More Than Just A Clanker

A/N: If it hasn't become clear to some by this point, knowledge of the expanded universe is required to understand some parts of the story (Units not featured in the cartoon or movies, EU characters etc.)

So as friendly advice, keep the Star Wars wiki at hand if you have to check what some droid unit looks like that you previously didn't know about (I'm fairly certain MAFs were the unknown predecessors of the HMP Predator droid gunships to many who haven't played Battlefront before.)

Also, new cover art… That's ST-ED. I made the pic myself.

Chapter 7 – One Small Step For a Droid…

8 Days Since "The Malevolence Incident"

Surface of Raxus Prime

Outside Droid Production Facility Nr. 03

Testing Range

"Target neutralized." The light green prototype battle droid reported through the network after confirming its kill, which was a lonely clone trooper that was chosen to be target practice from amongst other prisoners of war that had attempted escape from CIS prison facilities across the galaxy, failed at it and were punished severely in a variety of ways.

The droid that had killed the Republic grunt had been one of the new X-SW1 or Experimental Specialized Warfare battle droids, a prototype model of one of ST-ED's own designs that the tactical droid had come up with during his spare time onboard the Illusionist.

The battle droids had completed their test runs near perfectly, even against armed clone prisoners who had all their standard gear with them. Most of them had opted to used their camouflage systems to blend into their environment and use the built-in vibroblades located inside their wrists to slice the throat open or snap their target's neck after sneaking up behind them and going in for the kill.

One incident did happen where the prototype's camouflage unit malfunctioned and it had to engage the targeted clone trooper head on with its main weapon, the heavy rotary blaster arm. It suffered minor damage to its forward plating and ended up with a fried photoreceptor as a result of the fight. The test was considered a partial success though after taking into account the droid still managed to locate the clone using only its highly sensitive audioreceptors and blasting him right across the chest with its cannon's tri-shot function.

'Excellent work, D89-X3D that clone never saw you coming." ST-ED congratulated the experimental droid squad leader. "We'll be leaving for our next mission soon, you and your squad are to be ready and equipped for combat when we head out.'

"Yes, sir." The prototype acknowledged as it marched off towards the temporary storage facility that had been constructed for each of the prototype droid models that ST-ED had designed during his time in service, most designs were still only early prototypes that hadn't been field tested yet not to mention put into full production.

All of his designs for mainline battle droids so far had been rejected by the corporate heads of the Separatist council as "too expensive" even if it could be clearly shown by statistics they were more cost effective than the mainline B1 and B2 battle droids if put into full-scale production. After the whole thing escalated into an "shitstorm", to put it into organic terms, ST-ED had simply given up and opted to produce all the designs he had come up with using his personal funds after getting the permission to use Raxus Prime's extensive droid foundries from the local Separatist government officials.

X-SW1s were currently the only prototypes ready for field-testing, their first mission being on the single moon of planet Rishi, which was to be targeted for a stealth assault to test out another new Separatist droid design by Baktoid Combat Automata, the BX-series droid commandos. The main objective being to take out the clones manning the listening outpost and transmit the all-clear signal to nearby Republic fleets so the Confederate navy would have a clear path straight to Kamino where the clone army was being produced. Their goal being, to cause as much damage to the clone production facilities as they possibly could before the Republic's reinforcements arrived into the system, effectively crippling their enemy's ability to reinforce themselves with fresh troops.

In the beginning when he first heard about the commando droids, he didn't have high hopes about the success of the BX-series considering they were designed and produced by the same people who made the highly defective B1s, after hearing of the commando droids' reputation during their test runs on the planet of Ryloth though, ST-ED was intrigued to see them in action personally.

If for no other reason than to see if the commando droids would do better or worse compared to the ones he designed.

'Send in the dropships to pick up the replacements from the foundry.' He sent a command to the Malevolence's traffic operator through the network.

'Roger, roger. Dropships on the way, estimated time of arrival three-point-oh-nine minutes.' The pilot droid in charge of directing the air traffic in and out of the ship replied as two of the C-9979 landing crafts housed inside the cruiser left the hangar bay after the ray shield protecting the entrance was lowered.

Walking out of the front gates of the testing range, on his right ST-ED could see the first batch of replacements for the Malevolence's destroyed security forces marching straight off the assembly line and out of the foundry's front door, all in a tight square formation.

As the dropships soon landed onto the courtyard and began loading up their passengers, ST-ED was still thinking about the new mainline battle droid designs he had cooked up and wishing he had the necessary materials to begin building them immediately.

