"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond.
AN: Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having an awesome start to the year 2022!
Don't forget to leave me a review or even PM me if you are enjoying this story!
Chapter 3: Losing R2-D2
Early the next morning, Anakin and Rosella got up. Rosella took the time to meditate while her father used the refresher. As soon as he was finished, he headed back to his room and got dressed. Then he heard the door to his daughter's room open and close and knew that she was using the refresher. He took that opportunity to head to the kitchen and get started on breakfast.
After Rosella finished with her own shower and got dressed in a fresh set of clothes, she came out of her room and joined her father for breakfast, which consisted of egg and sausage as well as blue milk for her and coffee for him.
Then they left their apartment and headed to the Republic Military Center. After they arrived, they met up with Admiral Yularen and boarded the Resolute, heading to the starboard bridge.
After making sure all their troops and supplies were aboard, they undocked and waited until they were out of the atmosphere with their other two Destroyers, the Dauntless and the Pioneer. Then they made their way through hyperspace to the Bothawui system.
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A few hours after arriving in the system, Anakin, R2 and Rosella, along with Captain Rex were standing in the communications room as they had received a transmission from Obi-Wan. Rosella stood there with her right arm holding her left elbow just above her wrist guard. She glanced to the left at her father who had his hands behind his back as the blue hologram of her uncle spoke.
"Things aren't looking good Anakin as our losses have been heavy. Among them was the entire group that had been stationed on Falleen. The Separatist fleet that Grievous commands is headed your way," Obi-Wan told the group.
"It seems like that coward always knows our moves before we make them," Anakin responded, his face tightening in anger.
"The size of the Separatist fleet heavily outnumbers yours Anakin. I know you don't want to hear this, but I think that retreat is your only option right now," Obi-Wan told him.
"Obi-Wan," Anakin said, his anger shifting into a stubborn resolve, "if we run, we'll be allowing the Separatists to take control of this sector. That is something that I can't allow to happen."
"All I'm saying Anakin is that you might have to if the eventual fight becomes too much for either you or Rosella to handle," Obi-Wan told him. He knew that his brother hated to turn tail and run as it wasn't in his nature, but it was something that he would eventually have to learn if he wanted to survive this war.
"I think Master Kenobi is correct," Rosella said as she shifted her eyes from Obi-Wan's hologram to her father. Even though she was still learning how things worked in the military, she had a pretty good grasp thanks to Rex's crash course that he had given her back when they had been first introduced to each other. "We should regroup as we really don't have the numbers to go up against…" She was cut off as she saw her father narrow his eyes.
"Rosella!" Anakin said sharply as he glanced in her direction. His voice wasn't all that harsh, but it still held a warning tone. In his mind, he knew she was right. They didn't stand a chance at winning this battle, but they had to at least try.
Rosella blinked as she flinched a little. Then she gazed back at her father with a soft, yet hard look in her eyes as she replied, "Suicide is not the Jedi way, Master."
"Anakin, I think you should listen to your padawan on this matter," Obi-Wan said, as he gestured to Rosella with his left arm.
"Master, you never listened to me when I was your Padawan," Anakin said in a teasing tone. He glanced down at his daughter who looked down at the ground then back up at him. "We're going to stay and fight." Anakin turned to the holotable and punched in a command that brought up a holo of an AT-TE that was surrounded by clones. "We won't need to retreat and regroup as I think I know how to beat Grievous at his own game."
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The Separatist fleet that was under the command of General Grievous came out of hyperspace just beyond the ring of asteroids that surrounded Bothawui. The cyborg general was coughing as he came in from the corridor outside the bridge. His cape that had been made of black simmersilk flowed behind him as he walked up and stopped beside his droid commander that was sitting in the captain's seat. His yellow eyes glared at the planet of Bothawui and the asteroid belt that surrounded it.
"It appears that our spies were correct General. Scans show that the Jedi have positioned their fleet beyond the planetary rings," the droid said as it tapped the scanner in front of it which showed the readings for the three Venator-class Star Destroyers. "What do you want us to do?"
"Move our ships through the asteroid field. Once we clear it, we will engage them in battle," Grievous told the droid.
The Commander wasn't quite sure if he had heard the General correctly and asked, "You want to move through the field, sir?"
"Yes. If we attack them from above, then the Jedi and their forces will have the advantage. So, we will go through the rocks and hopefully catch them off guard in a surprise attack," Grievous said.
The Separatist fleet slowly maneuvered through the asteroid field. Two asteroids bumped into the lead ship causing clanging sounds to echo through the bridge.
"Well, that didn't sound good," the droid said.
"Divert all power to the forward shields," Grievous ordered as he clenched one of his metallic fists together. He knew the shields would protect them from the asteroids and the shots that were soon to be fired from the Republic fleet when they came into view.
The droid did as Grievous instructed then asked, "What if they decide to attack us from behind?"
"They won't be able to because the asteroids that are behind us will offer some protection and they will have no time to launch an attack of their own," Grievous said, his voice filled with a little glee as he knew that his plan would not fail.
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Rosella stood on the bridge of the Resolute and watched through the viewports as the dorsal doors opened and a group of V-19 starfighters emerged from the hangar. As much as she had enjoyed flying with her father when they had been going up against the Malevolence, she knew that she wasn't ready to command a squadron of her own nor was she confident enough to be behind the controls of a fighter just yet. After all, someone needed to stay behind and take control of the fleet while Anakin was out there in battle.
The teenager smiled as she caught sight of her father's gold delta 7B interceptor as it rose up out of the hangar. She knew the men would be safe with him out there leading them. She nodded to Yularen and turned around, making her way to the communications room as it was almost time for the battle to begin.
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Anakin flew to the front of his squadron as soon as he had cleared the hangar doors. "Gold Squadron, keep our formation tight and our approach slow. Let's draw them in," he called over his communication system.
"Yes sir," one of the clones said.
