo Koon brought down his lightsaber, effectively destroying a battle droid as he used the ‘force push’ ability to knock back a group of droids who were then shot at and incapacitated by the clone troopers around him.

“The enemy is hiding something below this structure, that much we know. We are to block or destroy their hangar by any means possible, we’ll be receiving aid from bombers for that but we must destroy their air defenses or they won’t be able to get close enough. We’ll storm the command room and other areas of importance, follow me!” he explained to the clone troopers, only now regrouping with all of them.

Walking down the halls of the building, they encountered multiple geonosians and droids, which they were able to easily dispatch of thanks to the clones’ coordination. The Jedi master was surprised, he’d expected the clones to be much less effective than they were proving themselves to be and he gained a feeling of respect for them because of that.

They took a turn to the right, finding a number of opponents waiting to ambush them. Plo blocked three blaster shots in one swift motion while the troopers relentlessly fired blaster shots. Two of them took cover on each side of the hall entrance and peeked out of their shelter once every few seconds to time their blaster shots with the Droid’s focus on the Jedi General, optimizing their attack, which ended up working out for them as they didn’t even have a need to step back.

“The defense of this fortress has been surprisingly weak so far, perhaps it’s due to the fact that they’re evacuating, but we need to keep our guards up, it might mean that there’s a higher density of forces in a single area.” Plo theorized, attempting to find the logic behind the relative ease they faced.

“I agree, but even if they’re setting up a trap, we must keep moving forward. If there’s the slightest chance that they’re hiding something dangerous within this fortress, we will put our lives on the line and blow it to smithereens for victory, for the jedi, for the republic!” a clone added, raising the morale of the soldiers who with a now refreshed spirit continued to follow behind the Jedi, shooting down every enemy they encountered.

By the time they reached the control room, the separatists had already been trapped on the planet by the well-structured and nigh impenetrable blockade the republic had set up, the mighty venators shooting down any ship that dared rise above the Geonosis’ atmosphere.

And right there, in the very same control room they had entered, they found the hologram of what appeared to be a superweapon. A label appeared below the physical design of this starship, and what an ominous name it was.

“The…death star?”