Rev guided D-43 into the headquarters. His squat astromech body struggled to get over the metal bars on the floor that kept out water from the occasional floods.
A series of beeps erupted from the red-striped astromech.
"Yes, yes, I know. It's hard for you to get around. We'll construct a few ramps here and there and the problem should be resolved," Rev said, his brown and green paint blended in perfectly with the mud and grass that had gathered on his legs. The bulk of his new body allowed him to carry the astromech with ease.
D-43 beeped in satisfaction.
"And like I've said, we have a fighter here that could use some maintenance," Rev hauled over D-43's luggage: A metal box with various tools and spare parts tucked inside.
D-43 tipped side to side in excitement. His small mechanical arm shot out and opened the box. He rummaged through it, emitting short beeps and squeaks.
"We didn't drop anything, I triple-checked everything," Rev assured him.
D-43 closed the lid of the metal briefcase and pushed it aside. A short series of beeps emitted from his body.
"Come with me, I'll lead you to the ship," Rev said, waiting for him by the door.
Another set of metal steps came from behind him. Ron helped the astromech over the barrier along with Rev. His new armor matched in color with Rev's.
"We greatly appreciate the help, D-43," Ron said, patting him on the head.
D-43 beeped and twisted his head around to face him while Rev guided him over to the fighter.
The storms had come again, leaving pools of water scattered throughout the mud surrounding the sanctuary.
Rev waded through the ankle-deep mud, lifting D-43 above the ground seeing as his wheels would easily become jammed.
Ron stuck close to him but his focus was elsewhere.
"Are you all prepared to hold the line here?" He asked R-4V over their comms-line.
"Yes, do not worry about us. The new squad from Akiva and my team are more than competent to defend on our own. With R-23E's aiming protocols, we should be ready to fight the entire Empire all at once" R-4V reported, the sound of hissing blow torches and crackling fire came through his com-link.
"Do not think you are invincible because of these upgrades. We must keep to our logic circuits"
"Of course. I get so caught up in my work I forget to stay in touch with reality," R-4V moved about, his vocalizor was just barely audible as he put all focus into reverse engineering their internal hardware.
"Keep control of yourself, R-4V. Be on the lookout for any enemy ships. R-56V is doing a good job doing his recon missions in the atmosphere but you must help him in the case of an attack," Ron said, cutting the line. He sent a silent message to Rags saying to keep a close eye on R-4V. Rags responded with a simple copy.
Rev sloshed through the water surrounding the fighter, "The water comes frequently, we don't exactly have anywhere else to store it," He said to D-43.
"Rev, please hurry. We are due to leave soon," Ron kicked at the mud around him, his CPU raised in temperature for a moment but he powered up his fans and terminated a few invasive thoughts.
"Alright," Rev knelt down to D-43 and pushed him up to the top of the fighter, "Please do what you can. Contact one of the others if you need help returning to the headquarters," He sloshed back towards Ron, a few droplets from the gray clouds overhead stained his photo-receptors.
D-43 emitted a quick beep in response. His short form slid into the astromech port near the cockpit.
Ron's circuits buzzed in delight at the sensation of the mud coming off of his body. He continued to wipe himself down with a piece of cloth gifted to him by Johnny.
Johnny himself was sitting in his usual position in the headquarters. He cleaned the joints of his new chassis. His metal fingers continuously slipped and scratched against his metal exterior, still not having gotten quite used to the changes just yet. Thomas grabbed his hand and carefully used his blades to help him clean the hard to reach spots of his joints.
"How goes the farm, Johnny?" Rev asked, grabbing his things from the center table.
"Not great at the moment but I've had worse days," Johnny said, letting Thomas move his arms around.
"We can't do much about the weather," Ron commented, he strutted up to them, "We're leaving soon, have you made your decision yet?"
