"Plans and Escapes"
Above the frozen planet Kvetina woke up startled from a dream she had witnessed and upon remember where she was she felt a slight ache in her back and neck, no doubt due to her position as the captain's chair didn't offer much choice nor was it particularly comfortable to begin with. The bridge of the Confederate warship was quiet save for the light beeping of consoles and clatter of droid feet wandering about, stretching as much as her bandages would allow her the brunette called for her droids to return to her but was met with silence. Looking around for any sign of Sparks and Wire the captain could not find a trace of her precious companions until recalling them being requested by General Kalani to participate in another mission. She was in no shape to try to move around too much but that did not stop her from pushing herself up to her feet with the surprising aid of B1-268; Evens. The commander OOM battle droid seemed glad to see his leader alive and well and was quick to ask whether she should be moving around.
"Captain, I thought you were told to rest for a minimum of a few days?"
"Was I?" Kvetina responded with a question of her own, "I guess so." The burning sensation of the bacta cleaning and coating her wounds was gone thankfully, but that didn't stop the small stabs of pain and soreness from stirring back up again. Kvetina may have gotten used to some of it but still winced when the pain came from the spots she had been shot. It was fortunate she was wearing her armor during the battle as suffering through temporary pain was by far a greater option than death on a backwater world without a friendly soul even in the system. "Evens, how long have I been out?" She asked her droid.
"A couple of hours, Unit 614 believed you died." He said with a faint 'No!' in denial heard on their right.
"Figures," Said the officer weakly, "What was Sparks and Wire's assignment?"
"They were ordered to rally with 'Assault Group 37' and take out a Republic listening post." Answered Evens, "I'm glad I'm safe up here instead!" Contacting them was out of the question obviously but now Kvetina was left with nothing to do but follow the fleet or pass the time with pazaak or dejarik but droids, especially regular battle droids, never really made the best of opponents in games of strategy. Without anything to pass the time and being out of action for a few days the woman could think of only one thing she could do to continue training: formulate an effective strategy to kill a Jedi. This would prove difficult for obvious reasons but also from what she remembers about her first encounter with a Jedi, the man she sought was far out of her league when it came to combat. Hell, her only victory over a glorified peacekeeper was against a boy and even then, he was able to keep up with Sparks and herself for a time which only made her question whether she could face off against a Jedi and win. Returning to her chair as per Evens's recommendation, Kvetina began listing off all the equipment she had at her disposal and imagined a variety of possible situations to use them.
In her head she thought of using brute force to keep the Jedi on the defensive which proved to partially work with the boy, but the captain doubted it would work on a more experienced foe. She had a few grenades at her disposal but of course the Jedi and their use of the force would ultimately win and possibly kill her in the process. Her blaster deflected by the lightsaber. Her vibroblade, bested by a superior weapon and opponent. Hand to hand, subdued and captured. Overwhelming droids, not impossible but highly unlikely, the only time she's heard of droids killing Jedi effectively was during the Battle of Geonosis though she was oblivious to any details on how they did it. Frustrated with the constant string of imaginary defeats Kvetina's hand fell on her hip and felt two grenades, she could have sworn she used her thermals long ago. Unhooking from her belt and pulling it to view she saw that it was a concussive grenade that Wire had picked up and given to her a long while back. She felt stupid that she had not noticed it sooner but in her own defense she kept track of her equipment by number instead of their weight though she was still amazed she had forgotten about it until this point. "Evens!" She called out breaking the silence on the bridge. The sudden yell from the black-haired woman caused the droid to yelp in surprise.
"W-Wh-What is it Captain?" He exclaimed looking around panicked as if there were a fire or battle going on. Evens finally ended up looking to his leader wondering what it was the made her abruptly yell.
"Do you still have that sonic grenade from when we held of the first Republic wave?"
"Uh yes! I was going to put in into the armory storage but then I was tasked with watching over you." He said reaching for the grenade in question and offering to his officer. With both grenades in hand she felt a new tactic form in her head. This one would involve a little trickery in deception but Kvetina was sure she could pull it off even against a Jedi, assuming she could fool the Jedi into believing it to be a common grenade they would likely either try to suppress it with the force or dive out of the way. Whichever happened didn't matter too much as then the sonic grenade being thrown second to disorient the force-user and while stunned there would be a small and short opening in their defense! All the woman had to do was be sure to close the gap to deliver the killing blow and finally avenge all those that died in the defense of her home. With a light maniacal chuckle coming from her, Evens slowly backed away in a little fear from the now enthusiastic Kvetina who was eager to draw the blood of the Jedi that brought the war to her peoples' doorstep.
Hours had passed since the conquest of the Republic outpost; the droids have reinforced the defenses and the sole AAT at their disposal was serving as a makeshift defensive cannon. Sparks and Wire stood at attention to a hologram of General Kalani. The Super Tactical Droid had commended them on a job well done, better than he had anticipated as most infiltration units were either done by living individuals or needed an entire team of commando droids for a successful outcome. However, here Sparks and Wire had proven to be far more skillful than their common brethren on assignments like these.
