//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20: Duel of the Droids 
// Story: Star Wars: The Great War 
// by ShootingStar25 
//------------------------------//

You hold onto friends by keeping your heart a little softer than your head.

Recap: Missing in action! Anakin Skywalker's heroic droid navigator R2-D2 was lost in battle. When a desperate search fails 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 the 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.

Gha Nachkt's ship was now floating in space as he was about to meet with General Grievous.

"I am entering your orbit now, general," said the smuggler. "I will be at your station, surely. And, general..."

"What is it, Gha Nachkt?"

"I prefer to get my reward in cash," said the smuggler as his fingers touched. Grievous growled as the transmission cut off with the smuggler snickering.

Back with our heroes, they were still in the ship as they were heading back to the fleet. Each of the boys was looking over the shoulders of their clone commanders as they looked at a screen.

"We searched their supply grids, sir. There's nothing to indicate the presence of an enemy outpost," said Rex.

Back with the smuggler's ship, inside of his cell, R2 was cutting open a panel. He was also listening to the rock music that was playing in the background, as he was bopping to it as a droid could. Once he had his little buzzsaw open a piece of the panel, he then started to hack into the ship's wiring as he was hoping to send a signal for help.

"Huh?" said Gha Nachkt as he saw a red light flashing from his terminal.

He wasn't the only one to notice the distress beacon as our heroes managed to pick it up also.

"Master, I'm receiving a strange transmission. I can't seem to make it out, though," said Ahsoka as she stood near the panel and pushed the button while R3 was also plugged in.

She was having a tough time hearing, but for the boys, they could make out faint sounds that sounded familiar.

"Boost the volume, Goldie," instructed Ahsoka as the droid did that.

"No, you're losing it," said Anakin as he took Ahsoka's hand, off of the button as they now had a clear sound. The sound was none other than R2's famous distorted beeps.

"Run that back, Sark!" stated Storm as the clone commander hit repeat as the sound was heard once more for all to hear.

"That's R2!" said both Storm and Anakin with glee.

"Uh, that doesn't sound like R2," said Twilight. "Besides, all droids make a similar noise, how can you tell it's him?"

"It's him. I could never forget that voice," said Skywalker.

"Neither can the fandom," said Storm quietly to the fourth wall.

"Trace it, Rex!" ordered Anakin.

"Sir," nodded the clone.

"What's going on here?" asked Gha Nachkt. He then got up from his seat and open the hatch to where R2 was as he saw the droid as he turned around to see the smuggler. "You sneaky little scrap pile." He then pulled out a taser as he stunned R2, who let out his iconic scream and went down with a thud. 

"You'd better be worth all this trouble," said the smuggler as R2 rotated his head as he gave a small whimper sound.

"Master, our orders were to find the Separatist listening post," said Ahsoka.

"Perhaps R2 is at the listening post. Did you consider that?" said Anakin with a smug smile.

"Uhm,... no," smiled Twilight sheepishly.

"For some so intelligent and super smart, you're really dumb, Sparky," snickered.

Twilight marched over to Storm as she was gritting her teeth as the boy held his smug expression.

"You better sleep with one eye open tonight, cause I'm coming for you," warned Twilight as she poked his chest.

"I welcome it. Just let me ask: Do you prefer the bottom or the top?" asked the boy with a smile as Twilight got even more annoyed at her partner as she went to go sit down and turned around as she had a pouting face.

"We have a lock on the droid's location, sir," stated Rex to Anakin.

"Prepare to jump to those coordinates," stated Anakin to the small crew they had on board.

"Yes, sir," said one of Rex's men as he was flying the ship.

"Hold on, R2, old buddy. We're coming," said Anakin. With that, the ship now jumped into hyperspace.




The smuggler's ship had now arrived at the location of General Grievous' listening post, which was a Ruusan moon. He contacted the cyborg as he came on the transmission.

"What is it, Gha Nachkt?"

"I've arrived. Could you lower your shields?" asked the droid smuggler.

One of the operators on the listening post did what was asked as he allowed the smuggler ship to enter. The ship landed in one of the hangar bays as soon, both smuggler and droid exited the ship.

"Keep moving, grease spot," said Gha Nachkt as he gave R2 a shock when he stopped to look at the person standing by the entrance. 

They continued walking as he gave some more small shocks to the droid when he slowed down. The pair now turned the corner when R2 then bumped into something. He rolled back a bit until he felt Gha Nachkt behind him as he was now looking at the thing in front of him, Which was none other than General Grievous.

"This is the droid those Jedi came looking for, general," said Gha Nachkt.

"What secrets do you carry, my little friend?" stated Grievous evilly as R2 gave a beep that sounded like he wouldn't speak. "So defiant," smirked the general as he rubbed the dome of R2, "No need for fear. We are all droids here." laughed the cyborg.

"Rip this little runt apart and find out everything he knows," said Grievous to Gha Nachkt as he nodded.

R2 was now scared as he rolled back and stepped on Gha Nachkt's foot.

"Ooh! Right away, general!" he said as he then shocked R2 as he caused the droid to move forward.

They then entered the door behind Grievous as the little blue droid was shaking with fear. The door opened as they saw an operating table with devices and machines that were made for taking droids apart. R2 was now livid with terror as they shoved him onto the floor and the doors closed behind them.

In space, our heroes had just come out of hyperspace as they were near the moon where R2 was.

"Sir, the last transmission came from that moon's upper atmosphere, directly ahead," said Rex as he pointed on his screen. He then touched where he was pointing as it enlarged to show the picture.

"That's a Separatist battle sphere," said Anakin as he saw it.

"We're picking up a lot of encrypted chatter," said Ahsoka as she was with Twilight.

"Contact Obi-wan," said Storm.

