The Scout left hyperspace above Dantooine. An old shadow of its former self, the once flourishing planet had been a promising agriculture giant of rolling green plains and expansive crystal caves. It had been reduced to nothing more than a trading hub after the Sith had sapped the planet of life, turning the green plains into brown fields of dying grass.
Ron idled above the planet for the time being, reordering his grand plan and making quick adjustments.
"Standby, I need some time to think," Ron said to OOM and Rev. Patiently they awaited further orders just as the rest of the droids.
The Empire was increasingly becoming a bigger and bigger nuisance with every passing day. He was foolish to have never taken account of their growing presence. Now, he was going to pay dearly for it. In the past, he'd never thought much about the enemy, only the tactical droids would do so. Their orders were relegated through the hive mind, never giving any of the lower droids an idea of what was going on in the grand scheme of things. It was understandable why this was so. Other than Ron and OOM, none of the droids had much capabilities when it came to the art of war and stratagem. Their minds were made for following orders with the highest possible rates of success. With an entire military no longer behind them, Ron had to bear the total weight of the Imperial threat on his shoulders. Not only did they have no military support, most organics would turn hostile at the sight of any battle droid. He tried not to dwell on the hopelessness of it all. At the very least, he was no longer restrained by his programming.
After some time adrift, Ron steered The Scout towards one of the many smaller trading hubs on the northern hemisphere of Dantooine. Far away from any of the bigger outposts.
"I assume we're here for a new ship?" OOM said.
"Correct," Ron replied.
"I still do not understand why you insisted on establishing a hideout on that planet of all places. Now, it is under Imperial control"
"Because, we will be right under them without their knowledge. The Empire would expect us to be on some remote planet in the middle of nowhere, which we were, back on Dygon Prime"
"I understand," OOM said, conscious of his anger overcoming him.
Suddenly the ship shook violently, throwing OOM to the ground as well as the rest of the droids in the cargo bay.
"What was that?!" Rev said.
Ron inspected The Scout's sensors, "That was someone firing at us, our shields took a hit," he put the ship to full throttle towards Dantooine, conscious of the fact that a transport ship was too bulky and slow to outmaneuver most others. Evading would only be a waste of time. Though, it wouldn't hurt to try. Ron made basic evasive maneuvers and wasn't surprised to find their attacker was still on top of them.
Another series of violent shakes tore through The Scout.
"Who's attacking us?" Rags said, his arms forming a death grip around the cockpit doors.
"Not sure," Rev responded. He looked at all the sensors and gauges before him, unsure of what to make of them.
"I'm rerouting all shield power to the stern," Ron said. The Scout was gaining speed, Dantooine quickly filled their view. A red hue glazed over the cockpit window as they entered the atmosphere.
With so much shaking and rumbling, Ron hadn't noticed that their shields had been reduced to zero as the fighter was still on their tail. He took notice at the last second as they began diving towards the ground. He attempted to pull on the wheel to level the ship out with the ground below but it was unresponsive. A much more violent rumble shook The Scout, smoke enveloped their entire view. In the cargo bay, pieces of the ship had melted off, exposing the interior to the outside.
"Brace for impact!" Ron said, managing to just about steer the ship into a ravine.
The ship screeched as it dove down into the dark crevice, the sides becoming lodged into the rock walls around it.
Everyone was pushed forward into and around the cockpit. Behind them, a small fire had formed on the top half of the stern, sending plumes of smoke upward.
Ron opened the cargo bay doors with the push of a button. The metal doors fell with a loud clang as they tore apart from the hinges into the ravine below.
"Is everyone alright?" Ron asked.
The group reflexively ran diagnostics on their systems. All except for Rags, his arm had been torn off from the force of the impact when he had attempted to stabilize himself against the cockpit door, "I'm injured, does anyone see my arm?"
"It's on my face," Rev said. He'd been smashed up against the cockpit window with Rag's arm covering his view. At first he'd been frightened by the darkness that had developed his view, thinking that the hand of death had finally come for him once and for all.
OOM pulled it off and threw it back up towards Rags, still in the cockpit.
He caught it with his remaining arm, poorly attempting to reattach it. He searched around him, looking for their repair equipment.
