Chapter 4: Downfall of a Droid

After suffering a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of General Grievous, the Republic's foothold in the Outer Rim is in jeopardy. Commissioned to protect the strategic world of Bothawui, Anakin Skywalker and his weary battle group are all that stands between the system and domination by the Droid Army.

Aboard the Resolute Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka along with Anubis who has been granted authorization to accompany General Skywalker's fleet as a liaison between the Grand Army of the Republic and Sirius are discussing a plan of action as a fleet led by General Grievous is coming.

"Among our most recent losses was the battle group at Falleen. The Separatist fleet commanded by General Grievous is headed your way." Obi-Wan via hologram debriefs Anakin.

"Seems like that coward always knows where and when to attack us."

"You're heavily outnumbered, Anakin. I advise retreat."

"If we run, the Separatists will take control of this sector. I can't let them do that."

"And that is your problem."

"Master Kenobi is right. We should regroup. We don't stand a chance against...

"Ahsoka...

"Suicide is not the Jedi way, Master."

"You should listen to your Padawan."

"As you listen to yours, my old master? No, we're going to stay and fight. And I think I know how to beat Grievous at his own game."

Soon after the separatist fleet emerges from hyperspace heading right towards General Skywalker's fleet. Grievous orders his ship to fly through the asteroid field that surrounds the system. The Resolute launches its own squadron led by Skywalker to engage.

"Gold Squadron, tighten formation, Slow approach, Let's draw them in."

"Yes, sir."

{R2-D2 Beeping}

"Don't worry, Artoo. Grievous is falling right into our trap."

"Resolute command to Gold Leader. We are standing by." Ahsoka says monitoring on the Bridge.

Enemy closing to Zone 6.

"Patience, Ahsoka."

"Zone 4."

"Zone 3."

"They're right on top of us! Should we commence firing?"

"Wait... Wait..."

Just then the separatist fleet opens fire on the Republic Cruisers. The Deflector shields are just barely holding,

"We're outgunned! We're not gonna last a Mynock minute out here!"

"Hang on, Ahsoka. We've got them right where we want them."

"Watch your stabilizer, Gold 6!"

Just then one of the Cruisers is destroyed by the overwhelming firepower of the separatist fleet

"It's no good. Incoming's too heavy."

Gold six is destroyed along with another ship.

"Gold Squadron, take evasive action!"

"Sir, yes, sir! Breaking off!"

{R2-D2 Beeping}

"No, Artoo, we're not retreating. Good thing you gave us that extra power."

"Ahsoka, they're in position Unveil our little surprise."

Right away, Master. Rex, old boy, Anubis it's time you guys joined the party.

"With pleasure, sir." Rex says piloting a republic tank

"Gladly" Anubis piloting a tank of his own

The rest of the 501st have positioned themselves on a nearby asteroid right behind the separatist ships. The tanks open fire destroying one separatist ship.

"Forward Cannon let them have it" Ahsoka orders as the remaining republic Cruisers open fire one the Separatist ships. Now the ships are being attacked from both sides with nowhere to go, and just like that another Separatist ship is destroyed.

"This is too easy" Anakin says as he bombs the bridge of another separatist ship.

Grievous knowing, he has lost this battle abandons ship and jumps in his personal fighter to make a quick escape. Anakin seeing this immediately gives chase.

Meanwhile back on the bridge of the Resolute Ahsoka orders all guns to target the remaining separatist command ship.

"Let's finish this, all batteries target that command bucket."

Anakin continues to pursue Grievous as the battle rages around them.

"He's powering up his hyperdrive Artoo, Hang on"

"More Speed, Artoo" But Anakin's fighter is damaged

{R2-D2 Beeping}

"See what you can do about that, Buddy"

Anakin relentlessly purses Grievous locking on to his fighter, but the damage to his own fighter worsens.

"Uh-oh, I got a bad feeling about this." Anakin braces as the fighter begins to flip on side and spin out of control."

Later aboard the Resolute. Anakin is being looked over by the medical droid after having narrowly survived but Artoo is missing. Anakin awakens to see Ahsoka, Anubis, and Rex looking on."What happened?"

"You owe Anubis your skin, Skyguy."

"Just doing what I can, It was your plan that won the day."