"Stubby, scramble Secret Code Set 1477," said Anakin. "I don't want that station to pick this up," said the boy as the droid plugged into the port.

Just then, Obi-wan came up on the transmission as both boys approached their friend.

"Anakin? Storm?"

"Master, I believed we've found your Separatist listening post."

"Excellent work. Back off and wait," instructed Kenobi. "I'll send two mainline cruisers to help you destroy it."

"But R2," said Ahsoka.

"We believe my droid, R2, is on board. He's the one that led us here," said Anakin.

"Hmm, this complicates things," said Obi-wan as he stroked his beard. "You must sneak aboard that station and destroy it before they crack R2's memory banks."

"Woah, your serious, Kenobi?" asked Storm as he was thinking the stern Jedi Master would have a different response.

"I know you're fond of that droid, but he's fallen into enemy hands," stated Obi-wan reminding Anakin of the sacred rule for Jedi, and that was to not form any kind of attachments.

"We could rescue R2," said Skywalker.

"No! This is not a rescue mission!" said Obi-wan with a strict tone as he disappeared.

"Keep jamming their scanners. If they spot us, we're dead," said Anakin to the clone flying the ship.

"So, we're definitely going, right?" asked Storm to his pal with a smile.

"Oh yeah," said Anakin as he returned the same expression. Both boys then did a fist bump as the girls rolled their eyes at how they disobeyed orders, once again.




The ship was now heading towards the moon. The Jedi were now prepping for the rescue mission. Anakin was having Rex take a small bunch of his men while Storm was taking his three-clone squadron. All of them were doing the final checks of their weapons as the girls also got themselves ready for the mission. Sark and Rex noticed Ahsoka was near R3.

"We're bringing the droid?" asked Rex.

"Is that the best idea given the results of his efforts recently?" asked Sark.

"We'll need Goldie to open secured hatches and access the station's computer for us," said Ahsoka as she was by the droid's side.

"Don't worry, he won't cause any trouble," assured Twilight as she smiled at Ahsoka.

"Oh, and, Rex, you get to carry him," smiled Ahsoka smugly as she left with Twilight.

"Me?" said the clone as he looked at the droid.

"Looks you're stuck as a babysitter, Rex, old pal." chuckled Sark as he put his arm around his friend's shoulders.

"That's just great," groaned Rex.

The ship had entered the planet's atmosphere as the hatch door had opened. Standing at the left end was Rex along with a clone from his unit as the captain was carrying the droid. Next to them was Sark and his two clone troopers, then Ahsoka, Storm, Twilight, Anakin, followed by the last of Rex's men as they all stood in a line. The wind was blowing in their faces as they were about to make the jump.

"Maybe I should stay behind with the ship?" said Twilight as she now realized how high up they were.

"Suck it up, Sparky. You're coming along, whether I have to carry you or not!"

"Follow me, boys!" said Ahsoka as she wasted no time in running off the ship's outer platform and jumped off.

The clones as well as the others all looked down as they saw the girl falling. Safe to say, they were shocked cause Ahsoka didn't wait for the signal since they were all supposed to jump together. Anakin then shrugged his shoulders as he and Storm both jumped at the same time. The clones then followed their generals' actions as they too jumped. Even Rex as he had the droid strapped to him.

"Pray to Celestia that I survive," said Twilight as she was the last one to jump.

Everyone was now falling with their arms and legs spread out as it helped to reduce how fast they fall. Well, except for Twilight as she kept herself tucked in as she screamed. She zoomed past the group as she was screaming.

"Just my luck," said Storm as he nodded to Anakin as he understood what his friend was about to do.

The teen boy now tucked in his limbs as he was falling headfirst. He was heading towards Twilight as he had to save her. Twilight was screaming her head off as she tried to put her limbs out but was shaken with fear. She could see her dropping faster and faster as she closed her eyes, just waiting to accept her fate. Just then, she felt something on her shoulder as Storm had managed to make it to her. He then flung her onto his back as Twilight now had her arms around the boy as she held on for dear life. Storm then put his limbs out once more as he was now back to free fall.

"I'm sorry," said Twilight with her eyes closed.

"It's alright, Sparky. As I said, you're coming with us, even if I have to carry you," said Storm as he turned his head to look at her with a small smile. "Just hang on."

"Right," smiled the girl as she held onto her partner's back.

The rest of their friends now caught up with them as they were with Ahsoka. The four Jedi were holding their breath as they were about to land on top of the battle sphere.

"Take this upstairs and be sure not to drop it," said a B1 droid to another. Not even a second later, the droid he handed the package to fell over and dropped it. He then got up as he grabbed the package and left. "Those 631s are not the brightest lights on this ship." said the droid unaware that they didn't know the Jedi and the clones had passed by the window falling.

The Jedi landed as Storm made sure to land on his feet as he transition to carrying Twilight in his arms. The clones soon activated jetpacks on their backs as they landed slowly on the ground.

"Next time, you're lugging this astromech around!!" said Rex as he pointed to Sark.

Sark and the rest of his and Rex's men all laughed at the Captain and his misery.

"Alright, Twilight. We're here," said Storm to the girl in his arms as she had her eyes closed.

Twilight then opened them as she saw they had landed on the battle sphere safely.

"So we are," chuckled the girl as she let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks, for saving me."

"No problem," smiled the boy as he looked at his partner. "Now mind letting go of me!!!" he shouted.

"Oh, right," smiled the girl sheepishly as she released her grip from the boy and got down from his arms.

Anakin then pulled out his lightsaber and he pointed it into the ground creating an opening for them to fall through. Once it was done, he and Storm jumped in as everyone else followed with the girls being last. Inside a part of the battle sphere were two droids who stood guard.

"All this moisture is corroding my servo-motors," said one B1 droid as he hit himself in the head.

"Go up to Level 8. Get your head adjusted. It feels great," said the droid standing next to him.

