A Tactical Endeavor

Rusty, Clank and Teesh were outside of the hole, Teesh and Rusty decided to sit down, while Clank stood motionless as sand clattered against his body. The 3 remained silent for most of their guarding duty, Teesh didn't care enough to talk to the droids, Rusty was too worried about Jake, and Clank was "following orders" as he put it.

"shouldn't we go check on them?" Rusty asked in a worried tone

"We have our orders" Clank repeated, this wasn't the first time Rusty had urged them to go look for Jake, it had been almost half an hour and the B1 was worried greatly.

"Both of you shut it" Teesh spoke aloud as the droids turned to him "I'm ssssureee there fine, just give them timeeeee" he spoke in a slurred voice

The B1 released a mechanical sigh as it slumped back down into a seated position as it held its legs close to its body.....waiting.

———-

Jake and R4 hadn't walked far from the 2 droids they had come across, they had found another B1 storage area, this time every B1 was clearly dead, either ripped apart or straight up melted by whatever beam destroyed this transport. As R4 collected smaller valuables Jake was looking and the corpse of a B1, the droid laid on its back, a single arm reached out with the fingers splayed as it was trying to grab something, the droids legs were gone and it's face and upper chest had clearly been melted, the dripping metal of the droid had hardened to create this horrific looking droid face. Jake walked up to it with a grimace, he reached down and snapped the droid head off, stuffing it into his bag," ya never know when you need a droid head" he told himself. R4 had stuffed all its compartments with items, some even falling out when the droid rolled around. Jake just laughed at this as he left that area and continued to explore, hoping to find a way out.

Eventually after passing several more droid storage rooms they reached a console area, 2 tables with buttons and screens, both were obviously non-functional. He walked up to one of the tables with R4 in tow, he looked down at it and saw the old separatist controls, buttons, screens and wires everywhere. Was it old? Yes, did Jake give a fuck? Definitely not.

"Jackpot fuckers!!" He yelled out to himself in glee, which startled the droid behind, R4 responded to this by bumping into Jake.

"Breee bel bel booooreeeppppp!" R4 somehow beeped in an angry tone.

"Oh shut up R4 '' Jake said playfully "look at all this tech, I bet we can sell this to the Geonosians back at the village, they might want it" he remarked happily, R4 beeping in agreement alongside him.

Jake immediately grabbed any loose parts and carefully yanked them out of the table, small amounts of rust, dust and sparks flying out at him. Any pieces he deemed worthy were shoved into his modified backpack. R4 also tore up the other panel from below, collecting large wires that used to give the table power, before giving them to Jake so he could stuff in his backpack.

After a few minutes of scraping Jake called R4 over "R4! we gotta save some space in case we find anything interesting trying to get out of here" R4 made a small gurgling noise and rolled to Jake.

"Don't you complain R4, don't wanna be stuck here forever don't you?" Jake asked sarcastically, R4 tazed the boy in response, receiving a yelp as Jake face planted into the floor, his muscles being cramped up not allowing him to move for a few seconds, afterwards Jake just sighed and continued walking. R4 beeped annoyed as they continued. Not too long after they stumbled upon a large storage area, nothing new....except this area didn't hold droids, it held other random items used by the Droid army, Thermal detonators, electro binoculars, and grappling hooks all lined up and piled in boxes. Jake decided he wasn't going to risk taking one of the grenades, and picked up a pair of Electro Binoculars for Rusty "Ya think Rusty will like this R4?" Jake questioned, the astromech turned its head and beeped approvingly of Jake's gift choice. "Noice'' was all Jake responded before stuffing the binoculars into his backpack.

R4 was the one who found the grappling hook, and Jake and R4 obviously decide they would use them to escape through the hole they fell threw, expect Jake was exhausted at this point, his bleeding had stopped thanks to some spare cloth he wrapped around the wound, but the droids attacks in him were still sore. R4 power was also low, they set up a small camp and decided to rest for the night which soon approached, Jake could only hope that his buddies on the surface wouldn't get worried and come after him.

————

Bonk...bonk....bonk....

"You can stop now" Rusty said annoyed, Clank stopped walking into the ships wall and turned to him.

