Blue streaks rapidly turned to bright white then to black as The Scout exited hyperspace. Abafar's surface encompassed their entire view. Its bright appearance nearly damaged the droid's visual receptors.
"Where have you taken us now?" OOM asked.
"Abafar. It is abundant in rhydonium which we will need for the ship. There should be a mining facility at the coordinates that I've designated, if my database hasn't been corrupted, that is," Ron replied.
"We're working off of faulty information?"
"It's all that we have since our connection to the galactanet was cut, unless you have access to more up to date information,"
OOM shook his head, "I do not. You'd better be right about this"
"Ron, isn't this-" Rev said, looking over to him.
"Don't say anything about it," Ron replied, switching over to their private comms line, "They don't know this mine was owned by the Separatists. In fact, it's still maintained by the Separatists from what my database is telling me. They shouldn't find that out either, if they do, they'll just want to help them. There's nothing left for us here. The droids here most likely have been deactivated already"
"Isn't this what?" OOM said, staring at Rev intently.
"Nothing, I've just heard it's a – a little dangerous to go traveling on this planet," Rev said.
"As long as we stick to the coordinates we should be fine," Ron replied. He glanced back to OOM, cursing their makers for not giving them more expressive faces. OOM-342 gave no reaction other than clutching Rev's seat and leaning back onto the heels of his feet as he took in the painful sight of the planet before him.
The Scout swooped down onto the surface of the planet. Immediately, it became apparent why it was so dangerous to travel on Abafar. There was nothing but a large unending desert with no indication of life. The grains of sand appeared smooth as silk with no animal trails or spots of vegetation in sight.
Off in the distance was the only discernible location in the entire area. A deep circular hole dug out of the surface of the planet with long concrete walls extending outwards from the center that secured the facility into place.
"That must've been a nightmare to build," Rags said, appearing at the doorway of the cockpit.
Rev turned back to him, "How are the rest of the droids doing?"
"They're fine, nothing new. We don't have much to do back here"
"We're landing soon, I'll let everyone get out. I know it's cramped back there," Ron said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Oh I don't think that's much of a problem. They have the space to move around if they want. See?" Rags pointed to C-37 who had relocated from the very back of the ship to the crates near the front where Rev and Rags had been sitting. He peered into the cockpit, curious to see where they were headed and gave a brief wave to his commanders.
"I just don't think all that sand outside will be very good for our joints," Rev said, turning his attention back to the view outside.
"Good point, we will ensure no one goes past the concrete floors once we land," Ron said.
The Scout lowered onto the concrete walls towering above the center of the facility.
"Why have we stopped here?" OOM asked, his full attention going to Ron.
"I'm going to do some scouting. I am unsure if this facility is hostile or not," Ron strode into the cargo bay.
All of the droids turned to him.
"Where are we sir?" R-7B said.
"We are on a planet named Abafar to seek out fuel for our ship. Myself and Rev here will be the ones to retrieve the fuel. We will be scouting the area first before heading down. While I am gone, OOM-342 will be your commander," Ron said, pointing over to OOM striding in from the cockpit.
"I don't believe I was allowed to introduce myself last time so I will do so now," OOM said with a brief glance at Ron, "I am OOM-342. During the war, I was a security officer for all of its entirety. I have served since the start of the war at Naboo. You are all in good hands"
Ron nodded, "You are free to get outside of the ship but do not move very far," satisfied with his orders, he headed back into the cockpit to open the bay doors. OOM followed suit, "What should I have them do while you are away?" he begrudgingly said. Following a defective droid's orders still didn't sit quite well with him.
"Have them stay put and guard the ship. We won't be going far or taking that long. Use this time to see how well they operate," Ron said. He turned his attention to Rev who was standing near the doorway of the cockpit, "Rev, let's go. I don't want to waste too much time on this planet, who knows if the Empire is still on our trail"
"Alright, should we put our disguises on?" Rev asked.
"No, we're only surveying the area, nothing more," Ron said.
