"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond.
AN: Thank you princesselsaamidala22 for your review of the last chapter.
I'm really sorry for not updating last week! I had some other things that I needed to finish, plus I may have come up with a new story idea, but won't be working on it until I am finished with this series and the two story requests that I have been asked to write.
On to this week's chapter!
After escaping from the Endurance, which had been sabotaged by an assassin who was after Mace Windu, the High General and Anakin have embarked on a mission of their own to find Admiral Killian and a few other clones who stayed aboard the Jedi Cruiser as it crash-landed on Vanqor.
Chapter 19: Trusting R2-D2
It had been a long, but hard task for both Anakin and Mace as they flew through space in their starfighters, searching for the last of the escape pods that contained the men, and mostly all of the cadets, who had been lucky enough to escape the Endurance. All of the pods that had been rounded up by the two Jedi had drifted away from the heavily damaged cruiser after the reactor core had been destroyed by an assassin, who had gotten aboard the ship and gone after Mace.
Luckily, a Republic rescue ship had arrived to help them and managed to get everyone on board. As they were waiting on the final few pods that still had passengers aboard, both fighters flew around the front of the red and white ship that had yellow lines painted underneath it as they headed towards Vanqor.
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"General, the last handful of survivors are making their way on board now," one of the men said as he looked up at the viewscreen above him while two of his fellow vod prepared the ship for their eventual jump to hyperspace. "Some of the men are wounded and after speaking to the medics that we have with us, they want us to bring them to the nearest medical station for treatment immediately."
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Mace was silent for a few moments. "As soon as General Skywalker and I have completed our search for Admiral Kilian, we'll contact you and let you know if you can leave," he responded.
"Yes sir," the man said.
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R2 beeped and whistled from his place in front of Anakin's cockpit.
"Come on R2," Anakin responded. "Let's go."
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From where they had been floating just a few moments ago, Vanqor looked really pretty. The planet, which was located in the Outer Rim, was a temperate and overcast one whose surface was covered in rocks and smoky crystalline formations. It was also home to a group of fierce, aggressive creatures known as Gundarks. Those creatures were known for their overwhelming strength and tended to live in caves that dotted the surface.
All of that was hidden by the swirling silica-dust storms that caused the world to have a blue-grey hue to it.
Both of the Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors flew through the storm and over the crystalline formations as they came into view. As Mace flew ahead and Anakin followed behind, they saw a smear of heavy black smoke in the sky. Following the trail, they spotted the still smoking remains of the badly damaged Jedi cruiser.
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"We're coming up on the crash site," Mace said as he glanced to his right. "Let's hope that Admiral Killian and whomever remained behind to help him land the ship are still in one piece."
As both Jedi got closer to the damaged cruiser, R2 beeped and whistled, getting Anakin's attention.
"Hmm," Anakin said, his tone serious, but positive. "From what I can see, the ship appears to be in pretty rough shape, but the bridge seems to be one of the more stable areas. If the Admiral and his men did survive, I'm sure we'll find them there."
"I agree," Mace responded. "Land behind the cruiser. We'll approach the Endurance on foot."
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It wasn't the best place to land their fighters, but it was going to have to do for now.
R2 beeped and whistled as Anakin opened the canopy that was around his cockpit and leapt out of his fighter. As he stared at the back half of the wreck, all he could see was some fires that were still burning as the flames threatened to cause even more damage to the already unstable ship and grey smoke that was turning thick, black and smoky the higher it rose into the sky.
The blue and white astromech beeped cautiously and let out a whistle as Anakin stood by his fighter. "I know buddy," he responded. "I don't like the look or feel of this place either."
"The last time that I checked, our astromechs aren't programmed to feel things," Mace said, walking up behind Anakin with his own purple domed astromech by his side.
Anakin turned to face him. "I know they aren't, but R2 is kind of a special case," he said, turning towards his fighter as R2 whistled happily and popped out of his droid socket, landing on the ground with a thud in front of the Knight. "He's been through a lot during the course of this war and that's given him a bit of a personality, that's all." He leaned down and patted the top of R2's domed head.
"You encourage it too much," Mace said. Then he walked past the younger Knight and headed towards the cruiser with R8 at his side.
Anakin gave R2's domed head one last pat, then took his hand away as he walked around his astromech to follow Mace. He nearly smirked upon hearing R8 whistle and beep at the blue and white droid.
R2 responded with a few whistles and beeps that sounded like something offensive as he deployed his third strut and followed the group.
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As they walked alongside the wreckage, Mace turned to his droid. "R8, I want you to start scanning the area," he said. "See if you can locate anyone who might still be alive and while you're at it, find us a safe, but suitable point of entry to the cruiser."
R8 beeped and moved on ahead.
R2, who had stayed by Anakin's side, seemed to ignore his fellow astromech as he turned his head back and forth, taking in his surroundings. The remains of the ship were strewn all around them and the group was just starting to reach the bulk of what was left. The astromech felt sad for the lives of the men who had remained on the cruiser and let out a mournful couple of beeps, followed by a high-pitched whistle as his domed head turned to face his master.
Anakin glanced down at his companion. "I know R2," he responded. "It doesn't look good, but we can't give up hope. We have to keep searching."
Two Gundarks growled as they suddenly appeared behind the group. As one of the creatures ran across the open space and disappeared behind some metal and other debris, it hit a small pipe with one of its large hind feet, causing the round, grey piece of metal to make noise as it broke off and crashed to the ground.
The blue and white astromech, who had turned his domed head upon hearing the noise, came to a halt as he was sure that he had seen something following the group. Upon pulling back his third strut, the droid emitted a few panicked sounding whistles and beeps as he rocked back and forth before placing his third strut on the ground again.
Both Anakin and Mace turned around while R8 continued following its orders.
"A bit jittery, isn't it?" Mace asked.
"He must have spotted something," Anakin replied, noticing that R2, who had confirmed what his master said by whistling again, was rocking back and forth, apparently still scared by the shadow that he had seen.
R8 beeped from up ahead.
"Come on," Mace said, turning to see that his droid was getting closer to the ship. "It looks like R8 has found our entry point."
The Jedi Master turned around and followed his droid while Anakin took one last glance at the area behind them before following as R2 let out a few more whistles and beeps before following them.
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As the group approached the entry point that R8 had found, they realized that it was a large, dark hole that led to a sloping tunnel.
"I know that Admiral Kilian stayed onboard since he refused to leave with us," Anakin said, remembering what had happened before he and Mace, along with their droids, fled the cruiser. "I'm sure there would have been a command crew that remained behind with him as I don't think he could manage to land this large ship by himself. That means we're looking for at least three additional officers and the Admiral."
Mace nodded, confirming everything that Anakin had said. "We're also looking for Commander Ponds," he informed him. "He chose to stay behind with the group."
They pushed further and further into the wreckage, not bothering to call out for the men as R8 was already scanning the area. Hopefully that would turn up something positive. Even though Mace and Anakin were using the Force to aid them, searching for signs of life among all the wreckage was something that some of the other Jedi, the ones who were strong with the Living Force, were more adept at.
Still, they were able to do it.
R2 pulled in his middle strut, rocked from side to side and let out a whistle as well as a couple of beeps, some of which were sad-sounding as he saw something that no one, whether that person was a Jedi or even another clone, should ever come across, even if it was inside the debris filled wreck of a crashed destroyer. The droid had come across a trooper who was laying down in the dirt. His blaster was laying beside him and his head had been turned to the right.