"Anyone else?" Ron quickly looked over the rest of the droids from his position at Rev's side. They had all been pushed into a bundle against the wall to the side of the cockpit door.
"Diagnostics are clear," R-7B said.
"I'm alright," R-U5 replied.
They went around the room, waiting for a response from everyone until they came upon C-37 who was on the floor, unresponsive.
"C-37 is not clear sir, not sure how he got damaged" R-56V reported.
"Two injuries, I can work with that," Ron replied, "I need someone to climb up to the cargo bay doors and carefully survey the area. Look for any escape routes we can take"
"I'll check," R-7B said.
R-7B grabbed onto one of the hooks on the sides of the ship and swung himself upward until he eventually latched onto the edge of the ship. He peeked outward once he stabilized his body against the floor of the ship. There was only the abyss below and the sky above. Looking to the side, he noticed an opening to a cave on one side of the rock wall.
"Looks like there's a cave close-by, we might have to jump from here though," R-7B reported.
"Copy, the rest of you start evacuating the ship. Haul any resources you can into that cave," Ron ordered.
"I'll set a path," R-7B replied. He lifted himself over the edge of the cargo bay, struggling to maintain balance on the thin edge. Using the walls of The Scout to steady himself, he reached out onto the jagged edges of the rocks of the wall beside him and clamped his metal fingers onto one of the ancient stones jutting out. He kicked one leg out towards the cave entrance and hauled himself in.
"We need at least two of us on the ship and in here if we want to get anything out of there," R-7B noted.
The rest of the group quickly got to work hauling themselves up and out of the ship while some worked to get the generator and oil tanks out of the very back of the cargo bay. Thankfully, none of their supplies seemed to have taken damage other than their blasters that had spilled out all over the floor. They would have to abandon them, their attacker was most likely on the prowl. Their repair equipment had also spilled. Rags managed to save the wielding gun for his arm. C-5B and C-6C aided in escorting him out of the ship seeing as he only had one arm.
After aiding in the evacuation themselves, Ron, Rev, and OOM looked over their group noting the two casualties they had taken. R-56V had carried C-05 out of the ship all by himself. C-5B and C-6C had gone back to retrieve the B2, carrying him with one of them at the feet and the other at the head. B2's were much heavier and bulky than the standard B1, making for an awkward handling of the droid. It was common knowledge among them not to stand behind one. If they were to get shot and fall backwards, it would spell doom for any B1.
"Are you sure you can handle carrying C-05 on your own?" Ron said to R-56V.
"Positive sir, I've done this before"
"I'll take your word for it," Ron redirected his gaze to the cave before them. The entrance they'd climbed into was thin and narrow but led up into an expansive room filled with glowing crystals, all an assortment of different colors. Their bright and reflective properties were nearly damaging to their photo-receptors, "Let's get moving. We'll stay in this cave system, find a good place to hide. We do not know how many attackers were behind us, be ready to fight"
OOM looked at each droid, ensuring all of them still had their blaster stuck to their back. Thankfully their natural holsters were quite effective at securing the blasters. From his experience, it would take the force of almost an entire ship to tear the blaster from their backs.
The group trudged along as one, most of them carrying their supplies. OOM was alarmed at the sight. With their hands full and their CPU's focused solely on getting out, an ambush would mean their untimely end.
"Anyone that does not have their hands full, get your blasters out and your modules prepared for battle," OOM ordered, looking over to Ron for recognition. He gave a curt nod, wordlessly understanding his concern.
R-7B excitedly pulled out his blaster, repeatedly scanning the area for any movement or organics.
OOM walked over to R-23E, noticing both of his arms wrapped around the oil tank. He snatched it out of his hands, "I'll take this, go up ahead and guard the front with Ron"
R-23E head tilted in confusion for a moment before he pulled the blaster from his back, "Roger"
Never had he seen a commander take up the work of a lowly grunt like him. It felt strange but he couldn't complain. He took great pleasure in scoring hits with his blaster. More opportunities to shoot the enemy would only serve to further boost the efficiency of his targeting modules and give him time to enjoy his work.
C-5B and C-6C struggled to maintain a grip on the B2 as they passed over groups of crystals that stood as dangerous spikes on the ground. R-U5 took notice and lent a spare hand, supporting the B2 by slightly lifting him up from under his abdomen.
