Chapter 4 The Station
In The Orbit
Double D once the droids had returned, had started his work on finding where the CIS fleet that attacked the supply lines had their base. By all accounts he was having some difficulties tracking where a whole fleet could be despite the sector not been this big by galactic standards; he was trying his best in the communication center to pinpoint a possible accurate location helped by his droids.
"Oh my, why do we get into such situations? And to only think that we didn't wanted a galactic war on our planet by reprogramming and repurposing you and now we had to take to appease the opposite side." Double D contemplated while trying to pinpoint everything.
"It's not like that anyone would have wanted this now captain." Said one of the droids who was checking the galactic map which now contained the location of Earth and Orion Arm.
"I believe that this was expected anyways, since a galaxy or better said half a galaxy is at war." He said while taking another look at the map trying to pinpoint possible location for a space station before a thought came to mind.
"Say, you said that your fleet had the task of tracking the attention of the Republic fleet so you inflict damage on their supply lines isn't it?"
"Roger Roger."
"Do you know, where that fleet was supposed to come from to attack the supply lines?"
"Ooo now that you asked sir. I believe I do remember." Started going through the map to a point that was at the border of that sector. "I believe that this is the place where the fleet usually stops to resupply." He said showing him to Double D who felt a bit odd and unease.
"Wait but this place seems to be an asteroid belt." Double D commented.
"It is and it is mostly a hiding place used by smugglers and bounty hunters. And thinking about this, this is the place that is used to do the raids I don't know of course what the complement of ships in that vicinity is however. It was kept secret from fleets that organized other raids like the one this ship was in."
"We will have to look in the ship's log and memory to see it, before going there." Double D said before Eddy entered.
"Hey Double D any luck in pinpointing a location to get over with this job?"
"Well luck would have it I think I do, the thing is however that it might be possible that it is in an asteroid belt."
"An asteroid belt? Great, that means several bashings and bumps in the asteroids."
"Well it is a possible location but I have to check the ship's logs as well as going there."
"Well at least we have a start, so let's now investigate and figure out how to get the jedi to deal with it." Eddy said wanting to leave before another droid painted like Double D came in the room.
"Ahh sirs we might have an issue." He reported.
"What kind of issue?"
"We caught a stowaway but didn't place him in the brig yet, he is also a kid." He reported tracking Double D's attention.
"Ooh my, wonder which one of the neighborhood kids managed to get here." Double D said going out of the communication center. "Where is it?"
"He is coming right now." Reported the droid and Double D and Eddy turned to the 3 super battle droids that came in the one in the center holding up the stowaway who was also embracing his wooded friend.
"Johnny?!" The 2 asked stunned.
"What are you doing here?" Eddy asked.
"What are you guys doing here?" She asked before listening to his plank.
"Plank wants to know why you are not apprehended like we are at this moment. And why do they call you captains?"
"It's a long story but for starters we are at this moment trying to prevent a galactic scale war from coming to our system and our planet." Eddy started confusing the boy.
"Maybe we should start from the beginning." Double D said before starting to explain what had happened and how they came to be in relative command of the frigate they were now in.
"So you say that while we were sick and after your mowing robot was damaged some of them." Johnny started pointing to the average droids. "Came to the cul-de-sac and when you heard that they might try to land decided to intervene to prevent this by reprogramming the first group before getting here and deactivating the rest of the ship and then reprogram as many of them as possible?"
"Exactly, but the things weren't that simple since one of their commanders might have wanted to track the ship. Luckily that commander we found out that got this one replaced and is now wrecking havoc to the galactic north according to the maps of the ship." Double D explained.
"Already occupied several systems, not thanks to her however, but they felt, most of them liberated from 'oppressors'." Eddy intervened.
"But before that we found out about that we had to 'return it' and so we had to somehow get to a fleet to rejoin operations. Only to find ourselves in a battle whom we had to flee and now their opponents the Galactic Republic and the Jedi employed us for a task. To track a fleet in a sector of space that attacks their supply lines so they could destroy it." Double D explained and to Johnny he seemed very startled by everything they had explained.
"You guys really are in a hot spot and not even Kevin would have thought of something like this for sure."
"And yet how on Earth comes that you are here anyways?" Eddy asked.
"Well once the flu epidemic was over everyone went outside and everyone kind of noticed that you were nowhere to be found. And between us Kevin did started to get extremely nervous about where you guys might be. Like the time with Chimp World."
"Still can't believe you found it while we were unprepared to open it, looking for Ed's mask." Double D said remembering the failed scam they wanted to make because it was misplaced only to find out it was in a cooler, after having to save the kids from the mess they had made. Good thing that they stopped Kevin before he went out of his mind.
"And you say that you all started to look for us?" Eddy asked.
"Yeah and to be honest things really do start to be like that event."