R2 expressed his fear that they weren't going to win this battle.
"Don't worry R2. Grievous is going to fall right into our trap," Anakin told his droid.
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In the communications room, which was located behind the bridge, Rosella stood in front of one of the holographic status boards with her arms crossed. She was a little tense, but didn't let it show as she didn't want to appear weak and unsure since this was her first time doing this. Behind her, another trooper was bent over the holotable and two troopers were standing at the other holographic board that was on the other side of the room. A fourth was standing to her right.
Her eyes were locked onto the board in front of her, tracking the movements of the Separatist fleet as they neared their location.
Behind one of the boards, a clone trooper, who was seated at his station reached out and pressed a button. The padawan felt the floor vibrate under her feet as the turbolasers on the cruiser moved to face Grievous and his fleet.
"Resolute command to Gold Leader," Rosella said as she kept her eyes on two circles on her board. One was their fleet and the other was the Grievous and his fleet. "We're standing by."
One of the clones in the room turned around to report the enemy's position. "The enemy is closing to zone six," he said while pointing at the other holographic board.
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"Patience, Rosella," Anakin said as he could see Grievous' main ship and the rest of his fleet as they made their way through the asteroid belt.
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"Zone four. Zone three," the clone said as Grievous and his fleet got closer and closer.
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"General, we have a clear shot at all three of their cruisers," the droid told Grievous.
"Excellent..." the cyborg said.
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"Sir, the enemy is right on top of us! Should we commence firing?" The clone asked as he pointed to his board.
Rosella held up one of her hands and said, "Wait…Wait…"
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"Concentrate your fire on the nearest Republic cruiser," Grievous commanded.
"Roger, roger," the droid answered and he pressed a button on his console in front of him.
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Four laser blasts fired from the main Separatist frigate. Two of them slammed into the Resolute.
One of the clones stumbled into the edge of one of the boards while Rosella stumbled and fell back against the holotable. The clones who were around her stumbled as well, but managed to regain their footing. As more lasers slammed into the Republic fleet's shields, a small explosion on one of the lower levels caused a clone to fall over a railing as he and two of his fellow troopers were moving some crates.
Back in the command room, Rosella pulled herself back to her feet and made her way over to the nearest board. She glared at the blinking red outlines of the Separatist fleet as they almost overlapped the blue blinking circle that represented the Republic fleet. "We're in a little bit of a pinch here Master," she said as she saw what the board looked like. "Grievous' fleet has a lot more firepower than we do. I'm not sure how much longer the shields will be able to stay up."
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"Calm down, Rosella. We've got them right where we want them," Anakin told her as the lasers continued to fly past him and his squadron.
Not one single fighter, Anakin's included, fired a single laser bolt. They stayed in their formation and only moved to dodge the incoming laser fire that came their way as they steadily made their way towards the Separatist fleet that was slowly advancing towards them.
"Gold 6, watch your stabilizer!" One of the pilots called out.
As the other cruisers that were apart of the Separatist fleet came through the asteroid field, they immediately started firing. The red lasers flew past the fighters and headed for the cruisers that just sat there, not firing back. The one that was stationed to the right of the Resolute got hit a few times, but remained upright. Then another laser struck one of its twin bridges, causing a mayhem of explosions that danced across the ship and caused it to free fall as it broke apart.
"It's no good General. With all this incoming fire, the cruisers aren't able to keep up," another pilot reported as he looked away from the damaged cruiser.
While the fighters had been moving from side to side, dodging the incoming lasers, one of them got hit in the wing by an incoming laser. The pilot lost control and crashed into another fighter, causing both of them to fly backwards and explode in a ball of flame.
Anakin stayed focused on the battle in front of him, not at all happy about the loss of the two troopers and the cruiser that had been apart of his task force. It was another reminder of just how dangerous this war was going to be. As much as he wanted to send Rosella back to the temple where she would be safe and not have to witness all this destruction and loss of life, he knew that she belonged here with him, helping to coordinate the battle from the Resolute. "Gold Squadron, take evasive action," he commanded the remaining members.
"Sir, yes, sir! Breaking off!" A third pilot reported as the remaining members of the squadron broke away from Anakin's fighter as he sent his Delta 7B into a quick barrel roll. R2 beeped, asking if they were retreating.
"No, R2, we're not retreating. It's a good thing you gave us that extra power," Anakin told him as he flew into the asteroid belt. He barely missed skimming the bottom of the fighter against a nearby asteroid. Then he spun into another barrel roll.
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"Finish them off!" Grievous commanded.
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A red laser bolt hit Anakin's fighter just shy of R2's astromech socket. It didn't cause any damage, but it did send up a small shower of sparks against his domed head. The blue and white astromech let out a panicked whistle and swiveled his domed head to look at his master.
"Rosella, they're in position. Unveil our little surprise," Anakin said as a small smirk appeared on his face.
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"You got it, Master," Rosella said. She kept her eyes on the board in front of her. "Hey Rex, it's time. Give Grievous our little present."
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"With pleasure, Commander," Captain Rex said. He was currently in space, clinging to the right side of the gunner's seat on an AT-TE. As the massive vehicle moved forward, he had to admit that his General had come up with a good plan.
Before the battle had started, Anakin had told him to take some of the AT-TE's, the ones with their clawed feet that could grip onto any surface, along with a few other members of the 501st and head out onto a few of the asteroids. Once they were in position, they would stay there and wait for the Separatist fleet to move ahead of them.
The plan was simple, if not a little reckless and Rex knew that Grievous was in for a big surprise.
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"General, it looks like we have been outflanked," the droid said as it looked at the General, who was standing to the right of the pilot's chair.
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"All units, fire at will!" One of the clones inside an AT-TE commanded as he pressed the buttons that controlled the guns on the front of his walker. All the other AT-TE's followed suit and began to fire at the back of a few of the frigates that made up Grievous' fleet. They didn't have to wait long for results. One of the frigates quickly became engulfed in flames, resulting in a huge explosion along the left side of the ship as it careened off course and fell apart in the vacuum of space.