Anakin, who had moved on ahead, came back to R2's side as he asked, "What have you found buddy?" As soon as he saw the trooper, he narrowed his eyes and frowned as he clenched both of his hands into fists, knowing that the man was indeed dead. He didn't need the Force to tell him that. Turning to his left, he raised his hand into the air. "Mace!" Waving his hand, he directed the older Jedi back over to where he was standing with R2. "Over here! R2 has found one of the troopers."
Mace ran back over to them and stood beside R2 as he saw the trooper. Since he was still getting used to having emotions, after having lived under the old version of the Jedi Code for nearly a decade if not more, it took him a little while to get a hold of them and let them go. Then he narrowed his eyes, ran forward, knelt down and gently flipped the body over as he began to examine it.
The Jedi Master noticed that the man had no burn marks on his armor nor was it all that clean. It was a little dirty as he had to have been laying in the dirt for quite a while. The only mark that was on his armor was a blackened hole that was where the man's heart was. His frown that had appeared on his face upon discovering the man grew deeper.
"Hmm," he said. "This man did not die in the crash. He was executed."
R8, who had come back to the group, let out a series of beeps as he rolled backwards and bumped into Anakin's legs as the Knight had walked over to see what the droid had found.
"R8 found another trooper," Anakin said. "He was executed as well."
Mace stood up. "Well, the one thing that we do know is that the assassins were after me," he said, not liking the conclusion that his brain had already jumped to. "If they happened to see the ship crash from space, they might have come down to the planet to look for my body. We need to get up to the bridge. Hopefully, the Admiral and the others are still there. Have R8 continue his search down here and send R2 to do the same. Maybe whoever did this missed one."
As the Jedi Master turned around and walked past the body, Anakin knelt down between both of the droids as they let out a pair of whistles. Reaching out, he rubbed both of their domed heads and said, "I know there happens to be a lot of interference, but try and do your best, alright?"
Both droids beeped an affirmative whistle at him.
"Skywalker!" Mace called.
Anakin looked up as he heard the Jedi Master calling for him. With one last glance at R2, he gave his domed head a quick pat, then stood up and ran over to the shaft that Mace was standing in front of. After entering and making sure that it was safe, he grabbed onto something and began to climb upwards. Mace was right behind him.
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Both of the droids beeped at each other and produced their scanners. R8 beeped at R2, indicating that the blue and white droid should follow him as he backed up and rolled away, following the orders that Mace had originally given him.
R2 whistled and beeped as nothing was showing up on his scanners. As the purple and gold droid beeped to let him know that he was moving on and heading deeper into the destroyed cruiser, R2 quickly adjusted his scanners, as well as his sensors since he didn't want to let his Master down.
Then one of the large creatures ran behind the blue and white astromech, causing the droid to turn around and let out a panic-sounding screech as well as a few whistles. After looking around and not finding anything, he rocked back and forth, letting out a few beeps.
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The bridge was a mess. The entire place was dark since the ship had lost power when it crashed. The only light that was coming in was from the ripped holes in the ceiling. There was debris and exposed wires everywhere, which was causing a few blue sparks to fly every couple of seconds. While the holotable was still in one piece, it was nothing more than scrap now that it had a jagged hole in the middle of it.
As Anakin and Mace slowly made their way around it, they were struggling to stay upright since the floor was slanted, both Jedi came across the rest of the bridge. Whether the large transparasteel windows had shattered when the cruiser had slammed into the ground or broken during the decent, they weren't sure, but there were still some sharp and jagged edges left over where they used to be. Both of the sunken pits were full of debris that had been ripped from their places on the ceiling.
There were more bodies here. Anakin closed his eyes at the sight, glad that Rosella hadn't been allowed to accompany him. He counted at least three troopers and one navigational officer. They were just some of the brave men who had stayed behind when the ship was going down. Men who might had survived the horrific crash, but were now dead.
Upon noticing two of the bodies, Mace slowly made his way over to them and knelt down, shaking his head. "These men are gone," he said, turning around to face Anakin. "They were executed, just like the troopers that we found down on the lower levels."
Anakin looked up and scanned the bridge. "I don't see Admiral Kilian or Commander Ponds anywhere," he said.
Mace softly sighed. "My best guess is that they must have been sucked out into the atmosphere when the cabin lost pressure," he said. "I'll contact the rescue ship and give them an update."
Anakin nodded.
The Jedi Master stayed where he was and brought up his right arm. Once he activated his comlink, he spoke into it. "Captain, General Skywalker and I have completed our search," he said. "We weren't able to find anyone else down here. We can only assume that both Admiral Kilian and Commander Ponds are lost. Take the survivors that we were able to save back to the nearest medical station. We'll meet you there. Mace out."
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"Understood General," the Captain said as he looked up at the viewscreen that showed both Mace and Anakin standing in what looked like the bridge of the Endurance. "Captain Silver out." Then the man looked at both of the pilots. "Let's head for home. Make the jump."
The ship powered up and disappeared into hyperspace.
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Back on the lower levels of the Endurance, R2 and R8 backed into each other. The force of the collision caused both droids to move away from each other as they turned around and stared at each other. The first few beeps and whistles that they gave each other determined that they were both at fault for rolling backwards and not watching where they were going.
Then R8 asked his fellow droid if he had found anyone. R2 replied with a few whistles and beeps of his own that the purple and gold droid interpreted as a no.
While Mace's astromech continued to whistle and beep at the blue and white droid, R2 began to rock from side to side in fear as he saw a reddish-brown claw and then what looked like a mouth appear out of the shadows behind the other droid. Then he let out another panic-sounding screech and shook his domed head back and forth as he heard the creature snarl and saw the yellow eyes that seemed to be glaring at them.
R2 quickly beeped and whistled at R8 as he turned around and rolled away as fast as his struts could carry him. He could hear R8 whistling in fear as the other droid followed him as the Gundark crept down onto another piece of debris and jumped into the air before going after the astromechs.
As they rounded a corner, the creature chased after them, but lost control of its movement and skidded off to the side. Pretty soon, R8 rolled past R2 as the droids ran over a pair of cables. Then there was another roar and a second Gundark appeared right in front of them.
R2 screamed as he saw the massive creature place both of his claws on top of R8's domed head. The blue and white astromech quickly turned around and rolled in the other direction. When he was sure that he had gotten away and was safe, he turned around and stopped moving as he retracted his third strut. Then he nearly whistled in another panic as he caught sight of the beast running towards him with R8 in its mouth.
Then the first Gundark came out of nowhere and bellowed as it slammed into the second one, nearly dislodging the poor droid from its mouth. The beast who currently had possession over R8 reared up and knocked the first one away as the pair began to fight over the droid.
R2 popped out his third strut as one of the little drawers on his body sprang open and his splicer tool emerged. Only this time he had turned it into its side so the tip was pointed forwards instead of what he normally used the tool for. Then the blue and white astromech charged forward and drove the tip into the backside of the second Gundark.
The giant creature cried out in pain and anger as it let go of R8 and reared up onto its hind legs. Then it turned towards R2 and smacked the poor astromech away with one set of arms.
The blue and white droid toppled over and was sent flying along the ground until he crashed into a wall. He turned his domed head and watched as the gundarks continued to fight over R8 before each one bit down on one end of the droid, the metal crunching under their teeth. As the creatures moved away from each other, R2 heard R8's final cries, but was unable to do anything else but watch as sparks began to appear where his domed head was connected to the rest of his body. With one final tug, the droid was torn apart.