"That'll feel gr..." the droid didn't finish his sentence as Sark ordered Claude to sneak up behind the droid as he grabbed him by the head and ripped it off.

"What the...?" said the other droid as he was then shot by Rex.

The rescue crew now began to race down the corridor hoping to start the mission before they were noticed. They all soon arrived at a port.

"All right, Stubby. Get to work," said Anakin to R3.

R3 then approached the port as he plugged in. His eye then projected a map of the entire battle sphere as our heroes gathered around it.

"We are here," said Rex as he pointed to where they were, "The reactors are 30 levels below us, there."

"Guess that means we'll have to split up," said Sark.

"Ahsoka, you take the squad and blow up those reactors. Gravity will do the rest," said Anakin as he handed his backpack to his Padawan. "We'll meet in the landing bay."

"Where are you going?" asked the girl.

"I'm just gonna have a little look around," said Anakin.

"I hope you find R2 in one piece," said the girl with a smile.

"Wait up, Anakin. I'm coming," said Storm as he was about to go off with his friend when he was stopped by Twilight who grabbed his hand.

"Storm, wait!" said the girl, "Let me..."

"Negative, you need to help Ahsoka and the clones."

"Let us go with you, General Storm," said Sark, being flanked by Ricochet and Claude, "We can provide backup in case things dicey."

"I appreciate that guys, but you need to help Rex and the others," said the boy. "Don't worry, Twilight will be in charge of you guys till I get back.

"What?! No! No! Storm, take them. It'll be safer..."

"Twilight, I've given my orders."

"But I've never commanded clones before," said the girl.

"Guys, do you trust Twilight to lead you?" asked Storm.

"Yes, sir!" said all three.

"Storm..."

"Twilight, do you trust me?" asked the boy as he now looked into her eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Twilight was now looking at her partner as she then looked at her hand. She could see she was scared as it was shaking a bit with this new responsibility, but yet it calmed down when she felt Storm's touch and looked at his face. He had a comforting smile that said everything would work out. So she took a deep breath as her hand now relaxed.

"Yes, I trust you," answered Twilight.

"Alright, boys. You follow Twilight's command as you would me or Luna's, understood?" said Storm as all three nodded. "Don't worry, Sparky. I'll be back."

"Just... make sure you come back," spoke Twilight softly.

"I will. Just don't try to get them killed. I don't how I'm gonna explain to Luna that I had her clones killed," chuckled Storm as he now turned and ran in the direction that Anakin left.

Ahsoka now began to move with Rex and his men following her. Twilight stood there for a few moments, as she now turned around and saw the three clones that she was in charge of. She took a deep breath as they addressed her.

"What are your orders, General Sparkle?" asked Ricochet.

"We need to blow the reactors. So let's move, men." said the girl.

"Yes, sir!" said the clones as they began to follow Twilight as the four caught up with the rest of the unit.




While our heroes had split up with Storm and Anakin going to find R2, Ahsoka and Twilight were tasked with leading the unit of clones to blow up the battle sphere. However, they were running out of time, as R2 had been taken apart. Gha Nachkt had been tinkering with a part of R2's body as it reacted, and soon the droid projected some data that was a part of the droid's memory.

"This is... This is..." said the smuggler as he saw the data being projected, "General Grievous!"

"What is it?" asked the cyborg who was near the entrance.

"It appears this droid's mission memory has never been erased. It contains every Republic formation and strategy they have," said Gha Nachkt as he pointed to the holograms.

"Good work. You certainly earned your fee this time," said the general.

"More than my fee. This droid is worth more, I get paid more," stated the smuggler. "Now I suggest..."

At that moment, Grievous activated his lightsaber as he stabbed it through him. He then retracted his blade as he then collapsed.

"There is your bonus," snickered the general.

The girls were now turning a corner with the clones behind them as they were heading towards the reactors. Following a few meters behind the group was R3. He then slowed down a bit and stopped as he watched the group continue to run. Once he made sure they were at a good distance, he then pulled out his antenna as he was making a call. At that moment, Grievous' communicator went off as the image of R3 appeared.

"Report, Agent R3," said the cyborg as the droid gave some beeps. "The Jedi are here? Delay them until I arrive," said the general as the droid gave some beeps.

"Goldie, where are you?" asked Ahsoka as she was now walking down the corridor they came from. 

She had noticed the droid was missing as she told Twilight she was going to see if he got lost trying to keep up. The droid then began to move.

"Sound the alarm!" said Grievous to a servant.

R3 now rolled out of his secret cover as he saw Ahsoka.

"What are you doing back here? Come on," encouraged the girl as the droid gave a beep and followed her.

"Now we will transfer all your secrets to me," said Grievous as he had his hand on the head of R2 as it was still functioning, even being pulled apart. R2 gave a beep to the cyborg. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

R2 gave a whirring noise as he was scared. The door now opened as in came some bodyguards of Grievous as they had electro staffs in their hands. The guards now stood in front of their leader as he addressed them.

"Republic troops have infiltrated the base. Keep this droid secure," said Grievous as the bodyguards responded in an alien language. "I will deal with these Jedi myself."

He then left as the bodyguards now took position around the table. R2 gave one last beep as he was worried about his friends that came to rescue him.




"We found the reactor room, sir," said Rex through his comlink. "The alarm triggered another security door, ray-shielded."

Anakin was hearing this through his comlink as he and Storm were side by side hiding. They had massive numbers of B1 droids passing in the hallway as they stayed out of sight.

"This could a while to bypass," said Twilight through her comlink.

"Good luck with that," stated Storm with a smug tone.

"Go ahead, Goldie. Make me proud," said Ahsoka as the droid approached the port.

"Oh, this'll be good," said Rex as he was expecting the worst to happen.

