Ron watched as his power finally trickled back to seventy percent. He powered on the moment the counter hit seventy five percent, only to find the sound of blaster fire had enveloped the both of them still hiding in the small pit of flowers. Rev had powered down some time ago, most likely never having heard the blasters so close to them now.
It was tempting to wake him now but he needed some time on his own to plan things out properly.
Ron moved closer to Rev as the cable on his arm had lengthened to full capacity, threatening to disconnect at any further movement away from their solar panel.
For a moment he was confused by the abyss that enveloped them before realizing that it was night time. The only light around to illuminate their surroundings was the glow given off by the blaster-fire that continued flying back and forth between their positions. Of course, the lack of light didn't bother them, they had night vision after all, but that wasn't the problem, the problem was that activating night vision would only draw more power, giving them even less time to act.
Even with the ensuing chaos all around them, he felt a strange serenity at it all. Knowing that Rev was beside him was a comforting thought to some end. With their tumultuous development of further emotion, he needed such moments of respite. It was at the point where if a stray thermal detonator were to blow them to pieces, he wouldn't mind. A very odd feeling. One that he couldn't quite pin down yet. They hadn't shared emotions in quite some time, maybe Rev knew more about the feeling, but then he thought of how he'd failed him. They didn't get out of the area safely, all due to his arrogance.
He shook his head.
There was no more time for mistakes or missteps as he'd done yesterday. At that, he began routing their path to the airbase in his head once again. His CPU worked at full capacity, formulating a plan and thoroughly assessing every path they could possibly take.
He unconsciously laid his tied up hands on Rev's shoulder.
'Oh right, we still need to get these cuffs off,' he thought, feeling the extra weight on his wrists.
His CPU still being at full capacity, quickly thought of an easy solution, or at least easy in theory. Seeing as they were in the middle of a battlefield, they could most likely obtain a stray blaster rifle from a dead clone or droid and blast the cuffs off by shooting through the keyholes.
He looked over to Rev, still powered down. Seeing as they were connected he was able to view some of Rev's system performance monitors. His power was even higher now, at eighty percent. How long had they been powered down?
The roar of a vulture droid shook the ground.
'We need to move'
Reluctantly, he shook Rev awake.
Both of them had opted to stop curling into a ball in their sleep, seeing as they believed it would only serve to impair them if they were to be attacked. Instead, the two laid down as an organic would, with their eyes to the skys. It also served to camouflage them much better in the flowerbed.
"What's going on?" Rev said immediately after waking up.
"We need to get out of here, the front finally caught up to us"
"Weren't these clones rebelling?"
"It looks like they're doing the exact opposite instead," a rocket sailed over their heads. It threw up a wave of mud towards their position. That was enough to get Rev up and ready.
"Let's go"
Ron led the way as he got on his stomach and began crawling through the loose mud, scanning the area for any stray blasters.
All the while, a medley of blue and red blaster fire whizzed back and forth over their heads, periodically illuminating the both of them crawling on the ground.
"Where are we going again?" Rev said over their communications line.
"A nearby Seperatist air base, it'll be a long walk, let's focus on getting a blaster first"
Rev nodded absentmindedly forgetting that Ron wasn't looking at him, "I'll scan for any blasters on the right side, you look on our left"
As they continued to crawl, the fight intensified further. The silhouettes of AAT's and AT-TE's began appearing on the horizon on either side of them.
"Any luck?" Rev asked.
"No, I think we'll need to get closer to our forces if we want to find any without being blown to pieces"
"Right, we're in the dead man's zone, let's move over their way"
Once again, Ron led the way, heading towards their left. Unfortunately for the two of them, there was a scarce amount of cover and concealment, all of it had either been blown apart or burned down from the fighting in the area.
A stray blaster shot sizzled close to Rev's head.
"Can you crawl any faster!"
"My pistons will break down if I go any faster, come beside me on my left, I'll cover you with my body"
Rev hurriedly made his way beside Ron, the mud caking his entire body. They were practically in two layers of camouflage now.