At least he had been able to keep his promise and upgrade the targeting computers and software of the B1s that were recycled and produced inside the foundry so they would according to his calculations be able to hit their targets just as well as the standard clone trooper the Republic fielded.

That endeavor too had to be funded by the money taken from one of his many private bank accounts in the IBC, something he had been doing a lot lately.

After walking past the sight of the new battle droids and reaching his personal shuttle, he started up the engines and lifted off, heading towards the 21st fleet's new flagship as it waited in orbit alongside the landing craft.

Landing into the hangar bay he got a call from the pilot droid acting as the ship's main comm. operator.

'Sir, you have an incoming call from Count Dooku on the holocomm. Marked as priority one.'

'Tell him I'm on my way.' ST-ED replied, not really knowing what the call could be about, he had already been briefed on his next mission prior to this so there was no real reason for the Confederate head of state to call him otherwise.

'Roger, roger.'

After exiting the shuttle, the tactical droid headed straight to the bridge where he was already being waited by OOM-29 who had also been called for the meeting.

"General, glad to see you've arrived. Do you have any idea what this is all about?"

"I'm just as clueless as you are, 29." ST-ED admitted, calling his second-in-command by his "nickname", a concept that he had learned from Sev'rance who had explained that use of nicknames was common amongst organics as a way of differentiating people from each other.

"Well I don't think we should keep Lord Dooku waiting for too long."

"Agreed, establish connection." ST-ED ordered as the holographic presentation of the Sith Lord sprung up from the platform.

"General ST-ED, Commander OOM-29. I have important information to give to you concerning your next mission in the Rishi system that I think you might want to hear."

"We are listening." ST-ED said, clasping his hands behind his back.

"A recent decision has been made amongst the council to include General Grievous' fleet in the operation, he will be securing the rest of the system after you've cleared the listening station on Rishi's moon of any Republic presence and head towards Kamino." Dooku informed the two droids in a calm and collected tone, which caused the two droids to become silent and still.

"I know you don't personally like having Grievous on board but this matter is not up for debate. The council wants to make sure their investment is not going completely to waste so I'll have to throw them a bone every once in a while. For now, you'll just have to deal with their antics. Good luck and may the force serve you well." Dooku said in a sympathetic tone before cutting the transmission.

The two droid officers were left in an eerie quiet that was only interrupted by the occasional beep of the console as they looked at each other. The silence was finally broken when OOM-29 decided to voice his thoughts.

"Well… this is certainly going to be interesting if nothing else."

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Back on Mustafar

"Paradise Island" Detention Facility

After studying the layout of the prison from one of the datapads that Funn had been able to snatch from a passing Trandoshan mercenary working as a night guard in their cellblock, Kess, Funn, Rig and several of their fellow clones had after a long period of planning and debating devised an escape plan.

During the mornings when they'd be heading to the mines again, one of them would fake injury and when the escorting guards will go to check on him, the others would swarm the droids and steal their weapons and possibly even spark a riot amongst the other prisoners as a result.

In case they would be unable to take on the droids with their bare hands, they had still been able to craft several makeshift weapons like shivs from the minerals and rock they had mined from the planet's soil that were sharpened to the point they would easily puncture through the weak armor plating of the battle droids and cut off their frail necks.

Which was exactly what they were doing right now, and since they were at the back of the group, no one noticed the fact that several clones and droids from the back of the group were missing.

At least not visually, but the droids didn't need visual contact to know if one of their own was down since the signal of a de-activated droid would automatically disappear from the network to notify the rest that he had been either destroyed or shut down.

And since the half a dozen or so droids had been assigned to guard the prisoner column, they had no reason to be de-activated and the T-series tactical droid OP-92 who acted as the detention center's head warden came to the conclusion that they had been taken out of commission by prisoners attempting escape and sounded the alarm.

"That doesn't sound good…" Funn said as he looked back towards the prison entrance where the retractable bridge was lowering back down to allow the escapee hunters across it.

"It's the escape alarm, they know about what we've done, let's move." Rig ordered, receiving nods from everyone else in the group as they ran across the volcanic surface, putting on their protective headgear as they did, including a filter-equipped facemask that protected them from the noxious fumes that were constantly spewing from the rivers of lava.

After they crossed the first line of defense, which was the lava field surrounding the area around the facility, they came across a large river of molten rock that had several constantly moving transport platforms that were carrying the minerals mined by the prisoners to be refined and produced into other products like weapons for the Droid Army.

