Several years had passed since the beginning of the Clone Wars. Years in which more had happened than had been expected - in which what had been declared impossible had happened.

The captive Chancellor Palpatine had been the victim of a kidnapping. Count Dooku's and General Grievous' kidnapping. It was a raid that would decide the war, the victory for the Republic. Anakin,Maven, Obi Wan, my Padawan and I were all on that very mission to rescue him to the dismay of the council and strict orders.

I just sat in my blue starfighter and flew at the side of four Jedi in the direction of the control ship of General Grievous. There, according to our investigation, was the Chancellor. A battle raged around us and again and again I had to dodge explosions or flying parts.

"Lock on to him, R2." Anakin's voice echoed into our headsets. He flew to my right and his droid shrieked hysterically as a single piece missed Anakin's yellow starfighter by a hair's breadth. "Guys, General Grievous's ship is directly ahead." "Yes..and I see it is once again crawling with vulture droids." I replied my brother at the sight of the droids on the long flanks on the cruiser.

"Oh, yes.... I see it! This is going to be easy." Obi Wan seemed was very convinced. Maven couldn't help but roll his eyes teasingly before he carefully gave Obi Wan's red starfighter a little shove in the side with his green starfighter,so that no damage was done. "Don't get cocky,Obi Wan." He muttered to him and Obi Wan turned his head to him with a wry grin.

"That's simple talent, Maven." He whispered back and Maven didn't manage to suppress the grin on his lips. On the contrary, it grew, and grew up to his eyes. Before Obi Wan's blue-grey eyes could bore further into his dark blue ones, Maven averted his gaze and refocused on the battle.

A few of those fighters detached from the cruiser, fired their engines, and flew straight at us. Obi Wan, who was the leader like Maven, gave a quick order to the clone troopers behind us to get into position, and a mischievous grin slid across my face at the sight of the menacing droids. "The fun is just beginning." I chuckled into my headset and although I couldn't see Anakin, I knew he was wearing a big smile on his lips. "You're, right, Timothee! This is where the fun begins."

"Let them pass between us." Obi Wan ordered us, and of course Anakin,Maven,Zekk and I obeyed the Jedi Master's words. The clone troopers opened fire on the enemy droids and before I knew it , it was raining tin can parts. Our men were strong and smart, but even some of them were hit.

I heard a few call for help. "I'm gonna go help them out!" I responded dimmediately before I prepare to break away from the formation. "No. No, they are doing their job so we can do ours." Maven stopped me. I met his eyes through the window of my ship. He shook his head.

We raced through the battle, dodging anti-jaw fire and turbolaser beams, darting around several cruisers, confusing the sensors of the droid fighters pursuing them. Only a few dozen kilometers separated us from the Commando cruiser as two Tri-fighters appeared in front of us and immediately opened fire.

Indicators lit up on my console, and R8-D8 shrilled a warning. But I knew what it was even without these indicators and the warning. "Missiles!" "Pull up!"Came it from my Padawan after my warning as he pulled his orange  starfighter upwards. Anakin and I copied him pulling up right next to him, putting Zekk in the middle now.

We were deftly dodging missiles, and I was beginning to think we'd lost them. "They overshot us!" Obi Wan brought forth, but of course Maven dashed our hopes again. "They're coming around!"

"Then we'll give them a native welcome. Evasive maneuvers, R8!" I ordered my droid, which shrieked in fear. I skillfully dodged the two missilest hat flew at me, and Obi Wan was also pursued by two missiles.  "Alright,R4! No...no, no! Nothing too fancy!" He yelled slightly panicked as his droid initiated a particularly daring maneuver.

Anakin,Zekk and Maven said something to their droids but I didn't hear it because I was busy with my missiles. They still wouldn't let go of me and even when I cut a sharp turn I couldn't get rid of them.