Ron led the group through the expansive cave systems. There were signs of animals in the area but most of them ran off at the sight of the droids. They crossed into a section of the cave system where the clusters of crystals seemed unending. A great fog hung over them, clouding their view of the ceiling above and obscuring the view of the path ahead. The corpses of long dead animals littered the floor. Ron kicked at one of the skeletal remains at his foot, noting the crunchiness of the corpse. His sensors showed no dangerous animals in the area. Only small insects and rodents that occasionally skittered by. Ignoring the corpses for the time being, he led the group to the farthest corner of the giant cave and up a path that formed a natural staircase of sorts. The slope led into another cave system, all filled with dozens more crystals. Ron settled for a corner in the first chamber they entered. Another tunnel on the far side of the chamber led further up. The rest of the room was lit up with crystals, making it easy to spot any movement in the area if their sensors didn't pick it up first.
"Unload here, we need some time to get a hold of the situation," Ron ordered.
OOM set his eyes on establishing lookouts posted on pieces of crumbling rocks scattered around their position. He looked over to his usual crew, "R-7B and R-23E, position yourselves behind these rocks and calibrate your guard modules"
"Roger," They replied in unison.
OOM looked over to the rest of the group. He'd made note of most of their unit numbers in his database. Picking one at random, he looked for another droid to put on guard duty, "R-U5, get set up on one of these rocks to use as cover and keep a lookout on that entrance where we came from"
R-U5 nodded, trudging over to his marked position.
Gathering into a group of three, Ron, Rev, and OOM huddled behind a pillar at the very edge of the chamber. A crystal illuminated all three of them in a green hue.
"I do not know how many attackers we might have searching for us, but we need to be cautious moving forward. I believe we should fortify our position here, let our brothers recharge if need be, and wait for at least a day. If no one comes, we will head upward to the surface," Ron explained.
"That is a sound plan. My only worry is how many attackers we might have to face. If you say it is the Republic, they could send out an unlimited supply of clones to take us down"
"They're calling themselves the Empire now," Rev reminded him, "But I don't think it was them. If it was, we'd be dead already. They wouldn't send out a single fighter to deal with a group of Separatists"
"We are not Separatists, not anymore at least," Ron replied, "They only believe we're Separatists because of our ship. Like I have been saying, once we attain a new ship, they will leave us be. But whoever is attacking us must be some sort of mercenary they sent out to deal with our small group. Our former masters were fond of using such means to eliminate our enemy, I assume the Empire is doing the same. Whatever the case, we need to deal with them now before they become a bigger threat. No one must know of our presence. The galaxy loathes battle droids now. That is why we need these disguises to even think about interacting with organics," he pointed over to the two handmade coats he'd crafted. They were laid out on a dome-shaped rock near a bundle of crystals. Luckily he'd thought of salvaging them at the last minute, "I doubt our attackers know that we are droids. If they find out and spread the word, our brothers will be forever doomed and we will be wiped out"
"We can't do much about finding out who our attacker is right now. I think we should stick to your plan and stay down here for now," Rev replied.
OOM nodded in agreement, "A day should be sufficient, I will have each droid rotate out of guard duty"
"I will notify the troops of our plan," Ron said.
After a brief explanation, the group hunkered down inside the chamber. Some of them worked on organizing their supplies, others like R-U5 and Rags who finally reattached his arm, decided to work on reprogramming the B2.
Taking up guard himself, Ron couldn't help but constantly speculate as to who exactly was attacking them.
Kano settled the ship down onto one of the many flat plains in the area. On most sides, the open field was surrounded by several plateaus, covered in more dying grass. A small canyon opened up in front of his ship, revealing the ravine where the Separatist's ship had fallen. Plumes of smoke coughed out of the wide crevice.
The Separatists had been emitting another radio signal encoded with their signature. They had been practically asking to be shot down. Kano had been overjoyed when the ship offered no resistance to his shots, 'This should be easy,' he thought at first, but then he'd reminded himself of the fact that they were ex-military. Even if they were fools, they could still be dangerous. He'd learned that lesson long ago when he first started his bounty-hunting career.