The hunters were hot on their tail so group would have to attempt jumping onboard the platforms in hopes that one of them would take them somewhere.

Most of the clones made it but one of the inexperienced rookies slipped after landing onto the platform's edge and fell backwards, screaming as his body was rapidly consumed by the burning hot lava.

The others were silent as they watched their comrade's smoking body disappear amongst the waves of molten rock before turning their gaze back forward and towards the refinery in the distance.

"There it is; that's our target!" Rig yelled to the others while the platforms kept approaching the facility.

"How exactly are we going to get out through there?!" Kess shouted back questioningly.

"There's bound to be some sort of transport craft in there! We'll figure it out once we're inside!"

With those words, everyone fell silent as the platforms slowed down and entered inside the facility through the massive open double doors.

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21st Fleet of The Confederate Navy & CNV Malevolence

In Hyperspace En Route To Rishi System

While they waited for the fleet to arrive into the Rishi system, Sev'rance and ST-ED continued the droid's lightsaber training in the Malevolence's hangar bay with ST-ED wielding the blade he had received from Erus Kieol after the battle of Raxus Prime, since he found that he liked a melee weapon that had more power behind it rather than something that was fast and well… light.

"You must use more unpredictable patterns, I can easily counter your current moveset since you keep repeating it over and over again." Sev'rance instructed as she kept blocking the inexperienced tactical droid's overhead slashes and stabs that were not really anything more than what any regular blade user would use in their standard fighting patterns.

"Use unorthodox tactics, focus on distracting your foe!" She shouted while blocking a particularly powerful sideward slash from the green blade of her sparring partner's lightsaber.

The tactical droid took her advice to heart and while attacking with the lightsaber in his hand; he began producing a high pitch whining noise from his vocabulator, which was intended to distract his foes by damaging their eardrums.

The tactic worked somewhat as Sev'rance jumped back in pain and surprise, using her other hand to balance as she fell on her knees on the ground.

"Good… that is exactly what I meant." She said with a grin before going on the offensive by using a force amplified leap to cover the distance between herself and her sparring partner, the droid though had studied her previous attack patterns so he had a somewhat decent idea of how she fought.

And he used the acquired knowledge to block each and every one of her strikes with his blade with a pinpoint accuracy, courtesy to the advanced droid brain located inside his head, which gave him a reaction time that way surpassed that of any organic.

After both of the combatants' blades were locked in a stalemate, ST-ED played his trump card and hit the Sith lady's blade with his cortosis covered fist, causing the red beam emanating it to short out before he produced a powerful kick towards her mid-section that sent her flying across the air.

Before she could get up, the tactical droid had used the boosters in his lower body to leap right next to her, placing the saber right above her throat.

"Do you yield, general Tann?" He asked with a neutral tone.

"Sure, could you help me up? I think I broke something." She said, wincing as she offered her hand to the droid who pulled her up from the metal floor.

"You've learned quite a lot since our first sparring match. I'd say you would be at least on the same level as a Jedi Padawan. And you've reached all of it within just a week!" Tann said in amazement before turning off her saber's red blade and securing it in its sheath.

"Us droids tend to learn a lot faster than organics, comes with all the other perks like practically infinite lifespan due to having data backups of ourselves stored inside the Droid Network." ST-ED explained as he shut off his lightsaber's blade and magnetically secured the hilt on his waist.

"Generals, we'll be arriving into the Rishi system in three-point-forty-five minutes, I suggest you get ready for the mission." OOM-29's voice sounded off from the hangar bay's intercom.

"Well, looks like a rematch will have to wait for another time. I'll see you on the ground, good luck." Tann said as she went to board one of the Droch-class boarding ships alongside a squad of commando droids that would be used to make the landing under the cover of a meteor shower that regularly occurred on the tropical planet's moon.

'What is the status with Grievous' forces?' ST-ED posed a question as he himself climbed into the other boarding ship alongside a dozen of the X-SW1 battle droids.

'They're ready to begin their attack and are waiting for our signal at the edges of the system as planned.' The comm. operator at the bridge answered his query.

'Good, in that case everything is still going according to schedule.'

'We have a schedule?' D89-X3D asked.

'Affirmative, we are to clear all Republic forces from the moon in no less than ten minutes, after that we will give Grievous the signal to begin his attack. We will then jump out of the Rishi system and head towards Kamino.'

'Roger, roger. General.'

Soon there was a slight lurch as the ships came out of lightspeed and into the protecting shadow of the planet Risha inside the Rishi system.