Johnny nodded, his head nearly clanging against his chest, "We'll go with you. There's not much we can do at the farm with all this rain"
"I am pleased to hear you will be joining. Board The Scout within the next five minutes. I must debrief you all on the plan"
"Roger that," Johnny said, pulling his arm from Thomas' grasp, "Thanks," He said to him, twisting and turning his arm to feel for more unseen spots of dirt.
Ron and Rev trudged through the mud, straight towards the lights of The Scout's cargo bay. Most of their attack unit was already on board. Silver's squad was there along with C-05's usual squad, OOM, B-35, and Dornan. It was a tight fit but with the extra space from the lounge and the cockpit, there was enough space for the entire unit.
Ron and Rev ascended the stairs of the cargo bay, their feet leaving footprints from the mud still caked on them. They turned to face the entire group. Ron shifted in place at the sight of Johnny and Thomas finally making their way inside the ship. OOM took his spot a few steps below them.
"I have sent you all the map with the designated checkpoints we have created. We will begin with the landing on the western end of the island in a hidden alcove long forgotten by the organics on the surface. From there we will make our way inside the sewer system where you all will spread out into your designated positions with your squadrons. Dornan, R-7B, and R-23E will lead the charge into the Confederate facility further in the city. They will stun and capture as many of our brothers as they can while we carry them out back to the ship. The battle will be going on above us, masking the sound of our movement," He took a moment to go over the battle plan once again.
"Once we have filled the ship with as many of our brothers as possible, we will make our escape back through the Empire's blockade with the help of our cloaking device," Ron continued, "The finer details I have sent to all squad commanders," He stood up as straight as he could, "Remember, our upgrades do not mean we are invincible. Remember R-G2 and his squad. They did not sacrifice their lives just for us to throw ours away. Keep your logic circuits in check and play it safe. Kill any organic that comes your way but stun any of our brothers you come across," He let the information register in their CPU's, "That is all, prepare your new protocols and adjust to our new bodies"
The cargo bay filled with the sounds of clanging metal and hissing blasters. Each of them equipped their visors that had been recently recolored to match their chassis' colors.
Most of them had been painted with gray and blue camo to match the sewers where they would be spending most of their time.
Dornan, R-23E, and R-7B were painted much darker shades of gray and blue seeing as they would be the ones to infiltrate the base.
The seats of the cockpit twirled around as Ron and Rev took their usual positions. Their hands moved on their own as they spoke.
"I have been thinking much about our mortality since R-G2 was killed," Ron commented, his metal digits clicked and tapped against the freighter's instruments and controls. The ship buzzed online, and the engines hummed their usual melody.
"It's a scary thought. I try to avoid it, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it myself. I'm sure everyone has since that day," Rev replied, the majority of his CPU focused on Ron.
"It is only natural, we lost a group of droids that were irreplaceable. We've never lived for this long before either. I don't believe any battle droid other than OOM has survived for so many years," Ron pulled at the wheel, easing the freighter into the air. He sent out one last farewell signal to R-4V who responded in the same moment, "In between each of my hazy memories there is only darkness. I believe that's what death is like. I fear it much more now. I – we would leave so much behind"
Rev turned to Ron, his hands working on their own, "I do too, but…" He stopped the motions of his body as they entered hyperspace, the blue and white flashes of light illuminating his peripheral vision, "When I think of R-G2, I think of how he died. Surrounded by all of his own squad-mates, fighting for the sanctuary—If I'm going off to that darkness, I'd want to go surrounded by everyone here, including you"
Ron shifted in his seat, an electric current of joy flowing thorough him, "I'd like the same"
They watched the lights of hyperspace. The rhythmic droning of the engine and the humming of hyperspace travel outside would've surely put any organic to sleep.
OOM came in moments later, his CPU at full utilization. He sat down behind Ron.
Both Ron and Rev turned to look at him.
"I have been thinking about Naboo recently," OOM said, leaning back into the swiveling chair. He shifted it side to side with his feet, "Do you remember OOM-9?"
