Chapter 5: Duel of the Droids
Missing in action, Anakin Skywalker's heroic droid navigator R2-D2 was lost in battle. When a desperate search to locate R2, Anakin is forced to take on a new navigator, R3-S6. Now the Jedi embark on a dangerous new mission...to find a secret enemy listening post. Meanwhile, R2-D2 has fallen into the hands of a vile droid smuggler and is on his way to General Grievous...who will surely plunder the Republic's secrets hidden within him.
The Smuggler ship approaches the location of Grievous secret listening post intending to turn over R2 to the separatist for a nice payday. R2, unbeknownst to the smuggler has hardwired into the ship distress beacon to send a signal out to the republic. Back on the Twilight Anakin searches for the secret separatist listening post.
"There's nothing to indicate the presence of an enemy outpost." Rex Reports
"Huh? Master, I'm receiving a strange transmission. Ahsoka suddenly chimes in, "I can't seem to make it out, though. Boost the volume, Goldie."
[R3 toggles with the panel]
"No, you're losing it." Anakin says as he hits a switch and hears a very familiar whistle. "That's R2."
"Uh, that doesn't sound like R2."
"It's him. I could never forget that voice."
"Trace it, Rex."
"Master, our orders were to find the Separatist listening post."
"Perhaps R2 is at the listening post. Did you consider that?"
"We have a lock on the droid's location, sir."
"Prepare to jump to those coordinates."
"Yes, sir."
"Hold on, R2, old buddy. We're coming."
The Twilight and the WaveRider make the jump to hyperspace. Back on the Smuggler's ship the Smuggler has discovered what R2 was doing and neutralizes the droid. The Smuggler docks at the listening post with R2 in tow where the general himself is waiting. Meanwhile the Twilight arrived at the location of the transmission sent by R2.
"Sir, the last transmission came from that moon's upper atmosphere, directly ahead." Rex reports.
"That's a Separatist battle sphere."
"I'm picking up a lot of encrypted chatter."
"Contact Obi-Wan. Stubby, scramble secret code set 1477. I don't want that station to pick this up."
[Obi-Wan appears on hologram]
"Anakin?
"Master, I believe we've found your Separatist listening post."
"Excellent work. Back off and wait. I'll send two mainline cruisers to help you destroy it."
"But R2..."
"We believe my droid, R2, is on board. He's the one that led us here."
"Hmm, this complicates things. You must sneak aboard that station and destroy it before they crack R2's memory banks. I know you're fond of that droid, but he's fallen into enemy hands."
"I could rescue R2."
"No, this is not a rescue mission."
"Keep jamming their scanners. If they spot us, we're dead."
Anubis meanwhile is back on the WaveRider prepping for the mission at hand. As he is about to leave, he gets a strange feeling, and he turns toward his father's shadow saber still in its display. He can't describe what exactly he is feeling but it's like the saber is calling out to him. He opens the display and takes out the saber holding it in his hands. Something is different this time before when he wielded the saber it felt heavy, but now it's as light as feather. He attaches the saber to his belt and leaves to rendezvous with the others.
[Twilight Cargo Bay]
"We're bringing the droid?" ask Rex
"We'll need Goldie to open secured hatches and access the station's computer for us. Oh, and Rex... you get to carry him."
"Ah, that's just great." Rex says annoyed
The Twilight moves into position over the listening post and the cargo bay doors open.
"Follow me, boys!" Ahsoka says jumping first.
Anakin, Anubis and the other clones all share a look before jumping down. They dive until landing safely on top of the station.
"Next time, you're lugging this astromech around." Rex says pointing to his comrades
Anakin cuts a hole in the station, and they all enter undetected. The group makes its way through the station sneaking up on 2 unsuspecting battle droids before quickly destroying them.
"All right, Stubby. Get to work."
R3 connects to a nearby panel and brings up the schematic of the station displaying it.
"We are here. The reactors are 30 levels below us, there." Rex briefs the squad.
"Ahsoka, you and Anubis take the squad and blow up those reactors. Gravity will do the rest. We'll meet in the landing bay."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm just going to have a little look around."
"I hope you find R2 in one piece." Ahsoka says the group splits off to their objectives.
"Does he always do this sort of thing?" Anubis asking Ahsoka
"Yeah, but you get used to it"
Meanwhile the scavenger has unlocked R2's memory banks. Seeing how valuable R2 really the greedy scavenger is tries to increase his fee but Grievous kills him. Meanwhile Ahsoka, Anubis and the rest of the squad make their way to the station's reactors, but R3 falls back until the group are out of sight and contacts Grievous himself revealing to be a spy the entire time. He secretly alerts the general of the group's presence. Ahsoka comes back noticing R3 has fallen behind and retrieves him as they regroup Anubis looks at the droid Suspiciously but keeps moving. Grievous in the meantime has the station's alarm sounded and has his personal Magna Droids guarding R2 while he goes to deal with the squad himself. The Squad finally reaches the reactor room but discovers it's been sealed shut and protected with a ray shield.
