Soon, Ron and Rev were returned to battle, now grouped up with a fresh pair of droids that they were told are an experimental version of an even newer form of the B1 Battle Droid. They were made to be much more like organic beings but still kept some of the many limitations from previous versions. The new guys were given much more freedom and more human attributes that were determined to give more fruitful outcomes and thus, droids that could and should accomplish more.
This advancement excited Ron and Rev, they had been alone in their form of thinking for quite some time.
On their first mission with the newly updated droids, called 'independent thinkers', they were set to take part in what would turn out to be one of the largest and most taxing battles of the war. It was the battle of Felucia. A grim time for both sides. The Confederacy suffered losses in the form of malfunctions and circuitry being worn out from the tough environment. The Republic suffered most casualties from diseases and infected wounds.
They were assigned a simple yet titanic objective mission. Advance on an area and attempt to take and control an objective. They were to meet up with several other platoons some distance away from one of the Republic's bases and then advance and capture it. Much more taxing but less stressful than the work of a capture the flag sort of mission. The two were relieved. They had higher chances of survival by being around such a high concentration of droids and other troops on the ground.
Ron and Rev were grouped up with the new droids that proved to be more trouble than help. They were not properly adjusted to their new programming and had not undergone the changes that they had hoped for. It seemed that somewhere along the way in their creation, the new droids had been dumbed down. What was supposed to be a strategic advantage now seemed like a major blunder.
Ron and Rev began their mission by retaking an ancient facility from the old republic era. They did not know for what reason or if there were any enemies in the area. For that reason, R-0N had become much more cautious, scanning their surroundings periodically. They were accompanied by the rest of their platoon and so the chances of an ambush were much higher. Turmoil plagued the pair of rouge thinker's minds and while this happened, the new B-1 droids were messing around, asking the same questions again and again and attempting to make conversation as a means to pass the time. Their ignorance did nothing to quell Ron and Rev's fears and in fact, worsened them.
There was one droid, at the very back of the formation that kept shouting, "Where are we going?" Or "are your guys' circuits acting up too or is it just me?"
These meaningless questions began to anger the two. Their anger, anxiety and fear almost resulted in them self-destructing right then and there. Ron was able to calm down first but Rev took a little longer to adjust to the new climate. They knew deep down however, that as long as they were still connected to the hivemind, they could not escape. Their morals didn't allow them to abandon their brothers in arms, for the time being anyways. Though they joked about it when they could, muttering to each other quietly. The two of them knew that all of their squad mates were capable of much more and this frustrated them. Why, both of them were living examples of droids being able to self upgrade.
They had advanced into a strange circular temple looking building, fitted with green slabs of stone and signs of decay on the outside all lined up in a circular design. It stood as the headquarters of a factory which appeared to be much newer than the temple it had been built around. In the middle of said building was a strange clearing with a meeting hall tucked in the passageway leading to the center of the building. Here is where the droids set up a temporary base as it was the most well guarded area in the building. R-0N and R-3V were relieved to finally take a break from the pesky new droids that would nag their commanders with the most absurd questions.
The duo were assigned patrol on the Northeast perimeter while they awaited reinforcements. Another platoon had been tasked with the capture of a nearby village that was loosely guarded by the Republic.
The atmosphere and overall predicament of their situation felt oddly similar to the mission where Ron and Rev first met. A nostalgia blanketed their minds as they thought back to that fateful day. They were content to be together again, away from the noisy bunch of droids back at the base.
"They didn't turn out as well as I expected" Ron told Rev regarding the new droids.
"I wonder what went wrong with their programming" Rev responded as he surveyed the surrounding swamp.
Ron continued, "There's nothing wrong with their programming, that's how they were made to be"
"How do you know that?"
"They all behave in the same manner, there's no way they weren't bred to be such idiots," he had observed the Confederacy's tactics since he had first been assigned as an officer. It didn't take much to see that droids of his caliber could be easily disposed of and rebuilt out of the shell of another. He had lived many lives and up until this point, all a grim reminder of past errors he had made in his leadership role. Now that they had somewhat broken free from their underlying programming, the two now considered the morality of their actions now that all B1 droids had semi-independent consciousness with organic traits.