Ron gripped his seat tighter as his memory unit kicked up. The sight of his old squadron flashed before his photo-receptors, their faces burned into his memory, "Y-yes, what about him?"
OOM stopped his moving, "What is wrong with your-?"
"It always happens when I think of Naboo, now what about OOM-9?" Ron interrupted him.
OOM was silent, contemplating whether or not he should prod further but he pushed his curiosity aside, "I believe he was the greatest OOM droid ever built. I looked to him as my role model after I was recovered from Naboo. I did not speak with him much but I discovered something peculiar about him recently after shifting through my old memories," OOM said, leaning forward, "There was never another OOM droid built like him ever again. They had his body, he was fully functional, undamaged. Yet, they did not steal him back from the Naboo government and replicate his programming"
"And he was destroyed. What does this have to do with the operation?" Ron replied, his visor expressing his anger through his voice.
"Calm yourself. I mean to say, this Confederacy is much different than the one from the war. They recover battle droids, even reprogram them to be more combat efficient from what I hear. They've survived for five years on their own without a major military. Even with that rumored Imperial super-weapon being constructed, I doubt they will be going away any time soon. Somehow, they seem to be much more organized than before"
"Don't tell me you wish to join them again?" Ron said, sitting up in his chair.
"No, no, not at all," OOM laid his head against his fist, "All I am saying is that if they are this organized, we must show extra caution around them"
Ron contained his artificial emotions, "I see your point," He tapped a finger against his metal chin, "We should avoid using our comm-link. They would be able to listen to our conversations if we did. We could resort to using hand-gestures instead"
OOM tilted his head. Before he could ask his question, Rev sent him a list of images with descriptions of their meanings beside them.
"I started learning them a long time ago. They're standardized by the organics. All we have to do is stay in a line of sight and make sure everyone knows their meaning," Rev explained.
"Our synchronization module should help speed up the process of relaying a message," OOM replied, he looked up to the sight of the ship exiting hyperspace. A myriad of Imperial ships surrounded the island riddled planet of Boleria. Immediately, an Imperial ship attempted to hail them but Ron cut off the connection just as soon as it was made.
"Send out that list to everyone, and prepare for a potentially bumpy ride," Ron said.
"Copy that," OOM jumped to his feet and raced out the entrance of the cockpit.
An Imperial ship broke off from it's formation around one of the several Star-destroyers stationed around the planet. Ron zoomed in on it and identified it as an Imperial Arquitens-class command cruiser.
"All of these are much bigger than that recon ship we had to deal with a few years back," Ron commented to Rev. He hooked up directly to him through the port on his abdomen that R-4V had specifically tailored for such connections.
We need to advance another ten thousand feet before I can turn on the cloaking device. Any less than that and we won't make it past that blockade, Rev signaled to Ron.
Ron pushed the throttle to full speed. Even at their fastest, the command cruiser honed in on them, somehow matching their velocity.
Both of them were violently pushed forward, right into the instruments of The Scout. They scrambled back, accidentally pressing a few buttons on the way back.
The cable between them was extended to full length. Ron moved closer to Rev and signaled to him, What was that?
I don't know but we're not moving anymore, Rev replied, pointing to the ship's speedometer.
It suddenly increased to twenty miles per hour.
I see, they're using a tractor beam on us, Ron assessed the situation. He brought up all memories he had on experiences using the weapon. Only one came up. It was mostly corrupted and held little information other than that the ship he'd been stationed on was later repurposed into a refueling ship.
His CPU kicked into action, formulating a plan without the use of past experiences.
He switched to his comm-link, "R-23E, head down to the docking port at the bottom of the ship. Get your rifle ready to fire"
"Copy," R-23E responded.
He reported back a few moments later from the dorsal section of the ship.
"I've locked the door behind you. Hook yourself to the ship if you can, and open the docking port"
R-23E looked around. In an alcove beside the docking port, there was a space suit along with a tether beside it. There were blaster marks all over the sides. Luckily only the space suit had sustained damage in the form of the helmet's glass being melted away.