The whole crew dispersed out onto the concrete wall. Thankfully, it extended far enough to dispel any worry of too much sand coming their way. Ron and Rev separated from the group and made their way to the edge of the wall overlooking the small town below.
"I need two volunteers to set up a perimeter with me," OOM said, now armed with a blaster.
"I'll volunteer. My circuits are always itching for a fight," R-7B said.
"That's not necessarily a good thing for a security force," OOM replied, recalling several incidents where his appeal to violence cost him the strategic advantage in a fight.
"Do you want me to join or not?" R-7B said, strutting up to OOM, inches away from his face.
"You will do…for now," OOM backed up and looked back at the other droids. Never had he encountered such a volatile droid before.
'Most likely a behavior caused by their faulty programming,' he thought. Yet, he couldn't help but see a little bit of himself in R-7B. It frightened him.
"I'll help out, my blaster is in need of a stress test," R-23E said.
OOM snapped out of his stupor, "That will be sufficient for our position," he nodded over to Ron.
"Looks like they're all set up, let's go," Ron said to Rev.
The two made their way to the very edge of the wall. Ron made note of the dispersed nature of the houses and buildings below, "I'm not seeing any movement down there," he said.
Rev looked closer, doing his best to concentrate with his visual receptors, "This is a big area and there aren't many buildings down there"
Ron surveyed the entire length of the center from end to end, "There are those corridors on either side here," he noted. At the far western and eastern ends of the town were extensions made to the dugout city below that lead elsewhere beyond their view.
Rev looked up to the sun and noted it was hovering right above them, "They could be working," he said.
"Perhaps. If you're right then that changes things. This will make things more difficult, though I wasn't expecting this to be so easy anyhow"
Rev turned to Ron, "We're not going to trade with them again like last time?"
"No. Most likely they're still using the fuel for their own needs seeing as they're still Separatists"
"I guess so, how are we going to do this then?"
"By stealing, it shouldn't be too hard to carry for the both of us. We only need one canister for now. The Scout's fuel is just above half on the gauge, but I have a feeling we aren't safe using that ship now that the Empire has seen us"
Rev wrestled with the idea of stealing. He couldn't help but compare the action to the betrayal, the first he'd ever seen of such a notion, back on Maridun. Then the thought of the droids back on the ship came to mind.
He nodded, "Alright, let's do it quick. Do you know where they store the rhydonium?"
Ron looked around from one side of the town to the other, "My sensors indicate its presence near the western end"
"I was hoping for a map. Your database didn't include one?"
"No, unfortunately. I was going to see if the galactanet had one but our connection was cut off somehow"
"How did that happen?"
"I am unsure. It seems it has something to do with order 77, I found that it had been activated when we had returned to Dygon Prime. That's part of the reason why I'd like to get away from that ship as soon as possible"
"The sooner the better, let's get down there"
The duo walked back to the ship, fearing that the rest of the crew had fallen into chaos but thankfully the main group was still huddled in formation close to the ship.
"Everyone back in, we should be in the clear," Ron said.
Off in the distance, OOM was patrolling the area with his small crew. It helped ease the worry off of Ron's mind. He'd had enough of the ambushes back during the war.
"Thank the maker, my CPU was starting to get a little overheated," C-6C said.
"I said you were free to move outside the ship, it was not an order," Ron said.
"I'm not very good with words sir," C-6C said, sheepishly avoiding any eye contact with Ron.
"That is alright, we were originally made for war not communications after all"
Ron turned his attention to OOM still patrolling the outskirts of their position, "OOM, come back, we're heading into the town," he said through a communications line he hastily set up with him.
"Copy that," OOM responded shortly after.
Once everyone had made their way back into the ship, Ron closed the hatch and made course for a short trip down onto a nearby landing pad.
"So are we dealing with hostiles here?" OOM asked.
"Unsure, we detected no movement. We will have to proceed with caution," Ron said.