"Why would they make them so stupid? Wouldn't it be better for us to make them smarter?" Rev asked innocently.
"B1 battle droids like us are grunts, Rev. They know that if we become too intelligent, we will begin to question our superiors and complicate this war even further" he explained to him as they continued along the path, their blasters still on the ready and their nearby squad members close by but just out of earshot.
Rev doesn't say anything in response, perhaps hurt by such a statement. He had never thought in such a negative fashion. Never did the thought of such negative notions and emotions cross his mind. Rev was still fresh to the world, that was apparent to the both of them. As such he was closer to the new droids than Ron was.
Ron sensed he had hurt his friend somehow. He placed his hand onto Rev's shoulder, lowering his blaster, "Don't take it too harshly, the Confederacy didn't think we could've become so intelligent on our own did they?" Ron thought of making a joke about how dumb Rev had been when he first met him but thought against it.
Rev nodded, "We're still trapped under their command but...I don't have any confidence in our commanders. Not after seeing those new B1 droids. I don't see a point to this war either. All we know is that the Confederacy is good and the Republic is evil." he explained to his counterpart.
Ron was about to respond when he heard the sound of distant blaster fire.
"Our squad needs us, let's continue this conversation another day. If you're so discouraged just remember: fight for our brothers, not for the Confederacy" he commanded him.
They began to run towards the commotion, assuming the worst as they held their blasters at the ready. His words seemed to have worked as Rev ran with a little more pep to his step.
They arrive at the scene, their squamates being attacked by a massive group of clones.
"There must be at least 40 of them," Ron quickly noted. He pulled Rev back before he could run any further. They were on the sidelines of the battle, along a small ridge over the swamp where the fight was taking droids were undeterred by the mushy terrain they stood upon. Many of the newer B1's were surprisingly holding their own quite well. The clones on the other hand were facing difficulties as they became entrenched in the mud. It became clear, however, that the clones had the upper hand with superior numbers. With every clone shot dead another two seemed to pop up.
"We can't face them head on, we'll have to attack from behind" Rev nodded in agreement. Ron quickly scanned the area for any concealment or cover.
There. A tall group of flower-like plants surrounded by dense shrubbery just on the flank of the clones. There was a whole ridgeline of these plants. R-0N assumed this was where the clones had hidden themselves. Their squad mates wouldn't last much longer at this rate, they needed help and soon.
"Come with me" he commanded Rev as the two ran while crouched to dense flora. When they finally arrived at the cluster of moss covered plants, only five of the original ten droids were left in their squad. He felt Rev by his side, "throw your thermal detonator right into the middle of them, then we'll pick off the rest," they made no hesitation as they unlatched their thermal detonators and threw them as best they could, utilizing their coordination systems to aid their throws. Ron's grenade made it a little off the left of the middle in the crowd of clones while Rev's landed on the far right. This proved to aid them surprisingly, as most of the clones had moved to the right once they noticed Ron's detonator. A great boom shook the ground and sent dozens of clones flying.
Only around twenty or fifteen clones were left. The duo got to work and began shooting at the remaining clones. The group soon noticed the two that had flanked them and partitioned some of their troops to shoot back at them. This slowed down Ron and Rev's attack and allowed the clones to regroup. Some of the clones that had survived the grenade blasts made their way back to the main group which gave them even greater odds against the droids.
The pair ducked behind cover as the rest of their squad members were finally eliminated, allowing the clones to put their full force on the pair of outnumbered droids. Once again, the two were left to fend for themselves.
They both began to shake as they prepared for their death.
"I hope we meet again, Rev. I've never felt such a bond with another droid as the one I've shared with you" Ron blurted as he crouched down.
"It's been an honor fighting with you, Ron. I don't want to go..." Rev said trembling.