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"Impossible!" General Grievous said as he clenched his left hand in a fist. He silently cursed himself for not seeing the trap that he had unknowingly walked into.
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Rosella turned her head away from the board that she was looking at. On it, both of the circles that represented the Republic fleet and the enemy fleet grew smaller. Then two green circles that meant it was safe to attack popped up on the board. "Forward cannon," she said, "let them have it!"
One of the troopers who controlled the cannons pressed three buttons and the cannons began to fire at the Separatist fleet, causing another frigate to take some damage.
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General Grievous clenched one of his metal fists and growled as he saw another one of his frigates go down in flames. He was not happy with the outcome of this battle at all.
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Anakin glanced to his right and smiled as he saw another one of the frigates burst into flames. "This is way too easy!" He said.
Then he flew up to the bridge of one of the remaining frigates and happily let loose a barrage of laser fire that blew out the viewports, creating a shower of transparasteel that shimmered in the light of the explosion that burst forth.
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Rosella watched from the safety of the communication room aboard the Resolute with her arms crossed as the Separatist frigates took hit after hit. She smiled to herself as she knew that they were going to win this battle.
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Grievous knew that this battle had to end. He turned to the droid who was sitting in the command chair. "We need to get out of here!" He said as he pointed behind him.
"Uh, where are we supposed to go?" The droid asked.
Grievous growled. He had been so confident in his plan, that he had never selected the retreat point. He flung his cape behind him and strode out of the room.
"Uh, General?" The droid called out as he watched the General leave the bridge. "Well, I guess that means I'm in charge now."
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Anakin flew as close as he dared to one of the Separatist frigates as it was being destroyed in the vacuum of space. He let out a barrage of green lasers that clipped the underside of the already burning frigate.
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Nearby, Rex and his men continued to fire on another frigate and managed to hit the engines, causing it to veer off course.
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Fire blazed in the hangar as Grievous reached his personal starfighter.
He vaulted aboard the craft and engaged the engine, flying out and not looking back as the frigate was destroyed in a giant explosion.
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"Grievous!" Anakin said as he spotted the all too familiar ship trying to flee from the battle. He quickly swung his fighter around and chased after the General, firing laser after laser at the escaping ship.
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"Let's finish this." Rosella said as she saw both circles on her board get smaller. In the circle that represented the Republic fleet, the cruiser on the right blinked red, indicating that it was no longer with them. Then the same two green circles appeared and disappeared. "All batteries," she pointed her right hand at the board as she turned away from it. The circles went back to their normal size and grew smaller again with a green circle showing up that represented one of the AT-TE's that they had out there, "target that command bucket! Give it everything we've got!"
Another trooper took his hand off of the bottom red button that he had been holding, pressed another one and then pressed the three red buttons again. The lasers on the two remaining cruisers fired on the lead frigate and tore it apart.
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Grievous took his right hand off his controls and tapped the screen in front of him. He laughed to himself as he was going to make sure that he escaped and lived to fight another day.
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"He's powering up his hyperdrive, R2. Hang on!" Anakin called to his astromech as debris came flying off the frigate that was currently being destroyed.
He easily rolled out of the way of the explosion that came from the frigate and continued to chase after Grievous, unaware of the shrapnel that had gotten stuck in his wing.
"More speed, R2!" Anakin called.
R2 beeped, letting him know about the damage to the fighter.
"See what you can do about that, buddy," Anakin told the droid as he glanced out of the viewport to his right and saw the damage. He continued to chase after Grievous, firing his lasers a little as he didn't want the cyborg general to get away.
He chased the cyborg, narrowing his eyes as he tried to line up his ship so he could take another shot and hopefully cripple Grievous, stopping him from getting away. He glanced down at his readouts as his targeting computer was still calculating the shot parameters. Then Anakin looked up and glanced to his right as he heard a small explosion and the sounds of alarms beginning to blare as the damage caused by the piece of shrapnel began to get worse. "Uh-oh," he said as he saw fire pouring out from around the edges of the piece of metal that had embedded itself in the wing. "I got a bad feeling about this."
Anakin jerked his body to the side as a loud explosion was heard. R2 whistled in alarm as Anakin's fighter started to spin and head towards the asteroid belt.
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Rosella had just turned around to face the holotable when she felt a faint rush of burning pain race through her. Focusing on the dull rush of pain, she followed it right to the source.
It was coming from her father!
Ever since their first adventure as Master and Padawan, the bond that had initially developed between them grew deeper and stronger, eventually reaching the point where they could feel when the other one was hurt or in pain.
The teenager blocked out the pain as best as she could and refocused herself with some help from the Force. She knew her father wasn't dead as she could still sense him. Closing her eyes, she sighed in relief as she also sensed that Rex had saved him and was on his way back to the Resolute.
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By the time Rosella made it to the medbay, her father had been placed on one of the medical beds in a private room with Rex by his side and a medical droid attending to him. The Captain nodded as she came into the room, glancing at his still form as he laid on the bed.
The droid finished attending to Anakin and removed some white piece of metal from his mech arm.
The teenager let out a sigh of relief as she saw him stir as soon as the object was removed. The medical droid finished what it was doing and moved away with the piece in its metal hand. Rosella and Rex stepped closer to the bed as the Knight began to wake up.
"What happened?" Anakin asked.
"Rex saved your skin out there," Rosella responded, her voice still a little soft from the brief rush of pain she had experienced earlier as she reached out and grabbed his hand. "If he hadn't gone after you, who knows where you would have ended up."
"Just doing my job, sir," Rex replied. "It was your plan that allowed us to beat Grievous and his fleet."
"Grievous is gone, but his fleet is nothing but spare parts," Rosella said, glad that he was alright and not badly injured.
"Good work, both of you," Anakin said as he sat up a little. Then he glanced around the room. "Where's R2?"