R8's head bounced and rolled until it landed next to R2 who whistled sadly.
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Things weren't looking good.
After Anakin had walked around the bodies and begun to venture down the center of the wrecked, but still walkable bridge, he saw something below him. As he glanced down into the sunken pit on his left, he sadly shook his head upon discovering another navigational officer who had been killed in the same manner as the other men.
As the Knight looked away from the body, he called upon the Force and brushed away his emotions as he needed to be focused on his current task. Without even glancing behind him, he could already sense Mace's deep drive to keep fighting in this war. The Jedi needed to end this war so they could have peace and their families would be safe. Then he noticed something that was sitting on the center console.
"Why is there a Mandalorian helmet on the ship?" He asked, stepping around another dead trooper as he got closer to it.
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R2 managed to move his domed head back and forth as he saw and heard both of the Gundarks making snarling sounds as they drew closer and closer towards him. At long last, he managed to lift himself back up onto his struts. His domed head moved back and forth once again as he saw two sets of glowing yellow eyes looking at him.
Then the Gundark who was on his left let out a terrifying screech and leapt at him.
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Mace didn't think anything of the blue and grey helmet as soon as he saw it. Still, there was something about the design that seemed familiar to him. He knew for a fact that he had seen it somewhere before and it certainly wasn't aboard the Endurance.
After watching for a few minutes as Anakin crept closer and closer to it, he eventually turned away, took a step forward and knelt beside one of the executed troopers. As he looked at both victims, he found it very hard to believe that the clones, who were good men, had come from the DNA of a bounty hunter who had tried to kill him during the beginning of the war.
As he let his mind wander, Mace remembered the cadets who had been aboard the ship with them. "Clone cadets," he said. Then he quickly glanced over at the helmet again as Anakin approached it. Time seemed to stop for the Jedi Master as he suddenly remembered the name of the man who had owned the helmet. "Jango Fett." The only reason that he knew the man's name was because of Obi-Wan. Glancing once more at the trooper's face, his eyes widened as he knew just who was behind all of this. "Boba."
Sensing in the back of his mind that the boy would be wanting revenge for his father's death, Mace quickly realized that he and Anakin had walked into a trap. Quickly glancing over to the front of the bridge, he saw that the Knight had just wrapped his hands around the helmet and was about to pick it up.
"Anakin! Don't touch that!" Mace called as he leapt to his feet and spun around to face the Knight.
As soon as the helmet had been lifted into the air, a beeping sound was heard.
The Jedi Master quickly thrust out his arms. "Drop it!" He yelled as he used the Force to pull Anakin towards him. The younger male flew through the air as he let go of the helmet. Quickly lowering his hands, he leapt into the pit, wrapping his arms around Anakin as the Knight's body slammed into his.
Then came the loud roar as a giant explosion shook the bridge and caused a large pile of debris to come crashing down around and on top of them.
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The loud noise frightened both of the Gundarks. The beast who had been about to go after R2 ended up crashing into the other one. Upon hearing the echoing boom, both creatures looked up into the air.
The noise had also scared poor R2, who whistled while turning his domed head back and forth as he knew that his Master and Master Windu had gone up to the bridge to see if they could find any sign or even a clue as to where Admiral Killian and Commander Ponds were.
As soon as the beasts saw the debris that was raining down from the ceiling, they forgot all about the astromech as they began to dodge a few of the larger, sharper pieces that slammed into the ground.
The blue and white astromech beeped as he began to rock back and forth on his struts.
Knowing that the place wasn't safe for them, both of the creatures turned around and ran away as fast their giant claws could carry them. While the first Gundark was able to get away, the second beast was a little too slow and was crushed to death as a giant piece of metal and wires fell from up above and landed on top of the poor creature, ending its life instantly.
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The explosion had been beautiful.
Standing on top of a cliff that overlooked the crash site, Boba held a pair of electrobinoculars up to his face as he viewed the smoke that was drifting up from one of the twin bridges. Pulling the device away from his face, the young boy lowered his hands to his sides.
As he remembered what had happened to his father on Geonosis and everything that he had done after the Jedi, Dooku and the Geonosians had left the arena, he narrowed his eyes, knowing that even though he got what he wanted, now he needed something to show for it.
While he knew that the blue and grey helmet had been worth sacrificing, since it was the only thing that he had kept after burning the rest of his father's armor, he was still a little sad at the loss, even though he knew that it was time to let it go. After all, he also had all the tools of the trade that the man had taught him when he had been a boy.
Aurra Sing, the Palliduvan bounty hunter who was standing beside him, reached out with her limited Force sensitivity, but was unable to sense anything other than the Gundarks that were roaming all over the place. She had been apart of the Jedi Order as a child, but left in order to become a professional bounty hunter. After meeting Boba, who had been wandering around the Galaxy in Slave 1, she took the boy under her wing and trained him as one last way to honor Jango, whom she had been associated with.
"There is no way that anyone could have survived that blast. Mace has to be dead," she told him. "I hope your happy now that you've gotten your revenge."
The other two companions that were with them didn't say anything as the white-skinned female turned around and led them back towards Slave 1.
Boba glanced at the tall female before shifting his gaze ahead of him as he hurried to catch up to her. "I want to go to the wreckage and make sure that he's dead," he said.
Aurra stopped walking and turned to face the boy. "There won't be anything left for you to find Boba," she responded. Then she kept moving towards the ship.
Boba followed her.
"Well, I want to get off this planet," Castas complained as he and Bossk caught up to the others. "This place is crawling with Gundarks and besides, we've also got these hostages to drag along."
Kilian, Ponds and the unnamed navigational officer all glared at their captors. They were bound, gagged and sitting on the ground near the boarding ramp.
"This extra baggage will fetch us a nice, hefty sum of credits when we turn them over to the Separatists," Aurra told him as she gestured to the men with one hand.
The male Klatooinian nearly scoffed. "Well, it's a lot of trouble for not enough payout, if you ask me," he said.
Boba narrowed his eyes as soon as he heard that and flung the electrobinoculars to the ground. "You haven't done anything to help us since joining this team," he said. Then he slapped his other hand over his chest. "I'm the one who's been doing all the work around here and taking all the risks."
Castas placed his right hand on Boba's shoulder, nearly wrapping it around his throat. "Quiet, runt!" He said, forcing the boy to take a half-step backwards as he raised his left hand into the air and curled his fingers into a fist.
Aurra quickly reached for her blaster, withdrew it from its holster and spun it around as she aimed the barrel at the Klatooinian's head. "I'd think twice about your next move..." She said, not bothering to finish her sentence as she knew that he had gotten the message.
Castas drew Boba towards him, then shoved him backwards as he let go, causing the boy to stumble and nearly lose his footing. Then he stepped back as he raised his hands in the air.
Boba lightly rubbed his shoulder and glared at Castas while Aurra stepped back and raised her weapon in the air. "Count Dooku will pay us well, if we bring him actual proof that the Jedi is dead," he told the group.
The female Palliduvan heard what Boba said and thought about it for a few minutes. "Hmmm," she said. "Dooku might actually pay us more money if we kill Windu. Then we'd be looking at a profit!"
"Well...Sure, I guess..." Castas stammered as he still had his hands in the air.
