Obi-Wan walked unsteadily toward a Republic transport where Anakin was waiting to assist him, while several clone troopers carried Scott in on a medical stretcher.
"So what happened to you this time, Scott?" Pietro approached the stretcher, and Scott weakly grabbed his arm.
"Move over," Scott squinted painfully. "You're blocking the sunlight."
At that moment, a clone trooper from the 212th approached them.
"You should have seen him in action. He went completely—"
"Giant?"
Hope was now standing on the other side of her boyfriend's stretcher. "Yeah, the idiot played hero again."
Scott laughed weakly. "Hey... at least I didn't pass out this time."
Elsewhere, Ahsoka spoke to Anakin in an animated tone.
"So, Master, what's your final count this time?"
"I can't tell you right now, Ahsoka," Anakin sighed wearily.
Ahsoka said with a mischievous grin, "Are you afraid you lost this time?"
Anakin rolled his eyes and gave his response. "Fine. Fifty-five—that's my number. What about you?"
"Sixty," she announced proudly. "Looks like I won this round."
"Yeah, but I called in that airstrike from Sam's squadron," Anakin protested.
"You guys are so competitive," Scott groaned from his stretcher. "If we're going by elimination count, I beat both of you by a significant margin."
"Hey, what about me?" Peter chimed in. "I was fighting alongside you two, and I destroyed plenty of those droids."
Obi-Wan shook his head at their antics. "I'll never understand how you can reduce these battles to some kind of competition."
Anakin helped escort Obi-Wan to the transport and waved the others farewell. "Take care of yourselves. I want to see you both back here before we assault the primary facility."
"We'll do our best, Anakin."
Just before the transport lifted off, Ki-Adi-Mundi, who had returned with Ima-Gun Di, suddenly called out loudly, "Sixty-five, Skywalker."
This puzzled Anakin. "What?"
"My final count. Sixty-five," Mundi replied before curiosity got the better of him. "So what do I win?"
Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged glances, then Skywalker chuckled to himself.
"You've earned my eternal respect, Master Mundi."
This wasn't what Mundi had expected, and he said with disappointment, "Oh..."
In defense of his former Padawan, Obi-Wan spoke on Anakin's behalf. "Those are words Anakin rarely speaks, and earning Anakin's respect isn't easily accomplished, I assure you."
Scott laughed from his stretcher. "Hey, when we get back to Coruscant, I'll buy you dinner to celebrate your victory."
Mundi nodded appreciatively, and the transport's doors sealed before lifting off into the atmosphere, allowing those aboard to rest and prepare for what lay ahead.
"So they'll be responsible for establishing the staging area," Steve said to Anakin, who nodded in confirmation.
"Now we need to eliminate their primary manufacturing facility, which Padmé managed to obtain intelligence about from Cato Neimoidia."
Steve suddenly grew quiet.
"Steve?"
"Hmm?"
"You alright?"
Steve didn't respond immediately. He stared into the distance, where multiple clone trooper units were being deployed across the surface.
"We detected a signal here," Steve said finally. "A transmission pattern that matches communications from Earth."
"Are you serious?" Anakin asked, surprised. "So that means—?"
"Someone from Earth is here," Steve said with gravity.
Anakin smiled, though he noticed that Steve didn't seem particularly pleased at the prospect of finding one of their missing teammates.
"What's wrong?" Anakin asked carefully.
Steve frowned, lost in thought. "I... I'm not sure. Call it intuition, but I have a feeling that whoever came here this time isn't one of our allies, if you know what I mean."
Steve walked away, leaving the Jedi with unanswered questions—or more precisely, this concern now troubled the Jedi as well.
"Well, that doesn't make me feel any better," Anakin muttered.
Sev'rance Tann knelt before Count Dooku's holographic transmission. The Count's face was shadowed, but his eyes gleamed with intensity.
"Sev'rance Tann."
"Master."
"You abandoned your installation when you could have eliminated the Republic's assault forces," Dooku said deliberately. "Explain your reasoning."
"Master, I find it difficult to articulate precisely, but I will attempt to explain," Sev'rance said in measured tones. "During the engagement, I observed that droid behavior was... erratic. Both ground and aerial units. Initially, I assumed there was some form of mechanical malfunction affecting droid performance. However, the consistency of their actions didn't suggest random system failures. It appeared more deliberate."
Dooku regarded his acolyte silently. He glanced toward the two commando droids standing behind Sev'rance.
Kadrian Sey and Sora Bulq had reported similar incidents, and the operations where Jedi Masters Mundi and Di captured their installations experienced identical anomalies.
Someone was sabotaging their droid forces.
"Evacuate Geonosis immediately," Dooku commanded. "This planet can only be held for a limited time. Poggle the Lesser will determine its ultimate fate."
"Master?"
"Do as I command, Sev'rance," Dooku said with greater firmness. "There is droid rebellion occurring. The Jedi and Avengers are not our only threats on Geonosis."
Sev'rance simply bowed her head in compliance.
She quickly departed the chamber, and Count Dooku's transmission terminated moments later.
The two commando droids remained motionless, but their optical sensors flickered, and they emitted low, rumbling sounds that resembled mechanical laughter.
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