While R3 plugged into the port, everyone now heard footsteps as they looked down the corridor. 

"Those droids are getting closer, sir," said Claude.

"Do you think R3's going to open that door anytime soon?" asked Rex with some snark.

"He's working on it," said Ahsoka shooting a glare at the Captain. "Patience, Captain."

The sounds were now getting closer and closer.

"I can always hot-wire it, sir," suggested Claude.

"Hurry up, Goldie," pleaded Ahsoka.

"I think we've run out of time!" said Ricochet as at that moment, the droids saw them.

"Blast 'em!" shouted a B1 droid as they began to fire.

The clones now crouched down while some took position behind the corners of the hallway as they began to fire at the enemy. Twilight and Ahsoka activated their lightsabers as they stood in the center deflecting their blasts and getting the droids to focus on them. While the fighting was going on, R3 was at the port as he sealed the door they were trying to get in as it got Ahsoka to make a face. She then looked behind as she saw Superbattle droids coming from the corridor behind them. She then switched and was back to back with Twilight as each one took a side as did the clones. 

"Rex, Sark, droid poppers, now!" instructed Ahsoka.

"Droid poppers!" shouted Rex. 

Claude then took the bombs off his belt, and he tossed them to Rex and Sark as they grabbed them. Rex threw the bomb towards the hallway the Superbattle droids were coming down. It landed by their feet as they realized what it was and started shooting the small thing but missed. The small bomb then went off as it released an EMP blast that caused the droids to shut down. Sark then did the same as he threw it down the corridor in front of them, causing the same thing to happen to the B1 droids.

Once it was all clear, the clones then appeared from their cover.

"Nice work, Claude," said Sark as he patted his men on the shoulder.

"Thanks, sir."

Grievous' bodyguards were still holding their position. One of them had a communicator going off as he answered it and the general appeared.

"Take the captured R2 unit to my ship," said the cyborg.

The bodyguards then began to pack up and grab R2's disassembled parts and were leaving. At that moment, the girls and the clones were catching their breath, until...

"They sent children to destroy my station?" said Grievous as he now made his presence known.

"It's..."

Twilight didn't dare finish that statement, as she saw who was in front of her. Standing before her was the cyborg that her master had warned her about. Celestia told Twilight about a powerful enemy of theirs and how not only did he train in the Jedi arts, but that he was famous for murdering Jedi. Twilight was told by her master time and time again, to stay clear of Grievous. He was dangerous and even the strongest of Jedi Masters had difficulty dealing with the droid. So safe to say, that upon seeing the enemy, she was a bit overcome with fear.

"The Republic must be running out of Jedi," said Grievous as he pulled out a lightsaber. Ahsoka and the clones all pointed their weapons at the cyborg, while Twilight was still frozen in place.

"You must be General Grievous," smiled Ahsoka confidently. "He's just another tinny, boys. Let's scrap him like the rest," said the girl with overconfidence. She then charged forward recklessly.

"Ahsoka, wait!!" shouted Twilight trying to warn her friend.

She was too late as the girl engaged Grievous. Ahsoka delivered the first two strikes as the general blocked them all with ease as their lightsabers now clashed and hummed. Ahsoka was struggling a bit as she found out the general to be strong. She then lifted her lightsaber to do a downward slash to which Grievous moved out of the way and then knocked her off her feet with ease with the back of his hand as Ahsoka crashed into the wall.

The clones now began to fire at the general as he laughed it off. Ricochet shot a blast that bounced off the wall, but even with the many angles it hit off, the cyborg managed to block it easily before it hit him. He blocked another blaster shot as it took down one of Rex's men. More shoots hit the general, but his tough armor just merely absorbed it. He then leaped into the air as he was looking to bring down his lightsaber on all the clones to kill them.

"No!" said Twilight as she reacted. 

She put her hand out as she tried to act fast to save them all. She managed to grab a hold of Sark and his men and tossed them to the side as she accidentally knocked them out. However, Grievous was so fast that the Force didn't react fast enough as the cyborg landed and used his lightsaber to slash at the two clones next to Rex. Thankfully, Rex and his men on his left were lucky as Grievous knocked them out with a kick. But if Twilight hadn't saved the clones she was trusted with, they all would have been dead.

Grievous now approached Rex's unconscious body as he stood over the Captain. Ahsoka recovered as she saw Grievous bring his lightsaber up as he looked to end Rex permanently. He brought it down but was stopped by the girl's green lightsaber as she managed to protect her friend from death.

"Sorry to interrupt your playtime, Grumpy, but wouldn't you prefer a challenge?" asked Ahsoka.

"That wouldn't be you," said the general as he could easily beat Ahsoka. He then pushed her off.

"Then try me!" said Twilight.

The girl now made her presence known as she pulled out her lightsaber as it shined her purple color. Safe to say, seeing Twilight now got the general to be interested.

"Ah, the student of Master Celestia. Now that is a challenge. A challenge worth killing." snickered the cyborg.

"Give me strength, master," said Twilight to herself as she raised her lightsaber in her battle stance, and she took a deep breath. "Storm, I wish you were here. Cause I could really use your help right about now." Twilight was still a bit frightened, but she did her best to push those fears down when facing her current enemy.

"Tell me, young one? Will Celestia weep when I murder her star student?" asked Grievous.

"Why don't you try?" said Twilight trying to gain the confidence to sound tough. Ahsoka then joined her friend's side as both girls looked to take the cyborg on.

Grievous responded to the handicap as he now pulled out a second lightsaber. He then rushed forward as he swung his blades with the girls as they were stepping back and clashing their weapons. The girls doing small backflips and rolling out of the way of the general's fast strikes. They moved out of the way of a series of attacks from the general as they raised their blades to block his from coming down. Even with their combined strength, the cyborg was still stronger than both of them.

