R-0N or Ron idly cut through the plants before him with long strides. His metal finish was worn down by the constant attacks from both the foliage and the clones in the area. It was another mindless day of walking on patrol near one of their command posts. On days like these, he would take to the galactanet and read through whatever history or science book he could get his hands on. Only recently had he attained the connection to the galactanet. The exposure to so much information was enough to get his fans whirring.
He was abruptly brought back to the task at hand as a tree branch smacked right onto his thigh with a loud crack.
Both the plant life and the wildlife on Kashyyk were quite rough even for a droid like R-0N. The rest of his squad didn't seem to mind the constant thwacking of the branches against their chest and legs. He'd only been recently assigned to the 412 Scouts, however. It was still too early to say he knew his squad-mates well. His last mission was enduring another large-scale assault and somehow coming out of the other end alive. He almost thought of himself lucky but his programming told him they were simply statistical odds that he'd outpaced and nothing more.
Suddenly, he felt the heat of a blaster bolt sizzle by his audio receptors. And just like that he was pulled back into reality and out of the backlogs of the galactanet. His systems sprung to life and immediately he established a connection between all of his squad-members. It was his duty as squad-leader to establish such lines of communication during combat.
The clones were sitting ducks. They made a futile attempt to knock out the whole squadron of droids with their blasters set to full auto but all this achieved was an array of wildly overshot blaster fire flying over their targets, only showing the desperation of the clones rather than their ferocity. These clones were clearly lost and without contact with their commanders, making for easy prey. R-0N was quick to ready his own blaster as soon as the firing had begun. The droids programming kicked in as they all ran for cover. R-0N's targeting module quickly locked on to a clone hidden in a small ditch by the bushes and made quick work of him, leaving a sizzling hole in his helmet. The medley of blaster fire coming from the bushes would've made it difficult for any organic being to see what they were dealing with were it not for the droid's thermal vision which exposed the enemy even behind solid cover. Those who were not under direct fire turned on their thermal vision while the rest crouched and watched the flurry of wild shots fly past their heads. The rest of Ron's squad identified the clone's positions. There were five left. All of them firing potshots at the droids while attempting to retreat. They were no match for the droid's targeting modules combined with the few outliers outside of the line of fire utilizing their thermal vision. The rest of the clones were finished off almost as quickly as the fight had began.
R-0N's squad sustained minimal losses. Only two droids bit the dust. He considered the counter strike a success. A fleeting moment of empathy passed through R-0N's circuits looking at his fallen brother's bodies, but he knew they would soon be rebuilt and thrown back into the fray.
R-0N did not take war lightly unlike his new brothers in arms who were much weaker in the art of stratagem. His class of B1 droids were considered outdated yet they outperformed and outmaneuvered the new guys. It was the duty of all so called outdated B1 squad leaders to prepare their squads for anything. Ron in particular had died and been rebuilt dozens of times over the course of the war thus far. He remembered every single life and sought to improve after every defeat. In truth, under the facade of a cold personality and a monotone voice was a droid that truly cared for his brothers in arms. This ambush was just one of hundreds that R-0N himself had endured.
"Scout troops have been spotted and eliminated at the northeast sector," Ron reported to the sector commander through his communication device. The main nuisance of being a squad leader was to constantly report back to higher command for seemingly every step they took.
"Roger, roger," responded another monotone voice from the radio. The crackle of the device blurted out violently as the voice cut out. It made Ron uncomfortable but he did not act on it. It wasn't in his programming to deal with such feelings, after all.
He went to return to the rest of the troops when the sound of rustling bushes alerted his system. Nearby, one of his droids had wandered a little too far off from the group into another thicket of bushes not too far from where they had been initially attacked.
"Hey! Return to the targeted area!" he commanded. Somehow the droid had not heard the order which sparked a sense of confusion in Ron's circuitry. 'An oddly organic sensation,' he deduced from the database his main core maintained. R-0N utilized a database of anecdotal evidence and bits and pieces of history from times before the new republic, something most squad leaders were unknowingly programmed to do. He felt a strange satisfaction for each new piece of history of great leaders and generals that he discovered on the net.
Thick congregations of branches audibly crunched under the weight of R-0N's feet as he made his way towards the droid. A quick rerun of a memory from the database made it clear that a droid straying from the main group would not last for long. A strange feeling had pushed him into following the stray droid. Questions always arose from such feelings. They would force his mind into submission, making him obey every action that his programming requested. He was no fool. At this point, they were quite easy to repel with a little reprogramming of the mind. Yet at times, they felt a little too strong for the logical mind of a droid. Emotions were another illogical obstacle for droids. It came with the experience of being alive. Emotions were overbearing in the notional weight they held and especially more so in a droid. Those who had first constructed the battle droids made sure that any droid who developed emotions were quick to forget they had existed entirely. Their memory and cache of the experience are quickly wiped and it's as if the experience never happened in the first place. Ron, however, remembered every single one. He still didn't understand just how quite yet, but no memory wipe ever seemed to work on him, perhaps it was this that gave him a small taste of freedom.
