Combination

The two Ships flew side by side in the vastness of space, Tac and Teesh sat in the LAATs cockpit, Teesh had assumed their ship must have a tracker on it, so Tac was attempting to shut it off with the systems, but they weren't making great progress. Even Rusty, who was physically searching the ships insides through vents and the storage room wasn't having luck. Jake had gotten better, not much, but he had calmed himself down within the last few hours, of which he spent most of the time sat in the corner. The Droidekka wasn't doing much itself, as it stood lifeless in the corner, staring into the void of space, no thought behind its three peering eyes.

"Jake...we cant find the tracker...im sssstarting to think there issssnt one" Teesh spoke aloud, walking down the cockpit stairs, his dusty cloths swaying slightly.

"I aint buying it...we aren't making any more mistakes..search harder" Jake ordered grimly as he ripped open a vent only to slam it in frustration when he found nothing.

Teesh smirked "I was hoping you'd ssssay that..good inssstinctsssssss"

Jake only gave a small smile that faded quickly to the compliment, no matter how sad he was, compliments were scarce, so he couldn't contain his pride whenever he got one. 

"Thanks...im gonna contact Mute, see how he is doing" Jake said picking up[ Tacs Datapad, which was neatly placed...on the floor. A disgruntled Rusty emerged from the storage room, he stared at Jake.

"Greetings sir...didnt find anything" Rusty squeaked out impishly.

"Blast..don't feel to bad...its here somewhere" Jake tried to comfort the droid, but oddly, the B1 walked passed Jake and sat on the floor.

"Let me guess...you looked?" Jake assumed with a worried glance as he finished punching in the numbers to call Mute via hologram. 

"mhm..." Rusty nodded his head slowly.

"Buddy..." Jake comforted as he kneeled down. "I'm...just as torn as you...but looking at him wont make it better" Jake paused for a moment, collecting himself enough to not burst into tears..again. 

"especially for you...looking at a replica of yourself...dead...cant be healthy"

"Roger Roger...sir..." With that Jake nodded, and placed the Datapad on the floor, waiting for Mute to respond. It didnt take long for the hologram to sputter to life, Jake armored form appearing as the Clones face peered at Jake.

"How's it going kid?" Mute asked, Tac had informed him of Jakes state.

"Fine...all your wounds patched up?" Jake asked with curiosity, his hand by his side fidgeting with a loose piece of sheet metal attached to his shirt.

"all good with us...takes more than a little fight to put us down" Mute spoke confidently.

Rusty bumped into jake as stumbled into Mutes view, the droids hologram sputtering to life next to Jake. "Uh...um hows..hows Jammer?" Rusty asked nervously, his programmed still conflicted at the sight of a Clone.

"Jammers fine tin head" Mute responded with sarcasm, Rusty tilted his head at the name, but ignored it.

"Don't mess with my droids" Jake said with a smirk.

"I mean no offense kid..just playing with em" Mute chuckled lightly, his armor rattling at the movement.

"Well...look we are having some trouble finding our ships tracker, at least we think there is one....i suggest you look for one" Jake warned, his voice wobbly.

"Already ahead of ya...I've got Barren and Jammer on overtime looking for that thing..good thinking though.." Mute paused as Jake sighed with relief that they had the same worries.

"Ya know kid...those droids think your one hell of a commander...especially that tactical droid..and trust me...its hard to get those things to like you"

"heh he..." Jake scoffed slightly. "I'm nothing special.....but ill accept your experience..thanks" Jake smiled warmly, for the first time in days. Rusty pitter pattered his feet on the floor excitedly, receiving a confused look from the teen who pushed it aside and said his goodbyes to Mute. Rusty was happy, happy that tac was finally opening up, the B1 had been waiting for this.

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Mute watched as Jakes hologram ended, sighing as he placed his Datapad on a nearby counter. Their ship was slightly more spacious than the LAAT, it had a few counters, some seats, and a very high roof. The clones weren't exactly sure what model it was, but they didnt care. Jammer laid carelessly on the floor, frusterated and tired at trying to find the tracker. 

"BAAHhhh come ooonnn!!" Jammer yelled out throwing his hands up, Mute looking over with an un amused expression, Barren jumping at the loud noise.