Rosella looked at the floor, unsure of how he was going to react when he heard the news. When she glanced back up at him, her smile was gone and her eyes weren't as bright as they normally would be. "I'm sorry, Master," she said. "He's gone. Rex wasn't able to find him after the battle."
Anakin let go of her hand and fell back into the bed as he was stunned by the news.
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After Anakin had recovered and he was allowed to leave the medbay, he and Rosella made their way to the starboard bridge and entered the communications room.
Obi-Wan was waiting for them. "Congratulations are in order once again, Anakin," he said. "Your plans always seem to save the day."
"Thank you, Master," Anakin replied and then looked away, not wanting to have to tell his brother that he had lost R2.
Rosella's eyes flickered over to her father as she heard him speak and then back to the hologram of Obi-Wan.
"You look troubled. What's bothering you Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked as he could tell that something was wrong.
Anakin sighed. "I lost R2 in the field," he said as his blue eyes glanced up at Obi-Wan's hologram.
"I'm sorry to hear that Anakin. I'm sure you will find a suitable replacement," Obi-Wan told him, even though he knew how much the droid meant to his brother.
R2 had been a gift from Padmè. She had given Anakin the droid as soon as he had been made a Jedi Knight. Rosella glanced at her father and then down to his mech hand. She could see it clenching into a fist and wasn't at all surprised when he stepped forward and looked up at the holotable.
"I don't mean to disrespect you Master, but I don't want another droid. With your permission, let me take a squad out there and track him down," Anakin said.
"Anakin, it's only a droid. I know how much he meant to you," Obi-Wan told him.
"That's not the only reason that I need to go after him Master," Anakin said, unsure of how to convey why he had to go looking for the astromech. All he knew was that his brother was quite possibly going to flip when he heard the news. The Knight knew it was best to just say it and he did. "I've never given R2 a memory wipe since receiving him from Padmé."
"What?" Obi-Wan asked as he placed one of his hands on his waist. "You mean to tell me that your droid is still programmed with every bit of information about our tactics and base locations, not to mention our strategy plans? If the Separatists were to get their hands on that droid…" He stroked his beard and then clenched his hand into a fist. "What made you decide not to wipe that droid's memory?"
"Master Obi-Wan," Rosella said, smoothly breaking into their conversation after seeing her father close his eyes as Obi-Wan reprimanded him for not erasing R2's memory. Anakin looked at her as she did so, "sometimes R2 having that extra information has come in handy."
"Well then Anakin, you have my permission to go find the droid. It could mean the difference between life and death for us," Obi-Wan informed him.
Anakin looked up, a relieved expression on his face. "Right away, Master."
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In one of the hanger bays, where the Twilight was stored, Rosella had already climbed up the ladder and was currently kneeling next to a black and gold astromech droid. Behind her, a few clones were busy transferring crates in and out of the small cargo bay that occupied the rear of the freighter. Then she heard the sounds of her father's feet making their way up the ladder and stood to the side as she saw his head pop up over the edge.
"Are you all set to leave, Rosella?" Anakin inquired.
Rosella smiled, bent over and gestured to R3 as she said, "Master, look what just arrived. It's your replacement, just until we find R2. Allow me to introduce R3-S6."
R3 beeped a greeting as Anakin climbed up and over the ladder with a pack on his back. He stopped and looked at the droid.
Rosella stood up and fell into step with her father as they made their way towards the cargo bay, saying, "I've heard that the new R3's are supposed to be faster in processing power and more powerful than the old R2 units."
Anakin stopped in his tracks next to Rex as he reached for one of the straps that kept the pack on his back. He turned around and looked at the droid as it came rolling up next to his daughter.
"There's one other thing that I know you'll like," Rosella said as she knelt next to the droid and gestured to it with her left hand. "He's gold. Since you command Gold Squadron, why not get a gold astromech?"
"He will never be like R2," Anakin responded, turning away and following Rex into the cargo bay.
Rosella's face fell a little as R3 let out a disappointed beep. She quietly sighed. "You're going to need a name since you'll be with us for a little bit. I think I'm going to call you Goldie." She glanced in her father's direction and then back at the droid. "Don't worry Goldie. You'll have plenty of time to get to know him later. Come on, let's go."
R3 beeped in acknowledgment. The teenager got to her feet and they headed inside the freighter.
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The Twilight took off and began searching the debris field for any sign of the damaged yellow starfighter.
"I see the remains of my fighter!" Anakin said, pointing to the broken Delta 7B. His eyes widened as the damaged fighter slowly spun over, taking in the medium sized hole, and black soot, that covered the area where the piece of shrapnel had been embedded in his wing. He also noticed that the part that shielded him to the vacuum of space was missing and assumed that Rex had to have torn it off in order to free him. Then his eyes shifted over to the astromech socket where R2 would usually be, only to discover that he wasn't there. "He's not in the socket. R2 must have escaped. I'm sure he's around here somewhere."
Rosella sadly sighed as she looked at the scanner in front of her, while her father reached up and flipped some of the switches over his head. "I've got no sign of him on the scanners, but I am picking up signs of another ship," she said. "It doesn't look like a Republic craft either."
Both Jedi looked out of the viewport as a piece of debris floated past them. Then they saw it. A large ship was busy combing the battlefield with its own spotlight.
"That is a Trandoshan scavenger," Anakin said. "He's probably combing the battlefield for salvage, trying to see if there is anything that's worth picking up out here."
"The texts in the archives say that…" Rosella started to speak, but was cut off.
"Those texts can only teach you a part of the picture, my young Padawan. You can't always believe what you read, except if it's for your class assignments. I don't want you getting in trouble with your teachers. This is something that you'll need some hands-on experience in," Anakin told her as he sent out a hailing frequency and docked the Twilight with the scavenger ship.
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Anakin and Rosella boarded the ship, with R3 behind them. They were dressed in ponchos as they wanted to hide their professions from view as not to tip off whoever owned the ship.