"Well too bad we have other problems to attend to right now, with saving our world and doing our best to keep this hunk of a ship." Eddy commented.
"Even Plank agrees that we should keep it. So what should we do in this case?" Johnny asked.
"We?" The two Eds asked.
"Me and Plank are already here and we don't leave. And we share the same world guys. Besides I believe that the Jedi would want this to be done very quickly, so trying to get us back would take too much time already." Johnny said.
"Sirs we can still try to get him back if you want." One of the droids said.
"No, no use and besides maybe we can give them a task." Double D said.
"Double D you can't be serious, we barely can keep Ed from messing around the place." Eddy protested.
"You wish we are not leaving this easy." Johnny said.
"Despite agreeing with you even I have to agree that maybe Johnny does have a point here, there is no reason to lose time." Double D said before Eddy groaned.
"Fine, you and Plank will go to the hall and do inventory for now. Who knows, maybe we will have to use something from there to either bust our way out, make a distraction or anything." Eddy said which made the bald boy get excited, despite been inventory he and his friend will be on a space ship.
"Yay, galactic adventure Plank." Johnny said with excitement before starting to run in one direction of a hall before going in another before returning.
"A question, where is the hall?" He asked before Double D turned to the droids.
"You 3 keep an eye on him; make sure he doesn't approach explosive stuff." Double D said.
"Roger, Roger." They said before Eddy turned to other 2 one painted in yellow like his shirt, while the other painted like Double D.
"And you 2 different tasks." He started turning to the one painted like his shirt "You will take care communication between the hall and the bridge keep us inform of everything that is happening and check the manifest." He ordered before turning to the other. "You whatever Johnny orders Plank to do, you do."
"Roger Roger." They said, before the group of droids marched to accomplish their orders before the Eds went back to the bridge where Ed was drawing on droids under their command.
"Guys, we are going to check a possible location." Eddy said placing his captain's hat before sitting on the command chair.
"Which place should it be sir?" Asked one of the droids at a control panel before Double D started to check the data.
"Officially I had managed to pinpoint the possible location for the CIS station that needs to be taken down." Double D started before showing a map with all the names and definitions now translated into English.
"Ohh yeah I remember, there is a space in the asteroid belt of Dolla system theoretically it is a supply station." Said one of them.
"It's not only a supply station, it is in an asteroid belt a small military station, build by the CIS recently and according to the information, it's main purpose is to coordinate raids on the shipping lanes. However the information that I am getting isn't quite a lot." Double D said.
"Let me guess that means we have to get there and see how that station is?" Eddy asked.
"Seems so."
"Oooh great, and to think that we were supposed to stay inconspicuous."
"We can still remain actually, from what it seems there are some patrols coming here and there. We can say that we had been part of a patrol and had to stop for resupply for a special mission." Double D said.
"You think that will do?" Eddy asked skeptical.
"It will especially if you commander will do as I tell." Double D said with confidence to the OOM commander.
"No problem captain Eddward, just say the word."
"Well in this case plug the course to Dolla system." Eddy ordered and the droids started to plug in the coordinates for it before Eddy remembered something, by and large he wasn't keen on another long tedious travel.
"How much time will it take by the way?"
"10 minutes and 15 seconds, captain Eddy, as an estimate." Said one of the droid pilots at the console.
"Huh a slight change I would say." Eddy said while they entered the void.
"Another adventure awaits guys." Ed said with excitement.
"Say commander for now we got a compliment I would say nearly an army of deactivated battle droids of all types and variants including super-battle droids and droidekas whom still need reprogramming can I ask which other battle droids we might not have." Eddy said.
"We do not have the BX-series commando droid sir neither the MagnaGuards." Said the commander.
"I see, make sure then we get some commandoes if there are, but deactivated, not active only deactivated."
"Got it sir only deactivated understood."
"Oh and we might need to do something." Eddy said remembering about the small stowaway.
The Hall
Johnny impressively after getting on the ship was checking all the inventory that was around, of course knowing that the ship was meant for war he expected to find lots of stuff for military purpose like guns, detonators, rockets, grenades, mines and so on. Which by all accounts, he was not a fan off the different stuff that was however the case was the samples Double D had collected in a crate when they were on the forest moon of Endor which was more for his taste. Of course 3 droids that were painted in the color of Double D's shirt took it to his own makeshift lab in another room of the ship in the area of the living quarters that was fitted for an organic crew.
"Ugh isn't there other stuff that could be found around, not just the ones make for battle and war."
"Well, truth be told, our new captains wanted us to make other jobs from now on. It was captain Double D's idea of starting to collect plants and insects."
"You know, me and Plank want to join in this endeavor as well after we deal with this situation."
"Wait for what they have to say." Said the droid near the communicator, after receiving new instructions. "By the way, if we find where that station is and we go to check it. And we will need to receive addition asserts for later. Meaning you must make yourself invisible." He commented turning to Johnny.