"DO we even neeeeeed to remove it, i mean we kicked those guys asses!"

"dont be stupid Jammer" Mute quickly scolded. "We both know what that Tactical droid told us what Buckets death did to Jake....we dont know why he feels this way to those Clankers..but i dont plan on making things worse for him..we owe the kid"

"I agree....plus..wouldn't be the nicest" Barren joined in.

Jammer grunted with disgruntlement "that kid is stupid anyways....why side with those machines....sure they can be funny and i will admit that B1s death was pretty horrific but still...all he is a Clanker"

Jammers words made Mute seeth with anger, but the commander calmed his nerves, before Mute could give Jammer another scolding Barren stepped in.

"To you Jammer...to you..." Barren paused, Jammer sitting up looking at Barren, who was knelt down opening a vent.

"We have no clue what that boy has been through, haven't you noticed the astromech lens around his neck?" Barren explained with annoyance, Jammer scoffing to himself looking away.

"You don't get the right to say those things...they might just be droids but we are Clones... and despite what your pride tells you..we aren't so different" Barren words stabbed into Jammer, but his stubbornness caused him to wave off Barren with an Annoyed sigh, and walk into the cockpit away from the other Clones.

Mutes face scrunched up as he watched mute walk away. "Thanks barren...but i don't blame him..not after what the droids did to him"

"i guess thats true...everyone has their way of dealing with that crap..Jammers is a bit.." Barren tried to finish.

"Asshole like?" Mute finished.

"yeah...Asshole like" Barren murmered.

"well...what do you think about the kid?" Mute said changing the subject, plopping down into a seat.

"oh..you mean Jake?" Barren Questioned.

"mhm..."

"well...he is a bit childish" Barren started.

"well no shit... he's a kid" Jammer interrupted, his figure atop the small set of stairs that led to the cockpit area, wearing his stereotypical smirk, earning a snort of laughter from Mute.

"true...well anyways he is fine i guess...quite the odd kid to hang around with..probably not the best social person" Barren explained with a plain face, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well neither are you" Jammer said passing by and sitting next to Mute. "i think he has good intentions, but he is to emotional for a boy..he should be tough, he might as well be a solider now with this Empire chasing him.

"I don't agree.." Mute started. "But I cant say your wrong.."

"I was planning on giving him this helmet" Mute said changing the subject abruptly yet again, pulling out an old phase one helmet from under the seat (his inventory) 

"it was one of the few things i could stuff into my bag when leaving, we stayed parked on the ship for awhile before taking off so yeah..plus he could use some face protection" Mute said reminiscing on the Venator.

"A part of me has a feeling he's going to make some modifications...i mean just look at his cloths" Barren

"fair enough" Was all Jammer had to say.

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Jake sat on the floor as Tac fumbled with a wire as he stuck it into the Droidekkas head, the droid shutting off in the process. Tac had detected previous code in the droid when they first found it, and he had calculated that attempting to find out what it was would "pass time" something the droid wasn't familiar with, but more importantly, get his Commanders mind of the loss of battle. To Tac, as much as the cold machine came to like Bucket, at the end of the day it was just another number.

Tac tapped on his Datapad. "Sir..i have found this droids records...scans suggest it was deployed in Kashyyyk, and decommissioned when being ran over by a tank"

Jake gave a surprised huff "a tank? looks pretty intact for that"

"Agreed, i believe that the Empire fixed it, however the data doesn't add up" Tac held the Datapad to his face, staring at the text that appeared.

Jake welded a loose piece of metal on the droids leg before looking up from his crouched position. "hmmm...go on"

"Well, it says that this droid was given imperial reprogramming several days after it was reactivated by an unknown source....The only native species on Kashyyyk are the Wookies, and they are anti Droid as far as my programming knows"

"well you never know, I'm these...uh Wookies, are probably desperate, like me" Jake suggested nonchantly.