"Grievous is AWOL, but his fleet of tinnies is nothing but spare parts."

"Good work, both of you. Where's Artoo?"

I'm sorry, Master, he's gone.

Congratulations, Anakin. Your resourcefulness always amazes me.

Thank you, Master.

-You look troubled.

-I lost Artoo in the field.

Well, R2 units are a dime a dozen. I'm sure you'll find a suitable replacement.

I could take a squad out there, track him down.

Anakin, it's only a droid.

You know attachment is not acceptable for a Jedi.

It's not just that, Master. How do I put this?

I didn't wipe Artoo's memory.

What? He's still programmed with our tactics and base locations?

If the Separatists get a hold of him...

What possessed you not to erase that droid's memory?

Master Obi-Wan, sometimes Artoo having that extra information has come in handy.

Well, then find that droid, Anakin. Our necks might very well depend on it.

Right away, Master.

Ahsoka prepares the Twilight for their mission. While walking toward the ship Anakin and Anubis catch up.

"You know i didn't want to overstep back there but General Kenobi seened a little cold back there when it came to Artoo and what's with the no attachments thing?

"Jedi are not supposed to form attachments with anyone. To be a Jedi requires complete devotion to the Order. A Jedi are allowed to like people and things but must never let those attachments consume them otherwise we risk losing ourselves to the Dark Side of the Force. At least that's how I've interpreted over the years but found it easier said than done. My Master means well his devtion to the Jedi Order is without question. Artoo has been alongside me ever since Master Qui-Gon found me on Tattoine. We've been through alot together Artoo has saved my skin more times than i can count." Anakin explained.

"Understandable i couldn't imagine a life without Gideon after he's served my family for so long even now after everything that i lost i still have him. On Sirius we are taught that no one is left behind Dead or Alive we bring them home and in the short time I've been here I've seen how valuable Artoo is to you and this fleet we'll get him back." Anubis assures Anakin.

With a nod Anakin and Anubis board the Twilight and find Ahsoka with a newer looking Astromech.

"You ready to go snips"

"Master they just delivered your replacement Astromech Droid this is R3-S6." Gesturing to the black and gold droid. 'I've heard the new R3's are far faster in thinking skills and more powerful than the old R2 units."

Anakin walks past without so much acknowledging the droid presence.

"And best of all, Master he's gold. A gold droid for gold leader of gold sqaudron?"

Anakin and Anubis stare at them both with Anakin clearly unimpressed.

"You can't replace Artoo" Anakin says as he walks off.

"Don't worry Goldie you'll get to know him later, com on"

Later the Trio aboard the Twilight search the battlefield for any sign of Artoo. Huge chunks of what used to be ships are littered everywhere.

" There's my ship" Anakin points to the remains of his fighter only to discover Artoo is not with the ship. "Artoo is gone, he must have escaped, he's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Artoo isn't on the scanners, but there is a ship out there." Ahsoka monitoring the scanners

"Looks like a Trandoshan scavenger, probably combing the battlefield for salvage."

"The historical texts say..."

"Archive texts can only teach you a part of the picture, my young Padawan. You'll learn a lot more through some hands-on experience."

The Twilight boards the scavenger ship, the trio enter the airlock.

"Ugh! What's that smell? Ugh." Ahsoka says overcome with a foul smell

"You'll get used to it."

"Not Really, I've only ever encountered Trandoshans a few times and i could never get over the smell" Anubis adds

Suddenly a small security droid emerges from the door looking directly at Anakin.

"Hey! We'd like to buy a droid. You selling?"

After a moment the Airlock opens slightly, and the scavenger climbs through.

"We're looking for an R2 unit. You happen to pick up any recently?"

"An R series? No, no, not for a long time."

"Pookums here really has her heart set on another R2. She lost the last one."

"Pookums"? Oh, brother." Ahsoka whispers to herself not appreciating the cheesy pet name.

Anubis chuckles a little bit at the ridiculous name.

"Nice R3 unit. Trade for a C-14?"

"Not on your life, lizardo."

"Now, let's see how much I have here." Anakin counting a handful of Republic Credits

The Scavenger immediately takes notice "Tell you what, I may have an R2 unit buried somewhere in the hold." He leads the trio the cargo hold.