So I pulled up my starfighter, made a rapid turn and when the missiles flew straight at me, I made short work of them and blew them up with two missiles of my own. There was a huge explosion and a big smile slid across my face. "Yeah! Happy New Year, guys!" Anakin,Zekk and Maven also got rid of their pursuers and I could hear Anakin's gloating out of his voice. "We got them, R2!"

Anakin,Maven, Zekk and I were rid of the pesky missiles, but Obi Wan on the other hand was not so well off. He was still struggling with his persistent pursuers. He dodged them, tried to lose them, but they stayed on him.

"Flying is only for droids!"  I heard Obi Wan mutter into his headset, already mighty annoyed. "I always say the same thing. " Zekk muttered in agreement. Yes, my Padawan had the same aversion to flying that Obi Wan had.

Obi Wan went then on counter-thrust and ignited the dorsal jets-he halved his speed and pushed the starfighter down a few meters at the same time.  The first missile shot over his starfighter, but the second missile came so close that its approach sensors reacted and ignited the warhead.

An explosion sent splinters flying in all directions, and some of them chased Obi Wan's starfighter. Small silver orbs  appeared in his flight path and attached themselves to the outer hull of the red starfighter. They opened, and out came spider-like arrays of grappling arms that released hull plates and made the ship's internal mechanisms accessible to multiple rune blades. 

"I've been hit! " Obi Wan cried out. He sounded more annoyed than concerned. "Guys?" "We see them." Anakin answered him as we neared Obi Wan's starfighter. " Buzz droids." Maven added quickly to Anakin's answer. "There are five of them." I informed him. Cascades of sparks sprayed from the droids' saws into space.

"R4, be careful! You've got a-" Zekk warned then the droid from Obi Wan as one of the buzz droids sat next to the cockpit and stretched his arms out to R4, but by then the bass droid was already completing its work and R4's head dome flew past in a high arc. "Oh dear!" Was all Obi Wan could produce.

Another buzz droid worked on the nose of the starfighter, and a third approached the ventral hydraulics. The remaining two aggressive little mechs were on the left wing, working on the controls. "They're shutting down all the controls." Obi Wan told us as he flipped switches in the ship to fight the droids off.

"Obi Wan, move to  the right so I can get a clear shot at them." Maven ordered him as he steered his starfighter to within two meters of Obi Wan's.  "The mission. Get to the command ship, get the chancellor. I'm running out of tricks here!" Obi Wan ordered him , but of course Maven ignored that order.

Instead, Maven  opened fire and actually managed to cut two bass droids to pieces. One, which he missed, flew through the air and landed on Zekk's starfighter. The droid already started its work and ordered R6 to the afterlife.

Zekk made short work of it and jerked his starfighter around, which spun around its axis at a rapid rate, causing the bass droid to lose its grip and fly off its left wing. But that was not enough for him. When it flew in front of him, he slammed it and it shattered into a thousand pieces.

Meanwhile, the situation of Obi Wan was getting worse. His starfighter shook violently and smoke drifted through the cockpit. Obi Wan moved the control stick to bring the fighter back under control. "Hold your fire! You're not helping here,Maven!" He demanded quickly, causing Maven to stop firing at his starfighter.  "I agree. Bad idea."

The air purifiers cleared the cockpit of smoke, but by now the buzz droid on the right wing had loosened enough fuselage panels to push its saw arms deep inside. Sparks flew in everywhere, along with glass that instantly crystallized in the vacuum. The escaping gas had the same speed as the starfighter and hung like fog in front of the nose. "Damn." I heard Obi Wan curse. "I can't see a thing. My cockpit's fogging."

"They're all over me. Guys!" Obi Wan's eyes widened in disbelief as Maven's, Anakin's, and my starfighter came even closer and smashed a buzz droid with the wing's spray. The violent contact caused Obi Wan's fighter to tremble,creating a deep dent in the fuselage and destroying the front control element of Maven's,Anakin's,and my wing.