'All right, everyone knows what our objectives are. Pilots, take us to our target.' ST-ED ordered the OOM-series pilot droids operating the boarding crafts' controls.

'Roger, roger.' Came the response as each of the crafts lifted off from the hangar bay deck and headed out into the vacuum of space.

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Rishi's Moon

Rishi Station

"You're listening to the Grand Army of the Republic broadcast, the voice of the Outer Rim. This next one goes out to the mud-jumpers of the 224th slugging it out on Mimban. Keep your heads down and your seals tight, boys." Announced the Bettie-Bot VJ host of the radio broadcast as music continued to blare out in the background of the commotion going inside the moon's single listening station's control room.

The station's personnel consisted mainly of rookie clones that had yet to even experience actual combat and had to get the other half of their training on the battlefield with their more experienced brethren acting as trainers.

"This is boring, we've been out here for weeks and we haven't seen any sign of seppie activity." CT-782 "Hevy" said, throwing his hands up in the air out of sheer boredom.

"Instead of complaining about your assignment maybe you should check the scanners to see what's out there." CT-21-0408 "Echo" replied back to his comrade's complaint.

"Oh sure…hmm, let's see… Nope still nothing. Just like the last hundred times I've checked!"

"Personally, I like the quiet. Gives me time to go through all the combat reports from other battles, it looks pretty grim at the moment to be honest."

"Echo, what is wrong with you? You're always content doing more paper work, we should be out there in the field blasting droids!"

"Leave him be, they kept him in the growth jar a bit too long." CT-4040 "Cutup" joked as both of the clones laughed on their un-amused partner's antics.

"Attention! Sergeant on deck!" CT-00-2010 Droidbait shouted from the upper end of the room's staircase as the sergeant CT-19-7409 "O'Niner" walked in through the main entrance and Cutup quickly turned off the radio.

"At ease. Even though you're all new here, I shouldn't have to remind you maggots that this quadrant is key to the Outer Rim." The sergeant began his speech to the rookies. "This station is the only thing that stands between the planet each of us was born on, Kamino and a Separatist fleet attacking it."

"Should this station fall, there is nothing stopping a surprise attack by the tinnies on Kamino, so I expect each of you to be on your guard at all times. Am I clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good, now get back to work, there's going to be an inspection team and a changing of guard within the hour so I want everything to be in tip-top condition, dismissed." O'Niner said as he left the room to go and check on the sentry posted outside.

After the sergeant had left, the radio was turned back on and the rookie clones resumed their partying before again being interrupted, this time by the alarm, which began blaring to indicate of an imminent danger to the station's integrity.

"Incoming meteor shower, raise the shields!" Echo yelled as he checked the sensors, which indicated several large objects heading towards the moon's surface at high speeds.

"You wanted excitement, here it is."

"Yeah, a meteor shower. Really damn scary…" Hevy said with disappointment as he looked over the shoulders of both Cutup and Echo to see the visual feed from the cameras stationed on the outside.

They were all unaware of course that the simple meteor shower was not exactly all what it seemed, for it held within it something far silent and deadly than burning hot space rocks.

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Craft Nr.4

4km From The Moon's Surface

The heat was visibly rising up at the improvised landing craft's nose as it began turning to a burning red color, indicating that it had began its descent through the moon's thin atmosphere.

Inside the craft, the commando droid squad stood still as the craft shook violently during its rough landing amongst the meteors that were heading the same way they were.

'Three kilometers to the surface…' The pilot droid informed as he steered the craft slightly to the right to avoid collision with one of the larger space rocks.

'Check your weapons, I don't want any malfunctions happening when we are on the field.' The commando droid captain B1T-D3D ordered his team as each of them did final checks on all of their gear.

'Two and a half…'

'My pistol is not syncing up with my targeting programs.' One of the commandos inside the pod said as he tapped his sidearm's side lightly.

'Here, take mine. I'm probably not going to need it anyway.' Another one said, handing out his SE-14 blaster pistol to his comrade who nodded in response before grabbing it.

'One and a half…'

At ST-ED's Craft

'One Kilometer…'

'…And that's why you must always attempt to keep the element of surprise, for it will be your greatest advantage when eventually coming in contact with the enemy.' ST-ED finished one of his lessons to his own team of droids.

'Understood, sir. We won't fail you.'

'I'm 75,89 percent certain you won't.'

'500…400…300…200…100…' The pilot droid counted down as the craft shook violently before it finally gave a huge thumping sound as it touched down onto the moon's surface.