"You can relax now, Castas," she said as she holstered her weapon, turned toward the speeder bikes and headed towards them. Boba, who was standing next to her, turned and walked in that direction as well. "Boba's right. If we want to get paid, then we're going to need proof of Windu's death." Then Aurra got on one of them and started it up. She felt the weight of the bike dip as Boba got on behind her. "If Skywalker was also killed in the explosion, then we might be able to get double."
"Double?" Castas repeated as he took a step forward, his eyes gleaming with greed.
Aurra glanced at him. "Yes," she replied. Then she looked at the male Trandoshan who was part of their crew. "Bossk, stay here and take care of our guests. We won't be long." She felt Boba wrap his arms around her as she threw the controls forward and headed for the crash site.
Boost watched as Castas got on the second bike and took off after them. After he left, the male Trandoshan turned around and grinned slightly as he looked at their captives.
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R2 made his way around piles of debris and bits of junk and metal as he slowly, but quickly maneuvered through the now ruined hanger bay. At least it was a little easier without those Gundarks chasing him around. Rotating his domed head, the droid happily let out a few beeps as he spotted the same shaft that his Master and Master Windu had used to get up to the bridge. After rolling up to the edge, he pulled in his third strut and hopped up onto the small ledge as he peered inside.
After noticing that the shaft was covered in broken cables that showered the dark passageway with blue sparks, the droid let out a questioning beep even though he knew that this was his only clear way of making it up to the bridge since some of the other routes that he had found weren't safe enough for him to use.
Rolling into the shaft, R2 activated his rocket boosters and flew upwards, hoping that this passageway led him to his destination. Thankfully there was another opening near the top and he chirped happily as he realized that he made it to the bridge. After carefully making it through the opening, he set himself down on the floor, switched off his rocket boosters and put them away before re-deploying his third strut.
The blue and white astromech let out a whistle as he slowly, but carefully began to make his way through the shadowy, sparking remains of the bridge, which was on fire and filled with smoke.
As he reached the center walkway, which was cracked on the left side and partly covered in debris that had landed there during the explosion, and began to roll across it, he heard a very familiar voice calling out to him from down below.
"R2!" Anakin called, coughing a little as he choked on some smoke. "Over here!"
R2 backed up, rolled over to the edge of the walkway and looked down. There, pinned underneath a heavy slab of durasteel and other pieces of rubble was his Master. He let out a couple of happy beeps, whistles and chirps. Then the small astromech activated his rocket boosters and carefully made his way down towards Anakin. When he reached the bottom, he landed on the floor, turned off his boosters, and made sure that his third strut was on the floor before moving forward a little.
"Good to see you, buddy," Anakin said, coughing again as he choked on a small amount of dust that had been kicked into the air by his droid's movements.
The blue and white domed head turned slightly and R2 was able to spot a brown hand that was covered in white armor just a few feet away from where Anakin lay trapped. The small droid backed up, then moved forward and with all the strength that he had, along with some help from his tools, pushed the debris forward so that Mace's head was freed from underneath it.
The Jedi Master wasn't moving.
The bridge suddenly shook, causing R2 to let out a cautious beep and stop what he was doing as his domed head turned back and forth.
"Careful, R2!" Anakin said, watching as the little droid backed up and put away his tools. Then he looked around before glancing at Mace. "That explosion has made everything around here very unstable. Make one wrong move and this whole bridge is going to collapse, taking us with it."
R2 let out a questioning beep as if he was asking what their next plan was.
"Listen to me very carefully R2. I need you to get back to our fighters and call the Temple for help," Anakin said before closing his eyes as he let out another small round of coughs. "Tell them that Mace and I need help. Have you got all that?"
R2 turned off his recording device and then let out a few low-sounding beeps. He knew that it was the right thing to do, but he didn't want to leave them behind, even if it was to get help.
The Knight tilted his head upwards, softly smiling at the sight of R2, who was still standing there. "Go get help buddy," he told his trusted companion. "Mace and I will hold on for as long as we can." He closed his eyes as his body was racked with a few more rough, dusty coughs before falling unconscious as the pain that he was currently in was too much for his body to handle.
R2 let out a few worried beeps before whistling in determination as he activated his rocket boosters and flew out of the hole. Just as he was about to head towards the opening in the shaft that he had used to travel up to the bridge, he heard the sounds of two very fast vehicles that were rapidly nearing the Endurance. Quickly switching directions, he flew over to the nearest broken viewport.
Using his optical receptor, he got a better look at the ground below and saw two speeder bikes that were being driven towards the wreckage. The small droid had a feeling that the people who were riding them weren't there to help and beeped in alarm as he knew what he had to do.
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Aurra, Boba and Castas made their way to the crashed star destroyer on their bikes. Quickly riding past a few still smoking piles of debris, they pulled up to the entrance and slid to a stop. Castas immediately leapt off his speeder and began to sniff the air, trying to see if he could smell anything that would be dangerous to them. It clearly wasn't helping due to all the smoke and charred metal that was everywhere.
Over on the other bike, Aurra rolled her eyes in vague disgust.
"Come on!" Boba told them as he quickly jumped off from where he had been sitting. "We need to find Windu's body." He took off his poncho, laid it across the front of the bike and took off for the wreckage.
"Boba!" Aurra called as she swung her leg over the seat and dismounted. "Be careful!"
As the boy walked across the hanger floor, he heard a noise come from above him. Boba jerked his head upwards and his eyes grew wide as he saw a large chunk of the ship heading towards him. Quickly diving towards the ground, the young boy threw himself out of the way as the large piece crashed into the ground behind him. After landing on the ground, he rolled over, sat up and nearly coughed as he choked on dust that had been flung into the air when the large piece had fallen to the floor. Glancing upwards, Boba stared at Aurra as she walked past him. The look on her face told the boy that she wasn't pleased that he hadn't listened to her.
Castas walked by as Boba got up from the ground. "Yeah, you need to be more careful kid," he said, nearly taunting the kid in a sarcastic tone of voice. "I would hate to only have to split the money three ways, not four."
Boba nearly glared at the Klatooinian.
Aurra paused at the doorway that led to the interior of the ship and glanced at Boba as he walked up to them. Then she glanced over at Castas before walking through, with Boba right behind her. Castas threw a mini temper tantrum before following them both.
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R2 peered out from his hiding spot and spotted the trio as they carefully inched their way up the slanted hallway, which was covered in broken pipes, dangling cables, slabs of metal, sparking wires, and a whole mess of other things. Even though he was a droid and couldn't use, or even touch the Force like his Master or young Mistress could, he didn't need it to know that they were bad news. Turning around, he quickly opened up one of his compartments and selected his claw.
After grabbing a rather large piece of metal, maybe it had been apart of the wall or a door, he slowly began to roll backwards as he dragged it towards the edge of the slanted hallway. Once the piece was in place, he put away his tools, got behind it, and with a simple shove, sent it tumbling forward as gravity did the rest of the job for him.
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She sensed it before the noise reached her ears. Jerking her head upwards, Aurra's eyes grew wide as she saw a large piece of metal crash against a wall as it headed right towards them. Quickly glancing behind her at her companions, she flung out her left arm and cried, "Look out!"
Just as the door was about to slam into them, all three of the bounty hunters leapt to the sides of the corridor and stayed there until it was gone. Then they continued to climb.
"This place is nothing more than a death trap!" Castas said as he stood up and braced himself by placing his webbed left hand on the nearest wall for support.