"I am trying to enter the transport" the B2 said obviously

"Oh really?" The B1 asked with sarcasm "you can't fit, I'm too tall and Teesh is sleeping. We have to wait for them to return"

"How do we know they are not dead?" Clank questioned 

"If we hear intense yelling we will know" Rusty said, his high pitched voice hinted with fear.

After that they both stayed silent, the metal of the ship creaked against the winds that were slowly building, it would be night in a few hours, and both droids had to recharge eventually. They could pray to the Creator that snake would return before they slumped to the floor dead. Other then that depressing thought, things were peaceful, as sand blew through the wind, the ever glowing sun blasted at their metal bodies. They sat their pretending as if the could feel the warmth of it.

"What does the sun feel like?" Rusty squeaked

Clank stared at the at Rusty before turning to the sun ".....hot..." he decided

"Well I know that.... But...what does it feeeeelll like?" Rusty asked yet again, copying how Jake had spoken before.

The B2 didn't respond, and that left both the droids staring at the sun, Questioning it. Of course neither knew what it felt like, droids had touch sensors but information on how much they could feel is limited, could they only feel pain, or touch in general? The galaxy didn't know. But it was widely accepted that droids could not feel natural things, such as wind, the sun, or water. The LAAT was parked far away from their location, but it was still visible, so the droids arched the ship and lay motionless as Teeshs snore increased in volume.

——————-morning———-

Jake and R4 had just woken up from their uncomfortable sleep, Jake flinched as he stood up holding a hand in his wounds. He stared down as R4 powered online, the droid rolling over a small pool of blood from where Jake was sleeping. 

"Well" Jake said weakly "that's just great" R4 turned to Jake at the conference and began to beep loudly.

"Don't worry buddy I'm fine" he patted R4 head as he began to limp back to where they fell from "let's get a move one" he gave fake smile to the droid

R4 beeped unconvinced but rolled behind him anyway.

The 2 walked past the several rooms they had passed the day before, the wires and droid bodies not moving an inch, every step causing metal to creak at Jake and R4s weight. Jake limped, making them go slower than their usual pace. Eventually they reached the area from before, the gaping hole 20-25 feet above them that they originally fell through, the wires, sparks flying from machinery and....1 dead droid on the floor. Jake and R4 stared in confusion as only one droid from the day before could be found, especially the one that had been shot 3 times in the body was missing. R4 called over Jake and stared at a dried up oil trail leading in the other hallway across from the one they arrived at. Jake's eyes narrowed as eyes scanned the trail before he lost sight of the trail which turned a corner, he glanced at his bloodied hand and released a sigh. He limped following the trail, and motioned for R4 to follow. there wasn't much on their little trail, but after 5 or 6 minutes of walking, they could hear noises from around the next corner. Jake barely peaked the corner to see another room, he motioned for R4 to stop moving as he took in the sight in front of him, there was a massive hole in the roof, and what looked to be an escape pod lodged in the center of the room. The pod's door was open, inside lay the B1 from before, the three holes in his chest covered in scrap metal. The B1 was still shut down, but someone definitely tried to save it. Jake decided to wait a bit longer before investigating, and after a few minutes a weird droid came from round back the pod, its head had an overhang above its eyes, the main body was extremely chunky but wasn't armored, and its forearms and calf were enlarged.

it bent down to the B1 in the pod, it put its hand on the B1s shoulder and shook it "wake up...wake up.... wake up..." it repeated. Jake stared at the grieving droid, guilt slowly building inside him, The active droid didn't look to well itself, having several scratches on it, countless dents, a large burn mark starting from its feet reaching to just below the knee, and worst yet, one of its eyes was cracked and had wires spilling out it, that same eye was also not lit, signifying it was not working.

Jake took a deep breath and pulled out his Pistol, he motioned R4 to stay put before turning the corner. 

"Hey!!" Jake yelled, the Droid immediately swung itself around and raised arms to its chest in a surrendering manner "what are you?" jake Insisted as he slowly approached the droid

"I-I-I-I ammm-am Unit-it-it T-83" It spoke glitched and its voice changed from its original voice to a higher and deeper pitched version. 

"And what type of droid are you?" Jake now lowered his blaster, seeing that T-83 wasn't armed

"I am a T-Series Tactical Droid" it answered with a slightly less worried yet still broken voice as Jake lowered his weapon. 

"tactical huh?" Jake spoke mostly to himself amused "well i plan on getting out of here, you wanna tag along" Jake now walked up to T-83 still clutching his stomach wound, R4 also rolled out of cover hearing the casual conversation going on. 