"This is an unsound move. We could get trapped and surrounded down there," OOM reasoned. It took a gigantic effort not to devolve into name calling on his part. His revelation with R-7B had humbled him into pursuing a more tame approach to conversing with those he deemed less intelligent than himself.
"We need that fuel, this planet will give us the least trouble. Everywhere else is too risky thanks to the Empire"
"And if we do end up dealing with hostiles, I'll try my best to bargain with them. I did it on Maridun, I can do it again here," Rev said, butting in.
OOM covered his face with a hand, "You idiots are just looking for trouble"
"We have to take the risk. Like Ron said, this will be the easiest place to get our fuel from" Rev said.
"This is your operation not mine, do what you will," OOM-342 said.
The ship dropped down onto one of the leftmost landing pads of the city. No other ships were around. An odd sight for such an isolated town. Along the very edge of the wall were the rest of the landing pads that wrapped around the corners in a u-shaped pattern. In the center were what appeared to be remnants of machinery and other scrap littered about a largely desolate area. Only the stains of oil and the aforementioned metal were all that populated the large space. Most likely it had been used for cargo loading and storing away parts for ships. Directly in front and to the left of their ship was one of the two wide corridors that led to the town in the center.
Ron looked over to OOM, "I don't think we'll have to worry too much about getting trapped but it would be best to keep that in mind. Have everyone stay put in this area, do not go past the beginning of the corridor ahead"
"Roger. I will admit this is a much more favorable position than the one I had imagined. No flanks nor are there multiple entrances." OOM noted.
"You see? It's worth it to take the risk sometimes," Rev said.
"I will admit my fault"
Ron suddenly got up from his chair, "Enough of that, I want to be out of here by the end of the day. Let's go Rev"
He repeated his orders to the rest of the crew before making his way outside with Rev, leading the way to the town center.
Blasters held at the ready, the duo marched forwards into the corridor, hugging one of the walls for the least exposure to any potential hostiles ahead. Three major buildings were dispersed in equal length ahead. No windows faced their way thankfully.
"Switch to our communications line, I want a stealthy approach," Ron said.
"I'm sure they already heard our ship, and our feet do make a lot of sound. So do our pistons now that I'm thinking about it…" Rev said.
"All very good points," Ron said. He stopped for a moment, intensifying the focus on his audio receptors, "Perhaps we could use the wind"
"Let's try it"
And so they moved in turns, only walking forward when the wind would whistle through the area, making its journey through the facility along with Ron and Rev. The two came upon the first sightings of movement in a window of a house to the left of where they stood. Past the open center ahead were the mines, seemingly where the rhydonium was being stored and mined. Nothing could be seen inside, however. No light was present. The both of them were too far to turn on their night vision without being blinded by the sun.
"It seems the residents are in hiding, not at work," Ron said.
"Should we just ignore them and go for the fuel?" Rev asked.
They had hid behind one of the first buildings just ahead of the corridor in a shaded pocket from the sun above.
"No, we could be attacked from behind," Ron took a moment to survey the area, "I saw movement inside this building to the left of us. It has a window wide open. Let's get inside, see if the residents could explain what's going on"
Rev nodded in agreement. They moved with the wind once more, both feeling hurried with the wind picking up in pace and shortening in intervals as if it were alive and pushing them along, sharing in the excitement of the moment.
"It's too high up, neither of us can reach it," Rev noted.
"Boost me up," Ron said.
"I'm not sure I can throw you that high"
"Just try"
Both holstered their blasters onto their backs.
Rev settled into position below the window, making sure to give some distance between the wall and himself, "Ready," he said, nervously awaiting Ron's approach.
Ron gave himself a running start onto Rev who launched him up to the window above. His fingers slammed down onto the slight protrusion below the window. No amount of wind could have masked the sound of his landing.
"Okay, now climb up using my body," Ron looked below.
"Are you sure?" Rev neared Ron carefully, his feet just about dangling within reach.