'Let's move.' ST-ED said, taking out his personal customized E-5 carbine off its holster on his back and jumped out of the craft's bottom hatch that had just been opened.

After landing onto the cold, barren white surface he took a quick look around to see they hadn't been spotted before signaling for the rest of the XSWs to follow his lead.

A hundred and a half meters to his right he could see the commando droids exiting their craft as well, following their captain's lead as they engaged their infiltration protocols.

The tactical droid and his six companions quickly headed towards the base's bottom where there was a ventilation shaft they could enter through.

On the way they had to move quietly to avoid stirring the giant eel that was hunting for prey on the surface, its not like they would be edible since they were droids but damage to their systems had to still be avoided if at all possible.

'The front door's sentry is down, moving into the base proper.' The commando droid captain reported in through the network.

'Copy that, we're entering through the ventilation, make sure none of the clones inside the main control room manage to escape.' ST-ED responded as he removed the shaft's entrance's metal cover, before nodding to D89-X3D who crawled slowly into the cramped ventilation tunnel.

ST-ED himself was the last one to enter, as he had to re-close the entrance again before continuing on behind his troops.

'We're stacked up at the front door, ready to breach.' B1T-D3D reported.

'Do it.' ST-ED said, getting his response in the form of an explosion that shook the very foundations of the station.

Soon muffled blaster fire could be heard all the way in the ventilation shaft as the firefight between the clones and the droid intruders.

'I hear footsteps, some of the clones are attempting to escape through the ventilation system.' D89-X3D informed the rest of his team.

'We don't take prisoners, kill them all as soon as you have visual.'

'Roger, roger.'

'All targets in the control room eliminated.' B1T-D3D informed everyone through the network.

Just then D89-X3D kicked the ventilation cover off and crawled into the hallway where several lightly armed clones were standing shocked and dumbfounded.

They quickly got out of their stupor though as they raised their sidearms and began blasting at the advanced battle droid in an attempt to take him down and buy themselves enough time to get to a safe distance before the commandos shot them in the back.

The light blaster bolts unfortunately had no effect on the heavy plating of XSW-series battle droid squad leader and without further hesitation he raised his blaster arms towards the clones firing at him.

A long burst of blaster bolts from his rotary main weapon and a total of five dead clones later, the smug voice of D89-X3D responded back to his BX-series counterpart.

'You missed a few…' He said as his comrades went to check all of the bodies for any surprises and to confirm the kill.

'Disable the alarm and begin transmitting the 'all-clear' signal immediately, we don't want the Republic getting suspicious until we reach Kamino.' ST-ED said while he crawled out of the vent entrance, cutting off the banter between the rival droid strike teams before it could even begin.

'Roger, roger.' The commando droid captain responded as his men began working on the consoles to get everything ready for the Confederacy's invasion of Kamino.

'Signal transmitting, we are good to go.'

'Affirmative, relief forces will be arriving alongside Grievous' fleet to secure the station and the rest of the system, we'll be moving on to our next target in the meantime.' ST-ED informed everyone as he stepped out of the ventilation shaft and into the control room.

'Roger, roger.'

Before they were able to exit the control room, a small beeping noise from the communications console alerted them as they were about to leave.

"Check it out and see what's going on." Sev'rance who had not taken part in the previous conversations due to being organic and thus not being able to access the all-binary Droid Network, ordered as one of the commando droids got to work on deciphering the incoming communication.

"It's a message from a Republic shuttle they say they are here to inspect the station and relieve the current garrison of troops." The droid operating the console said as it turned back to look towards the group.

"Perfect…" The Chiss thought out loud in frustration. "Just what we needed right now."

"Everyone get into defensive positions, we are going to ambush the incoming Republic force and take them out before they inform the rest of their friends about what's really going on." ST-ED ordered.

"Roger, roger." The other droids responded.

"Hey, I just had an idea…" Sev'rance said as if an imaginary lighbulb had just appeared above her head. "Check the clone ID tags, the commandos should be able to use their infiltration programming and slimmer frames to disguise themselves as enemy troops, with the uniforms of those clones that we just killed. After which we lure the Republic reinforcements into a trap."

"I like the way think, General Tann." ST-ED said, grinning internally with satisfaction as the scenario played out in his mind. "Captain B1T-D3D, get on it."

"Roger, roger. General."

"Here's how we do it…" Tann began laying out her plan.