Ron grabbed Rev by the shoulders, "let's hold out for as long as we can, alright?" Rev nodded in agreement. They prepared their blasters and rose from their cover. At the same time, a thermal detonator landed nearby.
They looked over to it as it bounced on the ground, a couple meters in front of the bushes.
The blast sent both of them flying back off of a steep cliff the two had not seen behind them. They both flailed around helplessly as they fell to their death. Their bodies flipped around in the air, dizzying the two. The last thing they saw was the ground rising up to them rapidly. Darkness enveloped their world soon after.
Ron's visual receptors whirred to life as his power surged back. They were designed to go into sleep mode if they were to sustain a great impact or other life threatening injury.
R-0N felt a dizzying wave of confusion come over him. The blast had knocked some of his sensors loose. It took a moment for his visual receptors and the rest of his internal systems to recalibrate. Once everything was up and running again, he attempted to stand. The mushy ground gave way to one of his arms and he fell back to the ground with a plop. He noticed something strange, however. As he looked down to his right, he noticed that he could see more of the ground than he could remember. It took him a second to realize that his arm was missing. Thankfully B1's and most droids in general had no pain receptors as the pain from his broken limb would've killed him off. The light coloring of a B1's armor made it easy for him to recover his broken limb, not too far from his position in the small pond, stuck into the mud sticking upright. He attempted to wire the limb back onto his body but had trouble being that he only had one appendage at the moment. The detached limb kept flopping around, making it difficult to reattach properly. It was almost disturbing to see the arm in such a state but Ron had faced the same situation many times before in past lives and battles to the point that it was a routine ordeal. After some tinkering, he was able to get it fully functioning again, extending it fully then retracting to test if it had been properly recalibrated. Ron looked down, noting that his shell was slightly burnt, most likely from the blast he had sustained.
His memory was still a little hazy. Another nearby indentation in the mud soon sparked a memory in his storage unit. He remembered the crackling sounds of blaster fire going by overhead and being shoulder to shoulder with someone as they fought off an overwhelming force.
And then he remembered a voice.
It was this that set off the rest of his memory. It all flooded back to him as his memory unit recalibrated. The pesky droids that were impeded by their bridled potential. Their squad being attacked. Rev's voice as they made their last stand. The cliff they'd just fallen off of- how long had it been since they fell anyways? The fog that permeated throughout the entire swamp clouded the sky, making it hard to distinguish the precise location of the sun. Ron looked back over his shoulder to the cliff that seemingly ran miles high. He almost wondered how the whole thing hadn't come down considering the spongy material the whole planet seemed to be made of.
Ron smacked himself on the head. 'What am I even thinking about? I need to find Rev' he glanced back to the indentation in the mud.
After making sure the rest of his body was functional, the lucky droid began searching the area for any sign of his friend.
After scanning around the area where Rev had left some markings he felt a strange sensation as if he was floating. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from his head. 'What is that? Maybe it's…' He attempted to contact the central server but found that he was no longer connected. Somewhere along his tumble down, one of his sensors must've come loose disconnecting him from the droid control ship. It felt liberating. For a moment he could feel a sort of euphoria. The thought of being independent and living a life free of war- it was reinvigorating to say the least.
Ron brushed off the thoughts for now, grounding himself to get back to the task at hand. Taking accountability for his brother in arms was above all else for the moment. As he continued with the search around the marsh, he stumbled across a piece of metal that protruded from the ankle deep water. It was a piece of Rev's leg, scratched up with gray marks all over. He picked it up and looked for signs of an impact nearby and soon found a trail of footprints imprinted into the mud nearby.
'He's been dragged by something, most likely an animal' Ron thought to himself.
Ron's system's fire up once again as he scans the nearby plants as well as the ground for any markings before following the path of disturbed plants and imprints left in the mud. As he continued down the same path, a shiny black piece of metal almost caused him to trip once again. It was sticking out from below the water of a small pond. Ron got closer and found it to be Rev's blaster, he pulled it out of the ground knowing that he would need it to confront whatever had taken his friend.