He pulled the tether from its port, it zipped as the ribs of it hit the edges of the ship's interior. He wrapped it around himself and used the buckle on one end to secure the loop.
The port opened with a hiss. Carefully floating downwards, he pulled the rifle up to his photo-receptors and lined up a shot. The cruiser was heading directly at him, giving him a nice and easy shot on the glowing blue lights of the tractor beam. It was a simple mechanism that had two different energy sources on the end of the ship that formed a segmented small oval. The lights went out as two dispersed shots rippled through the metal, destroying all electronics hidden underneath.
"Outstanding. Now get back inside. Quickly," Ron commanded.
R-23E felt a spark of joy flow through him at the sight of the fading blue glow of the tractor beam. He followed through with Ron's orders and returned the tether back to its port.
Rev activated the cloaking device beside him. The glass of the cockpit displayed a few wavy lines along the edges and middle.
They sped towards the capital city, Coritan.
It was the biggest of the entire planet being the only land mass large enough to not be considered an island. The lights of the city had been shut off in preparation for the coming invasion.
The day was in full bloom. The sky was bluer than ever, with few clouds surrounding Coritan. Violent gusts of wind pushed at the ship, forcing Ron to adapt to their strength. Flocks of birds flew in formations around the coastline. Few organics were out, most that were present had some form of military uniform on, including a few gray and blue Confederate uniforms. Ron's photo-receptors honed in on their tell-tale insignia displayed on the shoulder pads of some of the soldiers. The buildings on the edges of the land mass were the shortest with the height increasing as they continued towards the center of the city which was a few thousand miles away. The only light on was that of the capital buildings on the horizon shining like a star in a sea of metal and concrete.
Most of the space above the city was swarming with Confederate ships mixed with the planets own defenses.
This is strange. I've never seen a Republic Venator and Confederate Dreadnought side by side without one shooting the other, Ron remarked. He refreshed his photo-receptors, bewildered at the sight before him.
I still don't understand what happened at the end of the war. This just confuses me even more, Rev replied.
They must've stolen the Venator and the Confederacy brought out its own ships, Ron dipped The Scout sharply until the waves of the ocean below blew water at its underside.
I know that, I just don't understand what happened to the Republic, Rev tapped at the screen beside him, calculating the distance between the ship and the coast where they would make their landing.
Focus, we must put all our processing power to ensuring our plan goes smoothly. The Confederacy will only enslave us once more if they are to get their hands on us, Ron eased the ship down towards the alcove that D-43 had told Rev all about. It was once the hideout of several protocol and astromech droids that helped one another but it had been disbanded once the city had formed an alliance with the Confederacy.
There was an ancient stone building tucked inside, with a sewer grate constructed inside of it. It almost appeared like a fortress, except the bulk of it was gone, leaving only two dilapidated towers on either side. Where there was once a gate, a mass of crumbled stone littered the ground in a pile. The land above had formed over it, consuming the top and sides of the fortress and extended further ahead of it, creating a shield from the waves of the ocean in front and the rain from the clouds above.
The Scout eased its way into a bowl-shaped rock formation in front of the fortress, where pools of water formed periodically in the pits and grooves of the surface below.
With a loud thud, they made landfall.
Ron and Rev disconnected and silently made their way out into the lounge.
The crowd of droids turned to him with OOM being at the very front, leaning against one of the tables as he conversed with R-7B and R-23E.
"We will hold here until the time is right. Do not use the radio to talk. Use the charging port in the cargo bay if need be. Stay put," Ron commanded.
The attack unit silently acknowledged the command and returned to their conversations.
OOM broke off from the rest of the droids, "And when do you believe the time will be right?"
"Soon. It appeared as if the Imperials were calling back their scouting parties when we made our way down. Once the fighting begins we will go," Ron replied, his new body took up the entire cockpit entrance unlike before.
"A sound decision," OOM said, he returned to R-7B and R-23E.