"Wouldn't be a problem with that." Johnny said before a message came in from the communicator in the hall, and the droid responsible pick up.
"Yes captains."
"We are in hyperspace towards the possible location of that station; prepare a spot for possible new equipment if we take some before the Jedi would arrive." Eddy said.
"Roger Roger sir."
"And by the way make an inventory of what we got, who knows if we might have to use something from it."
"Understood that." He said closing the communicator.
"We are outside the Sol System already? This will really be an experience." Johnny said with excitement.
"Don't be too excited Mr. Stowaway, we can't do anything until we finish the job the Jedi ordered the captains to do." Said one of the droids.
At the bridge
"So anyone has an idea on how could we deal with that station?" Eddy started eating some potatoes chips(he didn't actually managed to finish the first bag that he opened).
"Well according to the data that we got the station could accommodate frigates like our own alongside other ships. And also the fact that it is concealed in an asteroid field would make it very hard for an attacker to get to it easily." Double D said after reading the information from the ship's memory log.
"So this could mean we find the station but still could try to confiscate our ship in order to probably get in and either take it over or destroy it."
"Sir, the station itself is small in comparison to some others that are concealed in asteroid fields deep in the CIS space." Said the droid commander.
"Well if it is smaller maybe it could be taken out quickly by them."
"It is still advisable to take a look in order to decide how things could go; we can't just jump to conclusions. We will need to see it first before making any other move." Double D said with concern.
"I wouldn't actually try to move in an asteroid field."
"Well if we play our cards right we wouldn't risk been trapped." Double D exclaimed, even he wasn't too keen on that.
"Asteroids and target ahead!" Ed called to his friends to see what they hope wasn't this bad. They had literally arrived before a place littered with rock of all size everywhere some bigger or smaller than their ship the thing that they could notice was the small station behind an opening that was also behind several smaller asteroids. The station itself wasn't too big, but it was enough to have 2 hangars and several docking bays for several small ships and at least 2 frigates.
"Cheese and Macaroni this is now a hazard."
"Ahh captain Eddy sir, there are other stations that are in even greater fortified locations then his one, some of them are constructed right at this moment even before you become our commanders." Explained the OOM commander droid.
"Well even if this is the least problematic I wouldn't risk our necks into such endeavors." Eddy commented.
"Problem is we can't do anything at this moment since we have a job to do, although I am not fond of taking part into a war."
"War bad for Ed." The stronger Ed commented with a worried face.
"Well even with that, keep a long distance from that we will contact Master Skywalker to tell him where to find the target they are searching for." Double D said going to the console to communicate with the Jedi before the B1 commander stopped him.
"I would advise against this at the moment sir. We are too close to it, and also they have long rage radar to listen to communications transmitted via hologram, they could figure it out very soon." He explained.
"Not to mention the fact that there is a flotilla up ahead." Said one of the pilot droids.
"A flotilla?" Eddy said while he and the others went to the window to watch several small ships at least 10 of different sizes accompanied by a Munificent.
"Where are they going?" Double D asked.
"They are on an intercept course against another Republic convoy, the convoy is meant for a planet that is officially a republic stronghold. According to data the people are anti-confederacy." Said another droid while Double D was thinking about how to solve this.
"Hmm, commander you said that the radar is listening to mainly communication transmitted via hologram and literally verbal communications?"
"Roger Roger."
"We shall then send a short written message in galactic basic to them. Maybe they will figure out. In how much time would they reach the target they want to attack?"
"5 or 10 minutes probably."
"We must be quick then and we need to hide ourselves for now." Double D said while Eddy looked around for a hiding spot and saw a giant boulder some miles there.
"Try to get us behind that rock."
"Roger Roger." Said the pilot, going towards the rock to stay behind it for the moment.
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well officially we had found our target we only need to communicate with the Republic to warn them by a written message." Double D said.
"How should I compose it sir?" Asked the commander.
"What system do they have as target?"
"Kriselist System sir."
"Alright this shall be the message:"
"CIS attack-Krysalis System
Target official-Dolla System-Asteroids"
"Done." Said the commander droid before sending the message right when the ships had left into hyperspace.
"Whoooh, they disappeared."
"Right on time I would say."
"Hopefully they see the message." Eddy commented eating some chips before some beeping were announcing a new message.
"The station is contacting us sir."
"Commander, over here." Eddy ordered and the droid came to sit on the chair while Eddy and his friends went out of the view.
"Remember the plan and repeat what we say."
"Roger Roger." He said before activating the hologram for the silhouette of a T series tactical droid to come to view.
"You had entered the system I demand to know the reason why you came here?"
"Sir we are here on a special assignment to…"
"Establish a remote outpost." Eddy whispered.
"Establish a remote outpost however we require several commando droids."
"What might be the purpose for the outpost?"