"Thanks"
"My rule as a squad leader has always been to protect those under my command to the best of my ability," he said, getting closer to Rev, "I will not break that rule with you"
Right as Rev was about to respond, his scanners picked up a dozen or so blasters near the bodies of several B1's that had been blown to smithereens just beside an AAT. He hoped they died a quick death.
"Blasters, we're getting closer to the Seperatist front"
"I see them"
Once behind the carcass of the AAT, Ron carefully pulled two of the blasters behind the tank, all the while coming under fire from the Republic. Their own forces hadn't opened fire on them thankfully.
"I'll shoot your cuffs first," Ron said, carefully maneuvering the blaster into his tethered hands.
Rev looked behind his shoulder to see groups of droids firing just beside their position.
"Do it quick"
After some careful movements to ensure he wouldn't blast Rev in the foot or body, he shot the blaster into the keyhole of the cuffs, making Rev reel back in surprise.
The first shot somehow wasn't enough, it only created small fissures around the keyhole.
"Try forcing it apart, I'd rather not do that again"
Rev pried his arms apart with as much force as his slim arms could produce. After a second of struggle, more cracks appeared until finally the cuffs broke apart with a loud crack.
"Good, good, now hurry and do mine," Ron thrusted the blaster into Rev's free hands.
Once again, they lined up for a shot on the cuffs. For a moment, it sounded as if the battle had grown closer and it was enough to distract Rev for a moment.
"What's wrong? I'm ready," Ron said looking back at their forces.
Without hesitation, he shot the blaster, this time it blew the cuffs right off.
"We're good to move, let's see where those clones are now," Ron peeked his head out for a moment, immediately reeling back in surprise when a blaster shot came inches from his face.
"They're pushing aggressively, looks like we're stuck"
"What!? Stuck? Can't we just crawl our way out again?"
"They're closer now, they'll be able to see us moving this time and it doesn't help that our forces are falling back," Ron said looking behind his shoulder, the same group that had been beside were now retreating behind their AAT.
Ron opened up the main hatch of the AAT, revealing the inside where nearly everything had been fried by incoming fire, including the droids that had been piloting the tank, "Get in, this AAT should have a generator still in it, let's hope it still works"
Rev scrambled inside, he felt a strange cold feeling in his body that unnerved him.
"Can you even pilot one of these?"
"Yes, I used to be a pilot for a very short time. Just close the hatch with that switch beside you," Ron hastily made his way over to the pilot set and gently set the B1 pilot's dead body onto the ground.
"Just how many jobs were you assigned to?," Rev asked, closing the hatch. He needed something to take his mind off of what was going on around them.
"Nearly all of them except the command officer. If they'd assigned me to be an officer I would've been scrapped altogether a long time ago," Ron messed with the controls of the tank, attempting to scour up the old memories of being a pilot.
"Why?"
"Because, if an officer makes just one mistake, they're completely scrapped"
"That can't be true"
"It's what happened to most OOM units after the first battle of Geonosis. I was lucky and temporarily assigned as one of the pilots of a core ship," Ron said as he began an attempt at starting the generator.
"You're an OOM unit?" Rev looked at the destroyed monitor of the upper hatch, curious as to how much closer the clones had gotten.
"Yes, I was at the battle of Naboo"
"Shouldn't your unit name start with OOM?"
"It did at one point but command changes your unit designation after every death"
"So what was your original name?"
Ron froze, "…that's not important right now, stop distracting me"
"Sorry, I was just curious," Rev winced as he realized how hurtful his question had been.
"Who I was back then doesn't matter now. I was just another battle droid. Now we can be much more than just bantha fodder to be tossed into the battlefields of a war we'll never win"
Rev decided to stay quiet, fearful he'd say anything else that would hurt Ron.
A stuttering whir brought the two droids to attention.
"The generator is badly damaged but it works," the front monitor of the pilot's seat flickered on. Ahead of them a mass of clones were beginning to push up right into their position. Strangely, these clones were not outfitted with camouflaged armor, instead their typical white armor was in use, "At the very least this thing should give us enough power to move out of the line of fire and away to safety"
The shell of the AAT shook violently as incoming fire began hitting the sides of the tank. A small plume of smoke shot out of the generator close to the main hatch.