Rosella sniffed the air and looked around. "Ugh. What's with the smell?" She asked as she waved her right hand in front of her nose. She smiled the air again and shuddered before glancing up at Anakin, who also had placed his hand over his nose before removing it.
"You'll get used to it," Anakin told her. Then he sharply glanced up as two cameras on either side of the airlock that led into the ship popped out and asked them what they wanted in a rather crude version of Huttese. "Hey! We're just here to purchase a droid. Do you happen to have any for sale?"
The cameras then disappeared back into their places on either side of the door and their coverings slammed shut.
Rosella looked at her father. 'Well, that was rather rude.'
Anakin shrugged as he glanced back at her. 'Let's wait and see what happens.'
Then both Jedi looked at the door as a pair of gears began to whine and it slowly spun open, the rusted metal squealing in protest as it suddenly stopped moving, leaving a very small opening behind. Rosella cocked an eyebrow, not very happy about this small detour.
Suddenly an overweight, yellowish Trandoshan stuck both his hands on either side of the small opening. Turning around, he stuck one of his arms, one leg, then his rather large backside through the hole. As he wriggled around, trying to get through, he let off a little bit of gas.
Both Anakin and Rosella recoiled at the smell.
The Trandoshan, who had finally made it through, turned around and looked at Anakin.
"We're looking for an R2 unit," the Knight said, keeping his voice casual. "Happen to come across any recently?"
"An R-series?" The pudgy faced male said, reaching up to stroke his chin. "No, I haven't had one of those on here for a long time."
Anakin reached out and pulled Rosella close to him, making sure that she was squashed against his side. "Pookums here, really wants another R2 since she lost the last one that we had," he said.
"Pookums?" Rosella quietly said, rolling her eyes at the nickname. 'Was that the best that you could come up with?'
'It was the only thing that I could think of.' Anakin kept his eyes on the male who was in front of them.
"Nice R3," the Trandoshan said as he spotted the gold and black astromech behind the pair. "Are you willing to make a trade? For a C-14 perhaps?"
"Not going to happen, lizard breath," Rosella said, almost snapping at the scavenger as she raised her right hand and plugged the bottom of her nose as the smell was starting to get to her. Then she glanced over at her father as he brought out a handful of credits.
"Let's see how much I have on me," Anakin said as he began to sift through them.
The Trandoshan's eyes lit up as he spotted the credits in Anakin's hand. "Tell you what," he said as he wrung his hands together. "I may just have an R2 unit buried somewhere in the hold of my ship." He waved one of his hands as a gesture for them to follow him as he turned around, heading for the door.
Anakin and Rosella looked at each other, with the teenager dropping her hand away from her nose. Then they followed him.
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Once the group reached the hold, the Trandoshan reached out and pressed the button for the door. Then he turned to face both Anakin and Rosella. "Help yourself," he said, gesturing to the inside of the room. "I would advise you to be careful though as I happen to have a lot of unique items down there." He watched them enter and grinned as he shut the door behind them.
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There's nothing but junk in here. Rosella thought to herself as she, her father and R3 began to walk down the aisle. The only light that they had came from a small series of red lamps that were positioned on either side of two racks that were stuffed with bits and pieces of junk that the Trandoshan had picked up during his travels.
The teenager made sure that she stayed close to Anakin's side as she found it rather odd that the Trandoshan would just allow them to see what he had for sale by themselves. Surely, he would have at least stayed to show them where he kept his R-series stash of droids. Then she saw her father use the Force to move a few crates out of their way before glancing around the room. On one of the shelves, partially hidden behind some crates and shoved up against a wall, was a droid that very much resembled C-3P0, the protocol droid that her mother owned. There was also some dismembered parts of a few other droids laying on the shelf as well. High up on another shelf was half of a dismembered droid that was partially covered by a greenish looking tarp. She shivered a little and turned to see that Anakin was only a few meters ahead of her.
As Rosella moved past a stack of crates, she glanced to her right as R3 beeped behind her. Then she saw the droids and turned around. 'Um...Dad? What are those?
Anakin turned around to find Rosella staring at a pair of deactivated assassin droids. He saw that each of them had a wire that kept them charged up. Glancing upwards, he noticed that the wires went somewhere up into the rafters above them. Then he walked over. "I think these must be the unique items that we were warned about," he said. "Those are assassin droids. They can be very unpredictable so I want you to be careful."
Rosella glanced over at her father. "They're switched off and just sitting here," she said, taking another glance at the droids. "They don't look that tough."
"Take my word for it Rosella," Anakin told her. "Even though they don't look tough, they are deadly."
Then they turned around and headed deeper into the hold, neither of them noticed that R3 had stopped to look at the droids for a moment.
After walking for a bit, Anakin spotted a terminal. He turned around. "R3, come over here and plug in," he said. "I want you to access the computer and pull up the inventory manifest. That will help us locate R2 as he's got to be around here somewhere."
R3 let out a few beeps and whistles as he rolled over to the terminal and plugged in, getting to work.
Then Anakin heard the sound of R2 whistling. "Did you hear that?" He asked.
Rosella turned in his direction as she had been watching R3 do his job. "Hear what?" She asked.
"That whistle," he said. "It sounded like R2." Anakin ran off, only to come face to face with a door in his way.
"Are you sure that it's R2?" Rosella asked.
"I'm positive Rosella. The sound came from down here," Anakin said as he placed both of his hands on the door. "R3, forget about the inventory manifest. Get these doors open."
R3 beeped and got to work, but instead of opening the doors, the astromech switched on the lights that were set high in the ceiling. One by one, they came to life.
Anakin glanced at the door and them back to the droid. "We don't need the lights R3," he said, beginning to dislike the droid that the Republic had given him.
"No Goldie," Rosella said, agreeing with her father as she pointed to the door. "Open the hatch."