"Well the outpost is supposed to be…" The B1 commander, Eddy was prepare to give him a script."
"An observation outpost for future military operations, to liberate planets from tyranny." Ed said tracking the attention of his friends.
"Ed!" Eddy and Double D started.
"An observation outpost for future military operations, to liberate planets from tyranny." Repeated the B1 commander that caught the attention of the T series droid.
"Hmm, very well, however at the moment we can only give 20 BX-commando droids."
"Ahh it will do sir."
"Are the commando droids meant for better defenses because I don't calculate the need for this many or is for another reason?"
"It was ordered to have a contingent at least and for the moment they must be shut down. The place where the outpost must be has to first be placed under reconnaissance first."
"Hmm, very well, you may dock at docking bay 2." Said the tactical droid before closing the hologram.
"Well this work for the moment." Double D said.
"Let's make sure the ruse continues for as long as we need it and be in and out as soon and as quick as possible." Eddy said.
The Resolute
The usual situation that was when on non combating time for a Republic as well as a CIS ship was usually a dull thing, especially when on simple patrol missions, the thing that was a bit of animation was only the fact that Anakin's master Obi-Wan had come by to see how his former padawan was doing. He didn't doubt his tactical approaches but from what Master Adi Galia had told him before coming to him was a bit off. She told him off what Anakin had done by employing a ship that wouldn't be suspected at all but she didn't told him what commanders that ship was having or the kind, despite that he could notice that she wasn't too keen about this plan that she declared as stupid. Others however were thinking otherwise.
"I can't believe that a bunch of kids did this." Commander Cody said to Rex by all accounts all the clones in this fleet were talking about this.
"Believe me I didn't expect that as well." Rex commented.
"It's amazing that a bunch of kids had managed to put this stunt on the seps."
"You can say that again, although I don't think they thought through when they did it. What they did was surely out of desperation." Ahsoka commented, in some cases she gained some appreciation for them for doing something like this 3 kids that were younger than her.
"But one can't appreciate the effort still."
"Now the main test is if, they manage to do the task they had been asked in order to keep it." Cody said.
"Personally I hope they manage; besides I don't see any use for a ship full of clankers. It will neither be a loose or a gain in both cases. Except for target practice, that is." Rex said while entering the communications deck of the bridge where the 3 masters were consulting the situation.
"I really don't know what to say about this Anakin."
"Between us, master the ones that I hired don't quite have a choice."
"Because you promised to pay them due to the fact that they need money otherwise some crime syndicate will come after them?"
"We could give 2500 credits to them, but that isn't quite the whole thing." Anakin said in a way wishing to see the face his master would have if he sees what they had discovered.
"General." Said a clone responsible for communication came with a tablet.
"It seems our contacts had sent us a message." Anakin took the table to look over it, he was a bit puzzled by how the message was written, of course he knew that they were kids and probably this is a way they would communicate among themselves.
"Do we have a convoy that would pass through the Kriselist System?"
"Yes sir there is a convoy of 100 ships of Tibana Gas from Bespin to Abregado-Rae that will pass through it." Reported the clone which by all accounts was bad news, since from tibana gas they were making the cartages for their weapons, they needed to protect it.
"Admiral, get us on the way immediately." Anakin ordered to Yularan.
"Yes sir."
"I hope your contacts did give good information." Obi-Wan said.
"Trust me they had to." Anakin said while the fleet was preparing for hyperspace while the Jedi knight tapped another message.
"Stay-Put
Come-When-Possible."
With the Eds
"They got the message sir." Said the b1 commander droid, while their ship was approaching the station slowly through the asteroid field.
"Perfect, in how much time will they manage to get here?" Eddy asked taking a handful of potato chips.
"It's probably hard to tell now." Double D said taking the tablet. "It is possible that it could take them some time, and assessing the situation I believe we all know what could happen." Double D said before Eddy looked through the window of the command deck and figure what he meant and he didn't liked it.
"Hmm that means we got to deal with that station, so they wouldn't have to use our ship for the same thing."
"Well sir you already came out with a plan to deal with it."
"That was for us to do a show to give the impression that this ship isn't acting suspicious, not to sabotage a station." Eddy commented sinking in the captain's chair.
"If anyone got a proposal I am up for ideas." Eddy asked and then Ed with his mind full of fantasy figured something out.
"I KNOW! I KNOW! We can try to take some robots into the station to shut down the defenses, and after that we make a run for it after we also plant an explosive to cause a diversion for us to escape."
"Shutting down the defenses and planting an explosive seem very risky now." Double D said with concern.
"It might be the best plan at this moment sir. We could of course try to wait there till the BX-Commando droids have been added so that we could use them in such a task."
"In how much time would the Republic arrive here anyways to deal with the station?" Eddy asked thinking on what to do.