R3 now rolled past them as the girls saw him. He gave a beep as he continued to roll.

"Ahsoka, pull back!" ordered Twilight as the girl obeyed the command of the higher-ranked Jedi as they pushed Grievous back momentarily as they raced after R3.

They soon ran into a room as the door opened with R3 following behind them. Grievous saw where they entered as he pulled out his communicator.

"All units, stay on high alert. Watch out for a few more Jedi loose in the station," said the cyborg.




While the girls were dealing with their own problems, the boys were still searching for R2 as they raced down the hall side by side. R2 was being carried through a room as some of the bodyguards were holding him. As the last bit of the bodyguards turned the corner, the door opened behind as there were the boys. R2 saw his friends as he gave a beep.

"R2!" shouted Anakin as he and Storm turned their lightsabers on.

The boy raced after the guards as Superbattle droids were shooting at them. They were deflecting the shoots with ease as Storm managed to repel some shoots back as he took out one of the droids.

"Hang on, R2!" shouted Anakin.

The boys had made it to the droids as they cut them down with ease. But by then, the door to the next to the room shut within seconds as the boys put their hands out as it sealed. Meanwhile, Grievous had now entered the room the girls ran into.

"Where is the fight you promised me, girls?" shouted the cyborg as he was mostly addressing Twilight. "I thought Celestia trained you to fight, not to be a coward!"

The girls were behind some boxes as Twilight was still a bit scared. She then noticed something on a top shelf as she gestured to Ahsoka. She saw what Twilight meant as she used the Force to knock it down as the General headed in the direction of where the sound came from instead of continuing forward where they were. They were about to let out a sigh when Ahsoka's comlink went off. This caused the girl to be scared as she put her hand over it to muffle the noise. They moved a few meters away as she answered it with her hand over her mouth.

"Ahsoka, it's me, Rex. There's only two of us left," said the Captain as he only had a single man of his unit. 

Sark was coming to with his men as it got Rex to feel a bit better than they had some more manpower, but even then they were still outnumbered.

"Should we abort the mission?" asked the Captain.

"No, complete the mission," said the girl, "Set the charges and rendezvous at the landing bay."

"But, sir--"

"That's an order, Rex." said the girl.

"Sark, you and your men, do the same," stated Twilight.

"General..."

"No debates," stated Twilight.

"We'll keep the general busy. Ahsoka out."

"The girls are distracting Grievous," said Rex to his man.

"Come on then!" said Sark as the five clones now began to head towards the reactors.

"We've still got a job to do," said Ricochet as he grabbed the backpack and tossed it to Rex's man as they all ran.

"Come here, child. I'm looking for you two," said Grievous, as he was still hunting the girls. "So far, you both have failed to impress me. Celestia must not have taught you well."

The girls were now slow to the ground as they were crouch walking along an aisle.

"Did Celestia tell you about how I almost murdered her?" shouted Grievous as it got Twilight to stop for a bit. 

To think that her own master almost fell at the hands of the cruel and wicked cyborg. She put that thought out of her mind as she kept on following behind Ahsoka. The girls noticed R3 rolling past them.

"Goldie, over here," said Ahsoka. The droid then looked at the girls as he shined a flashlight on them.

"Goldie, no!" said Ahsoka as the girls covered their eyes to avoid getting blind.

A lightsaber then popped out as Ahsoka stepped back at the last second to avoid being stabbed. The girls now put their backs to the shelf as they saw the lightsaber retract as they had scared looks. Ahsoka's comlink then went off.

"Ahsoka, we're in the reactor..."

Her comlink then came off as Grievous stomped on it as it was destroyed.

"Your friends won't help you now. You're stuck with me," said the general as he now had the girls cornered.

He then stepped forward with his lightsaber as the girls slid under the lower shelf and appeared in the next aisle. They then got up and ran around the corner as they hoped to escape from the cyborg.




The bodyguards were still carrying the droid as the boys had finally managed to make their way into the room. They came from the overhead vents as they dropped down and turned their lightsabers on. The guards now turned their backs and noticed the two Jedi.

"You have something that belongs to me," said Anakin.

The two bodyguards that were carrying R2, dropped him as he hit the ground hard. They then pulled out their electro staff as they raced forward to deal with the boys. Meanwhile, R2 was slowly putting himself back together. One of the bodyguards engaged with Anakin as he blocked the first attacks with the staff. He then began to do some downward slashes as the boy dodged and in quick reaction sliced it diagonally in half. Another was coming at Anakin as he jumped into the air and twirled his staff before doing a downward slash as he sided stepped the next two attacks and leaped away.

The others were about to join in when Storm stopped in front of them as he began to take them on. One of them twirled his staff around his body as Storm was able to cover all of his weak spots in quick succession as he leaped and twirled in the air to avoid a side slash as he did his own slash in mid-rotation as he cut one down with ease. He landed and then backed up right away to avoid being stabbed by the electro staff of the other as he now attacked to which the droid countered.

While the boys were busy, R2 had managed to put his different pieces together as he then activated his rocket thrusters. He went flying into the wall as he now stood right side up. Storm was dealing with his foe as he chopped the head off. He saw Anakin being double-teamed as he was about to help him. However, even without its head, the bodyguard got back up and prepared to drive his staff at the boy's back. Storm then sense the danger from the Force as he then leaped into the air as he did a parkour corkscrew as time moved in slow motion. 

If the droid had a facial expression or a head, you can be sure it would have a surprising look at seeing what the boy just pulled off. In slow motion, the droid turned its axis where the head was attached to look at the boy as in the midflight twist, Storm gave a wink as he time resumed, and he slashed the droid into pieces moments before he landed. At the same time, Anakin did jump into the air as he turned around so that he slashed the droid going up and when he turned and was coming down, he took the other out as they fell at the same time. He managed to see the end of Storm's insane corkscrew as he smiled.