"If I had known that you were going to be this much of a coward, then I wouldn't have hired you in the first place," Aurra told him as she and Boba continued their trek to get to the top.
"Well, I don't want to be the next one who ends up dead by the time this whole trip is over," Castas responded, knowing that Aurra had very little honor as a bounty hunter. She was ruthless and wouldn't hesitate to kill him if she had to.
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R2 let out a low beep, after seeing that his plan hadn't worked. It didn't matter as he was the astromech who belonged to Anakin Skywalker, who was one of, if not the most inventive Jedi in the Order. Quickly locating the nearest port, he rolled over and plugged in.
Even though the Endurance was destroyed and devoid of power, that didn't mean he couldn't play a trick or two on the bounty hunters who wanted to get rid of his Master and Master Windu.
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As the three continued to climb up to the top, they couldn't believe what they had just seen. A pair of blast doors had suddenly and with no warning, slammed shut in their faces, effectively cutting them off from their intended route.
Aurra stood up and pounded against the doors, even though she knew that it wasn't going to help as those doors were not going to open again. "Blast it!" She yelled.
"The door must have malfunctioned," Boba said, causing Aurra to turn around and stare at him. "This ship did take a lot of damage when it crashed and the explosion that occurred on the bridge must have made it worse. We'll just have to go back the way we came and find a different route."
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R2 chirped happily to himself, rocking back and forth on his struts. He had heard the female yell out in anger and knew that she hadn't liked what he had done.
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Up on the bridge, a small shower of blue sparks shot out from a damaged cable as both Jedi began to come around.
Quietly suppressing a grunt of pain, Mace shifted and after seeing that he had just enough room to roll over onto his back, did just that. After, he placed his hand on his chest. "Skywalker. Skywalker! Are you alright?" He asked as he looked to his right, only to find that Anakin was awake and staring at him.
The Knight softly groaned. "Yeah, I'm alright," he replied. "Except for the fact that I can't move at all." He closed his eyes and shifted a little, or at least tried to and ended up making a pained noise as he wasn't able to move his body any more than he had already tried to. "Do you think you can get out?"
Mace laid his head back on the floor. After extracting his other hand, the Jedi Master reached out with the Force, hoping that he would be able to free them from the rubble. That wasn't the case, however. The entire bridge started to shake, causing a large, broken piece of the ship to move towards the edge of the pile and then fall towards them. Shifting his focus on the falling piece of metal, Mace moved it out of the way and set it down behind them.
Anakin glanced toward the large piece of debris. "I already tried that!" He said, having to raise his voice to be heard over the sound of the shaking ship and falling debris. Then he coughed, turning to face Mace. "This ship is highly unstable. If either one of us were to try that again, I'm worried that this entire place will come crashing down on us."
The older man sighed. "Since we can't use the Force to get ourselves out of this mess, then what do you propose that we do?" Mace asked.
"Don't worry," Anakin responded. "I instructed R2 to go back to the fighters and call the Temple for help. I'm sure he has everything under control."
Mace grumbled to himself as he wondered how Anakin was able to have so much faith in his astromech droid.
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R2 made it back to the bridge. Even though he had delayed the bounty hunters for a few moments, that didn't mean they were giving up. As the droid moved down the hallway outside the area where the doors to the bridge used to be, he could hear voices coming from the same shaft that he had used to get up to the area in the first place.
"This plan is a huge waste of our time!" A low gravelly, growling voice complained. "If I had known that we would be doing all this climbing, then I would never have come."
R2 came to a stop near a dead trooper. As soon as he heard another voice, he rotated his domed head towards the opening. Moving towards it, he peered inside.
"Shut up Castas!" A much younger voice said. "Aurra and I never asked you to tag along anyways!"
The three bounty hunters were using the walls to help them as they slowly made their way to the top.
Aurra was not happy with the way that Boba and Castas were arguing with each other. "Both of you shut up!" She snapped. "The next person who says another word is going to get a blaster bolt to the brain!"
Not bothering to listen to the rest of the conversation, the blue and white astromech lifted himself up as he placed his third strut on the ground. He knew he had to stop them. Backing away from the shaft, he turned around and let out a low happy beep as he spotted three crates that had somehow made it through the crash undamaged. Quickly rolling over to them, he got behind them with one of his struts and rolled back over to the shaft as he pushed them ahead of him.
Once he lined them up along the edge, he moved back, turned around and pushed the stack forward.
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As the crates, along with some of the loose debris fell down towards them, Castas happened to look up.
"Incoming!" He shouted in his gravelly voice, causing the others to flatten themselves against the sides of the tunnel to avoid getting hurt.
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"What was that?" Anakin asked.
"The ship is falling apart around us," Mace replied.
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"This is no good," Castas said as he moved his right hand down to his chin and rubbed it since he had bumped it against the metal wall that he had been forced to press his body against in a desperate attempt to dodge the falling crates. Then he glanced towards the top of the shaft. "If the three of us can barely survive getting through this one shaft, then Windu must have been killed in that blast."
"Well, I'm not giving up," Boba told him. "Not when I'm this close to getting the proof that I need." He turned around and kept climbing.
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R2 lowered himself to the ground, backed away from the edge of the opening and turned around as he rolled over to the trooper whom he had seen earlier. Letting out a mildly concerned beep, he opened his compartments and carefully tugged at the grenade that every trooper carried on the back of their belt.
As soon as it came off, the blue and white droid backed up and rolled over to the opening. Leaning forward so his claw attachment was over the opening, he let out a small beep before letting go of the small bomb. Then he pulled back and put the claw away.
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The grenade bounced off the walls as it headed towards the trio of bounty hunters.
Castas, who heard the noise and was wondering what it was, looked up and saw the round, white object as it fell towards them. "Look out!" He cried, causing the others to look up as well.
As soon as the timer reached zero, the grenade exploded in a wave of heat and fire, the sound echoing all around the small shaft. All three bounty hunters were forced to let go of whatever they had been holding onto at that moment as gravity grabbed onto them and pulled them down to the bottom.
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The entire ship shook.
"We're running out of time." Mace said as he glanced over at Anakin.
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Castas was the first one to reach the bottom of the ruined shaft. Quickly getting on his hands and knees, he crawled out of the opening, nearly choking on all the dust that had come with him. Aurra and Boba emerged from the dust cloud behind him.
"That's it! I'm out of here!" The male Klatooinian cried out as he angrily stomped away, heading back towards the entrance where they left the speeder bikes that they had used to get to the wreckage. Although Castas was only in it for the money, even he knew when it was time to give up. "No one could survive this place!"
"A Jedi could!" Boba yelled in what sounded like desperation at the male's rapidly retreating form.
Aurra shook her head and let out a sigh. "I hate to agree with Castas, but he's right," she responded. "There is a much better way to do this."
"But Aurra..." Boba said, nearly pleading for her to listen to him. He couldn't help but grow frustrated as Aurra walked right past him, not even bothering to stop, turn around and hear him out. Fixing her with a small glare, he took a deep breath and then ran after her.
The female bounty hunter held her hand up to her right ear, switching on her comlink as she moved through the wrecked hanger. The antenna that she had implanted into her body a few years back rose up from her head. Once she had a clear signal, she contacted the other member of their team.
"Bossk, I want you to fire up Slave 1," she told him. "When we get back to the ship, we're going to use it to blast the remains of this ship to smithereens!"