"Let's keep an eye outside," Rev said, waving him back inside the cockpit.
"Agreed," As Ron sat down, he conjured up everything he'd learned about the Empire in the past few years. From their genocide of the Jedi order to the creation of new blasters and armor sets, the Empire was no Republic, that was sure, "This will be an interesting encounter"
B-35 twisted his wrist rocket, his circuits alight with joy at the feeling of a rocket being loaded inside for the first time since his deactivation on Maridun.
"C-37, I no longer require your incendiary grenades," B-35 said, stomping over to him.
C-37 was sat near C-05 and R-23E on the left side of one of the tables in the lounge. His arm was draped across the back of the bench, "That's good to hear because I'm not planning on sharing them anymore"
"However," B-35 began, his deep voice rumbling through the hull of the ship and up through the metal stand of the table itself, "I would like to receive an incendiary wrist rocket in the future"
C-37 leaned back further into his seat, "I'll see what I can do with C-5B and C-6C, but don't expect it anytime soon. We're working on making smoke grenades next"
"Acknowledged. I expect the rocket to be finished within the next ten galactic standard years," B-35 stepped back towards Thomas and Johnny near the living quarters in the rear of the freighter.
Ron looked out the cockpit window. Splashes of water occasionally crashed over the edge of their landing area.
The ocean's wave suddenly intensified, the rumbling of the crashing growing in volume with each passing second.
'That's not the ocean,' Ron realized.
He rose to his feet, Rev stood at the exact same time as him.
"Sounds like we're starting," Rev commented, following him outside the cockpit.
"I may be wrong," Ron replied. He sent out a signal to the rest of the droids, asking for their attention.
Their conversations gradually died down into complete silence, with only the sounds of the rumbling overhead coursing through the body of the ship.
"It seems the attack is beginning in the sky. We will begin the first phase of the rescue operation. Refrain from using your com-links, only communicate through gestures and voice. Remember: Follow the plan, adapt to changes as they come," Ron said. He looked between all of the droids before him, their faces all the same but his memory unit logged every unique strip of paint at the foot of their neck they had painted to differentiate one another. Their heads, the only body part that retained the scratches they'd gained from the war, were all distinct to him. His photo-receptors were experienced enough to tell who he was speaking with in seconds, "File out in the order we have created for you all," He drew his modified E-5 blaster from his back, "And stay alive"
R-7B, R-23E, and Dornan were escorted out first by Thomas and Johnny. B-35 followed suit. The rest of the unit marched their way out, three at a time, filling out the width of the landing hatch.
R-56V stayed behind with Ron, Rev, and OOM.
"OOM will be close-by, do not hesitate to ask for backup if the need arises," Ron said.
"Roger that, I'll defend this ship with my life," R-56V replied, holding his blaster in his hands.
Ron nodded and continued on their way outside once the rest of the crew had filed out.
The droids struggled to find their footing on the wet path to the sewers. They slipped and slid across the initial bowl formation where The Scout had landed but found their balance once across the area. The fortress was much taller than it had initially appeared. Extending as high into the air as a skyscraper.
"Fascinating," OOM commented, taking several pictures of the exterior with his photo-receptors, "They used such primitive materials. Perhaps it would work as a fortress against modern weaponry...with a few adjustments"
Ron looked up, his photo-receptors immediately zooming in on every hole and crevice for enemies, "It would work well to keep the enemy on their toes. There are many positions from which they could attack"
"I will do my best to replicate such a tactic at the sanctuary," OOM said, his head tilting back down.
"Maybe we could use tree-houses like the wookies did. We could make them out of durasteel and paint it brown, cover it with leaves on the top" Rev said, the entrance of the sewer coming into view. He could see Dornan at the very front, hopping up the rubble of the fortress' entrance with grace. R-7B attempted to replicate his movement but only ended up tripping and landing on his knees instead. R-23E shook his head and pulled him back up to his feet.