"Sick move, Storm."

"You as well, Anakin." 

The upper half of one of the droids that Anakin cut was still activated as it looked to grab the Jedi's leg when it was shocked by R2 with his taser as it flopped down.

"Thanks, R2," said Anakin as both boys turned their lightsabers off.

The droid gave some beeps as he began to rub Storm's side as he petted his head.

"It's great to see you too, buddy."

"You don't look so good. You okay?" asked Anakin as he and Storm bent down to check on their friend. 

They saw his head was slightly off as both pushed it down, and it was secured in place. The droid gave some beeps as he was glad when Anakin's comlink went off.

"Rex? Rex, can you hear me?" asked Anakin. "R3? R3, is that you? I've got R2. We'll meet you back at the landing bay."

The boys now began to walk with R2 in the middle as the droid made some beeps.

"R3? Uh, yeah. I had to get a replacement droid," said Anakin nervously. "Look, sorry, R2." 

The droid was anything but happy as he gave some anger, anger beeps at Anakin.

"It was Obi-wan's idea! Look, we'll talk about this later," said Anakin as he could tell R2 was not pleased. R2 then scooted closer to Storm as he knew the boy wouldn't dare replace him the moment he went missing.

"Seems you kinda pissed him off," said Storm as R2 clung to him like a child was choosing which parent they wanted to live with.

"I'm sorry. We looked for you, honest!" said Anakin hoping that R2 would accept his apology, but R2 gave some beeps that when translated, well, let's say that it would have to cause this story to be M-rated if it was fully translated. Overall, R2 was giving Anakin a big middle finger.

"I'm sorry, never mind," said Anakin as he was now contacting their ship. "This is Skywalker. Rendezvous at the south landing bay immediately for evacuation."

"Acknowledge, general. I'm on my way," said the pilot as he turned the ship around.

Ahsoka and Twilight were now hiding on top of the shelves as below them were Grievous as he was talking with R3.

"R3, what have you to report?" asked the general as the droid gave a beep.

"That stubby little backstabber," said Ahsoka.

"And to think that I wanted to keep him. Storm's not gonna be the one to send him to scrap pile, I am!" stated Twilight as she too was anger.

"So Skywalker has come for his R2 unit," chuckled Grievous, "Go and make certain they do not escape." The droid then left as Grievous kept on looking for the girls.




The ship had now landed in the hangar bay as it touched the ground as both boys were waiting there. R2 still hugged Storm as he didn't forgive Anakin for replacing him.

"Great, there's the Twilight," said Anakin as he saw the ship. "Now where's everyone else?"

"Sark, where are you guys?" asked Storm as he turned his comlink to try to communicate to the clones.

At that moment, the ramp descend as out, rushed the clone who was piloting the ship.

"Sir!" said the clone as he saluted the boys. They all then turned around as they saw R3 rolling by.

"Hey, Stubby, where's Ahsoka?" asked Anakin.

The droid kept on rolling as R2 saw the newer model.

"Hey, you piece of shit! Get back here!" shouted Storm. At that moment, the doors to a nearby elevator opened as out came Rex and Sark as they were soon flanked by three other clones.

"The explosives are in place, sir. Objective completed," said Rex.

"Where's Ahsoka?"

"Sark isn't Twilight supposed to be with you?!" asked the boy to his clone commander as he was a bit worried.

"Sorry sir, we encountered Grievous. The tinny had nearly taken all of us out. If it wasn't for Twilight, we'd all be dead. She saved our lives by knocking us out if it wasn't intentionally."

"Wait, Grievous! And Twilight is facing that bastard!" said Storm as he was now super worried about Twilight. 

He gave Twilight credit that she could handle her own, but against Grievous. If he had trouble taking the general, even with Obi-wan at his side, he couldn't land a hit. What chance did Twilight have being by herself, or with Ahsoka?

"And Ahsoka?" asked Anakin to Rex.

"She went with her," said Rex as it got Anakin to now also be scared since she was just a Padawan who didn't stand a chance against Grievous' level of experience.

"They distracted him while we completed the mission," said Ricochet.

"It was their orders, sir!" stated Claude showing that they didn't want to leave the girls behind, but they had no choice.

"The droid was with her!" said Rex.

"We've got to find them!" shouted Anakin.

"I can take you to them, sirs!" said Rex as he and Sark now began to lead the group back where they came from. 

However, the doors now closed as it sealed the small group inside the hangar bay. They looked to the side and saw R3 as he was shutting not only the doors but also the hangar bay.

"What is wrong with you?! Are you trying to get us killed?" asked Anakin.

"You son of bitch! Don't you realize that our friends are in danger! If anything happens to Twilight, I'm gonna..."

Storm was cut off as the sound from above was heard. There were several vulture droids as they now were released by R3 as they landed. They transformed as they now had the Jedi and the clones in sight.

"I've got a bad feeling, sir," said Rex as he pointed his pistols at the droids.

"That double-crossing droid is a spy," said Anakin turning his lightsaber on.

"I knew I should I have shredded him to pieces when I had the chance!" growled Storm as he turned on his lightsaber.

As if things couldn't get worse, from behind the group were Superbattle droids as they now aimed at our heroes.

"Ric!" shouted Storm to his clone.

He responded by shooting some blasts that bounced off of objects taking out some of the Superbattle droids just as they began to fire as it provided them with some breathing room. They took that signal and moved as the boys deflected some more blasts back at the tough battle droids as they were now moving across the hangar. They also were firing at the vulture droids that towered over them as they were heading towards some boxes and crates as they were hoping to get to cover.

The girls were slowly peaking the corner with their lightsabers out. They saw no signs of Grievous as they turned their weapons off and let out a sigh. They took a few steps, and like straight out of a horror movie, they were both grabbed by their throats as Grievous had them in his clutches. Their lightsabers were knocked and picked up by the general as they were struggling to breathe.

