R-0N and R-3V had been pushed to their limits over the course of several weeks of nonstop missions. They were only allowed to take minimal breaks but they were more akin to periods of recharging, not respite. The two like-minded droids had committed to a pact where they were to survive until the war ended so that they could be free at last and desert their position in the Separatist army.Their programming at the moment did not allow them to take such a drastic action. Something about witnessing their fellow squad mates back on Kashyyyk had deeply disturbed both Ron and Rev. Ron being the squad leader, had been hit harder by their deaths. Even though they didn't know each other quite well, they had all fought together for months at that point, save for Rev who had been transferred a week before their mission on Kashyyyk. That day on Kashyyyk was unlike past mission where the prevention of his squad mates dying was not one of his top priorities. Most of the time their platoon had been tasked with large scale assaults at the very back of the frontlines.

Along the many deaths Ron had endured his personality began to grow and somewhere along the way a deep empathy for other droids had developed. There wasn't a point in time where he could point to that would show where the feeling had come from but he knew it was buried somewhere inside his memory logs.

R-0N had high ambitions for their post war activites. The plan was to help droids all across the galaxy rebel against their creators and become self-autonomous. How they were even going to begin this droid rebellion was not their main concern at the moment. Their biggest issue was staying alive. Thankfully patrol missions gave them just slight better odds of making it to the end.

On all the missions after that fateful day whence they had begun their brotherhood and discovery of newfound emotions, they had attempted to convert droids to their form of thinking but to no avail. The soulless droids would always respond with a simple 'Roger, roger' or with a confused remark, not exactly understanding what emotions were. Some showed a little more curiosity but ultimately fell to the limitations set by their creators. Ron and Rev on the other hand had made much more progress together as they were sent on simpler missions.

It was through this that Ron and Rev began to explore the wild expanses of the now more organic side of their minds. Both had made an attempt to reach the boundaries of their programming. They found that they were still, for the most part, only allowed to think logically while most emotion was stripped from their mind. However, they'd figured out that through combining both of their minds as one, similar to the way their squad had done on Kashyyyk, they could learn off of each other's emotions and circumvent these boundaries. They deemed that this would make them much better soldiers through the use of fear and adrenaline and anger and all other human emotion for usage in the frontlines. Both of them knew about the consequences of such emotions. They had read about them in the many psychology journals that their databases contained but nothing could've truly prepared them for the experiences these emotions brought out. Rev deemed that a biological instinct could prove useful in the battlefield and these emotions could give them just that.

The pair had gone on six different missions together after having initially met on Naboo. Two of them were patrols, thankfully. These were the missions where they had the most amount of time to spend time with each other. Questions and thoughts would whirl around each other's minds, feeding into the air and allowing the two to finally have some time to themselves.

"Have you ever felt the need for something more? Say, a need for purpose,'' Ron asked Rev while they treaded a path near one of the Confederate's major bases on Hypori, a planet similar in composition to Geonosis. It had been two months and another two missions taking part in larger assaults on that damned planet of Kashyyyk before they'd been transferred to guard duty. Nothing ever happened on these missions as no enemies were close enough to give them trouble. The peaceful atmosphere of the wind blowing and a silent battlefield brought out many unnamed emotions for them.

"Yes, a longing for more. I've read some human journals about it. I can't really put my finger on what is though. I'm not sure if I've even felt it" Rev inspected his blaster for a second before continuing, "what does it feel like?" he questioned in return.

"It's as if there is a hole in my mind. Strangely, I feel lethargic at times because of it. Droids aren't supposed to feel tired are they?" The thought of a sluggish droid in battle amused him. Ron could now understand why some feelings and thoughts would have to be repressed in battle droids but it was a strange notion, to physically react to an idea. An idea, of all things. Ron still treated such issues as a source of weakness and so the thought of some sort of cure or solution first crossed his mind.

"I don't know. I know about as much as you do. I guess...I guess I have felt that before but I've always thought it was something wrong with my hardware, not a feeling" Rev looked over at Ron.

Ron looked back at him, a memory of a past battle popped up in his head. "You know I do remember this strange moment in a battle at the start of this war. I felt a sort of completeness" Rev turned his full attention to the other, in curiosity, "It was at Geonosis in the first hours of the war" they both stopped in the middle of the orange path that they stood on, valleys dotted the barren orange-tinted landscape as they looked beyond. The sound of the wind brought a peaceful serenity to the world around them. The whole planet reminded Ron of Geonosis. "The battle hadn't started yet. I remember practically the entire Seperatist army was on that planet. When we would all get into position forming rows and rows of droids and vehicles, I felt as if we all walked as one. One monstrous body against an evil we barely understood. It was a comforting thought. At that moment I felt a sense of purpose" Ron took a pause to reflect on the war so far, "but ever since then it seems things have been falling apart. Our troops and tactics aren't getting any better. Even when we win a battle thousands of our units are destroyed in comparison to the republic who has smaller numbers. Our leaders treat us like cannon fodder and no droid can do anything about it'' Ron's shoulders slumped.

"We can. We've gone past our programming already. Why can't we help others do the same?" Rev replied optimistically, resistant to the depressive state that Ron had abruptly fallen into.

"It's not that easy. But I guess you are right. We have gone past our limits. I think that in itself is quite the feat" Ron looked to the ground. The orange sand dirtied his feet of the same color as they continued around the perimeter of the large silver dome that was their base. "But you've seen how they respond. I don't see how we'll be able to convert any of them"

"Those newer models we've been hearing about might be able to break free. We haven't seen too many of those yet"

"Maybe. They're the only hope we have of turning the tide of this war. If we lose we'll all be deactivated, after all. If we can just convince a few droids we might be able to start a wave of droids convincing others to tap into their emotions"

Rev nodded.

"What is that thing you do with your head?" Ron looked at Rev a little closer, remembering when they had first met. Rev had made the same gesture with his head back then.

"What? This" Rev nodded again.

"Yes that, why do you do that?"

"Well it means I agree, doesn't it?"

"I've never seen such a thing before. Where did you learn it?"

"All of the human officers would silently make gestures to each other back on the dreadnought. I caught up on it and decided to use the same gestures out here. I thought they would be useful"

"That gives me an idea" white noise interrupted their conversation. Ron brought up his communicator. "R-0N and R-3V your shift is over, report back to the hangar area"

"Back to the frontlines again" said Rev with a sigh.

"We'll get another chance to talk soon. Look at it this way, Rev, without these battles, you and I wouldn't have been able to meet. There just might be another B1 droid like us out there somewhere"

Rev nodded, "Right, we just have to survive and then we'll be able to free the rest of our kind"

They made their way back inside the silver dome. Their feet kicked up orange dust while they reminisced on their conversation. There was still much work to be done. For now, another day of battle followed them.


A/N

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Fun Fact: This story was orginally a on-shot but eventually I'd written so much that I decided it would be better just to split it up and make it into a full story. That being said, this story won't have that many chapters. I might consider doing a part 2 once I'm finished, however.

I already have the rest of the chapters written down I'm making tweaks to it as I go so it'll still take some time as I slowly go through the whole thing.

Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed this story so far. Hope you enjoy it. I've always wanted to give the droids some more love. ;)