"Never mind," Anakin responded. "I've got a better plan." He took out his lightsaber, ignited it and thrust it into the door, beginning to cut through it.
R3 swiveled his domed head and got to work, knowing that Anakin was close to discovering his R2 unit. There was no way the black and gold astromech was about to let that happen. He dug deeper into the computer system until he located the activation controls for the assassin droids. Then he turned them on.
As the assassin droids came to life, their optical receptors spotted the young padawan. R3 manipulated the computer controls again.
While Rosella was looking around, she was unaware that both of the droids were standing up behind her. Then she glanced at her father and saw that he was still cutting through the door. All of a sudden, she felt two metal arms grab onto her arms, causing her to stumble forwards. "Master!" She cried out as the droid yanked her backwards.
Anakin glanced over to where he had left his padawan. Once he saw what was going on, he pulled his lightsaber free from the door and dashed over, slicing off one of the arms that had latched onto Rosella's arms. The teenager was able to yank her other arm free from the droid's hold as she fell to the ground. As soon as she was out of the way, Anakin applied a good, yet hard shove with some help from the Force, sending both of the droids flying backwards into the boxes that they had been sitting against when the Jedi had first discovered the droids.
Rosella saw what was going on and turned her heads towards the astromech. "Goldie, shut down those droids!" She said.
R3 ignored the order and sent another command that allowed the droids to reach behind them and unplug the cables that kept them charged, meaning that they now had more freedom to move around. Then one of the droids picked up another blaster.
Anakin helped Rosella up off the ground. "I'm not so sure that R3 can process orders that fast," he said as he maneuvered his lightsaber so that it blocked a laser bolt that would have struck Rosella.
Both of the assassin droids began firing their blaster at the Jedi.
Rosella joined in by taking her own lightsaber off of her belt and igniting it, helping out her father as he was busy deflecting the lasers being sent their way. Suddenly, both of the droids leapt into the air and clung to a few of the shelves that were above both of the Jedi.
The droid that Anakin was fighting leapt to another shelf and fired its blaster at the Knight, who deflected the laser bolt right into its metal chestplate. But instead of falling to the ground, the droid leapt even higher, clinging to another shelf.
Meanwhile, the droid that Rosella was fighting kept firing at the teenager, who deflected every laser that headed her way. Then the droid used its feet and other flexible parts to move from shelf to shelf as it continued to fire at her. "I've got you now, you piston head," Rosella said as she deflected a laser bolt right into the droid's metal chestplate.
The droid began to fall to the ground, but suddenly flipped around in mid-air, landing on its feet. Rosella darted to the other side of the narrow aisle and continued to deflect the lasers that the droid was sending her way.
Anakin deflected a laser bolt from the droid that he was fighting, then used the Force to move a crate that was behind it, knocking the droid off of a shelf that it was hiding in. It crashed to the floor and didn't get up.
Rosella lashed out, deflecting yet another bolt that the one armed droid sent her way. Then, without warning, the droid leaned back and shoved a metal box into the young girl. She grunted as the box slammed into her, causing her to deactivate her lightsaber as her back hit the corner of the metal post behind her. Then she pushed the box away from her, giving her enough room to glance up and see how her father was doing.
Anakin was so focused on the other droid that he didn't see the one armed droid creeping up behind him, aiming it's blaster at the back of his head.
Rosella gasped as she saw what was about to happen. Narrowing her eyes, she leapt out from behind the box, ignited her saber, flipped in the air and sliced the droid in half.
Anakin turned around to see Rosella smirking at him as she stood over the remains of the droid that would have killed him since he hadn't been paying attention. "You were right about the hands on experience," she said, deactivating her saber. "I've learned a lot more than I would have just by reading a book."
"Good job. But you missed one," Anakin said as he swung around and sliced off the other droid's blaster. Then he twirled his lightsaber twice before slicing off the droid's head. Deactivating his lightsaber, he watched as the droid's head rolled on the ground before coming to a stop in front of R3 who beeped as if he had done nothing wrong. Glaring at the droid, he said, "As for you, Stubby, I think you would make a very poor excuse for a light-switch."
"I'm sure he was trying his best," Rosella said as she walked over to her father.
Anakin's eyes snapped over to his daughter. "Yeah, I'm sure he was doing his best to get us killed!" He nearly yelled as he leaned down, causing Rosella to back up a little. "R2 would have never made that kind of mistake." Then he turned around and walked away. "R3 can't even get the door open."
The gold and black astromech turned around, rolled over to the terminal, plugged himself in and this time opened the door as Anakin reached it.
"It's a little late for that now, Stubby," Anakin said, turning to look back at the droid. Then he caught sight of the Trandoshan, who had been listening to the entire conversation on the other side. In a flash, he ignited his lightsaber and leaned forward a little so he could look around the corridor.
Catching sight of the bright blue blade, the male said, "If you didn't have that lightsaber, I'm pretty sure you would have been a dead man by now."
"Where's my droid?" Anakin asked.
'Master! Don't!' Rosella ran up to him before he could do anything rash and placed a hand on his arm. "What are you doing?" She asked. "We've already looked around and it's obvious that the droid that we want isn't here."
The Trandoshan glanced at the girl and then looked up at Anakin, who was looking at her. Then he looked back at the overweight slime who stood before him and deactivated his lightsaber as Rosella took her hand off of his arm.
"Let's get out of here," Anakin said as he placed his lightsaber back onto his belt. Then he pushed past the Trandoshan as he, Rosella and R3 headed towards the airlock.
"I told you that there weren't any R2 units here!" The Trandoshan yelled as he watched them leave. Rosella glanced back at him but paid no attention to anything that he said. Then the overweight male saw the mess that had been left behind. "Look at this mess! You owe me Jedi!"
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The Trandoshan watched them leave from the cockpit of his ship. "You'll be sorry you ever came aboard my ship, Jedi," he said. "I'm about to make your lives much worse." Then he reached out and pressed one of the many buttons on the console in front of him.