"I'm sure of it. My joints can handle the stress, however old they are"
Rev grabbed onto his legs and pulled himself up. He hooked his hands onto Ron's abdominal stabilizers before reaching up to Ron's shoulders and finally heaving himself up onto the window ledge. He jumped in just as Ron climbed up himself.
Rev looked him over for any damage, "Are you alright?"
"I detect no damage. I'll only need a longer recharge after this" Ron said.
They looked around the room.
On the left side was a medium sized bed that had been left perfectly made. Along the wall were all sorts of clothing hung up on the wall. All of them were covered in spots of soot. At the very foot of the bed was an old footlocker left open and in a state of disarray. The door to the room was directly ahead from the window where Ron and Rev were left standing.
Ron peered into the hallway through the door. A stairway led to the downstairs area at the very left of the hallways which was cramped and held only one other room which was barren. He turned back to Rev, "Let's keep it quiet and head down, do not draw your blaster just yet"
Rev nodded.
Cautiously, they headed down the steps, relieved that the buildings seemed to be made out of concrete rather than wood or some hollow material that would've caused a ruckus.
The room opened up on the left side of the bottom of the steps with nothing else on the right side, save for a small window in a protruding alcove. To the left were various pieces of furniture strewn about as well as a small kitchen tucked away in one of the corners. The front door was positioned just to the right of it. There was only one door on the very far left side, next to the steps. Ron scanned the room with his infrared vision and found no organics in the area.
"This room is clear," Ron said, "One more room to check"
"Got it," Rev replied.
Ron slowly opened the door leading to the final uncleared room, moving as silently as his body allowed him. At the very far end was a lone man peering outside the only window directly opposite to Ron.
"Hello, we don't wish to cause you any harm," Ron said out loud.
The man jumped in fright and went to reach for his blaster on his waistband before freezing up in shock, "Battle droids? I thought all of you had been powered off"
"I do not know what you're talking about," Ron said, one hand at the ready to pull the blaster from his back. He didn't trust the man. Ever since the incident on Maridun, his trust in organics had waned.
"Never-mind that," the man suddenly began chuckling, "You know, I never thought I would actually miss seeing the sight of you droids"
"Were there any stationed here?"
The man stood, appearing much more relaxed than before, "Yes but they were all sent off to the front-lines. Heard it was getting intense out there. But it didn't seem we would lose so quickly," his face scrunched up as he thought of the past month and a half.
"And what happened here after we lost?" Ron relaxed his stance, not wanting to make the organic suspicious of him.
"We didn't believe the news at first but one of our couriers made it clear. Now, we're making a last stand here. We scrapped all of our ships, turned them into weapons. All that we need now is for the Republic to come for us here"
"A last stand? You all could have ran," Rev said.
"We could have, but at this point it's all or nothing for us. We've been fighting our whole life against the Republic, even before joining the Separatists, I don't see why we would all stop now"
"And where is everyone else?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? Seems a little strange for a battle droid. Well, I guess it's also unlikely to find one still activated isn't it?" the man said, more-so talking to himself than anyone else.
"We are looking to refuel our ship with rhydonium," Ron said.
The man walked past them both, "We have some capsules left over but we're planning on using them ourselves to blow this whole damn rig to space once the Republic comes"
"But how will you escape?"
The man laughed again, "I already told you, escape isn't our plan," he walked up to Ron, "Our plan is to take as many of them as we can with us. All of us here are already pretty much dead anyways. I found a listing with the names of everyone who lives here on the Republic's official site on the galactanet, when I still had access to it anyways. We're all worth a million credits to them. I don't want to imagine what they'd do to us if we were to be caught but I can tell you right now, they're not getting a single one of us here"
Ron seemed to liven up at the mention of the galactanet, "What happened with your connection to the galactanet? Was your communications array destroyed?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? I don't remember you droids acting like this," The man appeared to be annoyed, his smile quickly turned to a frown.
"We have been attempting to find our superiors for some time now. I only want to know anything that might lead us to them"
Rev looked over to Ron, his head tilting in confusion.