"That could be a good idea for our next base," Ron said.
"Let's focus," OOM reminded them as more of the droids piled into the sewer. It was a wide structure with enough space to fit more than eight droids across. The waste-filled water occupied the majority of that space leaving only enough for two droids on either side, where concrete walkways had been constructed.
"This is the first time I've seen this place up close," Rev commented once they'd made it inside the sewers themselves.
"What else did D-43 say about this sewer system?" Ron questioned, he walked beside him with OOM following close behind.
"Other than what I've already told you, he said we should probably take a few oil baths after moving through here. The smell would alert the organics"
"Noted"
The rest of the trip they spent going over each squadrons position and objective. The Confederate base they would be attacking was within twelve miles of the coastline. Silver's squad would extend through the first portion of the sewers, with one droid covering every mile. Then came C-05 and his squadron covering the rest of the way. Ron and Rev would command from the front while OOM stayed at the rear and Silver in the middle.
"You three, good luck" Ron said, once everyone had taken his positions. Dornan, R-23E, and R-7B were stationed at the foot of a ladder leading to the rear of the Confederate base, "I hope our lessons serve you two well," He said turning to R-7B and R-23E.
"It has, I'm sure we'll come across a few organics along the way but we'll be able to deal with them quietly," R-7B replied, his hand hovered over the vibroblade on his waist.
"I'm more worried about how you will deal with our brothers. They are misguided by the Confederacy, do not kill any of them," Ron said.
"We'll do our best," R-23E assured him.
"I'll make sure they don't get caught," Dornan added, with one foot and hand already on the rungs of the ladder.
"Go ahead," Ron listened to the familiar rumbling of ion torpedoes chasing their targets in the sky. Somewhere in the distance, missiles began to rain down on the city, "And be quick"
Dornan began the ascent. Lightly grabbing at the rungs and standing on his toes to mitigate as much sound as possible. R-7B and R-23E did their best to mimic him with their synchronization modules active.
Dornan pushed open the metal grate leading to the surface. He popped his head up a few times, taking in his surroundings.
Ahead was the back of the Confederate building with an ancient stone guard tower flanking it. An assortment of speeder bikes and anti-air canons filled the outdoor garage before him. Dornan thought it strange to store their equipment outside but he figured it must be for good reason. The base itself wasn't grand in size or width, only large enough to accommodate at least a hundred battle droids and a few dozen organic officers. He reminded himself of Ron's limit on how many they would be able to rescue. Up to fifty if they crammed the cargo bay of The Scout with as many as they could without damaging any of them. He scrambled out of the sewer exit and scanned for hostiles, his arm up near his vibroblade on his back and his other hand by his waist. There was enough equipment around to hide them from plain-sight. Dornan looked up, his photo-receptors accommodating for the blast of sun-light piercing through his metal shielding. The nearby sun was directly overhead, giving them no chances of using the shadows to hide. R-7B and R-23E clambered onto the surface and formed up on either side of him.
"Let's get inside quickly. These bases are usually constructed with an astromech door at the rear. One of you will have to connect to the port and open it," Dornan said while moving towards the Confederate base. There were two garage doors on the right-side and smaller doorways for both organics and droids on the other end. Red lights hung overhead. They were off for the time being.
R-23E drew a cable out from his new body and hooked up to the astromech port. A few seconds later the sliding door slid upward with a hiss. He poked his head around the corner. The entrance led directly into the internal garage lit up by artificial lights overhead. Just from first sight, he surmised the room wasn't all that big. There was only enough space to accommodate at most a dozen or so AATs along with canons and other pieces of equipment of various sizes. The city outside was made to be traversed by either speeder bike on the streets or by starship above, not tanks and canons.
The shadows cast by the equipment was enough for them to comfortably sneak through the base and establish a line to begin transporting droids through. He locked the door open and waved Dornan inside.
Dornan crouched through and plotted a path through the base using his own database from the war.