"It's possible that we only got an hour at best." Said the commander.
"Meaning no time for waiting to get a squad of commandoes to be reprogrammed, we will improvise." Eddy said finishing the bag of chips while looking outside and saw a small ship that was docked to the station. The ship wasn't as large as their own it was only 64 meters in length and 32 meters wide with 3 engines that had the emblem on the CIS near what appears to be the bridge.
"Commander, can you tell me what that ship is?" Eddy asked.
"That sir might be a Gozanti-class ship, it is described as a multipurpose ship it could be either a freighter to transport goods or a small cruiser."
"And how much crew it needs?"
"Very small 12 is the full crew." Said the commander before taking the tablet to check the manifest. "According to the manifest it was recently acquired and is supposed to leave for the next mission." He said before an idea came.
"Commander prepares 2 squads of 10 droids each to the docking locks where the cargo that was required comes aboard and like we said make sure the commando droids aren't active. We shall prepare another 10 droids."
"Roger Roger captain Eddy." He said saluting before Double D felt a knot in his stomach not liking where this is going.
"What do you intend to do Eddy?" He asked before the shorted Ed took both him and Ed by their clothes.
"Come boys, we have a job to take care, to the hall."
"Tell me a story Eddy." Ed said while they were carried up and out of the bridge.
Kriselist System
The republic fleet had arrived within a few minutes after receiving the message; the thing was however that when they reached the system for the moment they only saw their convoy fleet.
"Well it seems there are no separatist raiders here for the moment, just our convoy." Admiral Yularan remarked in a way not been too pleased on the inside for the possibility of trusting a bunch of kids.
"If the fleet is still here and there isn't any raider, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't escort it." Anakin said.
"And yet Anakin can I ask who did you employed to find the station that is making problem in this sector." Obi-Wan asked.
"Well for starters they are doing this mostly out of pure chance and because they don't have a choice." Anakin said.
"Meaning?"
"Well they…."
"General Skywalker, ships coming out of hyperspace." Reported a clone ensign noticing something on the screen on his consol and just in that moment, a flotilla of raiders and a frigate came into view.
"They really did manage to do it." Skywalker commented.
"All ships prepare to intercept and protect the convoy, all squads scramble." Admiral Yularan started to order, he however believed this to be of pure luck now in the case of the boys.
"I can't believe that those kids managed to give something right." Commented master Galia tracking Obi-Wan's attention.
"Kids."
"Oh yeah a separatist frigate it seems, ran away from a battle at random coordinates and it went to the homeworld of 3 kids that kind of have the same name. They saw the separatists and when they heard that they might have wanted to come and invade, they decided to stop it by getting inside the ship and order the droids to be shut down and reprogrammed them and then use the ship." Anakin explained and Obi-Wan palmed himself in disbelief.
"And how did you in the whole Galaxy found them?" He asked in exasperation.
"They actually found us, they had jumped at random again and came in the battle I was engaged in by accident, they then started to open fired on nearby separatist ships in order for them to flee." Master Galia said in her cynical tone.
"So that is the reason why I heard the rumor of a rogue separatist frigate supplying on a Republic station?" Obi-Wan asked, not expecting that his former padawan would bring such a surprise.
Back with the Eds in the Hall
"Well we really are prepared for any kind of battle I would say." Johnny said after checking the entire inventory and wasn't too keen on what they got aside from Double D's attempt of biological collections.
"With all intents and purposes we were supposed to be part of a battle group if you want to know, and it is never a good thing." Said the droid near the communicator.
"Can't believe I am saying this but good thing the Eds gave you all a better purpose." Johnny said.
"You can say that again." Said the one with the manifest before the door had opened and in came the Eds which prompted the droids to salute.
"Sirs!"
"At ease boys, we decided that we might have to take things in our hands." Eddy said.
"Into our own?" Johnny asked.
"The position this thing is, is way too risky for the republic and there is the possibility that the one commanding it, also a robot or a droid would try to bring reinforcements. But the Republic could also try to use our own ship to deal with it and it could get destroyed, so we shall improvise." Eddy explained placing his friends down.
"What is the directive?"
"2 squads of droids will stay and make sure droids from this station wouldn't get inside and would only leave what we had asked. Double D will reprogram at least another 8 or 10 droids to get inside and plant an explosive that would disable the defenses of the station as a distraction while we make a run for it." Eddy said.
"Eddy, you believe, it is a wise idea?" Double D asked concerned about this idea.
"It might be our only one Double D."
"Well alright, bring some of the ones that we got and aren't reprogrammed." The smarter Ed said taking his tablet and the droids around complied.
"And to think that not too long ago we were only preparing a Lawn Clearing Robot before we found this frigate and our plan was only to prevent an invasion to save our world from a galactic scale conflict." Double D commented while some deactivated droids were brought to him.
"You guys really got into hot water." Johnny commented before leaning his ear towards Plank.