The trail of disturbed leaves continued down the swamp. Ron moved with a purpose, careful not to stray off the path marked for him. There wasn't a chance he would let a brainless animal take away his friend, not when he had just been freed.
It occurred to him that Rev had possibly lost connection to the central server as well. R-0N's legs noisily speeded up, the pistons that pushed him on were at their limits.
The path became sinuous at some point as if whatever had dragged Rev were avoiding something. 'More of these idiotic animals? What do they want with Rev's body?'
Things were too perfect for them to be killed off as soon as they were given another stroke of good luck.
He came upon a cave, almost hidden due to how well it blended in with the trees and sickly green water around it. The entrance was covered in vines and moss and it looked as if it was sagging from all the weight from the centuries of rocks and plants that formed atop of its shoulders.
This had to be it. The trail ended outside of the entrance. Ron checked the blaster before entering the cave, only a bit scratched up but the battery and everything else was still functioning. He would go through hell and back and much more for Rev. Ron wouldn't let some wild animal take Rev from this world.
He treaded carefully into the chasms of the slippery and jagged depths of the cave. The cave turned yellow as he turned his night visors mode on, venturing deeper into the cave. The entrance led into a steep decline. Loose rocks stumbled down from the ceiling and along the oblong walls stained with green roots and red stones. The strange pointy footprints continued down into the cave where the mud and grime flowed down.
He came upon a small circular clearing with a strange formation of upright rocks in the middle. A strange tapping sound emanated from the other side of the rocks.
He kept to the outskirts of this clearing, quietly moving around the middle. The formation was jagged and sharp, huddled into one big blob of black and green. Parts of the natural formation would move as if the stones came to life.
He accidentally kicked a pebble, causing a small tik sound which reverberated loudly into the silent ambiance of the cave.
Suddenly, the rocks cracked and extended out. A four legged and tall, stick-like creature stood from where it lay. It appeared to have no eyes. Its legs were pointy at the ends and it seemed to go still once it fully extended. Ron realized that the creature must use sound to navigate based on its behavior thus far. Then he noticed something underneath the creature: a crumbled mess of metal. It was Rev.
Ron had to quell his anger before he began planning his attack. Sound could be the creature's downfall. Ron grabbed a large rock nearby and swiped the moss off of it. This slightly disturbed the creature as it moved one of its legs in his direction.
He carefully wound his arm back and threw the small rock at a nearby boulder creating a great snapping sound. The creature charged towards this sound, its legs rearing up to attack. Ron used this to his advantage, as he blasted the creature straight into its underbelly. It collapsed, segmenting into two pieces as the blaster fire burned the creature straight through the middle. Its stomach glowing red from the heat of the blaster fire.
Ron rushed over to Rev's body and piled his parts into his arms. Most of it had been picked apart by the creature. He would have to reassemble him. Thankfully, no irreparable damage was done to his body.
Ron ran out of the cave, not wanting to find out if there was more than one of those creatures.
Once he stumbled out of the entrance, he used his scanners and the remaining information saved from the droid control ship's database on his storage unit to find a suitable location that would serve as their temporary base for now. Perhaps one day they could find a ship to flee to a remote planet where they could not be disturbed. For now, Ron located a small patch of land three miles from their location that was suitable for habitation. A small alcove with no threats nearby.
It didn't take him long to realize that they would need a power bank to stay operational. From past squad members who were field engineers, he had learned how to construct small yet efficient solar panels for their shells but there was nothing to construct them with. Ron would have to head back to the factory and find the right parts to construct these panels.
This would mean that they could potentially be forced to return to their position in the Seperatist army, however. They would be scrapped as soon as command found out that they were no longer connected to the hivemind.
Ron weighed his options. He had no choice but to turn back. There was no way of knowing how much power Rev had left or when he would or if he would even power back up either. It was better not to dwell too long on Rev's state. Ron couldn't fathom overcoming the death of his close friend.
One of Rev's parts abruptly fell onto the ground, Ron figured he would need to reassemble him first. It was quite easy considering how easy B1's could be picked apart and rebuilt. For once, Ron was glad they were made with such a repairable frame.
