Anakin

It's been weeks since I was sent to the Outer Rim to protect the strategic world of Bothawui, we've had multiple defeats all thanks to Grievous.

I've been stressed and angry and annoyed about not really knowing how to fight him back, and that just stresses me even more.

Snips, Rex, R2 and I were in the briefing room, Obi-Wan's and Allana's holograms before us.

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

"Seems like that coward always knows where and when to attack us." Allana commented, taking the words from my mouth once again, I miss her.

"You're heavily outnumbered Anakin, I advice retreat." My old Master suggested.

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

"And that is your problem."

"Master Kenobi is right." Said Ahsoka beside me. "We should regroup, we don't stand a chance against-"

"Ahsoka."

"Suicide is not the Jedi way Master." Her words shocked me a little, she's wise and speaks strongly for being too young, that always surprises me.

"You should listen to your Padawan." Kenobi added.

"As you listen to yours my old Master?" I asked. "No." I looked at the young girl that's standing to my left. "We're going to stay and fight."

"I may have an idea to defeat Grievous at his own game." Lans said after being awfully quiet for the past minutes.

"So do I." I said and analysed the hologram before me.

"Then, you're going to need reinforcements." Naberrie commented. "The Wolfpack and I are ready, I can go and help."

"Any help is appreciated General." I said and she smiled.

"Don't you have something else to do?" Kenobi asked her.

"Not really, Master Gallia hasn't given me any orders, nor has the Council or you, besides it's just a boring day in Coruscant, so, I'll be there in a moment."

I chuckled. "Well then, we'll be waiting for you." I said and smiled at her, she smiled back before hers and my Master's holograms disappeared.

[...]

I saw how Allana's cruiser jumped out of hyperspace, then, several ships flew out.

"Open the gate." I ordered, than I contacted her ship. "General, can you hear me?"

"Yes Skywalker."

"Very well, you may land now."

"Thank you." Answered she and her ships did so.

Moments later the elevator of the bridge opened revealing the Jedi and her Commander. "Skyguy, Snips, how you doing?" Said she.

"Very well Smarty, what about you?" Ahsoka answered making Lana laugh.

"So you told her your brilliant idea."

"There are no secrets between my Padawan and I you should know that by now." I said.

"Right." She said. "Doing good Ahsoka, hope you missed me enough."

"We did Master." The girl replied making my wife smile.

"So." Lans said after a couple seconds. "What's your plan?"

"Probably the same as yours but better."

"Shut up." She said as Rex and Wolffe smiled. "Care to share?"

"Mm" I shrugged. "Is your Squadron ready?"

She scoffed. "My men are always ready, you should know that by now too."

"Fine, then hop on your ships and follow my lead."

"Where do you need me Master?" Tano asked as we started our way to the elevator and Allana communicated with the Light Squadron through the communicator on her left wrist.

"Here." I answered and she nodded after she dedicated me an eye roll. "Come on, you're gonna be our eyes, it'll be fun." I smiled at her and then, the metal doors closed. On our way down, I told her the plan that was formed in my head before her arrival.

[...]

We hopped on the ships, Lana on her grey and marine blue star fighter and me in my grey and yellow one, R2 with me and her own metal buddy, R6 with her.

"Gold and Light Squadrons, tighten formation." I commanded.
"Slow approach, let's draw them in."

"Yes sir." Answered Wolffe and Captain Rex.

"I think this is the best idea you've had without me." Lana commented making me smile, then, R2 beeped.

"Oh shut it." I told her and her giggle filled the cabin. "Don't worry R2, Grievous is falling right into our trap."

"Gold and Light Leaders, we're standing by." Said Snips from the cruiser. "Enemy closing to zone six, zone five."

"Patience Ahsoka." I told my Padawan.

"Zone four, zone three, zone two." A clone trooper said, then, the Separatist fleet started to fire, the heavy attack making an impact on the cruisers.

"We're outgunned." Snips told us. "We're not gonna last a mynock minute out there."

"Hang on kid." Lans told the Padawan.

"We've got them right where we want them." I added.

"Incoming's too heavy." Golden three said.

"Squadrons, take evasive action." Naberrie commanded and we all did as she said.

R2 beeped, worried.
"No R2, we're not retreating, good thing you gave us that extra power." I said and minutes later, my plan was completed. "Ahsoka, they're in position." I said. "Unveil our little surprise."