"What do you say buddy…Plank considers that this adventure is actually one of a lifetime despite everything." Johnny said.
"I really can't believe that he considers this way." Double D said while pressing the tablet to place a new programming while Ed was ready to pain them.
"Well maybe Plank has a better idea on how we could escape this mess with our ship intact! Maybe he can help us by sneaking in the station himself." Eddy commented turning to Johnny who was no more holding his plank.
"Where did it go?" Eddy asked.
"Right there." Ed said in his cheerful manner showing him staying on one of the crates in the hall before falling to press a button to open in.
"Hey who put that wood there, that crate is full of explosives." Said the droid with the inventory while taking Plank out from the crate.
"Explosives?!" Double D exclaimed while Johnny took him from the robot.
"Yes." He said removing the top to show several metallic balls that with a red button on them. "Thermal detonators, if you press a button it will be armed, and once it is thrown it will explode in 5 seconds. They could even be hooked to remote detonator and activated on a signal."
"Oh dear, oh dear I should put labels on all the crates and come up with a system to separate equipment meant for battle to the one that doesn't cause harm." Double D said.
"You will do that sockhead. But for now, we need to use some of those." Eddy said taking one of the detonators while the ship was docking to the station.
At the docking bay
After the ship had attached to the docking bay 2 squad of droids of 8 each and painted one like Double D and the other like Ed had assembled and were prepared to meet their former colleagues to take the new material, while their new commanders were preparing themselves for the mission at hand. Good thing that Double D had somehow fixed them to have a better programming and processing then before, the smarted of the Eds was between the ones that was the most sorry for how they were made.
"Remember the plan boys we need to stall them as much as we can." Said the droid sergeant.
"Roger Roger." Called the squads before the doors had opened for the droids of the station to come in their ship, with some containers with fuel, and the deactivated battle BX-series commando droids that were ordered.
"Those are the supplies required." Said the commander droids that lead the one from the station, while another group was coming carrying 2 crates.
"Perfect, you leave them here and we take them up." Said the sergeant but the OOM commander was taken a bit aback.
"Who put you two in charge?" He asked with confusion.
"The captain put us in charge of the ship with the mission to get everything to the destination without troubles. I am here to making sure of this." Said the sergeant painted in orange like Double D's shirt.
"And the orders are orders. No question." Commented the other sergeant painted green like Ed while the droids of the station were put to load the supplies in the hall. And while the unsuspecting droids were doing the work of loading supplies another group of 10 droids painted with yellow like Eddy's shirt as well as orange like Double D and some now ever white like Johnny was moving inside and away from the docking bay stopping on a nearby corridor.
"We are clear sirs." Said a droid painted in yellow like Eddy's shirt before the crate opened and from it came the Eds before the other crate opened and out came Johnny and Plank.
"Alright, you know the plan, me and Double D with 5 droids will go to one side of the station and plant an explosive while Ed and Johnny go to the other side and do the same. As soon as they are distracted we return to the ship and get out of here." Eddy said.
"Got it." Ed said with enthusiasm while the 2 groups separated.
"This is surely not something I would have wanted to be honest." Double D commented while moving through the corridors as silent as they could, by all accounts the corridor was much different than that of their ship, it was narrower and a bit more dim lit, it wasn't of course different however since even they got a corridor like this one.
"It's the least we could do to keep our ship." Eddy whispered before they stopped along with their droids while a group of 3 droids were passing by them before continuing for some time till they reached an airshaft.
"This one shall do." Eddy said turning to one of the droids. "You open this airshaft."
"Roger Roger." Said the droid moving and kneeling down to grab the grill to the airshaft to remove it while Eddy took out 2 thermal detonator from his pocket and pressed on the button to arm them before throwing both in the shaft, after that, the droid placed back the grill.
"This ought to do it."
"Ahh, sir we should move away from it now." Said an armed droid.
"Why?"
"I don't think one of the detonators was placed to be activated from a remote." He explained shocking to 2 friends.
"Double time, this way, NOW!" Eddy ordered.
"But Eddy that is-"
"Let's go!" Eddy said grabbing him and the droids to move away on the corridor while Eddy pulled out his com-link from his pocket.
With Ed, Johnny and Plank
"This should surely make a good distraction now." Johnny commented while the droids placed a detonator on the wall and another one was rolled in the airshaft.
"Ed is living his dream." Ed commented with excitement before a com-link started to bip it was one of the droids.
"Captain Eddy?" Said one of their droids.
"Get out of there now fireworks start early." Eddy said.
"This isn't good." Said another droid.
"What happened?" Asked Johnny.
"Captain Eddy said that the fireworks would start-"
Boom
An explosion was heard on the corridor it meant bad news for them.
"Sooner than we would have wanted." The droid finished.