"More lightsabers to add to my collection," said the general as he turned the girl's lightsabers and put them near the girls as they were struggling.

"Storm... help..." said Twilight as she tried to break the grip around her neck. 

"Your boyfriend isn't coming to save you," said Grievous with a snicker. "Time to send Celestia the corpse of her star student." He then addressed Ahsoka who was also struggling.

"My spy droid, R3, has trapped your precious master." When I'm finished with you two, they will be next,"

"You're wrong," said Ahsoka. "They're gone by now."

"Not to mention, they're gonna blow up your precious spy station," said Twilight.

"Not this time," said the general with the look in his eyes.




Back in the hangar, the boys and their clones were holding their ground. The clones were behind the crates while Storm and Anakin were in front blocking every shot possible from hitting them or each of their men.

"Captain, trigger the explosives," ordered Anakin.

"But, sir, we're still in the station," said Rex.

"You let us worry about the details. Now hit the button!" said Storm as he turned back to deflect more shots.

"Sir, yes, sir!" said Rex with a salute as Claude tossed him the denotator as he went back to shooting. Rex then got his finger over the button as he pressed it.

The charges that the clones had set now went off as from the outside, there were now several explosions. The sudden blast caused Grievous to wobble slightly as the girls took advantage of that as they grabbed his hands that had their lightsabers and guided it to cut his hands off. They were released as they fell and began to run. They now began to wall jump between two shelves as they got to the top and then noticed an open vent at the top as they dove into it. Grievous turned his lightsaber on as the girls put their hands out to retrieve theirs as the general growled in defeat. He then began to slash his weapon at the vent hoping to get the girls before they got too far. The girls stepped back a bit when they saw the blade and then avoided his other swings before racing further down the vent.

The droids were now piling on as even Storm and Anakin had to take cover behind the crates. They jumped over and leaned up against the boxes as R2 was next to them.

"R2, I need you to get the hangar door open," said Anakin as the droid responded with a beep, "See if there are any controls on the outer platform."

The droid responded as he now went off rolling through the line of fire while dodging shots. At this point, Grievous had made it to his ship as he hopped in and was now looking to escape the battle sphere. Within a few seconds, he managed to take off as he could see the station was falling. As the station was falling, R2 had made it to the outer platform as he saw a port and began to plug in. R3 saw what he was doing and bumped into the droid as it got R2 to be angry. He then shoved the droid back as it was now on.

Back in the hangar, our heroes were about to be overrun. Storm and Anakin popped out of their cover and were once again deflecting shots as each of their men kept on shooting. The boys deflected some blasts at a vulture droid's head, but it didn't faze the thing much. In the background, there was a vent as two lightsaber colors, one green and one lavender were shown as they were cutting a hole. It was then kicked down as it was Ahsoka and Twilight as they had managed to escape from the cyborg. Ahsoka then turned her weapon on as she landed on top of one of the droids. Which got the attention of another as it shot at where the girl was as she leaped over and shot its comrade. She landed on the one that shot her as she sliced its head off. Twilight jumped down to take care of some Superbattle droids as she sliced one diagonally and then used the other half as a shield as she got closer and drove her weapon through the droid.

Even the small astromech droids were having their own brawl. Each had insulted the other with some profanity words in droid beeps as they now pulled out all of their weapons and tools which acted like their fists. They both charged forward and met in the middle with their tasers as they shocked one another, but R2's was positioned at the top of his dome as he aimed his taser at R3's eye as the droid was shocked with electricity. Eventually, R2 had the upper hand as R3 had smoke coming out of it. The blue droid now turned back to finish his job.

The girls now landed as the boys now appeared beside them.

"So, what'd we miss?" asked Ahsoka as she blocked some shots.

"Oh, the usual," said Anakin.

"You alright, Twilight?" asked Storm as he was concerned about how the girl might be for having to face Grievous.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was a little scared, still shaken, but I mustered up the courage." said the girl as she did her best to not let her partner be too worried about her encounter with the cyborg.

"I should have been there to help you. I'm sorry," said the boy with his back to her.

"It's fine, you were helping, Anakin. I can't fault you for assisting a friend," said the girl deflecting some shots.

"Yeah, but you're my partner. Which means you come first, and matter the most," said Storm.

"It's alright, besides, I kept your clones from being killed," said the girl.

"I heard. You saved their lives, thanks. I knew I made the right choice putting you in charge of them," smiled Storm as he turned his head to see the girl smiling back.

"As caring at that is, it was still foolish of you girls to try to take on Grievous by yourselves. Especially you, Ahsoka," said Anakin.

"Well, Twilight and I were leading the mission, and it seemed like a good idea at the time," smiled the girl sheepishly.

"I warned you to wait!" said Twilight.

"That still isn't acceptable, Ahsoka!" said Storm. "I trust Twilight to hold her own, cause she's a Jedi Knight. You're still a Padawan!"

"Storm is right! Twilight has more experience than you, so you should have listened to her when she said it wasn't smart to rush in blindly!" stated Anakin. "By the way, girls? Did he mention that your stubby little gold droid pal works for him?"

"He might have mentioned it," said Ahsoka once more smiling sheepishly.

"And you were right Storm, I should have let you turn him into spare parts!" said Twilight as the boy bent over so that Twilight could roll off his back and then slash at a droid. She then leaned herself back as she dodged a blast to which Storm came in with a slash as Twilight got her body to now return to its stance.

"I guess we were all fooled," said Ahsoka.

Anakin gave a glare as he looked at the two girls.

"I don't know about all of us!" shouted Storm to his friend as they blocked more shots. 