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Once all three of the bounty hunters were back on their speeder bikes, they took off and headed back to the location of their parked ship.
R2 emerged from the longer route that he had taken just in time to see the trio depart. He let out a few warbling beeps, then took off for the fighters. He still had a job to do.
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Anakin moved around, trying desperately to break free from the large pile of debris that was keeping both him and Mace pinned to the ground. When he realized that he was going nowhere, he threw his head back in frustration. "Ugh!" He said. "I hate being trapped like this!"
Mace calmly glanced over at him. "Calm down, Skywalker," he replied. "The only thing that can do at this point is wait here and trust in your astromech. Hopefully, he'll come through and get us some help."
Anakin turned his head away so he was staring at the ceiling. He wasn't worried as he knew that R2 would pull through.
He just knew it.
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After leaving the Endurance, R2 made his way over to the spot were Anakin and Mace had parked their fighters. It was a good thing that the bounty hunters hadn't seen them when they left. As the small droid made his way over to Anakin's gold and grey fighter, he thought he heard something moving behind him. Quickly turning around, R2 came to a stop as he turned his domed head left and right. After picking up nothing on his scanners, he beeped, turned back around and continued on his way.
All of a sudden, a loud, inhumane screech was heard from behind the astromech.
R2 had just climbed on top of the craft and was heading towards his socket when the lone remaining Gundark from earlier suddenly landed on the back of the gold fighter, tipping it upwards. The mere sight of the large beast scared the poor droid, who let out a fearful screech and tried to back up as he felt what little grip that he had starting to slip away.
As the beast started to climb on top of the fighter, it reached out and took a swipe at the blue and white astromech.
R2 managed to avoid the wild swing, but all that did was send the Gundark into a deeper rage. The large creature grabbed hold of the canopy that covered the pilot seat of Anakin's fighter and tore it off. Then it threw the cover at the droid, who managed to activate his rocket boosters in time to hover out of the way as the protective shield bounced off the front of the fighter and landed on the ground.
Once the creature saw that its prey was trying to get away, it lunged forward, catching R2 with its claws as it landed on the ground.
After a small, but vicious fight, the determined droid turned around, opened up a small panel on his back, and shot a cable with a suction cup on the end right at the creature. It latched onto the Gundark's forehead.
Surprised by the action, the Gundark dropped R2 onto the ground. As it began to wrestle with the cable, the blue and white astromech used that opportunity to roll behind the creature and head towards the fighter. Quickly reaching the craft, the droid activated its rocket boosters and hovered in the air as he shot the other end onto the fighter.
R2 heard another screech come from the beast and rotated his domed head to see what was going on. Then he let out a two-toned beep, opened up his compartments and leaned over, pressing the power button.
The Gundark got on all fours as it charged towards R2, who had just flown out of the way and landed back on the ground. The animal was so determined to catch its prey that it paid no attention to the fighter that flew past or the cable that was between them. The cable tightened as soon as the fighter got far enough and the Gundark let out a strangled yelp as it was suddenly yanked off of its feet.
With no one at the controls, Anakin's fighter flew into a corkscrew spin as it hurtled towards the wreckage of the Endurance, the Gundark squealing as it was flying in the air behind it.
Then there was a flash of orange and an echoing boom.
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All three of the bounty hunters had just gotten off of their speeder bikes and looked up when they heard the noise.
After glancing around, Aurra raised her right hand and hit her com, contacting Bossk as she asked, "What was that noise?"
"The scanners aboard Slave 1 picked up an explosion," the Trandoshan responded. He was currently standing near the back of the cockpit, looking at a scanner. "Near where the Jedi landed."
Boba, who had been watching Aurra speak into the communicator that was attached to her ear, saw her expression change and knew that the Jedi who he'd been after must have survived. "Windu!" He nearly exclaimed.
"Bossk, I want you to jam any communications off of this planet," Aurra told him. Then she took her hand away from her ear, telling Boba and Castas to hurry up and get the bikes on board.
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Knowing that he had no other choice, R2 rolled over to Mace's fighter and used his rocket boosters to help him get into the socket. As soon as he was all settled, he opened up two panels in his dome. Out came a periscope as well as his life-form scanner. Both of the small devices began to spin around as the small droid rotated his domed head back and forth. He was searching for a clear signal with help from the green and brown fighter.
When he found the signal, it had been nice and clear. Then a few seconds later, the signal went fuzzy and was soon lost.
R2 beeped and knew he had to head off planet in order to get beyond the signal jammer's range. He powered up the fighter and took off, hoping that his Master and Master Windu would be able to hold on for a little longer until he returned.
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As soon as everyone was aboard and in their seats, Slave 1 rose up from the ground and took off. While Bossk was busy piloting the larger ship, he, along with everyone else, came upon a smaller craft that was trying to head for the atmosphere.
Castas, who somehow was able to recognize the ship, got out of his seat and stepped forward, placing his right hand on the back of the pilots seat. "That fighter!" He said, pointing to it with his other hand. "It's markings match Windu's!"
"I knew it!" Boba said, narrowing his eyes as he shot Castas a side glare. "I told you that Windu wasn't dead and you chose not to believe me!"
Aurra leaned forward and placed a hand on the Trandoshan's shoulder. "Bossk, go after him!" She commanded, lifting her hand and pointing at the starfighter. "We can't let him get away."
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Things were not looking good for R2 and he knew it. As he began to dodge the shots that were flying towards him from Slave 1, he ended up changing direction, heading straight towards the remains of the Endurance. The shots from the bounty hunters' ship flew everywhere, missing the fighter and instead slamming into the remains of the heavily damaged cruiser. As he threw the elder Jedi's fighter into a corkscrew spin, he knew that he needed to get clear before the rest of the ship was destroyed.
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"Well, that doesn't sound good," Anakin said to Mace as they felt the wreck beginning to shake all around them. Then the sounds of something flying through the air and muffled laser blasts reached their ears. The Knight happened to glance towards the gap above him. A small black shape darted through the air, followed by another ship that he didn't recognize. "R2?"
Mace looked up at the sky, then tilted his head as he shifted his gaze over to Anakin. "I thought your astromech was supposed to call for help, not take one of our fighters and leave us here," he said.
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R2 pushed the fighter to its limits as he left the planet far behind and rocketed through the atmosphere into space.
The bounty hunters never letting up as shot after shot raced past him.
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Anakin narrowed his eyes, knowing that his smart, little companion would find a way to save them. "Come on little buddy," he said, mostly to himself. "Mace and I are depending on you."
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R2 kept the ship flying straight, occasionally dodging the lasers as Slave 1 kept firing at him. Then the astromech switched on the ship's communication system once he had put quite a bit of distance between them. A small dish popped out of a panel near the astromech socket and began to rotate, trying to establish a clear signal so that R2 could send out his message.
The signal was still fuzzy and distorted.
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Aurra looked out of the viewport, then glanced at Boba, who was sitting in his seat. He had both of his hands on the control for the rotating blaster cannons and every few minutes, would jerk the stick from side to side as he pressed the red button in the middle.
The boy let go of the button and shifted his eyes away from the screen that was in front of him as he said, "Hold the ship steady, Bossk. I think I can get a clear shot."
Then he pressed the button again.
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Suddenly, the rotating blaster cannons let loose another round of laser fire that streaked across the blackness of space towards Windu's fighter.