"We found the reactor room, sir. The alarm triggered another security door ray shielded." Rex reports to Anakin
"This could take a while to bypass." Ahsoka states
"Good luck with that." Anakin says mockingly
"Go ahead, Goldie. Make me proud." Ahsoka says as R3 as he plugs into the door's terminal
"Oh, this'll be good." Rex says sarcastically which earns him a look from a Ahsoka.
Just then Anubis hears the sound of battle droids marching to their position. "We got company." Anubis alerts the group.
"Do you think R3's going to open up that door any time soon?" Rex asks.
"He's working on it. Patience, Captain."
"I can always hot-wire it, sir." one of the clone troopers' chimes in.
"Hurry up, Goldie."
"We're out of time get ready guys." Anubis says drawing both of his blasters
The droids finally reach the squad and immediately open fire. Ahsoka draws her lightsaber deflecting the blaster fire while Anubis and the clones return fire. In the mist of the battle R3 toggles with the panel and blast door closes.
"What is he doing we need that door open now" Anubis shouts
Soon the squad is being fired upon from both sides of the corridor.
"Rex, droid poppers, now!" Ahsoka orders.
"Droid poppers!" Rex shouts as he throws a droid popper on both sides disabling the rest of the droids.
Meanwhile Grievous orders his guards to take R2 to his ship while Grievous confronts the squad.
"They sent a child to destroy my station?" Grievous says igniting his lightsaber. "The Republic must be running out of Jedi."
"You must be General Grievous. He's just another tinny, boys. Let's scrap him like the rest." Ahsoka says dismissively
Ahsoka duels the general, but he easily overpowers her knocking her back against the wall. Anubis and the rest of the squad open fire but the agile general leaps and knocks out and clears them out. Grievous prepares to finish off Rex but Ahsoka manages to recover and jump in blocking grievous strike.
"Sorry to interrupt your playtime, grumpy, but wouldn't you prefer a challenge?"
"That wouldn't be you." Grievous ignites another lightsaber and engages the young Padawan. Ahsoka holds her own against the general but is clearly outmatched. She notices R3 retreating down the corridor after evading grievous she follows. Meanwhile Anakin manages to find R2 being taken away by the Magna Guards.
''R2!" Anakin says, igniting his lightsaber.
A squad of super battle droids try to stop him, but he cuts them down with ease. However, he is once again separated from R2 by another door.
Meanwhile Ahsoka has retreated to a storage room, but the general is hot pursuit. "Where is the fight you promised me, youngling?" Grievous calls out. While hiding Ahsoka's commlink goes off, Rex, Anubis and another clone have recovered but the other members of the squad are dead.
"Ahsoka, it's me, Rex. There are only three of us left. Should we abort the mission?"
"No, complete the mission. Set the charges and rendezvous at the landing bay."
"But sir..."
"That's an order, Rex. I'll keep the general busy. Ahsoka out."
"She's distracting Grievous. Come on. We still got a job to do."
"You guys go I'll go after Ahsoka"
Rex with a nod takes off toward the reactor room while Anubis goes to find Ahsoka.
"Come on out little one I'm looking for you. So far, you have failed to impress me."
Ahsoka sees R3 passing by and calls to him. "Goldie, over here." Just then R3 shines a light on Ahsoka giving away her position. "Goldie, no!" She just barley dodges grievous lightsaber. "Ahsoka, we're in the reactor-" The communicator says before being crushed.
"Your friends won't help you. You're stuck with me." Grievous has Ahsoka trapped but she manages to slip away.
Anakin meanwhile finally catches up to the Magna Guards. "You have something that belongs to me." They drop R2 and attack manages to fight them off all while R2 recovers. Just when it seems like all the guards have been destroyed one of them reaches out to Anakin only to be zapped by R2.
"Thanks, R2."
"It's great to see you too, buddy. You don't look so good. You, okay?" Anakin says fixing R2. Just them his communicator goes off but only hears static
"Rex? Rex, can you hear me? R3? R3, is that you? I've got R2. I'll meet you back at the landing bay."
[R2 Beeping]
"R3? Uh, yeah, I had to get a replacement droid."
[R2 Beeps]
Look, sorry, R2. It was Obi-Wan's idea. Look, we'll talk about this later."
"Twilight, this is Skywalker. Rendezvous at the south landing bay immediately for evacuation."