"All units, fire at will." The other General commanded and they fired, Wolffe and Rex working as one just like Lans and me.

Our walkers took down one of their ships and then our cannons took another one.

"This is too easy." I commented smiling.

"Shut up, you have the bad luck to always speak too fast." My Angel said with a chuckle.

"Not really." I answered as we fired at the big ship.

"Hey, do you see that?" She asked and I spotted a ship flying away, there he was.

"Grievous." I frowned and we flew behind him.

"He's powering his hyperdrive."

"I know, hang on." I told her, suddenly a small part metal hit a side of the ship, I frowned, too focused on getting the Separatist General. "More speed R2." I asked and it beeped informing me of the damage. "See what you can do about that buddy."

Allana's blasters were firing at Grievous as well as mine but neither the blue or green fire managed to hit the target. Suddenly an alarm started to beep in my cabin. "Uh-oh." I whispered.

"What?"

"Uuh, I got a bad feeling about this." I said and then I lost control of my ship.

"Anakin!" Lans yelped and that was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed.

[...]

I felt a tickle on my right hand, the robotic one and my eyes opened slowly, a medical droid and Allana were in the room that was too bright for my eyes.

"Wha-what happened?" I whispered when she brushed a lock of hair off my forehead, relief all over her features.

"You owe Rexter your skin." She spoke softly. "He'd say that he's only doing his job though, but he actually did, he's waiting outside with Ahsoka."

"Did the-"

"Yes, your plan won the day, you must know, Grievous is AWOL, I tried to follow him but I lost him when you had your...inconvenience, his fleet is nothing but spare parts." She smiled softly as her fingers played with my hair making me close my eyes, I missed her touch terribly.

"Good work." I whispered but when I opened my eyes her smile was gone. "What is it?" I asked her as I took her hands and intertwined our fingers.

"I'm sorry Ani but R2..." She looked at our hands.

"What about him?"

"He-he's gone." I looked at her deep into her eyes, she knows how important my droid is for me, I sighed as I closed mine. "I'm sorry." She said and squeezed my hand as she brushed my hair with her fingers carefully.

We were like that at least five minutes until she said that we should go and report to Master Kenobi and we did.

When we walked out Snips and Rex were there, smiling sadly at me. Then, we directed ourselves to the briefing room in the bridge of the ship.

"Congratulations, all of you." My Master said. "Your resourcefulness always amazes me."

"Thank you Master." I said, my tone of voice low, my eyes were glued to my hands, Lana was to my right, her hands behind her back as always and Ahsoka was to my left, her arms crossed.

"You look troubled." Obi-Wan said.

"I lost R2 in the field." I answered honestly.

"Well, R2 units are a dime a dozen, I'm sure you'll find a suitable replacement." He said and I squeezed my hand on a fist, I was able to sense Snips and Smarty's eyes on me.

"I could take a squad out there, track him down." I told my Master.

"Anakin, it's only a droid, you know attachment is not acceptable for a Jedi." Allana tensed beside me, as well as me.

"It's not just that Master." I looked at my hands once more. "Uh, how do I put this?" I sighed when Obi-Wan's eyes reflected curiosity and worry as well. "I didn't wipe R2's memory."

"What?" Allana asked beside me. "That's not good."

"Why?" Ahsoka asked.

"Please tell me he's not still programmed with our tactics and base locations." Lans said ignoring but kind of answering Snips's question, I stood quiet and she sighed, the silence being enough answer, she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"If the Separatists get a hold of him..." Kenobi said. "What possessed you not to errase that droid's memory?" I was unable to look at his eyes, so I closed them, picturing his face in my head, a frown of anger and disappointment that I was not in the mood for facing.

"Master Obi-Wan." Ahsoka said. "Sometimes R2 having that extra information has come in handy."

"Well, then find that droid, our necks might very well depend on it."

I smiled. "Right away Master." I answered.

[...]

Lana climbed the stairs first, following Ahsoka, seconds later I did the same.

"Ready to go?" I asked them, Naberrie moved to a side and looked at me, revealing Snips with another unit that was black and yellow.

"Master, they just delivered your replacement astromech droid, this is R3-S6, I've heard that the new R3's are far faster in thinking skills and more powerful than the old R2 units." I frowned.