"Move to the right now!" I shouted to him through my headset as I watched the bass droids pick apart the starfighter, but Obi Wan didn't even think about it. "Hold on, you three! You're gonna get us four killed!"  He scolded us as Zekk caught up with us again, and then at breakneck speed we all moved through the air. " Get out of here, the four of you. There's nothing more you can do here."

"We're not leaving you, Master." I said defiantly. That could so suit him that we  just flew away and left him to his fate. Then we didn't even have to think about returning to Coruscant. Then I dared another attempt, rammed the ship of Obi Wan easily with the right wing of my starfighter and smashed the bass droids, except for one single one.

That one climbed onto the wing of my starfighter and loomed menacingly in front of R8. "Get him, R8!" I said, and R8 extended his electric spoiler. The bass droid began to attack and R8 fired a lightning bolt,but it missed.

"R8, aim for the center eye of the bass droid." Came from Maven and immediately the droid complied with this request. Taking short aim, he fired a bolt of lightning and the bass droid shuddered before finally being done in and flying off into space.

"Yeah, you got him!" I cheered. "Very good,R8.""Great,R8." "Well done R8, as always." Obi Wan,Zekk and Anakin were also proud of the little droid. Normally,Maven would be pleased, but his eyes fell on something more significant. "The general's command ship is ahead of us." He told us and we all flew directly towards the ship, which was gigantic and almost as long as a cruise ship.

We picked up speed and while R2 and R8 were now shrieking hysterically, Obi Wan's voice sounded again. And he seemed a little panicked as well. "Well, have you four noticed the shields are still up?"

"Sorry,Master!" Immediately I flew a bit away from the others and aimed at the power supply of the shields. After a few seconds, they exploded and the large and heavy metal doors began to close. We were still gaining speed, with Obi Wan and Zekk already at the end of their nerves. "Oh, I have a bad feeling about this!" "That is not good."

We flew straight for the doors and just made it inside the ship as the doors closed,almost reducing us to rubble. My starfighter landed on the ground,but by then my droid was already jumping out of its place and I was already unstrapping myself, grabbing my lightsaber, and when the roof opened, I leapt outside in one bound. As I flew in, I had already spotted the horde of battle droids, which had now naturally become aware of us and opened fire.

Quick as a flash I activated my saber and started to block blaster shots with ease as I walked forward. I quickly sliced right through a droid as Anakin come up next to me. We both worked side by side effortlessly as we blocked shots together.

"R2, locate the chancellor. " Obi Wan commanded quickly as he moved so he was next to me. "Do we really have to save him?" Maven complained as he sliced through another droid quickly. "He's a good man,Master Palpatine." I answered him while Zekk jabbed his dual-bladed lightsaber into the droid and broke the lightsaber in half, then he cut the head off and kicked him down to the ground.

While we finished off the droids, R2 went with R8 to a wall and connected to the ship's power source. When the last of the tin cans finally collapsed with a gurgle, we went to the droids and looked around vigilantly. When a hologram lit up representing the command ship, Obi Wan pointed to a glowing dot. "The signal is coming from right there- the observation platform at the top of that spire."

"Piece of cake!"I exclaimed, amused, but Anakin raised his head in alarm. "I sense Count Dooku!" "I sense a trap!"Obi Wan simply said, to which Zekk looked at the us questioningly. "What's our next move then?" A cheeky grin slid across Maven's face, and he already looked full of anticipation. "Spring the trap!"

We were about to set off when Anakin turned once again to R2 and R8,who were about to follow us. "R2,R8, go back. I need you to stay with the ships." "Yes, take this."  Obi Wan said to them and tossed a small radio to the droids. "Wait for further orders."

R8 caught the radio and stayed behind with R2. We set off, and I couldn't deny that Í was already filled with anticipation as well.Anakin gave me a grin and I returned it. "Let's go then! S.O.S:Rescue Mission Palpatine, may begin!"