"Sorry but you won't find them here and we don't have any information about higher command to give you. But listen, all you need to know is that you need to keep up the fight against the Republic," he said. The man walked over to a small radio set up in the kitchen and began fiddling with some dials on the front of the machine.
"If you do not have information for us, is there anyone else in the area that could help us?" Ron continued, not realizing how he was pestering the human.
"It's only me up here, everyone else is in the mines. It's also easier to defend," he walked over to peer through a peephole on the front door, "You guys come alone?"
Ron walked towards the man while grabbing the blaster from his back, "Yes, we were separated from our squad some time ago"
The man turned around to see the butt of Ron's blaster take up his entire view. With a loud thwack, he fell to the floor unconscious.
"Why'd you do that?" Rev said.
"He served his purpose. I only needed to know if anyone else was stationed up here," he turned back to Rev, "Like I said, we're not here to trade. I would rather not sell off the rest of our supplies"
"I understand. I just wish these organics wouldn't be so greedy, they would've been great allies," Rev said. They carried the body off into the kitchen where Ron wrapped a piece of cloth around the man's arms, tying them both behind his back.
"I doubt any organic would want to help us free other droids"
"Maybe one day we'll find one that does"
"Perhaps, but that time is not now. Let's head into the cave, we'll be at an advantage with our vision," Ron said, heading towards the front door.
Rev stopped him in his tracks, pulling at his arm, "Wait, we don't know how many are down there or how the cave is laid out. Let's look around, see if we can find anything to help us"
Ron took a brief scan of the town, "There's a lot of ground to cover, I don't think that will be viable"
"At the very least, let's search more thoroughly here. Seems like this guy had his own station set up here"
"Fine, I'll take downstairs you go upstairs"
"Got it"
The two went to their respective floors, mindful of their limited time.
Back at the ship, OOM was having trouble dealing with some of the droids.
"I want my volunteers to get set up by the wall and be on the lookout for the return of our commander, the rest of you stay by the ship," OOM ordered.
R-7B led the way with R-23E close behind him.
"I'll take the first watch," R-23E said, striding into the line of view of the town center.
R-7B yanked him back, "That's not necessary, we can both watch it"
"Fine," R-23E pulled his arm away from R-7B's grip.
They strode into the corridor side by side, their blasters set to kill.
OOM strode over to them, immediately feeling his processor heat up in frustration. He took a moment to let his fans cool him down, "What are you two doing?"
"We're following standard guard protocol sir," R-23E said.
"Throw out all your knowledge on those protocols. We will be changing tactics. This is no longer a war, we do not have replacements for you two. If you die, we all lose. Do you understand?"
"Uh, I think so," R-23E said.
"I understand," R-7B said, nodding.
"Good, now get closer to the wall. One droid should be crouched with the other standing above him"
R-7B stood over R-23E who was crouched with their blasters raised up and their targeting modules at the ready.
OOM felt a surge of electric joy at the sight, "Very good. Notify me if anyone approaches"
"Roger," R-7B and R-23E said in unison.
"I think I've found a map," Rev said over their communications line.
"I'm coming up"
On a small table beside the bed upstairs, Rev looked over the large map he'd found hidden away deep within the footlocker at the foot of the bed.
"Doesn't seem so strategically sound to put a map of your base outside your defenses," Rev noted.
"Yes, but I assume that organic downstairs must have planned to destroy it somehow," Ron said looking over the map himself.
"I guess so. This looks like it's accurate. So the rhydonium is on the left path here," Rev said, pointing to a small blue icon that had been poorly drawn onto the map.
"Seems so. Let's go, take the map with you. I'm sure these Separatists would appreciate it if we re-positioned it inside their base"
Together they marched downstairs and headed straight for the mines, disregarding their noisy bodies this time around. It was only when they came upon the abyss that was the mine's entrance did they slow down. There was one main path ahead of them which quickly forked off to the left and right. The map showed the leftmost path to be the one they were looking for. Ron led the way once again, turning on his night vision.