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A Few Moments Later

"Rishi station, do you copy? This is the inspection team lead by Commander CT-2113." The clone officer nicknamed "Boxer" said into the communications unit calmly as he waited for a response from the other side.

"Everything's quiet, the troops on this station are usually slow but never this slow, something fishy is going on." Lieutenant CT-9350 "Three-fitty", his XO who was piloting the shuttle they used to fly alongside the troop carrier holding the station's relief forces pointed out.

Suddenly the comm. unit finally came to life, and the helmeted face of one of the clone personnel appeared on the screen.

"Sir, sergeant CT-19-7409 reporting in, sir!" The clone at the other end reported with an awkward salute.

'Finally…" Boxer thought with relief.

"At ease, sergeant. What's going on, what took you so long to answer?" The clone lieutenant asked with suspicion.

"We were… experiencing a comm. malfunction but our engineers just told me that they fixed it and we should be functioning normally." The disguised droid explained the back-story that ST-ED was constantly feeding to him through the network.

"A comm. malfunction? This is bad indeed, we can't afford to have things like that happening too often with the Seppies on the move."

"As I said, we have it under control…"

"We'll be coming in to inspect anyway, we're going to tour the facility from top to bottom to make sure there are no further problems with the station. It is too important to be lost to a possible attack by the clankers because of a mere malfunction." Boxer said, being oblivious to the irony of his statement as he was right at that moment speaking to a droid himself.

"Roger that, commander. We'll be ready when you arrive."

"See to it that you are, Commander Boxer out." Boxer said, as he got ready to end the call.

"Out."

After the conversation was done the two ships were ready to land onto the station's main landing platform and began to extend their gear in preparation for touchdown.

"All clear so far… strange, you'd think they would at least have a sentry waiting outside to greet visitors and sweep the area for intruders." The clone lieutenant commented as the shuttle finally touched down on to the surface.

"Something's very wrong here, stay alert." His CO said while putting his helmet on. "That goes for all of you." He added to the rest of the men who were exiting their transport.

As they jumped down onto the platform they looked back towards the station's main entrance, which was now open as a single clone in full gear walked out of it to greet the newcomers.

"Commander, Lieutenant. Welcome to Rishi Station, likely the most boring job assignment in the galaxy." The disguised commando droid said with an semi-authentic clone voice, fabricated from samples of intercepted and recorded Republic radio communications.

"Cut the attitude, sergeant. We're here to investigate the station's functionality not tourist reviewing." Boxer said with a no-nonsense tone, clearly annoyed by the fake NCO's sarcasm.

"Of course, sir. Right this way."

As the group walked along the platform and towards the station proper, the two officers noticed more off-putting things about the situation the obvious one being the sergeant's odd, jerky movement that reminded them of droids.

"Where are the rest of the guards, or the rest of the station's staff for that matter?" Boxer asked out of nowhere as they walked in through the doorway to see that no one was there to greet them.

"They umm… are on a break at the moment." The droid came up with a bullshit response in the hopes of fooling the officers long enough to escort them into the control room where the ambush was set up.

Boxer eyed the fake NCO critically for a moment, looking for any signs of dishonesty in his body language, only noting that the individual clone in question was standing completely still, like a statue…

…Or a droid.

"On a break… yeah right…" Three-Fitty commented snarkily.

"The… others are still at their stations though, they are at the control room its right at the top of the stairs."

"Let's not waste anymore time, just take us there and we'll take this up with the station's commanding officer." Boxer ordered hesitantly, his suspicions of the sergeant in front of him becoming clearer, but he was still not exactly able to definitively pinpoint what the main factor of his doubt was.

"Yes, sir."

As they reached the end of the stairs, the sergeant suddenly turned back towards the group and removed its helmet much to the shock of the clones.

"End of the line, Republic scum." The commando droid said as the doors closed right in front of Boxer and Three-Fitty, followed by the one behind the replacements.

"NO!" Boxer yelled as the image of the droid's face disappeared from his field of view.

"This was a trap, I kriffing knew it!" Three-Fitty yelled in anger as he began frantically looking around for an exit, for which there was none at the moment.

"Alright, calm down. This is not as bad as it looks." Boxer said as he pointed towards a ventilation shaft entrance located in the ceiling.

"That's way too high for any of us to reach…"

"Not if someone else boosts them." Boxer said as he crouched down and offered his hands as a ledge for his partner to climb from.

The lieutenant grinned under his helmet as he boosted himself up to the ventilation cover, which he quickly removed and threw to the floor, after which he climbed inside the shaft itself.