The Bridge of the station
"What has happened?!" Asked the T-series tactical droid feeling the commotion.
"There had been an explosion on C deck, near the docking bay, we also lost power on half the deck." Reported a droid ensign.
"What could have been the cause of it?"
"Unknown for the moment sir."
"Send a team of mechanic to investigate." Ordered the droid with thundering voice not liking this at all, whatever caused it they are they will be found out.
The Republic fleet had by all accounts managed to destroy the raiding ships alongside their escorting frigate that attacked, the battle didn't took long but it did managed to destroy at least 5 transports and damaging 8 ships from the convoy, but aside from that everything was well with the exception of 3 raiders that escaped.
"Well this worked pretty well, the most minimal casualties." Ahsoka commented.
"Can't believe that those kids really gave us good intelligence." Rex commented.
"With them controlling a separatist frigate, they would manage this without a doubt." Anakin said.
"Let's hope they managed to also stay hidden." Galia commented turning to the clones "Set course for Dolla system."
"Yes General."
"You know I really wish to meet those kids Anakin." Obi-Wan commented expecting them to be like his former padawan, meaning causing some havoc.
"Don't worry whatever they did we surely wouldn't regret." Anakin commented with a smirk, in a way he would expect something out of ordinary.
Back with Ed and Johnny
"This is not good we have to get back to the ship." Said another droid after listening to the orders coming from the commander of the station.
"Back to the ship of the Space Explorers!" Ed said taking everyone up and started to run on the corridor back to the docking bay.
"This is the last crate, hope it shall do in your task." Said a droid from the station leaving the crate down.
"It shall do it don't worry." Said the droids from the ship before the group of droids from the station started to depart through the corridor.
"When do you think our captains will return?" Asked a droid painted like Double D.
"MAKE WAY FOR ED!" They heard a shout coming from the other side and the droids that were on the station noticed a kid who was carrying another one who was holding a plank alongside other 5 droids.
"Hey what are...yeahh." Ed bumped into the group of droids throwing them to the wall before going through the corridor into the ship meeting the 2 squads.
"Captain Ed sir what are your orders?" Asked one who was painted like him while saluting him before a com-link started to bip from one of Ed's droids that accompanied him.
"Captain Eddy?"
"Did you plant the explosive?"
"Affirmative all of them we are-"
"Dethatch from the station NOW." Eddy ordered and the droids immediately closed the door and started to detach from the station.
"Wait what about Double D and Eddy." Johnny asked with concern.
"Eddy why did you order to dethatch we are now on the station." Double D asked fearful for their lives while running through the corridors of the station.
"Chill our Double D, we take an alternate route." Eddy commented turning to a droid. "Are we near the hangar?"
"Right this way." Said the droid pointing to the right and they followed reaching a double door that had opened for them to be inside a big hanger where you could find 2 Sheathipede shuttles and the Gozanti-class ship docked outside alongside many crates and at least 2 or 3 cranes.
"Sir we could take one of the shuttles and go out of the hangar before the door closes or we can take the Gozanti that is docked." Proposed a droid before an announcement came.
"Attention all units there was an explosion caused on C deck, it is a possibility for Republic sabotage find the culprits, put out the fires and lock the station down." Ordered the droid through the speakers before Eddy came with an idea.
"You 2 take one of the shuttles and distract them, the rest with us, we take the bigger ship." Eddy ordered.
"Roger Roger." All the droids complied and as declared 2 had went to take the shuttle while the rest went to the docked Gozanti. All the group of 3 droids and 2 Eds went with all the speed they could muster managed to reach it before the door was about to close and immediately went the control room. While the second group managed to get to the shuttle and activated it right before a squad of 5 droids came in.
"They commandeered a shuttle! Put them down." Shouted the droid sergeant and all started to fire on it but to no avail as the shuttle managed to slip out to go towards the exit into space.
"Double D, guys."
"Nearly there captain." Said one of the droids activating everything and managing to dethatch the Gozanti and moving it towards their main ship alongside with the shuttle. Eddy immediately took out his com-link to contact the bridge.
"Bridge we are in the Gozanti, prepare to dock us, and open the doors to the hangar on the right side."
"Understood Captain Eddy." Replied the battle droid commander who prepared everything while Ed and Johnny with Plank were in and listening to everything. Outside the hangar to the port side had opened allowing the shuttle to come in while the Gozanti had managed to attach itself to the ship without any troubles. Once attached Eddy and Double D started to run towards the bridge in the great haste.
"What is going on why has the Gozanti dethatched; it does not have clearance to leave." Commented the T series droid trying to calculate what is happening before a hologram came from one of the patrols.
"Sir we have a problem the possible saboteurs had managed to escape with a shuttle."
"Do you know took the shuttle and where it went, or why did the Gozanti had dethatched?"
"Negative sir, still trying to figure it out." Said the droid.