"Help yourself but be careful. There are many unique items down here."

The trio explore the dark cargo hold crates and droid scattered all around organization whatsoever.

"Master?" Ahsoka points out two Assassin droids leaning against some crates both droids deactivated.

"These must be the unique items we were warned about. These assassin droids can be very unpredictable."

"They're switched off. They don't look so tough to me."

"Nothing looks tough to you. Take my word for it, they're deadly."

"R3, access the computer and find the inventory manifest. Artoo's got to be around here somewhere."

R3 plugs into a nearby terminal just as he does Anakin hears a faint whistle.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That sounded like Artoo!"

"How can you tell the difference"

"It came from down here." Anakin runs over to a nearby door that's locked. "R3, get this open."

R3 toggles at the terminal when the lights to the Cargo Bay are switched on.

"We don't need the lights on!"

"No, Goldie, the hatch." Ahsoka point towards the door.

"Never mind. I'll do it myself." Anakin ignites his lightsaber and begins to cut through the door.

R3 continues to toggle with the Terminal when unbeknownst to the trio the assassin droids reactivate. The droids sneak up on Ahsoka when Anubis turns and notices the two droids.

"Ahsoka!" Anubis takes out one of his blasters and fires and hits one of the droids. The other grabs Ahsoka from behind.

"Master!"

Anubis blast the other droid getting it to release Ahsoka and follows it up with kick pushing the droid back. Anakin sees the commotion and runs over, and force pushes the droids into each other.

"Goldie, shut these droids down!"

"I'm afraid R3 is a little slow on the uptake."

The Assassin Droids recover and begin firing at the trio. Anakin and Ahsoka deflect using their lightsabers and Anubis returns fire. The droids then jump to higher position raining down blaster fire. Like acrobats, they jump from one area to another making it increasingly difficult to hit.

"Back at you, piston head!" Deflecting a blaster shot right back at the droid. The droid jumps down and kicks a crate at Ahsoka then turns its attention to Skywalker who is distracted with the other droid. Seeing this Ahsoka leaps and slices the droid right down the middle.

"You were right about the hands-on experience, gramps. Much better than the archives."

"Good job, but you missed one." Anakin says cutting down the other.

"As for you, stubby, you'd make a poor excuse for a light switch." Anakin glares at R3 with content.

"I'm sure he did his best."

"His best to get us killed? Artoo would have never made that mistake! R3 can't even get the door open."

R3 toggles the terminal one last time and the door finally opens.

"A little late, stubby." As the door opens the scavenger appears Anakin looking around ignites his lightsaber.

"If you didn't have a lightsaber, you'd be a dead man." The Scavenger threatens.

"Where's my droid?"

"Master! What are you doing? R2's not here."

After a moment Anakin deactivates his lightsaber "Let's get out of here." Anakin walks away.

"I told you there were no R2 droids down here! Look at this mess you made! You owe me, Jedi!" The scavenger shouts at Anakin before turning to see a blaster in his face held by Anubis "Another word out of you and it'll be your last" Anubis warns the scavenger before walking off.

As soon as the Trio leaves the scavenger contacts none other than General Grievous himself and reveals that he in fact does have Artoo and is planning on turning him over the General. Meanwhile back on the Resolute Anakin briefs Obi-Wan of their mission.

"We have to assume that R2 was destroyed in the explosion that claimed your ship."

"Yes, Master." Anakin says soberly

"Our intelligence has confirmed that Grievous' spies have been intercepting our transmissions."

"He must have some sort of secret listening post out there somewhere." Ahsoka deduces.

"That would explain how he's been able to ambush our fleets." Anubis adds.

"Split up your squadrons, Anakin. Find that base and destroy it."

"It's as good as done, Master Kenobi."

"May the Force be with you both."

"I'll sweep the outer corridor, while the rest of your ships focus on the center." Anakin briefing Rex, Ahsoka and Anubis.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Rex Questions.

"I'm sure. More than one fighter will just draw too much attention."

"Yes, sir."

"Master, you'll need a droid to help you navigate."

"I think stubby is defective."

"Give him another chance, Master. This is the perfect time for you and him to, you know, bond."