"Okay, next one." Boxer ordered as each of the twelve or so clone troopers used his help to get up into the shaft, the last one had to be pulled inside because there was no one left to give him a boost to his leap to safety.

As they crawled through the long and cramped shaft, Three-Fitty suddenly stopped, as he smelled the air.

"Gas! Quickly, seal your helmets!"

"That was a close one." Boxer said as they continued crawling forward in the dark ventilation tunnel.

"Yeah, weird though. It didn't smell like any poison gas almost like Tib-…" The lieutenant never finished his sentence as a detonator was thrown inside the ventilation shaft by one of the commando droids.

"Oh kri…" Three-Fitty uttered his last words as the detonator's timer rapidly ticked down before exploding and igniting the Tibanna gas that had been sprayed into the ventilation shafts, burning out both all breathable air and frying all the clone troopers inside it effectively ending any Republic retaliation to the Separatist operation.

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Back In The Control Room

CIS Strike Team

As the flames poured out of the ventilation shaft followed by the muffled screams of burning clones, Sev'rance grinned with satisfaction.

"That sure got rid of those clones."

"No doubt about that." ST-ED added as he took out his pocket-sized holo-communicator to contact General Grievous.

"General Grievous. Operation Radio Silence has been a success; all Republic forces have been neutralized. You are clear to proceed with your attack." The tactical droid informed his Kaleesh counterpart who after coughing a few times responded.

"Good, I am looking forward to the slaughter that we will bring onto the Republic forces on Rishi after this." The cyborg said with a sinister glee as he rubbed his duranium-alloy hands together in anticipation.

"I'm sure you will, meanwhile General Tann and myself will be moving on to Kamino to carry out the second part of the plan." ST-ED responded neutrally as he and Tann walked out of the facility's front door with both the BX and XSW-series droids in tow.

"Yes, good luck on Kamino. Kill some Jedis for me when you get there." Grievous responded harshly, bitter that he wasn't allowed to take part in a critical operation such as Kamino.

He felt almost betrayed that he had been excluded, but in light of the tactical droid's previous achievements such as besting his nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Republic's posterboy Anakin Skywalker, twice in addition to saving the Malevolence, he figured ST-ED was trustworthy enough to carry the offensive out successfully.

"Trust me, we will." ST-ED said as he ended the call, turning to look towards the landing crafts that were touching down on the moon's surface.

"Looks like we're heading for Kamino now, how successful do you figure we will be?" Tann asked as she walked up the ramp of the C-9979 that had just touched down onto the station's landing pad.

"I calculate a 72.651 percent chance of success should we be able to keep our element of surprise all the way to the Kamino System. Otherwise I am not certain, more data is required."

"Well I certainly like those odds…"

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Red Circle Fleet

Venator-Class Star Destroyer "Negotiator"

Bridge

"It's been over a week since we've heard anything new from General Grievous or that new tactical droid, I wonder what they've been planning…" Obi-Wan mused as he observed the galaxy map.

"Don't even remind me of that, the entire operation was a disaster. I lost twelve good soldiers during that whole thing without achieving much of anything…" Anakin responded to his mentor grimly, lowering his head as the memory of his clone sidekick Rex flashed in his mind briefly, reminding him of the agony the clone captain had faced in the hands of the Sith as his limbs were cut off, one by one. Remembering every detail all the way until his eventual death in the midst of battle.

"Master, you have to learn to let go… you can't dwell on his death forever, Rex wouldn't have wanted that…" His Padawan Ahsoka said, even though she couldn't help but share her master's grief at the loss of the clone veteran, a man who had been as much of an influence in her growth as an individual as Anakin and the other Jedi had.

"Yes, I suppose you're right… Rex was always a man with a sense of duty, someone who took pride in what he did, he was ready to do whatever it took to finish the mission, even at the price of his own life…"

"Sir, we've got an incoming priority one message!"

"From where?" Kenobi queried, fearing the worst already.

"Kamino, the Separatists have just mounted an full scale invasion and engaged the defensive fleet!"

The silence that followed was so thick that it could almost be felt like a solid object as every single member of the bridge crew turned to look towards the lonely comm. operator who began squirming uncomfortably under the stares.

"Well, I quess we know where they are now…"

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A/N: And that wraps up this chapter.