He stopped them with a gesture and lowered the volume of his vocalizer to the lowest their audio-receptors could pick up.
"Follow this route," Dornan whispered, sending the map through a brief com-message, "You B1s like to stay in groups so we'll have to pick them apart and stun them one by one. If things don't go to plan and you're spotted, stun them all as fast you can. If the alarm goes off this operation is over"
"We need to keep an eye on the explosions coming in from above," R-7B replied, lowering his own vocalizer.
"There's no way of us preventing the Empire from bombing our position. Just focus on the mission here," Dornan argued.
R-7B and R-23E nodded, refraining from sending any further messages.
Dornan continued crouching towards a set of stairs on one end of the garage. The bottom of it was surrounded by several B1 battle droids carrying artillery shells and ammo crates to each of the vehicles behind them.
Dornan frantically searched for a hiding spot. His photo-receptors came upon the underside of one of the anti-air canons. He waved R-23E and R-7B behind him to follow. They crammed into the tight space, all of them having to crumple their bodies into one ball of metal.
'I'd be nice if we still had our old bodies right now,' R-7B thought, his large chest prevented him from tucking his legs any further.
The droids dispersed throughout the garage, each of them carrying the crates to separate vehicles.
"Perfect," Dornan whispered, "You two go off on your own and stun all of the droids down here and carry them over to the entrance"
R-7B and R-23E nodded once more. The trio crawled out from beneath the canon and dispersed into three separate directions.
Dornan went left, towards a B1 that had gone to the very corner of the garage where the lights were the dimmest. He pointed his blaster at him and fired a single stun shot at the droid. The B1 crumpled to the ground, the ammo crate he was carrying fell with him. Dornan rushed forward, his feet gliding across the floor as he caught the box mid-fall. He set it down beside the body and slung the B1 over his shoulder, the grinding of their metal bodies creating a scratching noise.
R-7B tip-toed his way to the right, where three of the B1s had gone off to separate vehicles. His new aiming protocol was already calculating their speed and trajectory. In a rapid-fire succession of shots, he stunned all three before they could disappear behind their respective vehicles.
'I'll have to give my compliments to Silver, these blasters feel accurate for once,' R-7B said, inspecting his E-5 blaster, 'Or maybe it's my new auto-aim...'
R-23E scurried across to the northern end of the garage. No form of shadow or cover was left for him seeing as there were only AATs in this region of the room. He came upon the back of the first B1 as he crouched down to place down his ammo crate. The stun bolt hit him in the back, leaving him leaning forward slightly, his body making minimal sound. The other two were on the other side of the AAT ahead of him. He leaped over to the left and fired a stun bolt at one and skittered across to the right stunning the other, their crates hit the ground with a loud clang a second later. He grabbed two of the B1s and slung them across each shoulder and dragged the other by one arm.
Dornan crouched by the entrance, positioning each B1 on either side of the entrance. R-23E and R-7B came up behind him with their own droids.
"Good work, get them back down to the sewers while I keep watch," Dornan said.
R-7B and R-23E continued out the short doorway, awkwardly handling the droids on their backs, struggling to properly fit through the squat opening for a moment.
A few seconds after R-7B and R-23E had left, the sound of leather boots hitting against metal flooring echoed through the room. Dornan whipped his head to the stairs, his photo-receptors staring directly into the eyes of an organic officer.
"R-84, where are you?" The officer called out. His bright gray and blue uniform was hard to miss. His quick steps carried him to the very bottom of the stairs.
For a moment, Dornan could see the face of his old friend but his CPU quickly terminated the thought, deeming it a distraction. Thinking of the past would get him killed now.
Dornan crept forward, using the side of an AAT to get as close as possible to the human.
"R-84, respond!" The officer commanded, his voice gaining a much more authoritative tone.
Dornan rushed forward and punched the organic across the chin.
The human offered no resistance, only responding to the threat once he was already on the floor unconscious. He dragged the body near the entrance where they'd come from. The body flipped over on its own, leaving the human facing up towards the ceiling. His photo-receptors wandered to a plastic ID on his waist.