"Hey." Allana said with a frown that matched mine. "R2 units are not old and they are not slow thinkers kid." She defended certainly her droid and R2, after that, she walked into the ship.

"Right." Said Snips. "And best of all Master, he's gold! A gold droid for a Gold Leader of Gold Squadron."

"You can't replace R2." I said, even through her comment did make me chuckle a bit.

I walked in the cabin and Allana was sitting in the co-pilot seat.
"Why isn't R6 here?" I asked sitting down beside her.

"I was told not to bring him, he stayed with my fighter, I was also told that a 'replacement' was coming with us." She explained.

"It's not a permanent one."

"I know, I know."

Then I turned the engines on and Snips entered the place with the rookie droid, she sat behind me, as usual. Once everything was settled, we started to fly the Twilight through what was left of the Separatist fleet.

"Hey, there's my ship!" I said when I saw the grey and yellow fighter, a small smile on my features, seconds later, the gravity moved the fighter and I saw how R2 was no longer there, making my smile be replaced by a frown, worry and sadness taking over me. "R2's gone." I said feeling the intense gaze of those hazel eyes on me. "No, he must have escaped, he's got to be around here, somewhere."

"R2 isn't on the scanners." Lans said. "But there is a ship out there."

I piloted towards the ship that we had find that was just searching for something of value among the metal that had been blown into pieces earlier.

"Looks like a Trandoshan scavenger." I informed.

"They're probably combing the battlefield for salvage." Lana added.

"The historical text says-" Snips started.

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

I placed our ship slowly and gently underneath the scavenger one.

"Robes on and let's get going." I said and opened the door of the cabinet of the ship. "Here." I said as I grabbed Ahsoka's and handed it over to her. "And here." I said handing a dark grey, almost black, one to Lans that's pretty much alike to the white one that she wore back in Geonosis.

"I didn't know you had a robe here Master." Ahsoka told Lana behind me as I paced my own over my head. Shit.

"I must have left it here weeks ago." Allana answered. "Let's go." She cleared her throat as I mentally slapped my own face. She was not wrong, she did leave it here weeks ago but no one should know about that day when we 'cleaned' the ship. "R3, come on bud."

We hopped on the small elevator the other ship had and we started to go up. Ahsoka and the droid were in front of us and Lana and I were holding a silent argument about the robe thing but we ended up almost laughing, then we had to cover our noses.

"Ugh." Snips complained. "What's that smell?" She asked, she sniffed and had a small shiver. "Ugh." She said again.

"You'll get used to it." I told the Togruta. Seconds later, a pair of cameras appeared, placing theirselves in front of our faces, their small but blinding light making us look away as we heard someone speaking an alien language that I wasn't quite fluent in order to decipher what they were saying. "Hey!" I said. "We'd like to buy a droid, you sellin'?" I asked and after a deep laugh echoed in the place the cameras went away.

  Ahsoka looked at Allana and me and we exchanged a look afterwards, suddenly the metal doors before us started to open slowly, but it stopped and a small dude climbed to get to our side, farting. "Ugh." I whispered as Allana made an effort not to bust into laughter, her whispered giggle made me chuckle in a whisper too as Snips covered her nose.

"We're looking for an R2 unit." Lans said once she had calmed herself down and the man faced us. "You happen to pick up one recently?"

"An R series." Said the man. "No, no, not for a long time."

"Pookums here really has her heart set on another R2." I said placing my right hand over Ahsoka's shoulder. "She lost the last one." I said with a smile.

"Pookums?" Snips whispered as I pulled her close for her to be in between Lans and I. "Oh brother." I smiled even more.

"Nice R3 unit." Said the scavenger, making the golden and black droid beep. "Trade for a C-14?"

"Ha." Snips whispered. "Not on your life lizardo." She commented as I pulled some credits out of my pocket.

"Let's see...how much do I have here." I whispered after I threw them and caught them, spotting how lizard man raised his eyebrows, interested.

"I tell you what." He said. "I may have an R2 unit buried somewhere in the hold." He turned around to get inside of the hole and the girls smiled at themselves and then they smiled to me, making me return the gesture.

We walked in carefully, the droid following behind us. We were guided by the green yellowish dude towards the back of his ship.

"Help yourself." He said when he opened the metal doors for us. "But be careful, there are many, um...unique items down here." We walked in and I sensed Lans skeptical, her anxiety and, or, overthinking flooding her body, then, the doors closed behind us.

