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"It's a delicate game we play. A precise balance. That balance has been restored, though, and the Separatists' advantage lies dead in the water. With Merai dead, and Kamino still operational, this Clone War will not soon end."
The First Battle of Kamino was a battle which took place two months after the Battle of Geonosis. This battle is also known as the Defense of Kamino or Assault on Kamino.
Jedi MasterQuinlan Vos, while working deep undercover under the name of Korto, an information dealer with a network of spies and thieves throughout the Republic and Confederacy, came into the possession of the Separatist's battle plans for Kaminoan intelligence coup of epic proportions. After Korto retrieved and relayed the information to the Jedi Council, his supposedly loyal assistant, Tookarti, reported to Count Dooku that his plans had been compromised.
Dooku appointed Passel Argente, Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance, as the ranking officer for the battle, despite Argente's nonexistent military experience. CommanderMerai, an expert in amphibious warfare, received the honor of leading the assault.
The day of battle dawned, and CommanderMerai sent down his landing ships accompanied by a cloud of droid starfighters. Although numerous Jedi pilots battled above, they could not stop all of the droid forces from landing in Tipoca City, and dozens of fully loaded transports made it through. Jedi MasterShaak Ti and Kaminoan Prime MinisterLama Su worked to protect the fetal and adolescent stage clones from Separatist sabotage, and activated the city's stasis-locked ARC troopers. Under the leadership of Shaak Ti, the ARC troopers advanced through the enemy lines.
Commander Merai was forced to launch a desperate strike at the supposed location of the city's shield generator. However, the Jedi proved too wily for the Mon Calamari tactician; the data gathered by the Corporate Alliance was false—there was no shield generator—and Merai's efforts were in vain. In a last-ditch attack, Merai flew into the Jedi hyperspace rings lying in orbit to destroy them and thus buy his battleships time to retreat. He activated his self-destruct system, but the Jedi sensed this and were able to pull away from the explosion, which destroyed the rings. Upon Merai's death, the CIS retreated on orders from Passel Argente.
Though apparently a victory for the Galactic Republic, the battle was actually engineered by Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Tyranus, to destroy the Confederacy's advance strike force and kill its top commanders, thus ensuring that the war would continue for years.
As a result of the battle, Ko Sai told Yoda that the clone army had been funded by a man named Tyranus.[2]