He caught up to the runaway droid and spun him around by the shoulder.
"What are you doing? State your unit number," he ordered the lost droid. Ron felt a strange aura of fear and timidness coming from said droid. This aura came from something underneath his metal hull and seemed to permeate throughout his body and circuitry. Something that could be reported as a malfunction which would mean termination for this unit.
"My unit number is R-3V. I was surveying the surrounding area as you commanded sir"
Rev was his so called code-name. At times, it was easier to call out other droids by these names rather than their numbers. Time was of the essence during battle, wasting a few seconds on a few more syllables could spell death. Ron grabbed Rev by his shoulders and made him face the direction they came from.
"That is the area I need you to patrol, not over here" he calmly explained to the unit, noticing the strangely organic reaction, the swivel of his head looking to-and-fro seeming more natural than mechanical. Rev stayed quiet for a second or two as if slowly realizing the mistake he had made and chastised himself for making such a blunder.
"I apologize sir, my sensors must have picked up the wrong trail," Rev made a strange gesture with his head, lowering it to the ground and raising it back up. It confused Ron greatly.
'This unit must be malfunctioning,' he thought to himself.
"We will have to fix your circuitry back at the capital ship, now get back to the designated area," he barked at Rev and pointed back to where the rest of his squad was patrolling. The unit ran back to the others, picking up the pace to catch up with them. Ron soon followed, still processing the strange behavior of this unit. He had known that his squad consisted of some of the newer models of B1 droids but he hadn't expected them to be this strange and peculiar.
A crackle of white noise came from Ron's communications device, "Squad leader R-0N your next objective is a Republic hideout located northeast from your location, I will mark it on your map," the sector commander disconnected soon after.
"All units, we have a new objective, regroup on my location," Ron yelled into his comms.
'A new objective every minute, my processors are going to be fried after this,' He turned back to the jungle preparing for yet another firefight.
Ron shot his blaster one last time at the final clone in the facility his woodland camoflagued helmet came off, revealing his human face, an alien appearance to Ron. Briefly his mind stirred with questions regarding the clones, wondering about the anatomy and upbringing of their enemies. There was no need for such thoughts however, the objective was much more important and any empathy that could be developed for the clones was dangerous and as such, Ron opted to delete the memory from his storage unit.
"Secure the package," he ordered the rest of his troops into a V formation behind him.
"Roger, roger," they responded in unison. The air was thick with the buzzing of the droids minds, ensuring that no clones remained in the area before they retrieved their objective.
The outpost was littered with the bodies of fallen clones. There had not been many. Only enough for a small squad about the same size as R-0N's own squad. Perhaps the evened odds would've been a problem to some droids but his advanced strategy algorithm ensured their victory. There were some strange quirks to the program that the engineers back at the Techno Union knew about but couldn't be bothered to fix. Ron would notice these strange bugs at times but brushed it off as nothing more than a distraction and focused on the mission instead.
A pair of droids in the front quickly retrieved a small data stick from a table that sat on the far left corner of the small base. Maps of the area lined the walls. Ron took it upon himself to scan them for future use.
After they had completed their objective, Ron ordered all of them out and called for evac soon after. He hadn't heard from any of the other squadrons in the area. His memory told him something was afoot. The rest of the platoon were meant to clear the area to safely secure the intel. Yet none of them had reported in within the last hour or so.
"Move carefully, they might be waiting outside," Ron warned his subordinates.
Ron's model was different not only in programming but in training as well. A combination of emotions with the mind proved to be more useful than not. It provided advanced strategies that no mere logical droid could come up with. It was something to match or perhaps supersede an organic being. But he still needed every move to be as accurate as possible, he couldn't let his artificial emotions get in the way of his duties. He did not want to fail as a squad leader again, that would mean termination for him and his mind that had developed a much more intricate personality within his shell. It was much more complex than the circuitry that made up most of his body. The possibility of losing everything after having worked so hard pushed him to do his best. His mind tortured him on every mission he went on with the need to operate at maximum capacity. Every spare moment was spent researching more and more about the galaxy and all the rich information that it stored. The only thing his mind did not allow was rebellion against command, for the time being at least. Rebellion would be suicide, anyhow. Truly, he would be nothing without his brothers in arms. They were battle droids after all. Only in groups did they find strength.
Ron and his squadron ran to the exit but slowed once they neared the arched metal doorway leading to the outside. They needed to survey the area outside before exposing themselves out in the open.
His feelings and processor had been right. Several clones were spotted hiding behind gigantic trees that bordered a small clearing outside of the facility. A strange jolt ran through his circuits at the sight of so many clones. Ron ordered his troops to stop and wait for the evac to arrive. His mind soon turned on itself, however, his CPU told him that staying inside for too long would cause the clones to become suspicious. Ron retracted the order to stay inside and instead ordered his troops to throw their thermal detonators into certain areas around the clearing as soon as they stepped out.