After taking a couple of minutes to carefully put his friend back together, he slung Rev's body over his back and began the trek back to the factory, dreading what was to come.
Upon first sight of the factory, Ron noticed billowing clouds of smoke coming from inside. It was without a doubt that the factory had been lost to the clones. He wasn't surprised considering the incompetence of their commanders. It was more surprising to see that the clones had burned all of the foliage that surrounded the factory.
'I should've thought of that,' he thought to himself, considering how strategically ingenious this idea was. Nothing for the enemy to hide behind and better defenses as a whole. Ron made a note to himself for future battles.
Rev's body fluttered for a second on his back. Flailing his arms for a second as if he were still falling off of that cliff. Ron looked to Rev on his shoulder. He was still unconscious. Something about the thought of Rev reliving the fall inflicted a strange physical sensation in his abdomen.
'I have to hurry,' Ron thought to himself as he picked up the pace and began to jog to the facility.
R-0N didn't know if the clones were still inside but he was betting on the fact that they weren't. Clones were always quite noisy and, knowing their ferocity, would've most likely pushed the droids even further back. The clones were unsurprisingly tactically advanced in comparison to the standard B1 battle droid due to their biological instinct. With the new B1 models, the clones were now at an even better strategic advantage considering the dumbed down state of the B1's at the moment. The ground was littered with the leftover parts of the defeated B1 droids.
'Such a waste of life,' Ron thought to himself. As if droids were even considered living beings.
R-0N made it inside and found that much of the machinery had been burnt, most likely to prevent the Confederacy from returning and not allowing any droids to be recycled. He almost wanted to thank them for this.
'Less suffering for them' Ron thought optimistically.
He began to scourge the piles of scrap for any sort of circuitry that could help him install those solar panels. It was trivial why they hadn't been outfitted with them in the first place. Just as quickly as he thought of this question, however, he reminded himself that they were made to be cannon fodder, nothing more nothing less. Any more expensive equipment they were equipped with meant more money the Confederacy would have to spend on them. R-0N knew that such an improvement would immediately be declined by their superiors.
As he threw scrap metal here and there he was able to discern a couple of circuits that were needed to build the panels. There were enough parts to create one panel but he needed more to build two for the both of them. They were tiny things but they could power so much, perhaps they could both recharge with it.
'No, I have to find more. I can't risk it' he willed himself to scour the piles once more.
This time he found some more parts that could be used as power conduits but it still wasn't enough for the both of them.
'Maybe there's more outside?' desperation took hold of his mind.
Ron jerked his way through another scrap pile just outside the entrance to the facility. There was nothing left for him. Only pieces of the droids that could no longer be reconstructed due the melting that some of them had endured. He had the urge to burn them even further so that there wasn't even a chance for them to be salvaged but the sound of distant footsteps drove him off. He gathered what he collected and made his way back to the swamps. The plan was to construct one of these small panels for one of them while the other could feed off of it and in the meantime, they could look for other reliable sources of power.
There was no doubt in R-0N's mind that they would survive. All those years of taking notes and filling his storage unit with past memories along with his developed personality, helped him become something much more than just a machine. A voice at the back of his head prodded at him, saying that they should not waste this opportunity. He wanted to spend as much time with Rev as he possibly could, squeezing every ounce of life out of the remaining power that they had left. This was their only chance at living a life without war. Surviving off of the land like organics. Being at one with the world around them for once.
Survival was their primary goal for the time being. The luxuries of living are for those that don't have to endure war.
Ron was hopeful that the solar power would be enough to last them at least a few days more, maybe even more than that but he didn't want to get too greedy. In his own fantasy, Ron wished that they could fly to other planets and live in a remote sector of the outer rim for some time then travel out to new worlds, far from civilization. Far from the wars that were a regular occurrence in this galaxy.
He no longer wished to see anymore carnage and destruction that war brought. For once he wanted to see the whole galaxy from another perspective. One that was not adamant on destroying but instead on creating. But in the end, It was all for Rev. They needed each other to grow past their programming afterall.