"All right. Come on, stubby." Anakin says reluctantly.

On the bridge of the Resolute Rex and Ahsoka monitor the other ships progress.

"May the Force be with you, Master." Ahsoka says to herself.

Unbeknownst to Anakin, Anubis has snuck away and boarded the Waverider to accompany him. Using the Waverider's advanced cloaking Anubis will be able to follow completely undetectable.

"Gideon do you have a lock on Skywalker's fighter?"

"Yes Sir, signal is reading strong"

"Good, make sure our cloaking systems are operational, after last time there was no way, we were going to let him go alone. His insistence on it is insane and from what i heard about him so far this is a regular thing. Also, the R3 unit I can't put my finger on it, but something is off, when we were on that scavenger ship the droid was making the most basic of mistakes. An R3 unit like that, I have seen much older astromechs more competent.

"Your instincts never led you astray, I'm positive they won't now."

The Waverider makes the jump into hyperspace following Skywalker.

"R3, have you verified those coordinates on the search grid?"

"Okay, let's see what we can find. Activate long-range scanners."

Suddenly the control console flashes red.

"No, not the tracking beacon! Shut it down, R3! Shut it down!"

Anubis following close behind see the beacon appear on his scanner.

"What the...? Why did he activate his tracking beacon? Gideon ready weapons I'm already not liking this."

"That's Master Skywalker's tracking beacon. What's he doing?" Ahsoka seeing the beacon herself.

"Rex, get a hold of as many men as you can."

"Right away, sir."

"Why do I have to do everything?" Anakin says deactivating the beacon.

"Let's hope Grievous didn't hear that."

Just as he says that 3 Separatist ships appear right in front of him.

"Yeah, he heard it."

Time to leave. Anakin says as the ships open fire.

"Plot a course out of here and prep the hyperdrive engines." Anakin orders R3, But R3 instead detaches the hyperdrive engines.

"What are you doing? I said, prep them, not drop them!"

Anakin desperately tries to reconnect but it's too late as the engines are destroyed.

"Where's R2 when I need him?"

Anakin desperately tries to evade a squad of vulture droids now pursuing him. All at ones they fire missiles at him.

[R3 Beeps}

"I know. I know! Missiles, I hate missiles. We're going on the offensive, R3. Get ready to cut the engines."

[R3 Beeps]

Will you just do what I tell you?

"Hit the stabilizers, R3." Anakin maneuvers his fighter 180 degrees and blasts the incoming missiles. "All right, R3. Let's get turned around before those fighters catch up to us." The fighters close in on Anakin and open fire. Anakin manages to destroy a few of them.

"You know, if this ship blows up, you go with it!"

[R3 Beeps]

"What do you mean, the laser guns won't fire?" The fighters close in when suddenly they're destroyed by Anubis who reveals himself.

"Need some assistance General?" Anubis asks sarcastically.

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving your skin again. You didn't really think I let you come out here alone now did you?"

The Twilight piloted by Rex and Ahsoka appears. "Cargo Bay Doors are open You better get inside."

"I'd love to, but R3's having a problem with the engines. Suddenly the fighters' engines roar to life and begin moving again.

Anubis flies in front of Anakin covering him as he flies his fight toward the Twilight cargo bay. "Steady almost there." Anakin's fighter crash lands right in the cargo bay. "I'm inside, Let's get out of here."

"Power it up Rex. We're going right between those tin cans."

The Twilight maneuvers in between the Separatists' ships managing to get right behind them.

"Hit It Rex" The Twilight jumps into hyperspace with Anubis following close behind.

Back on the Twilight Ahsoka greets Anubis, R3 and a very annoyed Anakin.

"Hey, Goldie. What did you think of your first adventure?"

"I'll tell you what I think. I think I'm lucky to be alive! No thanks to this sorry excuse for a droid."

R3 rolls away clearly offended "Great! Now you hurt his feelings." Ahsoka chastises Anakin

"His feelings? What about R2? He's still out there. I know it."

The Twilight flies back to the Resolute to regroup.

With R2 still missing Anakin is more determined than ever to find his friend and bring him home. And with R2 on his way to Grievous, Anubis is unknowingly one step closer to the inevitable confrontation he's long been waiting for. Stay tuned