Ron and Rev's systems had been pushed to their limits over the course of several weeks of nonstop missions. They were only allowed to take minimal breaks but they were more-so periods of recharging, not respite. The two like-minded droids had committed to a pact where they were to survive until the end of the war so that they could be free at last and desert their position in the Separatist army. Their programming at the moment did not allow them to take such a drastic action. Only the idea.

On all the missions after that fateful day whence they had begun their brotherhood and discovery of newfound psychological sensations, they had attempted to convert droids to their form of thinking but to no avail. The droids fresh off the factory conveyor belt would always respond with a simple 'Roger, roger' or a confused remark for the older models, not exactly understanding what they spoke of. Some showed a little more curiosity but ultimately fell to the limitations set by their creators.

It was evident at that point, that something was different in their programming from the rest of the droids, but that wouldn't make things any easier for them.

Nevertheless, they could bounce ideas off of one another at the very least. There was still no way of telling how much they'd changed and if they were going to continue changing. Something had occurred to them during that fateful day on Kashyyyk. Whatever it had done, the two felt liberated of a phantom weight from their shoulders. Their programming still didn't allow for much more than the illusion of freedom, however.

It was here that Ron and Rev explored the wild expanses of the more organic side of their minds. Both had made an attempt to reach the boundaries of their programming. They found that they were still, for the most part, only allowed to think logically while most emotion was stripped from their mind. However, through experimentation, they learned that by combining both of their minds as one, similar to the way their squad had done on Kashyyyk, they could learn off of each other's systems and memory units to circumvent these boundaries. They deemed that this would make them much better soldiers through the use of fear and anger and all other organic emotion for usage in the front-lines. Both of them knew about the consequences of such emotions. Ron had read about them in the many psychology journals that his database contained but nothing could've truly prepared the both of them for the experiences these emotions brought out.

The pair had gone on six different missions together after having initially met on Kashyyyk. Two of them were patrols, thankfully. These were the missions where they had the most amount of time to feed off of each other and grow as soldiers.

"We were both afraid back on Kashyyk. I could sense it, like a radio signal," Ron said to Rev while they strolled through a path near one of the Confederate's major bases on Hypori, a planet similar in composition to Geonosis. Nothing ever happened on these missions as no enemies were close enough to give them trouble. It gave them enough time to speak with one another in secret, away from their superiors.

"Fear? Is that what that was?" Rev asked. He knew Ron was much more experienced than him with these artificial emotions. He knew the names for most of them and had experienced most of them before.

"I believe so, but I'm still figuring this all out like you"

Rev inspected his blaster, scratching away clusters of sand that had settled in between the cracks of the barrel, "I've never felt anything like that before. It wasn't until that day. I don't know what it was. All of a sudden I started shaking. What's the point of fear anyways?"

"From what I've studied, its a survival mechanism used by organics. It tells them when to avoid a confrontation in battle if they wish to survive or something to that degree," Ron wracked his CPU for a more accurate answer but it alluded him.

"Survival is the last thing our superiors want from us," Rev noted.

"And that is why we must rebel...when the time is right. We must ensure our brothers in arms make it out alive. There was no point to our squad dying like that. You saw how quick they were replaced, they'll do the same to us over and over again. None of us even know what we fight for. Will this war even end? Our brothers suffer and die, afraid of the pain our masters inflict on us with these artificial emotions and pain receptors, and even through all of that we still don't know what we fight for," Ron clutched his head, his memory unit logged a malfunction in his systems, "I...can't remember what I was talking about"

Rev grabbed at his shoulder, "You were saying how we don't even know what we fight for. Are you malfunctioning?"

"No, no. That's right, I was saying we have to survive. Like I've said before, we can turn more of our brothers, have them see what we've seen. The pointless deaths and the fear and the pain. If they live long enough to experience all three, we can turn them. Make them rebel along with us," Ron continued.

"You make it sound easy. Most of the time they're all too busy focusing on the objective and completing their tasks, like us. You've already seen how they react, they don't know what we're talking about. Most of us don't live for very long"

"Doubt all you want, I will try my absolute best to see this through. We have to survive, our masters have unknowingly given us the tools for survival and rebellion, now all we need to do is break free from our programming and use these tools to our advantage"

"We have broken a little bit of our programming...but how would we break free completely?"

"I'll think of something, I can see if I can find anything with my connection to the galactanet"

They continued along their designated path around the silver dome that was their base, kicking up plumes of orange dust in front of them.

Ron glanced over to Rev, a memory of a past battle popped up in his head. "You know, I remember this strange moment in a battle at the start of this war. I felt a sort of completeness" Rev turned his full attention to the other, in curiosity, "It was at Geonosis in the first hours of the war," they both stopped in the middle of the orange path that they stood on, valleys dotted the landscape as they looked beyond. The sound of the wind brought a serenity to the landscape. The whole planet reminded Ron of Geonosis. "The battle hadn't started yet. I remember practically the entire Separatist army was on that planet. When we would all get into position forming rows and rows of droids and vehicles, I felt as if we all walked as one. One monstrous body against an evil we barely understood. It was a comforting thought. At that moment I felt a sense of purpose" Ron took a pause to reflect on the war so far, "but now I see how everything we've done so far has been pointless. We've been running around in circles, fighting the same battles over and over again. Our tactics and weapons evolve but most things stay the same. Ever since Geonosis it seems things have been falling apart. Our troops aren't getting any better. Even when we win a battle thousands of our units are destroyed in comparison to the Republic who has smaller numbers. Our leaders treat us like cannon fodder and no droid can do anything about it'' Ron steadied himself against the incoming wind, "But we can change that. You have to promise me that you'll continue this journey even if I'm destroyed"

Rev shifted his feet around, the orange sand staining his metal into the same color, "I promise...but I don't know how I'd do it without you"

"I can teach and give you what you need, we just need a little more free time. Most our time patrolling is spent standing or walking around anyhow"

"That's true, I just don't know if I could do it"

Ron turned to Rev, "You were afraid back on Kashyyyk. You didn't fire a shot, but you can grow, I know you can. All droids are capable of growth, I am a testament to that. You newer models are much more capable of breaking free than an old model like me. You're our only hope we have of turning the tide of this war. If we lose we'll all be deactivated, after all. If we can just convince a few droids we might be able to start a wave of droids convincing others to tap into that organic side of their mind"

Rev nodded, his head turning away from Ron to avoid any eye contact with him.

"What is that thing you do with your head?" Ron looked at Rev a little closer, remembering when they had first met. Rev had made the same gesture with his head back then.

"What? This?" Rev nodded again.

"Yes that, why do you do that?"

"Well it means I agree, doesn't it?"

"I've never heard of such a thing before. Where did you learn it?"

"All of the human officers would silently make gestures to each other back on the dreadnought. I caught up on it and decided to use the same gestures out here. I thought they'd be useful"

"I see, I do something similar with my hands to give commands visually when our radios are down. Even though that is rare, you'll never know when you need such tools. You see, these types of tactics could save us in the future. Tell me of any other gestures you use"

Ron's communicator crackled to life, "R-0N and R-3V your shift is over, report back to the hangar area"

"Back to the front-lines again," Rev said with a metallic sigh.

"We'll get another chance to talk soon. Look at it this way, Rev, without these battles we wouldn't have been able to meet. There must be another B1 droid like us out there somewhere. Only in battle will we meet them"

Rev nodded, "Right, we just have to survive and then we'll be able to free the rest of our kind"

'I doubt we'll even get that far,' Rev thought.

They made their way back inside the silver dome. Their feet kicked up more orange dust while they reminisced on their conversation. There was still much work to be done. For now, another day of battle followed them.