"Republic frequencies started transmitted after the outpost was secured sir, but I am afraid it is taking longer than expected." Wire informed the droid General. For whatever reason, the outpost didn't seem like it had the equipment to transmit messages in the greatest of quality or speed. From what Wire could guess, the outposts beacon wasn't meant for full transmission and instead broadcasted a constant message of either being 'okay' or 'in-danger' but they droids had to make do with what they had.
"Very well, you have exceeded my expectations. I am curious as to how two droids of your caliber ended up in the hands of your Captain." The droid put a hand to his chin as a person would stroking a beard while in the process of thought.
"We were a gift to our master by her father. After his departure she taught us what she had learned from him."
"And what are your thoughts on the Captain?"
"She is stubborn and over-confident in her abilities but will continue fight with loyalty to her people." Started Wire.
"She is reckless and inefficient when commanding larger forces but will still attempt to seek victory regardless." Finished Sparks. The last part of his opinion of her proven during the last battle she was in.
"Interesting," Said Kalani, "Perhaps she is still of some use to our campaign here on Agamar. I will further gather information on the Captain in time. I am dispatching a g-gu-s-sh-sh-ip-." The holo started to fuzz and the connection was interrupted by static. The weather wasn't harsh enough to mess with the equipment so that wouldn't be the case and the only other way their communications were being jammed would be if...
Before either droid could finish determining the sources of the disruption, a pair of missiles screeched in the air and destroyed their AAT along with the tactical droid commanding it. The rest of the droids immediately went on alert with the chain of command falling on the two commando droids. The clones returned and in force this time. Several LAAT dropships surrounded the airspace while the battle droids scrambled to either find cover or shoot back at the clones. A few lucky blaster shots managed to hit a target with the occasional body falling from the ships, moments later the dropships entered the clearing, deploying their squads of soldiers without letting the Separatists rest, to make matters worse a Jedi exited one of the transports cutting down a path through the battle droids with ease and deflecting shots that would have otherwise killed a normal being calling for a regrouped withdraw Sparks and Wire gunned down clone after clone but their numbers and skills were far greater than the battle droids and even super battle droids at their disposal. Soon enough they were starting to be surrounded by the white armored Republic troops and were it not for their constant back pedaling the surviving droids would have like being utterly wiped out. A clone rushed in close to attack Sparks but was met with a vibrosword slash across the chest. Another one tried to rescue his brother but was grabbed by the throat by Wire and held as a hostage in front of the other clones. Similarly Sparks did the same with the wounded trooper he just cut and with the two clones in hand the blaster fire halted with the order of the Jedi. Cowering together behind the two BX-series droids were four B1s and a single B2 waiting for the order to continue firing but Wire and Sparks knew better. In a situation like this their only chance of survival rested in the hands of their enemy's lives ironically enough.
"I remember that droid." Said the Jedi, upon closer inspection it looked to be the same Jedi Kvetina and Sparks fought but with a bandage around his eye serving as a makeshift eyepatch. "Where is your master you pile of junk?" He shouted pointing inquisitively at Sparks.
"Do you know this Jedi?" Wire asked looking at his companion.
"Captain took his eye, ha." Sparks said with the monotone laugh adding insult to the literal injury.
"Where is she?" The Jedi shouted once more which made the droids hold on to their shields just a little tighter. The Jedi's comm turned on with a beeping, green light.
"Padawan I did not give you permission to leave, and with troops non-!" The voice's sentence was cut short as the Padawan silenced the comm device in favor of interrogating the droids who stubbornly refused to answer his question.
"Now. Tell. Me." Said the Jedi with each word carefully pronounced to the droids. "I want an eye for an eye!"
"Captain is from the mid-rim and still she has defeated a Jedi." Sparks taunted in hopes to buy much needed time for him and the survivors while avoiding the Jedi's demand. The force-sensitive seemed to be seething with anger trying to calm himself down with muffled words he repeated to himself; likely words of wisdom from his master. Before another question or sentence could be said another barrage of missiles impacted the wide space between the two forces kicking up a wall of smoke, fire, and snow. Behind the droids was an HMP gunship that told them in a deep voice to quickly board. Kicking the hostage clones to the ground Sparks and Wire and the rest were picked up by the larger droid's clamps and within seconds the droids made haste out of the heat of danger. As they were leaving Sparks gave a wave of farewell while Wire looked at him curiously. Though the General would not be pleased with the outcome Kvetina would be more than delighted to find her droids still active and kicking.
A.N.: I stayed up way to late writing stuff but I know if I didn't do it at the moment then I wouldn't the next day! Still, wasn't sure whether to wait for the scheduled upload or do it a week early. For now I've decided to upload this one early. If I happen to finish a chapter early then it will be posted a week early otherwise uploads will remain every other week!
For those reading this thank you for sticking this far (Because I'm aware of myself always trying to make my writing 'perfect' and will rewrite if I'm not satisfied with the results), also I have other stuff started and ready to be explored but I myself am not sure if I can make a full story of them yet. Maybe post them as one-shots? Who knows, and as always, enjoy!
Edit 5/22: Made a few grammatical fixes after reading over it again and again, note to self: Careful when writing while tired! (And editing too.)
~Firetoast312