Inside the caves, memories began re-surging into Ron's train of thought. Old missions on Geonosis, patrols he'd gone on with Rev, old squadrons he once led, all of it served as a reminder that things weren't how they used to be and would never go back to how they were.
'It was for the best, I'm sure. Not much else we could have done,' Ron thought, pushing the memories away as best he could.
Some dozen meters into the cave, signs of life began appearing. Trails of discarded bags that once contained food littered the area. The smooth sandstone walls were covered in hand-prints and burn marks.
Ron slowed down to be shoulder to shoulder with Rev, "It seems we're coming up on their camp, let's switch back to a stealthy approach"
Rev nodded, moving closer to the wall. Ron holstered his blaster onto his back.
"I doubt they won't hear us, I can hear our pistons loud and clear," Rev said.
Ron took a moment to think, "Less movement of our joints should produce less sound. Maybe if we crouch down and try to only move our legs"
"Let's try it then"
The two crouched into a lower position, noting their metal chassis still made some noise but was noticeably reduced.
Ron shifted closer to the wall to be side by side with Rev, "This is about as quiet as we're going to get"
"I think this should work, just as long as they're also making sounds"
They moved in silence. The hissing of their pistons echoed softly into the abyss further ahead. More signs of life appeared, this time voices. They were far off and away but close enough to cause both Ron and Rev to slow down considerably.
All around them, the sandstone appeared smooth but something seemed to change as they traveled further in. There were small patches and dents made in the wall. Strange crunchy pebbles littered the ground below, Rev had made note of them after accidentally stepping on one.
Rev pulled on Ron's arm, getting him to stop, "I'm reading a heat signature just up ahead"
At this point, the voices were close enough to judge how far away they were.
"Let me go ahead, follow me but be ready for combat," Ron instructed.
They practically tiptoed the rest of the way until finally their night vision was distorted by a distant red light that appeared to originate from a bend in the long path they were on. Some dozen feet away from the source Ron stopped in his tracks to listen.
"Any luck on getting it back up now?" A deep voice boomed nearby.
"No. It's just so strange, nothing's wrong with it," Another voice responded, much closer to the corner.
"If need be we can use that old radio Max has set up out there"
Ron pushed farther along the path until he reached the very edge of where the light reached.
"That's if he hasn't broken it already. Why'd we choose him as a guard again?"
"Because he's a marksman. Best of the group"
"I doubt that, he would always boast about it but I'd never see him actually shooting"
A shadow crossed the stream of light ahead, giving Ron and Rev a brief glimpse of what was around the corner.
"I didn't hear you whining about it when we made the decision to send him out there," The deep voice was beginning to fade off into the distance along with the other.
Ron peeked his head around the corner, briefly blinded by the light torch ahead. There were no other Separatists in the area, only boxes stacked high along either side of the cave tunnel, most likely put together as cover against potential intruders.
The duo raced to the boxes, scanning for any heat signatures in the area.
"I'm seeing a lot of heat up ahead," Rev said.
Ron peered over the next bend in the tunnel past the boxes, "I see it too, we must be close to the rhydonium now"
Around the corner, the tunnel expanded into a much wider and more open area that wasn't so cramped. Along the entire length of the walls were hundreds of capsules filled with rhydonium, buzzing with the energy contained inside. With the sounds of dozens of voices ahead, their noisy bodies would be no problem. Now, visibility would be their next issue. The area was lit brighter than a dying star. Only small pockets of shadows existed all along the wall but not nearly enough to cover the both of them.
Ron sat onto his knee, thinking the situation through, mindful of the constant movement from the Separatists ahead.
Rev re-positioned himself beside Ron, "What's wrong?" he said.
"There's nowhere to hide ahead, we'll have to time this right. Both of us will have to reach one of the barrels and begin wheeling it out of here quickly before they can notice"
Dozens of Separatists were hanging around the area, some lounged on furniture they'd brought in from the outside. Others worked on repairing blasters they had recovered from their defunct superiors. The rest talked among-st themselves. Two of them broke off from the major group huddled into one of the corners, heading straight for the tunnel Ron and Rev found themselves in.