He equipped himself with all sorts of trinkets to counter any sort of military weapons the Separatists might have on hand. He'd strapped a jamming device to his waist, a scrambler to his radio, a defusing device for any explosives that might come his way, a transceiver to mark his position, and equipped himself with the CR-2, a blaster that was most effective at close-range.
Kano looked down into the ravine, the smoke from the ruined ship below made it impossible to see any sort of movement. He surveyed the area where he'd landed for any opening to safely head down and inspect the ship. On the side of one of the many rocky plateaus in the area, a small dark opening on the ground stood out. It was completely void of light. It almost felt as if the abyss called to him, beckoning him inside. He attached a flashlight onto the barrel of his blaster, taking a peek inside the cave entrance. Inside was a tight tunnel that eventually opened up into a wider cave. In the far distance, a small glint of green light shone through the darkness.
He forced his way through the tight opening, having to relax his body in order to fit his abdomen through. Pieces of the walls around him cracked and crumbled, nearly throwing pebbles into his eyes. Annoyed, he swiped away at his face as he finally made it through. He stumbled onto his feet, sweeping the room for any enemies. There were no sounds, not even the skittering of any insects.
His shoes audibly crushed the rocks under his feet, he slowed down his pace upon hearing the cacophony of crackles.
'I'm getting rusty,' he thought. A bad omen considering the competence of his target.
Doing a quick review of his bounty-hunting principles in his head, he trudged along until he finally made it to the first chamber of glowing crystals.
'Show no mercy. Blind their eyes, take out the feet, blow apart their arms, and put them to an end. Those principles can also work against you. No fight is fair, assume they will be just as ruthless as you,' he recited the words in his head. The life of a bounty hunter was cruel but cruelty was all he'd ever known. Naturally, he'd gravitated towards the life of a mercenary and relished in being able to live in his natural state of being.
The area was barren of life. All around him, the green crystals seemed to pulsate, growing darker then brighter as if they were the heartbeat of the cave. Two paths were on opposite ends of the chamber. One on the left, the other on the right. Going with his gut, he chose the right path as the crystals doubled in number.
As he ventured further, more and more of the crystals began pulsating, washing over every chamber he passed like a wave. He brushed it off, focusing on his surroundings and trying his best to suppress the crunching of the rocks below his feet. There were pillars scattered about the entirety of the cave systems, creating various avenues for an ambush. He crouched and continued at the same pace, using the pillars himself for cover. He was irked by the dancing shadows he would inadvertently produce thanks to the lights from the crystals.
Eventually, he came upon an opening to a much larger set of chambers, all interconnected through tight corridors. Some almost appeared artificial with how straight-edged they appeared, as if cut by a laser.
One of his sensors buzzed in his pocket. He brought it out. It was his electronics mapping device. Up ahead, in the very next chamber, several points glowed on the device's interface.
'This must be it,' Kano thought. He rechecked his equipment before heading in, hugging the wall to his left. Along the far side of the chamber, Kano spotted several boxes painted gray and white with a familiar insignia on the side. He slowly settled into a prone position and crawled forward until he was right up against a cluster of crystals that stood tall out of the ground.
For a moment he stopped to listen. On the opposite end of his current position, he could hear strange hissing noises but no voices.
Slowly, he peered out, spotting a droid tucked against one of the rock pillars in the room.
'Droids? I thought they were deactivated'
He looked again, thinking perhaps he'd mistaken what he'd seen. To his surprise, the droid had moved slightly further inside his cover. Only revealing his metal hand peeking out from the rock he was pushed up against.
'The seppies always did have a soft spot for droids, maybe they reactivated them. Should make this easier at least,' Kano thought back to the many times he'd encountered the droids, noting how weak they were when few in number. Although, he noticed these droids were different. They were behind cover of all things. The battle droids he was familiar with weren't the type to do such a thing, 'They must've done something to them'
He reviewed his equipment. Taking a look at his blaster, he made a note to only shoot for the chest. The spread on the CR-2 was too sporadic and volatile to confidently go for a head-shot.
Kano looked down to his electronic mapping device, noting how much time had passed thanks to his slow movements, 'Need to get this done quick, my money's waiting,' he looked at the device before him as an idea popped into his head.
Peering over once more, he noticed the droid had shuffled again, moving further out from his cover.
He grabbed at the corner of the electronic mapping device and flung it to his left. It landed with a loud metallic clang at the foot of another entrance of the cave.