"Try your best to figure out what is happening." He demanded more and more impatient.
"We are all accounted for." Double D said coming on the bridge with Eddy and their group of droids.
"Ed is in happy place, friends are together again." Ed said with great happiness taking his friends in a big hug.
"Alright Ed we are also happy to see you too but we don't have time for pleasantries yet, second group." Double D said while been squished.
"What is your order sir?" Asked the droid that was with Ed and Johnny.
"Detonate the last bombs."
"Roger Roger." He said pulling out a cylindrical detonator that was signaling the ones implanted and with the other hand pressed the button for another large explosions to commence inside.
"Alright, get us out of here, full speed ahead." Eddy ordered the droids while getting out of his goofy friend's embrace while the droids were doing what they had been ordered.
"Ah sir we got a problem." Said a droid.
"What is it?"
"Sir we didn't realized it but the detonators that we planted had rolled in the shaft near the station's reactor room and it probably hit a sensitive spot." Reported the droid.
"Best speed away, behind the rocks immediately." Ordered Eddy while the droid pilots were steering the ship to go as far away from the place as possible, moving towards the opening that was behind the boulders at full speed.
"Can't we go any faster?" Eddy asked.
"We are going as fast as possible sir." Reported one of the droid pilots while moving through the rocks.
"And we also got another problem sir. It seems the station is turning critical the explosion really hit the reactor, the cooling system is offline." Reported one of the droids looking at a pad.
"This is not good, not good at all." Double D commented while watching how the things were unfolding.
"Trouble, Big, Pain." Ed said.
"Try to stabilize the reactor we must not- BOOM" The station command center had exploded alongside with the station that engulfing the small droid crew, while the frigate was departing behind the rock that shielded them from the explosion but the kids were able to see everything.
"Situation of the ship." Eddy asked.
"No casualties' sir and also no damage to the ship, we made it." Reported a pilot droid before the kids turned to each other and started to laugh hard.
"We did it. WE REALLY DID IT!" Shouted Eddy and all started to feel like they had escaped death.
"Can't believe that we really did it and also survived a mission on a galactic scale." Johnny commented.
"Space explorers are together." Ed shouted hugging all of them.
"Let's get out of here set us for a close system before anyone else arrives."
"Ahh sir, we got a problem." Reported the commander tracking the attention of the others. "3 raiders had come out of hyperspace."
"Oh dear this is the last thing we wanted." Double D commented while the raiders were trying to approach before 4 Republic ships came and literally obliterated them.
"And they were the last people we wanted now even less." Eddy commented, by all the raiders might have been easy to dupe, but them with the cruisers bigger than them was trouble.
"Ahh what should we do?" Asked the droid commander.
"Try to sneak through the asteroids, all the shields to be up."
"Well we at least managed to take care of all the raiders."
"Oh indeed, my questions however is, where is the station and I believe we might have missed that ship." Obi-Wan said pointing to the ship moving in the asteroids.
"Master I believe that they are our contacts." Anakin said.
"The ship that is between the asteroids?"
"Can you bet that they might have wanted to play hide-and-seek." Galia said with some dry humor while rolling her eyes, by all accounts she is very much expecting them to crash the ship, this act would not be at all a surprise for her.
With the Eds
"We shall go easy through the rocks sneaking pass them and then we try to leave for a system that is disserted-" Eddy started telling them the plan while the consol for the message biped and a droid activated it for the hologram of the Jedi to appear. "and then we."
"Good day boy." Anakin said calmly tracking the attention of the Eds while Johnny was staying on the side.
"Hello Chief." Ed said saluting him with a goofy smile.
"We want to thank you for the help; the destruction of those raiders ensured our convoys' safe passage."
"Ahh we only did what you asked sir." Double D said trying to stay calm.
"And can I ask you 3 what happened to the station?" Came a second person with a beard who noticed the debris.
"Well let's just say they were in a very hard to reach position. And so we thought that you might use our ship so we did the job in your place." Eddy started trying to do with as much sass as possible making the man to get his hand on his forehead.
"And you thought it might be better to destroy it yourselves?" He asked.
"No, just damage it before letting you do the rest but things didn't went the way we planned." Eddy explained with a stressed smile while Obi-Wan now believed that he was now meeting 3 kids prawn on making havoc.
"Urgh in any case you made our job a bit easier, and for that we shall pay you 2500 credits. That is if you are still able to get out from there or you need a lift." Obi-Wan said which made Eddy really excited at least something came out from it.
"Send someone to bring the pay in the hangar we are coming out soon." Eddy said going himself to the consol to steer the ship out of the asteroids.
"Are the shields up?"
"Full power sir." Said the droid pilot while Eddy started to move the ship out the field while having the rocks banging till the ship was out of it.
"If they wouldn't crash that thing into something, I don't know what would happen." Galia commented unimpressed.