'If the power source doesn't save us then I'll be glad to die with Rev at my side' he decided.
R-0N walked past the cave once again and sped up into a run as he didn't want to risk another attack.
Ron felt Rev stir on his back again, this time he knocked Ron over causing them to fall on top of each other.
Rev woke up on top of Ron, his memory still a little hazy.
"Huh?" Rev mumbled, confused as to why he was in the position that he was in. He stumbled onto his back as he attempted to reach out to a wall behind him that wasn't there. The mud splattered all over his body, almost acting as camouflage.
"Where am I?" he asked out to no one in particular. There was no way of telling what emotions he was feeling as his stoic face did not allow him to express any sort of emotion. Ron looked down on him.
He crouched down to Rev's level and shook him by the shoulders, "Rev are you alright? It's me, Ron. Do you still remember me?"
Rev waited for his visual receptors to recalibrate. His memory flooded back to him once he looked up at Ron's face.
"Ron? Where are we?" he quickly said as he got up.
Before he could stand up, however, Ron pulled him into a hug. To Rev, this seemed strange as he was used to Ron being more serious all the time. It was his duty to stay calm and professional at all times being a squad leader.
"I'm glad you're still alive" he said as he released him from the hug, "You have no damaged parts right?" He quickly asked in almost a caring tone.
"I don't think so..." Rev as he scanned his body.
"Thank the maker!" Ron shouted abruptly. Rev was surprised to see him act so emotionally.
"We just might be free" he continued, exasperated by the overwhelming amount of emotions he was feeling.
Rev didn't comprehend at first. He was too caught off guard by Ron's strange behavior. He had never seen him act so out of character.
"We're free? What do you mean?" He asked Ron, still confused at this entire situation. He still didn't know where they were either.
"I checked my own circuitry and I haven't been able to contact them and I no longer feel the need to go back. Don't you feel the same?" Ron explained, his head tilted slightly worried that Rev was still somehow connected to the hivemind.
'That thing that was chewing on him should've knocked his connection loose...I hope' Ron thought to himself.
Rev fell silent for a moment as he attempted to contact their capital ship. No response. He felt that strange hole in his mind as well.
"No...I don't feel any sort of connection anymore" Rev responded.
"Then we can get out of here!" Ron shouted excitedly as he shook Rev back and forth while still grabbing his shoulders. "But...we do have new problems" Ron continued, looking at the percentage of power that he had left. Only sixty three percent.
Rev got up, remembering what had happened and processing their predicament now.
"No connection to the ship...feels strange" Rev said in a moment of confusion and joy. They were now living a life not yet achieved or even understood by most droids. There were nearly limitless possibilities and with time no longer dictated by another but instead by their own choices.
"I know, it's different from anything we've experienced so far," Ron nodded, still overjoyed at how lucky they had gotten. "But look, We don't have a power source and we'll be due for recharge in a day or so" Ron explained as he made sure he hadn't dropped any of the parts for their only source of power.
"I can construct one solar panel but I'm not sure if it'll be enough for the both of us" he continued now taking in the scenery around them. The swamps appeared to be a little greener and his circuitry didn't feel so bogged down by the commands of the higher ups.
"I might have something saved that could help us with that. I'll check my database" Rev responded. He was afraid of dying now more so than when he'd been in the Confederate army.
"I'll construct this panel for now" they both got to work, edged on by the fact that they had limited time left to figure out a solution to their power issues.
Ron finished constructing the panel which was a minuscule little screen from which energy could be harvested but their systems needed that and much more. They would both need to somehow link to said panel.
"Come walk with me Rev, I located a habitable a zone earlier"
They both treaded off into the forest. Ron fidgeted with the panel, wondering if he could somehow engineer another one without any metal or scrap.
"The only thing I've found from my database are portable generators but we'd need a lot of supplies to build it" Rev said in a disappointed tone.