The droid he'd been watching leaned further out from his position, revealing his abdomen.
Kano immediately jumped at the opportunity, landing a burst on the droid. The B1 fell backwards back into cover after being hit.
Afterwards, a series of hisses sounded out from the opposite end of the room.
"R-23E's hit sir," R-U5 reported over their radio.
The rest of the droids reflexively pressed up against any cover they could find and pulled the blasters from their holsters.
OOM cursed himself for not having taken more caution with his positioning, "Our marksman is down? And why have you not reported the attacker? Any movement in the area should be obvious," He steeled his circuits as a flow of anger washed through them. Their best unit was shot down so easily. Perhaps these droids weren't as competent as he'd thought.
"They're not showing up on my sensors"
Thinking that R-U5 was malfunctioning, OOM verified his report with a quick scan he took himself. He was right, nothing was showing up.
"We'll have to use our eyes," OOM set himself up behind the pillar where he'd conferred with Ron and Rev earlier, both of whom were set up behind another crumbling piece of rock in the center of the room.
"I will take a look," Ron said. He took a peek out from above their position then quickly darted back down, taking a quick picture of the landscape before them, "Those crystals are making this much more difficult than it should be. I don't see anyone," he scrutinized every inch of the photo he'd taken. The green hue of the crystals warped his view of anything beyond the middle of the chamber.
The droids quieted down as they settled into their position across the back of the room, Ron put all his focus on his audio receptors but could hear nothing. And still, they did not know the number of attackers that were before them.
There was no doubt in his mind now that this person or these people were bounty-hunters. They bore the tell-tale signs of a professional and were actively jamming their sensors.
"Perhaps if we all charge at the same time we could overpower our attacker," OOM suggested.
"We don't know how many there are, hold positions," Ron replied.
"I only saw the blaster fire but I think it might only be one sir," R-U5 said.
"We don't know that, and I'd rather not check again or risk our lives. Let me see if we have anything on hand to help us see from cover without exposing ourselves," Ron said.
He moved from cover towards the crates behind him. Pushing backwards with his feet, he made his way to the crates. Suddenly, he felt a cluster of crystals on his back. He attempted to move around them but accidentally tripped on one of the smaller clusters, causing him to stand fully upright as he struggled to maintain balance. It was enough time for their attacker to let out another burst of blaster fire. The green burst of light blinded Ron for a moment before hitting him in the chest, sending him crashing backwards onto the stone floor.
Rev immediately crawled over and dropped down beside him, bringing him back into cover. He touched the scorch mark on Ron's abdomen, his systems indicating the surface of his armor was well above five hundred degrees Celsius.
"Ron's down! Rags come over here and help him!" Rev yelled out.
"No! Do not move from your positions. We do not know where they are," OOM countered, "I have seen many droids take a full burst of blaster fire before, some get up, others do not. There is not much we can do"
Rev looked over to the crates but remembered they had lost their repair equipment, 'I-I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, Ron,' he desperately searched through his database for any information on how to recover a droid from overheating but there was nothing. Their creators had always planned to scrap and recycle them, never to rescue them from death.
OOM looked over to the rest of the droids, noting how spaced out they were, "Here is the plan. I will provide covering fire while one of you on the other end of the room can take a look and see if you spot the enemy"
"I'll take a look sir," C-5B replied.
"Copy that. Once you hear me fire, begin surveying the area"
"Roger"
OOM looked back to Rev who was still frozen beside Ron, "Staring at him will not improve his condition. Get focused, Rev"
Rev thought back to what Ron had said to him on Akiva. How he needed to learn to lead the group on his own. Ron had believed in him, in his abilities. It wouldn't sit well with him if he were to crumble so quickly with the lack of Ron's presence. He gathered his bearings and drew his blaster, returning his attention to the situation at hand.
"Covering fire," OOM let out a wild stream of blaster bolts across the entire opposite end of the room.
C-5B leaned out far enough to spot the glint from a shiny boot tucked behind a cluster of crystals before darting back into cover. His sensors did not indicate any additional life forms.
"Only one sir, I've marked the position," C-5B reported.