R2 let out a surprised whistle and then a disappointed beep as one of the lasers managed to take out the long range transmitter, leaving a scorched mark behind. No satellite dish meant no communications.
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Bossk took his hands off the controls and turned around to look at Boba.
"Nice shot kid!" He said. "You managed to knock out his communication system."
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Then R2 saw the hyperdrive rings that his Master and Windu had left floating out of the way of the planet's gravitational pull and knew that if he could just get to one of them in time, then he would have a shot at saving the Jedi. The small droid had the fighter remotely power up both of them.
Two small lights on the back of the rings lit up white as they beeped and turned around.
Knowing that the bounty hunters were far away and wouldn't be able to target both of the rings at the same time, the blue and white astromech quickly devised a backup plan in case one got destroyed as he headed towards them.
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Suddenly, two hyperdrive rings appeared on the screen that Castas was looking at. "I have two hyperdrive rings on my screen," he said. "They're powering up at mark 3-5."
"We need to destroy those rings," Aurra said. "He'll be trapped here with no way of escaping."
"Which ring should I take out first?" Boba asked, knowing that he wasn't skilled enough to take out both at the same time, despite doing something similar to this back on the Endurance during the cadet's target practice.
Aurra knelt next to Boba's seat and said, "Destroy them both!"
"We aren't in range," Bossk said. "Sorry kid. You're only getting one shot at this."
Boba narrowed his eyes and got ready to fire the repeating blaster cannons.
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R2 continued on his set path towards the rings and twisted the fighter into a corkscrew spin, looking as if he intended to dock with Anakin's gold and yellow one.
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Boba's eyes narrowed even further as he said, "You're mine now, Windu!"
Then he pressed the trigger button.
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Slave 1 fired its lasers.
R2 smoothly maneuvered into another corkscrew spin, dodging the barrage of red laser fire as it raced past him and slammed into his Master's ring. Although the droid was sad to see the ring go, he knew it was for the greater good as he came out of the spin, docked with Mace's ring and let the clamps attach themselves to the fighter while he prepped the coordinates for his little trip.
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Boba's eyes widened.
"NO!" He screamed as he kept firing, trying to hit the fighter.
The first shot that was fired missed the brown and white craft as it zipped off into hyperspace. Three more red lasers followed, but hit nothing as they kept going.
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The young boy let go of the trigger as he flung himself back into his seat, causing Aurra to remove her hand that was resting on the back of it. He couldn't believe he had missed.
Castas turned around. "Well, that could have gone better!" He said as he shook his fists. "If we had actually managed to capture Windu, we could have made a fortune selling him to the Separatists. But now that opportunity is gone, thanks to you kid."
Boba sharply inhaled and scowled as he glared at the Klatooinian from the corner of his eye.
"What's our next move?" Bossk asked from the pilot's seat.
"I suggest that we run and hide since this mission has gone up in smoke," Castas advised. "Since Windu knows that we're onto him, he'll be back here with an entire fleet. He's going to hunt us down into the ground."
"I wouldn't count on that, Castas," Aurra said, turning towards him. "The Jedi don't carry grudges as it goes against their rules." She briefly thought about her time in the Order as she turned around and headed for the door at the back. Then she brushed off the memories as she opened it. "But I have ways of motivating him." Three sets of brown eyes glared back at her. "I happen to know that the Jedi will never be able to resist coming to rescue their own men. We can use these clones to make Windu come to us. Next time, it will be on our terms." Then she turned around, ignoring the bound and gagged men who sat on the floor behind her. "Now get us out of here Bossk. I want to regroup before we proceed with the next part of our plan."
Knowing that Aurra wasn't looking at him, Boba spared a quick glance at the hostages before shifting his gaze towards the viewport as they went into hyperspace.
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After arriving outside of Coruscant's orbit and dropping off Mace's hyperspace ring, R2 took off for the Jedi Temple. As soon as he landed and freed himself from Mace's fighter, he raced through the halls, beeping and whistling frantically as he bumped into two other droids and pushed them out of the way.
Beeping at them in apology, he continued on his way, hoping to find either Rosella or Ahsoka. He knew they would listen to him.
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Technically Rosella wasn't supposed to be at such a high level strategy meeting, but Qui-Gon had brought her along. The teenager had originally been staying with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka in their apartment, but since they were currently on a mission, he had opted to look after her until Anakin returned to the Temple.
I know my father's still alive. She thought to herself as she stood next to Qui-Gon. Although she was still a little shaky after feeling the faint rush of burning pain that had come from her father earlier that afternoon, she knew he wasn't dead because the other two members of her family were still okay.
Because she was still okay. She could still feel his life flickering in the Force. He was fine. She got the vague sense that he was injured, but since she didn't know where he was, she wasn't sure if it was true or not.
Brushing her feelings about her father aside, she paid attention to Master Plo, who was in the middle of talking about sending reinforcements to the fleet that was already stationed along the Hydian Way. Then he was abruptly cut off as R2 came crashing down the stairs.
Rosella raised one of her eyebrows. "R2?" She asked, rushing past Qui-Gon and Plo as she headed over to the droid. Using all of her strength, she lifted the droid back up.
R2 beeped a thank you in response to his little mistress' actions and quickly rolled over to the access port, slamming into Plo's brown and white droid who was currently using it to project a star map into the air above the holotable. The planets disappeared from view as the holo faded away and everyone who was in the room, including Plo and Qui-Gon, turned to stare at the two droids.
Both astromechs were fighting over who got to use the port.
Rosella saw what was going on and smoothly slipped in-between the two droids. "Stop fighting, you two," she said, pushing them apart. Turning around, she took a step forward and knelt before R2 who was frantically warbling in a low tone. "R2, what's wrong?"
The blue and white astromech beeped frantically in reply.
"Rosella, do you know this droid?" Plo asked.
"This is Anakin's droid, R2-D2," Rosella responded as she glanced up at him. Then she soothingly rubbed the top of R2's domed head.
"Well then," Plo said as he knelt down and placed one of his clawed hands on R2's left strut. "R2, go ahead and deliver the message that you have for us."
R2 beeped in response, rolled over to the data port and plugged in his scomp-link.
As Master Plo and Rosella stood up, a holo-recording appeared. The teenager walked up to the holotable and nearly gasped as she stared at the flickering image of her Master and adopted father, who was trapped under a large pile of debris.
He was in so much pain and she was too far away to help.
"Listen to me very carefully R2. I need you to get back to our fighters and call the Temple," the Knight said before closing his eyes as he let out another small round of coughs. "Tell them that Mace and I need help. Have you got all that?"
Plo didn't even stop to think. "Have my ship prepared for departure," he said, causing the young girl to look up at him. "Padawan Ngaire and I will be leaving immediately."
Both Jedi, along with R2, left the room.
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Neither Anakin nor Mace knew how much time had passed since R2 had left them behind. Both Jedi were still trapped beneath all the debris, listening to the distant explosions that were happening all over the ship.
Mace wiggled his left arm free, reached out, and used the Force to pull what remained of Jango's helmet over to him. When the helmet was in his hands, he held it up and looked at it. Half of it was gone. The half that remained was dented, burned and cracked. The remaining half of the visor had a shattered look to it and the antenna was all bent and out of shape.
Anakin glanced at Mace, then shifted his eyes over to the helmet as he asked, "Who used to own that helmet?"
"It belonged to a bounty hunter that I killed on Geonosis during the giant arena battle," Mace responded. "His name was Jango Fett."