Tac stared at the boy for a while. "That would explain why some of this droid metal parts are replaced with wood....scans complete, Droidekka unit was activated and used by Native Wookies to fight the Empire, attempt failed, Tarkin gave Gideon Droidekka unit knowing your unusual sentiment to droid life"

Jake stared blankly in front of him, before giving Tac a glance. "That...sums it up about right...i think, i mean your the one holding the Datapad"

"Affirmative, I am a Droid i am a-"

"alwayssssssss right" Teesh interrupted, bumping into Tac, the droid taking a singular step to the side and mechanically turning to look at the taller lizard.

"We get it, your a smartasssss" Teesh finished, earning the first hushed chuckle Jake had released for a while, Teesh smiled as Jake chuckled, only glancing for a moment, but it was all Tac needed to scan the action, and save it in his files.

"well.....might as well keep him off, probably tired after the fight" Jake said patting the Droidekkas shell.

"Droids do not feel tired" Rusty charmed in from behind Jake, with a confused head tilt.

"In spirit Rusty..." Jake sighed, the B1 letting out an "O" in response.

"Will this droid model receive a name, like the rest of us" Clank grumbled from the floor, where he sat robotically against the LAATs inner walls.

"great idea Clank.....uh" Jake pondered. "How about ..Kaput?"

"Beatsss meeee,i dont give a fuck" Teesh said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well that aint new" Clank mumbled from the floor.

"pff...since when did you have comebacks?" Jake joked to the B2.

"Huh?" Clank responded.

Jake sighed. "typical.."

Tacs Datapad began to beep "Sir, Mute wishes to board our vessel, i suggest you and Teesh make your way to the Cockpit"

Jake nodded his head and climbed up the stairs, Teesh in tow as the hatch shut, the noise if thumping and sliding doors, followed by a light clank, and the doors closing, after a high pitched air release the hatch opened, Teesh and Jake stepping down the stairs, Mute standing there next to Rusty and Tac, Clank not having moved the entire time.

"Sup kid...nice to see your doing alright" Mute greeted, his helmet visor peering at the boy.

Jake stuffed his nerves at the sight of a Clone and spoke "Same here...expect for the kid part" Jake said aloud as talking to himself.

"Fair enough...well I wanted to give you this" Mute held out an old Phase one helmet, it had a fin on the top, the visor was similar to what Mute and the TKs wore.

"You could use some face protection sir, you got knocked up pretty bad by those Death creeps" Rusty squeaked, gently taking the helmet and observing it, before tossing it to Jake.

The boy caught it and angled it around "Thanks. I appreciate it, ill definitely give it a try, now excuse me for a moment"

Jake said walking past the group and walking into the storage room.

"odd...oh well" Mute dismissed it "So hows it going Clankers?"

"Well that's just rude" Rusty replied, crossing his skinny arms.

"Good" Was all Tac replied.

"Yeah they aren't the best for conversating" Teesh smugly grinned at the Clone.

"Tell me about it"

Jake flicked the light in the storage room, placing the Phase 1 helmet onto a small box, the boy grabbed R4s lens on his neck and held it up, before looking at Buckets covered corpse, only a small portion of the droid face exposed. Jake huffed, snapping R4s lens off his neck and grabbing his blow torch.

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Gideon hand gripped the railing within his bridge, he stared into space, the TKs around him shuffling and doing their normal duties, Gideon presence unnerved them, but it motivated them to work harder. The Moffs thoughts were focused on the boy, his weakness, his strengths. He had a plan, and dare he say it was a wonderful one, Gideon grinned to himself smugly as he remembered his talk with Kelp.

"Ahhh...so unexperianced...so...so inperfect" Gideon mumbled to himself, he disregarded the Clones often, having perfect trooper almost always came with flaws, the TKs held a better place in his mind, but he didnt cared about neither. as was shown when he grunted with random frustration, pulling out pistol and turning to his side, a pilot TK jumped at the action before a bolt was placed square in his head, the Tks lifeless body fell over as blood leaked onto the floor. The bridge paused, everyone stared at the scene.

"Clean it up.." Was all Gideon said as he left. He walked down the hallways, making his way to the hologram room, Tarkin had wanted to speak with him on the status of the project, and surprisingly, Tarkin had urged Kelp to join.

The Commander Clone was already there when he arrived, Kelp saluted him quickly.