"Move back to the boxes," Ron said, pushing Rev back into cover.
Soon after, the Separatists wordlessly moved past their position.
Regaining their momentum, Ron got set up just outside the main room. He took a glance at the main group noting they all appeared busy.
Ron looked back to Rev, "I can't think of much else we can do to improve our odds. As much as this pains my circuits, we'll have to rely on luck"
"Let's go for it," Rev said.
For a minute, Ron sat, waiting for a moment that seemed perfect. At once, he walked into the room, still crouched and headed straight for a barrel directly ahead. He inspected the bottom, finding that it had wheels built into the container. Rev was soon at his side. Both pushed the barrel towards the entrance but immediately flinched as a great squeaking erupted from the wheels.
"Hey! Wha-Battle droids?!" One of the Separatists shouted. All of them turned at once towards the droids.
Without needing instruction, Ron began pulling the barrel with all his might towards the exit while Rev pushed it along from the back.
"Stop!" The man with the deep voice shouted.
Soon after the sound of a blaster firing echoed through the cave. The bolt made a direct hit on Rev's heel, leaving a black burn mark.
Rev took one glance down at his foot and inspected for damage, 'Thank the maker, my armor hasn't been worn down,' he thought.
"Don't shoot you idiot! You're gonna blow us all up before the Republic gets here!" The deep voice shouted.
Outside in the tunnel, the barrel screeched down the narrow halls. Once they'd reached the corner, Ron bumped into one of the Separatists that had taken position near the entrance on guard duty. He grunted, confused by the sudden cacophony rushing through.
"What's going on?" The Separatist asked.
The duo completely ignored the two guards, instead focusing on pushing and pulling at the barrel with even greater force, pulling strength from the whole of their metallic bodies that they didn't even know they had. Their joints creaked and groaned as if mimicking the barrel's wheels.
One of the Separatists nearly crashed into the intruders but dived out of the way at the last second, "Battle droids? What are they doing here? And how did they get through?"
"Go after them!" The deep voice yelled out from behind the guards.
Rev's pistons hissed as he sprinted out into the open. Ron, still at the front of the barrel, struggled to keep up with Rev's pace, nearly tripping several times.
"Slow down, I'm going to fall," Ron commanded.
"Sorry," Rev responded.
Ron grabbed the blaster from his back and set up one arm on the barrel as a stabilizer, "I'll give you some covering fire"
A flurry of blaster fire came their way now that they were outside of the cave.
Ron returned the fire, his shots proving much more accurate than their pursuers. The incoming fire died down as Ron began laying down more and more accurate fire. He was mindful not to legitimately hit on target. The Separatists were no longer their masters but something in his circuits still made it feel as if it were wrong to fight against them. That and they were much more tolerant of droids than the Republic and most other sovereign powers.
"OOM-342, we are returning to the ship but are under fire, get ready to cover for us," Ron said over the radio.
"Roger," OOM promptly replied, "Get ready to battle you two," he said to the droids still set up on the wall.
R-7B and R-23E readied their targeting modules.
Around the corner, Ron had opted to climb onto the barrel providing as much covering fire as he possibly could. More and more of the Separatists came funneling out of the cave, feeding more and more blaster fire their way. Thankfully, most of it died down once they reached the tunnel that led to their ship. The buildings in front provided great cover from the incoming attack.
"Everyone back on the ship!" Ron ordered the rest of the droids that were still huddled up by the cargo bay.
The group wordlessly followed orders.
R-7B and R-23E began firing at the incoming attackers once they came into view. OOM was still at their side with his own blaster at the ready.
"You three get in here as soon as you can!" Ron shouted just as he entered The Scout.