"Jango Fett…" Anakin trailed off as he moved around a little, trying to ease the heavy pressure that was caused by the large pile of debris on top of them both. "Wasn't he the guy who was chosen to become the clone template?"
Mace glanced towards Anakin and nodded. "Yes, he was," he replied. "Strangely enough, he had a son or at least a clone he regarded as a son. The boy's name happens to be Boba Fett."
"I remember now," Anakin said as his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Obi-Wan listed him in his report on Kamino."
"Boba was on Geonosis when his father died," Mace told him, unable to stop the guilt that leaked out from behind his mental shields. "My guess is that Jango told him to hide so he wouldn't be found when we stormed the arena to rescue Obi-Wan. I didn't want to kill the man but considering where we were at the time and what we were occupied with, I didn't have any other way of peacefully resolving the situation." Then he sighed. "Boba watched as I killed him."
Anakin's eyes went wide in shock and then he let out a sad sigh. "That's one way to complicate things," he said.
"Indeed," Mace said as he looked away from the helmet.
Suddenly a massive explosion raced through one of the corridors as it emerged onto the port bridge, causing even more damage than the initial explosion that had gotten them into their current situation. Both Jedi began to cough as they choked on the excessive amount of smoke and dust.
Mace turned towards Anakin. "That droid of yours has been gone too long," he said. "He must have failed to deliver your message."
"R2 will come through," Anakin said. Then he coughed and took another breath of air.
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Once Plo's Venator arrived in Vanqor's orbit, three gunships took off and headed towards the downed destroyer. The occupants who were in the lead gunship could still see the multiple fires that were all over the ground and the miniature explosions that still shook the cruiser. As the transports got closer to the bridge, everyone could see that it was about to collapse.
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Anakin and Mace coughed and then looked ahead of them as they saw a gunship appear.
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As the transport hovered in front of the large gap in the blown-out viewport, the dust that had settled on the floor from the earlier explosions was kicked up into the air and blown out of the way by the engines. Then it turned sideways to reveal that its doors were open. Standing there were Rosella, Plo, a few members of the Wolfpack and R2.
Rosella was the first one to see them. "I've spotted them, Master Plo!" She said, raising her voice so she could be heard over the sound of the engines. "They're trapped on the bridge!"
R2 whistled frantically behind them.
"Rosella, you and I must hold the ship steady while some of the men go get Mace and Anakin," Plo told her as he held up his hands, summoning the Force.
Rosella closed her eyes and pushed away her feelings of nervousness since this was her first time ever attempting something like this with another Jedi Master. Then she took a deep breath, focused her thoughts on holding the bridge steady and held up her hands, calling on the Force as she let it flow through her.
A few members of the Wolfpack shot their ascension grapples from their DC-15A blaster rifles and four thunks were heard as the cables attached themselves to various places on the rapidly destabilizing bridge. The clones then detached the chamber that held the cable from the undersides of their rifles and secured them to the floor of the gunship.
Wolffe glanced to his right and watched as his brother placed the blaster rifle that he was holding on the floor beside R2. "Comet! Let's go!" He said, waving his hand towards the wreckage.
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Both troopers ran forward, leaping from the gunship and landing aboard the bridge. Then they stood up and quickly maneuvered through the debris.
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"Hurry, Commander Wolffe," Plo urged the trooper.
Rosella gritted her teeth in determination as she kept the bridge steady. Then she heard the cries from Wolffe and Comet that they had freed them both and were headed back to the transport.
"We're losing our hold on the ship, sir," one of the pilots said over the com as the gunship swerved a little in the buffeting winds.
The teenager's eyes flew open and she watched as Wolffe and Comet made their way towards the edge of the viewport with Anakin and Mace. Then she nearly gasped as another explosion tore through the back of the bridge and destabilized it even further, causing the gunship to drop a little. A few moments later, she sighed in relief as four pairs of feet thudded onto the ship.
As soon as Plo saw that the small group was safe, he turned to Rosella and told her to cut the cables.
The teenager took her lightsaber off her belt and darted around a trooper who was helping to steady Wolffe and Master Windu. When she reached the cables that held them to the bridge, she quickly ignited the blade and sliced through them before going to the other side and doing the same thing.
Plo turned around. "Go!" He exclaimed.
The pilot wasted no time as soon as they were free. He quickly closed the doors and blasted away from the Endurance. There was one final explosion and Rosella didn't bother turning around to watch as the bridge where Anakin and Mace had been trapped broke free from the rest of the ship. As it fell towards the remains of the Endurance, she heard the engines of the other two gunships as they caught up with the one that they were on.
All three transports flew away as the flaming bridge plummeted to the ground and burst into a fireball, which sent the entire front half of the ship into a massive series of explosions.
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Once the gunships landed a safe distance away from the wrecked cruiser and the doors opened, Mace and Anakin, along with the clones who were assisting them, were taken to another gunship to get checked out. After the medic had assessed them both, he had the clones help them lay down on two medical stretchers while he left to go speak to Plo and Rosella who were waiting with Wolffe.
After speaking with the medic, Plo and Rosella, along with R2, made their way over to the clones who were moving the wounded Jedi to a waiting gunship that was going to take them back to the waiting Venator for further treatment until they got back to the Temple.
Rosella watched as her father slowly sat up and smiled. She was glad that he hadn't gotten any other injuries while he had been stuck underneath all that debris. "It looks like you've sustained some pretty serious burns and a few bruised bones," she said. "When we get back, I'm pretty sure you'll be placed in a bacta tank for only one night." Forgetting how hurt he was, she thumped his leg with her fist.
Anakin inhaled sharply at the slight amount of pain that shot up his leg, closing his eyes as he nearly fell back onto the stretcher. As the pain subsided, he grunted in pain as he turned to face her, a small glare on his face.
The teenager knew that his glare didn't hold any real heat to it, but she still felt bad for causing him pain. "Whoops…sorry," she apologized.
"Both of you are lucky that we happened to arrive in the nick of time," Plo said.
"Well, I guess we can thank R2 for that," Rosella replied as she gestured to R2, who was standing beside her. "If he hadn't returned to the Temple when he did, we wouldn't have known that you were in trouble."
Mace turned his head and looked down at R2. "Come here, droid," he said.
R2 rolled over to the Jedi Master.
"Now I can see why your master was able to put so much trust and faith in you little one," Mace said as he lifted his head so he could look down at the droid. Maybe there was more to them than just being helpful tools. "You did a good job today."
R2 happily rocked back and forth on his struts. He swivelled his domed head back and forth as he let out a bunch of excited sounding beeps and whistles. He let out another whistle and beep as he turned around and returned to Rosella and Anakin.
"That's definitely more praise than I ever get," Anakin said, a small bit of humor in his voice.
Mace shook his head and quietly mumbled something that the others couldn't hear under his breath.
As the troopers moved towards the gunship, Anakin laid back down on his stretcher. R2, who knew that his Master would be alright, let out a loud whistle as Plo and Rosella watched.
AN: The reason why I chose to make Aurra Force-sensitive is because according to her Wookiepedia page, (I went with her Canon page, not Legends) it says that she used to be a part of the Jedi Order before becoming a bounty hunter.
I thought that small piece of information was helpful in giving her character a little more of a backstory and also explaining how she knew about the Jedi not holding grudges.
Don't forget to leave me a review or any constructive criticism if you have any. No flames, please.