A hologram of General Grievous appeared before him. "What is it?" He asked.
"I'm on my way to the rendezvous point General," the Trandoshan said as he turned around in his seat. A door opened to reveal a blue and white astromech that had been stashed there and fitted with a restraining bolt. R2 whistled as his optical receptor caught sight of the cyborg who let out a menacing laugh. "I have the merchandise that you're looking for. It must be valuable as a Jedi came looking for it. Maybe it's worth more than what we first agreed upon."
"Don't test me slime!" Grievous told the Trandoshan. "Just bring me that R2 unit as fast as you can!"
"Of course, General," the male replied. "I was just kidding around."
Inside his cell, R2 let out a mournful beep.
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Back aboard the Resolute, Anakin and Rosella contacted Obi-Wan and told him that they hadn't been able to find any trace of the blue and white astromech droid.
The Jedi Master sighed, knowing what he had to say. "Anakin, I'm sorry that I have to say this, but R2 must have been destroyed in the explosion that damaged your fighter," he said, his hands on his hips.
"I know Master," Anakin said as he shifted his gaze so it was looking down at the holotable.
"Your search for R2 will have to be put to one side for now," Obi-Wan told them. "Our intelligence has confirmed that Grievous' spies have somehow been receiving word about our movements throughout the galaxy."
"It has to be some sort of secret listening post," Rosella said.
"That's got to be how he's always been able to ambush our fleets," Anakin said.
"I want you to split up your squadrons and find that base Anakin. Once you do, destroy it," Obi-Wan ordered.
"It's as good as done Master Kenobi," Rosella responded.
"May the Force be with you both," Obi-Wan said.
Then his transmission ended.
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Down in one of the hangar bays, Anakin walked over to Rex and Rosella, who were standing in front of R3 and right beside his salvaged and repaired starfighter. "Alright," he said. "I'm going to do a sweep of the outer corridor, while the rest of the fleet focuses on the center."
"Are you sure that you want to do this alone General?" Rex asked.
Anakin nodded. "I'm sure," he said. "More than one fighter will just draw too much attention."
"Yes, sir," Rex said and walked away to go inform his men what was going on.
"Master, I think you had better take R3 with you as you are going to need a droid to help you navigate and he's the only one that we have right now," Rosella told him.
"I think that droid is defective," Anakin said. "After what happened on that scavenger ship, I don't really see how he could be of any help to me."
"Just give him another chance Master," Rosella told him. "This could be the perfect time for the two of you to get along."
Anakin hesitated as he looked at the black and gold droid. R3 gave a questioning beep and Anakin gave in. "All right," he said. "Come on Stubby."
The droid followed Anakin and was placed into his fighter.
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Once they were ready, the dorsal doors opened up and a small group of V-19 fighters, along with Anakin, took off from the Resolute. He made his way over to his hyperspace ring and docked with it.
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Rosella made her way onto the command deck and over to the strategy board behind Captain Rex. "May the Force be with you, Master," she said.
Rex turned around.
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Anakin then launched himself into hyperspace.
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On board the Trandoshan's junk ship, the scavenger was sleeping on a cot in his cockpit as they traveled through space.
R2 peeked out of his cell and saw that the door was wide open. He knew that now was the perfect chance to escape and try and make it back home. He moved sideways on his struts until he reached the right wall of his little prison. After a few bangs, the blue and white astromech managed to get rid of his restraining bolt which fell to the ground with a clatter. Luckily the sound wasn't too loud as the Trandoshan continued to sleep.
Then R2 made his way out of the cockpit, unaware that he was being followed by an assassin droid. The astromech managed to lose the droid, who walked into the airlock, thinking that R2 had made his way into it.
Suddenly there was a whistle followed by a beep, coming from behind the droid. As soon as the assassin droid turned around, it caught sight of the astromech who was near the controls for the door. One little command and the door closed. R2 sent out another command and the floor underneath the droid opened up as it was jettisoned into space.
R2's domed head swiveled to his left as the Trandoshan came up to him.
"You removed your restraining bolt, didn't you?" The scavenger asked, wagging a finger in the air. "What were you up to?"
R2 let out an innocent sounding beep.
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"Alright R3, have you verified those coordinates on the search grid?" Anakin asked as they traveled through hyperspace.
R3 beeped, letting him know that it had been done. A few minutes later, they came out of the swirling blue, black and silver tunnel into normal space. It appeared to be calm and surprisingly empty.
"Let's see what we can find. R3, activate the long-range scanners," Anakin said.
R3 beeped and swiveled his domed head back around. Anakin glanced down as his panels as a beeping sound was heard. He was not very happy to see that his main panel was flashing red as the tracking beacon was activated.
"No, not the tracking beacon!" Anakin said, narrowing his eyes at the droid. "R3, shut it down! Shut it down!"
R3 beeped but left the tracking system active.
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Back on the Resolute, both Rosella and Captain Rex were watching the status board when they saw the image of Anakin's starfighter pop up and start beeping.
"That's Anakin's tracking beacon," Rosella said. "What is he doing?" She turned to Rex. "Rex, get a hold of as many men as you can. We're taking the Twilight and going after him. He's going to need some help as I have a feeling that this isn't going to go over very well."
"Right away, sir," Rex said and walked away to do as Rosella commanded as she was in charge of the ship when Anakin wasn't around.
The teenager turned back towards the status board as she looked at the image that represented her father.
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Grievous walked up to his new droid commander aboard his new warship and looked at the panel that was on the left. "Ahhhh!" He said. "There is the signal that we have been waiting for. Skywalker, it looks like you have fallen into my little trap!"
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Inside Anakin's fighter, the alarms were still beeping.
"Do I have to do everything myself?" Anakin asked, clearly irritated as he hit the top button on the small panel to his left, deactivating the tracking beacon. The alarms stopped and the panel in front of him returned to its normal blue. "I hope Grievous didn't hear that."