OOM silently nodded, returning his attention to the waves of blaster fire that came pouring in like a sideways torrent of magma. R-7B managed to land a hit on one of the Separatists, confirmed by a loud scream that erupted from the man as he convulsed onto the ground. The incoming fire died down but not before a bolt managed to hit R-23E after having scored a hit himself. He was pushed back violently by the force of the bolt that landed onto his knee. His metal body struggled to deal with the sudden influx of heat.
"I will take it from here, you two get back to the ship," OOM ordered.
R-23E gladly complied while R-7B lingered for a moment behind before OOM tapped into the fight.
He set his blaster to burst mode, letting off a dozen volleys of bolts onto the attackers, driving most of them behind cover. As the last burst went off, his blaster overheated and with that OOM made a sprint for the ship.
"Everyone is inside," OOM reported, nearly knocking over R-23E.
Without hesitation, Ron closed the hangar bay doors and made liftoff. Just as the ship came off the ground, the Separatists came rushing in unleashing more blaster fire on the ship in a futile attempt to bring down their shields.
The Scout blasted off back into outer space.
Ron was in no rush this time, however. There were no Imperials hot on their trail and the Separatists below certainly had no ships. He stalled out in deep space as he plotted out their next move.
"One of my troops took a hit. Do I have permission to repair the injury?" OOM reported.
"Of course, you don't need permission from me for that," Ron replied.
"My former commander thought otherwise," OOM said before making his way back into the hangar.
He marched over to R-23E who had sat onto one of the crates near the cockpit doors.
"Where were you hit?"
R-23E pointed to the melted joint on one of his legs, "On my knee"
OOM looked it over. He lifted his head up and scanned the room.
"You, the mechanic, fix up R-23E here. He has a melted joint," OOM said, pointing to Rags.
"Right away sir," Rags said with a salute.
Up in the front, Rev looked back to see if any of the droids were listening in on them, "So we're not telling them about the Separatists?"
"No, I cannot be sure how they would react," Ron said. He was busily tapping away at the holotablet before him, trying to figure out how to establish another connection to the galactanet, "What I will tell them now is my plan and how we will go about getting to our end goal," he gave up on troubleshooting the connection, throwing the tablet to the side. He gestured for Rev to follow him into the cramped cockpit.
"Listen everyone, here is the situation," Ron waited for a moment, letting the droids attention drift over to him, "We have secured fuel for our ship and oil for the generator. If you need to recharge let my second in command, Rev, know. We will have to be careful with how we use our resources here. We aren't fighting a war anymore, we are surviving. It is important that you all be cautious with your own life as well. I want to ensure everyone stays alive. Now that we have the resources at hand, we can begin the next phase of my plan. We will have to search for a new ship now that we know that the Empire is looking for us. Along with that, we will begin establishing temporary hideouts that we will use while we search for our permanent home"
"Home? What will we do when we get there?" C-05 asked.
"We will begin building a sanctuary for droids. After that I will give you the choice to leave on your own or stay with the rest of us"
The thought of going alone was enough to get most of the droids in silent agreement that they would stay. None of them quite understood the reasoning behind Ron's plans but at the very least, they had a commander and an objective. That's all that mattered to them, at least for the moment.
"Our next destination is Akiva. From what my database tells me, there's an old Separatist foundry underneath the capital there. We will establish a hideout there while I figure out how we will get a new ship," Ron nodded once he was finished. The rest of the droids resumed passing the time by repeatedly cleaning or disassembling their blasters.
Back inside the cockpit, Ron set the coordinates for Akiva and blasted into hyperspace soon after.
A/N: At the rate I'm going currently, I can get one chapter done every two weeks or so. I have no idea how many chapters I've got left if I'm being honest. I have a plan but no idea when the end will be. I can most definitely get this done by the end of the year (if I don't give myself a deadline, I'm never going to finish this. That seems to be the universal rule with most creatives). I also have some side stories planned for this that I'll do afterwards. I already have one that I'm doing. You'll see how they connect later on. Anyways, thanks to those that have read all the way up to here. Even one reader means the world to me. Thanks.