"Good work," OOM felt his circuits light up with excitement and anger. He did not seek to quell it this time, "Everyone, fire on the marked position. Now"
The rest of the droids, nine in total, let out one gigantic wave of blaster fire directed at the cluster of crystals Kano hid behind. The crystals burned bright, illuminating the entirety of the room before exploding, sending shrapnel in every direction. Kano bore the brunt of the explosion. Crystals impaled his chest and arms, sending him flying into the tunnel where he'd come from.
'Damn, thought there were less…' Kano thought, '...Forgot the thermal detonators,' he desperately clutched at his chest as blood began pouring out of his wounds, 'It only takes one slip up…,' his vision blurred and darkened as his body succumbed to his injuries.
R-7B pushed forward, confirming Kano's death and clearing the rest of the room for any other enemies they might've missed, "All clear," he reported.
OOM's CPU throttled down in a sigh of relief. He looked over to Rev who had begun dragging Ron over to Rags. He rushed over to R-23E, his body still frozen in place.
Together with R-7B, he carried R-23E over to the generator alongside Ron's body.
Rev hesitated to do anything else for a moment, "Is he still alive?" he asked looking at Rags.
"I can hook up to his body, see what I can do, but I'm not very good at handling our own hardware," Rags replied.
R-U5 crouched down beside Rags, "I have some experience tinkering with droids, most likely more than any of you. I can give it a try"
The rest of the droids gathered around their fallen brothers.
Horrified at the fact that nobody was guarding the perimeter, OOM set up a position with R-7B and C-05 further out into the chamber, overlooking the two entrances. He scolded himself for not setting up their defenses further out. The tunnel where Kano had come from was a tight fit and perfect for defense. The other was much wider but was long enough to make it easy to spot an intruder. It was a major blunder, 'I failed and now our two most valuable units are down,' OOM thought. This guard duty would serve as good punishment for him to reflect and keep an eye out for the rest of the group.
They all understood what death truly meant for them now. There were no more factories to have them recycled and no repair stations if they were to be injured. Every failure would deal twice the blow.
In the past OOM had made such errors but none so severe to cause his own death, 'Perhaps I never was a good commander,' OOM shook his head, 'I wouldn't be here if that was true. I am here because I learn from the past. I must not make the same mistake again. It was a simple lapse of judgment due to the sudden attack we endured. And it must not happen again,' he logged the event into his database. A strange painful jolt shook his body as he saved the memory into his database, as if his CPU wished to erase the memory rather than save it.
R-U5 leaned back from Ron's body, "His logs indicate that his systems overheated, causing him to shut down. The same goes for R-23E. They might come back online if we let them cool down. Although, that might take some time," R-U5 reported.
Rev felt somewhat relieved. At the very least, they still had a chance at recovering the both of them.
The rest of the droids looked to Rev for further orders. It felt strange to have all the attention, he'd experienced the same sensation before back on Felucia: A pressure in his joints and on his CPU. This time, he felt prepared.
Standing over the group, he scanned each of them, noting every scar and stain on their bodies, "Let's hold position here until they recover and wait to see if anyone else comes down here looking for us," It was a simple order but a step forward nonetheless. Better than to lie down and die as his systems wished to do, 'That must be some of my past programming left over,' he thought, fighting as best he could against it. He couldn't let Ron down after going through so much.
The droids nodded in agreement, their pistons hissing with the movement of their heads.
"Roger that," Rags said. He looked back to Ron's lifeless body, "Do you think he'll be alright?"
Rev hesitated to answer. Truthfully, he didn't know, "I…I hope so"
He shook his head and looked for something to keep him occupied. Overthinking things always lead to his downfall. He relayed his orders to OOM who nodded without saying a word.
OOM gathered up his small squadron, "Let's clean up this body, search him for anything that might be of use to us"
The crew patted down Kano's corpse and stripped him of every possible item they could find. OOM nearly wanted to crush the jammer he'd found on the man, but it would no doubt be of great use to them in the future. His blaster was snatched up by R-7B who found it to be to his liking. It allowed for a much more aggressive form of combat. If only his chassis was much bulkier. Perhaps one day he could upgrade his armor.
OOM salvaged the flashlight from the blaster. They needed a bit of redundancy in their equipment as illustrated by their near-death encounter thanks to the jammer that had blinded them. He would've died consumed by rage had they been killed off by a single opponent.