"Greetings sir...Tarkin awaits us"

"very well" The hologram flickered to life as Tarkins upper half filled the room, Kelp saluted again at him.

"At ease trooper...so Gideon..dear friend, how goes Project Stakeout regarding the boy" Tarkin faced contorted into one of questioning as Kelp simply watched the interaction in silence.

"Well....all preparations are ready, we have the boy locked on and tracked, but weve detected tampering with the LAATs trackers" 

Tarkin hummed with concern.."Very well, I heavily suggest you sound probe droids to follow them, they obviously are not using hyper space, try to hack their comms, their cameras, their droids, i don't care...get. it. done"

"Of course..." Kelp shifted slightly.

"Something on your mind trooper?" Tarkin questioned, his face peering at Kelp.

"Just curious what this plan is"

"Fine....it involves the boys astromech, or what's left of it...we have the body intact, the droid is long dead, but we are hoping to lure the idiotic child to us with it"

Kelp, was at first was intrigued by the thought, but the more he thought, especially about how he knew the boys relationship with the droid, a small part of him shuddered.

"seems.. a little sadistic don't it?" Kelp asked aloud, Tarkin glared at him.

"Anything for the empire, dismissed" Tarkin scolded, the clone walking out the sliding door, pausing outside of it for a moment, his hands curled into fists, and he began to stomp his way to the barracks, he needed to speak with Flamer.

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Hours had passed, The LAAT and the Clones ship were parked neatly on a platform, Bespin personal exited their large structures. Jake stared in awe as he left the LAAT, the droids, Mute and Teesh behind. The sky lit dimly by the sunrise, the seemingly endless clouds, as fluffy as the pillows Jake had never seen. The air blowing softly through his dirty hair, he closed his only for a moment and enjoyed the breeze. Rusty and Clank stared over the edge, both enjoying the beauty of it.

"never thought id see this type of environment" Clank grumbled out.

"Agreed" Rusty replied, still staring at the lit sky. Jammer walked up to Rusty and grabbed his shoulder.

"10 credits if your jump" he teased.

"You are a strange strange clone" Rusty mumbled, taking timid steps away, earning a shrug from the Clone, who walked away after.

Jake spotted Bespin officer coming their way, he was prepared to talk with them, but first he slid on the helmet Mute gave him. He changed it, several parts of it were reinforced with grey and blue sheets of metal, a large portion was removed from the top right half, were Jake had welded Buckets head to it, the B1s face still half blown off with the insides exposed on its left side, His friend becoming one with the helmet.

The visor remained the same, but the left side had R4s lens attached to it, and by scrapping the micro binoculars Rusty had barely used, Jake was able to actually use it to see further by scrolling on a small hand made dial. The helmet remained its standard white, other than Buckets reddish colored head which was implanted into it.

Despite his heart aching at the loss, he had talked to everyone on the LAAT, and agreed that these losses shouldn't saddened them, but motivate them, give them and his droids a cause they all had lost. For Jake, the search for his family was his cause, but that was over ..-. --- .-. / -. --- .-- For the Droids, the Separatist Alliance was their cause, The Clones, the Republic. And Teesh, his own Family, who suffered a fate unknown.

With reformed purpose, all of them were untied to one goal, a goal that had Jake spend the last 4 hours working on a helmet created by the pieces of his friends...No...his brothers, a goal that had brought sworn enemies together, and a goal that had broken the boundaries of mechanized control. 

Death to the Empire.

..-. ..- -. -. -.-- / .... --- .-- / ..-. .- - . / - .-- .. ... - ... / .-- --- .-. -.. ...

Ignoring the overly dramatic phrasing, Jake slid his helmet on, and despite the confused gaze given by the Bespin personal, he gave a friendly wave.

"Sup...the names Jake"

The guards just stared at the odd group, before responding.

"You mean us harm?"

"only if you hurt us" Clank grumbled.

"then we will get along just fine" one guard said lowering his pistol, and extending his hand, one Jake took happily.

-----------Author

AYEEEEEEEEEEE< CHAPTER 40!!!!

Thanks to all of you, i truly appreciate every last one of you..

yes 

Y O U.

okay by have a nice daaaaaaayyyyyyyy.