Twilight saw droids appear by her side as they fired at her. She couldn't have time to move as it looked like they would hit her. Storm quickly acted on instincts as he shoved Twilight out of the way. He then did the same corkscrew move from before as he dodged the blasts, and when he rotated, he threw his lightsaber at the droids taking them down as it returned to his hand when his feet touched the ground from completing the move.

"Holy shit!" said Twilight. She wasn't one for swearing, so she let that out by accident. But can you blame her, when she saw what her partner just did?

"I know, I'm amazing. But we'll discuss that later," said Storm as he went back to blocking as did Twilight. She still couldn't get that image out of her mind as she was smiling.

"General Skywalker, General Storm! There fuel cells over here," said Rex as he and Sark pointed near them.

"Get ready, Rex," instructed Anakin.

The boys had an idea. As they were blasting, they put their other hand out as Anakin and Storm grabbed the fuel cells and tossed them towards the droids. Rex and Ricochet both took their shots and fired as they caused the cells to blow up, creating an explosion that took out the enemy. At that same time, R2 had managed to open the hangar doors.

"R2 did it!" said Ahsoka.

"Of course he did," smiled Anakin smugly. "Now let's get out of here."

"We're leaving men, move it!" shouted Storm to the clones as they all now raced into the ship.

"R2, where are you?" asked Anakin as everyone had gotten on board.

R2 thought he had taken care of R3, but the droid then came back online. He then bumped into the blue astromech as they began to tussle once more. The ship now left as they exited out of the hangar and the station was now falling faster as more explosions went off. R2 then opened up a side compartment of himself and sprayed R3 with oil.

"General Skywalker has gotten into his fighter. Where's he's going?" asked Rex as the other Jedi were present.

"He's going after R2," said Ashoka.

"I'll be right back. Don't wait for me," said the boy as he now exited the ship and was heading back to the station.

"Storm, go after him!" said Twilight.

"Nah, he's fine, Sparky," said Storm as he had faith that Anakin would rescue R2.

The droids were still fighting as R2 managed to bump R3 into now almost going over the edge. The gold droid now fired a plunger that attached to the blue droid as it was keeping him from falling, but also hoping to take the droid with him. R2 responded as he pulled out his rocket thrusters and lit the oil trail leading up to R3 as the thing was now caught on fire. R2 then pulled out his buzzsaw as he was cutting the plunger as R3 was now worried. It was then cut as R3 was sent flying off the edge and then collided with some debris as it broke apart. R2 gave a beep which could also translate him to giving a middle finger in droid talk from the mischievous little droid. Anakin then pulled up with his ship.

"Come on, R2!" shouted the boy as the droid pulled out his rocket thrusters and made his way to his comfy port on the side as he let out a happy beep as it was nice to be back home.




The pair was now flying back towards the ship. They had just left the planet's orbit when they were contacted by Obi-wan. And not just him, both Luna and Celestia were present as Luna had furious look on her face while Celestia had a calm expression.

"So let get this straight, Anakin and Storm?" said Obi-wan. "You both risked the mission, all your men, even the girls!!"

"To save a measly, replaceable, damn droid!!" shouted Luna as she was also angry along with Kenobi.

R2 gave a beep to Luna as it got the girl to scoff at hearing the droid call her that while Celestia giggled.

"R2 found the listening post, and he saved our lives," responded Anakin.

"We couldn't just leave him there, Obi-wan, Luna!" said Storm standing his ground to his master.

"Oh, Anakin..." said Obi-wan shaking his head in displeasure, "One day..."

"Storm... you are really pushing your luck, mister... you'll see someday..." said Luna as she too was with Obi-wan as seeing their students disobey them as they were slightly disappointed, but more importantly, angry.

The pair soon disappeared as Celestia was the only one left to which Twilight approached her master.

"Celestia, I..."

"Good work, Twilight," said the older woman with a genuine smile.

The bookworm girl wasn't expecting that response from her master. She thought she would get a strict lecture about disobeying and being a bad student, but instead of scowling, she was smiling. It soon got her to smile as well.

"Storm, you have my most sincere gratitude for taking care of Twilight. She's lucky to have you," smiled the girl looking at her sister's student. He didn't say much but rubbed the back of his neck with a smile of his own. "Good work, all of you," said Celestia to Ahsoka and Anakin, as well as the clones and R2. She then ended her transmission.

"I'm glad we got R2 back, master, But Obi-wan and Luna do have a point," said the girl looking at the boys.

"Ahsoka, I knew you would complete the mission."

"Just as I knew you were capable of leading clones, Twilight." said Storm as the girl smiled at her partner.

"Besides, R2 is more than a droid," said Anakin.

"He's a friend," said both Storm and Skywalker as they looked at the droid. R2 gave a happy beep as he finally forgave Anakin for replacing him.

The ship now entered hyperspace as the crew was heading back. Sometime later, Twilight had grabbed Storm by the hand and was leading them to the hangar. Turns out she wanted Storm to teach her that corkscrew move he did. He was wondering why she would want to learn that as she felt like it might be a maneuver that could be useful, also because it looked cool. The boy just shook his head as he granted the request of his partner. Twilight stepped back as she allowed Storm to perform the move. Storm took a deep breath before he executed the move with ease as he landed on his feet. Twilight took out her notebook as she had written down some notes. She wrote down all the details that went into the move and knew all the mechanics.

Storm then allowed her to try as a way for him to see where to start. Twilight put her notebook down on a crate and then stepped into the space. She took a deep breath and focused her mind, trying to concentrate. She then started off the move, but she only got to the part of getting into the air as she now began to fall with her back facing the ground. She would have landed on the floor, had Storm not caught her in his arms. Seems it was going to take a lot of work and practice for her to pull it off as the boy did. But he did have to admit, not bad for her first attempt as he smiled at Twilight as she played with her hair as she was embarrassed.