Ahsoka was in front of us, so I placed my hand on Lana's lower back, letting her know that it'll be fine, her muscles relaxing with my touch.

She walked faster, placing herself in front of Snips and started to push boxes gently away using the Force as we looked around for R2. The place was dark only illuminated by dying red lights that were hanging from the shelves.

Ahsoka stopped walking but I continued behind Lana. "Masters." She called our attention, when we turned around we found a pair of droids that I hate very much.

"This must be the unique items we were warned about." I said.

"These assassin droids can be very unpredictable." Allana added.

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

"Nothing looks tough to you." I said. "Take our word for it, they're deadly." I added and walked away.

"R3, access the computer to find the inventory manifest." Allana commanded the little metal buddy.

"R2's gotta be around here somewhere." I added. The droid started to look for the manifest as the other General previously asked when I heard R2 beeping in the distance, my head snapping towards the noise. "Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" My wife and our Padawan asked at the same time.

"I don't know, but that sounded like R2." I answered and ran towards the noise.

"How can you tell the difference?" Snips asked as I crossed a door in the hallway.

"It came from down here." I said placing my hands on the door.
"R3, get this open." I ordered and the droid beeped, but it turned the lights on. "No! We don't need the lights on!" I said.

"No Goldie, the hatch." Ahsoka told him.

"Never mind, I'll do it myself." I said and I pulled my saber from my belt and turned it on, stabbing the metal door before me in order to cut it open.

"Master!" Yelped Ahsoka. Lans was fast and cut an arm of the droid and pushed it away with the Force, taking both down.
"Goldie, shut these droids down." Ahsoka said as I stopped what I was doing and rushed towards them and the droids ripped the cables that controlled them from their backs.

"I'm afraid R3 is a little slow on the uptake." I said as Snips placed herself behind us, pulling her saber out, and the droids grabbed some blasters.

"Where did they get those?" She asked with a frown as they started to shoot us and we deflected the blasts.

The echo of the sabers pushing the blasts away was loud in here, the area too small for us to fight properly. The droids climbed the shelves and started firing at us from above, but we deflected every single shot.

Suddenly, Ahsoka groaned, I was concentrated fighting with one when I head behind me a lightsaber cutting something, when I turned around, I saw my Padawan with a proud grin on her face, a droid perfectly destroyed by the half in a vertical way at her feet.

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

"Good job." I congratulated her.

"But you missed one." Lana said behind me, cutting off the arm and blaster, and then its head, making the droid drop to her feet. "You're welcome."

"I had it sorted." I said.

"Yeah right." She commented placing the curved handle of her saber on her belt. Then, the R3 useless unit beeped behind her.

"And for you Stubby, you'd make a poor excuse for a light switch." I said looking at the droid who quickly looked away.

"I'm sure he did his best." Snips commented.

"Yeah, at getting us killed?!" I snapped looking at Ahsoka. "R2 would have never made that mistake!"

"Anakin!" Allana called me but I just sighed and walked towards the door where I suspect R2 is.

"R3 can't even get a door open." I complained and the droid opened when I arrived. "A little late Stubby." I complained again, but when it opened it just revealed the scavenger, I turned my saber on and he yelped.

  "If you didn't have a lightsaber, you'd be a dead man." He threatened and I frowned.

"Stop!" Lana said behind me placing her hand on my arm and turning me around. "What are you doing?" She asked with a frown, her hazel eyes looking deep into mine.

"Master, R2 is not here." Ahsoka said and I turned my saber off.

"Let's get out of here." I said pushing the man out of my way with my forearm.

"I told you there were no R2 droids down here!" The man yelped but that was not true. "Look at this mess you made! You owe me Jedi!" He yelled again and Allana sighed, and walked towards the guy, fast, like she does when she's angry or stressed. The yellowish scavenger gave few steps back, intimidated by the brunette, she pulled out some credits from the back pocket of her belt and threw them at the man, who caught them in the air.

"Hope that's enough." She said coldly and returned at were we were with a frown on her face, serious. The doors then closed before us and we hoped on our ship and flew back to the cruiser.

a/n: hi friends! another very late update but, here's another chapter. i just finished my second finals week, so expect the regular updates from now on, i guess.

hope you're having a lovely thursday :))
drink water and stay safe alright? ilysm

xoxo