All of a sudden, two Munificent-class star frigates dropped out of hyperspace in front of him.
"I'm guessing he heard it," Anakin said.
R3 beeped, not really caring that his little mistake had put them in jeopardy.
One of the frigates opened fire on the small fighter.
"Time to get out of here," Anakin said as he yanked the controls for his fighter and swung around. "R3, power up the hyperdrive engines and plot a course. Preferably somewhere where Grievous won't be able to find us."
R3 beeped in acknowledgment and suddenly the latches on his hyperspace ring opened, releasing Anakin's fighter.
"What are you doing?" Anakin asked as he turned around after he saw what the droid had done. "I asked you to power up the hyperdrive engines, not drop my fighter from the ring." He jerked the controls, bringing the fighter back around so that he could head back and pick up his ring, but he didn't make it. A couple of well timed shots from one of the frigates and the yellow hyperspace ring was blasted into pieces.
Anakin made a strangled noise in frustration, throwing his head back and banging it against his seat. "Where's R2 when I need him?" He asked.
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"Launch everything we have! I want him destroyed!" Grievous commanded.
"Sir, it's only one small fighter. He can't escape," the droid informed him.
"Everything!" The cyborg commanded.
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Anakin continued to fly around in space as he was chased by a group of vulture droids. Suddenly the droids fired missiles at his fighter. R3 beeped, letting Anakin know that he was afraid and also that they had missiles on their tail.
"I can see that R3! Missiles…I really don't like missiles. Alright, it looks like we're going to have to go on the offensive, so get ready to cut the engines," Anakin said as he pushed his fighter to the max.
R3 beeped in response, but didn't obey the order.
"Will you just listen to me?" Anakin asked. He jerked the controls, leading the missiles on a wild little chase before swinging his fighter around to face them and coming to a stop. R3's domed head was spinning from the fast movement. "Now R3! Hit the stabilizers!"
For once, the droid actually listened. The fighter stayed level as Anakin fired a few lasers on the missiles, destroying them.
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Aboard the Separatist warship, both Grievous and the droid in charge watched the explosion.
"Hey, that was clever," the droid said.
Grievous held up one of his metal hands, threatening the droid. "Silence!" He said. "I want the cruisers moved into their attack positions! Now!"
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"Alright, R3. Let's get moving before those fighters catch up to us," Anakin said as he pressed some buttons on a panel inside his fighter and pushed a lever.
R3 beeped, but the fighter didn't move from where it was. Anakin was forced to fire on the vulture droids, managing to destroy a few of them.
"You do realize that if this ship blows up, you go with it!" Anakin told the droid.
R3 beeped, explaining that the laser guns wouldn't fire.
"What do you mean, the laser guns won't fire?" Anakin asked the droid.
Suddenly the remaining vulture droids were blown up. Anakin looked around and saw the Twilight come out of hyperspace. He could sense Rosella and softly sighed as he was relieved as it meant that his daughter must have seen the tracking beacon when it had been activated and decided to come after him.
"I've got the cargo bay doors open Master," Rosella told her father. "Why don't you get inside so we can get out of here?"
"I'd love to comply with that order Rosella, but R3 is claiming that there's a problem with the engines," Anakin responded.
R3 beeped, and suddenly the engines fired back up. Anakin's eyes widened as his fighter shakily started moving again and then took off.
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"Destroy those ships! Don't let them get away!" Grievous commanded.
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"Rex, give him some cover so he can make it on board the freighter," Rosella said as she flipped some switches above her head and concentrated on flying the ship.
"On it Commander!" Rex said and he and the men who had accompanied them started to fire back on the droids.
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"Steady. Almost there," Anakin said as he avoided all the lasers and made his way to the Twilight's cargo bay.
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The bottom of Anakin's fighter scraped against the floor as it crashed through the shield and made it inside the cargo bay. "I'm inside. Now let's get out of here," he said.
"You got it," Rosella said as she flipped the same set of switches above her head, sealing the cargo bay doors. "Power up the hyperdrive, Rex. We're going right between those hulks of metal."
She then flew the Twilight into a carefully controlled spin, sending it right between the pair of frigates. The guns on both frigates tried to follow the freighter, but ended up firing on each other. The freighter scraped against both wings of the frigates as it passed right through them, heading for open space and destroying the vulture droids who had been chasing them.
"Looks like I saved your life again," Rosella said in a teasing voice.
Anakin, who was currently hanging onto the periscope with one hand, held his other one up to his head as he replied, "Yeah, I guess you did."
Rex, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, asked, "Can we get out of here, sir?"
Rosella turned to look at him with a soft smile on her face. Then she winked. "Sure thing Rex," she replied. "Hit it."
Rex pulled the lever and they flew off into hyperspace, fleeing the battle.
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"Uh sir, they got away," the droid told the General.
Grievous growled and backhanded the droid, taking off its head.
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The Twilight dropped out of hyperspace into non Separatist space. Anakin was standing on Rosella's left as she was just about to have her first navigation lesson when R3 showed up.
"Hey Goldie. What did you think of your first adventure?" Rosella asked.
"I'll tell you what I think," Anakin said, a little angry at what the droid had done. "I think I'm lucky to be alive! Those little stunts that he pulled out there could have gotten me killed!"
R3 let out a few beeps and whistles as he turned around and left, letting the door slide shut behind him.
"I think you may have hurt his feelings," Rosella said as she looked up at her father.
"Don't get too attached to that droid Rosella," Anakin told her. "Besides, we still need to find that listening post." Then he stepped away to go stand between Rex, who was still sitting in the co-pilot's seat, and another trooper who was piloting the freighter as he looked out of the viewport.
Rosella quietly sighed as she knew how much the blue and white astromech meant to her father. 'Do you really believe R2 is still out there Dad?'
'I know he is Ella. We will find him and bring him home.' Anakin remained where he was as the Twilight continued to fly through space.