T-83 glanced at R4 before responding to Jake "there is no escape, I was activated 1 week ago by a miracle of unknown origin (me), and I have yet to find a way out" T-83 spoke sadly but still monotone.

"Well me and R4" he motioned towards his droid "literally fell through the ceiling, so now there's a way out, plus with these grappling hooks, we have a chance to get out here" Jake happily gave the news to T-83, who simply nodded in response.

"I see your calculations to be Logical Sir" the droid complimented Jake.

"What's with you droids always calling me Sir?" Jake mused

"apologies sir" T-83 spoke without realizing the mistake it had made. After some laughter from Jake T-83 turned to look at deceased B1 from earlier still in the escape pod.

"sorry T-83, but there isn't much we can do..." Jake patted the droid's shoulder as he remarked this sadly.

"affirmative.." T-83 spoke depressingly before turning to Jake. "do you have access to any high voltage item sir?" T-83 asked politely, its hands folded atop one another.

Jake took his backpack off from his back, grunting in pain as he stretched the stomach wound, he unclipped his Shock Stick from the side and showed T-83 "this work?"

"Indeed it does sir, now i require you to shock the living hell out of this B1" T-83 motioned towards the B1 in the pod "as you organics say things" Jake gave a slight chuckle at T-83s attempts to recreate human slang sentences.

"welp, if ya say so" Jake turned his Shock Stick on and turned it to the highest setting, he moved into position to shock the B1, awaiting T-83 ok.

"Please note, this will only keep him active for a few seconds, please remain quiet so we may hear his final words sir" Jake nodded at T-83s request, surprised that droids even cared about that type of stuff.

"Shock!!" T-83 yelled

Jake brought down his Shock stick with all the force his weakened body could muster, the B1 shook violently and its eyes lit on and off rapidly, after a few seconds Jake ceased his shock. The B1s head moved slightly as sparks poured from its wounds, he stared at the 3 entities in front of it. Jake just stared at the droid, awaiting the droid's words.

"and ev-ev-every candle-e-e fades-fa-a-fades to dark"

"e-e-every fir-r-re-re loses spark-k"

"you wa-watch a-a-as i shutd-d-ddown"

"ju-just dont forget mee noww-w-wwwww........"

The Droids head slumped over and its eyes dimmed then shutoff, Jake, R4 and T-83 stared at the droid, processing its final words, a melancholy atmosphere was quickly formed as Jake began to slowly walk back the way he came, soon R4 and T-83 joined him. they quickly and silently reached the hole from which Jake and R4 had fell, Jake attached the grappling hook to R4 and allowed the droid to use the small jets that popped out from its legs to fly up, once landed R4 attached the hook to a solid wall surface with his player grabby thing, at the moment Jake didn't know or care what it was called, he simply began to climb up the rope, straining and grunting with every exertion of forces as his wound proceeded to tear open and bleed small amounts of blood. 

T-83 watched above as blood dripped on the droids shoulder "sir, you require medical assistance" Jake just looked back down at the droid

"well no fucking shit?!" Jake said inpatient and in pain as he threw himself to the side of the hole they fell through, quickly laying against the inner walls of the ship and sitting there. He waited patiently as T-83 could be heard clanking his way to the surface.

------------------------back to morning-----------

Teesh had continued his sleep while Rusty and Clank were sat together in the darkness, both huddled to themselves as they waited for the eventual rising of the sun. The B1 and B2 had felt lonely in the time Jake had left, despite them having each other and of course the Trandoshan, both droids felt a presence missing, and there they sat....motionless, alone, and waiting. the seconds ticked by...one by one....Rusty and Clanks power was on its last legs, they had to pray to whatever metallic god they had that Jake would leave soon, or else they would fall back into the sand possible never awake, as it was clear Teesh didn't care enough to save them.

"Clank.....will we be ok?" Rusty spoke weakly and quietly

"yes.....we must believe in our commander" Clank spoke confidently before asking "what is your power Rusty, i am 34%" 

Rusty turned to Clank "0%....." Before Clank could respond Rusty fell sideways from his seated position, landing with a thud in the sand, Clank turned slightly and stared at Rusty, before leaning back and staring at the sunrise, patiently waiting for help......