"Acknowledged, General. I'm on my way."
Meanwhile Grievous continues searching for Ahsoka. R3 appears and reports to Grievous unaware Ahsoka is watching from above.
"R3, what have you to report?"
[R3 Beeping]
"That stubby little backstabber."
"So, Skywalker has come for his R2 unit. Go and make certain they do not escape."
The Twilight docks in the hanger and the sole clone piloting the ship exits. Anakin and R2 arrive at the hanger.
"Great, there's the Twilight. Now where's everyone else?"
"Sir."
"Hey, stubby, where's Ahsoka?" Anakin asks R3 who completely ignores him.
Just then Rex arrives. "General Skywalker. Explosives are in place, sir. Objective completed."
"Where is Ahsoka?"
"She engaged General Grievous."
"Alone!?"
She distracted him while we completed the mission. It was on her orders, sir. Kruger went to find her."
"We've got to find them"
"I can take you to them, sir."
Suddenly R3 closes the door before they can leave and then closes the hanger door.
"What is the matter with you? Are you trying to get us killed?"
R3 then Releases and activates the hanger's vulture droids.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, sir."
"That double-crossing droid is a spy." Anakin says, igniting his lightsaber.
Just then a squad of super battle droids arrive and open fire on the group. They take cover while Anakin deflects their blaster fire.
Meanwhile Ahsoka sneaks around lightsaber in hand trying to avoid grievous, But the general surprises her and picking her up by the neck.
"Another lightsaber to add to my collection." Grevious says picking up her lightsaber and igniting it.
"My spy droid, R3, has trapped your precious master. When I'm finished with you, he's next."
"You're wrong. He's gone by now, and he's going to blow up your precious spy station."
"Not this time."
Anubis finally reaches Ahsoka and see the predicament she's in. Before he can do anything, he gets the same weird feeling he got just before the mission. He takes out the Shadow Saber and then the blade begins to glow. Anubis can feel its power pulsating through him.
Back at the hanger Anakin and the rest of the squad engage the droids
"Captain, trigger the explosives."
"But, sir, we're still in the station."
"You just let me worry about the details.
"Sir, yes, sir."
Rex triggers the explosives, and the station is rocked by several explosions. Grievous feels the tremors and while he's momentarily distracted Anubis appears cuts the General's robotic hand off clean freeing Ahsoka from his grasp.
"Come on" Anubis shouts as Ahsoka follows him up into a ventilation duct escaping Grievous.
Back at the Hanger Anakin and the Squad are pinned down by the droids.
"R2, I need you to get the hangar door open." See if there are any controls on the outer platform."
R2 goes off to find the Control Panel, While Grievous escapes the station in his personal fighter. R2 finds the control panel but is confronted by R3
Back in the Hanger Ahsoka and Anubis have regrouped with Anakin and the clones and engage the droids.
"So, what did I miss?"
"Oh, the usual."
"It was foolish of you to take on Grievous by yourself."
"Well, I was leading the mission, and it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Did he tell you your stubby little gold droid pal works for him?"
"He might have mentioned it. I guess we were all fooled."
"General Skywalker, there are fuel cells over here." Rex calls out.
"Get ready, Rex."
Anakin uses the force to toss one of the fuel cells at the droids and Rex shoots it causing an explosion destroying the rest of the droids. R2 in the meantime fights off R3 long enough to access the control panel and open the hanger doors.
"R2 did it."
"Of course, he did it. Now let's get out of here."
The squad board the twilight and take off.
"R2, where are you?"
R2 is about to head back but R3 recovers and is preventing him from leaving. After a brief struggle R2 sends R3 off the platform and is destroyed by falling debris coming from the station
"General Skywalker has gotten into his fighter. Where's he going?"
"He's going after R2."
"I'll be right back. Don't wait for me."
Anakin takes off and flies to where R2 is.
"Come on, R2."
R2 uses his hover jets to fly over to Anakin's fighter and the to take off as the Station falls
Back on the Twilight Anakin debriefs Obi-Wan on their Mission.
"So, let me get this straight, Anakin. You risked the mission, all your men, even your padawan, to save a droid."
"R2 found the listening post, and he saved our lives. We couldn't just leave him there, Obi-Wan."
"Oh, Anakin. One day..."
"I'm glad we got R2 back, Master. But Obi-Wan does have a point."
"Ahsoka, I knew you would complete the mission. Besides, R2 is more than a droid. He's a friend and we don't leave our friends behind we bring them home no matter what. Anakin says as he glances over at Anubis acknowledging their earlier conversation. Anubis nods in response. The Twilight jumps into hyperspace off to their next adventure.