C-05 recovered the rest of his equipment, laying it down in a neat line beside the cave walls. His eyes wandered to the blinking light of a transceiver, "Uh sir, should I destroy this," he held it up for OOM to see.
"A transceiver? Destroy it immediately"
C-05 crushed it with one hand, "It was blinking, it might have been sending out a signal already"
OOM wanted to revive Kano and beat him to a bloody pulp and kill him a second time. He let his systems cool down before responding, "I will report this to our new commander. Go store this equipment and return to your positions"
He hastily made his way over to Rev, still at Ron's side, and gave him a review of their findings.
"Transceiver? So does this mean we have to move?" Rev said, his head tilting.
"If that is what you wish"
"I'll be honest with you, I'm still getting used to being a commander. What do you think I should do?"
"Stick to your plan. Stay here for one day and then move," OOM responded. He was delighted to finally have more of a say in their planning now. Although, considering his blunder, he wondered if he would only bring about their defeat.
"Alright. I just don't want to leave him," Rev said looking at Ron, setting a hand over his abdomen where he'd been struck. His sensors indicated he'd already begun cooling down, "I can't leave him"
"I understand. There were plenty of times where I was forced to leave behind one of my own squad-mates. We would receive replacements, and yet it would still feel as if someone was missing"
Rev stayed silent, only staring at Ron.
'Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say,' OOM thought. He shrugged off the issue to focus on their attacker's body.
"Throw that thing down the ravine," OOM ordered.
R-7B and C-05 happily dragged it all the way to the path where they'd come from. It didn't take long to dispose of it. Though, the blood left behind would surely give their position away. OOM was counting on the fact that they would be off the planet within a day.
The rest of the night passed by in silence with OOM only speaking to rotate droids in and out of guard duty while the rest continued with their duties. Now conscious of the fact that a jammer could be used against them, he kept a lookout himself without a reliance on their sensors. Their dependence on technology was obvious to him now. They needed to go back to more conventional means of combat, get away from thinking they still had an army behind their every move. He contemplated new strategies in unconventional warfare using the knowledge he'd gained during the Clone Wars and from the books he'd read. Occasionally, he glanced over to R-23E, feeling a strange electric buzzing in his abdominal wiring.
None of the droids had ever felt much when seeing one of their brothers fall in battle. It was the nature of war. To them, a natural and daily occurrence. But now the war was over and their troops were scarce and they were no longer restrained by their programming and suddenly the weight of it all finally descended on them. Seeing their brother's injured and still bodies, they finally felt what Ron had felt back on Naboo: The urge to keep living, in spite of their programming and original purpose.
For Rev, it was an agonizing wait. He'd hooked up Ron and R-23E to the generator, cleaned up their chassis and waited. There wasn't much else to distract him from the fact that Ron could still be dead. Even if he woke up, that wouldn't mean his memory would still be intact. But if he'd endured dozens of deaths already, surely he could survive another. At least that's what Rev told himself to stay sane. The darkness of the cave around him didn't help.
To ease his worry, he went through his memories. Immediately, he shifted through all that had Ron in them. There was a period of time where they'd spent a great deal of time together even during intense fighting, finding ways to make the most of their time while still upholding their duties. Those brief periods of respite were the only memories he truly cherished from the war. And now, there would possibly be no more chances to speak with him. Their last patrol was on Hypori, the day he felt he'd become connected to Ron in a way that was different to their connection with the rest of the droids around them. They'd gone through the later half of the war together, somehow never being brought apart. Perhaps someone had seen their combat performance while working together and had made sure they'd never be separated. Whatever the case, it had deepened their bond and understanding of one another in a way that only organics had been able to produce in the past.
Now their bond had been broken by a simple burst of blaster shots. He cursed their bodies for being so brittle and weak. One day they would strengthen their armor. Their creators had made them as such to be manufactured for cheap in order to supply the war. And now the war was done, rebuilding was now their primary objective and that would take quite some time. Stronger armor would be a great help to them. But that was far off, first they would need to establish Ron's sanctuary. No matter what would happen in the coming days, he would put all his life into fulfilling Ron's wish.
He tore his mind away from thinking of Ron and set up to recharge on the generator, forcing his systems into sleep mode.