'Officer Jun,' It read.
Dornan leaned back onto his feet while crouched down. He looked back up to R-7B and R-23E re-entering the building.
"I've got an idea to get another squad down here," Dornan said.
Dornan readied himself in the blind spot of the stairs. R-7B and R-23E waited by the AAT near the entrance.
They gave the signal to proceed.
Dornan's voice suddenly burst through the Confederate-encoded radio, "Attention, Officer Jun has ordered an additional squadron of B1s to help with maintenance down in the garage"
"Roger, roger," A robotic voice replied immediately.
A set of metal footsteps clanging echoed somewhere deeper within the facility. Dornan spotted the next squadron of B1s descending the steps. He watched each individual step they took until the leading B1 reached the ground floor with both feet. Dornan, R-7B, and R-23E leaped out from cover and stunned all four of the B1s within the span of a second. Their metal bodies collectively clanged together onto the ground.
"Good work. Get them back down to Ron," Dornan commanded.
For the next fifteen minutes, they repeated the same process of calling more droids down and stunning them all. Their CPU's adjusted to the routine, making it as efficient as possible.
Forty four captured droids later, the rumbling of the fighting overhead suddenly grew in volume to the point that the entire building began to shake.
Dornan had activated his com-link to call down another squadron when a deep rumble practically shook the entire planet off the ground.
The building caved in on itself in the span of a second, throwing smoke clouds and shards of metal through all four floors of the base. In the very center, where there had once been an AAT, an explosion rocked the entire building from the walls to the foundations. Dornan was swept off of his feet and thrown against the southern end of the garage, a dozen feet away from the astromech entrance.
He jumped to his feet and sprinted outside, meeting R-7B and R-23E halfway to the sewer entrance.
"We're getting out of here, move faster," Dornan commanded, pulling the sewer entrance to the side.
R-7B and R-23E nearly trampled over each other in trying to get down the hatch at the same time.
They hit the ground, running for the exit.
Dornan followed close behind, his pistons overworking and pushing him to match their speed.
Ron and Rev, stood a few hundred feet away. Their photo-receptors locked with one another.
"What's going on?" Ron asked him, running alongside them.
"They're starting to bomb this area, we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Dornan explained.
Just as he'd finished speaking, an explosion rocked the ceiling of the sewers, sending chunks of rock and metal raining down on them. Steel poles and blocks of durasteel blocked the way forward, separating them from C-05's outpost.
Dornan rushed forward, finding the shortest stack of rubble on the right-side. He jumped up to the sloped wall beside it and pushed off, rising to the top.
He slammed down onto his chest and outstretched a hand towards the others. They wordlessly climbed together, handing each other the unconscious B1s before continuing on down the path.
They met with C-05 a minute later. Dornan repeated his command.
"Copy that, we should start using the com-link again," C-05 said while running.
"Agreed," Ron said, "OOM, get ready to depart"
"Copy," OOM replied over their com-link.
The line of droids herded out from the sewer entrance, more explosions rocking the rest of the way. Everything, from the walkways underfoot to the metal grates of each sewer entrance above, rumbled and shook with increasing intensity and frequency.
Ron was the last to board the ship. He waded through the sea of metal bodies in the cargo bay.
Rev was already in the co-pilot seat when he finally made it into the cockpit.
He plugged himself into Rev and flew upward into the sky, their cloaking device activating halfway up the sky.
The Republic Venator and Confederate Dreadnought still hung in the sky, albeit with plumes of smoke funneling out of the sides. Their shields were down but their guns continued to fire into the Imperial Star-destroyers surrounding them, valiantly fighting until the last missile.
"We will lose many of our brothers today but this is all we can manage," Ron commented, glancing to the battle in the sky.
"It's enough," Rev replied.
They shot out back into the stars, their ship enshrouded in a mirrored shield.