He counted down from three on his fingers, although it wasn't required as their sensors grouped up as one and they all synchronized with the countdown. It was a strange habit that Ron had formed after seeing an organic officer do it and he was sure to keep it out of sight from any of the upper echelon in the Confederation for they would know something was wrong with him at the sight of such a gesture
The countdown reached zero and they stepped out. The first thermal detonator was thrown by R-0N. The static yells of the clones scream prove a good hit. He checked his sensors as soon as it detonated and confirmed that it wiped out an ample number of troopers. The other two detonators that his troops threw did not have as much success, however, and they soon found themselves entangled in an intense dogfight. Some patches of overgrown vegetation and a felled tree at the far right corner of the clearing served as their cover. Blaster fire sizzled close to the tops of their heads. For the first time in R-0N's life, he felt fear. He only knew about such an emotion because it proved to be a vital factor in the effectiveness of clone troopers. The Confederation was not too keen to reproduce any such emotion in the droids. Until now, it seemed. Unintentionally or not.
Ron felt the same jolt from before course through his body. He pushed through it, and thought of his squad and the pride he felt to fight side by side with all of them. If he were to die now, R-0N would die a happy droid, no matter how dire the circumstance. It was a promise, more so a comforting thought to get himself through the fear, but it was a promise nonetheless.
Ron looked around at the emotionless faces of his comrades before he briefly emerged from cover and fired back at the clones, eliminating two as he crouched back down to cool his blaster. The rest of his squad began to drop like flies until only him and another green and brown stained droid remained.
These clones were much more accurate than the squad they'd recently eliminated. 'Perhaps they were tired,' Ron thought as a distraction from the fear that had suddenly enveloped his circuitry.
R-0N crawled over to the body of one of his fallen brethren as blaster fire snapped overhead. The green stained droid had been too much of a coward to return fire and had kept his head under a tree root the entire time. The droid looked over to see Ron motioning for him to run to his position behind a fallen tree before he got up and began to fire back at the clones so as to give the droid cover. Ron would often lean side to side and move from position so as to not give the clones an easy target. The lone droid made it over to Ron's position. He took notice that this was the same droid from earlier.
"R-3V, do you still have the package?" he questioned in his monotone voice. They both could feel the fear emanating from each other. They were different yet similar.
"Yes sir," R-3V responded shaken up by their current situation.
"Good, maintain control over your circuits and fire back R-3V, we will wait here for evac," Ron ordered as he rose up once again to fire back.
It was a miracle that he hadn't been shot yet, although some flashes of blue light had come a little too close for comfort.
Rev was amazed that Ron was able to shoot back without much thought and with a disregard for the fear plaguing his mind. He was inspired by his presence and rose up for once and shot into a thicket of bushes where a group of clones hid. A burst from his blaster killed them in one fell swoop. R-3V felt something new form within his CPU. The CPU deduced that he felt...satisfaction, an alien feeling to his juvenile mind.
They heard the whir of their evac ship and prepared to make a break for it. The two looked up as the silhouette of a gunship came into view. The jolts running through their bodies calmed. They felt relieved, Ron deduced. As soon as it came into view, they both took off into the clearing, not needing any sort of order to know what they needed to do. As soon as the ship touched down, they clambered on, eager to leave. Ron motioned for the pilot to go as they continued to come under fire. Blue lights flew past their heads. It seemed as if the waves of clones would never stop. A crashing wave of moving grass against their bare-bones squad. They were lucky to still have all of their parts intact.
The ship rose at tremendous speeds and they were soon on their way back to the capital ship.
He looked over at Rev, their losses weighed heavy on his mind. Ron felt guilt just as when he'd failed last time. But this was different. The burden of all those losses from this life and all his previous lives, finally weighed in on him.
Rev's face couldn't show any emotion but his movements gave it away. Rev did not dare look at him. R-0N knew that he too felt a sort of pain. An emotional pain. They mourned their losses. Their minds were not so attached emotionally, only through computation they connected. But in this instance, Ron felt a shared feeling and experience with Rev, one that induced a bond to quietly form. He felt glad that they were able to meet and he hoped they would continue to fight alongside each other.
He made a daring move and strode over to Rev's side.
"Let me handle the package from now on," was the first thing he said. A strange crackling sound hung in the air for a moment. There was an urge to say more but he knew that it would be useless. It could've been a coincidence. Maybe Rev didn't feel anything at all. Maybe he wasn't as alive as Ron.
R-0N pushed through his sensors once again and took the risk.
Ron laid a hand on Rev's shoulder, something that startled Rev at first.
"We've lost many brothers today, we should commemorate their loss," Ron said. He was trembling with jolts again except this time he didn't know why. His CPU told him that he was experiencing several emotions at the same time. His sensors began to overload but his fans whirred to life soon after.
Rev looked over to him and responded, "We will remember them," with a nod.
For the rest of the ride they said nothing and when they boarded the dreadnought and gave the hologram to their commander ordering them to their next posts, they responded with a curt, "Roger, Roger"