"If the generator fails, how will we survive?!" Rev clutched at the sides of his seat.
"Don't worry, we're already inside this forest of mushrooms again, we're starting to lose them," just as he finished talking, the AAT stuttered violently, lurching and creaking along as the tank pushed over each mushroom tree they passed, "Ok I need you to do something for me, Rev"
"What?"
"Open the compartment where the generator is stored, it should be to the right of the hatch"
Another series of shutters shook the AAT. Rev struggled to stay balanced on his way to the hatch. His eyes frantically scanned the right side of it. He located the small handle painted black and flung it open revealing a blinding plume of smoke.
"Ok, found it"
"I can tell," Ron swiped the air in front of the monitor as the smoke filled his vision, "Now I need you to hook up to it's systems and turn off all auxiliary systems, including the main canons an the upper hatch monitor"
"Got it"
Soon after, the AAT stopped stuttering and returned to a smooth hum.
"Good, good. Everything should be ok now"
"Are we still in the line of fire of those clones?"
"No, no, we're in the clear for the time being but they're moving quick"
"Why are they pushing so aggressively all of a sudden?"
"I don't know but I don't like it"
Rev sat back down into the gunner seat beside Ron.
"What about all of our brothers?"
"I told you we'll come ba-"
"But you saw how aggressive those clones have gotten, how will our brothers survive? Will there be any left when we return"
Ron clenched the control stick harder, it creaked under the pressure, "I thought things would go differently, that our leaders were competent and would help our forces stand their ground, but everything that we've seen and done proves otherwise. We'll bring as many of our brothers along with us, that's all we can do now"
"And you'll leave the rest to die?"
"What do you want me to do, Rev? We're two droids against two armies. Our own forces deem us defective and the clones most definitely will not help us"
They stayed silent for a moment. Both hadn't experienced such an intense medley of emotions before. It was evident that they were helpless, there wasn't a thing they could do to stop the destruction of the majority of their forces. A strange hot sensation burned inside their chests as if their power supply had spewed battery acid all over their internal systems. Such agony was what they imagined when they thought of all the battle droids that had formed their own personalities, trapped in the prison of war, never to see what life was really about.
"I really do wish I could do something. It hurts me just as much as it hurts you. But we have to be realistic about this"
"Fine. I get it. So how about this, we find a transport ship if we can and cram as many droids as we can into it then escape and go wherever it is that you're planning on taking us"
"A transport ship would be easy to find these days, I can figure that out, but I doubt other droids would willingly come along"
"I'll trick them if I have to"
"If that's what it has to come down to. I'm already heading towards the airbase now"
"How long will it take?"
"Less than a day now, on foot it would've taken a full day or so"
"And what about our power?"
"We have the generator of this tank now, it should be able to charge us up much quicker than that panel. Our power draw shouldn't stress it too much either"
Even with an overwhelming pressure set on both droids shoulders, a serene silence washed over them. Another comforting moment of respite from the constant fighting that was soon to be over.
"I'll keep the first watch. When my power gets too low, I'll have you take over the controls," Ron looked over to Rev just as he was about to respond, "I'll teach you the controls, don't worry"
Rev looked at him in surprise, "How did you know I was going to ask that?"
"I know you well by now. Always asking questions"
Rev could hear the smile in Ron's voice.
With that, Rev hooked himself up to the generator with a lengthy cable and slowed his systems to idle, letting the rhythmic hum of the AAT's forward repulsor disk guide him to sleep.
A/N: Shorter chapter because the next will be very long. Only two more chapters that I have planned left. Almost finished. I've had fun writing this, although I still have the nagging urge to rewrite everything and do it better, but if I did that I'd be writing this story forever. Still fun though, I'm still trying to figure out droids and robots and, well, writing in general. I just read All Quiet on the Western Front, it gave me some idea of how I could write future characters, both droid and human. Anyway, next chapter should be out soon.