"I believe we can just make it with this panel but we'd have to recharge at night constantly and we'd both have to be connected to it at all times" They continued through the lush landscape filled with grungy water and moss covered flora. Neither said a word. For once, they felt a great peace wash over them even at the possibility of running out of power, they could finally do whatever they pleased. Their thoughts ran wild with ambition and juvenile fantasies of adventure. Rev had the ludicrous idea of living for another couple of years so they could enjoy as much as they could of the world. Ron thought mostly of where they could live and how life would be like living as a civilian instead of a soldier.
"We're getting close. I'll see if there are any bases around. We could possibly scavenge any abandoned posts for scrap and make that generator you speak of" Ron reasoned.
Rev instantly nodded in approval, not having any ideas himself. He was still used to relying on his commander for orders, which was Ron himself.
"But what if the confederacy or the republic is still stationed at those bases. We only have one blaster and that's it" Rev didn't like the idea of going back. He was too afraid of the possibility of being captured.
"We have to risk it, otherwise we might as well power down for good. This panel won't last forever" Rev raked his memory and programming for any sort of help on figuring out their issue. The only thing they could do for the time being is scavenge and power up. They had to cling onto life with a death grip. There was no way they could die without putting up a fight. Not with the expectations they held for themselves.
"For now let's set up a temporary base...or home" the terminology of war interfered with his new outlook on life. He would have to expand his lexicon, he noted.
"A home? This place is crawling with clones and disease, I'd call it a camp" Rev responded, a little disturbed at Ron's use of words.
"You're right, you're right" Ron agreed with his hands up in defeat.
"Let's put on some more camouflage. We'll have to make our base hidden as well, with all the battles going on" They said nothing more as they got to work, creating spaces for themselves where they could recharge at night. Ron worked himself into creating camo from moss and leaves on the ground as well as setting up a small alert system in the form of dry sticks that would alert them of anything walking nearby their camp. Their camp consisted of a small alcove on the side of a small hill. They outfitted the entrance with vines and grass so as to be inconspicuous as possible. Once they were done with everything they helped with each other's camouflage on one another's body. By the end of all their preparations it was nighttime. Ron began losing power. Seeing the percentage of power trickling down on his HUD terrified him. He had outfitted the solar panel to Rev who had a much livelier mind and would last longer than Ron on his own.
"I must power down now. Keep watch for an hour but the moment you see your power begin to trickle, come back to recharge. You're the only one who has the capability of recharging us for the time being" Ron explained hurriedly.
"But what should..." Rev began before he noticed that Ron had already left.
For now, he was left to his own devices.
Rev scanned the surrounding area. There were no signs of life and no signs of CIS forces in the area for now but he knew that wouldn't last long. The Confederacy could easily find them but the two rogue droids had time to recuperate and plan since the Seperatist forces had been pushed back by the clones. He felt a serene peace befall him, one that gave him mental clarity that no droid had ever felt before. There were quirks and small minute details in the surrounding swamp that he began to notice. He saw the beauty in the small things. There was a small grove of fluorescent flowers that created a small canopy nearby. It entranced him. For whatever reason this small little patch of flowers entranced him. He had never noticed the brightness of their leaves and the beauty of their colors until now. A medley of different greens that his sensors picked up.
Before he could get anymore distracted, Rev scanned the area once more but found nothing. A warning symbol flashed on his interface. He decided now would be a good time to sleep. He walked over to the soft padded area that Ron had created for them and began powering down. Rev thought it was quite generous of Ron to make such commodities, something the CIS would've never allowed. Something within him churned as he thought back to the cruelty of it all. Being shackled by the Confederacy, forced to fight, die, be rebuilt and do it all over again, all for a cause they didn't even know about. He calmed himself before his mind strayed any further down that path. Rev curled up into a ball and fell into recharge, setting his system to power up the next day.
If only they could stay like this forever. Forever in a dream like state, planning and living. Together. He felt a strange warmth in his chest at the thought of such a life. He would have to look into it later. For now, he powered down his optical sensors and began recharging. The night grew darker and for the first time, dreams were experienced by the droid duo surviving out in the wild.