Final thing I'd like to cover is one particularly interesting review that was left into the TCW version's review section by a fellow called Neo-Byzantium:

"Great story so far, you're showing things from the point of view of the Confederacy and of the battle droids who you're portraying as being formidable foes for the Republic and not the glorified punching bags that they all too often get portrayed as in canon PLUS you're making the Separatists out to be a force with shades of grey to them instead of the cardboard cutout bad guys that the canon sources frequently make them out to be.

As for ST-ED, he kicks a lot of ass! He's handed the CIS several victories that in canon were defeats for them plus he seems to be far more patient and level headed then Grievous who I agree with ST-ED about him being a bigoted jerk. I also like how he and Sev'rance made up after their little spat on Krant, they make a pretty good team and were able to defeat Anakin and Ahsoka's efforts to destroy the Malevolence PLUS wipe out their entire team of clone troopers including Rex /that sucked but it's a pro-CIS fanfic so it's to be expected/. I'm also impressed that he managed to kill Plo Koon /who I also like but he died honourably at least/, one of the top Jedi in the Jedi Order, ST-ED's making quite the name for himself, I expect many more great things from him.

If he changes history enough, the Confederacy could end up winning the Clone Wars and the general populous of the CIS could end up improving their opinions on droids AND regard ST-ED as a great hero if they don't already.

Quick question though, how does ST-ED regard the CIS's other famous figures like Ventress, Nute Gunray, Poggle the Lesser and others?

I look forward to the next chapter, keep up the good work."

The first part of his review IMO points out exactly what is wrong with the cartoons' AND the prequel movies' depiction of the war's participants considering all the overall factors in it. Neither the Republic nor the Confederacy were actually the "good guys" even as if both of them saw themselves as such, they were merely differing shades of gray, again as he most correctly points out. When it comes to the movies the battle droids are at least considered somewhat of a threat considering that they were actually almost able to completely annihilate the Jedi taskforce at the Geonosis Arena by overruning them with sheer numbers and volume of blaster fire. The cartoon on the other hand reduces them to just, pardon my French, utter fucking retards completely unnecessarily.

The second part of his review that covers the main character and talks about the fact that ST-ED is more patient compared to Grievous is mostly owed to the fact that Grievous is implanted with a chip in his brain that increases his aggression levels significantly, which of course hinders his ability to properly think things through, ST-ED's calmness and effectiveness as a commander is simply owed to the fact that he is a cold, calculating and for the most part emotionless droid that has yet to grasp organic concepts such as empathy or rules of warfare, making him unpredictable and a dangerous opponent. The only real compassion he feels is for his fellow droids who are scrapped by the thousands if not millions every day on the fields of battle across the galaxy, this is because of his connection to the Droid Network that informs every droid connected to it if one of them is deactivated, scrapped or otherwise destroyed, making each of them "feel" the shutdown as if it happened to themselves.

Also, I personally don't feel Grievous is completely bigoted against droids just for the sake that they are droids, he's just had a pretty bad experience with them in combat compared to organic troops like his own Kaleesh warriors back when his body was fully intact. His opinion could change if the droids actually prove themselves worthy of his respect, like you saw in this chapter how he actually began to somewhat respect ST-ED as a capable commanding officer instead of just another tactical droid amongst others.

Also, as explained earlier plot armor is non-existant. Anyone but the main character can die if I feel the plot requires it, even CIS characters. The very reason that Plo Koon even survived the incident with Malevolence I feel was because of plot armor, if that didn't exist Grievous would have probably just sent some gunships or Vultures to destroy the remains of the last escape pod and the survivors along with it after the hunters failed at it and leaving nothing for Anakin and Ahsoka to even find afterwards.

On the third and final part, I'll just say that I won't spoil anything but here's how ST-ED views each of the mentioned characters in basic detail (I'll promise to cover this further in later chapters):

Ventress: Like Tann, seen as a member of a religious sect opposed to another sect (the Jedi) who both have differing views of a scientifically explainable phenomenon (The Force + Midichlorians) and choose to use that phenomenon in different ways, the other with restraint and other unrestrained. Also considered to be a good assassin after reviewing mission reports in greater detail.

Gunray and Poggle (along with most of the Separatist Council): Rich assholes who fund everything he does with certain restrictions, also seen as counterproductive and possibly replacable if they are considered to do more harm than good to the Confederacy's military effectiveness with their constant corner cutting when it comes to the quality of both the Confederate Navy and Army.

Phew…

That was one long-ass author's note but I felt that it had to be written to properly compensate for the effort that Byzantium put into writing that long of a review.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write your review, it is much appreciated and I expect more to come later on .

But for now…

This is MarxistFIN, signing out.